I write sometimes

You opened your eyes, the walls were too bright and hurt your eyes. You shook your head at the sudden stimuli, your vision was blurred with only splotches of colour to distinguish shapes. You had to rely on scent to identify who the blobs were. Just lifting your head was a huge task and you let out a chocked warble, it sounded unhealthy.

A green blob moved towards you, speaking a language that had left your understanding but as you continued to blink uselessly, snout tilted up to the ceiling with crackling breaths, more understandable twittering answered your initial warble.

A contact call from your wife, one you made back before you started calling for your children. You needed to know the chicks were alright as the memories of the previous cycle started seeping into your brain.

A pink blob got closer, your nose identifying them as one of your eldest chicks. Et-han's face became recognisable as they got closer and you reached for him.

"You're so damn lucky we got you an antidote in time," he muttered, "that venom would have killed you. What happened to letting the death worlder take the venomous hits?"

"Oh leave her be for now," Yinsin admonished, "she's in no position to argue her case. Stay with her, I'll grab the other children."

"Including the human?" Et-han asked.

"Especially the human," Yinsin said, "I think one of the other humans made a translation error when explaining Yarrow's condition. They've been stressed ever since that talk."

"Alright, but if she starts nesting, I'm out of here."

"Don't act like you don't enjoy being fussed over," YInsin called as she left.

You were only distantly aware that she had, you'd begun inspecting Et-han for injuries. You remembered the raid and while you weren't fully sure of all the details yet, you knew if there was a raid, your elder child would defend the nest alongside you.

You were right to worry. You found bandage around their arm and the coppery smell mixed with something sweet, blood laced with venom, raising your head feathers and causing you to hiss.

"I'm fine," Et-han said, "you already know I have a hefty poison tolerance and even then, we're in the med-bay. We've dealt with it." Et-han's hand grabbed your hand and squeezed, the action seemed to clear your vision if only for a second. "You, on the other hand, are gonna have to stay here to recover. You lost a lot of blood and your body isn't handling the venom as well as mine. That tail swipe you took also bruised your sternum so, you're probably going to struggle breathing easy."

You tilted your head up to the ceiling again. You weren't sure why you kept doing it. Something about the action felt better to you, like you could breathe better or think clearer. Perhaps there is some fluid somewhere that you were trying to move.

"You're not taking any of this in, are you?"

You squeezed his hand, trying to explain that you were there, even though it was difficult to stay with him. You couldn't hope of speaking yet, thinking alone was like walking through waist high mud.

"I'll leave the rest of the scolding for when you're able to talk," Et-han said, "just know I am going to scold you."

You twittered sweetly in his direction, nudging your snout into the side of his head before tilting it back to the ceiling.

"Love you too."

You two sat like that until a flurry of shapes, colours and sounds overwhelmed you. Multiple scents of crewmates entered your nose, marking off an imaginary checklist of chicks. They ran to you, nearly tackling you as they all climbed up on your cot, voices frantic for attention and assurance.

You couldn't say anything yet but you could twitter and coo, head lowering to study their shapes, taking in their scents. Tocktin climbed up on your shoulders, Sie curled into your side and Alyr and Thistle grabbed around your body, pulling you close to them.

A memory resurfaced and you let out a chirp, taking Alyr's head and studying his face to the best of your limited vision. You couldn't see anything but a brief prod at the area around his horn made him shrink back and you cooed sadly, pulling him closer.

There was someone on your list that had not come to you. You let out more contact calls, head up and searching when you couldn't hear them. Their scent was here but you couldn't see them. Your vision was getting more blurry the longer you had your head down. You shook your head, looking around and twittering a sweet sound to lure the child out of hiding.

They likely weren't even hiding, just standing outside of your current field of view. You shook your head again as it only got heavier while you were looking around.

"Has she been doing that a lot?" Yinsin asked, also outside of your field of view.

"She's only really started doing that now." Et-han said, "but before you got here, she was tilting her head up. Maybe some fluid?"

"Of course the one who would actually know is currently mum brained."

