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

[futaille]

He laughs. "At least you're under no obligation to play him. It's not as if there's a... pinball tournament or anything impending."

[summerdude]

"Dude," says Magnus, catching the ball with a flipper so he can twist to face Grantaire without losing track of it. "You should totally have a pinball tournament."

[futaille]

"Oh, do you think? I don't know if there are enough people who know how to play for a decent tournament."

[summerdude]

"Well, there's you, there's me, there's Lancelot, there's Alex... I could teach Galahad."

[futaille]

"And there might be more I just don't know about. Hard to say. Might not be a bad idea for after Dark."

[summerdude]

"You could put up a sign," Magnus says, zeroing in on the ball again. "I bet Shen Yuan could play."

[futaille]

"I'll think on it. Maybe, depending on how much interest there is. But still definitely after Dark. I'd hate to have a game tournament without unlimited beer."

[summerdude]

Magnus can't help but wrinkle his nose at that. Beer smells gross and tastes gross. "Trying to level the playing field?" he asks, teasing.

[futaille]

"Obviously," he says wryly. "My talent is unparalleled."

[summerdude]

"Hey, I'd believe it," Magnus says. "I wanna see you play next."

[futaille]

"I'd be happy to, of course."

[summerdude]

"You know," Magnus adds, thoughtfully tapping on the flippers, "If you really wanna level the playing field you should put out Alfish mead instead of beer. But you gotta warn people first instead of just letting 'em drink it."

[futaille]

"Oh, is it different?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah. It's psychedelic."

[futaille]

"Psychedelic?"

[summerdude]

"...Hallucinogenic?"

[futaille]

That one's not much older but is much more easy to divine the meaning. "Oh, interesting."

[summerdude]

"Personally I don't like it, but it would really put everyone on equal footing."

[futaille]

"On the other hand, pinball might not be the best thing to be playing while hallucinating."

[summerdude]

"Probably not." Magnus nearly loses the ball then, and focuses again.

[futaille]

"But I would like to try some of it sometime regardless."

[summerdude]

"Dude, I have, like, tons of it back at camp. I keep trying to get root beer or cherry soda and the fridge just keeps giving me Alfish mead instead. But neither me nor Alex like it, so it's just sitting there."

[futaille]

"Well that certainly seems like a problem in search of a solution. And possibly one of the rare problems where the solution is, in fact, me." He pauses, thinking for a moment. "It might be the only problem where the solution is me, really."

[summerdude]

Magnus takes a moment to respond, because he nearly loses the ball twice in a row and has to concentrate. When he finally catches it in a flipper to pause, he looks up and says, "Dude, I'm sure you're more solutions than that."

[futaille]

"Well, I suppose if someone had too much absinthe around, I could be the solution to that, too, but it seems closely related enough that calling it an entirely different problem seemed a bit misleading."