1895/Relationshipping

Relationshipping
Date of Scene:	27 August 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Sarah confronts Ryoko about working for Obsidian. They end up having a heartfelt conversation baring their most vulnerable selves ultimately leading to Ryoko revealing her henshin. And Sarah still loves her.
Cast of Characters:	Ryoko Gushiken, Scorpia

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Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko spent most of Saturday working. DUST Entertainment didn't run itself, after all. It was summer break, and Hokori-sama had been working her to the bone. Especially since her epic failure in Juuban Ward. So not only did she spend most of Saturday working, but she didn't even get home until nearly 7pm. She was tired, hungry, and oh so ready to kick off her Louboutins.

After such a long day at work, she was looking forward to some relaxation. As she changed out of her work clothes and into some shorts and a tanktop for lounging, she sighed. She was really looking forward to when Sarah got home. She really needed a hug.

Scorpia has posed:
After the tea party, Sarah couldn't sit still. Not that she normally could anyways, but there was an anxiety that had settled in the pit of her stomach, a burning ball of betrayal, that no amount of jogging, lifting weights, or boxing could make go away.

The blonde had avoided their dorm room all afternoon and the sun was low in the sky before she'd decided to brave the conversation that needed to happen. Walking through the door, she closed it behind her and just stood there, watching her girlfriend finish changing into her pajamas. She, for once in her life, was at a loss of words, so instead of trying to speak, her eyes welled up with tears and her eyebrows creased in her best attempt to try and not actually cry.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko was just pulling her tank top down over her head when she heard the door open and shut. It had been locked, so that could only be one person. She turned around on the spot and started to launch herself toward the door and the hug she was so looking forward to, only to falter as she saw that was absolutely not where her girlfriend was at.

"Sarah, baby," she said, stepping right up to the taller girl. Her left hand reached out to grab Sarah's, and her right reached up to draw her thumb across the other girl's lower lid to wipe way the tears. "What's wrong?"

Scorpia has posed:
The last thing Sarah wanted was for her girlfriend to touch her. At the first feel of skin to skin, she flinched back, her emotions roiling. Her dark eyes flashed and words spilled from her quivering lips before she could stop them.

"When were you going to tell me you work for Obsidian, Ryoko? Of all the places to work? We're girlfriends. We're supposed to tell each other everything!" Sarah was not one to yell, to be confrontational. Rainbows and sunshine and stuff. But right now? She couldn't hold back the tsunami of hurt from flowing out and crashing into the girl in front of her.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
The concern on Ryoko's face only grew when Sarah flinched away from her touch. She took a step back to give her girlfriend some room, since Sarah's back was to the door, and she listened.

And there it was. Someone had told her where Ryoko wo--wait what? She didn't know where Ryoko worked? Everyone knew she was Hokori-sama's executive assistant. She made sure of it. How...could... Every conversation they'd ever had raced through Ryoko's mind. It had never come up.

"I was just waiting for you to show an interest," Ryoko said, with a smile, even though her voice was quite cold. "You've never asked. Honestly, I thought you knew. Where do you think I met Glimmer?"

Scorpia has posed:
Sarah's face dropped. She'd seen and heard Ryoko speak to others like that. The cold, distant voice with the fake smile. It had never been turned on her. Not in all the months they'd been together. The hurt blossomed in her heart and she took an additional step back, her body flush against the dorm door.

Fists clenched in an attempt to regulate herself, Sarah stood trembling, tears running down her emotion-flushed cheeks and struggled to find words to say back. She hadn't felt this level of hurt since Catra.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko can't stand there and watch her girlfriend like this, not when the last thing Sarah wants is for Ryoko to touch her to comfort her. So instead? She turns around and walks over to flop down on her bed and stare up at the ceiling.

"I'm an executive assistant, Sarah," Ryoko says, a little bit of warmth easing back into her voice. "I make copies and set up table tents. I write emails and I sit in budget meetings. You clearly have some story in your head about what it means to work for Obsidian." That warmth, then, is replaced with a different tone. It's not ice cold, it's worse, "I'm disappointed you didn't ask me about my job before you came at me with accusations."

Scorpia has posed:
She didn't like it. At all. This conversation. The way that Ryoko was handling this. The way she was handling this. Obsidian was bad. Ryoko was good. The two did not compute and all that she could say was, "I don't like it."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko just stared up at the ceiling. What was she supposed to say here? Sarah could not find out she was Ember. Because if this was how she was reacting to the mere idea of her even working as an executive assistant, how would she ever understand the fun part of her job? The part she kept interfering with.

