Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Pepper!!" Valentine yells, with Enforcer standing right beside her. "Your sinister and slightly inconveniencing plans end here!!"

The three stood at the water supply of the city, with The Spice Meister/Pepper/Ginger propping her foot on a barrel full of capsaicin.

"Ahahaha~! Well~ if it isn't Valentine the platypus and Enforcer the chihuahua~!" The Spice Meister greeted. "But I'm afraid you're too late to stop me from dropping a barrel full of pure capsaicin into the water supply!"

"Cut the crap, Ginger!" Enforcer yelled, pointing his Desert Eagle at her, "All three of us know you haven't actually done anything."

"Oh~ I know~," she giggled. "But I'm one kick away from mildly inconveniencing everyone in this city!"

"You monster!" Valentine began to charge at her, holding her fist out like a rhinoceros, letting out a killer battle cry.

The Spice Meister simply laughs it off as she steps to the side, avoiding her completely. "What~? You think I'm just gonna stand there and take it~?" She counter-attacked with a boot to the head.

Enforcer ducked behind cover and shot off a punch of ricochet shots at her. The Spice Meister was genuinely worried about them because she was only human, she managed to avoid it all though.

She reached into her bag and retrieved a bell pepper grenade. "Come out, come out~!" She threw that grenade like a hot potato behind the cover. Enforcer effortlessly avoided the capsaicin blast.

Valentine ran back up and slapped her across the face and pushed her down. "Where did you even get a boot!" They exclaimed. "That wasn't even spice related!"

The Spice Meister pulled out some pepper spray and sprayed Valentine in the eyes as she rubbed her cheek. "Because funny!"

Valentine reeled back, rubbing her eyes. Enforce gave her covering fire, shooting at her.

She giggled as she dodged. "Looks like I'll have to pull out my secret technique~!" She made a beeline towards Enforcer and wrapped her arms around him.

"Gah! Unhand me you blasted wo—MMM!!!"

He couldn't say another word as The Spice Meister placed her lips on his and started making out with him. If it was any other person, this would be sexual assault, but with The Spice Meister, it was a clever attack, and her most powerful tool that wasn't just a flamethrower.

Due to her insanely high spice tolerance, her saliva began to produce copious amounts of capsaicin, providing a potent spicy feeling. By exchanging spit with her opponents, she completely burns their mouths with a spicy sensation.

"MMMMMMMM!!!" was all Enforcer could muster before he passed out from the spicy spit, collapsing backwards onto the floor.

Valentine recovered from the pepper spray and charged at her soon after, only to be met with the same fate. She got the opportunity to make out with a hot woman against her will, and got spice overloaded.

The Spice Meister giggled as she kicked the barrel into the water supply and left, a mischievous grin on her face. It was time to return to her normal identity. She had a restaurant to run.

The Spice Meister, who's true identity is Paprika Cinnamon, is manning the counter of her small restaurant. Rika is the proud owner of Cinnamon Grill, a restaurant that specializes in spicy foods.

It's honestly a miracle she hasn't been identified yet, she's barely even hiding it.

She's washing down the gas and charcoal grill like a responsible chef would, when out comes her two favorite customers, Pico and Sunday.

"Ay ay~! Pico~, Sunday~, how's ya two~?" she greeted, joining them at their usual seat, on the swivel chairs at the bar, near the end of the counter.

Pico and Sunday weren't looking very happy, all things considered, but they lightened up pretty soon after. "All's fine, honestly. It's a bit touch and go, but we're good," Pico answered.

"That's good to hear my favorite folks~!" she exclaimed with a smile, showing off her shark teeth. "So~ we gettin' the usual~?" The two nodded at her question. "A chili burger with cajun fries and hot noodles coming right up~!"

Unbeknownst to her, her favorite customers were actually her archenemies out of their disguises. She probably doesn't care anyways though.

It wasn't long until a plate and a bowl of delicious spicy foods were set down in front of them. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the counter and her chin on her interlocked fingers. "So~ how are my favorite customers in the world doing~?"

"Mmm, we're doing pretty okay. Thanks Rika," Sunday exclaimed just before slurping up some spicy noodles into her gullet. "Mmm!"

"Hehehe~ you too are so cute together~," she remarked, letting out a small laugh. "Ay~ you two got space in there for a third member~?" she joked." I promise I'll be a good girlfriend to you two~"

Pico and Sunday began to blush hard. The spiciness of the food already made them red. But, the spiciness in her voice was enough to cause their faces to burn up.

