open post: in a slightly hazy lounge

[peaklordshen]

After a few false starts, Shen Qingqiu has found a proper place to test out Crowley's BL pollen vape pen.

He posts up in one of the lounges, close enough to the bar that anyone leaving there might find him. He's still in his braid and loose robes - no one else had noticeably started dressing gayer¹ when they took the stuff, intentional or not, so neither will he. He also brings snacks,² and the next book in the Blood at Dusk series, Moonless Midnight, in case it takes a while to kick in, or a while for anyone to come along to prove it has, anyway. If no one finds him here he will go looking, but roaming the Mansion's halls newly homosexual feels like a much more risky prospect than just staying put and seeing what happens.

He arrays himself on a couch, feet tucked up under him (although this might not be immediately apparent due to the robes), Crowley's pen tucked behind one ear so he can make more notes now that he has a glimmer of a chance that Binghe will forgive him,³ and takes a drag on the vape.

He coughs. It's smoke, not pollen—the blooms must be dried and then burned, like with tobacco—and has an odd, kind of greenish flavor. Not unpleasant, but not pleasant, either. He expected it to taste of, like. Cherry blossom, or something. Pink rather than green. Shit, maybe he is a little homophobic.

He takes another drag, and lets the smoke out of his mouth slowly this time, watching it curl up to the ceiling.

By the time anyone finds him, he will be staring unblinking at the opposite wall, book open on his lap to the third page of the first chapter.

[Threads with Sagramore and Luo Binghe are NSFW.]

¹ Please explain what you mean by this, Shen Qingqiu. I'll wait.
² Crowley did tell him to.
³ After he confirms that the pollen works. And goes to find Binghe. And kisses him. And— well. Maybe. After. He can raise the book club idea again?

Comments

[sagramore]

Sagramore has been worried about Shen Qingqiu and he's not sorry to have an opportunity to check in on him. He comes over and sits on the couch beside him immediately. "Shen Qingqiu."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu blinks and turns to look at him, his face transforming immediately with sudden and open delight. "Sagramore! Hi."

[sagramore]

"Are you all right?" though he does inevitably meet Shen Qingqiu's smile with one of his own.

[untamedantinous]

It smells strange in this room, Enjolras has realized. Certainly odd, but perhaps not enough to be alarming. Even so, he cannot help but pause on his way into the kitchens, just to make entirely certain that nothing altogether dangerous is happening.

"Are you quite alright?" Look, he's actually going out of his way to talk to people. That's impressive in itself.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu blinks and turns his eyes to the doorway, and then blinks again. Who is that? Is he real? Did the Mansion conjure him as, like, hey, you're gay now, here's a guy who looks like he just stepped out of one of those BBC ahistorical miniseries' where everyone is wildly hot for no reason, even though in real life they'd be unwashed and probably missing teeth and stuff, and anyway what group of irl friends is all that hot, what are they, shallow or something, they only hang out with models??

No, he reminds himself, he's in the weird interdimensional mansion that is apparently home now. People just—show up. Massively hot people included. Obliging of this one to show up just as Shen Qingqiu turned gay and was in need of him.

"Hello," he says. "You're new." He lets himself look the newcomer up and down, really notice his hotness, and there's a sort of thrill just to that. It must be what the pollen wants him to do. He raises his eyes to his face again, smiling slightly. "I'd remember."

[untamedantinous]

"I have been here only a few days, yes." Enjolras shifts a little, uncomfortable at the way this strange man is looking at him so intently. It's not often that he gets looked at like that and notices it, but here in this room there is nothing to distract him from the attention of others.

"I am called Enjolras," he offers after a moment or two, awkwardly. He's never been what one would call 'good' at beginning acquaintances.

[rememberettersberg]

Nightingale is, at first glance, a rather prim and proper sort, the kind of man whom one might assume had maintained a charming naivete about substances of varying legality. This would be a very mistaken impression. Not only is he more interesting than he initially appears, he is also a police officer in modern London. The smell of weed is a near-constant companion for a copper on the streets, and one he is accustomed to cheerily turning a blind eye to.

"All right over there?" he asks, amused.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu blinks and looks up. Oh! It's the handsome but gloomy gentleman from the first day!! Shen Qingqiu hasn't seen him since. He's delighted—for scientific reasons—to find he'd quite like to put a hand on his jaw and touch his stubble. But—his thoughts turn serious. He has—a sidequest. Of some kind. Concerning this guy. He'd written it in his notebook—oh, right. Pokemon types.

He sits up, turning to face Nightingale. "I have some questions for you," he says, face very serious.

[rememberettersberg]

Well. This should certainly be interesting. "I am at your service," Nightingale proclaims, sitting down beside him.

[aflashbastard]

Crowley is either walking to or from one of those bars (who knows) and catches a glimpse of Shen Qingqiu in the lounge through the open door. Great. He's going to tattle on Crowley to Aziraphale as well and then Aziraphale's going to use the word reefer again. Might as well try and balance it out a little.

"Hey," Crowley says, poking his head in the door - and he says this very solemnly and importantly, "make sure to enjoy it responsibly."

And then he's off.

[peaklordshen]

It takes a minute for Shen Qingqiu to even realize he's been addressed, and by the time he has Crowley is gone again, leaving him bright red and confused in his wake. Responsibly? It's not like anyone is going to knock Shen Qingqiu up, here!! It's not mpreg pollen!!!

