Closed Post: Ink

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet's been doing a lot of research. No, seriously -- a lot. She's a good magician, but she's not the best magician she knows. She was a good student at Brakebills, but she wasn't the best student at Brakebills. She was a stellar queen, but a lot of that was bluffing and expecting other people to follow her orders. She's certainly never been a fucking tattoo artist before.

What she's come up with is an abomination that would make half her professors faint dead away. She's cobbled together a modified Cavaleri Animation, about two and three-quarters of the principles that go into making a Reed's Mark, and a whole lot of bullshit that she sincerely hopes is going to hang together.

With a significantly bizarre assortment of items assembled in a tote bag, she goes on the hunt for Galahad, hoping he's somewhere that Claudius isn't.

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

"What's your favorite dessert?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Gun to my head? Dark chocolate mousse."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Do you not like sweet things?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I don't hate them. I ate a lot of sugary cereal as a kid. But if you're making me pick one favorite." Suddenly curious, she fires it back at him: "What's your favorite?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He shakes his head. "I can't choose a favorite dessert. The category is too broad."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet laughs. She grabs the water bottle from Galahad and takes a swig for herself. "I didn't know that was an option when you asked me."

[onthewillowsthere]

"And now?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Well, now I know there are categories. Gives me a lot more freedom of dessert." She knocks back another long swallow of cold water. "You can put your sweater back on, by the way, unless you want to keep ogling yourself."

[onthewillowsthere]

He flushes faintly and reaches for his sweater, though he remains expectant about desserts.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Okay, but you have to at least pick a favorite, all right? Favorite chocolate dessert, already established. Favorite cake, New York cheesecake. Favorite ice cream, pistachio."

[onthewillowsthere]

"My favorite chocolate dessert is sachertorte, but I think it's better with ice cream. I've only had vanilla ice cream. My favorite apple dessert is tarte tatin, but it's not my favorite pie or my favorite fruit dessert."

He isn't exactly more expressive, but he's more lively. He loves categorizing and ranking things.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Two things. One: we gotta get you another flavor of ice cream, stat. Vanilla is fine, but there's a whole world out there. Two: favorite pie, rhubarb. Favorite fruit dessert, lemon tart."

[onthewillowsthere]

"One: I would like to try more ice cream. Two: my favorite pie is pecan. My favorite fruit dessert is strawberry shortcake."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Pecan's a solid choice," Janet says. "We can probably get away with snagging some ice cream right now. Say you need to boost your blood sugar after all that."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes, please," he says seriously. "How many kinds are there?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Literally hundreds. I'm not kidding." She starts packing up all her stuff again, piling it in the tote bag. "There's this ice cream shop called Baskin-Robbins. Their shtick is that they have thirty-one flavors."

[onthewillowsthere]

"If there are hundreds, why do they only have thirty-one?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"You can't fit that many in one shop. Limited freezer space." Janet looks at him to make sure he'll follow before she takes off for the kitchen.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It doesn't seem as if they ought to boast about it, still." He is!

[sorrowandsorrow]

"They're not boasting about having hundreds. There's just hundreds that exist in the entire world. Baskin-Robbins is really clear about the thirty-one thing."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I know. I think they ought not boast about having thirty-one if there are hundreds in the world. If their freezers are so small."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Tell you what." Noticing Galahad isn't quite at her level of power-walking, Janet slows down so he can keep up. "If I ever make it to Earth again, I'll call up their marketing department and let them know."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You should. It's sinful."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet grins. "Hugely. Isn't that a commandment? Thou shalt not act like having thirty-one flavors of ice cream is such a big fucking deal."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Pride goeth before destruction. What are the thirty-one flavors?"