[ The answer stuns him into pulling back himself, giving Jin Ling a wide-eyed, bewildered stare of disbelief. Live up to him? What is there to live up to? What could've possibly changed between now and then to make him someone to look up to rather than down on? Jin Ling's a little old to see him with a child's forgiving wonder. Does he grow into his own, then? As sect leader, as uncle, as—
...but that's it, isn't it? No Yanli. No Wei Wuxian. Just Lotus Pier with none of its familiar faces and his sister's orphaned child.
He can't see it. He can't picture it at all.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he swallows hard. ]
...I'm sure you're already there. It can't have been easy, growing up with me.
[ He thinks of how he was after the loss of his parents. Imagines falling into that deep, dark mire all over again without his sister, furious again with Wei Wuxian. And without Wei Wuxian to mend things, without anyone, with just an infant, as alone and bereft as him. Unable to give up like he did in Yiling, because a child, his sister's child, needed him.
...Jin Ling saved his life, surely. And here he's been, threatening the boy, making him cry. Jiang Cheng lets out his breath, placing both hands on his nephew's shoulders. ]
What you want matters. If it's to start new, that's fine.
[ Maybe it'll help if he finds some common ground with Jin Ling, so he mulls the thought over in his mind. ]
no subject
...but that's it, isn't it? No Yanli. No Wei Wuxian. Just Lotus Pier with none of its familiar faces and his sister's orphaned child.
He can't see it. He can't picture it at all.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he swallows hard. ]
...I'm sure you're already there. It can't have been easy, growing up with me.
[ He thinks of how he was after the loss of his parents. Imagines falling into that deep, dark mire all over again without his sister, furious again with Wei Wuxian. And without Wei Wuxian to mend things, without anyone, with just an infant, as alone and bereft as him. Unable to give up like he did in Yiling, because a child, his sister's child, needed him.
...Jin Ling saved his life, surely. And here he's been, threatening the boy, making him cry. Jiang Cheng lets out his breath, placing both hands on his nephew's shoulders. ]
What you want matters. If it's to start new, that's fine.
[ Maybe it'll help if he finds some common ground with Jin Ling, so he mulls the thought over in his mind. ]
How's your archery?