My name's not Velseir

Chapter 24: [A Treasure & A Friend]

Katorns pov:

A few days have passed since we returned home and the boys have settled in nicely. Velseir has had no more issues since we left the lab. I think he has adjusted better than both myself and Irogana could have hoped for. I have started keeping an observation diary for both of them and there's a few things I've noticed.

The first thing I noticed is that the two of them have a habit of playing around a lot. They hide and hunt each other and sometimes they just fight. Velseir comes to me occasionally with his tail cover, a specially made wrap that goes over the barbed part of his tail, and asks me to put it on. Mainly before bed but also when he wants to play rough with Keysey.

The second thing I've noticed is that they have started to be awake for longer periods of time and having longer sleeps and naps. This has changed over the last couple of days to being 11 hours asleep and 19 hours awake whereas it was a system of only 24 hours with 15 hours awake and 9 hours asleep. Things are easier now that they follow a similar schedule to mine. They tend to have their nap between the two cycles, during this time I try to catch up with my work. Between the observation logs and mission reports that have been submitted for verification and approval I have a lot of things to get through when they're not around.

Another thing I noticed is that when Kesey doesn't want to play, velseir will come to me and just watch me do whatever I'm doing. I think he likes the comms unit, because every time I use it he stares. I have read that humans are very curious creatures and that they have the ability to make some basic tools. I might lock my contacts and let him play with it a little bit. I'd love to see if he can figure it out.

I've been thinking of switching to administrative work for the time being at least until I'm comfortable leaving those two alone with someone other than me while I'm away on missions. I should discuss this with the other members of my team before my leave is over. I'm sure they will understand and be fine with it. they were all quite curious about the boys when we found them; none of them had ever seen a human before, including me.

Velseir's pov:

Everything has become a lot more stable since we got back and I'm starting to get comfortable here. If anything I think I'm becoming a little too comfortable. I've begun responding to the name that Amber has given me automatically these days and I think the fact that I can't speak has become less jarring to me now. All in all I reckon I've adapted to life here as this alien's pet fairly well.

If there was just one thing I wish I still had from my past it would be my sketch book. It's all so comfortable it gets a little boring, even Red doesn't want to play all the time. In my boredom I've resorted to watching Amber. It has come to my attention that Amber is a creature of habit and is very set in his ways. He wakes up at the same time every day and goes to bed at the same time every night.

It has taken me a while to get used to the longer days and form some sort of routine. I'm unsure of how long I've been away from earth but I don't really miss it anymore. I used to spend my days hidden away trying to forget the world but now I can eat, sleep and drink as much as I need and want. I never thought I'd find somewhere that felt like a true home, not for a long time anyway. The only thing that's missing from this cosy little life of mine is a creative outlet.

Honestly, now that my goal to have a nice, warm, stable home has been achieved, I think it's time to set myself a new one. a purely self indulgent goal of acquiring a drawing medium. I don't care if it's a pen or paint or even a stick to draw in dirt, I just want something. Although I say that I would prefer a sketch book or writing pad, you know something with actual pages and a way to keep everything together. I don't know how I'm going to get one just yet but I'm going to start by bothering Amber some more. Maybe if I pester him enough he will realise I'm bored and give me something to do.