You let out a displeased churr at the phrase. You could still understand somewhat, it was difficult but you could. And it was getting harder, the longer you spent away from tilting your head up. You twittered again, that same twitter you'd done to the human before, hoping to lure them out.

Something moved in your field of view and you turned to it, the shapes and colours were familiar and you visibly lit up on seeing them, calling for them to come closer, gesturing with your wing.

The human paused then stepped away, making you lose sight of them, their colours seemed to blur into the background and you could no longer visibly tell what was them anymore. You called, growing a little distressed.

"Ok so their field of view is about a stride and a half away." Et-han mumbled.

"That's not good." Yinsin said, "what have the scanners said. Is there any more Aesif venom in their system?"

"No, it's all gone but her body is in a kind of shock. Her internal temperature is raised and there's still all those injuries she got from the raiders. At least one of those was a head wound."

You couldn't really focus on the conversation until you were sure where the human was and you could inspect them yourself. They had been targetted by the Aesif too and grabbed. Were they hurt? Were they scared? You were still building trust and it was shaky. Did they feel unsafe after the invasion? Was your chick unsure of your ability to protect them? Did the Aesif scare away that personality that was only starting to come out?

You twittered again in distress.

"Yarrow, it's ok. The human is here, they're ok."

Not long after, the human stepped back into your vision but not close enough for you to check them for injuries. You gestured again with your wing, more incessant, only growing distressed that they weren't safe in your arms.

Their next movements were quicker. They lunged at you and you reacted quickly, opening your arms to them to fall into and pulling your wings around all your children. The human was making noises now, whimpers and whines, sounds of distress. You twittered and nudged at them, searching them for injury and landing on the arm that had been grabbed.

You smelt the blood even if it had been bandaged. You cooed, nudging their head to lay against your chest and you pulled them tighter to you. Then you tilted your head back up to the ceiling, shaking slightly to clear your head.

"Yarrow," Yinsin said, "can you put your head down for me, I need to look at it."

As much as you wanted her to, you just needed some time to breathe and think first. This was helping you somehow.

"Yarrow please, I don't want to fight you on it."

You shook your head and cooed. You didn't exactly want to fight against them either but there were some things you couldn't articulate yet.

Hands wrapped around your snout and pulled your head down. You immediately locked eyes with your wife, struggling to pull your head out of her grasp. It wasn't until you started coughing that she let go, cooing in distress.

"I don't know how to help you," she said, "I'm not the one who has a PhD in anatomical biology."

You shook your head again, hand reaching up to scratch at the side of your head, hoping to communicate the issue. It ended up being Alyr who noticed.

"Your ears, mama said excessive head shaking could be a problem with the ears." He said.

You cooed at him, nudging the side of his head proudly.

"Ok, give me a minute." Yinsin left your side, giving you the chance to cuddle up with your children. You kept your head pointed up but your arms and wings curled more around them all. You could feel the human's little hands clinging to you, similar to how your other children did. Warm warbles and coos left you as you pulled them impossibly closer.

"You are such a mum," Et-han muttered beside you as if he hadn't literally been raised by you.

"Back," Yinsin said before you felt something poke into your ear. You initially flinched away with a chirp. "Sorry, sorry. Just worried for you," she twittered and trilled sweetly and you held yourself still as she looked in your ear again with the otoscope.

You were growing tired. As much as you tried to keep your head up and breathing steady, the pain was starting to creep in as the pain meds were being filtered out of your system. You churred, your head lowering against your will, eyes blinking slowly.

"Oh my dear, lay down, it'll help."

You shook your head again, knowing that irritation and fuzziness would follow if you were to lay down. You needed to be there for your children, they were still scared.

"Come on, let her sleep." Et-han said to the others, "we'll need to move her to check her out anyway."

"Etty," Thistle whined.

"Nope, I'm serious, she needs to recover. You can see her later."

"But she's scared," Alyr said, squeezing his arms more around you.

You paused at that. Were the children reacting to your anxiety? While there was fear around how your children had faired during the invasion, you didn't think they'd notice it over their own fear.

"Oh, she was just worried about you all. She's seen you and knows you're all safe now. It'll be ok," Yinsin said, "I'll be right here with her the whole time. She won't be alone."

