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 glances at Lancelot. He is willing, but he waits to see if the same is true of Lancelot before he indicates any answer.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"We can certainly spar," he says easily. "Though in a contest of blades, I believe Hanguang-jun will best me."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, and it'll give me top tips for kicking your ass, dude."

[lightbearinglord]

"Learning is the objective," Lan Wangji notes, giving him a bit of a perturbed look. "Lancelot is your teacher."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Mmn," Lancelot responds, with theatrical thoughtfulness. "He has a certain point, Magnus."

[summerdude]

"You're being weird, teach," Magnus says, and widens his dead-inside eyes. "I thought learning to kick your ass was the point???"

[lightbearinglord]

"Magnus," Lan Wangji says mildly, presuming he will need to say nothing more to make the point of the reproach.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot only laughs at Magnus' expression, "You know well that that's not so. No matter. Hanguang-jun, if you would enjoy sparring I will put the shield aside."

[lightbearinglord]

"I would." Lan Wangji does not need to straighten, not from his already-perfect posture, but that posture does seem to shift slightly, a slide into readiness for a more active role in the afternoon's events. He puts a hand to his hip where Bichen sits.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Excellent," he says. He then works to unbuckle the shield and set it carefully aside, a process which takes a few minutes. Once that's done, he moves into position and gives a polite little bow to indicate that he's ready to begin, then draws his blade and settles into a two-handed stance.

[summerdude]

Magnus scoots out of the way, watching avidly.

[lightbearinglord]

Thus prompted, Lan Wangji draws Bichen. It gleams coldly as he lifts it, the intangible sense of frostiness that always accompanies the sight of its blade. He nods at Lancelot, polite in turn, and then he takes the offensive, descending on Lancelot with a clean slice of his sword.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot does have a moment to think about the fact that he possibly should not have forsaken the shield, given that he's spent so much time with it lately. But wielding his blade in this fashion has been his favorite, his most comfortable method, since he was a teenager -- and it is the way he drills each morning. It's easy to tell his mind to step back and let his senses and training take over.

He deflects Lan Wangji's swing fairly easily, though he is always impressed by his power and precision, and very quickly shifts his momentum to swing his own blade around in an arc to try for a touch on Lan Wangji's right hip.

[summerdude]

Magnus's eyes dart between them, tracking their every move.

[lightbearinglord]

For the purposes of sparring with Lancelot, Lan Wangji means, generally, to avoid anything that Gideon might accusingly call cheating. Bichen's blade gleams, but he will not release its qi; he will not wield it without the use of his hands. That said, there is a certain lightness of movement that he cannot avoid as he whirls away from Lancelot's attempted blow, gravity's hold on him laxer than its hold on most. Without missing a beat, he ducks into a lower stance, Bichen's next arc through the air aimed toward Lancelot's legs.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lan Wangji's fluidity of movement is impressive; it's not quite telegraphing his next move, but there's something dancelike about it that makes Lancelot think they could easily get into the flow of sparring. They've sparred several times now, and Lancelot is starting to think he might understand Lan Wangji's forms and how they may differ from those he has learned. Bichen's sweeping arc does make him have to recalibrate and dodge backward, chuckling a little as he puts some space between them to reset his own stance.

[summerdude]

"Yeah!" Magnus cheers, fully expecting them both to ignore him. "Fuck him up, Hanguang-jun!"

[lightbearinglord]

As anticipated, Lan Wangji ignores Magnus, which might be for the best. Magnus might not have enjoyed his quelling expression at the use of profanity around his teacher, who is, so far as Lan Wangji can tell, a perfectly competent one.

Since they are sparring, and Lan Wangji is not attempting to defeat Lancelot in any meaningful way, he gives him the space to recover. Once he can see that he has his feet back under him, though, he descends on him anew, this time in a whirl of robes from the outset, Bichen's swing bringing it from low, near the ground, up toward Lancelot through the air.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot does cast the quickest glance at Magnus -- it's much closer to the expression he used to wear when Magnus was contrary with him in ways he didn't understand. But he's not so easily distracted. He is starting to learn, better, how to track Lan Wangji's blade among the movement of his robes. They have the advantage, as well, of throwing off Lancelot's read of Lan Wangji's stance, but he's learning to compensate for that as well.

He shifts to the side, away from the direction of Lan Wangji's swing, and deflects Bichen neatly.

[summerdude]

Magnus leans forward, falling silent, captivated. Obviously Hanguang-jun and Lancelot are still getting a sense of each other's moves, but they're both good. Sometimes Magnus forgets just how good they both are at this. He wonders if maybe he should ask to watch them spar again, here and there -- he's already putting together new ideas of things to try during his next lesson.

[lightbearinglord]

The tidiness of Lancelot's parry prompts a single glance of understated appreciation from Lan Wangji, whose response is to backflip, with equal tidiness, away from him to regain his footing and to find a moment to consider strategy. The landing is soft, muffled footfalls on the grass. When he swoops back in, he does it more quickly, with a more precise flick of his blade, testing Lancelot's speed.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Speed is one of Lancelot's strong suits, and his own gaze is keenly sharp on Lan Wangji's movements. He parries Bichen with what deceptively looks like ease. Then he switches his grip, shifting to one hand in order to bring his blade rapidly around and strike at Lan Wangji's legs.

[summerdude]

Whoa. That was actually so fluid. It looked almost like dancing? Enthused, and to his own surprise, Magnus hollers, "Yeah! School him, teach!"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji executes another neat backwards flip, a flurry of robes and a brief defiance of gravity in it, to avoid Lancelot's sword. Rather than giving Magnus the satisfaction of reacting to his heckling, Lan Wangji meets Lancelot's gaze with a little well done nod. He wastes no further time before pressing back in on him with Bichen, a flurry of crisp swings of the blade to match those voluminous robes of his.

[lanselos_du_lac]

As it happens -- as Lancelot probably should have guessed -- it is much easier for him to keep pace with Lan Wangji when wielding his blade one-handed. It also gives him more opportunity to attempt to telegraph his own moves less clearly. He does not have the sort of maneuverability that Lan Wangji's cultivation allows, but he certainly can act with a little less of the expected discipline and more creativity.

It is a very rewarding challenge.

He parries several of those swings, then twists to present his unarmed side while bringing his own blade in with a swing from above.