medals | !INBOX // EUDIO.

[She let's out a very relieved sigh. She's stretched herself thin already between Kieren and Petre; she's not sure she can do the 'I eat peoplem conversation again any time soon.

But just as soon as she's relieved, she's puzzled.]

- What about Petre?

It - that I don't wanna talk about over the phone. And I really shouldn't with you. It's just - something I think only you can get, about both of us.

It's just about us, though. Alright? If I tell you this, don't make it about you two. This is just me and him.

Okay? [If she's worried, she's careful to keep it out of her voice. ] Okay. Do - do you wanna come over? House is empty.

Yeah. That's probably best.

I mean it, though, Jem. I didn't expect it, but - you two are doing good things for one another. Don't let this come between you.

[And a little while later, there'll be a knock. He looks thoroughly exhausted today, but the emotional sort of exhausted that fits with one's first therapy session. It's all in the eyes, where it usually is, that hollow stare of someone who's seen too much and now viewed it anew through a very different lens.]

[The fortunate thing is that Cole is only an inch or two taller than her. As soon as she's opened the door and gotten a good look at him, she's pulling him in for a tight hug. She can't press his face to her chest like he can with her, but she can run soothing circles onto his back and she does. She's never seen him so wrecked or as vulnerable. She'd been preparing for the worst, but seeing him now she's not sure she's prepared enough.

Reluctantly, she doesn't linger - she shuts the door and leads him quietly to her room; the house is empty now, but it's not like with Ramse and Cassie who are probably very polite house guests. The only real privacy is their rooms. As soon as they're inside, Lady is immediately all over Cole's shoes and Jem very gently picls her up and puts her in her tiny cat bed, out of the way. ]

House is empty, but Gwen might climb in her window again and surprise me.

[She nods to her bed, half made and littered with pilllows.] You can sit down.

[God, being hugged like that just makes him feel like she's holding him together, and he might fall apart if she lets go. But he's had much deeper gouges taken out of him and remained in one piece, so he does now as well, following behind her and nodding - climb in the window is noted, but left to ask about later. He's worked up the courage to let this out, and diversions into the oddities of roommates are exactly the sort of distractions that could make him lose it.

He eyes her bed for a second, but - there's no sexual energy here today. No tension. This is a time when they offer comfort, but the roles have been reversed, and he's allowing it to happen. That's a fact so large that he's not really able to see its magnitude, or how easily he allowed it. Regardless, he sits on the bed and sighs heavily.]

Just so you know how much I shouldn't be talking to you about this - it's about my sex life with your boyfriend. I can walk right back home now. [There's a bit of not terribly pleasant humour in his expression, his tone.]

[All she really wants to do is pull him back into her arms. Seeing him like this hurts her. She doesn't really question why. Her chest aches for him, wanting desperately to make him feel okay. So she sits beside him at the edge, hand reaching out to take his. She gives it a squeeze, eyes searching.]

What about it? Did - did something happen?

Something's - been happening.

[His eyes fix on their hands. Petre made it sound so normal with safe words and code gestures, like something everyone did, but he still has problems accepting that. Petre can be so convincing of anything, and he's fast on his mental feet when he wants things for himself.]

We hurt each other. That's what we do. The first time it happened, we fought so hard I would've killed him if - if he were human. He'd been messing with a friend's head, so I'd said my offer was off the table, but - that worked. It got me started. And since then -

[He feels sick. Physically sick, and just like a sick, sick person.]

- it always ends the same way. Last time I choked him. He kept my hand off enough that it couldn't finish him off, but I saw his face change... [That purple flush, the way his tongue lolled. It makes Cole shudder, and he leaves off there for now.]

[She goes very, very quiet. Trying to process this is - it's not how she thought this comversation was going to go. She watches him, a little dumbstruck and a little numb and utterly unsure of how the hell she's supposed to react to this. She inhales, deep and shaky and just - blinks once. Then twice and she exhales.

Okay. Well - okay. ] Cole.

