Characters: Susan and Lucy Pevensie Setting: Peter's house Summary: Watching a movie. Chatting about Narnia. Rating: Low :) Status: Closed; Complete
Susan had never indulged in as many movies as she had in the few months she’d made her home with Peter, Lucy, and Caspian. They had a cheap subscription to Netflix and she’d found herself scrolling through the listed movies and televisions shows available. Some were obviously very bad and after few minutes in Susan would flip it off. Strangely, she’d developed a guilty pleasure of sorts for horror movies, some pretty raunchy and disturbing like the man with the metal claws or whatever, and sappy romance flicks. The loves stories that left one in a weepy state of red rimmed, shiny eyes and reaching for the box of kleenex. In between working to transfer her credits from out east to California, she allowed herself a little down time to watch what was offered, documentaries included. Sometimes, one or two of the others would pop in and sit down, watching a bit with her before going on their way. Lucy did this often and today was no different than most.
With her sister’s arrival, Susan was soon swayed to put aside her paperwork and give into some quality time with her younger, more free-spirited sibling. It was evening and Susan was flipping through the choices curiously. Lucy would be along soon enough and she thought she heard rumblings from the kitchen and possibly the popping of buttery popcorn. Very proper in most cases, Susan found it difficult to shake off the mantle she donned herself in when in the bustling public. It was only around her siblings and Caspian that she allowed a bit of that prim, polite mask to fade and a bit of the actual Susan to shine through. Despite her semi-resistance at times, Lucy often stood the best chance of pulling her from her frivolous lifestyle. Even as an adult, Lucy always possessed a childhood innocence, an unshakable faith in the truly unbelievable and seeming impossible. While Susan stuck to the concrete, the facts, Lucy saw the world in many more colors. They were truly opposite, but a sisterly bond existed strong. In Lucy’s presence, she could find the ability to believe in something as improbable as Narnia and their dreams.
Movies were always good and Lucy enjoyed watching them with her family. Be it just one or all of them. She didn’t get as much time since she’d started working later after Vlad’s sensitivity grew, there was no point in being a PA if you didn’t try and keep similar hours to your boss. One of the perils of having a vampire as an employer, she still hadn’t told Susan about that yet. Her sister seemed to have trouble believing the more wondrous aspects of the county they were living in. While Lucy rather embraced and enjoyed it, mostly anyway.
Popcorn was a must today so she sorted it out in the kitchen, hoping her sister would take care of the choice for them. She knew Lucy wasn’t a horror fan so hopefully they’d steer clear of those. She liked spending time with Susan just them, she liked seeing her sister let her hair down a bit and relax. They’d been closer as younger children but then Susan had discovered boys and clothes and things Lucy wasn’t interested in. Even now she found other things interested her more.
“Tell me you’ve picked something fun” she grinned entering the room with popcorn and sodas.
Susan looked up at the sound of her sister’s voice and the distinct smell of buttery popcorn she brought along with her. Instantly, her mouth began to water and she eagerly reached up a hand and plucked a piece from the top of the heaping pile. She’d skipped lunch that day in order to indulge in the popcorn, but she had a figure to keep and men’s wandering eyes to attract. Plus, so many lovely clothes she couldn’t bear to part with if a pound was gained. Pushing the depressing thoughts from her mind, she focused back on her sister and the prospect of much needed sibling time. “Of course. I thought a nice horror flick would do just the-” She broke off, unable to keep the attempt at humor going. She knew her sister absolutely despised them and Susan couldn’t think to tease her about it now. Still, the look on her face was always amusing.
“I was thinking romance? Something sappy?” She quickly countered instead. “There is a good variety on here and I do love them so.” Susan indulged in bad, naughty romance novels, commonly called Harlequin, whenever she had a moment alone. They were inappropriate and she was quite sure most looked down on those who read them. They were another one of her rather dirty little secrets. She reached for the diet soda Lucy balanced in a hand and popped the top. Another horrible habit. Susan liked her diet soda. “What about you, Lu? What do you have in mind?”
