Xom and Sindra were set to meet on Viday evening , for their scheduled MindConnect date, to engage in state-approved forms of HarmPleasure and CruelPleasure, per Xom's suggestion, and to browse and binge MindConnect's newly released Past Reels, some of which were set even before MindConnect was introduced. While Xom had mildly and disinterestedly looked forward to the date with Sindra, as he always did when he had a new XX to engage in HarmPleasure and CruelPleasure with, Sindra had been experiencing something that was much more discomforting. She had been having intrusive and shameful thoughts of OldPleasure and OldTouch in the days since being asked by Xom to meet on MindConnect. Each time the shameful thought arose, she would allow herself only a moment to breathe in it's rosy-hued pleasure, before forcing the feeling down inside of herself again. She told no one, as amongst her peer group of creation academy students she was already ashamed enough of engaging in HarmPleasure with an XY.

Sindra nervously scratched at her purple and green sants, an item of clothing that betrayed her Accelceite status, while in the back of the musty Trog cab that was currently shuttling her through the increasingly run down neighborhoods as she moved further into Lesser territory. While at one point, sants had been worn by Trogs of all genders near her age, they were now only worn by Trogs who were very nearly ready for Upload, and young middle and high-Accels who were involved in the creations. She eyed the slight bald spot in the back of the Trog XY driver's head in slight amazement, as it had been years since she had seen one that hadn't been in a Past Reel. Languidly, she stared out at Xirrilian Ave, which as she remembered it, was packed with Trogs and smatterings of edgier, rebellious Low-Accels. Xirrilian is a well-known nightlife district in their city, Xtolov, the largest in the region. Known for it’s large array of Creation Centers, exotic lesser grubhalls, sound-gathering halls, as well as being one of the few Trog neighborhoods that Accels can somewhat safely co-mingle, and possibly find contraband or substances harder to come by in Accel neighborhoods. She had been to Xirrilian before to attend sound gatherings that members of her companionship circle at the creation academy had brought her along to, but only a handful of times, and being in a potentially dangerous Lesser neighborhood made her anxious.

 Her anxiety stemmed from being in a Trog neighborhood, nervousness over meeting Xom and knowing why Xom had likely chosen the PleasureCenter on Xirrilian for their date. In PleasureCenters in rougher Trog neighborhoods she had heard there was less supervision over what kind of HarmPleasure one could engage in, and she had even heard rumors about Trog centers where there was no connection in the pleasure rooms to StateWatch at all. She had also heard unflattering rumors at the creations academy from XXs about Xom, but she buried those thoughts in the back of her mind as she spotted him on the corner of Xirrilian and Cyris ordering from the plant stand and told the Trog to pull up to the curb. The PleasureCenter they were visiting was a decent walk away from the street corner Xom had suggested meeting at and she wondered why he had chosen to meet here instead of nearer to the Center. Nevertheless, when the Trog driver angled his oddly shaped head back at her and reached out his hand for compensation, she paid him 4 teros, nodded to gesture gratitude, and hopped out onto bustling avenue.

	As Sindra approached the plant stand, Xom raised his hand, and felt slightly embarrassed by the artificiality of his gesture. He lowered his arm and watched the natural movements of the Trogs and low-Accels around him, and pondered what strange, minute mechanisms of biology seperated himself so profoundly from others. His gaze suddenly met Sindra's as she came within speaking distance, and as if by reflex, he forcibly carved a smile and a friendly glimmer onto the cold mask that was his face. Xom suddenly realized it would have been beneficial for him to purchase a carrot salad for Sindra as well, as a gesture of friendliness. He feined embarrasment for a second, took a bite of the salad and spat out "My mistake Sindra, the TROGS at this PLANT STAND are mentally deficient and can't differentiate between the number ONE and TWO so that's why you have no food and we have to FUCKING SHARE", loudly enunciating the words so that the Trog XYworking the plant stand would know that it he was being spoken of so harshly. The middle-uploaded Trog was filling another order of carrot salad, and was too busy, and intimidated, to gesture or protest in Qefar, the odd, primitive language of the Trogs, that Xom had in fact ordered only one carrot salad. Sindra, taken aback by how harshly Xom had lambasted the Trog, waved her hands in awkward silent apology to him and followed Xom as he angrily stormed down the sidewalk.