While it was to reassure the children, it did a lot more to reassure you. Because you were scared. You were scared of what the venom will do to you, when would be the next time you held all of them?

"And all of you are going to be very good while she's recovering, right?" Yinsin said.

"We'll visit every day," Thistle said, "even if you're not awake."

"We love you mama," Sie said, curling his whole body around your waist.

"We love you," came the chorus afterwards. You cooed at them all.

They all gave you another big squeeze before they all peeled off you. The human was the last to peel away but they gave an extra little squeeze before also letting go.

"Et-han, lead them out. I'll stay with Yarrow. I'll need to look at her ears anyway."

"Bye, mama," they called as all of them left your field of view. You held in the distress until you were sure they were out of the room. Even then, you made sure your warble was quiet.

"My love," Yinsin stood over you, tucking your head under her snout, "you care so much, it is time you received some back. They will be fine. Let us focus on you."

"I hear you've adopted another one." He said.

You looked up from your food to send him a flat look, not sure if he's able to read your face in the same way as your own species would. His chuckle suggested he could.

"How has introductions gone with the other kids?"

"Like introducing a bunch of Vari to a Titr." You answered, "the children sit outside their room, just so eager to meet them, I wonder if I should be sticking a see-through gate in the doorway."

The Atraxi laughed again, "and how is the human finding them?"

"There was some initial interest but the human seems happy to just sit in company rather than meet them at the door." You shrugged, "they're more interested in painting more sea creatures on their feature wall."

"I'm sure Yinsin is happy to get another artist on the station."

"Heard anything more from the authorities?" You changed the subject and it immediately soured the Atraxi's mood but you needed to know. It's not like you could just take this human child, there were processes to go through.

"Not since we twisted their arm for those poacher files." He huffed.

You grimaced, "sorry to say, Hex, but I don't think they're actually going to come back for this one."

"Nope," he agreed, "think they just dumped them off at the nearest station. Do you think they knew it was a child?"

"I mean, we are known for taking on children here," you tilted your head, "but they couldn't have gotten much of a look at the human. They transported it in the crate taken from the poacher ship." You absently remembered you still had that crate. You'd need to burn that along with every other thing that came from that place. Your tail lashed out at the thought of a child being treated like an aggressive pet.

Hex seemed to pick up on your anger, "well, I heard back from one of the ships with humans on it. They're en route to help. I think they're all assuming it's a child too what with our resident xenobiologist's tendencies." He raised a skin fold on one side of his face, you'd seen it enough times to know its meaning.

You huffed a laugh, "Yinsin is just as bad, I'll have you know. And don't tell me you don't like having them all around."

"I mean, we got a security officer out of it," Hex shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe the human will follow in Et-han's footsteps, I hear humans can be scary strong and resourceful."

"We do not support child labour in this station," you shook your head, a smile pulling at your lips.

"Suuuure... mostly," Hex chuckled.

You opened your mouth to chastise him more when the lights suddenly switched off. Your stomach dropped and when the lights came back on, they were red. An alert sounded, loud and droning.

"Aesif boarders inbound. Everyone shelter in place."

You did not shelter in place. You jumped up and ran down the halls towards the human's room where you knew all the children to be standing around. While you had taught them what to do in situations like this, you weren't sure if they would freeze or panic now that it actually was happening.

Outside the human's door, Alyr was reaching a hand in while Thistle was desperately trying to wave the human out. You picked Toctin up off the floor, knowing they were slower to move than the rest.

As you entered the doorway, the human was walking towards the group, fidgeting and tense. On seeing you with the group, they took a step and took Alyr's hand as you used a wing to gesture and lead the children to their hideout for these specific situations.

You wouldn't fit into the doorway, it was designed to be small enough that only the children could fit in it to add that extra security. They crawled into the entrance, the human pausing at the door before looking up at you, clearly understanding that you weren't going to fit.

"Go on," you nodded to them, "I will be fine." They followed the other children in and you closed a shutter over the doorway.

