I Embrace My Inner Tarzan [open post]

[summerdude]

There's a massive old oak about fifty yards west of Magnus's favorite clearing. It has thick, sturdy branches; he can climb nearly forty feet up it before he starts to worry about them holding his weight. There's a family of squirrels that lives nearby -- good squirrels, nothing like Ratatosk -- and Magnus likes to listen to them discuss their acorn deposits. Sometimes, when they're not looking, he'll grow and stash more acorns for them to discover; he's not sure how long the winters here get.

He's pretty sure it's cold outside, but it's not cold enough to affect him, and so he's still barefoot and in a t-shirt pretty much all the time.

Today, he's been scrounging in some of the out-buildings. There's a portable outdoor fireplace. While he doesn't feel the cold, he finds (contained) fires comforting, and it'll be nice to have some hot food, so he shoulders it and a makeshift grill surface, and lugs them to the base of his oak tree. Now he'll have an easier way of preparing the fish Mothwing sometimes leaves him than trying to summon the right amount of summer into them so that they cook and don't explode, at least.

He lights a modest fire, feeding it with fallen sticks. Then he shoves an apple, picked from another nearby tree, into his mouth and a book he'd pilfered from the library into the waistband of his pants, and climbs up an easy ten feet to his favorite branch. Things don't seem so bad, living out here.

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[summerdude]

While Galahad sorts through the bars, Magnus samples the pastry. "Oh my gods, Galahad, this is amazing," he says, licking his fingers clean. It's going to be so hard not to house the entire thing in three bites. "I should probably warn you that protein bars are terrible compared to this kind of thing."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad shifts a little closer to Magnus' fire -- he's starting to get cold again -- and opens the wrapper on the protein bar before taking an experimental bite. Then he makes a face at Magnus.

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. He leans forward, adding some more wood to the fire, and then moves closer to Galahad. It's a chilly day, and he doesn't want to drain himself by calling too much summer, but he can share his body heat. "Sorry, dude," he says, and taps the carrot cake one with the back of his knuckle. "Try this one? It's less awful. It was my mom's favorite."

[onthewillowsthere]

He makes another face, but he's always willing to try, and he takes it. "Why does it exist? Is it a food for penance?"

[summerdude]

"Nah, it's like, really calorie-dense or something," Magnus says, laughing. He really likes how funny Galahad is. "It's good for if you're, like, hiking, or rock climbing, or doing anything else active where you could use more energy or protein. I mostly associate them with camping."

[onthewillowsthere]

"So it doesn't matter whether it's good or not," breaking off a little piece of the carrot cake bar to try. It's not nearly as bad -- thanks different brand entirely -- but it's still not something he'd actually try to eat again, and he resolves to bring Magnus food more regularly so he doesn't have to either.

[summerdude]

"It doesn't," Magnus agrees. He grins at Galahad. "Some people really love these things, though. I have a friend back home who is obsessed."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Really?" It's about as openly dubious as Magnus (or anybody, really) has ever heard him.

[summerdude]

"Yeah. One of the Eriks. He can't get enough of the stuff." He shrugs. "Probably because he went on tons of really long voyages when he was alive and these are better than whatever he ate on the boats."

[onthewillowsthere]

"It must be easy to fast on boats."

[summerdude]

Magnus is quiet for a long moment, at that. Then: "Samirah was fasting, when we sailed to defeat Loki. Do you know what Ramadan is?"

[onthewillowsthere]

A shake of his head.

[summerdude]

"Muslims? Islam?" He tries to think of words that might be familiar to someone from Galahad's time. "I think there were a bunch in Spain in your time." He thinks for another moment. Sam has been giving impromptu history lessons on Floor 19 for a while now, but her focus is mostly on Norse-Iraqi relations than anything else. One word swims up through his memory, though: "Sara... um, Saracens?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes," with recognition. "I know what Saracens are. I didn't know they fast too."

