Aries: Bull in a China Shop

Sometimes when his father got a fire under his tail and dove into a new project, Aries was glad-- it meant he either got to help, and usually wound up doing most of it when July lost interest or messed it up somehow, or July left him alone over the course of it and didn't try to be such a "cool dad". Sometimes, he was annoyed, because it certainly meant that part of his daily routine-- magic lessons, one of the bigger reasons he'd even chosen to stay with his goofy father to begin with-- was to be forgotten entirely. Sometimes, he got exasperated, knowing that July would never finish whatever he was setting out to do. Sometimes, when he was in an unusually good mood, he thought it was a little cute.

This time, it was mostly exasperation and, to be different, a little worry. This "project" didn't seem quite as... pointless as usual. Aries wasn't entirely sure what it was about, but it looked like July was getting ready to leave. He was packing things up, changing money from credit to coin, pestering Zabeth for some kind of instructions, poring over star charts and planet listings, and bustling around with a manic energy Aries had never really seen in him. Ielta trailed after him like a lovesick puppy, and cuddled up next to him whenever he paused for breath or a meal, which made it even more certain that "leaving" was part of the deal.

Aries wasn't sure what he thought about his father leaving. Sure, the guy was annoying, and silly, and lazy, and all nice and stuff, but he was his dad. And regardless of what he didn't like about him, his dad did love him, and looked after him, if in a somewhat stupid, child-in-an-adult's-body kind of fashion. If he wasn't there, who'd still care about him? Zabeth and Kikira had their own kids, Zamah-aisi was more likely to set up some elaborate experiment to involve him in or just let her bond eat him, Faamaal was looking harried with the number of children in the apartment already, and Se'muan didn't like him. And nobody would expect Ielta to do much looking after of anything at all. Kanna was really the only one besides his father who really liked him, and she was just a kid, too.

Uncertainty and nervousness were unfamiliar emotions to Aries, and he didn't like them, at all. So, while July went around obsessed with getting ready to go someplace, Aries went around obsessed with finding out what the big deal was, where he was going, and why.

But just asking him would be too easy-- not to mention would tip him off to Aries being worried, and he didn't like that idea, at all. And he was wary of asking Zabeth, because Zabeth always seemed to know too much-- and like he judged what he saw as not good enough-- and that made Aries both uncomfortable and irritable.

So he went to the one person who probably knew, probably didn't care, and probably wasn't going to tell anyone he'd asked: Kolora.

"What do you want?" she asked when he poked his nose into her bedroom, without even a "hello, how are you?" to start the conversation off with. She had her own room, though Aries had to share with his father and Kuriri had to share with Mahaleth. Still, that didn't mean she was alone, just then: Mahaleth, in one of its ploys to be liked, was trying to "help out" by taking notes for her while she worked on the small computer in her room. Kolora was too easy-going to chase it away very often, even though she obviously preferred working alone.

Well, he could get straight to the point, too. "I have a question for you," Aries told her, coming the rest of the way in and kicking the door shut behind him.

"You want to know what July is up to," Kolora said, sounding vaguely bored.

Nonplussed at being told what he was coming to ask, Aries said, "Well, yeah. What is he up to?"

"Packing," Kolora answered succinctly.

"Well, duh," Aries snorted back at her.

"You asked," Kolora pointed out, not taking offense. She rarely did, even when Aries was doing his best to be offensive.

"Why is he packing?" Aries tried again.

"Because he wants to find your brothers and sisters," Mahaleth piped up, its S's whistling through its beak.

"What?" Aries asked blankly. "Brothers and sisters?"

Kolora sighed and finally turned away from the computer to look at him. Her eyes were disconcerting in their detachment, especially since they had that deep, almost expressionless quality that Zabeth's did. Aries didn't like it, and he glared a little at her despite his confusion. She explained, anyway. "There were four of July's clutch that didn't find bonds or sponsors," she said. "They were Purged."

She said it with a capital letter. "And what does that mean?" Aries asked suspiciously. It didn't sound like a good thing, really.

"Left behind on various worlds to fend for themselves and be observed," Mahaleth put in again, sounding like it was reciting from a textbook or repeating what someone else had said, as close to word-for-word as it could.

"Exactly," Kolora nodded, and Mahaleth beamed proudly at the small praise.

"And what about me?" Aries demanded. "Aren't I his kid, too?"

"I think he expects you to come with him," Kolora shrugged, turning back to her computer and sounding bored again.

It took Aries a moment to get over his surprise and say simply, "Oh."

When neither Kolora nor Mahaleth said anything more-- the former merely ignored him and the latter gave him a furtive glance and a small smile-- he slipped out again. He hadn't really considered that July would want him to come with him on this project-- though he supposed it made sense. It annoyed him, though, that his father had apparently forgotten to ask whether he wanted to go, much less even tell him where he was going.

It did seem kind of interesting, though. Going off on an adventure like that. Maybe even exciting. Taking off for the great unknown, living by their wits and their claws on a great, questing trek across unknown territories. Maybe there would be battles. Maybe there would be plots to unravel. Maybe there would be interesting stuff to do.

Before he knew it, Aries's mind was made up, and July hadn't even had to ask him. He got his stuff together, tried to tie up the various things he'd been starting-- or at least getting them so he could leave them for a while-- cramming in as much information from his schoolbooks as he could think of that might be useful, and dogging his father's footsteps. July seemed to appreciate him being there, anyway, so maybe he hadn't been entirely forgotten about, despite the prospect of other kids to chase down.

They both ignored the little warnings Zabeth kept trying to drop, finished putting together their supplies and money, and finally said their good-byes. Ielta, of course, was the worst, and Aries did his best to ignore her crying on his father's shoulder, focusing on the others around his age.

"I'll miss you," Kanna promised, waving a wing at him a little sadly.

"You will not," he snorted. "You'll play with the others and not even notice I'm gone."

"That's hardly likely," Kolora muttered, just barely loud enough for him to hear her. Too bad she was too far away to bite.

"Take care of yourselves," Zabeth told them both once July had managed to separate himself from the still-weepy Ielta. Zamah-aisi had taken over the shoulder-patting and comforting. "Come back to us when your search is finished."

"We will," July assured him.

And then they were gone, and the adventure was about to begin.