"Mummy! Mum! Mummy, look! I made a sparkle! Look Mummy, it's pretty!"
Opening my eyes and rubbing at my forehead in the vain hope of easing the headache a double shift on teep-comms duty had left me with, I looked at my little girl happily floating sideways in the cabin, holding a glowing pink spark of condensed energy in her hand. I'd left Earth as soon as they started talking about building those machines to block the strange powers that had appeared after Earth left the Shroud because I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to share my feelings of love with the child that had still been growing inside me at that point, but it was times like this that I wondered if it would really have been so bad. It's not like I hadn't been doing well enough even before the powers showed up, and even if I was one of the "lucky" few who'd developed them, I didn't seem to have anything special beyond the standard telepathy, and that not very strong.
I'd seen a man killed by a glowing spark like that during a boarding action, after all. I licked my lips and spoke carefully, so as not to startle little Miranda. "That's dangerous, dear. Can you make it go away without dropping it?"
Miranda giggled. "Of course I can, Mummy! It's my sparkle!" She waved it around for emphasis, making me flinch, before letting it drift away from her hand and swallowing it with an impish grin, a faint glow visible in her cheeks for just a second before it faded away.
Shuddering at the adrenaline that had surged through me at the sight, I snatched her out of the air and held her tight, half to reassure myself she was really all right and half to avoid breaking into a crying fit, or screaming in rage. I would definitely have to give her a very serious talk about the difference between "can" and "should."
"Miranda, honey," I settled for gasping, "Don't ever do that again, at least not until you're all grown up. You scared Mummy very badly." I could hear her starting to sniffle into my coveralls as well, not understanding why but knowing I was upset, now that she was paying attention to that rather than "her sparkle."
I guess this was parenting in the 22nd century. They say a talented child is a mother's pride, but damn it. I could really appreciate being a little more humble sometimes.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
Opening my eyes and rubbing at my forehead in the vain hope of easing the headache a double shift on teep-comms duty had left me with, I looked at my little girl happily floating sideways in the cabin, holding a glowing pink spark of condensed energy in her hand. I'd left Earth as soon as they started talking about building those machines to block the strange powers that had appeared after Earth left the Shroud because I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to share my feelings of love with the child that had still been growing inside me at that point, but it was times like this that I wondered if it would really have been so bad. It's not like I hadn't been doing well enough even before the powers showed up, and even if I was one of the "lucky" few who'd developed them, I didn't seem to have anything special beyond the standard telepathy, and that not very strong.
I'd seen a man killed by a glowing spark like that during a boarding action, after all. I licked my lips and spoke carefully, so as not to startle little Miranda. "That's dangerous, dear. Can you make it go away without dropping it?"
Miranda giggled. "Of course I can, Mummy! It's my sparkle!" She waved it around for emphasis, making me flinch, before letting it drift away from her hand and swallowing it with an impish grin, a faint glow visible in her cheeks for just a second before it faded away.
Shuddering at the adrenaline that had surged through me at the sight, I snatched her out of the air and held her tight, half to reassure myself she was really all right and half to avoid breaking into a crying fit, or screaming in rage. I would definitely have to give her a very serious talk about the difference between "can" and "should."
"Miranda, honey," I settled for gasping, "Don't ever do that again, at least not until you're all grown up. You scared Mummy very badly." I could hear her starting to sniffle into my coveralls as well, not understanding why but knowing I was upset, now that she was paying attention to that rather than "her sparkle."
I guess this was parenting in the 22nd century. They say a talented child is a mother's pride, but damn it. I could really appreciate being a little more humble sometimes.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows