Satele Shan (blood_of_revan) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-05-22 22:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, rowanne, satele shan |
"And then I handled my first staff."
Who: Satele and Rowanne
What: They get over their nerves and go on a date! There's learning about each other, Satele has a momentary waking dream about the Jedi council. Then there's breakfast invitations.
When: Tonight!
Where: Fancy Italian place and then Satele's condo.
Rating: PG-13 for glossed over stuff at the end
They'd ended up scheduling the date for a bit later in the week. Satele didn't let herself think about it when she was in the classroom, but when she was home alone her mind kept turning the prospect over and over in her head. Could this actually work out? Should this work out?
The idea of romantic entanglements put a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Maybe it was just nerves, maybe it was the spectre of failed relationships in the past. But she was scared.
Well, she would have to buck up, then! She chose a dress like this and then..wait, who was picking up who?
that they should really settle. Rowanne glanced around her place, which was pretty much clean, considering she'd had a long stint of sleeping at the station for her shifts and done some filling in too. So that didn't leave too much to be done. A quick clean of the terarium and she was good to go. Time to go ahead and get dressed then. She glanced through her closet for some accessories to go with the outfit she'd picked earlier that week, and then was ready to go. And she should probably call first, huh?
Satele picked up her phone and called Rowanne. They really needed to figure this out!
Rowanne grinned when she saw the number and picked up right away. "I was just going to call you." She greeted her warmly. "We never did decide about transportation."
"Well..." Satele played with the strap of her dress, "I suppose that might depend on how the evening may end."
Oh that sounded bad.
That did, didn't it? Rowanne swallowed a little at that, not nervous, but more like she was trying to figure out something to say. "Should we be comparing backseats then? "she joked.
"We're a little too old for that, aren't we?" Satele's laugh sounded nervous. One could almost hear the blush, "I could pick you up, if you'd like." Her backseat was nicer.
"That's probably best." Rowanne agreed, and smiled, even though Satele couldn't see it. "That sounds like a plan then." she said, and quickly gave her some directions, and a number to buzz when she got close.
"I'll see you in thirty minutes?"
"Sounds about perfect." Rowanne agreed, and decided to check her makeup again. She wore it so rarely with her lifestyle that it always felt a little awkward on.
Satele walked out of her condo, and got into her Audi. The Range Rover was for outside dates, she'd decided. This called for the Audi. While driving she phoned ahead to confirm the reservations, then buzzed Rowanne as she was expected to do!
Rowanne finished up with a last dusting of powder and went to grab the buzzer. "Hey!" she said into it, and wondered if maybe that wasn't the right greeting for this. "I'll uh, be right down." And then it was into the shoes she had been leaving off until now, because really, platforms were kind of awkward at home, and headed out the door and over to meet Satele, where her eyes almost popped out of her head.
Satele's mouth dropped open as Rowanne approached and she was glad she was sitting down. She checked the pulse on her wrist, "I'm attracted physically. Good to know." She got out of the car, so she could get around it and open the door for her, "You look...all my education and I can't find a word."
Rowanne laughed and got a better look at Satele. "And you look pretty amazing yourself, I'll have you know." she told her, grinning. "Stunning might be a start to describe you."
Satele's voice rose in pitch, "Really?" She cleared her through, "Really. Thank you. Stunning. Get in before I embarass myself further, you."
Rowanne giggled, yes, giggled and hopped in this time. "Really, really." she confirmed.
Lord, she was sixteen again and going on her first date with Tyvus. Wait, that had ended badly - eventually. Satele closed the door, and walked around the front. Almost strutting for Rowanne's benefit, but she'd never admit it. She got in and buckled up, "I feel like my heart is going to beat clear out of my chest."
Satele saw no reason to disguise these things. She had her secrets, but the only way she'd be able to deal with dating a woman would be being forthright and honest with herself, and Rowanne about it.
Rowanne smiled over at her and realized she needed to be the calm one here. "I've never exactly done this kind of thing myself, you know." she said. "So I'm not any kind of expert or anything." And she let herself relax a little. "I mean, you don't need to be nervous or anything like that. That's not a way to go about this, right?"
"When was the last time you dated, at all?" She glanced at Rowanne out of the corner of her eyes, then realized she'd probably end up getting them into an accident if they kept doing that, "I suppose you're right. This is just a big..step."
