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Wesa smiled and winked at Taban. "Yeah, I think so too."

Taban flinched. "Please dont flirt when you're that age. . . At least not around others. They tend to find it. . . creepy."

"Alright, calm down. I won't."

"I'm her new friend! Kasei-La, glad to meet your acquaintance." She held her hand out to Taban, smiling. "Don't worry, I only eat bugs. Chlorophyll based foods makes me vomit uncontrollably, and I also get ulcers."

Taban looked from Wesa to the kid again. "You have the strangest friends, ealn-du." he murmured, crouching down to shake her hand.

"I would deny being a weirdo, but it's completely true." She smiled. "So, do you have anything strange about you like Wesa does? Like ageing backwards, or suddenly changing fur colours every other season, or if you die, we'll get tons of little Taban seeds and a bunch of you with the EXACT same personality and memories?"

Taban made a face. "Well, uh. . . "

"Do the sword thing! Do the sword thing!" Wesa squealed, jumping up and down

Taban rolled his eyes and plunged his blade into his chest, reabsorbing it. ". . . Tadah?"

"That IS cool! Wait... You`re a grass spirit, right? Green hair, grass like blade... Hehehe..." She smirked at Taban. "So, if you have unprotected sex, does that mean you become a crab-grass spirit instead?" She giggled, not sure if Taban was going to get the joke."

Taban sighed and gave her a weary look. "Well, I am a grass spirit, yes. But that doesn't mean you can boss me around, alright?" He crossed his arms and gave his best try at a fierce glare. "And um, we don't. . . have sex." He blushed a little bit, looking more than a little uncomfortable.

Wesa just giggled and lifted up her skirt, showing off nothing but smooth fur. "Nothin' down below! We're technically neither gender."

"I was just having a little fun at your expense, Tabs. Now... Let's head back to the hotel. Hal will probably flip if I don't go back soon, believe me. By the way... Have you noticed there are a lot of people arriving here today?"

Wesa made a face and grabbed onto Taban's hand like she thought it was about to be stolen from her. "Tabs is MY name for him! YOU can't have it!" She stomped her foot.

Taban looked amused, but tried to hide it. "Yeah, let's get this little girl back to the Inn, dear. I'm sure her father would be upset if she stayed out with the moon all night."

Kasei-La's eyes went big, and she frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't..." Normally, she would have had a rebuttal to being called a little girl, but she was rather shocked that she had managed to offend her new friend. She kept her head down, and walked out the door sheepishly. If one payed attention to the light on her antenna, they would notice it had gained an orange tinge.

Taban walked slowly alongside Kasei-La, slowly swishing his tail in amusement while Wesa stomped next to him. "She's not even the same species, silly girl. Why would I be interested in anyone else anyway? In case you've forgotten, you have half of my soul and I have half of yours."

Wesa pouted, her tail angrily smacking her legs. "I know that, but that's MY name for you! I came up with it!"

"Yes, and it is very creative, dear." Taban told her, trying his best to keep his amusement from his voice.

Kasei-La kept quiet, her antenna light getting ever brighter orange as she got more upset. She wanted to apologize, but it felt like her throat was locking up as some pain coursed through it. Names were not very important to her, a leftover from her upbringing as a Venusian. She didn't realize that other people could take offense like that.

Taban looked over at Kasei-La, noticing her distress. "You know, it's really not that big of a deal."

"It's a BIG DEAL!"

"It's not a big deal. She's just a kid, you know?"

"I am NOT! I am older than you, Tabby! Hold your tongue! That's an order!"

Taban rolled his eyes, stuck out his tongue and pinched it, eliciting a giggle from his younger consort.

Kasei-La turned around and faced Wesa, her eyes the saddest puppy dog eyes she could muster. "I-I'm sorry Wesa... I did-n't me-e-ean to use yo-ur special nickna-a-ame for hi-im..." Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she snorted.

Wesa gave Kasei-La a Look. "It's not really that big a deal, you know. That's just my name for him. How would you like it if I walked up to your husband and called him sweetie pie?"

"Th-that's actually really co-ommon among my spe-ecies... I do-on't know wha-at I did wr-oong..."

Wesa looked up at Taban and then back at Kasei-La, a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Alright, well, let me explain this. . ." Taban paused, tapping his chin as he thought. "She and I are not so much two people as each a half of each other. Our souls were bonded together. If she were to die, well, permanently that is, with her soul completely destroyed, I would die as well. And vice versa as well. In our culture, and in fact, with many other cultures we have encountered, mates are hard to find. In cultures other than ours, mates are especially hard to KEEP. It is considered very, very rude to try and take someone's mate from them. You see? In Wesa's case, she's just being childish though. I couldn't leave her. She's part of me."

". . . Nnngh, you make my head hurt, Tabby." Wesa groaned, rubbing her temples. "Why're ya so smart?"

"Because right now, I am older than you."

"Ah. Right."

"Oooh... Because i-in my sp-e-ecies... Women a-a-actually have mu-ultiple mates... And... When a ma-an has been wi-ith ten women, he ki-ills himself in a ritual... I w-a-sn't trying to be affectionate t-o Tab-an ei-ther..."

Wesa shrugged. "It's really not a big deal."
"Really not." Taban agreed.
"But that's totally my name for him, no stealing!" Wesa grabbed ahold of Taban possessively again.
"No one is stealing me, Wesa. . . "
"Well, why not? You're super attractive!"
". . . to you, dear."

Kasei-La scratched her head, and gulped. "Honestly... It's actually... How to put this nicely... Kinda hard to tell who is the guy and who is the girl in this relationship, especially since you don't have genders... Besides, I'm actually only attracted by pheromones anyway." She smiled at Wesa. "Are we still friends, though?"

"Well, I've chosen female for my gender and Taban has chosen male. So there." Wesa shrugged. "And yeah, why wouldn't we be?"

"Because you got mad at me, and... Well, I don't know. You just scared me." She held out her arms for a hug, smiling to Wesa. "Alrighty then, I'll make sure not to call Taban that anymore."

Wesa let go of Taban to give Kasei-La a hug, while Taban watched with an amused air. "You do realize that she's a kid, right?" he asked.

"I'm twelve and a half, not a kid!" She smiled at Wesa, and kept walking for the inn. "I wonder if Mel's okay... She's really nice... Hey, look at that!" She pointed to the old, beat up, baby blue car in front of the Stumble Inn. "ANOTHER person!"

"Not you, Wesa. Wesa is a kid right now. And. . . so it is."