Satisfied his words have taken root, Faolan eases only to find his wrist is no longer held captive. Dmitri's hand is palm to palm with his own, holding tight and thinking with a sharp ache in his chest that the firmness of this touch began with the word 'abandoned'.
An unspoken something he won't let himself read into. (You'll leave me somehow, he thinks - accusingly. Angrily. (With terror lining the thought's boundaries.)) He looks back at Dmitri and forgets he was thinking anything at all; his eyes sting with salt wetness.
He's tired. He's terribly tired and when he closes his eyes he knows he'll see that sword swinging down at Dmitri again and again, only a hundred yards from the docks where he called him My Dima and Dmitri called him My Fae. (How could everything go so quickly from perfect to nightmarish?)
He's tired and he wishes he'd never wandered into that clearing.
Dmitri is speaking to Sen, so he forces his focus that way. (But he doesn't withdraw his hand and feels craven for it.)
Sen, knowing well the things Dima says, if not the nuance, begins to bounce on the balls of his toes in agitation, then draws his hands up and back through his hair.
As the Message hits him, he retorts out loud, “Yes, I know my life depends on it."
He drops his hands and sighs. "I know."
Finally, he eases himself to the edge of the bridge, pulls off his boots, and lets his feet dangle in the water. Mykola swims nearer without hesitation and seems content to float close, one tentacle wrapping itself around Sen's calf. He watches it with a complicated expression, then looks up at Rin.
When he speaks again, it's low enough for only the tiefling and the vodyan to hear him. "Mykola, this is Rin. Rin, Mykola.
"If we're to talk, it will be the three of us. You see - "
He draws a breath and slumps forward, dangling his long forearms from his knees. "It's true: we die together, apart, you and I. But so it goes with Rin. I am their own, you see, in a way I am not yours -"
[ But mine another way. As it must be. Was promised. I was promised. ]
Forcing himself to be patient, reminding himself this is more youth than watery antagonist, Sen closes his eyes and breathes out slowly. "Yes. But I must be yours in a way that I am not theirs.
"If I am to keep both of my promises, you must agree to Rin."
[ You will die without them. ]
He hesitates, thinking he really hasn't known Rin well enough to start saying such things out loud. Clearing his throat and looking askance at them, he replies carefully, "I will wish it, because I would not wish for any life without them - which is very much the same. So, I suppose I would, yes. Little by little, without the life they bring."
Mykola stares, seeming to contemplate the tiefling; its tentacle winds and unwinds in a way reminiscent both of an octopus and, strangely, a child giving serious thought to a stranger.
[ You will die without them. We will die together, apart - from them. ] It speaks directly to Rin now. [ Stay together with us. ]
"Please," Sen corrects softly.
[ Why beg? If they wish it, there is no begging, and if they do not wish it, begging does not change them- ]
"Because courtesy matters. Just say 'please', for fuck's sake."
Bubbles break the water's surface as though the vodyan has blown out irritably, mirroring Sen's exasperation.
[ ’Please for fuck's sake.’ ]
<.>
Rin - wary, worried, and also just a little intrigued (Mykola doesn't seem like the worst not-demon, but also maybe it's messing with all of them, maybe Sen just doesn't want this, and it's all very tangled) - drops down cross-legged beside Sen, then cautiously, cautiously dips their tail into the water.
And, to Sen, "Is it okay with you?" Nodding toward Mykola, they then Message Sen, [ Does it hurt you? To be with them, however that means? ]
Out loud again, "I don't want to live without you, either." Which would be weird, if the thought didn't feel - if Sen didn't feel - right in a way no person or humanoid or place ever has. It isn't usual for Rin to want to stay around anyone, but that doesn't make any of this less fitting. Really, it only proves that they were right about everyone else being not worth time or trusting.
Flashing Sen a grin, blowing his a kiss, they add, "So I guess you're pretty much stuck with me."
Turning their focus to Mykola: "I'm not really a demon, by the way. Not much more than you are." And in Infernal, [ It's nice to share a language though. I don't run into a lot of people who know it, so mostly it's me talking to me, and that can get a little old. ]
A pause. A hum. And they look from the voydan to Sen, again, again. "Sen, I want you to be okay. And... Mykola, I don't really know you, but you seem all right, so I guess I don't want you getting hurt, either."
Again looking from one to the other, and back again, "How does it work? Do you share a body, or— I don't really know about any of this. Maybe these are rude questions to ask? I should be courteous, too; that's so." The nod, confirming this important fact! "Really, okay really, the point is if you two are okay with the... With this pact you have? It's okay with me.
