Just Outside MCA #9, Sunday Afternoon

[magnusrushesin]

So, Octavia totally didn't understand the lure of shitty junk food and that was a crime. That was why Magnus had loaded up on stuff from the convenience store on his way back from the usual Starbucks run to get his sweet, sweet PSL.

And was knocking on her door in a 'shave and a hair cut' pattern.

Unannounced. Yep.

[For she who lives there, but it is a hallway.]

Comments

[okteiviakom]

The only person aside from Octavia who ever came here also lived here and therefore didn't tend to knock on the door, so Octavia could probably be excused for her confusion and mild wariness when she heard the sound.

Still, she peeled herself off the couch and made it to the door.

"What?"

Somehow, she wasn't all that surprised that it was him.

[magnusrushesin]

"Tasting party!" Magnus sang, holding up a plastic bag of processed food and a drink tray with an extra PSL for her. Join him in the love of the pumpkin spice, Octavia. Join him.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia let a few seconds pass by without saying anything.

Then she heaved a long-suffering sigh, and said, "Come in", while stepping out of the way.

[magnusrushesin]

He did a shameless fist pump with the hand holding the bag before following her in. "It'll be fun! And now you can say you've tried things."

[okteiviakom]

"Because someone is definitely going to question whether I have or I haven't," Octavia drawled, as she closed the door.

[magnusrushesin]

"Well, I might." And it'd save her those questions.

[okteiviakom]

"If I try everything, will you promise you won't ask?"

The living room was sparse. A TV, a couch, and some assorted things to the side that suggested someone used it for a bedroom. There wasn't much else.

The Blakes had never had a lot of stuff.

Octavia flopped herself unceremoniously onto one end of the couch.

[magnusrushesin]

"Scout's honor." Had he been a Boy Scout? Who knew? "You know, I can make you some furniture if you want."

He was gonna do it anyway. Because this made him sad.

[okteiviakom]

"We don't need more furniture."

Her room was, according to the MCA floorplans, a Bedroom of Happy. It had a bed, and not much else.

She shrugged. "Back on the Ark, we only had a bed and a table, and a couple of chairs."

[magnusrushesin]

"Yeah, but... I'm making you some nice chairs and a table. It'll be your early Candlenights gift," he decided, offering her one of the lattes.

[okteiviakom]

"Candlenights?"

She accepted the latte without questions, at least.

[magnusrushesin]

"It's the best holiday ever!" Magnus said enthusiastically. "You hang out with friends and family and you give gifts!"

A beat.

"Sometimes Lin-Manuel Miranda is there."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was going to ignore that last bit. "I've never celebrated anything like that," she said. "All I know about holidays is what I've learned at the flower store."

Except for Unity Day, but she didn't want to talk about that.

[magnusrushesin]

"It's in the winter and way better than this Christmas thing people keep insisting on," he replied.

[okteiviakom]

"Was Christmas the one with all the lights?"

So, she probably wasn't going to be arguing with him about which was better.

[magnusrushesin]

"And people yelling about cups," he confirmed. They had such a grasp on the holiday season, th two of them.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia nodded, as if that made sense. Then she sipped her latte.

"There are so many holidays here."

[magnusrushesin]

"Right? I mean, back home there are a bunch, but you don't have to celebrate most of them," Magnus said, smiling as she tried the latte.

[okteiviakom]

At least Octavia wasn't making faces at it?

Mind you, even that wouldn't have necessarily been an indication that she didn't like it. She'd pulled faces at moonshine the first she'd tasted it, after all.

"Up on the Ark we just had the one."

[magnusrushesin]

"What was that one?" Magnus asked.

[okteiviakom]

"Unity Day."

She slouched a little further against the back of the couch.

"To commemorate the unification of the twelve space stations that formed the Ark."

[magnusrushesin]

"That is so cool," he replied, taking a seat on the other end. "I've only been to the moon and some other planes."

Ehhhh.

[okteiviakom]

"You've been to the moon?"

She was genuinely curious, not just deflecting away from the topic of the Ark.

Well, at least not just deflecting.

[magnusrushesin]

"Well, it was a fake moon." Which... made it better?

[okteiviakom]

"... Why would someone make a fake moon?"

[magnusrushesin]

"For a secret moon base."

[okteiviakom]

"But it's not a moon base if the moon is fake."

She needed more caffeine for this. So she took a sip. Or actually a big gulp - she'd never been much of a sipper.

[magnusrushesin]

"But it really looked like a moon from a certain angle," he replied. "And was in space."

[okteiviakom]

"Then what was the point?"

But at least she wasn't questioning anyone's ability to build a fake moon base in the frst place. One of the few benefits of having been born in space.

[magnusrushesin]

There was that!

"Because it's top... secret?" Magnus said, voice going up in pitch at the end. "Also, the guy who made it is a super massive nerd."

[okteiviakom]

"... Like the candy?"

Oh sure, that was something she'd already run into.

[magnusrushesin]

"You've has those?" he asked, totally jumping on that tangent. It was what made him (and his brothers) so popular, after all.

[okteiviakom]

"They were weird," she said. "Mostly just tasted like sugar."

[magnusrushesin]

"That's because it's just sugar," Magnus explained helpfully. "And dye. See, the sugar is an important part of learning to have taste. Or that's what Taako tells me and he makes fancy things like elderflower macaroons."

[okteiviakom]

"Current day Earth foods make no sense."

Calling Nerds 'food' was a bit of a stretch, though, and she knew it.

She eyed the rest of what he'd brought, over the rim of her latte.

[magnusrushesin]

"I mean. Yeah. But they're fun!" Magnus said, holding out Pop Rocks and some Cheerwinefor her to try.

[okteiviakom]

Octavia set her coffee aside to take the beverage (and the candy, but the beverage was the main thing right now).

She smelled it, then took a sip.

And made a face. "People drink this?"

[magnusrushesin]

"It gave Merle extra HP?" WHICH MEANT NOTHING TO ANYONE OTHER THAN HIM AND TAAKO.

[okteiviakom]

Excuse you, Envy would also have understood! She wouldn't have cared but she would've understood.

Octavia didn't but that was starting to become the norm. "It's not good." She took another sip, just to make sure. And: "Yeah, it's not."

[magnusrushesin]

"Maybe you have to slam it like a shot," he suggested. Because he was the worst.

[okteiviakom]

He was a bad influence. And Octavia was apparently a little more inclined to go with his dumb ideas today than most days.

So.

She definitely slammed the Cheerwine like a shot.

Then immediately made a truly epic face, as she wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "Disgusting."

[magnusrushesin]

Did it help that Magnus was cheering for her? Because he totally was. "That was awesome."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia was still making a face, though.

"I think some went up my nose."

So that was a very definite no on the Cheerwine, then.

[magnusrushesin]

"Yeah, but it looked really cool."

[okteiviakom]

"Well, good, because I'm never doing that again."

... With Cheerwine.

Please take her out for actual shots.

[magnusrushesin]

Oh, that was a certainty now.

"Okay, now time try the Pop Rocks. They fizz on your tongue."

[okteiviakom]

Octavia gave him a weird look for that one, and who could blame her? That description sounded highly unlikely to the uninitiated.

But, after a cursory examination of the packet, she opened it, and peered into it, and then shook some of the little pieces of candy onto her palm. Then, of course, put those into her mouth.

For a second, nothing seemed to happen.

But then:

"What --?"

[magnusrushesin]

"Fun, right?" Magnus asked around a mouthful of his own. So much popping. So much.

[okteiviakom]

"Weird."

Which was also a good word for the way she kept opening and closing her mouth.