Just get me a second, just save it for breakfast

Morgana got to learn a little bit of what being a statue was like. That was definitely the feeling she got, with everyone crowding around her to check out her new hairstyle, and her being completely unable to move.

She was petrified out of anxiety.

I know they’re saying nothing but positive things about me, even Rose and Vivian! But… I’m not good with this many people! She screamed in the back of her head. Morgana was the explicit opposite of a social butterfly. Having so many people focus on her and pay attention to her, without her delusional ego to filter it out, was overwhelming to her.

So she just froze with a smile on her face and nodded like a bimbo in the hope that they’d give her enough space to breathe.

Eventually, Gina made an exit, but that wasn’t enough to bring down the temperature of the room.

It wasn’t until Dawn loudly cleared her throat that the attention was finally taken off of her.

“I know Morgana looks great, guys, but I think you might be crowding her a bit too much,” she said sympathetically.

“Oh, r-really?” Nick’s cheeks burned with shame. He scratched his head sheepishly and glanced at Morgana. “Sorry, I didn’t… um…”

“No! It’s fine, really!” Morgana squeaked out, waving her hands frantically. “I just, well… I’m not used to being crowded like that…”

For most of her life, the changes Morgana made to her appearance were things that drove people away. She’d gone from a stringy nerd to a stringy goth, and made herself the outcast in an effort to set herself apart and be “different”. Even her transformations, which had turned her from a sun-deprived wallflower to a woman with curves and glossy white skin, hadn’t been met with this kind of scrutiny.

No, for the first time, she was really being treated like the center of attention for a fashion decision she had consciously made… and it felt good.

She couldn’t stop smiling!

…But she needed her space.

“I completely understand,” Rose assured the goth, patting her on the shoulder. “I’m often the center of attention myself, so I know full well how difficult it can be, to be in your position.”

“O-oh… is that right…” Morgana’s smile cracked a little, but she didn’t have the heart to tell Rose that she’d rather not be compared to such an ego-driven, self-aggrandizing woman.

That comparison would hit a little too close to home. Just remembering the entitled way Morgana herself had acted when she first came to the island made her want to clutched her head and smack herself silly out of cringe.

In the meantime, though, she had other things to focus on… like relishing Nick’s compliments! Now, if only she could step back from the limelight and really disappear from everyone’s attention, then she could start being happy!

Morgana knew, on some level, that she wasn’t the easiest girl to be around. But she didn’t let that get the better of her.

…And when everyone took Dawn’s advice, and she stopped being the center of attention so they could go back to the conversations they’d been having before she arrived, Morgana definitely recognized the irony in being a little miffed about that fact. It was somewhat hypocritical, she couldn’t lie there.

“Morgana!” Mary looked at her with an expectant smile, and even though she’d been one of the people crowding the anxious goth, Morgana couldn’t help but find herself drawn to the redhead regardless, following her expectantly with her eyes.

“Y-yeah?” She stammered, looking warily at Mary. “What is it?”

“I was wondering, would you like to join us for another cooking lesson?” Mary asked hopefully. “You really seemed to be enjoying yourself last night, so-”

“Yes!” Morgana blurted out, cutting her off. “I’d love to! Please!”

She still had the compulsion from her dream the other night to cook for Nick. And she couldn’t deny that she’d loved the feeling of cooking for him last night, even if she had been influenced by Mary’s milk.

So how could she say no?

“Well, that’s great then!” Mary clapped her hands together. “The more the merrier, I say! But it’s going to be a pretty big lesson, apparently…”

She looked around the room. Not only would she have Rose, Morgana, and Dawn, but also Vivian and Ella would be joining in as well! That was quite a lot of people to cook for. She’d have to tag in Holly to assist.

It was a shame that Amelia and Sylvia wouldn’t be taking part, or Nick, but they would be going off to have fun on their own.

Nick cleared his throat and drew Mary’s attention. He looked a little flustered as he approached her. “So, um… if you’re going to start your cooking lesson soon… then I guess it’s time for us to head out, then?”

