Taji smiles and continues to stay awake

Russ snorts and his breathing falters for a second as he sleeps. It's a nice little part of asthma

It can turn into sleep apnea

Taji doesn't really think to much about it and just Hope's he'll be okay

The morning comes with Russ rolling over a little disturbing the cat and getting batted in the face "Uh-UaaAAUGH!"

"SIMON YOU BASTARD"

Taji has bags under eyes and jolts awake and rubs them with a groan "ugh..."

Russ sighs rubbing his face where he got batted "ugh... I don't wanna go to school... I think I'm out. I'm gonna start up a mission and avoid it..."

Taji yawns and sits up "well we can go ahead and get my home request thingy over with.."

Russ nods rubbing his eyes "well, we better hurry before Mama Gurtie makes her rounds"

Taji doesn't bother asking who that is and get out of bed stumbling a bit since she's still very tired

Russ goes into his nightstand and hums "so, no one here is pregnant, injured to the point of sensitive, or concussed, right?"

Taji nods "yeah except for RJ"

"well, he isn't in this room." He fishes out a remote control like for a TV but with way more buttons and little switches "ooh my prototype. Ugh, so manual...''

"Oh...what's that?" She asks

He starts to fiddle with the controls on it and aims to the floor "this, my sweet little companion, is my Universal Remote, as 14 year old me put it. It's kinda wonky and I've built better ones since then, but it'll do"

"Ooh. Okay then" she smiles

He shoots a portal beam out and opens up a blue and white swirling rip in space and time. Russ grins, then gasps hearing his door open "Run!"

Taji nods and runs into the portal

Russ hops in and manages to flip upside down in the portal until they fly out the other side in the bedroom of the ship. Taji lands on the bed. Russ isn't as lucky landing on the floor Next to the bed

Taji looks over the bed to see russ "you okay?"

He's on his back and looks like he's about to scream ".... Yeeeeah, fine- finefinefinefine....hsssh... AHHHH fine"

Taji frowns and gets off the bed and helps him up

He winces as she helps him and groans flopping on the bed "ow... Okay, it hurt a little"

Taji smiles gently "sorry." She says and yawns

Russ sighs looking up at the ceiling "CLAIRE, autopilot us up out of here, but no portals. RJ is still very very with child"

"Yeeeeees Master Avaryce.."

Taji smiles gently and sits on the bed looking like she's very tired, which she really is

He looks up at her and smiles "c'mon, get in here and cuddle me. You look like you could use some z's"

"I-im not that tired...I just need to wake up..." she says even though she stayed up most of the night

Russ deadpans "were up in space and my time is essentially paused. You have no obligations to uphold that require you to stay awake. Therefore, Nappy nap nap"

Taji frowns "b-but...I'll just have that nightmare again..."

"not if I hold you tight and kiss you a bunch~" he offers stretching out his arms and gives her a smirk

Taji frowns and cuddles next to him "I hope you're...right...." she says starting to fall asleep

Russ pets her hair keeping her calm so she'll sleep better

Taji passes out and snuggles against him trying to have good dreams

Russ wakes up a while later and smiles snuggling into her some more

Taji sleeps for a long while. Having really needed it and smiles in her sleep

Russ pets her hair gently and feels his own with a grimace "ugh... Greasey... Darn it mom giving me these greasy locks. ..."

Taji nuzzles him "lazari..." she mumbles

Russ blinks looking down at her "lazari....? Sounds like a name.... Sleepy lil cutie"

Taji mumbles more words but it's hard to make out. Her face turns onto a worried expression "d-damien..."

Russels face shifts to curiosity and listens "okay... Maybe it's that dream..."

Taji mumbles more words and if he could listen close. She just saying "I'm sorry russel.."

He frowns petting her face with a sad look "aww... It's okay... Taji, wake up sweetheart..."

Taji starts to cry then wakes up looking up at russel then sets a hand on her flat stomach and sighs in relief then wipes away her tears

Russ frowns sitting up to make sure she's okay "Taji, what was that about? What was going on in your dream- you said some names and then... Apologized to me..."

Taji looks at him "i-i did? I cant really remember it now..."

"not Russ or Russy or Rusty... My full ass name making me feel like my mom is talking to me"

Taji frowns "I wish I could remember but I can't..i-i think I was naming something? I'm not sure"

"yeah but you said sorry to me... I... Ugh, let's get something cooked and ready to eat. I think RJ is getting to far for me to trust him up on his feet"

Taji nods and gets off the bed

Russ looks a little frustrated as he walks ahead and gets down to the kitchen with her

Taji frowns and follows him

His stomach rumbles as he looks in the cabinets and sighs with a defeated look "ugh... So hungry. I can't think straight... I can't cook"

"Well I can you silly goose. Is there anything you want to eat?"

Russ perks up with a small smile "ooh can we make hash brown piles?"

"Sure!" She smiles and looks around for ingredients

Russ gets out potatoes and grins "I know these are in em. And I guess oil and salt?'

Taji smiles and nods "I think so. I haven't made hash browns in a while."

"uggfggh- let's look at mom's book. They gotta be in there, she put everything in there"

Taji nods "oh yeah! I almost forgot about that!"

He reaches upon his tippy toes to open a high glass cabinet and pulls out the well used 3-ring binder with more pages than the freaking Bible "hmm... It'd be under breakfast.... You can tell my mom worked hard on this cuz she drew some of the dishes on the sides"

Taji smiles "that's super cool!"

He flips through the page protectors and grins "Oh! Found em! And eggs made like 50 different ways.... Pou-tched egg? What?"

"What's that?" She asks

"that's what I wanna know" he laughs reading the binder page "heh, 3000 years and I still find new stuff in here"

Taji smiles "well let's get to makin hash browns! Oh I can try to teach you how to cook!"

Russ laughs sweating a little "oh, you don't want me cooking. I can cook a fish on a stick and make a bowl of cereal or ramen."

"Yeah well I can teach you!" She says with a smile

"eh... I'll try. I'm not scared" he laughs going to wash his hands

Taji smiles and does the same

Russ perks up hearing movement from the hall "hrm?"
It's RJ waddling a little as he comes in with a confused sleepy look "hm? I stayed on the charger too long... Whatcha doing?"

"Making hash browns" she smiles looking at RJ "you want some?"

"please? I'm starving- and funny enough, the last thing I remember doing is eating" he sets a hand on his belly as it gurgles "I can take over if you guys want"
"Oh hell no. You're sitting over there and waiting for food"

Taji giggles and nods "yeah! I'm wanna teach Russel how to cook!!"

RJ blinks sitting down and sighs "good luck with that. Are you just cooking so I don't? Cuz I can"

"Yes. Yes I am" she giggles

RJ sighs drumming his fingers on his belly while they cook "so... Am I that delicate right now? Sure I'm kinda low charge, but it's not that bad..."

Taji frowns "well you're gonna be giving birth soon. You're pretty delicate" she starts to cook "I wonder if the house is okay..." she mumbles

Russ hums following the instructions carefully as they cook "it's fine I'm sure.... So... Can we make eggs and sausages too?"

Taji nods "of course!"

RJ looks even hungrier hearing that "ooooooh- a whole spread? Impressive "

Taji smiles gently "I probably wont eat much. I ate a lot for dinner last night"

Russ is currently peeling and grating the potatoes, but he's a little distracted and cuts himself with a hisss

Taji drops what she's holding to help russel "are you okay?!"

He whimpers holding his skinned thumb as it bleeds "ough... Blood... Oh no..."

Taji grabs his thumb and not even realizing it she takes his thumb into her mouth and licks away the blood and swallows it

Russ looks a little pale, but also a bit hot and bothered with a blush as red as his eyes

Taji gets a bit needy needing more blood and bites him but once she realizes what shes doing she backs away quickly "oh my goodness!! I'm so sorry!!"