...Probably.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Wow," Janet says as she walks up, arms crossed preemptively. By now she just assumes Shen Qingqiu's going to annoy her at least a little bit.

The smell is pretty unmistakeable. Janet's not really a stoner, but she went to high school and magic college. Come on. "Seriously?"

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu frowns at Janet. This is not the kind of company he's looking for right now. "I'm busy," he says, pointedly, gesturing at the book in his lap. "Go away, please."

[involuntaryturncoat]

Asmodean happens by and pauses in the doorway. His eyebrows rise slighty. "Shen Qingqiu. Good day. Another pastime of yours?"

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu blinks. Pastime—oh, his book. He nods and smiles at Jasin Natael, noticing for the first time¹ how handsome he is, how charming the fall of his hair over his forehead. And a musician—talented hands. He eyes them for a moment, wondering if gay him would ask him to play something, and then remembers he is gay him. Lacking a fan, he flutters his eyelashes a little. "Could I persuade you to serenade me?"


¹ It is not the first time, Shen Qingqiu. We have receipts.

[protagonisthalo]

They say if you run into the same person three times, your meeting was fated. Luo Binghe saw Shen Qingqiu in the doorway while he was reading, in the greenhouse, and now here he is again, arranged beautifully on the sofa like the most tempting succubus.

It is unfair. Luo Binghe told Shen Qingqiu how hard it is to look upon him and know he can't have him, and now Shen Qingqiu has the daring to dress like this. Lightly attired, his hair done casually—as though he and Luo Binghe have just retired to their marital chambers together at the end of a long day. Luo Binghe has never experienced longing like this. Loneliness, yes—lust, desperation, a want for attention, yes yes yes—but he wants more from Shen Qingqiu than he has ever wanted from everyone. His heart, mind and body all ache in unison for it.

Luo Binghe should return his fan. No. He should leave him be. Sagramore and Nina both advised it. And he will, he will leave in just a moment—he just needs to look a little longer.

[peaklordshen]

It takes a long moment for Shen Qingqiu to notice Luo Binghe in the doorway, because he'd already been thinking about Luo Binghe, so the awareness he has of his qi—that muddled, erratic, stormy tangle that follows him around, that Shen Qingqiu wants so badly to smooth out with gentle hands—feels conjured up, a part of his own musings. When he finally raises his eyes and realizes Luo Binghe is real, actually here, he is immediately filled with unbelievable nervous, jangling energy. It's—it's time.

Their positions are reversed from the last time their eyes met, and that gives Shen Qingqiu a script—all he has to do is say what he wanted Binghe to say, last time, and do what he wanted Binghe to do, and then the pollen will take over, just like it had with Sagramore. He smiles, softly, reassuringly. "Binghe," he says. "Come here. Come sit by me."

[wickedwit]

Claudius should, he thinks, look a little more into the consequences of his last bit of social maneuvering. He was ready to wash his hands of the whole affair, but he did drop Shen Qingqiu's name into the ear of an unstable warlord he has some complicated history with, then leave the rest to fate. Fate, and specific instructions to Crowley to confirm Shen Qingqiu's feelings.

So yes, there probably were some consequences from it. And Shen Qingqiu recently helped someone Claudius cares about. So Claudius stops in front of the doorway of the lounge, sighs, and resolves himself to ask just a few questions. "You've gotten a hold of some of Crowley's medication, I see." It's a distinctive smell. "Any particular reason you need to restore sanguine humors?"

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu looks up, his eyebrows coming together a little at the sight of who's darkening his doorway. Claudius is not who he wants to see, right now—but he is, he has to admit, a beautiful man, and there's probably some data to be gathered by seeing how he reacts to that, right now. At least he won't have to explain, since Claudius obviously already knows about the BL pollen.

"Sanguine's the blood one, right?" he asks, and holds up Moonless Midnight. "Everyone's always talking about exsanguination."

[timebethine]

Laertes has ducked into one of the bars for some red wine to cook with; as he emerges, though, he catches sight of Shen Qingqiu staring into space. "If thou wouldst like another cooking lesson, I'm about to begin," he says. "Since the book seems not to engage thee."

[peaklordshen]

"Oh," says Shen Qingqiu, looking up at Laertes. "No, it's very engaging. I just got distracted thinking about werewolf mating rituals."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad is looking for Shen Qingqiu to thank him -- the flowers worked and he asked for something he wanted and was granted it and the world didn't end -- and because he's realized he really does want to spend time with him again (a friend, he thinks to himself, with some measure of wonder and pleasure; he hasn't made a friend in a long time).

When he sees Shen Qingqiu in the lounge he goes to him immediately.

[peaklordshen]

When Shen Qingqiu notices Galahad he grins and stands up immediately to pull him into a hug. "Hi," he says, into his ear, and then pulls back, slightly dizzy from his own sudden motion. The pollen must be taking a minute to fully kick in through his whole body, or maybe it's just the sudden proximity of Cute Boy?? Do gay people really feel faint just from hugging hello?? The struggle is so much realer than he ever realized.

[summerdude]

Some indeterminate amount of time later, Magnus stumbles across Shen Qingqiu's lounge. He sniffs once, deeply, and suppresses a laugh. He didn't know that stuff was here.

"You good, dude?" he asks, just to make sure.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu smiles at him. He's not on his list of people he'd really like to see, for science, but he likes him, and he has something important to say. He blinks a moment, and then remembers what it is. "I found it."