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At a booth in Milliways sits a woman in her thirties, stirring a cup of tea, watching the stars explode. There is a fat boring-looking lawbook under her elbow, and a barcode across the back of her right hand.

Mark (with kappa)

Ruth (with Maggie)
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A brunette in an oddly-styled yellow-and-green blouse and skirt comes in.

She notices the woman and decides to approach obviously enough that if she has any interest in being bothered she can initiate conversation; if she doesn't she won't have to choose between being interrupted and being rude.
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Barcode lady glances up. Blinks at her.

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"Hello," she says. "What are you reading?"

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"Case studies."

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"Cloning." She holds up the book so its spine is visible: Reproductive Cloning Law and Opinion: Six Case Studies.

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"Oh, is cloning very common in your world? Most people prefer to have kids the old-fashioned way where I'm from."

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Lawbook lady looks at the barcode on her hand. "No, people who want kids do that the old fashioned way in my world too, almost all of the time."

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"Um. Would it be rude to ask why you have a barcode tattooed on your hand?"

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"Because somebody wanted a source of compatible organ transplants, not a kid." Her voice is distant, level. She has explained this so many times that it's only hurting scar tissue.

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"...Oh. Fuck, I'm sorry. Do you--you probably don't want a hug from a stranger."

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"No thanks."

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"I, um. I should have known better. My parents and brother...having a tattoo with a number like that is, um, not a good sign."

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"No? Not a fashion statement in your world?"

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"Definitely not."

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"I get people asking if they should go into tattoo parlors," she says, stretching out her hand, looking at the ink. "And get their own."

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"...Is this a common thing? Are there not, like, laws against cloning yourself just for organ transplants."

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"No. Quite legal."

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The book briefly becomes heavier, before returning to its normal weight. Green-and-yellow girl's hand is forming a white-knuckled fist, and her jaw is clenched.

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Lawbook lady drops her lawbook, startling enough to jostle her tea with her other hand. Splish. She saves the book but has to dab some tea off her hand.

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"Sorry, sorry, fuck, I haven't lost control like that in years."

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"What did you do?"

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"Gravity. I do gravity. It's a thing in my world, people having powers, my brother and one of his daughters do magnetism."

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"You do gravity?"

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"I...alter the universal gravitational constant of two objects with respect to one another."

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