~ [closed post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Now that the Mansion is producing goods again, it's very easy for Susan to compile a picnic basket full of, essentially, the makings of a rather international charcuterie board. Four cheeses (a good British cheddar, a French camembert, an Italian sheeps-milk ricotta, and a wedge of Dutch Leyden), three meats (jamon Iberico from Spain, mortadella with pistachios, and something labeled as an American bison-blueberry salami), along with some honey, fruits and fruit preserves, a baguette, olives, nuts, and crackers. She tops this off with nice linens and silverware and all the necessary ingredients for French 75s. It's definitely more than enough for two people.

Something about the end of that dreadful month has her considering wearing color again. As a first step toward moving past mourning clothes, she experiments with a very flattering deep navy dress that's definitely not black, though it looks it in most lights. She adds a coat of lipstick, and then takes herself and her basket to Janet's room, where she raps lightly on the door.

NSFW!

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[quote_gentle_unquote]

With each ragged inhale of breath, Susan's breasts strain at the neckline of her dress, and she's focused enough on the feelings produced by Janet's strong fingers that this isn't even a little put-upon. She shifts, rolling slightly to the side, giving Janet better access.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Oh, perfect. Janet shifts with her, propping herself up a little better on an elbow -- it lets her curl her fingers deeper, lets her apply that grinding and heightening pressure to Susan's clit with more finesse.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan brings one of her own hands up to pinch at her nipple through her dress and her bra. She likes the drag of the lace against it, the way that the rough parts of it dig in. Her legs fall wider open still, without very much conscious decision-making behind it at all, and she looks over at Janet, gaze feverish as she drags it up and down Janet's body.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet watches closely; her own gaze is sharper, clinging to Susan's face, her breasts where they strain against her dress, the dip of her hip, the place where her fingers disappear between Susan's legs. She doesn't stop or let up. She does lean in to kiss the underside of Susan's jaw, open-mouthed, down her throat.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

It's the warm slide of Janet's mouth, coupled with the angle of her hand, coupled with Susan's own desperate grasping at her breasts, that brings her pleasure to a crescendo. Mouth working noiselessly against nothing at all, body tensing and coiling up like the string of her bow as she pulls it back and aims, she comes again. She twists her head, trying sloppily to catch Janet's mouth in a kiss even as the rest of her sags in the wake of it.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Of course Janet goes for that kiss, angling her own head to make it happen, her mouth still open, pushing it heated and intent right away. Again, she keeps her fingers inside, just for a moment longer, self-satisfied. When she slips them out, it's with some reluctance, and then she slings a leg over Susan's hip and pulls herself in closer.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan tugs Janet, cleaving to her, propping one jellied leg up to frame Janet's thigh. She meets the kiss with equal ferocity, bringing one hand up to the small of Janet's back.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet kisses her for a long time, languid and pleased with herself. She kisses her for as long as she can before reality starts slowly reasserting it in small ways: the scrape of the rug against her elbow, sweat drying at the back of her neck. "Tipsy and tangled up with me, huh?" she says. "Get what you wanted?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan hums, wriggling into a half-stretch. "That did rather hit the spot," she says, warmly.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet's grin is as wide as ever, but it's soft around the edges. She tucks an unsalvageably disheveled lock of hair behind Susan's ear. "Thanks," she says, then laughs. "Not for the sex. That's a mutual perk. Just for... all of it, I guess."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"It was remarkably easy to set up, now that Dark's over," Susan says, eyelashes fluttering at Janet's touch.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Sure, but they say it's the thought that counts." Finally, reluctantly, Janet sits up, just so she can run the fingers of one hand through her own hair, trying to get it in some semblance of order. She grabs a stray abandoned olive as she does, for post-coital sustenance, then offers one to Susan, too.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan eats it from Janet's fingers, lip curling, pleased, as it brushes Janet's skin.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet watches with equal pleasure. There's still plenty of food left, and a little champagne. They can take their time.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Their conversation meanders, flirty and light and interrupted by breaks for food and more kissing until most of Susan's myriad hungers are sated. She takes Janet's hand, then, threading their fingers together. "Have you got any thoughts about what you might like?" she ventures. "From this?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

By this time, Janet has her jumpsuit back on, though the zipper's half-undone. Without thinking too much about it, she curls her fingers around Susan's, then hesitates. "I'm guessing you don't mean what I might like out of this meal."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No," Susan agrees. Then she rolls her eyes. "I'm rubbish at talking about this sort of thing," she warns. "But it seems... prudent." After all, there is the invitation of Bacchus's that she plans to politely decline.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I'm, uh." Janet's quiet for a longer hesitation this time. She hates feeling tongue-tied. "Pretty fucking bad at it, too. I've never really... I mean, I just dated a string of assholes in college. And then I was a queen."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And that does rather change the parameters of one's dating life," Susan says, knowingly. Then she volunteers, "In London, I... slept with quite a few men precisely once. My choice, generally not theirs. And I had a dear friend with whom I'd regularly, ah, fall into bed. In retrospect we might've been... having some sort of relationship, but we never spoke about it."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Right." Janet's fingers tighten around Susan's. They never spoke about it and now, obviously, they can't. "I never -- I mean, I told you about the last man I was entangled with. It didn't end amazingly. I never... I've always liked girls, too. Women, too, I mean. But it was usually easier to let some shitty guy disappoint me."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"They are often rather predictable in that way," Susan agrees, leaning against Janet.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Yep." Janet sighs, quietly. "Is it shitty if I make you answer first? Do you have any thoughts?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I haven't," Susan admits, and then rolls her eyes at herself. "This is one sort of conversation I haven't the faintest idea how to navigate. I don't... know the rules."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Maybe we just make up some rules," Janet suggests. "Fuck it, right? We probably don't even like whoever made the original rules anyway."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I think they'd be rather different here, anyway," Susan sighs. "Given that this is a tiny world with a tiny population. When I got here I was operating by my old rules, hence--" and here she gestures loosely in a way that's meant to encapsulate Sagramore and Grantaire. "But that doesn't serve in this sort of environment." For one, there's not nearly enough people for it, though she supposes she's surpassed her own earlier frequency of assignations now that she's traded breadth for depth, so to speak. Then she glances at Janet and says, "I also haven't got a sense of the rules for pursuing multiple people. At least, not when one is... making an effort."