Author's note here, While I don't know how this chapter will be received once I post it here, this is actually completely new territory on my end as I've never written wholesome family stuff before this chapter.
In fact, most of my experience consists of writing combat scenes, which will return in several chapters once Anastacia/Heloise is old enough because I'm not going to throw a god damn baby into a combat scene, disregarding the fact Anastacia/Heloise's first-ever scene involved her being held by an overpowered Jester while her biological parents tried their best to bash his face in.
Also short note here, since I'm somewhat unsure about my skills to discribe something competently if you want to see the base of the two species mentioned this chapter by appearance on the stellaris Wiki, the Rukkari are Angelic #4 and the Florumians are Normal #6 in the Lithoid and Plantoid section respectively.
it was a peaceful morning in the Kowalski household amongst the sounds of chirping birds as the family of five stirred awake for the day, Jeremy groaned hoping the incidents from the past few days in which Anastacia hid herself in random corners around the house causing either him or Natasha to nearly trip over her didn't happen again.
"Do keep in mind what we talked about honey, I'm quite certain the kids will be happy to hear it" Natasha commented with a smile while attempting to wrangle her bushy blonde hair back under control near the mirror, causing Jeremy to nod in agreement as he finished his usual morning rituals.
"Of course, they've been begging for it for the last few months there is no way they would be unhappy for it," Jeremy remarked as he and Natasha split up one on her way to wake the children while Jeremy went to prepare breakfast inside of the kitchen.
as the sounds of two rambunctious children came bounding down the stairwell towards the kitchen, Jeremy mentally prepared himself for the potential reactions of the kids as their greetings rang out "Hi, Daddy/Good morning!" came the twin calls of Samantha and Eric while the three-year-old girl focused on Anastacia's form as she was being carried into the kitchen.
"Say kids, want to hear some good news?" Jeremy joyfully questioned causing three pairs of eyes to focus on him, a pair of green and blue eyes gazing upon him with gleeful curiosity, and a pair of blood-red eyes sparkling in innocent wonder only a baby could hold.
"Are we getting a kitten? came Samantha's excited squeal causing Jeremy to give a strained smile towards his oldest daughter, whose desire to get a kitten seems to never stop despite repeatedly being told that a kitten can't enter the household due to Natasha's severe allergic reactions towards felines.
"Sorry sweetie, but cats are just not possible otherwise mommy would need to move away thanks to her allergies" Jeremy softly admits to Samantha who pouts in return, her determination to get a kitten not fading in the slightest.
"Are we getting a dog then daddy?" Eric asked tilting his head causing Jeremy to let out a soft laugh before speaking as Anastacia promptly lost interest and resumed her adventure from the high-rise baby chair.
"Not a dog either my boy, see me and your mother discussed another thing you two have asked for many times" Jeremy began to say struggling not to laugh at the fact his children aside from Anastacia were jumping up and down on the floor from sheer excitement before his wife began to speak.
"Since you two repeatedly asked to have a vacation off-world and after a long discussion we've decided to make it a trip to the world of Lilarobius Primus" Natasha said causing the children to let out joyful yells, Anastacia seeing her siblings happy decides to also celebrate by clapping her hands together while letting out happy gurgles before falling onto the back of her seat being cushioned by her tiny wings.
As the family went about the rest of the day, Jeremy decided to take Samantha and Anastacia with him to go shopping for items and food for this evening since the trip to Lilarobius is quite long so they would need someone to watch their house in the meantime, luckily Jeremy knew an old family friend who could help in that task and so as Anastacia looked on in confused wonder at the large crowds surrounding her and giggled as the three entered the local butcher's shop.
"Jeremy you cheeky brat, you've returned eh?" came the aged and friendly voice of Thomas Miller, the burly elderly butcher being glad to see some of his usual customers coming to buy his wares before noticing the new face with the group, and her odd features standing out to him mainly the horns, wings and tail growing from the albino infant held within Jeremy's arms whose gaze was locked onto him.
