!!! [interlude]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan carefully wipes the mud from her boots before coming in from her morning archery practice. It's not warm out, but it's wet, and she's got rather mucked up whilst retrieving arrows. Her first stop is to deposit her dirty clothes in the hamper in her closet - which has seemed to expand even further since Lancelot moved in - to be washed immediately after she washes herself. Before she can shower, though, she must first wipe the arrows down, and then her bow. Then, to stay on the safe side, she sets about unstringing the bow so she can hang it and her coil of string with her other bows.

When she goes to start coiling the string, however, there's a tug on the other end. She frowns and kneels down. There's a flash of color, and then a flare of pain. She stares at her hand and the scratch across the back of it, and then at the culprit.

"Oh, aren't you a beauty," she breathes, reaching out to the Siamese cat tucked away between Lancelot's shoes. "Wherever did you come from?"

It takes her a good ten minutes to coax the cat out, and another ten to coax it into her arms. It's a girl, and not a kitten, though she does have a whiff of kittenhood still about her. "Do you belong to anyone?" Susan asks, but the cat isn't a Talking Beast, and doesn't answer.

Right. The first order of business shall be getting the cat some food. The second order of business shall be inventorying the residents to see if anyone has lost a cat she somehow hadn't caught wind of. She's nearly out the door when she realizes she's largely nude and still covered in streaks of mud, and carefully eases the cat onto the bed, instead. her actual first order of business ought to be washing quickly and getting dressed again. Then onto the rest of it.


Typist note: This is technically being posted as an interlude, given that Enjolras is doing an open post on the same topic at the same time, but if anyone wants to thread meeting Susan's new cat, I am MORE than happy to... I just don't want to overwhelm anyone!

Comments

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It is the way of things," lightly, brushing back her hair. "I am grateful we were already allied with the High King."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan searches her memory. "Uther Pendragon?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, at that time."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And you were in - Brittany, yes?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

He smiles at her, "Yes. That's right."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

She pulls away just enough to run the soap over his chest. "When did you move to England?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Ah-- we went only when my foster mother was ready to part with us. It was after Arthur came to the throne. I was, perhaps, eighteen."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

She moves the soap lower. "Your foster mother trained the three of you," she remembers.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Well," shifting a little, to make things easier for her, "she had us trained. Yes. Dost know-- it will be my turn, eventually."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes," leaning up to kiss his cheek again even as she passes the soap lightly, teasingly over his groin. "I'm looking forward to it."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh, I should hope so."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Here," she says, then, taking one of his hands in hers and tangling their fingers together, drawing his arm out so that she can wash it, next.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He very compliantly moves as she bids him. "I could become accustomed to this level of attention," he warns teasingly.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan smiles impishly back up at him. "If you should like me to attend to you like this every day," she says, settling his hand warmly at her waist and then switching to wash his other arm. "Then I'm afraid it will inevitably end with me monopolizing every last speck of your time."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Wouldst not grow tired of me?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Don't be ridiculous," says Susan, primly. She's just got his legs left. Since she still doesn't want to get her hair wet, she shuffles them around, half-dancelike, until his back is to the spray. Then, with a teasing glance, she sinks to her knees so that she can reach better.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Alas, sometimes I cannot help it." He gives her a smile, warm and teasing in its own way.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Very well," says Susan, running the soap down each leg in turn, light and gentle around his thighs. "You utterly ridiculous man. Help me back up?" She extends her empty hand.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He takes it, reaching down to also set a hand at her waist so she doesn't lose her balance. "I think thou dost find it appealing."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Do you!"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"At least, thou dost find me appealing," sliding an arm around her waist.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Mmmmm," she says, tilting her face up for a kiss. "I suppose I do."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He smiles and kisses her, pressing a little closer.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan presses flush against Lancelot's body, the soap and water between them rendering this move a delicious slide. She kisses him back, clinging - and then pulls away with a little delighted laugh. "It's your turn," she says, pressing the soap into his hand, partly as a gambit to keep herself from jumping fully into his arms and enticing him, already, into a second round.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He grins at her -- her desire mirrors his own, and he agrees it's probably best they stay focused. He lathers up the soap and then starts with her shoulders, turning her a little to both massage and clean.