What looks like a foxkin couple and their child approaches Utur. The child has a bandaged arm. What appears to be the mother calls out to them.
"Excuse me? Apologies if we're bothering you, but are you the groundskeeper? Doctor C said we should come speak to you." They speak hesitantly, not wanting to raise their voice too much and disturb the children they know Utur has.
@resalti
"Ah, yeah, i'm the groundskeeper." Utur nods, looking over to the small group. "how can i help you? uh, you guys doing alright?" Their voice is soft, but easy to hear. They can't help but glance at the child's arm, worriedly.
They set down the trowel they had been using for the weeds in their garden. "any specific reason why doctor c sent you here?"
"She said our child was a ‘Ngeštugbar’, and recommended that we find either you or the janitor as you share that trait and it would do kit some good to socialise with people like themselves." Their pronunciation is, from an objective standpoint, atrocious. But it's clear that they're making a sincere effort, and it's not a bad first attempt. The other parent, noticing their spouse's difficulties with the word, interprets for them by signing it perfectly. "We're very new to this concept, so we were hoping you could provide some guidance."
The child in question is pacing in circles and has yet to look up from their phone. From an outside perspective, they could easily pass for the couple's biological child.
"ah, right, uh. well to start Ngeštugbar is a species? it's uh, it might be a bit hard to describe just, on the fly but the simplest way I can describe, uh, us is we have... a concept that we're associated with? and we have abilities based around it and stuff. i uh, wasnt expecting to have to describe the species so i dont have a great description ready." They shrug, awkwardly.
"uh... i can. introduce kit to my kids? some Ngeštugbar look more esoteric and some look more uh... average i guess is a word for it? we uh, have shapeshifting abilities, generally, so once we're older we can choose how we look more."
The two parents share a glance, the husband signing something to his spouse.
"Having the kids meet sounds like it could be helpful. Resalti's never been the most social type, but maybe they'll warm up to other children who are like them."
They turn to Resalti, gently tapping their shoulder. The tone of their voice shifts instantly to one of love and pride.
"Hey, sweetie. We're going to let you meet some other children. Apparently, they're a lot like you. Are you feeling up to that?"
Resalti looks up from kits phone, thinking for a moment before nodding once. Their parent ruffles their hair affectionately with a gentle smile in response.
"You'll do great, I just know it."
"alright, Ill go grab my kids, if you wanna wait out here? they look kinda different, so uh, just so you know." They smile awkwardly.
"We can wait out here. And I'm sure it will be fine, we've met all sorts of different people before!" They return the smile, though it's markedly less awkward.
Resalti has stopped pacing and is instead sat on the floor swaying from side to side.
"alright, thanks. i'll be just a moment."
Utur heads into their house, and returns with the triplets. They're all vaguely childshaped, large bright eyes and two little bumps on their heads that look a little like ponytails or perhaps leaves. One is the colour of sunrise with fluffy clouds here and there, another is a dark midnight blue and covered in little white stars, and the third is a greenish twilight colour with a few clouds and stars visible.
The sunrise child is sat on Utur's shoulder, the twilight one by their heels, and the midnight child in their arms. "Uh, these are my kids. Sunny is the orange one, Starry the green one, and Moonie the blue one." The children give slight, polite waves. "I have another kid, but they're with their dad right now."
Resalti immediately looks up, eyeing the triplets with a characteristically neurodivergent stare. Kit puts kits phone away, tapping their foot rapidly. Their parents simply leave them to their own devices.
"You children look wonderful! You must be a very proud parent!"
"i am, yeah. they're really sweet. a little shy though, sometimes."
Starry blinks at Resalti, and tilts their head, curiously. Sunny peaks over Utur's head, and Moonie stays clinging a little to Utur's arms. All three are clearly curious, but not quite sure if they should approach kit or not.
"I see. Resalti can also be rather shy. Is shyness common among young Ngeštugbar?" Their pronunciation is getting better, slowly.
Resalti stays exactly where they are, foot still tapping. Kits unblinking eyes dart just as rapidly between the triplets. Their demeanour isn't hostile, just awkward and socially unaware.
"From what Ive seen? a little common at least. i havent really met that many of us at that age."
The triplets look back at Resalti, approximately following kits movement. They seem to be having fun trying to mimic Resalti, honestly.
"I see, I see. Is a need for constant movement also common among your species?"
Resalti just remains seated, watching and waiting for the triplets to make a move. It's very clear that they've inherited the hunters' instincts of their parents' people.
"i think that might just be a person by person thing, yknow?" They hum slightly.
Sunny gives Resalti a wave. Starry stands, hesitantly, clearly considering whether or not to walk over to kit.
"That makes sense. Our Resalti has always been very unique."
Resalti's foot stops tapping and kit waves at Sunny with a smile. Were it not for their generally unthreatening nature, the speed of their hand could easily be mistaken for aggression.
They wave back just as fast. Starry decides to take a chance, and approaches Resalti cautiously.
"yeah, kids tend to be like that. sometimes, they're just themselves, you know?"
Resalti's foot starts going off the moment their hand ceases movement. Their gaze locks directly onto Starry as kit waits for their next move.
"And who better for them to be?" A pause, before a clear tangent is about to begin. It seems that, despite the adoptive nature of this family, it seems that the neurodivergence still runs in it. "I never did understand why some parents feel the need to try to make their kids into a smaller version of themselves. I don't see how that could come from any place of love."