"It is, isn't it?" Rowanne agreed, and took a deep breath. "It...I didn't even know that I was attracted to women until, well until we talked and met and...then I noticed the other things." She said, eyedarting. "So it's very, VERY new. I mean...it's all fine and I wouldn't change it but it's still..." Different.
"It's different," Satele finished for her. "Don't people usually have this phase in college?"
"Something like that, yeah," Rowanne laughed. "Makes me feel a little silly, you know?"
"Don't feel silly. I mean we only have..." Satele took a breath. She had a bad track record of first dates, and she didn't even know if she would like kissing Rowanne, so why was she thinking of that? "I hope you like Italian."
"Italian is wonderful." Rowanne wondered about kissing too, especially when she said italian. Should she eat garlic then or not? Well, if BOTH of them did it, then it wouldn't matter. Not that there would necessarilly BE kissing...Oh Hell.
Satele had brought mints and would be willing to share. She pulled up to the resteraunt's valet lane, and handed off the keys. It was the sort of resteraunt a professor wouldn't usually afford.
That was...Rowanne's eyes widened and she bit back a little noise of surprise. "I knew it was going to be nice..." she explained. "But not THIS nice. I..." she suddenly wondered if she was going to be able to fit in here, even if she looked the part.
"Relax," Satele put a hand on Rowanne's arm, then offered her her elbow. "You're beautiful, you'll fit in. Be at peace with yourself." She glanced at the other woman and smiled. Then swallowed as a rather teenager like desire to leave a hickey reared itself. She clamped down on that and shoved it into the same spot where all her desires went.
"I could tell you the same thing." Rowanne smiled back, and took her elbow, able to relax a little now, she found, and well, that was a good thing. this place was beautiful. Might as well enjoy it, and the company and worry later.
They were taken to a table, and given menus and a selection of wine to choose from. Satele picked one out, "Order whatever you wish."
"Let's see..." Rowanne glanced through the menu, trying to decide on something that wouldn't be too messy, and eventually made a choice and closed the menu. Now, she guessed, came the conversation part. That would probably make them both less nervous.
Or more nervous as the case might be. Satele closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them as she let serenity flow over her.
Suddenly she was in another place. A grand chamber with high ceilings, and a round table. There were a half-dozen seats and they were all full. Everyone was looking at her. Not everyone looked human.
Satele snapped out of it, blinking. She fidgeted with her hands and tried to shake it off, "That's..that's a good choice, Rowanne."
Giving the other woman a smile, she asked, "Do you read much?"
"I do." Rowanne smiled. "Mostly, well, it started when I was little. Everyone else wanted to be a princess. Me, I sort of wanted to be Robin Hood or Lancelot." She eyedarted a little. "So, I started reading."
"What's your favorite story?" Satele stilled her feet before they got minds of their own. She wanted to pay attention to what Rowanne said, not what she felt like.
Rowanne considered for a moment. "Well, actually, Britomart. From the Faerie Queene. We did a little of that in school. I always liked her after that. She knew what she was questing for and went out to get it. How did you get into the Middle Ages?"
"When I was a little girl, my parents took me on a castle tour in Europe. I suppose I've been fascinated ever since." Satele smiled at the memory, "And then I handled my first staff." The waiter bringing them their wine nearly fumbled the bottle.
Rowanne managed not to giggle at the waiter, she really did, but it was a close thing, and well, there WAS a smile there anyway. "I see." She said, until the waiter had left, and then, she snickered a bit. "I'm sorry, that was just..."
Satele's ears burned, and then her cheeks. She picked up her wine glass and took a sip to cover her embarassment, "I think I deserved that."
"Maybe." Rowanne admitted, eyes sparkling. "Still, those seem like good reasons to me." And she wasn't going to say the rest, because, well, really, 'handling a staff sounds like a good reason'? kind of defeated what they were doing here.
"When I was at University, I was getting my business degrees. Like the good daughter," Satele continued, still the color of the wine in her glass. "It wasn't very exciting."
"Ouch, I bet not." Rowanne nodded slowly. "That must have been a pain."
"It worked out in the end. I stayed to get my degrees in teaching a subject I vastly enjoyed." She put her glass down, smiling at her, "And as long as I keep up to date on the goings on with the company I'm free to pursue this dream."
"Well then." Rowanne grinned. "That IS a good thing, isn't it?" She found herself brushing a stray bang out of her face. "It's good to see things like that happening."
"I met you, didn't I?" She licked her lips, "that sounds positively salacious doesn't it."
"It absolutely does." Rowanne leaned forward a bit. "Not that I can mind of course."
