milliways_bar | (no subject)

"And Happy Pride to you too."

Dick, who has far as he knows likes girls exclusively but who also supports everyone, in in the rafters (obviously). He leans over though, hanging by his knees long enough to knock his Zesti cola can against the raised red solo cup in a toast.

"Hey hey!" Klaus stretches up to complete the toast. "My man, how they hangin?" Up-side at the moment, of course, but Klaus doesn't judge.

Dick grins at him, and drinks from his can even while upside down.

"I'm okay."

He's a bit more relaxed than before. Probably because Bar hasn't caught him unawares for the first time in months, and he's not in the middle of a mission.

He drops down, letting go with his legs and casually twisting to land easily on a table, the right way up at least.

"Getting the hang of the place again. How've you been?"

He's also met Ben since their last meeting, so he's got a better understanding of who Klaus is.

Klaus claps politely for the performance - he was never at all good at the flippy bits, and probably has the misshapen skull to prove it (yet another reason to never rock the bald look if he can help it).

"Oh, absolutely fabulous as usual." Klaus flashes a devil-may-care smile, throwing in a little shimmy in his gorgeous dress as a bonus. "Even if I'm forced to go stag to Pride this year, terrible, atrocious, can you even believe?"

Klaus knows it won't last long, but.. honestly Mike, he expected better, what the hell.

Dick gives a suitably impressed smile for the dress, and shrugs easily.

"I'm sure that won't last long."

But he doesn't really want to get pulled into a conversation about these things with a definitely-drunk-and-possibly-high adult right now, please.

"The dress looks great though."

Dick probably doesn't look like he appreciates flashy - his current wardrobe is neutrals and easy to move in, but he's still a circus boy and he likes a show.

"Awww, danke." Klaus grins, "I feel it adds a certain something."

"If nothing else it's distracting," Dick says. "You could get away with a lot in a dress like that."

"Oh, you know it." Klaus grins, with a wink. "Who can watch these hands when there's all these beads?"

Well, that and the other things he gets away with, but he tends to get away with that sort of stuff all the time, no matter what he's wearing.

Or, you know, not wearing. Whatever.

Also: thirteen year old. Who somehow in between meeting Klaus for the first time and then hearing his story from Ben, feels a weird kinship that he can't quite explain.

"First rule of any show," Dick agrees. "Costumes make the performance."

Bruce gets that, even if he sometimes pretends he doesn't.

"And baby, I run the show." Klaus agrees cheerfully, stretching up for a full-body shimmy because damn this dress is fun. It puts his tats on full display, HELLO and (part of a) GOODBYE (somewhat obscured by a cup), a stylized umbrella, marks of a show that will never quite let him retire.

For today, he prefers the paint striped across his face as a marker.

"Sure do."

Dick hops back onto his hands, tucking his legs up and under his shoulders so he's not really crouching on the table as his feet are off the surface.

He catches the umbrella, though. Now Ben has told him about the Academy, he recognises the symbolism, and his face twitches.

'Cause itd be nice to talk to one of the adults who understand his specific predicament, but maybe the dead, sober one would be a better option.

Edited 2020-06-16 15:16 (UTC)

That... is a ridiculously bright ensemble.

Zuko has come and gone from the bar, and this time he went into the wardrobe in far more casual clothes, the things he uses when, say-- dragon riding or adventuring with the Avatar. But still: deep reds and golds are shiny, too.

"Happy what?"

"Pride, baby!" Klaus crows. He's not known for being a quiet, withdrawn sort in general, so after a day of being encouraged to be as loud as humanly possible, he's... fairly ramped. He gives Zuko a little shimmy (check out the colors!) and a rakish grin.

"Get into it!"

"I -- don't know what you're talking about," Zuko says, pushing his long hair back from his face. "What-- what-- what are you proud of?"

Sorry, Klaus, he's not even from Earth.

