video: un; apparition (characters 18+ please for the first portion)

[unphase]

[Tinya lounges back wearing a little black dress in her sunroom with her batkitten, her kittens, and her Omen, Moonlight sitting at attention on the armrest of her chair]

So! This may seem like an unusual request, but I'm looking for friends. Friends with benefits, actually. I know that may sound strange, but I miss being close to someone. All are invited to apply, if that makes sense. I want to know whom I'm dealing with before I say yes to anything.

[and a Mona Lisa smile] And is it strange to spend more than five years bouncing between worlds? Who else has been through this? [a teasing smile] You don't necessarily have to be auditioning for the first role to answer, I promise.

Comments

audio | un: sds

[fogsong]

You better be picky about that FWB. [ Because she will beat a person's ass for Tinya, no questions asked. ]

[unphase]

I will be. I'm not sure how many people would be interested? I mean, people seem to pair off so frequently, not everyone's relationship is strong enough to invite a third into the mix without someone getting insecure.

[fogsong]

I have no idea how being a third would work but that sounds... messy. Especially in a place like this one.

[unphase]

Absolutely. [she makes a face] I hate messy. I had messy enough back home between my husband and a man who...sort of took me into his care while I was pregnant.

[fogsong]

Wait, what? [ That sounds like a story she wants to hear, Tinya! ]

[unphase]

[Tinya sighs and rests her head on one palm briefly] Long story short, I ran away to his and my husband's planet while I was pregnant. Obviously, my husband wasn't there, I thought he was dead, but I hoped I could connect with his family.

That was a dumb hope. I nearly got myself killed, but I saved the other guy in the process. Now he says he has a life debt to protect me.

Video - UN: Runeseeker

[onerthes]

[She was in one of her usual red Ao Dai, seated in her office with a cup of tea as she smiled in a bemused way over at Tinya, shrugging.]

I wish you luck finding a friend to share that sort of company with. I admit that I... am not looking for that sort of thing, but it doesn't sound strange.

But, at this point? I've been in this world for close to five years. I suspect it both is very strange and at the same time we grow more accustomed to it. We must seem strange to those who have just arrived.

[unphase]

Thank you, I appreciate that. And I initially wasn't, either, I was hoping for an actual relationship. But I figured in the end, maybe something like that would be...fairer to the situation I left behind. With my husband and son.

Oh, I know. It's like 'hello, how are you, things are going to fuck you up at some point and there's nothing you can do about it, have a cup of stew!' They must think we're quite mad.

[onerthes]

I... am still too raw to consider it myself. But my loss is recent. I do appreciate where you're coming from, though. It is certainly honest.

Heh. Yes. I find some of the newest are still stunned by how almost blase someone who has been around here as long as you or I can be. We've seen horror after horror month after month. It's hard not to become a little immunized.

[unphase]

Ah. That's right. [Tinya says gently] Your own wife disappeared not long ago, didn't she?

[and that draws a shorter, more bitter laugh] Indeed. One would think that they'd listen to us who have been through many things, but alas. 'Tis not to be.

[onerthes]

Yes, and it's still fresh. I... don't pretend that I am not the sort of person who might eventually move on, would want to be happy. But I had a bad habit of casual hookups before she and I dated. [She frowned a little.] I think it might go badly if I started doing that again. Know thyself, mmm?

Well, they always eventually come around. It just takes a few near scares before they realize the crazy people aren't so crazy after all.

video; un: taka

[retsuden]

[ He's squinting a little as he tries to figure this out. He barely knew what sex was before last February okay. ]

Do most friendships not come with the benefit of being close? Isn't that what bonds are about?

(CW: underage sex, coerced sex)

[unphase]

[she was far more precocious than that, having a serious relationship when she was fifteen]

They do. The Mistress knows that you're my dearest friend here and I platonically love you. But...the other place...conditioned me, I guess. It had requirements, ones I couldn't not do unless I wanted something terrible to happen.

1/2

[retsuden]

[ People forget to give you The Talk when you lose your whole family at 7 and let's face it. He's not the most... primal of people in the world.

Which is why he's not following this at all until he remembers them having talked about her other world before. Give him two seconds for it to click. ]

[retsuden]

Oh.

[ OH. ]

I see.

I don't know how you endured such a thing. I don't know that I would have had the same strength. My family was much more... strict on their beliefs about who to do those sorts of acts with. It would have been difficult to overcome.

[unphase]

[dryly] I very nearly didn't. It tried everything it could think of to break me. But it couldn't.

And my mother was terribly strict about it as well. She made the mistake of running away to marry my father when she'd had a husband 'arranged' for her. She regrets it, I can tell.

video; un: price is right

[tagartist]

[ She's raising a brow at the first part, but looks highly amused by it. ]

Not one to beat around the bush with things, huh? That's refreshing.

But whatever. First world jump I made was when I was sixteen. Between there, the Dream, and this shithole, five is probably the average I'm hitting too. I don't normally see others who have the same experiences around. So it's probably hella weird even for these places.

[unphase]

Not really. I spent far too much time in the presence of politicians who'd hint and passive aggressive their way into what they wanted. Or in my mother's case, aggressively state what she wanted. So I lost my patience with playing coy a while ago, unless it's for the benefit of a partner.

Five. Sweet Mistress. How in the Mistress' name do you hang onto yourself after such circumstances?

[tagartist]

Sounds like a hella drag, dude.

[ That question makes her laugh, though, in a sort of... bittersweet kind of way. ] I don't. I lost my fucking marbles ages ago. This place hasn't been as bad yet, but the Dream had a way of shattering you and you just gotta glue the pieces back together. Like that... Japanese pot art thing. Whatever it was called. You're a new you at the end and you gotta come to terms with it.

[unphase]

[she shrugs slightly] It was. But I'm here, not there.

I've heard about that. Where they fill the cracks with something like gold and then it's seen as even more valuable for its brokenness and its transformation into art. I'd like to think that's something all of us can aspire to, but I'm not certain. Not about myself at least. You?

video; username: mariathorpe

[givetheslip]

[Maria is no innocent but she is extremely behind the times when it comes to slang, and not accustomed to such forwardness.]

Other than the usual benefits of friendship?

[She knows some people aren't accustomed to easily making friends but asking for applications is still quite outside the norm.]

[unphase]

[she's sort of learned to be incredibly direct about such things.

and she grins warmly] It's kind of a different sort of friendship. I mean, you are friends, but you also have sex. Which is an arrangement I'd like to have.

[not for this kind of friendship]

[givetheslip]

Oh.

[Well, now she feels a little silly.]

Why didn't you say so in the first place then?

[unphase]

[Tinya laughs and looks awkward] I don't know. I should have. It's just that...with my upbringing a little subtlety is hard to avoid.

[givetheslip]

I'd have thought subtlety is out of the question once you're propositioning people for relations.