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Firefly had been off on some remote planet following one of Elio’s scripts for quite some time. Normally when just one of the two of you were out on a mission and the other was stuck at base you would message each other during downtime, but the planet Firefly was on was so remote that the IPC didn’t have any service there.
Now you would think that your best friend being the single most powerful hacker in the cosmos would help you in a situation like this. But unfortunately, even Silver Wolf was unable to help the two lovebirds waiting to be reunited. The only thing that she was able to keep track of was one signals coming from Firefly’s mech that indicated she was still alive. However, thanks to the fact this signal pulsed at a consistent frequency, she could also use it to track whether Firefly was on her way back. While you didn’t doubt Firefly’s fighting prowess, having sparred with her and losing multiple times in the past, you’re still happy to have confirmation on whether or not she’s still alive.
That being said, you can’t really help but wonder what Firefly and Kafka were doing out on that planet. Neither of them had a chance to tell you all what they were doing before they headed off. You had asked Silver Wolf and Blade if they had any idea and they both said they didn’t. Silver Wolf was at least able to track Firefly’s location prior to her leaving service thanks to her mech, and the trajectory lead you to the planet she was on. The planet was a desert planet with two rivalling factions that worshipped two different Aeons. Elio had likely sent Firefly and Kafka there to support one of those factions in toppling the other. You could always ask Elio what was in Firefly and Kafka’s scripts, but he’d probably give you one of his generic responses like “what’s in their script only matters to them, you don’t need to worry about it.” Either that, or he’d ask for some catnip in exchange, and you didn’t want to deal with a drugged up Elio without Firefly around. She was the only one who could deal with him when he was out of control.
So the best you could do for now was wait. Just like you had been for the past few weeks. You had taken that time to play a new game with Silver Wolf. It was a new game in a series you two had been keeping up with for a while. While Firefly would typically play along for the more casual games, when it came to the more competitive games she’d usually just have you sit in her lap and play with your hair while watching the two of you play.
As you enter the room you see Silver Wolf already has the console on with the game turned to the character select screen. She must’ve seen you coming on the cameras. You both select your mains and sit down to play a few matches. But as you’re in the middle of one of the games, she pauses.
Now, pausing a game in the middle was highly unusual for Silver Wolf. Normally, she’s super focused on the game and won’t let anything distract her. But something serious had happened. However, as you turn your gaze over to Silver Wolf, your worry washes away as you see the expression on her face, “Hey Stelle, you know that girl you haven’t been able to stop talking about for weeks?”
“What happened to Firefly?”
“I just got news that she and Kafka are on their way back.”
Suddenly, time freezes. Finally, she was on her way back. Finally, she was coming home. Finally, you would be able to see and hug and kiss your girlfriend again… but then you realize you haven’t set up anything special for her. It’s been so long since she was back and you want to make it special… but what do you do?
At that moment, you notice something else and it immediately gives you an idea. You hear your stomach grumble. That was it, the perfect idea. You would make Firefly a fabulous feast for her return, “Hey Wolfie?”
“Please, don’t call me that.”
“Hey, Silver Wolf?”
“What do you need, lovebird?”
“Approximately how long will it be till she gets back?”
“Based on the distance of the planet, about three hours.”
“Perfect, let’s finish this match quick then I’m going to cook up something nice for her when she gets back.”
“Stelle, you remember you’re not allowed in the kitchen anymore after the incident… right”
“Relax, it’ll be fine. I’ll get Blade to help out and make sure nothing goes wrong so I can give Firefly the perfect gift to welcome her home.”
She sighs, clearly not amused but knowing she’ll get nothing out of trying to convince you otherwise. She then turns back to the game and unpauses. Thankfully you were ready. But whether you were ready or not, you were still going to get whooped by Wolfie regardless. You swear there’s no way she’s just this naturally good at games, and you also swear her controller movements don’t line up with her character, but that’s something you’ve never been able to prove.
After getting your ass whooped one last time by Wolfie you leave to go to Blade’s room. You enter without knocking or anything and surprisingly don’t get met by an angry Blade like normal. In fact, Blade isn’t anywhere to be seen in his room. That’s… rather abnormal. Normally he’ll just sit in there all day and do whatever he does in his free time. Honestly you’re not entirely sure what he does in his free time. You’ve asked him about it before but he’s not necessarily the talkative type.
The next place you check is the kitchen and sure enough he’s already there, just staring at the open fridge door. You open your mouth to ask him a question, but he answers your question before you can even ask it.
“I’m looking through here trying to find something simple enough for you to be able to make.”
