“Dada Relkir, are you busy?”
Relkir looked up from their tablet. They were currently sitting on the sofa, browsing through an armour catalogue, trying to pick out an armour style and an armour colour for their wedding. Normally, Rethans wore a colour based on the combined colour of the two poten-partners’ plating, but in Relkir and Gath’s place, Relkir’s red and Gath’s cream and brown plating didn’t make an appealing colour that one would want to wear. So Relkir was looking for alternatives.
Litvir on the other hand, they had popped by to say hello. Relkir had assumed they had just popped by after work, but it turned out that Litvir had the day off and had decided to spend half of it with their adopted father.
“I am not busy, what is wrong?”
“I have… questions…” Litvir seemed very hesitant as they sat down on the sofa opposite Relkir. “I… I have feelings in my body I do not really understand. And looking them up on the Olanet has made me feel funny.”
Sensing that Litvir was genuinely upset, Relkir immediately put their tablet down and beckoned Litvir over.
“Do not worry, my dear. Come and sit down next to me and we will talk things through.”
Litvir glanced around the room, as if checking to make sure that they were alone, then did as they were asked.
“What feelings do you want to talk about?”
Litvir didn’t answer at first. They glanced around again, then wrapped their cape around themselves. Relkir didn’t really know why Litvir liked capes so much, they almost always wore one.
“Occasionally, I get a feeling in my downstairs area. And it makes me want to look at other Rethans that are pretty and makes me want to do… a thing with them. I do not understand the thing. I think it is the feeling you get when you look at mama Gath. Sometimes I get it when I think about Miisa. I once… I once spoke to old mama Elkay about it, and he said I had an “erection” and I could not work out how to make it go away until it went away on its own… But also, I looked it up on the olanet and I saw… pictures… I… I also did a big lie… I clicked on a button that said I was over 18 years old when I am not 18 years old…”
Relkir thought for a moment, then smiled and put an arm around Litvir. “What you are feeling is perfectly natural. All Rethans feel that way occasionally, because that is part of the process required to make new, baby Rethans.”
Litvir shuddered. “I… I watched… I watched a video… where… is… is that… is that how we make new Rethans?”
“What do you mean?”
“You… you put that… inside… inside the other…” Litvir was struggling with their words. “It was gross and horrible and I hated it. But the two Rethans in the video seemed to like it. As did the… other beings… I did not like looking but I forgot to put the search on Rethan sites only… Took me too long to find the information, and I did not like the information.”
“Are you upset, Litvir?” Relkir asked.
“Yes. It was all horrible. And I do not like that a tiny part of my brain thinks that what I saw is attractive in a way. It looked painful and sad and icky.”
“Well, the good news is that you do not have to do any of that sort of thing if you do not want to.”
“I do not want to!” Litvir exclaimed. “It is horrible!”
“Then just do not do it. That is fine!” Relkir smiled. “I will make this very clear to you. Your body belongs to you and only you. You choose what you want to do with it. While I would definitely wait… probably at least five years before considering anything remotely sexual, you are the only person who can decide whether you want to let someone else touch you, or if you do not want to be touched at all. And if anyone tries suggesting otherwise, you tell them no, it is your body, your rules.”
Litvir sighed. “I guess. I do not want to touch anyone like that. I do not even like kissing. Hugs are alright but only if we have armour on. I do not like the idea of naked hugging.”
“That is perfectly fine. Maybe you will change your mind when you are older, but for now, you choose what makes you happy.”
“Still…” Litvir sighed some more. “I have… questions… Well, not really questions… What I saw… that is what you and mama Gath do, yes?”
Relkir nodded. “It is, yes.”
“And you… like it?”
“Yes.”
Litvir frowned. “That is icky.”
“I will be blunt, Litvir, I was denied the right to choose with my own body for a long time. Now I have a choice, I choose to share my body with Gath. But you can choose to not do anything with your body. Maybe, when you are older, you will find someone you will want to spend time with the way I do with Gath.”
“I guess. Still icky though. It is worse now that I know that is how you make an egg. I… kinda thought that the egg just… happens from kissing. But no, it comes from the no-no hole. Seems very scary and icky and painful.”
“Litvir… did you watch a video of someone laying?”
Litvir hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. I should have listened to the big red warning. And I should not have clicked the button… Will I get into trouble for lying and saying that I was 18 when I am not?”
Relkir tutted a bit. “You will not get into trouble, but I do recommend you follow those warnings. It is fine if the button says over thirteen, because you are physically about sixteen years old, but anything over sixteen, you should be a good kid and not click on it.”
“Alright…” Litvir sighed some more. “I need something nice to clear my head now. I do not like thinking about the gross things. I wish I did not look.”
“Well, you did, and you learned some important knowledge. But for now, do you want to look at armour with me?”
“Armour for what?”
“My wedding.”
Litvir blinked, then started smiling. “I would. That sounds nice. Thank you for talking to me, dada.”
“No worries, my darling!” Relkir smiled back, patting Litvir on the shoulder. “If you ever want to ask questions, you know where to find me.”