+ [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]

"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."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I imagine you're in the latter group," says Susan, with immense confidence. "Minus, perhaps, the pesky business about the Pleiades here."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"I couldn't cast for shit when I first got here." Janet rolls her eyes expressively. "I figured it out, but it took a while. Tress charted the stars for me."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"And now look at you," says Susan, immediately suiting action to word and giving Janet a lingering once-over. "Sorting out how to turn Galahad into a cat."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet preens a little, tucking her hair behind her ear. It's getting longer, thank God. Ponytails are almost within reach again. "I might see if more people want tattoos, too. His turned out... pretty great, if you can believe it." Obviously she can believe it. She's just fishing shamelessly for more compliments.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Hmmm, can I?" Susan pretends to think, and then laughs lightly. "I would expect nothing less."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Mindful of the cat, Janet leans in and presses a firm kiss to Susan's mouth. "You're going to make me an arrogant bitch," she says happily. "More of one, I mean."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"How dreadful," drolly. "I don't find that attractive at all."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Oh, no?" Janet gives Regina a dignified little scratch on the head for her patience. It's what she deserves. "Guess I'll have to use these talented hands somewhere else tonight."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Regina makes a little mrrrp! noise, and Susan throws her a fond look. "Yes, sweet thing, you've absconded with my dance card."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Oh, that's a cute noise. Janet grins down at Regina. "She's almost as pretty as you. Could be a serious threat to your reign."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Hence her name."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"It's better than calling her Fluffy or something."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Or, God forbid, Charlotte." Okay, so this is a joke at Enjolras's expense, so what?"

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Did someone named Charlotte piss in your Cheerios?" asks Janet, who has spoken to Enjolras a grand total of once.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Charlotte is the name Enjolras gave his cat, I presume after one of the only mothers of the revolution he can tolerate."

[sorrowandsorrow]

Janet snorts a laugh. "I know you're never going to let him live that down. Not," she adds pointedly, "that you should."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I shall, in that I don't intend to speak to him unless compelled by someone else," says Susan, archly. "My apologies to all other women but I shan't tilt at windmills in an effort to be the one to compel him to recognize us as equal to men." She pauses. "Much less, naturally, superior."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"That's a waste of your time," Janet agrees, giving Regina another scritch under the chin as punctuation. "Right, Your Majesty? Susan's got better things to do than singlehandedly overturn sexism."