Neither Sollux or Eridan got much sleep the first day after Psiion hatched, despite Kanaya having told them that under normal circumstances grubs were able to live perfectly fine on their own in the brooding caverns until they went through the trials. Even then, only the strongest grubs survived the trials to be chosen by a lusus. Eridan and Sollux knew very well that they themselves had been through exactly the same process when they were grubs, but they still fretted over leaving their grub alone in the nursery while they slept.
"This may actually pose a problem in the future," Kanaya had informed them. "All grubs hatched on Alternia must go through the trials to be certain that only the strongest live to contribute their genetics to the further progression of our species. Your grub has no trial to overcome and is being housed in a hive protected by two adult trolls. Do you see the paradox in your situation?"
When the sun finally set and the moons came out Eridan groggily pulled himself out of the recuperacoon and shuffled into the ablution block for a shower. Sollux got into the shower with him when he was halfway done and began rinsing the sopor slime from his body. The psionic looked barely awake and Eridan could have sworn he saw his matesprit fall asleep in the spray of the water a few times.
"Why don't you go back to sleep for a few hours?" Eridan suggested.
"Gotta thpend time with Thiion and check on the other eggth," the Gemini murmured. Eridan sighed and grabbed his towel then stepped out of the shower.
"I'm goin' to check on her as soon as I'm dressed. I guess you can meet me in there," the violet blood said receiving a grunt in response. He dried himself off and left the room with the towel wrapped around his waist. Once he had re entered the respite block he chose his outfit for the day and dressed absent mindedly. He ran a hand through his damp hair to push it out of his eyes decided not to style it for the night since he was just planning on essentially lounging around the hive.
Once dressed, Eridan made his way out of the respite block down the hall to the nursery and opened the door slowly. He almost didn't expect to find a living grub on the other side of the door because the hatching the night before almost felt like a dream. The Aquarius stepped inside the room carefully and quietly closed the door behind himself before looking around in the dim lighting to find his grub. He stepped closer to the shallow pool and heard a few splashes followed by tiny squeaks. Psiion clambered out of the water and scurried over to where Eridan was crouching down to greet her.
"Good evenin', Psi," Eridan said to her with a stupid grin on his face that he couldn't hold back. Psiion approached him and leaned her face out to sniff at one of his ringed hands before nuzzling her head against it. "Is that your way of sayin' hello?" Eridan asked. Psiion turned her head and began gnawing on one of Eridan's rings. "Hey now, don't chew on that," he reprimanded and pulled his hand away from her. "We can get you your own rings when you're older if you like 'em so much." He looked over at the other two eggs that remained in the water. "I suppose you wouldn't happen to know when those two plan on hatchin'," he asked the little grub. She looked up at him with her large red and blue eyes.
The door to the nursery opened again and Psiion looked over at it with interest as Sollux entered. The psionic approached where his matesprit was seated on the floor and saw their grub watching him from near one of Eridan's knees. "Hey Thiion," he said to her as he remained standing.
"You look like hell," Eridan remarked.
"Thankth ED," Sollux replied easily shrugging off the insult. "How about we bring her out into the retht of the hive for awhile?" Sollux suggested. "I've got thome work I need to get done."
"You think she'll be alright?" Eridan asked glancing down at the small grub.
"Kanaya thaid she should be able to go anywhere in the hive, right?" Sollux asked.
"Yeah she did," Eridan confirmed. "Alright I guess we can take her into the livin' room."
"How are they doing?" the Gemini asked tilting his head towards the other two eggs that remained in the water.
"Nothin' different," Eridan sighed reaching over to lift Psiion into his arms then standing up with her. Sollux pursed his lips and his eyes lingered on the other eggs for a moment longer then he turned to leave the nursery. Eridan followed behind him carrying Psiion and made sure to shut the door to the nursery to keep the bugs inside.
Sollux got situated on the couch and brought his laptop over to himself to open it and began working on his latest project. Eridan sat beside him and held Psiion out to make eye contact with her. It was difficult because she kept squirming and looking around at her new surroundings.
"Psiion," Eridan said to her to get her attention. She turned her head and focused her large mismatched eyes on the adult troll. "This is the livin' room," Eridan explained. "I'm goin' to put you down so you can explore a bit alright? Stay out of trouble," he said and Sollux scoffed.
"Yeah, I'd keep an eye on her if I were you ED. You really think a grub ith going to lithen to that?" the psionic said from behind his computer screen.
