(Almost) Everything Is Comin' Up Chase [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus, triumphant, has finally managed to make some old bamboo sprout. With Drosera fed recently enough that she's not complaining of hunger and resting in her new favorite perch (lounging on his shoulder tucked right against his neck, her beak tangled in hair that is once again getting long), he sneaks it into the Mansion, hides it in a large gift-bag a closet gives him, and hangs it on Claudius and Galahad's doorknob with a quickly-jotted note that reads Claudius, What next? - MAGNUS CHASE.

Then, since he's already inside, he figures, why not wander around until he finds someone to talk to?

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad is back at the desk in their room, trying once again to produce something that feels remotely acceptable as a love letter, and he hears the noise at the door -- he is, for once, more than happy to be disturbed from a project.

"Magnus?" he calls at Magnus' retreating back, as he pokes his head out.

[summerdude]

"Oh!" Magnus stops and spins around on his heel, immediately heading back to Galahad. "Hey dude, I didn't know you were home."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I'm writing," dismally. "Come in?"

[summerdude]

So Magnus does, bringing the gift bag with him. This he places on a surface that looks distinctly Claudius's. "Whatcha writing?" he asks, coming over to stand next to Galahad and then, thoughtfully, offering their daughter to him in case she cheers him out of that dismal tone.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad watches Magnus put the bag down on the vanity next to Claudius' array of brushes and perfumes and cosmetics, then takes Dro into his arms. She's sleepy from having just eaten and she snuggles up agreeably.

"I want to write something for Claudius, about how I-- feel about him."

[summerdude]

Oooh! Magnus is* an expert on written declarations of love. "Poem? Song? Love letter? Love encyclopedia?"

*Not!

[onthewillowsthere]

His gaze flicks to the wastebasket full of crumpled paper. "Letter."

[summerdude]

"It's not going well, I'm guessing?" Magnus asks, following Galahad's gaze.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It all sounds terrible." When he speaks to me it's beautiful, he signs. He wrote me a letter once. I read it sometimes when I'm sad. I want to write something like that for him to keep, but I don't know what to say.

[summerdude]

Magnus scratches his head for a moment, thinking. "I've started writing down the things I would say to Alex if he was here," he admits. "But it's not, like, pretty. Hmmm." He plops down on the ground next to Galahad and leans against his leg, twisting around enough that he can still see Galahad sign. "Do you want help?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"What would you say to Alex?"

[summerdude]

"Right now?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji has returned to working, slowly, on a new composition for the qin, and as such is seated cross-legged and on the floor in a sitting room with the door propped open. He is focused on the strings under his fingers, and on trying to recall one of the specific melodies he heard at the wedding dance while Wei Ying was spinning in his arms, but Magnus has an unmistakable aura. Therefore, Lan Wangji looks up the moment he walks into the room, and despite the absence of a smile on his face, one is unmistakably present in his eyes.

"Magnus." On any other day he might stop at that, but given their last conversation, he continues, just for the pleasure of speaking and knowing Magnus will understand him, "I am glad to see you."

[summerdude]

Oooh! That's warmth flooding his chest. "Hey, Hanguang-jun," Magnus says, pronouncing it perfectly, and walks over to Lan Wangji. He stuffs a metaphorical hand into his mouth then to prevent himself from adding, I've brought your granddaughter to see you, but he does ease Drosera into his lap as he sits. "I can understand you again!" Now that his hands are free, he's signing as he talks -- he wants to be able to communicate with Lan Wangji if something like that ever happens again.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji watches Magnus' hands closely, trying to commit every motion to memory. "Her Most Adorable Softness Drosera Dinosaur Hungry Baby Kitty McBirdface Magnahad the Fluffy-Pawed of Shed Kingdom, First of her Name and Cutest in All of the Worlds," he addresses the griffin without missing a beat, and then he is back to Magnus. "I will not take the translation spell for granted again."

[summerdude]

"I liked learning some Chinese," Magnus says, as Dro clacks her beak at Lan Wangji. "I'm glad I know how to say your name the right way now."

[lightbearinglord]

"You do learn quickly," Lan Wangji says. He already conveyed that sentiment the other day, but it is a relief to say it with no intermediary, and especially with no intermediary in the form of Shen Yuan.

[summerdude]

"I want to teach you some sign language."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji looks down at his hands, which are still touching Wangji's strings. Then, again, back to Magnus. He is not certain how adept he will be at this -- he has trained himself to such stillness that he rarely even gestures -- but for Magnus, he is of course willing to try. "That may be useful."

[summerdude]

Magnus thinks about where to start. He makes a face at Lan Wangji. "I'd start with the alphabet, but now I definitely know that we don't have the same one," he says, and tilts his head. "Is there even an alphabet in Chinese? I actually don't know."

[lightbearinglord]

This takes a moment to process, perhaps as an additional function of the translation spell trying to make Magnus' meaning clear to him. "We have characters," Lan Wangji says. "You saw some that day in my calligraphy. There are thousands."

[summerdude]

"In English we have twenty-six letters that combine to form thousands of words," Magnus says. "So 'Magnus' is spelled M-A-G-N-U-S." He finger-spells it as he says it. "With friends and loved ones, you can make up name-signs that combine letters and other signs. Back home my name was M, and the sign for crown." He demonstrates this, and then shifts in to the next sign: "But then when I explained it to Galahad he changed it for me to M, and the sign for sunlight."

[lightbearinglord]

The shift in Lan Wangji's expression is so subtle as to be nearly invisible: a softening around the mouth and the eyes. "That is more appropriate." He copies that final sign. The letter has no particular meaning to him, but is easy to replicate; the gesture that means sunlight is logical and therefore equally easy to reproduce.

[summerdude]

Hanguang-jun is smiling at Magnus's name! Warmth floods through him again. "I've, uh, kind of been using this for you," he says, and demonstrates the sign: his hand, palm out and fingers spread, thumb tapping against his temple and then dragged across his forehead like a ribbon. All in a rush, and demonstrating as he goes, he adds, "And then for Galahad, it's G, plus the signs for flower and choice, and for Laertes, it's L, plus the sign for make. I keep forgetting to give Shen Yuan one so I just use the first Chinese Sign Language word he taught me. This is CSL for eat." He demonstrates it, then switches to the ASL word for eat. "This is 'eat' in the sign language I grew up learning."