[Semi-Closed Post] the 'how are you's

[lanselos_du_lac]

It's a couple of days before Lancelot is feeling well enough, and before Susan is willing to let him out of her sight. He is still tired -- the incident with Magnus was surprisingly taxing, given the chill and the fever -- and he looks it.

He is dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater, and he convinces Susan that he's feeling well enough, he needs to check on Magnus. In truth, he still feels on the mend, but giving into the urge to keep sleeping for another day or two would feel wrong.

So he ventures out, first to get coffee and then to seek Magnus. He decides to forego drills today, as he doesn't suppose he has the strength. He isn't entirely sure where to find Magnus, but he heads instinctively for the greenhouse, since that's where he left him. (Lancelot knows he might well find him elsewhere, but this is a good starting point.)

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[summerdude]

"Even though her stomach is making the rumblies that only hands can satisfy?" he asks, very bravely not making a joke about what use Lancelot could even get from his hands, twitching his shoe away from her when she threatens to actually bite through it. "Gently," he tells her, and then lets her attack his foot again.

To Galahad, he signs, It's a reference. I'll explain later.

[onthewillowsthere]

Okay, easily enough. He's still trying to get through this picture.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I do not get the impression that she is lacking food."

[summerdude]

"Nah, the hunters here have her covered."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She can hunt too."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Of course," playfully poking Drosera while her attention is on Magnus' shoe, "we've already seen that she is skilled."

[summerdude]

Drosera snaps idly at Lancelot's hand, but her attention is on Magnus's shoelace.

[onthewillowsthere]

"If she bites you and you bleed on anything, Claudius will be cross."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I do not intend to be bitten," serenely. Indeed, he's sitting back now, though he looks very pleased at the opportunity to play with the griffin.

[summerdude]

Magnus is pretty sure Claudius wouldn't actually mind if Lancelot bled on some things. "She's very well behaved and perfect," he says, as Drosera chews off an aglet. "As you can see."

[onthewillowsthere]

Fine. He's just going to work on this sketch then and not protect Lancelot's fingers' safety at all.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, that much is plain," agreeably. "She is wondrous. I had never seen a griffin until today."

[summerdude]

Magnus shakes his head solemnly. "That's so sad," he says. "No wonder you're like that, then. So much deprivation." This is, for what it's worth, a joke. He's decided -- shock of all shocks -- that Lancelot is actually lowkey okay, and therefore fair game.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh, Magnus, I assure you -- this is only one reason of many that I am like this."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, yeah, so I've seen," Magnus says, flapping a hand. If you make light of the fact that you saw your best friend's semi-estranged dad-from-the-past's traumatic memories while you were healing him once or twice, that means you're normalizing the weirdness in a good way, right? "But definitely the griffin thing is the biggest thing, right?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad is actually interested in this answer, and he looks up from his sketchbook again.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot's tone is loftily joking, "Aye, I would say so. The gravest of harms. Others at court have seen griffins or unicorns and I have had to make do with dragons."

[summerdude]

Magnus perks up. "Did you kill them?" he asks. "I've killed a dragon. On purpose. And roasted its heart on purpose and then eaten the heart, accidentally. Uh, after I turned my good friend's dickhead dad into it, also accidentally." He grins at Galahad. "Four out of ten. Could've been worse. I've also been killed by dragons a couple of times. Well, lindworms, technically. One and a half out of ten rounded up to two because Alex saved me from one the day we met." Galahad might remember that this is the time Alex beheaded Magnus to keep him from exploding -- the very definition of a meet-cute.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad nods, because he does remember, but he tells Lancelot, "I've seen a unicorn."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot turns and regards Galahad with clear interest that is also, somehow, not much surprised. "Did you? In Britain?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"In Caithness. We stopped at a spring and it came to Percival and lay its head in his lap."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He doesn't know Percival, but that matters little. "Was it very beautiful?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"It was like a deer, but as small as a goat, and its tail was like Dro's," like a lion's tail, long and thin with a tuft at the end, "and its horn was twisted. It let us stroke it."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"That sounds wonderful," quietly. He pauses, then turns to Magnus, "I have killed dragons, yes. Temeraire was the first I met that could speak. At first I thought that, too, was some quest -- but Temeraire is only Temeraire. I assured him I had no interest in slaying him."

[summerdude]

"Mr. Alderman could speak, but then again, he was a ring dragon. The lindworms can't talk."