Klaus tilts his head, a quick assessing stare while he decides on his response.

(Thanks ever so much, daddy dearest, for the situation assessment drills.)

Now, if this was someone being purposely obtuse, purposefully rude, a quick and vicious savaging is absolutely called for (and entirely fun), but..

Naw, this one's just clueless. That's fine.

"So, I'll break it down for you. There's a lot of people in this world... well, my world, who knows, yours might be better, but they believe that there's something to be ashamed about if you don't fit their rules of what is allowed in terms of gender and sexuality. Which is bullshit. So Pride is an annual... nine parts protest, nine parts festival, one hundred percent party." He explains as coherently as he can, which is a bit of a feat considering all the fun stuff he's had today.

Zuko really has to process that for a moment, blinking -- he doesn't look white, that's for damn sure, and the clothes seriously aren't 20whatever. So he's probably not from anywhere Klaus has been.

"My world doesn't really care about that sort of thing," he says, brows furrowing. "Is that really so-- odd in yours?"

There are gay people. There's people who can make fire with their hands, move water with their minds. Speak to spirits. Who cares what Tab A or Slot B might be doing with other Tabs or Slots or any blending there of? There's way more important things to fuss over.

"Ooooh, my God." Klaus laughs, "I entirely approve of your world, man. You would not believe the shit I got as a kid for accidentally revealing I had a favorite singer in the popular boy band."

Never mind what his life is these days, but that's only partially due to his orientation. Most of it's the ghosts. And the ghost-control measures he's fallen into. All of that. Bleh.

"So what-- does all that have to do with..." So. Many. Colors. The colors of the Four Nations is very-- specific. Earth Kingdom greens, Nomads and their yellow-orange, Water Tribe Blues, Fire Nation with it's red and black, accented with gold. This whole cluster of colors is... different to Zuko. "Is it-- a festival? What do you do?"

"I mean, what don't we do?" Klaus giggles into his drink, flashing Zuko a wolfish grin. "I kid, I kid."

He doesn't. Hey baby, looking good.

"But the goal is mostly to be seen, and to be open about who you are somewhere that's safe and accepting of all the fun variations there are. Lots of flags and and paint and glitter, oh my god the glitter, we laid claim to glitter decades ago and refuse to give it up." He pirouettes, boneless with his day of indulging and graceful with a childhood of stringent training. "And of course there's amazing music and parades and just generally a good time."

"Interesting," Zuko said, noticing the sparkly bits getting everywhere. Glitter is like a plague; once one person has it, it'll pass to everyone nearby soon enough. "Does sound like a festival, alright. What did you do, then?"

As part of this festival that Zuko is making a very different picture of opposed to what it actually is.

"Oh honey, I'm the good time." Klaus purrs, fluttering his eyelashes shamelessly.

Zuko is trying to process that, and... oh. Oh, is the-- man? Flirting with him?

(How long had it been since anyone had? He was a Lord now, nobody flirted with him. Not if they didn't want accusations from the council, or angry parents who wanted to wed their daughters to Zuko. Oh, God, he can only imagine the scandal if he took a male consort before he married.)

Blinking back from the horrifying flash of responsibility that crossed his mind, Zuko said, "I -- uh. I see." He's young, a bit dense, and has a lot on his shoulders right now. Maybe this means he can be forgiven his trespasses.

Klaus giggles, breaking his reflexive attempt at seduction.

"Oh, you're precious. But no, mostly I'm there to be loud and very, very visible. Helps to have someone who truly doesn't care about the haters to be nice big juicy target if someone wants to start trouble." Klaus has multiple strengths on his side - he honestly does not give an absolute damn, he can take a hit, and he knows how to turn on the doe-eyed waterworks when necessary to get a rescue.

And he's exceedingly hard to ignore when he wants to be.

Also it's hilarious to go up against the Westboro Wannabes. They're not even remotely scary after a life full of screaming ghosts.

