!!! [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]

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.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Feel nice," she tells him, delighted, tilting her head forward.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"That is the idea," applying a little pressure, "to return the favor."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh?" says Susan, twisting her head so she can shoot him a warm look. "You're going above and beyond, my love."

[lanselos_du_lac]

A little smile, "That's not how I see it."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No?" she asks, stretching a little, leonine. "How do you see it?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I am providing just the right amount of effort and attention, if thou'rt pleased."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh?" The scope of Susan's pleasure is rather wide, when it comes to Lancelot. It's easy for him to hit his mark. "Did I please you when it was my turn?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Of course it did," shifting to wash her back. "It is very pleasing indeed to be attended to by a beautiful woman."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I suppose," says Susan, barely even teasingly fake-begrudging, "the same is true of a handsome man."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I am glad," loftily, "we have these views and attributes in common."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

The look Susan shoots over her shoulder at him is warm and amused. "How remarkably convenient."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Just so," as his hands and the soap move lower. His touch is firm but gentle, not tickling, his hands steady.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan makes a quiet little noise at the feeling of them, arching her back - part reaction, part tease.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He continues in this way, tender and affectionate, teasing occasionally as Susan had. Once he's finished he says, "Very well. Let us rinse off."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Very well," Susan echoes, but instead she winds her arms around his neck and draws him in for another kiss. This is rinsing-adjacent. There is some water hitting her at this angle.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He is perfectly content to be kissed. His arm slides around her waist again, pulling her close.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

She likes this, the slide of her body against his, made smoother by the last bits of soap. She likes him, ever so much. "My sweet love," she murmurs.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Thine," he confirms, giving her a little nuzzle, getting her hair slightly damp in the process.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

With a happy sigh, she pulls him further under the spray of the water, still mindful of the rest of her hair. "I must say, I'm looking forward to warmer weather," she says. "I should like to go swimming again."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I would like that, too." He gives her a little grin. "Though I do not have a bathing costume as yet."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"We shall find you one," Susan promises, and then pauses, giving him a lingering once-over. "Though I daresay you look rather fetching just like this."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"This is how I am used to swimming."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I know," she says, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "It's all very scandalous to me, you know. I've not seen a man swim nude before. Even in Narnia they wore bathing costumes."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Neither would you have seen it, if we were in Britain. We would not, most likely, swim together."