Sulpicia stretched out on the laps of her two lovers, posturing and posing in all of the ways that she thought would give her the delicious attention she craved.
"I hate to be a buzzkill," said Athenodora, who in fact did not hate to be a buzzkill, "but we have matters we need to discuss. Not that you're not very pretty, Sulpicia," she said, to placate the rapidly forming pout on her wife's face.
Sulpicia preened. "I am rather, aren't I?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes at Didyme, who rolled her crimson eyes.
"What exactly do we need to discuss, Dora?" Didyme asked the blonde, idly running her one of her hands through Sulpicia's liquid gold honey-hair. It curled around Didyme's slender fingers. Athenodora admired the way the warm hair looked against Didyme's dark skin, a beautiful contrast of the two people she loved the most.
"How the two of you have gotten on with our guest," she said, with a half shrug of a single shoulder. She rested a hand on Sulpicia's thigh, tapping a little, impatient beat gently with her on long, pale fingers. "And whether it's really necessary for me to participate in this game the two of you are playing."
"It's not a game!" Didyme protested, with the purposeful innocent Athenodora had come to expect of her.
At the same time Sulpicia burst out sullenly, "you have to, yes."
Athenodora tutted, shaking her head. "I know I can understand you both, even at the same time, but life is so much easier when we take turns speaking. We've talked about this."
Sulpicia and Didyme exchanged a look that can only be translated as 'devious'. Athenodora groaned loudly, collapsing back against the backrest of the red velvet loveseat. "Don't even think about it," she warned, glaring at the other two women.
Didyme held her hands up in surrender, and Sulpicia pouted that those hands were no longer on her. "Okay, okay," Didyme said, dropping her hands back to caressing Sulpicia, much to her immeasurable pleasure. "I'll go first, shall I? I know we've already discussed it, but that was only briefly. It makes sense chronologically."
"Go ahead," Athenodora said, with a little gesture, before her hands, too, continued fussing Sulpicia.
"So," Didyme began, as all great storytellers do, "I think my gift was beneficial, for certain. It took a while, but she warmed up to me. We bonded, as you might say," she said, with a little shrug. It came easily to Didyme, since she became a vampire she had all but lost the shaking uncertainty that had marked her human existence, full of questions like 'will they like me' and 'what am I worth'. She was as liked as happiness, and worth as much as it too. She forgot, sometimes.
"I expect nothing less," said Sulpicia, beaming with pride at her wife's success.
"You can't brag over me, Sulpicia," Didyme said, shaking her head with a fond smile etched across her marble mouth. "But, yes," she continued, "I showed her the library which also only seemed to endear her to me further. A lucky break she asked Felix for books, really," she hummed.
Athenodora stroked over Sulpicia's legs, and smiled. "I don't think luck has anything to do with it," she said, her pale eyebrow raised high over her crimson gaze. "I think it's far more likely talent, and nothing shy of it."
Didyme would have blushed if she could - it was high praise, anything from Athenodora was almost like pulling teeth. She approved when it was deserved, and anything short of her standards was left with silence or outright insult.
"You're far too doting on our wife," said Sulpicia, languidly stretching before sitting upright again. She leaned forwards and curled a hand in Didyme's curly hair, wrapping a ringlet around her long finger.
"I am not," lied Athenodora. "I merely think that she deserves to be told when she's done well."
"I do hate when the two of you start discussing me like I'm not here with you," Didyme sighed, ever the younger child's lot in life. "Or like I'm a dog. 'Didyme deserves to be praised', 'Didyme's ever such a good girl'. Honestly."
Sulpicia sucked in an unneeded breath between her teeth; it was too easy to forget about Didyme's uncertainties, especially with the aura of blanket happiness she provided. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, a rare instance of apology.
"Me too," Athenodora said, just as softly.
"It's fine," Didyme sighed. "I'm just… prickly today, I expect. You know what I'm like when we're in the middle of some nefarious plot. Shall I continue?"
"Please," Athenodora replied, with a little nod of her pale head. Sulpicia was still vastly interested in playing with Didyme's hair, her hand snaking upwards in order to tease at the scalp of her lover.
"As I said, I think my gift helped. It always does. It was clear she felt somewhat comfortable around me, which is a surprise considering the circumstances. I feel we made progress." Didyme was momentarily distracted by Sulpicia, leaning into her touch. Her eyes closed against the light, and she let out a soft breath. "Progress is good," she murmured, mostly to herself. "If speculations about her gift are correct, any goodwill we can garner between us is excellent."
"Quite," Athenodora said. She looked to Sulpicia, who had settled in quite happily in affecting onto Didyme. "What about with you?"
"Oh. It definitely didn't go as well as it did with Didyme," she said, with a shrug and continue lightly scratching at Didyme's scalp. "We went to our little collection and I showed her about. I assumed that since she was a big fan of literature at least a part of her would be interested in history, too. It paid off."
Athenodora lowered her head so she might kiss at Sulpicia's collar absentmindedly, taking hard flesh between teeth for playful nips.