"R-rika..." Pico mumbled. "I'm taken..."

"Oh, I'm well aware~, I just think it'd be nice to have two girls on ya~," she remarked with a mischievous and flirtatious giggle. "What do you say, Sunday~?"

Sunday grabbed Pico by his arm and gripped tightly. "Nuh uh! I ain't into that shit! He's mine!"

Paprika jokingly groaned. "Ugh~! You're such a buzzkill~," she announced to them. "Y'know, Sunny~? You're also pretty cute as well~," she remarked, turning to her.

Sunday looked away, visibly flustered and slightly annoyed. Paprika decided now was a good time to back off so she doesn't make her favorite customers too uncomfortable.

"Anyways, enjoy your food, y'all~!" She walked away and served another customer as the two continued to burn their mouths with her spicy food, their faces red from the spice and from blushing.

Paprika was strolling down the street, hands on her hips, a perpetual colon three on her face. She was walking home after closing up her restaurant for the day.

Along the way, she's been catcalled by people. Nothing new, she finds it flattering. Of course, being the mischievous deviant she is, she fought catcalling with catcalling.

This left most people that walked by more flustered than she ever could be. More importantly, it shut them up.

Before heading home, Rika took a quick detour to meet up with a friend, sliding discreetly into an alleyway. Waiting for her there was a man by the name Darnell.

"Ay," the man greeted, adjusting the hood on his head.

"Yello~," she greeted, leaning on the alleyway beside him. "How's my bud doin'~?"

"All's well. It's been the usual. Wake up, eat, work, burn stuff, sleep. Same ol', same ol'," he answered. "Et tu? How's the restaurant?" he asked, looking over to her.

"Heh~ you know business is booming, baby~." She lightly nudged him with her elbow.

He nodded. "Yeah, I know. Rosie's a bit jealous that you get so many customers," he remarked. "How do you get so many customers?"

Rika laughed. "Ah, mi amigo guapo, I can't go around exposing those juicy business details~. I'm under an NDA with myself~."

He rolled his eyes at her compliment. "Yeah, I expected as much." He pushed himself off the wall and turned to the exit of the alleyway. "Well, I'll be seeing ya, Rika."

"Hasta la vista, mi amigo guapo~!" she exclaimed, waving as he left the alleyway. He waved back, slightly flustered from her calling him handsome.

She exited the alley the way she came in and walked back to her home, content with the day behind her.

Paprika pushed the door to her apartment open, closing and locking it behind her. She put her stuff down on the couch and headed into the kitchen to make dinner.

She sat down at her dining table, alone with a bow of spicy caesar salad. And she was about to happily dig in with her fork.

Unfortunately for her and her stomach, she was rudely interrupted as a group of four shadow people decided now was the time to show up, manifesting themselves sitting at the empty chairs of the dining table.

The four beings were identical in appearance. Same height, same shape, even their shadow particles moved the same way. The only evident difference between them all was the color of their eyes. Red, blue, white, magenta.

"Ms. Paprika Cinnamon," the red eyed shade addressed, clasping their hands together. "Greetings."

"Hey, Arthur~! How's it going~?" she asked, biting into her salad, once again on her teasing streak.

The shadow's face flared up as they groaned. "For the last time, it's Auditor!!" they yelled out in frustration. "Not Arthur!! That's a stupid name!"

"I mean, it's technically a normal name," the white eyed shade remarked.

"So~, what reason brought all your beautiful faces to my humble abode~?" she asked, twirling the fork in her fingers. "Need a mommy or something~?"

The Auditor looked back at her. "No. We're here to discuss the details of your meandering." They pulled out a clipboard.

"Ah, yes~ my infamous public tomfoolery~," she joked, standing up to put her empty bowl into the sink. "So~, what line did I cross this time~? Like, c'mon y'all, I'm a minor inconvenience at worst~."

"While your ability you rarely use is no doubt reality breaking. Yes, you're not a threat to reality, I'm aware. Our meeting, however, is because one of us had a small sip of your spiced water and got a bit peeved." They looked over at the magenta eyed shade.

"Hey," she yelled back. "What can I say? I have a delicate throat!"

"We don't have throats, Stygian," the blue eyed shade retorted. "We don't even have organs."

"Silence, Conductor!"

"Silence. All of you." the white eyed announced, shutting up Stygian and Conductor.

