Anyone who left requests last chapter, please read the updated Author's Note on Chapter 8.
There are a lot of words Jane could use to describe how she feels when lowering a tray of cupcakes into the oven to bake. Accomplished. Expectant. Proud.
Today, she has a new word: frazzled. She sets the timer, turns back to her companion, and tries not to wince. There's butter smeared on the floor, egg yolk dripping from the ceiling, and flour absolutely everywhere.
"Meow what do we do?"
Through it all, Nepeta has remained inexplicably clean. There isn't a spot of flour or a smidge of egg on that horribly unhygienic coat she refused to remove (if the cupcakes aren't filled with blue fur, Jane will be astounded) The kitchen looks like a hurricane has hit it, and Nepeta was at the eye of the storm.
Normally at this point, Jane would wash up and wipe down before the cupcakes are done baking. If she tries the same today, the cakes will be burned to a cinder.
Of course, the work would go faster with two people – but when one of them refuses to let so much as a bottle of vanilla go unpounced upon, Jane thinks it's best to work alone.
"Why don't you wait in the next room until they're done?" she suggests.
"Shouldn't I -?"
"No." Jane says, perhaps a little too firmly. "I can tidy things up in here by myself."
As Jane begins to clean up the mess, she tries her best not to think too uncharitably of Nepeta. Baking isn't for everyone. It was her first time. She's naturally exuberant.
My goodness, how did she get cocoa powder there?
Jane has barely started when the timer indicates that the cakes are done.
"I'll get them!" Nepeta charges into the room, and Jane has to yelp "Oven gloves!" to stop her burning herself.
"Don't worry!" Nepeta laughs. "I have the purrfect idea!"
She takes the cupcakes through with her to the next room, then returns to rummage in a cupboard. Jane decides she is too exhausted to worry about this.
It is over an hour before the kitchen is clean again, and longer still before Jane herself has showered and finally washed the sugary mess from her hair. She returns downstairs warily, half-expecting to find another mess.
The room is remarkably clean, with the exception of several brightly coloured bowls and – paintbrushes?
Twenty cupcakes are arrayed across the table in a rainbow of colours. Jane picks up a blue one, and finds a remarkable likeness of Equius, surrounded by white diamonds.
Nepeta looks up with a broad smile. "Do you like them?"
Jane searches out her own: a perfect miniature portrait, backed in cyan, and accented with a red heart.
"They're beautiful," she replies. "Do you want to try making some more?"