Sulpicia let out a distracted sounding moan, and tried her best to continue on with her tale. "It was clear she was not exactly comfortable with me," she hummed out softly, "but it was not either as if she had some great aversion to my presence. It especially lifted once she was taken in by the artefacts around her."
"Leave it up to you two to take the two most interesting places we have in the entire castle. I need the most help. It's not as if I'm Didyme, or I have your natural charisma, Sulpicia," Athenodora said. Didyme melted into the backboard of the loveseat. Sulpicia stretched her legs over Didyme's lap to poke Athenodora with her toe.
"You're plenty charming," Sulpicia protested.
"We all know that's not true," Athenodora sighed, reaching a hand to rest over Sulpicia's prodding foot. It wasn't a secret that Athenodora was made up of all kinds of hard edges and sharp angles, a little too cold and a little too distant for anybody's comfort, sans Didyme and Sulpicia. "Unless you've hopefully changed your mind and I don't have to waste my time dealing with the little human?" she asked, just a slight edge of optimism in her otherwise pessimistic voice.
Sulpicia prodded a little harder, resulting in a sound like two hammers colliding. "Of course nobody's changed their mind, isn't that right, Didyme?"
Didyme cracked open her eyes to look at the ice blonde woman who sat next to her. "Quite so," she agreed. "I'll not have Sulpicia's and my hard work be for naught because you're a nightmare when it comes to socialising."
"I am, indeed, a nightmare," Athenodora confirmed.
"All you need to do is spend a little time with her. Foster a little goodwill, just a little something. You don't need to be best friends, but it makes more sense for Isabella to have ties to all three of us, rather than just two," Didyme said, before relaxing back into her previous position, nuzzling into Sulpicia.
"Fostering goodwill is not exactly one of my strong points," Athenodora pointed out.
"You'll manage," Sulpicia said, sliding off the arm of the loveseat directly into Didyme's lap, with a kiss on the dark-skinned woman's cheek. She swung her legs over Athenodora's lap, and let out a little sigh. "Honestly, Dora, it'll be fine," she repeated herself, her voice soft and sweet and oozing, just like honey. "We don't expect anything grand from you, my love, all we want is for Bella to see you're not some monstrous woman in a monstrous coven. I know," her voice softened evermore, "that you want the world to see you as this harsh thing, but this one time it's important that they don't. Just this once. And besides," she said, after a minute pause, "it's not like anyone will believe her anyway. Athenodora being nice? Perish the thought."
Athenodora let out a long laugh, a surprising sound from someone as seemingly cold as she was. "I'll try," she said softly, matching Sulpicia's tone as best she could - which wasn't very well. "I'll try. Okay?"
Didyme smiled, her arms winding around Sulpicia's waist as she finally perked back up. "That's all we can ask of you, beloved."
Sulpicia smiled too, a wide thing with just a little too many teeth. "And now we're done talking business," she said softly. The golden blonde woman leaned forwards, nipping at the column of Athenodora's ivory throat.
Didyme unwrapped her arms from Sulpicia, allowing the other to edge forwards in her seat of Didyme's lap. Sulpicia rested her hands on Athenodora's thighs, kissing a path upwards over to her jaw, teeth scraping teasingly as she did. Didyme leaned forwards and pressed a kiss to Sulpicia's back.
"I love watching you two," Didyme said in a hoarse whisper, swallowing the venom that had pooled in her mouth. "I love the both of you, so so much."
Athenodora let out a soft sound that was not quite a moan but was not quite not a moan either. She looked over to Didyme, her eyes darkening rapidly. It was a little like watching lava cool into precision.
"I want you both," Athenodora bit out, her hands moving to comb through Sulpicia's wavy hair.
"We both want you," Didyme replied, and Sulpicia let out a hum of agreement from her space attached to Athenodora's jaw. It was the kind of thing that could be left unsaid, the constant attraction between the three of them. It built itself constantly, over and over again.
Sulpicia broke her fixation on Athenodora's jaw. She smiled at the other blonde, and let out a little laugh. "I missed you," she cooed, as she shifted from Didyme's lap to Athenodora's. Didyme took the opportunity to move closer, twisting herself until she was facing the blonde straddling the other blonde.
Didyme reached out, combing her fingers through Athenodora's silky blonde hair. Sulpicia returned to kissing over the available skin. Athenodora would have blushed if she could. It wasn't as if she would ever get used to the kind of attention that the two of them focused on her.
Sulpicia let out a low hum of a laugh, her fingers moving to the buttons on Athenodora's blouse. She, achingly slowly, unbuttoned them, one at a time. Her teeth scraped over the newly available skin, red lips against the ivory of Athenodora's chest.
Didyme's fingers found the zip of Sulpicia's tight dress, and she unzipped it. The dark skinned vampire eased it over Sulpicia's arms, until it sat, undone, at her waist.
A little exhilarated laugh burst from Didyme's lips. "We don't have any meetings scheduled do we?" she asked.
"No," Athenodora said, her voice surprisingly bright considering the current circumstances. Bright and sharp, just like every aching part of her.
"No?" Didyme repeated. "Good."