The Devil's Unwitting Accomplice

"Let us sit down, Dorian. Let us sit down. I will sit in the shadow, and you shall sit in the sunlight. Our lives are like that." { Independent RP Blog for Basil Hallward, of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. || Bookverse default || Multifandom || OC and crossover friendly || FC: James McAvoy || Tracking #unwittingxaccomplice || Mun and Muse 16+ || PLEASE NOTE: this is a sideblog. I will follow back from my main blog (peccaret--et--pati) }

[unwittingxaccomplice]

Do you interact with any Dorians?

Occasionally, yes!

[lordhenrydarling]

Henry & Basil || Hello Darkness My Old Friend

[lordhenrydarling]

"My Basil, you do have the tendency to sound frightfully akin to a woman when inspiration strikes, you know," I taunted, a slow crooked smile forming about the edges of thin lips. I came to sit with his silent entreaty, draping myself easily upon the cushions that were offered so generously. “I have simply been tired, Basil. So tiring is this existence that I do lead…” I trailed off, for perhaps the first time showing a lapse in my collected exterior, if only for but a moment. Basil would understand, as no other ever could, the true meaning of such words. He must. "However, my weariness is no longer, and I am glad to see you now."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

                 Always the dramatic flair. Basil is left to wonder, on occasion, if Lord Henry ever utters any word or commits any act that is not laden with theatricality; if he does, Basil has never seen it. With lips pursed, Basil tosses back his head in that strange way of his, directs his gaze over to Lord Henry, and says, "Do you intend to dine with me this evening? You are welcome to; I have no other engagements."

[lordhenrydarling]

Henry & Basil || Hello Darkness My Old Friend

"Why yes," I mused, the timbre of my voice neither cold nor comprised entirely of warmth. "I suppose I have. How grand of you to notice, my friend."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

                "Where is it that you have been?" Without rising from his sofa, the artist waves a languid hand to invite Lord Henry to seat himself in the armchair near the fire."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

// Still around, love?

Absolutely! I’ve missed you!

[lordhenrydarling]

[unwittingxaccomplice]

                    "You have been absent from me for some time, Harry."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

// Still around, love?

Absolutely! I've missed you!

[unwittingxaccomplice]

What is your opinion on it? Do you think it ever could have worked out between them, regardless of the whole homosexuality laws and such?

I think that it... depends on a lot more than homosexuality laws. That would certainly be an issue, of course. I think if Lord Henry hadn't come along and opened the world of hedonism to Dorian, there's a slim chance it might have worked out. The two men were, according to Basil, very close before Lord Henry came into the picture.

Then again, I don't know if it would have worked. Like I said, it would depend on a lot of factors. Basil was most definitely in love with Dorian, but what about Dorian's part? We have little evidence of his sexuality. He could be bisexual; he could be heterosexual. I really have no idea, I'm afraid. I certainly think that it couldn't have worked with how Dorian became. If he had never been exposed to temptation, he might have been content to remain the blushing young man who happily received Basil's reverence, as he was in the beginning. 

[unwittingxaccomplice]

Do you ship Basil and Dorian?

Yes.

[unwittingxaccomplice]

" Don't go."

               "Dorian, it is late. I must to bed."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

"Just relax."

                         "--All right."

[kingxfmischief]

Put one of the following in my inbox for my muse's reaction.

[unwittingxaccomplice]

"My parents know."

"Don’t go."

"You’re under arrest."

"Just let me die."

"I’m pregnant and it’s yours."

"Make me."

"Kiss me you idiot."

"I didn’t do it."

"That isn’t mine."

"Marry me?"

"Truth hurts, don’t it?"

"Be mine."

"You owe me."

"Just relax."

[putridbeauty]

When you call out my name in rapture, I volunteer my soul for murder. { listen }

turning page - sleeping at last // poet - bastille // gabriel - lamb // skinny love - birdy // black hearted love - pj harvey & john parish // misery loves company - emilie autumn // serial killer - lana del ray // untouchable face - ani difranco // hurt - christina aguilera // somebody that i used to know - mayday parade // sort of delilah - anna nalick // nicest thing - kate nash

[unwittingxaccomplice]

o p e n

[unwittingxaccomplice]

               ”—And suppose, Dorian, that my wish is to remain here and keep your private company.” There is a shade of bitterness that taints his tone, however much he may attempt to retain neutrality to his voice. He has always been a sinfully jealous man; he cannot stand the thought of Dorian off wasting his time with others, as he has recently been so fond of doing. It is childish, perhaps, but it is the fact of things.

              “Will you not sit with me and be content? How rarely you come to visit me these days! Stay now; take wine with me and let us pass the evening in conversation, as we used to.” 

[putridbeauty]

Conversation— what is there to talk of, honestly? Talk, talk, talk, that’s all anyone seems to want to do anymore. But as much as Dorian wants to say as much, he acquiesces, looking at Basil with something akin to embarrassment in his eyes. “I know you hardly approve of my— lifestyle.”

