Disclaimer: I don't own the story or fandom. This work belongs solely to blacktalon117 and the movie producers.
"An'u! Get off your Aunt," Little Knife snapped.
The little Yautja wasn't listening, however. If anything the bright green eyes that were staring into hers got closer. Nova felt a very wet sensation trail over her chin up to her nose and she couldn't help twitching at the weird feeling.
"DO NOT LICK HER!"
His mother shouted, and suddenly the weight of the child was lifted. Nova got her first real look at An'u as he hung suspended over her. Little Knife was holding him by two leather straps that criss-crossed over his chest and around his back so his mother could hold him like she was now. . .like he was some sort of alien hand bag.
She was right about his head being big. The child's head was enormous for the size of his body. Yautja obviously grew into their heads. His head was made to look even bigger by the fact that his thick hair was starting to grow in. Standing up straight, the strands were clearly not long enough to bend yet, and as a result. . . An'u had a spiky afro. His skin had the same color and pattern as his mother's, so Nova assumed that his green eyes must have come from his father. He would have to grow into them as they seemed far too big for him as well.
He hung there in his tiny loincloth and simple harness staring down at her in what appeared to be awe. His small mandibles splayed, drool dripping from the point of a very tiny tusk that was just peaking through his skin.
Nova smiled ridiculously up at the child. As far as alien offspring went An'u was the cutest thing she had ever seen.
Apparently smiling was too much encouragement for him as he suddenly screeched at an octave that dogs should only be able to hear, and started to pinwheel his arms frantically. Trying to get back down to her he started making high pitched squeals and screeches in protests as his flailing got him nowhere.
In all the noise he was making Nova's translator actually managed to decipher words from it. . .well, one word at least.
"Down, down, down, down, down!"
"No!" His mother barked. "Not until you calm yourself!"
Nova figured now would be a good time to get off the floor, and stood slowly. Green eyes following her all the way, little claw tipped hands still reaching for her. Little knife sighed, watching A'nu's continued struggles.
"I think the serum has worn off."
"Down, down, down, down!"
"What are you holding him with?" Nova asked.
"What? This?" The female asked, lifting A'nu higher with the leather straps. "It's a harness that most suckling's wear. It is so they can be grabbed from the front or the back if they get into trouble. Sucklings are very curious, and you often have to pull them away from something quickly. I find it very useful for when he climbs the walls too high and gets stuck."
Nova was nodding through most of the explanation, and continued to nod after Little Knife had finished speaking.
'. . . .wait. . . .'
"He climbs the walls?!"
The female looked confused at her outburst.
"Yautja are natural born climbers," she spoke slowly like Nova should already know this. "A mother should let sucklings develop their hunting skills at a young age. Come, I will show you."
She lead Nova over to a chrome wall and gestured for her to take a closer look. She did, leaning forward, noticing that there were small groves in the metal. She ran a fingertip over the tiny indentation, surprised at how rough it was.
"A suckling will scratch their own foot and hand holds into a wall," Little Knife explained. "You should let them do this. It sharpens their talons, and is a good exercise to develop upper body strength. I grind the wall back every time I have another suckling so that they can make their own marks."
"Wow."
Was all Nova could think to say.
"Down, down, down-"
"Down what?" Little knife barked.
"Please," the child spoke clearly this time. "A'nu calm, A'nu down please."
"I am calm put me down please," Little Knife corrected, making Nova smile.
"Yes," was all the child said.
Nova had to smother a laugh at A'nu's antics.
Little Knife shook him once by his harness in reproach.
"I am calm," she repeated.
"Yessss."
The female shook him again.
"Say it properly and I will let you down."
"...I...am calm."
She put him down, and the moment A'nu's feet touched to floor he was off. Like an arrow he shot to Nova's side. Jumping up and grabbing little fist fulls of her dress, trying to crawl up her body, like she was some living jungle-Jim.
"Up, up, up!" he screeched.
"Quick, grab his harness before he rips your dress."
Nova did exactly that. Following his mother's orders, she held the child away from her body as he screeched in protest reaching for her.
