Sugarcane

Kujen's proximity is like a heart-stab.\n\n<<replace>>It's hard not to react.<<becomes>>You're not reacting.<<becomes>>Really you're not.<<becomes>><<display 'hangups'>><<endreplace>>

Kujen's smile makes the blood in your veins sing like broken glass. "I'll put us back eventually," he says softly, coaxingly. "Not that I don't intend to get my entertainment's worth while I have you here, but there's nothing quite like having someone kill for you and right now your sniper skills are probably, well, as bad as mine normally are.--We have a notation problem here, don't we?"\n\n"You could do it yourself since you're being me," you say, a little snidely.\n\nHe laughs low in his throat. "Nice try." Then he kicks the blankets out of the way and bends over you, mouth descending, hot and greedy and completely unashamed, and for a long time after that the question of //who is who// is [[burnt out of your brain|ending]].

You press up against Kujen, or would if he were still there. He draws back fast enough for you to feel stung if you weren't more concerned about the fact that he seems to have your body's reflexes. Which are superb. (Nobody ever requires mathematicians to have excellent reflexes. Why is that?)\n\n"Oh, //now// you're interested," he purrs.\n\nYou could [[deny it|Jedao teases back]]. In that particular way that means //please more//. (You're not //that// new to the game.)\n\nOf course, what you really want to do is [[beg|Jedao begs]].

"You're full of surprises today," Kujen murmurs, easing down on you.\n\nYou shiver in spite of yourself. Not that he's cold. <<replace>>Far from it.<<becomes>>His heart is beating slowly, steadily. Yours is another matter.<<endreplace>>\n\n<<display 'bad touch'>>

Rather, you start to say that, except it comes out wrong, all smoke and velvet and insinuation. Amazing how different your words sound in Kujen's voice. It makes you wonder [[how the hell Kujen gives presentations|PowerPoint joke]].

Nirai Kujen: At least 900 years old, which explains why he likes to parasitize the young and pretty ones. Not that you have any moral high ground here. Ally, yes, to your forever regret; friend, never.\n\nThe fact of the matter is that you needed a mathematician for your gestures of treachery against the hexarchate, and Kujen was the best one you could find. Too bad he has a heart of ice and cogs, but they say the same of you. The difference (besides the small matter of [[your difficulties with math|Nirai joke]]) is that you're much better with a gun.\n\nHe likes you far more than you like him, or more accurately, he likes the fact that you hate him and keep coming back anyway.\n\n[[You're not getting any less awake thinking about him|game start]].\n

Kujen is a hell of a dancer, but he doesn't tend to pick the ones who can win arm-wrestling matches. Now he's the one with your combat training.\n\nIt is as well that Kujen usually prefers head games to the kind of entertainment that requires surgical repair. After a moment, since you keep absolutely still, he eases you out of the hold and onto your back, straddles you.\n\n<<display 'bad touch'>>

That man is gone. You miss him sometimes.\n\n//I'm your gun.//\n\nIn the meantime, [[the intruder is speaking|Kujen is smug]].

"Figured it out yet?" your not-twin says, entirely too cheerful.\n\n[[You have|dawning horror]].

Hexarchate Crack Tiny!Game #1

Fuck.\n\n(Hmm. Bad word choice. Because Kujen.)\n\nYou're him.\n\n[[You'd better deal with him|Kujen touches Jedao's thigh]].

<<silently>>\n<<set $proofreadingSeen = "no">>\n<<set $discomfortSexSeen = "no">>\n<<set $guiltSeen = "no">>\n<<set $selfcestSeen = "no">>\n<<set $KujenEyesSeen = "no">>\n<<set $danceMemorySeen = "no">>\n<<set $blackCradleTwoRead = "no">>\n<<set $moaningSeen = "no">>\n<<endsilently>>Content notes: bodyswap, bad humor, psychopath not!romance, smut, swear words, dubious consent, dark except when it isn't, Nirai Kujen, and mathematics.\n\n(No, really. Mathematics.)\n\nNot safe for work or dracoliches.\n\n[[If you're okay with these things, proceed|game start]].\n\n<<display "bug reports">>

<<silently>>\n<<set $proofreadingSeen = "yes">>\n<<endsilently>>Seriously, you have a man attempting to fuck around with you (so to speak) and you want to reminisce about stroke order and style guides? [[Come on|invitation]].

