Open: Well young lady, have you been good to your mother?

[biteybaby]

Sunny Baudelaire has been having quite an exciting time lately. For once, "exciting" means "filled with fun" and not "filled with terror, pain, panic, and an inordinate amount of running and hiding". Without the threat of Count Olaf and his associates finding her in an attempt to steal the Baudelaire fortune, Sunny has had more time for her studies. "Her studies" is a phrase which here means, "catching up on learning how to do things most people take for granted".

She has finally learned how to walk. She thinks the amount of words she is now able to say has increased. Magnu has even taught her a few things in sign language, which she finds is a little easier than speaking. The biggest news is that she now has five very sharp teeth, as opposed to the four she started with when she arrived.

Shortly before she arrived, Mr Poe had told the Baudelaires about an aphorism: It takes a village to raise a child. She wonders if that is why she has had so much time to grow. Her days are spent rotating around between several different guardians, babysitters, and friends, and it has been lovely. She hopes her siblings are having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D.

Unfortunately I must report that her siblings are not having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D., nor are they even still in the village of V.F.D. Sunny does not know this. It would probably be for the best if nobody tells her.

Comments

[lightbearinglord]

It's hardly a shock. If Sunny had living parents, ones who loved her, surely the mansion would not have taken her from them. It sends a little pang through Lan Wangji anyway. "A-Yuan's parents were lost in a war," he says quietly, "but he had aunts and uncles to care for him. When he lost them, too, I found him."

[biteybaby]

“Violet Klaus lost,” Sunny says, explaining further. They must be lost, otherwise they would have followed her here by now.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji can't determine who Violet and Klaus are in relation to Sunny, but if they represent another loss she has suffered, he doesn't need to know more. She also can't possibly remain in the cabinet as she thinks of this. Gentle, he scoops her out and into his arms.

[biteybaby]

Sunny rests her head on Lan Wangji’s shoulder. She wonders what her siblings are doing. Are they still at the village where Mr. Poe was sending them when Sunny woke up here? Or have they had to move on, as they have had to move on from every guardian so far? Did they ever find the Quagmire triplets? Are they looking for Sunny? Was the name V.F.D. another red herring, and the village was actually so lovely that Violet and Klaus chose to stay there instead of find a way to follow Sunny here? As great as things are here, and regardless of however many new friends she has made, if she could go back to her siblings she would. Why aren’t they following her here? Surely Violet could invent a way to find her, or maybe Klaus has read something about it in a book. Did Count Olaf finally get them? Sunny can’t think about that scenario, as she finds it is even worse than the scenario where they simply do not wish to come get her.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji kneels where he is for a moment, holding her. She's startlingly warm, just the way he remembers the shocking warmth of A-Yuan wrapped around his leg. He sets a hand at her head, smoothing the growing wisps of her light hair, then shuts the cabinet and stands. He shuffles her weight a little so that she's tucked against him with one arm and can stay with him as he begins tidying the kitchen with the other hand. Her weight barely registers -- he can carry his entire grown husband with one arm. A baby is no trouble.

[biteybaby]

Sunny is certainly smaller than a grown husband, and similarly smaller than a grown spouse of any gender. In fact, there are few people who she is not smaller than.

She rides along as Lan Wangji cleans, still resting on his shoulder. She wishes Violet and Klaus knew how great it is here, so they would want to come as well. Klaus would love to spend time in the library. She as a feeling he would set up a little bed inside it and just never leave the room. Violet would enjoy how the closets and cabinets and drawers and boxes and dressers here seem to have whatever it is you are looking for. She could invent anything she wanted, because she would always have the correct tools and supplies needed. The best part though would be that none of them would need to worry about Count Olaf or his associates ever again, because Crowley said so, and Crowley is much more trustworthy than Mr Poe or anyone else back home. The only person who has shown up here with any sort of tattoo on their ankles was that nice man who wanted to look at butterflies. Sunny cannot imagine Count Olaf ever caring about a butterfly, unless that butterfly was the heir to an enormous fortune, and Count Olaf was caring about kidnapping it in an attempt to steal said enormous fortune.

