there was an exquisite poison in the air

[depicted]

Characters: Dorian Gray and various!
Date: April 4th-6th?
Location: All over Keeliai!
Situation: Catch-all log! Dorian will be doing all the things that I worked out for last CR meme.
Warnings/Rating: Default PG13.
Additional: Am I missing something? PM/Ping me. I do not have everyone added on plurk so I think I may have missed a few! Also, pick your format. I'm happy with either.

Comments

AISHA

[depicted]

[Dorian still likes walking through the streets of Keeliai. Tensions may be rising, but Dorian isn't frightened. What harm can really come to an immortal? Except of course an inescapable suffering, but let's not talk about that. Dorian was always arrogant, and he continues to be so, ambling along through the streets.

He isn't suspecting anything bad to happen. And if something did happen, he has faith that he would escape it eventually. Nothing can last forever, not even misery. It is something he has been telling himself rather a lot this past week.]

[emasculates]

[He is not a hard man to find.

But then, she was not truly looking. She stepped out of a bakery (it has little fare, but she's used to less) and happened to be only a few steps behind him.

So she lengthens her stride for the express purpose of catching up.]

You walk like a king, you know. They are just as foolish.

[It's less a jab and more an observation. Plus, she likes Dorian. Enough that she offers him a chunk of bread from the bag.]

[depicted]

[Even though he doesn't need to eat, he accepts it. If Aisha offers something, then he isn't going to say 'no.' Sometimes, talking to her, he wonders if she wouldn't just cut off one of his limbs for sustenance if it comes to that.]

[So of course why he smiles back at her and engages her in conversation. He is an idiot.]

I like to think of myself as more of a prince. All the sovereignty, none of the real responsibility. Thanks, by the way.

STEVE

[depicted]

[Attentive to Toby as he has needed to be, Dorian has not been quite as social. He fits walks and visits and works into twilight hours, moments between Toby's rests and Dorian's own. That's what friends do, after all. They're there for each other. And Toby still is Dorian's best friend.

But that kind of single-mindedness, as natural as it is for Dorian, isn't sustainable in an environment like this. And one relationship that Dorian wants to maintain is with Steve Rogers. That man is irresistibly good, an incredible counterweight against everything else Dorian has known. He is strange, magnetic.

More than a little adorable.

And Dorian Gray knocks at his door. He was promised art. That is a promise Dorian always ensures is kept.]

[usavatar]

[Steve assumes it's Peggy returning, probably with her arms full, or she would have opened the door herself. He's busy poring over a copy of the notes Bruce Wayne supplied to the foreigners to see if there's anything he didn't already know. He starts speaking as soon as he opens the door, eyes still on the paperwork.]

Seems like nothing new, as far as information is concerned. I wish someone would explain why we need passports this time around - if they're for the kedan here or wherever we're stopping.

[Then he looks up. And blinks.] Oh - hi. [A pause for awkward silence.] Is everything all right?

[depicted]

[Dorian lifts his eyebrows.] It sounds like I should be asking you that. Preparing for landfall?

BRUCE

[depicted]

[Batman Refuses to Get Drunk and Dorian Tries Very Hard to: An Adventure Story.

When drowning one's miseries, it is preferable, even ideal, to pick someone who has the same miseries as you to drown out.

He sighs and looks at the collection of bottles before him on the table.]

I'm going to end up stuck sober soon.

[cowled]

[That's a lot of bottles.]

A lamentable position in which to find one's self. At least presently.

[depicted]

Yeah, well, Toby helps. [There are two ways to interpret that which might be immediately obvious—sex or rumrunning. Neither of them is the right interpretation.] It isn't like I'm unfamiliar with losing people, I do it all the time. She was going to die anyway, but—

[More wine.]

I really, really hope we aren't clones.

[It may seem disconnected. It isn't.]

BRYN

[depicted]

[Dorian likes to play the piano. It brings something back that he has so often abandoned. It's . . . nostalgic. Happily so.

And he finds it's particularly fun to play with Bryn, with whom he has been taking turns in trying to learn their more esoteric flute. He grins, glancing back from the keys at her.] It's a shame we don't have anyone for percussion as well.

[trifurcate]

[Bryn much prefers the piano to flute, but she's been trying hard to manage the flute because well, she doesn't like to give up. Besides, Dorian plays so well that it's no hardship to hear him instead.

Lowering the flute from her lips, she blinks once at him in response to his comment. Does he simply believe that neither of them would be skilled enough to handle percussion, or perhaps is he not yet aware of her particular gifts?]

Do you have a drum or anything that could be used if we did?

[depicted]

[He looks at her, a little surprised.] Yeah, not a big one. I picked it up the other day. [He gets away from the piano, stepping over to where he keeps his collected instruments. He brings her back something very like a bangu from back home.] How's this?

GAVROCHE

[depicted]

[In decay, the Wood Sector is depressing. One gets accustomed to the cycle of seasons, even welcomes it. That periodic renewal is less depressing than watching the slow decay into nothingness that dominates everything else. Just as Dorian was beginning to warm up to the sector, too.

His wallet is in his right front coat pocket. It's a faint outline, so it's fairly slim pickings, but he walks like a toff and doesn't seem to be paying much attention, so hey. Easy pickings?]

sorry for the delay asdfgh

[chiot]

[ He wouldn't really bother, but he wants to lift some to buy Grantaire alcohol. He's got more than enough food on his own, so why not give others a hand when they need it?

