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Ribs still a little tender, Laura is mostly distracted from them by what she has in mind. Running through pie crust making feels like fun. It's down to earth, calming and a little messy (in a good way). It's for that reason she's got out flour, butter, sugar and salt and is wearing a plain white apron as she flicks through a recipe book.
The kitchen door opens, briefly showing Downtime on the other side, and then June comes bouncing through in a green tank top and undies covered in raccoons that look like they're doing kung fu. She brightens when she sees Laura, closes the door behind her, and scampers over to give Laura a gentle hug around the waist, rather than the ribs. "Gooood morning," she says cheerfully.
"Oooh." A quiet laugh as she carefully reaches down to pat June's head for the hug, though the panda is far from fragile. "Sam inspired?" She bares teeth in a toothy grin. "Hey Scarlet. I'm good to call you that? Glitch is Sparks." She scritches her ear. "How's your day?"
"Huh?" June asks, because despite her good cheer she also just woke up, and probably isn't even remembering what she's wearing. "Whatcha mean?" Then she grins and says, "sure, that's fine. My day's not too bad so far, since I came out here thinking I'd be alone for a while with everyone over there sleeping, and then you were here. How are the ribs? Whatcha making?"
"I know." She smiles, but her ears lower briefly. "House was a bit quiet. But, pie crusts. I know you wanted to practice, so I figured I should make sure I wasn't rusty. Good timing for you, really." A nod. "Sore, so don't tell me any big jokes or anything, but doing okay." She muses in her ear. "You've got kung fu raccoons on your clothes."
"Oooh!" June perks up at the answer to what Laura's making. "What kind of pie? I love pie. Show me how it's done?" As usual, she's enthusiastic for other people's interests, and includes an eager smile up at Laura. Then she looks down at herself, and what she's wearing. "Oh yeah!" she laughs. "Yeah, they reminded me of Sam."
"Steak!" She nods keenly. Because hyenas aren't great at veggies. "But could make something else too, crusts are good for all sorts." A kiss to the top of June's head, beaming. "You're such a postitive energy. And, mm, 'course. Come gimme a hand?" She gestures at the butter and offers a knife. "You could cut that up into cubes for me while I sort the flour and sugar?"
"Oooh," June answers, mouth rounding to make the delighted sound. "Sounds delicious." Her ears do a little twitch and she grins when she's kissed on the top of the head, and then she bounds away for the sink. "Let me wash my hands before I start handling the food. I surely don't remember everything I touched last night." And she proceeds to do just that.
The Hyena nods to that, contently starting to measure out the flour and sugar. "That's the plan, but then, me and food. Mm, we get on rather well." She cackles quietly, taking a slight breath after. "You had a fun night?"
June does a wash, including scrubbing under her claws, then her best attempt at drying them, but when you're furry, drying your hands doesn't get them all that dry. "It was a good night," she says a little coyly, with a grin. "Not a particularly good one, though. Some good snuggles and conversation, that kind of good night." She takes the knife that Laura had offered her and proceeds to cut the butter up into smaller cubes. "Some snuggling is something I look forward to doing more of with you, when I don't have to worry about hurting you in the process."
"I would love snuggles." Laura informs her brightly. Snuggles, conversation. Other things are more then welcomed, but, just being cozy.." A light nod. "I'll try to avoid excessive sparring in that case, it seems a good trade." A wink as she heads over to the cupboards, hunting. "Where is that bowl..?"
"Yes, the faster you heal, the faster you get more snuggles. And possibly other things," June nods in eager agreement. She finishes cutting the butter up, then scoots over to help in the bowl hunt. "Someone probably put it away in the wrong place when they were emptying the dishwasher," she says. "I can't imagine at all who might space out like that, though." Hint: it was probably her. "Ah! Here it is! In with the dish towels."
She licks her lips a little, then tries to hide the gesture with a hand. "Another day or so should hopefully see me right. And snuggles I can do, long as you're not lying on my ribs." With a smile she nods as the bowl's found. "Gotta get used to your kitchen too. I should be better at finding things." Slightly floury hands clap together. "Okay. Now we need to mix the flour with the sugar and salt, then feed in the butter You wanna do the mixing or have me at that?"
"Uhhh," June says, handing over the bowl. "You do the mixing. I'm more likely to make a mess, I think." She briefly leans her shoulder and her head against Laura's arm, and then back to work! She moves off to grab the butter, ready at hand with it when the time comes.
A hand ruffles through June's fur briefly as she leans. "Part of the fun of that is that we're able to make a mess, but I agree, sorting fur's a pain in the ass." Grabbing a whisk she starts on the mixture, pausing every so often for butter to slip in. "So. Did you want steak, or should we try for something else?"
