Flora and Luck looked on in wonder at the ingredients, their heads spinning with possibilities. Flora had looked up a few new recipes online and now she was all set to take a stab at some Mexican food and with the help of Luck had hoped to prepare a surprise feast for Sly and Aitora when they got back from picking up Pearl at the airport. Lean beef, maize flour, tortilla shells, rice and more spices than either of the girls had ever thought existed all lay spread out on the counter. Now all it would take is a little patients, a few pots and pans and before they knew it, they'd have won over everyone and killed their reputations as bad cooks.

Flora just couldn't help herself, she had to do like she'd seen on TV so many times and taste test one of the ingredients. She took a teaspoon and poured a small amount of the red powder into it. But just as she was about to taste it, Luck bumped into her from behind. The wolfess gasped softly, inhaling the amount into her nasal cavity. She sneezed quickly after, sending a small red cloud into the air. Luck turned around to see the result and couldn’t help but chuckle at the wolfess. “Too much chilli powder?” asked the feline amused. “It’s your fault.” replied Flora a little annoyed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Now what are we making again?” asked Luck patting Flora on the back.

Flora could feel the heat building up inside her nasal passages and her eyes watering. “I was thinking tacos and spanish rice but,” she stopped suddenly, feeling a sneeze building up. She turned away from the table, cupping her hands over her nose. Then it came. A huge sneeze that nearly sent her into a forward flip but not quite. As it turned out it was just enough to make her head butt a cupboard door. As she reeled back from the impact another sneeze sent her into an instant replay of the event again, just in case Luck missed the first one. Now as a third eruption built up inside her head she decided to make a break for open space in the living room but was running blind from the tears flowing from her eyes. All the while uproarious laughter filled the air.

She could feel the beating of her heart in her chest as the seconds ticked away in slow motion. Her vision was a watery blur. She knew that there were a couple of heavy objects in the living room, but just beyond them was a wide open space. She held out as long as she could, but she could not hold out forever and the involuntary action came unfortunately just as she passed the china cabinet. All at once the laughter died and was replaced by a gasp of horror as the wolfess leaned her head back. The china cabinet was made of dense wood, and by the record of Flora’s sneezes, this was going to be a big one. Luck’s body began to move on its own. There were only a few precious seconds remaining. Not a split second before the impact, another impact from her side forced her away from the cabinet, and into the open space of the living room with the feline rolling atop her. As they came to a stop, Flora wiped her eyes frantically, looking around to see just what had happened. Her search brought her to Luck and she had to stifle a chuckle herself at what she saw. Luck was rubbing her head, shaking the dizziness away, but what she hadn’t yet noticed was that in her rush she had forced Flora’s sneeze directly into her face. Bits of chilli powder flecked mucus stuck to the feline’s fur lightly. A fact Flora was going to relish relaying to her in a moment.

Luck blinked away as much of the second hand spices as she could and sat on one of the sofas in the room, taking a moment to gather her wits again. Flora, now able to see a little better sat next to her. “OK. So how about from now on we both take a side of the table to avoid hazards?” Luck said in a helpful tone, trying not to laugh at Flora and in blissful ignorance of her condition. Getting up again she walked past a mirror and froze in place, looking at the state of her normally pristine fur. “Why the hell didn't you tell me about this?” asked the feline horrified. “I was going to. But I thought that this would be funnier, and I was right.” replied Flora returning the uproarious laughter she was subjected to just a moment ago.

“Oh ha-ha...” said Luck dryly as she reached for a paper towel and wiped the sticky mess from her face. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. Can you blame me? After all you did laugh first.” said Flora in her own defence. “Alright Alright I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed at you.” said Luck solemnly. “Apology Accepted. And I’m sorry I laughed too. Now let’s get back to cooking. We don’t have a lot of time before the others get here.” said Flora quickly.

