Pets and problems

Jaisyl sat with Mallow on her lap, the centipede making soft chirping noises as the princess fed it from a bowl of dried meaty kibble that Rye had retrieved. It was an interesting experience; she’d had pets before, but those had always been either too large (like most noble ladies she’d been expected to learn to ride and had thus been given a rather impressive lizard on her eighth birthday) or entirely for show (like the delicate four winged birds in the aviary back in the palace). She’d rather liked the birds; they’d been a gift to her and her mother from the emperor, and she had fond memories of sitting in the aviary listening to them sing while her mother brushed her hair.

But, turning back from her memories to the creature sitting in her lap - it was odd. By all accounts, the animal should have been repulsive - it was essentially an oversized bug. It wasn’t soft, it’s shell was coarse to the touch even ignoring the places where it had been patched up from an injury with prosthetic chitin by the ladies, and yet. And yet… having it chirping and happily taking food from her hand with a gentle click of it’s mouth, two of it’s many legs delicately holding her wrist for balance - seemingly to ensure it didn’t miss the kibble and pinch her flesh while eating…

“It’s kind of sweet,” she said at last, frowning. “Though it shouldn’t be.”

Rye gave a snort at that, leaning back against the edge of the pen they were both sitting in. “There’s a reason we brought Mallow on board - and it wasn’t as a science experiment. She’s doing really well, all things considered. Turns out her species is actually capable of regrowing their exoskeleton if it’s damaged - another year or so of good diet and you won’t be able to tell she ever had that prosthetic.”

The bunny girl reached forward, clicking her tongue as she took the bowl. Mallow followed the sound, her many legs pattering softly on the dry sandy floor of the pen as she shifted from Jaisyl’s lap to the Rabyth’s. “Grows on ya, doesn’t she?” Rye grinned, noting Jaisyl’s pout at the pet’s sudden departure.

“Yes,” the princess said after a moment’s consideration, trying to decide if she could get away with denying it. “Which… ugh, which makes for a really good parallel to other considerations I have been struggling with of late. Can I ask how you feel about Dustin?”

Rye straightened, her eyes narrowing at the sudden change of topic. “Why do ya care about my feelings for Dusty? No offense, princess, but ya made it pretty clear how ya felt about him during your introduction to our crew.”

“I…” Jaisyl began, then stopped. Grimacing in annoyance, she gestured towards Mallow before continuing, “I feel I may have been… overly hasty in my forming an opinion of the ambassador. He is… well, he is not as useless as I had previously believed.”

The Rabyth woman shook her head. “That’s a lot of words to say ya changed your mind after he jumped into a monster-infested pit to save ya. But Dusty’s just like that. It’s why we all follow him. Oh, sure, I love the guy - wouldn’t have this otherwise,” she tapped her stomach where Mallow’s squirming had caused her top to ride up, revealing the silver pairing tattoo sitting in stark contrast to her golden fur.

Before Jaisyl could reply to that comment, Rye continued. “So yea, I love him - but I’d follow him regardless because of who he is and how he acts. We all would - Yril’k’s jumped on a grenade to save him before now, Bleu’s an anarchist at heart but still follows his authority… The man just cares, ya know? Hell, one of his first missions? The guy risks his life to save a bunch of these crystal seed things that are basically children for some rock-based life. Damn things start eating the planet behind him as he’s sprinting for the shuttle, only just gets out in time - but it was risk his neck or the kids would have died, so of course Dusty did it.”

Jaisyl’s gaze flickered from Rye’s eyes to the Rabyth woman’s womb tattoo and back before the Tho’unn princess sighed. “You’re right, I guess. I massively underestimated him on our first meeting. Th…that doesn’t mean I want to try and join your relationship though!” Her last words came in a rush, a blush tinting her cheeks as she shook her head rapidly, adding “I just… I should give him more respect, that’s all.”