"Next time I want to get you hard I must remember to fill out a form in seven copies," you say dryly.\n\n"Six copies now," Kujen says, correcting you automatically.\n\nYou've had things to say about the hexarchate's tyrannical numerologies in the past, but you hold your peace. "Are you sure there aren't [[things you'd rather be doing|Jedao's surrender]]?" you ask him.

It happens very quickly. You find yourself curled up on your side, breathless with pain, one arm locked behind you and the other trapped beneath your own torso. It took you a lot of hours to master that maneuver in your first life. You've made sure to practice in the later ones, too.\n\n"I always wondered how you did things like that," Kujen says into your ear. He sounds very pleased.\n\n[[Great|physical implications]].

"Yes," Kujen says. "Like that."\n\nBut you twist out from underneath him. He could stop you, but he doesn't; his eyes are sideways-glittering with curiosity. <<replace>>Then again, you've always known that he doesn't fear you.<<becomes>>There's no way for you to prevail against him, and you don't believe in fighting losing battles.<<endreplace>>\n\n"Why," he adds after a while, "am I that unappealing?" His smile is just slightly chilly. "I always did advise you to get the scars removed. It's not like it's that hard."\n\nYou are seized by the desire to [[pin him silent|Jedao pins Kujen]] of protestations. Or else to find out if you can [[flense him|Jedao pleasures Kujen]] into cries of pleasure.

<<if $KujenEyesSeen eq "no">><<replace>>Kujen's prick presses against your hip.<<becomes>>You suppress a sigh.<<becomes>>You'd rather be doing something productive, like counting all your ammunition. (There is a lot of it.) Or digging a latrine, which takes some doing on a space station.<<endreplace>>\n\n<<endif>>But Kujen cups your face, and you know better than to fight him. "I really do have <<if $KujenEyesSeen eq "no">>[[beautiful eyes|Kujen's eyes again]]<<else>>beautiful eyes<<endif>>," he says, "don't I?"\n\nIt just figures that you've body-swapped with the vainest person in the hexarchate and it's still not working in your favor. Still, you have an idea for a [[counterattack|Jedao strikes back]].

Bug reports and feedback, constructive or destructive, are welcome at yoon at yoonhalee dot com. It would be helpful if you could include the browser you used and the version number in the title. Thanks!--YHL

There was the time he was supposed to brief you on that shiny new bomb (if "shiny" is the word) and he got distracted teaching you a [[dance|dancing lessons]] that everyone else had stopped remembering before you were born. Of course, from Kujen's standpoint, time is the one thing he can afford to burn, and he is infinitely patient when it comes to calculating the right moment to strike.\n\nOr the time he pranced into a fucking war zone, wearing a female anchor (Kujen prefers his eye candy male, but he's not overly fussy), just to deliver you a bottle of brandy salvaged from your homeworld. Your homeworld, which had just been conquered, and which the hexarchate never retook. You prefer whiskey, but the gesture, calculated as it was, moved you nonetheless.\n\nOr the time with the shining orrery, or that revolver he gave you, not that you use it in the field because it tends to jam, but you keep it because it's a relic of some former unpronounceable civilization and Kujen cares about things like that.\n\nYou didn't mind all of those indulgences. But they were never about you.\n\nReminiscing was a mistake; it only reminds you how you wanted him once. Still do, if you're honest with yourself (strange luxury). [[You press yourself against him|Jedao more active]].

