It Takes Time <To Be Properly Taken Apart> - Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Chapter Length: 5,700 wordsI. Hear. A. Sound.
Punica's foliage shifted unevenly as Raqi watched, a low rumbling emanating outwards from her core. Her vines moved both slowly and unevenly, many rubbing up against each other in pairs or curling and uncurling in the way that Raqi knew they did when the affini was anxious. She did not think she had ever seen the plant look quite this unsettled about something, and it was having a knock-on effect on her own state. She found herself filled with an equal amount of trepidation as she waited for Punica to reply, and part of her wondered if she might have made a mistake by posing her question. Rather than provide a direct answer, however, Punica posed a question of her own. "Are you familiar with the concept of biorhythms as your own species experiences them?" Raqi tilted her head. "Uh... No, I don't think so. Going off of the name, I presume it's some kind of biology thing?" "That is correct. The concept itself is fairly simple: The term 'biorhythm' is shorthand for 'biological rhythm', which refers to the rhythms - defined in this case as the speed and pattern - in which various biological processes in a creature's body operate." She pointed one vine at Raqi's torso. "An example from my limited understanding of your body would be be the polling rate of visual responses from your eyes, as well as the decay and manufacture of new cells within your body. These processes occur on timers, either set or variable, but commonly in measurable intervals which can be called rhythms. By far the most obvious example of this would be the beating of your heart; which Terrans commonly measure in 'beats per minute.'" If anything, Raqi's expression had gotten even blanker after this explanation. "Okay?" "Biorhythms," Punica continued, "are inherently synchronous in many sophont species. To make an assumption based on similarities I have perceived between your species and Terrans: Have you ever found yourself adjusting your walking speed to naturally match that of another sophont?" "Well... Yeah, obviously? That's just a thing that brains do automatically." Raqi was really struggling to guess where Punica could be going with this. The plant nodded. "This effect could reasonably be described as cognitohazardous. For most xenosophont species, the effects are limited to relatively mundane things like the aforementioned synchronization of walking speeds, or at times certain biological processes such as reproductive cycles in females of some species. Though these effects are significant, they are the sort of thing that most species do not consider overly noteworthy; despite the fact that they would fit with the description you provided me shortly after we met of an external alteration." Raqi felt like her brain was grinding to a halt. She could barely stop herself from blurting out a request for Punica to please get to the point, because she just could not see how this was important in any way. "Yeah, technically, sure; I indeed do not care very much if another person alters me to walk at the same pace as them. If you want to consider that as some sort of 'gotcha', then uh, go ahead I guess." She had expected some degree of frustration or defensiveness in Punica's response, but the plant only seemed to grow more uncomfortable. "That is not why I am bringing it up." In another deeply uncharacteristic display, she broke eye contact with Raqi of her own accord. "The problem- No, not problem... How do I explain this..." The agitation in her vines grew even further. "Raqi. I have explained and you are aware of the fact that affini biology is highly bioengineered, correct?" "Ye-es?" The abruptness of the question, combined with the tone it was asked in, worried Raqi slightly. She turned her gaze back upon Raqi. "Consider, then, the amount of processes similar to those I just described which must exist to maintain a body like mine. I am asking you to imagine it. What degree of complex biological machinery do you think is necessary to sustain a creature capable of physical immortality and near-invulnerability, which can render itself compatible with any form of flora given a short period of time to do so, and can synthesize virtually any chemical mixture in existence from raw nutrients?" "Um." The landamaeri's eyes widened, ever so slightly. "An awful lot, I'm guessing?" "Yes. A truly enormous number of processes are required to keep the affini body fully functional. Now, Raqi; consider your own rhythms. There is no real degree of synchronicity between, say, the beating of your heart and the pace at which you walk. There may be some overlap - perhaps your heartrate would increase if you began running, for example - but the two still would not be directly synchronised. Even this, however, is still enough to unconsciously influence others of your species to fall into line with one another; even if only in small ways." She raised one hand. "Now imagine if every single bodily process which you had operated in perfect synchronicity, in effect amplifying the rhythmic potency of each in such a way that someone who noticed one pattern would be inclined to notice all of them." Raqi's mouth started to open slightly. All of a sudden, she started to realise what Punica was getting at. Seeing this, the affini's tone hardened. "Now imagine if you had ten thousand times as many bodily processes as you do, all of which generated some kind of a detectable rhythm, and they were spread across every single extant sense that could be found in any xenosophont species. Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, infrared, ultraviolet, through vibrations, magnetoreception; etcetera." The pin dropped. Raqi let out a small, murmured word: "Oh." Punica remained silent, allowing what she had said to sink in. Yet, as she watched, she did not see the expected response from Raqi. Instead of fear or anger as she might have expected, the girl began to frown. "I'm gonna be real with you; I don't believe that can work anywhere near how you're describing it. Like that's just- that's way too much." Her frown deepened even further, accompanied by the curling up of the sides of her lips; giving her expression an almost disapproving quality, like the look one might assume when confronting a child they had caught telling lies. "I don't disbelieve this on principle; like, I can absolutely believe that you might unconsciously attract people a little bit, that seems pretty in line with the rest of what you do. But the way you seem to be making it sound like, as if the effect would scale up to letting you straight-up turn someone into your floret just by being around them?" She turned both hands up, expression finally becoming purely skeptical. "Come on. That's not real." Punica's expression did not soften even a little bit. Upon seeing this, the uneasy humour faded from Raqi's expression. "Punica, I- I would have heard about this. I know- well, I can't say exactly how much I know about the affini, but it's enough that, if this was a thing that existed, I would have heard about it." "I do not know what you think you know about us, Raqi," Punica replied, her words slow and measured, "but I can think of many reasons why wherever you obtained your information from would not mention the existence of biorhythms. They are not generally a topic we bring up with independent xenosophonts, on account of how the majority of them react to being informed about the phenomenon's existence." Her core rumbled with a mixture of discomfort, and mild frustration at not being believed. "Have you known me to lie about anything in our relationship before this, Raqi?" The xenosophont's expression grew noticeably uncomfortable. "I'm not saying you are lying, I- I'm just saying I think you might be wrong. Because, again, this just sounds completely ridiculous." There was a small, barely indentifiable quiver in her voice. "The stor- The sources that I have depict a lot of affini as being overly anxious about domesticating xenosophonts, and you seem to fit that bill pretty well, Punica. All I'm saying is: Is it possible you might not be overestimating yourself a little bit?" At this, the affini started to bristle, her human eyebrows furrowing in anger. "Why would you say this?" "Because this sounds fucking insane!" All of a sudden, the volume of Raqi's voice rose to a shout. "You cannot seriously expect me to believe that you can brainwash people just by being around them! That's a step too far; even for the affini!" As she finished her outburst, Punica could finally see what she had been looking for. All trace of bravado had faded from the xenosophont's disposition, and her expression had become one of pure and unmasked discomfort. There was fear plain in Raqi's eyes now as she continued speaking: "Besides, from a mechanical perspective, this makes no sense! Interpreting and responding to the rhythms of your own species is one thing, but how the fuck are you going to end up domesticated because of the pulsing of an affini's core? That's ridiculous; it makes no logical sense! And- And also!" She straightened back up to her full height. "If this is a thing the way you're describing it, then how come I still don't want to be domesticated by you?" There was a lurch in Raqi's own rhythm when the last portion of her sentence was spoken, strong enough to momentarily throw Punica off. She couldn't identify what it was representative of, but the girl's heartrate had spiked for a few seconds, and she had seemed to tense up bodily momentarily. "I have been trying since we met to keep my rhythms as disharmonised as possible," Punica retaliated, voice growing momentarily hostile, "precisely so as to avoid that outcome. Because of that, the effect has been lessened substantially from what it would otherwise have been. I had thought it eliminated entirely," she added, "until certain events today demonstrated otherwise." Confusion returned to Raqi's face. "W- What events?" "Raqi. Do you honestly think that, since you have come into contact with me, you have been acting in a usual manner?" She didn't wait for the sophont to reply. "When we first met, you were terrified of me. You believed that my attempting to pat your head was an intention to drug you, and you trapped me for a full day in a glass container in order to avoid coming into physical contact with me. The next day, you broke into tears and begged me not to domesticate you." Her expression hardened. "A mere two days later, you have allowed me to entrance you for fun multiple times, have fallen asleep in my arms on several occasions; one of which was during a medical exam which you were initially terrified of. In that very same medical exam, you also entered into a hypnotic trance without awareness of it - which you have seemingly no memory of whatsoever - and admitted to me that you came to the Affini Compact in search of what sounded to me like, in all essence, an owner." Her vines were at their most agitated now, floral growths twitching back and forth, wrapping and unwrapping and twisting around each other in an intrtricate but wholly disjointed spectacle. "And when confronted with having unwittingly revealed this to me - the realisation of which put you on the verge of a panic attack - you opted instead of any of the various methods you could have employed to regain control of the