"Oh, c'mon Dell~!" Paprika said, "Let Stella and Conner have a bit of fun~!"

"It's the Deliberator," he retorted calmly. "Now, while you're currently not much of a threat to reality..." He took the clipboard from the Auditor. "You're still quite chaotic."

"What can I say~? Chaos is my style~."

"No, your style is spicy everything. You're also a minor pyromaniac— I see your lips quivering. I know what you're gonna say."

Paprika failed to resist the urge to laugh. "But I'm 21!"

Deliberator rolled his eyes. "Anyway. You've got many eyes on you, in both of your personas."

"I am simply too irresistible for the human gaze~"

"Can you like, shut up?" Stygian complained.

"Cool it, Stygian," Conductor said.

"Am I wrong though~?" She teased. "Look at me~ look at this bod~." Paprika flaunted her body to the Employers. "I radiate that milf energy~!"

Stygian stood up and slammed her palms on the table. "Bitch! You...!" She started. "Actually...no, no. I see your point."

"See~! Stella gets it~!" she announced, sitting back down. "I am simply too hot that the people can't take their eyes off~! I radiate the mommy energy~!"

"Motherly energy, huh?" Deliberator asked, setting down the clipboard.

"Huh? No. Mommy energy. Motherly energy is completely different," she explained. "So basically—"

Auditor cut her off. "You know? It would be a good idea to have a human mother for the kids," they remarked.

"Oh, yeah! Good idea Auditor!" Conductor exclaimed. "I'm sure the kids would appreciate having someone who actually looked like them as a mother!"

"Oi! What's wrong with me?!" Stygian bitched. "Am I not a good enough parental figure?!"

Deliberator spoke up. "The issue at play is that none of us resemble an actual human. We're black as tar with glowing eyes. We're shadow beings that lack any actual limbs."

Paprika tried to cut in. "W-wait are you guys talking about me?!"

"It would also keep her in check, since we can directly observe her," Auditor remarked. "Would lower the chaos ratings that she causes."

"That too," Deliberator remarked.

"D-did you guys actually take the mommy comment seriously?!" She interrogated. The Employers all nodded in unison. "Y-you all know I meant that sexually, right?!"

"I mean, yeah? But like, we could genuinely use a human to actually nurture the kids we have to deal with," Conductor answered.

"You can't do this! Kidnapping is illegal!" Paprika exclaimed.

"We're the shadow government, girlie!" Stygian retorted. "And you're a villain, so we don't care!"

The Auditor stood up and grabbed Rika. "It has been decided. You cannot fight this."

"W-wait wha—"

And before she could finish her sentence, she was dragged into the ground with the four of them.

Paprika found herself slamming face down on a sofa. "Ow..."

"Oh! Another human!" A feminine voice called out. "That's new!"

Paprika pushed herself up and looked ahead of her. "W-what?!" she asked.

The first thing she noticed was a girl in front of her. She had sky blue, curly hair and pink eyes. She wore a white shirt with a red checkmark.

"Hi! My name is Sky!" she held out her hand, which Rika hesitantly shook.

"Uh...Paprika...hi..." she mumbled as she looked around at her surroundings. She was shocked at what she found. Scattered around what seemed to be an extraterrestrial living room was...

A whole lot of sky blue hair. They all seem related to Sky in some way, at least in appearance. As Sky began to introduce them to her, she took note of one thing. With few exceptions, all of them were named some variation of Sky, or even just Sky.

While utterly baffled at the sea ahead of her, The Auditor decided to pop in and make small talk. "So. Welcome to what we've dubbed the Skyverse. And you'll be a mother to all of these Skys who are...admittedly only about two years younger, but we don't care."

"Welcome to the end of the world," one of the Sky's in front of her joked.

"Pow!" another one said, waving. She was smaller than the others.

"She's cute," a third one said. She was the most mature looking one.

"You're permitted to return home whenever you please to do your other duties, but you will be expected to return here and deal with the kids," The Auditor explained before he left.

Paprika looked on ahead in shock and awe. "...oh, I am so not ready to be a mother..."

Chapter Text

The Spice Meister was driving around with a pickup truck, a barrel sitting in the back of the truck. Her fingers tapped on the wheel as she drove.

She was on route to the city's water supply, readying herself to battle with Enforcer and Valentine again.

The two thumps on the top of her truck were a bit concerning, but she quickly figured out who it was. "Going for an ambush, are we~?" she asked, glancing upwards.