"And in that case, I guess you're also stuck with me, Mykola."
And Rin's just going to blow Mykola a kiss now; much lighter, briefer than Sen's, more like a friendly greeting.
It doesn't not occur to Dmitri that the vodyan grasps Sen's ankle in much the same way he's gripping Faolan's hand.
He's not going to think about that. Whatever's occurring among Sen, Rin, and Mykola isn't his to touch just now. (Though it might be a relief, that Sen's at least willing to consider finding a way to accomodate the pact.)
What is his to touch is—
Well. Not Faolan's hand; that's a gift on Fae's part, that this contact's been permitted to remain.
Dmitri's purview is to manage the fracture he's caused, and as he and Faolan stand watching the scene at the water, he speaks softly, "The truth, Faolan, is that I feel for you what I have never felt for another."
Immediately, he shakes his head, huffs a breath; that wasn't as specific as it could have been. Fuck's sake, why is it so difficult to approach this man in words? He seeks Faolan's eyes, swallows, and: "What you are is astonishing; what you are stops my heart in its chest.
"What I mean is your being bathed in your own fire's light. Your hand wrapped in my own, or seeking mine out of your own volition. How your eyes reflect the stars; how your voice spilled reverberant across calm waters. How you allowed me— Welcomed me. To lie beside you, through til dawn.
"And Faolan. You may think yourself rotten; you may have been given infinite cause to wither. But your heart shines like no other. There is such tenderness in you— Twined, yes, with viciousness, equally to me taste." He attempts a crooked smile, nearly manages.
"There is no one and nothing like you, Faolan; this, I promise. And I should like to know your heart, and better offer you my own."
<.>
Mykola jerks backward from the kiss as though there might be something deadly about it. It sinks just below the water, its face distorted by the slow current as it stares unblinking at Rin. When nothing happens, it mimics the movement of lips, sending a bubble to break the water's surface.
Harmless.
Another of its tentacles finds Rin's tail and twines delicately, never taking any imposing hold.
After a while, Sen speaks again. "I'm not certain how it's meant to work. It needs a host, but it can exist on its own - obviously. I gather there's an element of protection in 'riding' - a symbiosis. Magic for me, safety and comfort for it. Experiences. It may feel what I feel, as well - we never really discussed it."
Raising his voice just a little to be certain the vodyan is listening, he continues, "The problem is boundaries, isn't it? It would take control of me while I slept, at first. Or while I was mid-fuck. Then it would steal entire days from me."
[ Borrowing. ]
"If you can't give them back, you aren't borrowing," he sighs, then leans shoulder-to-shoulder with Rin. "The other problem is it learned 'borrowing' from me - and lying. And gambling, as a matter of fact."
[ Cards-dice, ] Mykola bubbles, pleased to contribute to this recounting.
"Cards-dice. Yes, but you aren't very good at them, are you?" he replies without rancor. Mykola's response is another splash of water.
[ Played cards-dice as you play. ]
It's clear, despite Sen's grousing and the discomfort, the unpleasantness of the situation, there's a depth of relief for both himself and the vodyan - perhaps even dim fondness, relief at being together again.
"Broke and unable to recall entire weeks at a time? I puzzled out the culprit. It was joyriding, and that was not the deal, now was it?"
Mykola eyes Sen, then tilts itself back and summersaults slowly in the water.
"And this is generally how our conversations went. I talk, it -" He gestures to how the vodyan twists, seeming to chase its own tentacles. "I'm not sure whether it's ignoring me, but it seemed so, back then."
Sighing, he swings the foot being held by the tentacle and Mykola lets the movement carry it back and forth through the water. Bubbles float upward in bursts - laughter - and Sen smiles with something like nostalgia.
"But more to your question, Pretty Rin: yes, I would have to share. However, I think it's grasped the idea that even if it doesn't share with me, it will have to share with you. Which means it may only play cards-dice when I am aware, or when Rin is watching, yes?"
Mykola grasps Rin's tail and swings slowly between them, Sen's movements carrying it against the current, and the current carrying it back.
[ A sometimes-host for cards-dice, so it will be we three together? ]
"Ah. There was that." Sen snorts, then turns to look over his shoulder at Dima and Faolan. Turning back, he replies, "Perhaps if you ask Dima very nicely, he will find you a sometimes-host."
Looking to Rin, he mouths, Corpse.
