Another Reward

"No."

"Too Slinky."

"Too much Spandex... I don't have that much to work with anyway otherwise..., maybe another time."

"OH MY GOD STOOOOOOOOOOOOP With the Metal Bikinis! WHY do they always jump to metal and chrome as outfit designs." She looked down at her own outfit and scoffed, "Hmm maybe I did have a hand in that." She blew out some frustrated air as she got up from the screen.

Nothing Blackfire had found really lit a spark of an idea in her. Everything she liked, she lacked the actual materials for unless she wanted to rip apart some of her own outfits. And she wasn't going to do that. He deserved a reward but ruining her own clothes to do so..., she wasn't that gracious. There just had to be something here that she could stand and actually workable.

Hadrosium Fibers; Good amount but too plain to really stand out. Cyclium Alloy; Perhaps just showing up in metal boots? No. Peranium(Non Conductive of course); A robust material that made her itchy after prolonged skin contact, No. Hos'u Leather: She had a good amount of that too but hmm, no. Vanadon; Well that could...., wait a minute.

She returned back to the fur she pulled out. It was a nice soft fluff to it but incredibly durable, given it came from the large predatory cat like Hos'u who could withstand electro storms on its home planet, it had to be a tough material. And it was a nice different color against her skin tone and purple theming. Also wasn't there that one character she'd seen?

Turning back to the computer, Blackfire combed over the search history. There..., a character in a yellow outfit and oddly colored hair. Should be able to rig something up.

The rest of the 'day' so to speak was largely quiet. Zac was still getting used to the new 'schedule', so it was hard to get a feel of how many hours had passed beyond his stomach rumbling. Between Carm and the automated systems, there wasn't much for him to do beyond watch over Layla and cook. Though he did sit in the copilot seat when Blackfire took the controls over the course of the day. Which wasn't often save for a few 'drops' into normal space to recharge the engines.

Besides that, she had largely kept out of the way, working on something in her spare time. Something she didn't want anyone to see, which only got Layla more interested. Zac tried to keep her from getting in the way as best he could, often picking her up to go do something else...., or carry her away when Blackfire picked up the kid and handed her over.

He figured she could use a little bit of space now that everything was at least..., 'stable' for now. Probably doing one of her hobbies to unwind after everything. Besides they picked up a good number of strange metals and ores from the pirates. Unable to tell just what they were, he had enough history in construction to note the quality of them. Perhaps Blackfire was spending time working with them to make..., who knows. Maybe a shield with the metal, some sort of gems from the ores? She had promised the end result wouldn't be dangerous, but it was a little hard to take her word about it.

"Well, it won't outright explode I guess." He thought as he checked the time. Thank God Cupid had at least given them clocks that ran on Earth time...., ALL of them.

"Alright sport time to get ready for bed."

"Aw do I have to?!"

She did look pretty content in the pile of loot Blackfire had given her. He wasn't sure what half this did, but it was in varying levels of shiny and furry, so Layla liked it. He gave a sigh as he walked over and reached into the pile, pulling her up and onto his shoulders. He signaled CARM to clean up, when she got a minute of course, as he took his daughter to her room.

"Now now. We're both adjusting to this space thing, so I'd like for us to keep a semi regular sleep schedule." The look in her eyes was telling, "OKAY I'd like for YOU to keep a normal schedule.". He was reminded of all the late night drives he did either hauling, or just the two of them on the road for a weekened. "Just... do as I say not as I do Layla."

"Okay..." she had to stifle a yawn as she pouted.

It didn't take long for Layal to start settling down for sleep. Probably would only take half a story to put her to sleep. Least that's what he was thinking when the door opened and Blackfire walked in. That smug so sure look on her face; what was she up to now?

"I wasn't expecting you to show up."

"What can I say, I want to make sure she got to sleep okay. Besides she had a good showing today with those pirates." She took a step around him, letting him see something wrapped up behind her back, "I figured she deserved one last prize."

