Tis the season to bake cookies. (open)

[Diana Hawk]

Diana looked thoughtfully at the tray of freshly-baked chocolate cookies that sat cooling on the kitchen counter. They'd turned out wonderfully, all in the shape of classic gingerbread men. But, did she want to decorate them that way, or turn them upside down and make reindeer out of them?

On second thought, why not both?

Diana smiled and reached for the bag of icing and a pair of scissors. Snipping the corner off the bag, she started piping thick white icing onto each cookie. Two dozen men and two dozen reindeer ought to do it.

She paused and sniffed at the air, then spun and dashed back to the oven, signing hugely as she did. <Nononono, don't burn!> That would be half her afternoon's work lost!

She opened the oven and peered in, biting her lip. They looked okay from here... She grabbed a pair of oven mitts and slid the tray out, sighing in relief. Some were a little dark around the edges, but probably still edible.

[Odette Cohen]

Odette nudged the door open and her eyebrows immediately lifted at the heady scent of freshly baked cookies.  She hummed and hugged her little toolbox to her chest and looked around for the source of the scent---

Ah. Professor Hawk was working some holiday magic.  She waited for Diana to look her way and smiled, wiggling her fingers in a wave.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana turned away from the oven with the hot cookie sheet in hand, and smiled at the sight of the young woman in the doorway. She inclined her head in greeting, unable to sign until she set the cookies down and took off the oven mitts. <Hello!>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette beamed and gave a little bow of her head to say hello. She toddled over to the oven and set her toolbox down so that she could sign.

Is the stovetop free, Professor?

[Diana Hawk]

Diana nodded. <I'm just using the oven. What are you going to make?>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette opened up her toolbox to show a collection of essential oils, beeswax, a small cheese grater, a few tins and several other tools.

I'm almost out of my perfume, so I'm making another batch.

After signing, Odette pushed up the sleeves on her shirt, revealing a lot of tiny scratches from getting caught in the rose bushes of Diana's garden. In her defense, she had been trying to hide. But.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana raised her eyebrows and smiled. <That sounds like fun. I hope the roses didn't maul you too badly.>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette blushed a little and nodded.

I wasn't intending to dive into a rosebush. I got scared and tried to hide. She chuckled and started to grate beeswax into one of her tins.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana blinked and tilted her head. <May I ask what scared you?>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette paused. It was actually a friend. But I wasn't expecting anyone to be in the garden, so I was frightened when two people came barging into the area.

She flicked her bangs out of her eyes. Everything turned out all right. And none of your roses got hurt.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana nodded. <I'm glad it was nothing serious.> She started to lift cookies from the hot sheet to cool on the counter, keeping her eyes on Odette in case she wanted to keep chatting.

[Odette Cohen]

Odette grabbed a pot and a small bowl that would fit in it, and boiled some water on low heat before setting the bowl over said water. She poured in the beeswax, added almond oil, and waited for them to melt together.

It turned out to be... She smiled. Pretty nice, actually. She felt color rising in her cheeks and bit her lip as she stirred the wax and oil together.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana smiled and paused for a moment to reply. <Who did you meet there?>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette hummed and bit her lip as she spelled Baram's name.

I really like him. He's so sweet, Diana.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana blinked. She knew Baram, if not very well; he often came to her garden to calm down among the roses. <Are you sure everything went okay?>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette gave an enthusiastic nod and took a moment to stir in her essential oils of rose and vanilla, then pour the concoction into the tin to cool and set.

I'm sure. I got him to smile, and he seemed to relax pretty quickly. I probably shouldn't have gotten so close to him if he was coming down from an episode, but he was really distressed and I wanted to help him.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana nodded. <I can't blame you for wanting to help him. I'm just glad you met him there when he could calm down quickly, rather than anywhere else.>

She finished moving the hot cookies off the sheet and looked at the previous batch that had yet to be finished. Then she looked back at Odette with a smile. <Would you like to taste-test one of these when they're done?>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette looked the cookies over and seemed to consider.

I probably shouldn't. But they look delicious. She beamed and started wiping down the bowl and spoon she had used with her wax melting.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana smiled. <As you wish. Oh, your perfume smells wonderful.> The rose and vanilla were an unusual complement to the chocolate of the cookies.

[Odette Cohen]

Odette giggled and combed her hair over her shoulder with her fingers. She breathed in deep, enjoying the scents that mingled so wonderfully in the air, and sighed.

Maybe I should try adding a little chocolate or peppermint to it for the holidays. Just a bit.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana nodded, grinning. <Sounds like a fun experiment. You could also try for a sugarplum scent.>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette's nose crinkled. With roses and vanilla?

[Diana Hawk]

Diana laughed and shook her head. <On its own, of course.>

[Odette Cohen]

Odette shook her own head and grumbled a bit. I couldn't wear sugarplum. It wouldn't feel right to me if it weren't roses.

She smiled and shrugged. I've always worn rose oil. It just feels like... me.

[Diana Hawk]

Diana nodded. <I've always loved them too. So has Vincent, unsurprisingly. Though I don't know if that started before or after he took such a liking to Phantom of the Opera.>

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