Russ winces looking at her with concern as he holds his thumb away from her "Taji... Are you okay...?"

Rj gets up with some trouble and frowns coming over "I gotcha Russ. As for the blood thing.... Taji I think the
D E M O N thing is messing with you..."

Taji swallows hard, and swallows whatever left blood is in her mouth "I-it think so too..."

RJ nods patting Russel's back "go on into the medbay and get out some bandages" then takes over grating potatoes for him

Taji gets a guilty expression and gets back to cooking

RJ smiles a little patting her back too as he tries to maneuver carefully "hey it's okay. You're fine- ooff- me however, I'm being assaulted from the inside"

Taji smiles gently but then frowns again "but...I shouldn't have done that.."

"well yeah, but are you sorry?" He rubs his side where the baby kicked hard with a pained look

"Of course I am!" She says looking at him

Taji let's out a small groan and nibbles at her finger "now I want more...."

"that's toooooooo bad sweet cheeks. Quit biting yourself and lets make some real food. Im starving to death and my feet are killing me"

Taji nods and stops to continue cooking but instead bites her lip instead

He elbows her with a raised eyebrow "fight it Draculara"

Taji blushes and stares away from him continuing to bite her lip till it bleed and she has access to blood

RJ growls taking her by the shoulders "are you kidding me?! Fucking stop it! I can tell what youre doing- I have sensors AND eyes- Quit letting it WIN!" He gives her a good shake

Taji's eyes widen, not having expected him to do that, "i-im sorry..."

He gives her the most emotional look he ever has actually tearing up "please....? I just.... I know this could lead to worse mutilation and you already fucking dig into your skin with your nails.... I know you can fight the urges if you just try a little..."

Taji starts to feel bad and tears up a little herself "I-I'll try to fight the urge.."

He sniffles hugging her by bending down a little so the baby wasn't in the way "...thank you..."

Taji hugs him back hesitantly and wipes away her tears

RJ pulls back rubbing at his wet eyes "ugh, what is wrong with me..."

"Its okay...let's just...get this breakfast made" taji says and gets back to cooking

He stays quiet as he cooks, sneaking a piece every once in a while to keep his hunger in check. They finally finish and make up plates- 2 piled high and one normal plate

Taji sighs in relief after all the cooking but is definitely ready to eat

Russ comes back in with just a bandaid over his cut having healed it with the ointment mostly and sniffs happily "ooooh~ my favorite meal of the day~"

Taji smiles "well enjoy" she says and starts to eat her food

Everyone does so hungrily with the boys finishing theirs at the same time and smirking at eachother "okay, that's not cool. I finished first"
"What? No I did, by like 26 milliseconds."
"Bullshit. Second round, you're going down preggo"

"Second round?!" Taji asks looking at both of them

Taji shakes her head quickly "no thank you"

RJ smiles at her and chuckles "party pooper"
Russ comes over sliding into his spot and laying down both plates "ready, set, eat!"
They both start shoveling food into they're mouths like crazy people

Taji watches with a concerned Expression

Russ is surprisingly the one to falter getting mostly through his pile, then winces feeling an ache in his stomach and his waistband tighten "oh ow... No more, I'm gonna barf..."

(each massive plate is like 2 servings, so he ate 3 and a half)

Taji smiles gently "you two are insane"

RJ finishes and burps rubbing his very full stomach "whoo- you know it, but now I can say I out-ate the most insatiable appetite in the universe~"
Russ groans fixing his pants and rubbing his side to help digest "not insane, just... Ugh... Competitive... I'm gonna go be a lump on the couch for a week, pardon"

"Can I join?" She asks

"always~" he smiles at her as he gets up, then gets to the other side to help out Taji, then RJ with heavy self "oh and RJ, you only won cuz your stomach is literally made of rubber and youre eating for two"

"He's not wrong" she smiles then waits for russ to start heading to the chill room

Rj scoffs playfully and rubs his belly "you're just mad cuz I won~"
Russ rolls his eyes leading the bunch to the chill room and Ashe said, gets to the couch and lays back with one of the recliner chair seats with a hand over his overly full stomach "we got a little bit before I can move. Taji, you wanna play videogames? Or watch something?"

"Oh um sure!" She says taking a seat

Russ decides on movies, then grins "Hey Taj, you wanna pick the movie? I've got basically anything you can think of"

"Do you have the movie aliens?! Like the one from 1986?! That's like one of my favorite movies" she says getting really excited

He grins more sitting up "Of course! Dude, I'm in space the majority of the time in a spaceship- it's like the ultimate scary movie"

Taji smiles "yeah!! I guess I've had a love for love for space stuff and didn't even know it. Interstellar's a really good movie too!"

Russ snorts "I'll tackle interstellar later. If it's the one I'm thinking of I don't care for it"

"Which one are you thinking of" she asks

"the one where its Scarlett Johanson floating slowly for half the movie"

"so boring"

"Scarlett Johansson? Hmm I dont actually look into the actors but the main character was a father who worked for NASA. All I know is that is was made in 2014" taji rambles

"Fair enough. Okay ready for aliens? Oh and also the movie?"

"Of course! Wait- huh?" She asks now realizing what he said

"it was a joke- you know... Cuz were in space and aliens are everywhere?" He snorts getting the movie from the shelf and pops it into the system to watch it

"Oh heh" she says nervously rubbing the back if her neck

Once the movie is set up, Russ lays back on the couch and opens his arm for her to sit at his side

Taji smiles and cuddles up next to him

Russ has seen every movie he has a shit ton, so he's not actually good at paying attention to them. That mixed with the fact that he's overly full were just fuel for the inevitable nap he ends up taking. He starts to nod off tucking his head into the crook of Tajis shoulder and snoring gently

Taji smiles and continues to watch the movie and jumps a small bit at the jump scares

Russ snorts a little and hums curling up with a shiver. The ship is colder than usual and the couch may be cozy, but it's not warm unless you cover up with the throw blankets on the back of it

Taji grabs one and wraps them in it so they won't be cold then she gets back to watching the movie

Taji looks over and smiles "wanna join us?"

"sure you don't mind? You'll be sandwiched" he laughs coming over

Taji smiles "I dont mind! Squish me!!" She giggles

RJ smiles coming over to sit on her other side setting a hand on top of his belly "whew... Few more weeks..."

Taji smiles and reaches a hand over to rub his stomach gently "yep"

The baby bumps her hand making RJ smile "it's gonna be... A little weird without him..."

The movie gets to a point with a scare and RJ actually jumps a little "oh Fu-fuck- what the hell are you watching?"

"Aliens!" She says and draws her attention back to the movie and smiles wide "One of THE best movies ever made!! They even got androids in each movie!!"

"Android's eh? I doubt they're even remotely cool like me"

"Yeah you're right. The one In the second movie looks kinda like an old dude but he ends up saving both the main character and the girl at the end! And then the main character gets into this robot thingy and send the alien into space!!! Its so cool and full of suspense!! What's really sad though is that the main character was pretty much traumatized since the last android she was with got her entire crew killed so when she found out there was another android in her new crew, she got very angry and stuff but it worked out at the end but sadly the android got torn apart at the end! It was really sad but I enjoy the ending everytime!! Oh! I'm so sorry!! I just spoiled a lot of the movie!!" She rambles

Rj laughs laying his head on her and looking down at Russ "eh, it's fine. Movies go really slow for me anyway. So how's this one? Is he alright? He's such a fucking cat"

Taji smiles "yeah and think the movie bored him. Which I can understand. He's probably watched all these movies...man...I wonder if we can spend the night at my home...it would be nice to be home even though I have nothing there for me...especially once dylons gone.."

