)(ow is t)(e little one doing?
Eridan stared down at his phone screen where the simple question remained illuminated. He had no idea how to answer it nor did he even want to. Unfortunately, Sollux was out running errands so he couldn't exactly ask his matesprit for advice. Eridan looked over at Psiion where she was sprawled out on the floor playing with blocks. He bit his lip and checked the time again. Forty minutes had gone by since he had received the message.
The front door opened and Sollux entered the hive carrying a bag. Eridan breathed a sigh of relief. "Daddy!" Psiion abandoned her blocks to run over to Sollux at the door. The little troll latched onto his leg and he struggled to close the door behind him and move out of the entryway.
"I wathn't gone that long," Sollux grinned at his wriggler and reached into his bag to pull out a small toy. Psiion smiled brightly and took the toy from her guardian to run back to her blocks to play with it.
"It feels like you were gone forever," Eridan said flatly then handed his phone off to the yellow blood. Sollux gave him a perplexed look then turned his gaze to the phone screen. His expression remained unreadable although his ears did twitch slightly. "What are we goin' to tell her?" Eridan asked. Sollux's fingers began typing out a message and before the violet blood could even protest he hit send and tossed the phone back.
"Doing well. We're hoping she'll come out thoon," Sollux recited what he had sent to Feferi.
"If she finds out that Psiion has been out of her cocoon…" Eridan trailed off. "We've got to do somethin'. If we're buyin' ourselves this time we need to start tryin' to teach her whatever it is that we think will help her." There was a long silence as they both watched Psiion playing with her toys. Sollux left the room to put his bag down. Eridan got up from the couch to approach Psiion.
"Come on Psi. I think it's about time for you to have some lunch," Eridan said. He reached down to take her hand and guided her to the meal block. He set the young troll in a chair at the table and started working on preparing sandwiches for the three of them. He was so absorbed in focusing on the task at hand he was startled when he heard Sollux enter the block.
"What the fuck?" Sollux exclaimed followed by Psiion's giggling. Eridan turned around to see Psiion standing in the middle of the table laughing.
"Fuck!" Psiion shouted.
"No! Shit!" Sollux ran over to grab the wriggler off the table.
"Shit!" Psiion parroted back.
"Sollux!" Eridan reprimanded angrily.
"Thorry!" Sollux said sheepishly holding Psiion in his lap as he sat at the table. Eridan set Sollux's plate down somewhat forcefully before returning to the table with his own and Psiion's portions. Sollux transferred the young troll to her own chair and moved her plate closer. "Thankth for the food ED." Eridan huffed and took a bite of his sandwich before responding.
"You're welcome," the violet blood finally said.
"Thiion, when we get done eating we're going to play with thionicth," Sollux said. Psiion was taking a bite out of her smaller sized sandwich that she held in her tiny hands.
"Daddy play!" she said excitedly once she had swallowed her bite of food.
"I guess I'll try to make her a stronger swimmer," Eridan thought out loud. "We'll have to go down to the shore tomorrow."
"That'th pretty much all we can really do," Sollux sighed.
"We're goin' swimmin' tomorrow," Eridan told Psiion between bites of food.
"Dad swim!" the little violet blood chirped.
Once the food had been eaten and the plates cleared, Sollux led Psiion outside. They ventured a reasonable distance from the hive to ensure that it wouldn't be within blast range. Sollux knew he'd never hear the end of it if something got blown up in the crossfire. The yellow blood stood examining his young offspring for a moment as she looked up at him expectantly.
"Alright," Sollux said clearing his throat," we know you can pick thtuff up like thith," he demonstrated levitating a small rock with psionics. Psiion watched in amusement and then looked for her own rock to pick up. She found a stone that was more like a pebble and soon had it floating in front of her.
"Good job," Sollux praised with his lopsided grin. "Now throw it like thith," he instructed. The rock shot out of sight and after a moment a distant thud was heard when it finally made contact with the ground. Psiion's eyes widened in wonder and she refocused on her own pebble. The small stone wobbled slightly in the air before the blue and red glow of psionics surrounding it vanished and it dropped to the ground. Psiion pouted and Sollux thought of how closely she resembled Eridan when she made that face.
"That'th okay," Sollux told her gently. "Try again." The tiny violet blood's brow knit together as she concentrated on floating the pebble in the air again. Her earfins flicked and the pebble trembled in the air before being daintily tossed a few feet and landing on the ground.
"Yay!" Psiion grinned and looked excitedly at Sollux.
"Not bad," Sollux patted her on the head and ruffled her hair. Psiion ducked away from his hand and attempted to pat her hair back into place. "Oh no, don't get thtarted with that kind of nonthenthe," Sollux rolled his eyes. Psiion stuck her tongue out at him and continued primping. "Hey! Show some rethpect to your elderth, kid," Sollux said surprised at his own wriggler's spunk.
