"It doesn't have to be impenetrable unless there are people with claws around. ...are there?"

"When I say we have no control over who walks through the door that should be taken very broadly indeed. Also some daeva might have claws, i guess."

"Okay... I'll probably just mostly steer clear of there then."

Nod. "I can arrange for people to come here and hang out with you so you're not lonely.

- on - getting used to you - I'm very sure I will but that's not my main reason for avoiding you in the first place -"

"I will also get older."

"I was going to ask Timothy at what age to treat humans as adults, he's seventeen in your world's years..."

"I'm fifteen."

Nod. "There is also the thing where - does the magic even let you not want me - if you didn't, would you say so -"

"...if you didn't like the idea at all then I wouldn't either. But. You do."

" -okay but - imagine you met someone and decided to touch him or her and then the two of you decided to marry and be exclusively monogamous. Or say you got the flu and were really not feeling up for sex. Or say I did something to annoy you, which I presume is possible, and you didn't really want to until we'd talked it over, would you say no."

"Mages - I mean mages in general not just red ones - mostly don't - do monogamy? I'm also pretty sure you would not be super into it if I had the flu or if I were annoyed with you..."

" - no. But it is important to me that you believe yourself entitled to refuse sex not just when because I care about your wellbeing it isn't what I want but just when it isn't what you want."

"I know, but the specific hypotheticals don't work. I'm not sure if there are hypotheticals that do."

"Great." Sigh. "What's it like?"

"I think you do something sort of like it, actually - which is really interesting - just, faster and - more."

"And I continue having my own preferences." He would kind of like a hug.

Hug. "Yeah, that too."

"Did you have a - best-case scenario - in mind before you shook my hand? What was it?"

"I wasn't expecting the magic door or computers or the twins thing. But you seemed like you would want to help and I wasn't sure if you'd do it otherwise before I had to start seeing so many clients, or if you'd, like, get around to it but not in a few weeks - and people understand if you make sentimental exceptions for your redmage. I didn't know in advance if you liked boys or not - but sometimes people think they don't till they get a redmage anyway... and you seemed nice and are not thirty people."

"Would it have been preferable if I had not liked boys."

"You might be less awkward about it in the short term but not especially."

"I am making things unpleasant for you by being awkward around it?"

"It doesn't seem like there's anything I can do except wait, which is a little uncomfortable," admits Cir, "but the entire thing is my fault in the first place."

"The entire thing is the fault of the system that gave you that choice in the first place. It's not - I just - I'll talk to Timothy.

Elves do monogamy. Elves are usually really serious about things, we court one person and marry and have children and stay together forever. Do you want - that, or would you rather be together for a hundred years and then figure something out when I'm ready to start looking for that, or is it not fair to ask humans what they want to do in a hundred years -"

"...I have no idea what I'll want in a hundred years but I'll love you forever. I could do monogamy, I wasn't sleeping with the girl who was going to be my attendant, I didn't even touch her yet."