"A'nu!" Nova yelled in the same tone Little Knife had used. "You are being very naughty."
The child froze, his eyes going wide as his struggles ceased. He stared at her in renewed awe. Nova heard a soft laugh and turned to find Little Knife smiling at both of them.
"He is too young to have a translator," the female offered. "He has no idea what you said, but he knows that you're upset with him."
His mother repeated what Nova had said to him, and she watched in amazement as the child reached for her again in a much more sedate manner. . .almost hesitant.
"Please," he said clearly.
Nova felt something in her give, and she brought the child close. Wrapping her arms around him, she settled him on her hip. His small hands reached and gripped her shoulder for support. She gave him a small squeeze, and when the urge came to lower her head and rub their foreheads together she did. A'nu trilled to her and then burst into a shaky purr. He was obviously new to making the sound, and Nova smiled at his efforts.
"Ah," Little Knife spoke up, "you are a natural with sucklings."
Nova's grin got wider as A'nu grabbed some of her hair. She expected him to pull on it, but he was surprisingly gentle. Perhaps he had tried to pull his mother's hair before and been severely punished. He squealed suddenly, and slammed his face into her side, burying himself in the different lengths of black rubbing his face into her tresses.
It was official. . .all Yautja had a hair thing.
"You know, this is really strange," Nova said to the other woman. "I was terrible with children back on Earth. . . I didn't like them. But for some reason A'nu doesn't bother me, which is really strange because he is probably way harder to handle than a human baby."
Little Knife hummed and moved over to a large table, sitting down on a Yautja sized chair. The female pulled a bowl of what must have been fruit towards herself. Selecting a large green globe she proceeded to use her talons to peel it.
"Perhaps this has something to do with your origins. You are part Yautja, are you not? Your maternal instinct could sway you to our sucklings because of this."
Nova thought about this for a while, deeply contemplating how at ease she felt with A'nu on her hip, even though he was far from light and tugging on her hair now.
"You could be onto something there," Nova finally said, not realizing that she had instinctively started to sway back and forth with the suckling.
Little Knife nodded in her direction, pulling apart the strange fruit that was now peeled. The female Yautja's head quickly snapped back towards both of them, her eyes wide.
"A'nu is eating your hair."
Nova looked to the side, to find the small alien feeding her black locks into his inner mouth with his tiny mandibles.
'Shit!'
Nova grabbed the chunk of hair he was eating, stopping him from swallowing more. She started to pull the now saliva coated strands back out. A'nu made a choking noise and Nova panicked, pulling the lengths out quickly.
It just kept coming. How much had he swallowed?
A'nu was gagging now.
Her hair came free, and A'nu promptly vomited all over her.
In a white chunky spray, Nova was drenched in the foul smelling liquid. When the spray finally finished, A'nu gagged again, and another equally chunky wave hit her.
An alien baby had thrown up on her. . .twice, and now she was dripping with white goo.
'Oh, happy day.'
A huffing noise came from the table, and Nova looked up to find Little Knife trying her best not to laugh. The female's mandibles were clenched tightly together, and her eyes appeared to be watering.
"I'm sorry, it's not funny," she wheezed, "but your face. . .it really is funny."
The female stood and reached out, taking her son back (who was also coated with vomit).
"I think you both need to bathe. Take off your dress, I'll wash it while you two clean up," Little Knife's words were strained, as she was clearly still trying not to laugh.
"A'nu, sorry."
The little alien looked genuinely upset over the mishap. He was watching her with worry in his big eyes, and they were quickly starting to glaze over with tears. Still dripping, Nova managed to smile reassuringly at the child.
"It's okay, Kiddo, these things happen. But my hair is not edible, so let's not have a repeat of this. . . ever again." She said as soothingly as she could.
Little Knife translated what she had said, and A'nu's little head nodded in agreement.
Two hours later they were both clean again, and Nova found herself sitting at the table with Little Knife and a lap full of A'nu. On the table, odds and ends were scattered in front of her. Claws, feathers, fur and scraps of leather. Apparently these were A'nu's prized possessions, as every now and then he would jump off her lap to disappear and come back with something else to shove in her face and say.
