Stark

Tuesday nights were when the cupcake show that had inspired the cupcake class Stark and Anders had been teaching all summer. Stark didn't always manage to watch the show when it was originally on, but sometimes he did. Tonight was one of those times.

"Corn? Again?" he shook his head at the television, dismayed. Not to mention the cheese frosting. Or the jalapenos. The berries at least were a good idea. "Those do not sound appealing. At all."

"I like the little carrots though," he said, after the first commercials. They were cute. Then he sat back to see what the judges had to say. Often he did not agree. At all. At least he had some proven delicious cupcakes to nibble on while he watched.


[Cupcake Wars is a Comic-Con themed episode tonight. So far I am unimpressed. If you would have any reason to stop by, feel free.]

It was cold out. Stark was not pleased with this development. Cold and snow would likely always remind him of the ice planet. But that was hard to think on, so he was trying not to. Even though it was cold and snowy outside.

Bundled up in his muppet fur coat, he was seated at the desk with an open book in front of him. There was also a mug of tea, and of course the all important plate of tiny cupcakes for sharing.

[SDCC starts tonight! EEK! I'm around for a few hours though, should anyone want me.]

Since the first round of cupcake class was finished, Stark wasn't even sure he needed to be in his office today. He was there anyway. It wasn't as if he had a lot of other places to go, plus he liked his office. It had his plants and his cupcake books.

And since soon there would be another round of cupcake class, it was time to look for new recipes to share with the students. Scary ones, and delicious ones, and ones that no sane person (or even a less than sane one, and Stark would know) would ever choose to bake.

Today's cookbook had, in Stark's opinion, far too many muffin recipes.

The plate full of mini cupcakes on the desk, however, contained no muffins.


[Availability is extra weird today as I am leaving sometime this afternoon for a wedding tomorrow. It is unclear whether the hotel has internet access (the horror!). But if you like very slow play, this post is for you!]

Stark wasn't sure what a "Strawberry Social" was. Still, he planned on at least going by the park to see what it was all about later today. And it had already at least provided inspiration for this week's tiny cupcakes for any visitors that might drop in. They were, naturally, strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting. And they were delicious.

The two tiny houseplants on the desk looked to have gotten marginally less tiny. The pile of cupcake books had definitely grown even larger. This week's selection was open on the desk in front of Stark. So were some others, but that one had the best pictures of the current selection.


[I am as always internetless until around 5ish.]

Stark was not time-displaced. Not this weekend anyway. This was probably a good thing. He'd jumped around in time before and it had ended, quite literally, in tears. Also in death and for a brief period a planet being utterly destroyed. The planet, at least, had gotten better. But that wasn't really relevant right now.

What was relevant was that Stark had found that cupcake TV program that Anders had mentioned and was now sitting on the edge of the bed watching it. Well, staring at it in horrified fascination might be a better term.

"FISH!?" Stark shook his head. "What sort of twisted person puts fish into a cupcake? That is terrible. Absolutely terrible."

Yes. Yes, he was in fact talking to the cupcake in his hand. Look, nobody ever accused him of being sane. Well, maybe they had. But really he'd only ever been accused of being less mad than he appeared.

"I'm not even sure what wasabi is" he continued, frowning at the nice normal chocolate cupcake he was holding, "but it does not sound like it belongs in a cupcake. Especially with fish. This is horrible. I have to tell Anders. I hope his cupcake truck doesn't do things like that. That was awful. Awful awful awful. Fish. In a cupcake!"

But he wasn't changing the channel. He couldn't seem to look away.


[Yes, he's watching Cupcake Wars and the tuna wasabi cupcake was REAL. Can be open. This just had to be done.]

It was absurd, Stark had decided, that cupcakes were apparently unique to Earth. He hadn't given up hope that someday he might find them but given the sheer number of commerce (and other) planets he'd been on in his lifetime he didn't think it likely.

Perhaps he could start a cupcake business out here in the Uncharteds. Of course, he'd have to learn how to actually bake them first. Maybe Anders could help with that. And there was the lack of chocolate to contend with as well. Anders probably couldn't do much about that. The chocolate ones were, after all, the best ones. Perhaps the chocolate deficiency that the rest of the universe suffered from was the reason that there were no cupcakes to be found.

And perhaps Stark had been spending too much time alone eating his seemingly never-ending supply of food cubes and daydreaming of cupcakes.

Stark had run out of food on his transport pod. This meant he had to stop somewhere and this commerce planet had been convenient. It also seemed to have a sizable Delvian population, which Stark had attempted to avoid during his visit. He hadn't been entirely successful.

He would have perfectly content, or at least as content as he ever was any more, to stay holed up in the transport pod and not speak to anyone or see anyone at all. His visit to Fandom, Zhaan's unexpected appearance there and all-too-expected disappearance had left him wishing for nothing more than solitude. Possibly forever. Unfortunately, his stomach had had other ideas and contact with others, including the inconveniently placed Delvians, had been unavoidable.

At least he had enough food to last him for quite some time now, he thought as he finished loading the last of his purchases. He wouldn't have to see or speak to anyone until this food ran out. That was weekens away, at the earliest.

At some point he would remember how much he hated being alone with just his own jumbled thoughts for company. Probably around the same time as he realized he'd bought a large crate of food cubes, rather than something actually edible, in his haste to get off the planet.

[Establishy unless you wanna call an emo alien. I will be heading to bed very shortly though, so it will be a very sloooow call.]

While the others had searched for Stark, and found him, Sikozu had managed to make a transport pod watertight so they might all get to the surface. They landed on the surface, and D'Argo, Stark, Crichton, Aeryn, Sikozu, Scorpius, Chiana, Rygel, and Jothee headed for the Eidelon's city. Aerial combatants flew over head, firing, and Stark stopped, a pained expression on his face.


( In which a few survivors are found and someone thinks the middle of a firefight will be a good time to be born. )

[Almost there, really. Next installment to follow shortly. I guess all I needed was a plot to send Stark back to the island for to finally finish dragging through the end of canon.]