happy pride, etc

[papadopoulos]

“Uh, people were killed.”
“No one was killed at Stonewall.”
“No…body…was killed???”
_________________________________________________________

The café is looking much more colorful than it has in the past. Specifically, there are various flags draped on top of the walls – certainly it is much brighter than anything Enjolras would have cared to come up with. Directly behind the pastry case there is a rainbow flag, and scattered around there are a myriad of other pride flags. (Whatever they could scrounge up from the cupboards, basically.) There is also a small table set off to one side, with various types of beaded necklaces and colored bracelets lying atop it. There is also a small flier with descriptions and explanations of what the different flags represent. Explanations of pride in general will be freely offered, as well.

Dionysus has offered up his cd player, though instead of the same music from the party, it is playing songs from various queer artists. There’s a selection ranging from Bowie to Cole Porter to Billie Holiday, including more modern artists such as Lady Gaga, Mika, Queen, and Green Day. Apollo can be found near the music as usual; but he is currently engrossed in making more of the colored bracelets. He is seated at the table with a box full of friendship bracelet making supplies, wearing an artfully cropped version of this shirt, a hyacinth bloom set behind his ear. Dionysus is at a different table, wearing a knee-length sundress of pink, yellow, and blue stripes and one of the beaded bracelets Apollo is making, this one in yellow, white, purple, and black beads. He found a small facepainting palette with a few pride flag options and is willing to offer up his services if anyone happens to want a tiny flag on their cheek (or, well, wherever.)


Let us know if you want Apollo, Dionysus, or both for your threads!

Comments

[futaille]

Grantaire laughs. "How odd that the god of truth would object to a full accounting. O Phoebus, do not make us hide the light of the many possibilities before us."

[papadopoulos]

Apollo-as-Lester looks up and gives him a cheery nod. "Hey, how's it going?"

[vineleaves]

Oh this is absolutely just the best possible way for today to have gone. 10/10. Dionysus is so happy. Grantaire is reading Apollo for filth, it's a pride month miracle.

"So anyway, as I was saying before the baby from the opening of Teletubbies over there interrupted us, toes." He's aware that Grantaire will not know what the hell a Teletubby is, but he also hopes that there is enough context in his tone for it to be obvious that he's dragging the heck out of Apollo. He can explain Teletubbies later if necessary.

[onthewillowsthere]

You're welcome, to Dionysus, in his usual serious way (the basket was unexpected, and he went through it carefully, examining each individual snack and gift, the soft brushes that he stroked along his cheek (Claudius says that Grantaire and Dionysus are lovers; without that, he can't imagine how Dionysus would have known that he wants to get better at painting), the little cube with its buttons and switches and gears that is in his pocket now, opposite the bone frog). Thank you for the presents.

When Dionysus points out Apollo, he turns to look. Hi, he signs back. Complicated?

[lightbearinglord]

Now that he knows this boy is, in actuality, a god, Lan Wangji arranges himself into an appropriately formal and respectful bow. "What is this?"

[papadopoulos]

In fairness, Apollo currently looks a bit more like a boy than he does a man, seventeen and dark-haired and a little chubbier than he would really like to be, but he's still wearing a cropped shirt and tight shorts regardless. "Oh, hey," he says, waving at the new guy.¹ "It's, um, a thing we have in our world. A month for being proud of who you are without anyone shaming you and --sometimes, unfortunately, still fighting for equality that everyone should have." Not for the first time, Apollo thinks, Christianity was a mistake. "But explanations can come after introductions, I guess. I'm Apollo, and the guy with the makeup over there is my baby brother."


¹ There's a lot of new guys; Apollo just hasn't met everyone yet.

[papadopoulos]

"Yes, yes, no one needs to know what filthy things you two are going to get up to with the body paint later. Artists," he says with a dramatic eyeroll, like he himself is not the head of the Muses.

[futaille]

He laughs. "That's quite an assumption, Apollo Musagetes."

[vineleaves]

Dionysus basically has heart-eyes right now. Please make fun of Apollo more, it's hilarious.

"We were just listing out possibilities, tiny little baby big brother, we never said we were actually going to paint each other's heels."

[papadopoulos]

"Yes. The most scandalous of places, the heel." He leans back in his chair and sets his feet up on the table. "I've been to your parties, baby brother, I know how this ends."