"Fuck you," Kujen says after a long, icy pause.\n\nYou smile brilliantly at him. Kujen once explained to you that dyscalculia was rooted in the brain, and right now [[he has your brain|dualism]]. "I still don't have the slightest fucking clue what a Fermat is and what this theorem is good for, since I assume it's not a high-caliber weapon," you say genially, "but you should figure out how to unswap us before this becomes, you know, permanent. Unless you want me to take the opportunity to learn some sudoku for the first time in my life."\n\n"Don't be stupid," Kujen says irritably. "[[Sudoku is logic, not algebra|sudoku is logic]]. Your fucking dyscalculia doesn't have a damn thing to do with it."\n\n[["Whatever," you say|ending]].

Kujen's eyes would be pitying if Kujen had any visceral understanding of pity. <<replace>>He does have the most remarkable eyes.<<becomes>>Sweeping dark lashes over amber-flecked brown; it's easy not to notice how heartless they are.<<becomes>>You've got to stop staring.<<becomes>>You breathe in and out as meditatively as you can, but he can hear the hammering of your heart.<<endreplace>>\n\n"Look," you explain, "this is just gross. I appreciate your endless interest in experimentation," more like Kujen's infinite narcissism, "but. It's almost like having sex with yourself."<<if $guiltSeen eq "yes">> Issue of [[original selves|suppressed guilt]] aside.<<endif>>\n\n[[Kujen snickers|Kujen mocks Jedao's manhood]].

Yes. It's Kujen's body all right, or anyway Kujen's hand, who knows about the rest of the body. (Disturbing thought.) Pale, faintly yellow-ivory skin this time around, long, slim fingers, perfect manicure.\n\nKujen reaches for you again. You could [[try to roll away|Kujen pins Jedao]], or [[let him|Kujen tops Jedao]].

"Interested?" you retort, sinking back down. "I have better things to do then spend all day"--night?--"in bed."\n\nKujen's hand goes exactly where you thought it was going to. "Really," he says, one of his eyebrows quirking. "Like what?"\n\nLike what indeed. "Start a galactic empire?" you suggest.\n\nHe snorts. [[You miss the next thing he says|talky Kujen]] because of <<replace>>the way his hand tightens around your cock.<<becomes>>the sweet pleasure-pressure-heat of skin on skin.<<endreplace>>

You smile serenely at Kujen. It's too bad he's better at reading people than you are at lying.\n\nBy most standards you're a good liar--your work would be impossible otherwise--but in all fairness, Kujen has almost a millennium of experience surviving people like you.\n\nKujen isn't fooled. He grins at you, and kisses his way down your neck, down further, further still. Back up again until his face is just above yours, his breath sweet and salt.\n\nIf you keep smiling at him, you can convince him you're [[not interested|Jedao is in denial as usual]].\n\nOn the other hand, it's been a long time. (He even knows how long. You wish he didn't.) You could [[just give in|Jedao admits his weakness]].

"You know," you say in your best reasonable voice, "since I have you here, I had this question about higher algebra that I was hoping you would be able to break down into the idiots' version for me."\n\nMath is one of the three reliable ways of distracting Kujen. Sex and fashion are the other two, but you'd prefer to avoid sex and you're outclassed in fashion. Best to avoid fighting on hostile terrain.\n\n"I'm sure I can come up with something," Kujen says dryly, waiting.\n\n"Tell me about [[Fermat's Little Theorem|Fermat's Little Theorem]]?" you say.\n\n[[Kujen starts to respond|Kujen is foiled]].

Waking up is not something you want to include surprises, especially on a space station controlled by dubiously friendly powers. There's someone in the [[bed|bed]] with you who wasn't there last night. It's an open question as to whether [[//I'm getting old//|your age]] or [[//Why aren't I dead?//|your immortality]] is your first thought.\n\nThere's no help for it, though. At some point you have to [[open your eyes|a surprise Kujen]].

"Kujen," you say in your best //what does a mere assassin know// voice, honed over centuries of missions, "I thought we had people to kill? Or [[sign errors|sign error joke]] to snark at?"\n\n"But testing out bodyswap machine prototypes is so much more entertaining," he says, grinning at you almost like a boy.\n\n[["No, really?" you say sarcastically|Jedao already knows it's bodyswap day]].\n\nKujen eases closer. [[Best to nip this in the bud|bad touch]].

