Stimulation
"You nearly destroyed the kitchen because you were bored?!" The tiger yelled. An apron with messy pink cake batter hung around the panda's large waist while his wife pierced her amber eyes straight through his soul. "I leave work for one moment, and I come back to a mess!"
"It wasn't my fault... entirely."
"Po, you put the electric mixer in the sink, you put the microwave oven into the actual oven, and you placed the car keys on the baking pan. I don't want to know what's in the... can I even call those cookies?" Tigress grimly asked. The burnt twisted lumps on the pan looked like blob monsters frozen in time. Tigress could've sworn she saw one of them move.
"Look, I'm sorry," Po said, rubbing the back of his head. "Everything was... kinda on fire."
"Smoke is the one thing I can't smell in here!" Tigress bellowed. She rubbed her muzzle and looked down at her watch, pulling off her dark gray suit jacket. "It's a good thing I came back early."
"It is?"
"Yes, that way I actually have the energy to help you. I shouldn't," She glared hard, making the panda shrink, "but I can't leave this place a mess."
"I'm really sorry, Tigress."
"Just... grab a mop and help me clean up."
"Yes ma'am," Po said dutifully. The panda and tiger got to work, though Po could hear grumbles and gripes from the tiger's mouth all the way through the two hours of cleanup. As she finished scrubbing the floors while Po washed the window, she stood up, wiped her brow free from the sweat, and turned to the panda; the window was over the stainless steel sink. Tigress leaned her back against the sink counter, staring at him.
"You are an incredibly infuriating panda, you know that."
"Yeah, my ex has told me that," Po joked, nervously grinning at his first former girlfriend. Tigress rolled her eyes. "Sorry about the mess."
"I just don't understand how a former chef of a five-star restaurant could make such a mess out of pure boredom. I expected you to eat out of boredom, not burn down the house."
"Kitchen, I only messed up the kitchen."
"The kitchen is connected to the rest of the house, Po."
"I know, I know," Po sighed. Tigress sighed as well. "If it makes you feel any better, there's back up dinner in the fridge."
"Good. You owe me for the wasted time," Tigress said, poking his nose. The panda chuckled as he finished the work on the window. "Well, you definitely fulfill the old saying. Idle hands are the devil's workshop."
"Okay, okay. It's not that bad, Tigress."
"Obviously it is." She crossed her arms.
"Look, sure me bored and cooking aren't a good combination, but it's better than what you do."
"Which is?"
"Constantly move without a break. Going in and out of the same place over and over again with the weight of enough thoughts to kill an elephant."
"At least I don't burn down a kitchen."
"Yeah, you just burn yourself out," Po murmured. Tigress's head jerked a bit. Po walked over to the couch, collapsing in a dead heap. "Whoooof! I'm beat. That's definitely enough excitement for one day."
"It certainly is," Tigress said. She grabbed some of the prepped dinner and warmed it in the newly fixed microwave. Bringing the food over, she plopped down next to her husband as he watched some mindless shows.
But the tiger's brain wouldn't go mindless. Po's words seemed to linger longer than normal. What he said seemed so... defeated? Tigress wasn't sure. She glanced at his face. His eyes were fixed on the TV, not even thinking about what he just said. He could be oblivious.
But should it have bothered her? She couldn't say.
Tigress suddenly shook awake. "Wha? Huh?"
"I said are you alright?" Po asked. "I've been asking if you're awake about five times. Your eyes were open but you just kept staring off into nothingness. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just... Po, what did you mean by burning myself out?"
"Huh?
"When we were arguing you said that I burn myself out. What did you mean by that?"
Po blinked a couple of times before giving off a long loud sigh. He shrugged, "I mean you don't really give yourself a break. You're constantly going. And when you do have some downtime you typically use it to look at social media."
"Zootube," She said, "Is not that bad. I look at professional stuff."
"Yeah, but your head is still working day in and day out. And you wonder why you're having sleeping problems?"
Tigress quirked her eyebrow up. "How does that relate to being bored?"
"I don't know. I usually get better ideas when I have nothing to do. Ever since I gave up social media, I have time to myself to work on the things I want."
Tigress blinked and narrowed her eyes into an exacting stare. "Uh... huh."
Po rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright. The truth is it gives my brain a break. It might work for you too. I mean, you do complain about your job and not having time to spend with me."
"But I've been getting better."
"Yes, but when we do get together, it's... routine." Tigress's eyes widened as her ears drooped. "No, no, no. I'm not saying I'm bored of you. I'm just saying that... given that your brain's constantly being stimulated, it's no wonder you're having some problems. And... honestly, it does feel like we're not as emotionally close because your mind is constantly going. I mean, when was the last time you just stood still and did nothing?"
