Not even fifteen minutes ago had Starling's kitchen been in a neat, respectable condition; and yet now it had appeared ransacked. Shelves had been disheveled, spices strewn across the floor, the spice rack said spices sat in dismounted and splintered, even the cooker had been disturbed. Despite this chaos, Starling was sat at one of the chairs, holding her head in pain, yet still pulling a weak smile. Her gaze was fixed on something she was finding rather amusing.
The thing that she was finding amusing was causing noises of moving rubble, including the unmistakable sound of shattered glass and china being moved. Suddenly, the source of sound had stood up, and revealed itself fully.
The Dark Ace had been cleaning up the mess both he and Starling made in her kitchen. His head-piece was dented on one of his cheek guards, his nose had a small trail of dried blood, and one of his eyes had blackened. None of this amused Starling, rather, what had amused her was something the Dark Ace was wearing; particularly, a pastel pink pinny. It was sloppily adorned, a telltale sign of the Dark Ace's disapproval. He had the look of dejected, limp anger. Accepting his punishment at least on a physical level. In his hand, he held a dustpan, full of broken miscellanious items that he would then turn and tip into a rubbish bag, before turning again and bending down to sweep more mess up. 'I can't believe I'm doing this...' Ace grumbled, bent double and filling the dustpan.
'I can. A second hit with a hot frying pan always hurts more than the first' Starling joked, speaking through her smile as she still sat there, watching the Dark Ace clean up as his token of defeat.
'I'm starting to wonder which one of us is supposed to evil here' He replied, stopping his sweeping to look Starling in the eye. She gave him only a wink in response.
Rapidly approaching Starling's home Terra; Master Cyclonis, atop her custom purple skimmer, kept her gaze open ahead of her, and spotted the Talon skimmer belonging to the Dark Ace. Landing on the Terra with less of a stealthy entrance, Cyclonis rode around the back of Starling's home, and dismounted. Looking through the windows, Master Cyclonis circled Starling's home on foot, until she reached the kitchen window. After a second of staring at Starling and Ace; she ducked under the window, and leant against the wall.
She was fairly certain she hadn't been spotted, Starling seemed too focus on the Dark Ace's torment.
'There, the last of the broken things have been cleaned. Anything else before I go?' The Dark Ace stroppily asked. The embarrassment taking its toll on him.
Starling looked at him with a blank face and simply responded 'Tea.'
'What?' The Dark Ace replied, not understanding the request
Starling smiled and said 'Make me some tea' before walking out of her kitchen, and returning with a book. The Dark Ace looked at the stove, and stared with blank cluelessness. Starling opened her book, but stopped her own actions as she noticed the Dark Ace's ineptitude. 'What? You don't know how to make tea?'
'Of course I know how to make tea!' The Dark Ace snapped back, before pridefully grabbing a kettle from the stove, filling it in the sink through the spout, placing it back on the stove, and clumsily lighting one of the hobs.
A little time had passed, and eventually a cup of hot liquid had been placed onto the kitchen table Starling clasped the cup, lifted it to her lips, and took in some of the cup's content. She held it in her mouth for a second before looking the Dark Ace in the eyes, and slowly spitting the liquid back into the cup. 'Well... I have to admit, if you serve that anywhere else, you'd probably make someone keel over. move aside, let me show you' Starling stood up, and pushed Ace out of the way. She grabbed the kettle, pulled the top off, and filled it in the sink again, the water started to run and Starling, knowing her kettle well, looked out her window as she listened for the sound of the water pouring to be at just the right pitch. As she looked out the window, she happened to spot Master Cyclonis rising from the wall the other side of her window. The two made eye contact and held an awkward silence for a small while before Cyclonis dropped back under the sightlines of the window. The kettle, gathering enough water, was moved away from the sink and placed onto the hob atop the stove. Starling gracefully lit the hob and instructed the Dark Ace to rinse out two teacups and the teapot itself. After giving his instruction, Starling left the kitchen out of the back door, and walked around the side of her home.
Walking across the wall, she ambushed Cyclonis, who had still been hiding under the windowsill 'Just what do you think you're doing?' Starling bluntly asked. Master Cyclonis mumbled in an attempt to find an answer, but when an excuse escaped her, she instead reached for her staff. Starling pulled and swung her nunchucks in a split second and knocked the staff away. 'Your lapdog is my servant for the next little while, wait your turn'
'His mission was supposed to figure out why you keep going to Terra Rex so frequently' Cyclonis responded with a snarky tone.
Starling paused in a disgusted look whilst being entirely confused by what business Master Cyclonis could have had with the knowledge. However, seeing as it served no real gain to Cyclonis, she enlightened the Master. 'Tea. I was having tea. Look, just come inside and I'll show you'
Entering Starling's kitchen once again, She held the door open for Master Cyclonis, who stood face to face with Ace. The Dark Ace looked at her, and his face filled with red, as he immediately remembered that he was still wearing the pink pinny. Cyclonis looked at Ace with a blank expression that almost seemed to show her getting a little inspired. Hearing the kettle whistle from its boil, Starling broke the tension by barging past Ace in the already cramped kitchen.
'Okay, this is admittedly for the milder blends, but those are the blends with the most flavour...' Starling started. pulling the kettle off of the hob and filling the empty teapot. 'Warm the pot, don't start with cold china' Starling added, waiting for a small while for the teapot to get warm to the touch. Once to temp she emptied the water inside. 'Next, get your loose tea blend, a teaspoon, and add to the pot' She started putting teaspoon of tea into the emptied pot. 'A spoon for me, a spoon for thee, one for the pot, and one for luck.You got that?' The Dark Ace nodded. 'Good. now, you fill the teapot with water, and serve. Cyclonis, Are you having a cup?' Starling politely asked.
'Sadly not. I must bring the Dark Ace back to Cyclonia' Cyclonis politely replied.
'Truly a shame. Should this set of... unusual circumstances happen again, I do hope you will join me'
'Next time' Cyclonis assured.
'Oh! And Ace?' Starling asked, grabbing his attention once more. 'Pink may be your colour, my dear, but I do still need my pinny back' Starling said with a smirk. Ace's face lit up in embarrasment once again, and this time he tensed up in discomfort.
Before long, Cyclonis and Dark Ace had both mounted their skimmers, and started to ride away, deploying their wings and flying into the distance. Watching them depart, Starling lean against her doorframe, holding a teacup in one hand, and having the pink pinny slung over her other shoulder.