“I'll get back home quite late tonight.” Ruby said while she was buttoning up her white blouse in the kitchen.

“All right,” Kate replied, pouring herself a glass of juice.

“I wish I could spend more time with you, but things have been busy lately.”

“It's fine. These aliens you will meet, they are those lizard people, right?”

“Yes. The Vessivians.”

“In the news, they said they have shapeshifting abilities. Is that true?”

“Only their adult females, but yes.”

“Wow.”

“They are an interesting bunch for sure. Anyway, you walked to the closest canteen this morning, right? Was everything okay?”

The girl nodded. Her fingerprints were now registered in the city's system, so she could finally do such things on her own. The real reason why that took longer than it did for Jay was the council's hesitation – even though Kate was a human, she was still an outsider, and a rather grumpy one to boot. Before giving her the freedom of a woman of Motherland, the princesses wanted her to get used to things, and Ruby wanted to get to know her a little better. But at the end of they day, the archprincess knew that they must treat her as an equal if they want to earn her trust, and so the previous night, she deemed her ready. At last, the council agreed.

“I'm just surprised how many items were unavailable to me,” the girl said.

“Unfortunately, your prestige score is at zero for now, which means you only have some base options, similarly to men. Others, such as myself, can still share their food and things with you. Or you could earn your own prestige points, if you...”

“No fucking way!” Kate slammed down her glass on the counter, looking rather offended.

“I didn't mean the fucking way! I get that you refuse to engage in mating, but there are other ways too, you know. There are some jobs you could apply for.”

“Oh. I guess I could do that now, huh?”

“If you want to.” Ruby put on a grey suit jacket, and grabbed her black, leather shoulder bag. Her businesswoman look was now complete. “Later, I can show you how job applications are done, but I gotta go now.”

“All right.” The girl was feeling a bit guilty about her lashing out a moment ago, so as the archprincess walked to the front door, she added: “Good luck!”

“Thanks!” Ruby opened the door, getting her bronze skin illuminated by sunlight. “Just one more thing. If you interact with others, please remember to be careful!”

“Yea yea. I promise I won't rant about my weird hang-ups to other women.”

Ruby stared at the girl for a few seconds, as if she is considering saying something, but in the end, she just nodded. “See you later!”

As soon as the the door closed behind the woman, Kate threw herself on the sofa in the living room, with her phone in hand, her new one. Her old mobile already ran out of battery, and the chargers of this world did not quite fit into it. Last night, before they went to sleep, she asked the archprincess if it was possible to make it work, just so that she could look at her pictures some more, and Ruby promised her she will send the device to the lover city, where the technicians will surely be able to make a custom charger for it. She didn't have the time to actually make that arrangement as of yet, but right now Kate wasn't really concerned with such things.

“Hey, Nessa! Remember me from last night? How are you doing?”

This was the text message she sent that silly girl hours ago. It was now well into afternoon, and the blonde still didn't reply. Kate wondered why. It could be that she is hungover, she could still be sleeping. Maybe she is embarrassed by how she acted when she was drunk, or maybe she doesn't even remember her. Or, considering that she talked like one of those asshole, shallow men on Earth, it wasn't out of the question that she just realised that Kate was no hookup material, and that was it. Should she call her? Is it even worth the effort?

Kate was staring at the green call button on her screen, and was just about to decide against pressing it, when she suddenly got a message: “Hey, girl, thanks for helping me out last night! Wanna grab a coffee with me?”

 

Katherine was standing outside Nessa's place, waiting for her to come out. The blonde's home was even more unkept than how it looked at night time: almost half the space of the front garden was taken up by thorny bushes, and except for a narrow path, the grass was knee high. There was an old, rusty bicycle frame lying further back, the pink plaster fell off the walls of the building in patches, and that toy skeleton that was hanging from the highest balcony was missing an arm.

Kate pulled out her phone, looking at the time impatiently (and a bit nervously). This time, she wore dark-blue sweatpants and a simple white shirt, hoping that her casual, laid-back look would further drive home the point that she isn't interested in anything sexual or romantic.

