blades before babes

Across the next two days, the following individuals will have the following invitation hand-delivered to them whenever Magnus happens to run across them: Enjolras, Gideon, Gu Xiang, Laertes, Lan Wangji, Mothwing, SecUnit, Sunny, Susan, Tress, and Shen Yuan's growing plant body. Alex, who is a good chunk of the entertainment on deck, also gets one; Magnus gives himself one for good measure, too. The final invitation, of course, goes to Galahad.

"And then we realized Frigg was knitting with clouds. Actual factual clouds," Magnus says, passing another box that, as it turns out, holds nothing useful down to Galahad. He climbs up another rung on the little stepladder and starts in on the next shelf. "How many boxes of Legos do we have so far?" He knows it's certainly not enough for a bachelorette party yet, but surely there's something they can go on. He'd kind of tonight that this far after Dark, there would be... more? "Do you think we should find another room to look in? Maybe the game room isn't the best choice."

Magnus has had an incredibly busy morning. The winter feels less oppressive in the wake of that totally insane blizzard the other day, so he spends the first few hours digging out camp with Alex (which does take some time, because they do take a couple of breaks for snow fights, make-out sessions, and snacks), and then digging out Galahad's church. In the process of tracking down a shovel to do said digging, he learns that the Mansion is making things again (thank gods), so he also takes advantage of that, once his home has been unearthed, to find another outdoor fireplace, a few candles and tiki torches, and a weird wooden chest thing filled with paper and markers. Plus some bells.

He takes all of these things back to the church, and works in earnest to continue setting it up. He writes TABERNACLE GOES HERE? on one of the papers, which he wedges in one of the slats of the box, demonstratively, and places it on his former reading branch, urging the branch to grow around the box a little more snugly. He threads bells through smaller branches, and then moves the branches like vines, securing them in place above the cross. The outdoor fireplace he puts next to the place where he imagines Galahad might sit or kneel or whatever, so he can stay warm; he places the candles on top of it, and then drags Dro's perch to the other side of the kneeling/sitting space. Finally, he shoves the torches into the frozen ground in a line leading up to the space.

Then, he decides, he can't do anything else without some sort of direction from Galahad. So he goes back to camp, gives Alex another big old kiss, and shoves his notebook into his backpack. "I'll be back by dinner," he promises her, "with dinner," and trots off to the Mansion to find Galahad.

Galahad probably didn't expect Magnus to come pounding on his door in the middle of the day when they agreed Magnus would try sleeping on his own, especially since Magnus decided pretty quickly that he wanted to sleep outside again (but on purpose because he prefers it, not because it feels like the only option that doesn't end with the walls closing in on him). But here Magnus is, anyway, in the middle of the day, knocking loud enough that he has to force himself to take a step back so he doesn't break the door down.

"Dude, it's me, I need you," he calls, just so Galahad knows for sure it's him, or whatever. "You're in there, right? Galahad?"

Magnus wakes up, normal again except for how he's in an unfamiliar room. Not Galahad's old room, either. A nondescript one that, as far as he can tell, just has a bunch of clothes and stuff. Also he's wearing silky pajamas he'd never pick out automatically on his own?

It doesn't take long for him to feel like the walls are closing in on him. It's out of respect for Aornis that he stumbles out of her room through the door (barefoot and in the silky pajamas) and goes outside the normal way. Once outside, he flops into the snow, calling summer and feeling the way the snow steams against his skin as it melts.

He's not feeling totally regular again when he sits bolt upright, remembering that Drosera is probably in Galahad's old room with two people that aren't Magnus or Galahad. Existential crisis over, there's a child to retrieve! And hopefully, he'll run into Galahad in the halls.

Magnus, triumphant, has finally managed to make some old bamboo sprout. With Drosera fed recently enough that she's not complaining of hunger and resting in her new favorite perch (lounging on his shoulder tucked right against his neck, her beak tangled in hair that is once again getting long), he sneaks it into the Mansion, hides it in a large gift-bag a closet gives him, and hangs it on Claudius and Galahad's doorknob with a quickly-jotted note that reads Claudius, What next? - MAGNUS CHASE.

