1846/Where Paths Lead

Where Paths Lead
Date of Scene:	06 August 2017
Location:	Park in Metropolis
Synopsis:	Another date between Priscilla and Sarah; they talk.
Cast of Characters:	Rainmaker, Voodoo

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Rainmaker has posed:
    It's been a fairly peaceful weekend...it's been a few days since either of you have been able to see either of you in person, partly due to conflicting schedules....Sarah with a few protests that were consecutive days, you with a temporary shift to schedule to pick up some extra cash when another girl got sick and had to bow out of her performances. Perhaps oddly, when Sarah did call you, she asked if you wanted to go to a park to 'talk'. She didn't give off the 'this will be a dump' meeting tone in her voice, in fact she seemed eager to see you, but there was a definite edge of uncertainty and nervousness in her when you first see her.

    She's found a nice private spot in a little copse of trees, and has laid out a couple beach blankets to sit on, with a little picnic basket and traditional plaid cloth on the ground between them, and is sitting crosselegged as you arrive, breaking into a soft smile as you approach. But you can feel her emotions...they're a bit in turmoil. Mostly a little guilt, a little worry, and that little yellow gleam of her strongest feelings for you at the fore front, but swirling around oddly with other emotions. Desire, affection, concern, fear...it's unusual for the normally fairly serene Sarah to have that level of upheaval in her. Generally, only when she's feeling the strongest emotions.

Voodoo has posed:
Unable to sift and sort through the minor maelstrom of emotions going on inside of Sarah, Priscilla does not try to pin a label on it or define it; she just approaches her girlfriend, offers a gentle and warm smile, and folds her legs to settle down on the blanket beside her, as she reaches out her hand to make some degree of contact, likely taking one of Sarah's in her own. "Hi. Sorry about being all over the map, lately. I know it can't be fun not being able to at least get a little time together." This is exacerbated because with things coming together as they have been, they were on the brink of living in the same building when their schedules fell apart as they have. Quite the reversal of fortunes.

For now, Priss doesn't push; she doesn't ask Sarah what is going on. It wouldn't be hard to realize she is well aware of those things and is waiting. But she wants to make it something freely and openly approached, not something she drug out of the Amerindian woman by main force and empathic intuition.

Rainmaker has posed:
    It's a bit like the sun coming out from behind the clouds as she looks up at you, a soft smile crossing her lips as she sees you, some of the turmoil in her starting to smooth out just by your presence. "It's alright, Priss." she says gently. "It's as much my fault, I haven't had any time to help you find a place or...well, anything lately." She sighs a bit ruefully. "I guess it's just how it goes sometimes though. But we have today at least." she says, reaching out to hold your hands."

    She's obviously turning something over in her head now, then says slowly. "I do have something I want to talk to you about. But...I don't want to..." She frowns. "I don't want to do it wrong, and I'm not good at this at all...." And she's totaly starting to go into that falling over her words thing she does when she's trying to explain when she's still figuring something out, before she catches herself, stopping, then taking a deep breath.

    She looks up at you, meeting your eyes with her own dark brown gaze. "...Priss. You can feel what I feel. When I think about you. Right? That it's...attached to you? Not...general or an ideal or...something like that?"

Voodoo has posed:
"My instincts are empathic." Priscilla explains, which probably doesn't explain much at all. But she uses this as a post upon which to hang what comes next. "So, I can feel what you are feeling. I could open up my telepathy, especially with physical contact, and know the thoughts that bring up those thoughts. But in general it's mostly about instincts, intuition, and the ability to 'feel' or 'see' your feelings."

So no, Priscilla cannot tell that //she// is necessarily the cause of any particular feeling, but she can make a guess at it, when that feeling rises to the fore as Sarah's eyes alight upon her for the first time, or when their hands make contact.

"Honey ... listen. I can tell something is up. I'm trying not to be pushy, here. But it might be best if you just take a few deep breaths, and then just tell me. Don't try to pretty it up or massage it. Just tell me, get it out there. We can figure out the rest later." Priss offers, by way of suggestion. She's pretty sure Sarah is single, but feeling guilt associated with her presence is something Priss has felt all too often before, coming from those who were already involved and then got themselves sucked in by Priss' 'aura' and made a mess of things for all concerned.