<.>
"Oh, no." Words spoken below their breath as Sen talks about losing time. That is a serious problem, and the look Rin's giving Mykola says they really don't approve. Maybe Mykola didn't understand, but still, it can't have been okay for Sen, and Rin scoots closer to him, winding an arm around his waist. And softly, gently they sway their tail in the water, a way of showing Mykola that even if Rin doesn't look entirely happy about that 'borrowing,' it's all right for the vodyan to touch their tail like that.
They do like the idea of playing cards or dice or cards-dice all together sometime; that could be fun, right? But there's the other thing to address first—
"Mykola, you can't just borrow bodies like that, not even with pacts. It's really not fair, because— Okay, do you know dibs?" They do not wait to hear whether Mykola knows dibs; Rin is too focused on getting their point across right now. "Well, whoever's in the body in the first place has dibs, and you have to ask if you can join them. Like asking 'please for fuck's sake' and if they say yes, then you can hang around, and if they say no, you have to be okay with that.
"I'd like very much to play cards-dice, all three of us. There are all kinds of games we can play, and maybe we can all go for a swim, though I don't love water all the time, and— Did Sen teach you about pickpocketing?" They shake their head, give their tail a little flick, just at its end, so they don't shake off Mykola. "Pickpocketing's very different than taking over bodies. We need our bodies to live, right?
"I want all of us to play cards, but you have to promise not to borrow or get into Sen's body without his permission. You'll probably have more fun anyway if Sen's in on it with you.
"Besides, Sen needs to be able to remember things, because I never do, and none of us'll get anywhere if nobody remembers." Yes, that is a very good point they've made, and Rin nods emphatically.
<.>
Of all the things Rin says, the only thing that causes Mykola to still is this last: Sen needs to remember things.
Its hold tightens on tail and calf, not to cause harm, but to keep itself steady in the water so it can regard Rin very seriously. Abruptly, it releases them both and dives, vanishing into the murk of the water. A rippling trail evidences where it's gone: in a circle around them, under the bridge and back again.
"It's thinking," Sen comments approvingly. He looks down at Rin with an appreciative smile and thinks maybe if they'd been around all along, they might have been able to translate his sense to Mykola's...nonsense, really. Or at least simplify things he tried to overexplain to the vodyan, thus likely causing it to be inattentive.
He presses a kiss to one of their horns and, while Mykola continues its circuitous pondering, whispers, "You are stuck with me, as well. As long as you'll allow."
These words come punctuated by the wet return of tentacles; Mykola's eyes break the surface and it waits until both elf and tiefling are looking at it again.
[ No dibs. So Sen-Seddum may remember. ]
Sen hums as if to say, well, would you look at that, but the vodyan tugs. There's a 'but' coming.
[ Allow me. Dibs for you, allow for me, remember for Rin, and we live together, together. Apart only sometimes. We weaken together, apart, Seddum. ]
Sen considers this grimly; in the back of his mind, he wonders if maybe as Mykola ages, it will be able to remain outside his body for prolonged periods of time. If not, well. Any life is better than none at all.
"We'll discuss it again. How long and when you may have a turn at the reins. We agree only that right now, we are sick. Right now, we need to share."
[ You promised - ]
"I promised no specifics. You promised none. We need to deal better.”
[ …Unhappy with this, Seddum. ]
"Brilliant. Then you've learned to compromise."
Mykola's answer is another splash of water.
<.>
"Dibs, allow, remember," Rin muses, leaning their head against Sen's arm and nodding. "That seems all right to me." It's something, anyway, and Sen seems to think it's an acceptable something, and maybe all Sen and Mykola need is a way to start learning how existing together can working. And aloud, more like thinking out loud than making a precise point, "It's hard enough working out how to live in one body, so it takes time to figure out two, and sometimes sharing. That makes sense."
Against Sen's arm, they nuzzle a little bit, thinking how, really, how really nice it was to hear Sen say they're stuck with him, also. How that felt right. And how it's also kind of nice, just sitting on this bridge with Mykola holding on to both of them, then swimming around, then peering over the water jussst so.
Messaging Sen: [ Oh, I'll allow forever. I am VERY certain of you, you see. ] And there's a nudge of their horns against Sen's arm; there's a happy little grin.
Then speaking more directly to Mykola and Sen: "There's probably ways to make it happier for both of you. Between the three of us, I just bet we'll figure something out. Probably a lot of something."
