a-sporking-rat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
a_sporking_rat) wrote2013-06-25 08:09 pm
a_sporking_rat) wrote2013-06-25 08:09 pm
Entry tags:
How Celia Got Her Groove Back
Today Dad and I went kayaking! We went right into a big pod of dolphins that were hanging out by an anchored fishing boat. It was awesome! We saw lots of them up close (a few I could have reached out and touched with the oar!) and lots of babies with their moms and adolescents goofing around together. Totally thrilling! Mom and my sister were in the other kayak, and they stayed away from it all. My sister was afraid of the dolphins, and mom has a phobia of birds (which were of course also all around the boat) so they just headed back early. My dad and I stayed for a good long while though. I could totally have watched them all day.
I am happy to announce that Sue versus Sue has gotten fanfiction! Commenter writtenelision, who contributed several characters to SvS, has been making wonderful little drabbles about those in her cast who joined the cause and what they're up to behind and between the SvS scenes! Check 'em out!
Maureen and Simon are hers, Thomas and Delilah are mine, and they are all being cute!
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/1883.html
Pryderi the werefox contemplating just what he'd like to do to the Circus
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/2412.html
Odile, sister of the swanmane Odette, hasn't entered the story or St. Louis yet, but when she does, it's gonna be a bloodbath
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/2588.html
Her original creation, a Kiss of little girl vampires, don't actually appear in SvS (though Valentina will probably join them at the end) but they're still in that universe and they miss her in NYC!
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/1638.html
As for the titular subject of this post...this was something I wrote between the previous installment of Sue vs Sue and the installment before that one. It was done basically to get inspiration back, and it served its purpose, so I might not continue it to completion. However, what I got of it was amusing enough that I think it can stand on its own and that you'd enjoy it enough to hold you over before normal sporkings resume.
It's supposed to take place alongside/at the same time as Sue vs Sue, but don't fret about it lining up perfectly with the continuity or canon, because I didn't.
How Celia Got Her Groove Back
"So, there's nothing to do out there except him, it's too far from town to go visit any human friends on a regular basis, all the other swans hate me for the whole traitor thing, and all of Ruthven's vampires and therian guards just see me as food, food they're not allowed to have anything to do with because I belong to the boss, which is such bullshit because we are so not monogamous, you know? Literally the only thing I am left with is riding his dick, and he won't even give me that most of the time! I'm starting to think he's got some kind of hormonal problem because what the hell, since when does the hot chick have to do the begging?"
"Think he's gay?"
"Ugh, it's crossed my mind, but no, pretty sure not."
"Huh. Hey, maybe pop a Viagra next time before you let him drink your blood?"
"Lucy, that's clearly not the issue. It's not him, it's the fact that Celia's all alone. No one talks to her, no one will be her friend, her only mode of interaction anymore is sex with this one guy--"
"--and he's not giving it up! So she needs a new guy!"
"...I think you missed my point there maybe."
"Sati, you're a virgin who can't drive, you don't have any insight on this stuff."
"...aren't YOU a lesbian though?"
"Celia, honey, that doesn't mean I don't know anything about getting some when you need it."
The rain poured outside, a cliche English day. Inside the uncrowded restaurant, three women sat at a booth next to the window. On one side was an attractive blued-eyed blonde white woman in her early thirties, well-dressed and wearing all white, her straight hair curling inward at the ends where it just barely hit her shoulders. On the other side was another blue-eyed-blonde white woman, this one with curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a brown girl with black hair in Cleopatra-style braids with little gold ornaments. The latter looked only in her early twenties, though in fact was around the age of the curly-haired blonde. The straight-haired blonde was Celia Glass, a swanmane. The black-haired girl was Sati Beshara, a weresnake. And the curly-haired one was Lucille van Pelt, who was also a therian, but still something else altogether. Something that was either entirely new, or something very, very ancient that simply hadn't been seen ever since the days when the Dark Mother reigned supreme.
"But how would I even get a new guy?" asked Celia. "I already told you, no one in the manor likes me and it's completely isolated. Nothing but moor for miles. Even if I got some village fuckbuddy to see once a week, I'd still be stuck in the boonies the rest of the time."
"It's clear you need more than some fuckbuddy, ' said Lucille, "You need a vacation!"
"You've been in the same house for more than a century," agreed Sati, "That's not good for you. New places, new people..."
"Come back with us to America!"
"He'll let me wander around the little po'dunk towns around the moor, but if you're talking any further than that, honey, my wings are clipped." Celia sighed, slumping. Those listening in might assume her seemingly-inattentive boyfriend was in fact abusive, keeping her on a short leash, but in fact this had nothing to do with their relationship and everything to do with their respective species.
