Relationships are hard things to manage at times, even for the most devoted of couples. Work, social obligations, sexy back-stabbing neighbors who want to steal your man, there were many issues that can complicate a relationship. What then of a situation where people from two worlds come together in the spirit of raging youthful hormones, but discover that there is more to a marriage than trying to convince the man of the relationship to give up the goods?

Within the confines of the training center conference room, four people were gathered to discuss a serious situation. Alice and Maxine were in attendance due to their status as teachers. Scott and Electra sat across from each other due to their status as complete idiots.

Electra glared across the table at Scott. She had bandages on her head that were wrapped in a way that they made a triangular shape over her forehead that pointed off to the left. Scott gazed impassively at her from his side of the table. He had matching bandages on his head that mirrored hers almost exactly.

"Look, you two need to start talking. We've been here for over ten minutes now," said Alice.

Neither of the former lovebirds spoke, despite the fact that they had been prodded. Alice was forced to intervene once more. "Look, I don't care who started this. I just want to know how it started."

Scott snorted then finally spoke. "How do I know? Crazy chick tried to kill me the minute I came out of the bathroom."

"Crazy chick? Crazy?" She stood up and slammed her hands down onto the table with enough force to crack the wood. "Do I look crazy to you!"

"Yeah," said Scott, before he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'll show you crazy..." she said heatedly before leaning forward in a threatening manner.

Scott put his hands on the table then stood up too. He refused to let this deranged milk cow get the best of him, at least not when she wasn't actually trying to kill him. "I saw it this morning."

She sneered at him slightly. "You mean to tell me that you saw something while you fled for your life?"

The blue haired youth gripped the table tight with his fingertips then curled his lip upward in a sneer of his own. "It's called a tactical retreat."

"You still lost to me, you damned loser," snapped Electra.

"You never laid a hand on me," said Scott heatedly. "I refuse to lose to you."

Electra pointed at him then loudly proclaimed, "You lost the moment you showed up with those stupid eyebrows." She tried to waggle her eyebrows like Scott had done earlier that morning, but failed to make it happen properly.

"You didn't think they were so stupid last night," said Scott.

Electra merely frowned at him, so Scott pushed his luck. He clutched his hands to his chest then mimicked her voice in a bad falsetto. "Oh, husband I love your eyebrows... They're so blue." He then batted his eye lashes and twisted his torso back and forth like a giggling school girl.

She glared hotly at him then huffed loudly. Her voice was calm, but it was obvious that he had embarrassed her a bit. "I can't believe I married something like you."

Scott lifted one hand toward her then half curled it into a fist. "Hey, you want a divorce? I never wanted to be married, so let's get it on, baby."

"Gladly!" she cried.

Alice interjected at that point. "You both need to calm down. There will be no divorce allowed at this training center."

"You mean to deny me my rights?" asked Electra in surprise.

"I mean to inform your husband just what a divorce actually entails among your people," said Alice.

Scott glanced first at Electra, who looked strangely thoughtful, and then to Alice who almost seemed to look concerned for him for once. "What happens if I get divorced?"

"Do you mind if I explain your culture to him, Lady Electra?" asked Alice.

"Be my guest," replied Electra in a tired voice.

Alice nodded to the Minotyran girl then pointed to Scott. "According to ancient custom, a divorce is something final and binding. It means that either the wife, or the husband, has proven so inferior that they are no longer allowed to be part of the herd."

"So, I'd be an outcast according to her people?" asked Scott,

"Sort of, but that's not the real issues." Alice took a breath ten continued. "You would have to cut wood from three separate evergreen trees, a symbol of immortality for Electra's people."

Scott listened as Alice outlined the ceremony's initial steps. Wood from three still living evergreen trees must be cut and then placed atop stacked logs. That bonfire would be lit and become known as the Fires of Regret.

"So, I light a bonfire? What else?" Scott was not yet certain what the difficulty was in this divorce thing.

"After the fire is blazing hot, you will be required to tell everyone in attendance that you are unworthy to be a husband and father. You will need to go into detail about how you have failed," said Alice.

Scott did not like the public humiliation angle, but still saw nothing too terrible about the situation. Why was saying a few words around a bonfire supposed to be difficult?

"You would then take a serrated blade, the Ritual Knife of Separation, and then cut off your testicles. After doing so, they will be handed over to Electra so that she might toss them into the fires of regret as a symbolic act proving that you are no longer fit to be seen as either a father or as a man," said Alice without even a hint of discomfort. She then said, "This is also known as culling the herd."

Scott stared at Alice briefly. He blinked once, slowly, and then turned to Electra. He reached out and lightly placed his hands atop hers. She blinked twice quickly then drew back a little, a slight hint of a blush forming on her cheeks.

