(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?

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[summerdude]

"Really?" Magnus asks, incredulous. "But you're so--" he gestures, indicating all of Lan Wangji.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji raises both eyebrows just a little. He looks down at himself at Magnus' indication. He cannot imagine what Magnus is attempting to convey, so he only glances back at him and waits to see if he will complete the sentence.

[summerdude]

Sorry, Hanguang-jun! Magnus is pretty sure he's made himself abundantly clear. "You know?"

[lightbearinglord]

The corner of Lan Wangji's mouth twitches. "I do not know," he tells Magnus, very seriously.

[summerdude]

"Thoughtful? Measured? Nice? Considerate? Attentive?"

[lightbearinglord]

A little surprised, Lan Wangji looks at Magnus in silence for a beat. "Thank you," he says, utterly sincere, "but none of those qualities lend themselves to diplomacy. I am stubborn. I don't care to waste words. I try to avoid lying."

[summerdude]

"I don't, mean, like, Claudius's kind of diplomacy," Magnus clarifies. This is probably important to say, not least because Claudius's form of diplomacy seems to involve a lot of sex? "Or, like, formal diplomatic ties between nations, or whatever." He doesn't know anything about that. "I mean real diplomacy. Um, not that Claudius's isn't real. Um, I think I mean not-political diplomacy?"

[lightbearinglord]

That distinction does, actually, clarify the issue considerably for Lan Wangji. "Mn. I also do not care for politics." He says this a little bit dryly, as he considers it exceedingly obvious.

[summerdude]

"Who does?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I have known such men." Magnus is warm at his side. Lan Wangji watches Drosera as she continues to play. "Those who want power are the least suited to wielding it."

[summerdude]

"Oh, big agree," Magnus nods. "Like, insane cop energy, every last one."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji gives Magnus a sidelong glance. "Would you like to explain what that means?" He can accept it if Magnus does not, but he may as well give him the opportunity.

[summerdude]

"Oh, right." Magnus makes an apologetic face. "Claudius didn't know it either. Um, do you know what a police officer is?"

[lightbearinglord]

Magnus has said the word police to him before, but specifics seemed unimportant at the time. "I don't," Lan Wangji admits.

[summerdude]

"Well, they're all assholes, for starters," Magnus says. "All cops are bastards. They're supposed to, like, keep the peace or whatever. Protect people, solve crimes, that kind of thing. But actually none of them ever want to help anyone, especially if they're asking if they can help you. Mostly what they are is dangerous bullies, and mostly what they do is rough up whoever they don't like. Homeless people, queer people, people in mental health crisis... and it's way worse if you're not white or if you're gender nonconforming, and they're particularly dangerous if they're scared. Which I guess they usually are." He sighs. "A couple had it out for me specifically when I was homeless, and I had the benefit of, like, looking mostly nonthreatening to their stupid little brains. Since I was a scrawny fifteen-year-old white kid with one change of shirt to my name, or whatever."

[lightbearinglord]

Again, Lan Wangji has known such men, even if they went by different names and titles. Cultivators who receive requests for help and laugh if the reward is insufficient or the monster unglamorous; the Lanling Jin soldiers who rounded up the remaining members of the Wen clan and kept them like animals as recompense for a war already over; surely Wen Chao alone would qualify as a police officer, based on this description. He turns a little, just so that he can see Magnus' face. "And these police officers believed you had destroyed your own home," he says.

[summerdude]

Magnus gives Lan Wangji a look of faint surprise. "You remember that?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is also faintly surprised, but he keeps that out of his own expression. "Of course." He has tried his best to remember everything Magnus has said to him.

[summerdude]

Magnus flushes, then studies his hands. "Yeah," he says. "They thought I blew up my apartment. Because of, like, some stuff. School disciplinary records, stuff like that."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's jaw tightens as he considers this. He can too easily imagine these police officers being cruel to Magnus, giving him no chances to defend himself. Just as with seemingly every powerful figure in Magnus' life, they were meant to protect him and they hurt him instead. He is a little too overcome with anger about it to speak; instead, he reaches for Magnus' hand.

[summerdude]

Oooh, Lan Wangji is a handholdy kind of guy, too? Excellent. Magnus lets him take his hand, and leans against him. "I do have authority issues," he allows. "But that's because pretty much most authority has issues."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." Lan Wangji can agree with that sentiment easily. "I have witnessed impossible cruelty from those in power." Honestly, he is not exactly prone to holding hands with anyone but Wei Ying -- and, notably, Claudius, once. Still, after the translation spell's recalcitrance the other day, it comes to him more easily now as a way to communicate with Magnus when words are failing him.

[summerdude]

"Yeah," Magnus nods. "So 'insane cop energy' means that they have the same sort of bearing as a cop."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji nods with understanding. He thinks, for a moment or two, about everything they have just discussed. "You are brave," he says again, slightly more steely and insistent about it. For what he has endured, for remaining Middle Ground Guy despite the buffeting forces of gods and fate and multiple realms, for committing to finding a new path here and now.

[summerdude]

"If you say so, Hanguang-jun."