Watcha playing? I know someone who thinks it's D&D. My guess would be something with scrolls. Elder scrolls? ;)
It’s, uh, a homebrew (vaguely D&D-inspired but heavily modified) system to roleplay in Guild Wars 2. I volunteered to lead A mission to give our usual DM a break like four weeks ago, and we’re still inside the same dungeon because I am apparently incapable of keeping things short in any context. Whoops.
If it were just me, not a group session, and I didn’t have other things to take care of, It would definitely be The Elder Scrolls V, though. ;)
So this is for @the-goofball, just because, and for @ladyelysandra for her fan-rambling and encouragement. I wanted to write this before Valentine’s Day, but, hey, it’s still Femslash February. *cough* That’s what counts, right? *sheepish grin*
Contains, uh, D/s overtones, Helen being her usual emotionally repressed and control freak self, uh, mistaken perceptions of others? Not at lot to tag I don’t think.
Basically Kate attempts to organize something for Valentine’s Day. Helen learns about it, and has a couple of things she wants to say.
"Kate, do you have a moment?"
Kate turned to find Helen standing in the doorway to her office, forearm braced on the doorjamb, hip cocked, a posture she usually only took during other moments. She swallowed, darting her tongue over her lips — by now a pavlovian reflex. Helen's smile widened.
"Uh, yeah, of course." Kate stepped into the room, turning to face her as she closed the door. That tiny click, significant and yet not all at once, the sound both setting her at ease and setting her on edge, rife with echoes of past meanings. Kate shoved her hands in her pockets. "What's this about?"
Helen settled against her desk, not quite sitting, fingers curling around the edge. "I called Alfredo's yesterday, to request a table for the 14th. Imagine my surprise when I'm informed there's already a reservation for that evening, in my name."
Kate opened her mouth, almost prepared to protest, and then she just shrugged slightly. "Yeah, I wanted to do something. I mean, I'm not really into the schmoopy clichéd Valentine's Day stuff, but I figured..." She searched for the right words. "You kinda have this thing about being 'courted properly'," and she made sure the fond air quotes were audible, "And I figured doing something for Valentine's Day was part of that."
"Kate..." Helen shook her head, with something gently coaxing in her tone Kate couldn't quite pinpoint. "Why?"
Kate shrugged, feeling a little helpless, off-balance yet again. Helen's specialty, almost like an aura. "Why not? I thought — I was trying to do it right. " She shook her head, glanced at the floor. "It seemed like something you'd like, and, like, care about."
Helen straightened, pushed herself gently off of her desk, and held her hands out. "Come here?"
Kate went, and was kissed: softly, thoroughly, until she threaded her fingers through Helen's locks and flicked her tongue across Helen's lower lip.
"I appreciate what you've tried to do. The forethought and intention behind this..." She brushed a lock of hair behind Kate's shoulder, fingers ghosting over that sensitive patch of skin on Kate's neck. "But is this you?"
"What do you mean?" Kate shook her head, taking half a step back, to create space for her confusion.
"I mean, are you doing this for yourself, or out of some attempt to do what you think will please me?" A quiet quirk of her eyebrow that drove the breath from Kate's lungs.
She looked down, embarrassment flooding her face. "You don't like it?"
"May I be frank?" Helen ran her thumb along Kate's jaw, tilting her chin up.
Kate laughed, meeting Helen's eyes for only a brief moment. "Since when have you ever not been?"
"Touché." Helen smiled, that truly pleased smile that brought out her dimples, that Kate never got enough chances to bask in. "What I mean to say is, I want to be romanced by Kate Freelander. Not by some person who Kate Freelander might think I want to be romanced by. Now, which one came up with this idea?"
"I — I don't know." She really didn't. Because she wanted to please Helen, wanted to be the sort of person who pleased her. And she had nothing against chocolate and champagne.
"I've been wined and dined by kings, czars, celebrities, and millionaires." Kate hunched her shoulders, sullenly kicking down the self-recrimination rising up at Helen's words. "I don't say that to belittle what you've arranged, not at all. It's the intention behind it that counts. Which is why I don't want you to feel as though you need to arrange something fancy for me. Kate, please look at me, if you can." Slowly, Kate raised her eyes to meet Helen's, to meet that soft gaze of hers she could get lost in. "Anyone can arrange a fancy dinner. Not everyone can offer me an evening Kate Freelander's way."
She never knew how Helen managed to find just the words, just the tone that made her feel small and loved and powerful at the same time. "How do you do that?"
"I most certainly can't tell you how to do things your way." There was the arched eyebrow, the wry amusement.
Kate snorted, half a relieved laugh. "That wasn't what I meant. But, I'm confused. Like, you want effort, but you don't want this kind of effort. What kind do you want?"
"Please don't confuse effort and forethought with extravagance. And don't lose your originality, either."
Kate exhaled, nodding to the rush of another small puzzle piece slotting into place. "I got it. I think."
"How are you?" Quiet, caring. "I'm aware I can be... exacting, at times."
"Hey, I knew I was getting into something with a woman who knows her own mind." Kate lifted one hand, and let it fall to her thigh again. "It just takes a bit of getting used to."
"I didn't want you to —" Helen stopped, and pressed her lips together. "No, that's not quite it. I'm aware I don't exactly perceive high society as 'your element,' and I doubt you do either, but I am confident you could navigate that environment perfectly well if you needed or desired to." Helen glanced down, that Victorian reserve flashing across her expression for a moment, before she took a deep breath. "I'm afraid my motivations were somewhat selfish. I'm not all antiques and fine wines, despite whatever lines I'm sure Will has employed when Nikola and I spend an evening reminiscing. You know I also appreciate leather and keen weaponry." Kate swallowed, acutely aware of said appreciation as it rose to her mind's eye. "My view of romance has... evolved over the years, and I was rather looking forward to being courted your way. So... if you were seeking to please me..." Helen tilted her head, and the gesture filled in the rest of the sentence more elegantly than words.
"You really aren't used to asking for things, are you?" With a strange sort of elation filling her, Kate surged forwards, to kiss Helen again. Helen let out a small, surprised noise, and curled her hand around the nape of Kate's neck.
"I'm really not," she admitted when they broke apart for air. "I hope you can make your peace with that."
Kate laughed, grinned, shook her head with something approaching fond exasperation. "Already have."
