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

[timebethine]

"I've found," says Laertes after a moment, "that with each new lover I meet, I must make a common language. A word that means nothing between me and Sagramore is a most solemn vow, with Claudius. The gestures of love that bind me daily to Sagramore, Claudius views with indifference. That language will grow and bloom between you without tending--but like any flower, it flourishes with attention and care. Worry not whether thy love comes slow or fast; it will unfurl in its season. Instead, teach him the language of how to love thee, and listen when he speaks it."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan had known Laertes had other lovers, too—Sagramore had mentioned as much when he'd confirmed his non-monogamy after marriage—but he hadn't realized Claudius was one of them. Qi Qingqi would be absolutely disappointed in him with the amount of gossip going on around here that he just has no idea about. He wonders if Laertes and Sagramore share, or if their trysts with Claudius are separate. Were Laertes and Claudius already sleeping together when they got here?? Did the Lion King erase Scar's canonical queerness by not putting Nala's handsome older brother in there for him to rub lion faces with???

"Your turn to be wise," he says, to the rest of what Laertes said, which is definitely good advice or whatever. "Thank you, I appreciate you talking this through with me."

[timebethine]

"I only hope it gives thee ease," says Laertes. "If I may ... I have an odd request. Hast ever heard of the cynocephali?"

[peaklordshen]

"No," says Shen Yuan, intrigued. "Is that Latin?"

[timebethine]

"Greek," says Laertes. "They were dog-headed men in legends. I would not ask a full painting--we have no models for the face--but perhaps thou might'st draw a sketch of Sagramore as a cynocephalic knight?"

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan has to sit back, a little bit, and blink at his canvas for a minute. That's—his mouth wobbles—he schools himself to perfect, stone-faced calmness, the way he used to have to do to keep his cool and not get dinged by the System, and clears his throat. "You know," he says, "in my original world—in my time—there are many people who like to, um, imagine themselves as anthropomorphic animals. Some people actually make a living doing commissions of the kind you're talking about. I won't pretend to their skill in melding human and animal features, that was never my particular niche, but I'm definitely happy to, uh, make the attempt." To draw Sir Sagramore as a dog furry. For his Shakespearean husband. Who is currently sitting here, for a portrait, wearing a collar.

Shen Yuan's life is so, so weird.