"yeah, its very weird. never got that myself." Utur shrugs.
Starry hesitantly approaches Resalti, and holds out a hand, having seen adults shake hands before.
"I'm glad I'm not alone with this view. You wouldn't believe how many heated discussions I've gotten into with other parents about how they treat their children."
Resalti cocks their head at Starry, entirely unfamiliar with handshaking due to kits cultural background.
"same here. its... not good. some people just. really arent fit to be parents judging by how they treat their kids." Utur sighs, softly.
Starry just kind of... awkwardly holds out their hand, then slowly puts it down. They look very confused.
"I've thought on many occasions about the idea of a parenting license, but I've never been able to come up with a way to implement it that couldn't be easily exploited by bad actors." They look downwards, shaking their head.
Resalti looks equally confused back at Starry. After several awkward moments, kit cautiously extends their hand towards Starry. Kit looks ready to bolt at any sudden movements, not very comfortable but willing to try something new. Their foot is tapping at an almost impossible speed, making kits hand look even slower than the crawl it was already going at.
"mmm... hard to figure out stuff like that a lot of the time." They nod, sighing. "complicated and stuff."
Very slowly, Starry carefully moves their hand up to hold Resalti's, and then slowly shakes it. It's... kind of adorable.
"Realistically, I just don't think it's feasible to implement. There's no way to make it work that wouldn't eventually lead to systematic bigotry."
Resalti is very confused and deeply uncomfortable with the whole process, letting Starry do all of the shaking.
"oof, yeah. sucks that any ideas will just end poorly when it comes to the whole situation. ah well, may as well focus on what we can change, yeah?"
Starry is also confused. They. Don't have any clue how handshakes are supposed to actually work, and is giving off the emotional equivalent of several question marks
"Well said! I do what I can to push other parents to treat their children with love, but I'm not nearly important enough to accomplish much."
Resalti just sits there, foot rapidly tapping away, waiting to see if Starry will do anything else with kits hand.
"same here, unfortunately."
Starry awkwardly lets go of Resalti's hand. They look... like they have no idea what to do right now.
"Perhaps things will be different someday, who knows."
Resalti sits there, tapping their foot slower now. Kit watches Starry, equally lost and confused.
"yeah... maybe."
Starry just kind of... wiggles a little, awkwardly. They look down at their hands, then at Resalti, then back again. Very confused child.
"Something to work towards as a collective, I suppose."
Resalti mirrors their wiggles, equally confused and unsure of what to do in this situation.
"yeah... may as well try and work towards a better future."
Finally, Starry decides they should probably say something, to at least figure out what's going on. "Um. Do you know what we're 'sposed t'be doin'?"
"Yet another thing we agree on, I suppose."
Resalti absolutely does not know what they're supposed to be doing. In lieu of a response, kit pulls out a strange-looking device. Through several presses of buttons, the device plays through the most important moments of the meeting with Dr C, hoping it'll be enough to give Starry an idea of what to do.
"yeah... nice to agree on stuff like that, I think."
Starry nods along as they listen to the recording. "Um um... I think we're 'sposed to play with each other? Since we're the same, um, spee-ches as each other even though we look diffrent?" They pronounce species a little incorrectly, sounding as though they've only really seen it written down before.
"Better than disagreeing on it, I'd say."
Resalti nods slowly, following their logic along. They seem willing to go with whatever Starry thinks is best.
"mhm. uh. oh yeah. before i forget, do you have any questions you wanna ask about raising Ngeštugbar kids?"
Starry hums, pondering. "I think... maybe we can, um, find ways t' tell each other stuff we like first? You don't have to talk or anythin', we could get some sticks an' draw in the dirt to answer?"
"I think this is one of those situations where I'm so out of our depth that I don't know enough to even form a good question." They look over to their husband, who is deep in thought. After a moment, he looks to Utur and signs a question.
"Are we even suitable parents for an Ngeštugbar? Can we raise our child without unintentionally stunting their growth?" He signs with firm hands, clearly deeply concerned about Resalti's wellbeing.
Resalti nods again, pulling out a text-to-speech app on kits phone.
"yeah, you seem to be doing pretty well so far." They nod. "ngeštugbar kids are pretty adaptable, and they need guidance on like, morals and stuff more than anything, i think. from my experience at least. safety too. though i guess i could always check with some other Ngeštugbar parents? since im just one person, yknow?"
Starry watches, patiently. "So um, what kinda stuff do you like?"
"Well, more advice couldn't hurt! And besides, that could mean more friends for our Resalti, which would be good for kit."
Resalti puts the phone down for a moment, pulling out a rubik's cube. They close their eyes, scramble it, and then solve it in just under 6 seconds before putting the cube back away with a wide smile on their face.
"yeah, more friends is always good, agreed."
Starry smiles in return, flapping their hands eagerly. "Cool!"
"As long as our Resalti is happy, we'll do whatever is needed to do that."
Resalti mirrors their hand flaps with a broad smile across kits face.
"same here with my kids." Utur smiles, softly.
Starry is happy flapping excitedly!
"I think any good parent would, given the opportunity." The smile is returned with equal softness.
Resalti mirrors the excitedness, almost feeding off of their energy.
