I hadn’t really appreciated how good being unconscious was when the people around you wanted to talk about everything with the same vigor a horde of sex-ed teachers might.
I heard Donna gasp. Wilson clucked, but there was no way the chicken understood what a barb was. Right?
“Did he just…? Did you just…? Wait.” Donna’s tea steamed on the counter, but she was in front of me, leaning on the kitchen table and looking up at Inkiri, then down at me, then up again. “Are you telling me your bagu cock is like a cat’s cock? That’s…fascinating.”
I stared at her. “Fascinating?!”
She shrugged. “I’m a biologist by training, so yeah. Fascinating.”
The glass door opened and closed again, which was my only indication that Vergis was about to join us. Oh, joy.
“Your penises lock inside your partner, then?” Donna went on, looking from Kinnek to Inkiri now.
“Only a hangu-na’s,” Kinnek said, which felt like too much information. Really, bagu were a different species. Shouldn’t they do their best to keep an air of mystery about them?
Vergis whistled before he came into view. “Oh, are we discussing fetishes?”
Donna shook her head. “No, just dicks. Although, to be clear, even if I weren’t ace, I’d prefer women’s parts, but this is intriguing all the same.” She looked at me. “How does it feel? When it locks in place?”
Vergis sniggered.
Inkiri tilted his head. “Donna, did you not explain that you were trans? What’s ace?”
I honestly wasn’t sure whether he was running interference for me or just genuinely interested in anything and everything related to human sexuality. That made me wonder about bagu. They had to have queer bagu. They probably didn’t use the same words or concepts we did, but we queers had been there for the paintings in Lascaux, and we’d be there when humans finally left the planet and went elsewhere. Thinking about it, Aër was elsewhere, and I’d gone there, already proving my own point.
I wondered vaguely whether I’d get a statue, even a little one, to commemorate my efforts in queer exploration. Donna gave me this look that reminded me I got resting bitch face when I thought while other people were having conversations, so I shifted my focus back to that.
Donna crossed her arms and sighed as if she’d explained all this before. “Asexual means I’m not aroused by just the sight of a nice pair of shoulders.” She poked Inkiri’s, which really was a very nice pair. “Or even a nice penis, barbed or otherwise, although I can appreciate it if it’s pretty.” I was blushing furiously, and no one was stopping Donna. “Trans means that I’m not the sex I was assigned at birth, but thank fuck for hormone therapy and surgical options.”
Inkiri gave a grunt of acknowledgment. “We’ll try to accompany you to Dublin for your regular hormone therapy. We haven’t forgotten.”
That made me take notice and sit up just that much straighter. “Wait, are you saying there are still doctors in Dublin?”
Donna looked at me like I had grown a second head, which I preferred to her looking at me like I was about to tell her what a barb up my ass felt like.
“Yes, there are still doctors there. Emergency services are running, and medical staff are providing essential treatment to survivors. Were you thinking it was all the Wild West out here? Didn’t you pick up anything from the news?”
Her eyebrows had climbed up her forehead, and fine, maybe I hadn’t paid attention to every little thing, but that just went to show how…out of it I had been. Traumatized. I was still in the process of realizing that, mostly because the stress was slowly leaving me. That was all thanks to Inkiri, who made me feel safe for the first time in two years. There was new stress because of the cola ash people, of course, but at least I could sleep without waking every two hours from freaky dreams or at any tiny little sound that might’ve been a monster out to eat me.
“I was?—”
But Inkiri clicked and cupped my neck with his palm. “Rory was very scared after the apocalypse happened. He moved around a lot to run from the monsters, and he encountered other humans who were not as friendly as one would hope.”
That right there was why Inkiri was the best. I burrowed closer against his side, and he clicked soothingly and held me.
Donna sighed. “Well, shit. I’m sorry about that, honey. You’re not from around here, which can’t have been easy either.” She scooped up Wilson. “I’m good on my own, out here on the farm, but I’m still glad I have Wilson. And the other animals. Even the random, loudly fucking houseguests.”
Vergis snorted. “Do not throw me in with those two.”
“Muffin, you sound like your daddy sometimes, all grumpy. It only makes you cuter.” Kinnek looked at his kid with dreamy eyes. “Give me a kiss?”
Vergis turned away. “No, thank you.”
Kinnek’s face fell. “Aww, Muffin. Cruel Muffin.”
I licked my lips. “Weren’t we… I mean, didn’t we want to leave?” I hoped we were. Just in case Donna had more questions about bagu anatomy.
Inkiri brushed my cheek with his thumb. “Mmm, yes. Before we go, I have something for you.”
