*Disgusted Noise* (handofthedivine) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-09-04 18:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, cassandra pentaghast, leliana |
"For a secure government facility, the rumour mill is ridiculous."
Who: Cassandra and Leliana
What: Seeing each other again after years
When: Friday night
Where: In a car
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13
How long? Two years, three? Maybe longer, but Leliana had been one of those things on the back of her mind. A regret. Not what they'd shared, but that they'd lost contact. They'd been friends, and one thing Cassandra was terrible at, was making real, genuine friends. Any other emotions were too complicated to think about. Perhaps she lied to herself.
And she'd be lying if she said there had never been a time when Leelee wasn't on her mind at all. Cassandra focused too much on her work and her research at times, to the exclusion of all else.
She was working late on a case she couldn't talk about, and Leliana was intruding on her thoughts. She wished she could see her. Cleaning up, she walked out of the building and headed for her car.
Leliana liked to call it more than just a friendship, but she was a romantic at heart, even after her few years of unpleasantness. She'd loved Cassandra, and while it might have started out as some sort of schoolgirl crush that neither quite understood, the absence of her - even in letters - had really only fanned the flames.
The post on the valarnet had been a lucky one, indeed. Cass would surely not be expecting what was awaiting her, which was... clearly unexpected all around, because Cassandra was walking towards a different car than Leliana has guessed was hers.
Not that she had been camping on the hood of some random stranger's car, waiting for a certain Federal Agent to get off of work, only... oho, she had been. And now, she was utterly embarrassed. It had simply seemed like the kind of car Cassandra would have driven. She slid off of it though, as Cassandra walked ahead of her and towards a different car, silently stalking her.
When Cassandra got to the car door and unlocked it, there was a whisper in her ear, "I apologize for being so late. Only you see, there was this horrible monster, and it took me ages to find the right bedtime story to get him to sleep before I could find you."
The letters had been intense, to say the least, filled with all sorts of burning passion and intense wants and desires. Scandalous, really, even in this day and age. Cassandra still had hers, a guilty pleasure she still indulged in reading from time to time. When she most needed inspiration, or a push, she turned to them.
What had thrown Leelee off was that Cassandra drove an American make car. An old Camaro with a sparkling silver paint job that made it resemble medieval armor.
She jumped at the whisper in her ear, reaching for a weapon that wasn't at her side - because she had yet to be scheduled for a gun test. The weird thing was, it felt like she'd gone for a sword!
Still, the voice and the movement had her grappling with her assailant, pinning her to the car before she realize who it was. And then her stomach dropped and her heart started pounding. She recovered, staring into the sea-green eyes of Leliana. In the clipped accent she simply had been unable to shed, she replied, "That must have been a long bed time story, my nightingale."
"It was a tale years in the making, I admit," Leliana responded, breathlessly. She still had a bit of her french accent as well, unwilling or unable to completely Americanize it. Her expression was a bittersweet mixture of joy and sadness, though there was some hardness there that hadn't been there before.
It changed to one of utter sorrow when she reached a hand up to Cassandra's shorn hair, and ruffled it, "Ah... but you have gone and cut off your hair, which is such a shame. Not that it takes away from your beauty of course, but still. I did enjoy it."
The accent was enough to send shivers down Cassandra's spine, but she clamped down control of her body and her mind, unwilling to give in. To what, she wasn't sure. Her head momentarily leaned into Leliana's hand, "I felt like I needed a change. To change who I was, in a way."
"There is much of you that has changed, I can already tell," Leliana ran her fingers through the hair, which was still silky, despite how short it was, "I would like to get to know this new Cassandra, with the hair that I cannot run all over my skin any longer."
Leliana grinned then, "Unless you decided to rub your head against me, which is an enticing thought, I have to say."
"...get in the car before people notice. For a secure government facility, the rumour mill is ridiculous," Cassandra replied, casting a longing look down the front of Leliana's shirt. She could let the frenchwoman touch and caress her all night long, but not here, and not until she'd had something to eat.
Part of herself was reluctant, too, to rekindle things so suddenly. That part did not control her hands, which stroked lazy circles across Leelee's hips. At some point her legs had wound around Cassandra's waist. She snerked to herself.
"It is not a rumour, my dear Cassandra, if it is true," Leliana purred at her. There was no part of her that was reluctant about anything, though the motion of wrapping her legs around the woman had been completely subconscious.
After a few moments of standing there looking mostly amused, Leliana did let her go, however, "I will get into your car, my dear lady, but only because you've asked me to so very nicely."
And by nicely, she meant ordering her in that commanding tone of voice that made her knees quiver and her insides weak.
Cassandra pulled away, studying Leliana as she did so. The years had done wonderful things to the girl she'd known. Exploring those changes would be a distraction. She was suddenly less annoyed her weekend was approaching, especially as she recalled what Leelee had written in the last letter she'd received from her.
"How long have you been in town?" Her throat felt raw, though from what she couldn't guess. She slipped into the car herself, and started the motor with a dragon-like rumble.
