Page 30 of Legends and Longing

Well, Earthlings.

Before any of us could respond to the question, even my much more functioning mates, Agent Murphy spoke up. “Raxius? Have you consented to this conversation? Consent is important for discussions as well as actions, and it is for anyone no matter how they participate in those types of relationships.”

Agent Murphy was handling this conversation a lot better than I’d expected and I couldn’t help wondering if finding his mate had mellowed him. He’d even thought to make sure Raxius wasn’t being held against his will…which after getting to know Zorin could’ve accidentally happened if my enthusiastic mate was curious enough.

I thought it was an easy question but my mates went very still. Instead of being worried like I was, Klynn looked like he wanted to glare at them. “Consent is clearly explained in the language transfer and exists here. It is not confusing or surprising. Please explain your reaction.”

Zorin and Raxius both jerked but I couldn’t read enough through our bond to figure out why they were surprised.

Was Klynn being more confrontational than they were expecting?

Zorin finally spoke but it felt very cautious or neutral maybe. “There are a variety of types of relationships. Understanding those is…complicated.”

It wasn’t really about consent but I could understand why he’d brought it up that way.

Me.

I was complicated.

“Yes.” Klynn didn’t let the confusing response stop him from charging right back in. “The basic variations on the main dynamics are Dominants, submissives, and the people who are labeled as being a switch. They switch between being Dominant and submissive depending on the situation and their feelings.”

He was a lot chattier when we found a topic he felt confident lecturing people on.

“Once your main variation has been identified, you sort through secondary options. That is where the people of Earth have the most diversity.” Klynn’s gaze shifted between us like he was trying to decide something.

Probably who was the troublemaker among us.

Me.

I was the complicated one and the troublemaker.

Klynn didn’t let his questions stop his lecture, though. “The intensity of pain and emotional preferences will also vary the options. A branching chart to work through might be ideal but I did not find a comprehensive one on Earth. They do what is called winging it. Do you need an explanation of that reference?”

I immediately shook my head but it was slightly startling when both of my mates practiced doing it too.

Was Raxius doing it just because Zorin kept practicing our nonverbal language?

“Those were both clear nonverbal signals and the correct ones as long as you were indicating that you did not need an explanation.” Klynn just ignored us when we all sat there stupidly.

Ugh.

He turned to me.

I felt my face heating up as he seemed to get a stubborn look on his face. “You must explain to Zorin and Raxius if a response is not clear.”

Klynn’s expression got even sterner but he didn’t back down, making me wonder how he was such a confident sub. “Our nonverbal signals are much smaller and usually more subtle than yours and we use cultural expectation in conversations far more than the people of Earth seem to. They may not understand something is confusing you or upsetting you until a safeword is used. Communicating early will prevent this.”

Ugh.

He expected a response.

“I…I’m not really good at that.” Getting the first part out made it a little easier to keep going. “Shutting down verbally when I get overwhelmed has been an issue in our communication.”

A big issue.

“What forms of nonverbal communication can you use?” The way Klynn immediately jumped to that made me think he needed to sit down with Zorin and talk about it at some point even if that would annoy both of them. “They are smart enough to learn American Sign Language even if you sometimes question their intelligence.”

Faint feelings of laughter came from Raxius. I knew why it was funny but I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. Klynn’s very flat delivery of making sure I knew my mates weren’t as dumb as he thought they were pretending was ridiculous.