Perhaps Instead Of A Homeless Teen I Shoulda Been A 19th Century Newsboy, Given All These Headlines

[summerdude]

It's been a big few days in general, and this day, specifically, has also been pretty big, and so Magnus does the number two thing that reliably lets him reach a place where he feels more grounded: he goes to Hanguang-jun's parlor at a time when Hanguang-jun is also there playing music. (Number one, of course, is burying his face against Alex's belly and groaning. Number three, embarrassingly, is still finding a summery spot outside and praying to his dad.)

This time, he has a stack of comic books to go through -- he wants to start making tailored recommendation lists, for Tally and Lancelot (who he's made general recommendations to), but also for Galahad and Sagramore and Sunny and Hanguang-jun and Gideon and Shen Yuan and Gu Xiang and Tress and Nina. So he lays on the ground for a while, paging through issues while Hanguang-jun quietly picks out a tune on his qin and Danding nibbles his hair.

But after about half an hour, he's still got excitement and overstimulation brimming through his veins, so he sets Sensational She-Hulk #39 to one side (it's definitely going on Lancelot's list, probably also Tally's, possibly also Gideon's), twists his head, and waits for a lull in the music. When it comes, he says, "Hanguang-jun? I have... stuff. Not crisisy stuff. Mostly good stuff, and also... some questionsy stuff."

Comments

[summerdude]

"No, but the questionsy stuff I'm pretty sure is gonna bring down the, like, tone in here."

[lightbearinglord]

That in itself has Lan Wangji sitting straighter, his gaze sharpening with wariness. "Magnus," he prompts, presuming the name alone will be enough to indicate that Magnus should ask his questions, even if the tone in the room does worsen.

[summerdude]

"Okay." Magnus sits up a little straighter, fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt. "You know how you said I should come to you, right? If I have, like. Questions, or concerns... things like that? Times where I might be jumping to conclusions and need to check on something?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Yes." With a very small and fleeting frown, Lan Wangji sets his qin carefully to the side. It seems improper to leave a barrier between himself and Magnus during whatever discussion they are about to have.

[summerdude]

Oh hey, there's free real estate! Magnus squirms so that his head is in Hanguang-jun's lap. "You can fob this off on someone else," he promises. "I know you're, like. A man of few words. But, um, I was talking to Galahad recently," if by 'recently' we mean 'a thread that started in August and wrapped this week,' "about how mad he is at Luo Binghe. And I think, um. I think I need more words than I've, like. Gotten."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji stills, only for a moment, and he is naturally so still that it is barely perceptible. After that moment, he does lift a hand to brush the hair back from Magnus' temple. Quietly and evenly, he says, "I am still angry with Luo Binghe, too. What do you need to know?"

[summerdude]

"Details?" Magnus says, carefully. "I know that you and Galahad both really hate him because he hurt Claudius a lot, but..." He pauses. "I want to ask if that's all but I don't mean all like all as in that's not enough of a reason, you know? I want to make sure I understand all of it."

[lightbearinglord]

Indeed, at first, Lan Wangji only wants to ask what more he needs. Claudius was hurt. Luo Binghe is unrepentant. But he directs himself through another painstaking breath. He recalls cautioning Claudius about blaming Aornis' nightmares on Luo Binghe. He likes to believe that Magnus would trust him and Galahad, and that he would be unlikely to attribute their hatred to mere rumor, but he will endeavor to answer to the best of his abilities. Galahad and Magnus are so close; he has often presumed that Galahad will have told Magnus every relevant detail. Even so, he will begin at the beginning.

"Claudius and Luo Binghe shared a flirtation. During their encounter, Luo Binghe slipped Claudius his blood in the soup they were preparing together." His voice remains soft and even, recitative. He could merely be telling a story of the cultivation world, recounting some well-known history. "When another person ingests Luo Binghe's blood, it grants him the ability to control that person's body. He may puppet his target, or he may cause intense pleasure or pain." Needless to say, he chose the latter for Claudius. "He may also kill the infected at will. When next they met, Luo Binghe was angry. He accused Claudius of attempting to undermine his empire by way of that flirtation. Claudius mounted a defense with words, some of them lies, the only weapon available to him. Luo Binghe was not appeased. He began the torture then.

"In Claudius' world, such things are not possible. I have heard of nothing like this in mine, either. Claudius and I were not this close yet, but we were friends. He came to me." His jaw tightens a little, and he withdraws his hand from Magnus' hair so that he will not curl his fingers so forcefully that it hurts him. "I have seen gruesome things in my time, but I had not previously seen a man pale and desperately painful at the whim of his own blood. I could stop it temporarily, but I could not cure his ailment. We knew its origin only by asking Peak Lord Shen." Magnus already knows this part of the story: Shen Yuan's flippancy, his apparent disinterest in whether Claudius lived or die.

