(Almost) Everything Is Comin' Up Chase [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus, triumphant, has finally managed to make some old bamboo sprout. With Drosera fed recently enough that she's not complaining of hunger and resting in her new favorite perch (lounging on his shoulder tucked right against his neck, her beak tangled in hair that is once again getting long), he sneaks it into the Mansion, hides it in a large gift-bag a closet gives him, and hangs it on Claudius and Galahad's doorknob with a quickly-jotted note that reads Claudius, What next? - MAGNUS CHASE.

Then, since he's already inside, he figures, why not wander around until he finds someone to talk to?

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

"You've had them?" He brightens. "Are they good?"

[summerdude]

"You're definitely going to love them," Magnus decides, after barely a moment's reflection. "I like them, too." They're not his number one favorite, but he's never been mad about eating them.

[onthewillowsthere]

"You wouldn't color the layers, though. You'd want them all beige."

[summerdude]

Magnus cackles, clutching his hands dramatically to his chest. "Viciously attacked by my very best friend," he says, delighted. "The only thing I like more than the soothing beauty of beige surroundings is Red Dye 40, though, so they get a pass."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Is green all right?"

[summerdude]

"Oh, absolutely. Green is a summer color. The Hotel Valhalla t-shirts are green. Alex's hair is green. Green gets a pass."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Then we won't change anything."

[summerdude]

"Also, it's fun to try and see if your brain makes you think that the different colors taste different," Magnus says, with a firm nod. "Okay. Put me to work, dude. You know my limitations in this battlefield." Namely: he needs really specific instructions and fairly easy tasks, still.

[onthewillowsthere]

"All right. Do you know how to separate eggs?"

[summerdude]

"I'm guessing you don't mean just, like, opening their shells," Magnus says, thoughtfully. "But I can crack them really good against my head!" He's joking... mostly.

[onthewillowsthere]

Right, Magnus will not be getting to do that. "Will you bring me butter, eggs, and milk from the fridge? The butter should be unsalted."

[summerdude]

"You can't make an omelette without breaking a few skulls," Magnus says, in tones of someone imparting great wisdom upon an eager young student. He gets the butter, eggs, and milk and places them on the counter.

[onthewillowsthere]

By then Galahad has the stand mixer set up and has measured out sugar, as well as gotten a couple of bowls to separate eggs.

He hands Magnus a can of almond paste. "Will you open this?"

[summerdude]

"Sure," Magnus says, twisting it open easily and passing it back. Then he thinks for a moment, gets two more bowls out, and pulls out another thing of eggs. After a brief detour to thoroughly scrub his hands, he sets up on the other side of where Galahad is working. "You meant separating yolks and whites, right?" he asks. "I'm gonna practice."

[onthewillowsthere]

He watches Magnus at the sink with a slight frown. "Why did you wash your hands first?"

[summerdude]

"Oh! Because of germs," Magnus says. "It's, like, hygienic to make sure that when you're working with food, you've washed your hands. Preferably with soap. Lowers the risk of getting you or anyone else sick, for example. Plus, I've been holding Dro, and who knows the kind of dirt she's rolled in."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Even when your hands look clean?" glancing down at his own, which show no obvious signs of "germs" or any other contamination.

[summerdude]

"Yeah! Germs are microscopic. Way too small to see."

[onthewillowsthere]

"And they're the cause of sickness?"

[summerdude]

"Pretty much one of the major ones." Magnus pauses. "When I was homeless, before I knew I had, like, healing god DNA, I was extra-careful about cleanliness whenever I could manage it because I didn't want to get sick on top of everything else. Not much by way of money for doctors, you know?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad feels a flash of annoyance that the angel didn't just explain this the way Magnus has, clearly and plainly, instead of speaking in vague portents, and he goes to the sink to wash his own hands before demonstrating how to separate an egg for Magnus.

He cracks the egg sharply against the side of the bowl so that it splits around the middle, but instead of tipping it into the bowl entirely he uses one half of the shell to catch the yolk; the white slides in on its own.

[summerdude]

"Okay," Magnus says, nodding intently to himself. The first egg he tries to crack, he uses way too much force, and he stares down at the shell and broken yolk spreading across the counter, stunned, before laughing. "Do you think Dro can eat busted egg?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Cats like eggs. I don't know whether birds do. Was that your einherji strength?"

[summerdude]

"I think it was mostly just my cooking ineptitude," Magnus says, thoughtfully. But he's pretty sure he can use his einherji reflexes to great effect in the kitchen. "Hey, wanna see something cool? Throw an egg at me."

[onthewillowsthere]

A long pause. This seems like it's going to derail baking. "Later. Outside."