How did he even know you wanted to cook something, surely the walls in this place weren’t that thin. That would be very awkward for you and Firefly.
“And before you ask, Silver Wolf tipped me off that you were planning on cooking. After the incident, I don’t think you should be cooking anything even remotely complex.”
Those two really seem to be really stuck up about that incident the last time you cooked. It was a one time thing, really, you swear. Just a tiny little accident that was very quickly remedied.
“So what do you think we’re going to be making then?”
“Fajitas.”
“Wait, your idea of something simple is fajitas?”
“There isn’t much technique to it, and most of the preparation is just cutting. I trust your hand eye coordination is good enough to chop up a bit of meat and vegetables.”
“Still though, it feels like there would be easier things.”
“I mean if you want me to baby you more, I can. I just figured you’d want to make something that would seem like it took some effort for your girlfriend.”
Yeah, you're going to just agree with Blade on this one, “Nevermind, fajitas it is.”
As you speak, Blade begins to remove things from the fridge and from various cabinets around the kitchen to prepare for cooking. Based on the amount of ingredients it looks like it’s not even a relatively simple recipe. You count at least 20 different things on the table.
Blade starts off by showing the techniques for cutting the veggies. Blade was nice enough to only use two kinds of veggies for the dish so you didn’t need to learn how to cut too many of them. Just some bell peppers and onions, both have pretty simple techniques and you manage to follow Blade’s instructions masterfully. Or at least you think you did and you’re sure Firefly would agree with you too. Blade’s stare at you as you cut makes you think he might think otherwise though. You decide it's best to ignore his opinion if he’s going to be so damn negative.
Then, he pulls aside the chicken and steak along with his signature spice blend. You remember watching him as he made a new batch the other day. You swear it looks like he just throws together a bunch of random things without any worries about the quantities or what he’s putting in there, but it always turns out the same and it's always delicious. You cut the chicken and steak intro strips and sprinkle on a good helping of his blend on both before plopping them down on a pan Blade had started preheating to sear.
Apparently the cooking the two of you were doing must have smelled delicious as it seemed to have attracted one of the other residents of your base. You hear a loud noise of something landing on the kitchen counter and sure enough you turn to look and see a black cat staring back at you. While it’s a lot harder to tell the expression of a cat face compared to a human one, you think the emotion Elio is feeling right now is shock with a bit of fear.
“Stelle! What are you doing in here cooking? I thought you were supposed to be banned from the kitchen after the incident.”
Once again, before you can have a chance to defend yourself, Blade speaks up. Though this time you’re happy he’s doing the talking for you so you don’t have to explain yourself, “Relax, Elio. I’m here watching over her every step of the way.”
“Did you forget why we had to move to this new, more cramped base? She burned down the last one trying to cook.”
“Yeah and I won’t let her burn it down again. She’s trying to cook something nice for Firefly and Kafka since they’ve been gone for some time. Relax old man, we’ll all be fine.”
You hear a sigh coming from Elio. Honestly you didn’t even know cats could sigh. Though normally cats can’t speak either so it's not like it should be that surprising. “Young love. Fine, I’ll allow it. Just this once though. You better not burn down the whole place!”
“I won’t!” you reply with a lot of enthusiasm in your voice. Finally, the last thing that could potentially stop your plans of making your girlfriend a nice meal was fully dealt with. And dealt with just in time, the meat had just finished cooking and now it was time to take it out of the pan.
Once you had taken the meat out of the pan, it was time to put the vegetables you had already sliced up in. Cooking them in the grease and leftover seasoning from cooking the meat for added flavor. You continue with mixing around the vegetables in the pan as Blade prepares some dishes for the food. Once again you think you're doing an outstanding job and this time Blade is too focused on preparing the dishes to stare at you judgmentally.
Now that you've finished cooking the veggies, you dump it all into the massive bowl Blade had prepared. Blade let you have the honor of using your hands to jumble it all together (after washing them first, obviously). Then he left you to squeeze a little bit of lime on top for a job well done.
You then notice all the remaining ingredients still sitting on the table. But before you can even say anything, Blade once again predicts what you’re going to say. You swear he’s some sort of like psychic today, “I knew you’d also probably want to make her some Oak Cake Rolls since that’s her favorite thing. So I got out some of the things I assumed you’d probably need.”
“That is indeed what I was about to ask if we could make.”
“Well I don’t have a recipe, but I assume you probably got one from her at some point.”