"You may not like it, but Hokori-sama saved me, Sarah. I owe her everything," Ryoko says, and now she doesn't sound cold at all. She sounds earnest. "You've never asked much about what it was like for me growing up. It was miserable. My step-mother was a hotelier, and she adopted me from an orphanage so she could have a slave. I was made to clean and care for her hotel while she and her daughters did whatever they pleased. Hokori-sama took me away from all of that. She gave me a life. She brought me here. The least I can do is all of her paperwork."

The darkhaired girl swings her legs around and sits up on the edge of the bed turning to look at Sarah. "But let's just say for a moment that the worst story in your mind is true. Let's say I'm a villain. Maybe I'm even a villain you've fought when you're out there being a badass. If that's the case, then what do we do?"

She takes a deep breath. "Because I love you, but I'm worried you can't love me back."

Scorpia has posed:
Sarah just stares, tears running down her face. Her heart was in her throat and words weren't a possibility. She walks towards her girlfriend and falls to her knees at her feet, her dark eyes staring up at the beauty before her. In a very rare moment of complete seriousness and emotional maturity, Sarah lets out a small whimper as her feelings overwhelm her.

The blonde swallows and clears her throat, "Ryoko. I love you. You are good. I see you. Even if who you work for isn't. I worked for the bad guys for a long time because they were all I knew. They took me and raised me, made me the soldier that I was. But, I am not them. You are not Obsidian. You are Ryoko. My girlfriend. The one who loves me even when I don't understand people's boundaries. The one who shared her curry with me even though it was your favorite. You. Are. Good. And nothing will ever stop me from loving you."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko watches Sarah as she crosses the room and falls to her knees. It takes everything she has not to reach out and touch her girlfriend, but she saw how Sarah flinched, and she doesn't want to push her. Holding Sarah's gaze she says quietly, "I've done a lot of things, Sarah. I'm not a good person."

She takes a deep breath and then says, "But I'm good more when I'm with you."

Scorpia has posed:
Sarah sniffles and wraps her arms around her girlfriend's waist, burying her face in her belly for comfort, to feel close. She isn't sure if this was what people called a 'lover's quarrel', but she knows that she doesn't like it, and wants it to never happen again.

Voice muffled into Ryoko's shirt, she admits, "I'm not so good at this relationship stuff, Ryoko. Perfuma was the one who knew what to do back home. If I'm not doing something right, please tell me. I want to be the best for you. With you."

There definitely isn't a blush flooding Sarah's face. Nope.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
With Scorpia's arms around her waist and face in her belly, Ryoko is pretty sure it's okay to touch. Which is good, because she couldn't not any more. She brings her arms up to gently hug Sarah's head to her, one hand petting the blonde's hair.

"I'm the evil one, Sarah, why are you worried you're relationshipping wrong?" She says it like it's just an utterly preposterous thing to be considering. She leans back, her hands sliding down to cup Sarah's cheek, turning the blonde's head back so that their eyes meet. "I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend."

Scorpia has posed:
Eyebrows creased, Sarah looks up at the raven-haired girl and declares defiantly, firmly, "Just because you're bad at something, doesn't make you evil."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
The trouble is, Sarah is right. Ryoko is not evil. Not really. Not deep down. She's just a big bonfire of trauma, and that's the way The Grim Queen likes her. She's much easier to manipulate that way. But Sarah cuts right through all that trauma, and she gets the most vulnerable Ryoko. The good one. The honest one. The one who can lie to anyone else but not to that precious face.

Her eyes glance down and away. "I am evil," she says, barely above a whisper. "I've killed people. I've done things. I'm very bad at being good. I'm a villain."

Scorpia has posed:
It's Sarah's turn to rise up on her knees and cup her girlfriend's face and in the most vulnerable of voices, she murmurs, "If that makes you evil, my love, then I am too."

Closing her eyes, she pulls Ryoko closer and rests their foreheads together, "I was a Captain in the worst army, for a very long time. And I was proud of it. I killed innocent beings because I was told to do so, and I believed my superiors to be doing the right thing. Those people lied, Ryoko. They manipulated me, and so many other good people. But that doesn't make us bad, it doesn't make us evil."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko is going to need a lot of therapy before she's ready to see all the ways The Grim Queen manipulated her. Pressing her forehead to Sarah's is a pretty good substitute though. Her eyes close and she takes a deep breath, exhaling just a bit shakily.

