Seeking the Triumvirate
[OOC: This was written in Google Docs with Jean-Claude-mun and Richard-mun! Woot!]
Anita stalks down the hallway and pauses near the stairs. She opens the marks fully, her fury filling them. Heading to Jean-Claude's room, where she now knows he is, she sends a wordless, angry order to Richard to join her there. Her feet carry her swiftly to the room Jean-Claude's in, and she stalks inside, glaring at him.
"You lied to me," she snarls. "You kept their relationship a secret, knowing how I feel about fucking men who are fucking other men."
Jean-Claude watches her impassively, letting her anger crash harmlessly against the breakwater of his calm. "I did not lie to you. I merely did not tell you. At the time, ma petite, you were not having sex with either of them, so I did not see how it was any of your concern."
"Nathaniel is my concern." Anita paces closer to him. "And you didn't think you should have told me before we pulled Asher into bed with us? You should have said something, Jean-Claude! You should have told me about it when we talked, before I went looking for Asher." Her eyes hone in on him again. "You should have told me. You, out of all of them, should have."
"Would you have acted differently had you known? Asher would still have been at risk from Musette. Only being the lover of someone more powerful would have protected him, and Nathaniel could not have been that." He drops his eyes slightly. "As for our last conversation, perhaps I should have, but it was not my secret to tell. I had counted on Asher revealing it to you when you spoke, and it seems I was not mistaken."
Richard moved down the hallway, a fairly short trip from his room, with a frown at the ordering part. He really doesn't like being ordered, but then the face of that anger he felt he isn't of the mind to actually say anything on it currently. He pauses just inside the door, brow raised as he looks from Anita to Jean-Claude, "What's going on?" Because there are guesses, but getting it from her would be better.
Anita whirls on Richard. "Did you know?" she demands. "Did you know about Asher and Nathaniel?"
Richard blinks at the question, "I just found out about it the other night."
"And you didn't tell me?" Anita throws her hands up. "Were all of you hiding it? The people I trusted the most..."
"You are not the only one deserving of trust, ma petite," Jean-Claude puts in. "Asher and Nathaniel trusted us as well to keep their secret until such time as they chose to reveal it to you themselves. When a sexual relationship between yourself and Asher became a possibility, Asher was honest with you. Would you have preferred him to continue to keep it from you?"
"I haven't seen you since I found out," Richard comments, watching Anita. "And I'm sure if there was an actual issue with your leopard that someone would have informed you about it." Richard shrugs, "Besides, you've made it clear before that the leopards are yours, which means I have no actual responsibility to do anything concerning them."
Anita's eyes narrow at Richard. "You have a responsibility to me," she says. She looks at Jean-Claude next. "No. I would have preferred to know before I fucked him that he was fucking my leopard!"
Jean-Claude shrugs. "Which is why he told you before you did. Or do you mean that you have cast off your American sensibilities enough to admit that what you and he did while Musette was here was, in fact, sex? And if you have, consider this -- what about that act has changed now that you know he had brought Nathaniel to his bed?"
Her cheeks are flushed deeply, her eyes darting to Richard. Anita knows what changed her mind, and it's all Richard's fault. "I don't have sex with men who have sex with other men. Not while they're with me," she insists, clinging to one of her two rules she's yet to break where sex is concerned.
For all his credit, there's no smile or smirk that he'd changed her views on what counted as sex. Not even a hint of it through the marks. He doesn't want to add to the anger in the room that way. "Why is men with other men so different than me being in your bed while I still have other women?" He may not like other men that way, but he does respect everyone's choices. Most days.
"Because..." Anita crosses her arms, glaring at Richard. "Because!"
"Because isn't an answer, Anita." Richard doesn't wither under her glare, he's seen it before. "Because isn't even an excuse."