"That the new young one?" Thomas questioned tilting his head and watching the infantile Lilim gaze around his shop while also keeping Samantha away from climbing the counter of his store to keep her safe from his collection of butcher's knives as Jeremy responded to the friendly elderly butcher with a smile on his face.
"Indeed this is my newest daughter Anastacia Kowalski, also since we're going to be headed on an off-world vacation soon could you watch the house for us old friend?" Jeremy introduced the infantile lilim who gazed curiously at the older man stroking his beard in contemplation at the question before nodding in agreement, the details of said agreement didn't take long to be ironed out after which the family retreated back to their house to begin packing up supplies for their off-world vacation.
[Civilian cruiser Journey's way, Outerspace, En-route to the Lilaro system]
it has been a couple of days since the family of five left for their trip towards the exotic alien world of Lilarobius Primus, amidst the various excited questions flung by the children and some odd incidents on the route Jeremy and Natasha had their hands full taking care of the kids, it also did not help that a certain system is known by many as "Pirate's Folly" was in the way to get to Florumian space according to some of the rumors Jeremy heard from the other guests and crew members on the ship.
"Attention passengers this is your captain speaking, we will soon be expecting rather harsh turbulence when we enter the Malmol system and if such an event occurs please remain calm" the Captain's voice rings out over the various decks as Anastacia looked up to her parents in a mix of confusion and fear thanks to the sudden loud voice startling the infantile lilim forcing Jeremy and Natasha to try and calm her down.
as the family of five left their room to head to one of the ship's recreational areas they could vaguely hear a commotion echoing in from the western hallway "But... Boss don't these crystal thingy's get used to make art or something?" a deep masculine voice remarked in confusion before a second voice hissed out a telepathic sigh of frustration.
"Yes the acaen crystals are incredibly beautiful to look at but have proven to be rather brittle when put under hard pressure, and if they shatter I can assure you none of us will get paid for this job!" the telepathic voice snarled out attempting to bring its current underling to see reason.
"Dad why does the Malmol system have the nickname of Pirate's folly" Eric questioned but before Jeremy could answer the family was interrupted by a figure emerging from a west-faced hallway butting into their conversation upon witnessing the infantile lilim.
"How curious I was not aware humans could grow wings, suppose I'll have to check and update my codex later" the same telepathic voice questioned causing Jeremy and Natasha to look at the approaching mono-eyed figure coming around from the corner of the hallway, once it got closer they could see it appeared to be an angelic-looking golem, a web of crystalline shards serving as wings, a gaping hole where it's face would be dotted only with a single glowing blue crystal serving as the Rukkari's eye.
"Could you not, we are just trying to have a nice trip here" Natasha remarked as the kids looked at the mono-eyed golem in confused wonder even as its eye crystal snapped over towards the young lilim and brightened in confusion causing Natasha to turn away slightly and Jeremy to step in the way of its gaze, shaking his head towards the rukkari civilian currently inspecting his family.
"Listen here bud, we don't want to trouble fellow passengers please just move on and go about your day," Jeremy said causing the rukkari's eye crystal to begin flaring in uncertainty while a deep rumbling hum began to ring inside of their heads as it nodded before requesting Natasha moves out of its way.
"Fine, then I suppose I'll have better things to do in order to oversee that those two idiots didn't accidentally break my precious cargo of acaen crystals," the Rukkari civilian remarked with a clear tone of resignation within its voice before finally leaving back towards the ships cargo hold in the southern wing.
"Good day, then I guess?" Natasha said while sending one last look towards the retreating back of the rather pushy alien before it vanished down one of the southern hallways causing Jeremy to let out a small sigh before replying.
"That happened I suppose, the Rukkari are a rather isolationist people meaning such comments are sadly to be expected," Jeremy remarks to which Natasha nods to show her understanding before Jeremy turns to answer Eric's question.
"As for your question, this system once held a whole bunch of bad people, and then there was a big battle" Jeremy attempts to downplay the events to his children, knowing the truth was that Malmol's pirate population had the unfortunate grim luck to run into a Galvatronian war fleet and was coldly exterminated to the last man by the great AI running the show over on the machine world of Dekrus.
