[Lance is curious about who else he told, but doesn't ask; if Drake wanted to say he probably would've. But he's glad to hear it didn't go horribly, at least; there's no real way it could've gone in a way that could be described as 'good', so okay is about the best that could probably be hoped for.]
I'm glad to hear that. Do you feel better, having told them, even with how complicated the situation is?
Yes. I don't feel like I'm lying anymore just by existing. You know? It's a load off.
Thing is, I realized...
Have you ever been in a situation where you had to decide how involved to get in someone else's life? Like. It's probably none of your business, but you feel like you could make a difference so you stick yourself into things you probably shouldn't? And then wonder why it's so important to you?
[He nods in understanding at that first part, but the questions Drake asks actually prompt a quiet laugh and an honest, if not entirely professional, answer.]
That's a problem I've been known to have, yes.
[A lot. Way too often. Being a psychologist kind of just makes it worse, too.]
[ Drake presses his lips together, trying to organize his thoughts, but his head is sort of spinning here. He's never admitted this before, has hardly admitted it to himself, and certainly hasn't accepted it. He doesn't know what it means. Not for him, or him and Liv, or him and Ephemera. ]
I love Liv. I do, I'd marry her if I could, and getting to be with her here is even better than it was at home. It's not that I'm not happy.
But I fell for someone else too. Somebody that's relying on me a lot right now, and I don't know if I should be as involved in his life as I am, as long as I'm hiding this.
[Well, Lance is not exactly pleased to hear when someone has a problem of any sort, but this is a refreshingly normal issue to have. Even with the issues of Drake being dead in his world and potentially having feelings for someone from a completely different world making it a little more complicated, this is a much more mundane issue than a lot that come up here.
That also means Lance thinks he might be able to help more, or at least give better advice, so there's that. But he wants to make sure he truly understands the situation first.]
Okay, so just to be clear, there's someone here who you have feelings for, but you also still love Liv. And therefore you're concerned about being so involved in the other person's life and problems because you haven't told them, or Liv, how strongly you actually feel about them?
[He's just making sure he has the right impression of what's going on; there's no judgement in any of what he asks.]
[ There's no hesitation, no need to consider the question -- Drake knows what his worst case scenario is because he can't stop thinking about it. His hands curl into fists in his lap with tension. ]
Liv leaves me because she thinks I don't love her enough anymore, and I lose the best relationship I've ever had. Ephemera's freaked and tells me to fuck off, and I lose the best friend I've ever had.
I think other people figured it out before me, though, so even if I try and bottle this shit up... somebody could say something.
[Okay, pretty normal fears here, except for that last part anyway; he's not sure if Drake is being paranoid or someone might really have figured it out and, not only that, but might tell someone.
Also ah, so that's who Drake's friend and potential romantic interest is. Interesting to know.]
Are you sure of how you feel about him? How long have you known each other?
[Again, it isn't judgemental, just asking; crushes and infatuations happen, even as adults. It would make things a lot simpler if that were the case, and it's especially likely in a high stress situation--like being here--that someone's emotions and feelings about another person who they've bonded with might amplify.]
[So not long indeed, and he's glad that Drake seems to get what he's implying and isn't taking offense.]
It's possible, and especially common in a place like this. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case, but you do want to be very sure of how you feel before you make any decisions based on it.
[ He frowns a little, thinking. He's. Pretty sure this isn't stress induced or something like that. But he'll wait, spend some more time processing if that what Sweets thinks is best. Thing is.... ]
For a little longer, yes. Especially if you've only recently told them both about what happened in your world.
[Which is the impression he'd gotten. Everyone needs a chance for that to settle in before anything else gets shaken up.]
If it doesn't go away, then you have a difficult choice to make. It'll come down to your own judgement of who you have stronger feelings for, and if you're willing to take the risk of your worst case scenario coming to be.
[ A choice to make. Of course, there would be. Because there's no way that Liv would be cool with him seeing someone else, as well. Nothing can ever be easy. ]
Yeah, this isn't exactly coinflip material... no matter what, I'm losing at least one.
[Lance could say that's not necessarily true--and it's not, at least not while Drake's here--the chance of otherwise is pretty low. There's also the issue of that if Drake does return to his own world, he'll definitely lose both.
He wishes he could give him some way to make this easier, but he can't; this is one of those things that Drake just has to figure out and take a chance on.]
That might be the case, yes. So you need to be very sure of how you feel.
[And Lance doesn't know Drake well enough to give any advice as an observer, either. All he can judge by is his own experience, and he's well aware he's not the best when it comes to romantic relationships, so he really has no room to comment with what little he does know of the situation.]
[Although he thinks, sometimes, that being psychic would really help with his profession, he's not sure he would want to be able to hear the thoughts of people here. So, probably for the best, but still--]
I wish I could tell you something more, or at least better.
[But unfortunately that's not always how it goes.]
[Joke or not. And he shakes his head a little; yeah, sure, it's one of the most mundane--if not the most mundane--problems he's dealt with so far, but that doesn't make it any less important.]
More just universal problems, I think. No matter what worlds we come from, love is complicated.
You could say that, although not in terms of your particular situation.
[He's never been torn between two people at once; not really, anyway. But his relationships have definitely been challenges, even if this time he thinks he finally got it right.
Too bad he's going to die and it won't matter, but he'll just... Try not to think about that, although his expression falters briefly before he can hide it.]