"Well I don't know," Eridan huffed. "I have no experience around grubs and neither do you," he pointed out. Sollux merely shrugged and went back to focusing on his work. The sea troll scowled at his matesprit then turned back to the grub in his hands. "Anyway, Psi, if you need anythin' at least one a' us will be right here," he said then set the little grub down on the couch beside him. Psiion crawled tentatively over the couch cushion until she reached the edge where she peered down at the floor. She seemed to give it a moment of thought before leaping down onto the floor and pausing to look at everything around her and sniff the air. Her tailfin waved in the air as she stood up on her third set of legs to get a better view. Eridan watched her in awe for a moment before turning to Sollux to see that he had even paused his typing to watch the grub over the top of his computer screen.
"We made her, Sol," Eridan said in wonder. "We made a livin' breathin' thing."
"Yeah," Sollux nearly whispered.
"Do you think we shoulda' gotten her some toys or somethin' to play with?" the violet blood asked as he watched the grub explore more of the room.
"Maybe. I gueth that would've been a good idea," Sollux said.
"I'm goin' to see if I can find somethin' for her," Eridan said. He went out the front door to see if he could find anything of interest somewhere out in the yard. Sollux gave Psiion another look then smiled and went back to his work. It wasn't until several minutes had gone by that Sollux realized the hive was suspiciously quiet. He paused his fingers over the keyboard and scanned the area for any signs of his grub. A loud crash came from the meal block followed by distressed squeaks. Sollux nearly threw his laptop aside on the couch in his haste to get up quickly and ran into the meal block to see what was going on.
As soon as Sollux entered the meal block he saw a large puddle of coffee forming on the floor as it flowed off the counter from the now shattered pot that had been sitting out. "What the fuck!" he shouted and quickly grabbed some paper towels to sop up the mess on the counter. The coffee had been a day old and was cold to the touch as it soaked through the paper towels. "Thiion?" he called out looking around for the little grub. He heard a few squeaks coming from the direction of the sink. The yellow blood left the paper towels and approached the sink apprehensively before looking inside. It looked as though Psiion had jumped into the basin and hid in the corner of the sink out of fear after accidentally breaking the coffee pot. "How the hell did you get up here?" he asked in surprise as Psiion tried to climb back out of the sink. Her little black insect legs kept sliding on the smooth surface preventing her from making much progress. She squeaked in frustration and furrowed her brow.
"I've got you," Sollux told her as he scooped her out of the sink. "Are you hurt?" he asked turning her this way and that to check her over for injuries. She wiggled in his grip to get back down for more exploration. "Alright, alright," he said putting her down on the floor. "Try not to break anything elthe while I clean thith up," Sollux sighed. He grabbed more paper towels to soak up the rest of the coffee and threw the glass pieces away. Psiion watched for a few minutes before scrambling off to find something else to do. The door to the hive opened and shut as Sollux was throwing away the soggy paper towels.
"Sol?"
Sollux immediately recognized something was wrong by the tone in Eridan's voice. He sounded shaken. The Gemini rushed out to the living room to find his matesprit and saw him still standing by the door looking pale.
"What'th wrong?" Sollux demanded.
"I just saw 'em. They were out there. The hive down the road a ways," Eridan tried to explain.
"Who? What?" Sollux asked.
"The drones. They're at the hive down the road." Sollux felt his blood pusher stop.
"Go get Psiion. I'm going to see if I can find out more information," Sollux said quickly then sat back on the couch to grab his laptop and open up the group chat. Eridan set off to find the little grub and ended up bringing her out of the office to return to the couch with her. She squirmed and gave protesting squeaks as Eridan held onto her.
"Psiion, hold still," Eridan told her sternly. "This is a serious situation an' we need you to be good, understand?" The little grub blinked her large eyes at him and stopped struggling in his grasp. Eridan looked over at the screen Sollux had pulled up in front of him to read what was being said in the group chat.
TA: doe2 anyone know iif the drone2 vii2iit hive2 iin order? ed 2aiid he ju2t 2aw them at the hiive down the road. ii don't hear hii2 voiice iin my head 2o ii have no fuckiing clue what two make of thii2 becau2e we aren't goiing two make iit out of our vii2iit aliive.
AT: tHEY vISITED tHE tROLLS iN tHE hIVE dOWN tHE rOAD fROM mE,,, bUT hAVEN'T bEEN tO vISIT mE,,, sO,,, uH,,, i'M nOT sURE
AC: :33 when they came to my cave they also visited the trolls down the road furrom me and they didnt survive…
GA: I Am Not Certain If They Follow A Set Pattern. Based on What Everyone Has Been Saying It Seems Indiscriminate.
AT: i sTILL hAVEN'T hEARD aNYTHING fROM gAMZEE,,,
TA: that ii2 the la2t thing ii want two be reminded of riight now. FUCK! ii ju2t want two know whether me or ed are about two be fuckiing murdered riight now. ga be on 2tandby.
GA: Understood Sollux. I Wish You The Best Of Luck In Your Situation.
AC: :33 standby? what fur?
