Relationship Management

The atmosphere was heavy in Vivian’s office; the redhead pushed herself out of her chair and began to pace.

“How did this get brought up?” she asked Aeolia.

The winged woman sighed. “Senka asked me this yesterday after we split up. Wanted to hold off on bringing it up so as not to screw up last night.”

Vivian managed a small smile then her expression shifted back to its contemplative state.

“What’s your thoughts on this?” she asked, drawing out a sigh from Aeolia.

“Honestly?” the winged woman asked in a heavy tone. “I’m not really against it. Not that I’m planning to go out and start harem hunting, but if the right person caught our eye, you know. Not that it would be anyone’s single decision. If you or John says no, it’s a no. We’re in a relationship, not some convenient fuck buddy group.”

“And Senka’s caught your eye?” Vivian pressed.

“Not until she dropped this bomb on me,” Aeolia admitted. “But we did get along beforehand and I can’t say she’s not appealing. But I think the thing that makes me want to give her a chance is she doesn’t really have another option. It’s not like she can hit up a bar when she’s bound to John.”

Aeolia’s comment caused Vivian to consider that reality.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” the redhead conceded, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. “So if we don’t let her join, she gets to live life as a spinster.”

Vivian dropped back down into her chair and rested her face in her hands.

“I expected today to be simple,” she groaned. “I’ve only been in a relationship for four days and now I’ve got someone who wants to slip in and will be unable to go elsewhere if I say no.”

“Do you find Senka attractive?” Aeolia asked suddenly.

Vivian peered at her winged girlfriend through her fingers before letting her arms fall to her sides.

“I mean,” Vivian began, her face pink, “she is pretty. And well, her boobs are…”

“Bountiful.” Aeolia smirked, moving from her spot by the door to slide behind Vivian. Her hands found the redhead’s shoulders and began to gently massage them. Vivian let out a low groan as Aeolia worked out the building stress.

"I think we should at least see if Senka does fit with us," Aeolia continued as she eased Vivian's pains. "I mean, we haven't had issues with her and she's been around longer than we knew each other before starting this, so the time thing isn't much of an excuse. And she's kind of a package deal with John, so why not have it be a two-for-one sort of thing."

Vivian hummed thoughtfully as she mulled over her girlfriend’s words. She let her mind wander, her imagination, normally reserved for thinking up new strings for her arrays, now began to conjure a lewd scenario with Senka. She envisioned a dimly lit room and the spirit sultrily peeling out of her kimono, her back to her before turning to unveil her large, pale tits.

Vivian jolted out of her brief fantasy when Aeolia’s fingers pressed on a particular sore spot along her shoulder blade, causing her to flinch and let out an undignified grunt of discomfort.

“Sorry,” Aeolia quickly said, pulling her arms back.

“No, it’s ok,” Vivian assured her. “Always get a little knot there when I spend too long drawing an array. Should have let you know. And I think I’ve come to a decision.”

“Really?” Aeolia asked, surprised.

Vivian nodded, feeling heat creep into her face, though less than she would have a few days prior. “I think we can try this. If it works, then all's well that ends well.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Aeolia asked, playing devil’s advocate.

“Then at least we won’t be plagued by what ifs,” Vivian answered. “And we’ll have to hope things don’t get awkward.”

“Bit of a risk,” Aeolia noted. “There’s a lot that can go wrong.”

“The same could be said about me running away from my family to start this business,” Vivian said. “Or accepting your and John’s affections. Both have worked out so far.”

“Are you sure about this?” Aeolia pressed, kneeling down so she could envelop Vivian in a hug from behind, pushing the redhead’s back against her chair. “I don’t want to pressure you into this.”

Vivian brought a hand up and gently grasped one of Aeolia’s, twisting her head so she could offer the winged woman a soft smile before lightly kissing the back of her hand.

“While I don’t think I would have had this idea on my own, you aren’t forcing my hand,” Vivian said. “I would have come to the conclusion that she would be left unloved at some point and I couldn’t just leave her in the lurch without giving her the chance.”

Aeolia let out a hum. “If you're sure this is the best way to do it.”

“Now we just have to bring this up to John,” Vivian said, a frown making its way to her face. “I feel a bit bad for having this kind of discussion without him. Like we’re betraying him somehow.”

“Yeah, it feels a bit dirty, and not in the good way,” Aeolia agreed. “I get why Senka brought it up to us instead of him, but that doesn’t make it right to keep him in the dark.”

“Do you think Senka may have brought this kind of thing up to him?” Vivian wondered.

“If she did, I don’t think John would have kept it from us,” Aeolia answered. “You know how he hates lying to people he cares about.”

Vivian nodded, then said, “So, we should go and tell Senka our decision and work out the finer details, then bring this to John.”

Aeolia let out a little snort of laughter as she pulled away so Vivian could get up. “Bet he’s going to be thrilled about this. You’ve seen his Libido score. He’s probably had fantasies like this.”

“You think so?” Vivian asked as she stood, turning to regard her.

A sad smile flitted across Aeolia’s face. “Yeah. There was more than one time I walked in on the guys talking about stuff like this. I figure it's just sort of the thing guys think about.”

Vivian’s expression shifted to mirror Aeolia’s and she pulled her into a hug. Aeolia returned the gesture before pulling back, her smile now more wholesome.

“Well, let’s go grab our prospective new girlfriend and get everything sorted,” the winged woman said before sliding her hand into Vivian’s. The joined pair left Vivian’s office and steadily made its way to Senka. The spirit had left the door open, letting them see her move through some of the moves Aeolia had taught her. She stopped in mid swing and turned towards them.

