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[occultatum]

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[occultatum]

[He doesn't teleport, for once. He comes in a few minutes later.]]

Hey Cooper.

[He says it, and he offers a hand.]

Come on.

[perfectible]

[ She pulls her bag on over her shoulder before taking his offered hand.] Thank you, Nick.

[occultatum]

[She looks so unhappy. He just smiles slightly, and holds her hands tightly.]

You'll have to lead the way, you know. I don't know who Bellamy is.

[perfectible]

[ She genuinely is unhappy and she's too tired to hide it at the moment, to put on that face she's been so well-trained to put on.]

Right, [ she says it sheepishly before leading them towards the exit and getting them out of the bar before she manages to find the urge to speak again.]

I hate this place.

[occultatum]

Because your boyfriend is with someone else?

Or because you're expected to be okay with it?

[He genuinely wants to know.]

[perfectible]

All of the above, [ she says softly.] And the way the city keeps throwing things at us.

[occultatum]

Throwing things like this war.

[It's an oddly quiet moment. Nick will teleport home, but that doesn't mean that any of this is going to be easy. Still.]

Explain something to me. Something about mortals. Why is monogamy so important?

[perfectible]

I don't know. Maybe because our lives are shorter? Or we're more insecure. [ She glances down at the ground for a moment.]

Haven't you ever loved someone so much that idea of losing them makes you breathless? Makes your heart ache? Because it's not even that he's with someone else, it's just... that girl? Lucy? She seems to be everything I'm not anymore. And the way he was acting with her, the way he was looking at her, it's how he used to look at me and maybe it just makes me realize that I'm... broken.

[occultatum]

Yeah, but.

[He has been jealous of Harvey, sure. He felt it. But it didn't feel the same the way it looks here. It's not that he minds that Sabrina has more than one lover.]

Now, you have to remember that I'm not...good with love. Until a few months ago, I never felt it. So it seems to me that if I love someone, and they love me, and they also love someone else, it doesn't...diminish that feeling.

It's not a finite resource, right? Isn't that what everyone says?

[But that said:]

You're not broken, Cooper.

[perfectible]

I think sometimes it can be. [ Love can fade, grow weak. Isn't that right? Isn't that what happens? That's what she's been taught, that is tv and movies and books tell her, you cannot possibly love two people at once, something has to give.

When he tells her she's not broken, she shakes her head.]

I am.

[occultatum]

Do you think he's done with it? With loving you?

[He looks at her, and he considers her for a long moment.]

What makes you say that?

[perfectible]

What if he decides that I'm too complicated for him, not the person he fell in love with?

[ She looks at him then.] I don't know, I just feel broken.

[occultatum]

Do you think you weren't complicated at any point?

[He doesn't really think that.]

You're not. You're exhausted, and you're here. It's not exactly easy.

[perfectible]

No. And I know that relationships aren't easy but it still feels so hard sometimes and when I saw him with Lucy... it just felt like I was losing him to someone better.

That won't change, that's what's hard.

[occultatum]

To someone better.

[He snorts a little.]

I don't think that's what was happening.

[perfectible]

Then what do you think was happening?

[occultatum]

I think he was smiling at a pretty girl, and you put all of your insecurities on that.

Take this from someone with a lot of experience dating multiple girls at once. Witches might not understand monogamy much, but we definitely get jealousy.

[perfectible]

Smiling, kissing and holding a pretty girl in a time of crisis.

[occultatum]

[He shrugs.]

She was there. You weren't.

I comforted Martin when he came back from the dead, but that doesn't mean I don't love Sabrina. Or that I love her any less.

[perfectible]

[ She frowns.] I was literally in the other room.

Who is Martin?

[occultatum]

Did he see you?

Why don't you want to give him the benefit of the doubt?

[Nick waves his hand.]

Someone I'm sleeping with, on occasion.

[perfectible]

Does that matter? He never told me about her when we agreed we would talk about it. Doesn't that mean something? That he was trying to hide it?

[occultatum]

Yeah, it does matter.

What's the benefit of the doubt that you can ask him?

Look, I'm not trying to side with him. I just think that you're unhappy, and he makes you happy. If you want me to curse him, I'll do that too.

[perfectible]

I can't ask him anything because he wants time apart.

[ She exhales softly.]

I don't want you to curse him.

[occultatum]

I didn't think you would.

But okay.

You give him space. And you don't torture yourself about this.