Mermista pulled her sarong a little closer around her. It was a cool night, especially with the breeze coming off the water, but they didn't dare do this inside after what happened the last, oh, fifty times.
Without warning, Sea Hawk leaped in front of them, chef's hat off kilter, his "Kiss ADVENCHA!" apron somehow already slightly singed. Mermista grinned despite herself and hid it in her glass. What a goober. He struck a dramatic pose and began in a showman's voice, way too excited, considering they'd done this basically every month since the war ended.
"Truly, a marvelous evening, awaits us ALL! What we have for you tonight is unlike anything ever tasted on these Salinean shores." He clutched his fist dramatically and then trust his arm out with a flair. "Prepare yourselves for the ultimately culinary ADVENTURE!"
Entrapta cackled and a column of fire shot ten feet in the air. She'd constructed this outdoor grill when they'd realized it was far safer for everyone involved if they did this as close to the water as possible. Mermista reached out and gave the ocean an experimental nudge, just double checking she could dump a couple of dozen gallons on those hazards to society in half a second if needed. And it was almost always needed.
Sea Hawk looked over at the towering inferno and turned to his partner in culinary crime. "Uh, Entrapta? Don't you think that particular amount of fire is maybe—"
"Too little? Couldn't agree more! Let me give it a quick tweak."
"Excellent!" Sea Hawk nodded, satisfied. He gave them a bow that would have made Double Trouble proud and, with a delighted clap, practically skipped back over to conspire with Entrapta. The two buddies were whispering about something they were way too excited about which probably meant absolutely nothing good.
As they watched, the column of flames stretched high enough they could probably see it from Bright Moon. Sea Hawk gave Entrapta a high hair five and the two practically vibrated with delight. In the lounge chair next to her, Hordak exhaled and she refilled his drink automatically.
"Maybe it'll be actually edible this time," she said without much enthusiasm. Sometimes it was. Lots of times it wasn't. After the first few months of this little tradition, she'd always had the kitchen make a "side dish" that could double as a main course just in case.
"Perhaps." Hordak watched, the flames reflecting in his eyes. Mermista turned to the sound of indignant squawking a little ways down the beach. Emily was having the time of her life, the robot rolling around the sand, scattering confused seagulls. "So, Princess Mermista. Have you considered my position?"
"Yeah, and I think you're out of your mind."
"Fool!" Hordak spun to look at her and started ticking off on his fingers. "The butler had the motive, the means, and his—"
"Head blown off in the last book?" She looked at him over the edge of her glass.
Hordak's ears drooped slightly. He lowered his fingers and went back to contemplating the fire. "Ah. I'd forgotten."
"It's the freaking heiress. I'm telling you. Third time in a row, too! She's getting lazy." She nibbled on the slice of fruit garnish on the edge of her glass. Those dorks better not take to long with dinner. She glanced over at Hordak to see if he was going to admit she was obviously right but he just sneered.
"Ugh. Whatever." Completely deadpan.
Mermista cackled outright and the side of Hordak's mouth crooked up for half a second before he covered it with his glass. He took a sip, his eyes trained on Entrapta. She couldn't make out everything the other princess was saying from here but she made out a few phrases. Like "detonator of deliciousness," "explosive but TINY," and, weirdly, "umami."
Whatever. As long as they were having fun. Sea Hawk looked like a kid in a candy store. A deadly, flammable candy store.
Beside her, Hordak had lapsed into silence again. He wasn't much of a talker. Only really opened his mouth when he had something to say which Mermista understood and kind of appreciated, especially when her husband and Entrapta were both non-stop chatterboxes.
They'd come a long way from the day shortly after the war when Entrapta had dragged him to her doorstep. Hordak had stood there with all the enthusiasm of a three year old forced to apologize to a smelly uncle and said he'd help rebuild Salineas. And she'd promptly told him to go flush himself and slammed the door in his face.
Except Entrapta either didn't get that Mermista couldn't stand the sight of her colonizer emo boyfriend or didn't care and barreled on ahead anyway. And because she really liked Entrapta, she kind of just… let it happen, telling herself she'd absolutely drown the slimehead the first chance she got and make it up to Entrapta with a box of tiny scones or something.
But then he'd actually, like, rolled up his sleeves like everyone else and helped. Got in there, dirty and sweaty, and fixed what he'd wrecked. Even when her people weren't exactly welcoming he still worked his skinny little butt off. Maybe too much some days. And that's when she realized that even if he wasn't good at, like, words and stuff but he DID feel bad.
