“Whew! What a day!”
Retvik grunted as he laid down on the sofa, watching as Kayel bounced around, fetching drinks for everyone. The mood was high, but everyone was pretty tired. They’d all just got back home from work, having fought a massive beast in the arenas. However, Kayel also fought his first solo match, winning decisively, having kicked the shit out of an overly eager Torr who wanted revenge after Xeno Dessaron One’s fight against the Golden Charge. Weirdly, there’d been an uptick in Torr challengers, and, according to the Raptor, no one was sure if that was a good thing or not.
Nyssi and Tenuk were also pretty tired but also pretty perky. Considering what had happened in the beast match, with the colossal monster throwing up all over Nyssi after Tenuk turned into a Banikan and kicked it in the stomach, she seemed fine. Tenuk though had made a new friend in the form of the newest house fighter, a Vohra by the name of Talok.
“That was definitely a day!” Tenuk beamed as he took up the entirety of the other sofa, forcing Nyssi and Kayel to share the last of Retvik’s three sofas. Weirdly, Tenuk wasn’t his normal, Spast self, he was currently shapeshifted into a Rethavok, mimicking Retvik’s shape but not his colours.
“All things considered, yeah!” Nyssi added, then glanced at Tenuk. “So, uh, why are you friends with that Vohra?”
“With Talok?”
“Yeah. Traditionally, Spasts and Vohra don’t get along at all.”
Tenuk shrugged, then changed forms again, turning himself into a bright blue Temthan with dark blue scales. “Yeah but, let’s be fair, I’m not a normal Spast, and she’s not a normal Vohra.”
“She?” Nyssi blinked. “I thought most Vohra, most… uh… Vahla, I think they’re called… the not stupid ones… I thought they were all neutered and genderless? Because they have a massive imbalance where 90% of them gender male and are neutered so they can be workers and never grow up?”
“Well, yeah, but Talok is female but she was accidentally gendered wrong and neutered as a baby. Poor thing randomly gets anger tremors and needs calming down because apparently you’re not supposed to neuter females. Plus, Talok’s nestless, she’s living on her own and I offered to help her settle down.”
“Vohra can live on their own?” Kayel asked.
“Well, most of them can’t. But Talok’s special. She’s kinda like us. Semi-immortal. And more intelligent because of it.”
“Huh…” Kayel mused. “Funny how we keep on running into semi-immortal beings. Phovos, Thassalin, Kuta and now Talok… I know Phovos used to have her own Dessaron Arena team years ago, but damn, those four would be as good as us.”
“Hmph…” Retvik grunted some more, semi-lost in thought. “Kuta would never do public matches. They try to keep their powers hidden…”
Tenuk grinned then turned to Retvik. “So how is your girlfriend?”
“Boyfriend, I guess. Kuta is fine. Suddenly quite busy though.”
Tenuk paused, looking quite confused. “Uh… you’re the female in the relationship?”
Retvik sat up and stared at Tenuk. “This is why we use the term poten-partner, and keep everything gender neutral.”
“So you ARE the female?” Tenuk asked again.
“We are both male and we are both female.”
Nyssi snickered, but Kayel seemed more willing to try and clarify things. “I think what Tenuk’s trying to ask is if you let Kuta sleep with you, with you being the receiver. It’s hard for non-Skyans and non-Rethans to understand that we really don’t care who does what, and most of us take it in turns to give anyway. It’s even harder because most folks see you as singularly male and very, very masculine, so, to a lot of people, you receiving would be almost as weird as ultra-stud Timik admitting he likes to be pegged.”
Retvik continued to stare at Tenuk, then grunted and laid back down. “It is none of your business what I did when I played with Kuta.”
“Kuta totally dicked you…” Nyssi snickered some more. “Big buff Retvik bending over for-”
A pillow bounced off Nyssi’s head. Retvik was clearly quite annoyed by all of this.
“It is none of your business!”
“You seem embarrassed!” Nyssi teased back. “Like, way more embarrassed than I expected. Me and Kayel are blunt about our sexual escapades all the time.”
Retvik sighed. “I am embarrassed. It was my first time. I enjoyed it a lot. And I am annoyed that Kuta will not be able to visit again for a while. It is fine for you two, but it has been ten years since another Rethan was willing to touch me, let alone snuggle with me and I am now brutally aware of what I have been missing all this time.”
“Oh. Ooooooh…” Nyssi trailed off. “Oh… You lost your virginity… I was about to make a comment saying that you’re in your fifties but I forgot you were basically not allowed to have sex until a month ago. Hang on, you dated that Isaar guy for like six months-”
“We played together twice, both times I gave. It was easier back then and much easier to hide, getting male protection over female protection. I then proceeded to spend two weeks panicking that someone would find out…” Retvik sighed, then lowered his voice. “It is nice that I finally have standard reproductive freedoms now, but I want more. And unlike Temthans and Skyans, us Rethans are monogamous. So I just have to suck it up and wait until I can see Kuta again. Not that any other Rethans would. I still carry that stigma, even though I have let my upper-caste plating regrow.”
Kayel shrugged. “Totally understandable. But I totally saw Vel stealing glances of you. Considering Retha Squad Three were the first team we beat and they were clearly super embarrassed by it, Vel totally turned around and started respecting you even before you were un-exiled. Also, I’m pretty sure Kayess-En fancies you too, but she’s way, way too embarrassed to ever admit that since you stomped her ass twice.”
Retvik grunted some more, then laid back down. “I do not like this conversation. Can we go back to talking about Tenuk’s new immortal friend? Or maybe discuss how Kayel won his first solo match today?”
“Hah…” Kayel laughed somewhat nervously. “Would have been more awesome had that bastard not thrown up all over me. No idea what Torr actually eat but damn I had to shower twice to get the stench off me!”
“Still, you took that Torr out while barely actually hurting him!” Nyssi was blatantly impressed. “You just used your shadow powers to throw him around until he wasn’t able to fight and he passed out on his own! Can’t talk about throwing up though. You’ve definitely made me vomit a few times.”
“Well, if it works, it ain’t stupid!” Tenuk grinned. “Also, I’m pretty happy with the silly names they gave me and Nyssi. I’m totally fluffy and it turns out I really like stabbing people. I mean, it ain’t as badass as ‘Shadowstalker’, but still!”
“Can I ask, are you fluffier than most Spasts?” Nyssi asked. “Because you are particularly fluffy.”
Tenuk nodded. “I am. Still got my teenage fluff. But also most Spasts trim their fur down but I don’t. Can’t make myself look like the dead Lord Prince, right?”
Nyssi glanced over at Tenuk, who was still shapeshifted into a Temthan. “Uh, Tenuk, another question, do you have any Spast friends?”
“Uh, no.”
“Do you want some Spast friends?”
“Uh…”
Nyssi turned to Retvik. “You’ve lived around here for a while, there’s Spasts that live in Palaestra, right?”
Retvik nodded.
“Will you help Tenuk find some Spast friends?”
“Of course!” Retvik tutted. “I do not know any other Spasts personally though, but there is definitely a small sub-district on the edge of the city. Not that I have been there though. There is also the city of Kazaks, but I will understand if Tenuk would not want to go there.”
“Why would I not want to go there?” Tenuk blinked in confusion.
“That… was where the hotel explosion was?”
Tenuk blinked some more. “I’ll be honest, I don’t remember any of that happening. Like, some of my amnesia went away, but that whole week is just… blank for me.”
“Guess we’ll just have to make some new memories then!” Nyssi giggled. “Alongside some new friends!”