Rye was about to reply, but the princess cut her off. “I asked originally because I wanted an opinion from someone that had been with him a while but wasn’t actively carrying his child. Speaking of which…”

The Rabyth woman’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh no, do NOT start asking me if or when I’m gonna be having Dusty’s babies, please, I am having enough trouble with that question myself and, and…” Jaisyl cut the stammering bunny girl off with a giggle.

“No. No! Sorry Rye, I wasn’t going to ask you that. Ugh, why am I so bad at talking to people? Honestly, my entire life until my father decided to marry me to Dustin was supposed to be about talking to people. Well, that and pushing out babies, but anyway, why do I fail so hard when it comes to talking with people casually?” The Tho’unn pouted, then shook her head. “I was going to ask if you would help me with something.” Jaisyl saw Rye’s expression and hurriedly added “something that doesn’t involve either of us getting pregnant!”

Rye set the bowl of kibble on the floor, tilting it so Mallow could help herself to the remainder of the food, and stood up. “I figure it probably involves us somewhere other than Mallow’s pen,” she said, reaching down to help Jaisyl to her feet. “So, what’s the problem?”

The princess dusted herself off and sighed. “When I first came on board, I may have been a little… rude. Especially to Meli’a, Emely and Trea’k. I, umm… I may have not believed that Dustin was truly the father of their children. All within the privacy of my own head, thankfully - but never the less, I feel that I haven’t, well… Suffice to say, I am on bad terms with them. I know from Aricia that Meli’a and Trea’k are both at least tolerating my presence on the ship, but even so…” she trailed off, then **** a smile as she looked across at Rye. “I’d like your help to make them a gift to apologize. I made one for Aricia, and she really liked it, so I thought maybe you could help me decide on the designs? Then I could work on them while you fix my shelving?”

Dustin frowned as he skimmed the report O’Zaxx had sent him. The most recent analysis of all the scanner data and footage from the research outpost suggested that what he had encountered was nothing more than giant versions of the local lifeforms they had been studying. It was unclear if they had grown that large naturally or if it was some by-product of the outpost itself; the lead scientist had suggested a theory that it was the presence of the fusion reactors that had boosted growth, by providing massive amounts of electromagnetism for the non-organic life, and heat for the organics. Without further missions to the surface, analysing this theory would be near impossible however, and that would have to wait until a new orbital research base could be constructed.

He had other issues to worry about too. A message had come through from Earth letting him know that long range scanners had reported activity in the system containing the destroyed cluster node; the possibility of the Fractals rebuilding was a matter of concern - although not as much of one as it might have once been. Earth’s military had not sat idle since the battle for Sol, and had already dispatched a small fleet of their new scout ships to investigate. The research into the Fractal material Rye had recovered from the Lieviran homeworld was also moving rapidly, while the other big threat - the Durathisians - were slowly consolidating in the aftermath of their disastrous loss against Dustin and the rest of humanity.

In short, their enemies were rebuilding after the blows he had struck, but handling them was out of his hands for the time being. It’d take time to integrate the new Tho’unn intelligence with the Velca scanner networks. It’d take time to get used to integrated fleet movement with craft containing Hoxx and other crew drawn from the new friends Dustin had made. And his work in gaining new friends wasn’t done - he knew Emely had been busy in meetings with Star Command, discussing their next stops after Earth. But for now they were clear to return to the light of Sol - and to his biggest worry of all. With everything he had on his plate, with all the people that he had depending on him… could he still make time to be the father his children deserved?

Leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling, Dustin grimaced. He’d not spoken with any of his lovers about this - not even Trea’k. Especially not Trea’k. He knew he should, of course, he really should talk with the ship’s counselor about it - but his worries tied in so much to his own childhood he just couldn’t bring himself to seek her out. His parents had been busy working, keeping people safe… and then they’d not come home. If nothing else, he didn’t want that for his own offspring, which was stupid - they’d be on Sola, close by him at all times. That was what he, Meli and Trea’k had all agreed what seemed like an age ago. But still…