It had been a long day, and Allura felt ready to flop onto her bed as she walked down the hall. The fight to take back the ice planet Zoskeia from the Galra had been hard, but they did it. The people were grateful to Voltron and it's Paladins.
Then, of course, came the more boring and just as draining part. Diplomatic meetings with the Zoskeia Queen and forming an alliance. It was a long process of negotiations, forming vows and developing policies both sides could agree with.
It was a much needed process, but it didn't make it any less exhausting. She sighed to herself as she rotated her shoulders. "Maybe I should have a hot bath tonight," she muttered.
A soft growl caused Allura to jump and paused just in time to see Yellow tumbling out of the debrief room with a ball of green yarn in her paws. Allura blinked, uncertain what she was seeing as Yellow joyfully unraveled the yarn and became tangled in it.
Allura would have imagined any other creature would be distressed by this, but Yellow was purring quite happily.
"Would you care for some assistance?" Allura asked as she kneeled.
Yellow raised her head and gave a slow nod, but she kept her paws tightly around the ball of yarn.
"I promise I will not take your ball," Allura said as she gently picked up the ball and slowly untangled Yellow from it. She then wrapped the yarn back around the ball and set it on the ground.
"There you go," she said with a smile.
Yellow's tail wag as she lowered her front and batted the ball with her paw back into the room. Intrigued, Allura glanced inside and found Hunk sitting on the couch with a basket of more brightly coloured balls of yarn beside him.
What was even more interesting was that Hunk himself had taken a ball of green yarn and appeared to be knotting it with a pair of needles.
"Hunk?," she asked as she entered hoping she wasn't startling him.
Hunk raised his head and didn't seem the least bothered with Yellow batting the ball of yarn by his feet. "Oh, hey, Allura. Finally done with that meeting?"
"An hour ago," Allura said as she took a seat and pointed to the basket. "But I'm more curious on where you obtained all of this."
Hunk blinked in confusion and then realized she meant the yarn.
"Oh, right," he said as he held up the basket. "Remember that market we hit on that ice planet?"
"Yes," Allura said.
After the battle, the Paladins had decided to explore Zoskeia largest market. Allura hadn't been able to tag along, but from her understanding, they had found many 'useful' items. Although, she still wasn't certain how the ice machine was useful, but Pidge seemed certain she could turn it into an ice cream maker, whatever that was.
Hunk gave a grin as he put the basket down. "Well, I found this yarn stall and the lady who was selling let me have all this yarn for free, you know as a thank you for helping their planet. She even threw in a dozen pair of needles."
"Well, that was nice of her," Allura said as Yellow tossed the ball of yarn up in the air and causing the yarn to unravel.
"Yeah, although I told her I was more than happy to pay, but she refused to take 'No' for an answer," Hunk said as he returned to his project on the green yarn. "Got to say, feels good to knit. I haven't done it in ages."
"Knit?" Allura asked. "Is that what you're doing is called?"
"It's actually called 'knitting'," Hunk explained as he held up the yarn and needles. "Um..don't know if you guys did it on Altea."
"We had something similar," Allura said as she sat down. "We called it 'knotting' and my great aunt use to do it." She frowned curiously. "Although, I didn't realize you had such a skill."
Hunk shrugged. "My mom taught me. I use to have a lot of anxiety as a kid."
Allura raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, more than what I have now," Hunk explained, "and knitting was a good way for me to learn to relax."
A growl was heard from across the room. Hunk and Allura turned their heads to see Yellow had entangled herself in the yarn again.
Allura giggled. "Oh, dear. That's not good."
Hunk sighed, but didn't sound annoyed by it. "Hang on, Girl. I'll free you."
Allura watched as Hunk put down his project and moved to go untangle his lion. She fingered the soft material and held it up for a closer look. She was no expert in this field, but from what she saw, it held a good tension and didn't seem likely it would unravel.
"There we go," Hunk said as he picked up the yarn and formed it into a ball. "You still want it?" he asked.
Yellow growled as she sat up and waved her paws edgarly.
"Alright, there you go," Hunk said as he tossed the paw and Yellow joyfully went after it.
"You could always give her an actual ball," Allura suggested as Hunk returned to his seat.
"Naw, she likes it and you can't get more classic than letting a cat play with a ball of yarn."
Allura frowned. She didn't quite understand how yarns and cats had to do with each other. Perhaps it was another Earth custom, like the high fives she had seen the Paladins exchange with each other.
She glanced to the basket and her eyes landed on a lavender ball of yarn. It even seemed to have strands of of silver running through it to make it shimmer slightly.
"Could...I learn how to knit?" she asked, sounding more shy than she meant to.
Hunk paused in his knitting. "Uh..sure." He reached into the basket and brought out a pair of needles that had been tied together. "It takes practice though."
"That's fine," Allura said as she tooked the pair and untied the string. Truthfully, the idea of finding something that could take her mind off her responsibilities sounded quite inviting, even if it was only for awhile.
"Alright, we'll start you off with a scarf," Hunk said as he held up the basket of yarn for Allura. "That's the best way to practice until you get the hang of it."
"Is that what you're making?" Allura asked as she took the lavender yarn.
"I'm trying for a sweater," Hunk said with a shrug. "Remember how much Pidge complained about being cold on that planet? Thought she could wear this under her armor."
Allura gave a nodded as she unraveled her yarn. "Perhaps, eventually we can make a sweater for each of the Paladins." Not to mention Coran would jump at the chance to wear one proudly..
Hunk smiled. "Yeah, and then all we'll need are cookies and mugs of hot chocolate and we be all set."
Yellow growled as she raised her head.
"Yes, you would get cookies too," Hunk promised.
Yellow purred pleased as she batted her ball of yarn again.
Allura giggled and the moment felt this was much better than a hot bath.
