“This is your house!?” Sarah asked Sarrah as they drove through the gated community that the McMillans lived in and started up the long, paved driveway. Sarrah nodded.
“Yep.”
“It’s huge!” Sarah exclaimed. While most people considered Sarah’s house a mansion back in her world, the McMillans of this world lived in a mega-mansion. Her house looked tiny in comparison to Sarrah’s house. “And… it’s just the three of you living here!?” she asked, referring to Sarrah and her parents.
“Well,” Sarrah began, “my brotherelles used to live here but they’ve all moved out since they got married.”
Sarah blinked. “I’m sorry, your what?” She was unfamiliar with the term.
“My… brotherelles? You don’t have that word in your world?” Sarah shook her head.
“We just call them brothers,” she explained. Sarrah repeated the word quietly to hirself and then looked at Sarah.
“Weird.”
Dr. McMillan eventually pulled up to the front of the house and the three of them got out. The doctor had left hir lab coat at the lab and was dressed simply in hir blue shirt and brown trousers. Sarah was still getting used to the idea that this was how women dressed in this world.
As they ascended the stone staircase that led up to the house however, nothing had prepared her for the sight that she was about to see as they entered the house.
“Welcome home, honey!” A deep, melodic voice greeted them as Dr. McMillan was pulled into a passionate kiss. “How was your day?” the voice asked as they broke apart. Sarah gasped.
The person kissing Dr. McMillan was her father, but not how she was used to seeing him. His dyed blonde hair flowed past his shoulders and he wore a light pink, chiffon maxi dress with a cowl neckline. It looked like something that Sarah might wear to a wedding as a bridesmaid but her father was wearing it as a housedress. Her jaw dropped.
“It was… interesting, to say the least,” Dr. McMillan replied with an amused look on hir face after seeing Sarah’s reaction. “Do you remember that project that I told you about?” Sarah’s father nodded.
“It worked, just not quite as intended. This is Sarah,” shi gestured towards Sarah. “Shi’s going to be staying with us for a while.”
Sarah’s father turned towards her and smiled a warm smile.
“Hi, I’m Chardeena, Suzan’s husbenne.” Hei paused for a moment as hei tested Sarah’s name. “That’s an interesting name. It’s almost like Sarrah’s name but…boily.” Hei frowned, not understanding the situation.
“Yes… Uh, don’t worry about that. I’ve asked Sarrah to come up with a new name for hir. It’s a long story, you wouldn’t understand.”
Chardeena nodded.
“I hope you’re hungry, Sarah, I just made dinner.”
It was only at that moment that Sarah realized how hungry she was. She hadn’t had a proper meal since she had arrived in this world. And she could also tell that Chardeena was struggling with this name too, saying it very tentatively. What is with these people?
“I still can’t believe you’ve never worn heels!” Biffanie exclaimed, checking hys makeup as hys mom drove them to hys house. Biffanie’s mom, Nic, worked with Dr. McMillan, and they had decided that it would be best for Biff to come and live with them.
“And I can’t believe that your feet are made for heels,” Biff retorted as he watched Biffanie touch up hys makeup for what must have been the fifth time since they met. It baffled him that the men of this world couldn’t even put their feet down flat, even when naked. They had to be on tiptoes all the time. “Surely the heels must hurt? I know that Sarah often complains about that whenever we’re shopping at the mall.”
Biffanie shook hys head. “I guess that, because of the way our feet are shaped, it’s more comfortable,” hei suggested, shrugging hys shoulders. “I never really understood science.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Biff guessed. He was quickly realizing that this boy was not going to make for conversation about any topics he understood.
“Here we are,” Biffanie informed Biff excitedly as Nic pulled into the drive. Biffanie hopped out of the car and dashed around to help Biff clamber out.
“Wow!” Biff exclaimed. While Biff’s house was nowhere near as large as Sarah’s house, it was still bigger than the average home but in comparison to Biffanie’s house, it was tiny. Biffanie’s house had a massive front yard that led up to a fancy looking porch. The house had two stories, and a large balcony overlooked the front yard.
“If you think that’s impressive, you should see Sarrah’s house. Hirs is like a mansion.” Biffanie told him. Biff cocked his head in confusion. If Sarrah’s house was considered a mansion, then what was this?
Biffanie helped Biff up the stairs and into the house where they were greeted by Nic’s husband, Biff’s dad.
“Dad…!?” Biff began before he quickly stopped himself. His father gave him a funny look for a moment before turning to Nic. Biff was used to seeing his well built father wearing branded hoodies and tracksuit bottoms. His father was a project manager for a local construction company, but instead of a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms, this world's Mike Meadows wore a pink, sleeveless dress with a frilly V-neckline. His curly and full blonde hair fell down past his shoulders all the way down to his waist. He looked more like a supermodel than a project manager.
Biff stared with his mouth open as his father wrapped his arms around his wife’s shoulders and pulled her into a deep kiss.
“Welcome home, honey… How was your day?”
“It was…fine,” Nic replied, as hir husbenne helped hir take off hir jacket. “This is, uh…” shi trailed off as she tried to think of a name for Biff.
“Baylie!” Biffanie suddenly piped up causing Biff to jump. He scowled at Biffanie for giving him such a feminine name, but Biffanie just shrugged hys shoulders.
“Baylie,” Nic repeated, nodding satisfactorily at the name. It was much more appropriate for a boi, shi thought. “This is my husbenne, Bianca.”
Bianca smiled pleasantly and to Biff’s surprise, even curtseyed. He was surprised by the name: he had been expecting something feminine like Michelle, Nicole was his mother’s name, after all but there was some sort of system here.
It seemed that while a lot of the women’s names—Sarrah and Nic, for example—remained feminine… they had a sort of masculine touch to them. The men’s names must follow a similar pattern, Biff reasoned.
The same rule probably applied to last names as well. Biff knew that Woodman was his mom’s maiden name. Watch it be Woodwoman, he thought to himself. Meanwhile, Nic chuckled and explained to hir husbenne that Baylie was going to be staying for a while.
“It’s nice to meet you, Baylie. Is that Biffanie’s dress? I love how it looks on you,” Biff’s father told him. He turned to his wife with a sigh. “I do wish that you could have told me earlier though honey, I would have made myself more presentable.”
Biff blinked. More presentable? His father looked like a supermodel, and he was wishing he was more presentable? What was with these bois?
