{05 Video}

[freshtilapia]

[ Here's a Fish.

For those of you new to Fish, they're a very long, very slender androgynous merfolk with red hair and fins, lavender skin, and very bright blue eyes.
They're relaxing in a bathtub full of fizzing, opulent blue, violet, orange, and pink suds that seem to be sparkling in the video. Someone's been enjoying a bath bomb. And they've got a flute of what seems to be champagne, too. ]

A conversation with someone I met on the beach before the Firialia festivities put a question in my mind that's been lingering there for a bit...

If it isn't too personal, how do you feel about open relationships? Are you in one yourself?

I'm in one, and it's the best arrangement I feel for my lover and I with our personalities and lifestyles. So, I've been curious about how other people feel about this kind of thing.

[ They have a sip of their drink and crosses their legs in the water, exposing their knees above the psychedelic suds. ]

Comments

video; manacookies

[spacegoat]

Oh, that looks like a very nice bath! [ How can she not comment on that? ] ...and a very nice person, too!

[ They remind her a bit of a more humanoid jinyu, and who doesn't appreciate that color scheme? ]

Open relationships, they are a good thing, no? Love is very important, but so is trust and speaking. It has been a few decades I was in one, but it worked very well for me.

[freshtilapia]

Well, darling! You look like a very nice person yourself!

[ They raise their champagne flute at her in cheers. ]

My... a few decades, hm? That sounds like such a long, amazing time... but I'm guessing for your kind it's not at all like that?

[spacegoat]

[ She returns the raise of their glass with a similar lifting motion of the tendrils behind one ear, and a little amused smile. ]

My people, we live a very long time. Tens of thousands of years. There is love that lasts eternity, yes, but it is also a long time for finding that love. So many, we explore both love and relationships in many ways.

I believe it is healthy to find what works for you rather than to limit yourself, yes?

[freshtilapia]

My... I love the sound of that. And indeed, I absolutely agree. So, how was your last relationship like?

Oh! And pardon me, how rude of me to pry without introducing myself first! You can call me Fish.

[spacegoat]

That is a very good name! I am Minarii, but you can call me Mina, yes?

[ There's a little wink. ]

My last one, it was with one of our paladins. He was gone a lot on the missions, so we arranged that we could see others while apart. He came home and told me about the people he met, and I told him about mine. Sometimes we would invite them home, and we would enjoy the things together.

In the end, though, we slept in the bed together and shared the emotions between us.

[freshtilapia]

My! That certainly sounds like the kind of relationship my darling and I share! Except that usually I'm the one out a lot of the time, as a performer in this city. It's a beautiful kind of arrangement, isn't it?

[spacegoat]

It is a very good one, yes!

[ She looks pleased, honestly. It was a bitter end to that relationship, but their world was full of wars and battle. It was almost inevitable when your love was a hero. ]

You are a performer? What is it that you do, if I may ask so?

[freshtilapia]

I perform down in Level 3... in an establishment called Club Tourmaline. I sing, do acrobatics, dance... do you know an art called burlesque?

[spacegoat]

I have never heard of this, no. What is it?

[freshtilapia]

Well, it's a type of performance that's all about teasing. Sometimes, there's an exciting stunt, but most of the time, the titillation is all from the stripping.

[spacegoat]

Oh! That sounds like a lot of fun. I have seen stripping, but not as art.

[freshtilapia]

It is a lot of fun, darling! If you do come, you can say you're a friend of Fish to get past the cover charge at my club!

[spacegoat]

Oh, thank you! I will definitely come see this, yes. This place has so many fun things to experience, and I'm willing to try everything at least once!