<<replace>>"Kujen," you say again.<<becomes>>Your voice is rough.<<becomes>>How does he do this to you?<<becomes>>Maybe it's simply that, after a while, [[an old enemy is better than a new friend|Jedao's surrender]]. Especially in a world where people die their firespark deaths.<<endreplace>>\n\nHe rests a palm against your chest and curls his fingers in the hairs there.

Don't mathematicians do a lot of that? Along with whiteboards. Maybe mathematicians have a lot more orgies than you had been led to believe.\n\nWhat's that old one...//algebraists do it in groups//? [[(Math footnote.)|group theory footnote]]\n\nYou [[glance down|Kujen's hand]] and are distracted by the sight of your hand.

All right, so strictly speaking you are--not unkillable, but close to it. Not that people can tell on casual inspection, which is convenient. Just now, however, you have [[other matters to worry about|game start]].

FERMAT'S LITTLE THEOREM FOOTNOTE: A result in number theory.\n\n...When I put "math" in the content notes, I meant it.--YHL\n\n[[END FERMAT'S LITTLE THEOREM FOOTNOTE|Jedao strikes back]].

SUDOKU FOOTNOTE: Superficially sudoku may look like arithmetic due to the use of numerals, but the numeral symbols are arbitrary. You could just as well be using heart and flower icons to represent the essential logic puzzle. Apparently if you dig deeper you can also find combinatorics and group theory, but as someone who once went through over 50% of a sudoku book without solving a single puzzle, I defer such matters to smarter people.--YHL\n\n[[END SUDOKU FOOTNOTE|Kujen is foiled]].

<<silently>><<set $blackCradleTwoRead = "yes">><<endsilently>>He thinks you don't remember, but it comes back to you sometimes, in snatches. Darkness as absolute as winter in a sunless world, the clockless prison. After a while you learned to stop begging for him to talk to you, to break the unflexing silence. Eventually he retrieved you, when it suited him to do so.\n\n(This may have happened more than once, actually.)\n\nThis at least is true: he's consistent. Not in a way that's good for you, but he's consistent.\n\n[[Maybe he'll come back this time|Kujen's name refused]].

"--and besides," Kujen is saying, "half of empire is bureaucracy. I've been around long enough, I ought to know."\n\nYou're not sure whether to feel about the fact that he's going on about paperwork and offsite backups. <<choice "Insulted?">> Or <<choice "amused?">>

You turn your head, with a very deliberate smile.\n\nNot a smile. The man in bed with you is--your [[long-lost secret twin|Jedao description]]? Except you've never owned robes like that, sheer silk draped over brocade, black over gunmetal gray. The robes are carefully arranged so as to gap open over the chest, revealing scars that you [[know all too well|scars]].\n\nAs for yourself, you're pretty sure you're not wearing anything.

Turnabout's Fair Prey v.1.0

If you had a twin, he wouldn't have that unsettling perfect symmetry around the eyes from when your face had to be repaired after a grenade blew it off.\n\n(If you really had a twin, he'd look like the [[first you|Jedao 1]].)\n\nKujen likes to pick pretty ones for you, although you have pointed out that having people stare at you <<if $discomfortSexSeen eq "no">>(or worse, [[hit on you|discomfort with sex]]) <<endif>>is not helpful when you're an assassin. The kind of assassin you prefer to be, anyway. He argued that if you're going to kill from a nice safe distance and be off the station before it blows up, why not look beautiful while you're doing it.\n\nJust like a mathematician: never thinks about practical considerations. You keep threatening to buy him a water gun because for fox and hound's sake you'd never trust him with actual firearms.

<<silently>><<set $moaningSeen = "yes">><<endsilently>>[[Yes|Jedao pins Kujen]].

Kujen hoists himself off you and stands at the side of the bed. He doesn't say anything; doesn't have to. You slide out of bed and sink to your knees before him. Your own suppleness astonishes you, and it really shouldn't.\n\nYou're drowning in him, the way you never mean to and always do. Your mouth aches as you swallow him, but not more than your heart does. [[There are worse damnations|ending]].

