"It seems possible to prefer to exist as something that isn't really a person."

"It seems possible. I don't think - I think people mostly only want that if something's really really really wrong."

"Well, if any group of people had something really really wrong with it..."

"I guess that's true."

"Kind of silly to speculate about the preferences of people who have never had any, I guess."

"I guess."

She can't think of any comfortable ways to continue this conversation so she's maybe just going to snuggle him for a bit.

She's very soft.

He's warm and good.

"Does it strike you as a tiny bit ridiculous to both end up sleeping on the couch repeatedly rather than both sleeping in the bed, or are we concerned that beds are symbolically or aesthetically different enough to cause problems, or - should I be sidestepping this question by going ahead and sleeping alone most of the time."

" - do you want to do that?"

" - I mean it does sound nice. And likely to result in better sleep. But it's also kind of objectively a lot and symbolism is a perfectly good reason not to do things, really."

She's kind of blushing.

"Let's sleep in the bed."

Oh gosh she gets to have nice things.

"Okay."

"Should we go there now?"

"Yeah."

And they can head into the bedroom and get under the blankets and try snuggling there?

Yeah. They can do that.

Eee. Snuggles.

"...this is in fact really nice."

"I'm really glad.

's really nice for me, too.

I - can try to explain what I actually believe, about sex, if you want. 'm not very good at words but I could try."

"Yeah, okay. I'd like to hear it."

"So the first thing is - it would be very bad, and hurt you a lot, if we did something stupid and you got pregnant and then you were stuck and didn't get to decide at your own pace if you actually wanted me. I think even if you agreed to marry me you wouldn't have gotten there the right way and it wouldn't really be okay.

It would be way worse if you got pregnant and then got Elizabeth to turn you into an elephant and back so you weren't. It would make me really really sad. I don't - I don't think I'd be okay, actually. Maybe if the baby did all right, but when they're little stuff can happen -"

"That all makes sense."

"And then if you don't worry about any of that, I just - I believe that every person is different and what's going to be good for them and what's going to subtly undermine them is different, but I think that mostly it's bad for women to have sex with men who aren't committed to them, and it's bad for men to have sex with women who they haven't made commitments to, and everyone'll be happier if they don't just do whatever feels tempting and especially if they don't ignore how the other person is doing and what they need and why they're there and in what ways they're depending on you. And that - probably doesn't have to look like marriage, but it doesn't look like the thing the rest of the world is doing."

Nod.

"And I'm not quite sure of where the boundaries of that last thing are, unlike the boundaries of the first thing that are really obvious? Like if you'd asked me earlier if cuddling in bed crossed the line I might've thought it might, but actually I think it doesn't, because - because I'm here for you as a person, I think, and you're here because you want to be, not because it's a good way to get things you need from a system I'm part of and not because it's the most powerful tool you have to get anything from men ever and not because you have to do it to prove something to me and -"

"Mhmm."