"Aaaaand here it is -- oh!!" Pipp cooed and then squealed. She set down her box-cutter and finished pulling the white cat-ears headset out of the pink box with white ribbons, beaming and holding it up next to her head, on which an identical pair sat. "Aw, these are so hard to find!! This pair's wearing out, it's so dope to have a spare ready!"
She looked over her chat to catch up on what they'd been talking about for the five or ten minutes she'd struggled with Schrödinger's Cat Ears Headset.
The chat room is currently in VIP-only mode.
No1Pippsqueak666 those give you the poops
NoticeMeSenpipp ew
MsBlueHair You sure run a lot of ads Pipp!
MsBlueHair @No1Pippsqueak666 Ewwww!
🪶Palestorm i ate 100 i was fine
"What?!" Pipp wrinkled her nose. "What are you guys talking about! Grody!" She blinked, glancing back at the box of candy she'd opened ten minutes earlier. "Oh, you mean the gummy bears?! Zipp you were not fine! Uuucchh!! I'm not gonna eat those!! Anyway."
🪶Palestorm i was after i pooped
Pipp delicately cleared her throat. "Sooo, I think that's the last box -- oh crud, I smacked the camera while I was messin' with the box, hang on."
She leaned forward to adjust her camera, her face getting a bit close, distorting her face and enlarging her nose like a photo-bombing cat. "How's that -- wait, no, why does this always happen, ugh. Don't mind me, professional streamer here, a princess, can't get her stupid camera straight. There!"
As she stepped back to verify her new camera angle, Pipp barely, just barely, froze for a split-second when she checked the chat again.
No1Pippsqueak666 her eye change color???
NoticeMeSenpipp eyes were yellow yesterday, green now. chroma glitch?
🪶Palestorm yea they always do that
🪶Palestorm hereyes change evry 2-3 days
She relaxed thanks to her sister's immediate deflection.
Sunny had asked her about it, too. That was a problem. Hitch was surprisingly gullible for an officer of the law, but Sunny didn't buy the whole "my eyes change color every 2~3 days" argument. In truth, eye color only changed like that with aging - from a baby to a foal, and from a young mare to a hag. It wasn't so rapid. Sunny was too smart and the only thing that stopped her from calling her out on it was that Sunny was also really polite. But she was also also a little bit particular about things like that, and Pipp would need a better excuse before Sunny pulled an Izzy on her and exposed her in public.
Or else just come clean and hope she could keep a secret...
She smiled and batted her lashes with a coy smile. "You guys are pervs, noticing a silly thing like my eyes changing color! Who does that! Anyway, that's the last box for today! Anything else before I sign off?" She yawned. "I'm a little tired."
No1Pippsqueak666 thats so cool is she part breezie
MsBlueHair But her sparkle's the same!!
🪶Palestorm wtd r u talking about
🪶Palestorm u can see that online??
MsBlueHair Happy birthday Pipp!
No1Pippsqueak666 whats spakle
Pipp had had a proper, in-person birthday party with her family already, of course; but it was her habit to open the presents on-stream.
"Whoa, you can?" Pipp balked. "Is my sparkle visible on-camera?"
NoticeMeSenpipp Happy birthday Pipp!
MsBlueHair Wait
NoticeMeSenpipp like a hippie aura?
No1Pippsqueak666 Happy birthday Pipp!
MsBlueHair No I can't never mind!
🪶Palestorm u r crazy ilu
🪶Palestorm happy birthday sis
NoticeMeSenpipp @MsBlueHair are you a unicron?
Pipp gave a little smile.
MsBlueHair Who's Ilu??
Her smile widened. "Ilu" Moonbow was a treasure. "Thanks, guys." She yawned again. "Seea-oo-maw-oow..."
That night, Pipp inevitably began the slow, anxious process of making sure every electronic device in her suite was off. She shuddered, giving one more glance over her shoulder before she fearfully poked her head into her restroom, scanning the room.
No cellphones or tripods in there; she was very thorough about removing them after her bath streams. She left out her breath, finally relaxing.
She removed her tiara, shaking her hair loose.
She kicked off her golden slippers and stepped into the shower with her birthday oils.
For someone who gave the outward impression of a spoiled, attention-seeking brat, she was uncharacteristically paranoid about leaving her feeds on when she didn't mean to. After all, she couldn't bear to let them see her secret. She'd already been caught with the strings attached and outed as a Twin Soul. If this got out she'd be ruined. The royal family could be exiled and shunned.
Good thing big sis always had her back. "Palestorm" could misdirect as easy as she breathed.
She left the shower and gently patted herself with her nice new phoenix down towel, wrapping the second around her head.
With the towel around herself, she walked up to the mirror and paused for a few seconds too long, her eyes closed, breathing in slowly.
She exhaled and opened her eyes.
Grey.
For she'd left her contacts at her bedside. She couldn't very well take them into the shower. The prescriptions cost a fortune. Couldn't get those as a birthday present.
Grey.
She trembled despite the warmth of the phoenix down. These were someone else's eyes. A rock farmer, a warrior from over the sea, a stormy god come to claim the kingdom as his own. Not a little pink princess.
Her wings fluttered. Those grey eyes began to water.
Mom and Zipp got teal.
They didn't belong on her small body, against her warm coat, under her purple curls.
His were grey.
She jerked her gaze away from the mirror.
Dad's were grey.
She waited there until her body and hair were dry and warm.
Then, as she'd done a thousand times before, she tossed her towels into the laundry basket, shuffled out of the restroom, and fell into bed with her cheeks still wet, her heart still cold, and someone else forever memorialized in her eyes.