situation, to essentially stand there and give me advice on how to domesticate you." There was silence. Punica stared at Raqi, her gaze what she intended as piercing. Yet once again, despite her expectations, she found the sophont responding in an entirely unexpected way. Raqi's cheeks had begun turning bright red mid-way through Punica's explanation, and as she watched, the xenosophont pursed her lips, turning her gaze downwards while adopting what seemed like a distinctly embarrassed expression. "Uhm..." She slowly sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, biting down lightly upon it. "That... doesn't actually sound that unusual for me at all." Punica's face went completely slack with disbelief. "What?" "Yeah, uh-" The girl began fidgeting with the hem of her poncho. "I'm, um, just kind of like that, actually. Like, you are, um, very, very far from the first person I've done this to." She was now actively gnawing on her lip. "Actually, four days to get to this point is fairly slow by my standards. There've been people I went from standoffish with to letting them mindfuck me in under a day. If we don't count the first qualifier, the fastest I've ever gotten someone to hypnotise me was three hours after meeting them. So, honestly, this doesn't actually sound that weird for me." For perhaps the first time in her life, Punica's form went entirely still. There was not even the smallest ounce of movement in her vines, or anywhere save for her core. She stood there completely speechless, the words Raqi had spoken simply not processing, for she had no idea how long. The sight of Punica's stunned silence only served to further Raqi's embarrassment, and she spent a few moments cringing bodily. "It's, um... Obviously the context is kind of different. Part of why I could get into it so easily with other landamaeris is because, well, when we hypnotise each-other, it's... not very serious? Like, there's not that much you can do to each other in trance- not in a single session and without a long-term relationship, anyway- and none of the stuff I'm talking about was that; these were more like hookups. I- I haven't actually had many proper long-term partners, is the thing. But, uh, I mean... I do definitely see what you're saying, and also how it could seem a little hard to believe, but- but really, no; this seems pretty normal for me. I'm, um, not the best at decisionmaking when intimacy is involved, I guess. I- I, uh, tend to forget why things are a bad idea quite quickly." Punica's vines slowly began moving again. Her shock had faded enough that she was able to speak again, but she still was not inclined to accept the xenosophont's explanation. "...Be that as it may, Raqi, I am still absolutely certain that whatever pre-existing tendencies you may have in this regard are being exacerbated by exposure to my rhythm. Whether you yourself are aware of it or not, I can tell when someone is responding to my biorhythm; and I promise you are being affected by it." The affini felt like she might be dissociating as she finished speaking. This conversation had become surreal in a way that she had not imagined was even possible, and she felt almost entirely unable to keep up. She was almost desperate, now, to get Raqi to believe in her; and the reason why the girl wasn't was so utterly outlandish that she couldn't think of a better way to overcome it than to just keep repeating herself and pray to the Everbloom that she eventually listened. "Okay, well... Hmm..." The sophont assumed a quizzical expression. "Okay, I have an idea. It occurs to me that we could just test this really easily. You said that you're 'keeping your rhythms separate', right? So just stop doing that for a minute and we'll see if anything happens." "Raqi!" Punica exclaimed "D-Do you have any idea what you are asking me to do?!" She sounded horrified. "If I do that, you will be completely and utterly overwhelmed! There is every chance that you would lose yourself in me!" The xenosophont scoffed openly. "Oh come on, Punica. Seriously, who do you take me for; some goober who's never gone into trance before? You think I'd go down that easily? Don't be ridiculous!" She gestured dismissively with one hand. "I'm not saying that I could resist these biorhythms indefinitely if they do work the way you say they do, but if it was only for like- I dunno, half a minute or something- then I'm sure I'd be fine. Like, yeah; maybe thirty, or sixty seconds- that sounds like long enough for me to get a feel for whatever it is you're talking about. I've looked into your eyes for nearly that long before, and I'm still fine now; this can't possibly be that much worse than that." "The two are completely incomparable!" Punica erupted. "Raqi, you have no idea what you are asking me to do! This- This is a terrible idea! I do not actually know what would happen if I did as you are suggesting!" The xenosophont's lips curled further upwards, morphing into an impish grin. "Well, then isn't that all the more reason to try it? Come on, Punica! I'll be fine, I swear! I've done stuff like this before; I'm used to not letting myself get completely sucked into things." Ironically, Punica was not certain she actually could synchronize her rhythms right now if she wanted to. The change in the turn of the conversation had thrown her into such disarray that all of her internal processes were completely out of harmony with each other. She stared with a mixture of unmasked confusion and horror at the grinning xenosophont in front of her. Why is she doing this?! This makes no sense! She has been so adamant about wanting to retain her free will and independence since we met, and now she asks to be exposed to my full rhythm?
