Svetlana raised her hands in a placating manner. “Can we talk about this?”

“There is no need to talk. Stand still and this issue will be solved, Kevin-dearest,” Plynx replied with a smile as she raised the blaster.

Svetlana dove as Plynx pulled the trigger, rolling out of the way. The beam instead hit a house cat that was coming down the stairs, causing the small calico to grow and turn fully orange.

At least it confirmed that Plynx had another gender-bender ray, instead of something more deadly. Svetlana still had to dodge as Plynx fired at her again, scrambling over into the dining room. Plynx chased after her, firing wildly as Svetlana dove under the table. 

It was ironic that Plynx had been in charge of so much of her agility training and so was the reason she’d made it this far. She also quietly cursed having left O’tmyil at home today, but her robotic girlfriend had wanted to stay home and watch a stream. So Svetlana had only her own reflexes to rely on as she jumped out of the way of another beam.

Further blasts forced her back into the foyer, from which she was then pushed into the living room where everyone else was.

“Sorry!” she shouted as she leapt over the couch.

Plynx fired wildly at her trail, Svetlana too forced to scramble to look back and see if anyone had been hit. She was focused on running over to the kitchen, and away from Plynx.

Reaching the kitchen, she found a silvered serving tray and grabbed that as a shield, barely deflecting another volley of blasts from Plynx with it. 

“Why must you-love continue this running?” Plynx asked, her eye twitching. “You are changed by the ray and this will fix you.”

“It won’t fix anything!” Svetlana shouted back. “Gah! I just went through this with Augusta! You can ask her for the rundown.”

Plynx shot off another volley, Svetlana dropping out of the way this time and wincing as the blasts hit the shiny stove fan, ricocheting all over the room. Luckily none of them hit her, and she was able to scramble back into the dining room.

“Come on, Plynx. It’s still me. I still love you, can’t you still love me?” Svetlana asked, crouched behind the table. “Have I really changed that much that you think the ray messed with me?”

Plynx blinked and stared at her. “You are very most changed, Kevin-dearest. You dress provocatively. You talk much much more. You are more the… touchy-feely. You even walk different. Clearly the ray has done much to your human brain.”

Svetlana winced. “Ok. Bad example… is Cartridge changed much?”

Plynx opened her mouth, before her eyes dropped off to one side in thought. “Well, McIntyre-annoyance is mostly the same, though less… pushy with flirting.”

“Mhm. See? It’s not the ray. It’s just me being happier now,” Svetlana replied, trying a slight smile with the hope Plynx was getting it.

There did seem to be genuine care in her eyes when she looked at Svetlana again. She smiled a little as well.

And then she closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. No. It makes no sense. This is not you-love!”

Plynx then opened fire again, with another burst of blasts. Svetlana let out a shriek before scrambling over to the stairs under further blasts. She ran upstairs due to the still monkey part of her brain equating ‘up’ with safety, only to discover Plynx was hot on her heels. Which made sense, firstly because there were stairs, they weren’t hard to climb, but also because cats chasing hominids up trees was the natural order of the savannah.

Svetlana began to panic when she discovered Augusta had given into the same monkey instinct and rushed upstairs for safety. Scrambling over, Svetlana grabbed the blonde and slid her between herself and Plynx as a shield.

“Plea—” she started, only to discover Plynx was already pulling the trigger.

Augusta’s eyes went wide for a split second, and then the blonde passed out before anyone could process that Plynx’s blaster hadn’t actually shot anything. Instead it had let out an odd mechanical whine, followed by a short message in Issiod’rian.

“Overheated? Seriously?” Plynx hissed. “So much for new improved model.”

Svetlana let out the breath she was holding and left Augusta slumped against the wall. Then she walked over and grabbed Plynx by the shoulders, staring into those large feline eyes.

“Listen, Plynx. I don’t know how things are with your people, but here on Earth, we’ve recognised more and more that people’s genders don’t always line up with the one they were assigned at birth. It’s not something to be ‘fixed’,” Svetlana said, trying to muster as much authority as she could.