“Have you come to a decision already?” Senka asked, and for a second, Vivian noticed a flash of nervousness cross the spirit’s lone eye before the aquamarine orb focused onto their joined hands. Then a sense of confidence radiated from the busty woman and her lips stretched into a smile.

“Think you might already know the answer,” Aeolia dryly remarked.

“I’m not sure you would come holding hands if the decision was a harsh one,” Senka noted, nodding her chin towards their conjoined hands.

“No, we always hold hands before delivering bad news,” Aeolia sarcastically retorted.

Vivian lightly squeezed Aeolia’s hand in admonishment and took over the conversation.

“We’re going to try this,” she said, doing her best to project confidence. While she was willing to give Senka the chance to turn their trio into a quartet, she didn’t want the spirit to think she was simply folding to her whims. She had to be firm here as Senka viewed her as the gatekeeper, the one to give her approval.

“I presume there are going to be some strings attached?” Senka asked.

Vivian shook her head. “No. We’re not trying to create some hierarchy here. Couldn’t be an equal group if you had a sword of Damocles hanging over you.”

Senka blinked and Vivian felt a small surge of satisfaction for breaking the spirit’s aloof facade. The violet haired woman quickly recomposed herself and said, “That is not quite what I expected. I assumed there would be conditions.”

“Oh, there are,” Aeolia cut in. “But they’re the sort of things that normally pop up in a relationship. You know, stuff like not talking about private things to people who don’t need to know about them.”

“Considering that outside of everyone in this Barrier I only personally know three other people, that shouldn’t be too hard,” Senka remarked in a joking tone before her expression turned more sultry. “Although I’m not too familiar with all the ins and outs of relationships, so I may need some hands-on tutelage.”

She finished with a smirk and Vivian had to repress a shiver at the implication of Senka’s words. Aeolia was less covert with her reaction and audibly licked her lips. Mentally shaking herself back into form, Vivian took back the reins of the conversation.

“Getting back on topic,” she said, “we need to tell John about this before anything like that happens.”

Senka shifted her stance, resting a hand on her jutted hip as her smile grew conspiratorial.

“Shall we make a show of it and have it be memorable for him?” the spirit asked, which prompted Vivian to quickly shake her head, though the blush forming on her cheeks betrayed her opinion on what such memories would be formed.

“I think we should make sure everything’s on the table before we try anything like that,” the redhead answered, the words spilling out of her mouth in a bit of a ramble. “We have to make sure any issue John has is addressed.”

“Beyond him not believing us, I don’t think he’s going to have any complaints,” Aeolia remarked with a grin. “He might need a few seconds to reboot his brain though. He’ll be going from single to having three girlfriends in under a week. Wonder if that’s a record?”

Vivian shook her head, an amused smile on her lips.

“You’ve never read up on the various warlords that ran amuck throughout history,” she said. “They were quite prolific when it came to bedding women.”

“I’m not sure John would like to be compared to people who would just as easily kill as fuck,” Senka remarked. “Especially when said fucks were likely done under threat of the sword.”

“Y-you know that wasn’t the point I was trying to make,” Vivian exclaimed, an embarrassed flush coloring her face.

“Yeah, but it’s a bit telling that you thought of it,” Aeolia pointed out, slinging an arm over Vivian’s shoulder. “Fancy playing the captured princess?”

Vivian sputtered, her blush growing darker every second as she tried to form a rebuttal. Her awakened erotic imagination betrayed her once more and she envisioned herself lain out upon a bed, her fancy clothing torn to reveal breasts and pussy. John approached, shedding the barbarian style armor he wore, aided by scantily clad versions of Aeolia and Senka.

Before her fantasy could get away from her, Vivian managed to pull herself back to reality. With a heavy breath she regained her composure.

“Perhaps that’s something we can discuss later,” she managed to say, drawing out a bigger grin from Aeolia.

“I think we will.” The winged woman giggled slightly as Senka let out her own small chuckle. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've got a boyfriend to get on board."

"Hopefully he's not too engrossed with his work," Senka said as the three ladies exited the room.

“He was just going to poke around and see what upgrades he could make for some of the loot,” Aeolia recounted. “How engrossing could that be?”

Senka let out a quick peel of laughter.

“You haven’t seen him trying to figure out the optimal gear setup for a raid,” the spirit informed them in an amused tone. “Although, being technical, my recollection of events like that are secondhand and more than a little spotty. But I’d bet he’s taken out at least one piece of scrap paper to jot down notes.”

“A bet, huh?” Aeolia mummered slyly. “That sounds like it could be fun. How about the loser owes a favor to the winner?”

Senka smirked and nodded her head.

“I accept your game,” the spirit said as they neared the kitchen.

Senka’s prediction proved to be accurate as they found John bent over the kitchen table, scrawling something on a piece of paper, another pushed off to his side atop a book with a title Vivian did not recognise.

“Well, lost that one,” Aeolia groaned goodnaturedly, drawing John from whatever he was working on and causing him to turn to face them.

“Oh, hey girls,” he said. “What’s up? And what did you lose?”

“Nothing much, just Aeolia bet against me that you wouldn’t have written out notes,” Senka informed him.

“Honestly, it was a bad bet,” Vivian pointed out, causing Aeolia to look at her in mock betrayal. “Well, it was. You were going up against someone who has a bit of John’s soul in her.”

“Guess I pushed my luck a bit there.” Aeolia laughed her loss off. “Guess we should get to why we’re here.”

John regarded them curiously and Vivian said, “Senka has something to ask you.”

The spirit nodded to Vivian then stepped forward, a confident smile gracing her face.

“This is something we’ve already discussed,” Senka began, gesturing back to Vivian and Aeolia. “And they have given their blessing. With that said, my question is, can I join your relationship?”