Before Celia had even been born (and she'd been born, for the record, in the latter half of the 1800s), the vampire Lord Ruthven Strongmore had used his ability to call swans to take over all the swanmanes in England. He had ruled them ever since, much like Augustine ruled all the werelions in Chicago and Maximillian Bellici ruled all the weretigers in Las Vegas...and Anita Blake ruled, well, everything in St. Louis. But ruling over an entire country, not just a city, even a country as small as England, took a lot of power. Ruthven proved that he had this power by not requiring that all the swanmanes live near him, but allowing them to live wherever they pleased in England. It didn't matter where they were, they were tethered to him by a string of his power, like the various strings of the a spiderweb meeting in the center. Though it kept them enslaved, it at least also kept it safe; the vampires and therians in these other cities could sense Ruthven's mark on them, in them, and they left them alone. Even the Masters and Alphas respected what belonged to Ruthven. Most swanmanes, however, found this cold comfort, especially since, being such a vicious breed of animal, they could defend themselves just fine against fools who thought that they were mere food.
In theory, Celia could go to any one of the cities if she wished. However, it would be at her own peril, for most likely her fellow swanmanes would find her and arrange a very, very nasty accident. It might be boring to stay by Ruthven's side for decades, but it was also her only guarantee of safety. Celia was, as she had said, a traitor to her kind. Years ago, her sister, Marion, had been the ringleader of a rebellion against their vampire Master. The rebellion had failed, in a large part because Celia had betrayed them. She'd had her reasons, of course, and while some were selfish, some were also for the good of the Flock, for her fellow swans. She had truly believed that the rebellion would fail anyway, and that this way, if she blew the whistle early on it, only those planning the revolt would be punished, rather than the entire Flock being punished as Ruthven would done otherwise.
The other swans didn't see it that way.
Anyway, while he might let her go to anywhere in England she pleased, at her own risk, America was out of the question. His tie on her beast would be able to withstand that distance, and he didn't trust any swan wandering out of his grasp, not even her. Least of all her, perhaps, since he knew she'd turned her back on her own people for power. Yes, that was the selfish half of her reasons; she'd wanted to gain the kind of power over other wereswans that she didn't have anywhere else in life by becoming Ruthven's favorite. But, as it turned out, he knew better than to trust traitors, and he was as suspicious of her as he was of any other bird in his England-wide aviary. And considering that America was where many of the rebels had escaped to, including her sister, he'd have good reason to think she might be doing a heel-face-turn back to the other side.
Lucille, as it turned out, knew all this, and had a plan.
"I'll just tell him that we need you for the Blake mission," she said, "He can't refuse Oliver's orders!"
Ruthven was from Oliver's line, and while neither he nor any of his swans were leaving England to take on Blake, he had still been called on by his sourdre de sang to help, such as having the scientists he funded cook up a nasty little plague for Lucy's werearmadillo girlfriend to spread around through sex toys. That was why Lucille was here, as well as Sati, who, being a snake, was to Oliver as swanmanes were to Ruthven, completely at his command whether she liked it or not, and thus his messenger girl for this visit.
"You think he'll believe that?" Celia raised a perfectly-plucked-and-preened pale eyebrow.
"I'll bring it up when I see him face to face," said Lucille with the most pleasant and beautiful of smiles. Sati looked very, very uneasy when she saw that expression.
***
"He said yes!", cheered Lucille as she bounced (as only a supernatural could in heels like that) out of Ruthven's office. She was holding a suspiciously nondescript suitcase by the handle in one hand. The disease samples to give to Mitria, presumably, so that she could become the carrier like a good little disease-spreading leprosy-armadillo. "He got a promise from Padma that he'd get you back here to him after, and a promise from me not to let the other swanmanes know you're there--mainly because I don't want them to rip off your head and shit down your neck before we can go shopping!"
"They would do that?" Sati looked at Celia.
"No. Worse." Celia did not look back at her. She kept her eyes front, at Lucille, "It was really that easy?"
"I gave Padma a call first, convinced him you'd be useful, he convinced Oliver, Oliver convinced your boyfriend."
"He's not my--"
"Oh, and he told me you're passive-aggressive, deceitful, and a real nag. That all sounds really great but don't do it to me or you get sent back here early sans legs, okay?"
"How dare either of y--"
"We're leaving, " continued Lucille, grabbing them each by the hand as she walked between them. "Celia, don't bother packing--remember, I said we'd be shopping!"
"What if I don't find something?"
"What?"
"When we're shopping. You just said not to pack because I'd get what we need while shopping. I think I should take some stuff just in case I don't find anything I like right away."
