Rain Dance

Kimi woke as soon as Voltaire started stirring. "Good morning" She yawned "Did you sleep well?" She asked, rubbing her eye gently. In all honesty, she had gotten the best night of sleep that she had ever had in the entire length of time she had been alive. She didn't even dream.

Trevor had never actually been sleeping. He was cat-napping and keeping watch, so when they stirred they didn't disturb him.

"Good morning is an oxymoron, but thanks anyway," Voltaire replied, sitting up. It had taken him a while to get to sleep, but once he was actually sleeping he had slept well. Adair had just gotten up as well, still groggy and trying to tame his wild bedhead hair. It amused the Hunter. Ava had just left, probably to get food.

"How long do we have until our match?" asked Voltaire.

"Two hours," replied Adair, trying to flatten an unruly piece of hair.

"Think you can fix your hair by then?" asked Voltaire with a smirk.

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"You could probably tame it if you got it wet. I have a brush if you want to go to the hotsprings" Kimi offered politely.

"Probably wouldn't be a bad idea, actually," Adair remarked. "I've got my own brush, so I should be good."

Voltaire was already brushing his long hair nearby. He had no intention of fussing over it for over an hour like Adair sometimes did, but he did want it to look decent.

"Alright" Kimi smiled at him lightly.

Trevor got up and gave a very cat-like stretch. "One of you, stay with her. I'm going hunting." He stated before walking out without another word.

"Fine, I will," Voltaire replied, yawning. "How long will you be gone? We've got a match in two hours, so we'll have to leave for that before then."

"I'm going down to the springs then," said Adair, starting to leave. "Are you two going out for breakfast?"

Voltaire thought about it. All the changelings could go get food in a cafeteria-like area whenever they wanted. It was usually a busy place, with the fellow changelings socializing and occasionally sparring with each other. Like Adair and Voltaire, most changelings didn't get to hang with others beside their companions that much.

"I'll get Ava to bring us something," Voltaire replied. "She can't eat with us because she's not a changeling, remember?"

"Oh right," Adair replied, walking outside. "Behave you two."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why does he always say that?" Kimi frowned. "oh, and you can just leave me here when you have to go, I'll be fine by myself for a little while."

"I'll be fine until Trevor finds out I went for a snack break," Voltaire answered, though he was more annoyed with Adair than Kimi's summon. "And don't worry about Mr. Hero. He's just being a smartass."

Voltaire finished his brushing and tied his hair back into a ponytail. He wished Ava had salvaged a mirror among all the random junk, but there was none to be found.

"Why? What does he mean?" Kimi asked, tilting her head. Her white hair fell in a cascade to the floor. "I didn't upset him did I?"

"No, he's not mad. He's just being annoying," Voltaire answered. "Basically he's staying don't make out while we're gone, which we wouldn't be doing anyway. For one, Trevor would tear my insides out."

Kimi looked at him blankly. "Make... Out?" She questioned. "What's that?"

Voltaire was afraid he would get that response. This was like trying to explain gender and reproduction to Ava when she was little. ("Buy you and Fiery are close. Why don't you pair?" "...That's not how it works, Ava.") Though the phoenix sounded and acted like she was female, she was technically genderless. There was no point in reproducing if one could just reincarnate oneself over and over.

"...Foreplay, sex, that kind of thing," he muttered, looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh! You mean mating!" Kimi explained. "...what's foreplay?" She asked curiously. "I'm not sure how human mating works, but Mirra assured me the basics were similar."

Voltaire rubbed his forehead as his face slowly got hotter.

"Uh, it's just...the stuff that comes before sex. It...varies per person, so I can't really sum it up."

Adair came back in, and Voltaire was reminded of how he was gotten into this awkward subject in the first place.

"You!" he shouted, throwing his brush at Adair and hitting him in the face. "This is all your fault!"

Poor Adair just stood there in confusion, rubbing his forehead.

Kimi was silent as she tried to process it. "Well what do you do before you mate?" She finally asked, acting as if it were perfectly normal.

"...What are you two talking about?" asked Adair, raising an eyebrow.

"The conversation you started when you were being a smartass," Voltaire replied flatly, before turning back to Kimi. "Like I said, foreplay is different stuff to different people, so we'll just leave it at that."

"Thought I told you two to behave."

"That's how this all started."

Kimi turned to Adair. "What about you? What is your 'foreplay'?" she asked

"Eh?" Adair asked, turning slightly red and then looking away. "Well...I don't know. I've never done it before."

"What? No damsels in distress wanted to make love to you yet?" Voltaire asked with a smirk.

"A Hero is supposed to save damsels and stay chaste," Adair growled back.

"Then how are you supposed to pass on your Heroic bloodline if you never have sex?"

"That happens when I get married."

"No practice runs beforehand?"

"No!"

(that post made me spill tea down my front lol)

Kimi watched the argument go back and forth. "How different is mating on earth?" She asked. "How does it work?"

The two changelings paused awkwardly.

"...I dunno," Voltaire finally replied. "...Go ask some non-virgin people about that."

"Oh, so you're a virgin too despite all your bragging?" asked Adair with a smirk.

Voltaire leered at him.

Kimi looked at them blankly. "What's that?" She asked. Human terms were lost on her.

"Virgins are people who haven't had sex yet," Voltaire explained. "Which means we don't know crap about it personally, just rumors and stories we've heard. End of story."

There was something humiliating about admitting that, but maybe now the awkward questions would stop. Maybe.

Kimi turned her face away, thoughtful but her expression was mournful. She felt like that- A Virgin- but she knew she wasn't. She wondered if the humans had a term for what had happened to her.

Voltaire noticed her odd sadness. He hoped he hadn't hurt her with his curt answer.

"Sex is...awkward for humans to talk about," he said. "I don't know why that is, it just is."

"I was thinking of something else. Sorry" Kimi mumbled. She got up and moved out into the hall. She sat beside the doorway with a sigh.