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]

"It's a kumquat. It's some kind of citrus? You can eat it whole, no peeling."

[timebethine]

Laertes pops it into his mouth and chews--and maybe it's just the season, that long stretch of dearth like Lent when every food is heavy and preserved, but the fresh citrus tang of it bursts on his tongue like a sunrise. "It's good," he says with some surprise. "Didst grow that thyself?"

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "I sweet-talked the tree into growing it, yeah," he says. He likes to think of it like that -- like a cajoling -- ever since Crowley said that the plants (1) talk (2) about him and (3) how they like him.

[timebethine]

"Thou art a ray of summer searing through the deepest winter," says Laertes, glancing around at the greenhouse. Is he imagining things, or are there more prominent fruit-bearing plants now than there were last time he came here?

[summerdude]

"Man cannot live on rice alone," Magnus intones, and then thoughtfully adds, "...probably?"

[timebethine]

"Man ought not to live on rice alone," says Laertes--of this, at least, he feels confident. "Man deserves every sweetness of the earth."

[summerdude]

"I can't imagine that rice has enough vitamins and, like, nutrients or whatever." Magnus picks another kumquat and tosses it to Laertes. "I only wish there were chickpeas here so I could grow the ingredients for falafel."

[timebethine]

This one, Laertes catches immediately; he doesn't hesitate to pop it in his mouth. Once he's swallowed, he asks, "Canst thou plant dried chickpeas?"

[summerdude]

"I don't know anything about gardening," Magnus admits. "I just make things grow. I could try, if we had them? It's on my list of things to ask Claudius about once we start getting new stuff again."

[timebethine]

"The season took us all by surprise," says Laertes. "Had I known, I'd have frozen more of the dishes I made in preparation for Wanderers Gather. It would have been little enough extra work to make twice or thrice as much."

[summerdude]

"Well," says Magnus, pragmatically. "We'll know for next time." Maybe next time all the swords can get put away, too! "I'm just glad that me and Hanguang-jun and your husband made all those tamales." They're gone by now, but they lasted a while! "I wouldn't want Alex to regret coming here, like, right away because things got weird again."

[timebethine]

"How goes it with her? Well, I hope?"

[summerdude]

"Dude, I am living the dream," Magnus says, happily. "Nobody told me how nice it is to wake up next to someone you love every single day????"

[timebethine]

"It's a joy beyond compare," says Laertes, grinning. "And to have a dog to wake thee? Unsurpassed."

[summerdude]

"Damn, and all I have is a griffin," says Magnus, with a joking slant to his mouth that softens quickly -- he's remembering the way it feels to wake up to a sleepy little Alex-exhale against his neck.

[timebethine]

"Not all can be as lucky as I."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You have it pretty good. Extremely cool husband, extremely cute dog..."

[timebethine]

"And a good friend who coaxes kumquats from the trees in winter," says Laertes. He pauses. "Are kumquats a winter fruit? I think oranges and lemons are."

[summerdude]

"No clue," Magnus says, cheerfully enough. "I just know that they're pretty easy to speed along. I think I'm onto a third? year of growth? since I started a couple weeks ago."

[timebethine]

"A third year! How big was it before?"

[summerdude]

"Oh..." Magnus holds out a hand, gesturing. "Maybe this big? It definitely is growing even faster than Dro."

Drosera, hearing her name, perks up and then ambles over oh-so-casually, talons skittering on the greenhouse floor. When she sees Laertes, her eyes light up. baby hungry buttons snack?!!!! she says, swishing her tail.

"You remember that?" Magnus asks her, and then looks up at Laertes. "Dude... you might wanna hide your buttons."

[timebethine]

"I only have one, and if she threatens it, my button will be the least of my concerns." Indeed, the coat he's chosen today has a zipper, which is no doubt at least as intriguing to a young griffin of unusual hungers.

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "Gotcha," he says. "No buttons, baby girl."

[timebethine]

"Has she been eating well enough?"

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah, there's plenty of hunters. And fishers. Auntie Mothwing makes sure you're well supplied, doesn't she, baby?"

Drosera drops and rolls around on the ground at that, scratching her back against the ground and then tugging her tail up into her talons. mothwing!!! she shrieks. fishies!!

To Laertes, Magnus adds, "Wei Wuxian and Little John drop off venison and stuff, and sometimes Angus brings these measly half-eaten little rodents that she's obsessed with. Because someone's got a c-r-u-s-h."