The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[Coquette Blacquin]

~I didn't even say anything wrong, but she looked at me like I grew another head.~

[Tethras Clan]

~People can grow up with very different expectations and social norms. Have you talked about it with her yet?~

[Coquette Blacquin]

~Yes. She said-- well, we supposedly come from the same culture, but I clearly absorbed more of it than she did. She said I was being absurd, that I should treat rape as though it were a huge life-altering phenomenon.~

[Tethras Clan]

~And how do you feel about it?~

[Coquette Blacquin]

~It's just a thing that happens. It's unpleasant but no worse than other violence. It happens to everyone so why worry about it?~ 

[Tethras Clan]

~It... happens to everyone?~ Seli echoes, sounding a little... startled, perhaps?

[Coquette Blacquin]

~Well, yes. In Drow culture, anyway. Sex is often used as a weapon, and when you lose, sometimes that means being raped. It's nothing special.~ 

[Tethras Clan]

~When you say 'drow culture,' are you referring to, ah, to The Diamond Empress's drow or to the drow at the Enclave? Or do you not see a difference between the two?~

[Coquette Blacquin]

~In this I have seen no difference. There are some differences of course, but The Game is the same. It was played differently in Glaley but it still existed there as well.~ 

[Tethras Clan]

~I see.~ There's a small pause, then, ~may I ask what percentage of people you think have been raped in, say, Nyra?~

[Coquette Blacquin]

~How would I know?~ 

[Tethras Clan]

~That's fair! Hmm. How about Alessia? I'm afraid I couldn't speak on Glaley."

[Coquette Blacquin]

~I could tell you for Glaley -- every married noble woman, many young noble women who are yet to be wed, a large portion of the commoner population, and almost every serving girl in the city. Alessa is better, but not by much, especially among the noble population.~ 

[Tethras Clan]

~Every married noblewoman?~ A very slight pause, then, ~ah, I should have asked this first. Rape is a rather universal concept in the general sense but the edges often vary from culture to culture and even person to person. How do you define rape? Sorry, I mean to ask, how do you judge what is and isn't rape?~

[Coquette Blacquin]

~Sex that you did not freely choose to have, sex that you would not have chosen but for some outside factor, sex that was pushed upon you by force or by blackmail. Every noblewoman in Glaley was married against her will and so did not consent to the sex her husband forces upon her, just as I did not consent to the sex beginning on my wedding night and lasting throughout my marriage.~