Raqi was making an absolutely horrendous decision, and she knew it. She actually had a very developed emotional sense for this specific type of bad decision, and it had become distinct enough that she could identify it without any trouble at all. It was usually precipitated by a strong pounding sensation in her head, light or severe breathlessness, dryness in her throat and burning in her chest, and she often felt a mixture of incredibly excited and equally nervous and embarrassed. The key, however, was when she would catch herself thinking a very specific phrase: 'Nah, it'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?'
She had become an expert at telling herself that the worst would in fact not happen, and this skill had not been dulled by the fact that virtually every time she told herself this, it did in fact go on to happen. The problem was that, as much as the worst was usually quite bad, what preceded it was always very good.
It can't be that bad, she thought. I've looked at files that had all sorts of fucked up and predatory effects in the past, and I got out mostly unscathed. This can't be *that* much worse. Even as she thought it, she knew this line of logic did not hold up even the tiniest bit; but it was doing nothing to stop her. The awareness of how much of an idiot she was being kept threatening to have her burst into giggles, but somehow, there was no desire to actually stop herself.
She was dimly aware of the real reason why she had let herself get so pulled into this: Punica's comments had made her curious. She genuinely could not imagine a phenomenon with the effects that the affini was describing, and that had stirred within her a ravenous curiosity to experience it for herself. She had spent her entire adult life and much of her pre-adult life fantasizing about this exact thing; some kind of aura or abstract power that could reach into a person's mind and simply overcome their will entirely. The thought of being rendered truly mindless had been what had drawn her to hypnosis in the first place as a child. She'd watched dozens, potentially hundreds of videos about hypnosis and been endlessly frustrated that none seemed to render her a mindless puppet; only later learning that that was not actually how hypnosis worked.
But now that Punica seemed to be offering that exact thing to her, the rational side of her brain had been completely overpowered by a desire that had been fostered for over a decade. Raqi had dreamed of this since before she had been Raqi; every past iteration of herself had longed for this, to have some kind of an experience that could fundamentally change the way which they perceived existence, and introduce a new dimension that would free it of its mundanity. She had hated for as long as she had been alive that magic wasn't real, and if Punica was offering to cast a spell on her, there was no possible way she could say no.
Punica tried to focus, tried to pull herself together and get her racing mind under control. There had to be a reason why Raqi was asking for this. The fear she had seen just a few minutes ago had completely vanished, replaced with... what was Raqi exhibiting right now, anyway? She looked, to Punica, almost giddy. Was the girl... excited? She focused her attention on the other sophont, narrowing in on what she could read of Raqi's physical tells. The landamaeri's heart was beating like a drum. Blood flow was elevated throughout her body, particularly to her face and chest, and she was breathing heavily. Various parts of her body seemed to be shaking ever so slightly, but there were none of the concurrent tells which would have suggested a fear response. Is- Is this exciting her?
The thought seemed absurd at first, but the more she mulled upon it, the more it started to make sense. Various species - Terrans in particular, and so quite possibly landamaeris as well, owing to their similarities - possessed extremely strong, almost overpowering drives to engage in intimate behaviours. When physiologically aroused, these species experienced extensive changes in brain activitiy. The portions of the brain responsible for managing fear would commonly shut down partially or even entirely, and critical thinking could be substantially impaired. Decisionmaking was rerouted to favour the pursuit of the desired intimate outcome, and considerations that would normally have gotten in the way of this would be deprioritized. As she thought about this, Punica remembered a term that she had once heard from a colleague's Terran floret, which seemed to describe this exact phenomenon. The floret had spoken of how their mistress's teasing frequently made them 'too horny to think straight,' and their owner had independently mentioned to her that this response played an integral part in the domestication of a large portion of Terrans.
