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

[untamedantinous]

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.

Comments

[summerdude]

"Okay," says Magnus, still clearly suspicious. "Do you know what a slut is?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Yes."

[summerdude]

"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]

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]

"Dude, you got really freaking weird when I implied she had a sex life."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"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."

[summerdude]

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]

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]

"No, it's topical to the point I'm trying to make."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"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.)

[summerdude]

"Fine," says Magnus, very obviously biting down on the asshole he wants to append to that word. "Don't tell me. But it would be very helpful if you'd just say which ones." Especially if Sir Sucks-a-lot has read one of the trauma ones or Odin's motivational bullcrap, because then Magnus doesn't have to spend sixteen hours explaining things first. "Or if you're like, 'oh no, this child will scold me because I am exactly the kind of meinfretr who will obstinately ignore good advice because of who it came from' you might as well 'fess up now."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I don't think you a child," his tone is level, open. "But I do think you ought to explain your sincere feelings without resorting to your list of books."

Lancelot takes a breath and says, "Hear this: I understand your loyalty to Galahad. I would not ask anything less of you -- he should have as many friends as he desires -- and I don't expect you to change your estimate of me." Lancelot stops himself from saying that he wishes his understanding or truce with Galahad were such that he and Galahad might get to know one another better, but that's outside of this discussion with Magnus.

He goes on to say, "If you are to cast judgments on my other relationships, or on how I interacted with you when I crossed some unknown border during perhaps the worst time of my life -- that bears real talk. If you would defer to your reading list, that's well enough, I suppose. But I know not what you expect of me, and so I cannot satisfy your questions."

[summerdude]

"Okay, well, why are you so averse to answering a simple question?" Magnus demands, chin jutting out obstinately. "I'm not trying to use my 'list of books' to 'explain my sincere feelings,' I'm trying to figure out if we have any common ground for a discussion at all! What I expect from you right now is a simple 'yes' or 'no,' or maybe, maybe a 'some,' with a clarification of which!"

[lanselos_du_lac]

At this, Lancelot does sigh. He gives Magnus a long look, then takes up his glass to take a healthy sip of bourbon. When he sets the glass down again, he is sitting forward in his seat. If he is going to deal plainly with Magnus on this, he does not intend to hold back.

"Very well. My answer for you is some," he begins. "I cannot recall the order in which you gave them to me, but I shall group them in my own way."

He takes a breath. "I did not seek or read Odin's Plan: How to Have a Successful Afterlife because it does not pertain to me. I am not dead, and whatever afterlife I may have is unlikely to look similar to yours. Along the same lines, Who Moved My Cheese seemed to me ridiculous nonsense -- I did not understand the story or its relevance or how 'business' might function, and so 'twas useless to me."

Lancelot does not, let's be clear, give Magnus space to step in or respond. He barrels on.

"Two of the books you listed have to do with... self-esteem or managing things that have happened to you that have caused harm. I cared not to think on that in ways that asked me to write down my thoughts about -- well. I have things I must come to understand. I will not do so in a book, and I cared not to think on it any further in this way. Moving on: I came to some understanding of what are considered to be the Seven Heroic Qualities but found I needn't learn anything more. When I had my vigil and took my vows as a Knight in the service of the High King, I dedicated myself to similar qualities and have tried to live my life by those. I have failed, often enough, I am sure. But I continue to use that code to guide my thoughts and actions."

He takes a very quick sip of his drink. He has no intention of letting Magnus cut him off, because he knows that Magnus is looking for some weakness and he would prefer to get out everything he is thinking.

"This brings us to the matter of women, respect-- feminism," which he says very carefully. "Introduction to Feminism for Dummies did not seem to be something the library could provide. No matter. I did read The Second Sex and The Feminine Mystique." There is no need to say here that both of these gave him a considerable amount of questions for and discussion to have with Susan, but that is a very nice fringe benefit. "I think from these, I understand your meaning when you speak of feminism, and while I could find nothing I disagreed with, nothing that felt wrong, there was much that was hard for me to understand in terms of..." He squints, seeking the right term. "There are several hundred years to come, for me, before any of these are written. There are pieces of the world, a future world, I cannot understand. Here I would seek Susan's knowledge, but-- that isn't the point. I found interesting Beauvoir's points on monogamy; I think I agree. On homosexuality as well. I had not quite the same terms or understanding, but that is useful."

A tiny pause. "Still, the main concern with these is women and their lot in life. It was helpful for me to see, in each, experiences women have that are unlike my own. I had some small sense of it -- or rather, I recognized it as I read -- but the details had escaped me until then. The ways that our culture or laws, or expectations, or marriage may create a prison for women. In my time, it is rare for a woman to choose her own husband. The Queen does, I am sure, love the King, but theirs was not a love match and the Queen did not choose him. In my world, women are oft treated as possessions and exchanged between men -- I understand, a little better, what that may feel like. I understand some, I think, of why Guinever was so often angry. That was hard for me, because so often it felt she was simply angry at me for what I had or had not done, and because I love her it was my desire to do whatever might bring her happiness. For this understanding, I thank you. I can see, now, that I have had many advantages as a man that were not available to the women I knew, and I can see a little of how those limitations, the lack of ability to direct one's own life, may have led those women to certain actions."

At last he pauses, picks up his glass again, and says, "Does that appease you? Have we found common enough ground?"

[summerdude]

The entire time Lancelot has been talking, Magnus has been leaning back in his seat, arms crossed, brow furrowed. There's a moment where he kind of wishes he had a pen and paper, so he could take notes, but -- his mental notes are good enough. There's another moment where he wishes Qi Yan was there. She's so good at asking thinky questions, especially ones that are sneakily feminist.

"No," he says, grudgingly, after waiting a minute to make sure Lancelot didn't have anything else to say. His objective here was really about the trauma workbooks, and Lancelot just dismissed those out of hand! "But thank you for answering my question." He fidgets for a moment, playing with a hairband that he has around his wrist, thinking, trying to set aside his knee-jerk distaste for Lancelot so he can really parse what he's saying long enough to respond in detail. After all, he's not going to let Lancelot be the bigger man here!

Finally, he sighs. "Galahad told me a little bit about what Camelot was like," he says. "The, like, violence and stuff."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot manages not to frown. If that did not appease Magnus then he has no idea what might. He takes another sip of his drink -- it's nearly gone and he's beginning to wish he had more.

He responds, "Did he? And what did you make of it?"

[summerdude]

Magnus sighs. "Do you know about the Vikings?" If Lancelot had bothered to read Odin's book, he sure would, but apparently it wasn't relevant to him.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, of course."

[summerdude]

"What do you know about the Vikings?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot gives him a flat look, "Ere I came here, I lived in Britain. I know enough of Vikings."

[summerdude]

"Yeah, yeah, the marauding and plundering and settling and stuff," Magnus says, and smiles brightly for a fleeting moment. "One of my best friends fought and died under Ivar the Boneless in the 800s! I think that was before your time though." His smile fades. "So you know about the, like, Ragnarok thing, and the dying gloriously in battle thing, and the whole, like, concept of the dishonorable dead thing?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, I do."

[summerdude]

Magnus blinks at him, surprised and begrudgingly impressed. "Wait, you do?" he asks. "Almost nobody ever does."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I do. Most of those raids ended many years ago, but their tales and ideas carry on, even in spite of the Church."

[summerdude]

"Huh. Is that why Camelot is the way that it is?"