"But lots of people think that and then change their minds after they start cuddling? Which is why you don't cuddle people."

"I have ever made an impulsive bad choice, but I'm not incredibly horny from not having had sex at all in my whole life which gives me a one-up over unmarried Gileadites, and also all of my impulsive bad choices were made on purpose." 

"I think people are worried about it once they're married too. That's why a bunch of people won't have dinner with people of the other gender. And anyway if you don't feed your lust then you won't have that much of it."

Christians and straight people and especially straight Christians remain incredibly concerning. 

"Be that as it may, I have never accidentally had sex with someone and I sincerely doubt you'll be the first." 

"All right," he says, and closes his eyes, and lets himself think about how nice it would be to kiss Raine and then get a little bit carried away.

She continues to pet his hair and not kiss him. 

Eventually he recovers from "there's a pretty girl and she's touching me and we kissed and she is maybe theoretically willing to have sex with me if a bunch of things were totally different!" enough to remember that he is supposed to not be objectifying women and imagining touching Raine while she's naked is definitely objectifying women.

"...I could tell you about my work," Lev says, "since you like when the other Lev talked about his, but I think you might be considerably more unhappy with what I do for a living."

"...why, what do you do for a living." 

"I develop curricula for the Gileadite prison system to teach people who have been arrested for blasphemy." 

"Jesus fucking Christ I hate your country." 

"...see I was not really expecting this to get a positive response."

"...sorry, I think -- I don't hate you I just -- fuck." 

"If it helps our prisons for most criminals are nice. Like, actually nice. They get to wear normal clothes and work jobs out in the community and the guards aren't armed and they can rent TVs or minifridges."

Yeah well I got to wear normal clothes and nobody was armed and I had plenty of food access and yet. 

"I. Don't super want to hear about how well you treat the people you lock up for blasphemy or sodomy or whatever else your theocratic hellscape criminalizes." 

"That's fair. Sorry."

"I really hope the me in your universe makes it to the pacific northwest." 

"...why?"

"Because it's a theocratic hellscape that almost definitely would put me in jail for basic parts of the person that I am and when I was in a place that was even kind of similar to it I stopped eating? Because it's a country based on the kind of people who hate me most? Because it's the kind of place that jails people for blasphemy? Because even the nice people from it say things like 'probably you'll want to stay in the country where gay poly people can't pretend to get married'? Take your pick, they're all true." 

"Sasha might not be eating? --I guess if I were going to help I'd have to, like, talk to him which is not really a thing I do--"

"If they're anything like me they're almost definitely not eating." 

"'They're'?"

Oh christ did she really say that out loud.

"...gender is complicated, my gender is particularly complicated? I don't know anything for sure obviously, the other me could totally be a cis guy, just." 

"I don't know what 'cis' means... do you have a disorder of sex development or...?"

Augh why. 

"I... guess you could say that. Cis is when, whichever gender the doctor wrote down on your birth certificate when you were born, that's the one you think of yourself as. I'm...... not that." 

"I'm worried I'm going to say something that'll make you sad."