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 think that's probably true," Magnus says, pursing his lips. He debates mentioning the ways in which it's not -- would that be too much? -- but he likes talking to Laertes, and has always felt like he can open up to him, since the first time Laertes knew stuff about Valhalla. "Gay marriage has been legal in the city where I lived since I was, like, five, and I'm pretty sure it was legalized across my entire country a few months after I died. And I think there are other legal protections? But it's not all great all the time, especially on a smaller scale, I think. A lot of the kids at the Chase Space -- that's the shelter me and Alex run for homeless kids -- were on the streets because their parents had issues with them being gay, or bi, or trans, or whatever."

[timebethine]

"That's hard," says Laertes, thinking of how his father would answer it if he returned home with Sagramore on his arm and insisted that they were married. He's old enough now that he could go wherever he likes and make another life; the children Magnus helps, though, still require and deserve care, and it aches to hear that they would be cast out for their sins. (It feels like it's been a long time since he thought of what he does with Sagramore as sin, and he finds that thought hateful to bear.) "I want to understand--those words, what do they mean? Gay is the kind of marriage I have, is it not?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, you and Sagramore are gay married," Magnus says, with a fleeting smile. "Gay is... same-sex. Or same-gender. Men with men, women with women, et cetera. Women who only want other women are also called lesbians? Trans -- transgender -- that's like Alex. People whose gender doesn't always align with the sex they were thought to have at birth. She's genderfluid, too. Male and female. Some trans people are just one, or neither. But it's not a sexuality thing, it's a gender thing, so it's a little different from gay or straight or -- um, bi -- bisexual -- I guess that's like me? And --" he remembers what Laertes had said earlier, about liking men and women. "Maybe you too? People who like multiple genders. Some people who don't really care also call themselves pan. Short for pansexual. There are... a lot of different terms people use. Usually 'gay' is the quickest shorthand though, I think. And 'straight' is people who only like a different gender than their own."

[timebethine]

It's a lot to absorb all at once, but Laertes follows as well as he can, creating the schema in his mind and mentally pinning each term to a person so that he has a mnemonic. (He doesn't think he knows any lesbians; even Sappho famously had both male and female lovers.) "A part of me had thought that all people must be bi, or there could be no sin in loving one's own sex," he admits. "Just as all of us may covet, or steal, or kill--that which is forbidden is that which any might do. I do not say it is a sin," he hastens to add. "Only that it seems strange to forbid a temptation to which some cannot be subject. But thou sayest some love only one sex?"

[summerdude]

"Allegedly," Magnus says, with a crooked smile. "Blitzen is definitely 100% gay. Mallory is definitely straight." He'd say Halfborn is, too, but there's always been that awkward tension between Halfborn and TJ, and sometimes Magnus wonders. "But I wouldn't be surprised if there were more bi people than research says." He shrugs. "Me, I love Alex. He pointed out that I had, um, crushes? On some other guys? Mostly when he was teasing me for not realizing that I liked him even when I couldn't stop staring at him and wanted to learn everything about him. And my first kiss was with Jackie Molotov, when I was twelve. That's pretty much as far as I've thought about it, though. Alex is both, so I like both."

[timebethine]

"As thou rightly shouldst. She's lucky to have thee. Even if thou wert 'a lot.'"

[summerdude]

Magnus blushes. He's pretty confident in his relationship, for all that he hasn't seen Alex in a month and a half at this point, but still: "You think so?"

[timebethine]

"Thou art a fine young man," says Laertes warmly. "Open with thy heart, generous to thy friends. Honest, and earnest, and kind. I admire thee very much."

[summerdude]

"Aw," Magnus -- who is, as ever, the pinnacle of eloquence and verbal expressiveness -- says, with not even one whit of awkwardness^*. "Shucks."

*Not.

[timebethine]

"For all thy generosity, though, I remember what I owe. When thou art ready to learn to cook, come find me, and we'll learn together."

[summerdude]

"Oh, right!" Magnus had forgotten that this was about more than just hanging out with a buddy and talking in sign. "Like I said, I'm not really Inside Guy right now. But I for sure will eventually."

[timebethine]

Laertes frowns. He doesn't much like the thought of Magnus being too anxious to come inside for hot meals. "Wouldst like me to bring thee food? It would be easy enough to add one more portion."

[summerdude]

"Galahad's been bringing me lunch every day," Magnus says. "And Mothwing's been bringing me extra fish. And I have, like, energy bars. But if it's not too much trouble, that would be really nice, man, thank you."

[timebethine]

"Then dinner will be mine office, until thou art ready to join me in the kitchen," says Laertes. "Hast thou any favorite meals?"

[summerdude]

"Falafel," Magnus says, immediately. "Kibbeh, spicy lamb kebabs, shawarma, pita, dolmas, hummus, good barbecue... But mostly falafel."

[timebethine]

"I think some of those are in my Turkish cookbook," says Laertes, pleased at the spark of recognition. "I'll look for the rest."

[summerdude]

"Amir and his dad are Iraqi," Magnus remembers. "They own Fadlan's Falafel. My favorite place back home. In case that helps?"

[timebethine]

"It does help; my thanks," says Laertes. "Thou wilt have to test each dish for me, to be sure that I've made it aright."

[summerdude]

"Oh, gladly," Magnus says. He signs, thank you.

[timebethine]

Thank you, friend, Laertes signs in answer.