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

[timebethine]

"Ay, marriages, baptisms, the Eucharist, confirmation, confession and penance, anointing the sick--all of these are a priest's charge." A frown. "What hath a basketball court to do with salvation?"

[summerdude]

"Getting bodies in the building? I dunno, dude, I only pretended to listen at all the christian soup kitchens. But you say 'church,' I think 'recreation center.' But Galahad acted really surprised about churches having games."

[timebethine]

"As well he should," says Laertes. "A wedding or a feast day are perhaps the gayest days one can hope for, in a church." The implication there is, Why dost thou think I've left the church along with all other miseries, in Denmark?

[summerdude]

"Maybe it's a denomination thing," Magnus says, scratching his head. "Are chapels different from churches?"

[timebethine]

"Ay, a chapel needs not a priest."

[summerdude]

"Why not?"

[timebethine]

"I know not why not--as easy to ask why the sun is not the moon, although both illuminate the heavens. The sun is a star, a distant globe of hydrogen and helium, vast and ever-burning. The moon, a satellite of a satellite, a proximate globe of dust--a mirror to the sun, but not its equal. Though both church and chapel permit the contemplation of God, a church hath a priest and a congregation; a chapel hath not. What they need defines what they are, as the composition of the sun and moon define them."

[summerdude]

"Okay, so what makes a chapel a chapel?"

[timebethine]

"I think only that it's reserved for worship," says Laertes, wishing for the first time that he had ever particularly cared about his faith. "Most chapels have altars, but a chapel need not have one, so long as there is space within it for contemplation of God."

[summerdude]

Magnus sighs. "Maybe an altar, definitely a space. Got it."

[timebethine]

"Does that disappoint thee?"

[summerdude]

"No, no, it's fine," Magnus says. "I really should just talk through my ideas with Galahad. He's not a big fan of surprises anyway."

[timebethine]

"Then thy chapel is for him."

[summerdude]

"Yeah? So he can do his stuff in a dedicated space. I have a place for it, I just wanna know what to do with it."

[timebethine]

"Canst show it to me? Perhaps I could advise thee better, if the matter were less abstract."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, absolutely! You good now? It's just past my camp."

[timebethine]

"Ah--a place out of doors? Then I may have advice at all, for I've never known a chapel so wild." A moment's thought. "Perhaps the sacred stones of the far northlands?¹ But those honor neither Christ nor God."

¹ Laertes is thinking of Sámi sieidis here.

[summerdude]

"See? This is why I need advice," Magnus laughs. "I pray to my dad in the outsidest parts of outside. Is the christian god an inside guy?"

[timebethine]

"For most of us," says Laertes, echoing Magnus's laughter with his own. "Come, let me see what thou hast wrought."

[summerdude]

"C'mon, Dro," Magnus says, gesturing her from her spot under one of the long tables. "We're going outside."

Her talons clack against the ground as she follows them out of the greenhouse, and then she's off like a rocket, running toward Mothwing's den.

"...I guess she's in the mood for fish, then," Magnus laughs, and gestures for Laertes to follow him toward his camp.

[timebethine]

Laertes follows close behind, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he departs the humid warmth of the greenhouse. He's always liked the cold, but the weather in Dark has been rather too cold for his liking. It feels almost malevolent.

Still, watching Dro gallivant across the rocks and snow is a surefire way to lift his spirits. "Thy daughter's grown into a fine little creature."

[summerdude]

Thoughtlessly, Magnus drags some of the warmth along with them. "She's a good griffin," he agrees. "I wish there was more concrete knowledge about what they need, but Ragnelle's been real helpful dredging up all she can remember about 'em, even though they're not trees. And Susan gave me and Galahad a starting point, and like I said, Mothwing and Angus have been really helpful. Separately. So I guess it's true, what they say. It takes a village." He grins a Laertes. "I'm excited to introduce her to Szarka. She did real well with Hanguang-jun's rabbits."

[timebethine]

"We'll have to introduce them soon. Szarka's become a very well-behaved young lady; she needs Drosera's mischief to set her upon the right path."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "Your husband might have something to say about that."

[timebethine]

"He'll be there to be sure her training isn't ruined."