The door of the house finally opened, and Nessa appeared. “Hey there!” she waved at Kate. She then clumsily locked the door (dropping her keys once), and walked out on the street. She was wearing a black, rose-laced, sleeveless tank top, tight, black shorts, and fishnet tights. Her lips were purple, so was her eyeshadow, and she was surrounded by a rather strong aura of perfume. She definitely seemed tired though.

“Hi!” Kate said kind of hesitantly.

“Wow! You really are pretty! I was worrying that it was just the beer goggles, if you know what I mean.”

“Uhm... okay.”

“Sorry for making you wait! I just woke up an hour ago... it's difficult to get dressed while being so hungover.”

“Oh, but you really didn't have to put so much effort into your appearance.”

“You don't like it?” Nessa asked with a nervous expression.

“No, it's fine... you look good and all, I'm just saying. It's not like we are going on a date. You get that, right?”

“Right... I'm sorry, what was your name again?”

“You don't remember?”

The blonde shook her head. “I saved your number under the name of sexy girl,” she grinned.

Kate decided to ignore the comment. “My name is Katherine, but you can just call me Kate.”

“You have a unique name, Kate. I love it!”

“Thanks. So, where are we going?”

They walked to the nearest canteen, the same one Katherine visited that morning. This one was an European-looking building with arched windows and beige walls. Inside, they went through the fingerprint-gate, and walked through the large dining area, towards the aisles and counters of food.

“Uhm... I forgot to tell you, I do not have any prestige points,” said Kate.

“Really? Are you a full on lesbian?” Nessa asked hopefully.

“No, not at all.”

“A minimalist, then?”

“I guess? At least for now.”

“That's great! I mean, I have enough points that I can basically ask for anything in a canteen, so don't worry, I can get you whatever you like!”

“That's nice of you.”

After a bit of looking around, Kate chose a glass of rather tasty looking parfait, while Nessa herself asked for a mug of coffee, with whipped cream on top. Once again, they didn't have to pay for anything – prestige score was different from men's credit score in that it wasn't really a currency, it was more like an achievement-system. The higher a woman's prestige score was, the more stuff was available to her. But prestige score automatically decreased over time, which meant that women had to do stuff (most commonly providing sex for men) somewhat consistently in order to keep their points up. Unless they were okay with just having the basic options when it came to food, clothes, jewelry and even their home. By now, Kate more or less understood all this.

“Let's sit down on the terrace at the back!” Nessa said once they both had their refreshments in hand.

“There is a terrace at the back?”

Kate did not notice such a thing when she was here earlier, but walking all the way through the aisles, they in fact reached an exit. It lead to a nice, wide terrace overlooking a little alleyway. Its patterned tiles were pale-red and white, and it had a bunch of small tables. At the edge of the platform, a series of window-boxes were hung up, with red flowers. Several groups of women were eating here, but there were some empty tables as well. The two girls took a seat at a corner.

“If you are a minimalist,” the blonde yawned, “it's surprising that you live in this neighbourhood. Do you live with someone?”

“I do. Is this a good neighbourhood?”

“Of course it is. Are you from a different city, or what?” Nessa raised her mug to her lips.

“No. From a different planet.”

“Really?” The blonde was close to taking a sip, but her hand stopped and she looked up from her mug. “Wait a second... are you that girl from an outer dimension people are talking about?”

“Yea.”

“Holy shit! In that case, you really don't know much about how things are done here, right?”

“I more or less get the idea now.”

“Fuck me!” Nessa cheered.

“Excuse me?”

“It's just that I can help you, then. I got your back, I can show you around and everything, so don't worry!”

“That's nice of you, but I'll be fine, really. You don't have to go out of your way to...”

“Wait! I heard some rumors. Aren't you living with the archprincess?”

A woman who was sitting nearby jerked up her head and stared at them. Katherine wished that Nessa was a little more quiet, but then again, people have definitely seen her and Ruby together already, it wasn't exactly a secret.

“Yes, I live with her. She is already helping me out with everything.”

“Hmmm.” The blonde finally tasted her drink... and then a few seconds later, she jumped to her feet. Kate looked at her questioningly.

“Bathroom...” Nessa muttered with a pale face, and she ran indoors.

“Oh...”