You did not ever ask her for the recipe she used to make Oak Cake Rolls for the Stellaron Hunters. In fact, you managed to do one better. You managed to get Wolfie to snag the official recipe for them from Clock Diner in Penacony that you scribbled down onto a piece of notebook paper a while back. You hand over the recipe to Blade and he gets right to work getting out the remaining things left you would need to make them.
Surprisingly everything went pretty smoothly making the Oak Cake Rolls. Blade was plenty patient with you as you both worked together to make the pastries. While he wasn’t necessarily an expert when it came to baking, his general cooking experience did come in handy, especially with you having essentially zero experience. Honestly, you had never seen this side of Blade before. He seemed so much calmer and less agitated when cooking compared to anything else. It was kinda refreshing compared to his normal self.
Eventually, the two of you manage to finish the Oak Cake Rolls. Part of you really wants to try one right away but you decide it’s probably best to wait until Firefly shows up. You and Blade hide away the pastries so as to not spoil the surprise when she gets back and then set up the table. Speaking of Firefly, it's been three hours which means she should probably be arriving any minute no–
Suddenly, you hear the faint ding sound that means someone just arrived in the landing bay. Just in time too since you and Blade had just finished setting everything up for your nice home cooked meal. The other hunters must have heard the noise as well, seeing as you see both Wolfie and Elio walking in after the noise.
You hear Wolfie speak as she enters the room, “Damn, you really managed to not burn down another kitchen, impressive.”
Elio responds, “You know she burned down more than just a kitchen, right. She burned down the entire base! Though I will admit I’m surprised she didn’t cause any damage this time.”
You sigh, these people really had no faith in you. But you did succeed this time, “Hey, surely this means I can cook again on my own next time, right…”
“No!”
“No!”
“No.”
“Of course you can!” a fourth voice follows in after the three of them. Which can only mean one thing. You turn around just in time to see your girlfriend before she pulls you in for a nice warm hug.
After what felt like forever just taking it all in, you suddenly hear Blade speak up, “Stelle, do you want to tell these two about the big thing you managed to do today?”
“Blade, you don’t need to treat me like I’m a child.”
Elio speaks up, “Stelle. Respectfully, you deserve it.”
Seriously, these people. Regardless, you do still want to tell Firefly about what you cooked. How else is she supposed to eat it? “Well, when I heard you two were on your way back, I decided I’d set up a big surprise for you. And since I know you’ve been stranded away from civilization for quite some time, I figured I’d set up a nice meal for the two of you.”
As you say this, you see Kafka eyeing up the rest of the hunters. “Which one of you three allowed her to go through with it? Did you suddenly all forget about the incident?”
You speak up, “What is it with everyone in this ship and not being able to forget about that. It was one time!”
Kafka looks like she’s about to snap at you for that comment, but Blade thankfully steps in to save your ass from Kafka’s wrath, “Relax Kafka. I watched over her the whole time and did all the more difficult steps… and anything that involved fire.”
“And I mean she’s already done it now anyways, Kafka,” Wolfie adds in, “It’s not like you can uncook the food now.”
“I guess not,” Kafka still seems disappointed, but she decides not to fight it any further.
Firefly finally speaks up again, clinging to your shoulder as she speaks, “I’m really excited to see what you made Stelle. If you made it I’m sure I’ll like it.”
Wolfie continues, “Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t even ask what you were going to make?”
“We made fajitas!” you say with a lot of enthusiasm. Firefly’s eyes light up as you say it but Kafka just sighs. You’re glad that at least your girlfriend is happy with all the hard work you put in, even if the other lady over there is just being difficult.
You guide everyone over to the table where you had prepared some plates and get out the tortillas and the bowl with all the toppings along with some premade guac on the side. Despite Elio being a cat, he still refuses to eat anywhere but at the table. And since he’s still your boss, you kinda just have to let it slide.
One nice thing about having Firefly back besides the fact you were just excited to finally see her again is that you finally don’t have to deal with preparing Elio’s food anymore. He just behaves so much better when Firefly’s the one doing things for him than when anyone else does. Once everyone got the food they wanted, you all began to dig in and enjoy the food that you and Blade made.
Firefly is the first to comment on the food. “Wow, this is delicious!” is about all she had time to say before she took another bite out of her fajita.
Wolfie had a little bit of a different reaction. You could see her face start to turn red as she started coughing upon taking her first bite.
“I think you may have put a little bit too much of Blade’s special blend on there,” she says, coughing between every other word.
Blade speaks up to defend both you and his spice blend, “It’s not her fault you can’t handle any spice in your food. I swear they must have no flavoring at all on dishes in Punklorde.”