Anita looks away, turns the furious glare to the wall. "It bothers me," she finally says. "I don't know why, it's just something that bothers me. I've always said, in theory, it shouldn't matter. In practice, it's a whole different story. I don't really like you fucking every woman that crosses your path, Richard, but at least I know you love me and no other woman could take that away."
A guy, though. How the hell could she possibly compete with a guy? They have equipment she doesn't, and you can't fight with what you don't have.
Jean-Claude smiles gently. "And what of my love, ma petite? Because I have lain with men before, you believe that a man could steal from you what a woman could not?" He shakes his head. "Non, what I love of you goes beneath simply that which is under your clothing. No man nor woman could change that."
"You're not fucking another man at the moment, are you?" she says. "That's the point. What's in the past is in the past and I don't dwell on it all that much, but what's happening now concerns me."
There's the softest grumble from Richard, "I don't sleep with every woman that crosses my path, Anita." He didn't like that assumption from her. "And you're right, no one can take away my love of you, or replace you. And you should believe the same is true for the other men in your life. No matter who is in their bed besides you."
Anita looks between the two of them, shaking her head. The words are then out of her mouth before she can stop them. "If I'm okay with this, then it opens up a whole can of worms with Asher I don't know I can handle. I don't know if I can be okay with him and Nathaniel because then I need to question why I'm not okay with him and Jean-Claude."
Because she knows the answer, the answer to the whys, and she doesn't want to admit it. Not to them, and not to herself.
"Ah," Jean-Claude says as clarity dawns, "now we see to the heart of the matter. You believe that if you allow Asher and Nathaniel to be together while you are also with Asher, then I will demand to be with Asher as well, and you fear that he will steal me away from you. Ma petite, if my wishes were to be with Asher alone, I would already have done so. I was honest with you when I said I wished for a true ménage à trois, and that rather necessitates your presence. Nothing could take my love from you, nor am I pressing you for anything you are not comfortable with. I merely hope that in time, your feelings will change."
Anita licks her lips, eyes on Jean-Claude, color tinting her cheeks. "You all lied to me," she says slowly, far more calmly. She tries to withdraw from that particular topic, unwilling to admit the truth. "Nathaniel and Asher should have been honest from the get-go, and they weren't. You all covered for them." Her eyes dart to the wall again. "He chose Asher. I told him to come with me, that we were going back to St. Louis, and he chose to stay with Asher." Through the marks is the knowledge that she'd then, effectively, kicked Nathaniel out of the house and cut him from the pard.
Richard's frowning at the knowledge from the marks, "Anita you were pushing him to stand on his own two feet. To get more independent and get a girlfriend. The only reason you don't like this is because it's a man instead of a woman. And Asher on top of it." Richard crossed his arms, disapproval at her actions of kicking the leopard out of the Pard lingering down the marks. It was disapproval of the Ulfric in him, because you don't kick someone out of a group for that reason. Nathaniel hadn't really done anything wrong, almost the exact opposite.
"Remember that it was only your assumption that he 'should' want a girlfriend and a family," Jean-Claude reminds her. "I urged you to find out what Nathaniel wanted for himself. And now, like it or not, you have that answer."
"And what the hell am I supposed to do with it?" Anita shouts.
Jean-Claude sends love and calm through the marks. "Now, you must learn to accept it. In whatever way you can."
Anita looks to Richard. "If Jason had lied to you, you wouldn't have tolerated it," she says, not liking the disapproval radiating from Richard.
"No, I wouldn't tolerate it, but I wouldn't be so quick to exile him from the Pack for something so small. Granted I don't put limitations on my wolves' partners either," Richard answered seriously. "The punishment should fit the crime, Anita. Nathaniel only did what he did because he knew you wouldn't approve. You only proved him right by kicking him out of your house and the Pard." She can not like his disapproval all she wants, it's not going anywhere at the moment.
There's more glaring from Anita, and then she gives a frustrated, wordless shout, turns on her heel, and walks out of the room. They are right, and that's what pisses her off the most, so she decides to go hunting down the next accomplice in all of this. Micah, she thinks, has quite a lot of explaining to do.