Well. You're not as old as [[Kujen|Kujen bio]] (nobody's as old as Kujen), but a few centuries counts for //something//. Mostly bad somethings, which you [[prefer not to dwell on|game start]].\n\n(Except some things [[can't be forgotten|black cradle]], no matter how you try.)

MATH FOOTNOTE: Algebra (or abstract algebra) is a branch of mathematics that encompasses not just the "solve for //x//" that most people encounter in high school, but topics such as number theory and rings. One of these topics is called group theory, which studies mathematical objects called (guess) groups (a group is a set with an operator and elements that behave under certain constraints). Mathematicians often repurpose words that the rest of the world uses to mean something somewhat different. Like "normal." I'm not making that up!--YHL\n\n[[END MATH FOOTNOTE|PowerPoint joke]].

You knew there was light from the red pressure against your eyelids, but the ceiling is another thing entirely: covered in a fracture-mosaic of moths, black and silver and nebula-swirls of violet. If you stare up too long, you start seeing clouded accretion disks and uncandling stars. Best to [[look away|body swap reveal]]. For example, at the man who's in bed with you.

<<silently>><<set $guiltSeen = "yes">><<endsilently>>It's a few lifetimes too late for guilt. It's indisputable: you're bad at arithmetic, but not //that// bad at arithmetic.\n\nAnd [[Kujen isn't going away unless you do something about him|Jedao is in denial as usual]], so.

You reach up, and Kujen sinks down beside you, back turned, so that you can press your cock against his ass. He makes a scratching cry as you thrust against him. "More," he says, a blurred suggestion.\n\nYou yank the robes aside, although not so roughly that you tear them, on the grounds that those clothes are worth more than you are. Within one of the pockets is a small jar of ointment, curiously odorless. The consistency of the jar's contents feels right, and you slather it on one finger, then two.\n\nKujen is deceptively quiet as you slide both fingers into his hole, pushing in more and more slowly, and then all at once his breath hisses out and he moans in a breaking voice.<<if $moaningSeen eq "no">> [[Did you really sound like that to him, all these centuries?|Jedao's moaning]]<<endif>>\n\nStill, you draw your fingers out, then position the head of your dick where they were. It's a good time to find out [[just how much you can make Kujen sound like you|ending]].

You persuade Kujen, with lips and teeth and busy fingers, with the downward slant of your weight, to lie back against the pillows. He bites down on a moan. You reach into the robes and brush the layers of whispering fabric aside, rub the hard length of your dick against his thigh.\n\nKujen twists to meet you, sighs contentedly. There's no subtlety in him right now. This is good: subtlety is not what you want from him.\n\n"Yes," he says again, voice trailing upward. He grabs your hand and draws it toward a small jar in a pocket.\n\nIt's not long before you mount him, and soon enough he is crying out as you plunge into him, slower than he wants you to and faster than you dare. If he's got you here, inside his sleek lean anchor, itself inside //you//, [[you might as well find out what you're both capable of|ending]].

MATH FOOTNOTE: You would be surprised (or some of you wouldn't) how many problem sets have been stopped stone cold dead for hours by a little matter of +/- 1.\n\nNot that I would know from experience or anything.--YHL\n\n[[END MATH FOOTNOTE|sarcasm]].

FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM FOOTNOTE: Famous math theorem proposed by Fermat in the margin of a book. His claim to have had a general proof was probably mistaken. My understanding is that after centuries of various mathematicians attacking the thing, Andrew Wiles coughed up the real deal, using very high-powered mathematics.\n\nFunny thing is, when //I// write in books, I get yelled at. Alas.--YHL\n\n[[END FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM FOOTNOTE|Nirai joke]].

Wasn't the whole point of inventing computer algebra systems so that you don't have to try to sit there wrangling quadratic residues and left cosets by hand? [[Not that you're bitter|math worldbuilding footnote]].\n\n[[Enough math already|game start]].

