Log: Catseye and Sarah, Monday afternoon

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Sarah solicits Catseye's help to make some treats for her girlfriend, and the pair catch up a little while they bake before finding something else to do.


Sarah had been meaning to get a present for Layla for quite some time now, some small token of her affection and appreciation for all her girlfriend had done for her in the last several months. When she'd received another present from her, though, that finally forced her into action. So she'd contacted someone much more talented than her, Cats, to give her a hand with such a daunting task.

They were due to meet at the kitchen in another 5 minutes' time but Sarah had headed down early to grab a nice, cold drink ahead of time. While waiting for her friend she leaned back against the kitchen counter, sipping her beverage and thinking about what her and Sharon could possibly make for her girlfriend.

Scenting Sarah already in the kitchen as she was coming in from outside in catform, Catseye bounded into the kitchen, up on the counter, and leapt onto Sarah's shoulder, headbutting her playfully and letting out a friendly meow.

"Oh, hi there!" Sarah laughed and reached up to pet Catseye, turning her head to face her feline formed friend. "How are you doing?" She continued to pet her as long as she remained perched on the girl's shoulder.

After a few moments of purring as Sarah skritched her, Catseye jumped down and shifted to girlform. "Good good! How are you? Are you excited about Layla Appreciation Food? Do you have any ideas for what you wanna make her?"

Sarah stepped away a little, just in case Cats needed more room for her shapeshifting, then grinned at her friend as she was in girlform once again. "I'm ok, how are you? And hmm, I don't really know, to tell the truth. I was kinda hoping maybe you'd have some good ideas?" She gave Cats a hopeful smile. "I mean, I know she likes pumpkin, so maybe something with that flavor?"

"I'm good! Excited about spending some time doing one of my favourite things with one of my favourite people," she grinned. "So... like a dessert?" Catseye asked. She wasn't so good at baking, not having much of a sweet tooth compared to her more prominent... carnivorous inclinations. But she was learning. "Pumpkin gingerbread loaf? Pumpkin cheesecake? Pumpkin... cookies? With icing, maybe? Or cupcakes? Or a jelly roll?" She wracked her brain for more pumpkin recipes she'd read about in various cookbooks. "Pumpkin apple streusel muffins?" She knew Layla liked German things.

"Aww, you." That netted Catseye another quick hug while she pondered what to make for her girlfriend. Sarah's eyes lit up at the last suggestion. "YES. Ohmygosh those sound perfect, I bet Layla would just love them! Great idea, Sharon, thanks!" She clapped her hands together, excited at the prospect of making a surprise gift with one of Layla's favourite flavours. "Now... what do we need to get started? Hmmm." Here's where her friend's expertise would come in handy, as Sarah really wasn't very good at this part of the process, naturally excelling more on the 'eating' side of things.

"A recipe!" Catseye announced. She in no way trusted her memory, even though sometimes she'd been told it was photographic. "But Lorna has a ton of books with recipes in them. Hey, do you have a smartphone or tablet handy? You could try to look one up online while I try to find it in a book? I'll race you!"

"Challenge accepted!" Sarah grinned as she whipped out her cellphone and asked it too look up a recipe that'd suit the occasion. While she didn't usually search for recipes online, she was confident in her Google-Fu skills to find something that'd work well enough for their purposes.

Catseye wasn't having much luck in the cookbooks, tail slashing the air impatiently as she skimmed indexes. Where had she read that recipe for the muffins? Maybe she should try to guide them based on her memory? But what if something went wrong? She didn't want to be responsible for messing up Layla's special treat! Her tail lashed again as she put down yet another book and reached for more.

"Here's one that should work!" She found one that seemed like it'd be a good fit, then held out her phone to show it to her friend. "At least I think it will, yeah?" Finding things was easy enough for her but knowing whether it'd work - along with a ton of assistance in the actual making of the food - was where Catseye's expertise came in handy.

