Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of the batter and a sizzling followed after. The smell heightened and Magali felt pride looming in her chest knowing that she was back in her element. The batter that she poured in the pan was thin and it appeared that she was making some sort of crepe. The smell leaking from the pan she was making them in confirmed it. She was aware of Nokra's eyes on her, but it was something she was already accustomed to. His eyes on her had become something of a comfort. When they were on her, she was safe. He'd always been her protector, almost since the beginning. To Magali, Nokra's gaze was akin to that of her dearest loved one.
Mendez, too, was aware of Nokra's special attention paid to Magali and he trained his own gaze toward the male felis careful to not linger too long on the happy culinarily inclined female. “Yeah, as I said, it's a shitshow, amigo. He's the first one I've seen in something other than the uh...trade. I mean, I've seen a few working under contracts and slaves, but he's the first I've seen like this. Now I guess you two make two and three,” he shrugged, grinning. “Ah well, better this way than a slave, right? I mean, now you get to figure out what you like and actually do it. Seems Magali here already found her calling. We'll just need to find one for you. Yeah, I would agree with that. I'd rather not be eaten, but eh, if it does eventually happen I'll be glad for the extra time I was given I guess. I met a lot of interesting characters since my kidnapping and honestly this is the greatest adventure I ever dreamed of having. As far as destinations?” Mendez snorted, “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Mendez shrugged again, “Suit yourself. He's a good man, and I think you are too. You could be denying yourself a valuable ally. As far as I can gather, the gato seems to have some talents of his own in art. But then, I've only been able to glance at some of his shit as it was being moved. He tends to keep it pretty private.” He stood and stretched picking up a couple of dishes that Magali was done with and went to clean them.
“They're ready!” Magali said happily, serving up a couple of plates, each with a few crepes now rolled with some sort of mystery sauce in the middle and putting them in front of the two men.
Mendez grinned looking at his and then up to Magali, “These look great! And you managed to whip them up rather quick too...” He took a bite and almost melting.
Magali gleamed with pride, looking to Nokra to see what he thought.
=-=-=
Fikri finally calmed down, now feeling empty. All of his energy had been expended with those bursts of emotions leaving in its wake just feelings of nothingness. He nodded, moving the pyramid to his pocket, safely off. At least, as safe as he supposed it could now. After that stint he wasn't sure if it would just turn itself on or not at random. “I...I don't mean to hide. I just don't want to be a bother,” the felis muttered looking down, “You all have your own problems to deal with.” He didn't need reminding of the video that just hours before had been exposed for Riola. And Rosalind was getting drug in too. It was a good thing she seemed to be at least willing.
The last ones left? I'm joining a dying cause... He wasn't going to let those thoughts deter him, however. He was going to cause whatever damage he could to them before they managed to take him out. For Vail. Her haunting scream still rang through his ears despite the silence that seemed to permeate the room. “Then I guess we're on our own. We'll...we'll have to start from scratch then?”
Fikri closed his eyes, grateful to have a friend like Riola. If Rosalind wasn't near giving out he was sure she'd be in there with him too, but as it was, his dearest friend needed her rest. “Then we'll just have to try our best. I think we should warn the others though, the felis I mean. They don't know how dangerous it is to be with us yet. It wouldn't make sense to free them from slavery just to have them die at the hands of the Edensians just for interacting with us.”
“So you don't think he has a chance, then?” Fikri asked, now pulling away and taking a seat on his bed. “I just wasn't sure because he lasted this long. I thought the poor man was a gonner the second he was dragged kicking and screaming on the ship. The way this ended up...I just never saw it coming. Figured there was some sort of hope for him.
“Who is trying to get romantic with Magali though? I wasn't. As I said, she's...she's beautiful...yes. I will say that. She is beautiful. She's just...not Vail. I don't know how much clearer my disinterest was,” Fikri laced his fingers, leaning forward, ears pressed slightly back as though he were thinking over what he should say to Riola. The truth? He had no idea. “I think...I think it's still too soon to say. I'm still too smitten with Vail that the next person would be slighted. I wouldn't be able to give them everything because for the large part, I'm still hers. I don't know if it will change. They say that time heals wounds, right? There's...a chance at least. Just for the time being...I don't think so.”
=-=-=
Ashi bowed her head. She'd thought about that, but she was hoping that it would start an uproar with the neighboring planets who placed egalitarian tendencies first and foremost. If Daowei was forced to give up that facade, maybe...just maybe the plan would work. She wanted to point out that neither of their heads had been between either of their thighs just yet, a fact that she was still nervous of. What if she was bad? What if Hyun didn't have the patience with her when she was unable to please her? She hoped it would come natural. After all, she was a lesbian. That knowledge would be sort of intrinsic, right? “So long as I have something I can bring about my end quickly...I'll just take your word for it.” She wanted to ask why he had it in for them but decided she'd find out soon enough.
Now, Ashi colored. Hyun had said the magic word again--girlfriend. It felt so good to be called that, she could almost forget that it was Hyun herself that ordered her beat in. “I suppose I could use some new clothes,” Ashi said sheepishly looking down at the tatters she'd left the palace in. She looked back up to Hyun her eyes seeming to say that she'd rather be nowhere else right now. “A piece would be nice, and I have learned some martial arts. I'll stand a chance, I think,” the princess said innocently. She wasn't going to be the helpless mob boss' girlfriend. She'd come bringing her own tricks up her hypothetical sleeves. “You'll see. I'll make it not just for me, but to prove to you that I can.”
Ashi watched as Hyun was running through every excuse in the book to not take her and she furrowed her brow, “If it's home, I'd best get used to it, right? Besides, I want to see you where you're most comfortable, where you don't have to be tough.” She turned the pages needing to only half read the words in the dialogue bubbles as she'd already read this particular issue several times. It was one that she never tired of. The more she thought about it, the more Hyun seemed to be a real life version of Zi. She was one to never take shit from anyone, the one in charge of the show, the one everybody wanted a piece of but instead it was her that got a piece of everyone else. Ashi nuzzled into Hyun's neck, moving her good arm so that it could wrap Hyun up. This was heaven, almost exactly how Ashi imagined when she thought of life with a girlfriend. “Yeah, Kia is still alive though, isn't she? I mean, she was in the last I've read of it, and I thought I read the series to completion.”