New Plan, Step One: Provide For My Community [open]

[summerdude]

Magnus needs something to change, so when a Mansion calendar helpfully informs him that it's International Falafel Day back on Earth, he goes to the library for some cookbooks, and then to the kitchen.

He lays out ten different falafel recipes. He gathers the ingredients they list, as best as he can understand them. He has canned chickpeas and fresh chickpeas and dried chickpeas and chickpea flour and box mixes of falafel that say 'just add water!'

Cripes.

"I can do this," he says, peering at the assorted recipes intently for a good ten minutes, and then takes the dried chickpeas over to the sink to rinse and soak.

Comments

[sporesprouter]

"That smile was on display when he told me his plan to not have to marry any princesses by being extremely boring when he met them."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs, surprised. "Oh my gods. What a champ. What were some of his methods?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, there were a few. He told one of them all about the sounds his stomach made when he was lying down."

[summerdude]

"Oh, that's a good one," Magnus says, eagerly. "What else?"

(Tress might notice that, as they're talking about Charlie, he's starting to actually relax for the first time in ???? a while. Shoulders loosening, jaw unclenching... it's only a little, but it's still something.)

[sporesprouter]

"Well, he told one of them that he had a toenail clipping collection. But I don't know if that counts as boring so much as gross."

[summerdude]

"Wait, does he actually?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, moons, no."

[summerdude]

"Oh." If anything, Magnus looks a little... disappointed? "I flyted Loki on the Ship of Nails, you know."

[sporesprouter]

"I didn't know that.... Was it made of nails nails?"

[summerdude]

"Fingernails and toenails? Yep."

[sporesprouter]

"Wow. How does that even work?"

[summerdude]

Magnus considers the question seriously. "Disgustingly," he decides.

[sporesprouter]

Tress considers the answer with just as much care. "Yes, that sounds about right."

[summerdude]

"They said it grew from every single nail clipping that people lost or threw away," Magnus says. "That's why I was curious about Charlie's."

[sporesprouter]

Tress makes a face. "That is so gross."

[summerdude]

"You're telling me. Try fighting for your life on a boat made out of nail clippings."

[sporesprouter]

"Well, in case that ever happens, do you have any advice for that specific scenario?"

[summerdude]

"Your crew is your strength," Magnus says, immediately. "Friends, community... they're what's important."

Wait.

[sporesprouter]

She smiles a little. "That advice works a lot."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, it's a pretty good catch-all. You remember my talent show thing?"

[sporesprouter]

And that makes her smile grow into a grin. She nods. "All of your compliments. Yes, I remember."

[summerdude]

"That's how I defeated Loki on the ship," Magnus says, and makes a face. "I mean, we still had to fight our way off of it. But that did help. It also helps that my friends back home are actually, like, good at fighting."

[sporesprouter]

"I'm glad you and your friends won. I'm sorry you had to fight, but I'm still glad you had each other."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, me too," Magnus sighs. "Did you ever get into, like, battles? Ship battles?"

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "A few of them. I wasn't really doing any of the fighting in any of them, though."