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Sollux led Aradia inside his temporary hive, where she promptly gasped, agape at the sight. Her fins stood at full mast, her throatflaps purring.
“An abandoned purpleblood hive?” She turned to Sollux, starry-eyed. Moments like this made him wonder if they would have worked as a real pair of… matesprits, moirails, whatever this was. “This is my kind of dating spot!”
The heiress unfurled her whip and started lashing the air, the snap! Snap! Snap! Echoing in the cavernous hive. Sollux didn’t have time to react before the whip crashed into one of the bulbous lamps.
The broken glass rained down on the floor, joined by thorny veins and skittering insects of gods know what kind. Some of them fell onto Aradia, who shrieked- wait, no, she was giggling. The bugs’ shells, iridescent in the green moon’s light streaming through the windows, warned of danger. Some of them started biting her face, causing tiny pinpricks of blood to come out of her skin. Fuchsia. Just like her freckles yeah that’s not creepy at all. Some of the bugs stuck to her fins instead.
Sollux moved in to swat the bugs away – though the blood looked almost like the freckles, the bugs were big enough for him to see. And so was the broken glass pieces.
“Lucky I’m wearing my longest sleeves today,” he said, half playful, half grumbling, which made Aradia laugh harder. She cared not about shit like this, apparently. What did she care about?
You , Sollux’s mind supplied. Okay yeah sure thing oh shit the bugs were climbing onto him now. He was getting absolutely creamed, what with the bugs crawling up his neck and face fuck he shook his head like crazy.
“Lucky me, too,” Aradia said, swatting the bugs off him, grinning at him, serrated fangs shining sickly green from the moonlight. Good instincts dictate you ditch seadwellers the first time you get, but Sollux stayed put, shuddering a bit. Aradia’s touch was cold to his skin, even when heat crept up to his cheeks. “How’d you find this place? Wait, some bugs in your hair…”
Aradia’s hands moved up to weave between his braids. He shuddered again, not so much from the cool seatroll skin… ah, fuckpods. When she flicked the bugs off, her fingers brushed upon his horns. His knees turned to slime effective immediately. How was he still standing upright?
“There, all good!” She smiled, patting his head. Now his ankles felt weak too. “Now where were we?”
“This is my hive,” Sollux replied, steadying his voice to not be as shaky as he felt. Then, with a self-deprecating grin, “At least for now…”
“For now?” Aradia’s grin faded. “Are you running from someone? Wait… wait, wait. You’re a jadeblood.”
Sollux nodded, but offered nothing else. Telling the Heiress about his situation would be a shitshow.
“A Jade,” she looked past his face and up, up, to his horns. “With bifurcated horns. No wonder you’re running away!”
Sollux’s gut felt like it was filled with the crawling bugs from that broken lamps. His own fault for not hiding his mutation and identity he guessed. But how could he even hide four tall prongs with weird ends? People don’t make horn caps for hideous things like him.
“Oh- oh you’re scared, aren’t you?” Aradia frowned. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know how to talk to lowbloods. Is that mean?”
“It’s fine AA. You do realize now why I live in the middle of glubfuck nowhere.”
Aradia looked at him square in the eyeglasses. He saw her schooling her expression to show not so much teeth. “I won’t tell anyone where you live, promise. It’s not like I know any threshecutioners, and the Senatormentors wouldn’t listen to me because I’m seven sweeps old.”
Now there was a way for Sollux to segue into a conversation that wasn’t about his identity as Sollux Maryam. “You work with senatormentors? In the Fish Bowl?”
“Yes!” she replied. “Let’s get inside, I don’t want us to get swarmed with even more bugs.”
“Sure thing, AA,” Sollux said, and led the way. Aradia took his hand in hers, fingers curled between his, cold and warm. He walked faster and hoped she’d catch up. The hive was less dilapidated deeper in, with tech junk he’d reverse-engineered into working again (but without the spyware). The psionic detector, the computer, the food maker, the showers, all Makara Tech stuff he had to study in the Academy. One can live here forever, self-sufficient, if they could hide from the government. He also locked the doors, hoping those godsforsaken bugs wouldn’t come in.
The psionic detector didn’t ping in Aradia’s presence. She was not a psionic, then; fuchsias didn’t seem to be psionics normally.
“Cool stuff,” Aradia said, looking around in what Sollux hoped was awe and not a secret note-taking-of-dissident-behavior, “Did they come with the hive?”
