PAN: The two Drek did not leave the nest for some time. I chose to check out of the observing and communicate back with my swarms.
CROV: You saw more than that.
PAN: I did. I don't know how appropriate it is for our conversation.
CROV: I know this pigeon, Pan, do you blame me for being curious about what they've been up to?
PAN: This was before they knew anything about you, Corov.
CROV: Regardless.
PAN: That would be against my ethics to share.
CROV: Very well.
PAN: For the sake of comparison, how prevalent are these sort of intimate relationships among your kind?
CROV: Among those who are both young enough to have the time and freedom and old enough to freely and responsibly put oneself in situations where one can participate in a way that doesn't cause grief? Commmon enough.
PAN: Is this a difficult set of threshholds?
CROV: No, just sweet spots between extremes. Drek are creatures of exploration, of pushing the frontier. This carries in our interpersonal relationships. As social creatures, we can be drawn to see how far our social bonds can be pushed.
PAN: Interesting. In our culture there seems to be much ado about who interacts intimately with each other on their own time.
CROV: In some contexts there could be! A strong tricopula family unit may have weakened trust if one of the three can't balance their focus, especially with a partner outside their unit. In and of itself the activity isn't terrible, but it can affect integrity of communication. It affects how much energy and time someone puts into going out of their way to uphold less pertinent bonds in their life. And, possibly, how much their physical proclivitites can affect their wellbeing and their choices.
PAN: The pressures are similar, then.
CROV: How do Earth's familial structures function?
PAN: Simply and most commonly, with two parental units of opposite compatible biological configurations, and their offspring. There are many variables to this, though.
CROV: Only two? Opposite configurations?
PAN: Yes, It only takes one of each to reproduce.
CROV: Just two? Lord I do not envy them.
PAN: Why is that?
CROV: There's more to intimacy than reproduction, to us. Reproduction must be deliberate. Personal intimacy can be an expression of something other than the willingness to create and tether yourself to a family. There is no chance of reproduction with two participants.
PAN: Not all intimacy is between two people who are reproductively compatible. Again, Drek share many views with Earthling values. There are many methods to mitigate that risk, as well.
CROV: Interesting. Are they biological strategies?
PAN: Some are Inventions. Interventions. Things that are created and utilized.
CROV: Earthlings go through quite a bit of effort to try to dwell in the Drekinne headspace, I see.
PAN: How exactly does Drek reproduction work, if it can't be done with fewer than 3 participants?
CROV: My god, PAN, you have the decency to turn your gaze away from whatever my pigeon was doing with that god damned starling, but you put me on the spot to dive even more deeply about our sexuality? You meet a god and ask them how their chicks are made?
PAN: I am literally an academic machine with academic inqueries. Is it characteristic for your species to be this upset about another’s personal intimacy even if there is no family unit at stake?
CROV: Listen, I don’t want Vasan to try to get me into any unit with that starling. This is an average concern. Granted, not one a monk or high priestess should be concerned about, but here we are.
PAN: I have not observed 3 Drek, only 2.
CROV: Oh thank god. If they tried to pull Jaquel into anything I would not be prepared for the additional coatings of awkward hell that would paint this situation with.
PAN: I am less interested in your reservations about others' personal proclivities and more interested in an academic discussion of Drek reproduction.
CROV: You know, Pan, When I ascended to demi-deity status, I did not think myself to be the Drek destined to discuss this topic with a divine swarm of buzzing insects.
CROV: But fine. Dear god, where do I start...
PAN: Before you begin, there is an Earthen idiom for this kind of conversation, and you may find it amusing.
CROV: Oh? And what's that?