+ [open post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh my God," Kade murmurs when Susan shows up at his door, knocking briskly. It's quiet, practically subvocal, but she can still make out the words distinctly. He wipes his hands on his trousers and extends one. "Susan Pevensie. Hi! I'm Kade. Kade West."

"I know," she says, glancing at his hand for a moment and then shaking it. "You're our tailor. I'm afraid I've been delinquent in introducing myself." She's been busy, but in the wake of all of the Mansion's most recent spat of strangeness, she decided it was high time that she conspire to meet him. She needs some sort of change-up to her days, which have become rather routine and increasingly feel uninspiring. Not that she wants more Mansion-driven mischief, just that... it was nice, to have a little adventure, once she set her worry for Lancelot to the side. "But you worked wonders for Lancelot's wardrobe."

A bright grin flashes across Kade's face as he takes in her pointed tone. His teeth are extremely white and, frankly, unsettlingly straight. "You want I should give you a makeover, too?"

Susan glances down at herself. She's back in mourning black, one of her everyday dresses. It feels more comfortable than color, sometimes, but... in truth, she misses being eye-catching. "If you'd be so kind," she says, briskly. "I haven't got a particular look in mind. I'll try whatever you think might be interesting."

Kade's smile broadens. "You're giving me a blank check?"

"I shan't wear it if I don't like it."

"Of course, of course," Kade says, and opens his door wide. "C'mon up. Tell me about your Worlds. I'll get you all sorted out."

---

Three days later, Susan decides she might as well try debuting the first outfit Kade selected. It's all black, so it seems a good gateway to the more colorful options, especially as she's not convinced of trousers - she's ever so used to the skirts and garters and stockings she defaults to day after day. And, she finds, as she checks the outfit in her mirror, it's strange to wear a top with meagre built-in supports but no brassiere. The red heels he chose, though... those, she loves. He'd recommended curls and a bold lip with this look, but she doesn't like the fussiness of curling her hair and instead leaves it loose and smooth down her back.

She can't deny that she looks phenomenal. The trousers, though they feel uncomfortably tight, look flatteringly as if they're painted on. She has, delightfully, gained some weight since arriving here, especially now that she's off her grief diet, and her figure is truly striking. The top is on the verge of indecent, with a low neckline and sleeves that fall off her shoulders, and she considers throwing on the jacket Kade suggested just for some degree of modesty across her decolletage... but that would go against her purpose of trying something exciting and different and new. So she shrugs, leaves the jacket on the edge of the bed, pats the spot where usually she would have her pocket and her notebook, fetches a handbag so she might still carry her notebook along with her (she wants a change, but that's no reason to be unprepared!), and sets out, Regina at her heels.

Susan has no way of knowing this, but anyone who's been to Earth after the late 1970s will recognize that Kade has put her in a perfect recreation of Sandy's greaser outfit at the end of Grease.



People who will find this hot and/or striking and/or familiar in some way are obviously welcome, but also anyone who wants to touch base after the AU days and/or meet Regina are encouraged to tag in too!

Comments

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Sure," Janet says, "depending on what you're doing. Conservation of mass, right? You can't just zap away a bunch of a person if you're doing a spell that transforms them into something. It all has to go somewhere."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan's scientific mind is whirring. "What are the typical solutions?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"There's a couple, but the easiest is basically -- well, it's sort of like a pocket dimension, but not like this one. It's really pocket. You sort of slip everything into the spaces between molecules, but it has to be tethered to you, too. You can't have that shit drifting off while you're a duck or you'll be stuck as a duck forever."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"That," says Susan, "is tremendously fascinating. How does it get tethered? Magic can be fine-tuned enough to operate between molecules? And--" She breaks off, pulling a rueful expression. "You've rather captivated my interest in yet another way."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Some magic can." Janet bumps her hip lightly against Susan's, endeavoring not to disturb the third queen in their presence. "You'd have to get nerdier than me to understand all the theory, but yeah. Magic is kind of like if science hated you and wanted you dead. If you fuck up your Circumstances, you can lose a bunch of your own body mass."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Would transforming Galahad into a cat risk both of your body masses, then?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Sure," Janet says, blasé in the way of someone who's actually taking this seriously and doesn't want to get too bogged down about it. "Magic's always risky to some extent."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan gives her a piercing, assessing look, but she trusts Janet to be safe, so instead of admonishing her to take care, she presses a kiss to the corner of Janet's mouth.

[sorrowandsorrow]

The kiss quirks the side of her mouth up again. "Yeah, yeah," she says, but it's only half as mocking as she'd like. "You can look over my notes if you want. There's a ton of Brakebills textbooks here, actually."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, perhaps," says Susan. She is rather intrigued. "Or you could just explain it to me. At length. In detail." Is she comparing the nuts and bolts of magic theory to dirty talk? Perhaps.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet's smile persists. "Sure," she says again. "You want to start at the beginning? Go over the Circumstances?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"In as much detail as you can manage," says Susan, curling a hand tighter around Janet's waist.

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Mayakovsky would find a way to teleport here and slit my throat if I couldn't remember these," Janet says dryly. "Okay, you've got four tiers: Major, Minor, Tertiary, and Quaternary. They all have exceptions. Major Circumstances are pretty basic -- time of day, temperature, what direction you're facing. Minor get a little more nitty-gritty. Dew point, shit like that. The five Tertiary Circumstances are altitude, age, lunar phase, the nearest body of water, and the position of the Pleiades. You can imagine how much that one fucked with me when I got here."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I can't imagine we've got the Pleiades here at all," says Susan. She does so enjoy fiddling with the beltloops on Janet's trousers! "Nearest body of water? Truly?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Truly." Janet rolls her eyes, but she's clearly enjoying herself. Susan's fingers toying with her jeans don't hurt at all. "There are inflections, too." She holds out a hand and, as quick as thinking, her fingers ripple through a whole series of contortions, variations on which is crooked and which is tucked, the angle at which each one sits, et cetera. "That could all be the same spell modified for different Circumstances."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"No wonder you're so tremendously good with your hands," says Susan, in tones of idle reflection - though it might be clear from the focus in her eyes that she's fascinated on multiple levels.

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet smirks, unapologetically delighted with herself. "Exactly. You can tell another magician in the wild by looking at their hands."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"What a fastidious science." This is actually the first time Susan has had any measurable interest in magic!

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I told you; it's like if science hated you and wanted you dead." The thing is, she has more respect for it because of that. If any old idiot could pick up after magic after a day or two, it wouldn't mean anything that she can do it. "There are six minor inflections. Phrygian, Thracian, Minoan, Doric, Alexandrian, and Hittite. We used to use 'Please Take My Drunk Aunt Home' to remember them."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Like the historical societies?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Exactly," Janet says, wiggling her fingers again. "They can be phenomenally finicky. And it's so embarrassing when your spell goes splat because you fucked up a basic Circumstance."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Are the minor inflections genuinely connected to the historical societies?

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Nope. Just a pretentious naming scheme. Magicians are insufferable."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Ah," teases Susan, fingers tightening at Janet's waist. "Yes, every single specimen I've come across has been frightfully unbearable."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet grins and leans a little closer. Just a little -- there's a cat to avoid disturbing. "See? I rest my case. You have to memorize all these Circumstances -- and then you have to know them. A mediocre magician sits there and works out the Circumstances before casting a spell, right? But a good magician just... does it, and adjusts for the Circumstances automatically, and the spell is cast."