Now that this idea had occurred to her, she was certain this was what was happening here. Several pieces clicked together all at once; the girl's incredible shyness around discussion of hypnosis, the way she had spoken about domestication as a 'sex thing', and how she did not want to be seen without her clothes on. It seemed as if Raqi was possessed of a deep nervousness around intimate topics; whether specifically those she thought of as 'sexual', or just anything intimate in general, Punica did not yet know, but it was clear that this was why she had been being so cagey for this entire portion of the discussion.
It did not make a lot of sense to Punica, but she understood that some species were like this. Terrans, in particular, were notorious for the way they had ritualised and stigmatized sexual experience; both discussion of it, and actual participation in it. If the Landamaeri as a culture were anything like that, then it would explain much of Raqi's present behaviour.
Punica hesitated. She also knew that whatever she decided, this was not a subject she could simply try to break through; many Terrans had experienced such severe trauma in this regard that having their boundaries pushed too far could induce panic attacks or flashbacks, and put them at risk of further trauma. Raqi most definitely struck her as one of those cases, and besides, she lacked the specific information to know what exactly it was that the girl was shy about wanting. Many Terrans were asexual, but still enjoyed engaging in intimate activities without the desire for physical stimulation, and it was entirely possible this xenosophont was like that. Proceeding without knowing more would have been unwise, and Punica had no intention of committing yet another folly. I should stop this here, she thought. It would make the most sense to take a break and discuss what it is that Raqi wants out of this. No- The mere idea of doing this at all is foolish. Why am I even considering going ahead with this? If I expose her to my full rhythm, I will make a pet of her, and that is not something that I want! Except, she knew full well it was something that she wanted, and she could feel that desire pulling at the back of her mind. Raqi had raised a good point earlier; Punica did genuinely lack knowledge about how her biorhythm functioned. She had been keeping it apart ever since she had learned how to control it, only ever letting it come together during discussions with other affini and never around xenos. As a result, her only understanding of how it would affect a creature like Raqi was purely scientific, derived from lectures and the reading of textbooks. She was old enough to know that what books told you and what the reality was like were often very, very different things, and she couldn't deny that she was very curious what it would be like if she did actually let herself loose around a pet race. If it was just for thirty seconds, surely that would not be enough to irreversibly entice her? She will certainly be affected, but not permanently. An hour or two should be enough for her to recover, and then she will be back to normal. The thought sent a twitch through her core. Wait, her core? It was usually her injectors that started tingling when she thought about domesticating sophonts. No, hold on... This feels different, somehow. What is it that I am feeling right now? It was an odd sensation. It felt similar to the way her injectors throbbed whenever she saw Raqi upset or vulnerable, but there was a different feeling to it. Those were urges born of a desire to help, to care and to comfort and - maybe - to control. This, on the other hand, felt like an urge to smother. To reach out with her will and just drown the silly, foolish little xenosophont in more love and affection than she could even imagine, until every rough edge had been sanded away and there was nothing left but the adorable, clingy, needy creature she had seen sprawled out before her a few hours ago. Her core tensed. Without realising it, half a dozen of her main rhythms had already synchronised themselves. It was always a strange feeling not to hold her rhythms apart: She had grown so used to doing so over the years since she had become an adult that it had now become essentially second nature. It always surprised her how right it felt to let them sing whenever she stopped holding back. That had been part of why she had been so excited when Raqi had performed her play; it had felt enough like communicating with another affini that she had unconsciously weakened her hold on her rhythms, and allowed them to momentarily come part way together when speaking to her after the play had concluded. She wondered, suddenly, how the girl would react to having her talk back to her in the same way. Raqi had been incredibly responsive to her biorhythm so far, and that had been when she had been trying to hide it. What would it feel like for her if I were to <talk> to her the way I do with my own kind? Suddenly, she felt an eagerness that almost perfectly mirrored Raqi's own. The movements of her vines both sped up and grew more measured, and her foliage started shifting more quickly than it ordinarily did. She was curious, but not just