Anita stalks down the hallway and pauses near the stairs. She opens the marks fully, her fury filling them. Heading to Jean-Claude's room, where she now knows he is, she sends a wordless, angry order to Richard to join her there. Her feet carry her swiftly to the room Jean-Claude's in, and she stalks inside, glaring at him.
"You lied to me," she snarls. "You kept their relationship a secret, knowing how I feel about fucking men who are fucking other men."
Jean-Claude watches her impassively, letting her anger crash harmlessly against the breakwater of his calm. "I did not lie to you. I merely did not tell you. At the time, ma petite, you were not having sex with either of them, so I did not see how it was any of your concern."
"Nathaniel is my concern." Anita paces closer to him. "And you didn't think you should have told me before we pulled Asher into bed with us? You should have said something, Jean-Claude! You should have told me about it when we talked, before I went looking for Asher." Her eyes hone in on him again. "You should have told me. You, out of all of them, should have."
"Would you have acted differently had you known? Asher would still have been at risk from Musette. Only being the lover of someone more powerful would have protected him, and Nathaniel could not have been that." He drops his eyes slightly. "As for our last conversation, perhaps I should have, but it was not my secret to tell. I had counted on Asher revealing it to you when you spoke, and it seems I was not mistaken."
Richard moved down the hallway, a fairly short trip from his room, with a frown at the ordering part. He really doesn't like being ordered, but then the face of that anger he felt he isn't of the mind to actually say anything on it currently. He pauses just inside the door, brow raised as he looks from Anita to Jean-Claude, "What's going on?" Because there are guesses, but getting it from her would be better.
Anita whirls on Richard. "Did you know?" she demands. "Did you know about Asher and Nathaniel?"
Richard blinks at the question, "I just found out about it the other night."
"And you didn't tell me?" Anita throws her hands up. "Were all of you hiding it? The people I trusted the most..."
"You are not the only one deserving of trust, ma petite," Jean-Claude puts in. "Asher and Nathaniel trusted us as well to keep their secret until such time as they chose to reveal it to you themselves. When a sexual relationship between yourself and Asher became a possibility, Asher was honest with you. Would you have preferred him to continue to keep it from you?"
"I haven't seen you since I found out," Richard comments, watching Anita. "And I'm sure if there was an actual issue with your leopard that someone would have informed you about it." Richard shrugs, "Besides, you've made it clear before that the leopards are yours, which means I have no actual responsibility to do anything concerning them."
Anita's eyes narrow at Richard. "You have a responsibility to me," she says. She looks at Jean-Claude next. "No. I would have preferred to know before I fucked him that he was fucking my leopard!"
Jean-Claude shrugs. "Which is why he told you before you did. Or do you mean that you have cast off your American sensibilities enough to admit that what you and he did while Musette was here was, in fact, sex? And if you have, consider this -- what about that act has changed now that you know he had brought Nathaniel to his bed?"
Her cheeks are flushed deeply, her eyes darting to Richard. Anita knows what changed her mind, and it's all Richard's fault. "I don't have sex with men who have sex with other men. Not while they're with me," she insists, clinging to one of her two rules she's yet to break where sex is concerned.
For all his credit, there's no smile or smirk that he'd changed her views on what counted as sex. Not even a hint of it through the marks. He doesn't want to add to the anger in the room that way. "Why is men with other men so different than me being in your bed while I still have other women?" He may not like other men that way, but he does respect everyone's choices. Most days.
"Because..." Anita crosses her arms, glaring at Richard. "Because!"
"Because isn't an answer, Anita." Richard doesn't wither under her glare, he's seen it before. "Because isn't even an excuse."
Anita looks away, turns the furious glare to the wall. "It bothers me," she finally says. "I don't know why, it's just something that bothers me. I've always said, in theory, it shouldn't matter. In practice, it's a whole different story. I don't really like you fucking every woman that crosses your path, Richard, but at least I know you love me and no other woman could take that away."