Luck noded in agreement as she quickly washed her hands at the kitchen sink. “So how about this, I'll do the main and you do the rice and sweets for after?” Flora nodded in agreement as she joined the feline in the kitchen. Happily she took to the most complicated task first, that of making the mix for the candy she was going to make. It's not that it was overly complex, it was just delicate. Measuring out the sugar, meringue powder and water she started to get her mix together and it took right away. Looking over she saw that Luck was well under way herself as she browned up the meat in a frying pan. This was going better than expected. Once she had filled the molds for the Day of the Dead candy that she had bought online she read the next part of the recipe and her heart sunk.
Allow 12-24 hours to dry and set up

The wolfess’ fingers drummed nervously on the box. She wasn’t sure they had two hours. They certainly didn’t have that long. What was she going to do? “What dries things out better than hot air?” she thought to herself. “That’s it. She could throw them in the oven for a little bit while everyone ate. That’ll dry them out fast. She smirked to herself at her cleverness and continued to mix the ingredients together into the molds.
Luck had a serious expression on her face; she concentrating on the meat cooking in the frying pan. This wasn’t so hard. She had always feared cooking meat the most because of all of the illnesses that could occur from undercooking it, but it was browning easily enough. Soon she would be ready for the next step.

Chopping some jalapeno peppers, a few habanero peppers and then one more that she had sneaked into the basket when Flora hadn't been looking. She'd wanted to impress everyone with a meal that had enough kick that the guys wouldn't forget it. Slipping the ghost pepper out of the plastic she quickly discarded the warnings and started to chop and mix it with the others. Still she couldn't help but wonder if it was as hot as people said. Looking over her shoulder she saw that Flora was occupied with mixing the candy dough so she decided to go for it.

First one of the Jalepenos, not bad, just a little kick to it and a nice taste. Then the Habanero. It may have looked like a little orange pepper but it sure didn't taste sweet. Right away her mouth started to tingle and she could feel her sinuses freeing up. But time for the ultimate. The shrivelled up red pepper sure didn't look like much but one touch of a bit of it on her tongue changed her mind in a flash.

A quick breeze blew by Flora, startling her as she turned around. She was surprised to see that Luck was no longer at the table. She turned again when she heard the sound of running water and was confused to see the feline with her head sideways under the faucet. It looked like she was drinking greedily, but in reality she was only holding her tongue under the flow of water. Luck whimpered softly at the burning feeling, she could swear steam was coming from her tongue where the pepper had touched it. She sighed in relief a moment later as the heat died down to a dull reminder of the pepper’s spice, her eyes watering softly at the feeling. How could a pepper be that hot? Moreso, how could anyone eat such a thing? “You know...we have cold water in the fridge.” said Flora confused at Luck’s sudden behaviour. Luck didn’t respond verbally, but instead gave a thumbs up to the wolfess as she pulled away from the sink.

Yes, ice cold water was the ticket, at least till it ran out after the second pitcher. She looked up to see Flora looking over in complete awe. “It's a side effect to my allergy medication. I get dry mouth.” Luck fibbed as she turned back to the mass of chopped peppers. Now she couldn't remove the ghost chili from the rest so she'd just have to find a way to limit the potency of the spices. Suddenly she remembered something Maneki had told her a while ago about milk being served with spicy food to take the edge off. That was it! She scraped the chopping board full of peppers into the pan of meat and then poured a quart of milk into the pan with it. Before long the milk was boiling away, much to Lucks approval.

Behind her Flora had just pushed the tray of candy into a toaster oven that was turned up as high as it would go. The effects were almost instant and not at all what she wanted to see. The skull shaped candies began to disfigure as they dried unnaturally, the melancholy looks on the skulls began to warp, turning into horrified faces before cracking, some of the dough from the middle of the candies began to smoke. It had dried them too fast and now they were burning. The wolfess slapped the sides of her face in panic as she saw this. This was not how she thought it would work. Quickly she opened the oven, only for a puff of smoke to come out first; setting off the smoke detector. Luck turned to see Flora’s panicked motions as she tried to save what she could of her candies.

Taking up the tray she blew on them as hard as she could. Unfortunately for her that was all it took for the sugar to go from smoking to open flame. Letting out a yelp of surprise and horror she did the only thing that she could think of, she ran for the front door.