Lucy stared at her, then laughed in her face, "Oh, no, I didn't say that! I meant I want to go shopping right damn now so you're not holding us up with any packing!"
As they left the manor, she remarked, "I like him, but he needs to dress better. He looks like an English farmer."
"Well, he is, isn't he?' asked Sati. She'd noticed some livestock, and Celia had mentioned that he did all the grounds-keeping on the vast demesne, specifically that he spent more time with that than with her. Lucille shook her head with vehement disapproval as she climbed into the luxury car parked just outside,"That's no excuse! Just because you are something doesn't mean you have to look like it! Like, homeless people for instance! Even if you're a bag lady, the only bags you're carrying should still be designer!"
As Sati's jaw dropped, Celia knew for sure that she and Lucille would get along.
***
The city of Leeds had a reputation for style and sharp dressing, probably due to its fine selection of high-quality shops. Right now the trio of therian ladies were exploring the designer outlets of the famed Victoria Quarter, a collection of traditional and luxurious linked shopping arcades, famous for its mosaics and stained glass.
Aside for items for herself, Lucille also had an eye out for gifts for Maureen, whose sizes she seemed quite intimately familiar with.
"Oh yeah, she's getting these," she said as she casually tossed into her shopping bag a black lace something and shoes whose price and heel height were insanely high.
"Are you getting anything for anyone else?" asked Sati, looking at what she could barely believe was a designer teddy-bear.
"Please, like any of them are going to appreciate couture," Lucille snorted, then paused and added, "Well, Rowan and Detty I guess. But Maureen is the one bankrolling me, so she's the one I'll work on keeping happy with me."
"So you're not buying me anything then." Celia narrowed her eyes. She had come on the implication that Lucille was footing all bills, not herself.
"What, your sugar daddy doesn't take care of that?" Lucille wasn't being sarcastic, she seemed genuinely surprised.
Celia made a grimace, "Oh, you do NOT know Ruthven. We don't even have hot water at the manor because he doesn't see the point. Ugh, just because indoor plumbing wasn't a thing when he was alive..."
It wasn't so much that Ruthven was cheap as just so very practical and pragmatic. He was all about function, nothing about fuss, and couldn't seem to fathom the idea of making or owning anything that didn't serve a purpose. Very, very weird for a vampire. Ugh, just her luck to get stuck with the one damn bloodsucker out there who didn't bother with frills on his shirt or on the decor!
"Alright, alright, quit your bitching," Lucille adjusted her hair in the mirror as she tried on a diamond necklace. "Charge it to the Council! I told them you'd be useful, this is just the expense for that! Just don't run up too big a bill or they'll get suspicious."
"How big is too big?"
Lucille looked back over her shoulder, and answered with completely casual seriousness, "Ever bought an entire store?"
***
Overall, they made an excellent haul, hitting every place in the Victoria Quarter worthy of their glorious and dazzling presence...well, Lucy's glorious and dazzling presence, Sati was just there to carry bags in the wake of her divine light, and Celia was sort of an attendant Ganymede type, beautiful but an accessory to the true Goddess she accompanied. They had had to stop in at Swarovski to obtain some crystal jewelry for Celia in particular, since its mascot was a swan for crying out loud, Vivienne Westwood was a goddamn must, as was Wolford, stylish kidswear for Thomas from the Cootchie-Coo children's boutique, terrific tailored suits at Reiss, bags from Radley, casual clothes from Aspecto, Louis Vuitton luggage for the trip back, Bravissimo for the best larger-cup bras and swimsuits money in London could buy, shoes shoes SHOES at Kurt Geiger, and new jewellry to go with it all from Azendi and Links of London. Plus the UK-exclusive handmade chocolates of Charbonnel et Walker!
"Well, we didn't buy an entire store," said Lucy, laughing as her white scarf billowed behind her as they sped down a freeway in the classic red Cadillac convertible, "But I think collectively we got close!"
Indeed, and that wasn't even counting the considerable cache of various weapons, both mundane and magical, she had arranged to have illegally shipped to her base in New York and Narcissus' in St.Louis. If you wanted the best, you had to go overseas!
It must be noted, in defense of Lucille's sense of economy, that she would never have thrown money around in such a way if it were her own. Initially, she'd also avoided taxing the pockets of the Council overly much either, but she'd found little by little, dollar by dollar, that they really would let their pet super-weapon get away with anything. As long as she didn't draw attention to herself as anything other than a very rich tourist, they were happy to fund her every financial whim. This suggested to her that their supply of cash was great enough that she was proportionally costing them mere pennies, and this made her all the more determined to, when she had taken on Anita's power for herself and added it to her own, take control of, own, and exploit the Council. It was, aside from the threats to Thomas, nothing personal. She rather liked Oliver and Padma, in fact. But Lucille was a predator, they had something she wanted, and once she had the means to take it from them, she would, and make sure they could never take it back. It was just how she was.