Plynx stared at her, confusion in her big eyes. “What.”

“It’s called being trans,” Svetlana offered. “I’m—”

“No. No. What do you-love mean ‘gender assigned at birth’? What sort of society would assign an infant a thing as important as their gender? One works one’s gender out as a child, and reveals their decision to family and friends at their Dyag’i Ceremony when they are fifteen?” she replied in a perfectly matter of fact way, akin to how one would explain that you should stop at a stop sign.

It was Svetlana’s turn to stare at Plynx in bafflement. “The—wha?”

“Earthling truly have someone else assign them a gender? With no say in it?” Plynx asked, concern in her voice. “As babies?”

“Um… yes? Like, we can try to change it later, but it is a bit of a thing, and not as easy as Issiod’rian gender-bender rays,” Svetlana explained.

“Not as… the portable ray is much less pleasant than treatment at a clinic. That is why I did not wish to put you-love through it again,” Plynx replied, before looking down at the blaster in her hands.

“From what I’ve heard, it beats the surgery recovery options we have on Earth by a lot,” Svetlana replied with a soft smile.

Plynx pulled the strap of the blaster off her shoulder and hung it on the top of the stair railing, before turning back to Svetlana. There were tears in her eyes now as she threw herself at Svetlana with enough force to knock Svetlana on her rear.

“I am so so so sorry,” Plynx said through tears, as she nuzzled her face against Svetlana’s chest. “I never meant to hurt you K—Svetlana-dearest.”

Plynx using her new name filled Svetlana with a wave of joy. A grin spread across her face at the feeling. The fact Plynx had started purring was also helping with the feeling as she hugged the other woman back. They stayed like that, quietly embracing each other for a few moments before Plynx’s head perked up.

“I… I should probably fix the others I zapped, though. I am sure they cannot be happy,” she said, standing up and grabbing her blaster.

“You zapped other people? I… I knew you were shooting wildly, but I didn’t think you’d actually hit anyone,” Svetlana said as she followed her downstairs. “Your aim is pretty good.”

Plynx blushed. “I was a bit… emotional.”

Svetlana nodded as they rounded into the living room. A living room filled with people grinning away and talking excitedly.

A young man turned to Svetlana with a grin. “This is the coolest thing ever!”

The two of them blinked, before the realisation hit Svetlana.

“Riiight. It’s a trans support group. The best place to fire that ray wildly,” Svetlana said, as Plynx still looked confused.

“Oh… if anyone-else wishes for a zap, it will take a few minutes for the ray to cool down, but I should be able to give one to all who desire them,” Plynx said, smiling. “I understand the situation on this planet better now.”

“Really?” a young woman replied with a grin. “Oh gosh! Thank you!”

“Wait, what did you say that changed her mind?” Cartridge asked.

Plynx blushed and placed her hands on her ears before explaining the source of her confusion. An explanation that caused several people in the crowd to express a wish they’d been born Issiod’rians. One or two wishing for it even more, having apparently been fond of the ‘cat girl’ aesthetic and been interested from when Plynx had first accidentally gotten herself on TV.

The fact that the group had also now discovered that Svetlana was at the middle of the alien chaos in the city saw another wave of questions.

---

Cartridge, unsure why she was bothering, walked up to check on Augusta. The blonde was slumped against the wall and staring into space, muttering to herself.

“Still breathing then?” she asked, standing nearby.

“My life flashed before my eyes… he… Kevin used me as a shield,” she muttered.

“You’re still… it’s a shame you didn’t get zapped. Maybe you’d have smartened up then,” Cartridge grumbled. “They’ll probably have to sterilize where you’re sitting to get the transphobia out.”

Augusta turned to her with an offended expression. “I am not tra—”

“Yes you are,” Cartridge replied flatly. “So you should leave. This house is a refuge for trans folks.”

Augusta stood up, glaring down at Cartridge. The shorter woman held her ground undaunted, however. While she’d been intimidated by the blonde’s good looks before, all she had left now was anger at how the woman had mistreated her best friend.

