“You’re secretly really good with kids, Retvik!”
Baby Reksi had been crying for a while, and no one could work out why. Elksia had fed her and burped her, she had played with Reksi and done all sorts, only to exhaust herself and end up too tired to continue. Tenuk had tried as well, only to pass Reksi to Retvik and Psiksi to see if her two guardians were capable of helping, while he tried to cheer Elksia up. Eventually, Retvik worked out that Reksi was just cold, and had wrapped her up in a blanket and was coddling her and walking her around.
“Of course I am good with kids. Why would I not be good with kids?” Retvik asked as Psiksi kept lookout. Admittedly, he was also hanging around because Psiksi was a bit cold too. Really, everyone around Savepoint was a little cold, thanks to a fluctuation in the Life Goddess machinery in the core of the floating island. The problem was that no one really knew how to fix the machinery, and Phovos, Arkay and several of Kal were currently looking into it.
“I… uh… dunno. I kinda just… don’t see you as a parental figure?” Psiksi wasn’t sure how to answer. “You’re like, all big and strict and stuff. I mean, you fucking terrified me when I first joined the team. I called you “General” instead of just your name for months.”
Retvik grunted. “By Rethan standards, I am somewhat approachable despite my rank and past achievements. Up until I got my fire powers and nearly blew up a hospital, then everyone was understandably scared of me.”
“Because of the fire powers or…” Psiksi trailed off, then inspected Retvik some more. Normally, Retvik cloaked himself with cold, cosmetic flames, mostly along his arms and tail. Today though, because he was looking after Reksi, he had turned those flames off. “Actually, I’m going to change my question. What is it like, not having plating on your arms?”
Retvik grunted, not having an immediate answer. “Cold and numb, I guess. The hardened skin that is left, it has very little feeling in it. I can sense temperature and pain and things brushing against my arms, but that is pretty much it.”
Psiksi glanced at his own arms, then shuddered. “That’s awful.”
“It was awful at first, but I am used to it now.”
“You ever considered asking Arkay or Phovos or whoever to see if they can make the plating grow back? Surely Arkay can do some magic piss or something?”
Another grunt. “I asked Arkay. He tried. He healed my tail, gave me back some of the mobility and length, but the arm plating is just gone forever now. But I am used to it.”
“Ah… Wait, your tail? What happened to your tail?”
Retvik adjusted Reksi’s position in his arms. “I lost part of it. I have had parts of my tail cut off several times in my life. The first time was when I met Elksia, Tenuk and Arkay, I lost the tip. When I was in that… satellite crash… I lost a good third of my tail. I think it did not grow back properly until I ran into Arkay again when we became Decaylings, and he silently healed it to… well, about 80% of its original length.”
Psiksi blinked, then looked at Retvik’s tail. He wasn’t lying. Retvik’s tail was really short, by Rethan standards. Psiksi then inspected his own tail, which was nearly as long as the rest of his body. Skyans did have very long tails and Psiksi never knew why.
“That… that sucks…”
“It does, but, like my arm plating, I am used to it.”
“I guess… Still, why are you good with kids?”
“Because I always wanted one.”
“And… you can’t have one? Because of the bloodline thingies?” Psiksi asked. “I’m pretty sure that was why you and Gath didn’t have kids.”
Retvik stopped in his tracks and stared at Psiksi.
“What?”
“That… was the old reason. The new reason is that Litvir refuses to have kids with me.”
“And… I assume Arkay can’t have kids or something?”
More grunts. “Arkay is apparently completely barren, and Litvir has a lot of… childhood trauma that he is unable to… deal with, regarding him actually having children.”
“Even if he was the father?”
“Yes. I do not want to make Litvir upset, so my desires have been put on hold…” Retvik suddenly paused, then fell silent for a bit. “Hmph. Now I know how Gath felt, for all those years.”
“Eh, I think that was different. He wanted kids and married the one person legally not allowed to have kids and was too busy going on adventures and being a diplomat all the time.”
Retvik stopped pacing and stared very aggressively at Psiksi. Psiksi just shrugged.
“You know I’m right.”
“You are correct, but that does not mean I cannot glare angrily at you…” Retvik though swiftly calmed down. “Ugh. I guess I am just going to have to obtain my parental desires by being a guard to Reksi. I can watch her grow up, at least, until I can work out a way to get myself egg-ridden.”
“Not gonna lie, the last part of that sentence is kinda fucked up. Litvir ain’t giving you kids. You’d probably have better luck having another person called Retvik giving you kids, and the chances of that happening are zero.”
More angry glares. Psiksi didn’t really care.
“Mate, you missed your chance.”
Retvik sighed, then calmed down. “I know. But it hurts. It will always hurt.”
Psiksi sighed too, but decided to try and cheer Retvik up. “Yeah, I get that. Kinda in a similar boat myself. But we got Reksi at least!”
Retvik glanced down at the baby Vrekan he was holding. Between the rocking, cradling and Retvik’s warmth, Reksi had settled down and gone to sleep.
“You are correct as always, Psiksi…” Retvik frowned. “At least someone around here got what they wanted.”
“Yeah, Reksi is such a cute baby. And we get to look after her.”
“Indeed… Alright, she is sleeping now. Should we take her back to Elksia?”
“Nah. Let’s hold her a bit more, make sure she’s probably resting. Elksia’s asleep anyway, and we get to spend more time with the baby.”
Retvik smiled, just a little. “Once again, you are correct, Psiksi.”
“Hah, I’m correct a lot of the time… Do you mind warming the rest of the room up? I’m a little cold too. I think everyone around here is.”
“Of course, kid. Of course.”