closed post: in the eye of the beholder

[tallyyoungblood]

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.

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. I liked her and she was interesting, but I thought she would stay, and I thought he would want her instead of me."

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally nods, her mouth twisting into a frown. "I get that. Love is hard like that. I'm not convinced Harrow isn't going to show up and make Gideon do something stupid again."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad had not liked what Gideon had said about Harrow, and he says, a little clipped, "I hope she doesn't."

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally exhales hard, a little knot of tension releasing in her shoulders. "So you've heard about her? Doesn't she sound so bogus? She basically kept Gideon as a slave, and Gideon acts like she owed her her life." Tally shakes her head. "She doesn't deserve how brave Gideon was for her."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She wasn't kind to her." He didn't know about the things Tally is saying, though. "What did Gideon do for her?"

[tallyyoungblood]

"Oh. She died for her." Tally picks up an extra makeup brush and fans the bristles out. "They were being attacked and Gideon dying was the only way Harrow could live. That's how she got here. We don't really know if Harrow is alive, actually. Gideon was supposed to, like, become part of her? I don't know, it's all that bogus death magic stuff. You know, with the skull paint." Tally still can't think about this without thinking about how selfish she'd be in the same situation, how Gideon's loyalty extends beyond her own safety in a way Tally's never seems to, when it comes down to it.

[onthewillowsthere]

He thinks of the way Gideon had said The nunnery I'm from? It's also a prison planet. I still want to go home and, when he'd asked whether she intended to martyr herself, Putting it like that makes it sound more planned and holy than how desperate and stupid it actually was, but yeah.

"I'm glad she's here," he says quietly. "She should be allowed to choose for herself. And to not be alone."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Yeah," Tally says, around a lump in her throat. "And eat pizza and ice cream and stuff. And, you know, I'm not leaving her."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She likes you." He begins, carefully, applying the makeup to Tally's face, a pale base for the orange waves to flow over. "I'm glad you're with her. To be her girlfriend."

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally tries hard not to let her face change with all the emotion she's feeling. "Thanks, Galahad-wa. I'm glad Claudius has you too. To be his husband."

[onthewillowsthere]

It's a sentiment Galahad agrees with -- he worries about Claudius, even with all of Claudius' friends and lovers, even with Lan Wangji as his brother. Claudius has spent a long time believing that he's not worth being cared for, pretending not to feel the things he feels, using his alchemy to hurt himself. Galahad doesn't mind that Claudius has other lovers, but he's fiercely glad that Claudius doesn't have to share him with anyone, that he's always waiting for Claudius when he comes home. He's good at waiting.

"Thank you."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Claudius's bachelor party was also fun," Tally says. "What was your party like?"

[onthewillowsthere]

After Claudius' party, he'd come home so, so drunk, and so happy -- Galahad was already in bed, but he awoke at once at the way Claudius came through the door, singing snatches of verse from Navarre, and collapsed into the chair at the vanity. Galahad rose to attend to him. He knows Claudius' routine by heart, but he didn't go through all of it; just enough to clean all the makeup from Claudius' skin and apply his nightly moisturizer. "I told Crowley I love him," Claudius said, happy and proud, as Galahad helped him undress, and Galahad was happy and proud too.

"Shen Yuan built a Lego garden with me," he tells Tally.

[tallyyoungblood]

"Really? Like as a ghost?" Tally'd had no idea Shen Yuan could do stuff like that. "Also, what's a Lego? A type of plant?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"His spirit. Lego are a building material for constructing facsimiles of things. Like flowers, or places."

[tallyyoungblood]

"Oh, so like a littlie toy," says Tally, getting it. "Okay. And he could like, pick them up? With his spirit?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"He put his spirit into a Lego man. I have it on my desk," glancing away from her face to his bedside table, where, in fact, Shen Yuan's minifig remains.

[tallyyoungblood]

Tally looks, too. "Oh, it's Rusty plastic." She's totally seen pictures of these things in the big, horrible Rusty landfills they used to have, and it gives her anxiety for a moment. Does Galahad know how long it would take that to biodegrade? But no, that's not what matters here. How is she thinking about landfills when she's learning about real-life ghosts? "It's kind of cute," she says, because it is.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It is," gravely. "Shen Yuan is cute." He's quiet for a moment or two, and then says, "I miss him. I know he was at our wedding, but it didn't feel the same."

[tallyyoungblood]

"I miss him too. I didn't get to hang out with him that much, but he's really nice." If a little possessive of his boyfriend, but Tally can't act like she doesn't get the same way sometimes. "I'd like to get to know him better when he comes back. Maybe we can all three hang out."

[onthewillowsthere]

"He helped me speak with Claudius when I didn't know how to, and gave me an herb as well." He's back to applying cosmetic. "We wrote love letters together and he taught me to play Smash and Jenga. He knows a lot of things. He's kind."

[tallyyoungblood]

"What do you mean, an herb?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Cannabis sativa. It's an herb that makes speaking easier. It makes things feel light."

[tallyyoungblood]

"You mean, like, weed?" Tally starts laughing and has to draw back from Galahad's hands to not ruin his work. "That's--wow."

[onthewillowsthere]

"What?" Magnus had reacted that way, too, when Galahad first told him.