I Up My Boyfriend Game With The Help Of My F̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Bother Figures [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus shows up to the kitchen earlier than the agreed-upon time, since he's actually really excited to fold tamales (and learn how to prep the individual components thereof) with a couple of his favorite people. When he gets there, he remembers having to teach Galahad about hand-washing, and thinks about the fact that both Sagramore and Lan Wangji are from old-timey places. When they arrive, they'll find him scrubbing down the countertops, making sure they have a clean workspace.

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[summerdude]

A very dim long-ago memory surfaces, which Magnus mostly remembers because he'd thought Lan Wangji was a god and took extremely careful mental notes on anything he said that might be used to narrow down the pantheon so he could figure out his deal. He starts to gather the empty bowls and cutting boards, since Lan Wangji and Sagramore seem to have filling the last few husks well in hand, and takes them over to the sink. He's also pretty good at being Dishes Guy. "That's where Wei Wuxian is from, right?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is slightly surprised, only because that was, indeed, quite a long time ago, and because his own memory tends to be better than the memories of the people around him. "Mn. There is a variety of street food there."

[sagramore]

"What is it like?" Sagramore asks, because he likes listening to Lan Wangji talk about Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian-adjacent things.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, any favorites?" Magnus asks, eagerly -- maybe this will help him when he tries to narrow down when Lan Wangji is from? "His or yours."

[lightbearinglord]

"Wei Ying likes jianbing¹," Lan Wangji says with a trace of fondness, recalling just how many Wei Ying can consume in one go. "With chili oil." That may go without saying. "One may also purchase baozi with every type of filling, grilled sticky rice cakes, hu bing², and steamed rice flour cakes." That is far from an exhaustive list.

¹A many-times-folded crêpe, basically.
²Baked sesame bread.

[sagramore]

The fondness in Lan Wangji's voice is what he likes best. "Marvelous," he says quietly, smiling.

[summerdude]

"I wanna learn those, too," Magnus decides. "Gu Xiang was teaching me a little, back when the translator broke." This is a... very generous description of what happened.

[lightbearinglord]

Indeed, Lan Wangji looks at Magnus with some faint surprise. "Is young mistress Gu skilled in the kitchen?"

[sagramore]

They're almost done with the tamales, and he fills his last one as he listens.

[summerdude]

"Oh, she's great." Magnus grins. Cheerfully, he says, "I'm pretty sure she wanted to kill me, because we could only communicate through Qi Yan and I kept getting her the wrong tofu, but I'm used to violently talented girls wanting to kill me."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji can only give Magnus another indulgent look. It is charming every time he mentions Alex. "At least you provided entertainment for Qi-xiansheng."

[sagramore]

"How did you speak to Qi Yan? He doesn't know English, does he? Actually, that's presumptuous, I don't know what language they speak in America."

[summerdude]

"A lot of people in America speak English. Qi Yan doesn't." Magnus hesitates, prevaricates. "We have... other, um. Languages. In common."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji politely busies himself with tidying the kitchen counter. This is information that Magnus recently almost let slip to him. Lan Wangji allowed him to get away with it in the interest of respecting Qi Yuanjun's secrets.

[sagramore]

"Wait," his eyes lighting, as he puts together Magnus' ability to speak to animals and Qi Yan's to speak to horses. "Did you speak horse?"

[summerdude]

Oh, so Sagramore knows! "Sure did," Magnus grins.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji says nothing, because apparently he was the only one here who did not know that Qi Yuanjun can speak to horses. It sounds absurd even as a passing thought, and so he does throw one startled glance at Magnus.

[sagramore]

"Tremendous. He's been seeing to Fenyes that way, he told me she thinks I've done well with her," a hint of pride creeping into his voice.

[summerdude]

"Heck yeah, my dude," Magnus says, offering Sagramore a fist for a fist bump. "Of course you have. You're great with animals."

[lightbearinglord]

Qi Yuanjun had never heard of cultivation, but she can speak with animals. Lan Wangji files this away with silent bemusement. Now that all of the tamales are finally wrapped, he also begins cleaning up the remaining dishes and utensils.

[sagramore]

"I love animals, it doesn't necessarily follow that I'm good with them." He does return the fistbump.

[summerdude]

"They just wanna be respected and loved," Magnus says, in a tone that conveys an unspoken 'duh.' "Usually."

[lightbearinglord]

"Also," Lan Wangji offers, "to be fed." He is in the middle of scrubbing a bowl.

[sagramore]

"That does tend to rank highly."

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot that part," Magnus says, faking solemnity. "Dro isn't here saying baby hungry!!! every two minutes including while she's actively eating. Out of sight, out of mind."