Doesn't like dice games with sharpies and frauds

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

((Occurs sometime the week after Bad Fanon Day and the subsequent fallout. Closed to Una and Starbuck.))

Despite occasional temptations to do so, Una had still not cracked open the bottle of moonshine that John Crichton had sent to her back when she'd first arrived.

Given events of the last several days, the temptation was now overwhelming.

She hated drinking alone, though, and being in one of those moods where she wanted to blame the entire male gender for everything that was wrong with the universe, she had absolutely no desire to drink with any of the men or male beings of her acquaintance.

She'd done a fairly crap job of making female friends in this place. She liked Psyche, but there was something eerily not quite right about boozing up with a goddess, especially one who could see through a person with alarming accuracy. Which—

Of course. Starbuck. They'd scarcely seen each other at all since Una had arrived, more was the pity, and that needed to be remedied. And this was as good an excuse as any.

Starbuck,

So I'm not at all sure why I haven't written or visited sooner, as I did enjoy talking to you when I arrived here. Can I make that up to you by offering a drink? I'm afraid it's only the local moonshine, but it's better than nothing. Your place or mine?

-Una Persson

((ETA: Rated PG-13 to R for not especially moderately explicit, but and pretty unmistakable femmeslashiness.))

Comments

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

Starbuck nodded, arms draped around Una's neck. "She's got friends she goes to when she gets on my nerves. I hear they spoil her rotten." She figured it was good for the dog. She had a funny independent streak in her. Gods knew where it came from.

"Anyway, it's not so bad here as it is on Galactica. You have to lock other people out of their bunks to get privacy there, and then they usually come banging on the door just to piss you off. Or you have to tough it out behind a curtain with everyone in the room, and be very," she put a finger to her lips and leaned closer, "very," and closer, "quiet." She brought their foreheads together, smiling.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I know how that goes." Been there, done that. Desperate, frantic couplings in the darkness before dawn on the battlefield, in airships, on submarines ... not to mention her own current setup behind the shooting gallery, which wasn't exactly soundproof. (That had been the cause of more than one argument.)

"So how quiet does one have to be here?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to brush her lips over Starbuck's cheek.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

"Are you kidding?" She looked around. "I figure if anyone can hear us in here, they were standing at the entrance hoping for something like this to happen."

Starbuck rose up on her knees a bit to give herself the leverage to press closer, and it brought out something that was a hybrid of a laugh and a gasp. "So I wouldn't wouldn't worry too much about getting caught."

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

That made Una start laughing again, even as she trailed a line of kisses along Starbuck's throat and set about finishing what she'd started with her shirt.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

Starbuck tilted her head a hummed a little until she felt the hands at her shirt again. She lifted her arms over her head impatiently, more than ready to be rid of the thing.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

That being done, her hands lightly skimming Starbuck's back, Una nodded in the direction of the mattress. "Over there?" she inquired. (Because in all honesty, her knees were starting to get tired of floors.)

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

"What, you don't like concrete?" Starbuck joked, getting up and offering Una a hand.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

"Only sometimes," she said, laughing. "A woman's got to have a bit of variety in her life, after all." She took Starbuck's hand and got to her feet.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

She had a funny feeling Una wasn't speaking rhetorically. And if this was variety.... "A little padding never hurt anyone." She grinned and pulled Una over to the mattress, looking her up and down as they went, as though trying to figure out what to take care of next.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

Una kicked off her shoes as she went, and as she eased herself down onto the mattress, she untucked her own shirt and pulled it off.

Which action reminded her of the freshly healed pale arc over her hipbone, the lace of marks on her left shoulderblade. Well. No point in calling attention to them; if Starbuck noticed, she noticed, and if she didn't, it was one less thing to explain.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

Starbuck decided to match on her that front and got rid of her own shoes as well, then realized that getting rid of her pants would probably be more comfortable with the heat anyway, so she got rid of them as well kneeling down next to the other woman.

