Author's Note: Yes, I recreated Curoda on a whim last night, and I forgot how funny it was. So yes, I will have a few more chapters with her now, as my interest in her rises and wanes.
Curoda enjoyed walking around Port Nowhere, her personal command station, in the early hours of the morning; it was both busy and quiet at the same time. It gave her the chance to get to know the little people who served her; it wasn't that long ago when she was one of them, after all, and Curoda wanted to make sure they well taken care of.
"Hey Cue," Corso said as he passed her. "Can't sleep either?"
"Kind of," Curoda said. "Staying still makes me antsy. But to run my empire, I'm needed here the most."
"I get that," Corso said with a grin. "So, when I proposed to you, you said you wanted a big wedding and a fancy dress. Well, we've got the time and money; what say we start the planning?"
Curoda smiled, though it soured almost immediately. "Before we start that, I need you to understand something. To understand what you're getting into."
Corso walked forward and took Curoda's hands. "Cue, I love you. Whatever it is, we'll handle it together."
Curoda sighed. "All right," She said. "I'm polyamorous."
Corso was taken aback. "Poly what?"
"Polyamorous," Curoda repeated. "It means I can love multiple people equally at the same time."
Corso was confused. "How is that possible?"
Curoda shook her head. She'd had this discussion more than once in her life, so she was prepared for it. "Look, when your parents were alive, you loved them both equally, not favoring one or the other, right?"
"Yeah…" Corso said, not sure he was understanding.
"Well, I feel that way about other adults," She said, squeezing Corso's hands. "I love you, with all my heart. But I'm going to fall in love with someone else as well, and love them just as much as I love you."
Corso was still confused, as Curoda had expected. "So, what, you want to have sex with other people while you're with me?"
Curoda grinned slightly. "Polyamory isn't about sex. I can love someone as much as I love you and have our relationship be completely non-sexual. I could also be just as attracted to someone else as I am to you, and may also want to share that aspect of our relationship as well," she said. "The lines are as clear or as muddy as they are with monogamous relationships."
Corso was still visibly confused, of course, but Curoda couldn't let his mind rest. "Part of having a polyamorous relationship is trust," she said. "I know you're a jealous man. Whenever I flirted with another man or woman on our journey, I could feel the disapproval on my back. But if you want to spend the rest of your life with me as much as I want to spend mine with you, you need to accept that my heart is big enough to love more than one person."
Curoda let go of Corso's hands to let him process everything she had told him. Curoda knew the two ways Corso would react to this information, having had this discussion with many partners over the years; hesitant acceptance, or outright rejection, of her lifestyle. The only way for her to truly call herself polyamorous was for her relationships to be consensual, ethical, and responsible, and in order to conform to those rules, she needed her partners to understand and accept her for who she is.
Thankfully, Corso's face suggested the former, rather than the latter reaction. "So, what do you need for me to do?"
Curoda pulled Corso in for a hug. "Just for you to love me the way you already do," She said. She pushed back out of the hug. "And work on those jealousy issues. Remember, just because you see me making eyes at someone else doesn't mean I love you any less or want to leave you; just that I want to share my love with another."
Corso initiated the hug this time, and when he was done, he looked at Curoda in her beautiful red eyes before speaking. "I assume we're going to need to work out terms on this? I mean, if we're going to do this right…"
"Yes," Curoda said, cutting him off. "You'll be included in any decision that I make when it comes to others. And I promise you that, if I do enter another sexual relationship, I'll take the necessary precautions to keep us all safe. I want things to be as ethical and responsible as possible, so that everyone involved will be safe and happy."
"Well, thank you for telling me all this, Cue," Corso said, pulling back completely from the embrace. "I'm glad you were up front about this, and I'll definitely work on the jealousy. Won't be easy, but I'll work on it."
"Nothing worth doing ever is, Corso," Curoda said, smiling. "But thank you for accepting me for who I am."
Corso smiled back before heading back to bed, allowing Curoda to be alone with her thoughts. She looked out at some of the workers on the station, musing about their talk. She knew Corso's jealousy was going to be the biggest obstacle to this relationship working long term, but he never tried to change her throughout their journey. Even though he disapproved when Curoda flirted with other men or women, he never vocalized any real disapproval unless she started getting close. Now that he knows how I am, maybe he won't be so possessive. She thought. A year of him knowing and accepting this before the wedding will let me know for sure.
Still, Curoda had hope. Corso's reaction was more a heteronormative viewpoint due to a lack of awareness of this aspect of Curoda rather than any real intolerance to her polyamorous lifestyle, and she knew he'd be able to accept this aspect of her like he had accepted all other aspects of her soon. Within a year, she'd have that storybook wedding she always wanted.
Author's Note: For more information on polyamory, visit the Wikipedia page, as well as the links provided there. This is another one of those "these people exist, get over it", and I would not have added this to her personality if it did not fit the personality I created for her. As with Vedere, she's a person first and formost, and Curoda feels that there's no one way to live or to love, and I hope you guys accept this as easily as Corso did. As before, any crap I am given will be blocked; I will not tolerate hate in my review section.
