Scrambled Brains

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 17th November 2020

Characters: K'yne, J'ackt
Description: J'ackt is introduced to his little brother
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 24 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Saidrene, Erivana, Saibra, Cyradis, Alina, N'vanik

K'yne

J'ackt

With Alina gone to do the weather briefings, J'ackt had a few
candlemarks of quiet time in his weyr after his visit with Bertin. He
rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the tension ease and then
exhaled, plopping down in his chair. Those visits were difficult
beyond belief, but he was hoping that there would be some sort of
changes. He couldn't feel any yet.

The scrabble of talons on the ledge didn't make him open his eyes,
but the heavier footsteps, definitely not his weyrmate's
did.**Probably N'vanik** He lifted his head. "Come on in. Did I forget
something?" His voice trailed off as K'yne entered. "Oh hey I wasn't..." He rose
to greet him, then his eyes went to the bundle in K'yne's arms.
"What's that?"

"Meet your brother, Keriv," K'yne said with a rare smile, one that was
typically only seen when he was holding his son.

J'ackt eyed the bundle warily. It was small and wiggling. He'd seen
babies, of course, but hadn't been this close to one. Ever. "Uh...hi."

The seven-month old was waving his arms, his bright blue eyes trying
to adjust to their new surroundings. "I think he kind of looks like
you... the nose and mouth especially."

J'ackt didn't quite know how to respond to that. "Yeah, I guess?
Maybe?" He stared at the squirming little boy, then back at K'yne.
"Same blood and all. Does he always move around like that? He's kind
of...small."

"You're not small, are you?" K'yne addressed Keriv, who blinked at
seeing his father's face suddenly, and then smiled, reaching out both
hand's towards K'yne's face. "He is getting to the stage where he is
wanting to be on the go but he hasn't quite figured out crawling yet."
The brownrider sat and bounced Keriv on his knee.

"Right. Crawling." He remained standing away from the pair, eyeing
his younger brother as though he would sprout fangs at any moment and
attack. It was at that moment that Stumpy came in, saw the baby and
immediately went alert, waving his tail wildly. J'ackt grabbed his
collar before Stumpy could even start lunging forward. "No! Sit!" The
canine sat immediately, but wiggled in excitement, his eyes never
leaving the baby.

K'yne turned Keriv so he could see the animal. "Do you see Stumpy,
hm?" The baby waved his hands as if trying to reach across the room
and grab the furry, wiggling blur.

Stumpy whined in eagerness, but J'ackt held him back. "He might
slobber all over him or something. Stumpy's kind of...clumsy." He
pulled the canine back as he tried to scoot forward on his butt. "No.
Go to Zith." The canine whined and looked up at J'ackt, big brown eyes
looking sad. "No. That's not going to work this time. That works on
Alina, not me." The canine whined again and J'ackt's eye twitched.
"No. Go." He pointed to the ledge and slowly, Stumpy crept to the
ledge, looking at J'ackt, then at the baby, then back to J'ackt. "Go."
Stumpy slipped out, obviously giving a canine pout and plopped on
Zith's ledge with a huge, pained sigh. "Thank Faranth, Alina knows how
to train him." He sighed, then looked at the baby again, then at
K'yne. "You look...weird. Goofy."

K'yne barked out a laugh. "Yeah, that's what my sister said as well.
Something about being around Keriv. I always thought parents who made
faces and oo'd and aw'd over a baby were ridiculous. And then... Well,
I found myself doing exactly all of those things." The brownrider
shrugged. Looking silly was well worth the joy that Keriv brought him,
he thought. "Here," the brownrider stood and approached J'ackt. "See
for yourself," he deposited Keriv into his half-brother's arms before
J'ackt could protest.

J'ackt tried to quickly back away, but wasn't fast enough to avoid
K'yne's insistence. "What? No I'm good...wait.." He found himself with
an armful of baby and froze, eyes wide. He looked down at the baby in
absolute alarm, arms locked and standing stiffly so as not to move
even a small bit.