RJ smirks "gonna see if you can boink on your old bed before you leave the place to rot? I like it"

Taji blushes "i-I- well- I mean- maybe?" She says nervously

RJ snorts "I mean, at least you only have one choice there. I'm a little big for any of that"

Taji nods "yep- wh-which we dont have to talk about since I totally dont use them much" taji stutters blushing in embarrassment

"what?"

Taji swallows hard "the um...toys"

"ah, i meant Russ since you know... Eh?" He motions to the two of them together

"Oh- well um- still I swear I dont use the toys often-"

He deadpans "Taji, unless you're sticking it in your ear, no one cares whether you use toys"

"W-well I just wanted to make that clear- I mean- whatever-" she says and goes back to watching the movie "s-sorry"

RJ smiles laying on her side with his leg folded to support himself and sort of half-sit on her "sure princess. Whatever you say"

Taji blushes "I'm not- egh I'm not gonna win in that argument." She sighs and then starts to think about going home and hopes the house Is okay

Russ shivers laying down with his head in her lap. RJ sighs watching the movie "hm... The temperature is off. It's like 57 degrees in here..... And it's dropping... I better go down to the life support and check it out"

Taji nods "okay be careful...or maybe I should go with you?"

RJ stands with some trouble and groans "I'm... Not entirely sure I'll fit down there. It's a small emergency ladder down to the basement of the ship"

"I can go! It shouldn't be too hard!"

RJ nods with a small smile helping Russ get comfortable without her leg to lay his head on "okay, I'll guide you through it if I can't get down there"

Taji nods and gets up

RJ guides her over to the outer metal part of the lab wall and carefully gets down to the floor with a hand to his stomach, then opens up a hatch in the wall with barely enough space for a ladder and a thin person to get down it "uh.... I think I'm a little too fat even for the entrance. Well isn't that lovely..."

Taji smiles "yay crawling through small spaces!"

Rj sighs sitting down rubbing his side "okay, I guess you're going down.... There's wires and tanks of fuel and water, air supply, etc. I need you to see how the red core is doing. You've seen Russel's villain gear before right?"

Taji nods "I think so"

"the red jewels on it are actually power sources. There's a huge one down there that acts as the ships batteries. I'm betting there's something wrong with it"

Taji nods "okay I'll go check it out!"

RJ nods waiting at the entrance and helping her climb down. There's a high heat in there, but with how cold the ship is, it's refreshing

Taji smiles and starts climbing down then decides to just hide into the shadows to get down faster

The lower chambers are very short only being about 4 feet tall so she has to crawl or crouch. There's cables, wires, and pipes along the walls and floors with steaming machinery everywhere. This is where Russel's skill is in his handiwork. It's an almost entirely self sufficient vehicle with little droids scurrying over marked paths tending to the controls and cleaning. There is an area under the cockpit with what looks like a massive engine. In the center is a huge power jewel- with a crack in its side

Taji crawls to the crystal and looks at it. Then grazes her fingers gently on it "theres a crack? Hmm That must be why"

It sparks and cracks more making the ship make a hissing noise. The engine stops all together. Back up power keeps things to survive on, but the temperature is going to drop and it's gonna get hard to breath

Taji gets a scared expression and dashes back to the ladder to get back up and just uses her power to get out. Once shes out, she looks to see if RJ is still there

RJ gave her a hand out panting a little in the thinner air "Taji, what happened!?"

"The gem thingy! Its cracked! And it just crackled a little more!" She says with worry

RJ frowns sitting on the floor "then we're sitting ducks until Russ can create another gem big enough to power it!"

Taji nods and heads back to the chill room to check on russ and wake him up

He's panting in the thinner air and he looks a little pale from the cold all curled into himself in a shivering ball

Taji heads over to him and shakes him awake "Russel please wake up"

Russ wakes up with a gasp and groans holding the blanket close "brr.... Fuck- what's with the emergency lights? I can barely see you!"

"The ship's power gem thingy is cracking!"

Russ gasps again shooting up off the couch and to the lab "Fuck- that means the cloak is down too! We're gonna get caught by someone whether it's the UBB OR BOUNTY HUNTERS IF I DONT HURRY!!!"

Taji follows him "I can help if you need!!"

"I'll need it!" He huffs getting out chemicals and starts getting on his villain gear that also works as lab gear

Taji watches him but is literally ready to be bossed around

Russ makes a quick change going from sweet sleepy boyfriend to leader harping out orders as he mixes things she fetches for him

Taji doesn't care mainly because of the situation so she makes sure to be extra fast

He gets the chemicals to a boiling point, then gets them to a large mold in a closed off hydration chamber "okay... This should be it... I gotta let it Cook"

"So...what now?" She asks looking up at him

"we.... Hope we can survive the hours it takes for this thing to form with so little energy to spare....." He looks really stressed balling his fists into his hair and stroking back as he pants

Taji frowns as she gets worried "I'm sure we'll be okay.." she says to mainly herself

Russ sighs with his anxiety peeking as he fidgets with his hands paving around the lab "okay.... Plenty of food... Good amount of water.... Air supply... Is a little sparse, but were okay... Ugh... WERE SITTING DUCKS, WE ARENT EVEN CLOAKED ANYMORE AND MY STUPID ASS LOGO IS ON THE ROOF!!!"

Taji grabs his shoulder and attempts to try and calm him down "we're going to be fine russel please calm down!"

Russ tears up a little behind his visor and frowns looking down rather than at her ".... But... It's scary being wanted Taji, you don't understand! It's why I fly invisible and as fast as I can!!! I'm so scared...."

Taji frowns and gives him a quick kiss "if being wanted is anything like being hunted down by a abusive boyfriend then I know exactly how it feels...but they aren't to do anything to you unless they go through me first"

Russ laughs weakly wiping his eyes as he plops down in his chair "wh-what the fuck are you gonna do about it.... You're a teenage innocent human girl! Most aliens see us as exotic meat! It's why not many people outside e of the earth even know what the fuck I AM'

"Do you remember that bounty hunter that tried to hurt you back when we were maurixxi?" She asks wondering if he even knows what she did to him

Russ Shakes his head with a frown "not really... I was terrified and weak from giving birth less than a week before hand...."

"Well...i...I made a big mess with his body...and devoured some of his body...I...I was covered in his blood and...I didn't even know what I was doing.."

Russ gets a concerned look and gulps cradling his head, then looks up at her from his arms "..... Really....? Fuck man... We gotta go to see my friend..."

Taji frowns and sets a hand on her stomach trying not to remember seeing his gorey body

Russ sighs "I'll... I'll set a course for Old Jaelia once we get power back.... I have business to attend to anyways"

"But what about going to my home?" Taji asks

Russ shakes his head "I can kill that little prick later.... You're obviously getting out of hand with this possession thing..."

Taji frowns "but...I'm finally useful, I can protect you.." she mumbles and at that moment she inhales sharply but tries to act normal as her body quivers a little and the demon giggles stabbing its claw into her back. Not to deep into her just enough to cause pain

Russ frowns looking up at her "Taji? You okay?"

Taji swallows hard and her eyes water "y-yeah I'm good" she says and the demon rolls his eyes and pulls its claws up while it's still in her and she jolts "f-fuck" she whispers trying hard not to cry

Russ gets up and frowns looking her over as he lays his hands at her shoulder and back "... Are you hurting? What's going on?!"

