The Options of Dorian Gray!

[depicted]

[Let's get this started, kids]

[Dorian can be found about town in the usual places: pubs, opium dens, and brothels in Limehouse and Bluegate Fields; aristocratic parties and clubs in Mayfair and St James's; theatres and opera houses in the West End.]

[You can greet him, or you can catch his attention (accidentally or not). He is running out of obsessions in London. Something different is always interesting to him.]

[Will you A) hang out at the parties of the rich and the fabulous, B) hang out in all the most sordid parts of London, or C) go enjoy some art at theatres, music halls, opera houses, or art galleries?]

[OR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Go for it, kids.]

Comments

I'm not sorry, Farrah

[leviathaned]

[all hail the hooker king

If we're talking about the sordid parts of London, even a man who no longer needs to depend on the hedonism of others to eat at night goes back to familiar things. He's certainly eye-catching, dolled up in faux-indian harem-wear and a sitar in hand. Not to mention the fact he's a god-damned giant.

He also really clearly knows all of the hookers normally part of this brothel, but he doesn't recognize Dorian offhand, thus--]

Hmm, hmm, what have we here?

[depicted]

[And Dorian, with his face full of innocence, smiles back.] Hello, hello. [Not, we will note, a voice full of innocence.] What exotic blooms London grows these days. [trivia: this phrasing is me stealing from Oscar Wilde] And in such curious places. I don't believe we've met before.

[leviathaned]

That itself is rather surprising, sirrah. [Sei's voice is a low purr, full of mischief and the promise of more.]

All kinds of exotic gems and jewels hide in chaos and gloom. What's gloomier than London? [He pushes the veil back a little to...really clearly asian features with blue eyes and blue hair Sei what the hell are your genetics?]

I'm called by Leviathan down in these depths. And yourself?

[depicted]

[They are sexy genetics that is what they are.] I go by Robert. [Which is a reference to this dude because the other references I wanted to make were anachronistic.] And is nothing on Earth your equal?

[leviathaned]

[Just wait until he shows you his acrobatics.] Who could be? For in all the world, there is but one of me...with no one else alike, there's no fair comparison to be had anywhere.

I'm more curious what brings you to our pleasant, dark depths in your gentleman's garb. Although I've been known to make up reasons for folk when I'm the mind.

[depicted]

[That is arrogance, or some more blackened cousin of it. Dorian raises his eyebrows, but he doesn't mind.] I don't think it is much of a mystery, is it? The hungers sated in places like these are as common as the locations are themselves.

[leviathaned]

[Sei is not a humble man by any sense of the world, but he leans on forward, right on into Dorian's bubble.]

Oh, I know why you're here, I want to know what you want.

[He makes the world sound filthy in all the best ways; it's a trick of the tongue, really.]

[depicted]

[With a hand that seems unstained, Dorian touches Sei's jaw.] I want to experience something new. [And his own voice, so sweet, so pure, sings for sin.] Can you give me that?

[leviathaned]

[For a moment, Sei stills. In that moment, if he looks, 'Robert' could see a deep, fathomless blue, an ocean of stars and utterly inhuman.

And then it's gone. These little leakages of identity are in no way going to cause trouble. Probably.]

Something new, hmm? I should hope you don't have plans for the rest of the evening, sir, such pursuits require extensive experimentation.

[Of course, the simple answer is Sei's damn certain you haven't slept with the antichrist before but where's the fun in that.]

[depicted]

[It is terrifying and very attractive. Dorian wouldn't turn down Sei in a million years now.]

Oh, no one I can't throw over. I'm yours for the night.

[the list of people Dorian can't throw over for exciting experiments with the antichrist: no one.]

[leviathaned]

[You say that now, check back in a few millenia when you're both bored as hell.]

Of course you are. [It's about at this point Sei catches Dorian by the chin so he might kiss him with an absolutely magical amount of tongue. Or maybe that's the fact there's so much magic in Sei's fingertips it's a little like getting static off a block of ice, except sexier.]

