quote_gentle_unquote | ~ [closed post]

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

"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."

"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."

"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?"

"It's a yes."

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."

"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?"

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."

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

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

"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."

"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?"

"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."

"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."

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

"Hey," Janet says, reasonably good-natured, "there's some bisexuals, too. I mean, other than just you and me."

Susan does suppose that's true, but she's already worked her way through every known bisexual who isn't a child. "Sagramore," she says, matter-of-fact. "Grantaire." Ought she mention Lancelot? Oh, but he's been kissing men publicly, so surely it isn't any sort of secret. "Lancelot." She pauses, then adds, "If Enjolras is interested in women then I feel awful for the women he pursues. Oh, and certainly not Shen Yuan."

Edited 2024-07-02 16:27 (UTC)

"Definitely not Shen Yuan," Janet agrees immediately, almost laughing again at the very thought of Shen Yuan pursuing a woman. It would be like giving a mouse a steak. "You're forgetting Laertes," she adds.

"Do you know, Shen Yuan kissed me once? The night he and I met, in fact. He wanted - proof, I suppose, that he wasn't interested in women at all." Obviously Susan is a good barometer for this, even if his scientific methodology was abysmal. "He's not bad at it, actually. Kissing. Laertes isn't homosexual?"

Unbidden, Janet is forced to picture Shen Yuan kissing Susan. It's not the worst mental image of her life, but it's miles away from the best, either. "Oh my God," she says, distractedly. "I told him he was gay -- well, fuck it. Whatever. No, Laertes isn't gay. He told me he would've shot his shot with me when we first met if he'd been a little braver."

This tidbit has Susan's eyebrows climbing, equal parts surprised and intrigued.

"Oh my God," Janet says for a second time as she catches the way Susan's face shifts. "That train has left the station. Sorry, Your Majesty."

"Alas," says Susan, with a sigh that is mostly put-upon.

Her grin resurfaces. "You're welcome. For the intel and the mental image."

"Much obliged," says Susan. "I really thought for certain he was homosexual." This belief is, in truth, because he hasn't propositioned her yet.

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