He glanced at Amelia and Sylvia.

“Sure, if that’s what you want,” Mary nodded. “I still have to get the ingredients, but you don’t need to stick around for my sake!”

“She’s right, Daddy!” Sylvia hopped up to Nick and hugged his arm tightly. “Let’s get a move on! We’ve got so many fun things to do today!”

“R-really? Fun things like what?” Nick asked, turning to his stepmother for clarification. They’d never actually set any concrete plans, he’d just agreed to spend the day with them. What they’d actually be doing, well… that would come as a surprise to him as well.

Amelia gave him a blank stare that suggested she didn’t actually have anything planned, either.

Which wasn’t a great sign.

Nick sighed in exasperation, and relented to Sylvia leading him away. He felt a pit in his stomach, like he wasn’t sure how this was going to go, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about it right now, either, unfortunately.

In the future, though, he would have to make sure he had something concrete planned out, in case something like this happened again.

I suppose this is what I get for always being passive when it comes to spending time with the women in my harem, Nick figured, even though it felt kind of gross to be thinking about his stepmother and Sylvia in that context.

As the trio left the Banquet Hall, he wracked his brain trying to think of something they could all do together so he wouldn’t just be swept up by the former host’s impulses and desires.

Which left Mary to handle the rest.

“Okay,” she said, turning back to the remaining women in Nick’s harem. “Should we get started? What does everyone want to make?”

She wanted to start things off with that, because it would be best if they felt invested in what they were preparing.

What she didn’t expect for is Vivian’s hand to immediately shoot up. But maybe she should have… the heiress was definitely the kind of woman who wanted to take the lead in things.

“Yes, Vivian?” She asked, bracing herself for something ridiculous. If Vivian wanted her to show them how to make caviar or truffles or gold-wrapped steaks or whatever, she would scream.

But the smirking heiress didn’t suggest anything like that. What she suggested instead came as a total shock.

“What about hamburgers?” She asked. “You can show us how to make those, right?”

Mary wasn’t sure she heard that properly. “Ham… hamburgers?”

“Yep,” Vivian nodded. “That’s the kind of food you folk like on this side of the pond, yeah? Back home, we have our own kinds of course, but it’s such a uniquely American food, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Isn’t Hamburg in Germany, though?” Rose pointed out. Which came as quite a surprise. Nobody expected her to have any insight into anywhere that wasn’t France or Hollywood.

“Actually, that’s a common misconception,” Dawn answered, adjusting her glasses. “The hamburger doesn’t derive its name from Hamburg, Germany. You’re thinking of the hamburg steak, which was a style of meat preparation. What we consider the hamburger has a nebulous origin. There are several competing claims for how it was conceived, but all the stories trace back to different states in the U.S.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Rose groaned, rolling her eyes. “Are you some kind of secret hamburger fan or something?”

“I don’t forget things I read, that’s why,” Dawn replied. Though that certainly didn’t explain where she’d stumbled across that little-known fact in the first place.

“Well, fine, if you say so,” Rose shrugged, ceding to Dawn’s expertise. “Since Dawn here is such a fan of hamburgers, I suppose she’s fine with cooking them too, then.”

“Well, hold on, I didn’t say that!” Dawn said quickly. “I would prefer not to eat something so greasy and bad for you, if at all possible.”

Mary wasn’t going to let that stand. “My food is not greasy!” She snapped, stomping her foot. “It’s a common misconception,” she added, throwing Dawn’s own words back at her, “that hamburgers are bad for you. This isn’t a slab of frozen meat you’d find at a McDonald’s, when prepared properly and with the right quality of meat, a hamburger is actually very healthy!”

“…I know,” Dawn said, looking a little guilty. “…I’m just not really that good with cooking things on an open grill. Being near open flame… I’m sorry, I should have just said that, instead of trying to sound all smug. I didn’t mean to get on my high horse.”

Her face burned with shame and she couldn’t look Mary in the eye. It’s not like she had the moral high ground to stand on, considering all the fried noodles she’d subsisted on from the Chinese takeout restaurants in her area back home. Dawn had been eating better since she came to the island, but that didn’t change her past.