As the ship finally disengaged its jump drive the family moved to the nearest window looking out towards the grim star system filled with shattered and broken void ships, Jeremy couldn't help but silently mourn the many lives lost in the brutal skirmish,
While Natasha and the kids gazed with sorrowful awe upon the mass grave of what was once one of the more notorious pirate fleets in the galaxy.
While the ship moved slowly through the malmol system the family could see the vast void of space and dead ships was broken only by other ships buzzing through the system to salvage the ruins and bring its former occupants to a proper resting place.
Jeremy and his family watched as the sleek silvery bird-like form of a Dayyid ship signaled its current partners towards one of the larger ruined cruisers dotting the system.
As the trio of salvage ships restored temporary power to make tugging the massive husk easier causing its dead systems to suddenly flash active after 17 years, startling several people as the long-dead ship suddenly flared a rescue beacon and a corrupted message began playing throughout several bridges.
The ship's captain looks uneasy as what she can only presume to be the heavily corroded and broken up final message of the pirate cruiser's crew rings out over her bridge "C̡̧͠͏a̢͜͡n͢҉̀'̵̢t̷̷́͞͝.͘҉.̶̛.̵̧͘ ̶͟T̨͠h̸͠͝͠e̴̶̕͘͟m͢.̧̀͝͝.̸͢.̵͞͏̨ ̨͜͝C̶̶̡͟͠a̸̢͟͝p̶͘͡͠t̡͏̀a̴̵̛̕̕ì҉̢͠n̸̸!̸.̴̵͘.̨́͢.̶̡͜͡W̨̢̛͜é͢͞ ̷́s͡҉̨u̧͝r͏͏̵̴r̵̕͝͡é͘͞n̨͠͡ḑ̸̛́͡é̸̀͜r̴̶̨̕͜!̵̧͜͜͟.̶̶̷̵̷.̨̡͞͝.́͜҉̸N̷̵̡͢͠ờ͘͜͡t̴͜ ̴̷̵̨͡s͏t̶̡̢ǫ̵p͢͟͏́́p̶͜͢͟i̵̷ņ͏̕g͢͝͞.̸̨.́͘͜.̴͝" before the message cuts out as journey's way exits what her sensor officer assumes to be the range of the disturbing message as the ship finally exits the malmol system.
Thankfully for both the crew and passengers the rest of the route proved un-eventful and before they knew it their eyes gazed upon the lilaro system which proved to be a complete inverse from the silent grave of the malmol system with florumian ships of all sizes and purposes darting in and out of the system, moving men and resources both to where they were needed across the interstellar theocratic republic.
[Lilaro system, Lilarobius Primus, City of Hespia]
As the family of five disembarked from the ship alongside its other passengers Natasha turned to her husband with an important question "You did remember to bring a map or something like that right?" grabbing her kids while moving to a calmer spot away from the wave of tourists busy gazing around the plant-like alien architecture.
"Well no, however, we would be provided a personal guide while staying here" Jeremy answered with a sheepish laugh causing his wife to sigh before Eric tugged on his pants to catch his attention.
"Daddy look it's an alien" Eric called out causing the family to notice the approaching figure of a plant-like alien with a prominent head crest tipped by a trio of horns clad in a simple dull red robe, the florumian's six eyes focused on the family taking in their appearance before beginning to speak.
"Greetings humans I assume you are the... Kowalski family?" the alien questions looking down towards the datapad in his hands before looking back up at the family causing Jeremy to nod in acknowledgment.
"Great in that case I have been assigned to be your guide on our blessed homeworld, my name is Vistophane Ka Viven" the florumian introduced himself with a deep bow before straightening up again.
"Uhh mister alien could I ask you a question, why do you have horns?" Samantha asked Vistophane who signed in amused annoyance softly shaking his head before responding to the question.
"It's a simple leftover from a more chaotic time" The florumian softly responds looking down at the nervous young girl before Vistophane remarks that with the route he assumes they took they have no doubt seen it.