The two continued practice throwing various rocks and stones for some time until Sollux decided it was time to change tactics. He bit his lip as he contemplated his next move carefully. Without much warning he sent a stone flying in Psiion's direction. The little troll almost didn't see it coming but turned her attention toward it just in time to shriek and hold her hands out to block her face while halting the object mid-air with her psionics. When it fell to the ground she turned to look at Sollux with wide eyes. "Daddy?" she questioned in confusion. Sollux kneeled to hug her tightly.
"I promithe I'm not trying to hurt you," he assured her. "I just want to make thure you can protect yourthelf."
"Protect?" she asked. Sollux pulled out of the hug and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"In cathe you are ever in danger or thomeone trieth to hurt you."
"Hurt?" she asked fearfully.
"Eridan and I will alwayth protect you, but thometimeth you will have to protect yourthelf," Sollux said. His mind weighed heavily with her impending trials. "Come on, let'th get back to the hive. You did really great tonight," he said taking her hand in his own. As they walked back towards the hive Sollux noticed a figure approaching in the distance. "Shit," he swore under his breath and quickly scooped Psiion into his arms to run back inside before whoever it was got to their door.
"Sol?" Eridan questioned as Sollux breathlessly rushed into the hive and shut the door frantically behind him.
"Someone's coming," Sollux said in between breaths. "Take her to her block," he instructed. Eridan didn't have to be told twice. Just as the two violet bloods got settled in Psiion's block there was a knock at the door.
Sollux took a deep breath then opened the door to find a troll he had never seen before standing on the other side. The troll definitely looked like she came from the palace due to her official uniform and the insignia of the Empress worn on her sleeve. "Can I help you with thomething?" Sollux asked, barely keeping the irritation out of his voice.
"Are you Sollux Captor or Eridan Ampora?" the troll asked in a formal manner.
"I'm Sollux Captor," he answered. The troll then nodded and handed him a document.
"I have been sent to collect a Mr. Sollux Captor, Mr. Eridan Ampora, and a wriggler. You have all been summoned to the palace by Her Honorable Benevolency," the troll said as she remained rigidly in place on the other side of the door. Sollux broke the seal on the document and unfolded it to skim over its contents. Right at the bottom was Feferi's signature in fuchsia ink. He took out his phone to check if he had any unread messages from Feferi but came up with nothing.
"Why didn't FF jutht text me or thomething? Why'd she have to-" And then it hit him. The troll on his doorstep had been sent to bring him, Eridan, and a wriggler. Feferi somehow knew Psiion was out of her cocoon. She knew and she was pissed. Pissed enough to have a legal document drawn up and signed demanding his and Eridan's presence before her in court. "Shit," he hissed.
"I was sent alone because the Empress did not anticipate resistance on your part," the troll stated. "Am I going to need to request back up?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"What? No! No, jutht," he held his hands up as a sign of not causing any trouble and stepped back from the door a bit. "Jutht give me a minute to let them know."
"I will wait here," the troll nodded. Sollux closed the door carefully so as to not appear to be slamming the door in her face. His blood pusher felt like it was going to hammer out of his chest. He slowly made his way to Psiion's block and pushed the door open. Eridan was on the floor with Psiion playing dolls with her. The sight almost made Sollux tear up. Seeing his wriggler playing so innocently when he wasn't sure if she would still be alive by the end of the week was bitter sweet.
"What's goin' on?" Eridan asked looking up from the doll in his hand.
"We've got to go," Sollux nearly whispered. "FF hath thent for uth. All of uth," he nodded in Psiion's direction. Eridan breathed in sharply. "Our ethcort ith waiting for uth outthide." Eridan took a deep breath and set the doll in his hand down.
"Looks like we get to go on a little trip Psi," Eridan said to the young troll. She looked up at him with curious eyes. "Come on," he said getting up. Psiion reluctantly put her toy down and stood up to grab Eridan's hand. Eridan and Sollux walked solemnly to the front door. Psiion could sense that something wasn't quite right in the atmosphere but she lacked the vocabulary to question it.
"We're going to thee the palathe," Sollux told her.
"You're even goin' to get to meet the Empress," Eridan added and squeezed her hand affectionately.
"Empreth?" Psiion asked.
"Her name is Feferi," Eridan explained. "She rules over all of the trolls in the Empire and makes sure everyone follows the rules and is safe." Psiion thought that made sense. She nodded as she followed her guardians to the door. Sollux opened the door again to reveal the troll in uniform on the other side.
"Ready to go?" the troll asked while eyeing Psiion skeptically.
"Let'th get thith over with," Sollux answered begrudgingly. He let out a breath, locked the door behind them, and followed the troll along with Eridan and the little troll who had no idea how unique she was.