He looked deeply into her eyes and softly said, "Electra, baby. I know we have had a few problems. But... I want to try to make us work."

A slight sparkle came to her eyes for a brief moment before she blinked and returned to reality. Her lips drew together in annoyance, and then Electra snorted at him. "Damned coward."

"There's a chance for us, baby. I know it," said Scott in a flat monotone voice.

She hissed at him, more like a cat than a cow, and snatched her hands away. "You little bastard!"

"Why do you keep calling me little? I'm above average height you know," said Scott without becoming excited.

Electra looked at him with one eyebrow raised for a moment, like she could not possibly understand his meaning. However, it did not take long for her to throw her head back and laugh obnoxiously. "Maybe for a human."

Alice, as she had done previously, interjected. "She probably means that compared to the males of her race, you're practically suffering from dwarfism."

"I'm a dwarf?" asked Scott, surprised.

Electra snickered at him, but then her laugh became a bit more normal. "So tiny."

Scott coughed once then tried to cross his legs a little. "Not that tiny."

The Minotyran girl's smile was cruel, yet still beautiful. "Don't make me shame my husband in public."

"Don't tell me my wife has gone around looking at many men who were less tiny," said Scott flatly.

Electra's hands slapped down on the table once more. "Don't you dare insinuate that I was impure when we married!"

Alice sighed loudly. "Let's settle this issue right now." She pulled out a device that was similar to the one that Scott had gotten from Electra. A holographic representation of Scott appeared. "This is you, Scott."

"Right..." he said.

"You're a little over six feet tall, moderately muscular as well. For a human you would be considered well above the average as a physical specimen aesthetically." Alice made an adjustment and an image of Electra popped up. "This is Electra. She is only a little shorter than you."

Electra frowned when she was mentioned as being the shorter individual. "Not that much shorter," she said, before crossing her arms over her chest.

Alice waited until the girl quieted down then made another adjustment. "Now, this is the average Minotyran male when he's biologically similar to your age, Scott."

A giant appeared above the holographic projector. The Minotyran youth was heavily muscled, but still somewhat lithe. Scott's head barely came up to where the lower part of his chest would be. Two large horns jutted from the side of the youth's head, and his chest was easily twice that of Scott's. One of his muscular thighs would easily have equaled both of the blue haired youth's legs put together.

Electra sighed wistfully. "Now, that's a man." Her tail swished from side-to-side in a thoughtful manner.

"That's a damned mountain," said Scott, his eyes wide. He looked at the side information that popped up. "Average height, seven and a half to eight feet. Average weight, five hundred to six hundred pounds..."

"The males of my people are quite sturdy," said Electra proudly.

"How do your women not get broken in half?" asked Scott without a hint of shame in his voice. He could not even argue with her about his size difference if what he now witnessed was considered average for her people.

Electra's face reddened and she turned her head from him. "How vulgar."

"Sorry..." said Scott. "I know you're not really like that."

Electra blinked then turned her head back toward him, slightly. "You think so?"

"I had intended to treat you better today, before you tried to kill me... Because you were such a nice girl," said Scott simply.

Her snort came as a nigh-automatic response. "You mean to say..." she paused briefly then glanced at him with one eye, "That you were going to do certain things with me. Am I correct?"

Scott's normal response to something like that would have been a joke, or just a snarky response. However, after the events of the morning he was not interested in such things at that exact moment. He slapped his hands down on the table for emphasis and snapped out, "What kind of guy do you take me for?"

Electra drew back slightly then blinked at him. Why was he being so aggressive? "Most men want to do things with their wives."

He rubbed his forehead briefly then shook his head. His headache had returned with a vengeance due to all the shouting. The head trauma he had suffered after Maxine took him down, would take another full day to heal even with medical magic. "Look, you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life, but I'm not a damned animal," said Scott slowly, with heat in his words.

He looked up at her, locking his gaze with hers. "I am looking forward to a crazy school life filled with all the perverted hijinks that television and comics have promised me, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to force myself on you, dammit!"

She slammed her hands down on the table and shouted, "You think I'm pretty!"

"Yes! Super fucking pretty, you crazy bitch!" shouted Scott in response after slapping the table with his hands once more.

She slapped the table with both hands again, and shouted, "Well, thank you for the compliment!"

"Why are we shouting, you damned sexy cow," snapped Scott before slapping the table once more.

"I don't know!" she exclaimed after slapping the table again. She glared hotly at him then gripped the table with the tips of her fingers before she growled out, "But thank you for appreciating my sex appeal, despite the casual racism!"

"Well excuse me for thinking about cows when you wear a damned bell around your neck!" snapped Scott, his hands slapping the table once more.