"Just look at the two of you," K'yne said with a tone that could only
be taken as fatherly pride.

J'ackt was not so thrilled or proud of the situation. Stark terror
filled his gut at the small, very fragile body in his arms. A little
arm reached for his face and he instinctively jerked his head back.
There was a whimper, then a cry and J'ackt's eyes widened in alarm.
"Take it back! Take it back!" He thrust his arms out, trying to both
carefully hold the baby and not drop him while also trying to give him
back as quickly as possible.

K'yne chuckled as he took Keriv back into his arm and bounced him a
little, which immediately resolved the crying. "Your sudden movement
just startled him. He wondered where you went. Isn't that right little
guy?" The question was said in a mushy, gushy voice reserved solely
for doting parents.

Visibly relieved when K'yne took the baby back, J'ackt wiped sweaty
palms on his thighs. "Don't do that again. Faranth, K'yne, I could
have dropped him. I've never fecking held a baby before." He shuddered
at the thought and at K'yne's overly mushy voice, his facial
expression revealed that he was completely disturbed by the change.
"If that's what babies do to you, then I'm glad I'm not having any."

"You wouldn't have dropped him," K'yne said confidently, "you are a
protector by nature." The brownrider could see in Keriv's eyes that
the baby was getting sleepy, so he opened up the crisscross of fabric
wrapped around his torso and tucked the baby inside. "My elder
brother, Saidrene's father, would be so smug if he saw me now. I used
to rib him for the way he acted with his children."

"No, I'm really, really not. Don't do that again. Babies are just too
small and...breakable." His heartbeat slowing now, J'ackt exhaled a
puff of air. "Well, you just do what ever it is you need to do. I'm
not doing that. " He couldn't imagine being so...gushy and to see it
on K'yne who he looked like, was more than disturbing.

**Never say never,** K'yne thought, keeping it wisely to himself. Then
the brownrider caught a whiff of something.... "Uh oh," he looked down
at Keriv, who was now a squishy, sleeping ball against his father's
chest. "I didn't bring a spare nappy. I'd better get him back to
Dragonsfall and cleaned up or Erivana will scalp me."

J'ackt wrinkled his nose as he also caught a whiff. "Well, I don't
have any. Thanks for visiting, uhm, yeah, you might need to take him
back and take care of that. It smells awful."

K'yne gave an expert sniff. "Well, I can tell just from the smell that
it's not a blowout, so that's some good news." He stopped at the look
on J'ackt's face. "Oh, yeah, when you start raising a baby you get to
even know the different smells and what they mean."

"That's kind of disgusting, man." And J'ackt looked disgusted. "Well,
in a turn, I'll never have to worry about doing that, so I'll leave
you to it. I'm getting my surgery done, so you can do that as much as
you want. Not me."

A wicked gleam came into K'yne's eyes. "Perhaps I'll tell Cyradis that
the next time you get lippy your punishment should be babysitting in
the creche. I'll wax poetic about your abilities with holding babies
and changing their diapers."

An absolutely horrified expression came over J'ackt's face at the
idea. "No. Feck and Fardles, no! That's the last place I'd ever need
to be. Even Cyradis knows that. I'm the last person who ever needs to
be around children. Are you insane? Having a baby has scrambled your
brains, K'yne. "

K'yne laughed, the sound so familiar to little Keriv that the little
baby didn't even budge. "Maybe. I'll get out of your hair now. The
invitation stands, by the way, anytime you want to come to Dragonsfall
you are welcome."

"Yeah, sure. I'll think about it." Considering the way Cyradis had
ripped into him, the thought of giving Saibra the same opportunity
was not a pleasant one. She'd probably lay into him far worse, given
the chance. He knew her temper and he wasn't stupid.

Last updated on the November 23rd 2020

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Scrambled Brains