The Condesce's chambers had a huge window, one that overlooked the planet. The moon was a bit too high up for her to see the exact details, but she could often see small darks specks that were carapacians moving about amongst the violet stone.

However, she wasn't looking out of the window now. Instead, she reclined on her bed (one of the more useful human inventions) and tried to relax. She had been sensing a disturbance within the ranks of her subjects, and it unsettled her. She knew there were more than enough people with a distaste for her. Was there an upcoming underground rebel force?

She shook the thoughts from her mind. She could discuss those matters with the Seer later. Now was the time to recharge and regain energy for what was to come.

Alas Her Imperious Condescension was to be denied her rest this time, as there was a meek knock on her door, followed by the goggled eyes of her descendant peering around the door, though only after clipping her horn on the door frame. Seeing the Condesce was apparently doing nothing, at least not to her eyes anyway, she walked in and shyly closed the door behind her.

"H-hello..." She said, scarcely above a whisper. She had a light blush across her face, and her naive eyes were filled to the brim with worry. She stood there for a while, looking like at any moment she was about to explode with some vital piece of information.

She eventually just looked at the floor and rocked on her heels, before she spook again.

"I..." She muttered, as if fearing some horrific retribution for speaking.

It took a moment of collecting her thoughts before she looked up again. Her face was now blushing a lot brighter than before.

"....W-when do I start looking like...." She paused to gesture at Condi's form lying on the bed. "that?...and not....like this?..." she finished, before gesturing meekly at herself. She was wearing one of her shapely dresses but they both knew it was a show for the public.

The Condesce, already feeling annoyance from being disturbed, tried to regain composure and sat up, narrowing her eyes. She smoothed out her robes (they weren't her royal ones and instead were some elegant restwear from her life on Alternia) and gazed at her heiress appraisingly.

She didn't know what the girl was talking about (or moreso she oped it wasn't what she thought she was talking about. Weren't questions such as these fit for their lusus, her adoptive dersite mother?

Of course they were both dead, and she was her caretaker now. It made perfect sense that FEFERI would consult her over this issue.

In fact, that thought made her smile (though her grin ended p being a bit too toothy, a bit too sharp, a bit to menacing to be seen as friendly) and she cleared her throat.

"Heiress... what exactly do you mean?" she finally said, keeping her voice steady and passive.

Feferi could now just feel her face burn up. Was she mocking Feferi? Was that bitchy grin just her default way of trying to be nice? Still, she tried to focus her gaze a little. She wasn't going to be knocked down by one of the Empress' little tests.

"I...I'm 16 but I look like a glubbing wriggler!" She said, not that she knew what a real wriggler looked like, if she did, it may not have fitted into her comparison.

"You...you look like a grown up. I...How much longer do I have to wait? I HATE these stupid dresses. I want to be an adult, and look like an adult, and be able to wear what I like!" She affirmed, despite her face now an awkwardly pretty tyrian purple.

"I...you went through this, we have the same body...do I have to look like a little kid for much longer?" She asked. "No one takes me seriously..." She finished, trying to ignore the fact no one was there to take her seriously, or even care about her. She opted to fold her arms and puff out her cheeks in annoyance, complete with a little frown. Her fins lifted and spread out a little as she did so.

The Condesce's smile faltered. God glubbin' dammit, she was seriously doing to have this conversation.

She gestured for the young troll to come closer. She was all gangly arms and lanky body, there was no wonder why she was feeling self conscious. She looked exactly as she herself had appeared at seven or eight sweeps. "Well, dear. I can see why you'd be anxious to look like myself," she said with a faint chuckle. "But..."

But...

Oh, god, this is awkward.

No it isn't empresses aren't awkward

"Don't you already know??" she snapped, embarrassed at her, well, embarrassment. "I thought you spent too much getting attacked by carapacians to bother with such questions, anyway!" She added with an indignant grunt and toss of her thick curtain of hair.

Fef took an awkward step back. She looked hurt, not that she expected the Empress to care.

"S-shut up!" She cried out. "That's not funny! You...Shut up! Fuck you!"

Her eyes welled up slightly with pretty tears, but her hands clenched into tight little fists.

"It was horrible when that happened! It's not right to make jokes! You were little once too!"

She cringed a bit inwardly. It was hardly a major point, she doesn't think the Condesce could even remember being anything but a tall power hungry monster. Not that Feferi felt right to judge, she was here trying to have a rather personal talk with her.

"Look just..." Her voice trailed off, and her anger washed away, revealing the insecure little girl underneath. "Please?..." She whispered.

"It wont take long I just...I don't have anyone else to talk to. Mummy's dead." She said, trailing off as she became a nervous wreck and broke down crying.

The Condesce was startled. She was crying? Oh, shit, why was she--duh.

She stared helplessly, not knowing what else to do besides wait for her to finish crying. She reached out towards Feferi, an awkward and stunted movement, and patted her shoulder lightly. She thought about what she had said, about her being little once.

It really had been sweeps upon sweeps since she was her age... but she certainly could remember that far, being incredibly uncomfortable in her skin.

She supposed she could be a bit nicer. No one was watching, anyways.

Feferi swatted the Condesce's hand away as she reached over, like a poised purr beast, and she bared her shark teeth with a threatening edge.

"Don't touch me!" She shouted, apparently now less inclined to open her heart to her Empress.

