Even with tourism down, largely a result of the pandemic, Mieni was a good place to visit and for Beacon and Allura there was some element of question as to whether or not they would ultimately move to the atoll. After all the Horizon project to uplift deep sea animals had started with Allura and was based out of Mieni, though those projects were largely on hold given other and bigger concerns that were going on. But that didn't mean that things were bad for either of the two Angler Fish Animalians. They'd initially come out before Halloween for a bit of a vacation and to give Beacon a place where shi could give birth to the five children in her womb and let the water provide her as a extra means of support while waiting to give birth.
In this, the pair had been on the atoll when a plane flying from Hong Kong to Tokyo was hijacked, diverted toward Chile, and then crashed southeast of Mieni when it ran out of gas, but they'd stayed out of the rescue efforts. Partially because they were asleep at the time and both also gave some reasoning that most of the passengers on the plane probably would have been freaked out by the sight of the Angler Fish Animalians. For in the period after the crash, they noticed that those passengers kept their distance from them and from Bubblehead as well. That had been enough for them to recognize that while people knew of them that didn't mean that they weren't potentially put off by them. Though, both Beacon and Allura put that under "their loss" and went about their days.
And those days went relatively well. They were far enough away that they weren't swamped in political ads and as the unexpected guests from Halloween returned home, things on Mieni returned to the quiet calm that gave them the relative freedom to enjoy the environment without having to deal with a lot of negative looks from people. Then came the day Beacon went into labor and shi was moved from the hotel and to the medical center on the main island that made up the Mieni atoll. There, Beacon gave birth and shi and Allura were able to see for the first time outside of ultrasounds. There was a bit of a surprise in that Beacon gave birth to live young, given that most fish, including some species of Angler Fish laid eggs, but some of that was assumed to be a result of the complicated nature that related to Allura's uplifting and later Beacon's conversion, which included the introduction of some shark genes to allow for a more "internal" means of fertilization, given that many fish also had that process being "external" rather than internal. Regardless, though, both felt happy at the birth of their children and loved them as any parents would.
"It's odd and different," Allura said to Beacon as they looked into the cradles where their five infants lay in Mieni's maternity ward, "before we were uplifted... children we had were part of life but not something we dwelt on or over. Now... now we want to be there, seem them grow... love them, though obviously in a way different from how we love you."
"Of course, you're their father," Beacon answered, "you love them as a parent. You love me as a lover..."
"Yes, and different from the past," Allura agreed.
"One of the differences from being a mundane Angler Fish and an Animalian, I suppose," Beacon commented and then thought back on her time in labor...
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It came as a surprise and hit faster than Beacon expected, and even with the pain killers, it hurt. It was something that made Beacon admit to hirself that shi would never mock hir mother again over the pains of labor. That was enough for Beacon as they made it to the medical center on Mieni and she made her way to the delivery room. The hours of labor was enough to prove that for hir. The medical center wasn't as big as Horizon Light in Lyre and second branch of it at Dino City, and like those at Dino City, Vilcabamba, and Dinotopia Aquatica the medical center on Mieni did have to share space with the main Horizon offices for those colonies. But thanks to funding from Horizon, much of the old Cold War era buildings and equipment were upgraded and were more than ready for many of the sorts of things that came from the colony's establishment. That gave Beacon some degree of comfort, though not that much as shi wrestled with the birthing process.
"Everything will be okay," Allura said to Beacon as shi helped hir mate into the specialized bed for the delivery of the five infants that were ready to be born.
Beacon managed a low whimper as the doctor that was there and on staff was ready and pointed out that Beacon was dilated enough to push. Shi then followed and in a complicated series of pushes and pausing to rest between contractions, Beacon brought hir and Allura's first baby into the world. It gave very Human-like cries as it was born, which got Allura to jump a little.
"Is she hurt?" Allura looked to the doctor and then back to Beacon as shi heard the cry's of "wah" go through the room.
"Shi," the doctor corrected and handed the cleaned infant over to a nurse who then brought it to where both Beacon and Allura could see.
The baby Anglerfish Animalian looked different from the way many other baby Animalians did, but then Anglerfish in general looked very different from other fish, so both Beacon and Allura were fine with that. But for the moment there were no visible teeth in the baby Animalian's mouth as it cried out and the specialized fin that served as a lure was very small and not fully extended. Both then noted that as they looked the baby over, they noted in the front there was a small form that resembled what functioned as Allura's male equipment and half resembled what could be held akin to a the "claspers" in a male shark's anatomy. Behind that was clear indication of female equipment, which betrayed the baby Anglerfish Animalian as a hermaphrodite, like hir parents.
"And shi's perfectly fine," the nurse said to Allura, "just getting used to her lungs and saying hello to the world."
"Shi's beautiful," Allura found herself blurting and wanted to motion the nurse to show the baby to Beacon, who was already gearing up to give birth to the next infant.
And this process repeated again and again, until the last was born and Beacon had the chance to cuddle with hir babies and even nurse them a little. The fact that they wanted milk was a bit of a surprise, as fish weren't known for that sort of thing in nature, but shi figured a lot of that was the result of hir and Allura being Animalians. And Beacon didn't mind that, and it actually let hir feel close to all five of the infants shi'd carried. The biggest surprise was that all five of them turned out to be hermaphrodites like hir and Allura. From some of the reports with other hermaphrodite Animalians that had families of their own, there was the case that at least some of the children actually had one gender and thus were male or female. But all five of Beacon and Allura's children were hermaphrodites like them... It was a surprise, but as Beacon caressed and loved each one, it was a welcome one. They'd be a happy family of seven... hir, Allura, and their five baby Anglerfish Animalians.
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"We will need to find names for them," Beacon commented as she glanced from hir babies to Allura.
"What about the names we talked over while you were pregnant?" Allura responded, "we liked those names."
"Well they were nice names, but they were names that would work if these five were boys or girls," Beacon answered, "but they're boys AND girls at the same time. Thus the old names might not work... at least not being appropriate for who they are."
Allura looked to the crib with each sleeping newborn in it, swaddled in pick and blue blankets. These were things where Allura still had her wonderings over how Human society functioned. Shi'd essentially worked out her name when shi was uplifted, but shi was already an adult when that happened. These five were infants and wouldn't be able to talk for a couple of years or so. Shi also had the sense that Beacon's parents would want names for them as well.
"Are you sure the names we already agreed on wouldn't work?" Allura asked, "I mean... there aren't that many gender neutral names... are there?"
"There could be," Beacon answered, "though we'd need to consult that online list again... for we must be good parents and give them names they'll love and that represent them..."
"We will be great parents," Allura told Beacon with a small smile.