"I'm not sure I follow you."

[As opposed to either terrible or really impressive?]

"That part I understood, I'm just not sure how you're comparing since neither of us have numbers."

[Because... I described what I've done and you said how it compared to what people expect here?]

"Okay. Just, it might be an order of magnitude off, we haven't ruled that out."

[I haven’t failed at that, so it’s not especially likely I'm worse, but I think if I were better it's not likely to be based on specific anatomical knowledge because I don’t think you could know that much less than I do and still reliably hurt people without damaging them or leaving scars. I could be better at making my hands do the things I want them to, but it’s hard to teach that.]

"...anyway. Uh, I want to - disclaim - that it is in this culture shockingly rude to make any but the most anodyne comment about another person's religion - and if that is not the case where you're from you should adjust what conclusions you're drawing about how... comfortable and supportive... I or anyone else you eventually talk to... is. About that."

[Huh. I've never been in a culture like that before.]

"I think it may be downstream of nobody having any evidence for their religious beliefs, though of course it's been like that for a very long time and only recently have we settled on the 'rude to comment' equilibrium."

[If you don’t have any evidence then do your religions get really weird or are they boring?]

"Both, actually!"

[Huh. ...So if you don’t think torture is terrible or want to be turned into a rabbit when you die, what do you have against my religion?]

"It seems to me extremely unlikely that a nonhuman entity interested in specifically instantiating maximal torture is very careful about consent. I have nothing against recreational sadomasochism between people who are having a lovely time and torture outside that context is on a very short list of the very worst things in the world."

They do consent, in Nidal.

It's not really recreational, though. It's not... some vision of everyone having only their very most favorite torture. That feels sort of silly to have as a principle, like wanting everyone to have only their very most favorite food, but... not bad, or contradictory, and maybe not even impossible.

[He's not trying to conquer the world. Plenty of gods try that. But not him. He just - makes deals with people who can take it. Everyone has another option and he doesn't... try to destroy the boneyard or conquer Cheliax or anything.]

"I am not interested in an extended conversation about this because I would spend it feeling extremely rude, and also do not have at this time access to information from any other sources."

[That's fair. ...Should I have decided to present as a sub instead?]

"I think presenting as a dom is fine."

[But it makes it awkward to be tortured and that's the only form of worship I can do here.]

"There's actually masochist doms, it's a thing, though it's admittedly quirky."

[How do I do that?]

"You learn English enough that you can manage your own scene negotiations and then you get an account on some hookup app."

[What's a hookup app?]

"It's a computer thing for allowing everybody to advertise what they're looking for in short term partners and what they have to offer same so people can look through who's around and contact anyone who looks suitable."

[Huh. Convenient.]

"If you like casual hookups yes, very."