It's Parent-Teacher Midafternoon At The Ol' Secret Training Grounds [closed]

[summerdude]

Magnus, who now definitely knows that many mansion residents keep specific daily schedules (thanks Galahad!), can reliably find Hanguang-jun whenever he needs him. (Unless it's the part of the schedule when Hanguang-jun is alone with Wei Wuxian, in which case Magnus can find him but, for the sake of his own mental peace, elects to never ever do that unless it's a genuine emergency.) He can also reliably find Galahad, Sunny, at least one of their shared fathers, Tress, and sometimes Claudius, except Claudius's unpredictability is genuinely unpredictable, as opposed to, say, Tally's unpredictability, which is predictably unpredictable.

Lancelot is definitely a regular schedule kind of guy, but outside of their training sessions, Magnus has no idea what it is. Magnus asks Galahad since Galahad is his go-to calendar and schedules guy; Galahad's brow wrinkles infinitesimally in the way that, on someone else, would be an incredulous, laughing 'what are you up to?' and his lips quirk when Magnus clarifies that he has really reasonable regular normal reasons for wanting to know. (Then Galahad tells him Susan's schedule, which is helpful, because Magnus is generally interested in avoiding her.)

All of this to say that Magnus doesn't actually manage to track Lancelot down and give him a heads up on the same morning he non-randomly encounters Hanguang-jun after dropping Sunny back with their dads, and impulsively asks "So, wanna do parent-teacher conference day? Me and Lancelot train after lunch in that clearing way out past Dads' house."

Whatever. He'd cleared that it was okay with Lancelot at, like, some point, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

So in the end, Lancelot gets about thirty seconds' warning that Hanguang-jun will be joining, between when Magnus rocks up, practice sword in one hand, shield in the other, and Jack flying around behind him, calling, "How's it going, Swordmaster Dickface^*? We've got company today," and when Hanguang-jun alights from Bichen.


*He's still workshopping appropriate nicknames

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji, of course, is observing with a perfectly expressionless expression in place. He notes all the ways in which Magnus has improved: his increased confidence, the concision of his movement, the way he has learned to inhabit his own body with greater comfort. If this is the unchanging body he is to have for the rest of his days, that comfort will serve him well.

He meets Magnus' gaze with a little warmth, nearly invisible to the average observer. "The use of the shield remains novel to me," he remarks; normally he would say nothing at all here, but he has the sense that Magnus wants to be assured of him. He doesn't raise his voice at all, but it still carries.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"If we were fencing, we'd have no shields-- but Magnus requested this style of fighting, and I was glad to oblige."

He returns to his spot, taking up his stance again and saying to Magnus, "The point of fencing is, of course, to practice one's skills but it is also for sport and enjoyment."

[summerdude]

"The swords are so skinny they can't even do anything. They have Fencing To the Death in Valhalla and it always takes forever because they can barely stab." Magnus wrinkles his nose. "Usually the fencers end up bludgeoning each other with their helmets to get the job done." This time he's going to let Lancelot start, so he makes a come at me, bro sort of gesture around the hilt. (The gesture? Is Magnus flipping Lancelot the bird. Whatever, he knows what Magnus means by that.)

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji could comment on the obvious fact that an activity intended for practice and sportsmanship should not need death as its aim. He could also comment on the dismal brutality of Valhalla. But, of course, he makes no comment at all, and he schools his expression to bland neutrality as he prepares to observe their second round.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Magnus," Lancelot says, level and nearly as dryly as Galahad can often be, "I am not fencing Laertes to the death."

Then he launches himself toward Magnus, fairly aggressively, testing whether he thinks to deflect without creating a larger opening.

[summerdude]

"Wait. Fencing is—" Don't say foreplay, don't say foreplay. "—flirting????" Magnus demands, but he's not so distracted that he forgets to block, which he does by dropping into a low-to-the-ground-crouch, bringing his shield up, so Lancelot will have to adjust; he's banking on the strength in his legs and his general sprightliness to be able to get the upper (lower?) hand.

[lanselos_du_lac]

It's effective, and if this were something more like melee training Lancelot might seek to make Magnus fall and force him to yield. Instead, he adjusts his swing and uses his momentum to turn and bring the blade in toward Magnus' side.

"Think about it," is all he says.

[summerdude]

"Think about flirting?" Magnus demands. He's not as distracted as he sounds, and he shifts, knocking Lancelot's sword aside with the flat of his blade and trying to bring his own up under Lancelot's arm. "You? Flirting? With Laerdad?" He gags theatrically, twisting his blade and surging forward. "--Oh, by the way, I told him about your secret juggling-fu. You're welcome."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji remains quiet, so as not to interrupt them, but he does think with some well-worn satisfaction of the night he met Wei Ying: the moonlight, Wei Ying's irrepressible smile, and the perfect match between their swordsmanship as they danced across the Cloud Recesses walls. He knows precisely what Lancelot means.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot's face sets in an expression that probably looks somewhat dire, but in actuality is him stifling a confused outburst at both Laerdad and juggling-fu. He forces himself to focus, narrowly dodging Magnus' blade and twisting a bit to slam his shield down into Magnus'.