June laughs and says, "oh, I just figure we want most of the flour and stuff to stay in the bowl, that's all." As they're working on this together, in between healthy doses of butter, she leans against Laura contentedly. When the time comes for butter, she butters, and then returns to leaning, all the while watching Laura's technique. "Oh, steak sounds great. I mean, I love sweet pies too, but we should probably eat non-dessert food sometimes."
"Also true." She chuckles. "Food processor's an option too, I just like being hands on. And you might do better then you think. You wanna give it a turn or two?" A quiet rumble sounds as they keep working, her version of a pleased purr. "I can only eat meat." She admits. "Unless I make a particularly strong effort. So I'd likely paw out the innings." A faint grin there.
"Does that mean I'll have to help eat your crusts?" June asks with a grin, like she'll be happy to make that sacrifice. "I'll do some stirring, if your arm's already getting tired. I know you're injured and all." That tone is definitely teasing. She knows full well that Laura is likely to have enough strength and stamina to be fine stirring the whole thing.
"Oh.." A sly look, teeth ever so slightly grazing June's ear. "I've totally got this crust, a few bruises won't stop me. But I'm such a generous soul, I don't want to steal all the fun from you. Mm, you can have some of the crusts. And keep calling me tired, see how that ends for you." A wink.
"Pretty great so far!" June retorts to the end of that, and she sticks her tongue out at Laura. Her tongue! The nerve! But she settles into a companionable lean against the hyena's side, too. "What are we going to season this one with?" she asks. "I'm not even really sure what people normally put in meat pies for seasoning."
"Salt's often a good thing. A little thyme too, maybe. Brushing the top with egg yolk is a great way to get a nice golden appearance." One hand stirs as the other runs claws over June's side. "And, yah, but you try getting snuggles from old grey fur here, who's real tired and all." She stifles a totally fake yawn.
"Mmm, thyme," June says, then she laughs and admits, "I'm not entirely sure what thyme tastes like, compared to other herbs. It's probably good, though!" She knows just about nothing about cooking, except some of the things that Laura has taught her. This is surely no surprise at this point. When the claws run over her side she does a little squirm, like she's ticklish, but doesn't try to make an escape. "Maybe the snuggles will help you recharge," she suggests.
"Only one way to find out." Laura admits, reluctantly releasing June and heading over to where spices live, carefully picking out a thyme leaf and turning to June with it carefully pinched between two claws. "Let me know what you think? The smell's good too." She smiles. "And, pretty sure they would help. The crust needs to sit in the fridge for two days, so, plenty of time once it's all kneaded."
"Two days?!" June protests, like that's unthinkable. "You have to make your food days before you get to eat it? That sounds like the worst." But she does lean in to get a sniff of the thyme, and her eyes widen a bit. "Yeah, that smells delicious." Then she sticks out her tongue, so that Laura can put it on. And she makes an aaaaaaah sound.
"It's alright!" Laura assures her. "I have a plate of sausage rolls in the fridge." Because of course she does. "The trick is to have enough food to last until the food you've just done is ready.. something like that." She cants her head at June sticking out her tongue, then wrinkles her nose before putting the thyme on it. There's a quiet cackle, then a louder one as she laughs, ending with a faint wince. "Ah, sorry, but, really sorry June, that is adorable." She leans in, offering the panda a tight hug, ribs be damned.
June draws the be-thymed tongue back in and slowly turns the leaf around in her mouth, and then grinds it between pointed teeth. "I think it's probably better in stuff, but I like the flavor," she says, before grinning at Laura. "Sorry, I can't help it. That's just who I am," she says while returning the hug, careful not to squeeze ribs. "So, what do we have to do still? Just put this in the fridge and wait?"
"I think who you are is wonderful." Laura tells her simply, nodding. "Not just yet, one stage to go." She reaches into the bowl to extract the dough, splitting it in half and setting them down on the counter. "It needs kneading first, into a disc, but stop before it starts to crack." She sets hands on one. "You want to watch and do as I do with that second one?"
"Oooh, we can pretend to be cats!" June says when Laura says it's time for kneading. "Someone told me once that cats knead the way they do because its a remnant of behavior they learned when they were enslaved by the Romans to make bread. I'm pretty sure they weren't serious, though." She smiles at Laura, nods her head, and says, "sure, show me the right technique, sensei!"
"Cats are very wise." Laura intones. "They have to be, I'm part feline, after all. The best of both them and dogs." She attempts a purr. It's a terrible purr. "That sounds almost like it could be true. The world's a strange place." She grins, then starts kneading, watching June to check her own technique.
June does her best to follow along with what Laura is doing, which ends up being pretty good. They both get to try to deal with not puncturing the heck out of the dough while they're kneading it, but using the heels of the hands instead of your fingers tends to help with that, so it's not that bad. "Oh, that's right. Hyenas are more cat than dog, aren't they? I forgot about that. Red pandas are all alone, taxonomically. Is that a word? There's nothing else in our Family. Superfamily wise we're in with the mustelids, like badgers and stuff, but only very distantly."
