“Yes, we’re fine!” Clover barked back before nervously looking at the stove.
“Clover, in the fifth lower cabinet from your left is a special locker that has fresh pork in it. Hurry and grab a good amount, you need to slice the meat into manageable strips that we can fry. Doku, start cracking those eggs on the cooktop.”
“Bacon and eggs?” Doku questioned as she hurried over to the counter. “But, Twilight, there’s not enough time to do this. Everyone’s hungry now and we need to give them something soon.”
“Trust me.”
Clover quickly rushed over to the cabinet and opened it, seeing a few plump pigs set inside what appeared to be a chilled dresser. Not wishing to question Twilight’s sudden advice or how nobody had noticed this particular cabinet before the elf quickly grabbed a pig and brought it over onto the counter.
“Twilight, how are we going to cook them fast enough?” Doku whispered as she started cracking eggs on the stove with her foot and dropping the yolks onto the top. They didn’t start to sizzle just yet as the stove hadn’t heated up enough, something the harpy was fearful of as it would take a little more time for it to get to the right temperature.
“We’re going to need a lot of meat and eggs here,” Clover worried before grabbing a butcher knife and carving up the pig. She sliced off pieces of meat from the animal and quickly set them aside while Doku finished putting all the eggs she had gathered on the stove.
“This isn’t going to work,” Doku whimpered. “We just have enough room to do the eggs first and the bacon second if we wish to make enough for everyone, but both are going to take more time to cook than what we have.”
“Relax, girls. Doku, you can start getting everyone’s drinks ready. Assure them that breakfast will be ready soon.”
“What? But, Twilight,” Doku worried.
“Trust me, Doku.”
Doku hesitated as she looked over all the eggs that were on the stove but weren’t cooking yet then turned to Clover as the elf was busy reducing the pig to a skeleton as she rushed to cleave all the meat off it she could.
“I trust you, Twilight,” Clover quietly spoke. “Haven’t given me a reason to doubt you yet.”
“Well… alright then,” Doku slowly agreed. “If you say so, Twilight.”
The harpy took a pitcher of orange juice over to the table with her foot while quickly fluttering about with her wings, with Clover glancing to the eggs then the pile of sliced pork she was setting aside with anxious eyes.
“I’m counting on you, Twilight.”
“What’s going on?” Kroanette asked as Doku began pouring everyone a glass of juice.
“Nothing to worry about,” Doku quickly reassured as she moved from one member’s glass to the next. “One of the dishes we wished to make didn’t… make it. But don’t worry, we’ll be having a lovely meal of bacon and eggs this morning. Shouldn’t be much longer… I hope.”
“Really?” Daniel asked with a curious smile. He then showed a puzzled look. “Wait, we had bacon?”
“Yes. Fifth lower cabinet left from the stove. Who would have guessed?”
Daniel and Specca looked to each other curiously then over to the kitchen area where they could see Clover still working on the meal while having a butchered pig now sitting on the counter next to her.
“We had pork here all this time?” Specca wondered.
“Do you think we should have looked through the kitchen a bit more during the days we’ve been living here?” Kroanette dryly asked while Pip popped her head up from her breasts.
“Doku usually does the cooking so we never bothered,” Falla pointed out.
“Belly empty,” Luna whined dropping her head onto the table.
“Don’t worry, Luna,” Doku nervously reassured as she poured the butterfly some juice. “It won’t be but a moment longer… I’m sure.”
The harpy continued going around pouring everyone a glass before she stopped at Triska’s seat, with the cambion watching her with a small smirk while sitting on her lap was Cindy. And in the sand wraith’s arms was Snapper, the swarm snapping her teeth repeatedly while looking around at everyone with her wide smile.
“Cindy?” Doku asked. “Wouldn’t you like to sit in your own seat now?”
“This is my seat! Haha!” Cindy laughed while hopping about.
“I see. She appears to be rather fond of you now, Triska,” Doku pointed out as she poured the cambion some juice.