[summerdude]

"They do," Magnus says. "It's a religious thing. A month of daily fasting and prayer. No food from dawn till dusk. We were kind of worried, when Sam was fasting during our voyage? Partially because technically you're allowed to break your fast if you're traveling or in danger, both of which we were. Alex and Amir -- Sam's betrothed -- were both particularly concerned that she'd be physically weaker from it. It worked out for her, though; she said her focus on her faith protected her from freezing to death in Niflheim, the same way that Alex kissing me saved me. Um, maybe both of us, actually, because after she kissed me I could call up some warmth again." He's blushing, remembering that kiss. "Fasting made Samirah stronger against Loki, too. But the actual fasting on the actual boat was clearly really hard on her. So I guess... maybe?" He nudges Galahad. "Did you fast a bunch? Back home?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad absorbs this story in silence. He likes hearing Magnus talk about his friends -- Magnus' ferocious love for his friends is one of the many things Galahad likes about him, and the freedom with which he shares it.

"I still do." He bumps his shoulder back against Magnus. "It's almost Advent. I'll fast until Epiphany."

[summerdude]

"Can you tell me about why? I don't actually know a lot about your religion besides what you've already told me."

[onthewillowsthere]

Another space of silence, as he gathers all the different threads together in his hand, where they can be easily kept together and followed. Finally, he says, "It's not for one reason. There are different kinds of fasts for different seasons. It can be a penance. It humbles the body to be hungry. It teaches us not to rely on fleshly things." He draws his knees up to his chest and gazes at the fire. "In Lent it's because Jesus Himself went without food and water for forty days and forty nights before he came to Jerusalem, and we walk in His footsteps. We are like the desert in which He walked, and the fast makes us ready to receive the spiritual rain at Easter. Lent is a time of grieving, and Easter lets us be joyful again.

"In Advent it's called the Nativity Fast. We temper the bodily desire for food, which tempers other passions as well. The soul turns away from worldly things to things of the spirit. We draw closer to Christ as we prepare for Him to be born."

He glances at Magnus. "Is that too much?" signing it as he asks it.

[summerdude]

"No, it's fascinating," Magnus says. "'Turning to things of the spirit' sounds a lot like Ramadan, according to Sam. Only I don't think there's anything about Jesus in Ramadan. Just a lot of stuff about connecting to god and abstaining from... uh, most things." Food, sex, et cetera. He shrugs. "So this Advent fast. How long is it? Is it just during the day, or something else?"

He cuts himself off after the two questions.

[onthewillowsthere]

Thank you. "When I told you about sin, I said some things were different for me. The Nativity Fast was a Black Fast once. I may only eat once a day, after Nones, and it should be bread, vegetables, and water. I may not have meat or wine or lacticinia." It has the air of recitation, as is often this case when he talks about this sort of thing. "But most people eat throughout the day and just keep the diet."

[summerdude]

"Nones," Magnus repeats, trying to remember what he's read since he and Galahad first started talking about time. "That's... midafternoon? Late afternoon?" He's not sure what lacticinia means, but it sounds kind of like lactose, so it's probably milky.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Three hours after the middle of the day." A flickering smile. "You have not forgotten the middle of the day?"

As soon as he says it his expression changes subtly. He teased Magnus. He has no idea how it happened and no idea how to make it happen again, but it felt new and good and-- something that he could do because he knows Magnus, because there's so much shared speech between them, things that have happened that only they know about. Because Magnus makes him feel at ease, and he thinks less about every word he says. It doesn't matter whether Magnus has noticed or not; Galahad is grateful to know it was possible.

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs, delighted. He's noticed the teasing because he loves being teased. "Dude," he says.

[onthewillowsthere]

He blushes, but he also smiles again, less briefly this time.

[summerdude]

"I don't think I could ever fast," Magnus says, thoughtful. Not least because he an atheist, so there's probably no point. "When I was on the streets, especially before I met Amir's dad and he started giving me free falafel, it was hard to know when and where my next meal would come from. That was enough fleshly hunger for me for one lifetime."

He scoots over a little more, so that his side is pressed against Galahad's. "But when Samirah was fasting -- during Ramadan, after sunset, you always break your fast with dates. The food kind, not the double kind. And she and I would sit on the deck of the Big Banana -- our boat; Frey sent it to me and we called it that because it was bright yellow -- and look at the stars and the water and she'd share her dates with me. Because it's best to do that kind of thing in community." He glances sideways at Galahad. "I don't know what it's like for you and your kind of fasting, but if there's some kind of ritual you want to share with a friend who doesn't really get it, I'm your guy."