Fanfiction link:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13742077/1/The-Other-Side-of-the-RainbowHere is my belated response to the Summer Prompt Exchange on the Gang of Five forum. The prompt I was responding to was RainbowfaceProtégé's, which is "Write a LBT story that incorporates science fiction elements. What will it be? Time travel? Alien visitors? The possibilities are endless!". I decided to do something a bit more light-hearted and humorous this time. Though whether someone considers this part of the canon of the Seven Hunters or not will be a matter of personal opinion.
In any case, I hope that you enjoy it.
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The Other Side of the Rainbow "The Prime Directive is the most important concept in the Consortium. Ultimately, each civilization must choose for itself whether it is worthy of survival. Contrary to popular belief, however, it is not an absolute prerogative. Captains have, in the past, saved worlds from disasters beyond a civilization's control, or shown support for a civilization which has given a stricken crew aid. The Prime Directive ensured that these captains had to answer for the violations in a proceeding… not that any action would be taken against them."
"That being said, Captain Logos, I do look forward to your explanation for this particular incident."
~Communication from Consortium Command ________________________________________
"I could have sworn I left it around here somewhere…"
The male rainbowface was given a forceful nudge from his counterpart which caused him to turn around. He was promptly greeted by a female rainbowface with her hands planted firmly on her hips.
"You had better do more than swear where you left it; otherwise we will both be swearing before a court martial! Do you have any idea what one of the residents of this world could do with such power?"
The male rolled his eyes. "Based upon what we have seen so far they would either treat it like a rock or attempt to eat it. So I think we can rule global domination out."
This made the female rainbowface let out a groan of frustration. "Well, you try to explain that to command! Come on, we have to continue our search. If anyone gets up to mischief with this device, then Command will have us skinned!"
Chronos sighed. "Well, hopefully if someone has it then they at least have some sense."
Neither of the two rainbowfaces noticed that they were being watched from the bushes nearby.
________________________________________
The orange fastbiter stared at the strange rock curiously. Though Taunt had not exactly become an expert on rocks in his relatively short life, he was skilled enough in observational skills to realize that a bright blue stick-shaped rock which had glowing red stones on it was not normal. He would have asked the rainbowfaces what the rock was, but he highly doubted that they would understand sharptooth - so that was out. Eating them and taking the rock was also out as the creepy dinosaurs both smelled suspiciously like stink-buzzers. So, in the end, he just sneaked right behind the male rainbowface and grabbed the strange rock while he wasn't looking.
How did that guy survive this long? Taunt shook the thought out of his head as he confronted the strange… rock? Shiny stone? Thingy? That was now in his clawed hands. As he looked at it more closely he could see that the small red shining stones in the rock were not reflecting light from the Bright Circle, but rather it was coming from the stone itself.
Taunt felt a twinge of fear go down his spine. The light was coming from the stone.
For the briefest of moments the fastbiter was tempted to put the stone back down. Surely if the stone were making its own light then it must be something powerful, like… lava! Or the Bright Circle itself! If that was true of this stone then his very life could be in danger, perhaps…
He refrained from tossing the rock aside at the last moment and looked at it again. The small red lights were not burning him… and the light they were emitting was very modest. If this had the power of the Bright Circle within it then it was only a small part of it. Therefore, as soon as this realization hit him, all fear ebbed away. This rock was interesting, but it surely wasn't anything dangerous. There was only one thing left to do now as part of his examination.
I wonder if I can get the little Bright Circle out... He tried to find any part of the rock where he could get a firm grip with his hands, but all he succeeded in doing was accidentally dropping the stone on the ground.
Beep! Taunt tilted his head. "What a weird rock. I have never heard one make that sound before."
He picked it up again and once more he allowed the stone to gleam in the midday sun. Well, if his claws couldn't do the job, then his teeth would have to do. And with that he proceeded to dig his teeth into the stone…
"There it is! That fastbiter has it!"
Taunt jerked his head upward and was surprised to see that the two rainbowfaces were not only in front of him, but were also holding two additional weird rocks. These rocks were black and smooth, some part of his mind noted. But black and smooth rocks were not as interesting as shiny light-making rocks, so he did what any self-respecting fastbiter would do when confronted by talking food: he ignored them. After all, he had already eaten lunch.