“Yeah,” Triska agreed with a tired smile. “And all it took was for me to feed her all of Alyssa’s cookies.”
“They were so yummy!” Cindy cheered happily. “When can I have more?”
“Alyssa has to make more,” Triska answered before looking down and away with a nervous frown. “After she likely punishes me first for giving you all the cookies. I’m so going to get it this time.”
“She’s going to destroy your ass for giving all her cookies to Cindy,” Falla agreed before taking a drink of her juice.
“You’re going to be in big trouble,” Luna weakly said glancing over to Triska.
“I know,” Triska sighed. “But at least Cindy’s behaving around me now because of it. I just hope it was worth it.”
“I’m glad to see you two are finally getting along,” Daniel said as he saw Cindy hopping about happily in Triska’s lap. “It was nice of you to try and make friends with her, Triska.”
“Oh yeah,” Triska grunted as the wraith kept bouncing on her. “We’re really getting close now.”
“She’s not so bad,” Cindy giggled before patting Triska’s head roughly, the teen flinching and forcing a smile while also leaning back as Snapper was crawling around the wraith towards her with snapping teeth. “She even gave me lots of yummy treats! I like her now! Actually, I don’t even remember why I was angry at her before.”
“Because when you two first met she threatened you with her sword of fi-” Luna started to say before Falla quickly covered her mouth.
“Don’t remind her,” Falla stressed through a forced smile at the wraith.
“I’m glad you think so, Cindy,” Triska said smiling nervously at Snapper. The swarm scrambled out of Cindy’s arm and screeched, racing towards Triska’s face before the cambion reached up and grabbed her with one hand.
“Easy, Snapper! We’re all good now! We’re friends!”
“Snapper likes you too!” Cindy cheered clapping her hands. “She wants to give you a kiss!”
“I really don’t think she wants to do that,” Triska urgently insisted while holding the swarm back by her shoulder, the youngling constantly snapping at her with a wild look in her eye.
“Yay! Kiss her! Kiss her!” Cindy urged as she got off the cambion’s lap, handing Snapper off to Triska who quickly held the young monster away with both hands as the swarm chomped at her relentlessly.
“I really don’t want to,” Triska begged. “And I really don’t think she wants to kiss me either.”
She watched Snapper lunge at her face again and again, her claws swiping and scratching her arms while her wings buzzed behind her. Looking around she saw everyone watching to see what she would do, except for Clover who seemed to be more focused on making breakfast for the group.
“Easy there, Snapper,” Triska pleaded. “Don’t bite, okay? We’ve been over this. Biting’s bad.”
Snapper thrashed about then jumped out of the teen’s grip, the little monster quickly crawling up her chest and grabbing her head before she screeched with a wide open mouth. Daniel and the girls watched in surprise while Triska screamed, all while Cindy laughed and clapped her hands as she apparently didn’t see anything wrong or dangerous with what the youngling was doing.
“Wait!” Triska cried out as she grabbed the swarm and tried to pry her off.
“Snapper, don’t!” Daniel shouted.
“Don’t eat her face!” Luna whined holding her hands over her eyes.
Snapper screeched loudly then suddenly halted with a curious gurgle, the young
ling sniffing the air a few times while her antennae twitched before she quickly looked over to the side.
“Yo,” Clover said standing next to them, the elf holding two plates with fried eggs and bacon simmering on them. She was holding the plates in her bare hands now, the girl watching Snapper with a blank expression before looking to the food she had prepared. “If you’re hungry how about having something other than Triska’s face?”
“Clover?” Triska asked glancing to the elf.
“Wait, how did you…” Doku softly said as the elf set the plates on the table. Snapper quickly lunged off Triska and landed on one, the little monster quickly snapping up the bacon from it before slashing apart the dish with her claws.
“Probably should have put hers on the floor,” Clover commented with a raised eyebrow.
“Ohhhh, is this food?” Cindy asked holding up the other plate. “It smells really good!”