It was what was going to make her so successful at her mission against Anita. It took one to topple one, after all.
***
Lucille was taking her nighty call with her son in her private section of the hotel royal suite, leaving Celia and Sati to occupy themselves in what space she'd allotted to them. Celia was on her bed disinterestedly reading something when Sati approached her. Celia looked at her with a slightly raised brow, "Those are your pajamas? That can't be comfortable."
Sati shrugged one shoulder, "They don't look like it, do they? But they are, I sleep in these all the time."
Sati had on a pair of old skinny-jeans and a gray poncho top. An odd ensemble on its own, let alone for nightwear. As for Celia, she had on white satin pajama pants and a slightly tight long-sleeved pajama top made of some very soft white material. And Lucille, since you surely wanted to know about HER more than anything and anyone else, always wore extremely sexy and expensive things to bed, just as she always wore them under her clothing in day to day life no matter what she was doing because dammit she just LOVED 'em.
A moment of silence.
"What do you want?" asked Celia.
"Just...well I wanted to see if you wanted to talk. You said nobody would in the manor, but I'm not a swan or one of Ruthven's goons..."
That made Celia think of something, "The swans in America. How do I know I can trust you not to tell them about me?"
"I don't want anyone hurt, including you," said Sati sincerely, but then admitted, "Though politically speaking it would be bad blood between Nest and Flock if she didn't tell them. But the politics of individual therian groups don't matter now, nor anything I want. We're all pawns for someone else now." She looked in the direction of Lucille's quarters, indicating not only her but the vampires she was working for. "That's why I'm in this thing at all; I never wanted to be, even though Blake does need to be stopped by someone...Lucille just isn't that person. But Oliver can make snakes do what he wants, Padma can make any animal do that too, and so can Lucy now. To be sure I don't say anything, though they might do some vampire mind-trick on me. Maybe they have already."
She sounded resigned to it. Celia knew that tone. She'd heard it from a lot of swanmanes before, including herself. "So. You know now, then, what it is to have someone control you by your very beast, your other soul, from within. Tell me, had anyone ever done it to you before?"
Sati shook her head.
"Well, that's how it's been for me since I was born. I have no idea how it is for you to NOT be on their leashes. I'm still on his. I can feel him there, that tether inside me, and it's going to be that way as long as we're in England. Hell, he's been in there so deep and so long, I don't even know if crossing the pond could cut this tie."
"What if it does, though?" Sati leaned over, her hands on the edge of the bed, "Maybe you could escape him? Give Lucille the slip, stay in the States, away from him, avoid any other swans?"
Celia had wanted to make a friend, but she suspected a trap with this question. "I'm thinking about it," she said. She thought that was a good answer. It would sound more suspicious, she figured, if she claimed that no, the thought had never crossed her mind at all. This way she sounded sincere, but also like she didn't have any actual plan that needed stopping or that Sati could squeal to Lucille about.
She actually wasn't thinking about it at all, though. Ruthven's deal on loaning her out had obviously come with the promise she'd be returned, and she did not doubt the resources of the Council, nor the ruthlessness of this Lucille, whom she also expected had her own purposes for plucking her out of the moor beyond just getting her a boy toy. She was very obviously NOT the altruistic sort, Celia could tell. But hey, who was? No one Celia had ever met, that was for damn sure. She probably wouldn't even know that type if she met one. Case in point, her suspicions of Sati.
"And out of all her allies," she asked, "Why did she bring you here? Why did she pick you to go to England with her to pick up whatever it is Ruthven brewed for your little coup?"
"I have no idea," said Sati, and Celia smelled the truth, as she did when Sati continued, "But Lucille, well, I'm pretty sure she always has a plan."
(SPOILER:
For those who want to know how it's meant to end, just in case I never get around to writing it...Celia hooks up with several of the harem (mainly the ones like Richard and Meph, since she can't stand effeminate dudes) but she ends up ultimately preferring her fling with Cornelius, who gives her a go even though he's not normally into white girls and promises to visit her in England the next time he swings by there. The real victory though is that she makes friends on her journey and that's what ends up really making her happy. Sati notes this is what she pointed out in the first place. Lucille proclaims them both crazy and 'maybe straight girls are just nuts like that'
Speaking of Lucille, her motivation for this all turns out to be, unshockingly, just plain spite. She'd love to see a blonde babe like herself get Anita's men, so when she happened to run into one with an itch to scratch while she was picking up her virus from Ruthven's labs, well, she figured why not bring her back just to watch the resultant fireworks? As for why she brought Sati along...no idea. I just wanted Sati there and decided I'd make some good reason for it somewhere down the line in the story.)