As Taunt put his teeth to the rock for a second time he saw the male rainbowface fix the black stone in his direction, only to be nearly tackled by his female counterpart. "Don't, you idiot! You might damage the trans-modifier!"
"His teeth might damage the trans-modifier!" he protested.
Taunt paid them little heed as he continued his mission to dig out the light from within the stone. However it was then that, for lack of a better term, the rock 'talked' to him.
Language patterns acquired! Chosen interface: oral-tactile. Continue with pre-set? Taunt blinked and took the rock out of his mouth. If the thing could talk in his language, then it was only right that he stop eating it for a moment.
"You can talk?" Vocal patterns possible. Continue with pre-set? The banter of the rainbowfaces continued in the background. "Alright, I will arm the Suppressor, but you need to push the rock out of his hands right at the correct moment."
Taunt tilted his head at the rock's words and ignored the incomprehensible screeching of the rainbowfaces. He had stolen their talking rock fair and square. Truth be told, he did not understand much of what the rock said, which made an odd sort of sense… he had never talked to a rock before, so he had no frame of reference. But one word kind of made sense. Pre-set. He knew the Bright Circle would set each night and rise each day. Maybe the stone was asking to set so it could rest… like the Bright Circle did each day? Hmmm… well, he was not one to deny another living thing some time to sleep. Even if it was a rock.
Taunt shrugged.
"Sure! Set!" As Chronos slammed into the fastbiter, Logos could only watch helplessly as the trans-modifier worked its magic and surrounded both the fastbiter and her colleague in a ball of white plasma. Then, as soon as it had discharged, it faded back into an inert state, leaving a third rainbowface on the ground where before there had only been one.
It was at exactly that moment that Logos realized this would be a long day.
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Some distance away: Urgh… where could that idiot have run off to? We are supposed to track down some prey for later, not chase our tails! Scarflank cautiously maneuvered around the bushes as he sniffed the air in the vain hope of catching wind of Taunt's scent. Normally the failure of one of their own to return to the group would be cause for concern, but this was Taunt they were talking about. At that thought Scarflank did a quick look over of his surroundings to make sure the fastbiter wasn't sneaking up on him.
His packmate had a bit of a reputation.
Letting out a groan, Scarflank continued his search as he eyed the nearly empty stream bed that lay in the distance. It was a possibility that Taunt could have sought out some fish as a source of food, but it was more likely that he could see the stream as a probable place where prey would congregate. Tentatively, Scarflank took in a deep breath…
And caught wind of a very familiar scent… and also the smell of rainbowface.
Scarflank made a slight tail-smile, secure in the knowledge that his packmate could not see it.
Well, well, well, it smells like you were not chasing your tail after all, Taunt. I will get the others, and then the hunt can begin! ________________________________________
Near Hanging Rock: A groan escaped Taunt's mouth as consciousness slowly returned to him like a Bright Circle peaking through the clouds. For a brief moment his mind was blank and devoid of context, but then the recent memories came back to him. The shiny, talking rock. The stupid rainbowfaces not protecting said rock. And something about the rock zapping him with a brilliant white light.
What was that about anyway? He ignored these thoughts for a few moments as he focused on the more relatable task of getting up from his prone position. Had it all been a sleep story? It would make sense, after all, rocks do not typically talk to people unless they are asleep or crazy, and, as far as he could tell, he wasn't either of those.
That was exactly when his planned slow rise from the ground suddenly took him to his feet. He opened his eyes out of sheer instinct at the surprising reaction of his own body. What greeted him was a confusing sight.
The two annoying ranbowfaces were still there, staring at him with horrified expressions. Of all the things he wished were merely a sleep story, those would have been on the list. But as unwelcome as the sight of them were, that was not what immediately caught his attention. What earned that particular honor was the gigantic rainbow-colored beak that had taken the place of his snout. With growing horror he looked down upon his body… not knowing what to expect.
Only to be greeted by the sight of a much less robust body. The body of a non-raptor two-footer. The body of a rainbowface. He was now a rainbowface.
Logos's voice cracked as she tried to offer some soothing words in the fastbiter's own language.
"Now, um, easy there… we can fix this, but you need to not panic…"________________________________________
Some distance away, but closer than before...: "So where did you find the rainbowfaces, Scarflank? You think Taunt is still tracking them?" Scarflank snickered before glancing in the direction of Breeze.
