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“Before Raemond inherited the family business, I think it belonged to their aunt… uncle… ancle? Cambion all have a different thing with gender. Some of them like gendered terms, others don’t, but generally they’re all what we’d consider genderqueer.”
“I feel that.” Vega smiles wide. “I’m what they’d call… a little queer.”
“Alittle? You’re really gayandreally tall, there’s nothing little to you.” I shake my head. “Anyway, I think it was their aunt Roxana. We always got our trees here growing up, it’s just kind of a tradition. Maybe one day Iris will have a kid, and they’ll come here too.”
“Vega, would you be a dear and grab an ax?” my mother yells in our direction.
“No need,” Vega shouts. “I’ll just use my magic.”
Raemond snaps their fingers and is suddenly next to us, staring up at us with golden eyes, more yellow than Vega’s. “You cannot use magic to cut down these trees; you have to do it by hand.”
“That takes so much effort,” my dad says, walking our way.
“It takes the same amount of effort it took humans to cut down trees before The Convergence. I’m not trying to be a dick; it’s just a rule from the mage who created these trees. You have to do it the old-fashioned way,” Raemond explains.
Vega grabs an ax off the wall and throws it over her shoulder, heading back towards my mother and the tree she’s selected. My father follows suit. Raemond transforms, their body shifting into a tall, lean and muscular figure. They grab an ax, and we all head to the tree. Although I’ve known Raemond for a long time, this illusion skill is new, and it’s impressive.
Iris is sitting on the ground, watching videos on her phone. I know twenty-four and twenty-two isn’t a massive age gap, but she looks like a child to me right now, the way she’s so enamored by whatever she’s watching. She’ll always be my little sister, no matter how hard she tries to be bigger than me.
Vega swings the ax, chopping at the base of the tree. The muscles in her arms flex with every swing, shown off thanks to her tank top. I know that my whole family is next to me, that Raemond is here too, but I don’t care. As V chops down that tree, it is just me and her in this whole wide world. I stare at her beautiful lady orc ass and remember how she looks without the sweatpants on.
I am, once again, reminded that green is my new favorite color.
* * *
Vega and Raemond carry the massive tree onto the roof of my dad’s luxury SUV. You can see my mom wince at every branch which scratches against the top of the vehicle, but my dad doesn’t seem to mind. He stares at Vega in awe.
“Dude, I think Dad is more in love with your girlfriend than you are,” Iris jests.More in love with my girlfriend.I let the words settle in my mouth, but I don’t utter another sound.
Once the pine is secured, my mother pulls out her phone and sends Raemond the dabloons she owes them for the tree. Raemond walks back through the gate and waves their hand and tail simultaneously, saying goodbye.
“Are you two close?” Vega asks Iris.
“Yeah! Raemond is in my book club. We read a lot of smut together,” Iris says without an ounce of shame. It’s kind of amazing how much she’s unapologetically herself.
My mom is sneakily trying to take pictures as the three of us are talking, when my dad starts the car. “Come on Ilona, we’ve got to get home to decorate the tree for Gratefulness Dinner. We only have a few days to prepare the house,” he shouts.
“Coming, dear.”
She gives Iris and I wet, sloppy kisses on the cheek before hopping into dad’s car.Ick.
Iris drove herself here, and she gives us a small wave before jumping into her own vehicle. “See ya in a couple days, love birds.”
We hop into the car, and Vega looks at me with fervor in her eyes. She leans over my body, her arm hovering above me as she locks my car door, and then grabs my face in her hand and kisses me.
The kiss deepens before I break from it. What is she doing? “Vega, we’re in public.”
“Did we not just see a half-demon bent over reading smut?” Vega asks, and I stifle a laugh.
“Yes, but there are children who come here, Vega.”
“Ugh, fine. You’re right.” Vega gives me a look, one eyebrow raised. “Smoothies?”
“A smoothie sounds great right now.”
* * *
The next morning, I was slow to wake, slow to get up, and slow to start the day. Vega and I spent hours in bed snuggling, watching a Christmas movie from every millennium of humanity. We started with the 1900s, and went all the way up until recently, which ended with a movie about a satyr and a cambion falling in love over the holidays.