Taji winces when he touches her back "i-im fine!! Dont worry about it!" She says trying to peek a smile

Russ pulls her closer and looks her in the eye with that kind of determined, kind, and calculative look ".... don't lie to me... I wanna help"

Taji sniffles then yelps out in pain as the demon uses its other hand to stab into her, not aiming for anything important, just stabbing into her to see her in pain for fun

Russ gasps pulling her away and pulling up her shirt

Two wounds can be shown on her back nearly missing her spine. One keeps growing as if a knife is cutting it open

He grimaces pulling her into the medbay and groans as he frantically looks around RJs stocks "oh my Fucking- EUGH- WHERE IS IT- HOLD ON PATCH"

Taji tries to stay strong but I mean that's pretty hard in this situation. She bites her lip hard and cries

He gets out some towels, bandages and a little vial of water. He quickly flicks some water on her "HOLY BLESSED JAELIAN WATER!!!"

The demon hisses and growls going away "ugh no fun.."

Russ then begins sloppily fixing her up with bandages after cleaning her up "ugh.... See? Gotta go get that outta you!"

Taji sniffles and looks at him "b-but...with the powers I can protect you...without them I'm useless..."

He growls tugging the bandages tight "well, you go on ahead and figure out what the fuck the consequences are so far... You're being stabbed and scratched, you Fucking KILLED AND ATE SOME ASSASSIN, AND YOU WERE STRAIGHT UP DRINKING ME!"

Taji frowns and starts to cry looking away from him starting to cry more "but..."

Russ scoffs shaking his head "believe it or not, I don't wanna lose you before we even start to get close...."

Taji sniffles and hugs her legs hiding her face under all her hair and long bangs "you really should've just killed me when I popped onto your ship...I literally am worthless to you..." she says peeking at him from under her bangs

"Don't fucking start..." He growls looking away as he starts to tear up

"But it's the damn truth!!! I came out of no where and now you have to put up with me!! I dont have any original powers, I'm really dumb all the time, I'm a fucking crybaby..." she says counting her fingers as she cries

He whips his head back and ruffles his hair in his fury "ARE YOU KIDDING?!? I deal with you cuz I like you Taji! Even Love you! I don't have any fucking powers either- I just don't die easy and I'm kinda smart- BIG WHOOP! IM CRYING RIGHT NOW, YOU DONT HEAR ME TELLING YOU TO KILL ME OFF!!! YOU. ARE NOT. A BURDEN!!!!"

Taji looks at her lap and covers her ears "NO YOU'RE WRONG!! ONCE I START TO FALL MORE IN LOVE, YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT DYLON DID AND ABUSE ME AREN'T YOU?!?!*whimper* i-is that what love is?...did you lie to me?...." she asks looking at him with a hurt expression

Russ groans pulling at his hair "NO!!! Taji, Dylon is a little ASSHOLE! You really wanna take AnYTHING THAT LITTLE SHIT DID TO HEART AND USE IT IN YOUR LIFE?!? NO! LOVE IS CARING AND ENJOYING EACHOTHER!!! LIKE WHAT I DO FOR YOU!!!"

Taji looks back at him then gets up and rubs at her eye "IM SORRY OKAY? I JUST- I just...dont want to lose you...and I d-dont want to get heart b-broken again..." she says scratching at her wrist

He swipes at her scratching hand to snatch it up as he looks in her eyes "Stop It- fuck man, it's not cool! I assure you, I'd never wanna hurt you, but Shit! Can you at least TRY TO STOP THIS?!"

Taji backs away from him "i-im sorry...I'm sorry..." she stutters looking at him with a scared expression as she continues to says "I'm sorry"

Russ starts to pant more as he cries and winces clenching his hand over his power gem "I'm serious Taji... I... I love you... I ... I just... I want.... Want you to.... Be okay" the spaces between words getting further apart as he starts to wheeze

Russ starts to pant more as he cries and winces clenching his hand over his power gem "I'm serious Taji... I... I love you... I ... I just... I want.... Want you to.... Be okay" the spaces between words getting further apart as he starts to wheeze

Taji sniffles "I want you... to be okay too... are you okay?" She asks now with worry

He winces pulling his zipper down to try unconstricting his chest with little luck as he pants "i- im... I'm fine...... I'm gonna go..."

Taji Hopes he'll be okay "do...do you want me to...come with you?...." she asks hesitantly

Russ shakes his head getting to the lab exit and then to the cockpit with a pitiful sounding wheeze of his lungs "... No... Jus... Jus leave me alone for a while......."

"okay..." she says with a sad tone to her voice, she then runs off to her room and cry her eyes out

He was having asthma problems, but just fought and suffered through them for a while until falling asleep at the helm in the continually dropping tempurature

Taji gets to her room and rips off her bandages off and turns her hand into a claw and sticks into into the wound in her back then brings it into her mouth to taste the blood, accidentally cutting her tongue "ow. I'm an idiot"

RJ gets up later from a nap and has to find a sweatshirt because EVEN HE IS COLD. Russ shivers and sniffles having fell asleep, then gets startled off his chair by a loud crash into the ships side. Alarms start to blare out "ENEMY SHIP IS ATTEMPTING TO BREACH THE ARACH-V5"

Taji's eyes widen and she dashes out of the room and off to find russel

Russ is in the cockpit getting up and pulling out blasters from the weapons wall hidden in there

Taji looks inside the cock pit and sees russel then searches for RJ to make sure he and the baby are okay

RJ was in the medbay, but he got jostled out of place so he literally broke skin on his arm to extend his hand to the table to keep himself upright with the other hand to his contracting belly "oh fuck, augh... Fucking practice contractions.... Why now?"

Taji sees him "RJ are you okay?" Shes and sucks on her tongue even though it hurts

He brings his arm back into place and gets over to her with a hand to his belly "I... I can't handle this stress- I could burst my water if I get hurt!"

Taji nods "um...um maybe stay hidden? Like in the closet?" She suggests

"i... Guess I can climb up into the reading nook and use the drapes to hide- whew* oh fuck he's not happy about me almost getting toppled over"

Taji frowns "here I can help you"

He comes with her and smiles gently as they get to the chill room"... Thanks..."

"No need to thank me...just be careful okay?" She says then turns into her demon form "now I need to go get to russel"

RJ sits down heavily in the beanbag chair up there and groans gently "ough... You have fun with that. I am really liking this position and chair..."
Russ wheezes as he loads a glass vial of plasma into one of his blasters. He's starting to look pretty ghostly in the face as he shivers huffing out misty air

Taji dashes back to the cockpit "russel?"

He gasps as the alarms go off "Taji- what- what are you... Is that the demon?!"

Taji looks down at herself "this is the demon form- but that's not the point..are you okay? You dont look too good.."

He huffs finishing loading his gun "im... I'm fine-" he puts on his helmet "I gotta go out there and disconnect them from the ship... See if I can fight them off before they capture us"

"Can i come with? What if you get hurt?"

He sighs "I doubt your demon form can withstand the void of space... Go get a suit and helmet from the cargo bay... It's probably just bounty Hunters"

Taji nods and dashes off to go get a suit and helmet

Russ meets her in there and huffs getting an air tank for each of them and strapping them on. The direct air supply is glorious since the air is so thin in the ship "okay... You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be" she says looking at him

He sighs in his dark helmet and locks up the cargo bay so they can open the ramp. The suit is equipped with air propulsion, laser pistols and emergency food and water in the side packs on her legs. Russ is in his villain gear and a helmet, so he has all his tools and equipment like usual.
The enemy ship is pretty big compared to the spider shaped ship and they have a cable launched into the hull of the ship and pulling it in like a harpoon "just as I thought... Head hunters"

"Let's get this dealt with..." she says looking at the ship

Russ sighs "you're stronger than me. Go and get the cable out of the ship! I'm gonna go say hello"

"By yourself?! No!! I'm going with you!!"

