“Ret, can I have a word with you, please?”
The Dessaron Kids had briefly returned to Savepoint in order to pick up some bits and pieces, mostly just spare clothes and armour. It had been decided somewhere down the line, while Elkay-En was busy renovating the Pink Paradise, the Dessaron Kids would routinely flip between there and Savepoint, in order to help Elkay-En out and keep him looked after. This time round, Kuta was going back with them, mostly to keep Ret company, but also because they needed some time off work and Elkay-En had offered Kuta a chance to test run the new spa treatments.
Currently, Ret was loading things into the back of the Thantir Three, which was now basically their ship. But he was surprised that someone had approached him.
“Oh, hello, Kyr Phovos!” Ret smiled as he put down a large box full of omni-shields. The Pink Paradise didn’t need them, but the Pentathax had delivered another huge box the day before, so it was decided to take some there anyway, just in case. “How are you?”
Phovoula glanced around nervously. “No one really… calls me Phovos any more…”
“Oh, I am sorry. Do you want me to call you something else?”
Phovoula hesitated, then sighed. “I… I actually miss being called Phovos. Sure, Phovos does still call me Phovos, and you do as well… Actually, I think I miss being called the Raptor more. I liked that title. It was powerful and masculine and also neutral.”
Ret shrugged. “I get that feeling. I sometimes miss people calling me Retvik first and Ret second, but I think I am used to it now. Do you want me to keep on calling you Phovos?”
“I’d… I’d like that, yes.”
“Of course! I’ll do that then. Do you need help with something, Phovos?”
“Yeah… I do…”
Ret finished up what he was doing, then turned and properly inspected Phovoula. “There is something wrong. I am not good at working out emotions, but you are genuinely really upset. But it is an upset about a big thing you are struggling to talk about.”
“It’s something that goes completely against my Ksithan upbringing.”
“You… want to become a vegetarian?”
Phovoula blinked, then stared at Ret. “What?”
“Ksithans are brought up as mostly carnivores and you want to go against that?”
“No!”
“Um… you want to worship someone other than Kyr Arkay?” Ret was trying to work out what Phovoula meant and was clearly doing a bad job of it.
“No, you idiot! I… I… I want to be male. Ksithans are brought up thinking homosexuality is… not good and transsexuality is immoral!”
“Oh…” Ret shrugged. “I guess that makes more sense? But, well, they are not bad things. I am admittedly not a great person to ask though because I am a Rethan and we are all intersex and use neutral pronouns. Normally.”
“That’s exactly why I wanted to ask you though. Because Kayel is too… flamboyant about these things. He is… I think he calls it genderfluid. He chooses to be whatever gender he wants. You though, you settled down on being just male. And… I wanted advice.”
“I… I will be honest, Phovos, I only started calling myself ‘he’ because everyone, especially you, called me ‘he’, and, back then, I was barely an adult, so I was easily impressionable. And it did end up somewhat making me seem strange.”
“Oh.”
“But!” Ret quickly perked up. “I was ostracised already because I was an exile. And I accepted my pronouns and am happy with them. And if you want us to use male pronouns for you, that is what we will do!”
Phovoula paused. “What do you mean by “we”? I’m just talking to you.”
Ret gestured around. “All these people from other universes are very accepting. When we got here, people called Kuta “he” because Kyr Litvir is also a “he” and Kuta said they preferred “they” so that was what everyone did. The new guys messed it up a few times but they worked it out in the end. If you want us all to call you “he” instead of “she” because it would make you feel better, then you should tell us, and we will do it! We can also do it slowly, if you prefer, we can just start with scaly Phovos, me and my team and Kuta, then go from there.”
“I would appreciate that but… I… I don’t know. I feel like just a pronoun isn’t enough.”
“It is just a start!” Ret beamed. “We start with calling you “he” and seeing if you like it, then we slowly make other changes! Like, you could cut your, uh, mane differently, into a more male look and wear it down, rather than tying it back like girl Ksithans do. Maybe we can try a new name, if you do not like being called Phovos at the same time as the other Phovos. And I guess, since you can change how you look, you could do more things?”
“Like… like what?”
Ret went back to shrugging. “I do not know. But I do know that you fixed your broken horn and removed some of your scars. Could do more, I guess? But Tenuk would know better. Uh, my friend Tenuk, not weird creepy old Tenuk.”
Phovoula thought to herself for a moment. “I… I suppose so… But I have a bigger problem. How do I tell Phovos about this?”
“Just be honest and tell her.”
“But she might be angry.”
Ret shook his head. “She would not be angry. No way. Not in a million years. She might need some time to use the right pronouns and a new name, but she would never be angry at you. Because you two love each other the same way Kuta and I love each other and the same way Teekay and Elkay love each other. If anything, she might be happier because you would be happier.”
“Huh… I… I didn’t think of that…” Phovoula seemed to settle down. “Well… I have things I need to go and think about…”
“No worries!” Ret waved. “I am here if you want to talk more. But whatever you want to do, we will be right behind you, alright?”
“Thanks…” Phovoula muttered as she wandered off. “I needed that.”