Aqua made her way down the hall, carrying a large tomb in her hands. It was that time of the week again, and she figured she might as well bring something to skim through while she waited. She made her way into the room at the end of the hall and saw her mother humming as she stood in front of the sink. "Mother."

Maria looked up and then smiled when she saw her youngest child. "Hello Aqua, are you ready?" she asked, turning around.

Aqua nodded, grabbing a chair and pulling it along with her as she approached. She turned it around and then jumped up into it. Maria moved her hand, and a stream of water flowed from the sink and then began swirling around the top of Aqua's head.

Once her hair was wet, Maria flicked her head and sent the water back to the sink. "I thought we could try something a little new today," she said, pulling out a bottle. "Bloom told me that this one is good for curls. And it smells like mint."

Aqua sniffed in the air, and easily picked up the scent. "Hmm… okay, we can try it." It did smell pretty nice. Though she honestly wasn't sure if she was on board with having curlier hair. But she could change it back later if she didn't like it.

She took her hair tie off and then snapped her fingers, and a sheet nearby moved from the table and wrapped around her neck, draping itself over his body. Maria nodded before pouring some of the bottle in her hands, then she started lathering it in her daughter's hair.

The young half-breed closed her hairs as her mother massaged the moisturizer in her scalp. Every two weeks the two got together so Maria could wash and style her daughter's hair. They would try out different products from around mewni, and just talk with one another. It was their mother-daughter bonding time.

Frankly, Aqua didn't care about styling her hair. And her interest in hair care products are middling at best. But her mother had wanted them to spend more time together, and… well, eventually she had found that she enjoyed it. It could be relaxing, and she did indeed like spending quality time with her mother.

"So, how have your experiments been going?" Maria asked. "Not up to anything too dangerous I hope."

Aqua hummed. "No mother. All the danger levels of my experiments are in perfectly reasonable expectations," she said.

"That's good to hear." Maria knew she could more than handle herself when it came to both fighting and experimenting, but she still worried. "And I know you and Alexander have been planning on gathering some ingredients for a potion you read in Rosetta's book from the underworld. How is that going?"

Aqua grunted. "We had to push it back. He's going on a trip with his dad." Though she had managed to keep her voice fairly even, Maria had picked up on something.

"And you're a little bothered by that?" Maria asked.

"I didn't say that…"

"But are you?"

Aqua was silent for a moment. "It's not important."

Maria frowned. "I think it is. If it's bothering you, maybe you should talk to him about it. It'll make you feel better," she said. Alexander was one of the few people her daughter considered a close friend. So with him spending more time with Scab it was no wonder she was feeling a bit down.

"I don't want him thinking I don't want him spending time with his father. I don't want to come off as whiny," Aqua said. She got to spend time with her family whenever she wanted, but Scab was only just starting to get to know his own father. It seemed downright selfish to go whining to him about it.

And she wasn't selfish… well, now about stuff like this anyway.

Maria nodded. "I understand. But if you just talk to him and explain it then it'll probably make you feel better about it," she said.

"How?"

"When I was younger, and my brother started going off on missions, I'd miss him."

"Why?"

"Shush, let me finish the story. Anyway, I knew that what he was doing was important, and that it would seem selfish of me to ask him to stop. So I didn't. But when he got backed I just talked to him and let him know how I felt," she explained. "And, even though he answered just like I figured he would, it was still nice hearing it from him."

Aqua tilted her head. "Hearing what from him?"

"That he understood. That he cared how I felt. That he didn't like worrying or being away from home so long either," Maria said. "It didn't completely stop me from feeling down when he had to leave, but us talking just helped me deal with it better. I think talking to Alexander might make you feel better too. I'm sure once you tell him he'll understand, and you'll feel better for having cleared the air."

The girl hummed in thought. "Maybe…" Her mother was certainly more knowledgeable about things like this than she was. And seemingly more knowledgeable than Astro or Amber as well. "I don't even know how I would bring it up."

Mariai giggled. "You really aren't the most social person are you. I think your mom may have somehow imprinted that on you. She struggled a bit with things like that when we were younger," she said.

Aqua sniffed for a moment. "That smells nice…"

"I know, right? How do you want your hair styled? I think pigtails would look cute." Aqua once again went quiet, and then nodded. If she didn't like it, she would just change it back later. Her mother knew that eventually she'd go back to her signature style anyway.

Maria waved her hair, removing enough of the moisture of her hair to dry it, but not dry it out completely. She picked up two hair ties from the table and pulled Aqua's hair into pigtails before putting them on. She then held a mirror in front of her. "Like it?" she asked. She thought her daughter looked absolutely adorable, but she knew being adorable wasn't exactly a concern of hers.

Well, not unless she was using it to get what she wanted or trick someone.

"It's nice," Aqua said. She would probably show Azalea later. She cared about stuff like this and would probably like it. "Can we have snacks now?"

"We certainly can. What did you bring today?"

Aqua stood up and then made her way towards the table, a smile on her face. She opened her hands, and suddenly a box appeared between them. "This is a special desert from the Land of Ooo. They have a kingdom where the buildings, items, and even citizens are made of sweets. So they clearly know what they're doing," Aqua said, opening the box.

Maria looked down at the small chocolate cake, just large enough for two. She could already smell the sweet scent of the frosting. Sharing a desert had become a bit of a ritual between the two during these meetings, and while Maria usually didn't like to encourage eating them before dinner… she had to admit she was impressed with how good the girl was at finding sweet treats.

Aqua flicked her hands and Maria saw what looked like… spell? Falling off of the cake? "Did you hex that cake Aqua?" she asked.

"I hex all of the sweets I keep hidden away. Just in case."

"Of course you do. It does look delicious though." Aqua sliced the cake in half and then snapped her fingers, splitting them apart on two plates. They both picked up their pieces and began digging in. "Wow, this really is amazing… and you say the people who made this are made of sweets themselves? Would this count as…?

"Cannibalism? I wasn't sure, and I didn't bring it up. I was afraid if I did it would shatter their world view and they'd stop making sweets, so…"

Maria hummed. "I feel like I should give you a little lecture of the morality surrounding that, but this cake is too good so I understand your reasoning and won't call you out on it," the queen said, taking another forkful of cake. "By the way, how many sweets do you have stored away exactly?"

Aqua shrugged her shoulders. "Not many…" By her standards there could never be enough sweets, so the statement wasn't a lie.

"Okay… and the hexes you put on them. They're not too dangerous are they? You're not planning on assassinating your siblings over cake?"

Aqua narrowed her eyes. "I'll kill for less…"

"Aqua…"

"I'll tone down the lethality of the hexes…"

Maria patted her on the head. "That's my girl. And how about next time I track down some sweets for us to eat? I know a nice little cafe on earth that serves some of the most delicious little sweets. And they serve some nice tea too," she said.

Aqua nodded. "That sounds nice… maybe we should just go there?" she asked. It had been a while since they'd had a mother daughter outing outside of the castle.

Maria's smile grew. Out of all of her children, Aqua was the least social, and sometimes she felt quite distant from her. Between her, Astro, and Amber, they probably had the least in common. But moments like these, where Aqua showed genuine interest in spending time with her, made her feel reassured.

"I'd love to."

A/N: Future Au commission of Aqua and Maria having some mother-daughter time! I feel like Aqua and Maria are probably the most polar opposites of the parent/kids so them bonding is interesting!