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[ mal at least has the decency to knock before letting herself into wei wuxian's apartment. but let herself in she does, calling for his name, and waiting for him to appear before shoving a (handmade) red envelope at him. ]

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

[ yes, she practiced this phrase. extensively. be proud of her. ]

[He is in fact extremely proud of her, and the grin that splits open across his face makes it quite clear. He hadn't told her about the coming holiday either, which means she'd either already known about it or had done her research for him. Either way, the words fill him with warmth.

The red envelope makes him laugh though, even as he accepts it from her with a shake of his head.]

What is this? How old do you think I am? Just because I have the maturity of a toddler, now you get to claim to be my senior? [His eyes are twinkling with laughter as he teases, and despite his words he holds the envelope like a precious gift.]

[ mal already won the holiday. that smile alone? she won the (chinese new) year, and it literally just started. ]

If you don't want it, you can give it back. [ teasing, she makes a grab for it.

lonnie introduced her to the tradition. mal, always intrigued by art, had been taken by the color of the envelopes, a red brighter than there ever was in the isle. every color, truly, was brighter in auradon. but the school had always been more of a pastel nightmare. northern wei, by contrast, was bold, captivating—a fitting home for someone as fierce as lonnie.

she forgot about the envelopes until she saw a classmate including them in her class project. mal painted and decorated it herself: chinese dragons flying above a tranquil lotus pond. with immense care, she copied wei wuxian’s name at the top using traditional characters. calligraphy eludes her so she used her own hand. the task wasn’t to be perfect; he has certainly seen enough to know she is far from it. but she knows how much she misses auradon, and only desired to bring a little piece of his home to him.

he deserves every joy in life. ]

[He gracefully steps out of her reach, pulling the red envelope to his chest and darting away.]

You can't take back a gift! [He flashes her a grin and then turns his attention to the red envelope in his hands. In all honesty, monetary gifts from friends make him feel weird, but the hand decorated envelope itself is far more interesting to him then whatever's inside. His fingers slide carefully over the characters of his name and his grin softens into something softer and sweeter.

The lotus pond might have been a more bitter than sweet image in another circumstance, but from Mal it only makes him feel warm.]

Aiyah, is there any end to your talent? [He teases, and then sets the envelope aside for later, tugging her along further inside.]

Me and Lan Zhan are having dinner together later. Do you want to join us? Apparently he found a restaurant here that serves proper new years food and everything. [They'll also be attempting dumplings together on their own, but that part will be just the two of them.]

Does Lan Zhan know it's open invite?

[ she maybe tilted the tone of her voice up when she said his name in imitation of wei wuxian. settling against the kitchen island (after kicking off her shoes at the door because she's not an animal, jay's claim to the contrary aside), she catches her chin in hand and innocently bats her eyelashes at him. ]

[Wei Wuxian turns to glare at her over his shoulder as he digs in the fridge for two sodas.]

Yes, he's invited his student, you monster. She hates me and she's adorable, you'll love her. Anyway, you don't really have a choice because it's a family thing. [He says the last part teasingly, but he doesn't look at her as he turns to fill two cups with ice.]

[ with that description, how could she not. may wei wuxian be terrorized by adorable little girls for a long, long time.

the mischievous glint in mal's green eyes softens. her voice is warm. ]

In that case, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

[He flashes her another smile and then passes her a glass.]

Good. Now I won't be the only one drinking. [He's pretty sure he could talk Jory into drinking before he could talk Lan Wangji into it, not that he would. Well. No, he wouldn't.]

Hey, I was wondering if you could help me with something?

I am not doing your makeup again, I meant what I said.

[ would literally rather pull out one of her own teeth. it would be less painful than trying to keep him still for any amount of time.. ]

[He snorts and shakes his head, pulling out his phone and handing it over to her.]

I want to buy some new clothes. I've seen some stuff on TV that looks a lot more like what I'm used to, but mixed with—[He gestures around them to signify "all of this"]

Do you know what I mean? I haven't seen anything like that in stores here, but it's a thing, right? On the internet somewhere? [He doesn't understand much about the internet but he understands it has everything.]

