Chapter Text
Who could have guessed the soft feeling of blue hair gliding between her fingertips would become such a constant in her life. Yet as the little girl in front of El sat on the stool humming softly, she couldn’t help but smile. Powder is such a lovely child that she has grown to adore. Today however she wasn’t humming her usual tune, she was silent. El could tell something was the matter, her hair was torn out of her little braid and her eyes were bloodshot as if she had been crying.
“Do tell, little bomb. What happened this time?” El asked as she gently turned the stool to make Powder face her. The small girl was sniffling and her shoulders were slightly shaking. El hugged the girl and began humming the tune that the little blue-haired girl would sing.
“They won’t let me come with them.” Powder hiccupped and wiped away tears as she explained. Then it clicked: Vi and the others tended to leave Powder out of missions and other things, which is understandable considering She is still very young. Yet this is the Lanes; everyone learns at a young age.
“What have we said about pulling your hair?” El asked as she softly changed the subject. El had been the nanny of both Vi and Powder since the tragic loss of their parents. She has grown to pick up on the signals that both girls give off. Powder tends to pull her hair when she is upset or having a breakdown. To Powder Vi and the others leaving her out is a sensitive subject that El has been trying to avoid. However, seeing Powder so upset tends to make El a bit upset as well.
“You said not to, that I wouldn’t have long pretty hair when I'm older.” El nodded softly to the mumbled sentence the Powder explained. “Exactly, do you want another braid or a bun?” El asked as she turned the stool to comb through Powder’s hair.
“Another braid please?” She sounded like she was questioning herself, yet El did exactly as she was asked. Slowly, separating Pow’s hair into three sections and braiding to her regular length. El held up a cracked hand mirror to Powder to show her. That’s when the frown slowly began to fade from Powder’s face and turned into a bright smile.
“There ya go! Now we should find something for lunch.” El stated as she set the hand mirror on the dented wooden bar countertop and stood up from her own bar stool. The Last Drop was closed until later in the evening so usually Powder and Vi would hang out in the main rooms. However, with Vi being gone that left El and Powder.
“Would you like to color? Or perhaps work on some glitter bomb ideas?” El asked as she moved to the jukebox in the corner and began playing one of the many soft melodies on the records. The idea of working on her bombs seemed to put a bit more pep in her step so El let her go grab her supplies and blueprints.
Powder is such a lovely and wildly smart kid. It's a shame she was born here, in The Lanes. There have been very few chances for children to go topside, El could practically see Powder topside and happy. She deserves the best and she is so smart she would make a great academy kid. However, that chance is probably not ever gonna be able to reach her. So El will do what she can to at least increase her likeliness to survive and have a happy life.
For now, if that means making bombs with Powder then so be it. As the day turned to night you both ended up giggling and dancing around The Last Drop. However, El couldn’t hide the concern that bubbled beneath the surface. Powder could tell, the slight change in the expression on El’s face was a bit unnerving.
It was past midnight and yet no Vander and no Vi. El had a sleeping Pow in her arms as she gently laid the girl down in her bunk bed before quickly going back downstairs where she waited. The sun began to rise, The Last Drop had not opened last night which is weird enough to the public. However, the owner himself went missing as well.
“He ran” Sevika waltzed through the doors and plopped down at her poker table in the back. That sentence is what ended up with a tray crashing onto the floor from El’s shaking hands.
“What do you mean he ran?” Sevika seemed to smirk at the shaking of El’s hands. It's worse than she imagined. “He ran El, Vander took the three of them to the southside port and boarded a ship.” El’s hands flew over her mouth in both shock and to hide the gasp that left her mouth. They had left Powder here without a second thought? Is that why Vander was acting weird this past week? He had planned to leave Powder. That thought alone made El nauseous. She had no idea how to tell the little girl, who was currently sleeping, that her father figure and sister left her. There is no way a child will want to hear that, let alone one who has already lost so much.
“What are we gonna do Sevika? I can’t take care of Pow without money. How are you so calm right now?” El asked, she was practically freaking out. Her hands ran through her hair as she tried to take deep breaths to calm her racing thoughts although it didn’t help that much.
“There is someone filling his role here. Silco, he said he would be arriving tomorrow to continue business as usual.” El’s breath stopped, she went from hyperventilating to freezing in place. “Silco? The chem baron and shimmer supplier. He is not safe for Powder to be around.”El began thinking of ways to get out of The Last Drop with Powder and far away from that man. However, she had no way of doing so. She lived at The Last Drop for years now and has no way to find a place within the next 24 hours. She and Powder would stay unless by some miracle she could find a way out.
“He is aware that Powder is here along with you. So he is willing to keep you as her nanny as he does the conversion process to The Last Drop.” El still feels like a tidal wave of emotions has hit her. Vander left and now Silco is taking over. She can barely process anything Sevika is saying, El has no idea how to break the news to the little girl sleeping upstairs. Sevika seemed to have no problem changing sides, however, it seems neither did Vander. El couldn’t blame Sevika due to the fact that even the guy in charge left.
The rest of the day went by like a fever dream. Seeing Powder dancing around the bar with her Meowsier bomb head in her hands, seeing that bright smile on her lips and happiness radiating from her, El couldn’t tell her. She didn’t know how to, Powder is a sensitive child and her emotions tend to change rather quickly but that is most likely due to an unstable environment in her developmental ages.
“Hey Little Bomb, can we talk, please? I need you to sit down for me.” El stated softly as she gently tapped the stool next to her. El could hear as Sevika sat down her mug to listen to what was about to happen, that nosey bitch.
El took a deep breath as the blue-haired girl slowly climbed onto the stool. “Powder, Vander left.”