And a thought, a cant of their head. "Mykola, where do you go when you're not sharing with Sen? Is there something we can get for you to make it easier? Like a way of travel or something, so you can be around with us even when it's not time for sharing?"
no subject
An unspoken something he won't let himself read into. (You'll leave me somehow, he thinks - accusingly. Angrily. (With terror lining the thought's boundaries.)) He looks back at Dmitri and forgets he was thinking anything at all; his eyes sting with salt wetness.
He's tired. He's terribly tired and when he closes his eyes he knows he'll see that sword swinging down at Dmitri again and again, only a hundred yards from the docks where he called him My Dima and Dmitri called him My Fae. (How could everything go so quickly from perfect to nightmarish?)
He's tired and he wishes he'd never wandered into that clearing.
Dmitri is speaking to Sen, so he forces his focus that way. (But he doesn't withdraw his hand and feels craven for it.)
Sen, knowing well the things Dima says, if not the nuance, begins to bounce on the balls of his toes in agitation, then draws his hands up and back through his hair.
As the Message hits him, he retorts out loud, “Yes, I know my life depends on it."
He drops his hands and sighs. "I know."
Finally, he eases himself to the edge of the bridge, pulls off his boots, and lets his feet dangle in the water. Mykola swims nearer without hesitation and seems content to float close, one tentacle wrapping itself around Sen's calf. He watches it with a complicated expression, then looks up at Rin.
When he speaks again, it's low enough for only the tiefling and the vodyan to hear him. "Mykola, this is Rin. Rin, Mykola.
"If we're to talk, it will be the three of us. You see - "
He draws a breath and slumps forward, dangling his long forearms from his knees. "It's true: we die together, apart, you and I. But so it goes with Rin. I am their own, you see, in a way I am not yours -"
[ But mine another way. As it must be. Was promised. I was promised. ]
Forcing himself to be patient, reminding himself this is more youth than watery antagonist, Sen closes his eyes and breathes out slowly. "Yes. But I must be yours in a way that I am not theirs.
"If I am to keep both of my promises, you must agree to Rin."
[ You will die without them. ]
He hesitates, thinking he really hasn't known Rin well enough to start saying such things out loud. Clearing his throat and looking askance at them, he replies carefully, "I will wish it, because I would not wish for any life without them - which is very much the same. So, I suppose I would, yes. Little by little, without the life they bring."
Mykola stares, seeming to contemplate the tiefling; its tentacle winds and unwinds in a way reminiscent both of an octopus and, strangely, a child giving serious thought to a stranger.
[ You will die without them. We will die together, apart - from them. ] It speaks directly to Rin now. [ Stay together with us. ]
"Please," Sen corrects softly.
[ Why beg? If they wish it, there is no begging, and if they do not wish it, begging does not change them- ]
"Because courtesy matters. Just say 'please', for fuck's sake."
Bubbles break the water's surface as though the vodyan has blown out irritably, mirroring Sen's exasperation.
[ ’Please for fuck's sake.’ ]
<.>
Rin - wary, worried, and also just a little intrigued (Mykola doesn't seem like the worst not-demon, but also maybe it's messing with all of them, maybe Sen just doesn't want this, and it's all very tangled) - drops down cross-legged beside Sen, then cautiously, cautiously dips their tail into the water.
And, to Sen, "Is it okay with you?" Nodding toward Mykola, they then Message Sen, [ Does it hurt you? To be with them, however that means? ]
Out loud again, "I don't want to live without you, either." Which would be weird, if the thought didn't feel - if Sen didn't feel - right in a way no person or humanoid or place ever has. It isn't usual for Rin to want to stay around anyone, but that doesn't make any of this less fitting. Really, it only proves that they were right about everyone else being not worth time or trusting.
Flashing Sen a grin, blowing his a kiss, they add, "So I guess you're pretty much stuck with me."
Turning their focus to Mykola: "I'm not really a demon, by the way. Not much more than you are." And in Infernal, [ It's nice to share a language though. I don't run into a lot of people who know it, so mostly it's me talking to me, and that can get a little old. ]
A pause. A hum. And they look from the voydan to Sen, again, again. "Sen, I want you to be okay. And... Mykola, I don't really know you, but you seem all right, so I guess I don't want you getting hurt, either."
Again looking from one to the other, and back again, "How does it work? Do you share a body, or— I don't really know about any of this. Maybe these are rude questions to ask? I should be courteous, too; that's so." The nod, confirming this important fact! "Really, okay really, the point is if you two are okay with the... With this pact you have? It's okay with me.
