Open: Well young lady, have you been good to your mother?

[biteybaby]

Sunny Baudelaire has been having quite an exciting time lately. For once, "exciting" means "filled with fun" and not "filled with terror, pain, panic, and an inordinate amount of running and hiding". Without the threat of Count Olaf and his associates finding her in an attempt to steal the Baudelaire fortune, Sunny has had more time for her studies. "Her studies" is a phrase which here means, "catching up on learning how to do things most people take for granted".

She has finally learned how to walk. She thinks the amount of words she is now able to say has increased. Magnu has even taught her a few things in sign language, which she finds is a little easier than speaking. The biggest news is that she now has five very sharp teeth, as opposed to the four she started with when she arrived.

Shortly before she arrived, Mr Poe had told the Baudelaires about an aphorism: It takes a village to raise a child. She wonders if that is why she has had so much time to grow. Her days are spent rotating around between several different guardians, babysitters, and friends, and it has been lovely. She hopes her siblings are having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D.

Unfortunately I must report that her siblings are not having just as good of a time in the village of V.F.D., nor are they even still in the village of V.F.D. Sunny does not know this. It would probably be for the best if nobody tells her.

Comments

[biteybaby]

Sunny considers this question as she begins to jump on the trampoline. "Jump" is a word which here means, "bend her knees repeatedly, feet never actually leaving the surface". She eventually responds by signing the word for love and then saying out loud, "Violet Klaus Mama Daddy", as she does not know how to say that part in sign language yet.

[summerdude]

"Great list," Magnus says. The trampoline is barely wiggling under her movements, but he moves like she's making a humongous impact anyway. Then, signing slowly, he says, "Mama. Daddy... Do you wanna come up with name-signs for your siblings?" By now, she knows all the name-signs of the people here.

[biteybaby]

She repeats the signs for Mama and Daddy back to Magnu, being very careful to try and remember them. "Esh!" she says excited in response to his question. She signs yes at the same time, because she is very studious. "Seslarth," she tells Magnu, which here means, "Then when they get here I can teach them their new names!"

[summerdude]

"Perfect," says Magnus, grinning, even though he's actually very worried that Violet and Klaus might not make it here. By now, Sunny has told him a lot about her siblings, but he does a little gentle bounce to shake both of them and says, "What sort of vibes should we capture with their names?"

[biteybaby]

The bounce causes her to lose balance and she falls, rolling toward the center of the trampoline where Magnu is, as though she were a bowl of garlic on a tablecloth in a demonstration of the concept of gravity. Fortunately, as she is on a trampoline, falling does not hurt, and she giggles before answering Magnu’s question.

“Klaus gajsasky,” she tells him, which is her way of saying, “Klaus likes to read, and can find any information he ever needs in any library.” She signs book. She knows Magnu showed her read at one point but she can’t remember that one right now.

[summerdude]

Magnus gives her a little tickle, then signs book back at her. "We could try 'book-brother,'" he says, thoughtfully. "K-brother-book? But that might be a little complicated to pull off." Sunny is very, very good at signing, but he's been teaching her some adjustments to certain words, to make things simpler for her little baby hands.

[biteybaby]

This only serves to make Sunny more determined to get it correct. She tries, and gets it almost correct, though her fingers being so small does make it a little complicated. She looks at Magnu, waiting on him to let her know whether or not she messed it up.

[summerdude]

"Very good," says Magnus, proudly. He's thinking through solutions. He's actually picked up some books from the library, too, about the hand shapes that are hard for babies in the same way that certain sounds are hard for babies. Of course, Sunny is a miracle genius baby who is great at all sorts of communication, but she still has those cute little baby hands.

He decides the best solution is to sign it at her again, much more slowly, so she can see the way he forms a K in the middle of the sign for 'brother,' instead of pointing in the usual way, and then transitions it into the sign for 'book.'

[biteybaby]

Sunny copies Magnu, going slowly to make sure she gets everything down, then repeats it again a couple of times, going faster each time. "Paskagl," she says once she's got the hang of it, which is her way of saying, "I like it! I think Klaus would too, and I think he would appreciate that I had to work hard to learn how to do it."

Something else occurs to her though, related to the sign for 'brother'. She signs to Magnu, Lancelot you brother? The signs are very similar, she thinks. And they do play swords with each other often. What Sunny does not realize is that this is what is often referred to as a "coincidence".

[summerdude]

"Brother?" Magnus asks, surprised. "Why?"

[biteybaby]

She signs brother and then Lancelot. They are very similar signs, she thinks. Both involve her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead.

[summerdude]

Magnus repeats brother, showing how the pointing is a little bit different than Lancelot's L, and then he laughs. "He's not my brother," he says. "He is technically Galahad's dad, though. Galahad's like my brother. Lancelot is not like my dad."

[biteybaby]

Sunny did not know Lancelot was a dad, and is now wondering why he did not know how to change her diaper when she first arrived. She does make a mental note that Galahad is like Magnu's brother. Magnu is like her brother too - a phrase which here means, "he is fun to be around, and helps her without being patronizing", unlike some other Magnii we could mention who, while fun to be around, are a little patronizing.

She practices the differences between Lancelot and brother.

[summerdude]

Magnus smiles at the look of deep thought on Sunny's face. "It's weird. Lancelot came here before Galahad was born. They're from different times."

[biteybaby]

"...Twin?" she asks. She thought all of the Evil Twins were gone already!

[summerdude]

"No, no, ever since they both got here."

[biteybaby]

"Huh." Much to think about.

[summerdude]

"It's a strange, strange world we live in, Sunny," Magnus sighs. "It doesn't get any less weird, I think."

[biteybaby]

She sighs. "Ecirtaeb?" she asks Magnu, which here means, "By the way, why were you asking me about people I've loved before?"

[summerdude]

"Oh, just curious." Magnus twists to face her. "Apparently my Evil Twin gave Hanguang-jun my mom's old locket. It feels... weird. I think everyone hated the other me."

[biteybaby]

Mama? she signs. "Photo?" she asks, wondering if a locket means he has a photo of his mother.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, wanna see?" Magnus asks, and scrambles to the edge of the trampoline, then launching himself off the side so he can rummage through his cooler for it. "Don't bite this one, it's old," he adds, coming back with the locket. If she wants to bite a necklace, she can bite Jack.

[biteybaby]

"Promise," she says, promising not to bite the necklace.

[summerdude]

"Okay," says Magnus. He opens the locket and passes it to her. On one side is his mom, grinning, with her blonde pixie haircut and freckles and sparkling green eyes; on the other is Magnus when he was ten. Even as a kid, his eyes looked hollow and dead inside.

[biteybaby]

"Magnu!" Sunny says excitedly, recognizing the photo of Magnu even though he is much younger in it. She carefully touches it, then touches Magnu's face. Then she turns her attention to the photo that must be of his mother. Sunny looks at it for a long while. She does not have any photos of her mother. Her Evil Twin did not leave any pictures of anyone when she left.

Sunny wonders if Magnu was able to remember what his mother looked like before he got this photo of her. Sunny cannot remember what her mother looked like. She would like a photo. She wonders if she will forget what Klaus and Violet look like before they finally get here.