vineleaves | Open: And they're gonna bend their branches down to lay their fruit upon the ground

Entry tags:

Open: And they're gonna bend their branches down to lay their fruit upon the ground

Dionysus is in a kitchen, apron tied over a purple dress with vine details, singing to himself as he uses a melon baller to scoop out a watermelon. The large bowl next to him is already full of honeydew melon and cantaloupe, and he's got a few other ingredients nearby ready to add in once he's done with the watermelon. Mint leaves, some honey, some lemon juice, and some lime juice.

It has been quite an eventful time lately, but overall his life is pretty great right now.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

Has nobody here ever heard of putting fruit in a bowl and eating it???? “Oh just, y’know, a fruit salad,” he says with a smile. “I’ve got honeydew melon and cantaloupe and then this watermelon, and then I’m gonna throw in the mint, honey, and lemon lime juice.”

"I am unfamiliar with most of those melons," Lan Wangji admits, mildly. He is constantly discovering fruits and vegetables that are new to him, much to Magnus' occasional horror. He thinks with fondness of how aghast Magnus was when he confessed that he had never eaten a strawberry.

"Oh, hold on a sec," he grabs a small plate from a cabinet, then scoops out a ball of each of the melons and hands it to Lan Wangji. "Red's watermelon, green's honeydew, orange is cantaloupe."

Lan Wangji, bemused but committed to politeness, takes the plate. He casts around for a moment, then slides open a drawer to find a pair of chopsticks so that he can eat them without getting juice on his fingers. It might also have been polite to warn Dionysus that he very rarely cares for new food, but it seems too late now. He plucks the ball of watermelon as neatly as it is possible to do such a thing using chopsticks, then pops it into his mouth.

"If you eat the seeds a watermelon will grow in your tummy." Not that it needs to be said but he is saying this in a tone that suggests it's a joke.

Lan Wangji gives Dionysus a dryly skeptical look, swallowing the watermelon tidily. The flavor is inoffensive. "That will come as a surprise to my husband."

Dionysus laughs. "My friend Emi used to tell people that's what happened to her when she was pregnant with our daughter. If strangers decided to ask her invasive questions when they saw she was pregnant, y'know? 'Oh, sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, this is just what happens when you eat watermelon seeds'."

As always, Lan Wangji's face is naturally inexpressive, cool and flat, but the tiny quirk at the corner of his mouth speaks to a minute flare of amusement, if Dionysus happens to catch it. "If the watermelon does not eventually emerge, perhaps that is a worse predicament than a pregnancy."

Dionysus laughs. "Something tells me Emi would prefer to still have given birth to Mako than to have given birth to a whole ass watermelon."

"Mn," Lan Wangji agrees sagely. He eats the honeydew next, and is again pleasantly surprised by the mild flavor. "It is not bad."

"Ah, I'm glad you like it!"

Lan Wangji actually is familiar with canteloupe, but he eats the last sphere of melon regardless. It seems polite. When he is done, he gives Dionysus another respectful little bow and sets the plate, chopsticks included, atop the counter. "Thank you." A pause, perhaps a pause somewhat laden with gravity.

"You're welcome," he says, then... waits. Because maybe he's reading too much into things but it definitely seems like Lan Wangji has something else he wants to talk about???

After another moment, Lan Wangji says, abruptly serious, "Claudius has taken you as his god." He knows this is true, because he knows Claudius would not have lied to him, but he leaves another pause for Dionysus to confirm it regardless.

Dionysus blinks. He's not sure what he was expecting but it wasn't that. "He has, yes. I'm very fortunate that he trusts me so much." He looks off to the side, his voice growing much more serious than it had been at the start of this conversation. "His last god was ...unkind, if you haven't heard."

Naturally, Lan Wangji has heard, but he won't belabor that point. He doesn't know what Claudius has or has not told any given third party. "You will be kinder to him." It is slightly too heavy with expectation to be a question, although he remains wary enough of offending a god to curtail it from becoming an order.

"I want him to be happy," he says in response. "I want him to know that it's okay to be himself, and feel every emotion he feels. And to be there for him if he needs me."

Lan Wangji nods. A modicum of the tension slips from his shoulders, which of course remain straight and level regardless. He wants Dionysus to understand how important this is -- how Claudius has been hurt, how Claudius went so many years with no one to protect him the way he deserved, how Claudius was small and vulnerable and how he asked an unmoved god to teach him how to be good. How that god was silent and how his brother continued to hurt him anyway. How he came to the mansion and was hurt again, so unjustly that Lan Wangji will never release his anger about what happened. And how Lan Wangji would do anything to defend him now, even if anything meant facing down a god. "Good," he says, instead of any of that, a little tightly. He doesn't need to explain how much Claudius means to him. Dionysus was present at the wedding and must have heard him speaking on it.

"I've known... a lot of people, who've been hurt by that god," Dionysus says, filling the space. "He's a god who likes to take credit for creating wonderful, amazing, beautiful things, and then holds them just out of reach for people. 'No, you can't have this, if you do you're going to be punished forever for it'. And then when people try to get help from him he's -- just silent?" Of course, in Dionysus's universe, this is due to him not even being real in the first place, but there's clearly universes where he is. "Claudius -- he's been so hurt, and he was so incredibly just -- just sad... I want to help him. In whatever way I can, because it's truly not fair what he's been made to suffer through. If that means being his god then that's wonderful, that's the best part of being a god, is getting to help people. But if he decides one day that he just -- y'know, just wants to be a regular friend, then that's great as well. Either way, I want to help him, because I know that I can, and because I know he needs it."

Everything Lan Wangji has heard of this god, every last story, aggravates him beyond reason. What god treats his followers so callously? What god asks such impossible tests of them? Gods can be capricious and unkind, but they don't earn their followers through nothing but acts of malice.

"All right," he says, slightly quieter, still so, so serious. "I needed to be certain. Claudius' trust is precious."

Dionysus smiles. "Of course! He's very fortunate to have a good friend like you. And, ah, if you ever need anything from me as well, don't hesitate to ask. I mean, not, y'know, as a god, or whatever, just as a friend."

Lan Wangji gives him a look of faint surprise, fantastically understated on his features. "Are we friends?" It is a sincere question.

"I mean, I'd like to be?"

That also surprises him, truthfully. "I had never had a friend before I met Claudius," he confesses.

"Whaaaat? Really? Why wouldn't everyone want to be your friend?" Like, yeah, he's a little quiet but a lot of people are quiet...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject