[BASILISK]

[guillotineroom]

[when you open your eyes, you find yourself in a pleasant greenhouse. the sweet scent of flowers surrounds you, and the sun shining through the glass ceiling invigorates you from within. there are stone benches on which you can sit, and if you're hungry, there's a garden table with some refreshing tea and scones available to you]

[the voice– the good voice– echoes in your head again]

YOUR DESIRES. . . CREATED THIS REALM. IT IS YOURS. . . IT IS NOT TYPHON'S! I CAN USE THOSE DESIRES TO GIVE YOU A SAFE PLACE. . . FROM WHICH TO FIGHT.

BUT I CANNOT DEFEAT HIM. . . ONLY YOU CAN. ONLY YOU– WITH YOUR OWN DESIRES!! YOU CAN. . . RESHAPE THIS WORLD. . . HOWEVER YOU'D LIKE!

Comments

[strikingchords]

[Lan Wangji's desires support those of the others: a sanctuary, a refuge, a crossroads, a place where thinking creatures of all kinds can walk freely embodied among each other and find what they need to grow. it's not so far from the opportunities for rehabilitation that the Warden had originally touted as their purpose, but without the imprisonment.

rather than a prison, Lan Wangji wishes instead that what he found most compelling about this place isn't lost: the hope of making another wish to help set things right. this has always been a realm where what you want most affects the world around you, and there's something Lan Wangji has always found powerful and purposeful about that. even if that doesn't remain in the same form as a suggestion box or a Universe card, he wants others to have an opportunity to create something new.

for Typhon and in some ways for Reverie as a whole, he hopes for acceptance of failure. he's not sure he actually believes failures can be fixed; you accept your failure, and then you live the life your failure has redefined. dying is the only other option. if Typhon or the other monsters or the other inhabitants of this place would rather rest than struggle with that, in this space beyond death, it is honestly without anger that Lan Wangji believes it's a valid option.

he hopes that a garden in a graveyard and a safe space created by a fragment of will in a borrowed rabbit skull mask can stay. and he hopes that the voice that offered this last chance to shape the world will be able to say, my desires matter instead of I cannot in the future, too.]