"FINE- Then We have to free the ship and seal that up before"

"Okay then help me do that!" She with a bit of frustration

Russ sighs flying off ahead of her and catching himself on the thick cable to twirl around it like a graceful antigravity gymnast, then flings himself to the sharp part imbedded in the metal to start pulling at it with a few grunts and growls

Taji flies off to the cable and tugs at the cable using her demon strength to pull it off

Once it's out, the other ship lights up green as Russ quickly plugs the hole with some spray goop that hardens into a metal scab "They see us!!! Get outta here Taji"

Taji shakes her head "no!! I'm not leaving you alone!! I'm not scared of some stupid bounty hunters!!"

Russ growls hunkering down on the side of the ship, then launches himself to the other ship pulling out his blasters and shooting at the opening hatches with 12 large aliens in suits come out to blast at him. A few shots hit an energy field around him, but it still hurts as he makes pained grunts and yells

Taji frowns and launches over to russel and grabs out a laser pistol and shoots at the aliens swiftly making sure to aim carefully

Russ is aiming for the limbs holding weapons and keeping the firing on him as he makes his way on board "I'm gonna go see what resources they have! If they have a good power core and water, WERE GOLDEN!"

Taji goes ahead and shoots the rest them till they are dead because she can be cruel like that then heads on board too

Russ pants keeping to the white space age looking walls with his weapons ready "ugh, I don't like the looks of this... I think they werent even coming for my bounty- they were just after us and the ship in general. These guys are scrappers"

Taji follows him and stays by his side "what are scrappers?"

"people that find either dead or stranded ships and steal everything including people sometimes... And Human is a very expensive meat..."

"Oh..well thank goodness they didn't steal us...I dont wanna be food yet"

Russ nods shooting an alien without a space suit on. It looks like a cross between a parrot, iguana, and a monkey all on two creepy bendy legs

"ugh, gross- Pilgumwas...."

"Ewww" she says with disgust and looks around

(This is what the pilgumwas look like
Art is by @blue_mew_q.t on Instagram!! Be sure to give her a follow!!)

Russ moves ahead after swiping another gun from the aliens scaley fingers and avoiding the slime. As they get down one hall, Russ immediately shoves Taji to the side when his tech pings on an enemy coming up from behind "Look out!" He gets shot on the back instead of her making the laser blast bounce off his shields and back at the Pilgumwas

Taji looks at them with shock "woah"

Russ huffs feeling the impact of the shots with a groan and keeps moving forward "okay... So this model has the resources tanks in a room in the bottom floor like mine, but towards the left..."

Taji looks around cautiously as she listens to him

Russ gasps as 3 approach fast from other hallways "Fuck- I cant keep shielding shots. Okay, Taji can you hide?"

Taji shakes her head and gets out of the shield and shoots at them swiftly aiming

Russ yelps shooting as best he can at short range and growls using his martial arts and kicking the crap out of the one that came closest

Taji shoots at the one close to russel, no paying attention to the other ones

One wraps his slimey tongue around Tajis waist and gurgles out a pleased noise as he drags her back. The thinner one takes a shot at Russ in the helmet. They aren't very smart as it ricashays back into him

Taji gets startled and like the clumsy girl she is she accidentally drops her gun. She gets scared and tries to get the tongue off her. "Fuck!!" She yelps and tries to reach for her gun

Russ gasps Stumbling over the dead bodies and uses the laser function on the top of his gloves to slice the aliens tongue as he slugs him in the beak "NO ONE TONGUES MY LADY AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!"

Taji looks at russel in shock but acts quickly once shes free and grabs her gun from the ground

Russ makes a wrong move getting pulled into a slimey choke hold by the sputtering angry alien

Taji gets angry and shoots at the alien and gets closer to it as she continues to shoot repetitively

Russ gets released once it's dead and gasps falling to the ground on his hands and knees. He's gasping and coughing as he pulls off his helmet "f-fuck.... *Wheeze* that's .. gonna bruise..."

Taji looks over at him with a frown "I'm sorry.."

"i-its fine... Let's just kill everyone on here and get their loot. I'm really pissed off now" he sounds like it with a gruff growl and painful wheeze to his voice as he gets up taking his helmet with him to the front of the ship

Taji gets a guilty expression thinking he's pissed at her and takes her helmet off as well so she doesn't have to use her gun much

Russ gets to the cockpit with 6 or so pilots and drops each one with his blasters being careful not to hit the controls or windshield "fuck these guys, am I right?"

Taji looks at him then pounces on them making sure they all are dead as she also eat them "yeah.."

"Taji?! What the hell?!?!" He gasps stepping back as he loots the bodies for credits and valuables

Taji sits back and looks at him as she swallows what's in her mouth "what?.." she asks

"what the fuck?!? Don't eat them! They're disgusting!" He grimaces kicking over the one he was checking

Taji frowns and winces at her tongue "but...it wants me to..." she mumbles

And by it she means the demon

Russ shakes his head "well don't. C'mon Taji, you're still human. I swear if these guys don't have what I need and I can't bring you to him, I'm gonna freak"

Taji frowns and secretly eats a little when he looks away

Russ sighs finishing up and taking her hand so she can't eat anymore, then runs them down the hall "i knew I shoulda done this myself... You aren't well Hun.. "

Taji frowns and turns her claws back into hands "i-im sorry..."

He sighs puting her helmet back on her "go back to the ship. That's an order. I got this"

"But...I want to help.." she says looking up at russel

He frowns giving her a concerned look through his visor "I cant have you eating these things. They're disease ridden greasey monsters that don't even have a home planet! Can you promise you won't? Seriously.. if you can't, then youre going back and protecting RJ and the baby...."

"I'll try..." she mumbles as she looks up at hhim

While he isnt paying attention, another comes up and opens his toothy beak over his fluffy head

Tajis eyes wide and she throws russel down, not too hard, just to get him out of the way, then she attacks the alien without a gun and uses her claws to cut and stab it

Russ grunts landing on his side and winces as another comes over with a suit and shielding on. He shoots at the Pilgumwas feet to knock him down and pins him using his thighs to choke him as he punches the fuck out of him with the metal parts of his gloves doing double damage

Taji growls and claws at its eyes as she tries biting it wherever she can

Russ huffs sitting on top of his as it chokes to death. The one fighting Taji screeches and flails alerting more to come and surround them

Taji stabs it in the neck and growls looking around for any more as she continues to stab the one shes attacking

Russ groans dramatically as more swarm in with weapons and armor "fuuuuck... Okay, if we get captured, I'm blaming RJ"

Taji recklessly attacks each of the alien not caring if she's shot at. It's like she has relentless energy

Russ blinks blasting enemies and winces as they babble squishy noises and squeaks "you know... I haven't even tried talking with them?"

Taji doesn't listen to him as she continues to attack

Russ jumps on the back of one and clicks a knob on a collar under his turtleneck "Hello? Can you understand me?"

Taji looks at him then scoffs and let's the demon take over with mercilessly killing one and slices it to bits "gross..."

Russ listens as the aliens romps around, then gets off and listens some more. He gets an incredibly embarrassed look on his face and lowers his gun.

Taji looks at russel in confusion "what's he saying?"

"Or she or it, I dont really care what the fuck it is"

He smiles nervously and bows his head low with a few squeaks, clicks, and caws, then looks to Taji "...... Th..... They're not pirates...."

"Then what the fuck are they?" She asks with an annoyed expression

He grins nervously "they're rescue... Professionals ...."

"That makes zero sense" she says with a frustrated look

Russ sighs dropping to his knees "we've been attacking public service people that came to move us to the next planet over.... Oh my glob..."