Shutters were coming down on multiple doorways by now, one of the few defences this station had. You were still in the hallway and had to run to find a room that was still open. Whilst you did, you bumped into Et-han who had fully kitted up with energy blades and a phaser on his hip.

"What are you doing here? Go to your lab and stick the shutter down," he hissed.

"I had to hide the others first," you said back.

"Go," Et-han all but scolded you as if you weren't his mother too. He was pointing down the hall.

From down the hall, you heard the predatory trill from your invaders. The Aesif were reptilian in nature, covered in frills and stood upright on two legs with long tactile tails able to break bone if you're hit by them.

You also heard Yinsin. Her voice came over the invaders' radios as she broadcasted your SOS. "Transmitting on all frequencies, station Li-N is under attack from Aesif invaders. I repeat, the daycare is under attack."

This was not the first time this station had come under attack. It had happened once when Et-han had still been a shoat in your arms. You had a whole host of other alien children and help had come quick when they registered your station as being under siege. Using the station's nickname was the quickest way to get help.

While in the hall, a small part of you felt aggression rising. It was unavoidable what with this station essentially being your nest with multiple of your children working and living here. These Aesif were nothing but nest raiders to that maternal part of your brain. But you were able to ignore that part of your brain to find your own safety, as long as-

"Mama!" You heard a scream from the hall you'd just come from.

They found the hideout. How the intruders had managed to fit to pull out one of the children, you weren't sure but you knew now that nothing was going to stop you from taking your child back.

Your tail lashed, the feathers at the end of it spread wide in a threat display. You moved to walk on all fours, not something you did normally, the walk was too predatory for interacting with multiple species that included prey species. Your tail straightened for balance as you approached down the corridor.

You reached the hideout only to find the shutter had been ripped off and the edges of the doorway had been cut with some thermal cutting tool to widen the entrance, the edges were singed. These invaders seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

In the common room up ahead, you heard Et-han's protective grumble. He was speaking, not fighting, which meant he didn't have the option.

Stalking into the common room, you found your children backed up into a corner. Et-han stood between them and the invaders however Alyr was not with them. Alyr was in the arms of an Aesif.

Alyr was the protective sort, similar to Et-han in that way. He was most likely to put himself in the way for the others to run. Now though, he was trembling. The Aesif was holding him by one of his horns, the other hand held a blade that was currently pointed at the ground, the invader confident that Et-han would not try to approach him as long as he held Alyr. And he'd be right.

"I'm telling you, this is a very big mistake," Et-han said calmly, "put the kid down before you get seriously hurt."

"You won't do anything to me," the invader said, "we know of this place. The daycare, they call it. You care so much about these little ones and you are not related. Weak. We find you easy and we come for what's ours." The invader nodded to the human child currently hiding behind Et-han.

On seeing attention on them, the human let out a growl but it was shaky. The fear was only riling you up more but you knew you couldn't rush in. Even without the blade, Aesif had talons almost as sharp as yours, strong tails and armour plating on their back and the top of their head.

Your head tilted as you looked for the best place to sink your teeth and talons in. Your eyes landed on their shoulders and neck where their species had sacrificed some protection for manoeuvrability. Similarly, their tail had no protection aside from the hulking muscle it was made from. It would need quite the large blood supply to move as strong as it does. Anatomy flashed through your mind as you stalked further behind the intruder.

Et-han would see you by now, so would the children but the only one to really react was the human. They had never seen you look like this and they just hugged Et-han's leg briefly before remembering he would probably need his legs to move and protect them.

"Yeah, about that," Et-han said, "I think you'll find they're not yours anymore. You're gonna have to take that up with Ma."

"Oh, I was not asking." The intruder shook the hand holding Alyr, making the kid bleat and grab for his horn, wincing in pain.

"Neither is she."

You pounced. The talons on your back feet sunk into the base of its tail, one of your hands sunk talons into its shoulder while your teeth clamped around its neck. The other hand dragged talons down its inner arm, slitting the skin and making it drop its blade.

As it screamed in surprise and pain, Et-han swooped in to grab Alyr, twisting the Aesif's hand that still held him. The Aesif lashed out, clamping its jaws on Et-han's arm while Alyr rushed back to the other children.