"It, what do you mean by it?" Natasha says in confusion watching the rest of her family think about what possibilities are there before it hits her "Malmol, You're talking about Malmol I can presume?" She continues with her answer upon which Vistophane nods in solemn agreement.
"It is a broken monument to the victims of the soulless" Vistophane sneers thinking back to his youth and learning about the first contact between his species and the wretched automatons, who would go on to exterminate a powerful pirate fleet and not have the decency of granting the pirates a burial or cremation.
Vistophane kneels down to get as close to Samantha's eye level as he can before responding with another question "I take it this is the first time you're seeing a non-human life form in the flesh, as you humans are so fond of saying" Samantha gives the six-eyed alien a shy nod in response causing him to chuckle a bit.
"It's so pretty here!" Eric gushes looking around while the group walks out of the spaceport dodging tourists and locals alike to reach a nearby restaurant past this rather busy main street filled with just about everything Natasha expected from a planet with loads of tourism.
Entering the restaurant the group of six continued to chat all the while Anastacia cutely yawned before falling asleep in Jeremy's arms, as the group took their seats and started previewing the menu Eric noticed a trend in most dishes seemed to share. He turned to question Vistophane "Erm... Mr. Vist, why are most of those dishes meat-based?" Vistophane eager to share some knowledge answered the question.
"That's because my little friend us Florumians are descended from carnivorous plants, meaning most of our diet is meat-based." Vistophane remarked in a teacher-like tone of voice causing Eric to give an uncertain nod before Samantha interrupted the conversation with a question of her own.
"Do you have not a mouth mr. Visto?" Samantha says causing Jeremy to share nervous glances with Natasha and Vistophane before the florumian responded by opening his mouth, the lower half of his face splitting apart to form an upside-down Y shape starting from the lowest pair of eyes tipped with sharp predatory fangs and plant-like muscles.
'We florumian's do have mouths, they are just hidden behind our faces most of the time" Vistophane replied his mouth once more hidden behind the twin leaf-like mask housing all six of his eyes.
After the group had eaten their fill Vistophane unfurled his map and questioned where the family wanted to go to next within city limits, only for Jeremy to shoot that offer down and ask for the location of something else his family needed after the journey to Lilarobius Primus.
"Where's the hotel we're staying at it's getting kind of late and I don't desire to spend most of tomorrow as a tired zombie." Jeremy jokingly remarked causing Natasha and Vistophane to both chuckle slightly before he responded.
"You've booked the blessed rose hotel from what I can recall meaning we'll have to follow this route." Vistophane instructed while pointing out the way on his map to the understanding nods of Jeremy and Natasha as their eyes followed the path he laid out.
As the group of six left the restaurant and walked back into the now less crowded streets most of them heard a familiar telepathic voice raging from the left "Wretched idiot! those crystals were expensive!" the same crystalline merchant the family encountered on the journey's way could be seen ranting towards a heavily muscled reptilian alien who was standing in a ring of shattered acaen crystals looking rather uncomfortable being verbally besieged by his current employer.
Though before anyone could react Vistophane spotted several policemen moving into the situation, deciding to ignore it he successfully diverts the attention of the Kowalski family by answering several more questions and before long they were standing in front of the blessed rose hotel "This is where I'll leave you for now." Vistophane said before giving his contact information to both Jeremy and Natasha before fading back into the moving crowd.
As the family of five entered the hotel Natasha let out a yawn while checking in causing the florumian attendant to chuckle softly before giving them their room key, as Jeremy tucked the children into bed he was interrupted by the sudden crying coming from Anastacia's direction he decided to let her sleep with her parents for now inside of this unfamiliar room.
As the Kowalski family collectively drifted off to sleep Jeremy couldn't help but wish his children's future ventures the greatest of success like any proud father would or at least that was what his own father always told him.
Hello again this is a second author's note with a question for you, should I use time skips in between arcs to age up the Kowalski kids I'm leaving that up to you guys :) please help this amateur writer decide.
