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]

"Oh yeah?" Magnus asks, looking up from the kumquats.

[tallyyoungblood]

"I did kiss Gideon," she says, unable to keep from smiling. "Ethically and everything."

[summerdude]

A smile unfurls over Magnus's face. This is actually the best thing he's heard in weeks. "Holy shit," he says, and holds up a hand for a high five. "Up top, Tally."

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally grins and high fives him back. The excitement and approval on his face are almost as heady as the memory of the kisses. "She was totally cute about it."

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah?" Magnus waggles his eyebrows. "Cute how?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"She was trying to be all smooth, and she kind of was, but I could tell she was a little nervous. I mean, I was too. That's what makes it bubbly."

[summerdude]

"Gods," Magnus says, slumping back. "Yeah. The nervousness sure does make it bubb-- oh! Tally! Did you hear the good news?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"About what?"

[summerdude]

Magnus's smile widens. "Alex came back."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Your partner? Oh my gosh! That's amazing, Magnus-la. I mean, I hope she wants to be here?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah. She chose to come back." Magnus sighs happily. "Just had to figure out how to get here."

[tallyyoungblood]

"People can do that?" Tally's suddenly totally distracted from Magnus's happiness. Is Shay coming after her? Zane? David? Dr. Cable? "He wanted to be with you that badly?" She winces, hearing herself. "Um, sorry. It just seems like a big decision."

[summerdude]

Magnus shrugs, unconcerned. "We have been together for seven years," he says. "And -- she has other reasons, too. Personal ones." He's not going to share about Alex's mom without Alex's explicit say-so, but he knows that getting out of her reach was a major factor in Alex's decision.

[tallyyoungblood]

Seven years is, like, forever. Tally feels a little guilty jolt that she didn't think of Peris, the only friend she's had for seven years, but in her heart she knows Peris would be too scared to come here.

"Right. You're basically, like, married."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. Marriage is something he might start to think about in another hundred years or so, but it's also not that important a milestone in his book. What actually matters is: "We're definitely committed," he says.

[tallyyoungblood]

A new pretty-aged ugly saying the word "committed" like some middle pretty lecturing about proper family structures almost makes Tally want to laugh.

"I'd like to meet him. Um... how old does he look? Your same age?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, thereabouts. Why?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"I just don't want to be caught off guard like I was with you. This age thing is utterly confusing."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "What's so hard about it? I'm just, like, nine years older than I look."

[tallyyoungblood]

"If I were my age and nine years older than I looked, I'd look eight! Wouldn't you want to treat me as a littlie even if I was still seventeen?"

[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."