Then, since he's already inside, he figures, why not wander around until he finds someone to talk to?

On the one hand, Magnus is on cloud nine. Even though Alex isn't here anymore, she was here, and he got to see her. He got to hug her, and hold her hand, and kiss her, and joke around with her, and have all the important and difficult conversations he's been wanting to have with her for months. He's gotten the impression, by now, that a lot of people showed up for just the one day, and so the fact that she's gone doesn't burn the way it might otherwise. She was here once; maybe she can be here again. In the meantime, now all his friends back home will know he's okay. And as long as Surt doesn't figure out whatever magic brought her here, things might be... okay for a while?

His only regret is that, since he assumed she was here for good, he didn't monopolize all her time. (He wouldn't have; he never wants to tie her down. She can tie him down! He doesn't mind! But she should be free, always. But it does feel like every exchange he had with someone else that entire day was a waste of time. Except saving Hanguang-jun and his husband. That definitely wasn't a waste. But...)

But he's still feeling all mixed up about it. He's feeling lonely now, in a way he's managed to stave off most of the time he's been living in the woods. He and Shen Yuan and Galahad have been tossing around the idea of a game night for a while now. Maybe Galahad and Shen Yuan had visitors, too? Maybe they're also feeling a little lonely? Maybe they might be willing to have some quality bro time right about now?

It's midafternoon. A little early, maybe, but he's definitely going to come back outside to sleep. He empties his backpack into his camp cooler so that he can fill it with snacks in the kitchen, and heads toward the Mansion. He'll find Galahad first -- if Shen Yuan is in his room, that's a little too close to Magnus's empty room for comfort right now, and he'll want a friend with him before he goes down that hallway.

The zombies are gone, the bodies are healed, the Magnus is exhausted. He's had an extremely strange few days. First, everyone else seems to start unloading their entire hearts at him -- unexpected! But pretty cool! -- and then he wakes up to zombies.

It really gets him thinking, is the thing. He's been practicing swordplay daily since arriving, sparring with people or against Jack, trying to keep a hand in and not let his mediocre skills atrophy. He's also been exercising in new-to-him invigorating ways, learning new stuff, meeting new people...

He likes it here. He really, really likes it here. He misses his friends back home more than words can possibly express, but if he went back to Valhalla right now, he'd miss the people here, too, some of them even equally as bad. And he doesn't want to subject these people all to Valhalla -- it's really not for everyone -- but he also can't figure out how to bring all his people here. Jack still can't rip through the barriers between worlds here like he can anywhere else in the Nine.

He likes it here... and it's becoming abundantly clear to him that he doesn't want to fight all the time anymore. The zombies have made it really, stunningly clear how much he doesn't miss Battle Practice or dying all the time. The rest has clued him into how much he likes learning new things, and talking to different kinds of people, and figuring out who he is when he's not constantly in crisis all the time, zombies aside.

But liking it here so much feels kind of like a betrayal? Especially after all the specific, deliberate choices he's made to stay in Valhalla with his people. And this sobers him, a little, blunting the rough edge of the adrenaline that's still coursing through his body.

His thoughts are distracting and, thusly preoccupied as he walks through the halls in the vague direction of his room, a shower, and a nap, he absently reaches out and returns Jack to pendant form...

And immediately passes out.

[Post intended for anyone who will be particularly upset by Magnus passing out xoxo]]

Magnus doesn't hate the Mansion. There's a lot about it that he enjoys a great deal. Not dying painfully every day; that's a big one. The people mostly seem to range between "fascinating" and "friend material," too -- though from what Magnus can tell, based on the notes he's shared with other residents, he hasn't met everyone yet. Apparently there's a dragon??? And Nina had mentioned several names of people Magnus is pretty sure he hasn't come across yet.

It's weird. He's realized he sort of... doesn't hate fighting? It can be extremely fun if you're not doing it to the death, as it turns out! He can't wait to see Alex again and suggest they practice fighting without killing each other. He thinks Alex would get a kick out of that. Magnus thinks he would, too.

