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

[lightbearinglord]

"I have been reading." This is true. Lan Wangji frequents the library, looking for any books there that will help him contextualize and understand the people he has met and grown to love here. "For Magnus, I researched the Norse pantheon."

[papadopoulos]

"Ah. Right. Met his dad in a bar one time." And flirted with him, but Jack sort of put him off the whole 'Frey' thing. "Anyway, reading, so -- have you done any about homosexuality in modern times? That might give you a little more context for this."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji thinks very little of Magnus' father, despite never having met him. Presumably Frey's inability to take responsibility for having fathered a child is not Apollo's fault, however, so he merely thinks on the question. "I have seen the word. It came up in some additional reading I did for Magnus."

[papadopoulos]

It is not his fault at all, in fact.¹ "Yeah," Apollo nods. "It's a term for people who love people of the same gender. Pride is a celebration of the fact that we're proud of who we are, sometimes a protest if it's necessary. It's not just for people who are gay, though, it's for people who may not fit society's general --um. 'Guidelines' of who a person should love or how they should define their gender and sexuality."

¹ Though he has on occasion failed to take responsibility for a few children himself. He's working on that.

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji says, and this serves as something of a stand-in, a polite acknowledgement, while he turns this over. A protest if it's necessary. Until he came here, he had never imagined there could be so many people like him in one place. He is not ashamed; he has known the truth of his own desires since he was a child. Still, he is not immune to the surprising comfort of finding himself surrounded by people who find his love comparatively unremarkable.

"These flags," he says, at some length. "They are part of the celebration?"

[papadopoulos]

"Yes," Apollo nods, pausing in his beading to offer a little informative sheet. "The colors have different meanings -- in -- uh, Western cultures, I guess -- pink and blue like I have on my shirt are generally seen as colors associated with women -- that's pink -- and blue for men. So then on my shirt here I have those two, along with purple. Means I don't really have a preference as to what gender a person has, if I'm into them. The pink, blue, and yellow is a similar thing, but -- a little more open I guess. Like, it includes people that may or may not have a gender for whatever reason." He would be into that too, probably, but he's not going to say that just now.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji takes the sheet, holding it in both hands and studying it, wholly thoughtful. He has only ever desired men -- one boy, who became one beautifully frustrating man, specifically, but even before he met Wei Ying, he knew this about himself. If blue is the color associated with attraction to men, perhaps that is convenient. Blue is the only color he wears that is not white. "Where are these flags typically displayed?"

[papadopoulos]

"Oh, anywhere. People carry them in parades, put them up on their houses, hang them in walls -- I might take one back for my room here, maybe, if I remember. It's a way for people to show they're proud of who they are, or accepting of other people's choices, sometimes."

[lightbearinglord]

"Mn," Lan Wangji says again; again, this is a polite acknowledgement, but one of genuine interest. "This celebration is an act of defiance," he ventures.

[papadopoulos]

“Yes!” Apollo nods vehemently. “A lot of people forget the first pride was actually a protest. It just kept getting commemorated and has sort of also turned into a celebration over the years.”

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji continues perusing the sheet Apollo handed him. "A police raid," he reads, with a little frown. Magnus has not instilled in him any great love of police officers.

[papadopoulos]

“Yeah.” He sighs and sets his bracelet down. “For a lot of the history of America —and our world, unfortunately, loving who you want to love and being your true authentic self has been —um. Illegal, in some cases. Not in Ancient Greece; and not now at least in America—there have been some changes to the laws. Gay marriage is legal in the US now.”

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji is certainly familiar enough with this general concept. To his knowledge, any legal recognition of his own marriage would be an impossibility, something beyond even pretending to consider. That didn't matter to him -- nothing mattered but the impossible breadth of Wei Ying's smile as they made their last bow, no witnesses but the heavens and no finery but robes just-shed and hastily-donned. "Mn." He looks up from the paper. "Cut-sleeves are not viewed kindly where I come from."

[papadopoulos]

For Apollo's part, marriage isn't his thing. He swore a long time ago that he would not marry unless it was Daphne, and we all saw how that turned out. He sighs, and nods. "I get it. A lot of people don't view it kindly nowadays, either. It's hard, but that's part of the reason why this celebration exists."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji, still holding that informational sheet in both hands, nods, very serious. He folds the paper crisply in half and tucks it into his sleeve. He will hang onto this and show it to Wei Ying. Wei Ying will like the idea of this Pride -- a protest and a celebration, a show of defiance. "Thank you," he says to Apollo, with sincerity.

[papadopoulos]

"Of course," Apollo replies with a small smile. "Do you have any other questions?"

[lightbearinglord]

After a slow and thoughtful pause, Lan Wangji does have a question. Although he is a god, Apollo is evidently from the same time as Magnus. "Do you know how to repair a bicycle?"

[papadopoulos]

"Um." He considers this for a moment. Would he be any good at repairing a bicycle? Probably not, he left that sort of stuff to Leo when they were adventuring together. But does he know how to? Potentially. "I can't say I'd be any good at it, but I can take a guess on how to do it. What's the issue?" If it's something easy like a flat tire, then they're set.

[lightbearinglord]

"I need an air pump," Lan Wangji clarifies. Actually, Magnus needs an air pump.

[papadopoulos]

"Oh! Well, yeah, if it's a flat tire that should be a pretty easy fix. I'm sure I could find an air pump around somewhere."

[lightbearinglord]

"Thank you," Lan Wangji says again, just as serious about the bicycle repair as he was about the Pride lesson.

[papadopoulos]

He grins and gives Lang Wangji a cheery nod. "I'm no god of smithing, but I think I can figure it out. Anyway. Anything else? I could write a song, or a poem to the glory of the bicycle." It's pretty clear he's joking.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji does realize that Apollo is not serious, but his own expression stays solemn regardless. "I will take the poem," he says, perfectly straight-faced. Truthfully, he wants to see what happens, and he does like poetry very much.

[papadopoulos]

"Alright," Apollo laughs, and falls silent for a moment, thinking. After a few more moments of silence, he starts: "There once was a man named Michael, who liked to ride his bicycle. He would quite often ride 'cross the wide countryside 'til the wind turned him to an icicle." This may or may not translate well enough into Mandarin; but the mansion is a wibbly-wobbly sort of place. "Sorry about the limerick, it's not my preferred form of poetry; but that's another story. Limerick prophecies are always some of the worst."

[lightbearinglord]

The rhymes certainly don't translate, nor does the meter. Lan Wangji listens with mildly baffled amusement regardless. "What are the parameters of a limerick?"