"I think I could run faster than that - not here, out in the countryside, where I don't have to turn."

"Huh! That's pretty impressive. Humans' top speed without magic is about half that."

"Well, you only have two legs, you probably have to work pretty hard just to avoid falling over."

"That's true. We usually end up riding animals when we need to go really fast."

"Sometimes we'll put boys on our backs, if we're in a hurry or they're tired."

"I've seen a little bit of that, yeah. It'd be a little strange to do, at home - if you ever have a human ask for a ride you can tell them they're being rude, most talkers with more legs like that don't like to be asked."

"Can I give them a ride and try to scare 'em instead?"

He laughs. "That might be a bit much just for asking! If they pestered you I don't think anyone would think badly of you for it, though."

"Okay! I don't mind carrying boys. Or little girls I guess though I've never had occasion."

"Mmhmm. And if you bring your mates with you to school people will get used to you carrying them around, I don't expect that to be a problem or anything. You might get a few questions about it, I'd expect peop- talkers to assume they were your children if they weren't familiar with your species."

"Wow, that would be awkward. Uh... I have the impression I'm not supposed to solve this misunderstanding by having sex with them till people get the idea?"

"Right," he chuckles. "For anyone important you should be able to just tell them, and if you feel like it matters in general - I'm not sure I have advice about that, really, I'll probably have you talk to Kat about it before you come over."

"Who's he?"

"She's a friend of mine, I think I mentioned her? Her full name is Katrianne; She's a cleric of the goddess of pleasure, and one of the things she's good at is giving advice to people whose instincts don't fit well with society."

"Oh, right. I guess this is sort of like that, or would be on your planet."

"Mmhmm. And I'm not coming up with a clever solution, but she might have one."

"It'll be interesting to see more hummun and figure out if I can tell you apart."

"We do wear different sorts of doodads, that should help a little. Of course we mostly change them every day, so it's not perfect, but it's something. I almost always wear my vest, the outer layer on the upper part of my body, and I never go anywhere without my holy symbol, this piece of wood I'm wearing. And Katrianne usually wears pastel colored dresses, which are one piece that covers the whole body and is open at the bottom instead of being human-shaped like what I'm wearing. In most human places you can assume someone is female if they're wearing something open at the bottom like that, males don't."

"Huh! Why?"

"It's mostly just tradition, they do it differently in some places. The different types are a little better for different kinds of work, though, I think that's how it got started - pants like I'm wearing are safer for running and less likely to get caught on things, and dresses are more comfortable and can fit bigger pockets, and they're a little more practical for doing work in some of the ways humans fold up."

"You are very foldy. And you do different work even though you're the same size and stuff?"

"Mmhmm. Our differences are smaller than yours but we still have some, human males are a little stronger and faster and more active, and we're more inclined to take risks. Human females have more endurance and tend to be more patient and detail-oriented, and they're almost always the ones to raise our children, so they do the types of work that can be done alongside that - a lot of crafting is considered feminine work, especially the kind where you can do it at home and it's not too much of a problem to get interrupted."

"Huh! Wow, your world is going to be so interesting to visit whenever that happens."

"I'm looking forward to it!"

"Are you coming home with me today or finding someplace to stay around here?"