[depicted]

[I keep trying to tag this back but it's like. "AND THEN DORIAN SWOONED AND THEY HAVE EXCELLENT SEX" so.]

have this one too

[hariolor]

[And on the opposite end of the spectrum, (literally, color-scheme wise), a tall...??? with red hair is enjoying culture. Or trying to set it all on fire with his mind, one of the two.]

...Ah, it really doesn't change.

[depicted]

[Dorian pauses, glancing at the ....???? whoever.] Is the art not to your liking?

[hariolor]

It isn't the art but the sentiment in it. You think humanity would learn. [He gestures at the painting, the annunciation.] No angel was ever a delicate, beautiful maiden; innocence can't be claimed by beings without will.

Will was a gift given to humans alone, after all.

[depicted]

[A theologian at a gallery for aesthetes? Well, that could be interesting.] And yet, as the clergy is ever so fond of reminding us, it was a will to rebellion that inspired the first sinner to his first sin. Or does the Morning Star not count?

[hariolor]

...My position obligates me to point out that when he fell, Lucifer ceased to be truly an angel. [He smirks, laughing at a joke only he knows the punchline to. Get used to that look.]

[depicted]

[He is pretty sure he has seen it on other faces.] And to fall, did he not first require free will, the free thought that would precipitate the free act? Or do I misunderstand the operation of the Grace of God in Man and Angel?

[hariolor]

He was an abberation in the system. An Unforseen error. [There's a distant echo to his voice, faraway and old. Nostalgic. Remembering.]

Or He was meant to, for what is a King without an Adversary? Games played alone are most boring. I haven't asked either party myself, of course, I suspect they would cite quite different reasons. Perhaps you should ask him?

[depicted]

I would, but I don't know if I'd get an answer. From either of them.

[He's not on speaking terms with God and the Devil is kind of . . . kind of buttfurious with him for not killing himself, basically. LOOK HE IS NOT GOING TO STAB HIS PAINTING HE IS NOT THAT MUCH OF AN IDIOT wait to pick up his soul, Satan, he's not done living yet.]

[hariolor]

They're not terribly appreciative of the arts, it's true.

[That is totally an innocent statement and in no way at all like Raziel knows them personally. Totally.]

[depicted]

That is a heartbreaking thought, with half the body of Western art being devoted to one and several fine masterworks, including a poem by Milton, serving in tribute to the other.

[hariolor]

Such is the great irony of humanity, I suppose; devotion and admiration of beings that couldn't care less for it.

It plays out among actions to other humans too, doesn't it? To be able to love freely seems like quite a painful gift.

[bedazzlement]

[BUT WHAT WOULD DORIAN DO WITH A DRUNKEN SAILOR. ... Who is not drunk or a sailor any longer, but does smell distinctly of the ocean. Based on the their looks they are either a eunuch or a woman in drag -- but anyway. Not important. Since when has Dorian Gray cared about penises and vaginas?

So instead, she is just bumping on into him in the general area of a theatre, fresh off a borrowed boat and in no condition to be seeing any plays ever.

She's pretty unhappy about it herself.]

Oh, no! ... Ha, look what I've gone and done now. Are you all right?

[depicted]

[if you guessed 'sleep with one' then you are probably correct]

[but whoops, Dorian gathers himself back up] No, no, I'm fine. It's no trouble. Are you?

[bedazzlement]

Oh! Ha ha, worried about me? I will have you know, good sir -- I look this way but my strength and sturdiness are only the most enviable! Amongst men and women, yes. To unsettle me would take much more! I am well if you are well.

[depicted]

[what a weirdo.]

[He smiles anyway] Then I am well, and you don't need to trouble yourself.

[bedazzlement]

[Yeah she is definitely that. When she speaks, it's with wide, sweeping gestures, like an actor on a stage.

Which looks very silly when her voice is just a normal conversational volume.]

Then trouble myself I shan't.

A lover of the arts, are you, Sir?

[depicted]

I would consent to that label, yes. I admire Beauty where I find it. [CAPITAL B-BEAUTY AESTHETICISMMMM]