Blue Forest Banshee Diversions Part 51
ii kibarashi - Kung Hei Fat Choi

Wufei's unusually good mood seemed to have vanished by the time they made the walk to the dining hall for lunch. He grumbled at everyone who spoke to him, muttering something rude under his breath. The Humans didn't seem to notice; further proof of Trowa's theory that Humans, whether magical or Mundane, were simply oblivious by nature.

A young Witch scampered past, pausing briefly to bob a curtsey to Wufei and trill out "Kung hei fat choi!" before continuing on. Wufei merely glared and muttered "Fuck you very much."

"What is wrong with you?" Trowa demanded. "You're being ruder than usual."

Wufei waved a derisive hand. "All this silly 'new year's' crap," he growled. "I can't seem to get away from them."

Trowa regarded him silently for a moment. "They're just Human; they're trying to be culturally sensitive."

Wufei snorted. "Fine. Let them be 'sensitive' to each other, and leave me out of it. Five-Toed Chinese Imperial Were-Dragons do not 'kung hei fat choi' each other. That's a Human thing."

"Dork. Most of these people don't even know you're a Dragon! You're just an ethnic Chinese Wizard to them."

"Not helping, furball."

"You are so... so... Magical Creature-ist!"

"And how many years have I been here?"

"How many of the staff actually associates you with your Dragon phase? There are over a thousand permanent staff and another couple hundred transients at any given time - we only deal regularly with about a hundred. Cut them some slack, Chang. You're being a piss-pot again."

Wufei huffed in his direction, but didn't offer an argument. Trowa studied him as they walked.

"Have you heard from your family lately?"

"Why would I hear from them? My father disowned me. I'm sure the rest of the Clan is happy to forget I ever existed," he grumbled.

Wufei really wished they would forget; he was sick to death of the letters from Long Ping. That jerk just would not let it go. Yammering on about how Wufei's 'dishonor' was impacting the family; that it had made it hard for him to find a husband for his daughter. And that just pissed Wufei off that much more - everything was always 'his', as if Wufei's sister had no say in any part of anything.

Maybe she didn't. Were-Dragons were depressingly patriarchal; their females were unlikely to be allowed control of anything important. She must hate that. Wufei always recalled her as being quite independent and competent; the complete opposite of their self-abasing mother. She was nowhere as outspoken as Trowa's various female relatives and not even in the same realm as Heero's family of autocratic females, but for a Were-Dragon female, she was quite fiery. He had to admit to himself, if nothing else, that he rather preferred the independent females around the Castle to the proper, shrinking creatures he'd grown up with.

Except for Ling Ping Mei; she was a pain in the butt, regardless of how proper or independent she might be. Stupid thing, he growled to himself.

"Long Ping is harping at me again," he muttered after a bit, knowing that Trowa would not just let it go. "He's such a fuckwit."

"You don't taunt him, do you?" Trowa didn't think Wufei would go to those lengths, but if the other Were-Dragon pissed him off enough... who knew?

"I ignore him," Wufei snarled. "Anyone else would take the damn hint, but that asshole is too self-important to notice." He kicked at a rock on the path. "He made a point this time of pointing out that my ancestor's shrine is looking shabby and neglected. Well, duh! I haven't been back in years; of course it looks neglected! Damn dishonorable prick."

"Is that a Dragon thing? The shrine?"

"Yes. Well, it's a Human thing too... Maybe they borrowed the idea from us," Wufei groused.

"So, Were-Dragons take care of their ancestors' shrines?" Get Wufei talking about something and maybe he'd get over his shitty mood.

"We care for and maintain the shrines of our namesake ancestors. Most of the shrines have several caretakers, but I'm the only one named for that particular ancestor. If I don't do it, no one does."

Okay; maybe not such a good topic.

"You can't maintain it from here?" Trowa asked hesitantly. "I mean, do you have to go to *them* to maintain the shrine? Is it in the Clanhold where you'd have to deal with them?"

Wufei was silent for a moment. "Actually, no; the shrines are a few klics from the main Clanhold, in a kind of gorge above a small river. Inaccessible to Humans, but they wouldn't dare disturb them, even if they could get to them."

"Sooo... Theoretically, you could go there and maintain your ancestor's shrine without ever encountering any of your family, right?"

"Maybe... There are wards and charms; they'd know someone was there."

"What if you had an anti-ward? Something to make you invisible to their spells? Just long enough to go there, do what you have to do and leave." He poked the Were-Dragon in the ribs lightly. "Think of how shocked they'd be the next time they came and saw your ancestor's shrine looking all spiffed out."

"'Spiffed out'? Is that even a word?" Wufei grumbled, but he didn't sound very upset.

"It is now. You know, we'd even help you, if that's allowed...?" He certainly would and he was pretty sure Duo and Heero would also help. Maybe this would cheer Wufei up a bit; if not the duty to his ancestor then certainly the implied 'fuck you' to Long Ping.

"It would be good to do something honorable for the ancestor... I don't have enough skill or wizardry to do it myself, though."

"Maybe Q would help too? He likes you."

Wufei frowned thoughtfully. "There are some spells... I just can't work them. Hm..." He glanced over at the Were-Puma. "You have some pretty decent ideas sometimes, puss."

OWARI

 

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