“Wait, wait, wait,” Oliver slurred, arm resting on Liel’s shoulder as he pointed a wavering finger at Gem. “You and Toni met and started—”
“A revolution!” Toni bellowed.
“It was a movement,” Gem saidprimly, swaying in his seat. “A feminist protest! Free-bleeding for everyone.”
“What?” Jude asked, and honestly, Zef wanted further explanation as well.
They sipped gingerly at their second glass of wine as Gem stood, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I will tell the tale of how Gemae Odesa Akyllo and Toni Amylia Maryno started a feminist tradition in our secondary school and substitutely—”
“Subsequently,” Bryce corrected, but Gem ignored him.
“—became best friends.”
“Your middle name’s Amylia?” Oliver snickered.
Jude turned on Toni’s lap with a scowl. “You said you didn’t have a middle name.”
“I don’t,” Toni insisted. “Gem makes up middle names for us all the time. He don’t got a middle name either.”
“That’s true,” Gem said, taking a gulp from someone’s glass. “I don’t have a middle name, and I wish I did. But my parents already have so many kids. I don’t think they wanted to think up more names.”
“That was my cup,” Liel lamented as he pushed the glass Gem had drunk from away.
“My middle name is Gregory,” Oliver offered.
“Mine is Saule,” Willow said. “In honor of my mother.”
“Well, that’s just beautiful,” Toni said.
“I have eight middle names,” Zef said.
Gem’s face scrunched. “Way to rub it in our faces, Zef! Gods!”
“Quin doesn’t have a middle name, but her full first name is Quinastasia,” Glyma said with a giggle. “My middle name is Tierythe.”
“Mine’s Edward, after my uncle,”Bryce chimed in.
“Bryce Edward.” Zef rolled the names over their tongue. “Your names are very nice.”
The human smiled at them. “Thanks, Zef.”
“Even Rusty has a middle name, and it’s hella cool.” Gem withered under Rusty’s hard stare. “Shit, I forgot you told me that in confidence. Why am I the holder of everyone’s secrets? I am not built for this kind of responsibility.”
“What’s your middle name?” Jude asked.
“It’s not that cool,” Rusty said.
“So? Tell us!” Oliver commanded.
“Oh my gods, can I tell them?” Gem squealed, bouncing on his toes.
Taking a sip of his tonic andkilifruit, Rusty shrugged. “Sure, but it’s gonna be anticlimactic.”
“Shush, Care Bear.” Gem flapped several hands before taking a deep breath, as if in preparation. “His full name is Rusty Raul Roisyn. Isn’t that, like, the coolest name ever?”
“No,” Toni said definitively.
“It’s a lot ofR’s,” Jude said.