"Look, mine."
He was content for now, as he was still playing with a leather doll shaped like a warrior in full armor. There must have been a small circuit inside the doll somewhere, because there was a small red light in the doll's 'helmet'. Just like the aiming laser she had seen in real suits of armor.
"He likes you," Little Knife said, still peeling strange fruits. "He is showing off to you like a full grown male would."
Nova couldn't help laughing at that. "Is he showing me his trophies then?"
"That is exactly what he is doing." Little Knife grinned back at her. "Even if his trophies were given to him by me, they are his now and he finally has a chance to show them off to female that's not his mother."
Little Knife stood grabbing a hand full of fruit as she did so. Nova wondered briefly why she hadn't eaten any of it when she had been working on building up a small pile for a while now.
"A'nu, it's time to train now," she declared.
A'nu squealed, jumping out of her lap and throwing his doll to the floor. He ran to his mother, clearly excited. Intrigued, Nova stood as well, following the female as her son jumped up and down around her.
Little Knife went to large shelving unit and placed a piece of fruit on high shelf, then stood back.
"It is best to start off easy at the beginning of a session," she explained to a confused Nova.
A'nu ran to the bookcase looking furniture. Jumping, he grabbed onto a shelf and began to scale the unit with an ease that amazed Nova. He reached the shelf with the piece of fruit quickly and the piece vanished as he shoved it into his mouth, trilling happily.
"Wow," Nova spoke, finally catching on to what was happening.
'It's like training a dog.' She thought, and immediately felt bad for thinking such a thing.
This wasn't a dog. It was a child, who was enjoying the hell out of this activity.
Little Knife moved to another shelf, placing a piece of fruit right on top of it. A'nu jumped down from his current high perch and ran to the other shelving unit. Nova expected him to use the shelves again to get to the top, but instead he ran to where it joined the wall. He jumped, clawing at the wall for a hold and found one. Then to Nova's shock, he pushed off the wall and onto the side of the shelf and then back to the wall. He was shimming up by propelling himself off the two surfaces. Like a little alien Spider-man.
"He is showing off for you," Little Knife said, sounding very pleased with her son.
All Nova could do was gape as the child quickly reached the top and shoved the fruit into his mouth, looking in her direction to make sure that she had been watching him.
Next, his mother placed a piece of fruit on the small edge above the doorway. A'nu easily scaled the wall to get it. Then, Little Knife pulled all the chairs away from the table and placed a piece of fruit in the middle of it. A'nu did a running jump and pulled himself up onto the table to get it. Then his mother put a piece of fruit in a small bowl and floated it out into the middle of a huge Yautja bath tub. A'nu swam to retrieve it. Little Knife made him do this three times, explaining to Nova.
"Swimming is a very important skill that a suckling has to learn. As it is not a natural element for a Yautja, it is vital that you teach them at a young age how to swim. If a sucking goes untrained, it is easy for them to develop an irrational fear of water."
Nova nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with this logic as A'nu came back with his bowl of fruit.
"He is in fine form today," his mother declared. "It is time for him to progress to the next level. You being here will help him with the next challenge. . . he will try harder."
They all left the bathroom, A'nu trailing behind, chewing on his latest conquest and dripping water everywhere.
Little Knife produced a small leather bag from her loincloth and making sure her son was watching placed a hand full of fruit pieces inside. Using a chair to stand on, she reached up to the ceiling and used the bag's pull strings to attach it to a light fixture. The bag dangled there, swinging back and forth.
Nova had to admit that even she had no idea how A'nu was meant to get to it. There was nothing for him to climb to reach for it, and the light fixture was in the center of the roof.
"How the hell is he supposed to get that one?" She asked Little Knife, thoroughly confused.
"That is what he has to figure out, come stand back with me so he has room."
Nova watched as an equally confused A'nu stared up at the bag. He climbed the chair his mother had used, and jumped up and down on it reaching for the bag. He was far too small for it to work. Huffing he climbed off, and ran to the wall, and started to climb it. Nova could see where this was going. . .and she didn't like it.
"Umm, should we stop him?"