Thoughts like skipping lunch to indulge in a treat later never really crossed Lucy’s mind, she ate what she wanted most of the time. And attracting men definitely wasn’t something she thought about, just one of the ways in which the sisters differed. Her face must have looked a picture when Susan mentioned horror films and she put the popcorn on the table so she could tickle her older sister, “You are so mean” she said though her amused smile betrayed her words.
“Romance works, maybe not too sappy though. We already have popcorn, anything too sweet and we’ll get cavities” she grinned with a wink, “A good action romance combo would be good” Lucy liked action films, fantasy too which had only increased since the dreams. She loved magical worlds and thought herself rather lucky that she did dream of them.
At her sister’s comment about cavities, Susan giggled. It was true. Some of those romances were extremely sappy and they definitely held a cringe factor at times. “Perhaps we can do the action romance,” she replied, reaching for the remote and scrolling through the listed titles once more. While Lucy loved things like that, Susan rarely watched anything like it. The only time she did was when she was with her sister; the younger girl’s prompting and powerful influence encouraged Susan to step outside her comfort zone. Still, Susan would only allow herself to go so far. The dreams were one of those things she refused to believe despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Everyone in town had them for one, for another her own siblings had them and that alone should have been enough to make Susan believe somewhat. Susan lacked imagination and her sister had leaps and bounds of it. Apparently so did Peter. As Edmund was not here at the moment, she wasn’t sure what his own take on this entire thing would be. She guessed he’d be like the other two and Susan would be the island she always seemed to be. Her inability to think outside the box left her alone amongst her siblings. Her focus on appearances made her seemed rather silly and even vain. “How about this one, Lucy?” She paused on something that read with both the touch of action her sister wanted and the romance that Susan favored.
Lucy had always had an active imagination, she liked to see the world differently and hadn’t lost that as she had grown up. She hoped she never would, she liked to be able to see and create things in her mind. Which was why she enjoyed the dreams so much, they were marvellous in her eyes and only made the more so since the trip through the wardrobe at Christmas.
“I think that looks perfect” Lucy said, she liked bringing her sister out of her shell a bit, getting her to try new things.
Susan nodded and clicked the button, watching curiously as the movie filled up the screen of a rather impressive television. It did occur to her that if she stayed in California, she would be able to enjoy her sister’s company all the time. It would not just be her sister, but her brother and his husband, Caspian, too. The thought brought a bubbly, excited feeling rising within her, but like always, thoughts of her former life out east filtered in and squashed it. She was established out there and outside of her family, she had no other reason to stay in California. Certainly, if anything, the dreams were more than a reason to drive her back as soon as possible. While her sister relished in them, Susan couldn’t agree. They were impossible, imposturous, and insane. A wardrobe that took you to a different world? It couldn’t exist. Though they had confided in her about the arrival of the so called “wardrobe” from the dreams over Christmas, Susan remained stubbornly doubtful. Unless she saw it with her own eyes, she simply wouldn’t believe it. Yet, it did not stop her from being a tad curious all the same. Very little, but still, curious.
“Lucy, I know it’s not real and absolutely ridiculous, but what was Narnia like? I don’t at all believe in it mind you, but it’s more curiosity and nothing more,” she added quickly. Susan couldn’t have her sister thinking for a moment that she had an imagination outside of the concrete, like clothes and boys.
Lucy couldn’t deny that she kind of liked having Susan around, her sister may be the more rational of them all but she loved her. And she had missed her a lot. Even if her denial of the dreams was a little annoying sometimes. Still maybe it would appear again this Christmas and if Susan was still here they could drag her with them and prove its existence.
