Since then, Damien and Jackie have been close. She treated him like a friend once she was old enough to understand what a friend was, for he was always patient with her endless rounds of "why" and "but I thought" and would play with her whenever her beloved grandfather didn't have the time. When Aamanuel died in Damien's fifteenth year of artificial life, leaving Jackie (somewhat controversially, though allowed in the end) in Damien's care, they helped each other through the grief, for he was the only father either of them had ever had. The manor had to be sold in favor of a smaller, more easily managed apartment, one less full of memories, and the servants let go, so that only Damien and Jackie were left to fend for their selves under the paternal and maternal eyes of Aamanuel's old friends and the old housekeeper, who still checks in on them. On the whole, though, they have lived fairly comfortably and happily since then.

The only real discomfort in Damien's life is that he feels he has no purpose. As he has a super-computer for a brain, he hardly has to work at all to do much of anything intellectual-- and there are only so many books to read and theories to study in the universe. He isn't specifically built for labor, though his metal skeleton would allow it if he thought he wouldn't be horribly bored, and he has some fear of taking up so-called "normal" jobs, anyway, given the prejudice many have against life that was created from "spare parts" rather than two biological parents. The only purpose he feels like he has, and that he can even imagine himself fitting into, is acting as protector and companion to Jacquelyne, but that super-computer mind of his knows he can't do that all the time without smothering her, so he is often at loose ends-- a position he hates, and which might actually drive him out to face that fear of finding a job eventually. It hasn't gotten that far so far, though.

When Jackie came up with the bright idea to cheer them up and kill some boredom between school semesters of signing up for the soon-to-hatch clutch of the off-station Old World dragoness, Qutteth, Damien was curious, of course. He let her sign up-- but made it clear that there was no way he was going out there to subject himself to the probability that he'd never attract a dragon, full of metal and wires as he is. He'd be quite happy to watch her, thank you very much, though he is quite certain that she, despite her own opinion on the matter, is quite worthy of the best of the dragons to hatch, whatever that might be. 

Jackie's bond with Quelymerith, the golden queen of Qutteth's clutch, served to prove him right, though it only made Jackie's insistence that he try next stronger. Finally, the argument that won out was pointing out that another android-- one not nearly as well-made, emotionally complex, or human-like-- had bonded at Quelymerith's hatching. If that "created being" could attract a dragon, Jackie said firmly, why shouldn't Damien? If just to make her leave him alone, Damien finally gave in and agreed to go-- but only to one, and if he didn't bond then, she had to leave him alone about it in the future. Fully expecting nothing to come of it, then, he left for the double-hatching of Kalturtinocth and Undomissath's clutches, letting Jackie and Quelymerith keep his pet Patus in the stands with them. 

When he arrived for the hatchings, Damien had no illusions about his chances, and no real intention to actually bond, even if the idea was at least interesting. He did, after all, like dragons as much as the next station inhabitant. So, it was quite a surprise when Incath actually chose him, an act he insists is a credit to his creator rather than himself, despite Incath's insistence otherwise. Besides, the double-discount for new dragoners and the lower-cost rooms they were allotted until their dragons grew up helped make their dwindling funds last. 

Upon "graduating" from new-dragoner training and finding a set of apartments of their own, Damien's worries about money have cropped up again. Though they had enough of his creator's fortune left over to actually purchase the apartment, they still have to eat-- and the dragons eat a lot. Jacquelyne is still at school, too, just finishing her general education and trying to decide what to major in, so she can't very well take a job. So, the task falls on Damien and the dragons-- the former reluctant, and the latter excited-- to support the household. Just what they're planning on doing, he still isn't sure. 

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