Chapter 2.6: Hatchlings!

[yhlee]

[First, some housekeeping: I'm going to be at Worldcon in Dublin and therefore out of the country, with limited time for email, from August 14 to 19. Please bear with me if responses are slow during that time.]

The Cantata is continuing on its way to Autumn Pyre.

Anyone monitoring Jedao will find that he has been tensing and untensing his muscles, and making slow stretching motions, without making overt attempts to escape, so he doesn't stiffen up while he's bound. He says to the room, "A glass of water would be appreciated if anyone's listening."

In the middle of the night (ship's time), there are EXTREMELY loud distress calls from Fluffy's enclosure, and shortly thereafter, multiple very loud chirrups from within the nest. Gerae appears to be sound asleep and unresponsive.

[Anyone who wants a baby pseudo-dragon of their own should report in!]

Comments

Re: checking on the babies

[yhlee]

Fluffy is desperately ferrying even more snacks in between the tray that Sasha provided (and that someone else appears to have replenished during the night--asking the grid will reveal that Gerae did this) and her nest. Sasha knows from her study of baby pseudo-dragons that they are RAVENOUS for the first week or so after they hatch, and normally it would be the work of all the adults in the colony keeping the hungry little suckers fed. Fluffy is doing her best, but as a lone pseudo-dragon parent, she is clearly overwhelmed.

Baby pseudo-dragons could and should be handled from early on, especially if they're to be socialized to humans.

Re: checking on the babies

[zuhrovet]

Sasha replenishes the tray yet again, and locates a jar of almond butter and another of fruit preserves. She mixes a spoonful of each, trying for an easily digestible consistency, then looks into the nest and whistles a coaxing invitation.

[Sasha doesn't want to collide with Fluffy, but she will definitely start feeding a hatchling if she can pull one out of the nest without causing too great a disruption.]

Re: checking on the babies

[yhlee]

Baby pseudo-dragons are somewhat clumsy. There's an ear-piercing squawk that sounds like two of the hatchlings are squabbling with each other, and then one hatchling emerges in response to the whistling, and then a second one.

Fluffy trills reassuringly at the babies, and continues her feeding efforts.

Re: checking on the babies

[zuhrovet]

Sasha swipes her right ring finger through the almond butter and fruit mix. She gives the spoon to the first hatchling and picks up the second in her left hand, cradling it close to her body. She offers her tasty finger to lick.

[Important question: what colors are the hatchlings?]

Re: checking on the babies

[yhlee]

The two hatchlings greedily lick away the almond butter and fruit mix. The second's tongue tickles. It's very squirmy.

[My honest answer to "what color is a hatchling" is everyone who adopts a hatchling gets to decide what color it is. Does that work?]

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[zuhrovet]

[Sure, but then you should tell me which of the two present hatchlings is blue!]

Sasha should have planned ahead and made a smoothie. There are all sorts of options for protein and vitamins, if you use the blender. "Grid?" she asks. "Is Ione awake? Or Alaric, or Sulen?"

Meanwhile, she's mixing another round of fruit and almond butter. She hums to the hatchlings as she works.

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[yhlee]

[The one that is licking Sasha's finger eagerly is blue. :) ]

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[venndaai]

Sulen is not always awake, but they are right now, and appear in the doorway a few minutes after Sasha, holding a glass of water. They put it down on the nearest available surface and tentatively crouch down, watching the hatchlings. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[zuhrovet]

Sasha has speaking to the hatchlings in Kirrish ("Hey, little froglets, it's just like catching flies.") She looks up, a bit embarrassed. "Oh, good, you're here. Could you run a can of tuna and a couple of bananas through the blender? On the other side of the room, I don't want to scare them, but their food should be a paste and I doubt you want to chew it yourself."

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[slybrarian]

Alaric stumbles into the common room, bleary-eyed and with hair more disheveled than usual. "Was that the decompression alert? Or the we're-being-chased-by-angry-Kel siren? We should probably have one of - oh. Huh. Should we get some kind of squeeze bottle?"

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[zuhrovet]

"Fuck, please," Sasha says. "Could you print at least six? There are quite a few babies still in the nest, and pseudo-dragons aren't meant to be single parents."

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[yhlee]

Two more hatchlings emerge from the nest while Fluffy is gathering up more food, squalling, and head straight (clumsily) toward the tray.

[Hatchling #1 for Sulen, hatchling #2 for Alaric, each of you can choose what color your hatchie is!]

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[venndaai]

Sulen admires a magenta and purple hatchling before reluctantly going to make the smoothie. They're not fond of handling fish products but it seems worth it, looking at the little creatures.

