" - usually because they like it? People tend to specialize in stuff they enjoy, and it's in particular hard to be good at sex if you aren't all that into it."

"Usually?"

"I mean you could imagine someone who got sort of stuck in that career path because they never found anything they liked better despite not liking it all that much?"

"This is not a central case of the thing I object to, then, although it's still not, like, delightful."

"I'm still not very clear on - the bits of the thing you object to that aren't encompassed by 'people having lousy choices' or 'people being misinformed about their choices'."

"Humans may have psychological architecture about sex in particular that faeries just don't - I'm not sure whether it's that or culture or a mix."

"I've never actually talked to any humans beyond the tests today so I couldn't guess."

"I'm not sure where you'd reasonably get uncontaminated information even if you talked to humans all the time."

"Some people raise human babies in faery courts."

"That sounds like a terrible idea!"

"It's accordingly rare! But not unheard of."

"It probably hasn't happened often enough to generate very good statistics even if everyone were scrupulously taking data, anyway. Anyway - there are humans who will even in conditions of general abundance and freedom take up a profession of distributing sexual services, though this group is smaller than the group who'll fall into it if they'll otherwise starve. This set of humans isn't identical with the population of humans who just like sex in general - those more likely either find plenty of it as a nontransactional hobby, or can't because they lack in one or more attractive traits and have to buy it since no one would buy it from them. Motives humans might have for unpressuredly choosing to go into the line of work might include directly kinking on it, picking up a variant on the career where they spend many occupational hours attending parties and doing other high status things with their clients before getting around to the sex, or being generous of spirit toward the sort of person who is not attractive enough to find non-transactional partners... I'm probably missing some since I haven't specifically studied this. Humans without any of these unusual motives - well, the parties thing isn't an unusual motive really but it's usually not decisive - humans without these motives often prefer to have sex with only people they're in ongoing romantic relationships with, frequently expressly preferring that they and their partner not be having sex with anyone else. Plenty of humans do like non-relationship-oriented sex but even those ones tend to be turned off by the idea that any of the value they're providing in the encounter is not located in the sex or their company itself."

"Huh. Uh, people will assert that sex is better when you love someone but in the same spirit as conversation is better, or watching theatre is better, or doing chores is better. I don't think I know anyone who tries to only have sex with one person though some people are really picky about what they like and prefer a very small number of partners for that reason."

"I can't personally confirm the sex being better when you love someone thing but many humans also assert this."

"Under a lot of definitions of love I've seen it is practically tautological and even under the other ones it doesn't seem unlikely? But I hadn't been in love before so I don't really know."

"Does nobody try being monogamous because they couldn't pull it off?" wonders Cam. "Or do faeries just never feel like it? I guess it's commoner in humans than daeva and that seems to be maybe about daeva living longer - don't have data off the top of my head for Limboites -"

"Some people don't share their slaves but I don't - think of that impulse as one that'd be good if it were more widespread?"

"Yeah no that seems likely different."

"Then I really don't think we've got anything comparable."

"Huh."

"People do - make big sacrifices for the people they love, to do things that are important to them. I wouldn't expect there's no one who would, just - not common enough I've heard about it."

"I don't mean, uh, 'sometimes two of the sort of person who won't share their slaves get together and agree out of their deep affection for one another not to self-share', it's like - frequently not construed as a sacrifice."

"Huh."

"Including in people who don't claim to experience 'not being interested any more in people who aren't their partner'. Which some people do report."

"I've heard 'others are disappointing in comparison'?"