He knows the Mansion isn't forever, so perhaps that's why he's not freaked out about being here. After all, there's no getting around fate. One day he'll have his prophesied reunion with his mother. And of course, he'll definitely be back in Valhalla in time for Ragnarok.

He would like to see his friends again, though. How is Blitzen's shop? How far has Hearthstone progressed in his runes practice? Is Samirah getting ready for her wedding yet? (Magnus doesn't want to miss the wedding.) How is Amir and the falafel stand? Are Mallory and Halfborn on again or off again right now? Who has TJ Junior run through with his bone steel bayonet lately? Annabeth must be worried about him going dark.... And the Chase Space! How is it holding up in his absence? Have his friends taken over its operations? Is it okay? Are the kids okay?

And Alex. Of course Alex. Always Alex. How did he react when Magnus didn't follow him out of the recycling chute onto the Fenway field? Is he going out of his mind? Has Magnus even been gone from Midgard long enough for it to be noticed, or does time work differently here?

He misses Alex more than he ever thought possible. Her wicked grin as she teases him, green curls falling into her eyes. Her bright pink cropped jeans, so vivid on the battlefield. A beacon; a threat. The feral strength in her limbs when she stretches and turns into a lion, or a cheetah, or a whale.

He has to get a message to her. Or to someone. Anyone. Just to let them know he's okay, at least. Okay, and likely unreachable. Though, if they wanted to go on a quest to try and find him, he certainly wouldn't say no...

He's already tried the method Annabeth told him Greek demigods use: creating a rainbow (careful splashes in the lake on the Mansion's grounds) and tossing some old Greek coin into it, beseeching Iris to hear his prayer, but that didn't work. Probably because he's not Greek, or maybe because that system has been dismantled, or the Mansion doesn't get service?

So he's going with the next best thing. As children of Loki, there's a chance Sam or Alex could see him if he dreams up a vision about whatever they're doing right now. He's spent the day exhausting himself in practice battle against Jack, and against multiple other residents of the house. He's had Jack do extremely complicated and showy moves that wear him out on a good day when Magnus hasn't done anything else strenuous. Their combined effort has definitely got to count as extreme overexertion at this point, and since he doesn't have the benefit of being able to die and come back to life here -- his vision-dreams are usually triggered when he's dead -- this is the next best thing.

He goes to his bedroom, Jack floating along beside him. He showers and brushes his teeth. Only then, once he's in pajamas, water from his hair dripping down and soaking through his shirt, does he reach out to take Jack and return him to pendant form.

Anyone walking by his room at that point would, conceivably, see him collapse, like a puppet with its strings cut. He falls... mostly onto his bed? Luckily he's young, spry, and undead, so he won't wake up with aches in the morning from the way his body lands.

But Magnus isn't concerned about his physical position. He's lost in a dream. Alex, sitting at a table in the Transportation Center, cracking up. She's definitely a girl right now -- Magnus can always tell -- and she's beautiful. She's laughing at something one of the Chase Space regulars has said, head tilted back, no hint of irony or sarcasm gilding her features. There's a half-eaten bowl of rice and shawarma in front of her; the kid she's brought to lunch has spilled a smear of toum onto the table and another kid Magnus vaguely recognizes is walking over with a bundle of napkins clutched tight in their hand.

But is this actually happening right now, or has Magnus just manufactured what he wants most to see? He can't tell. This feels like a dream, but it also feels any given Tuesday afternoon. Is it Tuesday? Has he managed to get around the Mansion's boundary? He can't... he can't tell.

"Alex," he calls, walking toward the table, hand outstretched. He'll touch the Loki tattoo on the nape of her neck if he has to, if it's the only way to trigger a connection, and apologize later. The table doesn't get closer, though, no matter how quickly he walks. "Alex, I'm here, I'm okay."

Alex just dumps some more sauce on her rice and takes a big bite. Magnus's heart thuds. He likes -- he loves -- her so much. She's not looking up as he calls her name, and he still can't actually move closer to the table. But just seeing her, beautiful and vivacious, so full of life especially for (technically) a dead teenager isn't enough. More than ever, he knows he has to let her know he's safe. There's got to be a way.