Ohh. Yeah, you can buy online. [ she takes his phone from him and— ]

Have you still not put a passcode on this thing?

[ jiang cheng voice: wei wuxian! ]

[Staring at her.]

Why would it need a passcode?

[ mal opens her mouth.

closes it. ]

No. I'm not getting into this on Lunar New Year. [ tomorrow, however…

she opens his web browser, and waits on the search engine. ]

Do you remember the brand? Store name?

Okay, note to self to teach you brands and the assorted other horrors of capitalism. But that can wait until tomorrow.

[ she types in a search query and hopes for the best. once the page loads, she opens the first link and scrolls to the clothes featured. ]

Is this kinda what you were looking for?

Edited 2022-01-12 01:30 (UTC)

[He leans over her shoulder to glance at the screen and brightens immediately, pointing out an image that seems to be what he was going for. It's a modern hanfu style piece, fairly similar to his and Lan Wangji's current looks, but with notable modernized differences.]

This! Are there other kinds like this? [Because it's nice and all, but all of the colors shown are on the light side.]

Oh, maybe I should get something for Lan Zhan too. [He pauses to consider that. His paycheck is modest, but he hasn't actually spent much of it on anything aide from food (and liquor) and other necessities, so he has a decent amount saved up.]

How do you buy them from here? Is this like the stores where everything is already made? Will it take a long time? Is there anything in black? [He doesn't give her time to answer as he shoots off his questions, clearly excited by the prospect of using the internet to buy clothes.]

[ the corner of mal's mouth pulls up. ] Are you actually four-years-old?

[Instinctively, without missing a beat, Wei Wuxian turns to her with a bright grin.]

Xianxian is three. [A second later, he realizes what he's done and he turns his head into her shoulder to hide.]

[ laughing, she gives his head a little shove. ] You're ridiculous.

[ the actual worst. she loves him to pieces. ]

All right, Xianxian. For future reference, you can buy anything on the Internet, and that's a very real warning. Be very careful what you go looking for.

[ the last thing she needs is wei wuxian discovering the dark web. or facebook. ]

But when it comes to clothes, some is already made, which will generally be cheaper, and some designers will ask for your measurements so it'll fit only you. But the cost goes up accordingly. And if you can't find the exact thing you're looking for in one site—

[ she bookmarks the site they were on and heads back to the search page to look for another. she filters the results on the next site, and a cascade of dark colors appear on the screen. ]

You can find it somewhere else.

Edited 2022-01-12 01:57 (UTC)

[After grumbling something incomprehensible into her shoulder, he lifts his head again. With Mal's help, he picks out a handful of things (with one or two intended for Lan Wangji) and Mal shows him how to track their progress in the email she'd also help him set up a while back. Satisfied with his purchases, he pockets his phone and motions Mal back over to the main room, drinks in hand.]

Since you're here, want to help me make something? I've been trying to figure out how to do this since yesterday, but the paper I have is so thick. [He motions to a stack of red paper sitting in a pile along with a pair of scissors, tape, and glue.]

I'm trying to make a lantern.

Oof. Yeah, this paper isn't going to cut it. [ she takes one between her fingers, feeling its thickness.

she makes a little moue. ]

Way I see it, you have two options. One, you try to find a place that sells the kind of paper you need in the hours you have left. Or two, [ she quirks her eyebrows at him, ] I enchant the paper.

[He snorts and shoves the pile at her, relief in his expression.]

I looked everywhere. If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it. It's not like we have to have them or anything, but it would be...it'd be nice.

[ one spell later, mal shoves the pile, now comprised of delicate and thin red sheets, back. ]

Next time, you can search for specialty shops nearby online. Or just buy directly on the Internet.

Ugh. [He shakes his head, wrinkling his nose.] That involves foresight Mal. Who has time for that?

[He grins at her after and begins to gather the paper up along with some thin wire that he pulls from his work space.] Have you ever made lanterns before? Want to learn?

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