Girl Talk

"You.... said you were my mother..."

Blackfire tilted her head in thought. Zac wasn't back yet so she had simply taken a seat on the bench again with Layla sitting next to her rather than running around. The kid seemed to have calmed down a bit; the excitement and fear of the experience finally wearing off. A juice box she pulled from the kid's backpack seemed to help with that along with a dose from her inhaler. She was grateful that the kid didn't have one of those coughing attacks even if she had shown a bit of wheezing when sitting down.

Still, the statement was something she was pretty sure was coming and she took a bit to think on just what to say back to her. Without crushing the kid's spirit outright.

"Yes well..., if I didn't they would have kept hounding us. I was betting on them backing off when they learned it was a protective mother than just 'hired help' that puts themselves first. And that might have worked but..., eh they ticked me off." Blackfire scoffed, "Honestly I had hoped to not resort to **** if only to keep a low profile. That might not be happening though."

"Oh..., I kinda... figured you were lying again." Layla muttered keeping her head down, "I..., kinda want you as my mom though.."

"Why?" her voice came with a dismissal laugh before it.

"Because you're important, strong, a queen... ah!" she was cut off her explanation when a fast finger tap hit her forehead and snapped her out of it. Not a hard tap, but a sudden one.

"That's what you get for being just around ME kid and really if that's your desire; pretty sure there's any number of people you could replace me with." The girl started to talk but Blackfire kept going, "No no, listen. Why me? You said it yourself; my Sister is nicer. So why not ask her to get with your dad? Heck, I'll introduce them see if they hit it off and I can tell you, Starfire would LOVE someone like you."

To be fair, it had a bit of an appeal to it. Dump the problem on her sister and maybe see if she can break up her and Dick out of a bit of spite. That and well, she could picture how much of a mess she was after that first night. Plastering pin ups of how out of it her sister could be did have a bit of appeal to it.

"Because you..., felt like me."

"Eh?" that response made any plans or ideas grind to a halt in Blackfire's head.

“I dunno…, hard to put into words…, I’m not really smart. But every time I saw you in stories, you were always mean and bad…, but you always felt a bit sad and lonely too. All by yourself even when you won…” she kicked her feet as she spoke before turning to look at the adult.

“I just thought… maybe if someone like you could be happy, maybe I could be too?”

She got another poke on her forehead. Only this was no where near as fast or sharp as the first one. Blackfire kept her finger there before putting her whole hand onto the girls' forehead and giving a weak head pat.

“Foolish girl. Sweet but foolish.”

"So I'm... not a disappointment?"

"I'm only disappointed you didn't fight back sooner, but I suppose that's your nature." She shrugged, "Odd how you seem to have two rather stubborn in their own way parents. How'd the two of them make a little sweet roll like you I won't ever now. Genetics is weird like that I guess, given how myself and Starfire are sisters."

"Hehehe..." she grinned as she shifted a little closer to the alien, "Besides, for as mean as you say you are, you’re still better than my mom."

“So I’ve been told.” She said, removing her hand and leaning back to take in the sights.

She sighed. It was strange being pitied by a child. But she was connecting the pieces of this 'family' she was tied to now, bit by bit. Layla was a young sheltered girl with only one role model and guardian in her life. And her father said she’d latch onto basically any kind of back and forth interaction she experienced from someone. It did raise a bit of a question though.

Here she was, a villainous despot Queen that half the time was little more than just an interstellar pirate. Not exactly prime 'mom' material.

In what universe did that make her a ‘better’ mom than the girl's own birth mother? Even with everything she's heard about her.

“My dad does like you…," once more her thoughts were scattered by the little tyke's words.

“Oh? How can you tell? After one day?”

“He always seemed… gloomy is the word? He cheered up when it was just the two of us on the road. But he doesn’t seem that way with you…” Layla explained, "He used to just kinda... stood there. You two arguing it's funny to watch, hehehe, it doesn't feel like the yelling I usually see mom do."

“Hmm...,” she paused to bring her own drink to her lips.

She should probably thank her. Without Layla, her father might be even more... insufferable. She could have easily seen the pair of them would be at each other's throats way more often if Zac didn't have the anchor that was his daughter. More so the fact of her being there rather than a nebulous path of 'getting back to her'. Not the end goal, but more the time frame of how long it would take to do so along with the process of doing that. A more stable Zac was far more favorable to this whole thing.

"Besides it IS kinda hot to have a DILF around....," She thought to herself a smile on her lips before the processing side of her mind caught up, "THE FUCK!??! Why does this keep happening?!? Yeah he's... maybe okay in bed and not horrible to look at but..., Gah this damn set up is not how I would have wanted a mate for me picked out."

"Are you okay..., your face looks weird..."

"COUGH I'm... fine just..., this drink has kick to it and it's been awhile." Blackfire sputtered trying to distract herself, "SO.... Uh...., look I don't watch children a lot. And I would suggest you to go run off and play but given what happened, stay close cause I don't want to get up and go running after you like your nanny bot did."

Layla looked down but nodded only for Blackfire to continue.

"However I KNOW you're still probably extremely curious about stuff. So if you sit..., well as still as you can given you seem to vibrate in place while happy, here's what we'll do. You point out something or someone, please don't make a big deal about it if you pick a person it IS rude and I'd rather not have more attention, anyway pick out something that interests you. And then I'll explain it as best I can."

