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]

Lan Wangji glances up from his work at the sound of unsteady but determined footsteps. The work, as it often is, is the task of cooking dinner for his husband. At the moment that Sunny appears in the kitchen entryway, he has just placed a wok, drizzled generously with oil, over a lit burner. Around him are arrayed various ingredients: cassia bark, cooking wine, peppercorns, and a considerable quantity of sliced beef, cooked just moments before and now resting.

It is a subtle softening that his features undertake when he sees her. He takes his hand from the handle of the wok so that he can dip into a little bow.

[biteybaby]

Not only is the sound of her footsteps “unsteady” and “determined”, but it could also accurately be described as “squeaky”, thanks to the shoes she is wearing that squeak every time she takes a step.

She bows back to him, very proud of herself that she can now do that without losing balance, then asks, “Help?” at the same time she signs Sunny help you?

[lightbearinglord]

With interest, Lan Wangji watches the movements of her hands. Even without the verbal component, he would have known the sign for help. As such, he copies the only unfamiliar sign, one hand to his chest and the other aloft, then points to her with a tiny lift of his eyebrows: You? Aloud, he says, "You are welcome to help."

[biteybaby]

“Sunny!” she explains, repeating her name in sign at the same time. Once he tells her she can help, she walks to stand beside him and tries to see by standing on her tippy toes. It does not work as well as she had hoped, and she is still unable to see what is going on.

[lightbearinglord]

The problem is immediately evident, naturally. Lan Wangji scoops Sunny up barely a moment later and deposits her on the counter, what he deems to be a relatively safe distance from the lit burner. From there, she should be able to see that the oil in his wok is starting to gleam with the heat.

[biteybaby]

"Hot," Sunny says, expertly, pointing at the wok. She hasn't had much opportunity to cook thus far in her life, but the few times she has been able to help out have been enlightening. Cooking is related to eating, which is related to biting, so she is very interested in it as well.

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji says, agreeing with Sunny's assessment of the matter. He nods toward the neatly-arranged beef, sitting in slices on a serving platter at the back of the stove atop an unlit burner. "My husband would be disappointed if I did not impart that with much more flavor. Heating the aromatics unlocks their flavor." Demonstratively, he scrapes a little pile of thinly-sliced ginger and garlic into the wok.

[biteybaby]

Sunny help she signs again, then reaches, asking if there's anything she can actually do to help. She arrived too late to thinly-slice the ginger and garlic, unfortunately, but there might be something else she can do other than watch.

[lightbearinglord]

The oil sizzles, as does the ginger and garlic, and the smell quickly fills the kitchen. Lan Wangji picks up his pair of long cooking chopsticks as he contemplates Sunny's offer. "Will you measure out the chili bean paste into my wok? As much as you like." With his free hand, he picks up a little already-open jar of red bean paste and sets it next to Sunny, along with a small spoon. He gives the aromatics a stir, then lifts the wok and brings it to her. This way he can intervene quickly if she does seem likely to come too close and burn herself.

[biteybaby]

Sunny very carefully spoons out a small helping of the chili bean paste. "Small helping" is a phrase which here means, "a very large helping, actually".

[lightbearinglord]

A very large helping is precisely what Lan Wangji wanted. He meets her eye with an impeccably serious look. "Well done." Wei Ying will love it. He returns the wok to the flame and gives it all a brisk stir. The scent in the room shifts to something much spicier as the heat suffuses the bean paste.

[biteybaby]

Sunny likes how the cooking is making the room smell, and she is happy that she did the cooking correctly enough that Lan Wangji told her "well done".

"Stir?" she asks, wanting to help stir.

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji agrees. Because the cooking chopsticks are quite long, he slides open a drawer and presents her with a smaller pair, bronze and usually meant for eating. "You stir and I will add the spices."

[biteybaby]

"Euphemia," Sunny says, accepting the chopsticks. This is a word which here means, "Thank you for finding me an appropriately sized pair of chopsticks with which I can help you cook by stirring the food while you add the spices".

As the person in charge of relaying and narrating Sunny Baudelaire's time at the mansion to all of you, I realize I may be slightly biased, but I would like to happily report that Sunny is indeed much better at stirring the food than most people her age would be.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji was prepared for the contents of the wok to go flying, and poised to deploy some cultivator reflexes to mitigate the situation, but he is not terribly surprised that Sunny is an exceptionally competent baby. He watches her, just for a moment, with banked warmth in his eyes. "Thank you," he tells her, and then he sets to fulfilling his half of the proposed bargain: peppercorns, fennel seeds, the cassia bark, a star anise, and a pod of cao guo all join the ingredients.

[biteybaby]

“Welcome!” Sunny says to Lan Wangji as she continues to stir.

[lightbearinglord]

He can't possibly help but smile at her; as usual, it's a tiny thing, the sort of glimmer of sudden warmth that calls to mind a distant lantern spotted from faraway on a cold night. Because Sunny is stirring so diligently, Lan Wangji is free to pick up the platter of sliced beef and use the cooking chopsticks to neatly slide it all into the medley of ingredients.

[biteybaby]

As she continues to stir, she sniffs the air and smiles. "Yummy!" she says, a word which here means, "It smells good!"

[lightbearinglord]

"With luck, Wei Ying will agree." Ultimately, there is little Wei Ying will not eat, but Lan Wangji can tell by now when he has truly pleased his husband.

[biteybaby]

Sunny grins. If Wei Ying likes how the food tastes, he will probably be happy! And because Sunny helped cook the food, it will be almost like she has made him happy! That's good, she thinks. Much better than making someone upset.

[lightbearinglord]

Frankly, that radiant smile is an apt reflection of how Lan Wangji often feels when he thinks of caring for Wei Ying. He doesn't smile again in return, but his eyes are still soft and warm. "We will need to exercise patience now," he warns Sunny, fetching the bowl into which he strained the liquid that was left over from cooking the beef. He pours it into the wok until most of the contents are covered.

[biteybaby]

Sunny watches, making a mental note of everything.

[lightbearinglord]

"First, we must wait for this to come to a boil," he says. "Stir again, once more."

[biteybaby]

She stirs again, once more.

[lightbearinglord]

"Thank you." With gratitude for his incredibly deft helper, Lan Wangji slides an iron lid over the wok, not quite covering it entirely. "This will make the meat more tender."