Catseye skimmed the recipe and nodded vehemently. "Yesyesyes! This looks excellent! Did you wanna beat the eggs and get the apples ready while I get the dry stuff mixed?" she asked her friend as she turned on the oven and started pulling the spices they needed out of the racks. "So how are things going with you?" Catching up on conversation while baking was the second-best part about doing it!

"Uh-huh, I can do that!" Sarah grinned and brushed some of her slowly but surely growing hair back before fetching some apples. Once they were in hand she thought upon which cupboard held the mixing bowls so she could start in on the eggs before replying. "I'm ok, I guess. Feeling a little weird about not going to school this fall, you know? It's the first time in, like, ever that I don't have classes. But it'll be ok. How are you doing?"

"I'm good," Catseye responded happily, mixing flour with sugar, pie spice, and baking soda. "Back to classes so busy busy. You're right, it'll be okay. I didn't go back until the winter last year, and fall was sort of hard with not being in school, but having that time with no school makes it so much better when you do go back to school! I... really wish my program did classes all summer, like some other peoples'," she admitted suddenly. "It would be nice to go to school all year and then be done the program faster, I think. And then do more school or do something else." She wrinkled her nose, not realizing until just now how long she'd been wanting to say that out loud. "You are going back to school, though, yes? What are you gonna take when you go back?"

It was encouraging to hear that her friend had sat out last fall and was able to return in the winter, much like she'd be doing herself. It meant it was possible and not all that unusual to go through, and that made her feel a bit better about her situation. "Oh yes, I am, I definitely want to. I want to go into Computer Science, I think. That or maybe Electrical Engineering or something along those lines." Either way she'd need to start with her general electives and whatnot so she still had some time left to think about it, but those were the options she was most seriously considering.

"Both of those sound like good things for you," Catseye smiled, tail holding a can opener as she opened a can of pumpkin and added it to the eggs Sarah had beaten as her friend was working on the apples. "I don't really understand what a Computer Science degree is useful for, but I'm sure it's veryvery useful! And engineering is always useful! You could make peoples' houses and offices have pretty lights and help keep streets bright so they are safer. Or you could build fire alarms and fans and gates for power stations! I think helping build things is awesome." Pumpkin emptied into the bowl, she then added the vegetable oil and mixed.

"Me too, I think it'd be kinda cool. And, you know, people always say you should do what you know, or what you like, and with what I can do it'd go pretty well I think." She smiled and hoped she wasn't confusing her friend too much. "We'll see, though, for now I'm glad to just take a break for a little while." Sarah continued to work on the apples, showing Cats her work as she did so to make sure she did it right.

Catseye nodded, swishing her tail. "Breaks are nice," she agreed with a smile. "Those look perfect! Throw'em in and mix'er up a bit," she said, nudging the bowl towards Sarah as she went and threw some paper liners into two cupcake baking trays. The oven pinged to say it was preheated and Catseye grabbed a ladle to help scoop the mixture into the trays. "Perfect timing. Did you tell the oven to do that?" she grinned.

"Awesome, will do!" She did just that and grinned at Cats' question, shrugging a little. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Ok I totally did!" Sarah was more confident with her powers since the incidents of Genosha and she found herself using them more often than she previously had. Her increased control made it easier to do so, since she felt way more comfortable using them when there was far less of a chance of them messing things up like they'd used to before. "Alright, let's pour them in and then maybe we can go play some video games while we wait for them to bake?" She gave her friend a hopeful look, batting her eyelashes and everything.

Handing Sarah the ladle and grabbing a second one for herself, Catseye started to pour the goopy batter into the trays. "Yesyesyes! Great idea!" She hadn't played video games in ages. "We should play Tekken! Except no using your powers! You gotta promise! No crazy combos to make my head pop off!"

Laughing as she finished pouring the last of the batter into the tray and placed it into the over, Sarah nodded. "Ok, ok, I promise, no using my powers or popping your head off." She'd had more than enough practice at the game anyway, and besides, win or lose it was fun to play with her friend. She would still be trying to win, of course. "Come on, let's go!" Sarah set the timer to the proper baking time with her powers while she reached out and tugged on Catseye's arm, dragging her towards the rec room. There was Tekken to be had, after all!