"Lana, one more can sleep in a bed from your team. I will be in the living room as well," Paul said as an inflatable air mattress materialized complete with bed frame. It was built for one, so it wasn't big.
"Alto, go claim a bed as well."
"Actually," Lana said, "I want the girls in here. Dobin and Almin will sleep in the beds while Rene and Marie sleep in here."
[Quest updated: Progress toward friendship: Dobin Plantwell 75%]
Lana turned to Sam, "go claim your bed and put your things down. We'll talk in a bit."
Lana turned in his arms, "Blaine could you help me with something?" She made a small gesture toward Kent. He was hungry but the newcomers didn't know about her bracelet. She wanted to keep it that was until she could determine if they could be trusted.
He nodded and followed her. Paul noted they went to the bathroom together and smiled.
In the bathroom, she also grabbed a towel from her bracelet as well as removed everyone's bags. They would be needed by her friends. Kent was a messy eater so the towel was a requirement. She removed food from her bracelet and handed it to Blaine. The human kitty-daddy happily fed his child but soon, Kyle switched so he could help as well. Lana smiled at their strange little family.
"Why are you smiling?" Kyle asked, returning her smile.
"I love our little family. This is very nice."
Kyle smiled wider and kidded her tenderly before returning his eyes to the little one. "He's so hungry!"
Lana nodded, "he was asking for food before we put the shelter up. I think the cold and walking through the snow made him burn through his calories."
Kyle nodded, "I'm glad we brought extra food."
Lana giggled. It seemed both of their desires to be prepared for everything contributed to them being a good match.
Kyle closed his eyes enjoying the sound of her joy. "Did you have fun riding that monster today?"
She chuckled, "yes."
"Blaine flipped out. I told him you weren't that fragile."
She smiled, "maybe he was worried about our little one here…"
Kyle chuckled, "no… I got to hear all about it."
"At least he cares." Lana smiled, admiring the man in front of her.
Soon Kent was done and Kyle helped her clean up the little guy as well as the floor and his shoes.
All cleaned up, Kyle asked, "Ready?"
Lana chuckled, "I might as well go while I'm here…"
He laughed but he followed right after her and soon they left the bathroom together just as Kattie was walking up to use the room. She chuckled as she entered the bathroom.
The blizzard was in full force now. Paul was watching the cameras as the wind was blowing the snow sideways. It was coming down very hard.
"Lana," Paul said, "I think I need to give you a huge thank you. If you had not inspired me to make this shelter, we'd be in a very bad way right now."
Lana smiled, "I think we are both very lucky to have found one another."
Kattie and Almin cooked dinner together and all ate where they were most comfortable. A little while later, everyone was hanging out in the area they would be sleeping for the night. Those with ability books were studying. Lana had talked Sam into taking the ability saying she wanted the book back but wanted Blaine to be able to copy his ability. Sam considered it a fair trade, so he agreed.
"I want some chocolate," Lana heard Rene say.
Lana chuckled, "what kind of chocolate?"
"Kind? There are different kinds?" Rene sat up.
"Well, if you're like me, yes…" Lana pulled a few options out of her bracelet. Blaine started laughing at the sheer number of things she was pulling out.
"Holy mother of…" Rene exclaimed. "Is this cake?" she asked picking up a quadruple chocolate cake slice.
Lana then produced a fork for her.
"Does anyone else want a bit of chocolate before bed?"
That was the wrong thing to say. She was swarmed by most of the people there and she was left with a tad over half of her stash. Mainly because she didn't pull everything out and she started putting things away when the line got long.
She chuckled over the sounds of enjoyment people were making over their choices. She pulled out chocolate covered strawberries for her and Blaine. They shared them intimately. Everyone in the room smiled. Dobin watched them from near the door. He realized just how happy she was with him. Like it or not, he would support this, for now.
Lana started yawning and Blaine lay down on his back. He had his own bedroll rolled up to use as a pillow and back support. She lay on top of him on her back and pulled a blanket up over herself. Kent nestled in so he could snuggle with both parents. Blaine reached his hands down, one on her and one on Kent, who started purring.
