[ Tim has the sort of privilege that allows him to see the scene outside and find it awkward, not to his tastes, but otherwise let it pass him without too much thought. Everyone is free to leave the party when they want, at least as far as he knows. But he feels ignorant for it now, and embarrassed of that. ]

Are they really not willing? I didn’t know. [ As he did not want servants, so he didn’t seek them out, didn’t talk to them, didn’t ask. He’d just assumed that in the twenty-first century, it’s considered normal to make your niche sexual behaviors everyone else’s business. It would not be the first such case Tim’s witnessed here. ] Were people being forced at the last party?

[ How are things with Hawk? Good question. Tim can feel a headache coming on at even pondering the question, and he groans, dipping under the water, hoping the heat with smooth that out. When he emerges, he pushes his wet bangs away from his face and lets him have it. ]

I thought they did. Things were really good for the last week or two. But just a couple hours ago, he started freaking out again, “we need to be more careful, they’re watching us.” As if that’s new information. [ Dropping the purgatory thing. Not for good, but for now, acknowledging the merit in investigating other angles, if only to learn enough to cross them off the list. ] He’s not an idiot, he has to know if they can bring us here from across space and time, if they chose, what, fifty of us, out of everyone in the world, they know who we are. Not taking a stupid party favor from me won’t fool them into thinking he’s gone straight.

[ He’s saying too much, he knows he is. But really, Hawk? He thought they were through this. It’s more than disappointing, it’s sad. ]