“I agree with Blade,” the cat at the end of the table speaks up. “This feels like just the right amount of seasoning for the fajitas.”
It takes a while longer for Kafka to join in and give her comments on the food, “I have to admit. Despite my stance on letting Stelle cook at all, she did make some good fajitas. Though I don’t know if that’s her doing or Blade’s.”
This time Firefly speaks up to defend you, “You know Kafka, you can just tell her you like the food without being judgemental like everyone else did.”
While she says this she gets a glare from Wolfie, “Sorry, I mean everyone else but Wolfie. But we all know well enough by now that she doesn’t like anything that isn’t doused in sugar.”
“I swear, why do you two keep calling me that!” Before she can lunge over the table at Firefly she gets held down by Blade. For once he’s not the most crazy one sitting at the table.
The six of you continue to talk and laugh for a bit as you continue eating. Everyone but Wolfie goes in for a second helping, so clearly they must’ve all liked your cooking. Wolfie goes and gets a slice of pizza to eat instead since her delicate palate just can’t handle the fajitas. As things start to wind down it’s time to reveal your second surprise.
“Well now that everyone’s had their fill I think it’s time to go get dessert.”
“I swear you better not have made the dessert just as spicy as those fajitas were,” Wolfie replies. “It’s like you were trying to poison me with that.”
After grabbing the covered plate, you turn around and respond, “Relax, Wolfie. It’s fine. I didn’t add any spice to these. These are just a special treat I made for someone here since I know they’re her favorite.”
Wolfie looks like she’s about to scream. But before she can, you see Firefly’s eyes light up as you reveal what’s on the plate, “OAK CAKE ROLLS!”
Of course, a feast for your girlfriend could never be complete without her favorite food, Oak Cake Rolls. And assuming you and Blade didn’t do a horrible job, she was about to get a taste of something really close to the original. Obviously things made in the Dreamscape couldn’t be perfectly recreated in reality, but the recipe you used did exclusively include ingredients obtainable in the real world. Much to your surprise.
If you thought her eyes lit up when she saw the things, her whole face lit up once she finally took a bite of it. “Oh my Aeons Stelle! This is delicious!” She pulls you in for a hug and a quick kiss as she says this. You can taste the Oak Cake roll on her lips and it tastes just like you remember from the Dreamscape.
Once you've taken a bite of your own, you can confirm without a doubt that this is the taste you remember from Penacony. As you look around the table, everyone seems to be enjoying the pastries just as much as you two, even Wolfie. The Oak Cake Rolls are just irresistible. Thankfully you made enough for everyone to have two, which seems to have been the right decision. You tried to let Firefly have one of yours, but she refused, making you eat it instead.
Finally, she asks the question you had been expecting, “Where did you and Bladie learn to cook these like this. I’ve been trying to figure it out forever.”
“Well… while you and Kafka were gone, I had a certain hacker friend of ours who won’t be named fetch a copy of the recipe from Clock Diner where we originally got our Oak Cake Rolls.”
Wolfie just sighs, “I swear that’s somehow worse than just calling me Wolfie.”
“I’m surprised we managed to make that good of a replica considering it was both of our first time with the recipe,” Blade added on.
Firefly is all smiles after eating the pastries, “You both did such a great job, especially you Stelle. We should allow her to cook in the kitchen more often.”
“No.” was the unanimous response of everyone not named Stelle or Firefly to that statement. Which you still think is unwarranted given how well you managed to cook today, but it’s not like you’ll ever be able to convince them. One mistake is all it takes for you to become “the girl who burned down the base.”
The 6 of you chat well into the night, learning about what Kafka and Firefly were up to the past few weeks and telling them about what you all had been up to. Despite not being interested in the more competitive games, Firefly still listened intently to you talking about the rivalry forming between you and Wolfie in the new game and how your mains had been evolving to best one another.
Finally, once things wrap up, you and Firefly walk down the hall to your room, hand in hand. You both immediately plop down on your bed, exhausted from the long day and all the hard work. Before you both drift off to sleep, Firefly tells you one last thing, “Hey Star?”
“Yes, Fifi?”
“Do you wanna know why Kafka was so upset, besides the whole you cooking thing they’re all obsessed with?”
“Why?”
“So the whole time we were on that planet, you wanna know what the only thing we ate for three weeks straight was?”
“What?” you ask, the tiredness and your general obliviousness making you unable to guess what she’s about to say next. Or maybe you just want to let her have a chance to deliver the punchline.
“Fajitas.”