If Starbuck noticed a thing, she wasn't likely to bring it up. She had her own scars that she'd just as soon not talk about too, of course, not now. But she would have an interesting time guessing where Una's came from.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

After sliding out of her own trousers, Una leaned over and kissed Starbuck's shoulder, hands skimming lightly over bare legs, stomach, back. "You'll let me know, won't you, if anything gets to be uncomfortable for you?" she murmured playfully, and nipped lightly at Starbuck's collarbone.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

She couldn't help it; that made her laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time imagining how anything that feels like this," and she skimmed hand down Una's side and up the center of her chest, "could make me uncomfortable."

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

Una's answering chuckle turned into a soft moan halfway through, and she stroked the tips of her fingers across Starbuck's ribcage, gently and firmly. "Then I suppose I won't worry too much about doing ... this."

She slid one hand up to cup a soft curve (surprisingly so, almost) and then, as she pressed another kiss to Starbuck's lips, she slid her other hand down, gently.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

Starbuck sucked in a breath, even as she tried to think of something else reasonably coherent to say. Her voice had been going steadily rougher as they'd moved on, but when Una's hand slid down it elicited nothing short of a high, breathy little cry, as she pressed herself into the other woman's touch.

It was perhaps a tiny bit obvious how much she'd been needing this.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

And Una had been needing this too: the chance to touch someone—a woman—Starbuck; to give pleasure without struggle or pain. It didn't matter how much she loved it; she couldn't live on the tightrope forever. Even if this was only a brief respite, it was exactly the one she needed.

She smiled against Starbuck's mouth. "Don't worry, darling," she murmured. "You're in good hands." Which were now, gently and carefully, being put to use.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

She tensed while her fingers slowly slid around Una's back to find the hooks of her bra. "Ah... I can..." tell, that's what she'd wanted to say, but she couldn't stop panting long enough to get the rest out, not now.

Gods, being touch-starved was a bitch.

So she sucked on Una's earlobe instead, buying herself time until she could speak again.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

A low laugh, followed by a small, sharp intake of breath. She drew her hands back, first one and then the other, to shrug off the bra, never quite losing contact completely.

She could feel the tension and urgency in Starbuck's body, under her fingers, against her own body. Still touching gently with the one hand, she reached up to caress Starbuck's cheek and then offer a light pressure to her shoulder. "Relax," she murmured. "Lie back. I'm not going anywhere." A little extra pressure below, as if to emphasize the point.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

Starbuck forced herself to take a deep breath. She nodded once and lay back on the mattress, wriggling a little until her back was comfortable. "No rush," she reminded herself. "Just...." And she sighed suddenly, and the sound somehow came out as grateful as she meant it to be.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

There was a little awkward fumbling for a moment as Una managed to divest herself and Starbuck of what remained of their clothing, and then she stretched out her long body, lying on her side beside Starbuck. And then another slow, gentle kiss on the lips, then jaw, then throat, while she explored with her hand.

Every nerve was lit up, every sense sharpened and alert to each nuance of movement, sound. And she was aware of her own body's hunger, but satisfying it wasn't what she needed now anyway; what she needed was to act: this kiss, that flick of the tongue; this sliding of the leg between smooth calves, that gentle movement of the fingers.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

Starbuck drew up one knee for her own sense of balance, reached a hand across her body and over to Una's; she may not have a lot of experience in this, but whatever she didn't know, she was damn well going to make up for in effort.

She spread her fingers over Una's collar bone, then down where she scraped carefully with her fingernails as her own spine twisted, as she rolled a little onto her side so she could get a better press between them from shoulder to ankle.

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

Una shivered at the scraping nails; her eyes fluttered shut for a moment and her hand moved more sharply than she'd intended. "Naughty," she whispered. "Distracting me like that..."

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

She whimpered a little and rolled her hips, one hand clutching Una's shoulder. Starbuck leaned forward and licked Una's bottom lip slowly. "Oh, I'm naughty then," she murmured back. "So how do I get punished for that?"

[una-harlequin.livejournal.com]

Una's answer was entirely non-verbal; she changed up the rhythm of her touch just a bit, homing in on a spot that she thought had gotten a promising reaction earlier.

[i-have-my-flaws.livejournal.com]

"Oh--" Starbuck gasped, working herself up to that rhythm, feeling her hands start shaking against Una's skin. "Um... yeah, that's... that's--" She threw her head back and let her eyes close. "Right there...."