“So again, hamburgers? We good with that?” Vivian looked around eagerly. “And shove that ‘no grease’ part, I’m looking to splurge here folks! All our food back home is just so… food-like. I’ve got a craving for some real garbage.”

Mary shot her a dirty look.

“What?” Vivian held up her hands. “I’m not talking about your cooking, love. I’m saying that’s what I want to make.”

“I have no intention of teaching anybody to make subpar food,” Mary insisted, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest. Already, sparks were starting to fly, and everybody could see it for themselves.

Vivian’s love of rebelling against authority was going to be a problem.

“Let’s all just calm down, okay?” Rose begged, stepping between the two of them. The last thing she wanted was to see any fighting. “Mary, we all have different tastes when it comes to burgers. I’m sure Gina would want something slathered in grease too, right? And that’s fine! You can show her what to do, and she can take it from there.”

“Rrrgh, yeah, you’re right,” Mary relented. “Sorry. I don’t want to be a totalitarian.”

“I’ll try and make something healthy,” Dawn said, her tail whipping behind her. “But we don’t have to make burgers, you know. No need to follow Vivian’s whims just because.”

Dawn didn’t have a problem with the heiress per se, but she felt like the others were getting a little swept up in the tide. As for what she wanted to cook, well… ideally it would be something good for her health, at least.

“Morgana? What about you?” Dawn asked, turning to the goth. “Are you feeling like anything in particular?”

“Oh, uh…” Morgana didn’t expect to be put on the spot like that. She quickly shook her head. “No, I’m not really hungry for anything special! I’ll cook whatever Mary wants to teach me… as long as it’s pretty easy…”

“Burgers don’t sound hard,” Vivian chirped.

“Um… actually…”

A voice no one expected softly spoke up, filling the vacuum of silence. Surprised, everyone turned to Ella, who had been huddled at her table with her head down throughout the entire conversation.

“Yes?” Mary asked, giving the other girl her full attention. She didn’t want to give Ella special treatment, but it was okay to give her opinion the same consideration as everyone else.

“I… I really like burgers,” she admitted with a bashful smile. “Is it okay… if we make them? Eating hamburgers with people has always been something I wanted to do…”

Well, when she put it like that, Dawn suddenly found herself without any objections to voice.

“So it’s decided, then?” Rose asked. She didn’t have much opinion one way or the other. “We’re cooking burgers?”

“Yep, burgers it is,” Mary agreed. Now that she’d had the chance to really stop and think about it, she realized that it was a pretty ideal solution. After all, burgers were easy to make, and hard to screw up. And they tasted pretty good, too.

“…Oh, but no kitchen stove,” Vivian hopped in. “That just feels so… sanitized, you know? How about an actual grill?”

Mary’s eye twitched. “Wait, you mean… you want to grill some burgers outside or something?”

Vivian shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem, yeah?”

“I-I guess not, no…” Mary admitted, shaking her head. “Okay, so… I guess I’ve got to get the ingredients then?”

What should she put on the burgers? It’s not like she had a lot of experience making them- she’d done it once or twice, but hamburgers were far from her favorite food.

“Standard burger ingredients, that would be, what? Lettuce and tomato and cheese?” Rose considered. “And condiments too, I suppose.”

“What about pickles?” Morgana asked. “I like getting those on my burger.”

“Some nice, fresh mushrooms would go well, too,” Vivian suggested, licking her lips.

“Ooh! And caramelized onions!” Rose was quick to jump in on Vivian’s idea, and the two quickly ran away with things.

Dawn sighed and looked sympathetically over at Mary as the poor girl fretted about, trying to sort out who would want what on their burger.

Well… at least cooking the burgers itself can’t be that difficult, she thought. How hard could it be to grill meat?

Dawn choked on the smell of burnt hamburger, and seethed. She’d expected that out of everyone here, she’d have the hardest time cooking. Mary, Holly, Rose, and Ella were all at varying levels of skill, and Morgana had gotten private lessons from Mary just yesterday.