"I'm not even sure what I expected! You're supposed to be my ANCESTOR! I'm told you're supposed to be this...almost magical figure I'm supposed to look up! But you HATE me! You always have!" She continued to howl, before snatching a piece of paper, some sort of carefully written royal notice promptly ignored, and scrunched it up before throwing it at the Condesce's head.

"I thought you would at least have cared about your descendant! but NO. You took me here to get married to....to ERIDAN! We're practically the same person!" She fumed. Not like this was unusual behaviour, she'd expressed her dislike of the Condesce's rule on numerous occasions, feelings that roared up again now her attempts to presumably bond had been shattered in her eyes.

When her hand was swatted away, the Condesce's first though was to slap the insolent troll, but instead curled his fingers into a tight fist. She listened to Feferi's loud exclamations, watched her face change colors. She realized that her lips were twisting into an amused smirk. The wriggler was like an indignant cuttlefish throwing a temper tantrum. It was almost endearing. She didn't bother to pick up the royal notice that bounced of her head and instead crossed her arms and stared at Feferi, waiting for her to finish.

"Are you done yet?" she asked, her voice now much softer (though it wasn't eccesarily kinder). "For I hear your complaint, but I mustn't cut you off. That might inspire another burst of..." she tilted her head to the side, trying to think of another way to say "tantrum". Instead, she flicked her hand a little and shrugged. "Well, whatever that was. It doesn't matter. The question is, have you composed yourself?"

Her stomach knotted when Feferi realised her Ancestor was right, she was throwing a tantrum. Her entire mood had been shot down in a few calm words from the Queen bitch of Derse. She folded her arms, trying to retain some scraps of dignity, though she had little luck in that. A quick glance in the nearby mirror even made her feel worse. Her hair was frizzing, again, which made it look horrendously uncombed, and her gangly limbs still hadn’t magically switched proportions to that of a ‘normal’ size. She guess she kind of understood why the Condesce wouldn’t take her seriously, she scarcely though she’d take herself seriously.

Deflated, she looked up at the Condesce again. The fire to be angry and demanding now long dead and cool.

“Y-yes. I’m sorry…” She replied, though at this point it was more of a nervous squeak.

“I’ll be good…”She finished, though her ‘princess training’ prevented her from slumping. She looked ready to have a conversation again, or at least ready to take some verbal abuse, though the two often overlap tremendously when talking to the Condesce.

The Condesce narrowed her eyes. With only a few choice words, she easily sucked the fire out of her. Ridiculous.

She crossed her arms over her (substantial) chest and shifted her weight. Good god, the princess looked as far from regal as you could get. She was already looking down at being scolded and the way her ridiculous goggles pushed up at her (poofy) hair would be funny if it wasn't so damn sad. And if she didn't look so much like her that age, a humiliating thought she tried her best to forget at times like this. It was frustrating, trying to insult someone's appearance when she herself once looked like that too. She cleared her throat. "Good. I respect your indignation, but this is ridiculous."

She started to circle around Feferi, a movement just as predatory as a shark circling its prey. The resemblance was uncanny, and the sharp teeth filling the grin spreading across her face made her regal face seem even more beastly, her inhuman beauty nearly impercievable.

Feferi was hardly ignorant to her ancestors predatory movements. The woman stirred up mixed feelings in the girl she encircled. On one hand she was a monster, a power hungry fiend who had slaughtered her way into power. No one was important, everyone was expendable, and she was terrifying to be around.

...However

She was also this strong, beautiful creature. She took shit from no one and she fought for what she believed in to the death. Feferi may not agree with this beliefs, but she couldn't but help admire this. Ancestors were role models and here she was.

And she was judging Feferi with every annoyed ounce of her being. It was just being punched in the gut after your barkbeast died.

"I'm sorry..." she repeated.

The Condesce took a deep breath. Being gentle, consoling crying girls just wasn't something she was adept at. To be honest, it wasn't something she WANTED to be adept at. It was a useless skill, and sooner or later crying girls stopped crying by themselves. Thank god the wailing was over.

"Feferi, dear," she managed to not choke on the term of endearment, but it still felt foreign in her mouth. "I understand. Believe me, I do." She hesitated before continuing. Perhaps... if she confided in her heiress something she would most likely tell no one else, something of a bond might dare to form between them. "Would you believe me if I told you I was faced with the same uncertainties plaguing you now?"

She broke her circling motion and walked back towards her chair. "It must be difficult, seeing others go through changes you've barely begun. However, I thoroughly assure you that you will go through them."

Feferi was unsure how to react at first. The fear that had taken root at the base of her gut was still as strong as she had remembered it to be, but it no longer felt like that absolutely controlling entity it was but a few moments ago. However, finally being free of the predatory circling did elicit a shiver, as her ancestor went back to her chair.

The older Peixes spoke about what seemed to be when she was younger. Feferi was still unsure what to say. She almost, so very almost, ran up to the woman and hugged her. She'd never felt this desire for approval before, nothing like how she ever felt for her Carapace guardian.

"T-thank you..." She whispered, in part because she feared the consequences of seeming ungrateful. She paused for a moment, taking a deep breath as quietly as she could, and then slowly exhaling. She felt a bit better after that, though it still took will power to keep her legs from shaking.

"It's nice to have someone to glub to aboat this...especially since my mother....yeah." She said, slipping back into the comforting fish puns.

"We...um...On our world, we would have had the same mother, a lusus thing...right? I would've had a mother that my blood dictated. That's what the older trolls say....Was...I mean...what was our lusus like? I never got the chance to meet her..."