As Katherine was left alone, she leaned back on her seat and ate her dessert leisurely. That woman who's attention they caught a moment ago was now deep in a discussion with her friends.

Despite how popular of a topic it was that there is a mysterious girl from another dimension who moved here, who is said to be living with the archprincess herself, this society seemed to be surprisingly good at not sensationalising the whole deal. It wasn't some sort of classified, strict secret, but at the same time nobody knew how that girl even looks like, her face wasn't plastered all over the news or anything like that. Kate also noticed that even Ruby Sulien, who was perhaps the most popular person of the city, was mostly left alone in public. On Earth, someone of her caliber would have surely been approached and bothered quite a bit more. It's not that the people of this place weren't curious or even nosy, but there was also a baseline level of consideration and discretion in them, Kate could just feel it. This aspect of Motherland was kind of cool.

And so was this peaceful terrace, the clear, blue sky, the pleasant breeze on her skin, and her tasty parfait. However, all these nice things were in contrast of that thing beneath the surface, that uncomfortable reality which this society was based upon, and which Kate was very aware of, all the time. Even if she wanted to forget about it, there were many little things that would have reminded her. Such as this bit she just caught from the conversation of that other table:

“She fucked so much unattractive men, she is as prestigious as a highprincess now.”

And then the reply: “So that's why she was so busy last week!”

Kate sighed and tried not to pay attention. Fortunately, that friend-group was leaving, and with that, the terrace got a tad more quiet.

“Sorry, I'm here,” Nessa came back. Her eyes were teary, and her make-up was a bit smudged.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked.

“Yea, I just got a bit nauseous. Probably the milk. I should have went with black coffee, I think.”

“Did you throw up?”

“No, not at all!” the blonde stated quickly, while her face reddened. She slowly reached into her shoulder bag, grabbing some chewing gum.

“Maybe you should go home and take a rest,” Kate suggested.

“I'm fine now, don't worry!”

“If you say so.”

“Anyway, where were we? Oh, you really do live with the archprincess, huh?”

“Forget about me for a moment. Do you remember what you told me last night?”

“I was kind of cringe, wasn't I?” Nessa giggled awkwardly.

“That's besides the point.” Kate lowered her voice, and leaned a bit forward. “You told me you want to be a man.”

“Oh, that whole thing! I was just drunk. Speaking some nonsense.”

“Was it nonsense? You can be honest with me, Nessa, I'm not judging you.”

“I mean... men get to fuck a lot of women. I do think that would be nice.”

“Why?”

“Because... I like women. I like women a lot. I prefer women over men, for sure. We are just sexier.”

She is as sexist as they come... Kate sighed. “Either way, you don't fit very well into the system then, isn't that right?”

Nessa first shrugged, but then after a few seconds of silence, she too leaned forward and spoke more quietly: “I think... it kind of sucks, yea. I always felt like a misfit, I was just way too much into women. So much so that it's... it's just unfair.”

“What's unfair, exactly? That you aren't treated like...” some sex-crazed beast?

“Like what?”

“Like men.”

“Yea. Men are validated, you know. But women who are into women are just left to their own devices, we have to figure out how to go about it on our own. Zero rules, zero help... but it is what it is. Don't worry, I'm not gonna whine about this stuff, I'm sure it annoys you. My life could be much worse, blah-blah.”

“So... how do you get prestige points, if you are not into men?”

“Men are alright, it's not like I'm a misandrist or anything. I do not like to be penetrated though, so I usually just do blowjobs. At least I don't really care about men's attractiveness, which makes things pretty simple.”

“What you mean by that?”

“Uhm... the more attractive a man is, and the more interest he gets, the less it pays to provide for him. Didn't you know?”

“Actually, I didn't.”

“Fuck the bland ones to boost your score, fuck the hot ones till you can't take more.”

“What the...”

“It's just an old, vulgar little rhyme, but it for sure has some truth to it, generally. If many women pick the same guy on the mating app, the one with the highest prestige score gets to be with him, and she also gets less points in return. This encourages women to spread their sex-having out, so all men can be content. On men's end, they barely even notice anything from this, and they don't really care anyway. Why would they? The system has been optimized so that it all pretty much equals out at the end of the day.”