[summerdude]

"Oh, nice one," says Magnus, who is finally — finally — letting himself forget that Hanguang-jun is right there and have fun. His arm is totally ringing with the force of Lancelot's shield-slam, and he tries to use that leverage to shove him back.

[lightbearinglord]

Because Lan Wangji has never fought with a shield, his interest in its use is wholly sincere. His gaze sharpens on the push and pull of their two shields -- although hopefully it is an intangible sharpening, for Magnus' benefit.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot lets himself be shoved back, shifting his weight so as to keep his footing; his hope is that this will make Magnus overbold, make him think he has an opening.

[summerdude]

Unfortunately, he's actually a good teacher, and Magnus scrambles back into a better position, circling, looking for an actual opening.

[lightbearinglord]

Fortunately, then, this little flash of clear insight from Magnus does not escape Lan Wangji, and if someone who were skilled at reading his expressions glanced his way, that person might notice his fond approval.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh, very good," Lancelot says, breathless and grinning, even as he resets his stance, moving to keep facing Magnus.

[summerdude]

Magnus grins back, some of his hair in his teeth and a joyous light in his eyes, and then comes at Lancelot like a whirlwind, angling so that Lancelot will have to keep turning to face him head-on, aiming for a spot under Lancelot's arm that he hopes will be awkward to block. He's not looking at Hanguang-jun at all, so he misses the approval; he's now totally focused on the fight.

[lightbearinglord]

That is just as well, and perhaps even likelier to fan the spark of that approval into something more robust. Lan Wangji continues to observe with sincere fascination; he is more attentive to Magnus, interested by the way he has changed since the last time they fought side by side nearly a year ago, but his eyes often light on Lancelot, the more proficient of the two, as well.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot's advantages are: decades of rigorous training and drilling; actual battle experience (in which dying is definitely to be avoided); and a not-insignificant amount of natural aptitude and endurance. Of these, two give him an edge over Magnus and his einherjar enhancements. But now that Magnus has been training with him for a while, and taking things seriously to boot, Lancelot is finding that it's rather difficult to keep up with him. He finds that he has, of late, been tempted now and then to pull the sorts of stunts he would in a real melee tourney back at court. To take what might feel to Magnus like a cheap shot, or to disarm him; to go hard enough to push Magnus back and eventually put him on the ground. He doesn't ever do this, though.

Magnus still has things to learn, refinements to make -- everyone does. But he is terribly fast, and Lancelot has to put in real work to deflect or block his whirlwind of strikes. He manages to do this, though it's a near thing, and then he shifts enough to twist and snake around to hit Magnus' thigh with the flat of his blade.

[summerdude]

Magnus is halfway into autopiloting his usual reaction when Lancelot gets a hit whenever someone else has joined them -- clapping his hand to the spot, letting out an almighty wail, and shouting, 'he got me! avenge me!' (usually their visitors are Sunny -- who likes Playing Swords and who Magnus doesn't want to worry and also it's really cute when she goes raaaaa and does her little chubby-leg toddler run at him, sometimes with her little wooden practice sword in hand and but more often with just her teeth bared -- or Alex, who sometimes sides with Lancelot, sometimes shouts totally unhelpful things like 'sigma delta offensive!' or 'fourth down!', and on one very notable occasion, kissed the boo-boo as soon as they were done) -- when he remembers that it's Hanguang-jun with them, and Hanguang-jun probably won't react in that way. He gets as far as the wail, then pulls up short, replays Lancelot's movements in his mind, and tries to recreate the twist.

"Like that?" he asks, running through the motions twice more.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, just so," Lancelot looks pleased with him. He lowers his blade and shield. "You've been sparring with Alex, now and then, haven't you?"

[summerdude]

"Ummmmmmmm," says Magnus, and turns bright red. "Sort of?"

[lightbearinglord]

At this, Lan Wangji makes nearly involuntary eye contact with Magnus, who appears to have erred in his efforts to look at anything or anyone other than Lancelot. His eyebrows twitch upward, an expression of very, very subtle amusement on his face.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot's own eyebrows are rather raised; he glances over at Lan Wangji. Is it the sparring as flirting thing, or something more?

He certainly is not going to share any details of his own sparring-as-foreplayflirting sessions with Magnus or Lan Wangji, and his own urge to tease Magnus seems mean-spirited in general, given present company. So instead he says, "That's well. Our sessions alone would not be enough practice to truly build your skills. I am glad that Alex is a help to you."

[summerdude]

"Yeah," says Magnus, loudly, directing the full force of his attention up to Jack. "Yeah, Alex is helpful."

Jack, a traitor of a blade, pipes up, "Wait, you mean like when he turned into a bear and started--"

"REALLY HELPFUL," Magnus says, even more loudly. Someone -- not him -- might describe him as yelling over the sound of Jack's voice. "I ALSO PLAY SWORDS WITH SUNNY TOO BUT THAT'S NOT REALLY TRAINING."