Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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Parting

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For all of the xenophobia UnderWorlders and OverWorlders possess, we are a shockingly diverse lot. In the distant past, races of the OverWorld banded together for compassion and support, while the races of the UnderWorld joined through conquest and fear. However, not every race played this game. The deserts of the OverWorld are ruled by the Mipedian tribe, a race of reptilians, while Mount Pillar...

"Hands up!"

Mount Pillar is home to the eternally charming Danians.

I release my grip on the accelerators are raise my hands to the sides of my head. I can see Nicolas imitate me in the corner of my vision.

"Simply passing through," I state with a forced smile. "Maybe spend some gold on supplies in the meantime." I lean my head in Nicolas's direction. "The Human is staying, though."

The Danian standing in our path studies us with narrowed eyes, and his antennae vibrate slightly. His grip on his spear does not shift in the slightest as he cautiously circles the vehicle. In the distance, I can see the shadows of his support, ready to spring on us should things turn violent.

Danians are large bugs. Many limbs, exoskeleton, antennae, hooked mandibles, among other qualities. The caste of a particular Danian determines exactly what he will look like. The guards along this road are mandiblors, and they are shaped somewhat like what a Human would call a centaur, with four legs carrying a bulbous abdomen on the lower half and a more reasonably shaped upper torso.

The mandiblor pauses next to Nicolas and leans closer. Nicolas recoils slightly as the Danian's antennae brush against his face and shoulders.

The Danian turns to me. "Pay you ten ambers for him."

Nicolas flinches. "What, what?"

I laugh. "You couldn't pay me ten ambers to suck your dick, much less hand this Human over to you."

"Fifteen?" the Danian persists.

Nicolas shakes his head. "Hold on, nobody's selling me! I belong to nobody!"

I shrug. "The Human said it, not me."

"Is that so?" The Danian turns to Nicolas. "What say you to fifteen ambers, Human?"

Nicolas opens his mouth and shuts it, shakes his head, blinks a lot, then stares at the Danian. "Are you nuts? Are you asking if I'm going to sell myself to you? Like, slavery sell myself?"

"Of course," the mandiblor says in a tone that suggests he thought he was being perfectly clear.

Nicolas turns to me with his mouth hanging open and his eyebrows pinched together. Then he looks at the Danian, then back at me, then at Mount Pillar, looming ahead of us. "I thought you said I'd be safe here?"

"Safer," I correct. "And I suggest that you don't go and sell yourself to the first random Danian you meet. Find someone who offers a recurring payment and lists what your responsibilities will be, shop around-"

Nicolas squeezes his eyes shut and covers his ears. "Don't want to hear it!"

The Danian clicks his mandibles together and sighs. "Eyes will be on you the entire time, UnderWorlder. Cause trouble for Mount Pillar and your life is forfeit."

I put my hands back on the accelerators. "I understand. May we proceed?"

The Danian waves us off while shaking his head, and we sail off, toward Mount Pillar.

Nicolas uncovers his ears. "And that's just called 'being employed' anyway," he says.

"For you, for me, for most of Perim," I agree. "Not for a Danian, though. I can spend the rest of the day assisting you, but then I will be off."

"Not sure I want your help," Nicolas mutters, shrinking away from me a little. "This is insane,"

"You have seen nothing of insanity yet," I chuckle.

"Try me."

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I have to double back to find Nicolas. He is standing in the middle of the east gate, staring with his mouth hanging open. His eyes are on a pair of mandiblors off the main path. One of them has climbed on the back of the other, front legs hooked around the lower's and hands gripping the other's shoulders, bucking and thrusting against each other rhythmically.

"Hey." I snap my fingers under Nicolas's nose. "Eyes up, don't get lost."

Nicolas blinks and looks up at me. He points at the couple. "They're... are they... out in the open... what?"

I put a hand on the Human's back and drag him with me, away from the copulating mandiblors. "They're probably on break," I say.

"But, but they're..." Nicolas trails off like he doesn't even know where to begin.

I take a detour to a table off the path and seat Nicolas on one of the four chairs surrounding it. "Now that you realize just how different these people are, Nicolas, I need to explain a few things."

Nicolas stares at me as I take a seat opposite him, then down at the chair. "Why even have chairs when you're built like them?" he mutters.

I lean forward and interlace my fingers. "Let's count that as question one. Everyone gets tired of standing, Nicolas."

Nicolas raises an eyebrow. "So now you're answering questions, finally?"

I hold up two fingers. "Question two. Yes."

Nicolas blinks. "How many questions do I- wait, no, that's not a question!"

I laugh. "For the rest of the day, as I said earlier." I put my hand down and glance around. "You might want to hurry it up, though."

Nicolas also looks around briefly. "So, ah, I guess first is, what's this whole thing with the slaves and stuff? I have no idea how to ask that without it sounding weird as hell."

"Everything and everyone in Mount Pillar belongs to someone." I drag a long line in the table in front of me. "Mandiblors are on the bottom. They do most of the work around Mount Pillar, and they make up the bulk of the military." I drag another, shorter line. "Then battlemasters and... actually, I don't know exactly the order here."

Nicolas gives me an incredulous look. "Seriously?"

I wave his comment off. "Above those are the nobles, and above the nobles is the queen. Danians live their entire lives in this caste system, and it colors their views of ownership and independence. What we call employer and employee, they see as master and slave."

"So, no actual slavery, then," Nicolas says.

I lower my voice and lean forward. "Oh, there are real slaves as well. Every culture has its scum. Not every Danian treats the people they own with respect. Find someone that will take care of you, or the wrong sort will pluck you like a ripe fruit."

