The Guild Capitol: Chapter Two

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"Now we can find something for kids." Dawn said and moved to look around the place.

"Hmm, true," Asher agreed, "Maybe he'll even thank us. Where are we heading first?"

Starr chuckled and shook her head, looking up at them again "The library, I believe"

Kay nodded [we can find name tags later]

Asher chuckled and followed the others to the library.

Kay's baby squirmed in his pocket, poking her head over the top again as they entered the building. She squeaked and looked up at the ceiling then around as much as she could at this new and strange place, though she was comfortable in Kay's pocket. It felt safe there next to his heart.

Kay looked down and smiled softly at her. Welcome back
She might not understand him, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to "speak" to her.

She squeaked back to him, looking up at his face then rubbing her head against his shirt before looking around again. This place was huge.

Asher looked over at Kay and his tiny passenger and tried not to smile. Too cute.
"Are we looking for textbooks or picture books first?" He asked.

"Um, picture books?" Starr said uncertainly, though she too was trying not to smile too big at the baby and Kay. Baby dragons could melt anyone's heart. "Though from what I understand, all the star dragon books are in one section" She added and pointed.

Kay looked about ready to melt himself, damnit baby dragons were cute. Why were they so cute?
He shook the foggy giddy feeling from his mind at Asher's question and shrugged. He'd like research material, preparation was good, he liked preparation.

Asher smiled at the look on Kay's face. Maybe being a father wouldn't be quite as painful for Kay as he'd first feared. Here was hoping, anyway. "We'll get a few picture books, then go collect the textbooks which will be more ungainly," he agreed with Starr. Although he'd be carrying them either way, so who cared?

Starr nodded, looking to her own two babies before heading for the children's section to look for a picture book.

The baby squeaked again, looking at a different species and tilting her head. He looked odd to her and she couldn't figure out what he was, so she stared at him.

Kay followed her gaze and guessed what she was thinking. He smiled softly, remembering his mother's stories of his childhood and finding him in the form of a cat or a rat or something else because of toddler curiosity. It'd be interesting to see how these dragons developed their shifting ability.

He headed after Starr, glancing to Asher and smiling. He still looked mildly terrified but happy terrified... weirdly.

The children's section was full of picture books from all sorts of places. A lot of them were thankfully in languages the three could understand, and most had lots of nice pictures to look at.

Asher started poking through the shelves, looking for nice simple stories with no scary parts. These babies were too young for scary stories, and nobody would be able to convince him otherwise.

She chirped and looked up at Kay, tilting her head as he played those memories in his mind. Hm, that was odd. She thought about those images and the words that seemed to name them, cat and rat.

Starr found the section, looking to the books and browsing through them curiously herself. She smiled at the two dragons as they peeked over the bag themselves and had a look around.

Kay hesitated, she could understand his thoughts? He tilted his head back at her. It felt weird and uncomfortable to have someone traipsing through your mind and Kay was after all, pretty private about his mind. There was a particular sensation to having your thoughts read, one that unfortunately, in recent times, had come to represent something he really didn't like thinking about.

Even though she didn't mean to, he reflexively tried to close off the link with her and felt a stab of guilt at doing so. She didn't mean to pry he knew, she was a baby, babies weren't capable of malice and rudeness, they didn't even understand those concepts.

Sorry little one, everyone needs their privacy.

Mm yeah, privacy. And there was that feeling of violation and awkwardness again. thank you mirror starr.

The baby chirped sadly and lowered herself back into his pocket. She didn't like being cut off from him, or reprimanded even inadvertantly

Kay looked guilty and gently reached down to pet her head reassuringly.

Asher missed the exchange because he was a ways away looking at a picture book about a duck.

The baby squeaked at him again, raising her head to the petting. She couldn't help wanting to be connected with him since that was a natural part of how she learned to live so fast.

At Orel's parents' house, Skye and Orel had been doing... who knew what. Awkward talking about things, probably.
"I, uh, should head to the science fair with my car soon," Orel told Skye, "Want to come?"

Kay tentatively tried to project soothing thoughts, but he seemed a bit uncertain, nervous even about opening up that link again. He continued to pet her though, because that helped. His emotions and thoughts were a bit of a mess. He felt guilty, but also scared, and worried, and affection toward the adorable little creature.

Asher glanced over at Kay and the baby, and noticed that Kay looked... distinctly less happy now. He gave him a questioning look, seeing if he wanted any help or would rather be left alone to deal with it.

Kay caught Asher's eye and forced a smile. This was hard to explain, he wasn't even sure he could.

Skye smiled at him and nodded. "I would like that. Do you think you will get a ribbon for this?" She asked curiously

~~~
The baby chirped at him when she could feel his mind again, assured by it that it was alright and safe here and that she wasn't in trouble. Or at least not too much trouble. She didn't like the guilty or scared feelings, those weren't good. She reached up, grabbing the finger he was petting her with to rub her head against it.

Asher smiled softly back. It was pretty clear something was on Kay's mind, but he didn't look like he wanted help right now. Probably best to let Kay decide if he needed anything.

~~
Orel laughed. "Probably not, the other competitors are pretty good. It's fun anyway though." He picked up his car, and headed out of his room, holding the door for Skye.

Skye smiled and followed him out the door then looked to him again "I don't know, that is a pretty neat concept." She said, motioning to the car.

~~~
Starr glanced over to Kay and the baby, frowning a little then standing to come over to him "Is everything ok?" She asked softly.