"Well how were we supposed to know that?!" She asks

Russ ruffles his hair and takes the hand of the one he was just on the back of. The big Pilgumwas squawks calming down all the others and blinks dumbly

"So i just murdered innocent people?" She asks now starting to feel horrible

Russ nods petting his hair "these.... Are Pilgumwas.... They emit contagious stress particles that infect others like them and make a riot amongst themselves when they think they're in danger. And... Us coming out with weapons wasn't.....a good idea.... They even tried communicating with us.... But I don't really check my console for radiowaves...."

Taji sighs "now I feel absolutely horrible.."

"you? Ugh....I'm fucking Avaryce Gore. I'm gonna get BERRADED by other villains!" He groans ruffling his hair

Taji sighs and changes back to her human form and wipes off the blood from her mouth

Russ walks with the aliens and takes Tajis hand "they're .... Still gonna help us.... I guess I'm a man of "squellamawacaaaaaaAAAA"

Taji looks at him in confusion "ugh...this sucks so hard"

Russ sighs petting his hair back gently as they get set them down in front of a high table that makes them look like children "now.... I may not know much about a lot of aliens.... But one thing I always know is that if they make effort.... In *gulp* feeding you... You fucking eat it. No matter what..."

"Why?" She asks looking at him

He swallows hard as they set down some steaming hot.... Pink and grey Guck on on big silver plates "... You'll offend them... Drastically...."

Taji looks at it "it doesn't look that bad"

Russ gets a nauseous look as the stench of it wafts on them. "Ough.... O-oh fuck... I'm gonna hurl"

Taji rolls her eyes and takes a bite out of it

Russ grimaces and takes the spoon to stick it in and get a big bite out of it "oh fuck I can't do it..."

Taji eats it with no problem even if she knows its bug guts "it's not that bad"

He sighs shaking his head "you're a monster...." Then eats it with tears coming out from the taste "ough..."

"Wow a monster? I had no idea.." she says sarcastically and continues to eat the bugs

He Manages to eat the whole plate much to his less than enthused pleasure. Russ burps and moans a little laying his head on the table "I'm gonna have a hell of a time keeping that down..."

Taji finishes with a blank face and sighs

The Pilgumwas with them finish up their food, then ruffle out and ooze when a familiar voice booms out from the hall in English "GET YOUR FILTHY STICKY FINGERS OFF ME YOU FEATHERY CUNTFUCKERS"

Taji looks in the direction of the yelling "oh they found RJ"

RJ groans being helped over to Tajis other side and rubs his stomach "fuck, they jostled me so hard out of my hiding spot I've got an upset fuel tank"

Taji keeps her blank face "they're rescue professionals. They mean no harm." She says and rubs at his belly gently

The baby presses up to her hand and makes RJ smile a little "well, I see he can tell who his momma is... thanks, he was restless~"

Taji peeks a small smile "cute...so what do you want to name him?"

Rj smiles laying back "huh... I wasn't sure if I was allowed.... He's yours and Russel's"

Taji looks at him with concern "yeah but you're the one carrying him. He's yours RJ..."

He rubs his belly noting his belly button sticking out under his baggy shirt "I mean... I figured as much. The 90% chance of you being so soft hearted and letting me name him was too good to pass up- hmm.... Maybe Fin? Just to be an ass?"

Taji smiles "that a pretty cute name"

RJ beams at her happily, then immediately grimaces when an extra helping of food is sat in front of him. He covers his nose and groans "oh my good fucking circuits.... Eugh- that stuff smells like hot barf"

"Its bug guts" she says looking at it

RJ shakes his head covering his nose and mouth "ough-no... No thank you... Eugh-*hrmph*"
Russ gasps leaning over Taji to whisper yell "you better at least try it! I killed half their crew and I'm NOT offending them anymore than I have to!"

"Can I just eat it for him?" She asks looking at russel

Russ nods "just... Make it discreet"
RJ looks ready to vomit with a hand over his large swell "eugh... The smell is making me really nauseous..."

Taji takes the plate and starts to eat the bug guts

RJ and Russ make disgusted noises. By the time she's nearly done, one of the crew mates hesitantly comes over to RJs side gobbling and cooing as she rubs his stomach.
RJ gives her a nervous smile "eh, y-yeah? I think? Just another 2 weeks probably? *whisper screams* CAN SHE UNDERSTAND AT ALL?!?"

Taji giggles "I'm not sure"

Russ is listening in as she babbles, then grins "ooh- she wants to feed the baby~ apparently that's an honor for expecting mother's here"

Taji smiles "well? You wanna let her feed the baby?" She asks looking at RJ

RJ blinks with a confused look "I... I guess? How is she gonna feed the baby with it sti-"
He gets his answer as the Pilgumwas female pulls him over and pukes directly into his mouth like for a baby bird

Taji covers her mouth to hide her laugh then gets back to finishing her food

Russ has to look away already feeling queazy from his meal. RJ however, isn't very lucky wiping his mouth with a disgusted look and groans rubbing his belly as the baby rebels "ough... It's.... Really hot fresh... Out of their mouths.... I'm...ugh... I'm gonna..." He lets out a watery belch and groans setting his cheek on the high table

Taji giggles "poor you" she smiles and finishes the plate "man. It's like its gross but then when you taste it, it's not that bad. The texture is just weird"

Both boys moan with their heads on the table. An official looking alien comes over and garbles out something. Russ smiles "oh, he says that were to the next planet over at a rest area. They.... Say they have paid for us to stay there since we have.... Oh! They honor pregnancy over everything else, so they're being nice cuz they found RJ!"

Taji smiles "thanks RJ!" She giggles

Rj laughs sitting up more and tugging at his large shirt "cool- glad to be of service apparently"
Russ listens more and responds to the alien "he says that he wishes us a glorious hatching, and that.... Oh... Heh- I killed his brother... Awesome"

"Heeeeh and which one was that? The one I got tongue wrapped by?"

Russ gulps "I don't wanna think about it..."
RJ burps up a little food and finds a napkin "ough... I hope it's a resort. I could use a breather and some ice... Ugh..." Another practice contraction hits making him make a loud pained noise

Taji looks at RJ with worry "are you okay?"

He nods holding his middle with both hands "yeah- I... Ough... That was a big one... And that gross food wasn't making it any better..."
Russ frowns "okay, new plan.... We might need to get back to Nimtunai pronto"
RJ frowns "what? Why? It was just a practice contr-"
"Your water broke all over the bench"

Taji looks at the bench "oh shit you're right"

Russ gets up and frowns "fuck we need a cruiser- I can't warp just us!"
RJ tears up getting up with some trouble "oh fuck.... Whew- oh my fucking shit... No- I had more time! Dammit kid, you picked the WORST TIME"

Taji gets up and helps RJ "RJ dont stand let me carry you.."

He pants with a pained look and nods letting her scoop him up. Russ conveys what's happening and grins "that'll do! They're giving us a pod to use! I can warp that and it'll be gentler on the baby! C'mon!"

Taji nods and uses her demon power to carry RJ and follows russel

Russ leads the way with a Pilgumwas helping them get there.
Poor RJ is breathing hard with his hands on his stomach "he's flipped around headfirst- Russ, did you even give me a way to... You know... Birth him?"
"Of course I did. I also installed the contraction function. You're getting the full experience big guy"

"Its going to be okay though just keep calm. We'll get you to nimtunai as fast as we can"

Russ climbs in first to the small 4 seater pod and grasps the controls "ooh~ nice!"
RJ pants "Taj... Can you sit in back with me? I'm not feeling confident about this..."

"Of course!" She says and sits them in the back and she hold onto one of his hands comfortingly

RJ lays on her side rubbing his lower pelvis as he holds her hand "thanks... Just gotta make sure... I dont pop him out outside of water...."
Russ laughs "you won't bud. Ugh, that means I'm gonna have to..... Oh fuck..."

