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Texas could tell there was someone waiting just outside her dorm room; a faint metallic scent, maybe mixed with sweat, the sound of light breathing, barely possible to detect, but more than that, just the general feeling that something was...off. The latent negative energy triggering some primal fight-or-flight instinct in her brain that told her immediately who it was. She took a second to steel her nerves, and called out
"Red? Is that you out there?"
It was. The Lupo silently slid open the door and stepped inside, making sure to lock it behind her, stalked over to Texas and plopped down at the foot of her bed. What was she doing?
"We need to talk." Red stated dryly.
Texas tilted her head slightly, confused. "About what? If Lappland did something stupid again I-"
"Not that." Red interjected. She seemed even more off than usual: tapping her foot, fidgeting with one of her knives; was she nervous? "I need to talk about...gender stuff.."
"Oh, um," Texas leaned forward, her typical deadpan faltering for a second. "Why come to me with this?"
Red scratched at her chin. "You're the only trans person I know..well, except the Doctor, but it seems like she's been really busy lately, so.." Ah, okay then. If she was being honest Texas didn't exactly consider herself an authority on the subject, and she wasn't especially equipped to therapize somebody who gave off the same vibes as a barely exposed land mine, but she had always been pretty good at bluffing, so what the hell, why not.
"Alright then, shoot." Texas said, leaning back against her pillow.
Red exhaled. "Lately..I've been feeling like something's wrong with me...like I'm not a girl. But also, I don't know if i'm a boy either. Could I..be neither..?"
"I don't see why not. All this gender stuff is made up anyway."
"Mm..I guess that's true.."
"Have you told Kal'tsit about this?"
"Not yet. Wanted..a second opinion."
"Well, I doubt she'd be unsupportive about it. She's known the doctor for a pretty long time."
"I know.." Red flops over onto her...their? side. "Just..don't want to be a distraction. She has patients to treat, and if this turns out to be nothing, then.." Red trailed off. Texas hadn't seen them this uncertain about anything before, but to be fair Texas didn't really see them that much in the first place, not like they hung out a lot. It was kind of weird just how...normal this all felt.
"Well, if you're not sure about it, then that's okay. And if you change your mind we can talk about it."
"Yeah..okay. I'll see you later then."
As Red left the room the pressure they exerted left with them, but Texas hadn't really noticed, almost like she'd completely forgotten who she was talking to.
Maybe more of these talks would be good for both of them.