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

[timebethine]

"Yes," says Laertes with delight. "I feared that to speak it would make the word impossible to hear, but thou hast heard it and spoken it aright. The vowel is--" and he presses in on his throat "--more choked; it hath not its origins in Latin. In Norway and Sweden, though we share many words in common, they think my language unmusical. Ler," he says, emphasizing that strangled E. "In Norwegian, it means 'laughing.' I think in Swedish it means both?¹"

¹ Laertes is close--in Swedish, it's pronounced with yet another vowel sound, and is part of words related to smiling and earthenware.

[summerdude]

"I know some Old Norse," Magnus offers. "But only the swear words. Meinfretr, for example." He clears his throat and tries again: "Ler?"

[timebethine]

"Good!" Laertes sits forward with a grin. "That word, I don't know, although this place lays an unbeautiful gloss upon it."

[summerdude]

Magnus finger-spells it, in case Laertes is hearing it weirdly here. "It means, basically, stinkfart," he offers.

[timebethine]

Laertes can't help cracking up at that, clutching his stomach. "It is not--" he gasps "--not the first word of Old Norse I expected to learn."

[summerdude]

Magnus grins at Laertes and then laughs, too. "I have plenty more of that sort of thing," he says. "Perks of being friends with a 1200-year-old berserker from Norway." He laughs again. "He's sixteen, too."

[timebethine]

"How old does he feel, to thee?"

[summerdude]

"Somewhere in between that," Magnus admits. "It's partly the fact that he can grow a full beard, and partly that he has a doctorate in Germanic literature and speaks twelve languages fluently." He sighs, a little wistful. "Halfborn is a good role model for making good use of the time you have, I guess."

[timebethine]

"I should like so much to meet him." Laertes smiles a little. "I had few men I could look up to, in Denmark--but in France I met a Norman named Lamond. He was a towering champion on the field of combat, an unmatched fencer and a gentleman of most perfect graces and manners. I was faint to catch his eye, but I couldn't bring myself to speak a word to him. I feared too much that he would see the green, untried boy of me, and find me wanting. Now ... now I wonder if we might have been friends, or better than friends, if I'd been braver."

[summerdude]

Despite the ebb and flow of the conversation they've been having, Magnus is surprised to hear that Laertes gets nervous around other people. He seems so cool and together to Magnus. "It's always possible," Magnus says, gamely. He gives Laertes a look of great commiseration. "I know what it's like to get tongue-tied in front of someone hot and capable."

[timebethine]

"Thine Alex," teases Laertes. "I think she would have had to kiss me, too, or I would have languished for an eternal life in dread of asking wrongly. Had Sagramore not made tenders of affection to me first, I would never have dared to try his willingness. And had it not been for his encouragement, I would never have been brave enough to kiss anyone else."

[summerdude]

Magnus is doubly surprised now. "Oh," he says, trying to make sure he's understanding correctly. "You guys are... open?"

[timebethine]

Laertes tilts his head. "Ay, in all things I aim to be honest with him."

[summerdude]

"In an open marriage?" Magnus clarifies. He assumes full honesty is probably the best approach to that kind of thing, though. He can think of dozens of gods who would benefit from a little more communication.

[timebethine]

Laertes frowns for a moment, but then he works out the connection between Magnus's phrase and the previous thread of conversation. "Oh, yes, that's so, if I take thy meaning aright."

[summerdude]

Huh. "I can't remember the other word for it," Magnus explains, tone apologetic about his vocabulary shortcomings. "That's cool, though." Having had time to process this new fact, he returns to more important matters: "The first time Alex kissed me it was like, 'whoa! That's allowed? Whole new door of possibilities opening up out here in Niflheim.'" He makes a face. "And then I was soooooooooooo awkward about it anyway. For days."

[timebethine]

"It must have been agony," laughs Laertes. "Didst thou retreat, and force him to score the second touch? Or didst thou rally?"

[summerdude]

"Oh, Alex always sets the pace," Magnus says, totally sanguine. "He always knows what he wants and when he wants it and I'm happy to be told. I'm terrible at this stuff, and it takes out all the guesswork, you know?" He shifts a little, sitting up straighter. "But, um. We didn't really talk about it, after that kiss, because I was so stunned? And the next day, we were fighting Loki? On Naglfgr, the Ship of Nails. And all the jotuns. You know, final battle to stop Ragnarok from happening. So I challenged Loki to a flyting, and in the process of, um, attacking him, I accidentally let it slip that Alex had kissed me and that it was the best thing that ever happened to me. To Loki, who's her mom. And to all of our friends. And to all of the jotuns we were fighting. And so when we were on our boat after the battle, he was, like..." He laughs, making a face. "I still don't know what happened, to be honest. Hearthstone told me there were no words for it in sign language."

[timebethine]

"Something like pride, and exultation?" Laertes guesses.

[summerdude]

Magnus pauses. "Exultation?"

[timebethine]

"If my lover said that my kiss was the best thing that ever happened to him, I would feel greater triumph than has ever been known on the battlefield."

[summerdude]

"Oh." Magnus flushes. "I -- maybe she was pleased, especially deep down, but out loud Alex was more like, whoa dude! That's a lot!"

[timebethine]

"Ah." A self-conscious laugh. "Mayhap that's a more likely reaction."

[summerdude]

"I definitely felt... exultation... when Alex kissed me, though," Magnus says. "It definitely kept me from freezing to death in Niflheim, which is cold even for me. Anyway, I think maybe she might have been teasing me a little. In retrospect. He kissed me when we got back to Valhalla after, too, even though I was covered in chocolate." He laughs, a single burst of sound. "I somehow didn't actually clock that I liked guys before that."

[timebethine]

"Thy time sounds ... kinder about such things than mine," says Laertes, a little more softly. "I'm glad for it. I've heard such loves as ours called the vice of the Greeks--and it heartens me to know that the arc of history has bent back again, and the strictures of my era have gentled."