Snapper screeched then hopped onto the wraith before quickly crawling up arm and trying to snap her teeth at the bacon she smelled.
“No, Snapper!” Cindy whined holding the plate higher, with the swarm then crawling up onto the girl’s head. “I wanna eat it! You had yours already!”
Cindy started running around the table holding her plate up while Snapper kept snapping her teeth and trying to reach for it on the wraith’s head. The group watched her run around in circles then turned to Clover as she was picking up the broken plate and spilled eggs on the table with annoyance.
“For the record, I’m not taking the blame for this,” she said to the others.
“Clover?” Doku wondered hopping over to her. “Is… is the food all ready?”
“All set,” Clover told her with a thumbs up. She then waved Star over. “Hey, you’re quick on your feet. Help me get everyone a plate.”
Star quickly warped over to her and meowed with a hungry smile before they and Doku headed over into the kitchen. Doku halted with a jump and stared in awe at seeing all the eggs on the stove being fried while on a few large platters next to them were sizzling strips of bacon that had a very enticing aroma.
“How in Eden?” Doku breathed out then looked to Clover in bewilderment as the elf threw the broken dish and slashed eggs in the trash.
Star grabbed a platter of bacon with a cheer, the girl leaning forward to start eating as much as she could before Clover grabbed her tail and yanked on it. The jinx let out a sharp meow and looked to see the elf scowling at her and shaking her head.
“Three strips of bacon. Two eggs. Give everyone that first before you start stuffing your face. And if you try to run off with this like you did with Specca’s fish we’ll see how many arrows I can shove up your ass before you pass out. Got it?”
Star nodded with nervous smile and a weak meow then set the platter down with a frown and lowered ears. Clover let the jinx go and watched her start to prepare smaller plates of the amount of food she was told to, the cat then warping over to the table and placing them before the hungry members of the group with a weak smile. As she did Doku slowly approached Clover while keeping her hidden eyes set on the breakfast that had been prepared in record time.
“Clover, how did you do this?” she whispered.
“Twilight helped,” Clover answered with a smirk as she guided the harpy over to the drawers. She brought out a bunch of silverware then handed a clump of napkins to the harpy. “C’mon, let’s get these handed out so we can eat.”
“But how did she do it?” Doku anxiously asked hopping about. “There wasn’t enough time to cook this, yet now everything somehow has been. What did she have you do?”
Clover glanced to the group who were watching in marvel as Star warped over to them with plates of freshly fried bacon and eggs then looked to the stove with a small smirk.
“What do I do now, Twilight?” Clover desperately asked while trying to keep her voice down, the elf frantically slicing strips of pork and piling them up on a few platters. “They were expecting this a while ago, how can I fry these things fast enough?”
“Alright, have you prepared all the meat?”
“Got piles of raw pork right here.”
“And the eggs are ready too?”
“Whole bunch of cold yolks right there.”
“Good. Now, open the middle drawer right in front of you. Inside should be some colored bags.”
“I don’t know if we need to worry about spices for this stuff just yet,” Clover mentioned opening the drawer. Inside there were various colored small pouches tied with golden string.
“Take the one that has a bright red color to it out, and be very careful with it.”
“Alright, I’m trusting you here, Twilight,” Clover nervously agreed as she grabbed the pouch.
“I’m happy to see you trust me as I do with you, Clover. Next you need to take a very, and I do mean very, small amount of the powder out. You’d do best not to get it in your eyes. Or your mouth. Or your skin. Coincidentally it’s a good thing you’re wearing gloves right now.”
Clover blinked then looked to her gloves carefully before eyeing the pouch.
“Why? What’s in this thing?”
“Spice would be putting it mildly,” Twilight giggled. “Anyway, a pinch of that powder will do nicely. Sprinkle it on the pork and eggs. Hurry now.”