“Yeah, but I fixed them,” Sollux replied, seating himself on the huge chair on the computer desk. He turned around to see Aradia, and gestured for her to sit on the work table, thankfully emptied of projects today. He didn’t have any higher seats than that, but hopefully that counted as proper caste seating. Not that Aradia has been explicitly casteist but it never hurt to be safe and considerate. Serket was only cerulean but he doesn’t like it if you made him sit his bulging seatsponges on a work table.
Aradia, despite being leagues higher than his boss, didn’t make a fuss. Somehow. She just jumped to sit on the table, cross-legged, fiddling with the gold trims of her wetsuit.
“Impeccable stuff,” Sollux continued. “You can get some food on that contraption if you want.” He pointed at the machine on the far end, food and drink (none of them fresh or warm but he was a Jade and he didn’t care much) at a click of your finger.
“Later,” Aradia replied. “You said you want to hear about my work in the Senatorment Hall?”
Sollux snorted. “What, AA, you don’t call it ‘Fish Bowl’ too?”
“You’re funny! Seadwellers don’t call it the ‘Fish Bowl’.”
“So seadwellers call it ‘the Normal Bowl’?”
“I hope not!” Aradia snickered, the fins on the side of her face flaring. “It’s not even shaped like a bowl.”
“It’s got glass windows, and filled with fin-faces,” Sollux argued, leaning forward on his chair, “It’s a fish bowl.”
“False glass windows,” Aradia winked, fins fluttering, “Meetings don’t happen where outsiders can see them.”
Back to the question, then. “What do you do in the meetings, anyway?”
“I’m ordered to moderate them,” she explained, “But I’m also allowed to say my piece, at least in theory. Most of the time the Senatormentors just dismiss what I say.”
Her fins drooped.
“Wait a hot minute,” Sollux leaned on his thigh, lowering his shades to look intently at his friend, “Senatormentors are all violetbloods right? Aren’t you higher than them or is my mutation smoothing my thinkpan?”
“Fuchsias are by law higher than Violets,” Aradia replied, “But there’s only me and the Empress against thousands of violetbloods.”
“But there aren’t thousands of Senatormentors. And more than two fuchsiabloods.”
“Yes, but,” Aradia leaned forward as well. “They’re adults, Sollux! Except the Junior Senatormentors. Do you know where the other Fuchsias go?”
Sollux sorted the files in his thinkpan to find his history schoolfeeding. “To… the colonies?”
“Exactly.” Her lips pressed grimly, and her fins rose again. “They are Emissaries who answer to the Senatormentors back in Alternia.”
Sollux put a hand on his chin and the other to straighten his glasses back to normal position. “Doesn’t your ancestor help you?”
“Why would she?” Aradia shot back. “We have to fight to the death as soon as I turn nine. She doesn’t even live on the planet. Did you forget your schoolfeeding?”
“AA I literally went to the Academy of Engineering so I don’t have to study any more history.”
Aradia’s fins rose again, higher than before, and the way her teeth bared made Sollux flinch. “Hey, you can’t forget your history.”
“Look at your own blood color AA, then look at mine, then tell me,” Sollux snapped, “Which of us is bulge deep in a wildly incontinent hoofbeast’s fecal matter?”
She jumped down from her seat and loomed over him, claws gripping the armrests. He pushed every urge inside him that told him to press his back to the seat, to run, to defend himself.
“You’re lucky your ancestor isn’t out to kill you ever since you were hatched!”
Sollux pushed her and fuck, she didn’t budge. Damn brinesuckers and their morbidly strong bodies. “What do you know about my ancestor?!”
Aradia didn’t let go of his chair, but stopped glaring at him to glare at his horns.
“No wonder they look familiar…”
Then, to Sollux’s utter shock, she stepped back, the drone of her throatflaps low and nervous. “Your ancestor is Mituna Maryam… The Architex.”
“Shit,” Sollux groaned, throwing himself back and clutching his head. She knows now. You reckless, panless idiot.
“Your horns are very recognizable,” Aradia said, “It’s little wonder why you had to move constantly…”
“Yeah, tell me how lucky I am now,” he said, gritting his teeth, “Having one of the most infamous rebels in your lineage is the best gift a troll can have.”
“I crossed a line.” Her fins lowered again. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”
Sollux wished he was any good with weapons and she wasn’t built like a glubbing tank. “You did I guess.”
“You don’t deserve it,” Aradia continued, more softly, “You don’t deserve to live like this because your ancestor was a rebel. I know you’re not one.”
Bullshit , Sollux wanted to say, Running away from Imperial surveillance was as rebellious as rebels go without going on a blazing revolution trying to burn the Fish Bowl.