You already know what Kujen looks like from every angle. Pale skin, this time around, with black hair swept back from his brow, a light ashen tracery down his chest and belly. Tall--you are given to understand that he was quite tall in his first life. Slender, and rather more graceful than strong. He has a type.\n\n(And you are not going to think about his eyes and the way they see everything about you; the way they see all the bullet-sweet atrocities you have committed and are not repelled. The one thing about Kujen that never changes.)\n\n"Just tell me what you want," you say. [[He's won|Kujen triumphant]]. He always does.\n\nBut then, that's not an entirely terrible thing in an ally.

Your twin's (not-twin's, whatever) accent is off, much crisper than your native drawl, with refined vowels and telltale traces of an older form of the language. And the expression in his eyes, amused and darkly knowing.\n\nNirai Kujen, wearing your body (which means [[//you're in--//|Jedao realizes he's Kujen]]), [[reaches down under the covers|Kujen touches Jedao's thigh]].

<<set $proofreadingSeen = "yes">>\n\n[[Back home|game start]].

"Kujen," you say. Ordinarily you address him by his title, an honorific that no one uses anymore. Perversely, he likes it when you use his personal name, that small terrible intimacy.\n\n"Say it again," he breathes. You almost can't hear him, except you would know his whisper-intonations across \n\n[[You say it again--|Kujen's name]]\n\n[[No|Kujen's name refused]].

<<silently>><<set $selfcestRead = "yes">><<endsilently>>[[No|Kujen presses Jedao]].

THE END.\n\n<<display "bug reports">>

.passage { \n\twidth: 400 px !important;\n}\n\nbody {\n\tbackground-color: white !important;\n\tcolor: black;\n}\n\na:link {\n\tcolor: #990000;\n\ttext-decoration: none;\n}\n\na:visited {\n\tcolor: #660000;\n\ttext-decoration: none;\n}\n\na.internalLink:hover,a.externalLink:hover,a.back:hover {\n\tcolor: #FF6633;\n\ttext-decoration: underline;\n}\n\n.revision-span-in {\n\topacity: 0;\n}\n.revision-span:not(.revision-span-out) {\n\ttransition: 1s; -webkit-transition: 1s;\n}\n.revision-span-out {\n\tposition:absolute;\n\topacity: 0;\n}

<<silently>><<set $KujenEyesSeen = "yes">><<endsilently>>[[Stop that|Kujen presses Jedao]].

MIND-BODY DUALISM FOOTNOTE: We will not consider anomalies in worldbuilding logic or problems of mind-body dualism in the context of bodyswap narratives, although students should feel free to do extra credit.--YHL\n\n[[END MIND-BODY DUALISM FOOTNOTE|Kujen is foiled]].

You jerk your leg back, but not before Kujen [[strokes your upper thigh|Kujen touching Jedao's leg feels good]].\n\nAn [[objection|hangups]] is in order. Although he does sometimes respond to [[sarcasm|sarcasm]] better.

"You really should get over your hangups," Kujen says.\n\n"You're not my therapist," [[you snap|Kujen's voice is all wrong]].

<<silently>><<set $danceMemorySeen = "yes">><<endsilently>>Hand pairing hand, millimeters apart. Slow steps. Drums and finger-cymbals. A sash unknotting, the sweet curve of his limbs.\n\nA very old dance, with an [[older meaning|bad touch]].

"I was starting to wonder whether I should call Medical," a weirdly familiar voice, a pleasant baritone, says from next to you. "Or, you know, handle things myself."\n\nYou count to seven (or is it six these days?) and open your eyes. [[What an unremarkable ceiling|ceiling]].

Bullets and fire and knives, you've known them all. Truth to tell, you [[take the litany of violence for granted|Jedao description]].

Seriously, you weren't the one who crept into bed with him, bodyswap aside. You drag his head down, shutting him up. (Always satisfying.) Interesting: his mouth tastes of wine like blossoms. You feel his kiss like a bruise, only better.\n\n[[That got his attention|Jedao's surrender]].

