[Closed Post] ..the plan means nothing stays the same..

[lanselos_du_lac]

In the few days since Dark ended, even Lancelot has noticed himself feeling easier. He had not thought himself much affected by Dark, aside from his concern for Susan and those he cares about who were facing their own struggles during the month; it's something of a surprise to find that his relief is also deep-set, for himself. There is a strange kind of hope that he doesn't recall feeling before, in anticipation of spring. He realizes that the pace will change, and that he is looking forward to spring and summer in this new place.

He's been considering whether he should move some of his things back to his own room. He has not stayed the night there since Susan asked him to stay with her during Dark, and he is happy to admit that this arrangement has been deeply pleasant. Lancelot has never experienced something so ... domestic as this. (He so rarely was able to wake up next to Guinever, that the first few times he woke up next to Susan after they began seeing each other, it felt like a very deep intimacy.) He doesn't, however, want to presume anything -- he knows Susan has appreciated having him close, he knows their relationship has grown deeper, but he isn't sure whether she wants him to stay with her at night on a more permanent basis. He suspects she might want her own space back, once she's recovered her equilibrium.

As ever, he has maintained his routine. He has also seen the invitation to Dionysus' party. It's this that was on his mind as he set out for the training yard this morning -- it was brisk and cold, but not so much the punishing cold of deep Dark -- and this he let himself idly consider while making his way through drills. (Thinking about it during drilling helps, because thinking about it otherwise has made him feel anxious -- he will never know what he ought to wear, or what to expect.)

By the time he has finished, he knows that there are several subjects that he needs to discuss with Susan when they meet for lunch.

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[quote_gentle_unquote]

In what is rapidly becoming an unconscious move, Susan slides easily with his touch, arranging herself in the way they both seem to like the best. She spreads a hand out along his neck, stroking her thumb along his jaw, his hairline.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot draws it out, arms around her waist, and when they eventually stop for a breath he murmurs, wryly, "My thanks to whatever magic brought us here."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan huffs out a hoarse half-laugh. "I was so cross when I first arrived here," she says, which is certainly one way of putting it!

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, so was I. I know I was unpleasant. 'Tis a good thing I did not meet thee first."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

She settles snugly against him. "At first I thought I was dreaming. You remember how I thought Narnia a childish fiction?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, I do." He runs a hand down her arm, idly.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"When I first walked through a door and ended up in a hallway here, I thought I'd nodded off at the library and all of this was," Susan pauses and makes a tiny grimace. "A grief-fueled manifestation of my unconscious, to envision traveling to a new world, when my family died in the middle of a fight where they kept insisting we'd traveled to Narnia, and I kept insisting it had just been childhood fancy. I do believe I must have made rather a fool of myself."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Perhaps we all did, in one way or another."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan glances up at him and then leans up to kiss his cheek. "Perhaps," she allows. "I certainly didn't accept that this was real until I met SecUnit and its drones. I couldn't fathom making something like that up myself."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It went very hard with me, at first. But it did help that there was already someone here that I knew and could trust."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Sagramore?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye. We were not friends -- in my time or in his -- and I do not think he was glad to see me. But I trusted in our shared vow and I knew he would not lie to me."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Yes, Sagramore has been scrupulously clear about the nature of his feelings about Lancelot before he arrived. It's one of the reasons Susan doesn't particularly care for the man. "It's good that you had that."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"It helped," he nods. "For a while, I was very much distressed at the idea that I could not return. That changed."

He brushes her cheek lightly. "Not only thanks to thee, but-- I would not be the same without thee. I am happy here, now."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I remember," she says, turning into his touch and then kissing his cheek again. "I was so angry to be pulled away from my life, such as it was. My job, my friends, my classes, my routine... Granted, in retrospect, I was barely holding it together, but despite my grief I didn't want to be away from it all." She sighs. "I don't recall when that changed, actually. But now I can't begin to fathom it any other way."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Perhaps that is the way of things," thoughtfully, brushing back her hair.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'm ever so grateful now," Susan says, smiling up at him. "I imagine I shouldn't want to go back at all any more." This is the first time she's thought as much, so she pauses there, looking thoughtful.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He gives her another gentle touch. "An thou didst, I would follow thee."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Her breath catches, and she tries to imagine her Arthurian knight in modern-day London. What a culture shock that would be for him! "I oughtn't go to Camelot with you, though," she says. "If the opportunity arose. I'd get in far too much trouble."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He smiles wryly at her, "How so?"

He does have some idea of what she means, he thinks, but there are other outspoken ladies at court and he can, to some extent, imagine her there.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

She shakes her head. "I'd start far too many fights over how dreadfully you've been treated, and I doubt I'd be able to get away with it by claiming my queenship of Narnia."

[lanselos_du_lac]

Ah-- so he was wrong. He looks a little surprised. "Truly?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'd be kicked out immediately," she nods.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot gives a little gasp of a laugh, "Why shouldst thou think that?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"For fighting everyone!"