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

[wickedwit]

“You’ve admitted you need to kiss them, at least.” Because of the BL pollen — strange that Claudius would feel need to say such a self-evident thing. He holds out a finger as he expostulates. “It’s so easy to lie to one’s self, and not for any reward or challenge. You don’t even get the satisfaction of having carried off a clever lie, once you catch yourself doing it. Far better to know what you want, even if pursuing it ends in catastrophe … oh, but I’m sure it won’t be such a catastrophe.” Suddenly he’s stricken with fondness for, well, everything, including this strange young man who may be an august cultivator who may be something else entirely from China, and who definitely wants Luo Binghe. “Even if it is, I’ve every faith you can kiss Luo Binghe. I’m sure courting a little catastrophe is worth it for you.”

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu rankles at his, a little. How'd they end up back on Binghe when they'd been talking about Pokemon? He'd much rather talk to Claudius about Pokemon than about Binghe. How many times is he going to come complaining to Shen Qingqiu about being a jilted wife??¹ Sorry, man, it's Shen Qingqiu's arc right now. Come back in a few weeks for your scene where you call Binghe out in a jealous rage, and then he backs you against a wall, towering and beautiful, and then you have hate-sex, which would have been hotter, by the way, if you hadn't gotten him to take the parasites out.

You have to do a different arc between the jilting and the making up. It's like Claudius has never read a serialized wife-collecting novel in his life. Which, right, he hasn't. Because he's a lion from Lion King. Or whatever. What had they been talking about? Oh, right. "It won't be catastrophe," he says. "Some of us know how to treat Binghe the way he deserves."

¹ Yes, that's exactly what's going on right now.

[wickedwit]

"Ay, ay." Claudius laughs appreciatively, because he is still so, so fond, and sure that whatever problems he caused with Luo Binghe are problems Shen Qingqiu's willingly taken on. He wouldn't be here talking about kissing boys otherwise. Claudius also just stopped caring. "Galahad deserves a type other than melancholic," he says. (That's what he was thinking when he stopped caring.) "What other types?"

[peaklordshen]

"Oh, Galahad is grass and fire," says Shen Qingqiu immediately. "Specifically, like, Cherrim. You know? Closed up tight until he sees the sun, and then he's sunlight himself."

[wickedwit]

"He is sunlight himself," Claudius agrees at once. "Beyond even the holy fire -- he's light to me. I wither without him. God, I'm ridiculous in love. I thought he'd closed himself up to me forever, that I'd never see him or if I did, it would be regretful silences and stares. I love to look at his eyes, but I don't think I could've met his eyes, then. He sent me flowers. He is the flower, the flower and the sunlight. I'd make a pagan idol of him, if only to worship him. And I am not a worshipful man. Except for in love. It's a shame I can't poison God, or I would, and take over the Kingdom of Heaven to give to him as a toy. It makes me so glad to look in his eyes." Some earlier part of the conversation floats through his head before he can dwell on anything alarming he's said about killing gods. "Could I be evolving?"

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu processes all of this. He's glad to hear Claudius speak so highly of Galahad, though he's a little confused now how Binghe fits into all of this, but he'd just gotten Claudius off of Binghe, so he's not going to bring it back up. He'll find out later. "Killing God is really more of a classic JRPG thing than a Pokemon thing," he says, helpfully. "But, um, sure."

[wickedwit]

Claudius has never thought about Luo Binghe less than he has at this moment, which is remarkable, because he didn't used to know Luo Binghe and has spent a lot of time not thinking about him. He's thinking about Luo Binghe a negative amount.

After he's done thinking about how much he loves Galahad -- or at least relegates it to the background of his thoughts -- he sighs and says, "We 'll talk about killing God next time. I think we've enough categories, without getting into the axes of holiness and blasphemy ... though there are cute boys I'd watch kill a god¹."

¹ Laertes. Maybe Enjolras. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as a pair so he's not watching one more than the other, and they'd make an excellent god-killing team.

[peaklordshen]

"Yeah," says Shen Qingqiu. "Legendaries are a whole other thing, anyway."¹ He pauses, thoughtfully. "I hope someone does kill God, for Galahad's sake. Though—probably don't tell him I said that."

¹Yeah, that's what he means by holiness.

[wickedwit]

"Of course. We share a secret," Claudius says cheerfully. "This one I won't tell. That means we're allies ... allies against God for Galahad, at least. We can still be enemies over something else later."

[peaklordshen]

The something else Claudius means is, of course, Binghe, and their eventual harem drama—but the thought of that is exhausting, so he's happy to put it out of his mind until it's actually happening to him. He sticks out a hand, instead, for Claudius to shake.

[wickedwit]

Claudius shakes hands rarely -- with Grantaire, last -- but he quite likes it. He warmly clasps Shen Qingqiu's hand, to seal a pact as allies.