[Do you... have... any... things. Like, you don't need to pay me, consider it a pro bono service or whatever dispensed because it makes my day more interesting, but also I don't think you... can.]

[I have a tunic and I can work.] It is really arguable whether it ever really counted as a tunic but whatever.

[Okay, well, don't worry about paying me. I think usually people in the country who don't speak English get along somehow but usually by having other people around who speak whatever they do and we have no idea where you came from or how to find you a translator, so you might be a bit tripped up in finding a job.]

[...Okay. I can’t just work for someone who can do that thing you’re doing?]

[We're not that common and I'm not sure if you have any skills that would be in demand among the set. Maybe somebody who has a big house and wants a cleaner?]

[I can clean. I don't know how you find people like that, though?]

[Find telepaths? I know a bunch of eclipsed from networking in school but not all psions pick up telepathy, so yeah, could be tricky.]

[...So if that doesn't work, how do you pick out a good place to sleep outside and is it worth begging around here?]

[Some people beg. It's not a great occupation and not knowing the language will probably also hinder you there. I have never tried to sleep outside but I think the stereotype is that people wind up under bridges? I might be able to find a telepath who wants a maid though, don't count that out yet.]

[Yeah. Thanks. Oh, if you do end up with two options, I prefer one that won't fuck me over one that will.]

[I... would think that would go without saying?]

[...I dunno, I think some people manage to use it to get stuff? Jackson looks pretty well-fed.]

[Jackson is Brian's sub, not his employee! I'd actually expect that Jackson makes the overwhelming majority of their money since he's a psion!]

[...What’s a sub?]

[They're - romantic partners and Brian is the bossy one and Jackson is the obedient one.]

[Oh. ...Why is Jackson obedient if he makes most of their money?]

[He likes it that way so he sought out a dom partner.]

[Huh. Weird.] Probably that means she should worry about Brian's safety instead.

[Almost everyone is one of the two and it's a pretty even split, though it can get pushed around all kinds of ways by cultural factors so I don't know what you're used to.]

[...I'm used to rich people and badass people and the king bossing other people around and other people hating it.]

[Do they... have romances at all?]

[Yeah, totally. I used to know some couples that got married because they loved each other. Or they thought they did. When I was growing up the women obeyed their husbands? But not because they wanted to and I haven't been around people like that in years.]

[Okay, well, women are slightly more likely than men to be subs, so some cultures just round that off to women being subs and men being doms, but that's not how it works out when you let everybody pick and here everybody can pick.]

[...I pick dom. Wait. I pick people not being bossed around and beaten. But if I have to pick I pick dom.]

[You can pick dom but you can also pick 'nondynamic' if the whole thing seems distasteful, some people do.]