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Lidia couldn’t remember the last time she simultaneously anticipated and dreaded an event as much as having dinner with her girlfriend’s family. Well, technically this wasn’t the first time she’d met them, she’d encountered several of them on the battlefield, which is why she was very apprehensive about sharing a meal with them. Some of them were okay, and some of them were among the worst people she’d ever met. Reina assured her that they wouldn’t cause too much trouble, but Lidia had her doubts. Very, very strong doubts.
So here Lidia was, sitting around a circular table, looking around at everyone attending. Reina sat to her left, gently holding her hand while she boasted about her fighting prowess to anyone who would listen. Clockwise from there sat Heihachi Mishima, Reina’s father; Kuma, a sentient bear Heihachi trained; Kazuya Mishima, Reina’s half-brother and CEO of G-Corp; Jun Kazama, Kazuya’s wife; Jin Kazama, Kazuya and Jun’s son (which made him Reina’s niece, as odd as it sounded); Hwoarang, Jin’s boyfriend; Lars Alexandersson, another one of Reina’s half-siblings and leader of Yggdrasil; Alisa Bosconovich, Lars’s android girlfriend; Asuka Kazama, Jin’s cousin; and Lili de Rochefort, Asuka’s girlfriend. It was quite the eccentric lineup, and Lidia was more than a little nervous that they wouldn’t get through the meal without killing each other.
“I’m surprised this many people showed up,” Lidia noted, “Is Jun’s cooking that good?”
“Usually no, it’s pretty awful,” Reina laughed, “But her stew is incredible, no one could possibly pass it up.”
“Good enough to keep this evening from turning into a bloodbath?” Lidia asked.
“We’ll see,” said Reina, pecking Lidia’s cheek.
Shortly after, Jun placed a large pot right in the middle of the table, and though it was covered up by a large lid, Lidia could already smell how tasty the stew would be. Clearly, everyone else did too, if all of them sans Kuma and Alisa leaning in was any indication. Kuma had a plate of salmon specially prepared for him, and Alisa, being an android, didn’t eat. Lidia could feel a thick fog of tension in the air, with everyone looking like they were going to start a showdown once Jun removed the lid. They all picked up their chopsticks and waited with baited breath.
“Dinner is served!” Jun sang as she took off the lid, revealing the tasty chunks of meat and vegetables inside.
Lidia could only describe what happened afterwards as a dining equivalent of a free-for-all. Everyone’s hands turned into one large blur as they all snatched up food at what seemed like light speed. Every time Lidia tried to get a piece of food, her hand would always be smacked away before she could reach very far. Even when she did finally get a piece of chicken, Lili snatched it away from her before she could bring it to her mouth.
“Excusez-moi!” Lili giggled, gobbling up Lidia’s chicken in one bite.
Asuka gave Lidia an apologetic look for her girlfriend’s actions, before continuing to dig in. In all her life, Lidia had never seen a group of people as competitive about eating stew before, and she’d attended several pie-eating competitions. Heihachi and Kazuya were at each other’s throats as usual, taking every attempt to steal from each other they could find. Jin attempted to hand Lidia a carrot slice out of politeness, but Hwoarang snagged it like a snake lunging at its prey. Jun wasn’t eating, she merely observed the chaos with a calm smile, glad that at least they were enjoying her cooking.
Lars wasn’t having any luck either, having not gotten a single bite since dinner started. Prior to the meal, he told Lidia about the first time he’d sat down and had an honest meal with his estranged family, and it went exactly like this. Lidia figured he was exaggerating, but considering neither of them had eaten at all so far, she completely sympathized with him now. At least this time Lars had Alisa with him, who managed to snag a few bits of food for him. Lidia had no such luck, as her own girlfriend was busy devouring anything that came in her line of sight.
After only a minute, it all came down to one last egg. All nine diners glared intensely at each other, chopsticks poised for each to claim their prize. But just as they were ready to strike, Kuma suddenly roared and slammed his front paws down on the table, causing the egg to fly up into the air. Heihachi reached out for it, but Kazuya smacked his hand away and tried to grab it himself. Jin knocked Kazuya’s chopsticks out of his hand while Hwoarang lunged at the egg, but Alisa and Lars grabbed his legs and pulled him back down, while Asuka and Lili accidentally bonked each other’s head trying to snatch it.
Lidia stood up from her seat, ready to finally get something to eat as she held out her chopsticks to catch the egg mid-air…
…until Reina jumped up and caught it first.
“Mine!” she grinned, holding the egg up triumphantly.
“Ha! That’s my girl!” Heihachi cackled, slapping Reina’s back.
“Well played,” Kazuya huffed, grudgingly giving her a nod of respect.
Everyone else around the table applauded, sitting back and resting after a fine meal. Lidia just slumped down in exhaustion, having not eaten a single thing. She just sat there in silence while the rest of them went on about how delicious the stew was.
“Hey, Lidia,” said Reina, sitting down next to her girlfriend, “You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” Lidia sighed, “It’s just…”
“You haven’t eaten anything,” Reina noted, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. I was so busy trying to out-eat my father and brothers that I didn’t notice you didn’t even get a morsel.”
She held out her chopsticks, the egg still caught between them.
“You can have this,” Reina smiled, “You deserve it more than I do.”
“I…,” Lidia gasped, momentarily at a loss for words, “Thank you, Reina.”
“Don’t look so surprised,” Reina smirked, “I can do nice things sometimes.”
Reina held the egg up to Lidia’s lips, and the blonde gladly plucked it from her fingertips and ate it in two bites. It was just one egg, but it was the tastiest egg she could remember eating. Once she was done, Lidia and Reina smiled sweetly at each other, before closing the distance between them and sharing a kiss. The rest of the table went silent, letting the two women enjoy their moment.
Just then, Lee barged right into the room, holding a large chocolate cake.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said, setting the cake down on the table, “Who’s ready for dessert?”
“Ooh! I am!” Reina shouted as everyone scooched in closer to the table.
“Excellent!” Lee grinned, tossing out dinner knives and sitting down between Hwoarang and Lars.
“Here we go again,” Lidia sighed, rolling her eyes as she prepared for Round Two.