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It's an ordinary, quiet night. The . . . patrons, or whatever they are, of the lab equipment shop downstairs, took off about forty-five minutes ago.
There's silence, mostly. You can only be out at night in Sothis if you have business. But there's some business. Every so often a party passes under Katie's window. Their conversation is mostly what Katie has become accustomed to thinking of as "focused", though occasionally some is just downright tense or revelrous.
Wind. Distant insects. Dogs.
Something shuffles downstairs.
And continues to shuffle.
"Are we good?" The voice is insistent, alto, and right underneath Katie. And it's female.
"Yes, fine". Higher. If Katie knows what female halflings sound like, it sounds like that.
The shuffling moves deeper into the shop. A glass clinks. Laughter starts, whispering at first, then merely hushed.
"Oh my god." A third voice.
"All this stuff is fake, you know. This and this and this used to be one bespoke fixture."
"Fuck."
Whoever it is is going through the merchandise.
Expensive, heavily regulated merchandise. Katie's parent have only been in Ulunat for two weeks, but she's picked up that the proprietors of this place have gone to a moderate effort to secure it against thieves.
For once, she wants to say something incisive about their double standard for making sure the Moth members have enough to eat. But she knows she's a utility devil.
"Mm."
"Okay, fuck, sorry for asking, you're just really interesting and I want to get to know you better." God fuck shit she's so stupid teg hates her now she made a beautiful woman cry she's worse than Razmir she belongs in the deepest pit of Hell
"I want to get to know you better." Thin smile. Step back.
"I've been wondering, do they eat guinea pigs where you're from?
Hey, where are you from?"
"River Kingdoms," she says dryly. She, was eavesdropping on the sex, at least that much.
"As far as I know they don't raise them for food up there, or at least not many, but if you offered one to people there they probably wouldn't turn it down."
"People here are weird about what animals you eat. I know that's less up there, where you have fewer diseases."
She wants to ask why Katie thinks that is, but they're not supposed to be quizzing her.
Why is it, that they have fewer diseases in the River Kingdoms? It touches on things she's irritated not to be able to figure out.
"It was a bit of a challenge, but I managed. No need to apologize, by the way, forwardness is much appreciated."
"Oh. Idk, struggling isn't the right word. More like... neglected. Mainly self-neglected, to be honest."
<Whisper@Tiar>"Is she a masochist?"</Whisper>
If Katie's hearing is good she may be able to hear. She knows she's chancing it, but she's too curious.
Internal sigh.
"Since everyone is wondering right now, are you sexually aroused by your own pain?
The reason they consider this important has to do with a certain level of ambient public superstition about the validity of Cheliax's brainwashing procedures."
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I've fantasized about it from time to time, but I've never had the opportunity to actually try it, so I don't know if I'd actually enjoy it in real life."
Internal facepalm.
"Everyone, stop considering this a salient ambiguity right now. This is not a salient ambiguity."
"We have read that masochism is common among women. Teg insists she's not a masochist, although certain people are convinced she secretly is and it's relevant."