I don't own anything but one lonely box of Frosted Flakes.
The kitchen floor was cold against DG's feet. The entire palace, including the cooks, was asleep. All except DG, whose hunger wouldn't let her rest. To her surprise the kitchen lights were already on. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she then made out a familiar face.
"Princess, what are you doing awake?" An empty plate sat before him along with a half empty cup. He welcomed her presence with a kiss on the lips. sleep. The hunger bug has seemed to take over. That, and I wondered where you disappeared to, but now I guess I know the answer." She shuffled over to the cupboards and glanced at the items it held. Carefully, he snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Hunger bug? Didn't you eat dinner? You didn't skip out on it did you?" His asked, rested his head on her shoulder.
"No, I mean, I picked at it. The food here is strange. There are a lot of weird fruits here. I mean you guys have regular stuff, like apples, but some of your other forms of vegetation are strange." Her voice had an interesting sound, half tired, half disgusted over the food choice.
"No it is not. The food is good." The words said in the OZ's defense and he nudged her softly.
"It's strange. I miss food from the home. Stuff like candied yams and chicken parmesan. The breakfast is okay I guess. But I miss my Pop Tarts and cereal." Her eyes appeared dreamy as she reminisced on her former life.
"We have cereal. And what's a Pop Tart?" Blue eyes looked at DG in confusion, his lip thinned as he tried to picture what a Pop Tart is.
"It's this pastry thing with filling. It's got a whole mess of sugar and comes in a bunch of flavors, like chocolate and strawberry." Both their mouths watered at the description. "As far a cereal is concerned, it's good, I guess. It's just that it's mostly hot cereal. The cereals back at home were, again, sweetened and they were cold. You'd have to add milk to them. There were all kinds, Frosted Flakes and Coco Puffs were my favorite."
His face scrunched, "Those don't sound great."
Ignoring the comment, DG continued, "My favorite breakfast, though, was Eggos. They were toasted waffles with syrup on them. Or pancakes, my boss used to make them the best."
Meanwhile, DG had discovered a small container of pastries from dessert. Reluctantly, DG took a nibble and swallowed hard. Cain couldn't help but laugh at the sight he held in his arms. He felt bad for DG. After all, she had been uprooted from the life she knew, only to find out that her parents were robots and that she had to save a kingdom that she couldn't even remember.
"Pancakes and waffles?" DG opened her mouth to explain, but he beat her to it, "No, no. Don't tell me. I don't want to know."
"Why not?" She broke free of his grasp and turned to face him.
"I just don't want to know. They sound strange."
DG considered the thought, waffles was a strange name. "Fine, I won't tell you what they are."
The demeanor of the young woman changed as she went for another bite of the bland pastry. Cain closed his eyes and tried to imagine what life was like for DG. It didn't come as easy as he liked. He was accustomed to the food of the OZ, the bold experiments that sometimes went awry but mostly turned out to be edible delicacies. The fruits weren't so bad were they? Were the pastries really that bland? Maybe the food on the Other Side was better.
"So DG, do you think that one day I could taste these so called favorite foods of yours?" The response he got was exactly what he wanted. Her faced flashed with joy.
"Yea of course. Going back would be awesome. Then I'd be able to tell you what real food tastes like," she said smugly. With one last bite, she finished the pastry and drank some water to wash it down.
"So I'll see you in bed right?" Her eyes were now heavy with exhaustion.
"Of course. I'll be right there." Cain leaned over to kiss her once more. This time he lingered, wanting nothing more than to feel her lips against his.
"Love ya, Cain." She whispered and walked slowly off to bed.
"I love you too, DG."
He lingered for just a few more minutes in the kitchen, cleaning up the small mess they had created. Thoughts continued to flood his mind about food from the Other Side. Pop Tarts? Frosted Flakes? Candied yams? Most of the dished described meant nothing to him, but seemed to mean a lot to DG. Cain could feel his mind racing as he tried to figure out how he'd find a way to surprise DG. He knew she hated surprises. Still he could think of nothing she'd appreciate more than a plate of pancakes with syrup. Whatever that was.
