Owlet stories
((The Owlets are M'mir's children, who may or may not currently exsist. Wolin is about five, Meira is two. They're curly brown haired, big brown eyed little birds who get into everything and M'mir does the best he can with them but he's M'mir.))
The room was largely silent, the loudest sound being that of M'mir's scratching against parchment. He eyed one of the notes dropped off by a fire lizard and etched the coded message into a proper log. Before he could drop the scrap of parchment into the bin, a small hand reached up from behind the table and grabbed it. M'mir sighed.
"Meira, we have been over this." He looked down at the toddler curled up on his lap, head against his chest and happily eating the scrap of parchment. She paused and tipped her head back to look at him, blinking her large brown eyes. After a moment a wide smile grew on her face and she giggled, reaching up to smack at his chin. "Meira, we do not eat parchment. It is not tasty or nutritious."
The only reaction from the curly haired child was to laugh again and to snag another peice of parchment when M'mir was ready to toss it in the trash. She kicked her feet happily and rested her head against M'mir's chest, crooning a little song to herself as she chewed on the parchment. "Meira, please." M'mir tried to scound scolding, but it came out more amused. The toddler again giggled.
When M'mir finished with a third scrap of parchment, he popped it into his mouth and chewed. An odd expression crossed his face and he looked down at Meira, who was grinning fit to kill. He carefully leaned over to the waste bucket and spat out the paper.
"You have lied to me." M'mir said gravely. Meira laughed and gripped onto his shirt, nuzzling against him. "This tastes terrible. I do expect that this is what I get for allowing you to teethe on bones."
Meira helpfully blew some spit bubbles up at him.
"Yes, indeed." M'mir said, rubbing his tongue against his teeth and grimacing. The after taste of ink was never plesant. "Daddy is quite funny, is he not?"
Another set of spit bubbles dampened his tunic. Meira snuggled closer to him and made a happy little peep noise. "Dada, Kaley." Meira patted M'mir's chest, tugged on his hair, and pointed outside. M'mir sighed and looked to his paperwork.
"Precious, Daddy must work." M'mir tried to be firm. Meira frowned at him and tugged his hair again. "No, darling." She wibbled her lower lip at him and pouted.
A heavy sigh came from beside M'mir's desk. Wolin stood up and leaned against the desk. "We go see Kaley, okay? I'll take her." Wolin said firmly, standing up straighter and planting his fists on his hips. The mature stature was largely contaminated because of his childish speech impediment.
M'mir was torn, but sent a tendril of thought towards Kaleth. "Love, I have a pair of bored children who desperately wish to see you."
"You want me to sit the hatchlings?" Kaleth sounded weary. "Really?"
"Please?" M'mir squinted a bit, but was releived when Kaleth gave a rumble of acceptance. He stood and carefully put Meira on the ground beside her brother. Wolin took her hand and let M'mir straighten his clothes. "Now, go straight outside. Kaleth will find you, all right?"
"Yes, Daddy." Wolin tipped his chin up and gave his father a serious look. "C'mon, Mewa." Meira waved at Daddy and toddled after Wolin. M'mir sat back down, relaxing once Kaleth gave him the all clear.
His M'mir's children were very tiny things. Kaleth leaned his head down and hummed at them. The boy's typically sober face split into a smile and his sister burbled happily, reaching up at his nose.
"Kaley!" Both children called out. Kaleth hummed again and leaned down, letting the tiny people feel his nose. The little one leaned up as far as she could, putting her weight on his nose and giving a him a slobbery kiss.
"Mewa! Don't kiss Kaley! That's gross!" Wolin scolded, earning himself a rhaspberry from his baby sister. Kaleth settled down on the ground and let the children crawl up on his forelegs and play. So tiny. Had they been hatched that small? The little one started to hum and pat his jaw, so he hummed with her.
"Kaley sing!" The girl gasped. Her brother stared up at him with wide eyes. Kaleth experimentally hummed a bit, and the children parroted his hums. The dragon blinked languidly and continued entertaining the children by humming. They treated him like a harper and parroted after him, watching them with shining eyes. "Kaley best." Meira stressed.
"Kaley is good." Wolin agreed, stroking Kaleth's nose. "Kaley like us?"
"Of course I like you." Kaleth admitted. Both children went silent and stared at Kaleth in awe. Kaleth blinked at them. "I don't speak with my mouth."
"Ooooooo." Wolin sat between Kaleth's forelegs and pulled his sister up into his lap. They both stared up at Kaleth. He watched them, eyes whirling with blues. They were, he decided, nice little things. Very quiet, like his. For some time they sat and humed to each other, or the children played around him. If they got too far away he rumbled at them and they ran back giggling.
"I like these things. You did well in hatching them, even if they did hatch small." Kaleth rumbled to M'mir, proding Meira gently with his nose. The child again hugged his nose with a squeal.
