Chapter 1: You're a lusus now
There was something about grubs that made her do this. She stood there, in front of one of many nightcares and nurseries on Beforus and contemplated about going in. What if the grub she chose didn't like her? What if it turns out to be a mutant? What if no grub would choose her? With a deep breath to shoo the bad thoughts away, Fenica put her head up and marched in the building confidently. She was going to go in and get out of the building with at least one grub in her hold, purring with delight as they went back to her hive.
The first thing she noticed was how much pastel grey and purple the walls were, alongside jadebloods consulting with many different trolls and faint squeaks coming from different rooms in the hallway right in front of her. As she looked and paced around in the lobby she was greeted by a jadeblood's friendly, albeit a tad bit awkward grin.
"Good evening!" the shorter troll said gleefully, "I'd like to assume that you came here to take a grub home?"
"Yes," the cerulean nodded, "My moirial said something about trying to adopt a grub as I was struggling with uh-"
"No worries! I'm sure that taking care of a grub is something you'd always wanted. We'll discuss the more nitty-gritty things later on, I'm going to show you the little ones in a minute."
After at least two hours of showcasing the grub's that weren't too happy with the stranger, the jadeblood was starting to become a little bit annoyed as they walked through the hallway. Occasional grub went up to the glass and looked with interest as the adults walked.
"You know, we could always give you a random grub to raise," she explained, "This sweep's brood has an immense amount of lusiiphobic grubs and the maximum capacity has almost been reached."
"What do you mean by lusiiphobic? Are they scared of lusii?" Fenica quirked her eyebrow.
"Pretty much. They usually react with screeching upon seeing one."
They walked down one of many hallways in the building until the sound of giggling, trilling and squealing became almost nonexistent, except an occasional squeak and cry. Something wasn't really right, it was too quiet to be a nursery. Fenica was starting to get a little bit tense in the silence and the jadeblood exhaled calmly as she out a hand on the taller troll's shoulder, "This is a sensory friendly wing for the youngest ones. They have issues with the rest of the grubs their age as they are way louder and rougher than the little ones, so we keep them separate." Fenica relaxed as the young jade described all issues these grubs had. It made sense. She heard of sensitive trolls having issues with the environment and it made her feel sorry for the little ones that did as well as she looked at the grubs in all castes with pity. It was like a curse but…
A muffled squeak got both of the troll's attention. The jadeblood turned around and turned to the right of her to face the child that was staring at her and the stranger. In that moment, Fenica felt her chest tug when she turned around. It was a small, at least as big as an adults hand, cerulean grub glaring with big eyes the same color as her body with a light blue blanket in her mouth. The jade immediately softened and waved to the grub from the other side of the glass.
"I'm going to be right back," the caretaker said as she opened the the door to the room. Fenica shrugged as she got out of her trance and watched through the window as the grub climbed down from the glass on their side and scuttled over to the adult that just entered and made a cheerful squeal despite having it muffled with fabric in her mouth. The grub must really like this jadeblood to react happily to her, making the cerulean a little bit jealous of the jadeblood getting the affection
Not even a minute later the jadeblood got out with the grub in her hold with the blue blanket dangling over her arms, "So, this is Aranea, one of the youngest grubs in the brood. She is… a little bit sensitive to noise and uncomfortable things and this blanket," she lifted the blanket for emphasis, "Is her comfort item. She must always have it when sleeping or when meeting someone new." After addressing the cerulean, she now softly asked the grub "Who is this?" Aranea looked in the direction of the ceruleanblood before her and made a questioning trill. "She came here because she will be your new lusus! Isn't that good?" the jadeblood responded happily, what earned her quiet whimpering.
Fenica felt her heart split in two when she heard the sound, "No no, don't cry, don't cry please-" she muttered as she stretched her hands out towards the grub and softened her posture "Can I hold her?"
"You can," the jadeblood said with a delighted smile and handed the whimpering grub with the blanket in her mouth to the adult. Aranea stopped whimpering and looked at the troll holding her and let the blanket out of her mouth and chirped happily, and that was the facade breaker for Fenica. She let out a quiet 'aww' and using her finger, began caressing the grub's head, eliciting purrs from the little critter in her hold as she quietly chuckled to herself. This little grub is definitely coming home with her and staying there even if it hard.
"So, did you make your mind up?" the jadeblood asked with audible relief.
"Yes, she is coming with me. I am now a lusus."