Live Free or Pie Trying [Lyra/Bon]

[Bon Bon]

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon outside Bon Bon's window. The maple tree was a deep, beautiful gold-orange color, and though the sun was shining through the clouds, there were enough of them around to give off a hint of rain later. The window was open, and the sound of dry leaves skittering around came in through the screen. For once, she didn't have music playing; sometimes it was better to let nature get a word in every now and then.

She had double and triple-checked off her checklist, and she had everything she needed; the ingredients for the fillings, crusts, decorations, sides, and tops, the utensils and cookware and bowls, all the directions listed out nice and neat in color-coded steps, and she'd notified her family that there would be cooking going on and not to interfere... so there was just one important thing missing. The actual cooking assistant.

Lyra was meant to be coming over today to get a lesson or two in baking. Sure, it was supposedly to help her with Home Ec. class—but if Bon Bon did her job right here, Lyra would forever more know a few things about how to bake a pie. Little steps like this were what would get her to cook like... well, a cook, and not like a bachelor.

Bon felt maybe it'd help Lyra with more than that, too. When things got lonesome, it felt good to have a nice, home-cooked meal, even if you made it yourself. And she knew Lyra sometimes could get lonesome.

"Right," she said to nobody in particular. "Any minute now. ...Have I got the—ah, crud, where'd I put the spare apron?" She turned around and got to digging around on door handles and cabinets. There had to be a second one around here, she had a whole stack of them, usually. Unless they were in the laundry...?

[Lyra Heartstrings]

Lyra coasted down the street on her bike as she took a look around the neighborhood. Bon Bon's house was as easy to find to her as her own home was now. They used to know whose dogs they could play with if they were out, chat houses gave out the best candy on Nightmare Night, and which street lamps took the longest to turn on. That last one was important. When you were told to come in when the lamps were on, and you could point to one that was still off, that gave you some extra play time. Leave it to kids to find the best loopholes.

All seemed quiet as she pulled up to the gate of the house, but that changed shortly after she opened the gate. The hinge creaked, like it always did since Lyra could remember, and Bon Bon's dog came running out from somewhere. Lyra was careful not to let Oreo out of the yard even though she knew the dog wouldn't leave her alone. The dog stayed by her as she walked her bike toward the house, wagging its tail all the way. As soon as she knelt down to chain her bike to the fence, Oreo began sniffing all over to check her pockets.

There has been more than one time Lyra has snuck over to Bon Bon's super stealthily. In order to keep her dog quiet, she'd bribe it with treats. Now whenever Lyra came over the dog expected a snack from her. "Okay okay. Sit, sit." she said as she locked up her bike among the sniffing and puppy kisses. Once the dog was sitting she spun her messenger back around and got out two tiny treats for Oreo to munch on.

With the dog taken care of it was time to visit her best friend and get to baking. Lyra's take on what they were going to be doing might have been a bit different than Bon Bon's. They were going to do a little studying, then eat whatever came out edible while watching movies. To her studying was the excuse for hanging out.

Lyra walked through the front door and immediately began to slip her shoes and socks off. A sure sign of Lyra being comfortable someplace was her going barefoot. "Bonnie I'm here!" she called out to her friend. "Sorry if I'm a little late, I ran into some traffic on the way over. You won't believe what this one guy yelled at me." Lyra made her way to the kitchen to find Bon Bon and smiled at how organized everything was. They should be eating sweets and watching movies in no time.

[Bon Bon]

Okay. This wasn't a huge disaster, she could roll with this—so her spare aprons were all probably in the wash. That was fine. But, she knew Lyra shouldn't have to get her clothes ruined, and she knew damn well that Lyra would be totally okay with ruining her clothes. So there was nothing for it; she took her apron (which read Good Lookin' is Cookin') off, just as she heard the front door open and shut.

"Ah! In here~" she called out, quickly hanging the apron on a chair and going out to meet her. "Oh, jeez... I probably wouldn't, but what'd he yell?" Without being too obvious, she glanced over Lyra's limbs to make sure there weren't skinned knees, cut elbows, gashes, nicks, bruises, or other attention needing bumps and bang-ups. Not just that you wouldn't want things like that in the kitchen, but she didn't want to know Lyra was getting bumped around regardless.

"You really should get some pads, at least elbow-ones," she said. "Traffic in your part of town really is bad sometimes. Anyway, c'mon! Let's wash up and get working, the sooner we get those pies in the sooner they can come out."

She shot Lyra a big grin and headed back to the kitchen proper, slinging the apron at her, knowing (well, hoping) she'd catch it. "Oh, and put this on, you know the drill! Just like in class."

[Lyra Heartstrings]

"Nothing I should repeat with Sweetie Drops in the house." she said with a small nervous chuckle. "I politely let the guy know his rear blinker was out after her rudely cut me off. He then yelled some very not nice things at me. He also used some sort of sign language so I signed back at him. Politely of course."

Lyra sounded a bit too innocent in her retelling of the incident, but it would be safe for little ears to hear. She took off her helmet and messenger bad, and hung them off of a chair in the kitchen before catching the apron and looking at it. She smiled at what it said before she looked at Bon Bon. At school they wore it so their clothes wouldn't be as messy the rest of the day, but this was the weekend. Lyra could afford to just throw her hoodie in the hamper when she got home. No fuss no muss. Besides, Bon Bon had nicer things that needed to be protected.

Falling into step behind Bon Bon she held the apron up then looped it over her and quickly tied it around Bon Bon's waist. "You need this more than I do Bonnie. A little flour and sugar won't hurt me." Lyra stepped back and placed her hands on her hips. "So what kind of pies are we making today? Golden eyes looked over all the ingredients that Bon Bon had laid out so carefully for hints on what it may be.

[Bon Bon]

Though she didn't poke the subject further, Bon Bon smiled at Lyra's "innocent" censorship. It was sweet that she was keeping things clean in the house here. She wasn't so glad that Lyra'd signed back, and doubted how polite her reminder might've been—but that was something she could bring up later.

"I'm just glad you're alright," she said simply, and started to the ingredients again—but before she could, Lyra swooped in and tied the apron back onto her. "H-hey! That—aw, Lyra..." She let out a sigh, glancing back at her friend. "Are you sure? You're the one who has to go home in those clothes. And being covered in flour when it's wet out? Not fun."

The ingredients were laid out pretty plainly—not separated or measured, just out. There were no premade things, save for some fruit preserves that were going to be used. No, this was from scratch. However much Lyra saw and recognized was good, that was one less thing she had to teach, but Bon Bon liked to think she came from a place of zero assumptions.

"Anyway," she said, "I assume you know what we start with?"

[Lyra Heartstrings]

"No problem as long as I catch a bus heading my way home." She gave Bon Bon a fearless grin. Nothing. Nothing could be more bothersome than the summer humidity back at Haysead Swamp. "And if I miss the last bus I'll just crash here and toss my clothes in the wash really quick. Light load, quick toss in the drier, and good as new." She knew Bon Bon wouldn't want her riding all the way home if she missed the last bus. She may have had the forethought to pack something in her backpack just in case of such a situation.

Lyra's golden eyes scanned everything in front of them. Nothing was frozen. Not even frozen and you had to sprinkle a topping just before the end. There was no pre-made crusts to just fill. There was also the distinct lack of graham crackers there too. Graham cracker crusts were easy. You smashed them up, added... something... then baked it and let it set. Right?

"Um... we need to make some dough?" It was stating the obvious, and in this case it just raised more questions. What kind of dough? Donut dough? Pizza dough? Did they need to use the muffin method? Does pie crust need to rise? Why did she have a jar of beans on the table with everything?

"Okay... so we should start by... there's not even a mix packet here." Lyra could do this. She had tried to make stuff out of the box before. What were those steps again? "we should put our dry ingredients in a bowl to mix them?"

[Bon Bon]

Bon Bon gave Lyra a reluctant nod. As long as she wasn't thinking of riding home after the last bus; no way from here to pickle-perfect Hell was she going to let her ride back into town on a bike, in a black hoodie like that. Reflectors or no reflectors, that was just asking for trouble. ... Speaking of which, wearing that around all this flour in the first place was asking for trouble.

"Okay, but at least take your jacket off. White is gonna show right up on that." She adjusted the apron some—Lyra tied it a little loose for some reason. She was quiet, and cleaned off a couple of things while Lyra worked through it. She knew this was unfamiliar territory for the gal, but hanging around Bon Bon so much, she had to have picked up some stuff, right?

And pick up she had. The dry ingredients was just where Bon was hoping she'd go. She turned around, grinned, and said "Yes! Or, well, no. That's the first step on the recipe. But the first place you always, always go—the sink." She turned on the faucet, letting the water get hot, and rolled up her sleeves. "Never ever cook with dirty hands. You can get sick that way. Remind me to tell you about Typhoid Mary... ssssome other time, when we aren't cooking."

