He doesn’t pry further. “Corruption is an effect that demons have on the world around them. Its victims become perverse, lose their empathy, and if they become corrupt enough, they may eventually become demons themselves. It can be fought through meditation, the destruction of corrupted things, or certain rare alchemical elixirs.”

"'Perverse'? Like, evil?"

He shakes his head. “Sexually perverse. Less interested in consent, more prone to... I don’t mean to pass a value judgment on this part, outré sexual behaviors, more sexual in general. I’m not saying the lewdness is evil in and of itself, I’m not that kind of monk, but it’s correlated with the loss of empathy and that’s problematic.”

"...okay. And, how do you recognise morph species from others?"

He winces. “Less likely to attempt to rape you? Though not guaranteed, we’re still subject to corruption. Um. I can give you a list of non-morph species that look like they might be morphs and will definitely attempt to rape you, if you’d like?”

"That sounds useful, thank you."

He goes through a list. Naga: Snake women, surprisingly humanoid, surprisingly violent! Sand traps: Insectile hermaphrodites who lure adventurers into their pit of quicksand and force them to bear their eggs! Minotaurs: Massive bull-men with addictive semen! Phouka: Shapeshifting faeries, fond of turning into various animals and then raping unsuspecting travelers! Goblins: Probably not a problem for her because they only rape men.

"Is the 'men' part of that sentence physical characteristics or presentation or personal identification or...?"

"Not sure," he admits. "Most likely presentation, but if a man without a penis mentioned that fact to them they'd probably lose interest. They're rather obsessed with procreation."

"Hmm. I suppose I don't have one even when I'm a boy."

He frowns. "There are ways to fix that, you know. If you're interested in, er, becoming a more attractive target to goblins."

"—temporary ways? Becoming permanently a boy wouldn't change much, but—and I suppose there are other things who don't want to rape men either?"

"It's easily reversible, certainly. Or at least it can be reversed as easily as it can be done. And there... actually aren't. While a heterosexual female typically needs something to, ah, insert, males tend to find one orifice as good as another. I suppose there are some aggressively heterosexual phouka."

"Well. I suppose that makes as much sense as anything else in this mess." She rubs her thighs together a bit and frowns. "Is everyone here just—used to being horny all the time?"

He nods. "People handle it in different ways. I, for one, meditate, which has the added benefit of keeping me pure from corruption. Would you care to join me?"

"—uh, sure. What's involved in it?"

The mouse's nose twitches happily, and he looks like he's on the verge of bouncing. "It's been some time since I had someone to teach - my sect favored a moving meditation, focusing on flexibility and core strength. I can guide you through the poses to assume, then we will simply lie on the ground - or your bedroll, in your case - and allow our minds to wander for a time."

"...moving? Huh. Okay, that sounds better than the alternative.—is it safe for me to, uh, stash my belongings somewhere? Will someone try to rape my rucksack?"

"It would be wisest to keep them in the glade with us. Don't worry, I remain very alert even during the final resting pose."

"Okay." She gets rid of everything except for her Comfortable Clothes and faces him. "Ready."

He guides her through a gentle yet challenging series of stretches.

In the middle of something he calls Harpy Pose, a tiny green woman enters the glade, notices the mouse, and launches herself at him.

He straightens himself out, grabs the goblin by the arm, and slams her into a tree. "Excuse me for a moment," he says politely as the goblin staggers back to her feet.

Sadde pauses what she's doing and blinks at the... whole thing that's happening there, what the heck.

The mouse beats seven kinds of hell out of the goblin within the next thirty seconds, then heaves her bodily out of the glade.

He resumes Harpy Pose. "Sorry. That happens sometimes."

...okay. She'll, uh. Try to get back to Harpy pose. "Do you just—have to be insanely good at self defence here and beat everyone who tries to rape you, which happens multiple times a day on a slow Tuesday?"

He winces slightly. "Somewhat. There are cities, which are safer, but in cities you have to... make yourself useful, in whatever way, and I would rather deal with goblins and imps than society."