“It is real and not at all ridiculous” Lucy began, “But it was amazing. The whole place feels magical and we have lots of friends there. Aslan is the best friend of course”
Susan bit back denial. To her, it appeared as nothing more than a silly dream. People could think as they wanted, but Susan believed the dreams meant nothing. The rumors of a possible “other life” left her scoffing in her latte yesterday morning. The dreams were dreams. They were pointless images, sequences the mind put together when a person was most vulnerable. Asleep, you could not control your thoughts. While she could not understand why the dreams were about such strange concepts, she knew far better than to put any stock into them. It was obvious Lucy thought the opposite of her sister. Lucy believed it to be real. Susan found this not surprising. As a child, Lucy possessed a vivid imagination and growing up did not change this. Peter’s belief in the dreams surprised Susan much more than Lucy’s belief in them. She considered her brother rational, but these dreams made her question his sanity. Part of Susan thought he was acting like this for Lucy’s sake, but he was serious in their defense. Besides, wouldn’t he have let Susan in on the situation then? No, Susan was positive Peter believed in it as much as their younger sister did. Susan did not understand. They were dreams. Just dreams.
“The cat went to Narnia with you all?” she asked, glancing over at her sister in curiosity. “I don’t understand how you can all believe in it.” Susan loved her family and being with Lucy brought out the best parts of her, but the dreams were a difference between them. Susan’s imagination was limited and Lucy’s was vast and unending.
Lucy didn’t expect her sister to believe her, she had always been the one who let her imagination run riot, she’d had a number of imaginary friends growing up and Susan a few times had tried to talk her out of it. Admittedly Lucy had hung onto one mainly to annoy her older sister but Lucy refused to believe these dreams were just dreams. Quite apart from what she’d seen the dreams felt different. They were far more vivid and lingering that the usual kind.
“Yes but when we got there he turned into the lion Aslan who is our friend there and the ruler of Narnia” Lucy explained, before laughing a little, “How can we not now we’ve been there. And how else do you explain the things from the dreams turning up here? I mean has Peter shown you his sword? How else do you explain that?” she asked her sister.
The Lion. Right. Susan dreamt of him a few nights before. Peter fought a wolf and Aslan dubbed him a knight with that same sword her brother showed her days ago. It was silly. A dream and nothing more, but Lucy sat before her and demanded otherwise in her normal, gentle way. “Ah. I remember him now,” she replied quietly, reaching for her diet coke and took a sip. To have this conversation, perhaps she would be in need of something stronger. Much stronger. “It’s just...so unbelievable Lucy,” she added after swallowing. “Narnia? A land in wardrobe?” When she said it out loud it sounded insane. Still, her siblings believed in all of it. Maybe if Edmund was present he would have taken her side, but she doubted it. He could have quite the imagination too despite poking fun at Lucy as children.
“I don’t know!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “But it is impossible.” Susan sought to find an actual explanation, but there was none to be hand. Instead, she was left, red and hiding behind the bowl of popcorn. “It’s just...not real, Lucy.”
Lucy smiled as she watched her sister, she could see how much Susan was struggling with it and part of Lucy wondered if she had been here at Christmas whether afterwards she would have found some kind of excuse not to admit it had happened. It was so strange being so different but Susan had always been the voice of reason, even when she had joined in imaginary games when they were younger she was the first to bring them all back to reality. “Unbelievable or not it happened” she said simply.
She laughed gently and not in a mean way, “Susan, how can it be impossible when it’s happened?” she grinned, “The sword appeared from the dreams, my dagger appeared too you may not believe us about the wardrobe but you can’t deny what was right in front of your eyes. It’s real and one day you’ll see it”
One day. Lucy sounded so sure, but when they were kids she sounded so sure of their imaginary friends too. Still, their imaginary friends never became real. Narnia had manifested in a number of ways in California. Despite Susan’s logical, rational nature, Lucy was right. She could not deny what was right in front of her eyes. The sword. The dagger. All proof that the world, the story, she’d been dreaming of was true. That in some world, some way, it existed and her siblings and her had been part of it. Insane? Very. True? Unfortunately? Fortunately? Susan wasn’t sure. She’d been positive it wasn’t and part of her continued to believe it was impossible. To think it was real, she wasn’t sure how to feel at all. A bit of childish wonder? Immature curiosity?
Susan looked over at her sister, the other woman grinning at her, and she couldn’t help, but grin, back at Lucy. “Alright, Lu. One day. Maybe. I will see,” she replied sincerely. Susan believed it a big ‘maybe’, but it was the closest she’d come since arriving here to admitting Narnia could be real.