Me and My Best Friend Put On A Show That Would Make Freya Totally Jealous [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus wakes up, normal again except for how he's in an unfamiliar room. Not Galahad's old room, either. A nondescript one that, as far as he can tell, just has a bunch of clothes and stuff. Also he's wearing silky pajamas he'd never pick out automatically on his own?

It doesn't take long for him to feel like the walls are closing in on him. It's out of respect for Aornis that he stumbles out of her room through the door (barefoot and in the silky pajamas) and goes outside the normal way. Once outside, he flops into the snow, calling summer and feeling the way the snow steams against his skin as it melts.

He's not feeling totally regular again when he sits bolt upright, remembering that Drosera is probably in Galahad's old room with two people that aren't Magnus or Galahad. Existential crisis over, there's a child to retrieve! And hopefully, he'll run into Galahad in the halls.

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[summerdude]

It makes the most sense to start where they last saw her, so they head the rest of the way to Galahad's old room. Magnus hesitates a moment before opening the door -- what if Aornis and Tress are still asleep or something? He knocks, and calls, "Hello?"

[sporesprouter]

By this point, it's just Tress and Drosera in the room. Tress easily knew enough to know that Drosera's parents would be coming for her as soon as they could, and she had absolutely no problem looking after the little princess until then. She looks up from her spot on the floor where she's dangling a ribbon over Drosera's head. "Come in!"

[onthewillowsthere]

When they enter, a little part of Galahad is pleased to realize she hasn't changed her hair (why would she?). Hello! he signs -- she's working on her sign, it's good to practice.

[summerdude]

"Oh good, you have her," Magnus says, and immediately kneels down. "Hi Hungry Baby, are you having a fun morning with auntie Tress?"

[sporesprouter]

Hello! she signs back readily. "I figured you'd come for her. We've been keeping ourselves entertained. It's good to see you both. Especially you, Galahad, for obvious reasons, I think."

[onthewillowsthere]

mama real mama real mama!!!!!!! Dro shrieks, flopping into Magnus' arms.

Galahad sits down on the floor near Tress and says, awkwardly, "I'm sorry for not-- for kissing him. Without being sure of who he was."

[summerdude]

Magnus scoots over to the side, giving Galahad and Tress space to talk. He leans down so that Drosera can groom his hair with her beak -- her latest trick. Quietly, he says, "I hear that auntie Nina caught you a fish yesterday, baby girl. Was it yummy?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh. That." She shrugs. "Apology accepted. I mean... it's fine, I understand why you did it. I'm sorry it wasn't really him. I... the first time I kissed Charlie, it wasn't actually him, so I'm sorry that happened to you, too."

[onthewillowsthere]

His head tilts slightly. "What happened?"

yummy fish!!! little fish!! She preens his hair gleefully.

[summerdude]

Magnus's ears prick up: now that he knows more about Charlie, he's eager for more stories. He smooths a hand over Drosera's feathers absently.

[sporesprouter]

"It was when I went to rescue him from the Sorceress. She handed him over but it was just a... It was one of her minions that she enchanted to look like him."

[onthewillowsthere]

"To hurt you?" he asks, even though he can't imagine another reason.

[summerdude]

"That's so effed up," Magnus observes, half-sitting up so that he doesn't start laughing -- Drosera's grooming is kind of ticklish.

[sporesprouter]

"I think it was mostly to hurt him. Like showing him to his face that I wouldn't realize. And yes, it was awful."

[onthewillowsthere]

Tress is such a quiet, kind person that it's easy not to realize that she's suffered -- she doesn't act like a person who's suffered. But that makes him think of the nuns, and how some of them came to the nunnery because they loved God and some of them came because it was a refuge. They didn't say anything about it to him -- it was something he'd catch snatches of when he was being quiet by himself and the nuns were talking to each other -- but some of them had suffered in the world outside too. He watches Tress' face, to see whether he can tell what she thinks of what she's been through, but the features that just yesterday were his are still inscrutable.

I'm sorry, he signs.

[summerdude]

"What a jerk," Magnus adds.

[sporesprouter]

She gives Galahad a little smile and signs a Thank you, before continuing. "Definitely. She started rubbing it in before I'd even left the room. I figured it out pretty quickly and ran back, though."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You're very brave," quietly.

[summerdude]

Magnus does remember this part of the story now. "Such a badass," he agrees, even as he goes to retrieve his backpack from where he left it last night so he can pull out one of Dro's toys, which he tosses to her. As she leaps at it, he asks Tress, "How are you doing? After yesterday, I mean."

[sporesprouter]

"Thank you both. And I'm fine. It was... odd, but I knew it wasn't going to last long." She shrugs. "Not the worst thing that's happened here, anyway." Something occurs to her. "Oh! Galahad?" She reaches a hand up and lightly touches the back of her head. "My hair. How? I could never even imagine doing something this pretty with it."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Tally did it. She asked," not that Tress has the context for why that's so important.

[summerdude]

Galahad's mention of Tally reminds Magnus of something he's been turning over in his mind, off and on, since the day she mentioned wanting to cut off his hand. He tucks it away for now -- he knows what he's considering is monumentally stupid, so he's a little shy about mentioning it in front of Tress. "It looks great," he says instead.

[sporesprouter]

"It does. I normally just brush it and put it in a braid that half of it escapes from anyway. I couldn't even imagine anything like this."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I think," he says cautiously, because interpreting what other people feel is always a chancy thing, "it would make her happy if you asked her to do it again. Not-- not all the time. But sometimes. I think she was happy when I asked."

[summerdude]

"She might find it 'bubbly,' even."