WHO: Magnus Chase and Ash Lynburn WHAT: Nature Magic matchup WHEN: Friday WHERE: The park WARNINGS: Low STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Magnus wasn’t as bothered by being in Madison Valley as most new arrivals seemed to be. Maybe it was because over the past year he’d gotten used to weirdness and had learned to roll with it. Maybe it was just that he was more or less an easy going guy and on the whole didn’t let things get close enough to bother him. Either way, Madison Valley was what it was and he couldn’t leave, so it seemed rather pointless to be upset about it.
One thing he didn’t like, though, was how grey and colorless Madison Valley was in the winter. Sometimes it snowed, and that was okay. But so much of the time it was just cold and grey and dark, and that really bugged the part of him that was Frey’s son.
That was why he was in the park right now, sitting on the cold, wet grass with his eyes closed. His hands were on the ground on either side of him, and from them came a soft, golden glow. As it spread across the ground the blades of grass quivered and grew, spreading a carpet of green out from where Magnus sat. Then came the flowers, growing, budding, and blooming in mere seconds, until Magnus was surrounded by his own little oasis of summer.
***
The fashion show had been fun, in a terrifying kind of way, and it had the added bonus of getting Katniss possessive, which was kind of hot - but Ash was glad it was over. He didn't have to worry about fittings and rehearsals and lighting anymore: his time was his own.
Today he decided to take a walk in the woods. Winter still drained his energy, but being in the midst of nature helped.
And...it looked like someone else was sick of the cold and snow.
“Getting ready for spring?” He approached, drawn by the warmth of the air around the young man. Already, he could feel the magical stores inside him reacting, reaching out.
What kind of power would the blood of this sorcerer give him?
Ash shook aside that sudden, insidious whisper. He didn't need blood magic. He didn't.
***
Magnus opened his eyes and the glow from his hands stopped. He hadn’t heard the man approach, but he’d been so deep in his magic that it wasn’t really surprising.
“Oh, hey,” he said, only a little awkwardly. “Just sick of all the grey, you know? Ready for flowers. And grass. And summer.”
He stood and held out a grass-stained hand.
“Magnus Chase.”
***
Ash took it without any care for staining his own palms. “Ash Lynburn. It’s very good to meet you.”
He spoke with probably more enthusiasm than an ordinary meeting warranted, but the reason for that became clear when one of the flowers Magnus had drawn out of the earth bloomed upward and unfurled its petals to brush against Magnus’s shoulder in greeting.
***
Magnus raised an eyebrow.
“Impressive,” he said sincerely, looking at the guy in a different manner now - as a peer, instead of just a normal guy who’d just seen him do something weird.
“I take it you’re not a son of Frey?”
He’d never met any others, after all.
***
“A sorcerer,” explained Ash, although he was pretty sure that wouldn't mean anything to anyone outside his own world. People tended to use that synonymously with magician or wizard.
“Are you a Son of Frey?”
Not being up on his Norse mythology, he wasn't really sure who Frey was. But it seemed like he had some sort of power over nature.
***
That was the only real meaning it had to Magnus, yeah. A magic user. Sometimes the word was used in a more frightening context than just “witch” or “wizard”, but it meant the same thing. So he just nodded. “Cool. Lots of nature magic?”
“I am. Didn’t know it until recently, but I’m a demigod. Cool, huh?”
It was hard by his tone to know whether he really thought it was or not.
***
Ash’s eyebrow lifted up. Demigod. Huh. That trumped sorcerer.
“Lots of nature magic,” he confirmed. The flower settled down, returning to the bud that Magnus had originally called it up as.
“There’s a bunch of demigods around here, but I think they’re Greek and Roman. I don’t think Frey’s one of them, though.”
***
“No, Frey’s Norse. My cousin, Annabeth, is a Greek demigod, though. Daughter of Athena. Gods just like our family, I guess.”
He kind of wished that they didn’t, it would have made things easier. But on the other hand, he’d be dead now for real and not in Valhalla, and he was pretty sure he wasn’t ready for that.
“What else can you do?”
***
“Seems like it,” said Ash, who had no idea how the demigod worked other than what he’d read in books in high school.
He looked around at the little oasis of summer Magnus had created, and felt a little sad. What else could he do? He knew what he could potentially do, if he had enough power, but that wasn’t something he really liked to think about.
“I prefer to stay with nature magic,” was all he said. “It helps break up the cold of winter.”
***
Magnus couldn’t argue with that. Of course, it was really all he could do. But he’d seen others do really powerful magic, so he knew it was out there. Not that he’d ever be able to do it.
“Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I think it’s best just to stick with what you’re good at.”
***
And what was good for everyone else.
“That's what I figure,” agreed Ash. It wasn't a complete lie, and he said it smoothly enough that it shouldn't raise any questions.
“What about you? What else can a son of Frey do?”
***
His fingers found the rune around his neck, but he wasn’t quite sure that it was time yet to introduce the talking sword. Jack could be annoying after all. Could be? Okay, absolutely was almost all the time. And he didn’t need to fight right now. And there weren’t any other swords to hit on, so who knew what he’d do?
“Nature magic, pretty much,” he shrugged. “Healing. I’m good at healing. Especially for a dead guy.”
It was a little ironic, he supposed, that he couldn’t heal himself.”
***
It wasn’t the healing that caught Ash’s attention, but the dead part. Healers he’d met. But zombies? Not really. “You’re...dead?” he said. “You look pretty solid and alive to me.”
Curiously, he extended his senses...and found a big block of nothing. His eyes widened. “Whoa. Another Frey power?”
***
“Nope, dead,” Magnus said calmly. “I took a fireball in the gut from a fire Jotunn. Dying sucks, just in case you’re curious. But a Valkyrie came and took me to Valhalla, and voila, I’m still here. Sort of. Still dead, but sort of not. It’s complicated.”
Very complicated.
“Not a Frey power so much as just a Norse demigod power. If you die heroically, I guess. Going to my own funeral was weird, though.”
***
“I think there are a lot of emo stories written about that kind of thing,” Ash said. He tilted his head, still studying the young man in front of him. “So if you’re Norse and you die heroically, you get to come back to the world of the living? I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.”
***
“Well, no, not the land of the living exactly,” he said. “I’m dead. I can go to Midgard but...well, it’s complicated. Very complicated.”
And he kind of didn’t want to talk about it. Avoidance was a great way to handle unpleasant things.
***
Sensing Magnus’s discomfort with the subject, Ash backed off. He understood; death was a big thing and a personal one to boot. Ash didn’t think he’d have the equanimity to stand there and tell people he was dead himself.
“I get that,” he said. “It’s cool you’re here, anyway. There are a few of us who’re connect with nature here. A while ago I met a guy who can talk to trees.”
***
“Talk to trees?” Could he do that? He had no idea. There were so many things he just had no clue whether he could do or not, mostly because nobody’d ever tried to train him or really show him what he could do. They’d kind of just thrown him into it and expected him to sink or swim. He’d swam for the most part, but it hadn’t always been easy.
“We should all meet up sometime,” he said with a nod. “Discuss what we can do.”
***
“Good idea,” Ash said, because he didn't have anyone to help him develop his powers either. Briar seemed to be more confident about his own powers, but if he wanted someone to work with, Ash would be willing to help.
“I check the network a lot, so if you want to get a hold of me, just send me a message.”
***
“Sounds like a plan,” he smiled, and raised a hand. “I’m starving so I’d better get on my way. You know, teenage stomach and all. Nice meeting you, though.”
And he meant it, too. The guy was a little weird, but hey, so was his entire life.