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]

"In my world, I don't believe in god," Magnus clarifies. "Maybe he was still around in Camelot."

[timebethine]

"Here ... I think God is absent," says Laertes. It feels hugely blasphemous; an inward part of him cringes, awaiting the crushing hand of the divine.

Nothing happens, of course. He unclenches.

[summerdude]

"Well, yeah. The only god here is Dionysus. Usually my dad will answer at least some of my prayers sometime, but I haven't gotten zilch from him since I got here." This is also the real reason Alex came here, Magnus knows. No Loki with bonus Magnus, rather than Magnus with bonus no Loki. He's not upset; he'd make the same choice if Loki was his mom.

[timebethine]

"It's ... more difficult to understand, for Christians," says Laertes. "There is no place that God is not, for us. Nothing that can be hid from Him; no stain upon the heart that He does not see. God ..." He thinks. He is, he feels acutely aware, probably about to speak some kind of heresy because he flat-out does not understand doctrine well enough to speak it correctly. "... God is not like a man whose life is fixed, and who travels through the world doing deeds and seeing sights. The gods of my ancestors were such gods; there were things they wanted and had not, or things they did not know and had to learn. God does not have to learn. When He contends with mortals, He does so like a playwright grappling with his characters--they can do nothing that He does not author, make no choice that He does not in some way know and ordain. And now ..." He gazes up and up, into the crown of the tree where it stands silhouetted against the blank grey sky. "... now, it is as though some other author holds the pen."

[summerdude]

"This place is outside of all other worlds," Magnus agrees. "So it makes sense even a monotheistic-ish guy like a christian god couldn't be here. I trust Galahad's take on the situation, obviously, but I also kinda wish I could ask my valkyrie about god, too. She's Muslim, she knows things about monotheistic guys."

[timebethine]

"Perhaps, one day, she might join thee here."

[summerdude]

"That'd be nice," Magnus say, wistfully. "She's Alex's sister and she's one of my best friends. But I don't want her to. I mean, I do, but she has a really great fiance, and she wants to be a pilot, and there's not enough room here to fly a plane."

[timebethine]

"A pl--oh, an airplane," says Laertes, comprehension lighting him up. "I've read of those. An illustration of Bernoulli's Principle."

[summerdude]

"Say what now?"

[timebethine]

"An articulation of the relationship between speed and pressure in fluid dynamics," says Laertes earnestly.

[summerdude]

"I think I know what each of those words means individually," Magnus admits, a little embarrassed.

[timebethine]

Laertes scratches the back of his neck. "I may misspeak regarding the application of the principle to flight, for I have only read of such things in books here, and never observed them directly," he says. "But the principle is that fluids--like air--exert less pressure when they move at great speeds, and more pressure when they move at slower speeds. Thus, airplanes fly because they are contrived to push air over their wings at greater speeds than the air moving beneath them. The wings, answering the greater pressure from beneath, raise the airplane into the sky."

[summerdude]

"Air is a fluid??! I thought air was a gas!"

[timebethine]

"It is a gas, but it hath the principles of a fluid in motion," says Laertes.

[summerdude]

"Wild," Magnus says. "I just know that Sam is great at flying planes, and Alex is great at flying as a bird. What makes a fluid in motion different from a fluid not in motion?"

[timebethine]

A grin. "The motion."

[summerdude]

"You know," Magnus says, thoughtfully. "I can see why you and your husband get along."

[timebethine]

"Among many other reasons." Still smiling, Laertes asks, "Is there aught else thou needest?"

[summerdude]

"Those who troll together, uh, roll together?" Magnus tries, and then shakes his head. "Will you teach me science?"

[timebethine]

A tilt of the head. "I could try. There's much I'm only beginning to learn--but I'd gladly share it as I learn it."

[summerdude]

"I'd like that."

[timebethine]

"I'll bring thee a few books on physics, then, and we can speak of them together."

[summerdude]

"Cool, that works!" Magnus glances at Laertes. He's not an adult-shaped adult in the way that Hanguang-jun or Sagramore or Ragnelle are, but he's a good friend, and Magnus has been marinating on Galahad's question -- about why Magnus finds it easier to be physically close with some friends than others -- ever since he asked it a couple weeks ago.

Magnus is, like, totally fine. He's all healed and everything! But he really has been left with this sense that he wants to be closer to the people here in all sorts of ways. So: "Can I give you a hug?"

[timebethine]

"Of course," says Laertes, and he opens his arms and pulls Magnus in for a tight, warm hug.

[summerdude]

Magnus is analytical about it for about two second -- this is nice; he's happy being hugged like this; maybe he can hug more people than just the few he always gravitate toward -- and then he throws himself into the hugging experience without ruminating further, squeezing about as hard as he's ever willing to squeeze someone who isn't supernaturally strong.