Cupcakes were easy to make, Vella had told Shay.
Looking at the pile of ingredients now stacked on the table in the kitchen, Shay somewhat doubted that.
"Sugar... vanilla... flour... oh, you have chocolate, maybe we can use that..." Vella was muttering to herself, focusing heavily on the ingredients.
She suddenly looked up. "Measuring cups. Do you have measuring cups?"
Shay shrugged and held up his talking spoon. "I don't think so, but I have a talking spoon that can tell you the pH, nutritional value, and weight of what it's holding," he responded as helpfully as he could on very little sleep.
Vella looked at it for a moment, somewhat blankly.
"Okay, that works."
"What are we doing today, sir?" the spoon asked, cheerfully enough.
"We're baking cupcakes," Vella responded, before Shay could.
"Oh... cake batter... it can be very sugary," the spoon mumbled, though thankfully didn't pivot to ask Vella who she was and make her repeat the same introduction she'd been giving to everything on the ship- Shay just wanted to see what on earth a cupcake was at this point.
"We also need a fork and a knife," Vella said, rubbing her chin.
"Oh."
Shay had never known a spoon could sound so annoyed.
"Well... we have these?" Shay pulled out a too-small drawer and pulled out the equally-colorful fork and knife that had been stowed in there- he didn't really use them, when there was nothing to eat except sip lukewarm soup, cereal, and nutritional paste.
"Hi, Stratford..." the fork said, timidly.
Shay blinked.
His spoon's name was... Stratford?
"Lorraine." The spoon- Shay corrected himself, Stratford- responded, but with such unenthusiasm in his voice.
"Aw, c'mon, Strat, we said we're sorry," the knife spoke up. "Hey, what you need me for? I get to cut somethin today?"
Stratford sounded like he'd be rolling his eyes if he could. "Oh, sure, I'll take that extremely sincere and kind apology into account, Dutch."
"... are they okay?" Vella asked, with the tone of someone supervising a very tense argument.
"Oh, sure, I was just fine until this woman-stealing basta-"
"Ahem." Shay jumped as the computer randomly appeared in the window. She wasn't glaring per se (overly positive, she was), but she was clearly displeased.
"I mean, fine gentleman who romanced the girl I was dating, came into the equation."
"I'm sorry, Strat..." Lorraine murmured timidly. It was odd to hear a voice that sounded so shameful with a smiling face on the little face of the fork.
"I see," Vella said, with the exact facial expression of someone who had no idea what the hell was going on. "Well... we're making cupcakes, so I need to chop up some dark chocolate... and we need to see if the cupcakes are cooked, so that's where Miss Lorraine comes in."
Shay stared at her, wearing the same expression Vella had been a moment before. "... I only understood the part where you said 'dark chocolate'."
Vella rolled her eyes a bit, but she was smiling. "Don't worry. Just follow my lead. We can even make some frosting."
Her smile briefly fell, before she reached out and took Stratford from Shay's hand. Her callused fingers were surprisingly gentle against his. "Here, just follow my lead."
Oh my god oh my god oh my god she's touching your hand, the brain-computer squealed.
She literally just took a spoon out of your hand, brain-Marek complained.
Shay watched as Vella took Stratford and started measuring out various powders and liquids. It looked like she was performing alchemy.
"You... mentioned someone called Rocky?"
"Oh. Rocky is my little sister. It's short for Raquel," Vella responded, focusing on the ingredients before Shay found himself having a bowl thrusted at him with a wooden spoon that thankfully wasn't speaking. "Could you beat the butter and sugar together a bit?"
Shay stared at the strange mixture in the bowl. "Er... beat it?"
Vella stirred the mixture a little, though with a bit more vigor than what he was used to seeing (when had he ever seen anyone mixing things? He was used to nutritional paste) before handing the bowl back. "Just until it starts to blend together a little."
"Okay..." Shay started 'beating' the mixture. "You have a little sister?"
Vella nodded. "Yeah. She looks more like my dad than my mom. Everyone always says I take on more of my mom's side of the family."