The smile on her face widened as she moved close and gave her a hug, thanking Blackfire and saying how she'd be good. The villian for her part sighed and rolled her eyes, but still brought a hand up and gave the human girl another pat on the head. What a strange little human..., where all kids like this? Would hers be the same?

"...... THE ACTUAL FUCK BRAIN?!?"

Eventually Zac and Carm came back, after about twenty or so questions from the little girl about how this or that worked. Predictably, Zac was angry about his little girl getting bullied and was a bit frustrated by how Blackfire handled it all. That's what he said, but she had a feeling he would have tried to beat the shit out of the alien that called his daughter a disappointment. What was interesting was the lie of 'going to the bathroom'.

Instead he produced a small bracelet made for small beads that seemed to have some sort of swirling liquid inside to help give it color. When Layla put it on she got excited about seeing the beads change color as she moved about. Such a small trinket and she was ecstatic about it..., then again it was something fairly new to her, something she seemed to be interested in, and from her dad. So that did make a little sense.

"Emotion Band huh?" she spoke up when Layla finally calmed down, "Wasn't expecting you to pick up something like that."

"Yeah well, Layla loves stuff like this and souvenirs. I saw the stall awhile back and thought I should pick one up."

"So you took Carm to help with the transaction and to make sure it was safe." his eyes went a little wider but she chuckled, "ONLY if she somehow cracks the beads open and drinks the stuff. And for as soft and morph-able that plastic is; it's not likely she can do that. Not unless she tricks us into breaking it for her. And you'd probably be asking why you'd need to suit up."

"The beads themselves aren't toxic and yes unlike your worlds versions, these actually DO work to a degree. It's some sort of emotional reaction liquid crystal or something inside it. I could give you a run down on the science behind it but it's not really important..., nor do I care."

"Carm said it was some sort of Psionic crystal or something yeah..."

"It's a rather cute charm yes..., I can see why you bought it but I don't think this is going to do anything with that belt of yours."

"I figured that." he grumbled, "I don't expect every little trinket I come across to have something like that. I mean Layla has a bunch of little things but it's only the zodiac stones that seem to do anything..., Zodiac stones geeze I'm getting flash backs to a game now." he rubbed the back of his head in thought, "Didn't end well in the game. Something about taking over the world and all that."

"Please!" she moved next to him with a grin, "If you start going all evil, I'll either put you down or maybe put a collar on you. Hmmm, yes you could stand to be a bit more... imposing and intimidating."

She was caught off guard when he leaned in and gave her a kiss behind her ear sending a shiver down her back. She made a mix of a growl and approving moan even as she glared at him. He just flashed her back a smile.

"I just thought you deserved something for standing up for Layla. So thanks for that, it was oddly kind of you."

"Yooooooou....., " She growled before composing herself and leaning in to his ear, "Not. In public. Dear. Can you DO that for me at least."

He agreed with a chuckle and a small shrug. She huffed again and thought about it. He 'liked' her according to his daughter but currently he seemed to like taking whatever 'wins' he could get over her. While it was petty, it wasn't as spiteful as she had experience with others. More teasing she supposed which made a level of sense given their situation. Was he like this normally, or was it something he picked up from his ex-wife? Taking what little chances he could to annoy her without earning outright ire.

Is that why Cupid matched them because he had experience in handling 'the bitch'? So that he could tame her or something? Not happening. Even if he could get her to 'behave' a bit around him and the kid, she wasn't going to just change her ways. She had no reason to change past what their arrangement needed. Why did she care what he thought of her?

Besides, he was divorced to begin with meaning he already failed to change someone for the 'better' in the first place. So what chance did he have changing her?

"I need to strangle someone from Cupid if I can ever get my hands on them." she thought to herself as she turned on her heels.

"Well if you're done with your trinket shopping, I believe it's time to get back to the ship. Chop chop, let's be off you two." she announced, clapping her hands and taking off.

"Can we see the aquarium though?" a small voice called from behind her, earning a groan as she turned back.

"Aquarium? They have something like that here?" Zac asked as he looked from his daughter to Blackfire and then back.

Layla just pointed towards a sign. On it, there was a background of water with holographic creatures displayed to 'swim' through it as written words moved across the top. He couldn't understand what the words meant but it did seem like some sort of aquatic attraction or point of interest. He looked back towards Blackfire who just had her head tilted down and a hand on her forehead.

"Gotta be....," she stood up straight and took a large breath, "That..., is not an Aquarium. How to describe this so a child can understand. Layla, you recall the two fish guys you pointed out."

"The... err, um.. Zi...ede?

"Xiede, yes." she corrected as she walked over to the child and knelt down, "There's a number of races that need water to live, more so than us. Like the Xiede. On stations that see a large amount of them passing through, they tend to set up areas for them to relax, refill, and enjoy the water. Even the best water recyclers on the market can make the water feel... old, after awhile. More so for races that need to submerge themselves."

"So it's basically an underwater park for those that need it?"

"Correct Zac. Though some stations do have little walk ways for land bound life forms to walk around..., sort of like those hmm, Kelp Forest exhibits at your Aquariums."

"They keep stuff like Kelp?"

"Well, they keep a few flora and fauna in them on some stations, usually to keep the water pure. Even this far in space, you'll find some problems can be solved by just throwing a living thing at it rather than allocating power." she tapped her chin in thought, "I know one station that used a herd of jellyfish like creatures as a back up power source..."

"Can we go please!" Layla asked, her hands clasped together as she had her big begging eyes look on, "Just for a little while."

The adults shot each other a look.