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 - 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

[yhlee]

Fluffy pauses in her ministrations to nuzzle Ione, making a chirruping sound that is obviously Vraselian pseudo-dragon for "I am a beleaguered but grateful single mom."

dragon tangent - paging Ione

[zuhrovet]

"But how do the dragons work?" Sasha asks. "What makes them dragons, and not neo-dinosaurs? Did they evolve in an invariant way, to suit a particular environment? Or did someone engineer them? Or do they depend on some exotic calendar?"

Re: dragon tangent - paging Ione

[slybrarian]

"I can't speak for Ione," Alaric said, somewhat distracted by carefully squeezing disgusting goo into the hungry maw of a baby, "but where I come, traditionally the defining feature is being able to talk. Unless you're one of those people obsessed with heraldry who insist they have to have four legs and two wings, but they're obviously wrong so they don't matter."

Re: dragon tangent - paging Ione

[zuhrovet]

"Have you spoken to a dragon?" Sasha asks.

[Very excited for the wyvern enthusiast representation here! ;) ]

Re: dragon tangent - paging Ione

[slybrarian]

"Only once in a meaningful way. They didn't come through my part of the world often. It was a majestic creature, astoundingly graceful despite how large it was," Alaric said, looking off into the distance. "She told me I was an arrogant young man and that I'd probably end up buried under a mountain for the turning of an age after I was an asshole to the wrong person."

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.