Tigress said nothing for a while before she sighed and looked at the TV again. "I see your point."
"I'm not saying that it's bad."
"That's exactly what you're saying."
"Okay, but I don't condemn you for it," Po rephrased.
Tigress drew another breath. "Then what do you propose?"
"The next time you have downtime, just do nothing."
"You know that's hard for me," Tigress replied. "I don't 'do nothing' well."
"Well, you can try doing something that isn't as stimulating. Or you can try doing nothing with me," Po smiled, wrapping his arm around her. The tiger smiled and snuggled her head into Po's fur.
"You're right. I guess boredom does have its uses. I'll try it for a week. How does that sound?"
"Awesome!" Po smiled in a goofy manner.
"Good. But you're still banned from the kitchen for a week."
"Oh come on!"
And so the week commenced.
The next day, she came back early while Po was cleaning the kitchen, not from another mess, but from the smell still lingering. Tigress proudly held two stubby pieces of paper in her hand. "I have tickets to go to my favorite play."
Po's eyes popped open. "That's great!" He smiled. "When is it?"
"Tonight."
"Wait what?!" Po looked at his watch. "Wait, why are you home so early?"
"I finished my work?"
"It's 3 pm. You usually come home around 7."
Tigress shrugged. "I was bored. So I finished up most of my projects. Once I didn't have anything to constantly stimulate me, work just flew by."
"How?"
"Honestly, the reason why I had so much work was because I felt like my brain couldn't keep up. Between workplace drama, budgeting, social media breaks, and weird talks with co-workers, I don't take a mental break."
"But?"
"But a little before work, instead of checking the news and apps, I just let myself be... bored for a while before I just naturally went to work. And then I started clicking away at the computer. It's amazing how much work I've gotten done today."
"So all of your work just cleared up magically because your brain wasn't constantly stimulated?" Po asked incredulously.
"It's not like that," Tigress chuckled as she sat down on the couch. "It's more like I found myself just entering a... flow zone more easily. Effortlessly. I didn't question if I was doing it right or if I would make a mistake. I just did it and then asked myself the editing question later. Thanks to your little challenge, I managed to get several projects ahead of schedule. That and I had the guts to back out of a lot of projects that weren't helping me anymore."
"So you basically did 'work spring cleaning'?" Po asked. Tigress smiled as the panda sat down next to her.
"I guess you could say that," She sighed as she rested on Po's shoulder. "Mm, and I have more time with you. And thankfully I have more time to make sure that you don't try anything dangerous again because you're... bored."
"You're never gonna let that go, are you?"
"Not for a week at least," Tigress smirked. Po laughed. "Come on, I have a few ideas in mind for you while we wait for the show."
"Oh?"
"Come on, panda," Tigress grinned from ear to ear. Po obediently followed.
The next day, Po came back to the house to see Tigress stretching in the room. "Uuhhhh," Po looked at his watch. "Okay, you're home."
"I am," Tigress grunted, stretching to one foot before stretching to the left. "I decided to take a day off."
"Isn't that gonna upset your boss?"
"Not really. I showed him how much stuff was done and he told me to go home and take a break. That's before I talked with Song," Tigress sighed, getting up from the ground. Po's eyes narrowed as he placed the groceries down on the kitchen counter.
"Song? That co-worker you complain about?"
"Yeah."
"Why were you talking with her?"
Tigress sighed as she stretched her side. "I decided to bury the hatchet between us. I had nothing else to do."
"Alright, I think you're proving my point more than normal. I mean, you have nothing to do and you casually decide to make peace with your enemies."
Tigress rolled her eyes. "She's not my enemy."
"Oh that's a boldface lie," Po chuckled loudly. "You constantly tell me you hate how she does her work, how she dresses to flirt with the other co-workers, how you two can't collaborate well. How in the world did you make peace with her?"
"I said sorry."
"You... said... sorry?"
Tigress placed her hands on her hips, "Is that so hard to believe?"
"From you, yes," Po said bluntly. "You're almost as prideful as your brother."
"Tai Lung is a completely different story," Tigress murmured, sighing, "I don't know. It was difficult, and I didn't want to do it, but... since I had the energy and there was nothing to distract me from her, I decided to do something about it."
Po rose his eyebrow. "How did she take it?"
"She was okay with it. She even said sorry herself because she did all of that to compete with me. She saw me as someone who was so naturally gifted and beautiful. She felt like she had to do twice as much work to get the same result."
"Heheh, see what happens when you're too competitive?" Po smiled, "You make enemies out of potential friends."
Tigress rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault that she saw me that way."
"And yet, nothing she said was wrong."
"Hmmm, smooth, Po," Tigress smirked.
On day three, Tigress was at work all day and came back home to simply slip onto the couch with her husband. "Rough day?"
