“Lots of people have your hair.” The Pyclon pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re not exactly a fashion icon.”
“Your main character is practically Gem with boobs, and her best friend”—Toni gestured violently at himself—“is a flying cow version of me! It’s insulting.”
“Aw, I wanna be in your graphic novel. I don’t care if you make me a cow or give me boobs.” Dex waggled his tongue obnoxiously and flexed. “Just as long as I keep these guns.”
“I will pay you an exorbitant amount of money to make him look like a naked mole rat,” Cya said, and Dex narrowed his eyes at them.
“What’s a naked golrath?”
“Mole rat,” half of the group corrected.
“Whatever,” Dex dismissed. “Is it buff?”
Fighting to keep their expression neutral, Cya nodded. “Yes. Very.”
“Alright!” Dex fist-pumped before frowning suspiciously at them again. “Wait a minute…”
As everyone smothered chuckles and smiles, Dex yanked out his phone and typed furiously. When he found what he was looking for, he released a cry of dismay and rounded Cya with wide, horrified eyes.
“This thing’s not buff!” he accused, phone screen filled with search result images. “It’s hairless and disgusting!”
“Oh, my bad,” Cya deadpanned, turning to Rusty. “Seriously, though. Like, so much money.”
“You think Rusty’s loyalty can be bought? He’s better than peppy bribes,” Dex declared confidently as he crossed his thick arms over his chest.
“Petty,” Cya, Zef, and Quin corrected.
Dex ignored them. “We’re practically brothers, forged in the fires of furry adversity. Rusty would never betray our Mammylion bond.”
“How much money?” Rusty asked.
Gasping dramatically, Dex turned his outrage on the Pyclon. “Dude! The Mammylion bond!”
Rusty raised his palms in surrender. “Sorry, man, but you don’t understand the extent of Gem’s credit card debt.” To Cya, he asked, “Seriously, how much?”
With a hair-flip, Cya grinned in haughty satisfaction. “We’ll talk numbers later.”
FormostofMay,Cya’s parents weren’t around. They saw them periodically, an evening here, a weekend there, but they usually had the house to themself. They were accustomed to the quiet, to the solitude. They spent a lot of time working on their jewelry, experimenting with mixed metals while their rocks tumbled for weeks at a time.
Hemersyn accompanied them to The Pentagram’s annual mineral fair, hosted in Envy. They browsed quartz and topaz, pilfered through obsidian, onyx, and labradorite. They filled their basket with rough agate and jasper and tourmaline.
In the more heavily secured areas, they inspected emeralds and rubies, sapphire and fire opals. They wasted the whole day, dragging Hemersyn here and there, rambling excitedly about the different classifications and molecular makeups. He was a good sport through it all, helping them shoulder the many bags they filled with fresh supplies.
As they lunched at one of the many food carts, Cya watched the crowd full of Hellians and humans alike. Parents carted around children, and couples meandered through stalls, fingers and tails twined. An Avia couple stood a few feet away, waiting for their food, and they were laughing together, their beaked noses touching sweetly.
Cya took a bite of their wrap, gaze ping-ponging between the couple and Hemersyn. “Why didn’t you ever marry?” they asked as he twirled his fork to capture a glob of wriggling spiced worms on his plate.
With a smirk, he brought the bite to his mouth. “I was married.”
Genuinely shocked, they nearly dropped their wrap. “What? When? Who? You can’t possibly still be married?”
“Think so highly of me, do you?”
“No, that’s not—I just mean, because you’re always with me.”
Chuckling, he swallowed his food and took a sip of his milkshake. “Accurately deduced. We were together for seven years before we separated.”
“Oh.” They took another bite, crunching through crisp vegetables and savory meat. “Did you work for my parents then?”