“Eh it’s cool I guess,” Sollux said instead, “I’m getting used to it. It’s better than being watched whenever I take a fucking breath… I didn’t even get to see the brooding caverns. I heard it was a shit job tending to the giant insemination bugfuck, covered in slurry and eggs. Ew.”
“Ew,” Aradia echoed, “I’ve never seen the brooding caverns either. Do you often meet other Jades?”
“Just a few,” Sollux replied, “They say they’re not all stuck in the brooding caverns, but the adults make sure an even number goes to different academies so they can teach the grubs and wrigglers different shit in the caverns after they graduate.”
Aradia’s jaw dropped. “They let you guys out, not let you choose your academies, only to force you in again?”
“That’s the Jade caste for you.” He shrugged. “A lot of my friends in engineering try to slack off and graduate late so they don’t have to go back to the caverns too soon. They’re lucky jadebloods are rare, or they’d been culled like other castes if they miss the graduation deadlines.”
“How about you?”
“I registered under a fake name and mostly study online,” Sollux answered, “And I plan to do something that isn’t grub-rearing after I graduate. Maybe I’ll apply to Makara Tech, who knows. If Jades aren’t allowed…” Maybe I’ll flee somewhere untouched by this godsforsaken empire. Maybe I’ll find a way to falsify my caste...
“I’ll make sure they accept you,” Aradia said, “I know Equius. He’s the heir of Makara Tech, but he answers to me.”
Sollux doubted they would still be together when he graduated, but smiled gratefully anyway. “Thanks, AA. I appreciate it.”
“Of course, what wouldn’t I do for you?” Her smile was sweet, but Sollux saw something in her eyes that said differently. Maybe he had no choice in the matter. Maybe if he’d gotten what Serket wanted from her and tried to make up an excuse to break up, she’d still make sure he stayed. If not for his companionship, for the leverage she had over him.
Welp, he’d burn that bridge when he got to it.
For now… Sollux rose from his chair, eyes on the foodmaker. “I’ll get us both some water. And snacks. Do you like grubsticks?”
“What if I make you harder to find?”
He stopped in his tracks. “How?”
“I know magic,” Aradia said, walking closer to him to lean conspiratorially into his ear. “I can change your horns. I can make people not recognize you in the open.”
“Damn AA,” Sollux laughed, moving away from her and closer to the machine, “You don’t need to waste your so-called powers on me. I know how to hack anyway, I’ll get the threshies off my back and you won’t have to worry about a thing.”
“It’s not so-called, you know,” she continued – her presence felt closer now. Sollux forgot which buttons he wanted to press. Water? Food? What was he going to type again? “Seadwellers learn magic in their schoolfeeding, so that we have equal powers to lowbloods’ psionics.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“That’s cool AA,” Sollux said automatically. What was he doing again? Oh, generating food. What food? What was he making? What did Aradia say she wanted? Water? He tried to find the button that opened the keyboard… oh… there, next to the screen. Click. Nothing happened. Was the machine on?
“I know, right?” Aradia giggled, “I can make it painless, I promise.”
“Oh, sure,” Sollux replied, “I don’t like pain.”
He looked for the ‘on’ button… hm… where… he could see it. But he couldn’t… He palmed the buttons, and felt each groove under his fingers. Which… on button… it had to beep if he pushed it. Push. No beep.
Push. No beep again.
Push. Beep!
Good. Now the keyboard button. Click. The keyboard jutted out, ready for him to input commands into.
“Water,” Aradia said from behind him, “And some spined finbeast cuts, maybe?”
Oh, that’s what Aradia wants. Sollux typed her commands – landdwellers didn’t usually eat seafood, but he guessed Aradia didn’t know that. Hopefully the machine could make it. And now some grubsticks with spicy sauce for himself.
2 water, 1 spined finbeast cuts, 1 grubsticks with spicy sauce.
The machine’s monitor displayed a loading screen.
“How long does it take to finish our orders?” Aradia asked.
Sollux turned around to see her fiddle with a golden stick with some fuchsia details. “Maybe half an hour,” he answered, “I haven’t really made it go faster, since I’m usually alone in here.”
“That’s okay,” she replied, grinning. Twirling the stick in her hand, she asked, “Do you want to start the magic stuff now?”
“Huh?” He blinked. “What magic stuff?”