"Presentations left and right. I'm glad I was so focused. I wouldn't have made it."
"I'm glad you're done with it," Po smiled, massaging her feet.
Day four was eventful when Po left the house early in the morning and came back around noon to the tiger still in her room but typing away at the computer. "Uhhh hello."
"Before you say anything smart," Tigress smirked, "I got my boss to agree to let me work from home for a while."
"Why?" Po asked, raising an eyebrow.
"To make sure you're taken care of."
"What do you mean?"
"Got to make sure the kitchen is intact." The panda rolled his eyes. "And I want some more time with you. A lot of my work can be done from home and since I've been so focused now, I have more free time than I usually do."
"So what are you doing now?" Po asked, watching the tiger type away at the keyboard in their master bedroom.
"I'm writing my novel."
"Really!" Po exclaimed. "That's awesome! You've been talking about writing that thing for ages!"
"It's only been a few years, Po," Tigress smiled. "But being home has helped a bit. And I'm starting to realize how much social media ate up my time."
"Why did you start letting it eat up your time?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're usually very good at self-discipline." She stopped typing and leaned her head onto her hand.
"I guess it's because I was trying to avoid some of the problems I had: Dealing with Song, my work, and asking my boss for more home time. I guess I was using my phone and my 'work' to cover up the pains and discomforts." Tigress looked at Po, who had a raised eyebrow with an unbelieving stare. She shook her head. "Yes, I know. I'm used to pushing myself all the time, but that's only in some parts of my life. With others, it's a bit... difficult." She sighed, "I guess I'm just good at making it look like I can conquer all of my fears when in reality I'm just... procrastinating the fears I know I should face."
"Oh so you're saying that you finally figured it out?" Po smiled. Tigress glared at him. "What? I knew you were doing that, but I didn't want to say anything until you figured it out yourself. You tend to listen to yourself more than you listen to anyone else."
"Hmph," Tigress grumbled. "Anyway, after this, I'm cooking with you."
"What? Why?"
"I want to do this new recipe that I found. And this time, I'm making sure that I supervise you."
"Oh like you're less accident-prone in the kitchen than me?"
Tigress smiled, "That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Hmph," Po grumbled. The fifth and sixth days went by very quickly because Tigress was fully invested into writing the novel. "You know you have to eat, right?"
"Huh?" Tigress jumped, looking around to see the night rising over the horizon as she looked out of the window. She yawned and stretched her limbs. "Oh, wow. I didn't realize how much time went by."
"Hehe, I can tell. But I could also tell you got a lot of things done," Po smiled, resting his hand on her shoulder. His other hand went to her other shoulder and started massaging their tense strain. Tigress sighed in relief. "Why don't we do some light exercise and then I'll take you out to eat."
"Oh, Po, you don't have to do that," Tigress said.
"Actually, I kinda do," Po nervously chuckled, "I booked it already." Tigress chuckled and rose up from her chair, but then she narrowed her eyes as she turned to him.
"Wait, what kind of light exercise are you thinking about?" she asked. Po wiggled his eyebrows, earning a laugh from the feline. "You know that's not really 'light' exercise."
"For you it is."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's a walk in the park for you. I have to work overtime on my end."
"Uh huh," Tigress smirked, loosely wrapping her arms around his neck. "Want to test that?"
"Of course! Someone has to be your competitor," Po smiled.
The final day of the challenge came. It was the start of the work week, and when Tigress came back to the house, Po just finished with housework. "Hey! How are you?"
"I'm good, honey," Tigress smiled, kissing Po on the cheek.
"Oh! Which reminds me. You're done with your challenge. This is the last day."
"What challenge?"
"Your challenge of staying away from all that nasty social media and phone stuff. How do you feel?"
Tigress blinked several times. "Well, I definitely sleep better. At first, I thought I would go through some withdrawal, but you're enough of a dopamine hit to counter that."
"Hey," Po smiled as the two flopped onto the couch. "But seriously. How do you feel?"
Tigress paused for a moment, tapping her finger to her lips as she laid her head on Po's lap. "Good. Rested? I mean, I always thought that I should use social media to keep myself informed, but... I can't really change what comes on the news," Tigress yawned. "I only really use my phone to answer calls and texts. I think my battery definitely likes it."
"Heh," Po chuckled. "So do you think you'll go back to social media?"
"To be honest? No. Not really. I don't need the stimulation 24/7. I can move around more. I'm more focused. I have more time to be with you. I like it. It's weird and sometimes I do feel bored, but I'm not bored for long. Especially with you around," She chuckled and sighed softly. "And it's nice to have my brain just..."
Po looked down. The tiger's eyes drooped and fluttered shut as she drifted off to sleep. The panda just smiled and rested to the calm sound of her chuffing.
The End
