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]

"Can't reach. Also it okay grown ups be alone and do whatever but when Sunny alone it bad."

[summerdude]

"Do you miss being alone?"

[biteybaby]

She shrugs.

[summerdude]

"What would it be like if you could be alone again?" he tries.

[biteybaby]

"Could go visit whoever I want and they don't gotta come get me first. Can get my own snacks. If I feel bad can go to crying hole if I want. And can do own errands--"

[summerdude]

"Bug," says Magnus, half-propping himself up. "What's the crying hole?"

[biteybaby]

"Hole for crying." Obviously.

[summerdude]

"An actual hole?"

[biteybaby]

"Not a down hole, a sideways hole," she explains, then says, "I show you where is if want?"

[summerdude]

"Sure. I'd like to see the sideways crying hole."

[biteybaby]

"Okay, come on," she says and starts heading off towards the woods.

[summerdude]

Magnus pops to his feet, abandoning all the trashbagpipe detritus -- he'll deal with it later.

[biteybaby]

Sunny leads Magnu through the woods to a place with a little rocky outcropping with a large bush the size of a small bush at the bottom. She gets down on her hands and knees and crawls behind the bush, seeming to disappear behind it entirely. What is less evident from first glance is that there's a nook behind the bush, large enough for Sunny to sit comfortably in. "This my crying hole," she says from her hiding spot, then crawls back out. "Don't need it now cause now when I sad I cry with you or Far or Apu. Better than crying hole."

[summerdude]

Okay, okay. Magnus plops himself down on the ground and gestures for Sunny to climb onto his lap, if she feels so inclined.

[biteybaby]

Sunny, of course, goes to sit in Magnu's lap.

[summerdude]

Magnus wraps her up in a big, big bear hug. "Did you use your crying hole a lot, bug?"

[biteybaby]

"No cause I only cry normal amount," she says, a phrase which here, though Sunny herself doesn't know it, means "Yes I used it quite often."

[summerdude]

His hug tightens around her, and he takes a moment to ensure he's not squeezing her too hard. "Do you ever want to use it anymore?"

[biteybaby]

"No, already said, now I gots you and Far and Apu." Magnu isn't using his listening ears!

[summerdude]

"You also said that you wanted to be grown up so you could use it again," he points out, stroking her hair back.

[biteybaby]

"Huh?" She thinks back. "No, I just telling what happen if I alone again."

[summerdude]

"But you're okay with not being alone?"

[biteybaby]

"I like not being alone, especially when time for crying. But sometimes want to go where I want."

[summerdude]

"Can you give me an example?"

[biteybaby]

She thinks. “Maybe I wanna go look in mansion, or to lake, but Apu and Far busy, and you practice swords or something.”