Begrudingly - Discovery

"So, just to get this straight for me, one more time…," Zac muttered over his shoulder while he was at the stove, "You’re a Princess…"

"Queen!" Blackfire snapped as she slammed a fist on the table, making Layla scoot her chair away a few inches.

"Right, Alien Princess." Zac continued, not really giving a damn at this point, "From some far off plant that uses energy blasts and has super strength. Along with like super light speed or something."

"Hrmph, I don't have to define how it works to you but yes. In the Vaccum of space my race can safely reach their full speed. I could do it in here and just shatter the entire ship." Blackfire said with a glint in her eye as she sat back down.

"Nah uh." Blackfire snapped her head to the side as Layla kept talking, "Starfire eat up.... uh.... ultra purple radios and uses that to do all her stuff. There's more of it in space or something...." The little tyke took a sip from her apple juice while Blackfire had her mouth open and close a few times.

"SIGH..." Blackfire took a deep breath and pinched her nose before putting on a stern face, "It is ultraviolet radiation. If you're going to describe my powers, get the name right at least. And yes, its far easier to absorb this energy in space than it is on the ground, or inside a shell of metal. I can still make enough to do this though." she growled as she shot out a small beam of energy at the cup Layla put down.

The liquid inside seemed to bubble and froth as it heated up. What should have scared the girl simply made her clap and get out of her chair. She wandered off to the large fridge and... with some help from her dad's height, got what she wanted and walked back. She simply dumped two large ice cubes in and stirred it with a straw a few times before letting it cool.

"Thanks. I like my juice warmed a bit." Layla said with a grin towards the alien woman.

"...., off-putting." Blackfire mumbled as she put her elbow on the table and put her chin in the palm of her hand.

"I'd let that cool a bit more though." Zac piped up without turning again, "Anyway, so you keep trying to take over your world to… how’d the show put it?" He asked making a small turn towards his daughter.

Hmmm...," Layla thought for a moment with her eyes closed. "Like, 'Make the peons pay! HAHAHAHHAHAAH' or something..."

"That does sound like me." Blackfire said with a grin and her posture relaxing a bit, "Save for the laugh."

"Right right. And your plans and schemes are consistently stopped by your oh so inferior sister with her friends." Zac said as he scooped up a few more pancakes onto a plate before turning the stove top off.

"I will not stand for this!" Blackfire snapped as she sat fully straight again. Her hand brought up high to slam the table once more.

"You’re right, you’re sitting for this. And I don’t think someone of your stature would eat standing." Zac stated as he walked to the table with two plates before sliding them over to the girls. He made it a point that Layla got the first plate. "There you go, take your rage out on some food, maybe you'll calm down." Blackfire glared at him but her stomach growled this close to food and she stopped.

Now, Zac wasn’t a cook; long hours at a site, on the road or in a hotel, kinda prevented him from picking up the needed skills to wow someone in the kitchen. But he knew how to make pancakes. Years of learning how from his dad from middle through high school ingrained that into his brain. Besides that though, he knew a few tricks and had a couple books on how to use a slow cooker. Simply find time in the morning or around lunch time to start it up, work the rest of the day and bam; hot meal at dinner. A few other long hour 'passive' or quick cooking tricks he picked up from others kinda rounded out his skill in the kitchen.

The space kitchen reflected this rather sparse cooking style style. It had a slow cooker and an oven, along with a small portable grill and air fryer. But it only contained a small amount of pots or pans; enough for soup, rice or canned goods but no fancier tools. No juicer, mixer, only a bare minium of kitchen knives; even the oven seemed overly simple. Heck it barely had any measuring cups which was a massive pain at first.

“No Christmas dinner but enough for me to make more than just frozen diners.” Zac thought as he looked over the stock again.

The measuring cup problem wasn't as annoying as it would be back home. Most the food was vacuumed sealed or in some other way of preservation. Heck, there was a tube he just squeezed out the pancake mix from. He did put his own spin on it; his father would hit him through time and space if he used pre-made mix. A few more tubes were labeled as fruits or veggies inside the freezer and all the meat was pre-sealed jerky style. When he checked though, the tubes ejected small blots about the size of a grape which seemed to have the taste at least of whatever was on the label. Meat too when cooked up seemed to revert back to its more general type and cut. That's why the measuring cup issue wasn't that much of a problem, as each container seemed to allow for pre-set measurements before doling out the ingredient in question.

Thus he kept it pretty simple with breakfast; the girls got pancakes with apples and sausage while he got his own special stack. He was about to dig in when his plate was pulled out from under him mid cut. He looked up and glared only for Blackfire gave him a bit to wide of a grin.

"Oh I see what you’re doing minion. Giving me the same meal as your spawn. Making sure you place me below your self." She told him with a wave of her finger, "Well I’ll not stand for it. These cakes are mine only. Besides they match me so well..." she noted. The pancakes were a bit tanner than the more traditional look, giving them a tint closer to Blackfire’s skin. "So these go to me."

“I mean, not really. You're reading too much into it. Layla just doesn’t like that style and well I figured it would be best to not feed you anything weird. I just figured it be easiest to keep your meal simple, least it upsets your high society stomach. I don't want you getting sick…” Zac started as he reached for his plate. Blackfire simply floated around him, making a show of cutting off a part of the hotcakes.

“Oh please. There is nothing on your world that could give me even the smallest amount of indigestion. So sit down or I make you.” She said before she angrily bit into the food on her fork.

