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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[lightbearinglord]

Outnumbered by people who actually like Shen Yuan, Lan Wangji schools his expression into nothing in particular. "No. As I said, I believe Master Asmodean's remorse is sincere, and his regard for you."

[sagramore]

"That's what I told him too. Asmodean would never hurt me." Asmodean's remorse is sincere rings in his head. Having heard it from Laertes and Lan Wangji shakes something loose in him and his chest feels light and fluttery. "Do you mind if I ask who it was? For clarification's sake?"

[summerdude]

Okay, now Magnus is brimming with questions. He decides to let one slip: "The music guy?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji says to Magnus. Asmodean's claim to the moniker of the music guy is arguably somewhat gruesome, but it is accurate. As for Sagramore's question, he hesitates before he answers. Talking behind other's backs is prohibited; he elides that rule often enough, but he tries to do it carefully. "My concern was for Galahad."

[sagramore]

"Well, Asmodean certainly has nothing to do with him. You're after someone else entirely." Is it a touch defensive? It's a touch defensive. It doesn't need to be, either, considering his previous conversation with Lan Wangji.

[summerdude]

Magnus drops the blender lid to the floor and scrambles to pick it up and go rinse it off. "Galahad's been having nightmares?" he asks; he doesn't mean for his voice to sound tiny when he says it, but it kind of does.

[lightbearinglord]

With the defensiveness in Sagramore's tone followed immediately by Magnus sounding so surprised and unhappy, Lan Wangji goes still. He could not have imagined that Galahad would tell him something without also giving that information to Magnus, with whom he is so close. The pot with the pork is getting close to a boil, and the chiles for the sauce are now considering the possibility of simmering.

"He was," he says to Magnus, slowly, "when we spoke some time ago. Dream manipulation is difficult to prove. A dream may only be a dream." He knows for a fact that Luo Binghe did it to Magnus and then, later, to Claudius; he also has strong suspicions regarding a dream of his own, one that could not have been better crafted to haunt and distress him. He has no true evidence, however. He glances at Sagramore, who is friends with Shen Yuan and, therefore, presumably protected, just as Galahad and Magnus are. "I told him I would look into it."

[sagramore]

"Of course," more smoothly, as he recovers himself; Magnus' tiny sad voice has taken him out of his own feelings. "Who better? You asked Shen Yuan because you wanted to know whether it was Luo Binghe's doing, and presumably he explained that it wasn't, but since you weren't explicit about the object of your concerns he assumed it was me. That all makes sense. If I were considering people here I don't trust, I suppose I'd come around to--" A thinking pause. "Lady Ragnelle and Aornis¹. But neither of them have any particular power I'm aware of, simply unpleasant demeanors."

¹Ping!

[summerdude]

"Ragnelle is awesome," Magnus corrects, immediately and emphatically, with a guilty little look at Sagramore. It is, at least, a distraction from thinking about Galahad suffering and not telling him about it!!! "She can't do dream stuff, though, just tree stuff." Something is tickling at the back of his mind, though. Like the hair is raising on the back of his neck? It's not, actually, but it kind of feels like it is. He frowns, trying to place it.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji has never met Ragnelle and has no opinion on her. Also, it is probably wildly obvious which person at the mansion he trusts the least. Belaboring the point will do nothing useful in this moment; he is convinced that Luo Binghe is innocent of this particular violation. "That is why I spoke with Master Asmodean, in hopes that he would know of a third resident with dream manipulation powers."

[sagramore]

Sagramore throws Magnus a doubtful look.

"But he didn't, I presume."

[summerdude]

"I mean, how are we even defining 'dream powers?'" Magnus asks, wanting to be a bigger part of the conversation. "Like, do my dream powers count as dream powers?" He glances quickly between Lan Wangji and Sagramore. "Um, they're not evil, though, and I'd never give Galahad a nightmare even if they were evil."

[lightbearinglord]

The fact that would Magnus would never do such a thing is so obvious that it doesn't require comment. "He did not," Lan Wangji confirms to Sagramore. "If there is a third person here who can send cruel dreams to others, their identity is yet a mystery."