[Is the tuna and banana in the cargo hold, or do they need to make a trip to the galley?]

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[yhlee]

[The tuna and banana is in the galley.

I am not-so-secretly hoping there will be much hatchling art.]

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[zuhrovet]

[Fluffy's nest was in the general area of the galley. I have been imagining the hatchlings crawling out onto the counter. I guess that's not very sanitary!]

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[venndaai]

Sulen runs the tuna and banana through the blender while mentally going down a checklist of Things To Do in an attempt to distract themself from the unpleasantness of both foodstuffs. If only pseudodragons ate leaves, or root vegetables. Though it wouldn't be easy to stay stocked with fresh produce in space. They are also trying very hard not to picture Sasha's comment about chewing the food themself.

They haven't checked in with the Hafn in a while. Maybe Sasha knows the girl's habits and if she's also likely to be awake. Sulen has started assuming Sasha spies on everyone.

After thirty seconds, the blender's contents appear very well blended. Sulen pours the mix into a bowl, wincing when some inevitably drips onto their hands and the counter, and then brings it over to Sasha. They scoop some of the mix onto a spoon, and look for the magenta hatchling again.

Re: checking on the babies - paging Ione, Alaric, and Sulen

[yhlee]

The magenta hatchling, unlike Sulen, appears to think that tge awful tuna-banana paste smells heavenly. It squawks as it clambers toward them, its wings fluttering. It happily licks up a mouthful of the paste and manages to get some all over its snout in the process, then goes cross-eyed trying to lick that off, too.

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

"Thanks!--Baby frog, I'm going to have to set you down for a moment. Don't let your sibs take all the sweet potassium."

Sasha deposits the blue hatchling by the tray for just long enough to grab some of the squeeze bottles that Alaric has been printing. She fills them with the mixture from the bowl, setting one beside Sulen, rinses her hands, and then checks to see how much trouble the hatchlings have gotten into while she was working.

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[slybrarian]

"These will work, right?" Alaric asks while delivering bottles. "Some species' mouth need to suckle or bite on something with the right consistency. And what about emzymes or stomach acid, is the food adults feed them just chewed or partially digested? Does gut bacteria get exchanged?"

He is probably overthinking things. No, definitely overthinking things. But what if he's not??

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

"Yes, thanks! The regurgitation is mostly to transport nutrient-dense food, while hatchlings are too young to hunt bugs or avoid predators. A lot of birds use the same strategy. Our hatchlings do need some of Fluffy's bacteria to help digest cellulose, but as long as we make sure she has plenty of nuts and seeds to share with them, they'll be all right."

The blue hatchling is crawling toward the bowl of tuna-and-banana paste. Sasha scoops it up and offers a bottle instead.

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[lleullawgyffes]

Virmad has of course been here the whole time since he and Gerae arrived, which was at some point, and bends down curiously to examine the spoon-eating hatchling, which is a lighter blue (almost shading into grey) than the one Sasha is bottle-feeding.

“Well, edzonhuraž, eyemži!” he says — aren’t you hungry, little beastie — smiling and extending his hand for the hatchling to examine. Then, to Sasha, “Is there more food? I don’t think this one will be satisfied with the spoon for long.”

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[bariolage]

[I have been reading but unable to reply because mobile typing but now I have my desk back!]

Ione has also been here for a little bit, but there's a good reason for Dr. Chatty to have not been as chatty; her implanted filters only really work on human empathy, because usually animal empathy isn't on the right frequency to get to her. That would be usually. Now she's caught up in being aware of an entire nest of newborns for a solid few minutes of delighted staring.

"Er, right, I could do something besides gawking. They're much cuter than actual dragons when they hatch, you know — I wonder if they'd take potassium drops or benefit from them."

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

"Calcium is the highest priority," Sasha observes. "I gave Fluffy a selection of calcium-rich food in preparation, but with so many hatchlings and only one adult pseudo-dragon it makes sense to supplement. But bright stars, Ione, how many true dragons have you met?"

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[bariolage]

"Calcium isn't going to be as malleable, so I guess milk is the best bet," says Ione, who doesn't ask what kind of animal's milk they're using, even if she is curious. Possibly not curious enough. "Oh, er - actually met? Just one. I've seen more from far away."

She crouches alongside the nest, smiling more brightly than makes any sense in this context. "Fluffy, poor thing, you must be exhausted."

Re: checking on the babies - paging Alaric, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

Sasha hands Virmad one of the squeeze bottles, and nods toward the bowl of tuna smoothie that Sulen prepared.