* * *

Sly pulled into the driveway with Pearl and Aitora sitting comfortably inside the cab of the car. “So what do you say when we get my stuff inside if we go out and grab a bite? Maybe it's jetlag but i feel like it's dinner time even though I know it's three in the afternoon.” the vixen said in the back seat.

“That suits me just fine.” Sly said in response. They got out as soon as it was parked and stretched out. No matter how comfortable a car is nothing can really make up for how airports feel. It wasn't long before they got out in the open air that his sensitive nose twitched, as did Pearls. “Do you smell something burning?” asked the vixen curiously. “Yeah. I think it’s coming from the house!” said Sly alarmed as the trio immediately ran for the door. Aitora pulled out his keys and in a flash had them in the lock. A faint click made his ear twitch as his pupils shrank suddenly. The door flew open as in one swift move a gray wolfess threw the door open and spun around to exit the house at the same time. Aitora hadn’t the time to get out of her way as Flora plowed right into him and sent him backwards into the walkway. “Whoa!” said Sly stepping into the doorway to see what had just happened, looking back at the two bodies on the ground. “Flora are you okay!” came a familiar voice as the wolfox was sent flying forward by a huge blow to his back, another figure slamming into him suddenly and sending them over Aitora and Flora. Pearl watched all of this with awe as she turned to look at the door, just in case the house had any more ammo to throw her way.

But no time for that, Flora still had to dispose of her smoking tray of sugar. Holding her arm back she threw the trays contents like an olympic champion throwing a javelin. The contents flew in an arc through the air, leaving trails of smoke behind them, taking on the appearance of small surface to air missiles till they smashed on the street. A shower of sparks and blackened bits of sugar went flying into the air marking the end of desert. The three new arrivals looked on in horror and shock as Flora straightened herself out and tried to act like nothing was wrong. But there was no time to focus on that as a yell erupted from inside the apartment. Everyone looked toward the house and noted the smoke coming from the kitchen window. Hurried gasps filled the air as they all ran inside to try to put out the fire.

When they got inside they were surprised to find Jex coughing, holding the handle of a frying pan, the contents being held under the running water of the sink. Luck gasped softly realising that it was the beef she had been cooking. She’d forgotten about it rushing after Flora. “Looks like a war zone in here. What happened?” asked Aitora confused at the mess. “Don’t look at me. I just walked in here for a glass of water.” said Jex defensively. “It...It was us.” said Flora as she and Luck stepped forward, heads and ears down. “We wanted to make something special for everyone and show you all that we could be good cooks too. I guess we failed...Again...” said Luck sombrely. “Is that all?” asked Sly with a sigh. “All?” asked both Flora and Luck together confused. “Yeah. Both of you raise your heads. Cooking is a constant learning experience. Trial and error in its truest form. You won’t become great cooks overnight. We all know you both have been practising, and we’re proud of you for it. But think of this as just one more notch in your belts. At least no one got hurt.” said Aitora comfortingly. Pearl chuckled a little uneasily. “Last time I tried to cook I ended up burning my hand on the pot I was cooking with and threw the grease into the fire on accident. Almost burned my place down.” she admitted sheepishly.

After everyone had a laugh at that the tension was broken. Luck looked around “Well I guess when the milk started to foam up into the meat mixture I should have known to stop right there.” Aitora and Sly traded a confused look at that comment but decided to leave it where it was. Instead the tiger walked over and picked up one of the taco shells, taking a little bite of it. “Yeah, but anyway, how about if we just go out and have something while this place airs out?” As the others nodded in agreement he looked down at a small piece of ghost chili. “Oooh, sweet peppers?” he had taken a taste before Luck could give a warning. The others could almost feel the room shake when he screamed.

Well as my readers already know, I've been in a bit of a fight with my writing mood as of the past few months. My bud  fc32 came up with this little exercise as a way to try to try to jumpstart my muse. We traded the story back and forth and wrote about a paragraph each pass. This little story is the result. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

Luck, Pearl, and Sly are owned by Me.

Flora, Jex, and Aitora Are owned by  fc32