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Feferi stood in front of her mirror. Other than a slight breeze and occasional sounds from the vents, her block was silent.
She held a pair of scissors in one hand, and a fair chunk of hair in the other. She hated this. Her mom always said that her hair was special, because she was a princess.
The Condesce and the princess always have long hair, her mother would whisper to her.
It's to remind them of the sea, of me.
But Feferi didn't want to remember the sea, or her mother. Gl'bgolyb always had such strict rules, and she was always reprimanding her charge for one thing or another.
Princesses wear skirts.
Princesses do not wear lowblood colors.
Princesses don't cry over a culled lusus.
Princesses have quadrantmates no lower than indigo blood.
All of the rules bounced around her thinkpan, but one kept repeating: Princesses have long hair.
She looked at herself in the mirror again. Long hair that drags on the floor, that tangles so easily, that is nearly impossible to keep clean, hair that reminds her of her hive in the sea. Of her mother.
She scrunches her eyes closed and brings the thick lock of hair between the blades of the scissors. She takes a deep breath, and... Snip.
Feferi lets go of the lock, and all of the now freed hair drops to her feet.
Eyes still closed, she pulls more hair over her shoulder and cuts until she's standing in a pile of hair up just past her knees.
Feferi drops the scissors into the mass of hair at her feet and cracks an eye open. Her hair was choppy, like stormy seas, but she smiled wide.
I broke a rule. I broke one for the first time since I was barely two. T)(is feels GR--EAT!
Bang! Something hit the wall next to her door, making her jolt out of her thoughts.
The door slid open, a squeakbeast scrambled in, followed by a familiar face. Nepeta pounced, trapping the creature in her hands, and stood.
Feferi felt a bit nervous, as she felt a bit red for Nepeta and she had just cut her hair about as short as Nepeta's.
"Oh, hey Fefurry!" Nepeta grinned, "I didn't mean to run into your block." Nepeta tipped her head in that adorable way she did when she had a question. "Mew look furry diffurent with your hair short..." Feferi blushed a bit, worried. "I think it's cute!"
Feferi let out a tiny breath she didn't realize she was holding. Of course s)(e likes it! Nepeta's always so sweet.
"Is something wrong?" Nepeta asked.
"No, no!" Feferi answered a bit too quickly. "Just a bit shaken up. I wasn't expecting you," she laughed nervously.
Nepeta waited a beat before saying "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but... Mew may want to see Kanaya?"
Feferi's ear fins drooped a bit. "Is it that bad?"
Nepeta shook her head, "No, no! I just don't want Vwhiskers to make fun of you." She gently guided one of Feferi's hands towards her, palm up. "I think it's furry adorable!" She placed the still living squeakbeast in Fef's hand. "But the others, like Vwhiskers, might make fun of you... And I want to make sure you feel loved and nice all the time! And someone being mean like that..." She thought for a moment for the word. "It's gonna make you feel like... Well, shit!" She placed a sharp claw in the squeakbeast's head. "And anyone who does that, makes you cry and feel bad, deserves to be in as much pain as you're in," she finished with a chill to her voice, punctiating the last word by stabbing the tiny creature in Feferi's hand and daintily lapping the blood from her claw and fingertip.
Feferi blushed and thought )(oly shit, why was that so... )(ot?
Nepeta hugged the seadweller. "Want help cleaning up?" Feferi nodded.