Broken Boulder twin high maintenance machines

a famine among other horrors -- the androgyne drops his head, offering a sympathetic whine as he nudges against her cheek. what she says about their ranks -- the implications, that is -- do not match how he thinks of rannoch. it makes him want to pry; seabreeze does not need that from him right now. instead he puts it aside, deciding he doesn't have enough information to feel any which way about it (ha! as if), and says, "well, you're here now and so are they. i'm sorry to hear about olive's child and about ibis' attack, too." 

he doesn't know what he'd do if one of his were attacked by even one of their tiny smelly cat friends.  they've been through enough trauma. briefly he tries to recall which one of the children is ibis -- small and white? -- she seemed none too worse for the wear, beyond the difficulties in relocating. still.. it is a dread thought.

"queenie left," he admits, shrugging as if to play it off, "a little while ago. if the kids seem especially.. hostile, i suspect that's why. at least partially." or they took after their parents' proclivities for selfishness, but that's neither here nor there. "we'll all adapt, i'm sure," he adds with a soft smile that turns into a cough, "we'll stick together from now on." we of course turns to him and seabreeze -- and he peers at her anxiously, hoping she agrees, hoping he hasn't overstepped. but now that seabreeze has come back into his life, he does not want to give her up, not now, after everything.