YOU Get A Big Banana, and YOU Get A Big Banana, and YOU Get A Big Banana! [closed post]

[summerdude]

"Okay, just another minute," Magnus says.

It's a hot day out, so holding Galahad's hand is a sweaty affair... and Magnus's current use of his alf seidr isn't making matters any more comfortable. The grass is tickling at Magnus's back -- his shirt has ridden up while he lies, spread-eagle, in the middle of the lawn. Galahad is always so smart about his clothes, Magnus bets he's not getting the grass itches at all.

But he can put all that aside. Grass tickles are good tickles, and the heat of the sun is -- to Magnus -- always more refreshing than it is annoying. There's a trickle of sweat at the side of his neck, but even though it's hot out it's not really a temperature extreme, so as usual he feels regular about it.

All his attention is on the plants around them. Feverfew and milkweed, black-eyed susan and queen anne's lace, aster and boneset and flowering spurge and yarrow and tickseed and teasel and wild thyme and forget-me-nots and poppies and and and -- well. He's not sure what else is in the mix. He's been trying to get better at plant identification with Claudius's guidance, but the package he found earlier that morning only said FIELD SEEDS. He's doing his best! Right now, his 'best' is less focused on identification and more focused on growing them to flower, high enough that some of them are providing shade to both him and Galahad, in a very neat outline of the grass they've politely crushed between the two of them.

Eventually, he's done all he can without overtaxing the plants. "There," he tells Galahad. "Summer snow angels, check."

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes." She's most like Regina in those moments.

[summerdude]

"So maybe we... expand that. Somehow."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Do you think she could learn to make certain movements when she wants certain things?" He decides that this wouldn't be the same as training her, because obviously she and Magnus would have a conversation about it.

[summerdude]

"I think maybe? She already does this one specific wriggle whenever I remind her to ask Sunny about fishing off the dock before she starts." This is rare -- obviously Dro usually does what she feels like -- but since there's other animals and babies over there, Magnus has been trying to remind her more lately by asking 'how are you going to ask permission?' when she heads off on her own.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad isn't easily distracted by all the little pieces of information Magnus is always letting slip when he talks about other things, and he puts a pin in ask Sunny about fishing, tucking it into one of his mental drawers to be taken out again later. "We can try that."

[summerdude]

"I guess we could also ask Dro if she thinks she's a talking animal?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"A Talking Animal," he corrects. Dro is obviously a talking animal.

[summerdude]

"Isn't that what I just said?" Magnus asks, cocking his head, trying to pick apart the tone. "Oh. Is there a capitalization thing?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes, it's a proper noun."

[summerdude]

"Okay. So a categorical Talking Animal." Magnus purses his lips. "In a Mothwing way?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes," he decides.

[summerdude]

"I have a vibe," Magnus says, "but it's not based in anything."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad is familiar with Magnus' vibes. He gazes into the wildflowers, the tiny forget-me-nots with their golden centers, the clustering purple milkweed in rounded umbellate racemes. The actinomorphic flowers have five reflexed petals and an elevated central crown. He waits for Magnus to go on.

[summerdude]

"What if she's a new category? More of a Talking Animal than most animals, but not a Talking Animal-talking animal. Like, she's a secret third thing."

[onthewillowsthere]

"A talking Animal. A Talking animal." He says it both ways, trying out the way it sounds.

[summerdude]

"A Communicating Creature," Magnus suggests.

[onthewillowsthere]

"A Speaking Species," after a very long pause.

[summerdude]

Oh, good one! Magnus gives him a thumbs-up and tries, "A Yapping... Youth?"

[onthewillowsthere]

The corners of Galahad's mouth twitch. "An... Orating Organism."

[summerdude]

"A, ummmmmmmm, Claudiuscore Creation?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He starts laughing.

[summerdude]

Magnus cracks up, too, flopping back into the grass. He mis-aligns himself with the summer snow angels, though, and rolls through the flowers until he can knock his head against Galahad's knee. "Wanna go sailing?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. Teach me how."

[summerdude]

"Oh Helheim yeah," says Magnus, jumping to his feet and offering a hand to Galahad, to help him up. "Let's do the sea, not the lake. Better sailing vibes."

[onthewillowsthere]

"All right." He takes Magnus' hand and pulls himself to his feet. "We only need to get it wet?"