I Turn, Um... Uh... Sixteen? For The Tenth? Time???? [open post]

[summerdude]

It's Magnus's birthday and he is a man with a surplus of plans. And many, many plastic recorders.

He's still a little overstimulated from the birthday party Galahad got Claudius to throw for the two of them — he loves all his friends, but that was a lot of people in one space, most of whom were also feeling many, many things about their visitors — and so it's been a quiet few days. Sunny is still a little subdued, so they've been having muted hangouts in the mornings; Galahad, also overstimulated from their birthday party, has fortunately been on Magnus's wavelength about just sailing around aimlessly on the Big Banana with many snacks and very little conversation during their daily hangs for the past few days. He drags himself to sword practice with Lancelot once or twice, has his weekly dinner at Hanguang-jun's, spends a great solo afternoon cleaning out Little John's cave in case anyone else wants to use it at some point, and lets Alex tease him into wrestling and, um, other stuff after dinner basically every night.

But on this, the twenty-sixth anniversary of Magnus's actual birth, most of his energy has returned to him. He's made birthday dinner plans with just his immediate family (and also Alex and Hanguang-jun) at their house for the evening. He's had his liveliest morning of the week. And with his newly regained energy he's found critical supplies for his afternoon: a roll of duct tape, several trash bags, eight recorders, a handful of hollow pens, and a dream. He's sitting cross-legged in the middle of the Mansion's lawn, a look of grave concentration on his face, as he makes little holes in a bag, duct tapes two recorders and one pen here and there, and then seals it all up.

And then he takes a deep breath, fits his mouth to the hollow pen, and blows the bag up. When he places it under his arm and squeezes, he's gratified to find that his makeshift bagpipes work perfectly. And he still has supplies for a couple more!



I know everyone is still busy with visitor's day so feel free to take your time on this one... but I would love to ultimately have a ton of Chaos Thread Opportunities.

Comments

[biteybaby]

Sunny shouldn't be alone, because bad things happen when she is by herself, but while walking back to her house with her daddies she did hear the noise, and then saw Magnu, so they let her walk over to go spend some additional sibling time today.

There hasn't been much lately that she has felt like laughing at, but whatever this thing is that Magnu is playing is just silly enough that she is giggling as she approaches. "It loud!"

[summerdude]

"It's very loud," Magnus agrees, grinning, partly with relief at seeing Sunny laugh. "And obnoxious. Wanna try?"

[biteybaby]

"Uh huh! How work?"

[summerdude]

"You fill up the bag using this," Magnus says, tweaking the hollow pen. "And then you squeeze the bag, and it pushes the air out of the recorders. You can put your fingers over the holes of this one," and he taps the one on the bottom, "to make the sound change."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad isn't really capable of flopping, honestly, but he does sit down beside Magnus in a tidy little heap. "That's a horrible noise," he says.

[summerdude]

"Isn't it?" Magnus agrees happily, automatically disturbing the tidiness of Galahad's heap by flopping all over his lap and giving his trashbagpipe an emphatic, wheezing squeeze.

[onthewillowsthere]

"What is it?"

[summerdude]

"It's an unholy abomination of a bagpipe," says Magnus proudly.

[bymyheelies]

Mercutio has been flitting about like an unhappy chaotic poltergeist the past few days. Today, he is outside, and hears a sound that he would liken to the cries of demons. Perhaps he should ask Crowley about that sometime. Intrigued, he moves closer to find Magnus with his pile of assorted objects, and tilts his head.

"Art torturing the cats with that?"

[summerdude]

Magnus gives Mercutio a little wave. "I'm summoning the goat, my dude."

[bymyheelies]

"Mayhap thou couldst summon a satyr," he suggests, sprawling down near Magnus in a mostly-graceful pile. "It would cheer Bacchus greatly."

[summerdude]

"I bet it would!" Magnus starts blowing the bag back up, then pauses. "But no. There's an actual goat but he's only here, like, once a week. I have some goat friends back home and they hate bagpipes, so I thought this might work to, like, bring him out."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

That is truly a most offensive caterwauling. Susan does her best to ignore it as she approaches, setting her face into a carefully expressionless arrangement. When she gets to a spot a yard or two away, she stops, hands held carefully at her sides, and clears her throat.

[summerdude]

Magnus glances up. Ugh. He inflates his beautiful trashbagpipes again and tries a different set of notes.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

What a profoundly irritating child. Susan clears her throat again. "Excuse me," she says.

[summerdude]

He shouldn't. He shouldn't.

"You're excused," he says. "Did you fart?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji, who knows exactly what day it is, but who has already once again given Magnus and Galahad the traditional gift of longevity noodles, hesitates barely at all before he drops into a cross-legged seat across from Magnus, mirroring him. He remains silent as he eyes Magnus' pile of what would appear to be miscellaneous refuse. Miscellaneous refuse that, apparently, makes an unconscionably unpleasant sound. His expression is not one of enjoyment.

[summerdude]

Magnus gives the trashbagpipe one more squeeze and cackles. "Hanguang-jun!" he says. "What's up?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Is this a birthday tradition, too?" Lan Wangji asks. It is impossible to tell whether he is or is not joking.

[thepurpledanger]

Gu Xiang plunks herself down on the grass in front of Magnus, her expression hovering between rage and delight. "Does your family have a seven-generation grudge against music?" she asks. "Is that why you're murdering it?"

[summerdude]

Magnus grins at Gu Xiang. "I have to assume the answer is yes," he says. "Cuz Jack was my dad's sword first and I was inspired by his singing. You wanna make one too?"

[thepurpledanger]

"Why would I want to do that? I can play your weird xiao just fine without all of the other stuff."

[aflashbastard]

"That doesn't sound right," Crowley says with a frown, more confused than judgmental in any way.

[summerdude]

"Pretty sure it's a classic trashbagpipe," Magnus says, reinflating his bag.

[aflashbastard]

"No, I'm pretty sure it should be louder," Crowley corrects him.