[People do this, she knows. There's a whole thing, with sadism and masochism. She would never peg Cole as a sadist, though. Not like Petre who is unmistakably both. ] Okay. Okay that's - [Probably fucked up? Her brows together and she looks lost, not horrified.] Are you both - you both consented, right?

I wouldn't still be here if he didn't, with what I've done. He loves it. I tried to stop and he did everything he could to talk me out of it.

[Told him it was who he was. What he was. It was more dangerous not to keep doing it.]

I think I - I need - [And this is where their problems align so closely. The belief in some sort of monster inside that needs to be fed.] - there's gotta be some kind of violence. Fighting for my life. Trying to take someone else's. I dunno how to function without it. And he - keeps it under control.

Do you like it?

[That's the big distinction. It's one thing if Petre's into it. He can take it. But Cole is - the way he looks now, Jem has to be sure. ] If you do, it doesn't - it doesn't make you weird. It doesn't make you bad.

[This is probably a subject better suited for a google search. Jem's not educated enough on this, just enough to know that it's not the end of the world. She squeezes his hand tight, head tilting. ]

[He offers a weak little smile, still not the amused or happy sort, and squeezes back.]

It feels wrong after. But during - ?

[That's a yes.]

[She leaves his hand be, only to turn and cup his face with both hands instead. Forced eye contact, but her hold is gentle. Her fingers aren't firm at all. If anything, they're just a soothing presence, thumbs brushing over his cheek bones. ]

I'm not gonna lie, I don't get it. But if you both do - if you're both into it, if you've got limits and you talk to each other? You don't - you don't have to feel guilty.

[Jesus, this sure is a conversation. ] You're not a psychopath, Cole. There's nothing wrong with a fantasy. [but. ] You just - do you trust yourself? To stop, if he asked you to?

[Psychopath. Well, that sure is a word he'd nebulously feared coming up in therapy, and now a dead target for all of his issues with himself.]

We're starting. To talk about it. It just kept happening but it went too far, and - we're talking about it. [This time, there is a touch of amusement in his laugh.] He talks like he knows all about this. Something about safe words. Like it's normal, but he can make anything sound normal.

[Does he trust himself? There's the big question.]

I've only snapped when I thought someone was seriously going for my life. [So - it's a kind of answer. They're talking now, and as long as he gives Petre some limits, he should be fine.]

[It's easy to forget sometimes, just how much information Cole hadn't been privy too, back home. How much was lost because of what happened in his world. This is a surreal sort of way to bring it home. ]

Yeah. People use safe words to stop because sometimes 'stop' or 'no' are just part of the fantasy. [She chews the inside of her cheek. ] There's a whole community for this kind of stuff, Cole. People out there who can talk to you about it.

[Even in the arse end of nowhere, with a PC from 1998, Jem knows that. ] If you trust yourself to stop, then it's fine. You need to trust him to make you stop, too. You've got to make him promise; if he's not working with you, it's not gonna work.

That's what he said. [Not a joke in poor taste, but a literal expression that Petre explained it exactly the same way.] It's really - really?

[The past is so weird. There's a whole system in place to pretend that your sex is potentially lethal without it becoming lethal? His mind's been blown; it takes a minute for him to continue.]

Yeah. [He finally just sighs, but he looks more relaxed now.] I've just been counting on him being so - durable? But that's not gonna last forever, and he could come back at me any time. Then I'm the one in trouble.

[After another pause, he squints at her.] You got a hell of a poker face. Do I do that good when you come to me with things?

[She laughs, despite herself. ] This isn't a poker face, this is 'I'm stunned' and 'this is really surreal.'

[She must be totally blanking, she realises. It's almost funny. Her hands come away from his face to rest idly on her lap instead, thumbs twiddling absently. ] But yeah it's really a thing. There was a guy on the network who asked about people's kinks and how to try them safely.

[She's really, really not qualified for this. Really not. Good lord; the kinkiest thing she has ever admitted out loud doesn't even really compare. ] And if he's coming back at you, you have to want it. Otherwise - well. [he's out of Eudio, bub. ]

Well, if you were gonna hear it from anyone, it'd probably be the guy who started murdering to live before his teens and the demon.

