untamedantinous: (we got a barricade yeah)
Lucien Enjolras ([personal profile] untamedantinous) wrote2024-02-24 07:18 pm
Entry tags:

open: don't let the wine go to your brains

It shouldn’t be this hard to prepare for a meeting. He’s done it countless times before. However, this time, it somehow is difficult. He’s never really had to set things up at times like this; and he knows as well as anyone else that he is not the best at social niceties. Granted, this meeting is in a much more well-appointed cafe than any he had ever been accustomed to holding space in in Paris. At least they have the benefit of a larger space. Consequently, Enjolras has spent much of the day of the eighth of Menestheus preparing, a little uncertain of how to plan a social gathering that is not immediately centered around planning a revolution. He is trying his best, at least.

Most of the tables and chairs have been pushed a bit more to the center of the room; the couch is arranged off to the opposite side. There are even various pillows scattered about, should anyone choose to sit on the floor. Arranged on a few of the larger tables and the counter there is a modest spread of food: of course, some of Laertes and Galahad’s pastries; but Enjolras has also procured what amounts to a few charcuterie platters: sliced sausages and meats, a selection of (mostly French) cheese, and various sliced loaves of bread and crackers are laid out for perusal, and spreads to go along with them. In an effort to provide multiple options of entertainment, Grantaire has set up a table somewhat near the food, with an assortment of wines and liqueurs. Off to one side, there are a few pots of brewed coffee, cream, sugar, and whatever else anyone might like to add to their beverage of choice. If anyone is drawn to the liquor cabinet, they will find three cups filled with various pieces of paper sitting atop it.

Enjolras himself is lingering on the couch with a glass of wine and some bread. He’s not sure how many people were even informed about this gathering, though he had done his best to advertise. If no one arrives then perhaps he will try again another time; but at least a few in attendance other than himself and Grantaire would certainly be welcome.
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (knight practice)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-02-29 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Magnus gives him a cheery grin. Look, he's being sooooo good right now! "What do you think?" he asks, and then, because he can't help himself: "What interests?" (The implication here is that Lancelot is too boring to have them, but he phrases the question as if he's genuinely curious.)
futaille: (unsure)

[personal profile] futaille 2024-02-29 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Huh. So you think it's a monster's... unreality, to simplify it a bit, that enhances them?"
peaklordshen: by mellicindi (fond)

[personal profile] peaklordshen 2024-02-29 06:43 pm (UTC)(link)
"Exactly," says Shen Yuan. "Animals and humans evolved, right? But monsters--" he pauses. Which year is Grantaire from? "Hang on. Do you know about evolution?"
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-02-29 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'll converse with you on that, if you will answer a question for me."
summerdude: official art from rick riordan's webpage (Default)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-02-29 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
"...okay," says Magnus, suspiciously.
futaille: (Default)

[personal profile] futaille 2024-02-29 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Darwin was in fact on his fateful Beagle expedition when Grantaire was killed. He would have, in fact, been in Rio de Janeiro. Therefore... "I've seen it mentioned offhandedly in a few books I've seen since I got here, but no, not in any substance. Please, go on."
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-02-29 07:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"You seem to think I lack respect for women," directly. "Why is that?"
vineleaves: (Default)

[personal profile] vineleaves 2024-02-29 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
“Oh, I’ve lived all over.” He shrugs. His childhood was a long time ago, and there have been several significant climate shifts worldwide since then. “I prefer not to be cold though, as often as I can help it.”
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (knight practice)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-02-29 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"Um, the slut-shamey weirdness, for one," Magnus says, remembering just in time that he's being eminently polite, rather than accusatory or argumentative. "And the way you get every time I bring up feminism, for another?"
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-02-29 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
He looks genuinely confused. Lancelot works to keep his tone level and open. "Explain," a pause, and then, "please. I would like to understand."
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (knight practice)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-02-29 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay," says Magnus, still clearly suspicious. "Do you know what a slut is?"
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-02-29 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes."
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (knight practice)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-02-29 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"And did you know that it's fine to be one? And that women have the right to pick and have whatever sexual partners they want, and it's only your business who and how many they sleep with if you're explicitly in a monogamous relationship?"
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-02-29 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Now he's even more perplexed. He pauses, parsing this out, and then says, "I shall be frank with you. While, in my experience, few would claim the term with pride, I myself have never said it of anyone. You-- on that first day, you asked me about the Queen, yes? Do you think I judge the Queen for choosing and taking me into her bed? Or that I judge her for-- having another partner who is not me? Or..." He thinks of Susan, and the fact that they both feel free to pursue other people, but leaves that aside.