With that, she took a few dabs of dish soap and washed her hands. Some of her light-blue nail polish was coming off, but she didn't seem to mind. The stuff never lasted very long on her anyway. "So! Flour, salt, and sugar. Find those and measure out what it says on the paper, right over there. Dry ingredients are in green."

[Lyra Heartstrings]

Lyra grabbed the edges of her hoodie and pulled it up and over her head without much fuss. It didn't bother her, but it would bother Bon Bon, which would bother her... it was very roundabout. She was wearing a white shirt with yellow edges. The hoodie was tossed at the chair with the rest of her things before joining Bon Bon at the sink.

"I needed to wash up anyways. Oreo came and said hello to me when I showed up." Two squirts of soap, and Lyra was on her way to work up a lather. She scrubbed up to her elbows to be extra thorough, then shut her eyes and took to her face with soapy hands. Washing her face used to be something she dreaded... then came teenage hormones, and now it was something she did nightly.

Once Lyra was good and clean she dried herself off and looked back at what they were supposed to be doing. She had heard only the tiniest bit of information on Typhoid Mary and it was enough to know it shouldn't be discussed when food was around.

Lyra looked at the paper and reached for some measuring cups. She didn't like how this was starting out. For starters Bon Bon was making her start things. She measured out the ingredients, constantly looking back to Bon Bon, and tossed them into a mixing bowl with care. Flour, salt, and sugar all in there. Didn't their teacher mention something about it being better to mix their dry stuff together first?

"Now we mix them together so they're all evenly distributed." Lyra grabbed the electric egg beater, placed it in the bowl and flicked it on. Miss Heartstrings wasn't the most well versed in kitchen utensils. For instance she didn't know that electric egg beaters were on a variable dial, and instead thought it was just an on-off switch. There was the whine of the motor, and a yelp as Lyra was assaulted by a cloud of white.

She was quick to turn it off, but the damage was done. Lyra let out a small nervous laugh to try and lighten the mood. "Ehehehe... Now we get the broom?

[Bon Bon]

White shirt. Good. She could pull her hoodie back on over that if she went back home before sunset, in case it rained; and flour wouldn't really show up on that anyway before it got a turn in the wash. While Lyra washed up, Bon Bon was taking care of a few other things—cubing the butter, getting some of the filling stuff out of the fridge where it'd been keeping cool, making sure the cutting boards were clear with plenty of elbow room.

It was easy work, and quick, and mindless. She liked that kind of work, really—it gave her a chance to turn her brain off for a minute or two. Which, frankly, could be a relief sometimes.

Still, it was quickly done, and Lyra was being efficient herself. She came over and stood on her tiptoes to peek over Lyra's shoulder, just as it was time to whisk together the ing—

That wasn't the whisk.

...

Bon Bon cracked her eyes open, blinking some of the flour dust from her eyes. She rocked back down to her heels and coughed, sugar falling out of her hair a bit with the shake. Lyra laughed; yes, she laughed, but that didn't put the flour back in the bowl. Bon cracked a little smirk regardless.

"Now you get the broom, sweetheart," she said with a bit of snark to her voice. "I'll get the—" cough "—dry ingredients whisked again... once this... settles. Use a whisk next time? ...Till y'know how that thing works better?"

[Lyra Heartstrings]

Lyra's chin hit her chest which caused its own mini-cloud. "At least I protected you from most of it." she coughed once, then went to get some cleaning supplies. She got the broom and a dust pan, and quickly went to work. As lightly as she tried to play it off, it was still a little disheartening that she'd mess up that quickly.

"Look at it this way. At least we got that mistake out of the way, right?" Getting covered in flour wasn't something new to Lyra. There had been flour fights before, rips in the bag, spills, a mishap while drumming, and now this was added to the list. "Maybe it'll be better if I just watch during the first one, and not touch anything."

Lyra stood next to Bon Bon to watch what she was doing, after she finished cleaning up of course. She watched closely, trying to make notes as to how things were coming together. "So... I shouldn't be using anything mechanical at all until you get the liquid in, huh?"

[Bon Bon]

Bon Bon let her smirk drop and let it down to a small, affectionate smile. She couldn't hold it against Lyra, of course—never had. She'd made all kinds of mistakes when she was first starting out, too, but she'd been a kid at the time. So it probably didn't feel as bad. It sounded like Lyra was kind of beating herself up over it, which was something Bon Bon straight up drew the line at.

