Open: it's time now to sing out though the story never ends

[vineleaves]

[This is being posted early, but it is meant to be occurring on the one year anniversary of Dionysus arriving at the mansion.]

There's a room in the mansion Dionysus discovered somewhat recently that is, for lack of anything better to call it, a dance studio. Shiny hardwood floors, one long wall of mirror, the opposite wall featuring a mounted barre. If anyone happens to be walking by it today, the open door might catch their attention, as Dionysus has his cd player set up playing music, which he is dancing to at the moment. He's wearing a pair of gauzy, loose pants that sit low on his hips, complete with a gold belt with dangling chains that serve to help emphasize his movements. His hair is pulled up into a messy bun, finally long enough that he can get all of it up with only a minimum of strands sticking out oddly.

He has been here for a whole year. To be fair, he's only slightly certain he's got the date correct, but even if it hasn't been a full year to the exact minute or whatever, it's close enough. A whole year. A year trapped, held prisoner for some unknown reason, unable to break out, kept away from all of his friends and family. A year in which he has been given the wonderful opportunity to meet people he couldn't possibly imagine living without now, in a place where anything, even stopping death, is possible.

Dionysus is fairly zoned out as he dances, so if anyone decides to duck in and say hello, it might take him a while before he notices.

Comments

[vineleaves]

"Until he -- oh, wait, no, that Dionysus likely doesn't have my language powers, huh."

[futaille]

"Probably not, thinking on it."

[vineleaves]

"That's fine, if this wandering Frenchman is half as cute as you, I'm sure Dionysus'll just have to learn the language the old fashioned way. Awww, that would be cute! Struggling through learning each other's languages together."

[futaille]

"And there we are. They are undoubtedly happy to do it."

[vineleaves]

"Oooh, you know what would be fun? A triple date. Me and you, the you from 2024 and the version of me he called when he got back home with my phone number, and the mortal version of me with the version of you who somehow got teleported back in time."

[futaille]

He laughs. "Oh, is it me who traveled back in time?"

[vineleaves]

"Obviously."

[futaille]

"You had just said 19th-century Frenchmen. I didn't want to assume."

[vineleaves]

"Well who else could it be? It's obviously you."

[futaille]

"What a remarkable adventure that would be." His voice shades a bit wry. "Thankfully I'm inoculated against smallpox."

[vineleaves]

"You know, we probably should see about getting the rest of the vaccines for all of you. There's a lot of 'em nowadays. No clue how we'd go about doing that though. I'll see if Apollo knows next time I talk to him."

[futaille]

"I don't see why it would be necessary. We haven't really had diseases here."

[vineleaves]

"I dunno. Prevent them from happening in the future?" But now that he thinks about it, has anyone even had a cold? Bad sinuses? Anything like that?

[futaille]

Asmodean would know the answer to that question, having had a cold last Dark, but Grantaire is not Asmodean, so he has no idea, not that Dionysus even verbalized it. He shrugs. "Maybe. How many are there?"

[vineleaves]

"Um. Several? I dunno. There's a bunch they usually give to babies. Some of them you have to re-take later on. And then there's other ones. Scientists and ...doctors, I suppose, are always coming out with new ones. They made one for chickenpox a few years back." He shrugs. It's not like he's ever actually had one though.

[futaille]

"Huh! All of the poxes!"

[vineleaves]

"And more!"

[futaille]

"Joly would be delighted."

[vineleaves]

Dionysus reflexively tightens his hold of Grantaire. "Oh, I'm sure!"

[futaille]

"He'd get every single one of them."

[vineleaves]

"Good for him, honestly. The more people who get 'em the less chance that disease has of spreading around to people who haven't gotten one yet."

[futaille]

"Is there one for cholera?"

[vineleaves]

"I think so? It's hard to keep track, there's so many, especially since I can't exactly get them." Well, he could, there just wouldn't be any point to it, and that seems wasteful.

[futaille]

"True. Many diseases. Pestilence runs amok¹."

¹He says hi.

[vineleaves]

"Far too many, but at least they're coming up with better ways to deal with it all." They finally reach the beach¹ and Dionysus smiles. "You know, it does feel a little warmer here, though maybe I'm just warmer from the walk, who knows."


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