And, like, he BETTER! He'd killed people, ripped families apart, raised an army of child soldiers. Destroyed homes and history and... look, the list is long. But the war was three years ago now and he was still out here trying to fix what he broke and that… that counted for something. At least, it did to her.
Honestly, they probably could have finished rebuilding the city at least a year earlier if Sea Hawk and Entrapta hadn't become the most destructive set of cooking buddies that ever lived. And what had started out as just mutual head shaking at their spouses destructive antics and the occasional commiserating glance had somehow turned into regular dinner parties, trading books back and forth and the companionable silence of two people who don't, like, completely hate each other.
And, honestly, sometimes it was nice. Not a lot of people in their friend circle understood that you don't always have to be talking when you don't have anything to say. Or that maybe when you did talk, couldn't always say exactly what you meant.
Hordak cleared his throat and pretended to be very interested in the ice in his glass. "Now that the rebuilding of Salineas is officially complete, Entrapta and I are going off-world again. Portal-ling this time, instead of the ship. Just a quick trip. But then we'll need to see to the expansion of Dryl as more of my brothers settle here from off world."
"Yeah?" Mermista asked, not really sure why he was telling her this.
"Our schedule will be… erratic for the foreseeable future. Your hospitality has been… not unpleasant these last few years. I know Entrapta has enjoyed having someone who shares her passion for…" Hordak hesitated.
"Chaos?" she offered as Entrapta sprinkled something on the grill and then she and Sea Hawk dove for cover, shrieking with laughter as it flared up.
"Indeed." Hordak said, watching Entrapta cackle as Sea Hawk checked to make sure he still had his mustache. "I will… That is, these gatherings have been…" He exhaled, frustrated and she realized what he was trying to say. That now that the rebuilding was pretty much done, there was no reason for Entrapta and Hordak be in Salineas as much as they'd been in the past.
Which meant this was probably the last of these little dinners. Huh. She wasn't really sure how she felt about that.
Hordak clinked the ice in his glass from side to side. "There is, however, sufficient kitchen space in Dryl. Fortified in the event of… chaos, as you say. I have been thinking of adding a library at the recommendation of George and Lance. As we collect knowledge of my people and what they were before… Prime, I find myself with a considerable archive in need of digitizing. I have considered rounding out the collection with less… educational texts from our past and I would… not dislike it if you lent your considerable knowledge in popular literature to this endeavor. If you were willing, of course."
"Oh, uh…" Mermista watched as Hordak looked literally everywhere but at her. Was he… nervous? "Are you asking if we'd want to come over sometime and hang out at your place?"
"I have never 'hung out' in my life." He crossed his legs and leaned back in his lounge chair, sipping his drink. Mermista wouldn't have believed you could coordinate boots and a navy sun dress but somehow he was making it work. "I merely wanted to extend… to indicate that your presence would not be entirely unwelcome if…"
"OK. Gotcha. Well, we'll see. Maybe if we're in the neighborhood, or whatever."
Hordak cleared his throat. "Well, if you were in the neighborhood, say, ten moon cycles from now, we would have the opportunity to see you before we left for our trip. Imp will be back from the wastes, if you wanted to bring the kids."
"Yeah. Alright. We could do that. The next installment of Mer-Mysteries will be out by then."
"Ah. Perhaps then you will finally acknowledge the folly of your theories."
"Fat chance, pasty." She refilled both their glasses and then held hers out for him to clink.
"Tah dah!" Entrapta sang, presenting a plate of tiny dumplings that were smoking and, uh… sparking? slightly? but otherwise looked mostly edible.
"To the TABLE!" Sea Hawk announced while Entrapta skittered down the beach to collect Emily, yelling something about how they'd added just a sprinkle of nano tech, to aide with digestion.
Mermista and Hordak exchanged a resigned look. They'd try them of course. That's what you did, when you were in love. You put up with all sorts of things.
She rose from her seat. "Well, might as well get this over with. I mean, they haven't killed us yet, right?"
"No." Hordak rose and the two of them walked side by side to the table they'd set up along the beach. "May our luck continue to hold."
She smirked at him. And, you know, it was kind of hard to tell but he just may have smirked back.
They were NOT friends, alright? But, yeah, she was OK with this.