"Nah, it's no biggie. I want you to get hands on experience and this is part of it! I still make mistakes all the time, part a' life." Once Lyra was close enough, she quickly took her by the hand and put it on the back of hers, which was still generously dusted. "I'll show you how to work the food processor in a sec. Now, I got all the ingredients in here, just like you measured 'em—and here's how you whisk by hand. Follow my motion, and then you do it."

Keeping Lyra's hand right where it was, she mimed a whisking motion over the bowl, slowly, then quicker. "It's in the wrist, see? Kind of flicking, but smoother. Hold it a little loose." She pressed the utensil into Lyra's palm. "Now you do it. Want me to guide you a bit more, or you think you got this?"

[Lyra Heartstrings]

Lyra's eyes widened as Bon Bon took her by the hand. After what just happened she was seriously trusting her with touching powdery substances so soon? She had to stand behind Bon Bon to properly follow along, but it wasn't so hard. There was no problem for Lyra to look over Bon Bon's shoulder.

The motion felt odd, mostly because it hadn't been practiced before. Using her wrist, though, was something she was very familiar to using. Hurray for being able to play stringed instruments! The excitement of understanding something was short lived as she was now being forced to do it. "You sure Bonnie? After what happened how do you know I won't just fling it everywhere?"

If she had been in school, or there had been another friend in the room she would have gone at it with all the confidence in the world. Bon Bon got to see the uncertainty Lyra sometimes had. Part of it was because she didn't want to seem like an epic fail in front of her best friend. Better to concede early on, then end up looking like a ghost later and having Sweetie Drops walk in and see it.

That would take a while to live down.

Experimentally Lyra gave her wrist a little flick... and nothing exploded. She gave it another, and still there was no dust storm brewing. Very slowly she began to increase her tempo, keeping a careful eye on things so as not to cause (too much) of a mess. "How's this? Is this good? Should I go faster?

[Bon Bon]

"Positive," she said, firmly. That was what Lyra needed when she got all insecure and unsure like this. She needed a firm, gentle voice, not to decide for her, but to keep her on the right path. "There ya go. Now just do it again, and... yes ~ "

Bon Bon had to admit, musicians had very different hands from bakers. Calloused fingertips, long phalanges, nimble wrists; all Bon Bon had was flour under her nails, dishpan skin and some burn marks. Wasn't better or worse, she guessed. Just different. Lyra's hands had always been kind of fascinating to her, though.

"Right. A little faster, but not a whole lot. You don't need to spend ages whipping up the dry stuff, just wanna get it nice and consistent all the way through—no patches of white and all that." She carefully took her hand off and let Lyra lead the rest of it. "Now, when you're done with that, pour it into the food processor over here and put that butter in. I'll show you what to do from there. It's pretty fun!"

[Lyra Heartstrings]

Lyra stared down at the bowl warily. Hadn't she seen something on tv about flour being able to explode? With the way things were going she wouldn't put it past it. Bon Bon had said she was going good though. She'd done this before, and would have mentioned if there was the potential for explosions to occur. If anything she knew Bon Bon's parents didn't allow explosions in the house.

It's a long story involving sciences.

She kept moving the whisk exactly like she had been told to do with no deviation. It was just a few moments ago they all learned what sort of things could happen when Lyra deviated from the plan. Once it all looked the same she went over to the food processor and poured the dry mix into it. "All of the butter right? Oooor will we be needing any of it for later?" She held the butter over the processor ready for the word to dump it in, or take some out.

[Bon Bon]

"All the butter that's here. We'll need some more later, but this is just for the crusts right now." She smiled, giving Lyra the "go-ahead" look. "Then put the lid on, lock that thing on the side, and flip the switch. It's already on the right setting. It's kinda old so, uh... maybe hold it down if it shakes too hard?" Bon Bon gave a bit of a cheesy smile; she knew not all their stuff was quite up to code. But it worked if you knew how to treat it right. "But it's totally safe. No matter what noises it makes."

With that sorted, she went ahead and got started with one of the fillings. She'd have to get it chilling while the dough was made and chilling; the thing about pies was that they were time consuming, but had a lot of downtime, so it was good to have some things running in parallel. "It'll take a minute! But, once it clumps together in bits, come here and tell me what fruit you want the first filling to have."

She was just getting it prepped—but Bon Bon hadn't skimped on the fruit options. Raspberries, blackberries, banana, apple, coconut, cherry... they couldn't possibly use them all, but that was fine. The rest could be snacks some other time. She wasn't against the idea of combining a few either—a cherry-raspberry, maybe, or banana-coconut... maybe they'd even go really wild and have blackberry-banana or something off the beaten path.

A very perceptive person might say she was fond of fruit.