I Lived, Grinch! [open post]

[summerdude]

The first thing Magnus does -- with Alex's help -- after fully healing is board up the hole in the side of the greenhouse where the cheetah ran through. The second thing, once he learns the full scope of Dark (it's different at camp; he'd already taken out a ton of camp-appropriate food for when Galahad and Laertes couldn't make it out there, and so he and Alex have been fine on the eating front) is go to the greenhouse again to figure out what plants in there yield edible produce. (Also, he tries to scrub his blood off the table. It... partially works?)

Partly it's that he's still feeling weird after the whole affair. The season doesn't help, but he does feel closer to his own mortality than pretty much any point since he died for real the first time. Being around growing plants helps that. Mostly, though, it's because he doesn't want anyone to get, like, scurvy living on bushels of rice alone.

He doesn't want to overtax any of the plants, but some can be cajoled into fruiting. Right now, he's got his hand on a kumquat tree, and he's trying to convince it that it can speed up the growth process by a few weeks. Drosera is with him, 'helping:' she's found a dead leaf, and she's chasing it down the pathway between some plants. If anyone shows up -- either because they've heard of his near-death experience and want to check in on him, or just to hang out, or even because they're drawn by the way it looks like sunlight is coming from the greenhouse itself -- he'll be glad for the company.

Comments

[summerdude]

Thoughtfully, "I don't mind being treated like I'm sixteen. At Valhalla, it doesn't matter how long you've been around, it just matters how old you were when you died, so I didn't even start thinking about myself as, like, in my twenties till I got here. Also..." He pauses, then grins. "Sometimes it's nice to be underestimated."

[tallyyoungblood]

"I totally agree with that," Tally says emphatically. "I could never have fought a Special if he didn't totally underestimate me. But I still think your body not matching your mind causes, like, a lot of problems."

[summerdude]

"How do you mean?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"Like... when I first turned pretty, it was kind of bogus. I still look like me, but, like, not really? Obviously, since I used to be ugly." Tally talks slowly. She hasn't really processed this very much since she's been working on being bubblier. "It felt great to be pretty, but also sometimes I'd look in the mirror and think it was someone else, and get totally freaked out. You know? Plus I'm way taller."

[summerdude]

"Oh, yeah, that's gotta be disorienting." Magnus makes a face. "The post-death glow-up was hard enough, and that just gave me, like, muscles. And got rid of all my scars. I didn't get taller or anything, just... less gaunt."

[tallyyoungblood]

"That's like, most of a pretty operation. I've also got bogus¹ muscles." She makes a muscle with her arm, then laughs a little at herself. "I'm just saying, like, I don't want to look younger, because I'm not."

¹Bogus in the sense of "fake" this time.

[summerdude]

"That's fair." Magnus shrugs. "I don't really have a choice in the matter. So, like, I'm making lemonade."

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally snorts. "Yeah, me too. Total pretty-minded brain lesion lemonade."

[summerdude]

Magnus kind of wishes he had some lemonade to toast with right now. And then he realizes he absolutely has a citrus plant. He picks two kumquats and hands Tally one, then holds the other one up. "To making lemonade?"

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally giggles and touches the kumquats together. "To lemonade!" She pops the kumquat in her mouth. "This is totally bubbly. I love sour stuff."

[summerdude]

"Good, right?" An idea occurs to Magnus. "Hey, you and Gideon should totally come hang out with me and Alex sometime. At the camp. You both strike me as people who would appreciate a good trampoline."

[tallyyoungblood]

"A trampoline? Totally! I haven't seen one of those since I was a littlie. Totally bubbly-making." Tally pauses, letting the "Gideon" part sink in. It makes her feel giddy to think of doing a couple-y thing like a double date. "Gideon and I will definitely come, if she wants to."

[summerdude]

"Cool." Magnus grins. "Maybe after this weird-ass month is over, so we can have, like, decent snackage."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Definitely. The scarcity-ness of it all is freaking me out a little."

[summerdude]

"Oh, same. It's not ideal." Magnus pauses. "Want another kumquat?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"Yes, please." Tally assumes Magnus has plenty for himself if he's willing to share.

[summerdude]

Magnus picks another couple and tosses them to her, one after the other.

[tallyyoungblood]

"You, like, grew these, right? Magically?"

[summerdude]

"Yep! Sure did."

[tallyyoungblood]

"How did you learn to grow them?"

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "I don't know," he says. "One day I needed to do plant stuff and realized I could do plant stuff?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"You're magic because you're, like... related to a goddess or something, right?" Tally asks. She's a little skeptical that Magnus's aunt is really a goddess, but clearly in his world there's some magic in his blood.

[summerdude]

"Sure, technically, I guess. Mostly it's because my dad is the god of summer."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Oh." Tally's a little disappointed he's not a woman too. "Like, what do you actually mean by god? Is a god just a powerful magical person?"

[summerdude]

"No, I mean, like... have you ever heard of the Vikings?"