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

[summerdude]

"I dunno, I think you could figure it out," Magnus insists. "It's -- no offense, Hanguang-jun, but it doesn't seem to be very economical, movement-wise."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji gives Magnus a mild sort of look, trying to determine whether this is a sincere concern or an effort to ruffle him. If the latter, it won't prove effective. "None taken."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Perhaps not for us," thoughtfully, "though maybe moreso for thee than for myself. Hanguang-jun has abilities and power far beyond mine own. That may make such expenditures more effective and less costly."

[summerdude]

Magnus isn't convinced of that -- for all his ribbing of Lancelot for all those months that he could defeat him effortlessly (and he might be able to, if he were playing for keeps, but... maybe not, actually?), Lancelot is good. Hanguang-jun is good, too. He can't imagine they're not at the very least evenly matched.

"I wouldn't flip," he says, thoughtfully. "And definitely not back home. Even if I'm fast, everyone else there is, too, and it would make me a bigger target..." Of his hallmates back in Valhalla, Alex was really the only one to ever kill him with any regularity -- flirting, she called it -- but he's pretty sure that even if he practiced a lot, Halfborn could fling one one of his axes or Mallory could hurtle one of her knives in such a way that he'd end up impaled. (They wouldn't. The einherjar of Floor 63 absolutely would, though.)

Which does raise a certain question. "Hanguang-jun, do you mostly fight people who also have swords, or is it more... mixed combat?"

[lightbearinglord]

Any minor misgivings aside, Lan Wangji is pleased to have captured Magnus' attention to this extent. "When I was at war, most of my opponents, fellow cultivators, were armed with swords. Some preferred the bow. In other situations, it varies. I have fought fierce corpses and monsters ten times my size."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot's eyebrows go up -- this very much has his interest, so he lets Magnus and Lan Wangji discuss while he starts setting things to rights.

[summerdude]

"And they're all, like, Hulk Smash vibes, right? The monster and the corpses? They don't really go for weapons?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji doesn't know what Hulk Smash vibes are, necessarily, but he can make a guess. "No. Fierce corpses and monsters do not wield swords."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot chuckles to himself, with another amused glance in their direction.

[summerdude]

"And for you," rounding on Lancelot, "there was mixed weaponry when it counted, right? More often than swords-only?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Yes, just so-- both in tournament and on the battlefield."

[summerdude]

Magnus is pretty sure Hanguang-jun would somersault through midair less if he had more fights against axe-wielding berserkers. And on some level -- a very, very secret level, beknownst only to himself (and, eventually, Alex) -- he's glad he asked the guy more used to melees to teach him. Even if he does never return to Valhalla, even if he never has to fight for real ever again, he likes knowing that the education he's getting is applicable to the experiences he's used to.

"Okay," he nods. "The acrobatics make sense."

[lightbearinglord]

"Thank you," Lan Wangji says dryly, as if he had been waiting with bated breath for Magnus' approval regarding the way he fights. "Gideon calls it cheating."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Gideon is not opposed to using her own strategies, particular to her," Lancelot says with a chuckle. "That's hardly cheating-- she should not say it is so."

[summerdude]

"I should use strategies particular to me," Magnus jokes, gesturing up at Jack.

[lightbearinglord]

"I am willing to spar with Jack again," Lan Wangji says, truthfully enough. He would rather spar than converse with Jack.

[lanselos_du_lac]

In a tone that might not be perceived as joking by anyone else here, Lancelot says, "I have never sparred with Jack-- but I was speaking of the particular strategies of one's own power."

[summerdude]

"I was talking about having Jack attack you from behind while we were sparring."

[lightbearinglord]

"During sparring, I would still call that cheating. During combat with your life at stake, I would be glad you had that particular strategy of your own power."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye," nodding. After putting his blade away he sits, looking fairly relaxed. "As I have said. Sparring is sport -- or it is training, such that in battle one has no need to think. Anything that saves one's life in battle is a worthy strategy."

[summerdude]

"I think that Jack should count as a strategy specific to me during sparring, too. If Gideon and Hanguang-jun both get their personal strategies."

[lightbearinglord]

"Is your enhanced strength and speed not already a strategy specific to you?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"This is my thinking, yes."

[summerdude]

"Most of the people I've, um, sparred with to date have been enhanced, though," Magnus points out. "Plus it's only recently that I've gotten less clumsy when I'm faster than I expect." Thanks, Lancelot!

[lightbearinglord]

"An additional and autonomous weapon is not like an enhancement to one's body," Lan Wangji counters.