MHA #6, Tuesday Morning

[firstofitskind]

At some point during the night, Liam had gone from small and furry and curled up on one corner of the bed (and yet still somehow taking up half of the space), to human-sized and no longer furry and curled around Verity.

Being a cat had been... interesting. But it was nice to be back in his own skin.

He figured since breakfast had been so rudely interrupted last time, he ought to give it another try. So once again there were pastries, and coffee being made, and Liam was sitting at the kitchen table as his own cup of tea steeped.

[ooc: for the giiiiirlfriend.]

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[firstofitskind]

Liam would never turn down extra cuddles, it was true.

"That's true," he admitted. "But none of those species are present in my DNA." A pause, and then he amended, "Probably." As far as he was aware, none of them existed on his version of Earth, but he supposed it was possible.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh no, I just meant...if things had been different, you could have had a family and a childhood," Verity said slowly. Granted, if things had been that different, he probably wouldn't have been born at all. "Circumstances dictated you were sped-up, not your genetics. Maybe there's an alternate dimension out there where Liam Kincaid has three parents and is just joining the local Little League team or something, rather than being a soldier and Companion in a war he didn't start."

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, the circumstances surrounding his birth were... kind of unique.

"Well," Liam said. "You know. In that reality, he wouldn't be Liam Kincaid at all."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh?" Verity asked. "You know, I don't think I ever thought about that. Where did the Kincaid come from?"

[firstofitskind]

"During the SI War, my predecessor as Da'an's Protector, William Boone, was a commander in the Army," Liam explained. "His lieutenant was a man named Liam Kincaid. Kincaid went missing during the invasion of Taiwan, but was never officially declared dead. When I appeared a few years later," he shrugged. "My mother gave me my first name, but I'd need more than that if I were to do what I was created to do. So Kincaid's files were edited, all his pictures were replaced with ones of me, and here I am."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Huh."

Every story Liam told her about his conception through his service continued to be low-key horrifying.

"Okay, so this sorta sounds like the kind of question Dr. Lecter would ask, but how do you feel about that?"

[firstofitskind]

On the bright side, the real Liam Kincaid actually was alive and well, just deep undercover, and had eventually given Liam his blessing to keep using his name?

"I don't know," he admitted. "It's mine, in the sense that it's the only name I've had for the six years I've been alive, but at the same time... it's missing something. Othlia." Inheritance, family, what came before.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You're not likely to just up and pick a whole new name for funsies," Verity translated, "but it doesn't carry any personal connections for you? Not the way being a Price, a Healy does for me?"

She didn't know what othlia meant, but she could hazard a guess or two.

[firstofitskind]

Liam nodded. "There's nothing about it that ties me anywhere," he said. "I'm just... drifting."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity couldn't imagine being so rootless. Even though being a Price literally meant that people wanted to kill her for the crime of simply being born, she couldn't imagine not having that to anchor her to who she was and where she came from. Liam's life sounded desperately lonely.

She laced her hands through his. "You know, it's not too late for you to start making some of those ties on your own," she said. "You might not have inherited any, but that just means you have to do the hard work of making them yourself."

They wouldn't be the same. She knew that. But they'd be something, at least.

[firstofitskind]

When their potential future children had shown up, Verity had been understandably somewhat freaked out. Liam, on the other hand... he'd seen a glimpse of a world where he'd belonged. And he'd wanted that.

"I'm working on it," he said, glancing down at their joined hands. He didn't know if that future would necessarily come to pass, but in the meantime? This was good. This was better than good.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You are," Verity said, leaning in to kiss him. "And I'm glad I'm part of that."