"I think stripe-ass is wanting to get all of the glory. You know he is still sour about me out-hunting him for ground fuzzies the other day." Breeze rolled her eyes as she continued to follow her packmate at a swift pace.
"Is that what this is about, Scar? We could get the others for this." "Nah," [/b] Scarflank muttered as he ducked to avoid a branch in the thick vegetation. Despite being yellowed with drought, the areas around Hanging Rock had their fair share of hiding places.
"If the others are stalking herd-sign on the other end of the stream then that will be far too long. Taunt will have got them all by then. You know that rainbowfaces aren't the best runners." Breeze curled her tail into a smile as she continued along.
"You know, Scarflank, I think you and Taunt might have a bit of a rivalry going on." Scarflank groaned.
"Oh, come on! You know he will be insufferable if he gets to the prey before we do. For all we know he could…"Arrrrrrgghhhhhh! Scarflank and Breeze shared a look before they both sprinted in the direction of the scream without another word. It sounded like Taunt had already cornered his prey.
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Near Hanging Rock: Well, Scarflank was not entirely wrong with the assessment...
The orange rainbowface nearly fell flat on his face as he struggled to use his very different feet on rather unforgiving terrain. Luckily for him, he was nothing if not stubborn if he had a goal in mind, and this was the sole motivation that kept him upright and willing to give his new body the best effort possible.
He absolutely
had to rip the face off of this rainbowface.
"Change me back now!" His latest attempt to rip off the male rainbowface's face ended in failure, however, when the other dinosaur was discourteous enough to move slightly to his right, leaving Taunt's charge ending in failure. Failure in this case meaning that he once again found his new beak in the not-so-new ground.
The female rainbowface took advantage of this brief respite from attempted assault and raised one hand in a placative manner before speaking in a soothing voice. "Please be still, former fastbiter. We will change you back shortly just as soon as we fix our device."
The former fastbiter, however, merely paused before he tilted his head in confusion.
Logos blinked, realizing the mistake of herself and her colleague.
"Sorry, I am not as good in your tongue… a lot of nuance in grammatical cases. What I said is to be calm while we fix the "magic" rock." This made the orange fastbiter appear to calm down slightly. Though he did not understand what 'nuance' or' grammatical', or 'case' meant, the focus on the magic rock he did understand.
"So… the magic rock did this?" The male rainbowface let out a groan as he frantically tapped on the bright blue rock. "It doesn't understand my inputs anymore!"
Logos rolled her eyes. "That's because the fastbiter changed its inputs to oral. You will need to 'beak it' to the settings that you want."
"Seriously!?" the male squawked, "He already slobbered all over it!"
"Occupational hazard," the female quipped before turning back to the fastbiter,
"Yes. And we can use it to change you back. We just ask that you leave us in peace afterwards." The orange rainbowface now visibly relaxed. The desire to rip these dinosaurs limb from limb was still there, but the desire to no longer be food was infinitely stronger. "Alright," he muttered reluctantly, "How… did you two come across the magic rock? Are there more of these?"
If so then I need to warn others! Those rocks obviously want to be left alone! The female rainbowface merely smiled a knowing smile.
"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it? But there are many amazing things in the universe…""Ergh…. So much slobber!"
She glared at her male colleague briefly.
"...and despite some hardships along the way, if you keep an open mind then those amazing things are there to discover." At this response Taunt decided to sit down and to put his new beak in his hands. This was all too much. Magical rocks, rainbowfaces who can't talk normally, him being turned into food… it was a bit difficult to process.
"How am I even going to tell the pack about this? They will never believe me unless they see me as food, and if that happened then I would be food!" He sighed and rubbed his new head for a moment before opening his eyes once more.
Wait. The others are still looking for herd-sign for the next hunt. If they heard my scream…He rose again and this time avoided falling over.
"Um, you might want to be careful. My packmates are in the area." This made both rainbowfaces stop whatever they were doing with the rock though it was the male who spoke,
"Your packmates?" Taunt rubbed his head.
"Yeah… and I'm not sure they will believe that I am me." ________________________________________
Nearby: "What are they doing?" Breeze did not immediately answer Scarflank's rhetorical question as they peered over the bluff. Though this was not due to a lack of interest, it was due to a lack of answers.