"We're doing this again, Pepper!" Valentine yelled, tapping her foot on the roof.

"I'm coming~ I'm coming~," she said, emphasizing the lewdness of her word choice.

She stepped out of the car, twirling a frying pan in her fingers as she stared up to Valentine and Enforcer on her truck.

"Round two! You're not winning this time!" she yelled, punching her fists together. Enforcer spun his gun around his index finger before pointing it at Paprika.

She held her frying pan ahead of her, challenging the two to a 2v1. She's won before, she'll win again.

Valentine jumped from the roof and went for a ground pound, one Rika had backed away from.

Enforcer went for a shot to the shoulder, but she used her frying pan to return it to sender, shooting his gun out of his hand.

"I shoulda done this last time!" she exclaimed as she readjusted herself for Valentine.

The battle was very quickly cut short, though, as Paprika's phone began to ring in the midst of combat. "God dammit, time out, I gotta take this."

She stepped away from the battlefield as the two stood around waiting for her to finish. She took out her phone and answered the call.

"Hello? Sky?" she asked, talking to the other person.

"...is it an emergency? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"What?! NeetBlue? The brown girl?"

"I'm not calling her black! She wears all brown! Is it her?"

"How the hell did NeetBlue start a fire?! In the kitchen?!"

"A grease fire?! No! Don't use water for a grease fire! Tell Miko and Sora to back away from the fire!"

The two looked at her confused as she began to argue with her children. They didn't know she had children.

"Alright! I'll be there asap! Just find a fire extinguisher!" She hung up the call and looked over to the heroes. "Alright! You win this! I have something important to do!"

She used her power that she totally always had to make herself invisible and silent to the two heroes, who began to cheer in victory. She'll win next time, after her daughters stop being dumb.

Rika tabbed a shiny new wing on her ring finger. The gems on it flashes red, blue, white, and pink as she was invisibly teleported out of the fight.

Paprika quickly put out the grease fire with a fire extinguisher. "Sigh at least the kitchen is still standing. What were you thinking?!"

"Pssh...sorry mom..." A brown haired, lanky girl stood ahead of her with her head down. A brown beanie in her head complimented thet brown hoodie. "I was just feeling a bit hungry."

NeetBlue was one of the more unique daughters she had, not resembling any of the other Sky's sky blue hair and check mark shirt.

"What were you even— you're named NeetBlue, right?" Rika asked, pausing her lecture.

The girl in front of her nodded, confirming her identity as NeetBlue.

Rika continued her lecture. "What were you even cooking, NeetBlue?! French fries?!"

"...yeah..." she admitted, looking down at her feet in shame. "In my defense, we were all trying to make fries, but we didn't really know how..."

Rika calmed down a little, taking a deep breath. "Alright, who was helping? I think Sky said Sora and Miko were also there?"

NeetBlue nodded. "It was me, Sky, Miko, and Sora trying to make fries."

Paprika looked over at the guilty party, or at least who she believed was the guilty party, she didn't really get to know her daughters yet, the only one she fully recognizes was Sky, who was tugging on the collar of her shirt.

One of the girls next to her was whistling nervously. She wore a pink bow in her hair with a white crop-top spaghetti-strap top with a pink X as opposed to a checkmark. She wore pink leg and arm warmers.

The girl on the other side of Sky was scratching the back of her head, a nervous smile on her face. She resembled Sky much more closely, but a large red bow over her head and a red jacket differentiated her.

Rika pointed to the three girls, specifically to the two beside Sky. "Which one of you two is Miko?" she asked. The girl with the air warmers raised her hand.

"And Sora?" she asked. To which, the red jacket Sky raised her hand with a nervous "hi."

"How the hell do you even mess up french fries? Do you not have access to the internet?" she asked the four Skys.

"We did but we were just kinda...winging it," NeetBlue answered, stepping forward.

Rika let out a groan and laid down on a sofa. "I gotta do everything, don't I...?" she mumbled.

"I mean, you're our mom now. You kinda have to, it's sorta your job," a green haired Sky told her, leaning over the sofa to look down on her. "So like. Deal with it."

The Sky in her face was more unique than the rest. Green and yellow hair donned her head, matching her yellow eyes. She wore a button-up, white shirt with a cleavage window and a cross necklace with a pleated purple skirt and black fingerless gloves.

"And you are?" Paprika asked the Sky with a busy attire.

"B3 Sky. But B3 is fine," she answered.

