If Alex Came Back We'd DEFINITELY Be The Local Power Couple [open post]

[summerdude]

Magnus has come to realize that nobody else in this entire place is presently in a relationship that has lasted nearly as long as his and Alex's. Shen Yuan's concept of "communication" "with" "Luo Binghe" is continuing to horrify him every time he thinks about it. What if there are other people who could use the advice of a sixteen-year-old twenty-five-year-old virgin who has been in a committed relationship for nearly seven years with someone to who he is probably widely known to have never verbally declared the undying depths of his love? (Gods, he hopes Alex figures out a way to do another little visit for their rapidly-approaching anniversary)

To that end, he posts an announcement sign over the welcome table, in the café, and on the door to the kitchen. It reads:

NEED RELATIONSHIP ADVICE OR FEEDBACK? Local Long-Term Relationship Expert Magnus Chase Offers His Aid.

He even lists office hours — an inoffensive parlor (meaning he can tolerate hanging out in it, and the door can close if people want privacy for their conversations) every other day for an hour, immediately following his Drosera hand-off to Galahad.

Comments

[sporesprouter]

She shrugs. "Just unlucky, I guess. I'm glad a lot of people got good visitors."

[summerdude]

"That's true!" Though Magnus is starting to wonder if he's the only person who really did get a truly good visitor.

[sporesprouter]

"Honestly, it would have been hard in a different way if it was someone I liked and I had to say goodbye to them. So I don't envy you that part."

[summerdude]

Yeah. Yup! Totally. Okay, time to stop dwelling!! "Charlie sounds awesome though," Magnus says. "That glove thing is so romantic."

[sporesprouter]

She smiles softly. "It is. I wish you could meet him."

[summerdude]

"Tell me more about him? What does he look like? What's his favorite food?"

[sporesprouter]

"Well, he's taller than I am by several inches, he has dark hair which he keeps short, but you can still tell there's some curl to it because it won't comb straight. He has a wide smile and his hands are so very soft. And warm. He likes a lot of different foods, but he always liked when I made him a meat pie."

[summerdude]

"Was he a super cute rat, when he got turned into one?" Magnus asks. "Alex can turn into different animals and they're all extremely cool."

[sporesprouter]

She laughs a little. "I mean, he looked pretty much like most rats, but yes, he was still super cute."

[summerdude]

"Alex turn into a really great and really wonky flamingo sometimes. It's really good." Magnus gives Tress a crooked smile. "I guess it's different if you're not an animal on purpose, though."

[sporesprouter]

"It was especially tricky because he couldn't let me know it was him."

[summerdude]

"Part of the -- curse? Spell? Thing?"

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "Her curses prevented their subjects from talking about the specifics of their curse. So he couldn't tell me who he was, that he'd been cursed in the first place, or how to break it."

[summerdude]

Magnus gives a low whistle. "Wow, that's tricky!" he says. "How'd you figure it out?"

[sporesprouter]

She laughs a little. "We made it all the way to the Sorceress. She agreed to give me Charlie back. As we were leaving... The Charlie she gave me, he was exactly like he was before either of us left the Rock. It just felt wrong. And I realized it wasn't him, and I realized what happened, so I turned back around."

[summerdude]

"You and rat-Charlie made it there?"

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "He insisted I take him with me for the last part of the journey. I wouldn't have made it without him."

[summerdude]

"So he was a talking rat?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh! Yes, he was a talking rat."

[summerdude]

"And he couldn't tell you who he was?" Magnus shakes his head. "Wow. That seems like it would make things both more and less complicated. How did you figure it out? Besides the false Charlie."

[sporesprouter]

"I figured it out from what he had said and done. He was trying to protect me the whole time we were together and I hadn't even really realized it."

[summerdude]

"Like how?" Magnus pauses. "You don't have to say, of course. I'm just -- it's nice to talk to someone about missing someone back home, you know? Sharing memories, that kind of thing."

[sporesprouter]

"No, it's fine." She smiles softly. "I was trying so hard to get to him and rescue him and... Well, the Sorceress had told him how to break his curse, which was to get me there to curse instead. So he was trying to stop me or dissuade me the entire time, and I wasn't listening, of course."

[summerdude]

"Oh wow." Magnus, who is a bit of a self-sacrificing fool himself, likes the sound of the guy immediately. "And it was like, 'this is just some talking rat trying to get me to stop from rescuing my love?'"

[sporesprouter]

"Exactly. When we got really close, he even had someone start throwing some of our food supplies overboard. I was... shocked. And angry."