	Trailing slightly behind Xom’s aggressive movement Sindra took advantage of her elongated frame in order to catch up to him, darting through the crowd of drabbish upper-Trogs and flamboyantly dressed Low-Accels to match his furious pace. Darting past a run down Past Reel rental shop, as her hand graced the shoulder of his soft Mardor longcoat, Xom grabbed her and pulled her into a small tight alleyway away from the street that provided a layer of removal from the heavy noise of the crowd and them. She made accidental eye-touch with him and watched his expression warp from a disarming sneer, into the gentle,intelligent smile of the XY that she knew from her Ancient Cultures class. His expression changed so quickly and naturally that she began to instantly question the unsettling feeling she had felt.

	Xom peered over her and placed his face uncomfortably close to hers, so much so that for a second she worried he would mouth-touch her like many of the ancient tribes they had studied in class did with members of their tribe or OldPleasure partners. They stood in this strange antiquated form of embrace for a few moments. For a second she could feel the warmth of his breath on her mouth, and pinned herself back against the wall instinctively when the corner of her eye wandered onto the street and made eye-touch with an Accel group. Xom backed away slightly but not enough to be socially acceptable, even considering they were planning on going to the PleasureCenter later. “Does my behavior make you uncomfortable? Come now Sindra I was under the impression you were more radical than this, much of your mental creations displayed in class seem so sympathetic to the Lessers.”

	While Sindra found it hard to speak of her political inclinations around her family, and even many of her companionship circle, she had found it easier to express her interest in Trog culture, as well as her newly discovered Liberationist tendencies in her recent mental creations, as the creative academy was known for being somewhat of a safe haven for extremist political thought, even employing a mental instructor that was an outspoken Trog rights advocate. Her mental creations as of late had been influenced heavily by the mental creations of the Trogs and even ancient cultures that she had been exposed to in a class Xom had taken the semester prior, Mental Creations of the Lessers. Sindra was so deeply influenced by their primitive and strange expressions of reality that her mental creations had begun to ever so slightly resemble those of the lessers. Sindra would at times so passionately describe the images she saw in these classes that members of her companionship circle would lightly mock her behind her back for her odd and unfashionable interest.

	While Sindra had never directly discussed this topic with Xom before, they had only spoken outside of instruction lectures a handful of times, she had guessed that she had found a somewhat common ally, at the very least in regards to her interest in the mental creation forms of the lessers, which is why Xom’s behaviour earlier at the plant stand had caught her so off guard. Xom’s mental creations were even more influenced by the work of the lessers than hers was, so much so that some of it even filled her with the same strange fear that some lesser mental creations instilled in her. Sindra broke the eye-touch they had been making and told him quietly that she wasn’t a Trog Liberationist but that she did see something of value in their mental creations, and thus there must be something of value in their minds. Xom began staring out into the street from their makeshift hiding place and asked her what value a Middle-Accel could possibly see in a Trog mind.

	Sindra peered into the chaos of the street and pondered this question. She looked at the filthy, misshapen patches of skin that surrounded the Trog’s strange, empty eyes as they walked past. She didn’t know why but the word that came to mind was a term she knew from classes on physical property manifestations she had taken before she was sorted into her creativity academy preparation classes, where she, somewhat unfondly, remembered mixing measured amounts of liquid properties into beakers and glass cylinders. She felt awkward saying it outside of it’s correct usage but in her though state it seemed apt. “Purity”, she said “I see purity in them.”

Xom found this humorous and guffawed slightly, then nodded his head. “I think I understand what you mean by that Sindra.” He tilted his head back against the cracking brick frame of the Reel rental shop, and said “Do you know much about ancient languages? Their names for thought states? They called them emotions, and there’s one emotion that we haven’t had a name for for a very long time. The ancients had a word for when you desire something that isn’t in your birth path, a kind of pain that you feel because you desire something you’re not supposed to have.” Sindra was deeply intrigued by this explanation and they made eye-touch again. “That word is called envy.” Xom breathed, turning his head to stare at them again. “That’s what I feel when I look at them, envy.”

