semi-open post: portraiture

[peaklordshen]

After shifting his way through oil pastels, watercolors, house paint, colored pencils, and an endless variety of paint markers, Shen Yuan has finally managed to get the Mansion to produce a decent set of oil paints, and—wonder of wonders—an easel. He's set up in a spacious, well-lit hall, probably for dancing or salons or whatever, where he's arranged a bunch of furniture in various configurations—wooden screens that he's draped cloth¹ over for backdrops; armchairs stolen from the lounge, wooden stools and high-backed dining chairs from the kitchens; even a lovely chaise lounge in a deep purple that he wistfully thinks he won't actually use, because it would definitely be for Aleksander, and he doubts he'll be doing that entry in his protagonists of the Mansion series after all. He has one of the stools pulled up next to the easel to hold his paints, and is wearing a wide-necked sweater over a black turtleneck and some loose, worn jeans that already have a few flecks of paint on them from when he was doing his color tests.² He's pulled his hair back in a practical bun, and he's currently laying down a layer of gesso on his canvas.

¹ Look, he has to do something with all of those robes he accidentally conjured in his last post.
² After days of feeling very lost and confused about how he's not required to LARP anymore, he's pretty much decided that it actually means he can just change who he's LARPing as at will, and the main way to do this is through fashion. Today he is An Artist.

[Primarily for those Shen Yuan has offered to paint, but anyone else is also welcome to come bother him while he works.]

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

He flushes a little, that fever-red flush that rises in his cheeks and his throat. "I want to wear something that will make Claudius look at me."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan cackles, and immediately erases half of the shirt he was sketching. "Yes," he says. "Yes, we can absolutely do that." He shoots a grin Galahad's way. "I'm so proud of you."

[onthewillowsthere]

The flush deepens, but he looks at the sketch with muted longing. He wants it, and he wants to be brave enough for it, and he wants Claudius to look at him and be filled with as much wanting as he is. "And I want to wear jewelry," softly, touching his fingers to the base of his throat where Shen Yuan's arrangement of the robe has laid it bare.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods, and writes BODY CHAINS?? with several underlines at the top of his page. "Blue and silver, right?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He nods. It's a relief that Shen Yuan knows exactly what he wants.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan starts back in on his sketch, leaving a good and tantalizing amount of chest open and tightening up the silhouette of the pants. He draws on vague memories of male idols and c-pop stars—which, shockingly, he has many more of than he does of female idols and c-pop stars, at this point he should make himself a fucking drinking game—and wonders, briefly, how Galahad might feel about makeup, and then, more extensively, how Claudius might feel about makeup on Galahad.

That guy is gonna owe Shen Yuan so many favors.