Apriltober 2020 19 Breakfast Challenge

a/n: Hope and Celica share a casual breakfast.

Prompt from Subspace Warrior, who is otherwise not to blame for any possible nonsense.

All the good things belong to Monolith Soft.

Hope carried two metal trays lightly as she walked to the edge of the encampment. "I brought you some breakfast," she said, passing one tray to the young woman who was sitting on a curving dune, looking down into the pale valley.

"Thank you," Celica said as she accepted the tray. "Oh my, this is quite an elaborate meal. I expected we would rely on ration bars this far away from NLA."

Hope smiled and settled comfortably next to her. "We usually do, but I think the team is using you as an excuse to glamp it up."

"Glamp?" Celica asked curiously.

"Camping but glamorous. Glamping," Hope explained, then looked worriedly at Celica's tray. "You aren't eating. Don't you feel well?"

"I feel perfectly fine," Celica assured her friend. "But it's a bit awkward. I do not wish to ask but is this ... is it ..." She waved a delicate hand at the steaming food.

Hope recognized the girl's reason for hesitation. "Don't worry. It's all strictly xeno-appropriate foodstuffs. The fluffy yellow lump is scrambled eggs, the square things are hash browns, and the round things are pancakes. The syrup on them is sweet." Hope took a large forkful and closed her eyes in enjoyment.

Celica tested a little of each, and was soon eating as enthusiastically as Hope. After a moment, she asked curiously, "I know that you humans don't always eat the same as I do. Why the change?"

"We can, although we don't have to. Part of our philosophy is to do our best to keep as many of our organic ties as possible, even if it's as unimportant as pancakes for breakfast."

"But it must have been a lot of trouble, to bring the fresh supplies all this way. Then to have to prepare them in such a limited space." The girl looked worriedly at the canvas structure of the away station, perched on the rim of the canyon.

Hope smiled and took another bite. "It really isn't that much," she explained. "My friends and I used to make these same foods when we went camping as children. Freeze dried packets and instant mixes, mostly. It's close enough to the real thing."

"But still," Celica said. "I would hate to be even the slightest hindrance to away teams. They mustn't think that I can't survive on emergency rations."

"No one thinks of you as a hindrance, dear, especially not after how well you fought yesterday." Hope looked across at the far walls of the canyons, the grey ribs tuning rosy in morning light. "We do it because we can. It's a challenge. You know how we like a challenge."

"Because it's there, correct?"

"Precisely. And combining this view with pancakes is the best possible way of proving we belong right here, on this world. And you belong with us."

Celica ate a few more bites before speaking again. "Do you think we can make a pancake large enough for Rock?"

Hope looked at her in shock, then laughed. "I'll mention it to Lin and the Commander. Now that we have the flight module, they need a new challenge."

a/n: That turned out just as sweet as those two deserve, yes? Thanks again to Subspace for such a nice prompt. It was a challenge because I'm ashamed to say those two were never big on my teams; writing nice characters who aren't boring is also tricky. But I did it, because it's there.

Next up: I need to check my official list, or I could take another prompt from coto. See you on Monday!