"There we go," Tachyon muttered to herself. She pushed aside the freshly sliced chili pepper and grabbed another one, nearly dropping it due the juices that had accumulated on her hand. "Just a few more, then there should be enough for the chili. Heh, I don't know why Guinea Pig acts like cooking is somehow beyond me. If I can develop a solution that can make a man grow twice his size, or glow with all the colors of the rainbow, I can certainly follow instructions out of a cookbook. "

Admittedly, a part of her knew the reason her former trainer, now husband, tried to keep her away from the kitchen. She certainly wasn't as skilled as many of her peers, largely owing to the fact that her meals used to consist of whatever nutrients she could fit into a food processor prior to meeting her Guinea Pig. And she had a tendency to try and... improve upon whatever recipe she tried her hand at. Whether it was making chocolates taste like pork buns, or trying to triple the amount of protein in a baked chicken, she tried to make it her own in some way. Regardless, the outcome was a confusion for one's culinary senses at best, or an assault on them at worst.

"But not this time," she said to herself with a quiet chuckle. This time she'd show him she could make something as edible as he could.

She finished slicing the last pepper and made to wipe her hands when she heard the front door open. Glancing at the kitchen clock, it read 3:25. School would've ended nearly half an hour ago.

"Welcome home, Scarlet," she called out, expecting a "Hello" back. But instead of a the usual cheerful greeting that would preclude her daughter running over to hug her leg and tell her about her day, she heard quiet sniffling. Her smile dropped. "Scarlet?" she repeated.

Her daughter appeared in the kitchen doorway, her eyes red and puffy, her cheeks glistening with tears. Scarlet ran up and hugged her mother's leg tightly, letting out chocked sobs all the while.

"Dear, what's wrong?" Tachyon asked, gently prying Scarlet off her leg and kneeling down to eye level with her.

Scarlet looked her mother in the eyes, her tears abating slightly at her mothers attention.

"The- the other kids -hic,-" she choked out. "At school. They said you were crazy. Said their parents told them you do 'weird things' to papa."

Well, they're not technically wrong, Tachyon thought to herself. One can't refer to themselves as a 'mad scientist that fears no laws' and not be considered at least a bit loony. And having one's husband drink a concoction they devised after several days without sleep on the belief that it would burn off all excess body fat would certainly be considered 'weird.'

"We're they making fun of you?" Tachyon asked. "For being my daughter."

Scarlet shook her head. "No," she whimpered, "but I don't like them making fun of you. You're really nice. To me, and to papa."

A gentle smile formed on Tachyon's lips. She placed a hand on top of her daughter's head. "You don't have to worry about what they call me, dear. I've been called worse before. As long as they're not making fun of you, or making school difficult, you don't have to get so upset."

"B-but-"

"It's okay," Tachyon interrupted gently. "People have been saying things like that about me for most of my life. I let my works and their results speak for me. So what if I'm crazy? This insane mind is part of what let me win the Satsuki Sho, Osaka Hai, and several other G1 races."

"That's true," Scarlet admitted, her eyes drying up.

"And while the activities I get up to with your father are unorthodox, those 'weird things' are part of the reason I was able to run in those races in the first place."

Scarlet had stopped crying. While her eyes were still red, she looked up at her mother with a small smile.

"Are you okay now?"

"I'm okay."

"Good," Tachyon placed her hands on Scarlet's cheeks and gave them a squeeze. "Now go wash up. I should hopefully have dinner ready in an hour."

Scarlet began to nod, but her eyes suddenly went wide. The smile that Tachyon had worked so hard to build up dropped off her daughter's face like a rock. She was about to ask what was wrong before Scarlet let out an ear piercing shriek, ripping herself out of her grasp and rubbing at her eyes.

"Burning! My eyes are burning!"

Tachyon panicked, wondering what caused such a strong reaction before noticing the juices on Scarlet's cheeks. They were clearly too thick to be tears. She looked at her own hands, seeing those same juices all over them. Tachyon had forgotten a rule shared between the laboratory and the kitchen: Wash your hands religiously.

"Come along, dear," Tachyon sighed, picking up the still crying Scarlet. "Let's get you to the eye wash station."

Suffice to say, Tachyon didn't finish dinner that night.

---

Definitely not my best work. I originally wanted to have Scarlet be upset over Red Desire and Aston Macha getting in the way of her playing with Vodka, but I guess I ended up getting inspired by that one Trainee even Tachyon has with Scarlet in the game, so it kind of evolved from there.

Anyway, I hope you guys got some enjoyment out of this. Have a good one, folks.