Their species is feline-like in origin. Several orphaned Skitty kittens start following them around, refusing to let the person out of their sight, getting distressed when the person is difficult for them to get to. -- Anon Guest
It was quite a thing to discover that one had been adopted by a small swarm of blobby potatoes. That was what Human Zeng would call them, but they were clearly Skittens. Skitty[1] kittens. They had also, very clearly, adopted Hurrasha as their parental.
They were LOUD when they got upset, and they got very upset when Hurrasha wandered too quickly away from them.
Some of the tiny hunters were willing to try climbing her legs. Hurrasha admired their tenacity. She gathered them into a basket so they wouldn't cry so much, and took them directly to the nearest Security personnel to be certain this wasn't stealing essential Station Staff[2]. It did not help that one of the 'blobby potatoes' was attempting to nurse on her.
They were summarily scanned, logged, and transferred to her care. Which included genetic documentation. Their birth mother, a Skitty named "Dingbat", was one of the flightier Skitties and prone to abandoning her brood. She was a good hunter and the hope remained that these tiny potatoes would be better parents than their progenitor.
There were details, like being a new Skitty-mother. Bottle-feeding, toilet training, keeping them warm, safe, and entertained until such time as they graduated from 'potato' to 'nyoom'.
Human Zeng had amazingly descriptive words for things. They also helped with the Skitty adoption process, adding their trackers to their ship's roster and listing them as 'trainee' staff. At least until they became nyooms.
"This is not the usual way," Hurrasha announced, bottle-feeding a struggling potato. "Kits are welcomed by the entire Claw[3]. I am without such family."
"You've got me," said Zeng. "Then there's the whole rest of the ship. We love kittens."
Much though she liked and bonded with Human Zeng, Hurrasha struggled to find a polite way to tell them that Meeyahndan families were solidly and thoroughly made of Meeyahndans.
[1] The Skitty, or Station's/Ship's Kitty, is a gengineered form of pest control adopted throughout the Galactic Alliance, and beyond. Most who encounter them are not at all shocked to learn that they are Deathworlder animals, at least in origin.
[2] Animals with jobs count as staff.
[3] The atomic family unit on Meeyahn is four mothers and a male, aka a "Claw". They raise their kids communally.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / yanikap]
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