[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.)

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

"At the dance. It was different dancing with you and Claudius. Is kissing the same?" to Lancelot.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I only danced with Susan, but yes-- something like."

[summerdude]

Magnus decides Lancelot probably isn't going to give any specific details, which is annoying on several different levels. (First of all, he's curious; second of all, this means he's gotta hand it to Lancelot for being, like, respectful or whatever. And he doesn't want to!!!)

(Also, he thinks maybe the difference between Galahad dancing with him and with Claudius is that Galahad is in love with Claudius, and is in found familyship with Magnus.)

Still, just in case, he gives Lancelot an expectant look.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad waits, although he has all the same expectations regarding Lancelot actually telling anything.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot raises his eyebrows at both of them. "I believe I've answered your question."

[summerdude]

"I guess," Magnus allows.

[onthewillowsthere]

He's not entirely sure about the question until he asks it, and then he's absolutely confident -- but he looks at Lancelot steadily the whole while, with no hint of uncertainty. "Are you happy?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot looks faintly surprised. After a moment he says, "This week has been a hard one, but-- aye. Most days I am happy. Happier than I have been in a long while."

[summerdude]

"Gross," says Magnus, with relish, but he offers Lancelot the tiniest of nods and an even tinier smile. He's actually glad to hear it. He's seen plenty of that guy's thoughts, and now that he's decided Lancelot isn't his, like, enemy or whatever, he's also concluded that it's good that Lancelot is happy. Mostly because that means he's less likely to make his trauma everyone else's problem, maybe, but also perhaps, perhaps, he deserves happiness too.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Good," Galahad says, softly decisive. Lancelot never feels like a father to him now, but some vague sense of responsibility remains -- as if Lancelot were a long-lost younger brother, whose well-being matters. Galahad likes Susan very much; he likes Laertes and Grantaire. He can imagine they're all easier to love and be loved by than an unhappy queen. This is a place for choosing. He's glad that Lancelot is choosing happiness.

[lanselos_du_lac]

If Lancelot knew any of these thoughts, he would be both touched and amused. Of course, though, he does not. Though there's a part of him that's reluctant to leave -- he's always hoping to find some way to connect with Galahad, and he's strangely glad that Magnus is talking to him more -- he gives one of his bows and says, "I hope the same for both of you."

[summerdude]

Fortunately for Lancelot's mild reluctance, Drosera chooses that moment to emerge from underneath her little table-cave with a skittering of talons on stone. She knocks a fragment of her favorite flower-pot out first -- oops, looks like that one's broken! Bizarrely, she has what looks like a smudge of charcoal on her beak. She comes stumbling out, chasing her fragment of terracotta, bumps into Lancelot's legs, and then stares up at him, frozen.

[onthewillowsthere]

"That's our daughter," Galahad says helpfully.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh," Lancelot says, quietly.

Very slowly, he shifts to crouch and offer Drosera his hand to sniff or nibble.

[summerdude]

Drosera looks at it suspiciously, and then makes the face she always makes when she's about to pounce.

"Gently," Magnus tells her. "He's not used to your roughhousing."

baby play!!! Drosera insists, and bites Lancelot's fingers.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Don't bite him," Galahad says, with every expectation of being ignored.

[lanselos_du_lac]

It does hurt, a little, but Lancelot doesn't jump back or anything. Much as he might with a puppy who is still learning, he draws his hand gently away with an exaggerated little, "Ouch!"

[summerdude]

Drosera immediately deploys her new trick when someone tells her no, which is giving Lancelot a truly unsettling sort of hang-dog expression and then rolling on the ground, stretching out her talons and her paws alike as if to say 'what, little old me? look how cute I am!'

What she is saying, of course, is, a much more defensive baby play!!!!! Magnus signs this to Galahad, and then crouches down to scratch her belly. She whips up to bite him too, of course, but only closes her beak around his hand without truly biting harm, staring at him like she's waiting to see how much he'll let her get away with.

[onthewillowsthere]

Cuteness is not something that affects Galahad, in general -- he appreciates that Drosera is very charming, but it doesn't delight him in the same way it does Magnus. However, the way Dro rolls and stretches now makes his chest squeeze oddly.

Baby, he signs.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"She's quite fierce," Lancelot says, warm and approving. It's clear from his expression that he finds Drosera incredibly cute.

[summerdude]

"She's a good little girl," Magnus agrees, proudly. "She wants you to play with her."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad finally gets up from the floor, unfolding to his feet, and retrieves the feather on a string Magnus made for her (after cajoling said feather from the peacock-pheasant in the woods).

"Here," he says, handing it down to Lancelot, who has neither supernatural strength nor a healing factor.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Ah," says Lancelot, smiling up at Galahad briefly before turning his attention back to Drosera. He dangles the feather just out of her reach.

[summerdude]

Drosera goes wild for this, of course, She's working on her wing strength -- she's not ready to fly yet, but she's getting there, and she spreads them now (nearly knocking over several plants in the process) to give herself more balance as she rises on her hind paws and snaps at the feather.

[onthewillowsthere]

It's Magnus' turn with the camera right now, so Galahad isn't sure where it is, which is a shame because he thinks Susan would like to see this. Laertes might too, or even Grantaire, now that Grantaire has to be accounted for as well, but Galahad thinks mostly of Susan because they've talked about Lancelot being allowed to be different here. The cold, angry, arrogant man (although Galahad now wonders if he thought Lancelot was arrogant because it's something other people said about him, and he couldn't read Lancelot well enough to know whether it was untrue) Galahad knew in Camelot is impossible to imagine like this, playing with a half-grown creature.