{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

Voice

[mech_and_mutt]

It's pretty obvious they WANT us to do it here. But it's caused me enough headaches already...!

[freshtilapia]

How are you so sure they want us to explore open relationships here? Moreover, have you been proposed to be in one, darling?

[ They sip their champagne, blue eyes on their screen expectantly. ]

[mech_and_mutt]

[All consideration of the first question goes out the window once the second comes through.]

The girl I'm with is used to that sorta thing, actually, and that's just fine!...

[A sigh.]

...but not everyone bothered to talk to me about it first.

[freshtilapia]

Oh dear... while I do think open relationships are fun when they happen, a lack of communication does sour it. That... actually happened between Molly and I at first.

[ They look very genuinely concerned for Red. ]

Did she speak to you about it?

[mech_and_mutt]

That's...

[Another sigh that turned to a grumble, though this one sounded a bit more... fumbling.]

...complicated. I didn't know she had a boyfriend and she didn't know he'd ever be coming back here after he'd disappeared. I don't think anyone knew what was really goin' on.

--it's not the girl I'm with, though!

[freshtilapia]

Oh dear... that really does sound complicated.

[ And Fish looks visibly distressed about the whole thing. ]

Are you still sorting things out with that other girl? Do you need someone to talk about it with?

[mech_and_mutt]

Nah. It's old news. I'm over it.

[He doesn't sound 100% convincing, but it suffice to have him nudge the subject matter a little bit towards a different course.]

Who are you seein', anyway?

[freshtilapia]

Mm...

[ They'll pocket Red's girl woes for another time. Sounds like he doesn't want to dwell on it for the moment. ]

Well, darling, I've been with a wonderful tiefling named Mollymauk for some months now. We first met during that one festival... the one with the octopus things.

[mech_and_mutt]

Mollymauk...

[Nope. Didn't ring a bell. Probably for the better, really.]

Was it easy for you? S'this the sorta thing you did back home, too?

[freshtilapia]

I've never done anything similar back home, really. When I was last in a relationship, it was actually the complete opposite. I felt like a... well... a fish in a bowl with how my partner then was so possessive of me.

The freedom Mollymauk gave me... the freedom we gave each other was strange at first. But I've grown to really love it. And it makes me love him even more.

[mech_and_mutt]

'Cause it meant you could trust each other, right?

Isn't there some sayin' like that? "If you love something, set it free?"

[freshtilapia]

Yes... that's right. That's exactly how it is. We did that for each other. And I think that just made our relationship even better.