CT: D- - Nepeta, now is not the time to be questioning the final wishes of the trolls we know.
twinArmageddons has logged off-
caligulasAquarium has logged in-
AC: :33 where did pawlux go?
CA: sol wwent to check outside to see if the drones are still vvisible
- arachnidsGrip has logged in-
AG: What have I missed so far in this loser party? I don't feel like going 8ack and reading it all.
AT: tHAT'S nOT vERY nICE vRISKA,,, sOLLUX aND eRIDAN mIGHT bE iN bIG tROUBLE
AG: Yeah yeah. Calm down over there Pupa don't hurt yourself.
CA: wwell i see youre still alivve
AG: Of course! I always figure a way out of sticky situations. 8ecause I'm a winner. How's that diet working out for you?
CA: can you be fuckin serious for twwo bloody seconds you pathetic wwaste of fuckin space
AG: Two? That's cute. May8e you should take the h8 flirting down a notch. I mean, I'm flattered, but our kismesises can see this.
GA: That Is Enough, Vriska. This Is A Dire Situation. Eridan, Has Sollux Returned With Any News?
CA: jiongjlflkyionhmbmmmmmmmmmmmoijddddddd
AC: :33 umm…
CA: sorry
CA: dropped somethin on the keyboard
Eridan lifted Psiion quickly off the keyboard of the laptop where she had wiggled out of his grip and landed. She had gotten curious about all the colored lines of text popping up on the screen. Sollux re entered the hive and reclaimed his place on the couch as well as his computer. He glanced at the screen then looked over at Psiion once he saw that she had keyboard smashed in the chat.
caligulasAquarium has logged out-
twinArmageddons has logged in-
TA: ii 2tiill don't hear ed's voice iin my head. iit almo2t look2 liike the drone2 are ju2t 2tandiing out there doiing nothiing.
apocalypseArisen has logged in-
GA: They Might Be Waiting For The Occupants Of The Hive To Gather Their Contributions.
AA: S0llux are y0u 0k? I was just skimming 0ver the c0nversati0n s0 far. S0rry f0r n0t being 0n s00ner I was 0ut at my dig site.
AA: They c0uld just be waiting like Kanaya said.
CC: I called t)(em off.
TA: ff?
AC: :33 Fefurry?
GA: Feferi?
AG: Woah.
The responses were all nearly simultaneous and the rapid message notifications caught Eridan's attention. "FF just showed up on the chat," Sollux informed Eridan in disbelief.
"W-what?" He stammered. In his shock he completely didn't notice that Psiion had started gnawing on one of his rings again.
CT: D- - Your Highness.
GA: Is It True Then? You are Now Our Presiding Empress?
CC: Yes but it )(asn't been easy. I won but just barely.
TA: are you alright ff?
CT: D- - You should not address your Empress with such informality low b100d. Show some respect.
CC: It doesn't matter. Sollux is a frond )(e can call me by a nickname if )(e wants. Besides, under my rule blood color won't matter.
AC: :33 we nefur even saw you log on!
CC: O)(! T)(at's just )(ow my tablet is. It pretty muc)( keeps me logged on all t)(e time.
GA: How Are You Doing?
CC: I'm getting betta! Like I mentioned, I won but not by muc)(. I )(ad to practically drag mys)(ellf to t)(e t)(rone afterwards to complete the tradition. After that, I don't know w) (appened! I blacked out from blood loss and stayed unconc)(ous for several nig)(ts. I've been )(ealing and recupercoon ridden for aw)(ile. I'm finally able to summon t)(e strengt)( to do some t)(ings. Once I saw )(ow bad t)(e situation was on )(ere I immediately called off t)(e drones. I'm so sorry I codn't do it sooner. 38(
AA: y0u d0n't have t0 app0l0gize Feferi. The imp0rtant thing is that y0u are safe.
CC: T)(anks 38D
TA: 2o there wiill be no drone2?
CC: T)(ey s)(ould all be returning to t)(e palace immediately. One of t)(e t)(ings I want to work on is a complete restructuring of )(ow we collect genetic material for t)(e Mot)(er Grub. But for now I must rest some more. I'm still weak. Bye everyone!
cuttlefishCuller is now idle-
Sollux set his laptop on the coffee table in front of the couch and turned to look at Eridan and Psiion. It was quiet between the three of them aside from an occasional chirp from the young grub as she played with the ring that Eridan had removed from his finger and given to her. "The droneth aren't coming," Sollux repeated the news to Eridan in disbelief.
"Fef is the new Empress," Eridan said testing the words out on his tongue to let them fully sink in.
"We can stay together," Sollux said in relief taking Eridan's hand in his own and petting Psiion's head with his other hand.
"I'll put some coffee on," Eridan decided and stood from the couch.
"Oh yeah, about that…"