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

[summerdude]

They're making a beautiful cacophony. Definitely inventing a new and unparalleled version of the Happy Birthday song. When Magnus sees Asmodean, he starts playing even louder.

[biteybaby]

Sunny, on the other hand, stops playing and waves excitedly to Asmodean, yelling from across the lawn, "SMODEAN! ME MAGNU PLAY BIRTHDAY!"

[involuntaryturncoat]

The already slim chances of being able to turn around and go back inside unnoticed have vanished, so he crosses the lawn to approach the two of them. "Very innovative, I must say."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, Sunny's a wunderkind," says Magnus, proudly. "Definitely the best musician here."

[biteybaby]

Sunny doesn't think she's the best musician here. "I not best," she tells Magnu. Now, if he were to say she is the best at biting, she would agree. Maybe the best at cooking pacorn. Definitely the best at riding a tricycle.

The best musician is probably Lan-shushu.

[involuntaryturncoat]

"Certainly the best in your age range, I would say."

[summerdude]

Magnus gives Asmodean a verrrrry subtle stink-eye over Sunny's head and the top of his trashbagpipe. "The very best," he says. "Maybe you tie with Hanguang-jun and Uncle Dindin, but it's hard to tell, because you play different instruments."

[biteybaby]

"Only one in age range, Smodean." Everyone else here is Violet's age or older! Or way way older! Not counting animals like Szari or Tachi or Temeraire. Then she remembers something important to tell Magnu, so she looks at him and says, "You know Dindin not play violin, hims play reebok, but only look like violin?"

[involuntaryturncoat]

"True enough," he says, although it does depend on how large one makes the range. He stays quiet, though, to allow Sunny to explain Dinadan's instrument of choice to Magnus.

[summerdude]

"Dindin plays reeboks? That's so much cooler than the violin."

[biteybaby]

"Yeah! Sound waaaay better. Not like--" and here Sunny Baudelaire proceeds to make the approximate screeching sound of Vice Principal Nero's violin playing.

[involuntaryturncoat]

Asmodean smiles at that. "Excellent rendition."

[summerdude]

"That's because Sunny is a great musician even when she's mimicking a bad musician."

[biteybaby]

"Nero really really really bad musician," Sunny explains. "Make listen anyway."

[involuntaryturncoat]

"There are things worse than having to listen to very bad music, but not many."

[summerdude]

"Then it's a good thing me and Sunny are so good on the trashbagpipes, huh, ed-- Asmodean?"

[biteybaby]

Sunny is incredibly aware of the fact that there are some things worse than listening to bad music.

[involuntaryturncoat]

"It is, yes. I applaud your ingenuity."

[summerdude]

"Wanna hear us try Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?"

[biteybaby]

"Yeah we play for you!"

[involuntaryturncoat]

Asmodean nods and promptly sits on the grass facing them. "I await your concert."

[summerdude]

If Magnus doesn't know how to play it, Sunny definitely doesn't know. He grins at her, says, "A-one, and a-two, and a-three, and--" and starts squeezing as much noise out of his trashbagpipe as possible.

[biteybaby]

Sunny similarly is doing her best to make as much noise as she possibly can.

[involuntaryturncoat]

Objectively, the concert is a ruckus. But there is a difference between a ruckus made by a young man and a toddler on a homemade instrument with enthusiasm and a ruckus created by a professional musician with nothing to say for no better reason than shock value. He has sat through the latter several times. This, by comparison, is positively pleasant. He keeps an expression of interest as he listens, even if some of the higher notes especially make him blink a couple times.

[summerdude]

Dad's edgelord boyfriend is being... weirdly nice about this. Huh.

Magnus starts weaving what he can remember of an actual tune into the noise he's producing. It's Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater.