Visitation Rights [K'tir]

The young woman looked around around her room, her eyes pausing to meet those of her son. She gave him a grin, the smile widening as he returned it. What day was it? she thought to herself. She nodded, her eyes unfocused as she counted days. Yes, it was about that time, wasn't it? She repressed her grin. Time to give K'tir some time with his son. She didn't mind sharing her son, as it was far better to have a son with a father than one without. She just loved her son, and didn't like being without him. Alas, it simply wouldn't do to throw a fit though. Too uncouth for her to display such things.

"Kajiran, darling. Would you like to go and see your father?" she asked the young boy, kneeling down to be on eye level with him. When he nodded, she smiled and held out her hand. " Well come along then, we must get ready to be off." She helped him down from the bed, and turned to the cradle that held her younger daughter. Tolera was fathered by a different rider in the Weyr, and she would feel uncomfortable bringing her along. However, she was still too young to remain alone for long. So Alerae would just let her fellow Crecheworkers watch the girl as she and Kajiran visited his father.

She liked to be just as particular about her childrens' appearances as she does with her own, so she took care in dressing Kajiran in his child's tunic and trousers, then squinted her eyes as she looked at his mop of black-brown hair. In a way, he got the best of both worlds from his parents, with the waves of hers and the fullness of K'tirs. She giggled and blushed a little bit as his face hovered in her mind. Oh that hair was just to die for. She roughly tousled her son's hair, then arranged a few of the curls to frame his face. After deeming him suitable and checking her own appearance, she bundled up Tolera. The girl was dozing, so Alerae let her rest rather than dressing her up. She took Kajiran's hand in one of her own and they made there way first to the creche to drop off Tolera, then walked towards K'tir's weyr. She gave a deep sigh, hoping she remembered the day right, as she didn't have a way to warn him of their arrival.

K’tir’s hut was usually kept in a state of cleanliness thanks mostly in part to having his children wandering in regularly and he didn’t want anything to harm them – their mothers were protective and would likely throttle him for it – or any of his few possessions to end up damaged. There were only so many dishes to wash and linens to hang up outside to air out so there was very little to do in the way of killing time until Alerae showed up with their son.

Their son. His son. K’tir was still blown away by the fact that he had children and even liked them. Being a father had never been in his plans, especially not when he was foolishly in love with Z’rak and women barely coming in as anything more than a minor blip on his radar. Since their break up, K’tir had found comfort in the arms of many and his drunken encounters seemed to leave him with his fellow brownrider from the same clutch or women so he had learned to enjoy both secret hook ups and being a father. He wasn’t sure if he was doing an excellent job or not since his eldest was a girl that hadn’t reached her teenage years quite yet and apparently that was the true test from what some of the other riders had mentioned. Given the way the young women were ogled, K’tir was already cringing at the thought of his sweet girl being subjected to such antics and players like the twins.

They’re coming! I see them! Ghaeth jumped to his feet and barely kept from dancing around in his excitement. He loved when the children came over. They were wonderful playmates and their laughter was like music to the brown dragon; he enjoyed it so much! Now that K’tir had Impressed firelizards for the kids to play with, Ghaeth had even more buddies to keep him company and frolic around the Square with. He was quite possibly the happiest dragon in Katila! The kids especially seemed to make K’tir happier as well and that was a definite bonus. He loved his bonded but K’tir needed to cheer up and let go of the past and stop blaming everyone for one man’s faults. One day that would happen, Ghaeth was sure of it!

K’tir set down the book he was reading. It was one of only five he had brought with him that had survived the turns in exile and storms. They were well-loved and well-read now but reading options were limited as medical books did nothing for him, even if he was desperately bored at times. He reached the door before Alerae and Kajiran did and stood just outside of it greet the pair, kneeling when they came closer. When Kajiran ran into his waiting arms, K’tir found one of his rare smiles appearing. It really was the small things that could brighten a day.

Standing with Kajiran in his arms, K’tir gave his son a kiss to the cheek and then turned to his mother. “How’ve you been?” He wasn’t exactly a master of small talk but knew enough to pass as a human for the most part. While his preference was to sit back and quietly observe, some people evoked a desire to speak and Alerae was sometimes one of them. She was an interesting woman with the way she adapted to Katila and the ways of Weyr life and that alone had earned her the respect of the brownrider. Change and finding out everything you knew was taken away from you was hard to deal with but Alerae proved to be a fighter.

Before his mind wandered down dark paths of the past, Ghaeth literally nosed his way in to sniff at and lightly head butt Kajiran in greeting. Alerae was treated to the dragon lying down near her with his head resting at her feet. He was always good at giving Alerae the option to ignore him or pet him, though Ghaeth always hoped for the petting. He loved people and attention but understood not all people loved dragons as much as others and his colour, as pretty as it was, didn’t always please people either.

Alerae ALMOST rolled her eyes when Ghaeth looked at them and practically pranced in
place. The brown loved it when they came by, always getting so excited. He acted
like he was still a newly hatched dragonet. She didn't rush though, walking sedately so that Kajiran could walk with her instead of having to be carried. One thing she knew about her son was that while he loved being held, especially by his father, he could throw a fit if someone tried carrying him too long. She suppressed a smile at the thought.

She gave K'tir a friendly smile as he appeared moments before they fully arrived, and Kajiran let go of her hand to run to his father. Her eyes softened when they hugged and K'tir looked like the happiest man in the world. The way his eyes lit up when he spotted Kajiran made her tear up a little bit. She wished she could make someone's eyes light up like that, like Ranellen's did when he looked at her. She brushed at the corner of her eyes, not daring to let a tear actually form. She had to keep up appearances after all.

She quickly turned brushing at her eyes to brushing a strand of hair out of her face when K'tir focused on her. "Hello, K'tir, " she said, smiling softly, "I'm doing marvelous. You know, still working with the Creche, dealing with flirting Riders, oh, and still waiting for that imaginary dragon Ceilidhe promised me seven turns ago." The last bit was said without a trace of malice, as she and Ceilidhe had gotten to know each other and become friends. She twisted a lock of hair in her fingers idly. "How have you been, darling?"

Alerae laughed as Ghaeth rested his head at her feet. The silly brown just loved it when someone spoiled him. She reached over and gave him some scratches on his head and eyeridges. "Greetings to you too Ghaeth, you big lug." she said to the Brown, "Have you chased any nice Greens, lately?" she asked him, glancing up to K'tir and giving the rider a wink.

“Your day will come, Alerae.” K’tir spoke with absolute certainty. It wasn’t said to make her feel better but he knew Search dragons didn’t make mistakes. Ghaeth not being one made it a bit harder to understand the dynamics of the Search but dragons always knew and were never wrong. Alerae was destined for a dragon but she either wasn’t entirely ready yet or she had a dragon waiting for her that wanted to make quite the entrance.

When Cocoa Bean, or Bean as Kajiran liked to stick with, appeared to see the young boy, K’tir set his son back on the ground. Bean fluttered around happily before landing on the ground beside the boy so they could play and cuddle. K’tir was still grateful he had managed to Impress an even-tempered brown firelizard that didn’t mind Kajiran and could handle the holding and playing they did. It made the hassle of firelizard owning worth it.

“Of course he has,” K’tir added as he knelt down to adjust Kajiran’s tunic. “Ghaeth thinks chasing some of the greens is a fun game,” not to mention K’tir urging him to enter some as well. Some of the blueriders were worse than the others and no greenrider deserved the fate of tangling with them. Someone had to look out for them and while K’tir didn’t shoulder the responsibility entirely, he did keep an eye out for certain blues giving chase and did his best to foil their attempts at a win.

Ghaeth was close to rolling over so his belly could be rubbed but K’tir warned him against that for the time being. They were all outside and squishing Kajiran was not something that should be done that day. Ghaeth settled for carefully swaying his tail to show his affection and hope for continued pettings. K’tir sighed lightly at his dragon. Some days it felt like he had bonded to a canine.