As soon as you heard Et-han's pain, your hand reached into the intruder's mouth, not caring if you get bit and dug your talon's into its soft pallet. It yelled again, this time, mouth wide open as it tried to dislodge your hand. It let go of Et-han who also went back to the children, weapon ready to defend.

The intruder threw you over its shoulder and quickly spun to hit you with its tail.

"Yarrow!" Et-han warned but you grabbed on to the Aesif's heel, pulling yourself closer to its body. The tail still hit you and it hurt but it was nowhere near the body shattering hit that the end of its tail could produce.

Your talons attacked the base of the tail again, ripping through flesh and drawing more blood. The Aesif kicked your chest and stumbled away.

You stood up on four legs, all feathers puffed up and wings spread wide in threat, tail lashing and displaying your darkest patterns. You let out a hiss, "leave my nest or bleed." It was getting harder for you to actually think. Your anger was only getting worse now that a child of yours had been injured and they were all vulnerable.

The hits you'd taken were harsh but you couldn't think to even assess your own injuries. They were blunt force, that's all you could even remember.

"Aaand rational brain has left the station," Et-han said behind you. You wouldn't disagree. It was a huge task to even speak to the invader and not cause more harm.

However, your hits were precise. The intruder's neck and tail were bleeding profusely and the long slit down its arm also became slick with blood. It was stumbling away from you, collapsing in shock. It opened its mouth and let out a call before you could lunge and hold its mouth shut.

Two more Aesif invaders entered the room, seeing you standing over one of their own as it bled on the floor. Et-han held his sword up while you went down on all fours again, wings spread wide and pupils dilating.

The Aesif at your feet was still alive, bleeding out fast. You shoved it towards them. "Take it, and get out."

They looked at each other. One grabbed the injured one, pulling it out the door while the other stepped towards you. Your tail lifted above your head, caudal fan stretched to show off the navy and blue feathers. You hissed as the intruder paused on you.

It turned, swiping at you with its tail. You jumped back and immediately rushed it as it finished its swipe. It didn't have much time to react. You ducked under its arm, your feet digging talons into its tail again as you chomped down on its neck, similar to the first. Unlike the first, you didn't hang on. You sliced through the flesh then jumped off its back, jumping over another tail swipe.

A thud brought your attention back to Et-han. He'd fallen to his knees, shaking his head as if clearing a haze. As soon as you saw the bite wound again, you became aware of the Aesif's worst weapon and why they were so hated as raiders.

A mouth clamped down on your shoulder as you were distracted. The second Aesif had finished dragging the injured one out of the room and had come up behind you. You squawked, a hand reaching back to claw at the head until it let you go. You dropped to the ground, turning to the other who was holding its face over its eye where blood was pouring.

"Hold it," it hissed to the other and you were shoved into the wall, colours blurring together in the whirr of motion.

You finally stopped fighting, if only to give yourself time to reevaluate. The one holding you was starting to bleed but you were also growing weak. You had to close one eye to gain a clear picture, sacrificing depth perception just to make the image stop spinning as much.

"Now, human." The other turned to your children and you hissed again, earning a hand on your throat, choking the noise from you. "We have tracked you through multiple solar systems."

Et-han stood again, trying to defend but his head was tilting to the side, already off balance and the Aesif slashed its blade at him, making him stumble back onto the ground again.

The chicks were completely undefended.

Your head turned to a scream as the human was grabbed. Both eyes opened, your pupils constricted into slits, your breathing slowed.

"Oh shit." The Aesif holding you managed before your hand shot out, stabbing its throat. It dropped you and you darted at the predator holding the human, tackling it to the ground.

The noises coming from you were nothing normal, still struggling with the breath you'd lost. Your mouth clamped down on its face, gripping and shaking.

The Aesif screamed, claws slashing at you but you wouldn't let go until it stopped moving. Once it stopped, you jumped off it, stumbling and swaying on your feet.