"I don't know pandas." Laura admits. "But hyenas are officially of the feliform carnivoran family, with traits from both canines and felines. We're one of the smaller mammal families about, I think." She offers a wry smile. "We're both kinda unique, maybe? That could be a good way to look at it."
"Red pandas are in the Ailuridae family, and there's no other living species but red pandas in it. We're sad, lonely, and incredibly adorable little creatures," June says with a solemn nod, while kneading. "Hyenas are really neat creatures, though. I love your laugh. It makes me happy."
She pauses slightly at the statement, then starts kneading again, nodding with half closed eyes. "I, ah.." A slow breath. "Thank you. I still sometimes feel I'm not, ah." Awkward hyena. She raises a hand to rub at her eyes with the back of it, which of course leaves a streak of flour across her muzzle. "I would laugh for you now, if I wasn't sore. Later though, maybe you can tease me into it?"
"Not what?" June asks, pausing what she's doing to turn and look at Laura. "Beautiful enough? Kind enough? Wonderful enough? Marvelous and amazing and super hot enough?" She tilts her head and gives Laura a brief Look. "You're all of those things. I love the patterns in your fur. The spots are so cute! The sort of mohawky ridge of hair along your spine is so cool. Your scars make you look like someone who has faced tougher things than most people could handle and come through it, which is so hot. The color of your eyes is just amazing, I find it mesmerizing." She turns her Look into a warm smile. "It's okay if those aren't all things that you find attractive about yourself, it just means you're not your own type, and there's nothing wrong with that. But you definitely are mine, okay?"
She turns to look down at June before she kneels next to her, wrapping arms around her and huffing, with a muzzle buried in her shoulder. "I fucking love you, you adorable panda. And yes, I'm yours. Utterly." A squeeze. "I love how you never let anyone else decide who you could be, how stacked you are, how you're always trying and never giving up, how adorable you are and how thick your fur is." A rumble of a hyena cackle. "If we're sharing. I wanted to get that out."
June turns and gives Laura a tight hug, but not too tight, because ribs. Then smooches her on the cheek, for good measure. "Thank you," she says happily. "I love you too, and I wanted you to know it. You're beautiful, okay? If you forget, I'll try to remind you. Over and over."
She nods, rubbing her cheek against June's before she carefully stands. "I'm beautiful." She repeats, partly to reassure herself. "Thank you June." She stretches to pat at her back with a gleam in her eyes. "You like my.. hm, mohawk?" That thought is mulled on with a smile before she turns back to the bread. "Ah, let's get these done and in the fridge? I think we're nearly there."
"Oh yeah, totally. It's so cool," June confirms with an enthusiastic nod, after rubbing fuzzy cheeks. "I'm just floofy everywhere, which, sure, is really cute, but it's not cool, you know? I bet if I had a mohawk, people would take me more seriously." She lets out a laugh, bumps her shoulder against Laura, and then agrees. "Yep, let's finish this up, and then we can go snuggle and watch a movie or something?"
"Most don't see it, mind." She muses. "At least, most of it. Only those I'm happy ambling about without clothes with." A thoughtful look. "You've got really thick fur though. Maybe I could weave something like one into it?" A nudge back as she starts kneading again. "Mm, let's. Any preferences?"
"We can certainly try! It's not like it won't all just poof back out when I take a shower and dry it off again, if it ends up looking silly," June agrees, smiling as she returns to kneading. "I find it fun to be dressed up or adorned or whatever by other people, as long as they're people who I know care about me and mean well with it. I'm not going to dress a certain way or wear certain makeup because society wants me to, but for people I care about? Totally."
Laura gives her a serious look, but smiles. "I'm hoping this is something I'm doing because you want it, not something you're agreeing to because I want to? If that makes sense? Not that I won't enjoy it, of course." She nods. "You're as you want to be, yes."
"I'm agreeing to it because it sounds like it will be fun for both of us," June says with a big grin. "I mean, no matter how it turns out, I'll basically be getting a bunch of petting and scritches out of the deal, so what's the worst that can happen?"
"Exactly!" The Hyena nods keenly. "What's better then petting and scritches? Except food, of course. And I'll be throwing in all the scritches you can stand." She finishes her dough, studying it critically before looking to June. "How are you doing?"
"I think I'm good," June says, pausing to inspect her dough. "I don't want it to start getting cracky. This looks good, right?"
She nods, leaning over June's shoulder. "Mm, perfect." She nuzzles an ear, fetching some clingfilm and carefully wrapping the dough. "Claws are a pain sometimes.." Taking up the dough, she beams at June. "Gonna be a good pie when we get there. Looking forward to it?"
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