The communicator beeped as he walked. Juniper looked at the device and saw Ciro's message read, "You're not coming over? What is going on?"
He then returned his attention to his phone, which was still beeping with messages he could feel the concern from Ciro. "Sorry... I had a little incident here and have to head over right away." Juniper sent the message to Ciro as he turned to see the mans large back walking away. It took effort to not look up again; the man's presence was something that was hard to ignore. When he finally opened another message from Ciro Juniper thought it best to go quickly before Ciro worried further. The walk seemed long after making the decision and when he arrived at Ciro's, he found himself taking in deep breaths, calming himself down to seem normal before knocking.
"Come in," came the voice of Ciro who was sitting on a couch reading something to his youngest son Alton. He stood as soon as Juniper entered, "What happened?"
Juniper gave a short wry smile and shook his head. "Its nothing.''
Ciro gave him an appraising gaze, "Are you okay?"
Juniper nodded and turned back the conversation to cooking dinner. Ciros two sons were back at home, Aiden the eldest was busy with school work while Alton was stuck to Ciro's side once he came back from working at the beast hospital.
''We have a good hour until Clay, Raphael and Rowan are back which gives us plenty of time to put on a good spread.'' Ciro smiled
Ciro mentioned he had 5 husbands in total, Rapheal and Rowan are a set of twins, Clay the third husband and Javier who he had met before but has never seen the 5th. Since Javier works away a lot its understandable he is not here, Juniper was curious and decided to ask while they were busy in the kitchen.
''Oh Daizen's on a business trip at the moment, he travels quite a bit but he always makes sure to come home on weekends.''
''Isnt there any conflict between them? Sorry.. I dont mean anything by it, its just different from what im used to.'' Juniper asked curiously. He knew it was very normal for a female here to have multiple spouses from the ratio of genders.
"I don't know, we all get along so well that there really hasn't been any issues. They are very supportive, though they can be quite demanding sometimes." Ciro replied. "Which brings me to my question, are you going to apply for Pheremone matching?"
Juniper stopped mid-cut, "..Pheremone matching?"
Ciro laughed, "Yes, if you want to partner with someone, the process will allow you to be matched based on a genetic compatability level. A lot of people go through this way to find partners because the chance of having a child is higher and the genes are stronger.''
"But you may not be compatible personality wise right?" Juniper raised an eyebrow and turned back to the chopping board.
"You can avoid that by choosing a partner first and then doing the pheromone testing after." Ciro said. "Of course, If you really love a person, the genetic level doesn't matter. But who knows you may find someone just right from it.''
"That's true..." Juniper mused, looking up at the ceiling. His hand slowed down on the knife, "I'm not too concerned about the genetics, but I do like to think my partner would be a good match."
"You may as well submit your medical data into the Pheremone matching database, there is no harm in it, once submitted it may take a day to get the results but both you and the male parties are notified if a match is found however both sides would need consent to continue to get in contact with one another, you only get their name, age and photo before that.'' Ciro said.
"Okay, I'll give it some thought." Juniper said.
***
Ciros family were all seated after Clay, Raphael and Rowan came home. There was laughter and jokes that seemed to bring everyone together. Juniper was glad to be invited to Ciro's home after such a stressful afternoon, it brought some comfort in his mind to see his friends. As they ate, Ciro asked if he had been approved for livestreaming yet.
"No, not yet, but I've applied." Juniper replied. ''Im not in a hurry, my vegetables are still in the growing stage so it will be a few more days until i will be ready to do a cooking live broadcast.''
Ciro laughed, "Well, when you do remember to send me a portion of your food from it. If you make more portions you can always lottery them in the live chat and do a draw.''
Juniper gave him a nod, "Will do!"