>>5975701>>5975529>>5975441>>5975635>>5975384>>5975362>>5975334 “Alright,” you sigh. “I can play along.”
“Tips…”
You hold up a hand, and look sympathetically to Izirina.
“Costella’s done lot for us. Both of us. Right?”
“Right,” Izirina says, “so BOTH of us should be there.”
Costella looks up sharply, eyes darting between the two of you as guilt creeps across her fair features.
“I don’t want to, like… Cause any friction. I’m sorry, this is all my fault!”
“No, it’s okay,” you assure her, running fingers through her wavy brown hair with one hand while you give Izirina’s hand a reassuring squeeze with the other. “It’s just a meeting right? But, well… Maybe introducing the Fanuccis to our UNUSUAL dynamic isn’t the best first impression? I’m already only half-human, foreign-born… There’s a lot to take in already, right?”
“I guess,” Izzy says, though her expression reads as less-than-wholly-convinced.
"Are you, like, totally sure?" Costella asks, still giving you an out even as she fails to hide the hope in her voice, and dawning excitement.
"I am," you confirm, your own heart hammering despite your careful control of outward emotion.
"Aaah!" Costella cries, squeezing you both tighter against her, ahem, bountiful assets. "Thank you thank you THANK you. You're LITERALLY saving my life!"
Izzy's brow knits, but she neither attempts to escape the three-way embrace, nor speaks further against your plans. Not the SUNNIEST reaction, but... Well...
(One romantic crisis at a time, Tips old boy.)
You set aside your work of the Unseelie Star project for the moment, though you have no doubt Izzy will continue to advance it. She always works best when under pressure or stress, in need of distraction and diversion. As much as you wish you could alleviate her of that burden—and you WILL—it might actually help to offset your partial absence while you ready yourself for…
For…
“Oh Gods Above, am I actually ENGAGED?” you murmur to yourself.
It all suddenly feels quite real, because in a sense it IS. You already committed to making a life with both Izirina Henzler and Costella Fanucci, and your unconventional sleeping arrangements are an ‘open secret’ among the Old Maple Hill encampment. Even the Queen of Hawksong knows about it though—despite being one of multiple wives in her own secret affairs, she has flatly refused to reform the laws to accommodate a public plural marriage for your sake.
(…Not that this would NECESSARILY absolve Mister and Missus Fanucci of their concerns, even if it were legal.)