They stepped out of the alley and rejoined the crowed on the street, still sticking out as much as they were before. While in recent generations, the attitudes surrounding the intra-class relations of the Accels had relaxed somewhat, it was still considered strange for Xom, who was clearly Upper Accel with his elegant deep blue Mardor jacket, to be walking as closely as he was to Sindra. While Acellciates could legally have relationships with each, and it wasn’t uncommon for Lows and Middles to be romantically involved, it was still considered strange for an Upper-Accel to be seen with any partner that wasn’t also Upper-Accel. While Liberationist sympathies were not exactly common within Low and Middles, it was much less taboo than amongst the staunch Separatist Party beliefs that largely dominated Upper Accel social views. While Lows and Middles generally viewed the Trogs as strange, obviously lesser beings but largely were fine with Trogs having their own neighborhoods within the city, as long as they were kept to their own quarters and not allowed to infiltrate and rent quarters in Accel neighborhoods. Some particularly non-conformist Lows would even form quasi-companionship circles that included Trogs that had the ability to speak primitively in Xrafa, the dominant language of the region.

Amongst Uppers, support for Trog rights, much less going to Trog districts like Xirillian was almost unheard of. Even more strange was finding an Upper so seemingly fascinated with Trog culture in the way Xom was. This is part of what drew Sindra to him. She had never met someone, even in the culture academy, that possessed such an open nature, and that was so interested in the culture of the Lessers. While in their Ancient Cultures class, they struck up a subtle but natural partnership, as the only two students that seemed to possess an interest in the Lesser creations beyond a mere historical or intellectual curiosity. They commonly found each other arguing from similar thought states and it wasn’t long before they were beginning to talk before and after the class. They both would silently steal glances at each other, Sindra’s nervous and fleeting, and Xom’s prolonged and intentional, as though he wanted her to know he was looking at her. On Qeday, before class when Xom had approached her to accompany him to a PleasureCenter on Viday evening, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. When he asked her to meet in Xirillian there was a moment of hesitation inside of her, but she feared this was her only opportunity to engage in HarmPleasure with such a fascinatingly odd Upper.

As they made their way down the avenue on their way to the PleasureCenter, Sindra overcame her anxiety over the meeting and was able to relax and take in the environment around her for the first time. It had been a long time, almost since the beginning of the previous learning season since she had been to Xirrilian and this was her first time actually walking around the neighborhood, as the few times she had visited previously she would take the Trogcab to the exact location of the sound gathering or reel display she had attended. As she walked down the street, as close to Xom as was allowed, she inhaled the odd scents of the Trog restaurants and food stalls that lined the streets and took in all the exotic and strange shops that existed in the Trog district, some of which she couldn’t exactly understand what kind of service they provided. Trogs spoke among themselves in their eerie low pitched tongue. Sindra would occasionally glance up to get a good look at their faces, but they would quickly shift away to avoid eye-touch, as Trogs knew to not eye-touch the Highers.

As they moved up the street the discussion had naturally shifted from their earlier heavy thought state conversation to lighter thought state topics such as talking about who they liked and disliked amongst their classmates, their respective companionship circles and their interest fields of which they had many in common. As they approached the PleasureCenter Xom stopped her near the entrance, turned to her and said, “Sindra, I feel I should warn you… these Trog centers, they’re not like the ones you’re used to. There’s no supervision link to StateWatch in MindConnect here, or if there is, it’s rarely checked. The Trogs also don’t believe in Negative Upload, at least our version of it, so they have less restrictions on what you can do during HarmPleasure in MindConnect.” Sindra had suspected deep inside that this may be the reason Xom wanted to come all the way out to Xirillian, but she had willfully ignored the nagging voice that told her meeting him may be a bad idea. Still she was shocked at his confession.

Sindra had rarely engaged in HarmPleasure with an XY before. Amongst her companionship circle at the creation academy it was considered somewhat unfashionable to engage in relations beyond CrueltyPleasure with an XY, although not exactly unheard of. Sindra also felt less comfortable engaging in HarmPleasure, with just anyone, especially in comparison to her companions, who were much more cavalier in regards to who they engaged with. Sindra had only engaged in HarmPleasure with a small group of XYs and XXs compared to the other members of her companionship circle