Clover untied the pouch and carefully opened it, seeing a fine gray powder inside that appeared odorless. Being very cautious she slowly grabbed some of the dust with her fingers then held it out far away from her before sprinkling it on the meat. As she did the strange spices glittered a little before seeming to burn away from touching the pork. A wave of heated air blew from the platter while the meat began sizzling almost instantly. Clover jumped in surprise as she saw the bacon simmering with crackling bubbles then looked at the pouch in wonder.
“The fuck is this stuff?”
“You may wish to hurry, Clover,” Twilight replied. “It appears that young swarm you all have taken with you is trying to eat Triska Raylight’s face.”
Clover glanced back to see Cindy laughing and Triska trying to push Snapper away from her with a nervous smile. She quickly sprinkled more of the dust around on the eggs, watching in awe as the powder burned away from the touch while instantly frying the eggs.
“Okay, we need to put a warning label on this,” Clover reasoned before tying the pouch shut and putting it back. She looked at her hands for a moment then quickly pulled her gloves off and threw them away, not wishing to find out if any residual powder that may be on them still would be enough to burn her face away should she scratch her nose.
“Don’t worry, Clover,” Twilight laughed. “That special powder becomes inactive after a few seconds of being taken out of that bag and only works when near sources of heat such as the stove. The food is all perfectly safe to eat and your gloves are not in danger of setting you on fire.”
“Don’t you think you should have warned us about stuff like that in here?” Clover snapped as she started preparing two plates with bacon and eggs. “What if someone killed themselves opening that bag?”
“Didn’t my helpers explain what all was in the kitchen? I thought you knew of all the special amenities you had in your home.”
“No, they didn’t. We had no idea we had pigs in a drawer or bags of instant burning in here.”
“Oh dear,” Twilight sadly said. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ll have to have a word with them regarding their mistake. I assure you they’ll know not to make that one again.”
“Whatever, just let us know if there’s anything else in here that can kill us,” Clover insisted before quickly rushing the food over to the group just as she heard Triska suddenly screaming louder.
Doku was staring at Clover in silence after hearing how breakfast was made that morning, with the elf waiting a moment before brushing aside the harpy’s bangs to show her eyes were wide in surprise.
“Ah, you’re surprised,” Clover realized. “I couldn’t tell with all this hair in the way.”
“There are enchanted spices sitting in that drawer?” Doku asked nervously. “With one that would have roasted me on the spot should I have opened it by accident?”
“Yep,” Clover said glancing to the drawer. “We really should put a warning label on that after breakfast.”
“Oh dear,” Doku softly said shaking a little.
“Anyway it’s all fine now. Let’s go eat with our family,” Clover reasoned as she guided the trembling harpy over to the table. After passing out the napkins and silverware they sat down across from Daniel and Specca then saw everyone was watching them while they had plates of bacon and eggs that were untouched still. Everyone except for Cindy who was now sitting on the floor behind Triska and eating her eggs with both hands, the sand wraith murmuring passionately with each bite and a look of bliss on her face. Snapper however appeared to be missing now, something the group hadn’t noticed yet as they were looking at Doku and Clover with curious smiles.
“Is something wrong?” Clover asked looking at the food carefully. “Does… it taste bad or something?”
“Does anyone need more juice to drink?” Doku nervously asked. “Or perhaps lots of ice water?”
“We were waiting for you to join us,” Daniel said raising his glass to the harpy and elf. “This looks amazing and we wanted to properly thank you for making it for us.”
“Thank you for the food,” the other girls said together, with Star and Squeak of course speaking in their own tongues.
“Oh,” Clover said with a blush. She looked around at the group then lowered her head and nodded. “You’re welcome. It was nothing really.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Doku whispered lowering her head.
Daniel and the girls started eating with happy murmurs and hungry eyes, everyone enjoying the warm and tasty meal they had that morning. Pip merely watched Kroanette eat while nestled in her breasts with a giddy smile, eagerly awaiting her own breakfast which would be coming after the group had theirs.
“It’s so good!” Luna cheered as she ate her eggs.
“This is really tasty,” Kroanette agreed chewing her meal.
Chronicles of Eden - Act X Page 12