[summerdude]

Magnus is quiet for some time, processing all of this, one piece of information at a time. "Thank you," he says, after a few moments. He loves Galahad with every fiber of his being, but has to admit that Galahad isn't exactly Extreme Detail Guy, and so it's helpful to have it all laid out like this, because Magnus definitely drew some incorrect conclusions from the information he did have. The specific nature of the blood's use, for example. "I didn't know all of that."

[lightbearinglord]

"You're welcome." Lan Wangji pets Magnus' hair again, just once, careful, and then draws his hand back once more. He will not forgive himself if he harms Magnus inadvertently. "I could not ask Claudius to confront his tormentor, and so I searched for him. You already know how I walked the mansion for the duration of a night until I came across Luo Binghe." It was not so long ago that he has forgotten his own weariness. One night without sleep is not enough to tire his body, but a night of fear that his new friend might die at the casual inclination of an emperor sufficed.

"I demanded Claudius' release from pain. Luo Binghe laughed at me and insisted that he has no empathy. Only then did he tell me that he had already released Claudius." Lan Wangji was disinclined to believe him; only when he found Claudius and Crowley, and when he scoured Claudius' meridians for himself, did he take a full breath again. "Months later, I learned that he had done so not because he discovered his empathy after all, but because the young mistress Nina convinced him to."

[summerdude]

"Yeah," says Magnus, hesitant. "They're good friends."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji already knew that Nina and Luo Binghe were closer than he might like them to be, but it still nags at him, an unavoidable current of fear on Nina's behalf. "Mn," he says, briefly quieter still. "I knew that I could not defeat Luo Binghe in battle. He might easily kill me. But I was not willing to speak with him thereafter." A little helplessly, tiredly amused at the pettiness of this, but having decided already not to spare Magnus any details, he says, "He came to speak with me about his romantic prospects and I ignored him. He lit my calligraphy on fire."

[summerdude]

"He what?!" Magnus laughs, incredulous.

[lightbearinglord]

"It was easily extinguished," Lan Wangji assures him. "Next I heard of him, he had assumed my face and body in your dreams." He does still truly hate the thought of this. He has a deep and instinctive protectiveness of Magnus, of his relationship with Magnus, of his control over his own actions. Magnus, his head in Lan Wangji's lap, might feel the tension that tightens his body at the memory. "He finds it intolerable that I cannot look past what he did to Claudius. It was not long before he sent me a painful dream of my own."

[summerdude]

Magnus tilts his head, looking up the long line of Hanguang-jun's torso to the stormy look on his face. Well, stormy by Hanguang-jun standards. There's the lightest furrow to his brow and the smallest tension around his mouth, which means he's really pissed. "He sent you a bad dream?"

[lightbearinglord]

"For some time, I was uncertain whether the dream came from him or from Aornis. But I can remember now that I met Aornis well after this dream." It doesn't matter; what Luo Binghe has done to him is only half as relevant as what he has done to Claudius. "He entered Claudius' dreams, too. It was a less cruel effort, but no less manipulative." And, no matter how Claudius laughed about that dream with him and Crowley, he still considers it unconscionable for Luo Binghe to have invaded his mind at all. Surely he ought to have been satisfied with his temporary but complete control of Claudius' body.

[summerdude]

Magnus frowns. "What did he do?" he asks, not fully expecting Hanguang-jun to give him an answer -- dreams can be pretty private. "When was all this?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Last autumn. Melanippe." Lan Wangji is quiet for a beat, but he does then add, "It was a dream that asked me to choose one person to save amongst all the people who mean the most to me. Wei Ying, my uncle, my older brother, Sizhui, Claudius, and you."

[summerdude]

Magnus doesn't know Melanippe from Porphyrion, so the 'autumn' designation is helpful.

About a million questions bubble up inside him at the rest of what Hanguang-jun has said, though, starting with, me? Even back then? and spiraling on from there. Instead of asking most of them, though, he frowns. "Like," he says. "A month and a half after I got here?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn." Slightly eased now, Lan Wangji smooths that same stray lock of Magnus' light hair back from his forehead again.

[summerdude]

"That doesn't make any sense."

[lightbearinglord]

A little surprised, Lan Wangji asks, "Why not?"

[summerdude]

Magnus frowns. "He gave me a dream then, too. But it was an apology dream."

[lightbearinglord]

Frankly, Lan Wangji is very surprised to hear that Luo Binghe is capable of apology. "He apologized to you? He has refused to apologize to Claudius."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, basically. He said he didn't mean to harm me when he, um. When he pretended to be you, and as a show of good faith and to make up for it he wanted to give me a good dream. So I made him have an actual conversation with me."