Priss really doesn't want something like that again.

Rainmaker has posed:
    The Amerindian girl hesistates, then nods, squeezing your hands gently, as she looks at you, an odd swirl of emotions coming from her for a moment as she just gazes your face for a moment, a faint smile coming to her lips. That golden glow of love and affection intensifies...as well as the fear of...loss? Confusion but determination.

    "You're not pushy." Sarah says simply. "And it's why I wanted to meet you out here, so you wouldn't feel...off balance? Or..." She searches for the words, then gives up and just is honest. "I want to tell you, but I'm afraid that I'll hurt you or make you...believe that what I feel isn't real somehow, or...." She breathes out in a little sigh. "...Priss, do you believe I love you? I know how your power works. I know that it's...got to be hard. Not being sure. I've been...thinking about this. I'm not used to feeling this. After we talked about this, after I, um..." She flushes. "...after I blurted things out, I was afraid I made you feel like I was...that it was not real. So I've been thinking..." she repeats. "And then this came up and it made me examine things. Seriously examine them."

    She tilts her head, squeezing your hands gently. "I don't think I think of you as my...ideal? Not some...thing built up in my mind that only exists there. I think there are things I truly love about you. Things that inspire me, things that make me want to see you succeed and be happy. I like having you in my life....and not just because you understand me so well because of what you can do. But because I really...I really want you in it."

    She breathes out softly. "So I'm not sure how to deal with this. Because I feel like I'm feeling this way about someone else too..." She swallows. "...I'm a little unsure what to do about it." she admits softly.

Voodoo has posed:
Priscilla tenses up; she may be part alien, and wonderful in many ways, but she's still a person, and it's entirely natural for her to do so. This is ... very unbalancing. Difficult. Even untenable. But she does not push. She does not rush. And she does not interrupt. She waits. She holds Sarah's hands, and she listens. She listens not just with her ears, but all of her ... and she rides out that tumultuous storm.

It's true that Priscilla doubts how genuine or real the love she has with Sarah might be. She cannot help that; given the nature of the alien hybrid's powers, others cannot help but fall in love with her, and she cannot really turn it off. So all sorts of people fall in love with her - real love, as far as they are concerned - all the time. But their love is because of what she is, what she does, not because of who she is at her core.

It is a feeling Prscilla has long feared she may never truly know for herself.

"You know, it's a fallacy that you can only love one person. Love multiplies and grows." Priscilla explains. And the empath would know. "Monogamy and faithfullness come not from simply being in love with that person and no other. It's where it begins, of course. But the truth of it is a lot more than that." And to be fair, Priscilla has not exactly come from a life or lifestyle that encourages monogamy or faithfullness. She doesn't tout or stress that, but it's true.

Rainmaker has posed:
    The response actually causes Sarah to blink, her lips parting in suprise as she listens, her eyes searching yours, a little brush of hope, cautious but there, spreading as more of the confusion of emotions in her lessens. Her lips twitch a bit a wry amusement for you, a genuine moment of quiet delight in you, before she searches for the right words again. "I think I know that, intellectually." she admits. "I just..." She squeezes your hands softly, a little flicker of old emotions creeping in momentarily. Loneliness, primarily.

    "I've never seriously thought about it before." she admits, to begin. "I mean...intellectually, yes. I can see that. And it's not like I've never loved someone else, I love my mother, I loved my father, I love my uncles, my family back home. But..." She quirks her lips into a soft smile. "....this, with you, with...with her, I don't...I've never felt something like this." She flushes, looking down. "...I haven't really ever had anything like this. I...I never got the chance, until very recently. This type of connection. So..I guess I just assumed it would be like the culture around me expected, that I'd meet just...one special someone and then it would go on from there."