[lightbearinglord]

Sunny is a soothing presence even in her silence, a tidy bundle of life and potential, trusting him enough -- something that seems exceptionally precious after all her losses -- to put her cheek on his shoulder and let him hold her. Having only one hand available lengthens the cleaning process, but Lan Wangji doesn't mind it. He certainly minds it less than he would mind disturbing her. Her parents are gone; she has been taken from her home. The mansion has a collective responsibility to her.

In time, he's tidied the kitchen to his satisfaction. The room is fragrant with the slow-simmering beef, spiced and spicy in equal measure, and Lan Wangji sets Sunny carefully atop the counter again. "We have yet to add one thing to this dish," he says, meeting her gaze with solemnity.

[biteybaby]

Sunny perks up when Lan Wangji speaks to her again. "Plate?" she asks, assuming the one thing left to add is something to serve it on. She can remember once, not too long before her parents perished in a terrible fire, when all five of the Baudelaires went out to eat at a restaurant, and her father's food was served on a sizzling hot cast iron pan, but normally she thinks food is added to a plate or bowl before serving. If you are curious, Sunny ate a mixture of rice and refried beans that she picked up with her hands out of a tiny bowl her mother made sure did not fall off the table.

[lightbearinglord]

Although this expression doesn't constitute a smile, it is almost overtly indulgent. "Noodles," he corrects her.

[biteybaby]

"No plate?"

[lightbearinglord]

"No plate. We will need a bowl when it is finished."

[biteybaby]

Sunny stands up on the counter so she can open a cabinet and pulls out a bear bowl and offers it to Lan Wangji. "Later," she says, meaning "for later".

[lightbearinglord]

He takes it, of course, without hesitation, and examines the design with a serious expression still in place. "Thank you. Wei Ying will enjoy this."

[biteybaby]

"Welcome," she replies with a grin, proud to have been able to assist.

[lightbearinglord]

For the time being, he sets it to the side. From the refrigerator, he retrieves a quantity of fresh rice noodles, the work of the previous morning, and shows them to Sunny. "This is what I meant." With no further ceremony, he uncovers the wok and coaxes the noodles into the broth with the tip of a chopstick.

[biteybaby]

"Sketti," Sunny says, knowledgably, while watching.

[lightbearinglord]

"Rice noodles," Lan Wangji corrects her -- politely, so that she'll know what is going into the dish. He gives it all a stir.

[biteybaby]

"Oh. Eyesnudels."

[lightbearinglord]

"Precisely." The noodles will take very little time to cook, as fresh as they are. "Will you help me deliver dinner to Wei Ying?"

[biteybaby]

"Uh huh!"

[lightbearinglord]

Her enthusiasm earns her a small, sincere smile. With a gesture, Lan Wangji snuffs the burner entirely, and then he begins dishing beef, noodles, and broth into the bear-patterned bowl Sunny so thoughtfully provided.

[biteybaby]

Sunny watches closely.

[lightbearinglord]

He finds a serving tray and arrays everything neatly: the bowl with the food, a spoon and a pair of chopsticks, a cup and a jar of Emperor's Smile that he retrieves from the liquor cabinet adjacent to the kitchen. It will all be askew shortly, and Wei Ying won't put half as much care into returning everything to its place; he doesn't care. Once everything is arranged, he scoops up Sunny with one arm and balances the food across his free hand.

[biteybaby]

Sunny is very impressed by his balancing skills, and she wonders if he has ever worked as a server in a restaurant. They all seem to be very skilled at carrying trays with plates and cups and bowls on top, usually without even spilling anything. She doesn't know if that is a prerequisite to the job, or if it is something most people pick up after training. She didn't need to balance trays of plates and cups and bowls when she has had jobs.

[lightbearinglord]

Wei Ying will be just expecting him. He may be growing bored with his work, or freshly inside from the woods and smelling of spring growth, or reclining on their bed with his hair around his shoulders and a lurid novel in his hands, a dozen teasing phrases of half-veiled love ready on his tongue. Lan Wangji knows that he will be delighted to see Sunny alongside his dinner, no matter what is occupying his time this evening. "Thank you for your help," he tells Sunny, and then he makes his way to the stairs, all of these precious things held with care.