Below the bluff, standing in full view of any predator who would have taken interest, no fewer than three rainbowfaces appeared to be engaged in some kind of argument. At first Breeze assumed that the two males must be fighting over the female, but this hypothesis was quickly rejected as one the males seemed to be trying to eat a blue rock and the other male, who was a distinct shade of orange, appeared to be having some kind of mental breakdown while sitting on a boulder. All the while the distinct scents of Taunt and stink-buzzer was emanating on the wind.
That was when it hit Breeze: if two of the males were acting crazy it could mean only one thing: the head sickness.
"We can't hunt these." Breeze spoke authoritatively.
"What?" Scarflank practically squawked.
"We can't hunt these," Breeze repeated,
"Think about it, Scarflank. What do you smell right now?" Scarflank blinked a few times before sniffing the air.
"Well, Taunt is somewhere around here. But... those rainbowfaces really stink! What have they been eating? Stink buzzers?" Breeze nodded.
"The sort of thing that only a dinosaur with the head-sickness would do. That one also looks like he is trying to eat a rock." This made Scarflank peer closer at the rainbowface below as he seemed to scream at the rock in annoyance before proceeding to tap on the rock with his beak like a deeply confused flyer trying to eat seeds. All the while, the female seemed to be grunting something at the male which sounded like encouragement. Yep, these three were clearly insane.
Scarflank glared at her a moment, as if wanting to disagree. But then he put up his hands in a defeated gesture as his tail sank.
"That would explain why Taunt hasn't hunted these three even though he must have spooked one... No reason to hunt something that will ruin your mind if you eat them." "Bad meat is bad meat," Breeze affirmed with an apologetic tail-smile.
"Come on, I found a few ground fuzzy nests over by the stream. If Vigilant and Skytail can't find a herd then that might be our best bet for dinner tomorrow." Both of the fastbiters began to retrace their steps as they abandoned the three deranged rainbowfaces and their presumed dangerous illness. Maybe if they were lucky Redclaw would eat the trio and then that would take care of a much bigger problem.
"So, what does this black rock do? Is it a talking rock too?" "Wait, fastbiter, don't!" Breeze barely had time to turn around in shock upon hearing the rainbowfaces below speak in fluent sharptooth before she was greeted by the sight of one of the dinosaurs rushing to take a black rock out of the orange fastbiter's hands. However, this merely succeeded in aiming the rock in the general direction of the two fastbiters. It was not more than a second later when a blinding light emerged from the rock and slammed into the bluffs right below where Breeze and Scarflank were situated.
"Shit," was all Scarflank muttered before the rocks below them gave way. Within a second both fastbiterrs and several hundred rocks began to descend towards the three horrified rainbowfaces.
"Wow, the rock must be mad!"
"Run, you idiot!" ________________________________________
Logos barely had time to shove the newly minted rainbowface before the first of the boulders slammed into the ground next to her. What followed over the next few seconds was incomprehensible as the cacophony of rampaging rocks was joined by the confusing sight of blinding dust. All the while the gusts of air from the displaced rocks slammed into her and her comrades like the wind in a rampaging storm. As such she immediately threw the orange rainbowface into the nearest rock as soon as it presented itself. This was both to protect him from the avalanche and to hopefully give him a concussion for good measure.
She hurled herself right next to him as Chronos also ran behind the refuge. This was not a moment too soon as the boulders rampaged past where they all were a few moments ago. For anyone downhill this would be a death sentence.
"Ow…" the former fastbiter muttered beside her as he tapped the boulder that served as their shelter. Then, as if to make sure he could just be heard over the avalanche below, he yelled to no one in particular.
"This is the third rock to give me trouble today!" That was it. Despite the need to stay calm, Logos simply could not help herself as she put her head into her hands and allowed her beak to click in frustration.
"The only rock that has given us trouble today is the one in your skull! Can you not be careful when touching things that you do not understand?" Logos could see Chronos rise from his spot before raising his hands in a placative gesture. "Now, Commander…"
"Don't start, Chronos," she warned as the sound of rampaging rocks finally died down, "This predator has all of the curiosity of those valley children and less of their sense! He could have easily gotten us all killed!"
The words, of course, were merely grunts to Taunt as the rainbowfaces had shifted back to the leaf-eater tongue. But he could understand the tone plainly enough.
