tallyyoungblood | closed post: in the eye of the beholder

Tally's had a lot on her mind since the death and the wedding. Life, love, the fragility of those things--but, of course, she is who she is, so her mind comes back to what it always does: beauty.

As much as she'd judged that strange man for his disheveled robes, everyone else had looked gorgeous, and happier than she'd ever seen a room full of pretties look. Most notably, they'd all looked legitimately different from each other, in just about every way possible. That the effect was beautiful instead of overwhelming is a new experience for Tally.

Tally feels like she knows what Claudius might say about the wedding. He'd heap effusive praise on everyone, and tell her that of course he wanted everyone to be uniquely themselves. She thinks he understands the halo effect better than anyone else she knows here, but also, as a former pre-Rusty king, understands how to deal with a crowd of adult uglies. Galahad, though, has never been someone Tally could guess at the thoughts of. He'd clearly been too happily overwhelmed to really talk at the ceremony itself, so she goes to knock on his door a few days later.

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From:

onthewillowsthere

She's lucky to catch him -- during the day he's often in the laboratory or collecting samples, training with Lan Wangji or spending time with Magnus -- but in this particular moment he's sitting at Claudius' desk, working on thank you notes for all their wedding gifts. He gets up and answers the door right away.

He's wearing a shimmering blue dress with a lace front today, and hair clips shaped like dragonflies in his untameable hair.

"Hello."

From:

tallyyoungblood

"Hi, Galahad! Um... are you totally busy? Pretty dress, by the way."

From:

onthewillowsthere

"I'm busy, but I can stop," he answers truthfully. "Thank you. Would you like to come in?"

From:

tallyyoungblood

"Sure," Tally says, stepping inside. She hadn't actually expected to be let into his room, but she's interested to see what it's like. Again, she can feel both Claudius and Galahad's presences here. "What were you up to?"

From:

onthewillowsthere

The room is tidy. Now that summer is here, they don't usually use the kotatsu, which has been moved off to the side; the desk and vanity take pride of place. Each side of the bed has an obvious occupant, with Claudius' detective novels on his nightstand and Galahad's romances and a sketchbook on his. Claudius has left a bowl of potpourri (cedar, cinnamon, rose and orange peel trimmed into beautiful curls) on the desk. The room is full of flowers, too -- Galahad took back most of the arrangements from the wedding and placed them around everywhere they would fit.

"Writing thank you cards. Lady Post says it's proper."

From:

tallyyoungblood

The room is a lot neater than her and Gideon's, and smells way better. Not that theirs smells bad, necessarily, but the potpurri is a totally smart idea. Tally wanders over to examine a bouquet. She hasn't been so utterly surrounded by flowers since the white weed fields.

"I guess you have to write them by hand, huh. Where's mass pings when you need them? Who's Lady Post?"

From:

onthewillowsthere

"Lady Emily Post is a scholar of etiquette." He actually has the book on the desk too, because it lays out the format for thank-you notes (salutation, specific thanks about the gift, what it will used for/how you will enjoy it, a wish for the future, a complimentary close). "She helps when I don't know how to talk to people or what to do."

From:

tallyyoungblood

"I could totally use something like that," Tally says, interested. "It helps even here, when everyone is from different places with different social rules?"

From:

onthewillowsthere

He nods. "Claudius likes her too," as if that seal of approval is the most significant of all. "She was our guide for the wedding."

From:

tallyyoungblood

"She did a good job, then. The wedding was totally bubbly. That's actually what I wanted to say to you. It was beautiful."

From:

onthewillowsthere

"Thank you. Claudius did the planning."

From:

tallyyoungblood

"How did you decide what you both wanted to wear?"

From:

onthewillowsthere

"I wanted to be beautiful. And I wanted to wear white in defiance of God."

From:

tallyyoungblood

"Whoa," says Tally, startled by his sudden rebelliousness. "What do you mean? God cares what color you wear?"

From:

onthewillowsthere

"White is a color of purity. I wore only white before I broke my vow of chastity. For a wedding, it symbolizes the purity of the bride and that she is a virgin," he explains.

From:

tallyyoungblood

"Well, that's bogus," Tally says, a total understatement. "As if having sex, like, ruins you? Please. I'm glad you went against it." For all that lots about the pretty regime is wrong, Tally's very grateful that no one acts like sex is something shameful any more. The only thing that ever used to stop her was being ashamed of her ugliness, but that shame had vanished even before her operation, in stolen moments with David in the wild. "A vow of chastity," she repeats, scornful. "So dumb."

From:

onthewillowsthere

"In God's eyes, I am ruined." It doesn't hurt to say now. He is loved; he belongs. He rubs the band on his watch, which Lan Wangji returned to him after Aornis was killed. He has a husband and a wife. He has friends. God's displeasure holds no power over him now. "It was dumb," he tells her.

From:

tallyyoungblood

"I hate god," Tally says bitterly. "You know, in my world, no one believes in god any more, and good riddance."

From:

onthewillowsthere

"Why not? Does He not speak to anyone?"

From:

tallyyoungblood

"I don't think he ever did. There's certainly no proof in my world of it. I wouldn't believe in any gods, or magic for that matter, if I hadn't seen proof here. Where I'm from, we only believe in things we actually have evidence for."

From:

onthewillowsthere

"I have evidence," he says, tilting his head slightly. "He gave me His power and made me strong. He spoke to me and told me what He wanted me to do."

From:

tallyyoungblood

"Yeah, I get that he's real in your world. He's not in mine, even though people believed in him a long time ago."

From:

onthewillowsthere

He does know that God and gods are different from world to world, but it's strange to imagine one where He is absent altogether. He wonders whether the lack of belief has anything to do with it. "What do people believe in, in your world?"

From:

tallyyoungblood

"Science," Tally says automatically. It's true, now that she thinks about it. "That's the reason everyone gets the pretty operation. Evolutionarily, people are more likely to get along if everyone is beautiful. We're hardwired to want to protect people who look youthful and healthy, like a good mate."