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Rethu sighs. This has been such a boring shift. There's been no Cyrus since he quit to run a law firm full-time, meaning they don't get to hang out with their boyfriend whilst stealing JC's cookie dough. At least there haven't been any rude customers as of yet, Rethu thinks it might be a new record.
"I'm just saying, that's not how biology works. It's like the most basic thing they teach us in school!" There it is. Rethu growls as they overhear this argument, spotting the perpetrator instantly. He appears to be a man in his 30s, animatedly arguing with another guy a few years younger than him. Based on the comment about biology, Rethu can figure a guess as to what they're arguing over.
"Hey Bob," Rethu calls out, "Do you need me for anything in the next five minutes?"
Bob pops her head out from the back, giving Rethu a quizzical look, "No, I do not. Why?"
"I have to teach some sucker 'advanced' biology, as he so eloquently put it," Rethu explains. Bob nods and heads back into the back. Her parting gift is a warning to not burn anyone alive, which Rethu will definitely try and respect. They waltz over to the arguing pair, crossing their arms. "What seems to be the problem here?"
"The problem is that he's trying to tell me that intersex people don't exist," The second guy states, glaring at the man across from him, who scoffs at his statement.
"They don't! Everyone knows that there is only male and female. Sure, people identify as the other sex or something in between, but their biology is either male or female. Everyone knows that,"
"So, no—" Rethu begins, but the other guy holds up a hand to stop them.
"No, no, I've got this." He takes a deep breath before launching into the lesson, "Male and female are the two main sexes that humans can have, and are the most common. However, genetics and our makeup is incredibly variable, and people can have multiple of the same sex chromosome, and there are people with male genitalia that have XX chromosomes and people with female genitalia that have XY. The term 'intersex' is used to describe people who don't fit cleanly into the male and female boxes," The other customer is utterly bewildered, glancing from between Rethu and his compatriot. Rethu whistles, the wind taken from their wings in an instant.
"B-but…that doesn't…" The other customer trails off.
"Make sense?" He finishes for him, "A lot of how the human body works is frankly insane. It doesn't have to make sense to you because you, as far as I know, are not intersex. What you should do instead is respect their existence, instead of denying it outright."
"And, this may be just a dragon thing, but we are able to shift our sex at will so we don't really care about the idea of sexes. Sex doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things for identity or self expression, so why make such a big deal out of it?" Rethu adds, tilting their head at the other customer. He's silent now, clearly taking all of this in, so the two give him a moment to think.
"I'm going home," He says, getting to his feet and swiftly leaving the CaFae. Rethu blinks in shock, is he really that determined to not accept people? But when Rethu glances at the sensible customer, there's a smile on his face.
"Why are you smiling?" Rethu asks.
"That's what he does when he wants to really reflect on something. So, I'm taking this as a win,"
"Ah, so you know him well?"
"Yep! We've been dating for ten years. He grew up Catholic so there is a lot of internalized queerphobia he's working through," The sensible customer says, still smiling. Rethu finds themself smiling as well. Cute how they work together for him to be better.
"Are you intersex? Typically people outside of that community don't know much about it," Rethu says, but the customer shakes his head.
"Nope, but I am a biology professor."
"Oh, yep, that'll do it," Rethu and the customer laugh together. It's nice not having to do the brunt of educating someone for once. "Well, since you have this all handled, I'm gonna go…" They gesture back to the counter, and the customer nods, giving Rethu a little wave as they walk off. At least this shift had some entertainment now. Hopefully that isn't the only good thing that'll happen today, but only time will tell.