[papadopoulos]

"Nah, I've got plenty." He scoops up at least three of the rainbow bracelets and offers them. "You can take some of the other colors if you want, too; I just had a lot of extra beads." There's a slight pause. "If you want to learn more about the rest of the flags and stuff, there's also some information sheets here on the table."

[futaille]

"His parties do have excellent endings, I agree."

[vineleaves]

Dionysus winks at Grantaire and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

[vineleaves]

Dionysus shakes his head. No, thank you for the stars. It means a lot.

As to the question of 'complicated', Apollo and I are from different universes. He debates whether or not he should mention that Apollo is from Magnus's universe. He knows that Galahad and Magnus are besties, but that, uh. Might backfire, considering, you know. Everything.

[kadewest]

"Well, maybe later you can describe what you want and we can see what I can do," Kade says. "We'll sort out the payment then, too."

[papadopoulos]

"A celebration, kind of? Commemoration? Informational event? It's a lot of things, really." There's a pause. "I guess the easiest way to start off would be: how much do you know about, uh -- say around the year 2020 America? Like, um -- do you know Magnus? Around his time." Magnus would probably not appreciate Apollo bringing him up in this conversation, but at least it's only as a point of reference.

[new_inglewoodblues]

She scoffs. "Men care too much for society. And so thou wouldst paint thy face and adorn thine arms?"

[lightbearinglord]

"I know Magnus," Lan Wangji says, his voice laced with subtle fondness. He considers the question with all due seriousness. "He told me that my time is more than a thousand years before his."

[wickedwit]

Claudius shakes his head. At what, he couldn't say. "I don't mean to sound cynical. First you seek common ground, then you acknowledge differences ... those are the first steps of any negotiation. It's essential to do both. But matters of love, attraction, and identity are rather personal and volatile. In Elsinore, sounding out someone's interests is like handling quicksilver, and as dangerous. Even here, I've fallen out with a young man for whom admitting his attraction to other men was so frightening he suspected me of seducing him as part of a conspiracy to undermine his power, and lashed out at the first opportunity. I simply wonder what it would take to establish a community among such people. Whether abstract notions of working together and fighting back against a shared threat would be enough. I don't believe it would. Too many people are selfish, given to secrecy, and care only about the safety of their immediate circle." It's why Claudius hasn't done anything, why there's nothing to do. Friends die. The idea that the mansion is a community, a community that would work together to protect its own, seems quite impossible now. Too late.

[vineleaves]

It's someone Dionysus does not know either, which is saying something. "I'm Dionysus, I don't believe we've met! Are you a new arrival? Or have I just been terribly lax in meeting people?"

[vineleaves]

"Not everyone is always going to want to, ah, come to the party, so to say. There's different reasons for that. Some better than others. There's times when it is absolutely safer, or more comfortable, for someone to keep their true self quiet. But that's -- that's why it's important for everyone who can come together to do exactly that. Especially when it's dangerous, when it's a matter of life or death. Sitting around passively and being complacent doesn't solve anything, it allows things to get worse. If people are going to lump a bunch of us all together in an attempt to subjugate us, then it's up to us to come together, even if we don't all fit together perfectly, and actually try to do something about it."

He doesn't sound angry, because he isn't angry (at Claudius, anyway), but he definitely sounds passionate, and it might be easier than normal to see why he was given the name Liberator. "Sometimes the best way to protect the safety of your immediate circle is to stand together with everyone else going through the same shit."

He's thinking about centuries and centuries worth of friends who couldn't live how they wanted, who couldn't be with who they wanted, who were forced into a life that brought them no joy, just because someone somewhere decided to pass shitty laws that allow misery and hatred to be the accepted way of things.

[vineleaves]

He laughs a little, happy and carefree. "People often go all out for this particular celebration, to show they are proud of who they are. It's a really very colorful event! Fancy outfits, lots of sparkles, and generally speaking there's a good bit of painting one's face, yes."

[new_inglewoodblues]

"Paint me with leaves. I am proud of that."

[vineleaves]

"Your wish is my command, my dear!" He puts a little bit of water on a brush and starts mixing it into a light green color, working it until the paint goes from a dry, almost eyeshadow-looking cake to the consistency of a cream. "Where would you like them?"

[wickedwit]

Claudius doesn't feel the first tear but then, he feels very little. It's not until he opens his mouth to speak that the salt-taste takes him by surprise. (Absently, he remembers reading that tears flush out the chemicals the body no longer needs. Compared to blood or bile, shedding tears may be the only form of fluid-letting that works.) "Ah," he says, as the words he'd meant to say leave him.