"I see." She let out a sigh as she sat back up. "Anyways...guess I should teach you guys to cook, and shit. You're all 19 and you can't cook?"

"Our original caretakers kinda...just summoned food," Sora explained. "We just wanted to take a stab at it ourselves."

"Well, you've come to the right place," Rika announced, standing up. "Because I actually know how to cook. So, let me show you how it's down."

The four Skys and Rika stood just outside of the kitchen as it was once again set ablaze. Everyone looked disappointed towards NeetBlue, who held a bowl of fries topped with cheese and bacon.

"...so...maybe I shouldn't be trusted with the kitchen," NeetBlue mumbled, holding the bowl in shame.

Rika retrieved the fire extinguisher and put the fire back out. "Clearly. I have no idea what you did, but you did it again."

Miko tried to lighten up the mood. "Uh...on the bright side, we managed to make the fries!" she exclaimed.

Sora nodded. "Hey, we somewhat succeeded," she remarked.

Rika pulled out her phone once she finished extinguishing the fire. "Yeah, I guess that's true. Luckily time moves slowly here, I need to go open up my restaurant."

"Ooh! Can I come with?" One of the Skys asked, running up to her. "Also, I'm Lilith, because you're having trouble remembering our names."

She was a bit different from the rest, shocker. She had black scleras and red irises instead of pink. Her shirt had a Homestuck mind symbol for some reason, which Paprika recognized, and her arms were char black, standing out from her pale skin.

"Hello, Lilith," Rika greeted. "You want to leave this Skyverse and see my world? What for?"

"I wanna see what your world is like! It's so boring being holed up here!" Lilith announced. "I need some variety here!"

"I don't know what's up with you," B3 Sky remarked. "This place is fine, you're just being a whiny bitch."

"Shut up!" Lilith retorted. "Anyways, can I come with?" she asked nicely.

Paprika just let out a long sigh as she contemplated whether or not this is a good idea. "...sure." she mumbled, having only thought about it for about five seconds.

Lilith jumped in joy. "Nice! Let's go!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I want vanilla milkshakes!" she added.

"Welcome to Cinnamon Grills~! How may we serve ya~!" Lilith exclaimed to a customer. Paprika decided that since she was going to tag along she might as well use her as child labor.

It's a good thing Lilith was perfectly fine with it. Though she had to correct her that she was a legal adult.

"Did Rika start hiring other people or something?" The customer asked.

Lilith nodded. "Something like that. Paprika's over there cooking right now. So, what'll it be?"

Lilith understood working the counter pretty quickly, since all she had to do was write down orders and give them to her. This meant Paprika was able to spend most of her time on the grill, leaving a couple times to clear something up with her.

Business went a lot smoother with Lilith on board, it probably helps that she replicated Rika's flirtatious mannerisms in her speech, using squiggles at the end of her sentences a lot.

"And here's your Spaghet!" she enthusiastically exclaimed as she slid over a plate of spaghetti.

Paprika was damn proud of Lilith's moderate competence, rewarding her with headpats.

Ding ding ding

Paprika turned around to glance at the entrance to see who it was, just to see it was her favorite customers. They seemed to be in a good mood as well.

"Lilith, dear. Do you mind manning the grill?" Paprika asked.

Lilith gave her a confident salute. "You can count on me! Probably!" she added as the two swapped roles.

"Pico~! Sunday~! Welcome back~! What's the occasion~!" she asked.

"Nothing much!" Sunday responded. "We're just in a great mood today!"

Paprika nodded, listening. "Glad to hear, you lovelies~!" she teased. "So~ the usual~?"

Pico nodded, leaning onto Sunday. "C'mon, Rika, we always get the usual. It's the usual for a reason."

She nodded and turned over to the new chef. "Lilith, dear! Can you cook a chili burger with cajun fries and hot noodles? The recipe is in that book beside the grill if you need it!"

Lilith looked at the cookbook before turning to her and nodding. "Chili burger, cajun fries, and hot noodles coming right up~!"

Pico and Sunday looked over to the girl in blue. "An employee? I thought you preferred working alone," Pico remarked.

"And why does she resemble Barry a little...?" Sunday mumbled.

Paprika shrugged at Sunday's question. "I usually do, but my daughter wanted to help out today," she replied, letting slip that she has children.

"Word?" Sunday asked. "Congrats Rika! You're a mother now! Who's the lucky man~?"

