You Say Overkill, I Say Due Diligence [open post]

[summerdude]

Magnus copies the sign onto seven different pieces of paper. It reads:

WANT TO LEARN NEW SKILLS? ME FREAKING TOO. I (Magnus Chase) Will Trade Lessons In Any Of The Following For Something You Know:

• ASL (Alf/American Sign Language)


• Camping (pitching tents, campfire safety, celestial navigation)


• What To Do If You Find Yourself Lost In The World Tree Yggdrasil


• Pickpocketing (But only if you promise to use it for good (stealing ONLY from dickhead rich people) and ONLY if you have to!)


• Swordfighting for Beginners (I am intermediate but Jack is advanced and he can help!)


• What It REALLY Feels Like To Die (NOT ADVICE!!!)


• (Trans)Gender Identity and Fluidity (from the perspective of a cis guy) (Alex-approved content only)


• What To Do If The God You're Talking To Is Super Obnoxious Particular


• Why Falafel is the Best Food in the World

All skills welcome! But if you know any of the following I am especially interested: Cooking, Geometry, How To Declare Your Love To Your Partner, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Balancing a Budget, Writing Poetry, Social Studies, Codebreaking.

(Sorry but I will not learn pottery from anyone but ♥Alex Fierro♥. I hope you understand.)

PS if there's enough interest we can maybe do full classes where everybody gets to take turns teaching and learning?

He adds a note about the areas where he can most frequently be found and then posts one sign in each of the two kitchens he's encountered, one by the welcome table, one on the door to the greenhouses, one in the library, one on his bedroom door, and one by what he believes to be the most-populated lounge. Then, with a great deal of eager anticipation, he goes about his day.


[A note from Magnus's typist: Open indefinitely!]

Comments

[summerdude]

"I guess some people are straight," Magnus agrees; this is primarily a guess. His eyes are twinkling. "Can you do another? This is fun."

[ravkanwitch]

"Sure," Nina says, easily, looking up at the sky as she thinks of someone else. "This person... is one of those people that reflects back what you give to them. If you're flirtatious, they're flirtatious. If you're not, they're not. If I wanted to flirt with them, I'd just compliment them. Make them laugh. I'd tell them that they're a kind, wonderful human being - and I'd be frank with them." She smiles, clearly fond.

[summerdude]

Magnus scratches his head. "This one is harder," he confesses, with a rueful smile. "I think it could be a lot of different people."

[ravkanwitch]

“Good morning,” she says, with an easy lilt to it and a softer, more casual slope to her shoulders. “I thank thee for the coffee - but more for thy companionship.”

[summerdude]

This, too, takes Magnus a moment -- most of his associations with Sagramore have, after all, been sparring or fighting zombies together -- but Nina's posture is what makes it click for him. "Sagramore!" he says, confidently. "You're really good at impressions, Nina."

[ravkanwitch]

"I am, after all, a trained actress," she says, dropping into a small curtsy. "Not professionally trained -- but I had to be in order to survive the streets of Ketterdam. If you give people the you that they want, they bother you a lot less."

Pretending to be a ditzy tourist in order to avoid other gangs that might want to bother her for her involvement with the Dregs, demurely walking past creepy older men so they left her alone when all she wanted was to glare at them, her holy and solemn persona in the House of the White Rose where men came to see Nina the Ravkan Grisha; all of that was her training.

[summerdude]

"That makes a lot of sense," Magnus says, appreciatively. "I'm not much of an actor, so when I was surviving on the streets of Boston I mostly got good at stealing from assholes and hiding from different assholes."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina nods, all too aware of the scramble and desperation involved in fending for yourself. "I think it's what I might do for the talent-- oh, did you know that Nightingale and I are hosting a talent show?"

[summerdude]

"I didn't!" Magnus scratches his head. A talent show with the people here should be very interesting. "You are?"

[ravkanwitch]

"It was, surprisingly, Nightingale's idea but now it's taken on a life of its own. I think it'll be nice. Something silly and fun to do."

[summerdude]

"It sounds like fun," Magnus agrees. "What do you have planned so far?"

[ravkanwitch]

"It's going to take place next week in the new cafe that Enjolras is planning... I think a couple of people have signed up already. Do you have any talents you'd want to share?"

[summerdude]

Inside. Magnus stills. He's not quite ready to be inside for a long span of time yet.

But then, if a lot of people are going to be there... it's easier with friends. He can suck it up to watch them perform, at least. "What kind of talents?" he asks. "I don't think I really have that many, like, unique abilities." Beyond the alf seidr and einherji stuff, but that doesn't count; he didn't have to work for that.

[ravkanwitch]

“So far there’s some music, dancing, poetry… stage magic. I also talked Tress into doing a spores demonstration. You can obviously just attend and watch if you want - that’s what Galahad is doing - but the sign-up sheet is open for a few more days.”

[summerdude]

"Mark me down for 'to be determined?'" Magnus asks. "I'll figure something out by then."

[ravkanwitch]

"Great! It'll be great to have you there."

[summerdude]

"Good," Magnus says. "I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with." He thinks for a moment, and then, because he's been having a lot of fun watching Nina shine, says, "I've got a stumper for you, I think: How would you flirt with Hanguang-jun?"

[ravkanwitch]

Nina furrows her brows slightly, confused. "Hanguang-jun? Is he here? I thought he was one of Shen Yuan's fictional heroes."

[summerdude]

"Lan Wangji," Magnus clarifies. "Shen Yuan said Hanguang-jun was his title, and Hanguang-jun seems to like when I use it."

[ravkanwitch]

"Oh, that's good to know," she says. Unfortunately, thinking about how she would flirt with Lan Wangji causes her mind to jump straight to his words during the truth spell, where he told her I am cruel only to my husband and he likes it and she flushes just the slightest bit pink. "I also don't think I'd have a chance with him unless I was his husband," she says hurriedly. "If I attempted it, I'd be shamed straight into the ground and he'd give me the most devastating of looks without even trying."

Nina stands ramrod straight and towering, which is fairly easy given her height, giving Magnus her best expressionless yet also somehow simultaneously stern Lan Wangji look. She shakes her head no very subtly.

"I think it's your turn now," she says, with a laugh, breaking her act. "You should tell me how you would flirt with... ...Laertes."

[summerdude]

Magnus gives Nina an alarmed look. "I don't know if I'm ready for a test," he says, but he's blushing lightly as he tries to think through what he knows about Laertes. "I'd... ask him about what he's working on? And compliment his efforts?"

[ravkanwitch]

"That's great!" Nina's trying her best to be encouraging. "Dost thou think I can be swayed by compliments?" She gives Magnus her best Laertes impression, a look that says Do Not Test Me... that quickly melts into the most open of smiles. "You would be correct."

[summerdude]

"How would you do it?"

[ravkanwitch]

“Probably the same way,” she muses. “I think he responds well to compliments.”

[summerdude]

Magnus smiles a little, proud that he maybe landed on a good answer. "Cool," he says.