I am happy to announce that Sue versus Sue has gotten fanfiction! Commenter writtenelision, who contributed several characters to SvS, has been making wonderful little drabbles about those in her cast who joined the cause and what they're up to behind and between the SvS scenes! Check 'em out!
Maureen and Simon are hers, Thomas and Delilah are mine, and they are all being cute!
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/1883.html
Pryderi the werefox contemplating just what he'd like to do to the Circus
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/2412.html
Odile, sister of the swanmane Odette, hasn't entered the story or St. Louis yet, but when she does, it's gonna be a bloodbath
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/2588.html
Her original creation, a Kiss of little girl vampires, don't actually appear in SvS (though Valentina will probably join them at the end) but they're still in that universe and they miss her in NYC!
http://writtenelision.livejournal.com/1638.html
As for the titular subject of this post...this was something I wrote between the previous installment of Sue vs Sue and the installment before that one. It was done basically to get inspiration back, and it served its purpose, so I might not continue it to completion. However, what I got of it was amusing enough that I think it can stand on its own and that you'd enjoy it enough to hold you over before normal sporkings resume.
It's supposed to take place alongside/at the same time as Sue vs Sue, but don't fret about it lining up perfectly with the continuity or canon, because I didn't.
How Celia Got Her Groove Back
"So, there's nothing to do out there except him, it's too far from town to go visit any human friends on a regular basis, all the other swans hate me for the whole traitor thing, and all of Ruthven's vampires and therian guards just see me as food, food they're not allowed to have anything to do with because I belong to the boss, which is such bullshit because we are so not monogamous, you know? Literally the only thing I am left with is riding his dick, and he won't even give me that most of the time! I'm starting to think he's got some kind of hormonal problem because what the hell, since when does the hot chick have to do the begging?"
"Think he's gay?"
"Ugh, it's crossed my mind, but no, pretty sure not."
"Huh. Hey, maybe pop a Viagra next time before you let him drink your blood?"
"Lucy, that's clearly not the issue. It's not him, it's the fact that Celia's all alone. No one talks to her, no one will be her friend, her only mode of interaction anymore is sex with this one guy--"
"--and he's not giving it up! So she needs a new guy!"
"...I think you missed my point there maybe."
"Sati, you're a virgin who can't drive, you don't have any insight on this stuff."
"...aren't YOU a lesbian though?"
"Celia, honey, that doesn't mean I don't know anything about getting some when you need it."
The rain poured outside, a cliche English day. Inside the uncrowded restaurant, three women sat at a booth next to the window. On one side was an attractive blued-eyed blonde white woman in her early thirties, well-dressed and wearing all white, her straight hair curling inward at the ends where it just barely hit her shoulders. On the other side was another blue-eyed-blonde white woman, this one with curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a brown girl with black hair in Cleopatra-style braids with little gold ornaments. The latter looked only in her early twenties, though in fact was around the age of the curly-haired blonde. The straight-haired blonde was Celia Glass, a swanmane. The black-haired girl was Sati Beshara, a weresnake. And the curly-haired one was Lucille van Pelt, who was also a therian, but still something else altogether. Something that was either entirely new, or something very, very ancient that simply hadn't been seen ever since the days when the Dark Mother reigned supreme.
"But how would I even get a new guy?" asked Celia. "I already told you, no one in the manor likes me and it's completely isolated. Nothing but moor for miles. Even if I got some village fuckbuddy to see once a week, I'd still be stuck in the boonies the rest of the time."
"It's clear you need more than some fuckbuddy, ' said Lucille, "You need a vacation!"
"You've been in the same house for more than a century," agreed Sati, "That's not good for you. New places, new people..."
"Come back with us to America!"
"He'll let me wander around the little po'dunk towns around the moor, but if you're talking any further than that, honey, my wings are clipped." Celia sighed, slumping. Those listening in might assume her seemingly-inattentive boyfriend was in fact abusive, keeping her on a short leash, but in fact this had nothing to do with their relationship and everything to do with their respective species.
