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

[summerdude]

Binghe... Luo Binghe, the blood god? Hm. Magnus supposes he can see the appeal, and Luo Binghe seems miles better than Loki. It makes sense that a god would be kind to their devotees. But... even after that weird dream encounter with him, Magnus is pretty sure Lan Wangji is, like, unparalleled among the gods he's met, so... "Why would Lan Wangji have a bad opinion of you?" he asks.

[peaklordshen]

"Oh, you know," says Shen Qingqiu. He doesn't really want to get into the whole blood parasite thing right now. "I disappointed him pretty bad, it's. It's whatever."

[summerdude]

Something pings in the back of Magnus's mind. Gods don't usually become easily disappointed. Or, well. They do, super easily, but usually that results in death, dismemberment, dismay, et cetera. A disappointed god who doesn't harm someone must, on some level, care about them. "Aren't you, like, a super good cultivator too?" Magnus asks.

[peaklordshen]

"Oh," says Shen Qingqiu. "Yeah, I don't mean he's disappointed with my cultivation, he barely even knows half the things I can do." And can do less than half of them, but that feels needlessly mean to say. Maybe he's nicer when he's gay. "We just, um. Had a disagreement, a while ago. I've been pretty much avoiding him since."

[summerdude]

Is it -- could it be -- surely there's no way. "Was the disagreement in your former world?" Magnus asks. It could just be, like, a creative difference in training. Maybe he's getting ahead of himself. But also, he feels like he's getting measure of Shen Qingqiu -- inquisitive, but full of self-doubt at really weird times, reluctant to go all-in on certain things, but passionate about his interests and abilities -- and he can picture the kind of, well.

The kind of demigod who, if confronted with his dad in an unfamiliar place, might demand to know why he'd been ignored. Maybe even after being yanked into an unfamiliar world of... cultivation-pantheon. Magnus still isn't fully clear on that last part.

"Or, um. Did he meet you for the first time here?"

[peaklordshen]

"We met here, yeah," says Shen Qingqiu, "though like, I knew who he was, before I died. His, um, exploits and stuff. There's a c-drama about him," he explains. "But it's like they say, I guess. Never meet your heroes."

[summerdude]

"I have some friends who've had similar experiences," Magnus says. "With, um, movies that... misrepresent certain details. About, you know. People they later disagree with. I'm sorry, dude."

[peaklordshen]

The main thing CQL had gotten wrong about Lan Wangji was, apparently, his relationship with Wei Wuxian, but that had been pretty unsettling to Shen Qingqiu when he first arrived, so he appreciates the apology. "Thanks," he says. "Like I said, I'm mainly just avoiding him. I mean, also because he sort of tried to exorcise me." He thinks about how he feels about this, and then, out loud, with his mouth, says "LOL."

[summerdude]

If Magnus was holding something, he would have dropped it. "He WHAT?"

[peaklordshen]

"There was a whole thing, a couple weeks ago," says Shen Qingqiu. "Bunch of us got, like, age-regressed, I ran into Hanguang-jun, he nearly yeeted me into the void." He shrugs. "I'm not actually mad at him about this part—it's like, what he does, you know? I am, technically, a restless spirit. I just don't want him to do it again, at least not until I get the chance to, um." He flushes, and gestures at himself, trying to convey the whole bl pollen thing without derailing back into who he wants to kiss and why.

[summerdude]

Gods, Magnus read Lan Wangji so wrong. But between the slow introduction of his surveillance of a rival like Luo Binghe -- which, Magnus supposes, makes sense, if Lan Wangji's own son has sworn fealty to the other god in some indescribable way -- and this sudden revelation, he's starting to realize that Hanguang-jun is... perhaps not as bad as Loki, but perhaps callous or even sinister? No, surely not, he doesn't seem like it -- but maybe; gods can be incredibly deceptive -- in a different way altogether.

"I won't let him exorcise you," Magnus says, stoutly. He may be just another demigod, like Shen Qingqiu, but maybe two dead demigods from different pantheons working together can withstand such an attack, or find a way to stop it before it has a chance to begin.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu is sincerely very touched. What dedication to his cause of being able to kiss a boy before he dies! Magnus is a true and brave soul indeed. "Thank you," he says again, with much more feeling behind it. "Can I give you a hug?"

[summerdude]

"Of course, dude," Magnus says. His reticence to touch most people is easily overpowered by the camaraderie and affection he feels toward Shen Qingqiu right now. He spreads his arms. "Bring it in."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu leans over to hug him, firmly and happily. One good thing about the Mansion is people are less intense about personal space; he's naturally a quite touchy person, and people here don't seem to mind--he's been able to be physically affectionate with Sagramore and Galahad and even Laertes, and now with Magnus. He can be physically affectionate with his disciples, of course, patting Binghe or Yingying on the head whenever he wishes, now that the OOC lock is off, but that's--different. Properly shizun-ly, and one-sided. This is just, like, nice.

[summerdude]

Magnus, who is not a very touchy person, gives great hugs. It's snug and warm and he uses his einherji strength to optimal effect. Underneath the miasma of weed, Shen Qingqiu smells really good, too, so Magnus lets himself relax into it, patting Shen Qingqiu a on the back in the process.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Qingqiu pulls back, eventually, not before rubbing Magnus' back a little, fondly. He re-notices the Gameboy where he'd left it on the couch between them. "Hey," he says, "I just caught a Snorlax. You wanna see?"