“I have no issue with transgender people. Kevin however is—”

“Out,” Cartridge said, pointing at the door. “She’s given you more chances than you deserve.”

Augusta narrowed her eyes, before letting out a huff. “Fine. I never liked tu anyhow, little pervert.”

With that she stomped down the stairs and out into the night. Svetlana was, thankfully, busy enough not to notice her leave and give the stuck up princess another chance.

Plynx got a pass from being an alien and having cultural misunderstandings, but Augusta… Cartridge was severely fed up with her and hoped that she’d take her obnoxious French rear back to Paris.

Even with it being a very nice rear. Wasted on such a terrible person.

---

Svetlana was walking back to her apartment with Plynx, holding hands and quietly enjoying each other’s company. It was a bit longer of a walk, across most of downtown Hammer City, but the two women wanted to spend the time together. The warm summer night felt made for a long walk together. 

The silence was occasionally broken by quick apologies and ‘I love you’s, but, otherwise, there was nothing either really felt like saying. The pair then ducked into a small park near the railroad line that cut through the city. In the shadows, the pair kissed. Then kissed a few more times, more passion and excitement with each kiss. Plynx’s tongue was rough, but in a way that was enticing and thrilling, rather than painful. Svetlana wanted more, having missed the feeling of Plynx’s affection, and soon found herself pressed against a tree by the warrior princess’ strong arms. 

Svetlana was firmly enjoying herself when an extra wave of pleasure washed over her that she couldn’t quite place. Plynx’s kisses were good, but not that good. She couldn’t contain the need to moan with joy. 

As Plynx stared in confusion, Svetlana felt another wave pass over her. It was almost like…

“Oh gosh,” she muttered, blushing and growing hot.

“Are you-love alright?” Plynx asked.

“I—I think—mmmm… I think O’tmyil and Vivian are… it’s hard to complain about this feeling, but it’s raaather distracting,” Svetlana mumbled, before biting on her knuckle. “Didn’t know our connection would do this.”

Svetlana pulled out her phone, pulling up O’tmyil’s contact and, despite the difficulty of focusing on the tiny touch keys with these feelings rushing through her, managed to send a message asking if O’tmyil could at least turn down their connection for the time being. It was a good thing the messenger app was connected directly to O’tmyil’s processor and there was no need to wait for her to check a phone.

A message of ‘sure thing’ popped up a moment later, and Svetlana felt herself quickly grow more grounded. There was still a background warmth to her mind, but it was far less overwhelming. More like the feedback she got from kissing O’tmyil than the more powerful feelings that came with more vigorous actions.

“What would O’tmyil and Wong-friend be doing right now that could have such affect on you, Svetlana-dearest?” Plynx asked.

“Um… well, Vivian found out O’tmyil and Thisbe like girls, and… I always did feel a bit greedy having everything be about me, so I gave her my blessings to try to see if those two might also be interested in her, and… I think it’s pretty well guaranteed any girl who likes girls would swoon for Vivian’s six-foot-five well toned physique,” Svetlana replied, before pausing. “Do you like girls, in general?”

Plynx blushed slighted, fidgeting for a moment. “I… with humans, I might, yes. The scent of other female Issiod’rians does not appeal to me, but humans lack those pheromones… in fact, there’s things about male Issiod’rians I was never fond of that humans lack…” Plynx’s blush worsened. “I may be something of a deviant, more attracted to another species than my own.”

“Huh. You’re like an ostrich,” Svetlana replied.

Plynx turned, staring at her. “An Os-what?”

“Large flightless birds. Apparently they almost universally find humans more attractive than other ostriches. I read about it somewhere,” Svetlana replied.

“I… I do not know if I like a comparison to a large flightless bird,” Plynx said.

Svetlana stepped forward, placing a hand on Plynx’s chin. “How about a comparison to me, then? You and O’tmyil are both aliens, and I love you both.”

She punctuated the point with another kiss, less messy, but more focused than the earlier ones against the tree. Plynx was smiling when she broke it.