“Do you have time to come in for a drink?” He always asked that. At first he didn’t know what the protocol was when he was having a kid handed over to him for a while and fumbled his way through asking the mother in for a drink or something to eat. Mostly he didn’t want to be alone with an infant, afraid he would mess something up and harm the child. Now, it was habit and he enjoyed Alerae’s company.

Alerae fixed K'tir with a dazzling smile. " I know, I know. " she said with a soft laugh, " And even if it doesn't I have Kajiran and Tolera to send onto the Sands when they get old enough. Live viacariously through my children as it were." Her smiled softened and her eyes rested on their son as she said that.

She giggled when the brown firelizard showed up and Kajiran was instantly distracted. Looking back at K'tir, she said, " I've been keeping my eyes out for a Firelizard myself. I didn't much like them at first, but Kajiran just loves them. I want to Impress one so that he has a friend to play with while I have him." She tilted her head slightly as she looked at the brown. "I'd like a green though. I love the colors greens can come in." she pauses to let a teasing smile cross her face. " Who knows, if I Impress a Green, your Cocoa Bean might try can catch her in a Flight."

She had kept up with idle scratches on Ghaeth as they talked, only pausing to elaborate a few points with hand gestures. She always went back to scratching though as he soliciated more from her. She nodded sagely as her suspicions were confirmed. She cupped as much of his face in her hands as she could and cooed, " You deserve all the Greens, a handsome brown like you." She gave him a few carefully placed scratches on his chin.

"Of course, I always have time for you, darling," she answered, which was mostly true. As far as romantic feelings towards K'tir, she was conflicted, but she did consider him a dear friend, and she always made time for her friends. She also didn't have any other plans, or even anything she needed to do, as she had already made arrangements for Tolera. " I'll have to tell you about what Kajiran got up to the other day." she adds with a giggle.

If Ghaeth could purr, he would have done so under Alerae’s touch and words. She thinks I’m handsome, K’tir! And that I deserve all the greens. Does that mean we can chase more of them? K’tir levelled his usual stoic expression on the pair, not entirely irritated by their antics but also not entirely amused either. Alerae was good to Ghaeth but she had a way of riling him up as well. “It is tempting, Ghaeth. And if Alerae thinks you should have more greens, then perhaps we should enter and win more flights.” K’tir was oblivious to any feelings Alerae may have had for him and didn’t consider his words might be a bit of a sting to the pretty young woman. He was simply agreeing with the excitable pair.

The fact that Alerae had mentioned getting a green firelizard for Bean to chase went over K’tir’s head as well and he didn’t see it as anything more than playful banter. They were friends and had a child together. It was only natural that they would grow comfortable around each other enough to make such comments. Considering he also had a green flitter that was off visiting with his daughter that day, K’tir assumed they both figured his pair would be happy enough to mate.

Ushering Kajiran into the hut first, K’tir followed immediately after so he could make drinks for everyone. While he did have wine in the hut – stored high and out of reach of the kids – K’tir didn’t go for the bottle. Given how he ended up in bed with pretty women after drinking far too much and becoming a parent nine months later, he tried to avoid repeat performances when he could. When the Weyr partied, however, it wasn’t always easily done. Three glasses of red fruit juice were poured and Kajiran’s was left on the kitchen table, easily in reach of the boy when he was ready to break from playing for a drink.

The other two glasses were brought over to the living room where Alerae was given one and he sipped from the other before making himself comfortable on the couch. “What did he do the other day?” It was nice hearing about the things the kids got up to since he wasn’t there for every moment. K’tir still loved his solitude and freedom to do as he pleased so it wasn’t a deep regret over missing things but that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in what happened when he wasn’t around.

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ooc: Sorry he's not too chatty just yet. He borders on being socially awkward at times and combined with his obliviousness, he can be a bit of a stone wall when it comes to some interactions lol Feel free to try and get him chatting or loosening up however you want if you're inclined to! XD