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

[ravkanwitch]

"I... um, I do know him. We're actually from the same country." That seems like a good place to start. She narrows her eyes at him a little. "What gossip?"

[peaklordshen]

Well, okay, she heard that part, but now he's distracted by her bombshell. "Wait," he says, "You're the other Grisha he was talking about??"

[ravkanwitch]

"He mentioned me?" Nina asks. Some small part of her feels an almost hysterical amusement bubbling up that the two of them are essentially just yelling questions at each other. She sighs. "Yes, we're both Grisha. That's part of the reason I can hear your thoughts-- but please don't tell him that piece of information. I think I'm the only Corpsewitch in existence in our world." She had meant to play it cool and casual like she did with Sagramore and Claudius, but there's something about this piece of information that she wants to keep safe that brings a touch of desperation to her voice.

[peaklordshen]

"I won't," Shen Yuan assures her. "I promise." He and Nina are friends, after all. "And—I doubt he would have, but we were truth-cursed at the time." He hesitates, not wanting to break Aleksander's trust, but if Nina experienced him at his most, well, 'The Darkling,' it might actually help both of them if she knew the truth of how he was feeling about all that. "He told me he's been doubting his cause, ever since you told him his future, and that he feared being used, to—amplify the power of others, here, as he'd feared it at home." He ducks his head, a little embarrassed. "I told him I'd protect him from that." And then he asked to kiss me.

[ravkanwitch]

"You-- he asked to kiss you?" She's not sure what she had been starting to say but now she slaps her hand over her mouth, apologetic expression on her face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to hear-- I'm sorry, but he did?"

Nina isn't sure why that surprises her so much or gives her such a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. The Darkling-- Aleksander was a man at the end of the day. Surely even he has urges that... She shakes her head, clearing all of those thoughts from her mind. This was like when she was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep, realizing that the existence of Hanne meant that Jarl Brum had to have reproduced in order for that to happen.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan winces, even as he feels massively relieved. "I didn't want to say that aloud, but I admit I was thinking it really loudly. He was just—touched, I think. He's not used to kindness." His voice is a little wistful. "I, um, I said no."

[ravkanwitch]

"It's because of Luo Binghe, isn't it? He told me that you called him your boyfriend," Nina says, happy to latch onto this subject for a short while instead.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods, smiling a little in the helpless, embarrassing way he does when someone brings up Binghe. "We had two really good dates," he says. "And--plans for more." Well, Shen Yuan has plans for more, specifically, involving actually pleasing Binghe, maybe after Sagramore and Laertes' dance, and--oh, fuck, right, the mind-reading. He redirects, with an effort. "Don't--tell him, please. That Aleksander asked. I think that would kind of be the opposite of protecting him."

[ravkanwitch]

Nina reflects his smile at first, happy for them, then knits her brows at his request. "I actually haven't told him the whole truth about... about Aleksander when we've talked about him," she admits. "Especially after I confronted Aleksander about his future. With all of the confusion it seems like both of us have had in the aftermath, I didn't want him to do anything... too rash." It's fairly obvious she means Binghe.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods. "I'm glad," he says. "I mean--glad it seems like you're giving Aleksander a chance." He makes a face. "I did make him a promise, but I really don't want to fight you."

[ravkanwitch]

"I think your skill level is higher than mine... or your skills are more varied, at least. But I also think I have an extra leg up with being able to read your mind," Nina says, with a little laugh. "You really do have a soft spot for men with a dark but possibly redeemable past, don't you?"

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan gapes at her, then shuts his jaw with a snap. "Maybe I just believe in the inherent goodness lurking in every heart," he says, defensively. It's not his fault that the most inspiring and complicated examples of the inherent goodness lurking in every heart also happen to be very hot men with dark eyes and surprisingly warm smiles.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina actually has the gall to giggle just a little bit (this is also how you know you're becoming better friends with her, when she viciously teases you) -- but she leaves the subject alone for now. "Did you see that Nightingale and I are hosting a talent show?"

[peaklordshen]

"Oh, you're hosting it! I saw the sign-ups. I might bring some of this stuff there, if I decide any of it is good enough." He did sign up. In a sort of weird daze, actually, but regardless.

[ravkanwitch]

"I hope you do. It should be a good time. Everyone here is so talented, Nightingale and I decided to put together something to showcase it... Well, Nightingale decided and then tried to retract it -- but then I grasped at it and now I'm bullying everyone into signing up for it," she says. She looks at her melting strawberry milkshake with a frown. "Do you want to take a break and go and get fresh ones with me?"

[peaklordshen]

"Absolutely," says Shen Yuan, standing up and cracking his neck, and then, peering into her cup, "is that a milkshake?"

[ravkanwitch]

"Well, it was a milkshake," Nina says a little sadly, "until I choked on it and then got so distracted by the conversation that it melted."

[peaklordshen]

"Oh, then we're definitely getting you a new one." Shen Yuan starts off toward the nearest kitchen. "I'm so glad you've discovered blenders."

[ravkanwitch]

“Me too,” she says happily. “I have such a sweet tooth and there’s been so much to discover here. I actually introduced Galahad to Nutella just the other day.”

[peaklordshen]

"Ooh, how'd he like it?" He needs to know for the scheduled Food Arguments they're going to have. He also wonders what other sweet delights he can introduce her to. Binghe presumably has the ancient chinese cuisine pocket covered, and can actually make her stuff that's a hundred times as good as anything the fridges here can produce, so that leaves disgusting modern crap to him. His specialty. "Have you had Oreos? Actually, have you had Nutella with Oreos?"

[ravkanwitch]

"I think he liked! He had a stroopwafel as well. ...what are Oreos?"

[peaklordshen]

"What's a stroopwafel?" Shen Yuan counters, and then laughs. "Let's both find out."

[ravkanwitch]

"You know, I still haven't found proper waffles here at the mansion," she considers, as she makes her way to the kitchen with him. "They have to be fluffy and hot, not the frozen things that I found. Eggos...? Ketterdam had amazing waffles and I became obsessed with them there."

[peaklordshen]

"We should concentrate on looking for a waffle iron, and then make Binghe make us some," says Shen Yuan. He rifles through some cabinets and eventually comes out with a box of regular oreos, a box of double-stuff, and—horribly—a box of cherry cola flavored ones. "I don't co-sign these last ones," he says, dubious.

[ravkanwitch]

Nina already knows where the stroopwafels are from when she had them with Galahad, so she has a couple individually wrapped packets in her hand by the time he reemerges. "Oh, those look like cookies," she says. "The packaging is... interesting."