"Gonna have to what?" She asks looking over at russ

Russ sighs as he flies the ship and shoots out a portal "I'm... Gonna have to see Ten-ten... She has my other baby..."

"I know but I'm here and I'm still pissed at her. She better fucking apologize for what she tried to do to you" taji says with a glare

Russ sighs as they plunge into the pressure "I hope so too.."
RJ winces and moans loudly laying into Taji "F-Fuck! AGH- RUSS HURRY UP YOU DAMN MORON!"

Taji holds onto him gently "relax...calm down" she says softly to try and calm him down with a worry since she has no idea how to help

RJ pants and groans "fine... Ugh, this blows..."
Russ laughs as they shoot out of the portal and into the atmosphere "well? You asked for this bud~"

"Yeah well. I'm the one that gave them to him" taji frowns with a bit of a guilty expression

Rj winces laying back onto her lap holding his sides "ough... Fuck- Augh... I did though... I said I wanted to carry... And that's what I'm gonna fuCKING DO!!!!"

Taji smiles gently but continues to hold him gently

Russ plunges the ship into the water "Fuck- we don't have any air supply! Well have to go down to the castle directly so we can fucking breath!"

"if it's the only way then we gotta do it!!!" Taji says trying to keep RJ calm

RJ let's out a pained scream as Russ skillfully flies into the castles air bubble "Oh my-AHHHH"
Russ winces "chill, we're almost there..."

Taji frowns and runs her fingers through his hair and rubs at his hair to try and make him feel better

Taji frowns and runs her fingers through his hair and rubs at his hair to try and make him feel better

Russ lands and quickly opens up the hatch "okay, don't worry! I'm gonna go get the guards!"

Taji picks up RJ and gets out of the pod "goodness this is stressful"

RJ lays into her side and frowns "You're telling Me!"
Russ comes back with a bunch of guards that start leading them to the inner chambers "okay, everybody- it's all good- don't panic" he starts to breath harder "Take DEEP BREATHS"

Taji holds RJ carefully and a bit protectively as she looks at the gaurds

RJ pants holding onto her and kisses her cheek as they walk "thank you......"
Russ leads the group to the birthing pool and smiles "well, this seems familiar"

Taji puts RJ into the pool gently and stays next to him even if she's getting wet

Russ crouches down and smiles taking RJs hand "it's okay bud ... You got this"
RJ takes Tajis hand too and groans "ow... Thanks guys... "

"No problem RJ..you're gonna do great" she says with a gentle smile

Russ hops into the water and slips off RJs pants and gets him ready for the long process.
(Gentle timeskip)
Near the end about 4 hours later, RJ is screaming much like Russ did.
Russ looks up and winces hard starting to hyperventilate.... He sees Ten-Ten waiting at the door

Taji sees her too and glares at her. She takes russel hand "she's not going to do anything...dont worry...." she whispers to russel

RJ gives a final push and out swims the new baby off into the water. Russ gasps going in to swim down and catch him

Taji smiles and giggles as russel does so and then pets RJs head "you did great RJ..."

Rj pants tiredly and groans pulling her in for a kiss "WE did.... I... I couldn't have done it without you and Russ..."

Taji smiles and and kisses him again "well that may be true...but I'm really proud of you RJ...I'm gonna go help russel grab fin heheh" she laughs gently then heads over to go help get fin

Russ doesn't have the luxury of tentacles of gills, but he does actually smell like the parent thankfully, otherwise the little guy would want nothing to do with him. He is down about 10 feet under wrestling with the babys little tentacles to get him in his arm rather than suckered onto his face

Taji heads over to them and smiles at the baby

Russ grins once he has him in his arm and swims all of them up "oh my goodness this lil guy is handsome!"

Taji smiles "he really is!" She says then looks over to RJ

RJ smiles leaning onto the ledge with his elbows back "... Oh wow, that's a lot of little limbs I'm just now realizing were in me.... Hes.... Fasinating actually"

Taji nods and looks at fin "little finny...hes so cute"

The baby is a shimmering dark pink with white tips, curly silver hair and silver eyes "he's definitely mine and Tajis"

Taji nods "yeah...." she says and kisses fin's forehead "lil cutie. My nickname for him is staying finny"

Russ smiles gently, then swims the baby over to RJ to hold "here you go bud~ you earned this".
Ten-Ten scoffs at the door and looks away crossing her arms over her belly

Taji looks over at ten-ten and glares at her starting to get more and more pissed

RJ grins grasping the babies little hand and grins "hey there slugger.... Damn, he's so strong..."

Taji looks away from her and smiles petting the babies hair "awe..."

Russ swims over and kisses the babys little hand "welcome to the world lil Fin... Daddy is so glad youre here"

Taji smiles then sighs "well thank goodness nothing bad happened"

RJ nods laying his head back "whew.... I'm ready to get out now and get my rocking not stretched bod back"

Taji giggles "heh yeah. So...are we...just gonna...leave him here with ten-ten?" She not really liking that idea

Russ sighs helping the baby down to go swim "well... We don't have the tools to take care of him on the ship.. and honestly I still trust her to be a good mom.. ."

Taji sighs "well can we at least come back and see him from Time to time?" She asks with a worried expression

RJ frowns "yeah... I'd hate to never see what I had to push outta me..."

Taji peeks over at ten-ten "I still dont trust her though.."

Russ watches the newborn swim around hunting the tiny fish in the pool "I.... She's the mother of a few of my kids... It's hard for me to just .... Cut her out..."

"You do what you want....she is your wife after all so its understandable..." taji mumbles

Russ nods looking down at the water with a sad look ".... I... Yeah... I'm just... Gonna think about it for a bit...." And walks out of the room passed Ten-Ten without looking at her.
She hisses and sighs covering her mouth and nose with her hands

Taji doesn't want him being alone so she looks at RJ "I'm going to go keep an eye on him...be right back..." she says and hides into the shadows and follows russel

RJ nods getting out of the water with a wince and sighs looking down at his belly "well fuck. I'm gonna have to sheer all this off and wait in the ship..."

Taji stops and looks at RJ not wanting to leave him alone either and sighs and appears in front of him again "want me to take you to the pod ship thingy?"

RJ nods with a tired look "please...? I'm fucking drained... I need to go into power saving before I shut down..."

Taji nods and picks him up carrying him like a princess (úwù) "okay let's go.." she says and heads towards the door

RJ blushes laying into her being a good 25 pounds lighter than before "you're the best doll...."

Taji smiles and kisses RJs forehead "just rest okay?" Taji says the looks at ten-ten with a glare and passes her

Ten-Ten clutches her hands to her sides as she moves out of the way. RJ kisses Tajis collar bone and ends up falling into rest mode as she carries him

Taji smiles gently at RJ then flies swiftly and gets him to the ship being a little rushed but she's still gentle with holding him.

He doesn't notice a thing. Russ is leaning on the other side of the ship away from the hatch lighting a white wrapped blunt in his lips

Taji heads to the hatch and puts RJ in gently and the flies over the ship and lays on the edge while looking at russel "you okay?..."

Russ gasps, then coughs hard with the very earthy herb smell pungent "W-what-*COUGH COUGH* F-Fuck, ough... Ye... Yeah......"

"Oh sorry I didn't mean you startle you..." she says with a frown

Russ takes another puff and sighs "it's... Fine... I'm just stressed and panicking a lot... I don't know how to fix this..."