The human was on the ground, sinking back to be as small as possible. You twittered sweetly at them, nudging them with the back of your hand, deliberately keeping your talons away from them. You nodded back to the group of children, Thistle reaching out to take the human back. The human crawled across the ground towards them.

You looked at Et-han but he was also struggling to stand and crawled closer to the children. You were standing for now so you turned back to the doorway. You sent a glare at the Aesif still on its feet. It held its throat where you'd stabbed.

Before it could move, a pair of armed guards rushed towards them, yelling for the Aesif to get down. It dropped, more from its injuries than from any order given, it bled out by the time they'd dragged it away.

You stayed standing, instinct still high to protect your children. One of the armed guards walked up to you and your tail flared, a warning to stay back. The guard put their phaser on the ground in front of you, pulling their helmet off. It was a human.

"Everyone alright here?" They asked, "we're from the R9-tanker. We were just passing through when we heard your distress call."

The words were reaching you but barely and it was taking everything in you to not threaten any more.

"She's in mama mode," Et-han helpfully added, "give her some space."

You took another step before the venom and blood loss knocked the last of the strength from you and you fell to the ground.

The new clothes were slightly oversized to ensure growing room. The trousers were light blue, long and covered their feet. You immediately moved to fold the trousers up to avoid them tripping on them, realising the inside was made of fluffy material that would surely keep the human warm outside of the lab where the ambient temperatures were lower.

They had fluffy socks with little grips to ensure they wouldn't slip.

They had a long sleeved hoodie over their body, the sleeves having to be pushed up to not obstruct their hands. They had the hood up, revealing the little creative streak of Yinsin as she'd designed the hood to have white, felt teeth around the edges. The inner lining of the hood was red, replicating the inside of a large mouth. On the back of the hoodie, you noticed a large fin sticking out, similar to the creatures that the human had drawn on her tablet. The belly of the hoodie was white while the back was blue.

You twittered, "oh my, don't you look intimidating now." You chuckled.

The human seemed to sink into the warmth of their hoodie, pulling the hood over their head a little more. They let out a small noise before taking a step towards you. They hesitated before they closed the gap, wrapping their small arms around you in a hug.

This was quite the change in attitude to a couple cycles ago and you certainly didn't waste your chance at pulling the human closer, picking them up in your arms and hugging tightly with a twitter. You nudged their head to tuck under your chin, similar to how you had in their first cycle with you and they just leaned in. You felt more tension leave their body, like they finally understood that you were safe.

"This is such great news, I've wanted to take you out of here for so long. I think you're ready, don't you?" You looked down at them and they just leaned against you.

The door to the lab slid open to reveal Et-han in the doorway. He paused, raising an eyebrow at you but you couldn't find it in you to explain, only cheep happily. "Ok," Et-han sighed, "you know, it's things like this that make everyone nickname this station 'the daycare'"

"They initiated, Et-han. I've never seen them so relaxed."

"Yinsin finished their clothes, I see." Et-han flicked the fin on the back of the human's hoodie.

The human hummed, turning their head to Et-han but still leaning it on your shoulder. You preened at it.

"They're looking pretty tired. It's probably what brought on this bout of clinginess."

"I wonder if Yinsin is finished with their room."

"You want to move them now?" Et-han asked, "what happened to 'gaining their trust' before moving them out. Just because they're allowing this, doesn't mean they're trustworthy."

"I'm well aware," you said, "but I want them to have a real bed, not some blankets on the floor. Having their own space away from this lab could even help them relax more."

"And what about the other children running around the station? How do you expect them to act around each other."

"I've already talked to them and told them about the human's situation. They know to only approach when the human is ready."

"There's no talking you out of this, is there?" Et-han said.

"I want them out of the lab. I want them to have their own space that they can feel safe in."

"Alright but just know, if the human bites one of the other kids, I did warn you." Et-han lead the way out of the lab, you followed.

The human child perked up on being carried out. Their grip tightened on you a fraction and their head looked around them alertly, there were no worrying signs just yet.

"They haven't tried to bite us since I took the muzzle off. I don't think we'll have anything to fear."

