I Embrace My Inner Tarzan [open post]

[summerdude]

There's a massive old oak about fifty yards west of Magnus's favorite clearing. It has thick, sturdy branches; he can climb nearly forty feet up it before he starts to worry about them holding his weight. There's a family of squirrels that lives nearby -- good squirrels, nothing like Ratatosk -- and Magnus likes to listen to them discuss their acorn deposits. Sometimes, when they're not looking, he'll grow and stash more acorns for them to discover; he's not sure how long the winters here get.

He's pretty sure it's cold outside, but it's not cold enough to affect him, and so he's still barefoot and in a t-shirt pretty much all the time.

Today, he's been scrounging in some of the out-buildings. There's a portable outdoor fireplace. While he doesn't feel the cold, he finds (contained) fires comforting, and it'll be nice to have some hot food, so he shoulders it and a makeshift grill surface, and lugs them to the base of his oak tree. Now he'll have an easier way of preparing the fish Mothwing sometimes leaves him than trying to summon the right amount of summer into them so that they cook and don't explode, at least.

He lights a modest fire, feeding it with fallen sticks. Then he shoves an apple, picked from another nearby tree, into his mouth and a book he'd pilfered from the library into the waistband of his pants, and climbs up an easy ten feet to his favorite branch. Things don't seem so bad, living out here.

Comments

[new_inglewoodblues]

That makes her laugh again. "A great rude squirrel! Mary, I could countenance it!" She leans in. "They say the Merlin made Arthur a squirrel once."

[summerdude]

"I bet you could stand your own against him," Magnus says, thoughtfully and with great respect. "But his insults do cause actual, physical pain, so be careful. Did Arthur deserve it?" He doesn't remember a lot about King Arthur myths, but he's pretty sure Arthur is probably a controversial figure. Kings usually are.

[new_inglewoodblues]

"I would sport with him still. --Nay, nay, it was lesson or some such. I care not for the Merlin and his lessons, but I would fain have seen the king a small scurrying beast."

[summerdude]

"I would like to see most kings like that," Magnus admits. "Do you talk back to trees, or do you just listen to them?"

[new_inglewoodblues]

"I can tell them a little. Hast thou aught to say to thine?"

[summerdude]

"That I thank it for its branches, but I won't be making a nest. There's already a family of squirrels here that keeps talking about setting up another home before the snows come; I'll let them have the honor instead."

[new_inglewoodblues]

She nods and puts her hand flat on the tree trunk again, letting it know generally this, but in simpler terms: she sends the tree the warm feeling of gratitude for its sturdiness and the inviting way its branches are arranged, perfect for climbing, the way its turning leaves create a safe good place to rest. Then, because this does not clarify anything vis-a-vis squirrelhood, she adds a reminder of what a squirrel looks like and what a Magnus looks like.

[summerdude]

Magnus can't tell what Ragnelle is saying, but he can tell that something is happening. He smiles at her. "Thanks."

[new_inglewoodblues]

Ragnelle laughs. "Mary, that is simple. I will do't any time thou wouldst."

[summerdude]

"It's so cool that you can talk to plants," Magnus sighs. He wonders if any gods can do that.

[new_inglewoodblues]

"An thou wast half a tree, thou wouldst speak to them too. I have seen thee speak with the animals, and I cannot do that."

[summerdude]

"If you ever want to know what they say, I can tell you," Magnus says, and nods at a nearby cardinal. "Like, for example, she's sad the summer bugs are gone."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"See thou, that is good too."

[summerdude]

"It is," Magnus agrees. Definitely the best-case scenario outcome of eating your friend's dad's heart and taking on his characteristics.

[new_inglewoodblues]

"We shall not envy each other's gifts. That's a trickster's bargain in the making."

[summerdude]

"Okay, yeah." That's a fair point, and Magnus knows better than to treat with tricksters. "I just think it's so cool that you can talk to trees, is all."

[new_inglewoodblues]

She laughs again. "Ay, Mary, it is cool."

[summerdude]

"I'm glad I know you, Ragnelle," Magnus decides. She's the coolest person... person-shaped thing? It's a little unclear... he's met since Gu Xiang. "How are you doing without Inglewood?"

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Well enough. I was in Camelot three years before I came here, and I might have stayed another two."

[summerdude]

Oh, good. So she's not in any immediate danger, then. He's been worried. "I'm glad to hear it."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Wast thou feared for me, little God?"

[summerdude]

Magnus shoots her a crooked grin. "I just want you to be well, Ragnelle."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"I am well. And when I'm not, I'll come to thee and steal thy warmth."

[summerdude]

"Good!" Magnus says. He likes using his power for peace, instead of evading certain death.

[new_inglewoodblues]

She won't admit that she has nothing to give him in return -- for one thing, she rarely acknowledges her own weaknesses, and for another, she doesn't care that much about fair trades -- but she grins at him, sits in silence for a moment, and then swings out of the tree to the ground with a thump and a flurry of skirt. "I'll find thee again!" she shouts up at him before disappearing.