    She looks back up at you. "I didn't expect it at all. Meeting you, now meeting...Dani, I just. I had to think about it for a while. So maybe it was good that I had a few days to do that." she admits, sheepishly. "Because we both know I suck at figuring things out in my head sometimes." Deep breath. "I want to tell you about her, but....I am..I am very sure. That I do love you. And I think I love her. And I don't want to lose either of you, but I don't want to hurt either of you." She sighs and grumbles. "And I feel like I"m doing this back assward, but...it's more important first that you know that I'm not...pushing you away. Or that what I feel for you has changed, or that it's just...some weirdness from your abilities. I believe that." she says earnestly. "Because, weirdly enough..if you're not my ideal, if I love you flaws and all, rather than as some perfect, impossible woman who is just....existing in my head, then it can't be...untrue?"

Voodoo has posed:
Not at all offended by the idea of Sarah loving another woman, Priscilla just nods, listening. "Connections are a very natural part of life. I am glad that you are building more of them, rather than less." After all, Priss knows how it can be when on the run; she hasn't built connections like this for any length or depth since she left her team.

"Listen, Sarah. I want you to be happy. The fact that I care about you and want the best for you is a big part of how I know I love you." Priss offers, with a gentle smile. "I'll be honest: my experience is more with lust than love." She has never made any bones about that. "But I know enough to know it. To feel it. And to accept it.

That said, however, Priscilla is not done. "You have found and managed to build a connection with another woman. One that, I imagine, is //not// spending her time shaking her moneymaker in front of dozens of strangers. One who doesn't just generate desire and attraction as easily as breathing. And that makes that connection all the more precious and special. I think the best thing for me to do is bow out, and let you and this ... Dani ... build what you can together. For both your sakes. I know coming down off of the 'high' of being with me won't be easy. But you'll have her, and that's something real. Something that will last."

Rainmaker has posed:
    As you talk her, Sarah's eyes get wider and wider, and you can feel that fear surge, followed by a stronger surge of determination. At the moment you finish it's too much for her as she slides off her blanket over to yours, leaning up to you closely.

    "No." she says, firmly. "No, that is -not- what I'm saying." She releases one of your hands, but only because that way she can poke you in the sternum lightly. "You -are- real to me, Priss Kitaen. You are not some passing fancy. You are not some figment of my imagination, some girl on a pedestal. Don't you dare put those things on me!" she says, her eyes flashing, more frustration than anger in her mind.

    She takes a deep breath, then recaptures your hand, squeezing tight for a moment, then gets a more pugnacious look to her. "...I don't care who you shake your ass for. I don't care that other people might fall in lust with you. I didn't give you what I have of me because you were 'there', or because of how gorgeous you look, but because I trusted you. Because I wanted you to have that part of my heart, the place I don't show to everyeone else. Because I -want- you to have my heart."

    Her thumbs brush the tops of your hands. "...because I love the girl I can see past all of that. That woman who has kept going after everything that's happened to her, living on her own, being left by her teammates, the girl who still manages to smile, who still manages to reach out to people to help them when she doesn't have to. The one who has struggled and fought and kept going and is the strongest woman I know, inside, where it counts."

    Her eyes start to shimmer a bit. "And you, Priss Kitaen, I am not going to stop loving. I am not going to stop chasing you, if you run away from me. If I do love someone else, it's only because I learned to love someone with you first, and that was -not- my fuckin' trail wheels for how I feel, and not something I -ever- want to discard!"

    Her chest rises and falls faster, her emotions surging, the soft feelings of affection and desire and, yes, love, merging, threading through with a incredibly fierce protectiveness, a refusal to give up. "You -are- real. You -are- special. Not just because of what people see when they look at you, or how well you can read what I feel, but because I -like- what you showed me beyond that. I like that person...I think I love that person." she says softly. "I know I want that person in my life, because you fit in a place that's been empty in me, even if..maybe it's a bigger space than I thought."

Voodoo has posed:
Priscilla gently gathers up both of Sarah's hands, holding them together with her own, and then looks into the Amerindian's eyes with her own purple orbs. "Listen to me, Sarah. Please?" She waits, making sure she has Sarah's focused attention before she speaks again.