Snap

Blackfire’s eyes went wide as she took in the taste and texture. So fluffy and smooth but so… sweet and spicy... no maybe not spicy but was a different kind of hot besides just temperature. It filled her mouth with a warmth that spread throughout her body. The entire bite was so full of this earthy warm flavor, she almost forgot she was on a ship in deep space. She just stood there mulling over what just washed over her.

"Dad what did you do?" Layla asked, her voice rising in pitch with worry.

"Dunno." the man said with a shrug as he took Blackfire's forgotten plate before sitting down and cutting into them. "It’s just my cinnamon pancakes."

"Blech too spicy." Layla said with her tongue out and eyes closed. How her dad like that hot stuff was beyond her. It was in some sweets yeah but the kind her dad like was too strong.

"You get that from your mom. But you like extra sweet things so I made sure your stack is plenty sweet. She should... come back... I think maybe? Just eat your pancakes, I'll watch her." Zac said as he started to chew on his own food.

Eventually, Blackfire finally came back down from her ... whatever state. The woman just looked at her plate with those same wide eyes. Before wolfing it down in almost an instant. Zac wasn't even sure she used her fork, it was just... gone. He'd seen workers and truckers eat slower. How wide could she open that maw? He was snapped out of his disturbed pondering when Blackfire slammed the plate down on the table. Her eyes still glinting with hunger.

"More PEON." She demanded, half shout half growl as her arms gripped the table they sat at.

".... Say please and maybe." Zac muttered as he continued to eat his own food.

'You will NOT keep this concoction from me you Stupid human. I require more!" Blackfire shouted as she started to round the table towards him. Zac was about to get into a debate with her, and probably tossed again, when a giggle made both parties stop.

"Heheh, just like Starfire." Layla said with a laugh.

"I BEG YOUR PARDON?!?!" Blackfire said, turning hard and fast towards the little girl almost like she'd been slapped, "In what way do you compare me to HER?!?"

"Well.... Star like Mustard a lot... even drinks it... blegh. I can't stand either of those but guess you like earth food huh?" the little girl asked. The grin on her face was mocking.

"Blech, who drinks mustard? Least I'm normal with Cinnamon." Zac grumbled. Drinking condiments, what the hell were shows about if that was a main character trait?

"OH Don't even get me started. Starfire had.... exotic tastes even as a child. Just had to humor her and move on." Blackfire growled at the memory of some of the food her sister liked. Even among her race's odd food choices Star at times stood out. She just found them limited after being around the galaxy a few times. She turned back to Zac though, a smoothness in her voice,"But tell me, we have more of this Cinnamon?"

Zac thought for a moment. This was the only time he'd seen any kind of weakness or desire from the woman thus far. He wasn't stupid enough to try and hold it over her head as a way of making her back off or to control her. Blackfire would probably just stuff him in a closet somewhere for a few days or something. Trying to extract something from her would be like pulling teeth. Nor could he just admit it to her, she'd have him **** over the stove all day to suit her needs. No he had to make it her own doing.

"We do..." he started before Blackfire's eyes went wide. He held up a hand as she started to move, "Hold up. Cinnamon isn't some magic taste spice or something, and I'm not skilled enough to use it to it's full potential. And besides, I can't guess how much or how little you'll want of it. So how about this as a way of trying to... get along. I give you a bottle of Cinnamon and you just put on as much as you want. Try it with a couple meals; see what works what doesn't. In exchange, I'll try to cook some meals that can go with it, but I'm not a chef." He said with a fold of his arms, "My dishes might not be a good match for it and you can blame me if it doesn't work out. Deal?"

Blackfire wanted MORE of that taste though..., but if she dug in and fought him, he might never make anything to go with the flavor again, or simply hide the spice. She didn't even know what it looked like. Smell maybe but..., agh she wasn't a cook either. She chewed her lip a bit as she had to accept what she was about to do. And to a human at that...,

"FINE. These terms are.... acceptable." Blackfire said, grinding her teeth a bit. Zac held out a hand and Blackfire slowly took it, the two akwardly shaking on it. "So... could you..."

"I'll make two more." Zac said, quickly shoving some of his own pancakes into his mouth, "Though since you seemed to like them so much, I'll make them the same way I like them. Cause they were for me."

Zac moved over to the stove and turned it back on. The top quickly heated up to a cooking temp, either due to being in use not too long ago or space tech, he wasn't sure. As he started making a bit more of the batter, he was put off when he turned just a bit and saw Blackfire hovering there, watching. And maybe waiting, that hungry glint in her eye hadn't gone away yet.

"....Oh don't mind me Peon, I'll just observe. Need to make sure this isn't a trick." Blackfire stated. Like a liar. If she could figure out how he did it, she wouldn't have need for him. And all the warm Cinnamon pancakes she could eat...., maybe she takes over part of the earth that has that spice after getting her home back.

"Well ain't much to see..., again I'm not a fancy cook so it's pretty basic." Zac said as he got to work. The attention was a bit off putting though, a mix of child like curiosity and.... cat like predatory?

"What were you anyway? After all, if we were to be matched by that stupid Cupid system; must be someone of high renown." Blackfire stated, her eyes watching his movements.

"Oh..... I don't know what they call it on your world but I did construction, building stuff. And then I worked in the supply chain, moving stuff." Zac said. When she wasn't shouting, she didn't seem too..., bad. Haughty yes but outside of the physical ****, his ex thus far had been worse.

"I'm to marry a DAY LABOURER?!?!"

And so much for that.