Into the Deep End

Romi · Aug 24, 2018

Boy. Boy could he relate to that.

"My dad did the same thing, actually," Jude admitted. "Didn't tell me about my mom. I guess he wanted to keep it from me because he thought I'd be hurt, but... keeping it hurt a lot worse. Parents seem to do that a lot."

Personal or not, it felt nice to share. It felt nice they had that in common, a shared ground of parents keeping secrets.

"You can see it if you want. I just keep it in the closet. I'm honestly a bit worried it won't fit if I grow any more, but I think I'm mostly done, even if Officer Genovese has a few inches on me still."

Kada · Aug 24, 2018

Alma grinned and nodded at the mention of the suit. "I'd love to see it sometime. I know what you mean though. I hate how tall I am. On top of 'Bitey' I used to get called 'Attack of the fifty foot bitch.' Which is admittedly more clever than Bitey. I just really hope I don't grow anymore."

She paused, smiling at just how honestly good of a time she was having. "I think I'm gonna order a glass of blood when the waiter comes back. If that won't be super weird for you. But also..."

A short pause. "I'm having a great time. I uh. Would it be too weird to talk about this now? About like, us? We can wait until after dinner, I just figured..."

Romi · Aug 24, 2018

"Blood's fine," Jude said. "I'm not going to say I wasn't super weirded out the first time someone was eating people in the community center, but blood is... like, it's not that weird. We have sanguinaccio dolce, even if they don't have it on the menu."

He'd had it once, but it had been tasty... until he got told what it was.

Oops.

"It's not weird," Jude said. "I mean, I'm having fun too. I have to admit I wasn't exactly, uh, up to date on the whole poly thing, so I had to go and read a bunch, but every guide basically amounted to there's a million and one variations, so good lucky figuring out which one you are!"

Kada · Aug 25, 2018

Another nod. "Yeah, there's lots of variations. For me, I'm currently in a triad with Iggy and Audie. Non-Hierarchical. The basic rundown I give is, uh. So. Anyone wanting to hook up or date someone else needs to run it by the people they specifically are dating."

"So like, I had to get permission from both Iggy and Audric before I came out on this date. Well, not permission exactly. But like, bringing it up and talking things out before moving forward. Unless you, like. Decided to date either of them too, you'd only really have to talk to me about pursuing other people."

What else was there? Polyamory was complicated; a lot of pitfalls you could fall into. But she dedicated to try make it work. The right way.

Romi · Aug 25, 2018

Alright. There'd been a lot of complicated terms he'd found online, but Alma was doing the nice thing and clearly explaining it rather than dropping a bunch on him and letting him figure it out. It all sounded simple enough. He didn't have to date Iggy (or Audric, for that matter, who'd probably be more of a sticking point). If they were for-real dating, he'd have to talk to Alma before hooking up.

And it kind of sounded like they were for-real dating.

"That all sounds... pretty standard? Well, not standard, but sensible. It all makes sense. Like, if I started dating some guy and then you were like 'actually we're fated rivals I can't be in a relationship with someone who's dating him', it'd let you move forward. So you could talk it out and decide if it's a dealbreaker or not." He got that idea, and his brain definitely moved over Broen, but that was... well, he didn't know what he was doing there. And it-

Okay, probably better to clarify.

"Just future hookups, right? Or are we looking at past stuff too?"

Kada · Aug 25, 2018

"Yeah, that's basically the gist of it. And no, you don't have to mention old hookups. Generally speaking, I don't care too much about sleeping with other people? I feel like that's be super hypocritical."

She gave a little laugh though. "I'll be sure to warn you about any fated rivals I have though beforehand. But yeah. Do you have, like, any other questions? Concerns?"

Romi · Aug 25, 2018

Jude felt like he probably should have questions. He'd literally looked up questions to ask before entering a polyamourous relationship, but they'd basically covered all them. Most of the questions he'd found were just questions to ask yourself, and the answer to a lot of questions had been I just don't know.

"Not... really?" Jude admitted. "It seems pretty normal. Well, not- okay, you get the idea, I need to stop correcting myself on that. It's just dating, except we're not exclusive and keep each other in the loop. No one picks, no one's better, everyone just acts... uh, emotionally mature."

No if you had to pick between the two of us.

"So, uh, officially dating then," Jude confirmed. "I guess I should probably explicitly say you can just... ask me whatever. I'm kind of an open book. I used to do the whole secrets from everyone thing, but... uh, Rory kicked my ass until I started talking with people more."

Kada · Aug 25, 2018

Alma accepted her glass of blood, almsot ironically a wine glass, and swirled it menacingly. "What is a man?" She laughed a bit and took a drink. "I mean, I'll definitely ask questions as I have them. I guess we should talk about like. Limits and stuff."

"I'll say that sex is kind of important to me, but I don't need to sleep with someone just because I'm dating them. I'm not really sure how you feel or where you are on that matter."

She kept her voice lowered, but definitely wasn't shy about this.

Romi · Aug 25, 2018

Jude choked on his drink at her Castlevania quote, only barely recovering by the time she took the conversation to a more serious note. A part of him was still trying to get over it, to move past his embarrassment, but there was no hiding the hint of a blush on his cheeks as she got into the whole sex thing. Even with her voice lowered, a part of Jude felt like most people wouldn't care, but that didn't stop it from feeling embarrassing.

"I'm... uh, a take it slow kind of guy I guess? This is my first, uhm, real date." It felt embarrassing to admit it, and the fact that he'd kind of skipped to the end of the usual dating project felt... out of order. "I'm kind of... new to all this. And fumbling through it all. You definitely have more experience than I do."

Kada · Aug 25, 2018

"Oh that's totally fine," Alma said, her own expression mimicking some of Jude's sheepishness. Saviour on a stick, she forgot that not everybody was as open about sexual stuff as she was. She took another long sip of the blood she'd gotten to briefly distract herself.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. I just figure it's best to get it all out there. So we're not sitting with different expectations. And I'm only really experienced because, like. I grew up here. I've been around this sort of thing basically my whole life."

It was true. It seemed like teenagers on Manta Carlos were chomping at the bit to start screwing. And there was nothing wrong with that. But it definitely had to be jarring, considering what she knew about the Narrow Reality and how taboo even talking about sex was. If it was anything like that back in Jude's world...

"But yeah. We can take it slow. So we don't fumble so hard. Figure it out together. I mean. If you wanna give this thing a try?"
It seemed like Jude was interested for sure. But Alma knew enough to know he needed to say it. Consent and all that.

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Into the Deep End

Romi

Secretly a Bird

Kada

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Romi

Secretly a Bird

Kada

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Romi

Secretly a Bird

Kada

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