"And in that case, I guess you're also stuck with me, Mykola."
And Rin's just going to blow Mykola a kiss now; much lighter, briefer than Sen's, more like a friendly greeting.
It doesn't not occur to Dmitri that the vodyan grasps Sen's ankle in much the same way he's gripping Faolan's hand.
He's not going to think about that. Whatever's occurring among Sen, Rin, and Mykola isn't his to touch just now. (Though it might be a relief, that Sen's at least willing to consider finding a way to accomodate the pact.)
What is his to touch is—
Well. Not Faolan's hand; that's a gift on Fae's part, that this contact's been permitted to remain.
Dmitri's purview is to manage the fracture he's caused, and as he and Faolan stand watching the scene at the water, he speaks softly, "The truth, Faolan, is that I feel for you what I have never felt for another."
Immediately, he shakes his head, huffs a breath; that wasn't as specific as it could have been. Fuck's sake, why is it so difficult to approach this man in words? He seeks Faolan's eyes, swallows, and: "What you are is astonishing; what you are stops my heart in its chest.
"What I mean is your being bathed in your own fire's light. Your hand wrapped in my own, or seeking mine out of your own volition. How your eyes reflect the stars; how your voice spilled reverberant across calm waters. How you allowed me— Welcomed me. To lie beside you, through til dawn.
"And Faolan. You may think yourself rotten; you may have been given infinite cause to wither. But your heart shines like no other. There is such tenderness in you— Twined, yes, with viciousness, equally to me taste." He attempts a crooked smile, nearly manages.
"There is no one and nothing like you, Faolan; this, I promise. And I should like to know your heart, and better offer you my own."
<.>
Mykola jerks backward from the kiss as though there might be something deadly about it. It sinks just below the water, its face distorted by the slow current as it stares unblinking at Rin. When nothing happens, it mimics the movement of lips, sending a bubble to break the water's surface.
Harmless.
Another of its tentacles finds Rin's tail and twines delicately, never taking any imposing hold.
After a while, Sen speaks again. "I'm not certain how it's meant to work. It needs a host, but it can exist on its own - obviously. I gather there's an element of protection in 'riding' - a symbiosis. Magic for me, safety and comfort for it. Experiences. It may feel what I feel, as well - we never really discussed it."
Raising his voice just a little to be certain the vodyan is listening, he continues, "The problem is boundaries, isn't it? It would take control of me while I slept, at first. Or while I was mid-fuck. Then it would steal entire days from me."
[ Borrowing. ]
"If you can't give them back, you aren't borrowing," he sighs, then leans shoulder-to-shoulder with Rin. "The other problem is it learned 'borrowing' from me - and lying. And gambling, as a matter of fact."
[ Cards-dice, ] Mykola bubbles, pleased to contribute to this recounting.
"Cards-dice. Yes, but you aren't very good at them, are you?" he replies without rancor. Mykola's response is another splash of water.
[ Played cards-dice as you play. ]
It's clear, despite Sen's grousing and the discomfort, the unpleasantness of the situation, there's a depth of relief for both himself and the vodyan - perhaps even dim fondness, relief at being together again.
"Broke and unable to recall entire weeks at a time? I puzzled out the culprit. It was joyriding, and that was not the deal, now was it?"
Mykola eyes Sen, then tilts itself back and summersaults slowly in the water.
"And this is generally how our conversations went. I talk, it -" He gestures to how the vodyan twists, seeming to chase its own tentacles. "I'm not sure whether it's ignoring me, but it seemed so, back then."
Sighing, he swings the foot being held by the tentacle and Mykola lets the movement carry it back and forth through the water. Bubbles float upward in bursts - laughter - and Sen smiles with something like nostalgia.
"But more to your question, Pretty Rin: yes, I would have to share. However, I think it's grasped the idea that even if it doesn't share with me, it will have to share with you. Which means it may only play cards-dice when I am aware, or when Rin is watching, yes?"
Mykola grasps Rin's tail and swings slowly between them, Sen's movements carrying it against the current, and the current carrying it back.
[ A sometimes-host for cards-dice, so it will be we three together? ]
"Ah. There was that." Sen snorts, then turns to look over his shoulder at Dima and Faolan. Turning back, he replies, "Perhaps if you ask Dima very nicely, he will find you a sometimes-host."
Looking to Rin, he mouths, Corpse.
