@ [closed post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has been having the dreams with greater frequency, lately¹: Narnia ablaze as the dying stars sink into the sea, giant lizards and dragons ripping every tree and rock from the earth and rending the last of Cair Paravel's ruins into so much rubble, laying all that devastation onto the blaze and then dying themselves as the mountains crumble and the seas rise and leave nothing behind but an empty, starless black.

Nothing, that is, save an open door, and her family standing before it, watching the devastation, and then the door swinging shut.

I've been doing better she tells herself firmly, rising from her bed before the sun has even started to think about peeking over the horizon. The waning moon is hanging low in the sky; the waxing one has already set. She turns on all her lights against the lingering dark and watches them blaze merrily in her vision until she has to glance away, dark spots dancing in their aftermath. She still feels cold as a lifeless, dark world, but at least there's no denying that she isn't in one.

Then, even more firmly, she makes herself get up. She dresses warmly - those thick woolen stockings that join up at the waist (she has since learned they are called tights; the Mansion has been supplying ones lined in a thick, fuzzy material remarkably suitable for winter), a dress similarly appropriate for winter, her woolen coat and leather gloves. Her hair she braids down, not up, so that it's easier to wear a hat against the chill that is resting both deep in her chest and sharp in the morning air outside.

She grabs her longbow and her quiver in addition to the latest of her pile of books - it's good to have contingency plans - but instead of heading toward the range or the woods to seek out a place to sport with Little John, she goes to where she knows Lancelot practices in the morning, stopping only to fill a thermos up with tea. It is, she thinks high time to make good on her threat to watch him.


¹Thanks, Aornis!

Comments

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Is that so?" Another quick, smiling glance down, "How so?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Your affection for compliments, for one," she says. "Both the giving and the receiving of them."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He laughs, "Ach, I should have tried to keep it from thee."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes, once I know all your secrets you will be ill-equipped to withstand me," Susan says, and then: "You're more playful, too, than I would have expected."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He casts her another warm smile, "I think-- I think I wasn't much, before. For a very long time. And then only with the few who were closest. Things feel freer, now, and I have more people I trust."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'm pleased to hear it."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I am glad I surprise thee," sounding very pleased.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan does still rather feel like Camelot doesn't deserve a man like Lancelot: his playfulness, his preciousness. She runs her thumb along the side of his hand. She's already told him that she's glad that people here are different with him. "It's good," she muses. "To be able to... relax. Let go, a little."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It is," his tone still light, faintly teasing, "But more importantly, it may help me to keep thy interest."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"You could be the dullest man in the world, with a cock like yours," says Susan frank, and then freezes, mildly (but, it must be said, not tremendously) surprised with herself. She rallies quickly. "And regardless, I wouldn't worry about all that."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He laughs, very much surprised himself, "Oh, my lady--"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Do I scandalize you, sir?" is an easier thing to say than admitting that, before Lancelot, Susan hadn't really bothered to get to know any man she took to bed beyond a night or two. (Well, Clarence, but look how that ended up! He hardly counts.) That she's been consistently pleasantly surprised while getting to know him. That she's looking forward to more of it.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I might be scandalized, had we not already shared what we have shared." He stops and pulls her closer, "'Twas wicked, indeed."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Smiles are harder for Susan to call up, today, but she manages one that's more fond than it is flirtatious, easily following his tug. "I, too, am incorrigible."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot pulls her in, kisses her flirtatiously, "So thou art."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

She kisses him back, of course, settling a hand on his hip and leaning into it. When she pulls back, it's with evident reluctance. "Sir," she says, and licks her lips.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Lady," he's giving her that look again, whether he knows it or not -- like he can't stop looking at her, like she is the best possible thing to see.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan is no fool; she does know the effect she has on a good number of men. She assumes that the look Lancelot is giving her - and oh, doesn't it make her feel warm! - is largely that, accentuated by their growing friendship. She kisses him again, briefly, and then steps back to retrieve her bow. "Do you see any promising targets about?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot laughs a little, almost having to shake himself, and looks around. Some ways away there's a sizable stump, bare, the rest of the tree having fallen away to the other side. "I don't know that it's promising, as it's somewhat low, but," he points. "It might be good practice to have something not so squared up as a target."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Have you met Little John?" Susan asks, now sorting through her quiver for one of those futuristic easy-to-remove arrows.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He moves aside, leaning against another tree. "Aye, but just the once. Why?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"He suggested I try this out here," she says, warming the wood of her bow in her hands. It's unnecessary - it will still shoot well without it - but it is a habit she gained in the deep winters of Narnia. As she does, she gives Lancelot a rueful look. "I'm a fair hand with this sort of thing, but I think there was some magic in Narnia that made me more skilled with less practice."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"There is no shame in practice," he says easily. "There are those who have some augment to their strength or skill, and even they benefit from practice. I am not such a one, I don't think, but once thy body knows the way, thou canst not help but hone the skill."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, I know," Susan says, and gives him a heated sort of look. "I rather like a good bit of practice." She's found the arrows she's looking for, and fits one to her string.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He laughs again and then settles back to watch her, intently.