[Survey] Arc Survey 001 - Trixie's Favorite Food

When making fun treats for friends, Trixie had a very important rule: make what you enjoy, too.

Of course, Trixie always took into account her friends’ likes and dislikes! She would never bring them anything they didn’t like. But giving her friends treats also meant Trixie would be eating them too. Often, giving her friends snacks also meant she was feeling a bit down herself and she wanted to do something that would cheer her up. Seeing a friend’s face light up, getting to eat a yummy snack with them, and spending time with them was always a sure way to that!

Today, Trixie was making her absolute favorite: phikin and stellin muffins.

The phikin was a small, round, yellow fruit that had a sweet, but not overwhelmingly sweet, flavor. It was almost a subtle sweetness that paired well with the blank. Stellin was sour, and outside of the sugary muffins could be far too sour. Trixie had once tried one by itself. It was unassuming, a soft pink color inside with a sharper pink on the peel. But biting into it had made her pucker up and run to rinse out her mouth. Stellin in baked goods and even savory foods, though, helped other flavors shine and added just the right amount of sour.

That morning, Trixie had found herself feeling a bit down. It wasn’t for any particular reason. It was just one of those days that pop out of nowhere and threaten to make a normal day a sad one. Trixie was very, very opposed to those days. They just weren’t any fair. There would always be days when you were sad for a reason, but to be sad for no reason. She just wouldn’t stand for it!

So, despite the down feelings rumbling in her gut, she sent a message to one of her best friends, Dr. Frankie, and asked if she could come over with a surprise.

Frankie! Emergency! Let me come over with a surprise I’m lonely. :((

Frankie’s response came quickly, thankfully.

You big dummy, you had me scared for a second. Of course you can, but I’m getting some side work done at the clinic.

Trixie’s face spread into a big grin at that, and she already felt that little worm of sadness hide its rearing head. Hooray! Frankie was always the best. She sent off a few more messages confirming a time, and then she had jumped up into work.

Trixie wasn’t a professional baker at all. She’d leave that to other Xeros. She just liked to make some yummy baked goods sometimes. The muffins weren’t hard, and she had made them plenty before. She pulled out all her utensils and tools and set to work on them. She snacked on the sweet little phikin as she stirred and mixed, until she had to push them away. She couldn’t eat them all before getting them into the muffins!

Luckily she hadn’t made too much of a dent. Maybe the muffins were...a bit barer of phikin than normal, but not so much it was even going to be noticeable!

By the time she wrapped up, the kitchen was a bit worse for wear. Batter had splattered onto the counter and some of the cabinets, and one of the phikin had got caught under-paw and been smushed against the sleek tile floor. Messes from this wouldn’t bother Trixie, though! Cooking was always messy! Sure, maybe most of her friends didn’t have this extreme of a mess, and sure, maybe future Trixie would be very disgruntled by the bowls and utensils stacked up in the sink and over the counters but, like… that was future Trixie’s problem, anyway!

The muffins she pulled out of the oven were a soft, barely pink color, with little bright pops of a sweet, deep yellow over the tops. They leaned a bit the the left, but the smell was heavenly. Trixie leaned over the tray, sniffing and trying to not bury herself face first into the fresh and very hot muffins.

“Oh!”

She pulled her hands off the tray, dropping it unceremoniously on the top of the stove. They leaned slightly more to the left at the rough handling. She pulled one of her oven mitts off and eyed her pawpad, giving it a little lick. She had held it a bit long and it had gotten a bit too hot. There was no damage, though, which was good. She didn’t really want to bring Frankie muffins and a burnt paw.

After cleaning herself up (how did someone get batter on the back of their shoulder? It was a mystery) she bundled the rather ugly muffins up and set out to Frankie’s clinic.

***

“Frankie! I brought muffins!” Trixie burst into the front door of the clinic rather unceremoniously, holding up a basket.

Frankie, who was very used to Trixie’s antics by now, didn’t so much as look up from her work. “Ooh, really? What kind?”

“Phikin and stellin muffins!” Trixie’s response came in an excited chirp as she hauled herself to sit on the counter in front of Frankie, setting her basket beside her. “I made them myself!”

Frankie pulled the checkerboard fabric off the top of the muffins and eyed them for a second before laughing. “I can see that! Is your house tilted, Trixie? Maybe just your oven?”

Somehow, they had leaned even more on the way over. They were leaning extremely to the left, and it was impressive they hadn’t fallen over. They were reminiscent of an Earth structure Trixie had read about called “the leaning tower of Pisa”.

“Shush! Eat one!” Trixie huffed, flushing under her fur with a fond smile on her face. She scooped up one of the engineering marvels and held it to her little snoot to take a deep breath. The fresh smell filled her whole head and she gave a happy sigh before taking a big bite.

Despite their funny appearances, the muffins were delicious. Trixie was so happy. She put a paw to her cheek and swayed back and forth before taking another big bite.

Muffins were one of her favorite treats, and phikin and stellin muffins were her absolute favorite food. The sweetness and the sourness of the fruits melted onto her tongue in a harmony of flavors, and the muffin part carried its own sweet flavor that complimented the fruits in the best way.

“Mmm! These do taste good, though,” Frankie said with a smile, licking crumbs from her paw.

“I knew they would! I’m so glad you like them!”

Trixie absolute beamed at her friend from over the top of her half eaten muffin, and any trace of that woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed mood was gone. She was with Frankie, eating her favorite treat that she made herself. How could she feel down now?

“Uh. Does this one not have any philkin?” Frankie held up one of the light pink muffins, turning it around to find any trace of them. “And this one, too...and this one…” She looked through the basket, pointing out two others that lacked any of them.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Trixie yelled frantically. She scooped them all up and attempted to shove them all into her mouth to hide the evidence, though it didn’t exactly… work.

Frankie stared at her as she tried to choke down three muffins at once. “You ate too many of the philkin again while baking, didn’t you?”

Trixie stared at her back with a mouth packed full of muffin before slowly nodding her admission of guilt.

Trixie may or may not have needed to be rescued from choking that afternoon after both her and Frankie burst into laughter. She would never tell. And no one would be hearing any of it from Frankie. Right?

….Right???