"I would agree that whoever and however many folk anyone might lie with is not my business. Did you think I disagreed with any of these points?"
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (knight practice)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-02-29 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"Dude, you got really freaking weird when I implied she had a sex life."
vineleaves: (Default)

[personal profile] vineleaves 2024-02-29 09:16 pm (UTC)(link)
“Ah, well…” Darn good question. “Mostly I have fun. I know a lot about theatre. I’m also the god of wine.”

That one has much more obvious powers, and he makes a few vines grow as an example.
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-02-29 09:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Magnus," Lancelot sits forward, "I knew not where I was. Or what had happened. Or who you were. I did get defensive -- I did not think you were... implying she had sex. I thought you were commenting directly on that fact, which at court is the same as speaking ill of the Queen, and it is my charge to defend her. At Camelot, it would not be permissible for anyone to speak in public of whatever may take place in the Queen's bedchamber. As you may know, now, if Galahad has told you, at home such talk -- good or ill -- is answerable with violence."

He pauses, giving Magnus a flat, wry look. "At any rate, I was well aware that the Queen 'had a sex life.' It seems you were unaware that this was not for you to speak on."
Edited 2024-02-29 21:51 (UTC)
new_inglewoodblues: (Default)

[personal profile] new_inglewoodblues 2024-03-01 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Dame Ragnelle is my name," with an airy toss of her masses of hair. "Call me so."
socialjusticedragon: (Default)

[personal profile] socialjusticedragon 2024-03-01 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh! I have only ever been to the theatre once, in China." He hesitates and watches the vines grow curiously. "I hope not all plays ended as that one did, it was not pleasant. But perhaps that was not the fault of the play."
vineleaves: (Default)

[personal profile] vineleaves 2024-03-01 03:58 am (UTC)(link)
"Only once! My dear that simply won't do!" If Dionysus had it his way he would take this dragon to a show right this second. Alas.

He's about to ask if the play was a tragedy, but then Temeraire mentions it might not have been the play's fault itself, and now he's intrigued. "What happened at the end?"
socialjusticedragon: (Default)

[personal profile] socialjusticedragon 2024-03-01 04:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, it is not as though I would be allowed, in England," he says, a little petulant. "Oh, Prince Yongxing was killed. But he should not have had that man attack Laurence, I was only protecting my captain."
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (blushing 2: electric boogaloo)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-03-01 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
Magnus crosses his arms, annoyed. "Okay," he says. "I guess you were brand new here and that can be, like, disorienting or whatever, and maybe you didn't expect a sex-positive einherji to support a queen's right to choose whatever partners she wants." The look he's giving Lancelot sharpens abruptly. "Did you read any of the books I told you to read?"
lanselos_du_lac: (questioning)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-03-01 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
But now Lancelot is honed in, as well -- where before he has seen fit to pay as little attention to Magnus as he could politely manage, now he knows he has a point (a legitimate point) to make.

He says, as kindly as he can, "That is a deflection. Let us return to what we were already speaking of. What about what you know of me and of my affair with the Queen -- which you mentioned within moments of meeting me -- makes you think I don't believe a queen has a right to choose whatever partners she pleases?"
summerdude: fanart by cookiecreation (da) / cookiesketches (tumblr) (knight practice)

[personal profile] summerdude 2024-03-01 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
"No, it's topical to the point I'm trying to make."
lanselos_du_lac: (oh really)

[personal profile] lanselos_du_lac 2024-03-01 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
"If that's so, you'll have no trouble making that point on your own," he says mildly.

He has looked into a few of the books Magnus recommended. If pressed, he would discuss them. But in his view, this is not about books or theories or some other understanding that a person with no personal experience in Camelot might dream up. If Magnus wants to press him, Lancelot would be pressed on facts. (For all of the things he has not considered, has not been able to see -- perhaps cannot see still -- one thing the mansion has granted him is a different view of his relationship with Guinever. He has no enmity for either the Queen or himself.)

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