onthewillowsthere | [open post -- winged and once-winged insects]

Galahad has collected every insect guide he could find in the mansion's library, and now he is camped out in a laboratory it seems to have created particularly for him and Susan -- the room has its own microscope, so that he can stop borrowing Claudius', and every single shelf is filled with glass habitats or mesh tents for keeping insects.

With his single-minded determination, he has filled many of them -- the tents house carefully potted foot-high milkweeds with tiny butterfly eggs affixed to their leaves, or potato plants he hopes will soon harbor potato beetles, or butterflies resting on the mesh. In the glass habitats there are millipedes, gleaming tenebrionid beetles, huge and bumbling scarabs, the dogbane leaf beetle Lancelot helped him capture, shiny blister beetles, leafhoppers in every shade of green, a pair of picasso bugs, an mantis he found in the greenhouse pretending to be an orchid flower.

Many of these insects stay only long enough to be identified and documented. Galahad and Susan between them take careful notes, make drawings, take pictures. When possible, they identify to species; more often, they identify genera or family, country of origin if they're lucky. Then they let their subjects go again. Neither of them has the time nor the inclination to feed and care for the immense diversity of insects living on the mansion's grounds. Potato beetles are one thing, but catching other tiny insects for the tiger beetles every morning is unsustainable. Galahad doesn't mind. Once he has a picture and the notes, the insect is saved, even if they don't see it again.

In the morning he trains with Lan Wangji, so it's an afternoon now when he's perched on a stool in front of the microscope, inspecting a chlaenius beetle to see whether it's possible to confirm a species. Unfortunately, these beetles are too fast and squirmy to put on a slide alive, so he's ethered it first. Now he's working diligently on his sketch, his pale head bowed as he studies the tiny body.

[Open especially to anyone who needs to be reassured that Galahad is back after the mod event and he's just fine now]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Not sure you can get the weight you need, but we can at least triangulate the aim." She doesn't anticipate it'll take much triangulation; Galahad's a pretty precise guy.

"I understand." It takes him a moment to find a suitable stick, but once he does he comes back, holding it in his fist.

Gideon takes her defensive stance, absolutely ready to be hit repeatedly with sticks. "Alright. Come at me, bro."

She does indeed get hit repeatedly: Galahad is intently focused as he brings the butt of the stick down on her elbow over and over, changing the angle or placement ever so slightly, until he begins to hit the same spot consistently.

"Ow," says Gideon. "Yep—ow." She catches the stick in a palm. "Okay, now we're gonna try when I'm not just standing around letting you aim. Y'wanna find me a stick, too?"

He gives her a pleased look at having gotten it and spends several moments finding a suitable stick for her before returning.

Meanwhile, Gideon's unstrapped the sword from her back and laid it by the side of the practice yard. When Galahad returns, she takes the stick from him and weighs it in her hand. "Nice," she says approvingly, and then takes her stance again. This time, when Galahad attacks, she'll defend, moving to block his blows so he can't go for the disarm. The idea is to force him to find new ways to hit the same spot.

Galahad is relentless and purposeful -- what he lacks in finesse he makes up for in sheer determination. He comes at her again and again, adjusting minutely each time as he learns more about her and the way she defends.

Gideon appreciates the dedication—but the minute adjustments aren't going to be enough to get through her defenses. "Half of cheating is just surprise," she says, deflecting a swing of his stick. "This isn't working because I know you're going for the disarm every time, and I know what kind of disarm. You gotta change it up, lull me into a false sense of security."

"I'm not very good at surprises."

Gideon considers this. "Well, it doesn't have to be a surprise to you, just a surprise to them. Sometimes a surprise is just a pattern the other guy doesn't know about."

"Oh." He stares at her for a long moment, digesting that information. A surprise is just a pattern the other guy doesn't know about. "All right," finally. "I'm ready to begin again."

"Cool." Gideon takes her defensive stance again.

This time, in the midst of a series of predictable, heavy blows to her head and shoulders, he abruptly strikes her elbow with the butt of his stick.

Gideon hisses as the wood slaps against her rapidly-forming bruises, drops her own stick, crows a laugh, and slaps Galahad on the shoulder with her other hand. "Nice!"

It takes a moment, but a flash of a smile crosses Galahad's thin mouth. "Thank you. This was a good lesson."

"Yeah," says Gideon. "I liked it, too. Never really taught anyone to do anything before I came here."

"Would you like to do this again?"

"Yeah, sure! I can teach you to trip people and shit."

It's very different from the way Lan Wangji teaches him, and he thinks Lan Wangji would not care for such tricks, but it's important that he be able to use all the tactics possible. God is not protecting him now.

"Lan Wangji's pretty impossible to trip," Gideon muses, her thoughts sort of following his. "But I bet you can get to where you can trip me or anyone who can't do stupid flippy wizard bullshit."

"I would like to be able to do that."

Gideon punches him lightly on the shoulder—the arm that was deadened earlier; maybe it'll help. "Cool."

[open post -- winged and once-winged insects]

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