Scorpia had never been one to sleep in. She’d stuck to a very strict schedule in the Horde, and once she’d joined the Princess Alliance, things were too hectic to sleep in much. Even her first few months in Vallo, her internal clock and woken her up precisely when she was supposed to wake up, and she was out of bed as soon as she woke up.
Her internal clock still woke her up at nearly the same time every single day, but now she didn’t jump right out of bed as soon as she woke up. Now, she had Perfuma lying next to her, and Perfuma was warm and soft, and Scorpia still couldn’t believe, sometimes, that Perfuma wanted to be with her. Sometimes, when she woke up, she would lie on her side and watch Perfuma until she woke up. Othertimes, like today, she would close her eyes again and burrow herself deeper into the blankets and against Perfuma.
Except this time, there was something there between them. Something warm and squishy. Something that groaned and then said “Mama?”
Scorpia leapt out of bed backwards with scream, patting herself to make sure she was wearing pyjamas (she was) and stared at the small, white-haired child in the sheets. And then she screamed again. The child started crying.
“Oh, oh no,” Scorpia said, approaching carefully. The girl had a tail, a Scorpini tail, but she didn’t have pincers. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
Perfuma, who had been sleeping very pleasantly, jolted awake and looked around blindly for a moment simply because her eyes hadn't adjusted yet and there was so much noise. Scorpia screams, some crying, more screams. That was terrifying! If something could scare Scorpia they had to be in danger.
"What is it? What is it?" she asked, blinking her vision into something a bit more coherent. "Are we under attack?"
Then her eyes landed on the child, the child with white hair and little tail like Scorpia's wrapped around her leg, scared and crying. Instinctively, she just reached out, still in bed, and put her arms around the little one, though her eyes were looking at Scorpia with the most confused and perplexed expression she'd probably ever had. Any zen she might have had was completely out the window.
Pieces were starting to fall into place now that Scorpia’s mind was starting to wake up. She remembered last year, when people’s future children had shown up, had been waiting to see Finn again because she loved her little buddy.
She hadn’t given much thought to the idea of her and Perfuma having a child of their own, not until now, because she couldn’t imagine who else this little girl could belong to – half Scorpini, and with Perfuma’s eyes, and for a moment, all Scorpia could do was stare, pincers to her mouth.
But then the girl hiccupped, and Scorpia moved closer again, sitting next to Perfuma on the bed.
“Oh, hey,” she said, in her best soothing voice. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I didn’t mean to scream, I just wasn’t expecting anyone. Anyone other than Perfuma – your mom? – I mean. Did you just get here?”
The child nodded her head and sniffed, though it was evident from her expression that she didn't fully understand what was going on (which could probably be understood, given the situation). "I-I was in the hall, mama. And it was scary, so I crawled into your bed."
Perfuma had seen several people on the network talking about 'future kids,' or the future kids themselves talking on the network like they'd always been here. She certainly didn't expect to experience it herself, though she had to admit she couldn't be too surprised since Adora and Catra had Finn previously. But that would mean that she and Scorpia…? The thought made her really happy, just then, but it would have to be something to think about later. For right now, they had this child right in front of them.
"Shh, shh, it's okay," she said, rocking the child in her arms for a moment. "We should get some breakfast. I can make waffles?"
Scorpia took a moment to drink in the sight of Perfuma with the child, beaming. She’d always liked kids, had always wanted children of her own, and to see Perfuma with theirs... well, for a moment it did something that was generally thought impossible: Scorpia was speechless. Her throat had swollen up, and she thought that she might start crying.
She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Your mom makes really good waffles, but you probably knew that already, didn’t you?” The girl nodded, and Scorpia extended a pincer so that they could hold hands on their way to the kitchens. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Flora,” Flora sniffed, wiping her eyes with her hands, but then she reached out and took Scorpia’s and came off the bed, and then reached for Perfuma’s hand as well. “Finn told me about when they came to the past when they were littler. Am I in the past?”
"Flora is the most perfect name for the most perfect little girl," answered Perfuma, taking the Flora's hand and sliding off the bed to go with them. She'd have to thank Finn for somehow making this a lot easier for Flora, because their new(?) child certainly seemed to take this all in stride a lot easier than the both of them did. And she already understood Finn's pronouns, so that made Perfuma all the more proud - some adults here in Vallo seemed to still struggle with that, though thankfully not many. She'd heard of whole worlds where they simply seem to refuse to acknowledge chosen pronouns. That such hate could be in the multiverse tended to bum her out, to put it gently.
"And yes, I guess so! Your past, that is. Which must be confusing? You seem to have such a good handle on it!"
“It’s just Vallo,” Flora said, giggling, swinging her arms in an exaggerated way that brought Scorpia’s along with her. “I mean, it was a little scary at first because I didn’t know what was happening, and then Mama was screaming, but now that I know… Is Finn here?”
“I am sorry,” Scorpia said again. She felt pretty terrible. It seemed like a bad first impression, to have your past mother screaming at you when you first showed up. Had she scarred her for life? Flora seemed pretty cheerful now, so maybe not. “If Finn’s back though, Catra and Adora haven’t mentioned them.”
Flora gave the tiniest little squeeze on Scorpia's pincer. "It's okay, mama! I'm not scared anymore. It's almost Aunt Catra's birthday, though? I can draw her a card. And I'll put Finn on it! So it'll be like he's here."
Perfuma beamed, they hadn't even thought about kids or marriage or anything yet, but here they'd somehow managed the perfect, or more than perfect if that could be achieved, child with the perfect combination of their traits and she was so perfect, Perfuma could feel her eyes wetten a bit as they walked. If the waffles had tears cooked in, at least they'd be happy ones!
"You can't tell us too much about the future, okay? But other than that, you can tell us everything!" she chirped, softly swinging their hands back and forth.
“Oh, do you draw?” Scorpia asked. “I like to draw too!” Scorpia wasn’t especially good at drawing, but she did alright – it was at least obvious who her drawings were supposed to be, if nothing else. Maybe the three of them together would draw something.
She didn’t know how much time they’d have together, but she hoped they’d have lots. She and Perfuma would meet Flora again, she knew, but to have the chance to know her before she came around for real, well… that was a gift that Scorpia wasn’t going to waste.