"How's that?" Shay asked, looking over at her.
Vella was turned half-away from him, stirring her own mixture at a speed that Shay was a little stunned at- how could someone be so quick?
"She has straight hair, for one. Hey, how's the butter and sugar looking?"
Shay looked down into the mixture and started. It had actually... kind of combined.
"It's... not two separate things anymore?"
"Oh, good. I already set aside the amount you need, but there's a spoonful of vanilla and a spoon next to some milk. Can you mix those two in?"
Shay looked down at the counter.
They were, in fact, already set aside.
She's so considerate, brain-computer gushed.
I think she's just worried that you're too dumb to figure it out, brain-Marek replied.
Hush.
Shay took the spoons, carefully dropped the liquids inside, and began to stir again. "You mentioned she likes... red frosting?"
"Yeah. She always thinks the plain white stuff is disgusting, even though it's exactly the same flavor." Vella rolled her eyes a little, but there was a smile tugging at her lips. When Shay met her eyes, it was both surprising and not to see that they'd softened.
She must really love her sister.
"Which one's the oven?" Vella was looking around the kitchen now.
"Check the bottom cabinet," the computer suggested helpfully.
Vella checked. It opened outwards to reveal a second door with a glass pane instead.
"Oh. That's pretty cool."
"Yes, R- uhm, Shay's father installed it when Shay was younger. We were worried he'd break it," the computer said rather brightly.
Vella nodded, already fiddling with the knob. "Okay, so 350 degrees... Shay, how's the frosting looking?"
"Oh, um-" Shay hastily tore his attention away from her hands to look at the bowl in his hands.
"It's looking great, Madame," Stratford piped up when it became clear to the spoon that Shay had no clue what the hell he was looking at, "I believe it needs more milk, though."
"Great! Can you keep slowly adding in the milk until the frosting gets smooth, Shay?"
Shay quickly nodded, still watching Vella start sifting together a dozen powders. There was a tiny knit in her brow that seemed to come from her focusing. He picked up Stratford and started carefully adding and stirring.
"Do you need me to cut anything? I'd love to cut something," Dutch said all of a sudden.
"The cake, at the end, but for now all we're doing is mixing," Vella replied, still focusing on sifting the powders together. They seemed to be varying shades of white.
Stratford scoffed as Shay kept stirring in the milk carefully, buzzing in Shay's hand and almost making the young man drop him in surprise. "You can cut your bullsh-"
"Ahem."
"Strat, I really am sorry..." Lorraine spoke over the computer's pointed clearing of the throat (could you say that when computers didn't have throats?"
"This is looking pretty smooth, Commander," Stratford said to Shay, pointedly ignoring Lorraine. (Vella frowned a bit at that.)
Shay looked at the mixture. Surprisingly, the mixture HAD grown quite smooth- baking felt remarkably like sorcery. "Oh, um, Vella-"
Vella nodded, glancing over and giving a smile and an approving nod. She was covered in powder up to her elbows, making her dark skin look a bit like a pastry with powdered sugar all over it. There was some on her face, too. "Fantastic. Okay, so there's that pinkish-reddish stuff, that's beet paste... could you put down the big bowl and then whisk together the paste with the water?"
"Um... beet paste?" Shay asked hesitantly. He'd been given the beet nutritional paste before.
Suffice to say, he didn't really love the taste.
"Yeah, it'll make the frosting red."
"And it'll be a lovely serving of antioxidants, sir," Stratford chimed in.
Shay hesitated a second longer before taking the paste and starting to mix it with the water. "Why do we need the water?"
"Sometimes it clumps in the frosting otherwise. Adding the water makes it less likely to," Vella said, already starting to mix furiously in her bowl. She'd started with sugar and butter, but she was starting to grab the eggs and crack them in, continuing to beat. The contents of the bowl were a blur, but what Shay was able to glimpse from where he was looked light and fluffy.
"Oh," Shay responded extremely intelligently.