Pico's eyes widened. "Wait, have you been flirting with us while you were married?!"

Rika shook her head and waved her hands. "No, no, no! It's not like that! It's..." She thought of a quick lie. "...it's an arranged marriage! And this is my 'husbands' child from his last marriage!"

Sunday scoffed. "You got forced into a marriage with a guy with a child? Dick move on his part. At least he gave you a cool ring."

Rika looked down at the ring on her ring finger. The one that was gifted by the shadow government to let her hop between her world and the Skyverse.

"Uh...yeah, it's a pretty nice ring. Rather valuable, too."

Pico brandished an UZI, spinning it around his finger. "You want us to deal with him?" he said menacingly.

Rika sweat for a moment as her lie was working a bit better than she expected. "Uh...nah, nah. It's fine. I can handle it. The guy's basically on his deathbed anyways, so it should be fine. Don't—"

She was interrupted mid sentence by the sounds of her fire alarm blaring, causing to flinch for a moment. Paprika looked over to the grill to find out what went wrong.

Lilith was balled up on the floor, cookbook in her arms as a raging inferno sprouted from the burnt patty on the grill. Rika could only look at it with mild disappointment.

"I've come to the conclusion that none of my daughters can cook," Paprika muttered to two of her friends.

After having extinguished the flame in the grill and cleaning up the charred mess that was a chili burger. She decided to just hand Lilith her credit card and told her to "buy a vanilla milkshake or something."

She fulfilled Pico and Sunday's usual herself, giving them a discount for the inconvenience. She went back to her usual routine of doing both jobs.

Her trusted friends and partners-in-crime Magnolia Rosemary (a nature loving elf) and Saline Stone (a toxic gaming fox) showed up at her restaurant today and she used this time to vent.

"Since when did you have kids?" Magnolia asked, sipping a cinnamon latte. "I thought Darnell was the only guy you dated."

"He is. This has nothing to do with him," Rika answered. "It's a long story that I don't want to get into...long story short, ya gurl gotta care for a buncha children now."

"You should probably teach your children how to cook then if they've got you stressed out," Saline remarked, munching on some Cajun fries."

"Trust me, Sal, I will," she answered. "She's at least good at working at the counter, at least."

Ding ding ding

Lilith barged into the restaurant around this time. "I'm back~!" she was holding two vanilla milkshakes. Rika promptly took one and chugged the whole thing.

"This is one of your daughters?" Maggie asked, looking Lilith up and down.

"Mhm~! Hi hi~!" she answered, waving at the elf.

"Well, she's definitely adopted, that's for sure," Sal said.

"No shit, Sherlock. What are you, Amelia Watson?" Rika asked mockingly.

Sal flicked Rika'a forehead with her paw. "Shut up, I like pointing out the obvious."

Lilith hopped the counter and set down her milkshake. "Uh, sorry about the fire, mom."

Rika gave her a head pat. "It's fine. It was my mistake assuming you would be able to cook. That was my mistake."

"That was his mistake," Sal joked. Maggie giggled at the joke.

Ding ding ding

A tall man with a goat skull for a head walks through the entrance and approaches way too fast. No he didn't, it was a normal paced walk.

The man glanced at the four girls at the counter, though only focused on three. "Paprika. Magnolia. Saline. Hello."

Paprika leaned over to the man. "Tabi, what are you doing here?" she whispered to him. "You know the villain meetup is tomorrow, right?"

Tabi nodded his head and took a seat. "I just need to unwind a little."

"And you chose here instead of a bar?" Rika asked.

"You and I both know you have the good vodka."

Paprika glanced under the counter, where she stored a couple of bottles of high quality vodka. "...that's fair."

Tabi decided to acknowledge the blue-haired girl in the room. "Who is that?" he asked, pointing towards Lilith.

"That's my daughter. Adopted her and a bunch of other children yesterday," she answered.

"Really? I hope you were prepared for it," Tabi said, patting her shoulder.

"I wasn't..." She lowered her head onto the counter in shame. "How about you? How's your adopted son?" she asked, pulling out a bottle of vodka.

"He's the reason I'm here. Joe's a damn handful sometimes. I guess that's just part of adulthood though." Tabi poured two glasses of vodka and took one. Paprika took the other glass.

"Yeah...I think we both needed more time to really figure this whole mother/father thing out," Rika muttered.

"Cheers to that," Tabi said, clacking his glass with hers. "We are awful parents."

"The worst," Rika added.