Ashley and Sharon: Taste Tests and Trauma (Backdated)

[xp_catseye]

As it turns out, something about Sharon's donuts provokes conversation about kidnapping.
(Backdated to April 10)



Sharon with food was not an unusual sight. What distinguished it from 99.9% of other instances was that 1) it was food made with her own two, clawed hands, and 2) it was destined for the consumption of others.

Such a situation could not become public knowledge. Thus, Sharon stood outside a more private venue and knocked on the door, tray in hand.

"Jessie? Ashley? Gastronomic assistance is required."

The door popped open, and Ashley stared for a moment, and then waved Sharon in. "Jessie's in class I think, but I can help." She tapped her ever-present phone, glanced at a schedule on a calendar and nodded. "Yep, in class, which is a shame, because those look cute! Did you make donuts?"

Sharon nodded solemnly. "Yes. Is trial run for the birthday of Paige Guthrie. Mochi donuts."

The taller girl presented the tray. It contained two dozen ringed donuts of inconsistent size and shape: clearly a first attempt. There were various glazes of differing color, a few speckled with nuts and sprinkles.

"Is gluten-free," said Sharon. "This is a benefit to some. But the toppings, I am unsure. Opinions are sought."

"Opinions such as, do these taste right, Ashley, who has gotten a reputation for eating a lot of donuts, maybe from Paige's brother?" Ashley asked, cheerfully. "I will definitely contribute my donut expert taste testing if you're offering." She was almost certain that was what Sharon was offering, but the feline woman's face was not always easy to read. "Come on in, you can tell me about them while I get ice water and napkins."

"Dough is somewhat different," Sharon elaborated as she sauntered into Ashley's room with the ease of one who considered invitations a formality. "Mochiko flour, tapioca starch. Is chewier. Is my understanding that this should be so, but I do not know how they are meant to taste. Toppings were difficult also. Traditional flavors have been attempted, such as ube and matcha, but I have also nutella, cinnamon sugar, strawberry . . . such things as these." She set the tray down on the kitchen island and regarded them critically. "Not all flavors are successful, maybe, and I am not much for the sweet. Outside opinions are required."

"Good news for me, Nutella is kosher." Ashley popped out a stepstool to pull some paper plates out of a cabinet, and then grabbed some bottles of water from the fridge. "Okay, tour me through your mochi donuts, I am ready to taste test!" She set her phone down on the counter, pulled the stylus out of the case, and opened a note app.

"You are very organized," Sharon observed as Ashley returned. "This I approve of. You will be at the party also?"

"I will, I'm borrowing a lute from the props people at school!" Ashley explained. "I'm really excited, I haven't been to anything except one party since I moved here, and Paige is really nice." And pretty. And smart. Ashley settled herself by picking up one of the donuts, the one she was fairly certain was nutella. Might as well start with the one that was certain to be good. "Can you even have chocolate? I know housecats can't, my Zayde's cat wasn't allowed to get into the kitchen at all because he always wanted to eat the people food."

"A little for taste, this is no matter as long as I am not small cat. Caffeine and alums I am more sensitive to, but is not life threatening. Mostly vomiting. Some gastrointestinal issues." It was perhaps poor timing on Sharon's part that this was uttered just as Ashley was biting into a nutella donut, but equally likely that she would not have cared even had she noticed. Instead she merely continued, "You have dietary restrictions? Keep kosher, maybe?"

Ashley nodded, and pointed towards the fridge with a "Ashley Food Cheat Sheet" that had been tacked up on it. "No pork, no shellfish, and I try not to mix meat and dairy but there are exceptions. Eggs aren't meat most of the time. Impossible meat isn't meat, even if it's pretending to be meat, probably maybe." She tore the donut in half, took a bite, and chewed slowly. "That... is chewy and really nutella forward." She tapped her phone, and added a few notes. "Not in a bad way, the nutella, but it is kind of overpowering everything."

Sharon gave her a solemn nod. "These requirements I shall remember. Gelatin I know to be problematic also, but marshmallows were not used, so is no issue with these." Following her feline instincts to occupy less socially acceptable locations, Sharon placed the heels of her hands against the countertop and lifted herself up to take a seat. She crossed her ankles and let her tail dangle beside them, watching Ashley intently.

"Do you also have trauma you wish to disclose?"

Ashley squeaked a little, and took a step back. "What?" She covered, badly, by taking another bite of donut. "About being kidnapped and fed to robot piranha plants? Do you think there are people who wouldn't have trauma about that? It was so weird and scary, and Jono wanted to kill himself so the plant would eat him and not me and yeah, I might have a little trauma." It didn't stop her from eating the last of the mochi donut. Chocolate made your brain happier, she had definitely read that somewhere.