"I understand that...and as much as i want to help, I literally know nothing...sorry... but anyway...what are you smoking?" She asks in curiosity

Russ looks up at her and smiles "jus' a blunt. It's weak stuff so I'm still cool to work stuff out.... My stress was just.... Through the roof"

"What's a blunt? Sorry i... dont know much about smoking stuff" she says

Russ lifts it up to show her "skunk, green, herb, pot, lettuce, veggie platter, or to most humans, weed~"

"Is it...good?" She asks exchanging a look from the weed to russel

He smiles taking another hit and exhaling a cloud of it like a dragon "yeah, it's pretty good. You need some? It chills you out and helps a lot of stuff"

"Hmm...I guess....can i?.." she asks hesitantly

"of course. Just don't take a big breath. Maybe half of one cuz you won't need much. You'll cough like crazy the first time ever" he smiles reaching up to her on his toes

Taji nervously takes it and and brings it to her lips and takes a small breath in then takes it out and coughs hard

Russ leans back taking it from her to take a final drag and puts it out for later "there ya go. It should hit you almost immediately... Ugh... I still don't know what to say to my wife. . . Hey tens~ that sure was weird about how you almost forced a whole bunch of eggs into me that were close to hatching..."

"Yeah...she still seems mad..." taji says crossing her arms and lays them on the ship so she can rest her head on her arms

Russ tugs at his hair "it's.... Jus' so frustrating, cuz she was going by tradition. The queen is not supposed to carry her own eggs so she isn't slowed down on making more young and her duties.... I should have just taken them...."

Taji frowns "no...I...i should've just kept them...you were still recovering from drune..."

"i woulda been fine- it was just 4 more months. Plenty of mates here have batch after batch. They look like fat wrinkly cows, but boy do they please their mates"

"Honestly sounds like something I would be okay with as long as my mate is happy..." taji mumbles to herself

Russ grins getting up a little to kiss her "is somebody a lil baby envious? I could put one in you ya know"

Taji blushes red "o-oh I didn't know you heard me" she says now embarrassed

Russ grins tapping the black block on his right ear "you see this thing? There's a reason I can hear you.... It's also a hearing aid. I'm actually not all that good with hearing. I get it from my deaf ass mom"

Taji blushes "w-well I mean...I wouldn't mind...having one" she says nervously

Russ grins "you wanna start trying for one? I mean... it's not like I'm low on resources. I can support you"

Taji continues to blush "s-sure I would actually like having one with you..." she says with the last of the sentence turning into a whisper

He beams at her happily and pulls her down to swing her around in his arms "aww~ you lil sweetie!"

Taji yelps and holds onto him "woah!"

He giggles goofily and kisses her face all over when he stops spinning "I love you~ whatdo you say to tonight in that swanky resort those Pilgumwas got us?"

Taji smiles and kisses his nose then his lips "sure" she says sweetly

Russ grins kissing her back passionately with his arms wrapped around her

He pulls back and pants laying his forehead on hers "fuck... I freaking love you..... You know that? I'm so glad that old bastard sent you to me..... It was like a gift~"

"I wonder....do you think he knew a different me? Like from a different time? I still find it weird that he never told me his deceased wife's name.."

Russ blushes holding her up "you know what??? He... You think you were his wife?"

"Well...now that you mention it...that would make a lot of sense...but...he said she died..." she says with worry

Russ frowns setting her down and hugs her "no NOOOOO no nonononono... You aren't going anywhere...."

Taji looks up at him with a scared expression "what if its the demon that kills me?"

Russ shakes his head "you said other me was old right? That demon won't wait another 40 years to kill you. "

Taji frowns "well I guess you're right...maybe I died of old age?..." she says

"sounds better- or old people sickness, like dementia" he shrugs holding her hands

"Probably...but...I dont wanna grow old..." she mumbles

Russ cocks his head "what? That's kinda your one finely set mode- growing up and old.... The only reason I don't is cuz I have a fucking mission to do"

"Mission? What your mission?" She asks

Russ gets a dreamy look and smirks setting his hands on his hips "oh, you don't know? I'm the great Avaryce Gore, future Ruler of the Universe! I plan to achieve total dominance over everything that exists! My mission is absolute power and rank!"

"Oh! Man that sounds like it would be fun to be honest..." taji mumbles

Russ grins booping her nose "you can be one of my queens if you want~ what do you think? King and queen of the universe?'

Taji blushes "you would want me to be one of your queens?"

"of course! You love me, you're like... Honorary evil, you're beautiful, and we make a good team!"

Taji smiles gently and kisses him "well...I'd love to be one of you queens"

"then.... Marry me?" He smiles sweetly and takes her hands again

Taji blushes "well....I'd love to marry you too" she smiles

He gets a happy look and gives her a bunch of kisses, then leans onto her giggling gently

Taji continues to smiles wide "why do you keep giggling?"

He giggles some more rubbing his eye "hehe.... I'm really happy, and... It's kinda funny cuz... I haven't felt this happy since.... Well... A long fricken time... Almost feels like there's a prank... Like you're too good..."

Taji smiles sweetly "honestly....same....this is the first I actually I've actually been so in love with someone." She says nervously

Russ giggles more and starts to hold his sides as he cracks up, he might be too high

Taji gets a little worried as he laughs. Not understanding what's so funny

He snorts wiping his eyes "eeeeheheheheh.... Oh goodness... I jus... I jus.... Did the worst proposal.... Ever"

Taji smiles nervously "it was real though right?"

"yeah?" He smiles dropping his eyes to a tired squint

"Well as long as it was real then I dont mind how it was...wanna go sleep in the ship with RJ?"

Russ grins stumbling a little "you know, maybe I should.... Go.... Go to bed.... Woosh..."

Taji smiles and picks him up like a princess (like she did with RJ) and heads over to the ships opening then kisses his forehead. Then his lips. She heads inside the ship and lays him next to RJ

Russ hums gently closing his eyes "oh, but... But what if we're needed? I'm... Imma need stay up and about... Psh... Woosh... Fuck, my head is swimming"

"Then I'll stay up. Get some sleep" she says with a gentle smile

He hums with a slow nod and curls up with RJ basically spooning humans falls asleep

Taji smiles then actually feels herself cry out of happiness

RJ is a sound sleeper, while Russ is twitchy and snores quietly

Taji pets at their heads as they sleep and she cries

Russ basically takes a power nap- like 2 hours and he's up and sober with a very empty stomach

Taji had fallen asleep. The blood has dried now and stained her face from the crying

Russ sits up hearing his thin middle grumble out his needs and sighs patting it "yeah, yeah I hear ya... Ugh, I hope Ten-Ten remembers that I like COOKED fish..."

Taji curls up as she sleeps

He looks over the seat to her in the front and smiles wiping her face "I'll be back Hun. I'll bring ya some food, then I'll drive us back.... So fucking cute and precious...."

Taji softly snores and reaches out for him

Russ blushes holding her hands and bringing one close to his face to kiss it "aww.... Well cuddle tonight... I promise"

Taji mumbles out random words that are hard to make out but she look peaceful

He smiles, then slips away for his own lone adventure getting food, interacting with Ten-Ten, then heading back out after some heartache

Taji is up by the time he gets back and looks around for him

He's rubbing his eyes as he gets in and sets down a dish of steamed seaweed and grilled fish, then closes it up quietly

"Russel? Are you okay?" She asks with worry

He winces looking down "I... Didn't think you'd wake up yet ..."

Taji nods "yeah...are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I..... I'm kinda hurting..." He frowns flipping some switches and checking systems before taking off

"What happened? Is it...ten-ten?" She asks looking at him

He nods with the ends of his mouth quivering. It looks like he's trying his best to not break down over the wheel

Taji frowns "you dont have to keep in your tears russel...I'm not going to judge you for crying..."

He lets out a hoarse choking noise and sniffles "... She.... She and I are taking a break....I can still.... See the kids... But... I think it..... iTs OvEr!!!"

(To be continued)