Shadow Travel 》Voltron

Chapter 17

Skipper raised her eyebrow at Hunk questionably.

Turns out she wasn't asleep after all.

"What are you doing here?", she asked again.

Hunk didn't want to give Azalea away.

"I found out you live here ", he said, hiding the informant's identity.
"I just wanted to see if you needed anything."

"Not at the moment. I was only walking by to get to the dining room."

Hunk couldn't help but notice that every DiNicolo was similar, but different at the same time.

Skipper's tan was slightly darker than the others. She was also slimmer and more narrow. She always seemed on edge. Compared to her relatives, her black eyes were more narrow, more criticizing.

She was just a tall bottle of pure spite.

Then he realized he was staring.

"I, um-", he quickly cleared his throat, "I can make some cupcakes if you want any?"

"What is a cupcake?"

"You don't know what a cupcake is?!", Hunk asked in shock.
"C'mon, I can show you!"

"Enthusiastic, much?", Skipper chuckled.

"I just can't believe you have never had a cupcake!"

He grabbed her arm and quickly dragged her into the kitchen.

Skipper sat on the countertop, while Hunk pulled out all sorts of tupperware.

A few minutes later, after some serious cupcake preparation, he closed the oven.

Taking off the mitts on his hands, he told her, "We have to wait a little while for them to cook."

Skipper nodded, but it was apparent she wasn't there. Not mentally anyways. Her dark eyes stared off distantly into nothing.

Hunk decided to just tell stories.

Stories are good conversation starters. Maybe she'll talk.

"My mom used to make cupcakes all the time back on Earth ", he said, hopeful it would catch her attention.
"She would always sell them at the school's weekly bake sales."

It worked.

Skipper's eyes were now focused on him, sparked with interest and the deep intensity all hybrids seemed to have.

"Why are we talking about cupcakes?", she asked suddenly, "Our comrades are nowhere known to be found. So why waste time with such tedious conversations?"

Hunk smiled gently, his brown eyes sympathetic.
"Sometimes", he said with a friendly tone, "You have to talk about something better, or you will go insane from stress."

This seemed to have an effect on her. Skipper looked back at the wall.

Hunk pulled up a hover chair and sat down.
"What was your brother like?"

Her face darkened, and for a moment, Hunk thought he had triggered something negative inside of her.

Please don't kill me...

For the love of the cupcakes, don't kill me-

But to his great relief, Skipper's face cleared. She seemed to relax a little, crossing her feet and folding her hands in her lap, all while leaning against the wall behind her.

"We were given the nicknames Kipper and Skipper by a friendly prisoner when we were young kids", she started, reciting the story from memory, "I was the more quiet one, but still gentle and caring. Or so they said."

She paused, as if waiting for some unknown visitor to listen.

Then she started again.
"Kipper was a rambunctious child. Always smiling. Always getting into something. He acted like the older brother, even though we are the same age. But he was always pick and tease about my stronger abilities as a sorceress. He was just jealous.

One day, he got hurt. That was the last straw for me. I managed to escape with the both of us. Barely. We lived off of whatever we found for a few months, maybe a year. I've been looking for him ever since."

Hunk paused.

I don't want to intrude...

"How did you lose him?", he asked. He immediately regretted it when her face darkened again.

Skipper clenched her eyes shut, and her hand jolted towards the gem she kept on a chain around her neck.

Breathing deeply, she opened her eyes again. Her face brightened.

"I was selfish", she said solemnly, "And it's because of me that I lost both of my siblings."

"We make mistakes", Hunk comforted, "It's natural. You don't need to beat yourself up about it. We'll find them, trust me."

Skipper smiled at him. Hunk saw it as a friendly smile.

"You are quite the therapist, Hunk", she teased.

Hunk shrugged, grinning, "Somebody has to stay sane around here."

The oven bleeped, and Hunk jumped up excitedly, putting on the mitts and pulling out the cupcakes.

The cupcakes radiated a pleasant smell and warmth, despite their odd color from the alien ingredients.

Wait-

"Crap", Hunk muttered, "I knew I was forgetting something.."

"What is it?"

"We don't have icing", he admitted, "So that means they're muffins, not cupcakes."

Skipper reached a tan hand out towards the tray.
"May I?", she asked.

Hunk grabbed a muffin with a mitted hand and handed it to her.

"Be careful", he warned, "It's hot."

Skipper took the muffin with no trouble.

Hunk watched as she bit into the green-tinted muffin.

Her eyes widened in shock.

"Holy vlorp-", she exclaimed, voice muffled by the muffin, "This is vlorping delicious holy vlorp-"

Hunk grinned happily at her delight.

"See! Didn't I tell you they were amazing?"