I'm About As Organized As Ran, I Guess? [closed post]

[summerdude]

"And then we realized Frigg was knitting with clouds. Actual factual clouds," Magnus says, passing another box that, as it turns out, holds nothing useful down to Galahad. He climbs up another rung on the little stepladder and starts in on the next shelf. "How many boxes of Legos do we have so far?" He knows it's certainly not enough for a bachelorette party yet, but surely there's something they can go on. He'd kind of tonight that this far after Dark, there would be... more? "Do you think we should find another room to look in? Maybe the game room isn't the best choice."

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[onthewillowsthere]

It isn't readily apparent whether it's the hedgehog, but someone is definitely singing,

Lily-white and clean, oh!
With little frills between, oh!
Smooth and hot – red rusty spot
Never here be seen, oh!

as the door shuts.

[summerdude]

"I can't tell if that was cute or cree--holy crap," Magnus breathes, as he pushes open the door right across the hall. "Dude. We gotta prop this one open."

Just through the doorway is a playground. One of those really cool ones he used to love as a kid, with enormous playsets with lots of levels and bridges and monkey bars and a mini climbing wall, stacked tires to wriggle up and clamber over, a jungle gym, and swings. There's a sandbox and a see-saw and a tetherball set with the ball actually attached. It's all adult-sized, not kid-sized. Magnus grabs Galahad's hand and pulls him out onto the mulch.

[onthewillowsthere]

"What is it?" as he follows Magnus in, gazing around.

[summerdude]

"A playground," Magnus says, grinning. "Come on. Do you wanna try the swing or the seesaw first? Or the slide?" He points at each thing as he names it.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Show me." He's confident he understands the purpose of the swing and how it works; the others, not so much.

[summerdude]

"Okay, sit down here," Magnus says, gesturing at one side of the see-saw as he goes over to the other. "Facing me. Hold onto the handles."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad obeys promptly.

[summerdude]

Like the rest of this playground, the see-saw is adult-sized. Magnus takes the opposing seat. "Now we... uhhh, bounce," he explains, and pushes off the ground firmly but gently to demonstrate. He and Galahad are roughly matched for weight -- it seems magical strength doesn't contribute to actual poundage -- and when Galahad is planted at ground level, Magnus's feet dangle in the air. "You go."

[onthewillowsthere]

Oh. Oh. It's a game, a completely pointless game. Galahad pushes off the ground and his stomach briefly flips as he's lifted into the air, and he likes it. He wonders if they could bring Shen Yuan here too, whether he would also recognize these things.

[summerdude]

"Fun, right?" Magnus shouts as he lands and launches again. "They're usually for kids. This is more, like, us-sized."

[onthewillowsthere]

When Magnus pushes off, Galahad hurtles back down to earth significantly faster; it's exhilarating. "I like it," he shouts back to Magnus.

[summerdude]

"Me too," Magnus laughs. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back. He hasn't let loose on a playground in longer than he can remember.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Will you teach me how to use all of them?" as he pushes off and sends himself into the air again.

[summerdude]

"Of course." Magnus thuds on the ground, and then launches. "Whenever you're ready we can do each thing."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Three more," Galahad says, because if he doesn't choose a number and count down he'll just keep seesawing with Magnus indefinitely.

[summerdude]

"Three more," Magnus agrees, launching again with wild abandon. "And then you pick the next thing you want to learn."

After three more, he carefully catches himself on his tiptoes, pressing down on the see-saw with his hands as he slides off of it. Then he slowly eases up on how hard he's pushing, so that Galahad settles gently on the ground instead of just thumping down hard.

[onthewillowsthere]

He stands, a little light-headed from all the up and down, and points towards the merry-go-round; it's the kind where there are metal bars and you grab one and run around really fast and then jump onto the platform and try not to get spun off.

[summerdude]

"There's a couple ways to do this one," Magnus says, wisely. "You wanna just hold on for the ride while I show you, or do you want me to explain it and let you try first?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Show me."

[summerdude]

"Okay. Climb on, standing up, and hold onto the rails."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad does this, clasping the bars, straight-backed as perfectly upright, which is about to not serve him well.

[summerdude]

"Okay," says Magnus, going around to the opposite side. "Hold on tight." And he grips his own handlebar and starts running, as hard and fast as he can, before leaping on and letting it rip.

[onthewillowsthere]

Standing straight and perfectly-upright on a merry-go-round is, as it happens, a terrible idea, and as the centrifugal force hits Galahad, with no God-strength to grasp the bar, is flattened.

[summerdude]

Magnus sticks out a foot and lets the friction slow the merry-go-round down. "Dude, are you okay???"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes," happily.