"If you things were actually so smart you would know the last thing to do when you don't want someone snooping around is to show off," he growled in annoyance as he got up.
Logos rose, anger rising again.
"What did you say, fastbiter?" "You heard me, rainbow-food!" Taunt, well, taunted.
"I saw you two playing with your special rocks all the way from the stream. Not even you two can be that bad at hiding. I wanted to see what was so special about those rocks." "And you found out," Chronos deadpanned.
"Yeah… lucky me." Logos stepped back as if she had been struck. The former fastbiter was right. The entire reason she and Chronos had sought out another mission on this far-flung mudball was to see the mysterious curiosity of this planet's residents. An interest in all things mysterious and unknown that some of its residents had in more abundance than the cultural development of this world would indicate. How could they disparage this predator for his curiosity? Ultimately the best they could do is change him back and wipe his memory of this unfortunate incident. Preferably before he decided to play with any more of their equipment.
"You're right, fastbiter," she finally agreed.
"I am?" Taunt muttered.
"He is?" Chronos asked with much more force.
Logos sighed as she wiped some of the dust from the trans-modifier, "He is. The people of this world are a curious paradox. With curiosity outstripping their knowledge. Remind you of any other species?"
"About fifty Consortium members and ten candidate races who annihilated themselves before first contact." Chronos acknowledged, "I suppose that is why we are here. We were in their place once… and we are here to nudge them in the right direction. The valley kids did not give us as much trouble, though."
"That longneck didn't have hands," Logos joked, "I am sure that played a role."
She then tapped on the blue rock until it gave a double beep. Finally.
"Alright, Mr. Fastbiter, are you ready to go back to how you were?" Chronos offered with a smile.
Chronos nearly had to double back when the orange-colored rainbowfaces half-tackled him due to his enthusiasm. In the end, much to his embarrassment, he was embraced in a tight hug.
Though the moment ended as soon as it began as Taunt pushed himself away.
"Urgh… forgot you guys smell like stink-buzzers." This made Logos pause as she gave her partner a concerned glance. Though Chronos looked back with embarrassment, her concerns were a bit more pressing than social etiquette.
The predators smell our real forms! "Is it obvious?" Logos asked carefully.
The orange rainbowface rubbed his beak.
"Oh, yeah. I don't know how you guys eat those things! But I guess that is a good way to keep most of us sharpteeth away! You guys are worse at hiding than a longneck." Chronos rubbed the back of his head as if to check if the antennae from his base form were still there. "We really need to get that fixed."
The former fastbiter paid the duo's hushed conversation no heed, however, as he walked in front of the female rainbowface with anticipation plastered on his features. Much like a young fastbiter who chased his tail and finally caught it, he was regretting his prior choices and was quite ready to put his experience as a rainbowface behind him.
Logos caught the expression on the orange rainbowface's form and let out a smile as she aimed the rock and clicked on an unseen button.
And with no witnesses there will be no proof. This could have been far worse. This uplifting thought was promptly interrupted by the sound of growling.
Time seemed to slow down as two fastbiters suddenly emerged from behind the hapless orange rainbowface, like two imposing sentinels of death. Instead of slashing or biting the orange dinosaur, however, one of the two gave him a curious sniff while the other kept his cold glare firmly fixed on Logos.
Taunt, meanwhile, seemed utterly transfixed by the new arrivals. His beak was opened wide in shock, but no words emerged. Instead all of his focus appeared to be on the sickle claw of the female.
"This one smells like Taunt," the newcomer affirmed as she retained her glare on the orange rainbowface.
Something changed then. Though the fear was still in the orange rainbowface's eyes there was now an odd smirk in his beak.
"And you still smell like flyer guts, Breeze." What happened next was a blur to Logos as the Breeze swerved violently towards the orange rainbowface, unceremoniously slapping Scarflank in the head with her tail as she stood face to face with the newly-minted prey.
"What did you say?" Breeze squawked while Scarflank rubbed his head with an annoyed expression.
"It's me, Breeze!" Taunt affirmed as he pointed at his rainbowface self,
"I'm Taunt!" Scarflank groaned as he rubbed his head.
"Taunt is a fastbiter, you crazy rainbowface." His eyes then narrowed,
"Wait, this one can talk?" Taunt shook his head, excitedly.
