Big Salmon Lake fist full of restrictions

Rivet asked her if she wanted to break off the relationship. She opened her mouth to answer, yet before she could, Rivet asked another question. Turquoise shook her head as if trying to shake off an annoying bee buzzing in her ear. "Isn't there a saying," she said, "like, 'if you love something, set it free'? Of course I don't want to break up with you, Rivet, but... for once, I guess... I'm actually thinking of you first. I don't want to keep hurting you. I hate it."

Rivet's voice cracked and Turquoise could see that she would break down any moment. "Riv..." she said without thinking. "That just isn't true. You're beautiful, kind, smart, wonderful; you're everything." Turq's lips pursed. "Please don't beat yourself up because of this, because of me. I hate seeing you hurt yourself just as much as I hate seeing myself hurt you."

Turquoise lapsed into silence then, her gemstone eyes sparkling with unshed tears she refused to let brim. She tried to figure out what to say next, how to explain herself to Rivet. It didn't help that Turq didn't really understand what was going on herself. She did sense one thing: there was so much more to this issue than Turq's rather minor altercation with Daenarys. There was some bigger picture at play here...

"Love isn't a finite resource." It just sprang off her tongue, unbidden. "I think... I think..." The tawny Sigma trailed off for a second, trying to gather her wild thoughts together. "I can—and do—love you with every fiber of my being... and still want to talk to other girls." She said this in a very small voice, as if ashamed. Her black-rimmed ears flattened. "Like, polyamory, or whatever? I just know those... those aren't the terms we agreed on for our relationship." Although it took some strength, she found Rivet's eyes and held them, hers filled with guilt and sadness and love all at once.