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timeasmymeasure
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-13 11:26 pm (UTC)I'm glad to hear that. Do you feel better, having told them, even with how complicated the situation is?
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-13 11:35 pm (UTC)Thing is, I realized...
Have you ever been in a situation where you had to decide how involved to get in someone else's life? Like. It's probably none of your business, but you feel like you could make a difference so you stick yourself into things you probably shouldn't? And then wonder why it's so important to you?
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-13 11:38 pm (UTC)That's a problem I've been known to have, yes.
[A lot. Way too often. Being a psychologist kind of just makes it worse, too.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-13 11:41 pm (UTC)Motivation matters, doesn't it?
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-14 09:22 pm (UTC)[But he doesn't know enough about the situation to say how that applies here, and presumes Drake will elaborate.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-14 09:49 pm (UTC)[ Drake presses his lips together, trying to organize his thoughts, but his head is sort of spinning here. He's never admitted this before, has hardly admitted it to himself, and certainly hasn't accepted it. He doesn't know what it means. Not for him, or him and Liv, or him and Ephemera. ]
I love Liv. I do, I'd marry her if I could, and getting to be with her here is even better than it was at home. It's not that I'm not happy.
But I fell for someone else too. Somebody that's relying on me a lot right now, and I don't know if I should be as involved in his life as I am, as long as I'm hiding this.
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 12:09 am (UTC)That also means Lance thinks he might be able to help more, or at least give better advice, so there's that. But he wants to make sure he truly understands the situation first.]
Okay, so just to be clear, there's someone here who you have feelings for, but you also still love Liv. And therefore you're concerned about being so involved in the other person's life and problems because you haven't told them, or Liv, how strongly you actually feel about them?
[He's just making sure he has the right impression of what's going on; there's no judgement in any of what he asks.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 12:20 am (UTC)[ And this is the point at which he needs advice, because. ]
I can't shake this feeling that I'm about to ruin everything.
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 12:30 am (UTC)What makes you think that? What is the worst case scenario for you?
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 12:39 am (UTC)[ There's no hesitation, no need to consider the question -- Drake knows what his worst case scenario is because he can't stop thinking about it. His hands curl into fists in his lap with tension. ]
Liv leaves me because she thinks I don't love her enough anymore, and I lose the best relationship I've ever had. Ephemera's freaked and tells me to fuck off, and I lose the best friend I've ever had.
I think other people figured it out before me, though, so even if I try and bottle this shit up... somebody could say something.
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 01:50 am (UTC)Also ah, so that's who Drake's friend and potential romantic interest is. Interesting to know.]
Are you sure of how you feel about him? How long have you known each other?
[Again, it isn't judgemental, just asking; crushes and infatuations happen, even as adults. It would make things a lot simpler if that were the case, and it's especially likely in a high stress situation--like being here--that someone's emotions and feelings about another person who they've bonded with might amplify.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 02:01 am (UTC)[ But he seems pretty sure. He scrubs at his face, thinking, knowing what Lance is getting at. ]
You think it's something that'll blow over?
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 02:05 am (UTC)It's possible, and especially common in a place like this. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case, but you do want to be very sure of how you feel before you make any decisions based on it.
[Such as telling people.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 02:08 am (UTC)[ He frowns a little, thinking. He's. Pretty sure this isn't stress induced or something like that. But he'll wait, spend some more time processing if that what Sweets thinks is best. Thing is.... ]
What if it doesn't go away?
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 02:13 am (UTC)[Which is the impression he'd gotten. Everyone needs a chance for that to settle in before anything else gets shaken up.]
If it doesn't go away, then you have a difficult choice to make. It'll come down to your own judgement of who you have stronger feelings for, and if you're willing to take the risk of your worst case scenario coming to be.
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 02:24 am (UTC)Yeah, this isn't exactly coinflip material... no matter what, I'm losing at least one.
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:05 am (UTC)He wishes he could give him some way to make this easier, but he can't; this is one of those things that Drake just has to figure out and take a chance on.]
That might be the case, yes. So you need to be very sure of how you feel.
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:08 am (UTC)[ Because the very fact that his feelings are being called into question is just making him more certain they're real, at least right now. ]
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:13 am (UTC)[And Lance doesn't know Drake well enough to give any advice as an observer, either. All he can judge by is his own experience, and he's well aware he's not the best when it comes to romantic relationships, so he really has no room to comment with what little he does know of the situation.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:18 am (UTC)[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:25 am (UTC)I wish I could tell you something more, or at least better.
[But unfortunately that's not always how it goes.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:28 am (UTC)[ He's joking.
It's not a great joke. ]
...this is probably the most mundane problem you've heard in awhile, though, huh? Total first world problems.
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 03:58 am (UTC)[Joke or not. And he shakes his head a little; yeah, sure, it's one of the most mundane--if not the most mundane--problems he's dealt with so far, but that doesn't make it any less important.]
More just universal problems, I think. No matter what worlds we come from, love is complicated.
[For better or worse.]
Re: [ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 04:02 am (UTC)You been there?
[ action ]
Date: 2017-10-15 04:05 am (UTC)[He's never been torn between two people at once; not really, anyway. But his relationships have definitely been challenges, even if this time he thinks he finally got it right.
Too bad he's going to die and it won't matter, but he'll just... Try not to think about that, although his expression falters briefly before he can hide it.]
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