I Lose All Sense Of Reason [open post]

[summerdude]

Magnus is walking down the front steps of the Mansion, freshly-loaded bag of food in tow, ruminating on a few of his most recent and devastatingly embarrassing conversations, when he hears footsteps behind him.

Well. He did tell Galahad he'd ask everyone. Might as well start now. "Can you explain the birds and the bees -- I mean, sex -- to me?" he demands, even before he sees who it is.

Comments

[sagramore]

Sagramore laughs. "No, I tend to agree with you. More partners can be more information, that's all. But it's equally true that you don't need a great number of partners -- the more you learn or know about yourself, the more you can speak to your preferences."

[summerdude]

It takes Magnus a moment -- and a few more bites of kibbeh -- to chew on this idea. "And I guess you learn by trial and error?" Or maybe by listening to Luo Binghe say something that sounds so fundamentally wrong for you that the opposite necessarily has gotta be true?

[sagramore]

"Aye, exactly. But if you're only with one person for a while, and you take them to bed often, you'll get remarkably good at knowing exactly what the one person wants. That's extraordinarily gratifying when it happens."

[summerdude]

"Is it normal to," Magnus starts, and then goes bright red. "Never mind."

[sagramore]

"Ask," gentler.

[summerdude]

"Well," says Magnus, studying the half piece of kibbeh he has in his hands. "I was talking to Luo Binghe, and he said the point was to make your partner, um, what was it." He reviews his mental notes. "Believe that it's a privilege to be allowed to touch you and that you're in control of everything. But, um, that seems. Wrong?" He glances up at Sagramore a little urgently, and then looks back at his kibbeh. "I don't think I'd want to. Um. That?"

[sagramore]

"Ah. I see." Sagramore reaches up unthinkingly to touch the chain of his dog pendant. "Luo Binghe is... someone who cares very much what other people think of him. Appearing to know everything, to be admired and never questioned, is something that can make a very proud person feel he has control he's afraid of losing. Do you understand?"

[summerdude]

It's a good thing that Magnus has magical healing properties, because that means he probably won't die from blushing too hard. "Yeah," he says. "And so like, if I like um. Thought it would be cool if Alex acted that way...?"

[sagramore]

"Ask. You can ask your lover to be haughty, or imperious. I ask Laertes for that sometimes -- there's nothing wrong with liking to be ordered around or to have someone else in control. But you can't expect Alex to know without being told that it's what you want."

[summerdude]

Okay. So it isn't not-normal, at least. Very much relieved, Magnus finishes his piece of kibbeh. "Thanks, dude."

[sagramore]

Sagramore laughs. "My pleasure, bro."

[summerdude]

Magnus didn't know Sagramore was a bro-sayer! He grins at him and opens the thermos and tries the drink, then, and -- "Holy shit, this is good," he says.

[sagramore]

He makes a mental note that Magnus is also a bro man, and then grins back at his reaction to the drink. "It's meant for a warmer climate, but I thought you might like it."

[summerdude]

"Most climates are mostly the same to me," Magnus shrugs. "And this is tasty. Oh and, by the way, dude. Me and Galahad are going to have a birthday party next week. Wanna come?"

[sagramore]

Sagramore's tone gets a little more neutral. "I don't think Galahad would really enjoy having me there, although I appreciate the offer."

[summerdude]

Oh right. "I think mostly he thinks you don't like him," Magnus remembers, tone making it clear that this is doubly confusing to him: that anyone would dislike Galahad, and that Sagramore would dislike anyone.

[sagramore]

"I have no quarrel with him, but-- when we first met, in Camelot, I may have come on a little strong, and I'm not sure we, ah, we're well-suited to each other." He fiddles with the chain again. He doesn't dislike Galahad, although he also doesn't see what Claudius sees in him -- perhaps just a beautiful boy who's pleasant to instruct in bed, although Claudius doesn't strike him as quite that shallow -- but their meeting at the dance went poorly enough that Sagramore had decided he wasn't going to make another effort to get to know him. Laertes likes him; it's fine for Sagramore and Laertes not to have every friend in common.

[summerdude]

Magnus nods. "You don't... vibe," he says. "Gotcha." There's plenty of people Magnus doesn't vibe with. Roughly three-quarters of Valhalla, for example.

[sagramore]

"I don't think we do, no. But you can tell him I don't dislike him, if that's been weighing on him at all."

[summerdude]

"Sure thing," Magnus says. He decides to drop the issue, but can't let it go fully without: "I could bring you some cake after, though?"

[sagramore]

"You can absolutely bring me some cake afterwards."

[summerdude]

"Hella," says Magnus, peaceably, and eats the last bit of kibbeh.

[sagramore]

"Now then, we have business." He takes out his copy of the Poetic Edda.

[summerdude]

"Yeah!" Magnus wipes his hands -- he has a dedicated handkerchief for such things now -- and says, "Most of what I learned I learned in a Skaldic Poetry to the Death class in Valhalla, but it turns out I really like it. Poetry. Not poetry to the death."

[sagramore]

"What's the difference? I'm very interested."