"Why is there a bulldog clip on your clit?" he asked."Because it makes me feel sluttier and look sluttier," said Laura. "And I need to look and feel ...lutty." It was the truth, of a sort.He was silent again for a long moment, and then said, "And how do you expect me to react to all this?"Laura's breath caught. It was an open ended question. Her answer needed to be sexual or degrading but... it could be the truth, couldn't it? She felt herself start to cry."Please don't fuck me," she said,. She thought back to an old recording of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which her father had shown her once.She enjoyed herself, despite recent events—perhaps a part of it—focusing on the joy of simple things made enduring the fears of her uncertain future easier. Smiling, she decided to risk a little more. Remembering her early experiment with communications, she sang the words of the old Disney movie theme.“Eigh-Oo, eigh-oo, ees orf ru rurg I go.”Rather than react to her voice, they accepted it,. “Where you from, where you going,” was all that was asked.“I’m out from the Ice Spines, heading to Fairham’s Cove.”“Going the right way then. If you plan to stay a spell, check-in at the city hall. We’ve had a lot of problems with highwaymen lately,” he said.“I will. I just need to re-supply to continue,” said Aston.“Plenty of that here.” He paused before lifting the gate arm. “Did you happen to hear anything about a plague back the way you came?”Now Aston hesitated. His having come from that. I wish I could fuck a girl like that once more..."His pleasure was interrupted by the sound of some rumbling and some cursing. He quickly put his pants back on and went to the door to check out the disturbance. He opened the apartment door to see his new neighbour trying to carry a suitcase up the stairs with less then stellar results. "The elevator must be out again," he smirked. Usually he'd go back to his own room, but this was the excpetion. This neighbour had recently moved in two weeks.