<<if $danceMemorySeen eq "yes">>Kujen trails his fingers down the side of your face, a meander-shape. You're oddly disconcerted by the way the shape of your jaw feels wrong under his touch, or for that matter, the fact that he has your calluses.\n\n<<endif>>"You do know this is getting into bad touch territory?" you say, and regret it immediately. Kujen's voice makes it come out as an [[invitation|invitation]]. <<if $danceMemorySeen eq "yes">>\n\nOn the other hand, you wouldn't mind dancing with him again. Just once.<<endif>>

Comfortably warm, although you could have sworn you'd gone to bed with a sensible thick quilt instead of silk blankets. Maybe it has something to do with the [[intruder|game start]].

"If I have to sit through your tedious tactical simulations," Kujen says reasonably, "it won't kill you to indulge me once in a while."\n\n//"Once in a while."// [[Right|a long history]]. [[You thrust up against him|Jedao more active]]. (Why does he have to have the high ground? You //know//, but it's the principle of the thing.)

<<if $blackCradleTwoRead eq "no">>You shut your eyes, turn your head aside. Shutter yourself away.\n\nHe leaves you alone for a long time. Like that [[one time|black cradle 2]].\n\nLonger still.\n\nThen longer.\n\n<<endif>>When you open your eyes, there's no one there. You didn't hear him leave.\n\n//It's better this way,// you tell yourself.\n\n[[Someday you may even believe it|ending]].

It would be tempting to record system messages like this, except you'd never get away with it with Kujen right on top of you. He might be enjoying himself, but [[you don't have to get emotionally involved|stoic Jedao is stoic]].\n\nThen again, [[your willpower is only so strong|Jedao admits his weakness]]. It's funny. You're willing to wait hours, days, weeks (longer even) to pull the trigger. It's so much simpler when it's about shooting people rather than your own subterranean impulses.

"Oh, you want bad touch?" Kujen says. <<replace>>There's no mistaking what's on //his// mind.<<becomes>>His hard-on is unignorable. Or so you tell yourself.<<endreplace>>\n\nYou'll concede this about Kujen. He's never ever safe, but he prefers seduction to coercion. You're sure this is because Kujen hates the thought of breaking his fingernails (at least he takes good care of his anchors) and not because he cares about consent, which is probably one of the rare words he can't spell. (You used to proofread for one of your old bosses, which is not a usual assassin task.<<if $proofreadingSeen eq "no">> [[Long story|proofreading]].)<<else>>)<<endif>>\n\n"Please, Kujen," you might say, just for the novelty value of listening to Kujen's voice [[sound deferential|voicemail joke]].\n\nOr you could just [[grit your teeth|stoic Jedao is stoic]].

"I swear," Kujen says, "talking to you is even more entertaining than talking to a virgin. Aren't you the [[slightest bit curious|Jedao is not curious about selfcest]]?"\n\n<<replace>>Kujen kisses you again at the corner of your mouth. His chin is just faintly rough.<<becomes>>You can almost taste his tongue.<<becomes>>Your back is arched; when did that happen?<<endreplace>>\n\nIt's just as well there's no mirror in sight or you'd be [[tempted to look|curiosity killed the fox]].

Yoon Ha Lee

<<silently>>\n<<set $discomfortSexSeen = "yes" >>\n<<endsilently>>You [[avoid thinking about matters of that nature|Jedao description]], thanks.

NOT A MATH FOOTNOTE: If cockamamie skiffy worldbuilding can run on psi crystals and multiple monolingual English-speaking galactic civilizations, I don't see why it can't run on abstract algebra and stuff.\n\nNo, really, there's an ethnomathematical basis for the timekeeping system and why the hexarchate's technology runs on ridiculous number theory and vector calculus handwaving, but [[this margin is too narrow to contain the proof|Fermat's last theorem footnote]].--YHL\n\n[[END NOT A MATH FOOTNOTE|Nirai joke]].

You spent a lot of time in eyeless confinement. As Kujen likes to say, fondly, you had it coming. Still, you might as well [[enjoy freedom while you can|game start]].