Yeah, that seems good. So he's watching for fancy people, for people that hold themselves like idiots. All straight and proper, without a care in the world.

Easy pickings.

He's darting out of an alley, laughing, as if he's just been playing with someone else and smacks straight into Dorian, lifting the wallet expertly as he falls smack on his bottom. ]

Hey! Y'gotta watch there you're goin', huh?

oh my god I've no idea how I missed this forever I'm so sorry

[depicted]

[Dorian smiles down at the little urchin.]

Quite right. My apologies.

[Reaching down, he takes hold of Gavroches's arm to help him up. And he does not let go.]

Now if you would give me my wallet back?

TEMERAIRE

[depicted]

[He still has to feed himself, as he promised Steve he would. But the food has been bland and boring and he really doesn't see why he should be stomaching it if it satisfies neither need nor pleasure.

Unfortunately, it's surprisingly difficult to break a promise to Steve Rogers.

With the apathy of the condemned, Dorian walks over to the markets to see at least if he can find something interesting to put on his sustenance. When he sees that unmistakable figure, however, he stops. That's the dragon—Temeraire. Does Not Eat Princesses. It seems a little put out. Curious, Dorian decides to listen a moment before approaching.]

[dracobin]

--told me you would trade the hua jiao for three fish only yesterday!

['A little put out' is, perhaps, generous when it comes to Temeraire's current mood. The dragon is bristling with indignation, his whiskers quivering and his tail lashing back and forth. The kedan he is addressing seems unfazed--evidently this is a common occurrence--and his brief, inaudible response is more than made up for by Temeraire's lungs.]

That is all stuff, and you know it; we had a deal, and you are very lucky the rationing is making things tight for everyone, or I would be certain to teach you a lesson. As it is, I am of a mind to call the whole thing off altogether; then we shall see who needs the other's business more. [He snorts once, deliberately.] And I am not going to say good-day to you, either, because you know perfectly well it is not.

[This sparkling witticism delivered, he stalks away from the spice vendor--and toward Dorian--in high dudgeon, looking for all intents and purposes like an affronted cat, albeit a large and scaly one.]

[depicted]

[Dorian has never been in the path of an irritated dragon before, but the fear is somewhat diminished simply by the strange double-vision of a Very Large Dangerous Creature and, well, a cat. He lifts his eyebrows when he's nearer to Temeraire.]

Trouble with the locals—about spices? I understand the sentiment.

[Bland food.]

CASS

[depicted]

[Dorian Gray is an idiot. Whistling to himself, he just walked down a dark alley. Why? Because it's the shortest path back to his house, and he doesn't feel like fighting through busier streets to get home. So he takes the most reckless path of least resistance.

And he bumps into a kedan. Who seems to be irritated. The kedan immediately starts on verbal aggression, and Dorian is too old and too familiar with this sort of person to try to deflect or defer or apologize. If someone is looking for a fight, they fight one.

A knife fight, though? That's going to be awkward. This is a shirt Favrielle made for him. If it gets ruined, Dorian is not going to be happy. Dorian readies himself to fight back.]

[wholenewstory]

[Cass is somber tonight. She's been somber every night, since her audience with the emperor. She hasn't talked on the network; she's barely talked in person, simply doing her jobs and working her patrols.

She's not patrolling right now, though; she's not Blackbat. (She doesn't know if she can ever be Blackbat again.) She's just walking, trying to find a sense of herself; the core she'd lost grip of the moment she saw Shiva's neck snap.

Of course, she's not so absorbed that she doesn't hear the shouting. Threats. Her mouth hardens and her steps quicken, and she's soon at the mouth of the alley.

Dorian. Dammit. She looks from him to the kedan, barely glancing at the knife in his hand.]

Stop.

[depicted]

[Dorian may be a selfish, self-centred bastard. But it is a worse human being than even Dorian Gray who will let a teenage girl step into danger when he has a perfectly immortal body to deal with it.] Cass—don't. I can handle it.

[Yeah, no. The kedan is going to attack Cass now.]

COMBEFERRE

[depicted]

[The translation project continues, and so it is that Dorian is at one of the local bookstores. They, too, have been having difficulties in recent times, but Dorian is surprisingly good at managing his resources in times like these. Thanks, WWII.]

[So he is browsing through the bookshelves, looking for something that might assist him in his translation projects.]

[philosophe]

[Combeferre is not here to purchase anything, not today -- he is simply looking. Currently, he is attempting to avoid the pointed glares of some of the kedan by ensconcing himself in a corner.

All he has been able to find is poetry, today -- which, while intriguing, is certainly not the books on natural species he was hoping for. So a distraction is welcomed -- and surprise, here is one. He had been meaning to have a word with Dorian since word had spread throughout their little group of amis, in any case.]

Dorian, hallo.

JEHAN

[depicted]

[Dorian swoops down on Jehan.]

Hop on the carpet quick before anyone sees us.

[To help Jehan along, Dorian's already grabbing his hand and yanking him up.]

Carpet, go!

[And taking to the air.]

[poeticverses]

[This was rather unexpected. It happened so fast that Jehan ends up falling flat on the carpet before it even takes off. He didn't even see who grabbed him. So much for his walk.]

What in God's name is--Dorian?!

[He doesn't sit up, because he's on a flying carpet, so he just stares from his spot on his back]

What on earth is going on?