Upon Vestia: Chapter Seventeen

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Kay always tried so hard to be sensible and pragmatic. Asher had always loved that about him, and he loved it just as much now. He smiled softly. "No, you're definitely not alone in this."
He wasn't going to leave Kay to look after this little dragon alone. He'd gotten the guy into this situation, so now it was his job to do everything he could to help. Did that make him the other father here? Maybe. This was thoroughly confusing and he was going to need to think it over at some point. "If it wasn't already obvious, I'm here for you. Both of you," he said.

~~
Tala snorted weakly. "I do not like that butterfly well." She let Shane help her.

James smiled at Kay, "Well, better you than me I guess. You thought of any names for her yet?" He thought, "Man, so you and Starr are both her parents. That's, uh, confusing."

Asher looked like he was about ready to start shooing people out.

"So ordinarily, on the nest, a hatchling would naturally first interact with their mother while in the egg, and she would likely be the first face they saw when they hatched." Armin reasoned.

Kay looked down at the little dragon. Great, he was Mom.
Though looking down at the infant he couldn't really feel too terrible about that. She looked so contented. He shook his head at James' question. She did need a name didn't she? Hmm.

"What about the other dragon then? The older one." Luka asked, meaning Cassie. She couldn't remember names okay? "With the Terran looking woman." Who, Luka mused, probably wasn't Terran right? because nobody seemed to be what they appeared to be around here.

Starr nodded to what Aramin said and smiled "Yes, exactly" She said then looked to Luka "You mean Cassie and Sonata. Cassie thinks of Sonata as her mother, she was the first face she saw and Terrans are not 'blank' psychically, even if they can't control that."

Kay's baby had settled now and was almost purring in contentment as she lay on his hand

"We're not in the old days, Kay can be a dad and still be the kid's favorite," James said defensively.
"So basically anyone on this ship could have gotten imprinted on? Thank goodness it wasn't one of the crazy ones who was here."

"Not 'anyone'" Starr said and looked to James "You, Asher, Ethan, Skye and Esk are all silent psychically." (did I miss anyone? lol)

"Well sure, other than us," James waved a hand dismissively. "We weren't the crazy ones I was talking about anyway."

Kay couldn't really write anything with a dragon on his hand, he shrugged and smiled softly to James.

"Except those without a psychic imprint." Armin mused. "Like the androids, or the Artruvians." He chuckled at James' defensive remark. "In Vavare culture, the males are our primary caregivers for much of the time. "

"why is that?" Luka asked curiously.

Armin shrugged. "I am not certain, perhaps because it is usually the females who are the primary earner? or perhaps simply because they feel it is fair that after they carry the offspring for many months, the males should do their part once they are born."

Esk is as psychic as any other Hexenfolke, he just hates having people in his head. Kay corrected Starr.

Starr smiled at Kay and nodded then shrugged "He is still 'silent' most of the time, and not able to be imprinted on." She said then shrugged "Sometimes it isn't that they can't, but that they won't 'speak' mind to mind" She said then looked back to James again. There wasn't much she could say to that

"Hmm, sounds pretty good," James said, "the mom carries the kids and then the dad does all the work after that." He smiled. "Vavare are kinda sensible."

Asher was just listening in quietly. He really didn't have anything to contribute.

Luka laughed. "that sounds totally fair. " She agreed. "I like that."

Kay smiled softly, that was the first time he'd heard Luka actually sincerely agree with an alien culture. Progress!

Starr glanced back to Kay again If you put her on your shoulder,
you can use your hands to type. She informed gently

Kay looked wary, and looked back to the baby dragon. What if she fell? Eugh, he was already thinking like a parent wasn't he? Paranoid and neurotic.
He nudged her into the crook of his arm though, which gave him just enough dexterity to hold his tablet. If she wanted to climb up his shirt and onto his shoulder she could. Though he probably wouldn't move much, scared of letting her fall.

The baby didn't really like that position, so she looked up to Kay, using his shirt to climb up. She stopped at his pocket, sticking her head inside curiously as she hung onto the top of it with her front legs. After a moment or two of that, she climbed inside, settling in there then sticking her head back out happily. This was nice.

Asher tried desperately to not look like that was the most adorable thing he'd ever seen. But oh dear, it sort of was. Help.

"Aww," James said.

Kay looked down at her, amused. Well that worked. He looked a bit awkard as everyone started gushing though.
Ahem.

Luka tried not to laugh.

Armin was for once glad to have a mask to covered his expression, because yes, that was adorable.

Starr had to cover her mouth to not laugh at that and the contentment coming from the baby. She looked down to the boy, petting him softly to distract herself. She hadn't expected that. After a moment, she turned and picked up the sling to let the boy see it and sniff at it.

Asher tried to look at anything except the baby and Kay. He knew Kay didn't really want to be adorable. The sling! He went over to look at it.

Armin looked a little anxious as Starr showed the sling to the babies, hoping it would meet with approval. He fidgeted awkwardly.

The boy sniffed at it, crawling in and snuggling the inside of the bag. The girl Aramin held squeaked, looking from the baby to her brother then to Aramin again

"Would you like the join your brother little one? " Armin asked. Hey they might not be able to understand him but speaking to them felt natural and correct.

The girl squeaked at him, looking up at Aramin, even though she couldn't understand the words he spoke.

Armin moved to let her see the sling as well.

The girl spread her wings, bouncing a little before folding them again to climb into the bag with her brother, squeaking happily

"Too adorable," James said. "Nobody has the right to be that adorable, seriously."

Asher smiled and went over to Kay. "Well, at least your hands are free now," he said quietly, "that's good."

Armin chuckled. "They seem pleased." He sounded delighted.

Kay nodded. [She's very content.] He could feel it radiating off her, and it was difficult not to sort of bask in that feel of safety and happiness she projected. It was... nice.

"Way too cute. " Luka agreed. "Does this mean you'll be staying here Starr?" she asked suddenly.

"She certainly looks content too," Asher said. He frowned at Luka's question. If Kay had a dragon imprinted on him now, what would that mean for him?

Kay chewed his lip, thinking the same as Asher.

Luka frowned, that was apparently a bad thing to bring up. "sorry." She mumbled.

Kay shook his head. [It's a legitimate question. Right now I don't think there's any plans or any real idea of how long we'll stay here, who'll stay, who'll leave, IF we'll leave. ] He shook his head. Honestly he was sort of leaning toward the stay here and defend the guild side of the argument. If it was going to be a target, he didn't like the idea of leaving the kids here to await attack.