Sharon shrugged. It had an artificial look to it, as if it were a gesture she was trying out more than habit. "I am homeschooled. What is a normal reaction for most people, this I am still learning. Although sample population is perhap not so accurate for 'normal.'" She regarded the younger woman with her large yellow eyes. "Discussion is desired? I have heard this is helpful."

"My music buddy almost unalived himself, where would I even start?" Ashley picked up another mochi donut, her hands seeking it out all on their own and tearing it into three uneven pieces. "I talked to Jessie about it too, he was so ready to just... explode, and leave me there, more than once, how do you help someone who is so ready to do that?" She took a bite from the mochi and swallowed without registering the taste, and then looked at it. "Sharon, I don't know what I just ate. Is this one vanilla or white chocolate?"

"If you cannot distinguish, answer is clearly 'unremarkable'." Sharon's tail-tip twitched like a lure. "From context, was Jono Starsmore with which you were paired? If if was himself he wished to sacrifice, why is this problem yours?"

"Yeah, me and Jono and like Super Mario Super Murder Stars. Mario Murder Party. Mario Cult." Ashley said. "I workshopped about eight terrible names for it in the van on the way home. He just, I mean I know he has no bottom face, and a giant hole in his chest and that is pretty awful, but I don't feel right just letting him decide that he's the guy who needs to die, not without trying to find a third way." She shook her head, little pigtails snapping against her neck. "He was just so ready to decide he wasn't worth fighting for. Everyone is worth fighting for."

"If one does not value oneself, this is a personal problem. Self-worth cannot be given. Responsibility for this is not yours. But seeking a third option, this is only logical. Death is wasteful." Sharon sniffed. "Inconsiderate to others also."

Ashley nodded. "I was going to have to come back and tell everyone he died? Everyone? Paige and all of them! I know being sad makes people selfish, everybody in the queer pride club at my high school got a whole speech on how depressed people don't mean to be jerks, but what was I even supposed to do, just let him die and have to tell everyone, oh, well, Jono died to a giant plant robot and I let that happen?"

Sharon considered. She still didn't understand how Jono's death could be construed as Ashley's responsibility, but that didn't seem to be what the other girl was preoccupied with. She attempted to consider things from an unfamiliar angle: someone else's.

"It would be sad, to lose a friend," Sharon allowed. "Many inconveniences are associated with this also. So it is good then that he did not die. Potentialities involving robotic plants are now irrelevant. This is what is to be focused on, maybe."

"Until it happens again, this is the second time." Ashley said, slumping a little. She picked at a donut, and pulled it apart into the component small spheres. "I shouldn't probably be pessimistic, right? Jono's a good person, he's nice, he's helping me with getting some growl in the bottom of my vocal range. You're right, the plants are gone." She took one sphere, and pulled it apart and then looked at it. "Oh, ube? I think I broke this one." It was fairly thoroughly squished, the result of a momentary lapse in her strength.

"Is no matter. As my mother said, is the same taste." Sharon clicked her teeth thoughtfully. "This is second time self-sacrifice has been offered? Surely this is a Jono Problem. To always have the assumption of personal responsibility, this is a cognitive distortion. This I have learned from Shatterstar's worksheets. He would benefit from these also, maybe." It had also never been one of Sharon's personal issues, so she felt fully prepared to judge others for it.

"Shatterstar has worksheets on Jono's unaliving..... problem?" Ashley asked, around the mouthful of squashed ube donut. Sharon was right, squashed or not, it tasted the same. "This one is the best one of the bunch so far, even if I pre-smushed it. The Nutella one was good but it was really really nutella. This one's not hitting me in the face with purple yam, but I can tell it's ube." She ate another mochi donut piece to double check - always check your work- and nodded. "Yeah, this is the best so far."

"The exercises are applicable to a broad range of psychological and behavioral issues. Not that these problems are mine," Sharon added haughtily, "but is occasionally instructive. Jonathan Starsmore should consult, maybe. But is enough of boys" and the decisive lash of her tail made it clear her interest in the subject was spent, "and back to our priority. The fate of Paige Guthrie's party rests with us."

"Ew, boys." Ashley agreed. "And their boy brains. Oh, I forgot to take notes on the ... vanilla one, shoot." She still wasn't sure it was vanilla, but wiped her fingers and tapped out a few notes. "Okay, so far ube's the best one, but lets tackle the matcha one. I'm developing a theory." She started drawing a chart on her phone, flavors and what family they fit into, flavor family and intensity and commonalities.

"Yes, you will tell me of your theories," said Sharon, satisfied. After all, now Ashley's attention was back on her -- just as it should be.