She brought the object out in front of her and waved her arms, unfurling it. It was rather large blanket, and a fuzzy one at that. It had a rather striking pattern of yellows and blacks. Mostly the former, with the latter forming a series of jagged stripes across its surface. Most the fuzz was on one side with a smoother, cooler bottom side. Layla pulled the blanket into her bed with wide eyes.

"You made this for me!??"

"Well. I was making something else. But I had a lot of material left over so why let it go to waste."

"It's so fuzzy and warm!" Lyala already had it wrapped around her as she rolled around in the bed, "I love it!"

"Of course it is. It was designed by ME after all." She tossed her hair back with a big smirk on her face, "Thus it's one of a kind and a real treasure. So you'll take good care of it and use it properly, won't you?"

He hadn't seen Layla excited to go to bed in a rather long time; short of Holidays or road trips. But eventually she got settled in and fell asleep, wrapped up in her new blanket. Had to turn down the room's tempurture to make sure she didn't get too hot under it. This let the adults retire to their own room for the rest of the evening..., though Zac wasn't sure what sort of evening it would be.

"And before you even get on my case; YES I did some checking. This ship's medical section is rather basic but it was enough to make sure she wouldn't have a coughing fit over the fur." Blackfire started as she stretched, arching her back as he heard a small 'pop', "I wouldn't give her something that would trigger her like that..., not after last time. Besides the fur is pretty hyperallergic, rather valued for that."

"I figured you wouldn't." He tapped a foot while his arms were folded over his chest, "Though I am curious as to what you were doing in there. I wasn't expecting a blanket..."

"...., Well no and yes." she said as she slinked towards the closet, disappearing inside as she called out to him, "See I had a bit of a... fun idea. For you that is. Think of it as your Queen rewarding you once more."

He wasn't sure if he should be worried or excited by that but he wasn't expecting to get sleep tonight at this rate. But he let her continue as he grabbed the computer chair and took a seat. Sounds of movement and fabric came from inside the closet.

"But I had far too much material left behind to just toss it out, so I figured the child could use a new..., shall we say, 'security blanket' after today? Something to keep her from crying in the middle of the night while we're..., indisposed."

How was it that she could always make something nice sound like it was done for her own needs. Then again, his ex was about the same; doing it to seem nice and good for friends and the public. Blackfire however probably didn't care what others thought save for being 'weak' or something. She just did whatever she wanted, even if she made a big deal about being a 'bad girl' about the whole thing.

"Well..., I kinda figured I would buy a little thing for her on the next stop or something. Make it a personal gift than the horde of prizes you dumped on her. But the blanket did win some good will..., from both of us. It was... thoughtful. Something I didn't expect from you."

"I DO have my moments... usually when I get something out of it myself. And Layla having a peaceful sleep is a wonderful payment; after all, it'd be akward if she walked in after I drained you."

"Yeah yeah." He weakly waved his hand, "You got a fight and are now fired up and probably want to have some more fun. I get it. So how are you going to start this round tonight?"

"Perhaps with a bit of a show?" The closet door slammed open with a loud clack.

It was..., SOMETHING. Gone was her usual metalish outfit or even one of those more casual outfits. No instead it looked..., rather ridiculous. She looked to be wearing a push up bra of some kind..., only with half of it being gone, making it look like some sort of push up 'strap' or bikini top. A matching tight thong accompined it. A pair of long gloves, ending at her elbows, covered her arms and set of long boots adored her legs. A leather strap with a gun holster sat on her hip, and a few bits of metal were placed to form a sort of armor.

And most of outfit shared the same yellow and black fur design the blanket had.

https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/yrgcnndx624.jpg (Something like this-Artist is PuriPuri Jet)

"Speechless?" She asked as she made her way over to him, making sure to do a slow spin to let him see everything the outfit didn't cover, "I remember you said something about me 'dressing up' so I figured..., why not? I still had my little kit to make outfits and had good material..., so what do you think? Aren't I... Enticing?"

She was a knockout that was for sure, even in just normal clothes. This was a step up and just a bit..., silly. Though she didn't need to go through all the hassle just for him. He looked her up and down, drinking in the details as he cupped his chin.

"....I don't know this character."

"MOTHER FUUUUUUUUUUUU......"