Chapter Text
The pups saw you before Pages did, scampering eagerly over to greet you. The younger all but leapt into your arms, and you dropped your prize to embrace it. Its tiny tongue tickled your nose and you gave it a few good licks in return.
Its sibling was less enthused, kicking and squirming when you pulled it away from its preliminary investigation of the strange new creature.
“No!” it squeaked, in its tiny, shrill voice.
“Yes,” you replied, planting determined kisses on its head. “I missed you.”
It whined, still wriggling, and you put it down with a fond sigh.
Pages approached with a soft smile, checking you over and then nuzzling into your neck.
“Hello, love,” you purred, as it kissed your ear.
“Hello, dear treasure. Your trip was fortuitous, then?”
“I’d say so.”
“What is it?” it crouched down to get a closer look at your acquisition, recoiling in surprise when it saw the familiar face through the helmet. “You found a human?" it squeaked, eyes darting between the two of you. "It is a human, isn’t it?”
“Seems to be.”
“Where did you find it?"
“On a ship.”
“A ship? A sky-ship?” it absently petted the head of your younger pup, who had just now clung to its leg and begun squeaking for attention. Its eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Were there more of them?”
“I got the biggest one. And this,” you pulled out the game from the pouch of your wing.
Pages was momentarily distracted. “Did you get books?”
“If you wanted books, you should have gone yourself.”
Pages grumbled, turning its eyes to the pup, who sneezed into its fur, then ran to join its sibling. Pages grimaced. “The little ones need plentiful food to grow. Our stores run low.” Its expression grew accusatory. “You are planning to feed them, correct? Not keep it as a pet?”
“Of course not!”
“Then why keep it alive?”
“Hunting practice.”
Pages’ annoyance turned to pleasant surprise. “Good thinking.” It eyed the human, who was muttering something under its breath, hands clasped. “What is it saying?”
“I think it’s praying.”
Pages snorted.
“You don’t understand it?” you asked.
“It sounds familiar, but no. I imagined you would. Is it not a language you know?”
“Not one I can remember. It was speaking English, back on the –” you cut yourself off, looking sheepishly at your mate.
“Oh? English? How dreadfully fascinating.”
“Shut up. Should we talk to it?”
“Whatever for?”
“I don’t know. Curiosity. Ask what it was doing out here. If more are coming.”
“What would you do if there were?”
You looked at your children, eagerly chirping to each other and vigorously sniffing their new present, which was trying unsuccessfully to fend them off. “I let the first one go. The rest are fair game.”
Pages nodded. “Do not let us down, Cards.”
“I won’t, love. I’ll head out again tomorrow.”
“See to it. It speaks English, you said?”
“I think so.”
You recalled the pups, and made your way over, shrinking down to a more reasonable size.
“DO YOU HEAR?” you said loudly, contorting your mouth and throat into almost-forgotten shapes.
Its eyes went wide enough to pop out of their sockets, and it nodded stiffly.
“You speak English?” came the heavy-accented voice, muffled by its helmet.
“YES.”
“Why am I here? What are you? What will you do to me?”
“SLOW. WHY YOU HERE? IN… LAND?” You looked to Pages for help.
“TERRITORIUM?” it offered, after a moment of deliberation.
You shook your head. Close, but… You wracked your brain for the translation. “TERRITORY! WHY IS YOUR SHIP IN OUR TERRITORY?”
A terrible comprehension dawned on its face.
“I AM COSMONAUT! EXPLORER! DID NOT MEAN – We mean no harm! Did not mean to intrude!”
You tilted your head. “WHERE YOU FROM? Er… ORIGIN?”
“Earth! Planet Earth! In Milky Way!”
You rolled your eyes. “WHERE ON EARTH? WHAT COUNTRY?”
“Mo - Moscow! Russia!” it angled its arm to show the flag embroidered on its sleeve. Huh.
“EXPLORER? MORE HUMANS COME? HOW MANY SHIPS?”
It shook its head. “Only us! Scout team! We did not know – Let me go, I will tell them not to come this way! No more ships if I return! You be left alone! Only if I live!”
You shook your head. Poor, naïve little creature.
“The pups are getting restless,” Pages said. Sure enough, it had the younger in its arms, and the other whining at its feet. Good self-control, you thought.
“Alright, alright. Do you have any questions?”
“Not particularly.”
“Should we keep the suit?” you pondered. “I want to keep it.”
Pages shrugged ambivalently.
You addressed the Russian again. “SUIT OFF.”
It didn’t move.
You mimed removing a helmet. “TAKE YOUR SUIT OFF.”
It shook its head frantically. “There is not enough air –”
You grabbed it in your wings and dug claws into the seam of its helmet, ignoring the panicked shrieks from inside. It was difficult to pry open without damaging it too badly, but you managed.
There was a hissing of compressed air, and the smell of salt, adrenaline, and ammonia filled your nose. The human grasped desperately for its helmet, sweat already turning to ice.
“Nyet, please, I will die…”
You huffed a laugh. Not from this, it wouldn’t.
You peeled off the outer layer. Underneath were a myriad of tubes and wires attached to its underclothes. You pulled these off and dropped the human to the ground.
“Nyet, nyet, nyet –" it was frantic now, pleading, begging, gasping at an air not designed for its lungs and looking for any means of escape. You called the pups with a chirp.
They bounded over, stubby wings flapping wildly with excitement. You and Pages watched as they screeched with tiny voices at their prey and each other, ducking in between blows to nip at clothes and flesh alike. The eldest latched on to a flailing arm and refused to be dislodged, while the younger seized upon the pale nose and swallowed a chewy piece of cartilage.
You were a Curator now. You didn’t flinch at violence. You enjoyed the smell of blood. You were encouraged by screams, not repulsed. You killed on a regular basis, and occasionally without need. You had traded morality for freedom centuries ago.
The man writhed, his anguished screams echoing off the walls of your home.
You excused yourself to your sleeping chamber, claiming exhaustion from your trip. Pages let you go, but the sounds did not.