"I was a fastbiter until the magic rock did all of this!" At this point all focus was on the orange fastbiter.
"A magic rock? Like the one that hit your head?" Scarflank muttered in annoyance.
"No, like the one that blew up all of those boulders!" Taunt squawked as he gestured in the general direction of the destruction behind them.
"It looks like these rainbowfaces have a lot of magic rocks. And they all do amazing and awful things!" The two fastbiters shared a look at the orange rainbowface gestured wildly at himself, and then the aftermath of the massive avalanche behind them, and then in the general direction of Logos and her "magic rock". Maybe it was the absurdity of the situation, or perhaps it was the effect of being shaken up by the rockslide, but the pair of predators slowly began to turn towards Logos with an appraising gaze.
And were immediately bathed in green light before everything went dark.
________________________________________
"An hour-long memory wipe should be good enough, don't you agree, Officer Chronos?"
"Why did you wait so long? I thought that we were goners!"
"Look on the bright side, we still have to report this to Command."
"..."
"..."
"A shame we don't have enough of a charge to wipe ourselves."
________________________________________
Taunt and Stern Claw's sleeping area: Taunt woke up with a gasp as he shot up to his feet. His three children, who had wisely used their mother's tail for a makeshift pillow, were spared the resulting shock as his tail slammed into the side of their scraped out sleeping area with a dull thud.
Stern Claw growled lightly as she shifted positions without opening her eyes. "The same sleep story, dear?"
Taunt sucked in a deep breath.
It was just a sleep story. "Yeah… are you sure it is just that? It seemed so real…"
Stern Claw used her tail to lightly slap at her mate's foot until he finally relented and laid back down. Then, her tail softly settled back on top of his.
"It's just a dream, dear… Star People or not, if they had really zapped you way back then I doubt they would have only done it twice."
Taunt snorted as he closed his eyes. "Gee… thanks dear."
________________________________________
The Great Valley: "So that is how we originally got stranded on this planet, children. Fortunately it worked out for everyone. If it wasn't for this then neither of you would have ever happened." Chronos finished with an almost wistful flourish as Logos looked at her two children with a smile.
"So this is why it is very important to maintain the Prime Directive and avoid cultural contamination. Despite our best efforts a simple mistake nearly had disastrous consequences." Logos added.
Their children, meanwhile, looked like clones of one another as they looked upon their parents with matching facial expressions. Both of them had mouths agape as they processed the tale.
"That… that's like fifty-two violations." Datum muttered.
"How… this is a joke, right?" Axiom added.
Chronos and Logos both shared a look as their contemplative story swiftly turned into something else.
"Not a joke, children," Chronos affirmed, "Just a cautionary tale. We were much more reckless back then."
Logos nodded but then put on a very distinct kind of smile. A kind that her children recognized immediately. "And we want all of you to avoid making mistakes like this in the future."
Both of the young rainbowfaces looked at one another before groaning. "Not cavework!"
Chronos lightly chuckled. "Yes, cavework. We want you children to write down all fifty-four violations in our story and see if you can identify how we could have avoided them."
Datum put his beak into his hands, while Axiom crossed her arms in frustration. Despite the obvious displeasure, both of the parents continued to smile at the scene. This made both of the kids hesitantly look up, though neither of them stopped with their act. Finally it was Chronos who gave in.
"Alright, if both of you manage to do this assignment, we will show you the playback of this incident on the Archiver Stone."
Both of the young rainbowfaces dropped the act immediately. "Really?!"
Chronos snorted. "Really. Now get to writing on the rock wall. Let's see what you two come up with."
And with that both kids ran off to the assignment wall with all of the enthusiasm of fastbiters in a hunt.
Logos cocked an eye at him coyly. "Are you sure this won't get the kids ideas?"
Chronos rolled his eyes. "With the friends they have? I am hoping this gives them ideas about what not to do. I am still trying to figure out how a young longneck climbed a tree."
"Probably not as interesting as how she got down," Logos deadpanned.
Chronos gave her a playful shove as they watched both children hurriedly debate with one another over which infractions their parents committed long ago so that they could see the playback firsthand. In their banter and curiosity they both could sense part of themselves in the younger pair.
Logos sighed contentedly. "At least they inherited our good sense."
