Tyler drifted into the chamber, pleasantly dazed with elation as Sobipess darted past him, skittering around the other bonded pairs, and skidded to a halt at an unclaimed bucket of meat. Following close behind his newfound bond, Tyler expected the hatchling to immediately dig in, but Sobipess only sat at his chosen spot, fluttering his wings and filling the android's mind with pleading impatience.

He dropped to the sand near the black-blue, eyeing the chunks of meat in the bucket with some distaste. They were so raw they were still bleeding, marinated by their own sanguine fluids. Sobipess immediately leaned towards him, nipping lightly at his shirt until he picked up a generous meat-chunk, making a face at it as he did so. It was still pretty warm, too. The dragonet opened his maw wide, tongue-jaw limp and harmless and lolling over his teeth like a panting dog's tongue, quivering with eagerness.

Sitting there, with a hunk of dripping meat in his hand and a xenodragon gaping like a hungry bird-chick at his side, Tyler finally grinned. He popped the much-awaited tidbit into the youngling's mouth, and laughed as Sobipess wolfed it down in a heartbeat and begged for more the moment it was swallowed. The synthetic felt so happy he thought he might burst-- there was nothing he could compare to the practically tangible weight of Sobipess' mind conjoined to his. It was a new and novel sensation, and yet it felt completely natural... and not just natural, but so right that he couldn't imagine being without it, even though he'd only just acquired it!

He tried to look around to see if he could spot Chelsey, and see how his comrade was doing with his new bond, but Sobipess wouldn't have a single moment of Tyler's attention diverted from him. The hatchling tugged the android's sleeve with his teeth until Tyler looked at him again, and with gaping jaws demanded another mouthful.

Tyler chuckled heartily. "You could just eat right out of the bucket and feed yourself, you know," he grinned, holding a second portion of the meat to the hatchling's mouth and ignoring how gross the blood looked dripping around his fingers.

Sobipess took the offered meat with no less gusto than the first, cocking his head at Tyler after he'd swallowed it. Though the hatchling had no eyes to look at him with, Tyler nonetheless got the sensation he was on the end of a 'what a silly thing to say' kind of amused glare-- one with which he agreed wholeheartedly, without thought. Sobipess wouldn't be happy if he wasn't handfed, and Tyler was enjoying feeding his hatchling, even if his fingers were quickly getting blood-tacky.

My hatchling, he thought merrily. Sobipess is mine.

::I am yours, and you are mine,:: the hatchling chimed in, even as he took another meat-chunk from the synthetic's hand. The static around his telepathy was still minimal, much to Tyler's delight. It was there, but it wasn't deafening as all other telepathic distortion had been. ::We are each other's.::

Tyler smiled, chuckling. "You had me worried for a minute out there, though. I was certain you were gonna go for one of the others." Although now those brief moments of miserable disappointment seemed infinitely far away.

Sobipess made a noise in his throat, a low rumble that sounded like a growl yet held no malice. Through hushed static, a sensation of the hatchling's shame filled Tyler's mind. ::I did not mean to make you sad,:: the little xenodragon apologised, bobbing his head in embarrassment, ::but I had trouble telling you were here at first.::

Blinking in confusion, Tyler paused in the act of picking out another bit of meat from the bucket. "Huh?"

The hatchling ducked his head again, putting a three-fingered forepaw on Tyler's knee and making the apologetic noise a second time. ::Well, you... you are a bit harder to see than the others were, and a little hard to hear too. I was confused, and none of the others felt right and I was afraid I would be left alone, and I was hungry... but then... then I felt her coming, and saw you when you moved and heard your fright, and realised you were here after all...:: Sobipess rumble-growled again, butting Tyler's free hand, but this time the sound seemed more akin to a purr. ::So for a while there, I was just as sad as you were!::

Tyler smiled, rubbing Sobipess' soft head-carapace and eliciting another purr-growl from the newborn, before giving him more meat. "It's all alright now, though. But what makes me hard to see and hear?"

The black-blue paused a moment in thought, his tail slowly wagging in the sand behind him. ::Well, I don't see things like you see... heat, sound, smell, vibration... all of those together, that's my "sight." And you don't have as much heat as these others do, and your smell is faint... so it wasn't until you moved that I could really tell you were here. And your thoughts... they're hard to get at.::

Then Tyler felt a nudge. That was the only way he could think of to describe it: a nudge. There was a sensation of pressure suddenly among his thoughts, in the part of his mind that now 'felt' like Sobipess, that triggered a burst of static. "Oy, hey!" the synthetic squawked, shaking his head.

::That's what I meant,:: Sobipess bobbed his head, again making a noise of apology. ::That... that-:: -the hatchling opened his mouth and hissed in decent imitation of white noise- ::-gets in the way. A little.::

Scratching the back of his head with his clean hand, Tyler chuckled. "Well, guess that's what you get for picking the only android on the planet. Think you can still live with me?" he grinned, holding out a meat chunk.

With a churring kind of noise, Sobipess leaned in, ignoring the meat to press his head firmly against Tyler's chest, tucking both of his forelegs over the marine's thigh. ::I could never live with anyone else,:: he stated resolutely, curling close to his bond and giving Tyler a fond nudge. ::We're forever.::

"Sounds good to me."

Sobipess again made his contented noise, and carefully picked the bit of meat from Tyler's hand. ::Don't stop now... I'm still hungry, and the sooner we're out of here, the better. She's in here now, and I don't like the feel of her. Of any of them. They're vicious. Most of them, anyway. I want to get away from here, just you and me, and you can tell me about space, and marines, and cyborgs, and all those other interesting things I can hear in your thoughts.::

The hatchling continued to talk, even as Tyler continued to feed him his meal. The synthetic thought that a handy trick-- not having to stop talking because your mouth was full! Not that it wasn't amazing enough that Sobipess and his sibs had hatched with full vocabularies and the ability to converse!

::Who's Chelsey?:: Sobipess queried suddenly. ::And Gainai'? Are they here?::

"Phew..." Tyler shook his head slowly, amusement mixed with a kind of incredulity. "Of all the stories to start with, that's probably the longest one. Where to start..."

::The beginning, of course. Always at the beginning.::