[Open Post] ..Tuesday afternoon..

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot feels that things have been a strange mix of tumult and routine. This is probably because they have. But today, so far, is routine in all respects. His day has proceeded apace through his usual steps -- drills, tending to Rivelin, coffee, lunch with Susan -- and the afternoon is now stretching out before him in a very satisfying way. He feels good, settled.

And so it is that he's in the café, reading (or mostly reading), with more coffee at hand. Given that he seems to be splitting time equally between having his eyes on his book and gazing out the window, he will not be bothered if anyone comes to chat.

Comments

[peaklordshen]

It's probably the most spoiled thing Shen Yuan could ever think, but he's getting kind of tired of ping-ponging wildly between eating absolute garbage while plunked in front of Smash all day and being hand-fed lavish, beautiful meals by Binghe. He wants to eat something normal. Something that tastes good, but without blowing his tastebuds out and filling him with culinary awe. The kitchens only ever gives him snack foods or mediocre leftovers these days, so he winds up in the cafe instead, eyeing up pastries.

He selects a sweet one and is about to head back out when he catches sight of a man he doesn't know at one of the tables, handsomely ignoring his book to gaze thoughtfully out at the grounds instead. He's seen him before—dancing with Susan, talking with Galahad and Claudius at Wanderer's Gather. He looks less like Galahad than he'd expected, but still, it's not hard to guess who he is.

He approaches his table. "Hey. Mind if I join you?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot looks over, a little surprised to see someone he is pretty sure he's never met. He straightens in his chair a little, and says (with only a little polite hesitation), "No. Of course. Have a seat."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan does, and offers a hand for him to shake. "Shen Yuan. I'm a friend of Galahad's," and then, so that doesn't sound like a threat, given Galahad's other friends, "and Susan's."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He does have a little pause but then he reaches out to shake Shen Yuan's hand. "I'm Lancelot," is all he offers.

A part of him figures that if Shen Yuan is mentioning Galahad and Susan, then he knows already who Lancelot is. He has to work hard to push down the bristling, ready-to-defend feeling that he gets when he starts to suspect that someone he doesn't know is about to start telling him all they things they think they already know about himself.

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods. "I've heard a lot about you," he says, matter-of-factly, "and after a certain point, hearing a lot about a guy you live in the same house with without ever having actually met the guy starts feeling rude. You know? Even if the house is, like, impossibly huge."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot half-nods, half-shrugs, and says carefully, "I don't believe I've heard much about you, though I admit my circle is small, even for here."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan's a little hurt by this, but not a ton. Galahad had made it sound like while he and Lancelot were on okay terms, they weren't exactly casual chats about his friends level of close, and Susan presumably has better things to do with a handsome man than tell him about a weirdo who accosted her in a bar. If anything it's probably good that a bunch of people aren't talking about what a fool he made of himself about the BL pollen fiasco anymore, and that Lan Wangji isn't going around slandering him as a hypocrite who doesn't deserve his golden core.

"I've been keeping to myself more as it's gotten colder," he says, which is true, and also translates to spending a lot of time in bed with my boyfriend. "Plus, there's not much to tell. I have a lot of interests but very few skills, and even fewer, like, heroic deeds to my name. I'm just kind of—hanging out."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He smiles a little, "That's well. I admit, I often keep to myself regardless of the weather."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods. "If you want to go back to your book, I don't mind," he offers. "No need to force conversation, I just thought it was time I introduced myself." He's not entirely sure how to say and reassure you that at least one of your son's friends doesn't hate you without reminding Lancelot that multiple of his sons friends hate him, so he doesn't. The politeness will hopefully serve that purpose for him.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot shakes his head, "No, you are not disrupting me. I was equally reading and considering. It's fine to talk, I'm glad to meet you."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan gives him a little smile. "Cool. What are you considering?

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh-- I think this book is not particularly helpful, but I have been learning about theater."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan raises his eyebrows. "Theater? Do you have an interest in performing?" Lancelot has the face for it, at least.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Ah, no," laughing a little. "No, but-- Susan was telling me of it, and I'd like to understand more."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan smiles. "Susan has a way of talking one into learning things, doesn't she? I read some psychoanalysis for her." Which, speaking of that conversation, he wonders if she'd ever come clean with this guy about her dalliances with women. Isn't he famously in a love triangle anyway? ...Does that make him more or less likely to be cool with having a bisexual lover??

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot smiles, then, too. "Aye, I did as well. I like to have things to discuss with her, and I like to surprise her by having learned something other than what she's told me."

[peaklordshen]

"That's sweet," says Shen Yuan, because it is. "I could probably explain the deal with some theatre, if you have questions. Not that I'm a connoisseur, but I've like. Been to some shows." Mainly musicals, because he has a teenage sister.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot smiles a little at being told that's sweet. "Tell me how it works? I know that people pretend to be someone else. They are on stage. I think there are... decorations? I've forgotten the word."

[peaklordshen]

Shen Yuan nods. "Sets," he explains. "Fabricated locations, usually a painted backdrop of some kind and then partial buildings, or the insides of rooms." It occurs to him that there's a certain irony in Lancelot asking him about theatre when they both live in a house with two people from one of the most famous plays of all time. Which—how does that work, exactly? Their world was all stage directions! The ways their Denmark looked changed every time a production was put on! Not to mention Claudius and Laertes themselves—do they look like specific actors who have played them? An amalgam of every actor who's played them? No, if that was the case they'd look way crazier, probably, and less handsome. If an Ophelia showed up, would Laertes even recognize her? What if she was from a different production than them?

Maybe every world had a System, actually, filling in from the author's brain all the details that they never actually wrote down, like it did in PIDW. Maybe it's just that no one else knows their world had a System, because to them it was just, like, the world.

He realizes he's totally gotten lost in thought in the middle of a conversation, and blinks back to himself. "Costumes," he says hurriedly. "They wear costumes. The actors. And the things they hold are called props."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It sounds like a great deal of effort."

[peaklordshen]

"Oh, enormous amounts," Shen Yuan agrees. "A big production can take months to prepare for, and involve dozens of people."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot seems impressed. "I suppose we haven't so many, here."

[peaklordshen]

"We have enough to put on a pretty good show, though, especially with so many of us so artistically inclined," says Shen Yan. "Is that Susan's aim, then? I thought the theatrical questions on the survey were Nina's."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I think it may be that they were of a similar mind on this-- Susan was reading... what were they called? Plays." He pauses, "I suggested a competition or demonstration of arms, but now that I know more of this, perhaps I can find a way to help."

[peaklordshen]

"I'm sure you could," says Shen Yuan. "If nothing else, plays are always in need of handsome men to stand around not saying much of anything. Background knights, and such." Probably not too different from Lancelot's role in whatever the first Arthurian saga is. Mordred's Quest or whatever.