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

[summerdude]

"Have you been on a boat before?" Magnus asks, as the wind -- as threatened -- catches the sail and they start moving out, beyond the reach of the beach, past the cliffs he and Gu Xiang and Alex and sometimes Gideon and Tally use to dive into the water. They're not headed for any sort of land, so he sets the rudder in place and pulls up a patch of deck next to Galahad to sit down on, leaning back, feeling the sun on his face.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Twice. Percival and I sailed to Sorelais while we were looking for the Holy Grail. Percival wanted to look for birds."

[summerdude]

"Sorelais?" Magnus says. He pats the deck next to him, in case Galahad wants to sit. "I wish I could meet Percival."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad sits, and leans against Magnus' side. The salt smell of the sea crowds his nose. He wishes Magnus could meet Percival too -- they would be like twin suns, chasing each other across the skin, reflecting each other's warmth and light.

"It's an island between Wales and Ireland. People live there, but seabirds nest too." He rubs his watchband. "Percival likes living things. He says everything is interwoven, like a braid."

[summerdude]

"The only island I know between Wales and Ireland is the Isle of Mann," Magnus says, thoughtfully, wondering if it's the same island by a different name or a different island entirely. He leans back against Galahad, resting a hand between them in case Galahad wants to hold it -- but he's not gonna interrupt the watch-band-rubbing. Or make a joke about not being a living thing. The vibe is all wrong for that kind of joke right now. "The circle of life, huh? Things do depend on each other."

[onthewillowsthere]

"God made the world to sustain itself. Even the things that seem cruel are important. Birds rob each other's nests to survive, and we misunderstand if we think it unjust." A pause. "Percival grew up in the wild forest, and he saw these things happen. He and Dindraine."

[summerdude]

"His sister," Magnus remembers, latching onto that so that he doesn't trip into a rant about creationism. "The wife god picked for you, right?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. I never met her, but he talked about her all the time."

[summerdude]

"Percival or god?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Percival. He loves her."

[summerdude]

"What else does he love?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"People." If he were talking with someone else Galahad might have to stop there; the idea of reducing Percival to a handful of words is unpleasantly intimidating. What if he doesn't say the right thing, doesn't describe Percival the right way? But he trusts Magnus to understand him. He keeps rubbing his watchband and goes on. "When we traveled together he talked to everyone. He liked it. People would talk to him and then they would give us things. Room and board, warm clothes. Passage."

[summerdude]

"That's really cool," Magnus says, trying to picture Percival. "I feel like so many people are into, like, the natural world or people or god, but not, like, the combination of everything. It sounds like he was, like..." He considers. "A joyous dude."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes." Of course Magnus understands, and of course he knows a way to sum everything up. "He was full of joy. And faith."

[summerdude]

"Let me guess: it was infectious to be around."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad nods. "It felt easier to-- be. With him. I wanted to be wherever he was. I wanted to be important to him. And I was."

[summerdude]

"Of course you were," says Magnus, who can't imagine Galahad not being important to everyone he meets. "He sounds... He sounds kind of like my mom. In that way."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Tell me about your mom?"

[summerdude]

"She, like, radiated joy. She loved life and being alive and being in the world. She was kind, and easygoing, and down-to-earth, and practical, and was happiest when she was camping on the weekends with me."

[onthewillowsthere]

Percival was happiest outside, too. And kind, and easygoing, and down-to-earth, and practical. He taught Galahad how to survive on long journeys, how to start a fire, catch and hunt small game, how to swim and climb trees.

[summerdude]

"Didn't you say once that Percival taught you how to skip rocks? Mom taught me."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. He taught me--" A faint smile, remembering their quarrel as children. "To play."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs, leaning his head against Galahad's shoulder. "Good! Someone needed to."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Will you show me the picture of your mother again?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, of course." Magnus keeps it on himself at all times, so he rummages through his backpack -- where he puts it for most of the day; he's worried about the chain breaking -- unloading piles and piles of snacks and emergency pull-up diapers in the process. The locket, as always, is in a little box at the very bottom. He passes it over to Galahad. "Here."