In The War Of The Pranks, You Ball Or You Die [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus has had an incredibly busy morning. The winter feels less oppressive in the wake of that totally insane blizzard the other day, so he spends the first few hours digging out camp with Alex (which does take some time, because they do take a couple of breaks for snow fights, make-out sessions, and snacks), and then digging out Galahad's church. In the process of tracking down a shovel to do said digging, he learns that the Mansion is making things again (thank gods), so he also takes advantage of that, once his home has been unearthed, to find another outdoor fireplace, a few candles and tiki torches, and a weird wooden chest thing filled with paper and markers. Plus some bells.

He takes all of these things back to the church, and works in earnest to continue setting it up. He writes TABERNACLE GOES HERE? on one of the papers, which he wedges in one of the slats of the box, demonstratively, and places it on his former reading branch, urging the branch to grow around the box a little more snugly. He threads bells through smaller branches, and then moves the branches like vines, securing them in place above the cross. The outdoor fireplace he puts next to the place where he imagines Galahad might sit or kneel or whatever, so he can stay warm; he places the candles on top of it, and then drags Dro's perch to the other side of the kneeling/sitting space. Finally, he shoves the torches into the frozen ground in a line leading up to the space.

Then, he decides, he can't do anything else without some sort of direction from Galahad. So he goes back to camp, gives Alex another big old kiss, and shoves his notebook into his backpack. "I'll be back by dinner," he promises her, "with dinner," and trots off to the Mansion to find Galahad.

Comments

[summerdude]

Magnus grins. "That's how I feel about Alex," he says.

[onthewillowsthere]

"There are some people I see so much that I recognize them. Like you."

[summerdude]

"Oh, right," Magnus remembers. "The face stuff. Well, I think probably a lot of people think Kade is hot, but I've been told that I'm notably slow on the uptake on that front, so."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Really?"

[summerdude]

Magnus shrugs. "Only according to Alex. And Hearthstone. And Blitzen. And Samirah. And Mallory and TJ and Halfborn and-- well. You get the picture."

[onthewillowsthere]

Another little tilt of his head. "Am I hot?"

[summerdude]

Magnus gives Galahad a briefly incredulous look -- he just said he's slow on the uptake! -- and then tilts his head. "Probably," he says. "Ask me again in four months and I'll probably know by then for sure."

[onthewillowsthere]

"All right." That seems fair enough, but it's definitely on his calendar now, Magnus!

[summerdude]

Magnus, meanwhile, makes a mental note to ask Alex if Alex thinks Magnus thinks Galahad is hot at some point in the next few month. "So," he says, getting back on track. What track? Some track. "You have a crush on Kade?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"I think so. All the things he said are true."

[summerdude]

"What have you done to get his attention?" Magnus asks, deeply curious.

[onthewillowsthere]

"The experiment," he admits. "And asking him questions."

[summerdude]

"Whoa," Magnus says, impressed. "I can't remember the last time I had a crush on someone." (This, to be fair, is because he's terrible at recognizing when he has crushes on anyone.)

[onthewillowsthere]

"I don't think I have before. Does it stop on its own?"

[summerdude]

"I think it does," Magnus says, thoughtfully. He gives the stew a stir, squinting at the vegetables. They do not reveal their secrets to him.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Does it look right?" dropping his gaze to the stew.

[summerdude]

"From what I remember? Yeah, pretty much." He stirs it again. "How long do you think it should cook?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"I'm not sure. Stews take longer, but this is different from the ones I've made. We can decide when it's done."

[summerdude]

"I'm getting hungry. I'm gonna get the tofu ready to put in," Magnus decides, opening the corner of the package of tofu and going to drain the liquid into the sink.

[onthewillowsthere]

That seems fair. Galahad tastes a little of the soup so far with the wooden spoon he's been using to stir it. It's salty, but there's something deeper than the salt too, that he doesn't know how to describe.

"What is it supposed to taste like?"

[summerdude]

"Have you ever had miso soup?" Magnus asks, very carefully cubing the tofu.

[onthewillowsthere]

"No. What is it?"

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "It's the closest thing I can think of."

[onthewillowsthere]

"We should try that too. We should try more things now that the refrigerator is working."

[summerdude]

"Yes," Magnus says, immediately. "I wanna learn how to cook for real. We should pick a cookbook and just work through it cover to cover."