25 February, 1890 — Emrys' Manor in Bristol

It was early afternoon, the time when anyone with a real career would have been hard at work, and Emrys was pouring a second glass of wine from the decanter by the door. The lounge, as he called this room (a term more appropriate than study or library as it was seldom used for anything other than lounging) had two rather massive pieces of artwork propped against one wall, with the couches in the room facing their general direction. Both were the same dimensions, taller than a man and even wider than that, and neither had been framed yet. One depicted a pastoral scene from some myth (Greek, perhaps? he hadn't bothered to look into it) while one was a depiction of what appeared to be a wrestling contest, overseen by a large and very engaged crowd. Both featured a frankly gratuitous amount of nudity. Fortunately, those he'd invited to observe his latest acquisitions (with the promise of wine and hors d'ouevres in exchange for their artistic opinions) were not the sort to mind.

Both of the paintings were, to any normal audience, a bit shocking, not least because of their size. That was very much the point, though; this room, on the second floor and away from the main ballroom, was not for his typical party guests. It was occasionally used for after-party events, with a much smaller and more exclusive crowd. The sorts of people who would be visiting this room were, in short, the sort who shouldn't mind some artistic nudity; presenting them with it in full force as soon as they entered seemed to be a good way to weed out those who were not quite ready to participate before things really got interesting.

"Right," he said, returning to his position on the sofa nearest the windows, which were open to let in both the fresh air and sunlight on what had turned out to be an unseasonably lovely day. "Now that you've had a chance to take them in, which do you think better compliments the curtains?"

OOC: Open to any/all of the degenerates

The following 1 user Likes Emrys Selwyn's post:1 user Likes Emrys Selwyn's post
   Elias Grimstone

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Lou made this! <3

Since the only similarity between Christobal's paintings and the ones Emrys was making them comment on was the nudity, he didn't mind the fact that they weren't some other painter's work. He was usually very competitive about those things, unless it was bad art. He did appreciate good art, but he also felt threatened by it, especially when other people commented on how good it was. For him, someone else having created something good felt as though his position as a creative genius was threatened.

Emrys could have gone for one of his paintings, that being said. He had a painting of a bathing nymph that would look way better with those curtains. Maybe he could convince Emrys to purchase that at some point.

"This one is more intense," Christobal commented regarding the wrestling scene. "It's got more energy, more passion. I don't know about the curtains, but it certainly fits the room better. The other-" he gestured at the pastoral scene. "Put this with your horses, or something. Or whichever room you rest from a hangover. Fields, sheep and the like - looking at them for too long could make you go to sleep."

To be honest, he was annoyed at how well the naked shepherd's body was painted. Christobal was good at painting the female body, but not so much with the masculine. Maybe because he felt comfortable painting male models. He had tried to, once and that young made had made him feel so uncomfortable...

He preferred women.

  

She always liked being at Emrys’ manor. To think she might have set her sights higher in her youth, and married up. Would she have been so dissatisfied in a manor of this size, where even the curtains counted as luxurious? She might have made an excellent hostess.

Not to say she was dissatisfied with her lot now; nor her company, the lot of whom were lounging about as if any one of them could own the place. Having worked up quite the impossible appetite (for a day of doing absolutely nothing), Ester had hardly removed her hand from the platter of canapés, and had to lick her fingers before she contributed to the conversation. The artist’s eye might be the most valuable among them, but no matter. Genius he was, but he could not be an expert in everything.

“Oh, I don’t know, Christobal,” she demurred, with a catlike grin, “that shepherd is making me feel anything but asleep.”

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"Oh, you noticed," Emrys said with the same sort of serendipitous and pleased tone he might have used had Esther just complimented him on a subtle but flattering haircut. "The shepherd might be my favorite bit of this one," he said, surveyed it as he lazily reached to pick up a grape and pop it into his mouth. Putting aside the artistic ability on display, which was certainly something, the shepherd was also a touch nearer the foreground of the painting than any of the other figures in the pastoral scene, which put him — and his bits — in sharp focus compared to the feminine creatures (nymphs? dryads? who knew) behind him.

"I don't have any horses," he remarked, surveying the painting as a whole again. Horses were primarily used for two purposes: pulling carriages, and hunting, neither of which Emrys had much use for. He would go on a hunt, if pressed, but he wasn't setting about organizing that sort of thing, and it was easy to rent a horse or even a whole brace of them when the occasion required it. No need to waste space on his property keeping livestock, or pay servants to do that sort of thing — not when his money could be better spent elsewhere, such as on purchases like this. "But if you think they share my tastes in art, perhaps I should look into befriending some," he joked lightly at Christobal.

Turning his attention back to the wrestling scene, he continued, "I think you're right about the intensity, here, but I worry that there are hardly any women involved. Perhaps a bit too shocking for any decent* men who make it up this way, do you think? They can be so fragile," he remarked with a chuckle.

* using this as a euphemism for straight men because for the life of me I can't find any VE-appropriate terminology. And Oscar Wilde was charged with 'Gross Indecency' so it seems plausible xD

  

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Lou made this! <3

Vivienne had just been making her way back to the room after a brief toilet break. Just in time to hear mention of "decent" men. She couldn't help but to scoff at that as she sauntered her way over to where Esther sat and sat next to her, snatching a canapé for herself.

