Taste Test
S. Hempel (AKA Lyme BloodTalon)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Farscape. A bunch of really creative people do. I'm just borrowing the characters for a while.
All of my fiction is available at http://www.lymophilia.com in the section titled 'Farscape Dren'.
RATING: PG CATEGORY: Uhm… where would you fit this? Ep filler? Semi-slash? SPOILERS: After SNS, but before Fractures. SUMMARY: Chiana cooks and offers Jool a taste. ARCHIVING: If you have something of mine already, take it. If not, email and ask. FEEDBACK: lymebt@lymophilia.com NOTE: I'm not a fan of slash, mostly because I don't find the pairings in it plausible most of the time. However, I have to say that with the way characters are currently developing in Farscape, I could see a relationship forming between Jool and Chiana. This was inspired by it… it's generally harmless, nothing you couldn't probably see on TV.
~~~
"What are you doing?" Jool asked as she stood in the doorway of the central chamber with her hands on her hips.
"Cooking," Chiana answered matter-of-factly. She focused on her work, mostly ignoring Jool.
She sniffed. "How domestic of you," she said derisively.
Chiana set down the spoon she'd been holding. Still keeping her back turned to Jool, she tried to stop herself from becoming overly annoyed. "Yeah, princess? Well, someone's got to do it. D'Argo can't even turn a frelling stove on, Crichton just moans about how he misses Earth foods, and you can't cook worth a dren. So, that leaves me." She smirked, finally turning to face Jool. "Besides, I'm a good cook."
"Nebari can't cook. And what do you mean, I 'can't cook worth a dren'?"
"For the record, Nebari can too cook. At least, some of us, the ones who don't give a dren about promoting the 'greater good'." Her face twisted in disgust. "How do you think I ended up on Moya, anyway? I'm not exactly your average Nebari, and the Peacekeepers are too stupid to catch me."
"Whatever," Jool said. "All I know is that all the Nebari food I've had tastes like week-old dren."
Chiana rolled her eyes. "When have you ever eaten Nebari food?"
"On a commerce planet!" Jool snapped defensively.
"Made by a Nebari?" Chiana asked, raising her eyebrows. "I doubt it, unless it was a defector. Someone like me. Those mind-frelled drannits in The Establishment will eat things that even Rygel wouldn't touch. So, princess, was it made by a Nebari?"
Jool sputtered. "I don't know! It was at a restaurant on a planet in the Chirandos system before I was kidnapped and ended up here."
Chiana's smirk widened. Jool slumped into a seat near the table, sulking. Chiana turned back to her cooking once again, stirring the contents of a pot with a wooden spoon. After a few microts, Jool spoke. "So, are you going to tell me what you're cooking?"
"Food," Chiana said evasively.
"What kind of food?"
"Terripen jelly pastries. Terripen's a fruit that's got a green – "
"I know what a terripen is," Jool said testily. "And you don't cook them."
"That's what you think," Chiana answered. She dipped the spoon back in the pot as she spoke. "You cut up the terripen and mash it a bit. Then you put it in the pastry shell and bake it. You take the left over terripen jelly and cook it 'til it simmers, and then you spread it over the crust while the jelly's still warm." She lifted the spoon from the pot, blowing on it as she sat down across the table from Jool.
"Try it," she said, proffering the spoon.
Jool looked at it dubiously. "Terripen is supposed to be green. This stuff is red," she pointed out.
"Terripen turns red when you heat it."
Jool gave Chiana another suspicious look, then leaned forward to take a small portion off of the tip of the spoon.
"Mmm," she said, her expression changing from one of distrust to pleasure. "That's actually quite good."
"Told you so," Chiana gloated with a twitch of her head. "But you've got some right there – " she bent over the table, running a gloved finger down Jool's cheek along the crease of her mouth before Jool could react. She licked the finger clean, sampling her cooking.
She looked up, suddenly conscious of her proximity to Jool. Jool was watching her intently with her startling green eyes. Before Chiana could ask what was the matter, Jool was kissing her.
She had simply leaned forward and their lips met softly, almost chastely. The kiss had ended almost before Chiana realized what was happening, Jool pulling away suddenly and shyly. Her cheeks were flushed slightly, and she looked embarrassed.
"Uh, I, uhm…" Jool glanced around the room, looking at everything but Chiana. "Can you just comm me when he meal's ready to eat?" she asked nervously.
"Right," Chiana answered, slowly licking her lips. They tasted of terripen. "Yeah."
"Okay then," Jool said, leaving the chamber so fast it was almost as if she were fleeing.
Chiana sat back down at the table, the spoon forgotten in one hand. A slow, hazy smile spread over her face. "That was nice," she said to no one in particular.
A few moments later, her attention was drawn back to her stove as one of the pots began to boil over. She got up, quickly removing the pot from the heat and cleaning up the mess.
"Yeah," she said, still smiling. "That was definitely nice."
END