Satele reached across the table and put her hand over Rowanne's, "I need to ask you forgiveness ahead of time. Should I come across as distant. I tend to get wrapped up in work and bottle up my emotions..."
There was a long pause. Satele found herself in that chamber again. She was kneeling. The council bid her to rise, Grand Master of the Jedi Council.
Satele blinked, inhaling sharply, feeling dizzy, and a little faint. For a long moment, she could feel herself filled with something...something whole. Something all around. Then just like that it was gone and she could breathe again.
Rowanne nodded at that. "That's understandable, really. You're an academic. I mean...you have so many things going on. And my schedule's also sort of hard to work around right now. You'll probably see me looking pretty bad pretty soon." She eyedarted. "Or hear me ranting. Either way. I...tend to overreact sometimes."
"I'm willing to listen to you rant," Satele repled, recovering from the..waking dream? Flashback? She wasn't sure, but it had been strange. She stroked her fingers over the woman's fingers, "Really, you could just read the phone book at me."
"Funny, I'd say the same thing about you. Accents." Rowanne admitted, eyedarting.
Satele's smile grew, "That could be arranged, but maybe something a little more ..exciting."
"I'm up for that." Rowanne grinned. "I do like, you know, bedtime stories and things." ... "Oops!"
"I might be interested in hearing one myself," Satele murmured. "Oh lord give me strength."
"We're terrible people right now, aren't we?" Rowanne snickered. "Here we are somewhere nice, and we're like teenagers."
"I'd say the blame should be split 50/50," Satele replied, laughing softly. "We really should try to eat." She bit her lip hard enough to wince, to stop herself from adding 'we'll need the energy.'
"Good idea. We probably will..." Rowanne shut up right then and took a breadstick instead. Nicely. She was very aware of how carefully she behaved as she picked it up.
Satele took a breadstick as well. She was suddenly conscious of Rowanne's awkwardness in this resteraunt. She should have picked something a little more down to earth, but it was too late now. She touched Rowanne's ankle with her toe, "Relax, sweet thing."
"I'm just trying not to, you know, do anything too obscene." Rowanne assured her, grinning a little. "The rest of this, you wearing thingsl ike that, I could get used to it."
"I can count the number of dates I've been on my hands," Satele replied, embarrassed. "Dressing up is so..ostentatious but I get some guilty pleasures out of it. When you look at me like that."
Rowanne made a note that if this went anywhere, the next firemans' ball was one such occasion she'd be bringing her along to. That would be a good thing, really. No one from her station would care. "I can't help looking at you like that."
Satele blushed, then she was saved by food, which she barely tasted as she ate it.
Rowanne managed to get through the meal with a certain grace, since she'd decided, after the breadstick thing to just think about other things, and pretending she was at a banquet worked out well for behavior and such.
Satele started to wash it all down with wine, before catching herself. She had to drive after wall. This heady feeling was just the wine, right? "Would you like some dessert?"
"Oh, I don't know." Rowanne grinned at her. "We could do that at my place as easily, couldn't we?"
Satele's fork bounce off her plate and hit the floor, and she cursed very unlady like!
"That was probably the wrong thing to say." Rowanne admitted, ducking her head a little.
"No! No. It's quite all right. I was just..bugger." The last thing she needed right now was chocolate.
Rowanne bit back from saying 'maybe' the way she really wanted to, and just grinned instead.
Satele just blushed, and took the bill before Rowanne could get a look at the cost of the meal, "Why don't we go back to my condo for a nightcap, and continue this conversation where the only people we'll be embarassing each other in front of is ourselves."
"Or we could do that." Rowanne agreed, blushing now too. "I'd like that, really."
Nodding, Satele took care of the bill, then held out her hand for Rowanne.
Rowanne slipped her hand into Satele's, and liked the way it felt, though in a way it seemed like she should be wearing gloves or something, which felt odd. Huh.
Satele could envision Rowanne as the knight kissing her hand. The thought made her blush. Before she realized it, they were back to the car, "Oh.. well.. " Breathing. What was that?
Breathing? Who did things like that? She'd like to be that knight, certainly. She could imagine them dancing in a great hall somewhere, with minstrels, in astonishingly, the same position time after time, like a reused animation frame or something.
Satele leaned against Rowanne. This was wrong. Not her being a woman. The romance. The desire. The hunger for something that wasn't food. That didn't stop her from leaning in a little bit.