"I am not saying that your love for me isn't real. And I am not saying that I don't love you. OK? But you have to admit that building a loving relationship with an empath is one heck of a lot easier than with someone who isn't. So I think you need to concentrate your efforts on Dani. Get to know her. Build bridges with her. Share yourself with her, earn her trust." A pause there. "Which is going to be a lot easier for her if you aren't with someone else at the time." Like the stripper. The often-naked stripper. The alien empathic freak girl.

"I want you to have your very best chance at happiness, Sarah. And the only way any of us are going to know what that is will be if you explore this new possibility to its fullest."

Rainmaker has posed:
    Sarah sets her jaw a bit as you take her hands, though she quiets, letting you talk. Her dark eyes on yours as you explain, though you can feel her fight down the desire to interrupt, little surges in her emotiions that she tamps down. Instead, she waits, and when you fall silent again, she takes a moment to organize her own thoughts.

    "Priss...I won't deny that it would be different...will be different. You know what I'm feeling better than I do at sometimes. And I know that makes it easier, when I know you're always going to understand me, what I feel, even if I'm...terrible at saying what I feel." she says, a bit ruefully.

    "But..." she says softly, looking deep into that violet gaze. "You are not an -impediment- to me loving someone else, Priss. Exploring something new to its fullest doesn't mean abandoning what is already part of my life. And if you are a stumbling point for someone I feel interested in...then honestly, that person isn't going to be right for me." Her fingers curl in yours. "You are part of my life. Don't...don't run away because you think you'll hurt me. You leaving would hurt me more. You're part of my happiness." she says gently.

    "And...if I love someone else, they'll have to accept you as part of the package." she says firmly. Her emotions are smoother now, the longer you talk, the longer she focuses on her feelings, sorting what she feels about you. More sure of herself. More sure that it's what she wants.

Voodoo has posed:
Priss takes a deep breath, clearly restraining herself from interrupting Sarah, as Sarah refrained from interrupting her. She's well aware of how intensely her girlfriend feels about this; but she is also keenly aware of how strongly she herself feels about this.

"Sarah, that's not very fair to this Dani, honey. It's not at all fair to her - I'm assuming it's a her? - to tell her how you feel, and try to build connections with her when she has to confront that you're already with me. That's asking her to not only accept being at least bi - assuming she hasn't already - but also to accept being 'the other woman'. That's pretty cruel." Priss herself has certainly turned away from others in the past who came to her wanting her to be with them, when they were with someone else. She imagines most women would do the same.

"I'm not saying I'm going to disappear and you'll never hear from me again." Though that is probably true, it's not what Priss is saying right now. "I'm saying that we should put a pause on things, and give you and Dani a chance, on your own, to see what you could have. What you could build together." Without Priss in the mix.

"I want you to be happy. I want you to give this a chance." Priss offers, softly.

Rainmaker has posed:
    Sarah's lips twist, and you can feel the surge of stubbornness as she digs in a bit now, as well as a little bit of hurt now. "I would agree that that is true, but, I wasn't intended to spring it like THAT on her, either." she says steadily. "...and now you're coming up with excuses why I should have to cut you off." she accuses gently.

    "I told you. You're part of this. I'm telling you how I feel first. I'll tell her about you next, because..." She sighs. "...because I wasn't expecting this, and I have been feeling guilty and didn't want to go further until I knew what you felt. I know she's interested. I want to tell her about you before I let myself do...say...feel, anything more." She huffs a bit. "...even if that means she's...not interested in more, afterwards. And it might be awkward, but...I want to be honest. If I can't be...If I can't know just what to say, or...how to say it, I can at least be that." She lets out a low sigh, closing her eyes for a moment then opening them to look back into yours. "I want you to be happy too, Priss. I don't think that means you have to...to stay away from me to make me happy, certainly!" she notes tartly. "...again. You and I...we're a package. I'll be honest about that upfront, as gently as I can. If that puts her off, then...then that's that." she says softly. "You're asking me to choose, my heart, between you, and that's not what this is about. " She releases your hands, gently raising to cup your cheeks. "I am asking if you can accept there being another in what we have. And if you can accept that, and I can accept this, then it's up to her to accept that. To accept both of us."