"Somewhere, that child learned that a universal language was fighting, growling and biting. That the only way to get us to listen was for them to threaten. That doesn't just go away, even if we're careful. They'll need to unlearn that and it takes more than a couple cycles."

You nodded, nudging the human's head to tuck under your chin again though the human refused, staying alert. "I understand," you said, "I will warn the children too."

"You know them, they'll get all excited for a new person. If they accidentally corner 'em, that human won't hesitate to fight back."

You both walked towards the room that would become the human's to find Yinsin still in the process of putting up shelving. It was still rather bare bones but it would become more decorated the longer the human lived in it.

The paint on the walls had dried, leaving a lingering smell and Yinsin was using a power tool to stick up the last of the shelving as you stepped in. Her feathers were dirtied with paint stains and dust and she wore a tool belt around her waist.

"Yinsin," you twittered, "we had to show off your handiwork."

Yinsin turned and her eyes widened with surprise on seeing you holding the human without any fight. Moreso, they were wearing the clothes she'd made.

She twittered excitedly, her tail wagging behind her as her hands held her face. "They look so cute!" She chattered.

You carefully placed the human on the ground so Yinsin could see them better and they stood, though awkwardly, in front of her. Their hands moved to their hood, pulling it over them more.

"Oh, I was hoping you'd like the hood. How's the feel? Is it soft enough?" She reached out to the sleeve, fingers sticking in to feel the fluff inside.

The human pulled the sleeves up over their hands and stepped back towards you, their mouth pulling into what you knew as a human smile. They were happy with their clothes, if a little uncomfortable at all the attention.

"Mama!" A couple calls came from outside as Sie and Thistle started rushing towards them.

The human ducked behind your leg, growling lowly. Et-han was quick to intervene, "hey, easy. The human's here, you gotta give them space."

Thistle gasped excitedly, "can we see? I've never seen a human before."

"Soon, Thistle," you said, "but you need to give them time. Remember what we talked about?"

Sie took Thistle's arm and stepped back with her, "yeah, we need to not overwhelm them, they don't know they're safe yet. Right?"

"Right," you nodded, "so if they feel threatened, they might run or fight and we don't want anyone getting hurt now do we?"

"No," Thistle lowered her head, shaking it.

You twittered sweetly at them, "just give them some time. We're just moving them into their new room and they'll definitely need time to settle into the new environment." You watched as the human peeked out from around your leg, watching the two children curiously.

The children peered back just as curious but stayed at the threshold of the room. With them there, the human didn't explore their own room much, probably not understanding that this was their room.

There was a large, circular bed in the top corner filled with blankets. A window looked out into space with a small window seat with cushions. There was the wall that Yinsin was putting up shelving for and a large wardrobe in the corner.

The walls had been painted a soft blue, disguising the walls metallic makeup nicely. One wall had been set up as a feature wall, a much darker blue than the others and a couple colourful structures along the bottom, coral as you'd come to find out.

"I haven't had the time to really make any sea creatures yet," Yinsin explained, "but maybe they might prefer filling out the wall later."

The human came out from behind your leg, walking towards the wall as they recognised the sea theme and the coral reefs. They looked back at you, noticing you all watching them. They spoke in their own language. Actually spoke. You didn't understand of course but it was something different to the animalistic noises they normally made.

They moved to look at the rest of the room, taking notice of the window seat and crawling up onto it to look out the window. Their hands pressed against the glass as they leaned against it, staring out at the stars, eyes wide.

You couldn't take your eyes off them, watching with a warmth in your chest as the light from the nearest star reflected in their eyes. The station was positioned on a moon that orbited a gas giant. There wasn't anything particularly interesting in the view to you but to the human, they looked like they were staring at a great beauty of the universe.

You hadn't realised that Yinsin and Et-han had left the room, taking the children with them. You were entirely focused on the human. When you noticed them lean their forehead on the glass and start to close their eyes, you carefully picked them up under the armpits.

They didn't fight you as you took them towards the bed and started to pile the blankets over them. There were a couple nightlights in the room and you turned the nearest one on, finding it to be connected to the others. Turning one on, turned the others on until there was a soft glow that lit up most of the room.