( residents of cabin 15 may have noticed wei wuxian's unannounced absence yesterday, as well as last night and most of this morning. it's about noon today when he slips in through the door, then heads for the kitchen with purpose.

you see, while he firmly and convincingly assured lan zhan of his renewed wellbeing, the truth is that he still feels very much like shit from the little ✨hypothermic incident✨ yesterday, and now he also feels horrifically embarrassed about it on top of that. retreating to his own cabin seemed like the only reasonable option, really. and now he has done so, and here in the kitchen, he digs through the cupboard until he seizes the object of his pursuit: the broth. the can is quickly opened and poured into a pot on the stove turned up perhaps too high (to heat it faster, of course). in the meantime, he's ducking over to the couch to snatch the first available blanket and draping it shamelessly around his shoulders like some sort of overlarge shawl or cloak.

feel free to discover him at any point during this process, or in the impatient broth-stirring that ensues.

alternatively, a bit later, someone (who the fuck even knows who) has asked one too many questions regarding his blanket-cloak and his mug full of herbal poultry water and he's ducked outside instead. he can now be found sitting crosslegged on the front porch of cabin 15, just a head and two stubby arms poking out of a wad of blanket, an overlarge steaming mug in hand. )

( those who live in the cabins closest to the lake almost certainly hear a disturbance just after dark - though really, with leggy krampus running around, it likely isn't the first or the last. this particular disturbance, however, isn't the sound of someone being kidnapped. it's the sound of a rescue, or... at least an attempted one.

currently, wei wuxian is sprinting through the thickly falling snow, squinting for visibility as he sharply scans the area, shouting - ) Huaisang! Nie Huaisang! ( in basically every direction in hopes of some sign of which way to even search.

maybe you come out and see what the fuck he's yelling about right outside your cabin - or maybe you want to help the search. alternatively, you could already be outside for some godforsaken reason and (in his graceless and single-minded urgency) he straight-up collides with you without even realizing you're there. pick your chilly snow-covered poison, really. )

( it has been five whole days since the last of the chimney abductions, and the first of those killed have begun to return to the land of the living (case in point: nie huaisang). between that and the strange.... cold incident before that, wei ying is quite certain that the tomfuckery of the month has properly passed. it has a light sort of near-bounce in his step as he strolls up to the roadside just north of the gas station, ready to set off for town.

maybe you're there (in the gas station parking lot or along the road itself) preparing to set out, yourself. or maybe you're off up the road ahead, and he has to jog to catch up. regardless, he pulls up beside whoever it is and says, ) Do you mind if I join you? It's such a boring walk, alone.