Little Kent poked his nose out from under the blanket looking pitiful. Lana lifted her hair so there was a pocket between her hair, her neck, and between Blaine's legs. She guided him to her neck then covered him in her hair. He let out a soft purr. His daddy was under him, and he was wrapped in mommy. Soon, all three were asleep.
Suddenly, Lana was woken up to the sound of Blaine's voice, "Dobin, what are you doing?"
Then Dobin's voice, quite close to her side, "her hair moved… We are inside, no wind and you were asleep. Why did her hair move?"
"What time is it?" Lana heard from Rene's direction.
"Too early," she heard from Kattie's direction. It sounded like she rolled over.
Dobin reached across Lana to move her hair. She knew this because he heard Blaine slap his hand away.
"She's sleeping."
Lana chuckled, "was, is more like it. Leave Kent alone. He's trying to sleep."
Kent rolled over and started nibbling on her ear which tickled so she started laughing.
Laughing, "Dobin, you're an ass!"
"How am I an ass? How was I to know you were harboring your baby monster under your hair of all things!"
"You woke him up and now he wants to eat!"
Blaine scooched himself to be able to sit up so he could feed the baby. He handed him a towel and some food. She rolled over. Kent walked up to his daddy's chest, following his nose to his breakfast.
"How long is he going to be this cute for? How big does his species get? He's just too adorable, huh…" Dobin mused, bending closer for a better look.
"Do you want to play with him when he's done eating?" Lana asked.
Lana heard feet running a few steps, "I wanna play with him!" It was Marie.
All the noise Dobin and the girls were making soon had some of the boys up as well, coming over to investigate the commotion. Before long, everyone was either playing with Kent or watching the play.
She gave a brief explanation of how she came to have a pet beast and a even briefer explanation as to how the military approved her keeping it. She wanted to roll over in Blaine's lap and go back to sleep but it was too loud.
Blaine was stuck with crowd control while Lana watched Kent carefully. He wasn't used to this much stimulation. Soon, Ken was showing signs of agitation and Lana forced the play to come to an end.
As breakfast cooked, Lana reviewed what happened in the nashorn field yesterday. Kattie released Sven as they left the forest's edge. The herds continued eating grass until Blaine fired an ability, a fire arrow, killing one instantly. Almin and a monster charged each other, resulting in Almin slicing its horn off then its neck. This emboldened those with more experience.
Duff used his ability then timidly hit a nashorn with his sai. It injured the monster, however, the monster rammed him from the side. Blaine struck it down with an ice arrow. Seeing how easy they were, Duff did better next time. With the increased strength stolen from the monster, it was weakened. His next interaction was more in his favor.
Tobias was able to use his wind to his benefit. He threw wind slashes, attacks invisible to the naked eye, but effective on impact. He also used wind to counter being slower than the monster by blowing himself around.
The monsters charged, hooves sounding like thunder, their horns low to the ground prepared to kill. The party they were fighting was just too strong for them and monster after monster fell.
After everyone woke up and had breakfast, Paul mentioned the cameras were all dark. Blaine and Lana volunteered to go outside and investigate. Others protested but the couple insisted they stay warm and safe until the matter was investigated, explaining it was likely just excessive snow. Lana wanted to get out of there after the fuss over Kent. He still felt overstimulated and she thought some time outside might do him some good.
Snow on the cameras was confirmed when the door was opened and all they could see was white. Blaine immediately started melting the snow so they could get out. Alto controlled the water and refilled the water tanks as well as putting it in the sinks and pots. The couple then closed the door. While Lana wasn't very helpful in clearing the snow, she was there to make sure nothing snuck up on Blaine while he did so.
Suddenly, her badge beeped as did his. They both noticed missed messages and Lana checked hers. He saw his was from Lana's teacher and she had one as well. She quickly called him.
"Sergeant Rage! I just got your message. I saw that you were concerned. My team, Blaine's team as well as Paul Techno's team are all safe. We were caught in the blizzard and took shelter in a portable shelter made for me by Paul."