Chapter Text
The first thing Janus could feel upon regaining consciousness was pain .
There was a crippling pain down his back, in his skull, even his muscles feel pulled in far too many places, he’d be lucky if his tail didn’t bruise. The only thing that was helping was the dimest of lighting in the-
… Shit, he was in a cell. If the smell of blood and sweat in the air had any indication, he was most likely on a smuggler ship. Just lovely . How did he even get here? The last thing he remembered was him and Remus piloting their cozy little ship. They were headed to this one show they had been saving up to see all junxii breeding season, Remus’ idea of course. But then they had saw something large approaching on their radar, by the time they realized what it could have been they-
-He could smell something else in his cell, something alive . He can even hear it breathing.
The Klrunaq immediately sprung to his feet, twisting around to face the source of the alive smell with the sharpest of his teeth on display. Instinctively adding in a hiss as a means of back off for good measure. He didn’t see anybody there. Not there nor somewhat lower than he normally meets the eyes of most life forms. That can’t be right, he was able to hear breathing, how could there be no one… This wasn’t even an issue of his intergalactic species having bad eyesight, they’re known for their night vision for plasma sake! It wasn’t until he heard a tiny hiss back did he think to look at the ground .
It was a youngling of some kind sitting on the floor of his cell. It stood out harshly against the slightest lights in the room’s floor. Said youngling was staring up at him clearly curious of the much larger deathworlder. The little youngling hissed at him a few more times as the much larger being could only blink in confusion at the mimicking. Janus couldn’t tell if he should feel insulted or angered, either from the assumption that these smugglers thought a youngling made an appropriate cellmate or the assumption that he would eat what was clearly some form of sentient life… well, eat it raw , that is. He isn’t above enjoying some things from his local market after all.
Back to the point, this youngling clearly didn’t fully grasp that Janus was a possible threat. Either that or this one was aware but just didn’t care, which Janus could respect considering the circumstances. The scaled creature's short lived adrenaline burst has subsided and left Janus with the horrific pain once more, as he felt himself needing to sit back onto the ground. Which he obliged without a fight, groaning as he reached the ground. Yeah, he probably fucked up his back.
Now being at a more ground level with the small youngling, he quickly began to recognize some key features on this creature as it continued to stare back at him. The head puff like grevnjii, the hyperactive-expressive eyes of a flutsra back on his home planet, the flat claws seen on a vixcove all hinted at- maybe human. Normally he’d be able to tell right away if it was a human youngling for certain considering how well his own species got along with humans in general, being deathworlders and all that. But the nearly white of the color of this youngling’s hairs, the paleness is also alarming- he knew humans could be pale but this felt excessive, and this one’s iris. Last he had checked human iris didn’t come in purplish-pink. He’s fairly certain these are the traits found in said flustra, and those are inbred pets meant to look like something thrown in someone’s washing rituals. The bizarre sack-like cloth that made up this baby’s coverings was downright shameful, especially considering the various stains present on it. The baby’s whole outfit is being held up with a knot over the little fellas shoulder.
Has no one been taking care of this little one? He wouldn’t exactly put it past smugglers, he’s sure that if smugglers didn’t need to keep most of their victims alive then they wouldn’t be making as much of a profit. It’s a problem made only worse with the introduction of humans, in more ways than what could be counted...
...Okay, the staring went from equal curiosity to now being creepy. It’s a shame Janus is used to breaking the tension with adults and not children, god help him if he ever has any.
“... well, hello there. I take it, this is your room?” Nailed it.
“...Lello.” The small youngling gurgled in response with an extra helping of drool and mouth full of hand. How the hell was Janus supposed to carry conversation with a literal baby? Was this child trying to greet him or point out the color of his scales? Well, at least this youngling seemed just as awkward as he felt. Janus would later deny having attempted to have gathered info out of this child.
The only question should’ve been easy for any child, “do you know where we are in space at this point?” The Klrunaq would’ve even taken the child pointing at the floor as an answer as even this ship seemed like the kind to announce where they’d be next to their merchandise, based off the speakers in the far wall. But all the kid did was stare at him like he’d just asked him the meaning of life.
“Poit?” Looks like he would wait for an announcement, this wasn’t just a small youngling but one that clearly didn’t know what he was saying if the accent is anything to go by. A passing guard didn’t seem to like the sound of the youngling talking as the bars were smacked with one of the electric-batons.
The small one jumped then looked to Janus. Then the little one began to, unconsciously, pout his lip as liquid came out of its eyes. The Klrunaq couldn’t help the crawling feeling of protectiveness over the small creature, despite how odd it seemed at first as it was behaving just as he’s read humanling’s to behave and how similar some of the protective instincts the two intergalactic species shared. Every part of him was demanding that either he comforts the young or he picks a fight with the guard. As tempting as letting the guard have it is, he doesn’t wanna exacerbate the quietly whimpering mess on the floor any further than it has already.
He isn’t exactly familiar if there’s any specific way humans hold their young, but he’ll figure it out as he goes along. He scooted closer a bit to make sure he was in range, and slowly held his hands out to see how receptive the little fella was to being held. It took a moment for the odd youngling to realize that Janus was offering comfort, even then seemed to take the long way of crawling into his lap. The second the humanling touched its face to Janus’ chest and felt arms wrapped around its tiny body it was like the act itself released a dam. All Janus could do was scoot back against the wall as he held the shakily heaving humanling. As Janus rubbed against the youngling’s back, he could feel stitches down where it’s spine would be. Once the little one calms down he’ll have to have a look over to gather all the damage so far, until then however he’ll need to tread carefully about where he touches to avoid as much pain or tugging as possible.
He even begins to hum in hopes that it’ll be enough to calm it enough to check over.
The more he hums, the more the humanling calms down. The more it calms the more it begins to allow Janus to remove its tiny hands and lie the little fella against his slightly perched legs.
Holy fuck it’s so much worse than what he first thought.
Even in the weak lighting he can see the stitching lining down it’s front, like someone’s school project. Give him the time to look, he can even see stitches and scars along his hairline. Far too many emotions began seething under his scales, one in particular that he could feel in particular was unfiltered rage . He’ll definitely make it a note to let his partner Remus kill at least half these smugglers in particular once he got out of there. The only good thing out of checking was that not only did he know what he was preventing from happening anymore while he was awake, but also that this little fella appears to be a little guy . It isn’t much information about this youth, but at least it’s a start.
He tucked the little bean’s clothes back over him and tied it back up, understanding how much it can suck when cold and not wanting to risk anything with a humanling he’s kinda stuck with. He slowly brought the pipsqueak back up to his chest, tired clear on his tiny face. Janus merely held him there, clearly only doing it as a means of comforting the bundle of flesh in his arms. He would later deny enjoying holding the baby and sharing warmth between each other.
Guess Janus is on guard duty now.