"It depends a lot on the moirails in question. Often they share interests, or encourage each others' -- when my Disciple and I swung toward pale I'd often help her paint by organizing her hues and tools, and she would provide a sounding board as I planned my next discussion topic."
It doesn't quite occur to him that Roland doesn't even know about those. He's so used to them being such a vital part of his identity for so long that he forgets some people he's met in Panem won't automatically know, even though since coming to Panem he's by necessity stopped giving them. It's hard to organize open heretical discussions of radical philosophy here.
"It can be anything, so long as it's engineered to convey closeness and comfort. Some moirails express their affection by holding hands. Some moirails brush each others' hair, bathe together, go on pale dates where the intention is simply for both of them to have some time where all they're doing is something nice for themselves. And often, they have feelings jams -- make a pile of something soft and sit in it together and talk to each other about anything and everything that's on their mind at the moment. It helps to sound out one's emotions with someone you trust, and it keeps something that might become a crisis if ignored from getting that bad."
He should probably clarify-- just because it's been a point of confusion with humans in the past, both in the Capitol and in the tower.
"Moirails don't have sex. They don't kiss either, save maybe the cheek or the forehead or the base of the horn. Chaste places. Of course," he adds after a moment, "I don't think of quadrants as so rigid. I find that often my feelings will encompass more than one and so long as everyone involved is comfortable with it I see no reason not to combine them."
no subject
It doesn't quite occur to him that Roland doesn't even know about those. He's so used to them being such a vital part of his identity for so long that he forgets some people he's met in Panem won't automatically know, even though since coming to Panem he's by necessity stopped giving them. It's hard to organize open heretical discussions of radical philosophy here.
"It can be anything, so long as it's engineered to convey closeness and comfort. Some moirails express their affection by holding hands. Some moirails brush each others' hair, bathe together, go on pale dates where the intention is simply for both of them to have some time where all they're doing is something nice for themselves. And often, they have feelings jams -- make a pile of something soft and sit in it together and talk to each other about anything and everything that's on their mind at the moment. It helps to sound out one's emotions with someone you trust, and it keeps something that might become a crisis if ignored from getting that bad."
He should probably clarify-- just because it's been a point of confusion with humans in the past, both in the Capitol and in the tower.
"Moirails don't have sex. They don't kiss either, save maybe the cheek or the forehead or the base of the horn. Chaste places. Of course," he adds after a moment, "I don't think of quadrants as so rigid. I find that often my feelings will encompass more than one and so long as everyone involved is comfortable with it I see no reason not to combine them."