curious; she was excited as well. There was a strange tension- a tightness all across her body- that felt as if it should have been unpleasant, but for some reason was not. The thought of relaxing her hold on her rhythms only caused the feeling to increase, and it was pleasant in a way that nudged her more and more towards going ahead with the idea. "I suppose that thirty seconds might not be too dangerous," she conceded, as much to herself as Raqi. Her voice was uncoordinated and almost distant, and it was as if she was looking partly through Raqi rather than at her while speaking. "It would... interest me, to know how you respond to my full rhythm." She felt it, then; the way the girl's heart leapt at her words. She could see her chest heaving, little twitches in her fingers as her posture shifted; eyes widening and breathing shifting to coming through her mouth. She wondered if the xenosophont was even aware of how thoroughly enticed she had become. She doubted it. "But just thirty seconds," Punica said, using the last of her reserves of control to inject force into her tone. "No more than that. Any longer would be dangerous, particularly as I do not know how this will affect you." The girl nodded immediately. "O-okay." The little stutter in her voice sent sparks through Punica's vines. Being regarded with this mixture of fear and excitement was awakening something in her. That same urge she had felt earlier to smother the girl was getting stronger and stronger. Her injectors were now dripping as well, and fluids were pooling in her mouth and coating the lengths of her long, needle-like teeth. Thorns had begun poking out all over her body, and several of her own humanoid fingers had begun flexing and contracting unconsciously. After a final moment of indecision, she made up her mind and started the process of letting her rhythms coalesce. It did not require her to do anything, so much as to stop doing a thousand small things that she had been doing for so long that they had grown automatic. It took effort each time to remind herself how to relax the muscles that kept her harmonies discordant, and so it took her seconds where a more well-practised affini could have done it in an instant. "I advise that you try to maintain concentration upon yourself," she spoke. "Shortly, you will begin to find yourself being drawn into me. If you do not want your own will to be consumed, then you must fight against the pull." Raqi felt something in her mind. It was immediately familiar, and memories of the times that she had felt it in the past began to shoot through her mind- but they were not given time to truly form, because there was something different about it this time. When it had touched her before, she had not really noticed it happening; it had only just become obvious in hindsight because of what she was feeling now. But there was nothing subtle about the sensation that was extending out towards her right now. It was as if Punica's presence was expanding, moving out beyond the confines of her physical body into the very air surrounding her. Raqi felt something brushing against her, but not anywhere on her body; instead it felt almost as if it was touching her consciousness directly. She instinctively took a step back. She wanted to take another, but before she could, she stopped. Wh- She was blinking heavily. Her mind suddenly felt strange. What-? What is...? Her thoughts weren't working. There was something in the way of them. What- She felt not-sleepy, but something adjacent to it; that state of mild delirium that she sometimes awoke in in the middle of the night. What...? I- What? She couldn't focus. Her attention turned inwards, to her own mental landscape. What's... I- Why can't I-? There was something in her head. It was white and warm, sort of like a light that was slowly pushing into her mind's eye. She kept blinking. I- What? Why- I can't- Why am I? The more she focused on it, the more the sensation intensified. I- I- Wha- Years-old instincts kicked in. She looked for a familiar place, a landscape that she knew, could move around in- She had been in situations where she couldn't speak before, and she knew how to orchestrate her- orchestrate -her own consciousness without words. She borrowed someone else's form, imagining herself in a familiar stone-floored room, leaning up against a beam of wood- Her form staggered to the side, as her mind's eye shifted. I- It breathed out, her imagined eyes going wide as they fixed on a spot in the distance. Her real mouth fell open in response. Wh- What- White light reached out and took her hands, and she- Raqi- Raqi? What was Raqi? She didn't know. She didn't know anything any more. Raqi Marr no longer was.
A L E R T : : t h o u g h t f o r m s_d e t e c t e d
I D : : Magic :: :: The Hundredth Time: Part 3TerraTranslate :: Raqi Marr :: Punica Granatum :: The Affini Compact :: Landamar Mobile Fleet :: Hormone Replacement Therapy :: The Chimera Module :: Affini :: Intersidera :: Posters :: Magnesium :: Wonderland :: The Hundredth Time: Part I :: Communication :: aftermath :: Physical Confrontation :: Garments :: Interspecies Comparisons :: Touch :: Equality :: Hypnokink :: Speaking :: ahftrojn,lpijmnhfkg :: Pretheya ::