Before Celia had even been born (and she'd been born, for the record, in the latter half of the 1800s), the vampire Lord Ruthven Strongmore had used his ability to call swans to take over all the swanmanes in England. He had ruled them ever since, much like Augustine ruled all the werelions in Chicago and Maximillian Bellici ruled all the weretigers in Las Vegas...and Anita Blake ruled, well, everything in St. Louis. But ruling over an entire country, not just a city, even a country as small as England, took a lot of power. Ruthven proved that he had this power by not requiring that all the swanmanes live near him, but allowing them to live wherever they pleased in England. It didn't matter where they were, they were tethered to him by a string of his power, like the various strings of the a spiderweb meeting in the center. Though it kept them enslaved, it at least also kept it safe; the vampires and therians in these other cities could sense Ruthven's mark on them, in them, and they left them alone. Even the Masters and Alphas respected what belonged to Ruthven. Most swanmanes, however, found this cold comfort, especially since, being such a vicious breed of animal, they could defend themselves just fine against fools who thought that they were mere food.
In theory, Celia could go to any one of the cities if she wished. However, it would be at her own peril, for most likely her fellow swanmanes would find her and arrange a very, very nasty accident. It might be boring to stay by Ruthven's side for decades, but it was also her only guarantee of safety. Celia was, as she had said, a traitor to her kind. Years ago, her sister, Marion, had been the ringleader of a rebellion against their vampire Master. The rebellion had failed, in a large part because Celia had betrayed them. She'd had her reasons, of course, and while some were selfish, some were also for the good of the Flock, for her fellow swans. She had truly believed that the rebellion would fail anyway, and that this way, if she blew the whistle early on it, only those planning the revolt would be punished, rather than the entire Flock being punished as Ruthven would done otherwise.
The other swans didn't see it that way.
Anyway, while he might let her go to anywhere in England she pleased, at her own risk, America was out of the question. His tie on her beast would be able to withstand that distance, and he didn't trust any swan wandering out of his grasp, not even her. Least of all her, perhaps, since he knew she'd turned her back on her own people for power. Yes, that was the selfish half of her reasons; she'd wanted to gain the kind of power over other wereswans that she didn't have anywhere else in life by becoming Ruthven's favorite. But, as it turned out, he knew better than to trust traitors, and he was as suspicious of her as he was of any other bird in his England-wide aviary. And considering that America was where many of the rebels had escaped to, including her sister, he'd have good reason to think she might be doing a heel-face-turn back to the other side.
Lucille, as it turned out, knew all this, and had a plan.
"I'll just tell him that we need you for the Blake mission," she said, "He can't refuse Oliver's orders!"
Ruthven was from Oliver's line, and while neither he nor any of his swans were leaving England to take on Blake, he had still been called on by his sourdre de sang to help, such as having the scientists he funded cook up a nasty little plague for Lucy's werearmadillo girlfriend to spread around through sex toys. That was why Lucille was here, as well as Sati, who, being a snake, was to Oliver as swanmanes were to Ruthven, completely at his command whether she liked it or not, and thus his messenger girl for this visit.
"You think he'll believe that?" Celia raised a perfectly-plucked-and-preened pale eyebrow.
"I'll bring it up when I see him face to face," said Lucille with the most pleasant and beautiful of smiles. Sati looked very, very uneasy when she saw that expression.
***
"He said yes!", cheered Lucille as she bounced (as only a supernatural could in heels like that) out of Ruthven's office. She was holding a suspiciously nondescript suitcase by the handle in one hand. The disease samples to give to Mitria, presumably, so that she could become the carrier like a good little disease-spreading leprosy-armadillo. "He got a promise from Padma that he'd get you back here to him after, and a promise from me not to let the other swanmanes know you're there--mainly because I don't want them to rip off your head and shit down your neck before we can go shopping!"
"They would do that?" Sati looked at Celia.
"No. Worse." Celia did not look back at her. She kept her eyes front, at Lucille, "It was really that easy?"
"I gave Padma a call first, convinced him you'd be useful, he convinced Oliver, Oliver convinced your boyfriend."
"He's not my--"
"Oh, and he told me you're passive-aggressive, deceitful, and a real nag. That all sounds really great but don't do it to me or you get sent back here early sans legs, okay?"
"How dare either of y--"
"We're leaving, " continued Lucille, grabbing them each by the hand as she walked between them. "Celia, don't bother packing--remember, I said we'd be shopping!"
"What if I don't find something?"
"What?"
"When we're shopping. You just said not to pack because I'd get what we need while shopping. I think I should take some stuff just in case I don't find anything I like right away."
Lucy stared at her, then laughed in her face, "Oh, no, I didn't say that! I meant I want to go shopping right damn now so you're not holding us up with any packing!"
As they left the manor, she remarked, "I like him, but he needs to dress better. He looks like an English farmer."