[Did she ever wonder what they were like together? Did she think about it at all? He's thought about them, more academically than erotically, wondered how much Petre adjusts for his lovers and how Jem likes it with him. It's all such a blur when it's the three of them.

Back to business, though. He thinks he remembers that person on the network.]

I'll check back for that. Better than trying to find people to ask randomly, and I'm not doing the whole network thing if it's been done.

[She's thought about it, but her imagination has obviously been way off the mark. Maybe she should have known, really, by the way Petre always kisses like he's trying to stake a claim. Like he's always edging Cole on; a silent dare that Jem's never really understood until now. The funny thing is, she's always wanting Petre to be rougher. Maybe just not this rough.

She's come a long enough way that she isn't freaking out, though. Instead her face is carefully neutral, all soft and attentive. She's morbidly curious though, like a kid itching to peek at something they really shouldn't.]

Even if you can't find it, there'll be loads on google. Even the city rep probably has recommendations.

[Did you know that Samantha knows everything?]

I'm not going to the government about my sex life. [He looks incredulous and slightly amused, like she can't be serious.] But I'll check - Google.

[He rests his hands over hers.]

You shouldn't have been the one to hear this. But thanks, Jem.

[How one person can be as sweet as James Cole, Jem will never know. There's a wave of pure fondness that hits her; she can hardly believe he feels bad for telling her. ]

Samantha's nice. But alright.

[She glances down at their hands and then very carefully, turns hers palms up and links their fingers. ] You don't have to feel bad for telling me. You like it a bit rough, so does he. It's nothing you've got to apologise for.

["A bit rough." He could've killed Petre twice, if Petre allowed it. And there's always the chance it could bleed over, he could crave the same thing with someone who can't control the situation. But it's sweet of her to be understanding in the face of this.

He looks down at their hands, and he feels that same warmth. Somehow, every time a new person fills him with warmth, he can't find any way to categorize it. Maybe because that didn't matter where he came from, but he knows the basic rules: there's one person to whom you dedicate your life, or at least your time while you're with them. Even when he and Cassie both know it won't work here, he struggles with people like Pell, and Sheva, and Jem, and even Petre. So many lines blurring.

But it's all to be with Cassie when they're finished here. That's what he has to cling to when he's unsure.

It doesn't really strike him that he's not saying anything. Just - staring at their hands.]

[He doesn't say anything at first and that's fine. But then he keeps saying nothing, eyes downcast at their hands and Jem starts trying to read his facial expression. Cole's not like Petre, who wears how he's feeling all over his face, even when his face is utterly blank. Cole is - either smiling or intense and it's trying to decipher what kind of intense that Jem's only starting to learn how to do.

Given the conversation, this is anywhere between utterly ashamed or relieved. Maybe it's both. She rubs her thumbs over his knuckles and waits and waits, but he still says nothing. So she smiles, very gently; her first smile at all since the start of this conversation. ]

D'you want a cuddle?

[That makes him laugh, and the spell is broken.]

Yeah. I think we can manage it this time, I'm too - fucking tired for anything else.

[He does meet her eyes then, though, because it sounds like he's complaining and it was her suggestion to go to the therapist.]

It might help. I - dunno how to take any of this yet, but I don't think it was a waste of time.

You're going back and that's good. I didn't want to, after the first time.

[She hasn't told anyone that. Not even Kieren. ] I really, really didn't want to. Didn't want to face what I'd done, didn't want someone else telling me I was really sick. But I did, because - I dunno. I wanted Kieren to be proud of me, I think. For not getting worse.

[She thinks he is proud of her, now. God knows why. ] Anyway, I did and it helps me. C'mon, you can put your head on my bosom and everything.

[Rapid change of subject; she's tugging at his hands while she scoots up the bed. She will stroke his hair and everything. ] You can stay the night, if you want. Or just have a sleep for a bit. I can set an alarm.

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