~ [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]

"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."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Honestly, Janet doesn't have a sense of that, either. Like Susan says, not when it actually matters. "Lancelot," she fills in. He's basically inoffensive, she thinks. If Susan weren't attached to him, she'd probably make some kind of flippant comment about how boring he is. It's a little tempting, the way it's always a little tempting to be a bitch. It would bring this awkward topic to a close. But she doesn't. "Have you two already had this conversation?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"We have," Susan says, with a fond little eye-roll. "He likes to talk about things."

[sorrowandsorrow]

That has not been Janet's experience with that man. Whatever. "What was the verdict?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"He and I are," Susan says, pursing her lips as she considers the best way to phrase it. "Having a relationship and apprising one another of other pursuits." She pauses, glances sidelong at Janet. "I believe I might characterize it as fairly serious."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet looks back at her, slightly wary. Not about her and Lancelot. She's known about that for a while. Maybe it's a relief -- they're fairly serious. That takes some of the pressure off her. She and Eliot always said how they'd be spinsters together, how neither of them were really built for falling in love the way Quentin and Alice were, or even Josh and Poppy.

"Okay," she says. "Serious is... I don't know if I know what that means for me. But, uh. I like you."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has read Janet's survey; she knows Janet doesn't think she was built for love. This is something she has chosen not to unpack. "I mention it because I shouldn't want you to feel blindsided if, for example, he moved into my room," she says; now that Dark is over, she's been wondering if he'll return to his and how she'll feel if he does. But Lancelot isn't the point of this conversation; she and Janet are.

In a way, it's a relief that Janet isn't given to sweeping declarations. Susan hardly knows what to do with those. Look at how long it took her to decide she loves Lancelot, too! "I suppose my point is," she says, "I rather like you too."

[sorrowandsorrow]

It's a surprising level of consideration for her feelings, surprising enough that Janet looks at Susan, caught off-guard, and then down to where their fingers are laced together. Back up to Susan's face, a second or two later. "Well... thanks." Ugh. Maybe she and those asshole men never worked out because they were too similar. "For the heads up, I mean. I think I want to be... more than just a pursuit. You pursued. I pursued back. We're done pursuing, right? You got me."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan smiles at Janet then, small and genuine. "Would you say we've moved beyond diplomatic liaisons?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Way beyond." Janet's mouth quirks into an answering half-smile. "It sounds insane to use the word girlfriend in a fucking... pocket world full of characters from Hamlet and talking animals. But I guess everything about this is insane no matter what."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Like a pocket world full of talking animals is terribly out of the ordinary," Susan teases, and then allows, "though I do suppose I mightn't have used the word 'girlfriend' in Narnia."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Fillory's not in a pocket," Janet counters, "it's way stupider than that." But she's deflecting, obviously. She laughs, a release of tension more than real amusement. "Is that a yes?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"It's a yes."

[sorrowandsorrow]

The smile breaks into a broader grin. Feeling like a teenager, but stupider, because she's almost thirty, Janet says, "It's a deal. Or... a relationship. I guess."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Lovely," says Susan, with feeling. She darts in and presses a kiss to Janet's cheek. And then, since the best way to understand the rules is to ask outright: "What does that entail for you, ideally?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

God, this is excruciating. It's a good idea, and Janet's glad Susan pulled the trigger. But it's excruciating. She makes a little face. "We do more of this, obviously. I don't really care who you fuck unless it'd really obviously piss me off. But maybe don't do... all this with someone else without letting me know. Scratch that, not maybe. Definitely."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"So you needn't hear of one-off assignations, but you'd like to hear of... relationships?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Right." She studies Susan's face. "Do you have different terms in mind?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Those sound eminently reasonable to me," says Susan, running through Janet's other requests. "Obviously you needn't worry about me sleeping with Sagramore again," as she assumes that's what Janet means by someone who would 'really obviously piss her off." Delicately, and with a mostly-affected shudder, she adds, "Or me ending up married."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Oh my God," Janet says, startled into a laugh at the thought. "You know, that one didn't even occur to me, but I guess we can add it in ink just to be safe. Do you want to add anything? While we're at it?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No, I believe that about sums it up," says Susan, thoughtfully, and then she makes a tiny face. "Well... I wouldn't mind hearing about one-time affairs, but that's just because I find hearing about such things rather... titillating. So it needn't be a stipulation."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Oh." Janet grins. "Well, I said I needn't hear of them, not that you couldn't tell me." She rubs her thumb against the back of Susan's hand. "The hook-up scene around here's a little dire, unfortunately."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I've noticed," says Susan, with grim good humor. "It's all teenagers and homosexuals here." She pauses, considering, and amends, "And teenage homosexuals."