Pitched Normal

Jiang Cheng

Jiang Cheng knew that his brother could be...restless sometimes, or most times as he had endless energy and he knew it was almost impossible for him to stay still for any decent length of time, and he also knew that Wei Ying was going to do something that would inevitably get him into trouble, despite the multitude of times that he and their older sister had warned him to be on his best behavior. It was something that the other did not seem to be able to help, and Jiang Cheng understood that a lot of the times that he got into major trouble was because of the fact that he was just restless. Still, he had been quite surprised by his brother that day. It was not even necessarily that he had managed to get to class relatively on time, something that was undoubtedly a new fate because he always ended up showing up at least a few minutes late. Though, Jiang Cheng did notice that he had not shown up at breakfast, so he was a little worried but he had pushed that feeling away, knowing that Wei Ying would likely have eaten something in the town before returning. That was not necessarily what had shocked him, although that was part of it. It was also the fact that he had willingly placed himself in between Jiang Cheng and Wen Chao, even blocked Wen Chao's sword from hurting him. It was the reaction that he had. Jiang Cheng could practically feel the anger which was wafting off his brother. It was so...dark and angry that it was somewhat frightening.

It made Jiang Cheng feel a certain way, and he was not entirely certain he liked the feeling. He had never felt scared of his brother before, and yet with that display of power and unrelenting anger, Jiang Cheng realized quite a bit of things. There was something about it that made Wen Chao feel sort of...unnerved, or that was what Jiang Cheng had seen. His brother had not really cared what had happened when he had placed himself in between the two of them. At least that was the feeling that Jiang Cheng got from Wei Ying when he had done such a reckless thing. Not that Jiang Cheng was not grateful, if a bid burned at his pride. He knew he would not have been able to react as quickly as Wei Ying had. Then there was all this business of wanting to speak to Wei Ying, but whatever for? As far as Jiang Cheng knew, the two had never met one another before, and so why would Wen Chao desire to speak with him, and what was it for? Though, Wei Ying had not denied the other, though he had noticed that Lan Wangji readying himself to do just that. Wen Chao was interrupting their procession of gifts and such, after all. Not only that but he had come unannounced, something that was bound to be frustrating to the members of the Lan Clan. Wei Ying had indeed, however, gone to speak with him outside of the Pavilion. Jiang Cheng longed to go after them and listen to what it was that they were speaking, but he had held himself back. They had gone out of the pavilion and it would not be proper to follow them out. He was a sect heir. 

Which lead him to another rather frustrating revelation. He knew very little about Wei Ying's life before he came to Lotus Pier. Wei Ying had been around seven when he had been brought back by his father to the Lotus Pier, and he had been clearly traumatized by animals. Jiang Cheng had to get rid of his precious dogs. Something that, for a while had angered him until he realized just how terrified of them Wei Ying was. He had thought that the other would somehow get over it, but it would seem as though the petrified fear held, and if anything it got worse the longer time went on. Jiang Cheng still did not know why exactly it was that Wei Ying was terrified of animals, and he did not really have the courage to ask such a thing. This led him to the understanding that he really did not know anything of Wei Ying's time when his father had found him in the Wen Sect streets. He did not know...anything about Wei Ying before he had come to the Lotus Pier except that he was on the streets for a time, and he was terrified of dogs. It rather paled in comparison after all, those were the first seven years of Wei Ying's life that Jiang Cheng had no knowledge of.

He supposed then it was not exactly unbidden that Wen Chao had run into Wei Ying at some point then considering it had been the Wen Sect that Wei Ying had been found, if it was the more poor parts of the towns which Wei Ying was found in (or at least that was the conclusion which Jiang Cheng had come to given the stories his father had given), what he did not quite understand was the fact that Wei Ying had caught and held Wen Chao's object of interest since then. For years it would seem if Wen Chao still knew him well enough to demand a conversation with the other. By the looks of it, it would seem that Wei Ying must have done something that would stick with Wen Chao, but Jiang Cheng did not really know what it was. He did not even know how long Wei Ying had been stuck within the Wen Sect, on the streets, and he had never asked. Furthermore, it was clear that Wei Ying was not looking forwards to this conversation, yet agreed to it all the same.

He had never particularly bothered to ask Wei Ying about his time before. After all, Wei Ying was in the Lotus Pier now, so it did not really matter right? He was beginning to realize just how stupidly naive that train of thought was. Wei Ying's fear of dogs still filled him even now, as a teenager, as a cultivator, and he was so much older now. Whatever trauma which Wei Ying had suffered at the Wen Sect, or even before, who really knew, it clearly was much more important then what he had previous believed. Especially if it led to the fact that Wen Chao knew Wei Ying, who was but a common orphan, a street rat, when he was within the Wen Sect. There had to be something, and Jiang Cheng was somewhat frightened to think of what it may be.