Nicolas glances at a group of Danians heading toward the gate and shivers. "Noted. So, ah, about the gay couple back-" He pauses, staring past me.

I look back as well to see a small mandiblor, about the height of Nicolas's waist, split off from the group, trot over to our table, and hop up on the chair to my right. In his hands is an orange stick of crystal-like material. He looks at Nicolas, then at me, and begins sucking on the... sugar-stick? Probably.

I turn back to Nicolas. "What was your question?"

Nicolas glances at the young Danian. "Maybe not in front of the kid?"

The Danian pops the sugar-stick out of his mouth and says in a high voice, "Are you talking about sex?"

Nicolas flinches. "Ah, no, we-"

The Danian interrupts, "There's sex for making babies, and sex for having fun. You're older than me, right? It's weird that you don't know this."

Nicolas blinks at the Danian child, then looks at me. "Uh..."

I tilt my head at the Danian, then raise my left hand to my face and drag a finger down my nose. "Can you help my friend here with his questions, too?"

"Sure!" The young mandiblor lets go of his sugar-stick with his left hand and traces a finger down the center of his face, then turns to Nicolas. "So, the queen lays all the eggs, and eggs need to be fertilized, right? Well, every once in a while all the nobles, sometimes some other males too, all get together with the queen, and the males stick their penises in the queen. The queen stores the semen so that she can fertilize the eggs she lays."

Nicolas keeps blinking in shock. "I, uh-"

The Danian continues, "Now, having sex is also fun and feels good. When two Danians who are old enough like each other a lot, they can play with each other's penises or put them inside each other. But only if both are okay with it. It's bad to have sex with someone who doesn't want to." He turns to me and holds out the sugar-stick. "Want some?"

Nicolas gives his entire body a vigorous shake. "Um, thank you. I, uh, already knew about... why do you know?"

I laugh. Nicolas's reaction is absolutely hilarious. "No, thank you," I say to the Danian. To Nicolas, I add, "It's not taboo for Danians. No shame, no stigma."

"And no problem letting a..." Nicolas turns to the Danian. "How old are you?"

"I turn nine solans old really soon," the Danian said proudly. He turns back to me and holds out the sugar-stick again. "Want some?"

"No, thank you."

Nicolas raises an eyebrow. "Right. And I'm guessing that I'll run into it pretty much everywhere, then?"

"Not if they're buying or selling sex," the Danian adds. "That's only for certain tunnels, to stay out of the way of people trying to get somewhere in a hurry. Want some?" he says a third time, holding out the sugar-stick.

"Sure," I say, holding a hand out. The Danian breaks off a bit off the bottom and gives it to me, and I pop it in my mouth. I was right, a sugar-stick.

Nicolas stares at me. "Hold on, I thought you didn't want any."

"Never accept a gift the first time it's offered," the Danian sings before sticking the sugar-stick back into his mouth.

I nod and shift the piece of candy into my cheek. "It's rude to accept a gift without denying it twice," I explain. "The little guy can probably explain better than I can."

"There you are!" a voice calls out from behind me.

The young Danian turns and waves. "Baba! I made friends, Baba!" He turns to Nicolas. "That's my baba. Hey, Baba, can we keep him?"

A larger mandiblor hurries to the small Danian's side. "Do not wander off again like that! I was worried!" He looks at Nicolas, then at me. "My apologies, I took my eyes off of him for just a moment, and-"

I wave my hand and shake my head. "It was no trouble, really. Your bibi was simply explaining how things work in Mount Pillar to Nicolas."

The young Danian looked up in his baba's eyes. "Talk to the Human, please? He's funny, I want to keep him."

The older Danian looks down at the younger one. "O-of course," he said slowly, as if in a daze. He shakes his head and turns his attention to the Human. "Nicolas, was it? I am Tanto. My little bibi seems to have taken a shine to you. Perhaps we can talk about selling yourself as a playmate for him?"

"I- wait." Nicolas blinks and looks back and forth between the two Danians. "Hold on, can we just talk first?"

Tanto nods and takes Nicolas's hand. "Come, I'll buy you a drink while we talk."

Nicolas stands as he half-follows, half-drags behind the older Danian. "Uh, sure. Wait, um, I mean, no, thank you?"

Tanto laughs. "I insist."

Nicolas stumbles over the bizarre Danian custom as he's led away.

I sigh, then turn to the little Danian. "How many times have you given your babas that little mental nudge these past few days?"

The little Danian takes the candy out of his mouth and folds his arms. "They keep treating me like a little kid," he says with a sour tone.

"But you are a little kid," I reply.

The Danian glares at me. "Oh, don't you start." He bites off the tip of his sugar-stick and starts chewing. "So, what's the news with Michael?"

"Not good," I groan. "Ulmar's doing behavioral experiments on him.

"Fuck."

"Yup."

The Danian tilts his head to the side. "So, what gave me away? I was about to drop the signal when you beat me to it."

"You used contractions," I grin. "Plus, I've known you for, what, two thousand solans now? It's getting easy to pick you out of the crowd, even if all you Danians look the same."

"That's racist," the Danian grins.

"Suck a dick," I reply.

The Danian perks up. "Is that an offer?"

I rub my eyes and sigh. "No, it's not. Wait until you hit puberty again. Sorry, I'm stressed out."

The mandiblor's tone softens. "Oh. He knows?"

"Yup."

"That's awful."

"Yup.

"It gets worse."

"Oh? He knows, too?"

"Yup."

"Fuck."

"Yup."

I shake my head. "I should leave. Thank you for taking Nicolas off my hands."

The Danian nods and extends a hand. "I'll see you around, Atrapol."

I take his hand and shake it. "You too, Piabo."

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Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.