"Well, he is, isn't he?' asked Sati. She'd noticed some livestock, and Celia had mentioned that he did all the grounds-keeping on the vast demesne, specifically that he spent more time with that than with her. Lucille shook her head with vehement disapproval as she climbed into the luxury car parked just outside,"That's no excuse! Just because you are something doesn't mean you have to look like it! Like, homeless people for instance! Even if you're a bag lady, the only bags you're carrying should still be designer!"
As Sati's jaw dropped, Celia knew for sure that she and Lucille would get along.
***
The city of Leeds had a reputation for style and sharp dressing, probably due to its fine selection of high-quality shops. Right now the trio of therian ladies were exploring the designer outlets of the famed Victoria Quarter, a collection of traditional and luxurious linked shopping arcades, famous for its mosaics and stained glass.
Aside for items for herself, Lucille also had an eye out for gifts for Maureen, whose sizes she seemed quite intimately familiar with.
"Oh yeah, she's getting these," she said as she casually tossed into her shopping bag a black lace something and shoes whose price and heel height were insanely high.
"Are you getting anything for anyone else?" asked Sati, looking at what she could barely believe was a designer teddy-bear.
"Please, like any of them are going to appreciate couture," Lucille snorted, then paused and added, "Well, Rowan and Detty I guess. But Maureen is the one bankrolling me, so she's the one I'll work on keeping happy with me."
"So you're not buying me anything then." Celia narrowed her eyes. She had come on the implication that Lucille was footing all bills, not herself.
"What, your sugar daddy doesn't take care of that?" Lucille wasn't being sarcastic, she seemed genuinely surprised.
Celia made a grimace, "Oh, you do NOT know Ruthven. We don't even have hot water at the manor because he doesn't see the point. Ugh, just because indoor plumbing wasn't a thing when he was alive..."
It wasn't so much that Ruthven was cheap as just so very practical and pragmatic. He was all about function, nothing about fuss, and couldn't seem to fathom the idea of making or owning anything that didn't serve a purpose. Very, very weird for a vampire. Ugh, just her luck to get stuck with the one damn bloodsucker out there who didn't bother with frills on his shirt or on the decor!
"Alright, alright, quit your bitching," Lucille adjusted her hair in the mirror as she tried on a diamond necklace. "Charge it to the Council! I told them you'd be useful, this is just the expense for that! Just don't run up too big a bill or they'll get suspicious."
"How big is too big?"
Lucille looked back over her shoulder, and answered with completely casual seriousness, "Ever bought an entire store?"
***
Overall, they made an excellent haul, hitting every place in the Victoria Quarter worthy of their glorious and dazzling presence...well, Lucy's glorious and dazzling presence, Sati was just there to carry bags in the wake of her divine light, and Celia was sort of an attendant Ganymede type, beautiful but an accessory to the true Goddess she accompanied. They had had to stop in at Swarovski to obtain some crystal jewelry for Celia in particular, since its mascot was a swan for crying out loud, Vivienne Westwood was a goddamn must, as was Wolford, stylish kidswear for Thomas from the Cootchie-Coo children's boutique, terrific tailored suits at Reiss, bags from Radley, casual clothes from Aspecto, Louis Vuitton luggage for the trip back, Bravissimo for the best larger-cup bras and swimsuits money in London could buy, shoes shoes SHOES at Kurt Geiger, and new jewellry to go with it all from Azendi and Links of London. Plus the UK-exclusive handmade chocolates of Charbonnel et Walker!
"Well, we didn't buy an entire store," said Lucy, laughing as her white scarf billowed behind her as they sped down a freeway in the classic red Cadillac convertible, "But I think collectively we got close!"
Indeed, and that wasn't even counting the considerable cache of various weapons, both mundane and magical, she had arranged to have illegally shipped to her base in New York and Narcissus' in St.Louis. If you wanted the best, you had to go overseas!
It must be noted, in defense of Lucille's sense of economy, that she would never have thrown money around in such a way if it were her own. Initially, she'd also avoided taxing the pockets of the Council overly much either, but she'd found little by little, dollar by dollar, that they really would let their pet super-weapon get away with anything. As long as she didn't draw attention to herself as anything other than a very rich tourist, they were happy to fund her every financial whim. This suggested to her that their supply of cash was great enough that she was proportionally costing them mere pennies, and this made her all the more determined to, when she had taken on Anita's power for herself and added it to her own, take control of, own, and exploit the Council. It was, aside from the threats to Thomas, nothing personal. She rather liked Oliver and Padma, in fact. But Lucille was a predator, they had something she wanted, and once she had the means to take it from them, she would, and make sure they could never take it back. It was just how she was.
It was what was going to make her so successful at her mission against Anita. It took one to topple one, after all.