"You talk as though you'd even have a decent man come up this way," she said with a shrug, her own gaze focusing on the two paintings once again, "You save the best for the best." A bit of an arrogant presumption but, well, the group had formed quite the history after all.

"Though I must agree the shepherd draws far more attention than a pile of wrestling bodies," she added with a shrug. She'd had her fair share of "wrestling" and quite frankly, preferred to stick to the less is more mantra.

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The following 1 user Likes Vivienne's post:1 user Likes Vivienne's post
   Emrys Selwyn

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Magnificent MJ Set

It was as if they had agreed, prior to this meeting, to gang up on him. Why was Emrys even asking for his opinion if he was going to swoon over that naked shepherd?

Truth be told, Christobal preferred the painting with the shepherd and that was the reason why he was so against it. He couldn't admit to liking a painting, unless it was one of those famous ones that everyone liked. Even with those, though, he felt as though he was in direct competition.

"Yes, but they are wrestling," Christobal argued lightly. He wouldn't let that shepherd painting win. "That is far more masculine than this dandy with his William out. And-" He pointed at the shepherd's head with the end of his pipe. "His head is bigger than it ought to be, compared to the rest of the body."

That was true. Christobal wouldn't usually care about such small things, but he didn't want Emrys to go for that painting. He didn't want to be on the losing side of the argument.

  

Vivienne's point wasn't invalid, since this room wasn't one in which he planned to entertain any of his normal guests, but he didn't want to go straight for anything too shocking. Hence the choice of subject matter in the paintings; he could argue that this was artistic nudity, if need be, not pornographic nudity, and no one would really be able to refute him. If there was no danger of it ever being seen except by those who would appreciate it, he could have just bought a painting of an orgy to set the appropriate mood, but alas, that was not the case.

"Sometimes they slip through," he protested with a frown. "It's hard to tell, sometimes, which are really decent and which are just pretending." It wasn't as though there was any universally agreed upon signal that someone was interested in partaking in reckless anonymous sex, after all — and if there had been, Merlin knew Emrys wouldn't be one to use it. One had to have some sense of decorum and decency, after all, even about things that were utterly indecent.

He returned his attention to the paintings as Christobal made his comments, surveying them pensively. He honestly hadn't noticed anything amiss with the shepherd, but trusted his friend's artistic eye on proportion more than his own. Even so, he was having a hard time seeing it. "Which head?" he asked quite earnestly.

  

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Lou made this! <3

She shuffled up on her chaise to accommodate Vivi, though she tucked her feet up on it with her, feeling far too at home to resist. Of course, she felt at home with this bunch, no matter where they were based for the day. She fancied she knew them all rather well by now.

And she fancied Christobal wasn’t taking kindly to everyone disagreeing with him. In all honesty, she found it rather amusing, how easy he was to upset - but on the other hand, he was a great deal more entertaining to spend time with when he was in a good mood. “Well, Christobal’s the expert,” Ester put in smoothly for those purposes alone, letting he and Emrys take on the nitty-gritty of the painting’s composition. (She could see little wrong with the shepherd’s proportions.)

Instead, she smirked at Vivienne, and interjected, “Oh, but I think the two of us could distinguish the decent men from the others without much trouble, couldn’t we, Vivi?” Set Vivienne loose on any number of men and that would serve to separate those who were only pretending to be the upright sort. Men were just not terribly good at pretending.

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The following 1 user Likes Ester Montgomery's post:1 user Likes Ester Montgomery's post
   Emrys Selwyn

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It wasn't lost on Vivienne that Christobal was getting more and more upset with the disagreements on which picture was the better one. But before a response could even be made, Emrys had drawn attention to the heads of the shepherd and she couldn't help the snort of laughter that left her. She didn't think either head was disproportionate to his body, and she'd seen her fair share of naked men.

Her attentions were drawn back to Essie with her words. A faint smirk graced her features as she gave a slight nod. "Quite true," she answered with a nod. "Though, if we were to do the judging, I'm sure we'd find most gentlemen to be less than decent," she added, now thoroughly inspecting the food in her hand, "What men could truly ignore our charm?"

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Magnificent MJ Set

Christobal appreciated Esther defending him. He was starting to feel very irrelevant and foolish with everyone else ganging up on him with their opinions. It falsely seemed to him that they were disagreeing for the sake of doing so. The technical problems of the paintings were there and they were all making penis jokes!

"The head's not right," he murmured and slumped back in his armchair. He took the glass of wine he had been drinking from and took a rich swig from it. His friends knew him long enough to probably not take offense in his behavior. He'd always sit away from them and drink whenever he felt attacked.

He didn't care to participate in the conversation about the indecent men because Vivienne and Esther had taken the spotlight, talking about their expertise and Christobal felt like he couldn't make a contribution. Besides, they barely cared to listen to his artistic opinions. Unlike them, he wouldn't try to tell the prostitutes that he knew better about their job!

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   Ester Montgomery

Well, it seemed Christobal was put out, now, which was no fun. Emrys was hardly interested in continuing to entertain them all if the girls were just going to talk amongst themselves and the artist was going to sulk. "I see it now. You're right," he said, but only to appease his friend. He still didn't know what Christobal was talking about, but was willing to let the matter go in order to bolster the man's spirits and get him to be a suitable guest again. "I'll send it back and keep the wrestlers."

  

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Lou made this! <3