Voodoo has posed:
With a soft growl of irked annoyance, Priscilla clasps Sarah's hands to her cheeks. "I'm just really worried about you hurting her, or you losing your chance to build something with her." She grits her teeth. "I'm not unhappy, Sarah." She's not thrilled, mind. But she's not unhappy, nor angry, nor upset. She huffs. "I can't help it. I don't even know this woman, and I feel as if I ought to be there to help you." And that cannot possibly go well!

Rainmaker has posed:
    Sarah huffs out as you hold her hands, quirking her lips. "I know, sweetie." she says, getting a soft look in her eyes as she smiles at you. "I understand..." She shifts her hands to take yours, interlacing her fingers through yours. "I know you don't know her. I want you to meet her though." she says steadily. "I mean...after I talk to her...because that would be kind of awkward with now warning." she says dryly. "But...I think you'll like each other. If she says yes." She tilts her head. "I'm sorry I'm putting this on you..." she says softly. "But I mean everything I've said." She gets a faint twinkle in her eyes. "...and I'm not against advice, later, if you want."

Voodoo has posed:
"Honey, advice after the fact is not going to help too terribly much." Priscilla admits. "What you really need is help and advice //beforehand// for how to handle all of this. Beyond that, my big suggestion is: don't bring her to the club. Or, you know, even mention it at first. Best to leave that out of the equation to start." Because it will be hard enough saying 'I really like you and think you're hot, and I'd love to date you. But you should know I'm already dating this other really hot woman, and I don't want to break up with her, either.' Best not to add 'and she's a stripper'. "Beyond that, don't try to build a script. But work out bullet points, things you want to be sure get mentioned, no matter how they come out. It will help you get your chaotic thoughts into some semblance of order, first, so you don't babble so much in the moment."

Rainmaker has posed:
    Sarah sighs a bit, then pouts. "....but I do my best babbling when I'm making an idiot of myself." she protests faintly. "I did think about what to say today! I mean...mostly." She frowns a bit. "And, okay, why I wasn't really considering bringing her to the club for the first meeting...' and there's a bit of humor in her voice at the idea. "...I wasn't going to hide what you do either." She mmphs, then winds down, realizing she just said she was going to listen to advice, then grudgingly says. "...but I guess I don't need to tell her that immediately, no." She pauses. "...the frat story would be kinda a nice way to introduce you, though." she adds!

Voodoo has posed:
Priscilla presses a light kiss to Sarah's babbling lips, and shakes her head in amusement. "The frat story you can share //after// she's decided to make peace with getting closer despite that you already have a girlfriend. Then it's OK to start telling her about your girlfriend, including how you saw her naked less than an hour after you met her, but while also in front of an entire frat house party at the same time."

Rainmaker has posed:
    "Like I said, it's a good story!" Sarah says after you break the kiss, beaming at you a bit, then slides her arms around you, hugging you tight, a sort of warm happiness and tenderness swirling through her emotions as she hugs you close. "And one of my favorite moments..." she admits, a little shyly, flushing. "I got to see a lot of you..and not just physically, either." She nips your lips gently. "And if you'd asked me a year ago if I'd have met my girlfriend like that, I would have laughed you out of the house, admittedly."

Voodoo has posed:
"Yeah, I can imagine that." Priscilla admits, grinning. "I can imagine you would have totally freaked out at the idea back then. Even now it's got to be so weird, at one level or another." She kisses Sarah again. "But let's wait to let her in on that part, OK? Give her time."

Rainmaker has posed:
    Sarah mmmmms, kissing back gently, then smiles. "Mmm, it's unusual. But I'm good with it." she says with a smile, then siiiiighs. "Well, I guess, since I asked for advice, I will have to consider waiting to tell her that you are, in addition to being an insightful, smart, and funny woman that you're so gorgeous people throw money at you when you take your clothes off." she teases a bit, then nuzzles. "...besides, I think she may have you equalled or beat in weirdness."