"Oh, you know..." Leliana purred, and waved her hand in the air like she couldn't be bothered with such precise details as specific dates and times, "A few weeks? A month? No, I think... it might be a bit longer than that. Natasha's been missing for a few weeks now as it is. I'm actually starting to worry she hasn't run off with her co-star."
She crossed one leg over the other, and took in the sight of Cassandra driving, with a content smile on her face, "I've got a nice little place with this charming loft."
"That co-star is as straight as the pope's hat," Cassandra replied dismissively, fingers gripping the steering wheel more tightly when Leliana tightened her legs. How that woman always seemed to make her expose her passions so unwillingly was maddening, "Miss Romanoff is purring at the wrong catnip."
She glanced over, "It sounds cozier than the place I have. And probably less secure."
"I didn't pick it out so that it would be secure, silly woman," Leliana laughed, and shook her head, "Ah, you still take life so seriously. It is somewhat refreshing, though. And if that is true, then I will be sad, but also very worried. Because that will mean she may be hurt, or lost out there, the poor thing..."
She sounded genuinely upset by that thought, and let out a long sigh, "Why must you say these things sometimes? I know you enjoy the truth, and I do not personally mind seeking out the important ones, but now I will spend the rest of the evening worrying!"
Cassandra sighed, glancing back out the windshield, "Miss Romanoff is a very attractive women. With breasts like that she likely seduced the young co-star into experimenting, much like you did with me."
There was a lightly teasing note to the last.
On that note, Leliana smiled once more, and then giggled a bit, "I don't recall hearing you complain overly much while I seduced you the first, second, or even seventh time."
There'd been more than seven, but by that point it definitely couldn't be called seducing any longer. More like ravishing, or pouncing, or a selection of other words Leliana all found were pleasant depending on the situation.
"But I do hope that they find her, wherever she is. And not simply because she is my employer. I really liked her, and I had this feeling like she was going to be wonderful to work for. The kind of celebrity who really doesn't get all snobby about things, you know?"
And then there had been the times that Cassandra had turned it around on Leliana, much to the latter's delight. Her eyes darted as she thought of their time in the private school.
She reached over, taking Leliana's hand and stroking the knuckles lightly with her thumb, "Is that all the motivation, you little minx?"
Leliana reached a finger up to caress at Cassandra's hand, and ducked her head sheepishly, "Well, it might not have been my full motivation, but it cannot be helped, the woman is gorgeous and really quite charming. Ah... but that was before I knew you were in town."
"You know I don't own you, nightingale," Cassandra replied, cautiously. It felt like she was walking around landmines and broken glass in an effort to establish just where they stood, if they stood anywhere at all.
She wasn't even sure she knew where she wanted to be standing.
It might have even been too early to see where they aught to be standing, and Leliana wasn't sure on it, herself. She brought Cassandra's hand up to her lips, though, and gently kissed it, "You have never ceased to be dear to this Nightingale's heart, even if you'd rather not cage her."
"...So about this charming loft," Cassandra found herself saying. "Perhaps you could invite me for a drink, and we can chat in comfort. We have so much to catch up on." Like where did you go! Why. A thousand other questions that she had for someone she'd once considered a kindred soul. A seeker of truth, just like her.
"Oh, it's not just a loft, you know," Leliana chuckled, amused by her friend, or by her use of the same phrase she'd used before, or both. It was hard to tell. The french woman seemed to be perpetually amused anyway.
"It is a whole one bedroom apartment, but it does have a charming loft, which I use as a music room and library. We can certainly sit in it and enjoy a glass of wine or two, if you like. I think you'd enjoy it..."
“As long as it is only a single glass of wine,” Cassandra replied. She needed to keep her wits about her. There was thin ice between them and while she was desperately attracted she wanted to give them a chance to build on more than raw sexual attraction. She glanced at Leliana again, and gave her a charming smile, “Unless you had other plans.”
"Oh, non!" Leliana shook her head, defaulting back to her old language just slightly. She smiled, and motioned to the freeway, "I had no plans, except only to be with you in whatever way you wished. We can have a glass of wine, and perhaps I could cook you something."
"I would like that." Cassandra smiled, relaxing noticeably, as if the expectation of physical affection being taken away had also lifted an unmentioned burden.
"I want to be friends, nightingale. Before we are lovers, this time."
"If that is what you want, my dearest girl, then that is what you will have," Leliana replied, with a warm smile. She had little expectations herself, though her feelings hadn't changed. For now, it was simply nice to be back in Cassandra's life at all.
Cassandra pulled into Leliana's apartment complex, and following the woman's directions found a parking spot. With the car ticking as it cooled, she shifted towards her old friend and rested a hand on her knee. It was a concession to the attraction burning between them.
Instead of taking the hand and kissing it again, like Leliana desperately wanted to, she instead placed her hand over Cassandra's and patted it, lightly.
"Come, I will cook for you a delicious meal, and we can retire to the loft. You can catch me up on your life, and we will enjoy our evening."
Cassandra leaned in, pressing her lips against Leliana's. It stung like fire and tingled like ice, and brought back a thousand memories, smells and touches. It was also a promise of more, and yet a plea to not read too much into it.
Cassandra liked to seek out the truth, and the truth of the matter was she didn't know how she felt about Leliana back in her life.