“To change your horns,” Aradia said, walking over to the work table. Sollux followed her, his steps heavy… slow… he was sleepy. He yawned, stretching his body, before throwing himself onto the chair he’d sat in. Comfy…
“That’s nice, AA,” Sollux smiled. “I won’t be recognized on the streets anymore.”
Aradia stood in front of him, the golden stick pointing at his horns. “That is the aim! It is safe, I promise.”
“Okay,” he murmured, closing his eyes…
Which flew open immediately when a sharp pain hit his horns.
“It’s safe!” Aradia cried, but Sollux could barely hear her over his own screams. His horns felt like they were set on fire, searing heat digging into the bone- “I have tried this before!”
Not only heat, his horns felt like they melted, fuck, shitfuckfuck glubbing hells- they were stretching , no, stretched out, up… down… he gripped the armrests tighter, please, please stop-
“Sollux,” Aradia’s voice broke in through the pain, her cool hand touching his, please touch my horns instead, please AA, “This will stop soon! I… You don’t deserve this… But you’re not a rebel, right?”
“No!” The scream tore itself out of Sollux’s lungs. “No, I’m not a rebel!”
The pain burst from his horns to the rest of his body, blinding his vision and his head pounded, pleasestopplease, my head, my head , he felt like he was zapped all over, strung tight with wires in each and every muscle he wanted to break free, he wanted out -
“Fuck, it’s bleeding!” Sollux heard someone say, and the blood trickled down, he felt his hair soak. A trail flowed down his forehead it tickled in the worst way, no, two trails, three, he needed to get it off but if he didn’t hold on to his seat he’d die-
“Please, please work, Sollux I’m sorry, Sollux, I’m sorry-”
She was murmuring, chanting something something cold, cold, something heavy pushed itself down on him, heavy and cold. Cold… The icy chill penetrated through his layers of clothing and gripped , gripped him so deep, digging into his blood, fuckshit nubfuck help help help-
You don’t want to dismantle the caste system?
The voice stabbed through his head, invader invader get out GET OUT!
“No, get out, get out, get out of my head-”
You don’t want to protect other mutants and destroy the Empire?
“No, no, I don’t even know any other mutants, please stop, please stop!”
His cheeks were cold, cold with tears, tears dripping down the chair, his pants, the wet is uncomfortable but anything was better than the dark he couldn’t see, the dark that sifted through his muscles, his stomach, swerving between bones and sinew, body and soul, and the space inside his fingers and-
Beep!
More chanting.
Beep! Beep!
The darkness lifted… the weights that pressed him down suddenly left, and he was upright again, in pain, but… was it over?
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The food machine. AA. He was on a date with Aradia.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
They were going to eat together.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
What was she doing to him?
“Sollux?”
What was happening?
“AA?”
“Are you okay?”
Something unfurled between, behind, inside his ears, thought after thought after thought, and his throat hurt from all the screaming. Why had he been screaming? His horns? He felt them throbbing. Why? All he could say was, “It hurts…”
He saw Aradia before him, eyes misty and fins downcast.
“I’m sorry for everything… I couldn’t change your horns. I should’ve practiced more.”
“My horns…” His hands reflexively go up, but Aradia pushed them down.
“Not now,” she said, “They’re… cut off. I need sopor to soothe them. Do you have any?”
Every word that came out of her mouth was stranger than the previous. “You… cut off my horns?”
“You asked!”
“Shit, AA,” Sollux sighed, “I shouldn’t have asked you to do that. Why did I even ask?”
“You… couldn’t go to the mediculler, remember? You’d be found out. As the Architex’s descendant.”
“Right.”
Not only she knew who his ancestor was, she also had the authority to cull him or worse. He threw his head back to the chair’s backrest, and noted that the top of his horns no longer touched it.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said glumly, “I don’t know any surgery techniques. But I know how to use sopor, at least.”
He nodded. “Sopor is in the fridge. You can thaw them… I bought the self-thawing containers.”
“Thank you,” Aradia nodded and retrieved a pack. She leaned on the work bench while it thawed, only barely sitting her ass on the surface.
Sollux had no idea what to say. Everything in him hurt, especially the horns, the head, and his hands – from clutching the armrests? It made sense. He simply looked at his friend, who didn’t meet his gaze. She was looking down at the cubical sopor container, turning it around between her fingers.
“I’ll get you the food after I tend to your wounds,” she said, wiping her eyes, “Stay put, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I won’t report you, Sollux,” she continued, “I don’t want to lose your company.”
“Thanks, AA,” he replied, a smile creeping up to his lips. Despite everything, this date wasn’t a total failure. “Neither do I.”