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

[onthewillowsthere]

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]

Comments

[summerdude]

"Oh, thank the gods," Magnus mumbles as he pokes his head into the room. "Dro, baby, wait out there," he tells her, and slips inside, wrapping his arms around Galahad from behind. "Missed you, buddy."

[onthewillowsthere]

He startles, and then smiles, relaxing back into the hug. "Hi. Are you okay?"

[summerdude]

"Me? I'm great. Peachy keen." Magnus gives him a squeeze. "I'm just really glad the Evil Twin Event is over."

[vineleaves]

His first stop this morning was, of course, to make sure Mercutio was back. Everything was fine, Riff is gone (...which, he has to admit, is sad for Riff, but surely nobody will blame him for wanting Mercutio back), and now he's feeling much better than yesterday.

There's a door he hasn't opened before, and cautiously he tries it today, to find... a laboratory? Bug land? Something? More importantly, there's, "Galahad!"

[onthewillowsthere]

"What was the evil twin event? Was that why Lan Wangji was an android?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad looks up from the microscope. Are you okay?

[vineleaves]

He has never been so happy to see someone using ASL. I am! Just glad to see you. How are you today?

[onthewillowsthere]

Good. He tilts his head slightly. Do you want to look?

[vineleaves]

Sure! He hesitates though. Can I give you a hug first?

[untamedantinous]

Enjolras is presumably returning from helping Laertes and Sagramore with work on their house, but pauses when he sees yet another room he hasn't explored before. He pauses when he sees Galahad at work, clearing his throat as he comes in to stand nearby. "You've quite a lot in here."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad eases off the stool and offers himself for the hug. Even when he's not entirely sure why people have the impulse to touch him, he still likes it -- he's grateful for the way people here are so quick to look at his stiff mannerisms and toneless speech, which he does understand are offputting, and see that he's not trying to be unfriendly.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Susan and I. Do you want to see?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah. Hanguang-jun was an android, Sunny was, like, unable to talk, Uncle D was, like, mortal or something? Tally was scary."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I only talked to Lan Zhan." He frowns. "And Lancelot talked to the person who wasn't me."

[summerdude]

"Yeah. Your evil twin was, um. Really depressing, actually," Magnus says. "So I'm, like. Really glad to see you."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I don't want to die."

[summerdude]

"Good." Magnus gives Galahad another squeeze, and then laughs, mostly from relief. "Your evil twin tried to convert me, actually."

[onthewillowsthere]

He blinks. His back is still to Magnus, but since Magnus is a Galahad Knower he can surely feel the question marks emanating from Galahad's head.

[summerdude]

"I know," Magnus says, emphatically.

[onthewillowsthere]

"He told Lancelot about how Camelot fell."

[summerdude]

"Wow," says Magnus, taking this in. "I bet Lancelot hated that."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I think it was bad."

[vineleaves]

Dionysus wraps him up in a very tight hug. "Do you remember, uh, being different, at all?" Mercutio remembered a few things about being Riff, at the very least.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Lancelot said I was older. I don't want to die." It's important that he keep reassuring people on this point. "I'm different now."

[vineleaves]

Dionysus sighs with relief. "I'm so glad." He gives Galahad a last tight squeeze then pulls back. I gave him some cookies. I hope he liked them.