Was it wrong? It didn't feel so wrong to Rowanne really. It felt....vaguely uncertain, but, well, that was about all that she could tell was wrong about it. And she ignored that little feeling too, since it wasn't major and wrapped an arm around her.
Satele shivered against the other woman, "This is..this night is going to end the way I think it will, isn't it." That's what she meant to say, only it came out mumbled as her lips brushed against Rowanne's.
"If that's the way you'd like, then maybe." Rowanne said, kissing her back. "I'm not opposed but not if you don't think..."
"Get in the car," Satele purred, kissing her again.
Rowanne felt a llittle tingle go up her spine at the sound of that purr and then the kiss, and then she did slip into the car.
Satele had never moved faster in heels in her life. She ignored that little voice in the back of her head and took the keys from the valet, tipped him, and slipped in herself. The engine roared to life, "That was....really nice."
"Very..." Rowanne agreed. "I...yeah it was... I enjoyed that." She settled on at last. "And you. Er...I shouldn't say that kind of thing with you driving."
"Only if you want a stay at hospital," Satele replied, laughing. It was a nervous laugh. She had no idea what to do. A nightcap might relax her. Yes. That would do.
"That would put a crick in our plans wouldn't it?" Rowanne settled for starring out the window instead.
"Is it warm in here?" Satele turned on the air conditioner. She drove in silence otherwise, before pulling into the condo complex and parking the car. She opened the car door, "I believe this is where I ask you about coming in for a nightcap?"
"And this is where I demure a little but definitely agree in the end." Rowanne grinned. "So I don't look too, you know, eager or something."
Satele laughed, opening Rowanne's door, "Guide me in, Lady Knight?" She offered her her arm.
"I would be glad to." Rowanne slipped out and took her arm grandly, then began escorting her up the walkway.
"To tell the truth," Satele said under her breath. "I really need to get these shoes off."
"Well then. I've got an idea for that." Rowanne carefully scooped her up and into her arms. "There. Now you probably can get them off sooner."
Satele wrapped her arms around Rowanne's neck, letting out a little surprised laugh. She kissed at Rowanne's neck, trying to not start giggling like a catholic school girl,"You know how to treat a lady."
It was always CATHOLIC school girls wasn't it? Dens of inequity those, weren't they? "Well, I do my best." She assured her, shivering at the neck kiss. "Careful. I don't want to drop you. I get the feeling that's unchivalrous."
Satele slipped her keys into Rowanne's hand, and grinned against her skin. Her anxiety had vanished when she'd been swept up. She had such little opportunity to be treated like this. She really ought to tell Rowanne about certain things but didn't want to ruin the mood.
Rowanne smiled, and got the door, then gently pushed it open, taking her over the threshold, as it were.
Satele kicked off her heels, and groaned in relief. She nuzzled at Rowanne's throat.
Rowanne looked for somewhere they could go where she wasn't in danger of dropping Satele, found a sofa and decided they were gonna just go ahead and hang out there. Then she tugged her closer for her own nuzzling.
Satele was in someone's lap. She'd been in such a situation before and it had ended..badly. But somehow she doubt Rowanne would get her knocked up. She tilted her head back, "That feels so..divine.."
Rowanne didn't have any turkey basters with her today, so nope, not likely to happen at all, which was a good thing. "So do you." Rowanne told her, scooting a hand around to rest on her waist.
Shifting, Satele hiked up her dress a bit, so she could straddle Rowanne without ripping it. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, then leaned in to kiss her. She'd decided that she didn't want a nightcap, nervous or not!
Screw nightcaps. there were lots better things to do right now. Like...Oh wow she was...Well...Rowanne sucked in a deep breath, but it wasn't from nerves.
Fifty cent tour of the condo could wait. There was kissing. And feels. And feeling up
What a nice first date this was turning out to be!
Satele pulled Rowanne to her feet without breaking the kiss, and left a trail of their clothing behind them on the way to the bedroom. When sense and breath returned to her, she lay with her head pillowed on one of Rowanne's breasts, her skin damp from their exertion, "Lord.."
Rowanne's hair was sweaty, and her eyes were fairly dialated, and she liked the feeling of holding Satele like this after what had been, well. "Agreed..." she would have nodded, but was too comfortable right now.
Trailing a finger down Rowanne's hip, Satele asked a little quietly, "Stay for breakfast?" She thought she wanted to wake up next to her.
"I'd like that." Rowanne didn't have to do another on call until the next evening so she might as well. "Very much."