one's chastity is / widely believed a virtue / not personal choice

[roc_on]

The next day there's an article in a scandal sheet insinuating that there may be something inappropriate going on between Delightful Jun and the Avatar.

Beila adopts a strategy of completely ignoring this insinuation until an interviewer asks her point blank, at which point she says, "No," and declines to elaborate further. Because there is nothing to elaborate on.

She shows up, exasperated, for her next firebending lesson.

Comments

[thinklikethis]

"Um... probably not, I guess?" he says.

[roc_on]

"...Can you elaborate on that?"

[thinklikethis]

"I can't think of a reason why it would be, especially since I'm not sure I would try to sleep with anybody else even if you said I could," he says. "But I don't know for sure, I haven't really thought about it yet."

[roc_on]

"Okay. Keep me posted, please, if you do think about it."

[thinklikethis]

"Of course."

[roc_on]

Nuzzle!

[thinklikethis]

Snuggle! Snuggle snuggle. Beila is snuggly.

[roc_on]

She is!

"Might be a little premature," she murmurs, "to talk about whether you're going to be sleeping with people who aren't me. We haven't really talked about you sleeping with people who are me."

[thinklikethis]

"That... is true," says Dao. "Should we talk about that?"

[roc_on]

"Maybe." In a tone that means obviously.

[thinklikethis]

"Wow, yes, let's talk about that," says Dao.

[roc_on]

She laughs and nuzzles him again. "It is something that could happen. I love you, you know."

[thinklikethis]

"Yes, I do know that! I love you too," he says. "Sleeping with people who are you sounds like a great idea."

[roc_on]

"That sounds like consensus to me."

[thinklikethis]

Dao beams.

[roc_on]

Snuggle.

Squirm.

[thinklikethis]

Snuggle kiss!

[roc_on]

A couple of days later, when they're hanging out with milkshakes on the roof of the milkshake place (because roofs are awesome, that's why) Beila says, "So, I think I could pretty well live with it if you wanted to sleep with other people, as long as I knew who it was ahead of time - no surprises - and I wasn't neglected or anything."

[thinklikethis]

He grins and kisses her.

[roc_on]

Kisses! Milkshake-flavored kisses.

[thinklikethis]

Kisses.

"I love you," he declares.

[roc_on]

"I love you."

[thinklikethis]

More kisses.

[roc_on]

Kisses, kisses. Milkshake-sippage.

"So are you going to proposition him or just think about it in extreme detail?"

[thinklikethis]

"I am going to think about it in extreme detail for sure," he says, giggle-blushing.