She's so smart and cool, brain-computer gushed.
Yeah, and she probably thinks we're an idiot, brain-Marek scoffed, who wouldn't know this stuff?
You, brain-computer replied.
There was a brief pause.
Shut up.
Vella was adding in some semi-melted chocolate now. "Shay, when the paste looks smooth, add the beet paste to the frosting until it's, like, solid red. You might need to keep adding some in until it's whatever shade of red you want," she called over, absently beating her mixture.
"Oh, uh, sure." Shay started adding the paste into the frosting. "Did your little sister ever help with cupcakes?"
"To be honest, she's way better at frosting than I am," Vella replied.
Shay blinked.
"Really? But... you knew how to make it off the top of your head."
Vella shrugged, ignoring the smudge of powder on her nose. "Sure, but knowing how to do something is one thing. Rocky, though... man, she only started helping out a little while ago, but she started adding her own flairs to the frosting that just made it... unique? But in a good way."
"She sounds very creative," Lorraine spoke up, softly.
Vella smiled at that, deftly pouring the chocolate-like mixture into the muffin tins, checking briefly, then sliding it into the oven in a few easy movements- like she'd been in this kitchen her whole life. "She really is."
She considered it for a moment.
"She's kind of a pain in the behind sometimes, but she's one-of-a-kind."
Shay gave a startled laugh as Vella dusted her hands off. "Okay, now this bakes for around 20 minutes... Lorraine, it's your turn."
"My turn? For what, miss?"
"We'll be using you to test if the cupcakes are cooked, if that's alright," Vella said politely.
"Oh, alright, miss."
Vella's cheeks tinted a bit- she was blushing. "You don't have to call me miss," she said, after a moment of hesitation. "Vella's okay."
"I... okay then, mi- Vella." Lorraine seemed to be testing the name out on her tongue. (Could you say she had a tongue when she was a fork?)
Shay swallowed after a moment and moved forward. "Um, Vella...?"
"Yeah?" She turned to look at him, and he briefly was taken aback again- her eyes were warm, but surprisingly sharp, almost like the dagger she'd threatened him with. If it hadn't been for the smudge of sugar (flour? whatever was on her nose, it was white) on her face, he would've said she was a warrior instead of a baker.
"You have, um, something on your face."
"Oh." Vella reached up and tried to rub it off, but missed it entirely.
"No, it's... here." Shay reached up with his hands without thinking and cupped her face to keep it steady, carefully wiping the smudge of flour (sugar? he really needed to start learning what these were called) off of her face. "It's just... right..." His voice faltered as he realized how close their faces were to each other.
Oh my god oh my god oh my god ask her to kiss you please get her to kiss you, brain-computer practically squealed.
She probably thinks you're a creep, brain-Marek pointed out.
Vella stared up at Shay, eyes wide, lips slightly parted in surprise. Her body warmth right next to his felt surprisingly intimate and she smelled like baking sugar and chocolate and Shay was so close-
Dutch wolf-whistled. "Damn, Commander is smooth."
"Dutch!" Stratford and Lorraine chorused.
"Language!" the computer snapped.
Shay pulled back abruptly, feeling his face suddenly flaming with heat at the reminder that they had an audience, cool air rushing in to replace her warmth. "Um."
No no no ask her to kiss you, brain-computer practically sobbed, please ask her to kiss you-
You weirdo, she's a STRANGER, brain-Marek snapped at brain-computer, cut that out.
But she's so pretty, brain-computer responded morosely.
"I am going to. Um. Go wash my hands. In the bathroom. Down the hall," Shay squeaked.
"Yeah. Okay," Vella squeaked back, her own face flushed- was she blushing too? "That's a good idea. We can. Frost the cupcakes. After they're done."
"Okay," Shay continued to squeak despite himself. He was stumbling towards the door, face on fire.
"Okay."
Shay hastened towards the bathroom, heartbeat just a little too quick.
That, brain-Marek and brain-computer chorused, one a bit crosser than the other, was an actual disaster.
