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

[lightbearinglord]

"Bubble tea?" Lan Wangji prompts him patiently.

[summerdude]

"It's a modern evolution of tea from your neck of the woods. Me and Alex found a room the other day and me and Galahad spent some serious time earlier perfecting the process and discussing a Hanguang-jun Signature Drink^TM."

[lightbearinglord]

"And what is the Hanguang-jun Signature Drink?" Demonstrative of the aforementioned English prowess, Lan Wangji signs T followed by M.

[summerdude]

"Well, it certainly wouldn't be milk tea or have sugar in it. And I was thinking that instead of boba, it would probably have, like, grass jelly in it. We guessed green tea, but alternately... maybe oolong?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I like oolong," Lan Wangji agrees, "and I do not like sugar or milk in tea. Grass jelly is put in tea?"

[summerdude]

"Yep! It's pretty fun. The classic bubbles are big tapioca pearls, but there's also a whole range of jellies that can go in."

[lightbearinglord]

"Tapioca?" He is practiced by now at the rhythm of continually prompting Magnus for information.

[summerdude]

"Oh, you know," says Magnus, gesturing in a way that almost certainly clarifies nothing. "Boba. Pearls. Tapioca is a, um, a starch? And a root. Or something. Anyway, they do stuff to it and roll it into balls."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji makes a note to himself to look into this later, despite Magnus' claim that the library is unnecessary in these situations. "And the balls are... put in the tea?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah. So, like, they're these little balls of starch that are boiled, kind of like pasta or couscous. Except bigger than couscous. Oh, or sago pudding, if you've had that? Did they invent that yet in your time? But anyway. So in this case they're boiled till they get soft... kind of a bouncy chewy texture? And you put them in the tea, and you drink them with it. It's fun, it's like a drink and a snack at the same time."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji considers this; while it is not appetizing, he is generally willing to try most things to entertain his loved ones. He does, however, note, "That sounds like something Galahad would dislike."

[summerdude]

"He didn't hate it!" Magnus says, cheerfully proud. "It's not, like, a super slimy texture or whatever. There were other toppings he liked better, but."

[lightbearinglord]

"Not too slippery," Lan Wangji says solemnly.

[summerdude]

"Yeah. He liked the popping boba better -- I don't know how they make that, it's like, juice inside a bubble that you can bite into. I don't think you'd like the popping boba as much. It's pretty sweet."

[lightbearinglord]

"I don't mind grass jelly. I have only never had it in tea."

[summerdude]

"There's a first time for everything, Hanguang-jun."

[lightbearinglord]

"Not for things that never happen," Lan Wangji points out.

[summerdude]

"I mean, there still could be. Right? Just because they don't happen doesn't mean the capacity for them to happen doesn't exist."

[lightbearinglord]

"A first time is possible. But it does not always exist."

[summerdude]

"I think that's what I said?"

[lightbearinglord]

"It is not. But you may have me try your tea if you like anyway."

[summerdude]

Magnus cocks his head. "How is it different, do you think?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Pedantically, I suspect."

[summerdude]

"Oh, well. That's not us." Magnus stretches. "Do you wanna try the tea now or later?"

[lightbearinglord]

"Now," Lan Wangji says, for two reasons: that it is Magnus' birthday and he wants to do something Magnus wants to do, and that he would like to separate Magnus from his horrible so-called musical instrument.