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.

Comments

[sagramore]

"Well, I'm glad he has something to contribute, and I'm glad she hasn't eaten him -- it bodes well."

[summerdude]

"She calls him silly bird," Magnus says, laughing.

[sagramore]

"Right, right, Christ, I look forward to learning more of her opinions."

[summerdude]

"Me too!" brightly. He comes over to Lan Wangji's side and leans against it. "How much longer, Hanguang-jun?"

[lightbearinglord]

Unreasonably fond, Lan Wangji puts his arm around Magnus' shoulders as he looks down at him. "Perhaps half an incense time."

[sagramore]

"Is that short or long?"

[summerdude]

"C'mon, dude," Magnus tells Sagramore. "It's half an incense! Obviously that's about fifty percent of a whole incense."

[lightbearinglord]

"As Magnus said," Lan Wangji says, with perfect affected calmness, directly before he relents. "I believe an incense time is roughly half an hour."

[sagramore]

"I appreciate the illumination."

[summerdude]

Magnus knows just enough for this to make things even more confusing. "My hours or Sagramore's hours? Or your hours? Wait, do you have hours? How do they work?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I did not have them until I came here," Lan Wangji says, a little entertained. "I had shichen. The day is divided into twelve shichen."

[sagramore]

"I have no idea about time at all," helpfully.

[summerdude]

"Are your -- sichen?" Magnus says, testing the pronunciation. "Sichen. Are they all the same length? Galahad says his hours back at home were different lengths."

[lightbearinglord]

"Shichen," Lan Wangji corrects Magnus. "They are even in length, yes."

[sagramore]

"Galahad is right. Time changes depending on how long the days are." He's helpful!

[summerdude]

"Shichen," Magnus tries again. To Sagramore, he explains, "In my time, every day is 24 hours and every hour is sixty minutes. And every minute is sixty seconds."

[lightbearinglord]

"That is why I told you that a shichen amounts to two hours." It would have been impossible to live here for this long without realizing that his timekeeping system bears so little resemblance to most, and subsequently doing research about it.

[summerdude]

"See, that makes more sense to me than hours that change all the time."

[sagramore]

"The hours divide up the daylight equally. When there's less daylight, there's less time to fill those hours."

[lightbearinglord]

Quite reasonably, he thinks, Lan Wangji asks, "How is the nighttime divided?"

[summerdude]

Magnus would also like to know this! "Do nights even have hours?"

[sagramore]

"Nights have hours, but no bells are rung for them, and they divide up the night, so I suppose they're equal just like the day hours. I should confess I find keeping time very tedious and I don't often bother."

[lightbearinglord]

That sentiment is so alien that Lan Wangji can almost only admire it. He might wonder how Sagramore ever gets anywhere on time, but then he recalls that he was, indeed, late to this very appointment. Well, speaking of time: Lan Wangji plucks the lid off the steamer pot and examines the tamales within. It is difficult to tell until he unwraps one, but they should be done by now.

[summerdude]

Magnus immediately goes to fetch plates. "Here," he says, holding one out to Lan Wangji.

[sagramore]

Sagramore watches. In spite of his usual indifference to food he's very interested to see how these came out.