I Deliberately Misinterpret The Nature Of An Agreement

[summerdude]

Galahad probably didn't expect Magnus to come pounding on his door in the middle of the day when they agreed Magnus would try sleeping on his own, especially since Magnus decided pretty quickly that he wanted to sleep outside again (but on purpose because he prefers it, not because it feels like the only option that doesn't end with the walls closing in on him). But here Magnus is, anyway, in the middle of the day, knocking loud enough that he has to force himself to take a step back so he doesn't break the door down.

"Dude, it's me, I need you," he calls, just so Galahad knows for sure it's him, or whatever. "You're in there, right? Galahad?"

Comments

[summerdude]

"Oh yeah, sure," says Magnus, who only has eyes for Alex and triply so now that he's here. "What kind of dress? Big and puffy, or, like, slinky?" He tilts his head. Galahad has been wearing skirts more and more frequently since their day trying on clothes. "Do you wanna wear a dress too?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Too many questions, he signs quickly. I want him to choose his dress. If he wants to.

[summerdude]

Sorry, immediately contrite. He waits a moment before asking again: What about you?

[onthewillowsthere]

I haven't thought yet.

[summerdude]

Magnus nods, accepting this. It's still early days. How long of an engagement do you think you'll have?

[onthewillowsthere]

He hesitates. I want him to enjoy it? I want it to be as long as he likes.

[summerdude]

Personally, Magnus doesn't get why someone would have a long engagement unless they were waiting for, like, a nice venue or whatever, but he nods wisely anyway.

[onthewillowsthere]

It doesn't matter to me. It will make him happy to plan the wedding and do all the things Lady Post says to do during an engagement.

[summerdude]

This is not the first, or the second, or even the third time Galahad has mentioned Lady Post. Magnus decides, finally, to ask for clarification. "Lady Post?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Lady Emily Post wrote books of etiquette."

[summerdude]

"Like George Washington?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"The American president?" Galahad knows about George Washington only very obliquely, because of that one biography of Zachary Taylor he read before he realized he didn't enjoy biographies.

[summerdude]

"Yeah, the first one. He wrote a book on etiquette. I think?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He looks a bit nonplussed. "Why?"

[summerdude]

"Heck if I know." Magnus shrugs and finally, finally sits up, scooting so that he's sitting next to Galahad and leaning heavily against him, instead of lying with his head in his lap. "Why does anyone do anything? I bet I could write a book on Viking etiquette. 'Kill as many people as you can on the field of battle and if you're gonna die, make sure you have a weapon in hand.' That kind of thing."

[onthewillowsthere]

"No, etiquette is how you should kill them, to be polite."

[summerdude]

A flash of a smile. "I probably shouldn't tell you this story," Magnus says. "Because Alex is here and can tell it himself, if he wants. But she died in the politest way possible, according to the Norse. She was protecting this guy from magic murder-wolves" -- in fact, probably the same kind that killed Magnus's mom -- "and gave him a weapon to defend himself. He managed to kill one of them after she died. It went over so well in Valhalla. She was definitely the afterlife favorite for a while." He pauses. "So then maybe 'Give your brethren weapons, so that they might kill as many people on the field of battle as they can, so they can also prove their valor.'"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Did you know, or did you find out afterwards?"

[summerdude]

Magnus opens his mouth to answer, and then pauses. "Which part?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"When she died. Were you there?"

[summerdude]

"Oh." Magnus shakes his head. "No. I knew someone was probably going to die, because I was getting coffee with Samirah -- Alex's sister; our valkyrie -- and one of Thor's goats when she got an alert for a possible heroic-death-in-progress. And then I got back to Valhalla about twenty minutes after Alex arrived... just in time to see exactly how much she'd wrecked everything. Busted up the entryway, her entire room... nearly knocked me flat on my ass... she was a cheetah at the time." He is, of course, smiling blissfully. "But valkyries have -- okay, so it's a kind of camera except it produces moving pictures with sound -- kind of like Shen Yuan's video games but of real things in real life -- so we all watched Alex's death during the feast that night." Magnus had actually been in the very first batch of einherjar to have their deaths recorded. He did not make nearly the same good impression that Alex did. In fact, most people thought he was mistakenly chosen and Sam nearly got fired. He's cool with it now, though.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad is quiet. It sounds terrible -- he understands that death is different for the einherjar, and that it's important that Alex died nobly, that it's part of why they're able to be together in the afterlife, but he imagines Alex as a thrashing cat, destroying everything in rage and fear, and everyone watching their own deaths replayed in celebration, and it just feels bad.

[summerdude]

Magnus can see the look on Galahad's face, obviously: the tiny tuck of his mouth, the cast of his gaze. To Magnus's practiced eye, it screams grim.

"Yeah," he says. "You get used to that kind of thing." He pauses. "I'll let Alex tell you the story of what it was like for her," because now she can. "Why she was actually upset, stuff like that. It's..." he trails off. Maybe Galahad can actually guess. Alex let him draw her, after all; he already knows that Alex doesn't want to be trapped as one thing. Maybe it's an easy extrapolation to get that this was the crux of her concern when she was first reaped, or whatever.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Do you think she'll be glad not to fight any more?"

[summerdude]

"That's a good question," Magnus says. He doesn't actually know. But then, Alex can keep fighting, if that's of interest. Just with 100% less dying.