Andrea needs you to treat her like Tori

"And what?"

The words came from behind you, from a trembling Andrea. You turned around, to see tears welling up in her eyes, her hands clenched into fists. "And what, Peter?! You still let Victoria stay here against my wishes?! How could you!"

You spun around, putting your hands up like you'd been caught robbing a bank. "Drea, please listen, this was a last-minute thing when her other friend backed out. I wasn't going to let Tori be homeless."

"So you're going to RUIN everything without even talking to me about it? No! No, Peter! I have a right to say that I don't want her living with you!"

Tori backed away in her room a bit, but Drea was quick to leap forward and prop the door open, so she could look Tori dead in the eyes, as tears streamed down her face. Tori hated confrontation, especially since Andrea would always go for the verbal jugular each time. "How could you? How could you keep putting my boyfriend in these situations? Why can't you respect my wishes too?"

You put a hand on Andrea's shoulder, pulling her back. "Drea, honey, I took the initiative to offer the guest room when I heard about Tori's situation. It's not her fault, blame me."

That really set Andrea off, bawling and trembling as she tried to speak. "Peter! I can't believe you! I need you to think about my needs the way you think about Tori's! If you want us to survive, I need you to treat me with the kind of respect you treat her with, too..!"

From behind Drea, you saw the door open up a little further, and a hand reached out with a familiar purple glow... Drea shrieked as she vanished! She said just the wrong words, felt just the wrong way, at such a close proximity to a channeler...

When you opened the guest bedroom door a little further, you saw a woman looking down at herself, confused. Said woman still looked quite a bit like Tori, but now she had Drea's icy blue eyes and blonde haircolor, styled in the same wavy way Tori always did. She was breathing a lot more calmly, peering down at the pajamas Tori still wore--the breasts from Tori remained, but you could see a peek of the toned tummy and see a shape that reminded you more of Drea's hips and legs under the pajama pants.

She looked up, and spoke quietly at you. "What's going on, Peter? What is this? It feels... different. Am I... Tori?"

"It's a long story, Andrea. But, yes. She has a curse on her family, she's **** to help those who need something that she can do something about."

Andrea shook her new head a little, looking down. "I know that. Somehow, you said it and I know it. She's... she's been going through the curse for years, and it got to be too much for Mike, she needed someone she could trust to keep her from ending up in life-threatening situations. You were a clear choice." The girl shuffled out of the guest bedroom, still a bit shellshocked by having control of her supposed rival's body. Sabel followed her out, rubbing against her leg, something Sabel never did to the actual Andrea. And Andrea, for her part, actually reached down and pet Sabel for once. "And now I have an opportunity. A window of time to know once and for all what it is you and Tori have." She looks up at you, her eyes still wide, but she wasn't shedding any further tears. Through the filter of Tori's emotions and behaviors, Andrea was already seeing things from a slightly different perspective, particularly with how Tori reacted to difficult situations. She typically took a quieter, reserved approach in scenarios where Drea might react a more aggressively.

She shuffled forward, reaching out one of her hands to yours, squeezing it lightly. You gulped, worried that at any second Andrea's mood would swing back to how things were before the channeling. Or that Andrea would grow angry by something from Tori's memories and explode at you. She still could, she was in control. But it seemed to be that she was voluntarily letting more of Tori bleed through in the channeling than she needed to. Tori wasn't just a body, she was a suit of armor, a spacesuit that let Drea wander in a hostile environment unscathed.

"So, uh..." you glanced at the Tori-Andrea mix. Admittedly, the outcome was incredibly beautiful, you would be thrilled by the outcome were it not for the sheer panic in the pit of your stomach. Her reaction so far let you lower your guard slightly, but you weren't yet ready to go all the way. "do you, uh..."

"Oh, honey," Drea said, looking into your eyes. "Are you scared of me right now? Is that how I come off?" Drea frowned, taking her second hand to grip onto yours. "I didn't realize, I feel it from Tori too, you're both petrified by how you thought I would react... take a breath. It's fine. I love you, Pete, I don't want to scare you. It's somehow easier to say that through Tori, I don't know why. Maybe that's something I need to think about."

You nodded a little, cleared your throat, and tried again. "Do you still want to do the wine tasting?"

"Oh, uh." Andrea ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe we skip it." Skipping plans? That definitely wasn't like Andrea at all! "Tori's curse is my gift. If I'm going to follow through and see what it's like for you to treat me like her, then I have to do things more like her, don't I? Let's go to the farmer's market instead."

This was entirely unexpected. Andrea normally wouldn't cede any ground on who she was and how she did things. She abhorred the idea of spontaneous activity, and in the times that you actually had tried to give her the 'Tori Treatment', she'd declined every activity or idea you'd had. This was entirely a surprise, but you needed to think carefully about how to proceed, since this would either be a golden opportunity to fill the divide between your friend and girlfriend, or it could be the wedge that ended either a friendship or a relationship.