"This bell is an ancient tradition of my people!" she shouted.

"Well I think it's cute, even if it's fucking weird!" snarled Scott heatedly.

"Do you really think it's that cute, you tiny bastard!" Electra glared angrily at Scott, just before her teeth began to grind together.

"Hell yes! It makes me want to fucking cuddle with you or something, you big titted cow!" snarled Scott hatefully.

"Try saying that without being a creepy pervert about it! You stupid monkey!" snarled Electra in a voice even louder and more hateful than Scott's.

"I'm not stupid! You're stupid, you stupid!" roared Scott.

"You're the one who's stupid, you stupid monkey! Want me to pick your lice for you!" snapped Electra in response. "How about a nice banana!"

Scott suddenly grabbed his crotch and exclaimed "I got your banana right here, lady!"

Electra stopped cold. Her face slowly turned bright red, and she looked away.

"Seriously?" asked Scott. He leaned toward her a little to get a better look.

The embarrassed girl leaned away from him then waved a hand toward him. "No, don't come over here."

"The hell got into you?" asked Scott, his anger dying down. He reached for her once more, but she hopped away and hugged herself a little.

"No, my heart's not ready." she said loudly before biting her lower lip.

"Uh? Wha?" asked Scott. Was this girl bi-polar or something?

It was Alice who explained. "Not to be rude, but I suppose I'll have to explain this as well."

"Must you?" asked Electra shyly.

Scott eyed the girl like she grew a second head. Alice, ignored him in favor of explaining the situation. "Sex among her people is a common and open thing... but it's usually quite basic compared to the sort of things humans get up to in the bedroom."

Electra covered her ears and shook her head. "Do I have to stay here and listen?"

"Yes. Your husband is human. You'll need to understand his weird perverted desires if you are to understand him," said Alice.

"Why are my desires automatically weird and perverted?" asked Scott in a flat tone of voice.

The Minotyran girl shook her head. "But, humans are so... so..."

"Kinky?" asked Maxine helpfully.

All eyes turned to the pretty blond medical professional. She smiled warmly at them but did not seem embarrassed in the slightest.

"Right," said Alice, before she turned back to the argumentative teens. "Anyway, a banana is something that you eat." Electra winced slightly and Scott's eyebrow rose up curiously.

"Oral sex—" began Alice, only to stop briefly because of Electra unleashing a tiny little yelping noise. "Is not really something her people do outside of a deep and intimate relationship."

"Wait," said Scott. He looked to Electra. "You got this way because of that?"

Electra refused to look at him, and turned away completely. "You, lecher."

Curious now, Scott asked Alice, "What do they normally do, then?"

"Mostly doggy style I think," she answer without a hint of shame.

Electra flailed her arms around a little. "Why are we discussing this? It's too much!"

"Wow," said Scott. He looked to Electra then said, "Who would have thought that you were so innocent."

She growled a little then turned quickly and glared at him. "Like you're any more experienced!"

Scott blinked once then smacked himself on the forehead. His sudden laughter caused the women in the room to look at him quite strangely.

"What's so funny? Are you mocking me?" asked Electra, her fingers curling into fists.

"No, I just get it now, is all," he said after he calmed down.

"What do you get?" asked Alice.

"Geeze, human or otherwise girls are the same in most places," said Scott with a soft smile.

Electra frowned at him, but then gasped and moved back a little when he walked around the table. She did not retreat far enough that she could escape him entirely, however. Instead, she asked, "What do you want?"

"To apologize." he said simply, before lifting his hand.

"Apologize? What for?" asked Electra suspiciously. She eyed his hand curiously as well.

"Not being nicer to you sooner," said Scott. He smiled at her then said, "I was so focused on what I wanted, that I didn't even think about how you would feel when you weren't hot for me."

Electra tilted her head to the side. "You really think that?"

"Yes," said Scott. "I really do."

"Well..." began Electra. "I... suppose that I should be sorry for treating you as I did as well."

"That's a nice apology," said Scott with a wry smile upon his lips.

She nodded at him. "It is what one might call, a work in progress," she said before lifting her hand to lightly clasp his own.

"Yeah. I think that's what we should call it," said Scott. "A work in progress."

They shook hands for a short time while looking into each other's eyes. In order to end the argument, Scott had chosen to be the better man. His actions had brought about a slight acknowledgment from Electra. Would they become a real couple at some point, or continue to aggravate each other until death did they part? Only time would tell.

"We should also call it eighteen thousand dollars for damages," said Alice.

Scott and Electra stopped shaking each other's hand long enough to look properly mortified. They had forgotten that they had rampaged through the training center, due to all the relationship stuff.