A guy, though. How the hell could she possibly compete with a guy? They have equipment she doesn't, and you can't fight with what you don't have.
Jean-Claude smiles gently. "And what of my love, ma petite? Because I have lain with men before, you believe that a man could steal from you what a woman could not?" He shakes his head. "Non, what I love of you goes beneath simply that which is under your clothing. No man nor woman could change that."
"You're not fucking another man at the moment, are you?" she says. "That's the point. What's in the past is in the past and I don't dwell on it all that much, but what's happening now concerns me."
There's the softest grumble from Richard, "I don't sleep with every woman that crosses my path, Anita." He didn't like that assumption from her. "And you're right, no one can take away my love of you, or replace you. And you should believe the same is true for the other men in your life. No matter who is in their bed besides you."
Anita looks between the two of them, shaking her head. The words are then out of her mouth before she can stop them. "If I'm okay with this, then it opens up a whole can of worms with Asher I don't know I can handle. I don't know if I can be okay with him and Nathaniel because then I need to question why I'm not okay with him and Jean-Claude."
Because she knows the answer, the answer to the whys, and she doesn't want to admit it. Not to them, and not to herself.
"Ah," Jean-Claude says as clarity dawns, "now we see to the heart of the matter. You believe that if you allow Asher and Nathaniel to be together while you are also with Asher, then I will demand to be with Asher as well, and you fear that he will steal me away from you. Ma petite, if my wishes were to be with Asher alone, I would already have done so. I was honest with you when I said I wished for a true ménage à trois, and that rather necessitates your presence. Nothing could take my love from you, nor am I pressing you for anything you are not comfortable with. I merely hope that in time, your feelings will change."
Anita licks her lips, eyes on Jean-Claude, color tinting her cheeks. "You all lied to me," she says slowly, far more calmly. She tries to withdraw from that particular topic, unwilling to admit the truth. "Nathaniel and Asher should have been honest from the get-go, and they weren't. You all covered for them." Her eyes dart to the wall again. "He chose Asher. I told him to come with me, that we were going back to St. Louis, and he chose to stay with Asher." Through the marks is the knowledge that she'd then, effectively, kicked Nathaniel out of the house and cut him from the pard.
Richard's frowning at the knowledge from the marks, "Anita you were pushing him to stand on his own two feet. To get more independent and get a girlfriend. The only reason you don't like this is because it's a man instead of a woman. And Asher on top of it." Richard crossed his arms, disapproval at her actions of kicking the leopard out of the Pard lingering down the marks. It was disapproval of the Ulfric in him, because you don't kick someone out of a group for that reason. Nathaniel hadn't really done anything wrong, almost the exact opposite.
"Remember that it was only your assumption that he 'should' want a girlfriend and a family," Jean-Claude reminds her. "I urged you to find out what Nathaniel wanted for himself. And now, like it or not, you have that answer."
"And what the hell am I supposed to do with it?" Anita shouts.
Jean-Claude sends love and calm through the marks. "Now, you must learn to accept it. In whatever way you can."
Anita looks to Richard. "If Jason had lied to you, you wouldn't have tolerated it," she says, not liking the disapproval radiating from Richard.
"No, I wouldn't tolerate it, but I wouldn't be so quick to exile him from the Pack for something so small. Granted I don't put limitations on my wolves' partners either," Richard answered seriously. "The punishment should fit the crime, Anita. Nathaniel only did what he did because he knew you wouldn't approve. You only proved him right by kicking him out of your house and the Pard." She can not like his disapproval all she wants, it's not going anywhere at the moment.
There's more glaring from Anita, and then she gives a frustrated, wordless shout, turns on her heel, and walks out of the room. They are right, and that's what pisses her off the most, so she decides to go hunting down the next accomplice in all of this. Micah, she thinks, has quite a lot of explaining to do.