She squeezes his hand and takes him up to her hotel room. "I'm sharing with Joan but she's going to be out for the next few hours." And then she bellyflops down on the bed.

She's cute. He sits down next to her.

"You know I haven't actually done this before?" she says conversationally.

Wait really-- actually is he really sure it's weirder for her to have not done this than for him-- well no but it's also kind of weird that he hasn't. "Neither have I."

"Cool. I'm sure there's some sort of-- process--" she gestures vaguely. "I understand that you are supposed to try to push me and then I am supposed to say 'no' and then eventually give in. And since we're both cultists the same thing happens with more dominance displays and blackmail and veiled threats."

Heterosexuals are bizarre and terrifying. Cultists are also, but it's not that he didn't already know that.

"That sounds terrible, what if instead we say what we mean and if you tell me no I take it to mean no."

"That does sound better."

"Would you like a cup of tea while we discuss things?"

"Sure, I'll take one."

She makes him a cup of tea, after inquiring about his position on milk, sugar, and spices ("just out of optimism").

(He likes milk but not sugar and is mildly curious about spices but not enough so to actually try them for the first time in this context.)

"So," Inaaya says. "Freud is a hack. Clitoral orgasms are real and you will give me at least one."

Oh no she's so good. "Got it," he says, smiling.

She sips her tea. "I have a diaphragm and the number of an abortionist but if you ejaculate inside me I will cut off your hand.

And if you try to do something I say 'no' to Joan has already murdered several people to protect me and would be overjoyed to continue."

"I will not do anything you say no to, I will not finish inside you and frankly would prefer it not come up, and if I ever really need you to dismember me for some reason I will just ask.

-- while we're having this conversation, I have never actually done any of this before."

"Any of this?"

"Having sex with people in full generality."

"Huh."

"I haven't slept with men. Or-- with women other than the Emporium."

Smile. "We'll figure it out, I believe in us. Can I kiss you?"

"Yes."

He does. He's very gentle about it, touches her like she's something precious and incredibly important.

And about an hour later, Mordred is covered in bruises and they are both very satisfied.

Inaaya, meanwhile thinks she should take the opportunity to compare Mordred's anatomy to the anatomy in her medical textbooks, since she hasn't actually seen a naked man before.

Well, across his stomach and down one thigh his skin is nacreous, that's probably not in her medical textbooks.

It is not! She touched it with wonder while they were having sex. But right now she is mostly interested in poking at his genitalia trying to figure out the location of the inguinal canals and commenting about how scrotum skin is much softer than she expected.

"It's pretty," Inaaya says, gesturing to Mordred's skin. "It's new, I assume? Otherwise presumably you would have known."

Pretty was not really his first thought but she's right, it is. "It is new, yeah."

"Do you know what caused it?"

She can't stop herself from touching it.