"I am rather fond of them as well." M'mir sounded amused and more relaxed. "Thank you for... Hatchling sitting."
"They're not too terrible." Kaleth carefully guided Wolin closer with the tip of his tail. The boy was getting restless, apparently not even a dragon could keep a child's attention for long. "Going to have to come out here soon. Stop playing secretary. Why is your little hatchling biting my tail?" Meira had crawled over to her brother and was indeed happily biting at his tail.
"Her teeth final teeth are coming in. She likes to chew things." M'mir sighed and headed outside. He was going to have to put them in the creche.
"She is chewing on my tail. She is chewing. On my tail. I am not comfortable. Where are you?"
"Coming, I'm coming!" M'mir started to sprint as soon as he was outside. Poor Kaleth was giving Meira quite the perturbed look as she growled and chewed on his tail. M'mir scooped her up quickly, which of course made the toddler cry at the surprise. As M'mir tried to calm the child, Wolin rolled his eyes up at Kaleth.
"Daddy's kinda dumb sometimes." He said wisely. Kaleth snorted and curled the tip of his tail around the boy. Yes, he liked this one.
---
"Are these yours?" The lady asked Daddy, smiling down at Wolin and then up at Meira. Wolin frowned and her and his his face against Daddy's pants while Meira made a happy little burble.
"Yes. My children." Daddy sounded weird as he reached down to ruffle Wolin's curls. The lady cooed and leaned down to try and get a better look at the lad, but he skittered behind his father's long legs.
That only made the woman laugh and try to peer around at him. "They are daring. Where have you been hiding them?" Daddy muttered something and worked on getting Wolin to greet the lady. It took a bit of time, but soon both of the children were safely in the creche.
"...Like Kaley better." Wolin muttered to his sister rebelliously. Apparently Kaley was not a suitable person to watch children while their father was working. Wolin hugged his sister against himself and spent his time watching the other children. There were a good ammount of them, playing and laughing with each other. Wolin was content to just watch.
"You can play with the other children, sweetie." The lady was back, leaning down by him. "We'll watch your sister."
"No." Wolin shook his head. "I like watching." He stared up at the woman with a serious face, giving his sister a squeeze. She looked at him strangely, like she wasn't sure how to put her face together. Wolin continued to give her the serious look while Meira helpfully blew more spit bubbles.
"I am afraid that I do not understand. Was Wolin being in any way disruptive?" M'mir asked the lady when he picked up the children after she expressed her worry about Wolin's behavior.
"No, but... He's just not acting like the other children."
"Every child is a unique creature." M'mir said serenly, settling Wolin on his hip. "I am sure he will warm up to the other children soon."
When daddy walked them away, Wolin tugged on his hair. "Daddy, am I bad?" The lady had been worried about him, that must mean he was bad right?
"Never." M'mir leaned over to kiss the child on he head. "You are perfect as you are."
---
Of his two children, Wolin was by far the easier child to deal with. He was calm and gentle with his little sister and seemed to be making friends in the creche. Easily entertained and eager to learn, he was much like his father had been as a child.
Which made his rare tantrums even more hard to deal with because when Wolin lost it, he lost it.
"I hate it here!" Wolin shreiked, throwing himself onto the ground. M'mir stared down at him, eyes wide and a hand slowly coming up to cover his mouth. Oh dear.
"Dear heart, please use your words." M'mir squatted near the boy, tentitavely putting out a hand to touch the writhing child. Wolin pulled his body taut and screeched again. "Talk to me."
"No! I hate you too!" The child rolled away from his father. Resting on his stomach, he turned his angry little face up to look at M'mir. "I hate it here! I hate the people, and I hate everything, and I hate you! I hate Mewa! I want Mama back!"
M'mir went very quiet and stood up. He walked over to the child and scooped him up, ignoring his tantrum. "I want her back too." M'mir said firmly. "But you are saying very hurtful words. You are going to sit and think about this." He carried the squaling child back to his hut and sat him on the bed. Every time Wolin tried to get up M'mir firmly moved him back.
"I miss Nana." Wolin said after a while of silence. "I wanna be home."
"I know." M'mir said, sitting on the ground with his back against the door and arms wrapped around his knees.
"Why can't we be home Daddy?" Wolin dangled his head off of the bed and watched his Father. M'mir had his face against his knees.
"This is home." The boy frowned and slid off the bed. Daddy didn't yell at him, probably because he'd been good for long enough. He crept over and hugged Daddy's legs.
"Don't cry, Daddy." Wolin said seriously, patting Daddy's cheeks. "I'm sorry I yelled."
"I know." M'mir pulled the boy into his lap and wrapped his arms around him. He rested his head on the boy's and held him tight.
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