That’s probably putting it lightly. Ever since he’d uttered that damned wish, ever since he’d first begun noticing his portrait’s wrinkles and greying hair, he’s just been on a path of self-destruction. Even he can recognize this, in the hazy moments when he realizes what he’s done. The acrid stench of a woman’s perfume clinging to his clothes, or the opium he’s found solace in; it all catches up to him, at times. Perhaps Basil’s right to disapprove.

"I’ll stay," he agrees, "and we can talk all you like. I just wish you didn’t object so to going out in my company. Honestly, Basil, it’s like you’re embarrassed to be seen with me. Is there really so much harm in leaving your sitting room now and again?" It’s manipulative, part of him acknowledges as much. "Perhaps if you spent more time in live company rather than your paintings, you wouldn’t disapprove so much."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

           The flash of embarrassment does not go unnoticed by the painter. For a moment, Hallward is selfishly triumphant; if Dorian is truly embarrassed at how he has neglected his friend, perhaps he will be inclined to come more often. But the thought swiftly flees Basil's mind once more, to be replaced with curdling embarrassment of is own. He does not own Dorian. What right has he to pass judgment? 

             At the insinuation that he is embarrassed to be seen in Dorian's company, Basil releases a low sound of disagreement. "How wrong you are, Dorian!" he cries. "It is your company that I desire above all else; what cause would I have to be embarrassed to be seen at your side? But do not press me so to quit this room, for it's where I wish to stay for the evening. Have you not been out enough to-night? Stay. There is plenty of which we may talk."

              And with that, he rises, crossing the room to pick up a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses from the seat upon the cabinet. "Will you have some?" he asks over his shoulder, settling his blue gaze on the young blond. 

[unwittingxaccomplice]

o p e n

[putridbeauty]

It’s worth a try; it’s been quite a long time since they’ve just spent time together, and with Harry off doing god-knows-what, Dorian’s bored, and perhaps a tad lonely. His newly discovered life of hedonism would be far more enjoyable in the presence of a familiar faces, but he supposes Basil’s just unshakeable in that regard.

"Anywhere you wish to go," Dorian says, taking that offered seat, stretching his legs out before him to cross them at the ankle. "That’s the beauty of life. You can go anywhere you like, do anything you like, and it always leaves more to be discovered." Basil’s tastes are frightfully dull, but Dorian wishes to change that; to open his eyes the way Harry has opened his own.

[unwittingxaccomplice]

             "--And suppose, Dorian, that my wish is to remain here and keep your private company." There is a shade of bitterness that taints his tone, however much he may attempt to retain neutrality to his voice. He has always been a sinfully jealous man; he cannot stand the thought of Dorian off wasting his time with others, as he has recently been so fond of doing. It is childish, perhaps, but it is the fact of things.

              "Will you not sit with me and be content? How rarely you come to visit me these days! Stay now; take wine with me and let us pass the evening in conversation, as we used to." 

[unwittingxaccomplice]

o p e n

[unwittingxaccomplice]

                  “Nothing that cannot be put aside and returned to at a later time.”

     The artist lays down his brush and wipes his hands on a soiled rag, which does little to scrub away the stains of paint upon his skin. “But to what do I owe the pleasure of your unintended visit, Mr. Gray?”

[putridbeauty]

He’s certain that the Mister Gray is entirely in teasing; certainly they’re on first-name basis by now, the three of them. Dorian’s smile is automatic, as it’s always been. 

"I was on my way from the theater," he lies— he’s not about to tell his dear friend that he had stumbled out of an opium den, though the other can likely smell it on him if he leans in close enough. “You crossed my mind, and I thought I would check in.” Dorian glances around as though this is the first time he’s found himself here. “You should come out with me, Basil. You’re far too fond of locking yourself away when there’s the whole of London to enjoy.”

[unwittingxaccomplice]

             "You know that I prefer the solace of my sitting room to the mad scramble of the London streets." If he smells the opium, he makes no comment on it. Setting down the rag in his hand, he gestures towards the nearby armchair in silent invitation for Dorian to seat himself.

              "Besides," he adds with the merest hint of a smile, "where is it you would take me? You know that I am very fond of you, Dorian, but our tastes do differ so. I fear I would take little pleasure in your escapades."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

o p e n

                     ”—I received no word of your intended visit.”

[putridbeauty]

“Perhaps, dear Basil, because it wasn’t intended at all.”

"I do hope you don’t mind. Have I caught you in the middle of something?"

[unwittingxaccomplice]

                "Nothing that cannot be put aside and returned to at a later time."

     The artist lays down his brush and wipes his hands on a soiled rag, which does little to scrub away the stains of paint upon his skin. "But to what do I owe the pleasure of your unintended visit, Mr. Gray?"

[unwittingxaccomplice]

o p e n

                     "--I received no word of your intended visit."

[unwittingxaccomplice]

" Basil! How terribly I have missed you! Perhaps terrible is not the right word but I have missed you a great deal my friend. I trust you have been well?" //casually sees you active on Basil and hops on the wagon

               "Well enough, certainly."