But…

“Sorry about that, everybody!” Vivian waved her hand over the black smoke wafting up, wearing a sheepish expression on her face. “Guess I left it on a smidgeon too long, eh?”

Dawn glanced at the charred hockey puck fused to the neighboring grill, and cringed.

“Vivian!” Mary groaned, coming over to check on the other woman. “I told you! Once you’ve preheated the grill properly, you’re supposed to reduce the heat after putting the patty on!”

“Sorry, but it seemed like an alright temperature to me,” Vivian apologized, looking genuinely contrite for a moment. “I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal!”

“Cut her some slack, Mary, it’s not like she’s ever done this sort of thing before,” Holly said, coming to the other girl’s aid. “We’ve both been cooking for a while now.”

Well, I haven’t, Dawn thought, taking a peek at her perfectly-sizzling patty under the grill cover, and I can still handle this.

In an effort to sate Vivian’s fantastical whims, Mary had agreed that rather than cook the burgers in the kitchen, they’d bring everything they needed outside to the beach and have a regular barbecue. Apparently, for as much as Vivian liked her high status, she had a penchant for casual affairs like this.

What she didn’t have a penchant for?

Cooking.

Like, at all.

But Mary wasn’t about to let that get the better of her. She took a deep breath and then exhaled, and flashed a gentle smile.

“It’s alright,” she said calmly, patting Vivian on the shoulder. “Everyone makes mistakes their first time cooking.”

“Oh, this isn’t my first time,” Vivian assured her with a laugh. “I actually cooked a lot when I was younger!”

“Eh? You did?” Mary was surprised to hear that.

“Yep. As a little girl, I wanted to make some stuff, but it didn’t turn out very good,” she admitted, scratching her head sheepishly. “I guess these things just happen, you know?”

“What, fire hazards?” Rose joked.

“Well… you can only get better from here!” Mary said, trying to keep the positive atmosphere going. “We’ll get you another patty, and this time I’ll oversee it so you don’t make any mistakes!”

“You will? Aw gee, that’s real swell of ya!” Vivian said, beaming from ear to ear. “You’re such a great teacher, Mary! One of the best I’ve ever had!”

“Oh, you think so? Well, gosh, I didn’t… I mean, I’m just doing what I can, you know?” Mary bashfully accepted Vivian’s praise, playing with her pigtails while Vivian buttered her up like a dinner roll.

Mary might be a sweet girl, but she sure is **** to sweet-talking herself, Dawn thought, watching the exchange out of the corner of her eye. It was obvious to her that the whole reason Vivian had agreed to this cooking class in the first place was because she wanted to get in good with Mary, who was closest to Nick’s heart.

It was a fine strategy, and something Dawn might have considered herself, if she was a little sneakier.

Or maybe she genuinely wanted to cook. It was hard to say with that one.

“Uwaah! No, no, no! Come on!” Morgana wailed, jumping out of the way as the fire from the grill leapt up at her when she turned her patty over.

…And then there was that one.

Mary had to rush to the goth girl’s side, and to her relief the fire had only lasted for a couple moments and was extinguished by the time she got there.

“It… it got a little burned, I think…” Morgana sighed in resignation.

“Nah, it’s fine. Take a look!” Mary assured the goth, who took a second look at the patty. “See? That was just a flare-up. The fat from the burger got on the gas, and, well… fwooosh!” She waved her hands up in an inferno.

“So… it’s okay to eat it?” Morgana couldn’t actually see anything wrong with the burger on inspection, but she was still ****.

“It’s fine, Morgana,” Mary assured the other girl, patting her on the back. “It happens all the time.”

Morgana sighed in relief. She didn’t know how she could go from being such a good cook last night, to a complete mess today. It really spoke to the effects of Mary’s milk.

As for Dawn? She was just happy that things were finally settling down. She turned to Ella, who was hard at work behind her own grill. And she was smiling.

That made the whole thing worth it.