Back on the Moby Dick, Soliel was curcled up on the floor, clutching the lavender transponder snail that contained her mother's lullabies which were still emitting softly from the small device. The gentle lilt of Azalea's voice was muffled by the small girl's chest as she cradled the object closehumming brokenly, a few notes matching those from her mother. Whitebeard examined his daughter, thinking of what her life would be like as an adult, how she'd develope, how she'd act, what she'd look like. An image popped into his head of the child as an adult, tall, not like he, but roughly 5"7, built lean like her mother, narrow hips and small breasts. He smirked, hoping she took after her mother's body type so men would be deterred from eyeing Soliel.
He touched the soft curls on her head as he picked her up, smirking at the whiffle of content from the tiny tot. She burrowed into his chest, and opened her eyes,looking around blearily.
"Daddy...?"
"Hm?"
She rubbed her eyes and made that cute sleepy sound again, "Want Mama."
The man hesitated in his steps and looked into the clear sunshine stare of his daughter. Then, with a heavy sigh, he walked into the ship and towards the room they shared.
"I know, little one." he lay her on the bed, covering her with the tattered dolphin covered baby blanket that he'd got her when she arrived. More than anything in his whole life, he'd always wanted a family, and he was happy because he had one. "Children" he'd brought into his life when they had nowhere else to go, no one to love them, and now he had a real child to boot (not that he loved Soliel any more than his other sons and daughter, they all meant the world to him). As she closed her eyes and fell asleep, he took the dendenmushi and listened to his old flame's musical voice.
"I miss her too."
...
Tiny feet ran across the floor, and Soliel squealed as she stripped off her clothes and ran around, avoiding Vista and Izo, both of whom were on clothing duty for the child. Everyone took turns feeding, bathing, and pampering the girl, but today she did not want to get dressed. The copper haired 2-year-old was in the process of trying to untie her diaper (which Haruta had fastened with tape) when she tripped and slammed into the hard floor of the galley. There was a collective gasp from most of the crew and Whitebeard looked over as Soliel sat up and rubbed her nose.
The instant her lip curled, Vista let out a small "oh no" and covered his ears, prepared for the the blood appeared. It dripped out of Soliel's nose and onto her chest, which attracted her atttention instantly. As she looked at the red stuff, tears sprang into her eyes and her bottom lip trembled like it wanted to jump off the tip of her chin but was afraid of the drop. She rubbed her nose again and smeared blood across her cheek and lip, and the motion was quickly followed by a thin wail that had the potential to end up as a screamfest.
"Come here, Soliel." Whitebeard nodded for his daughter and she stood on shaky legs before walking to him, begging to be picked up. "That's enough, you're alright." he took the wet cloth that Namur handed him and wiped Soliel's face. She screamed and torqued away, nearly falling to the floor again and she hollered "no!" as her father moved to clean her face again.
Whitebeard's voice got hard. "Soliel Andromeda Newgate, you stop that right now." he cleared the blood off and smoothed her hair back. "I know it hurt but you can't throw a fit like that when we're trying to help you, do you understand?" The pissed off look in her eyes said yes, but she was only two and a quarter so he doubted it. She recognized the sterness in his voice and she settled down a bit, her crying dying to whimpers.
She twisted around and Whitebeard set her down, giving her a firm (but gentle) pop on the bottom and watching her toddle over to Izo, who held up a set of clothes for her to wear. haruta laughed at the frustrated and defeated expression the other girl wore as she allowed Izo to clothe her. Soliel was scowling and refusing to look at her father, lips pursed and brow furrowed.
"She is definitely your daughter, Pops. No doubt about it."
The man nodded with a chuckle. "What makes you say that, my dear?"
Brew rolled his eyes, "You're both too bloody stubborn."
"That's not stubborness, that's determination, and she gets the temper from her mother."
...
Blenheim whistled to himself as he perused the cold storage room for something to make for breakfast. He was dying to try out a new recipe from one of the books he'd purchased in Sky Harbor, but he had no clue on what to use as the main ingredient. With a frustrated sigh he walked into the kitchen and spotted Soliel, hair tossled from her morning nap, staring at a bowl of fruit like they were the richest jewels in the world.
"What'cha lookin' for, little one?"
Soliel huffed and pointed to the clutch of small, yellow-orange fruits in one of the bowls. There were a few dozen of the golf-ball sized morsels and Soliel wanted one. Blenheim lifted her up to sit on the counter, and he handed her one of the Achachairu's, cracking the hard outer skin and revealing the white flesh within. Soliel attacked it with gusto, sucking the juice until it ran down her chin, and tearing chunks with her teeth. The girl had a voracious appetite, eating nearly as much as the men on the ship did, and Blenheim enjoyed watching her try new things. She wasn't too picky for a child, and liked most foods.
She also had a few allergies, which was rough considering that her most severe also happened to be her father's favorite food; the girl couldn't eat avacados or her tongue and throat would swell, she had a consumption and contact allergy with apricots (but she was fine if she ate peaches), and she had a mild milk allergy. She hated the white stuff, yogurt, and even ice-cream (which Haruta was shocked by). However, the child loved cheese. The allergy was mild in the fact that she would get an upset stomach and maybe throw up a bit, but no fecal issues followed the allergy, which is usually how lactose-intolerance went.
"Well, Soliel," Blenheim turned to the girl and held up a colored picture cookbook. "What shall we have today?"
Soliel slurped more juice from the Achachairu and then eyed the bundle of guapuru, large black ball-like fruit with a shiny navy/purple skin and a mushy, pudding-esque black interior. She made a grab for it and Blenheim shook his head, "You'll spoil your appetite." Soliel gave him a are you kidding me? kind of look and he laughed.
"Help me make breakfast, then you can have one."
Soliel looked at the book and then waited for Blenheim to turn the pages. there were egg dishes, veggie dishes, any and every kind of fish, and other types of protein. She huffed, her brow crashing down in an excellent imitation of her father, and she screamed, "THAT!" and slammed her palm against the book. "P'ease?"
Blenheim nodded and smiled, "Shrimp rice-omelet it is."