Kate was in shock. She still only had a quite surface level understanding of the whole mating deal, so this was all news to her. And of course, she hated what she heard, sex being treated like something that needs to be “distributed” fairly, like some resource. So far, she basically only discussed these sort of things with Ruby, who understood her bad feelings about it. But this girl really didn't hold back, she was so casual, so matter-of-fact, as if she is talking about the most natural thing.

“But as I said, I personally don't really care about men,” the blonde continued. “They are kinda cute I guess, and penises are kinda sexy. But the point is, I'm fine going for the less picked ones only. I do that about three times a week, and that allows me to keep my stuff, and my home. It's pretty simple.”

Katherine mechanically finished her dessert. Suddenly, she was the one who felt a bit nauseous. “Just... how many men have you been with in your life?” she asked defeatedly.

Nessa laughed. “You really think I would know that off the top of my head?”

“Jesus...”

“Who?”

“Never mind. How old are you?”

“Twenty-one. And you?”

“I'm eighteen.”

“Wow, I didn't think I'm older than you!”

“Hmmm.”

The blonde girl leaned over her mug of creamy coffee to smell it, grimaced, and stood up. “I'll switch this out for a cup of black coffee. Say, do you want a second one?” she pointed at Katherine's empty parfait glass.

“No, I had enough. Just... let me ask you one more thing real quick!”

“Sure!”

“You mentioned that you aren't a misandrist. Do you know any women who are?”

The blonde raised an eyebrow. “Maybe. Why?”

“I would like to meet them.”

“Seriously?”

“Just to learn a bit more about your world. I'm curious what would make someone unhappy here.”

“Huh. Okay, then.”

Nessa picked up her mug and walked inside. Kate leaned back on her chair with a big sigh, looking up into the sky. It was still a sunny day, but some dark clouds were gathering on the horizon.

“Excuse me, young lady!” she heard a voice suddenly. It was a middle aged woman who was sitting alone on the opposite side of the terrace since they got here. She wore a long, purple dress, a wide trimmed straw hat, and a silver necklace. Her hair was long and grey, her face was wrinkled, but her blue eyes were rather intense and lively. She walked up to Kate with a black cane. “I didn't want to eavesdrop, but I just couldn't help but notice you. You are that outsider, Ruby Sulien's new housemate, aren't you?”

“I am.”

“My name is Carmen Garnier,” the lady extended a hand, which had a ring on each finger.

“I'm Katherine Bold.” They shook hands.

“I heard a lot about you, my dear. I'm a highprincess.”

“Oh. One of the four, right?”

“Correct.” the woman leaned on the table with one arm. ”I am so sorry for your situation. It must be horrible to be stuck here, in this strange new world.”

“It's... okay. Everybody is very nice and helpful here.”

“There is no need to be so polite, Katherine. I know that your world is quite different from ours, and that's hard for you to accept. It's unfortunate, really.”

“It's difficult. But I have been told that your people are doing their best to bring me and my boyfriend back where we came from. I'm grateful for that.” The girl noticed that Carmen's face twitched a bit upon hearing the word 'boyfriend'.

“We are indeed doing our best to find a way to get you back home, that we do. But it might still take us some time. Until then... this girl you have been talking to, Nessa. I know her. She is a bit of a troublemaker, I want you to know that.”

“Oh. I already noticed that she is a bit... strange. But I think she isn't a bad person.”

“I just don't want you to get any strange ideas about how things are here. If you want to socialize, I would gladly invite you to hang out with me and my friends this afternoon.”

“That's very nice of you, but... I'm fine hanging out with her.”

“If you say so, my dear. I apologize for troubling you.”

“You didn't, it's all good.”

Carmen straightened her back, and was about to turn around, but she glanced at Kate once more. “Ruby cares a lot about you, you know. She really does, she has hopes for you. She believes that mutual understanding can be reached with you, and that she can be your true friend. Ruby is a woman who doesn't give up until she absolutely has to. It would be a real shame if she ended up being disappointed.”

“Uhm...”

“Have a nice day, Katherine Bold!”

Kate watched the highprincess in purple disappear in the building. Was I just threatened?