Seventeenth Encounter

“Why are you staring at the toilet?” (me)

“Well, I’ve never needed it. So, I just sorta wonder. This bathroom has a toilet, but it’s never needed. I don’t get hungry. My beard doesn’t grow. I never need the toilet. Is time even passing in here?” (Sam)

“Hmmm… seems like a deep thought. Does it really matter?” (me)

“Maybe for us it doesn’t. Maybe we can just live like this together forever. The very idea of eternity though is crazy. I have a hard time thinking about such large amounts of time.” (Sam)

“I’d rather focus on the present and near future. Eternity is too big.” (me)

“What about children? Do you want children?” (Sam)

“I don’t know. I… I think I like the idea of having children. However… I really don’t think I want to raise them. Raising children is a lot of work, and leaving it to others seems irresponsible. Maybe if someone wanted to raise my kids, it’d be different. That would be more like having someone adopt them into a loving home, I think.” (me)

*creak* “Hello! I heard there was a talkative boss in here!” (man 1)

“Hi! What brings you here?” (me)

“I’m investigating the disappearance of a man named Vick.” (man 1)

There were two other men, but I guess they were just following? They stayed quiet.

“Ugh, him.” (Sam)

“You know him? I didn’t realize there’d be a human in here.” (man 1)

“Last time I saw him, he was trying to make me go back with him. He… he was abusive. I finally realized it when I got away from him and have no intention of going back to him.” (Sam)

“I see. You used to spend a lot of time with him then?” (man 1)

“Yeah, why?” (Sam)

“We’re investigating him. Who did he speak with? Anyone in particular you saw with him a lot?” (man 1)

I was getting bored.

“Wait, Lily, don’t go to sleep.” (Sam)

“Oh, right, they’ll probably be forced to move on if I do.” (me)

“What’s this about sleep?” (man 1)

“If she falls asleep, it counts as defeat… or I guess victory for you.” (Sam)

“That’s good to know. I’ll make sure to inform the guild.” (man 1)

“Maybe you should go play with yourself in the bath, Lily. This is probably going to take a while.” (Sam)

“Sorry about this ma’am, we just need to know all we can about Vick’s activities. He was our best lead on tracking down a slave trafficking ring.” (man 1)

“Wha? You think he was involved? I… I never imagined.” (Sam)

“Yeah, he didn’t seem to be directly involved, but he seemed to be the one connecting buyers and sellers. Technically, nothing he did was illegal, which is why we could never arrest him.” (man 1)

“Oh, uh, before I go, what’s this about him disappearing?” (me)

“He took a group of men into this dungeon a few days ago. The men returned, but he didn’t. They aren’t talking about what happened, just say they got upset with him and left.” (man 1)

Maybe he did die then. If the men he brought were unhappy with him, they might’ve left him to die instead of healing him. Well, it’d been a while since I’d last enjoyed my own personal self-love. 

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“Alright, the questioning is over. You may fall asleep now.” (Sam)

“How about you come in and hold me, so I can sleep in your arms here in the bath.” (me)

“Sure.” (Sam)

It was nice relaxing in his embrace in the bath. Though I didn’t pull my ovipositor out of myself. It had felt too good in there, and I knew it’d feel weirdly empty after spending so much time egging myself. Hopefully, I won’t regret it later.