"No, he has to learn from his mistakes."
A'nu reached the roof and stretched to claw at the ceiling, then gravity kicked in and he fell to the floor with a resounding thud.
"Is he alright?" Nova asked, alarmed, moving to go to him only to be held back by his mother.
"This is the hardest part for any mother. You have to learn to step back and let your suckling suffer the consequences of their mistakes. Pain is a part of life and you have to let them learn that in their own way. You will not always be there to fix everything, and you must not coddle them. A suckling will be ill prepared for life if you don't let them grow."
Speechless, Nova stepped back.
'Jesus Christ, she has a point.'
How many times had human mothers stuffed up by spoiling their child? When she had gone to school there was a boy she was friends with. His mother would always set out his clothes on the bed every morning, folded in the exact same way. So that when he put it on it faced the right way and wasn't inside out. One day, his mother folded the shirt differently, so that when he put it on it was back to front. The boy had actually complained to her about it. She recalled giving him a 'what-the-fuck look'. How hard would it have been for the boy to simply put the shirt on properly?
Tough love may not look good in practice, or even sound good, but in the long run she could see how it would be better for the child.
Besides, despite the fall A'nu looked fine. He huffed in annoyance, rolling to his feet and threw himself at the wall again, clawing his way to the roof.
He fell again.
Landing flat on his back, he just lay there, and Nova thought for a second that he had hurt himself this time.
A'nu suddenly jumped to his his feet screeching, and ran at the chair his mother had used only to knock it over. He growled at the inanimate object, and kicked it.
The baby was not happy.
He ran to his mother next, clawing at her leg. Screeching at her in wailing cries, as he threw his head back and howled.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
His mother ignored him. Turning her head away as he threw his epic temper tantrum. He even pounded on her leg with his little fists, and the Yautja did nothing. Getting nowhere with his mother A'nu turned to Nova, and was halfway to her when Little Knife said calmly.
"Your Aunt will not help you, either."
His wailing increased, and the little male went and threw himself under where the fruit was hanging, pounding and kicking at the floor crying. "Nooooooo!"
"What do we do now?" Nova whispered.
"We wait for him to realize it will get him nowhere," Little Knife whispered back.
Eventually after what felt like years, A'nu's cries finally ceased and he rolled to sit back up sniffling. His little chest heaving with the exertion of his previous fit. Mournfully he looked at his mother and then Nova. He huffed at them before he started to look all around the room, his head swiveling in all directions.
"Now, he is thinking about the problem clearly," Little Knife whispered.
Nova watched as the boy slowly got to his feet and headed back to the wall, but not in the same place he climbed before.
"Yesss." She heard his mother whisper softly under her breath.
A'nu suddenly screeched and ran at the wall to a square that was just about his height it was. . . an air duct. He pulled the cover off easily and disappeared into the wall. Nova listened to the sound of little claws on metal making their way up the wall and across the roof. Then a little reptilian hand popped out of the light fixture and felt around for the bag, before grabbing it and pulling it in. The sound of claws scuttling across the roof again, and then A'nu tumbled out of the air vent clutching the bag of fruit.
A'nu threw his arms up and roared. A very impressive sound to be coming from something so small. Little Knife joined in with his roar obviously proud of her son. He ran for his mother, and she gathered him up purring.
Nova grinned at the scene.
He reached for her next and Little Knife handed him over. In her best imitation of his mother Nova purred to him, and he trilled back in answer.
"I did not know humans could purr," Little Knife said surprised.
Nova shook her head smiling.
"I didn't know I could purr either."
A piece of fruit was shoved in her face.
"Share," A'nu declared.
Her hands full of alien baby, Nova opened her mouth for him. His whole hand was in her mouth before he decide the piece was in far enough for her to eat and he let go. Almost choking, Nova swallowed the fruit. Not tasting it at all because of how far in he had dropped it.
Nova heard huffing and knew Little Knife was trying not to laugh at the two of them.
"You will make a fine mother one day, Aunt," the female declared.
Nova. . . who had never wanted children in the past, actually found herself hoping that one day the Yautja's prediction would come true.
