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

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

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!]

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

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

“Who’s next?” Nina asks, thrilled by this slightly silly game (made sillier by the fact that she hasn’t had a single flirtation since she arrived).

Magnus thinks for a moment. "Gu Xiang?"

Nina tilts her head, thinking for a moment. "I don't think I've met them. I took a short break from ...everything for a week or two."

"I know what that's like," Magnus says, with a self-deprecating grin and a gesture around at the great outdoors around them. "But you totally should meet her, she's extremely cool."

"I'll have to try and find her to introduce myself!" She thinks through the rest of the mansion residents in her mind. "I'm not sure if there's anyone else here I would even think about flirting with." There are a couple of people she views more as mentors than anything else, a few individuals she's only met once, and that weird demon that sometimes lurks around...

"So what about someone you wouldn't?" Magnus asks.

There's a brief pause while Nina has an internal debate over whether or not she wants to continue keeping the mood light or tell Magnus the truth. She eventually settles for both. "Well, there's the dragon, of course," she says, with a cheeky grin before she grows more serious. "There's also a man here from ...I guess from my past. Mostly my country's past. It's a very complicated situation. He hasn't done anything wrong here but I'm definitely trying to avoid him."

Magnus grows more serious, listening intently. "He did something wrong at home?" he asks, carefully.

He did many wrong things. He started a civil war. He tore a nation apart. He killed many people. All of those thoughts tumble through Nina's mind but she tries to separate them finer than when she had originally told a select few about The Darkling, when it was mostly based on emotion and anger.

"I think I understand his intentions," Nina says, carefully. "We're alike in many ways... I think I mentioned that where I come from, people treat people like us - Grisha - extremely cruelly. In the Wandering Isle, they sometimes kill us and drain our blood for healing abilities. That healing ability... it isn't even true. It's an old wives tale. I can understand where his anger stems from. But... it's caused him to do some things that some consider unforgivable."

She's clearly being very cautious about what she's saying. "But I think he arrived before a crucial moment that really caused the switch to flip. I don't think he's done anything here. He fought the undead with us. He's made... friends. Do I really have a right to judge him on the things I heard that he did?" She's being logical -- and yet her thoughts flash to sweet, kind Genya Safin who served The Darkling loyally and now had a missing eye and a scarred face to show for it. What would she think of Nina now?

Oh. Oh. That's a tough one. "Where I come from," Magnus says, thoughtfully, "Everything is foretold. The big things, at least. How the world ends; how everybody dies. Who kills who. But the stuff in the middle... that's all up in the air. Loyalties shift. Allies change. My sword used to be my dad's sword, and eventually it'll stop being mine and it will be wielded by the guy who's going to kill him. I don't know how or when." He scratches his head. "It's a really stupid way to live, I think. It makes everything really... complicated."

He looks at Nina, earnestly. He's not certain he's said anything particularly useful, but -- maybe?

"So.. prophecies," Nina says, thoughtful. "Kind of? I don't think there's any sort of prediction about him that I know of. He's not a... a god. He's not a Saint. He's just a man with a lot of power and it's the future for him but the present for me -- though maybe that's a prophecy in its own way. You are right about change, though... Things are changing all the time. Especially here. It's changed me a lot. I just don't know how much it's changed him."

"I've changed a lot, too," Magnus says. He frowns, thinking. "But I get it. If, like, Loki or Surt or Utgard-Loki showed up here, or even Wildflower or Sunspot, even with all the changes, I'd be really wary. Especially if it was Loki before his first betrayal, I think."

Nina makes a face and for a second she seems much younger, as if this was all some school drama. "I'm wary... but it's also weird. To hear friends and people I know say nice things about him."

"I'll bet," Magnus says, emphatically. "He's, like, a boogeyman to you, right? And suddenly all the other people here who know a version of him that's not the one you grew up with are insisting he's fun and cool?"

"Exactly," Nina says, because that's exactly it. She huffs out a small sigh. "I'm glad you understand. I'm just doing my best to stay out of his way."

"Do you think he can find another path?"

"Well, let's put it this way... I told you about Matthias. Briefly. I didn't think he could find a different path. I hated him. He was stubborn and ignorant!" She smiles, fond and sad. "We were sworn enemies but we both found a different path. I'm not going to fall in love with this individual I'm talking about... but I'd be awfully hypocritical if I couldn't try and think the best of him."

"Okay, so you want to give him a chance, but you're worried about it, especially because you have so much to unpack about him," says Magnus. "Is that right?

She nods. "Basically. I think... the only thing I can do is wait and see."

"Well, if you want to talk to someone about your thoughts and your concerns as they evolve," Magnus says, gesturing at himself. "I don't know this guy from Adam, and I think I'm an okay listener. I can be your sounding-board, if you want?"

Nina nods, feeling more grateful for this than she thought she would be. "That would be really appreciated. Thanks, Magnus."

"Of course, Nina," Magnus says. He tilts his head. He's gotten really good about physical contact with specific people (Galahad, Shen Yuan, Hanguang-jun), but hasn't branched out from there, and he's not sure of the best way to communicate the urge or the offer. "...Do you wanna hug?"

"Of course I would love to hug," she says, with a grin. Tall and full-figured, Nina is perfectly built for hugging -- though regrettably, it wasn't something she did enough with her friends. Being in constant peril with the occasional traumatic situation didn't usually lend itself to the cozier parts of friendship. She wraps Magnus into a warm hug.

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