***
Lucille was taking her nighty call with her son in her private section of the hotel royal suite, leaving Celia and Sati to occupy themselves in what space she'd allotted to them. Celia was on her bed disinterestedly reading something when Sati approached her. Celia looked at her with a slightly raised brow, "Those are your pajamas? That can't be comfortable."
Sati shrugged one shoulder, "They don't look like it, do they? But they are, I sleep in these all the time."
Sati had on a pair of old skinny-jeans and a gray poncho top. An odd ensemble on its own, let alone for nightwear. As for Celia, she had on white satin pajama pants and a slightly tight long-sleeved pajama top made of some very soft white material. And Lucille, since you surely wanted to know about HER more than anything and anyone else, always wore extremely sexy and expensive things to bed, just as she always wore them under her clothing in day to day life no matter what she was doing because dammit she just LOVED 'em.
A moment of silence.
"What do you want?" asked Celia.
"Just...well I wanted to see if you wanted to talk. You said nobody would in the manor, but I'm not a swan or one of Ruthven's goons..."
That made Celia think of something, "The swans in America. How do I know I can trust you not to tell them about me?"
"I don't want anyone hurt, including you," said Sati sincerely, but then admitted, "Though politically speaking it would be bad blood between Nest and Flock if she didn't tell them. But the politics of individual therian groups don't matter now, nor anything I want. We're all pawns for someone else now." She looked in the direction of Lucille's quarters, indicating not only her but the vampires she was working for. "That's why I'm in this thing at all; I never wanted to be, even though Blake does need to be stopped by someone...Lucille just isn't that person. But Oliver can make snakes do what he wants, Padma can make any animal do that too, and so can Lucy now. To be sure I don't say anything, though they might do some vampire mind-trick on me. Maybe they have already."
She sounded resigned to it. Celia knew that tone. She'd heard it from a lot of swanmanes before, including herself. "So. You know now, then, what it is to have someone control you by your very beast, your other soul, from within. Tell me, had anyone ever done it to you before?"
Sati shook her head.
"Well, that's how it's been for me since I was born. I have no idea how it is for you to NOT be on their leashes. I'm still on his. I can feel him there, that tether inside me, and it's going to be that way as long as we're in England. Hell, he's been in there so deep and so long, I don't even know if crossing the pond could cut this tie."
"What if it does, though?" Sati leaned over, her hands on the edge of the bed, "Maybe you could escape him? Give Lucille the slip, stay in the States, away from him, avoid any other swans?"
Celia had wanted to make a friend, but she suspected a trap with this question. "I'm thinking about it," she said. She thought that was a good answer. It would sound more suspicious, she figured, if she claimed that no, the thought had never crossed her mind at all. This way she sounded sincere, but also like she didn't have any actual plan that needed stopping or that Sati could squeal to Lucille about.
She actually wasn't thinking about it at all, though. Ruthven's deal on loaning her out had obviously come with the promise she'd be returned, and she did not doubt the resources of the Council, nor the ruthlessness of this Lucille, whom she also expected had her own purposes for plucking her out of the moor beyond just getting her a boy toy. She was very obviously NOT the altruistic sort, Celia could tell. But hey, who was? No one Celia had ever met, that was for damn sure. She probably wouldn't even know that type if she met one. Case in point, her suspicions of Sati.
"And out of all her allies," she asked, "Why did she bring you here? Why did she pick you to go to England with her to pick up whatever it is Ruthven brewed for your little coup?"
"I have no idea," said Sati, and Celia smelled the truth, as she did when Sati continued, "But Lucille, well, I'm pretty sure she always has a plan."
(SPOILER:
For those who want to know how it's meant to end, just in case I never get around to writing it...Celia hooks up with several of the harem (mainly the ones like Richard and Meph, since she can't stand effeminate dudes) but she ends up ultimately preferring her fling with Cornelius, who gives her a go even though he's not normally into white girls and promises to visit her in England the next time he swings by there. The real victory though is that she makes friends on her journey and that's what ends up really making her happy. Sati notes this is what she pointed out in the first place. Lucille proclaims them both crazy and 'maybe straight girls are just nuts like that'
Speaking of Lucille, her motivation for this all turns out to be, unshockingly, just plain spite. She'd love to see a blonde babe like herself get Anita's men, so when she happened to run into one with an itch to scratch while she was picking up her virus from Ruthven's labs, well, she figured why not bring her back just to watch the resultant fireworks? As for why she brought Sati along...no idea. I just wanted Sati there and decided I'd make some good reason for it somewhere down the line in the story.)
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I loved all of these, from writtenelision's fanfics to the side-fic about Celia. It almost makes me want to do something with Wander and Ghislaine~
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Go for it!
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