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Midnight Snack
by Frost Mage
I rolled over in bed again, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was horribly late, nearly three, and I hadn't slept a wink.
I hate that clock. It's one of those annoying cat-shaped ones, with the eyes and tail that swing back and forth. Whenever I can't sleep, I just lay here and listen to it tick away.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Except for being black, it looks incredibly out of place in my room, but Star gave it to me, and when I picture the look that would be on her face if she found it in the trash, I can't bring myself to throw it away.
I must be getting soft.
A lot of my discomfort was from the heat. Cyborg had been working on a number of the Tower's systems this week. Upgrades, repairs, that sort of thing. I don't profess to know anything about it. People really shouldn't try to mess with things they don't know how to work.
Beast Boy.
He just had to try to help. He just had to mistake the air conditioner for the storage closet. He just had to rip it in half with his meaty gorilla arms trying to open it. And so, here we were, in the middle of August, with no AC.
Perfect.
I don't like being sweaty. I was sleeping (trying to) in almost nothing, just shorts and a tank. Yes, I do own clothes like that. Blame Starfire. She keeps making me buy things I'll never wear, but in this case, I was actually thankful. If I tried sleeping in my leotard like usual, I think I'd marinate in a puddle of sweat all night. Blech.
I rolled over again, seeking a marginally cool spot on my sheets, and my stomach growled ferociously. Like, Cyborg-at-an-all-you-can-eat-buffet growling. I sat up, running my fingers through my lank hair. Almost immediately, I wished I hadn't. My hand came away with a greasy, sweaty film on it.
I really hate being sweaty. It makes you feel like you haven't showered in days, even though it was just this morning.
I weighed my options carefully. Food, or shower? My stomach piped up quite adamantly in favor of food. Well, that settles that. I popped my window open in an attempt to get some air moving and padded out to the kitchen.
The open refrigerator was a godsend. I stood there far longer than I should have, shivering as the sweat dried on my skin, before I even started looking for something to eat.
Let me just say that I don't usually do midnight snacks, so I wasn't really sure what to look for. Turns out I didn't have a whole lot of options. I remembered that we had eaten leftovers the past three days, trying to get the fridge emptied out before things turned funky colors again. The only things in there were various concoctions of Starfire's which almost never spoiled. Seeing the various odd-looking...things...brought back unbidden memories of this afternoon.
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Reading in the living room was always an adventure. (This was just before the AC fiasco, so the Tower wasn't unbearably hot.) My attention was drawn to the fascinating smells coming from the kitchen. By fascinating, I don't mean good fascinating. Sort of like how Beast Boy's room would smell if it was in a paper mill in a swamp. Of course, that could only mean Starfire was cooking.
I put my book down and walked over, almost dreading to ask. "Star, what on Earth and/or Tamaran are you making?"
She looked up from stirring a large bowl filled with greenish-brown goop. "My precious Silkie has not been feeling well lately. I believe he has eaten something he should not have." She gave the mutant baby worm in question a reproachful look. "I am making him a special food to help him feel better." She studied the contents of the bowl, then lifted it and swallowed it all in one gulp. The level of smell in the room dropped measureably.
Starfire set the bowl down on the counter. She seemed to be concentrating very hard on something, probably not throwing up. "Raven, will you assist me?"
"Sure. What should I do?"
"Please hold back my hair." She bent over the bowl and inhaled deeply. I barely managed to scoop up all her hair before she vomited noisily into the bowl. If possible, the stuff looked and smelled even worse coming back up, although the fact that I was closer might have helped some. I barely managed to hold back my own puke as Starfire voided the contents of her stomach into the mixing bowl.
"Wha...what the hell?" I let go of her hair and took several steps back as she straightened.
Starfire nonchalantly wiped a smudge of it off of her chin. "I have partially digested Silkie's food for him. Is this not how Earth mothers feed babies with troubles of the stomach?"
I shook my head weakly. Star picked up the bowl again, stirring rapidly. Silkie looked pretty interested in it now. Maybe he could smell it, I don't know. I sure wouldn't want to eat anything that smelled like that. I made an excuse to leave, and went to go lie down, constantly reminding myself that Tamaranean customs are different, and at least none of us have to try it.
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I found a little container full of round squishy things. They didn't look like eyeballs, or insect egg cases, or anything overtly an organ of any kind. They were just little brown spheres. In any case, they looked like the most appetizing thing in the fridge right now.
I made a small pile of them on a plate, watching them for signs of movement. Sometimes Star's food did that. I don't care how popular shelled alien stink bugs are on Tamaran, I am not going to eat them. Not after last time, anyways. It was a definete risk, eating something she'd made without asking what it is first, but I was hungry enough to stop worrying about it.
None of them attempted to move, so I cautiously picked one up...
...pulled a little piece from it...
...smelled it...(kinda sweet and sour, like good Chinese food)
...put it in my mouth. It was just a little chewy, and the taste matched the smell just fine. I wondered what they were as I ate the rest of the first one. Cookie dough, maybe? God, I haven't had cookie dough in ages. Maybe I should make cookies, just to shake things up.
Before I knew it, half a dozen of them were gone. Easy, Raven. Don't wanna eat all of them. I bet they'll be even better once she bakes them. Still, I took one more from the pile before putting them back in the fridge.
Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight after all, I mused as I walked back down the hall. As I rounded the corner, I saw Starfire, carrying Silkie. She smiled at me a bit sleepily, then her gaze fell to the tasty little orb I had just bitten in half. She looked at me questioningly.
"Raven? Why are you eating Silkie's food?"
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