She wants to pull away. Every instinct in her is screaming to be aloof. To draw away. To put distance between her and Sarah. But the words started to spill out, and as soon as they did, Ryoko pressed her forehead to Sarah's just a little more firmly. "No, I killed them because I wanted to, Sarah. I was so angry. I set the whole building on fire with them and all their fancy friends."

Scorpia has posed:
Humming deep in her throat, processing Ryoko's words, the blond girl runs her thumbs along her jawline in comfort. She sits still in her girlfriend's truth, her vulnerability and gives her the space to feel safe. She hopes. It seemed a lot like Ryoko didn't have anyone she could really talk to. So, Sarah determines that the person will now be her.

After long moments of comfortable, if not intense, silence, she finally whispers, "I have no doubts that they deserved it, Ryoko." She pulls back just enough to open her eyes and look at her girlfriend, "Did they deserve it?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Did they deserve it? Her step-mother and step-sisters certainly did. They'd abused her for most of her life. But all of the other people at the banquet? She'd never really thought about them, and she wasn't about to start now. With her eyes locked on Sarah's she nods and says with the conviction of a deeply held belief, "They deserved it."

But did Scorpia deserve it? When Ember hurt her? No not really. She'd hated doing it, but she had to sell the act. Sarah couldn't know she was Ember, right?

"You said nothing will ever stop you from loving me?"

Scorpia has posed:
Without any hesitation, Sarah nods and promises, "Nothing, Ryoko. I swear it." One of her hands moves to sweep Ryoko's hair from her face and tucks it behind her ear. Her heart beat fast with the adrenaline of being so open, so true to herself.

She'd never had these talks with Perfuma. She would always love the flower girl with the pure soul. But not like she loves the beautifully broken girl in front of her, "I will love you in your storms, just as I will love you in your sunshine."

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ryoko just looked at Sarah. The girl was so earnest. She wasn't sure the girl could even tell a lie. It made it impossible for her to lie to her. They were laying everything out, and despite every instinct screaming at her to run from this, despite not really understanding why, she trusted this girl from another planet.

She leaned forward to steal a quick kiss, before rising up and stepping around Sarah where she is on the floor. "The question I have," she says, "is will you love me the next time we fight?"

Her hand comes up to wrap around the pendant that she always wears, and she says, "Incinerate!" In a burst of flame, Ryoko is gone, transformed into Ember.

Scorpia has posed:
To say Sarah was shocked, would be an understatement. She falls backwards and lands with her back against the bedframe, having turned and watched Ryoko walk to the center of their dorm room and proceed to transform. Her girlfriend was the same person who somehow turned people into those wolves at the zoo. The same person who turned people into those huge cats in the shopping center.

"I--" she starts and then stops. Aside from the shock, it would be hard for the other girl to tell what she's feeling as she stands up and approaches her. A hand once again caresses Ryoko's cheek, her jawline, and brushes back her long black tresses. Dark eyes meet eyes of amber as Sarah earnestly asks, "Who says we have to fight, my love?"

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Ember leans her face into Sarah's touch, her eyes closing and her chest expanding as she takes a deep breath. When she opens her eyes she looks into Sarah's with a puzzled look on her face.

What does she mean? Is she trying to say that Ryoko could stop doing the things that prompted the heroes of all stripes to come out and fight? Or is she saying that she would...be bad...with her? That couldn't be it. "What do you mean?"

Scorpia has posed:
An easygoing smile finally spreads across the blonde's face and she pulls Ryoko in for a big bear hug. Placing a kiss atop her head, she replies simply, "We don't want to fight each other. So we won't. I don't want you to quit a job, if you love it as much as it sounds like you do. But. If you are truly unhappy, we will find a way to be good. Together. We're a team, firefly. It's you and me against this world called Earth."

Sarah truly didn't want to change her girlfriend. She simply wanted to help her grow, help her see the good in herself. She didn't have to fight for a war she didn't believe in. She didn't have to do anything she didn't want to. Sarah would be by her side through thick and thin.

Ryoko Gushiken has posed:
Sarah pulled her into that bear hug and Ember eagerly stepped into it. She wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and laid her head against her girlfriend's shoulder and she listened to the sweet words her girlfriend had to say. Her girlfriend. They were a team. They would figure this out together.

Squeezing tightly with her own hug, Ember starts to quietly sob, tears streaming down her cheeks as her henshin melts away, leaving Ryoko in Sarah's arms in just her tank top and shorts.

In between sobs, she all but whispers, "I don't deserve you."

Scorpia has posed:
Holding her girl close, Sarah replies with a soft, simple, "You deserve the world Ryoko Gushiken. And I intend to give it to you."