[sagramore]

"The thing I most mislike is that I can't really imagine who it would be. There are any number of people with magical abilities, but none of them seem likely to trifle with Galahad." Janet, for example, he can see being petty, but at the same time there's no reason she should care about Galahad at all (and to be honest if Lan Wangji brought her up he'd probably argue her case). Nightingale similarly has no reason to be interested in Galahad. Crowley or Aziraphale could, theoretically, but both of them are probably thrilled not to think about him ever again.

[summerdude]

"...Should I be using my dream powers?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's gaze snaps toward Magnus. "Would you be able to determine the identity of such a person? Master Asmodean could not."

[sagramore]

Sagramore looks over at him intently.

[summerdude]

"Like, maybe?" Magnus tries to think about this seriously, fiddling with the blender lid absently. "I'd give it a 60% chance. Maybe 85, if they're an active threat--" he's given to assume anyone targeting Galahad is an active threat-- "and they're doing anything someone could watch or, like, observe in some way."

He thinks for a moment more, chin jutting forward determinedly, and then gives a nod and looks up and between both of them. "You'll have to fight me, though. Maybe both of you at once? Um, I can see things that are actively happening, especially if it's like, a threat or whatever, but I have to be dead or passed out, first, and the best way to do that is if I overextend myself while Jack is also overextending himself, so that when I pick him up again, it's a double whammy."

And then -- much more with an air of a lovelorn teenager than someone aware that this might not be the best thing to admit to two men who feel varying degrees of paternal toward him -- "...I've been trying to find a good way of passing out since I stopped, like, training so I can see Alex again but nothing else is as, like, accurate." Then, more brightly, "But hey, maybe it won't take as much now, since I'm out of practice!"

[sagramore]

Sagramore's gaze swings back to Lan Wangji with a look that says fairly eloquently we both hate this, right? "So when you've passed out you can observe dreams maybe, but in order to get you there someone has to wear you down."

[lightbearinglord]

On cue, Lan Wangji meets Sagramore's eyes with slightly more subtle but equally obvious horror. "And you are asking us to simultaneously fight you to achieve this."

[summerdude]

"Like... if it's necessary?" Magnus says. "I can also observe things outside of dreams?"

[sagramore]

"Explain."

[lightbearinglord]

Only by the grace of considerable self-discipline does Lan Wangji catch the moment that the water begins to boil around the pork. He barely glances at it as he gestures to lower the heat. He pins Magnus with an expectant look.

[summerdude]

Magnus sighs. "Basically every single time I die or pass out, I have this, like, dream-vision of something that has either just happened, or something that's currently happening. Back in Valhalla, during the first few years when Loki was actively trying to get free and start Ragnarok, it was usually about him, or Hel, or Fenris Wolf, or maybe some jotuns who were also trying to stir up trouble. After I flyted him, sometimes it was just, like, random stuff happening in the Nine Worlds that I needed to be aware of. Stuff to help a quest. Stuff my -- stuff Frey wanted me to know about." Okay, so that happened twice. It still counts! "That kind of thing. Usually whoever I'm watching doesn't know I'm there, unless they're, like, super magical... so, basically just Loki, and only part of the time." He sighs and sets the blender lid on the counter, scuffing his toe along the ground. "When I first got here, that's how I tried to reach Alex, you know? Since he's --" he cuts himself off there. "Anyway, it didn't work. When she was here she said that from what I described, I saw her but she didn't see me. But TL;DR: I see whatever's the biggest threat to me or people close to me every time, so if Dream Person is actually the biggest threat here, odds are I'll see who it is and what they're doing." He pauses. "And they probably won't know, unless they're literally a god. And not just any god, a god of magic and deception and stuff." He perks up for a moment, and then makes another face, slumping again. "Never mind. I doubt it's our new godly resident. The worst thing Mr. D has done in recent history is piss my cousin off."

[sagramore]

"Dionysus? No, he doesn't really seem the sort, frankly. In any case, I see the advantages of what you're describing, but it seems like something that puts you at risk nevertheless. Those are the rules for your world, after all, and we're in an entirely new world here. Perhaps this person can tell what you're doing regardless of the fact you're a god."