<.>
"Oh, no." Words spoken below their breath as Sen talks about losing time. That is a serious problem, and the look Rin's giving Mykola says they really don't approve. Maybe Mykola didn't understand, but still, it can't have been okay for Sen, and Rin scoots closer to him, winding an arm around his waist. And softly, gently they sway their tail in the water, a way of showing Mykola that even if Rin doesn't look entirely happy about that 'borrowing,' it's all right for the vodyan to touch their tail like that.
They do like the idea of playing cards or dice or cards-dice all together sometime; that could be fun, right? But there's the other thing to address first—
"Mykola, you can't just borrow bodies like that, not even with pacts. It's really not fair, because— Okay, do you know dibs?" They do not wait to hear whether Mykola knows dibs; Rin is too focused on getting their point across right now. "Well, whoever's in the body in the first place has dibs, and you have to ask if you can join them. Like asking 'please for fuck's sake' and if they say yes, then you can hang around, and if they say no, you have to be okay with that.
"I'd like very much to play cards-dice, all three of us. There are all kinds of games we can play, and maybe we can all go for a swim, though I don't love water all the time, and— Did Sen teach you about pickpocketing?" They shake their head, give their tail a little flick, just at its end, so they don't shake off Mykola. "Pickpocketing's very different than taking over bodies. We need our bodies to live, right?
"I want all of us to play cards, but you have to promise not to borrow or get into Sen's body without his permission. You'll probably have more fun anyway if Sen's in on it with you.
"Besides, Sen needs to be able to remember things, because I never do, and none of us'll get anywhere if nobody remembers." Yes, that is a very good point they've made, and Rin nods emphatically.
<.>
Of all the things Rin says, the only thing that causes Mykola to still is this last: Sen needs to remember things.
Its hold tightens on tail and calf, not to cause harm, but to keep itself steady in the water so it can regard Rin very seriously. Abruptly, it releases them both and dives, vanishing into the murk of the water. A rippling trail evidences where it's gone: in a circle around them, under the bridge and back again.
"It's thinking," Sen comments approvingly. He looks down at Rin with an appreciative smile and thinks maybe if they'd been around all along, they might have been able to translate his sense to Mykola's...nonsense, really. Or at least simplify things he tried to overexplain to the vodyan, thus likely causing it to be inattentive.
He presses a kiss to one of their horns and, while Mykola continues its circuitous pondering, whispers, "You are stuck with me, as well. As long as you'll allow."
These words come punctuated by the wet return of tentacles; Mykola's eyes break the surface and it waits until both elf and tiefling are looking at it again.
[ No dibs. So Sen-Seddum may remember. ]
Sen hums as if to say, well, would you look at that, but the vodyan tugs. There's a 'but' coming.
[ Allow me. Dibs for you, allow for me, remember for Rin, and we live together, together. Apart only sometimes. We weaken together, apart, Seddum. ]
Sen considers this grimly; in the back of his mind, he wonders if maybe as Mykola ages, it will be able to remain outside his body for prolonged periods of time. If not, well. Any life is better than none at all.
"We'll discuss it again. How long and when you may have a turn at the reins. We agree only that right now, we are sick. Right now, we need to share."
[ You promised - ]
"I promised no specifics. You promised none. We need to deal better.”
[ …Unhappy with this, Seddum. ]
"Brilliant. Then you've learned to compromise."
Mykola's answer is another splash of water.
<.>
"Dibs, allow, remember," Rin muses, leaning their head against Sen's arm and nodding. "That seems all right to me." It's something, anyway, and Sen seems to think it's an acceptable something, and maybe all Sen and Mykola need is a way to start learning how existing together can working. And aloud, more like thinking out loud than making a precise point, "It's hard enough working out how to live in one body, so it takes time to figure out two, and sometimes sharing. That makes sense."
Against Sen's arm, they nuzzle a little bit, thinking how, really, how really nice it was to hear Sen say they're stuck with him, also. How that felt right. And how it's also kind of nice, just sitting on this bridge with Mykola holding on to both of them, then swimming around, then peering over the water jussst so.
Messaging Sen: [ Oh, I'll allow forever. I am VERY certain of you, you see. ] And there's a nudge of their horns against Sen's arm; there's a happy little grin.
Then speaking more directly to Mykola and Sen: "There's probably ways to make it happier for both of you. Between the three of us, I just bet we'll figure something out. Probably a lot of something."
And a thought, a cant of their head. "Mykola, where do you go when you're not sharing with Sen? Is there something we can get for you to make it easier? Like a way of travel or something, so you can be around with us even when it's not time for sharing?"
<.>