Well, Zuko can definitely confirm that Klaus is hard to ignore. He's still fascinated -- color, loudness, verve. It's like Aang, only... really gay instead of being the Baby. (Though, Klaus probably sits on the Dumb Gay Baby scale in Dumb Gay Baby Jail somewhere.)

"So you're, ah--- the decoy. You feint, others can do as they need but if unwanted attention happens, it happens to you first." That's respectable. Zuko knows how hard it can be to protect folks without putting yourself out there.

Quentin smiles when he sees Klaus dressed up for Pride and waves from behind the counter, "Want a refill?"

"Hey, you know it!" Klaus, who hasn't turned down a refill in his life, saunters over, his dress a glittering, eye-catching frenzy of movement. "Thanks, I'm practically parched."

Its a good outfit, Quentin approves, he's in jeans and a t-shirt with his pointed ears visible under his slightly wet bronze hair, "What were you drinking?"

Klaus peers down into his cup to try and get a hint - it had be bought by someone in a long series of someones he's flirted with today, and it tasted of alcohol and questionable decisions, and it was sparkly.

None of those descriptors provide him with a name. Whoops.

"Uuuummmmmm... whatever sounds good, I suppose. I'll let you pick your pleasure." He decides, offering both the cup and a wink.

"I'll find you something sparkly and delicious," Quentin takes the cup but ends up trading it for a new one, this time a rainbow plastic cup.

Then after some looking, he finds a couple of mysterious sparkly liquors, one that even has a holographic rainbow glimmer to it and mixes them together along with some ice and seltzer and adds a cocktail umbrella, "Try that."

Klaus takes the drink and expertly downs a decent portion. It's not... it is honestly not the worst thing he's put in his mouth. Not even today, even! Plus, gotta love the glitter. He licks his lips to give them a new shiny coating and grins.

"Hits the spot, baby."

"Good, I went for the bottles with enough color." And he doesn't drink cocktails enough to know what's good.

"Hey, however you did it, it works." It fits all of Klaus' goals for an alcoholic drink - intensely alcoholic, present, and if at all possible, pretty.

"So which Pride are you at?" It must be a big one.

Edited 2020-06-15 05:07 (UTC)

"Oh, just the one downtown, it's been going since... what, the very early eighties? Pretty well established at this time, and hey, easy to get to when you don't have wheels." Klaus shrugs, nonchalant ~~especially since the show very purposefully never defines what town Klaus is in other than 'probably New York but we didn't identify it as NYC because reasons'~~.

"That's useful. It always looks like a great time. I'm in San Francisco," And he's never been to New York.

"Wait wait wait, looks like?" Klaus hits the giant old pause button, peering at this boy. "Don't tell me you've never gone."

"Timing hasn't worked out yet. My life can get busy," And bloody so even though he wants to go, he hasn't.

"I am so buying you a calendar." Klaus huffs, because son, that is weak.

"I have a calendar and I'll go when I can," His life gets busy.

"Mmmhmm." Klaus hums, arching an eyebrow coyly but otherwise refraining from arguing. It's no skin off his nose, after all.

"My boyfriend's from another world too so that makes timing trickier,"

And in Faerie, who you're with has never mattered as much as for mortals but he's not going to say that part aloud.

"Mmmhmm." Klaus hums again, because... yep. Still no skin off his nose, and honestly at this point he's a little curious how long this guy's going to argue the point no one is actively fighting him on.

At that sound, Quentin stops himself as he realizes that what he's saying doesn't matter and so takes a drink of his coffee, "Want anything to eat?"

Klaus giggles, even as he shrugs at the offer.

"Gotta keep my girlish figure, you know." More that he's very frequently just not hungry, for all the Ben tends to nag.

"I guess," Quentin's always hungry so he shrugs.

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I would only have my sole straight male character here in bar. Go figure.

Hey, allies are valid!

He can have a better time with Zenigata once he's approved.

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