THE MOMENT
"Iron-rich...," Minerva read the label, then looked at the other option she'd narrowed it down to. "...or regular?" Minerva had spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to decide which red pouch to get from the wall of choices. She'd bypassed the more frivolous options like barbecue flavor or extra-sweet and eventually settled on the two options before her. It wasn't a big deal if she got the wrong one; but, she wanted to prove that she knew her fiancé well enough to get a flavor he liked. Finally, she chose 'Iron-rich' blood just to be done with the decision. But, as she was returning the 'Plain' blood to the shelf she noticed a small pink logo towards the bottom of the label. Curiosity made her check the pouch in her hand and she saw a blue logo in the same spot.
"Great..," Minerva sighed to herself. "Male or female?" She was about to give up and ask her fiancé his preference before bright rainbow hair caught her eye. A pale teen girl was walking along the aisle with a red basket on her arm. She stopped for a second and grabbed a pouch before moving on.
"Hey!" Minerva called the teen. "Monday, right?" she asked. The teen nodded and approached with a smile.
"Hi, Minerva, right?" she asked. The two had never formally met but were aware of each other.
"Can I get some advice?" Minerva asked. She held up the pouch of blood to indicate what kind of help she wanted. Monday tilted her head.
"You're a vampire now?" she asked. Minerva smiled and shook her head.
"No. But, Ruin's coming over tonight and I want to surprise him with something he likes," Minerva explained. "But..., I don't know which one he likes."
"Oh, okay," Monday nodded.
"I decided on this one: Iron-rich. But, now I don't know if I should get male or female. Does it make a difference?" Minerva asked. Monday nodded again.
"Not a major difference, but it is there," she said. "But, I can tell you that it won't matter as much...," Monday turned towards the shelves and grabbed another pouch. This one was mostly white. It matched the pouch in her own basket compared to the silver one in Minerva's hand. "...as getting the wrong brand. Uh, no offense," Monday added at the end. Minerva looked at both packages, then looked back at Monday.
"What's wrong with Chroma Corp. brand blood?" she asked. Monday shrugged.
"Couldn't tell you," she said. "But, Sharp Development is much tastier. All Chroma Corp. blood tastes like blood. Sharp Development blood has actual flavors, not just labels that tell you what it should taste like."
"But, Chroma Corp. took over most of Sharp Development," Minerva couldn't help but feel offended. Her family owned Chroma Corp. and she was proud of them. "We're using literally the same facilities and recipes they had."
"Maybe...," Monday shrugged. "...all I can tell you is that it's different and any vampire with access to both brands will tell you the same. And, everyone knows Ms. Sharp had her share of secrets. Or maybe Melody changed the recipe while rebuilding the company."
"Wow.. well, thank you...," Minerva said. "For the advice, and for letting me know about the quality difference. I'll have the company look into it."
"No problem," Monday smiled and waved. She began to walk away down the aisle. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Minerva waved, then looked at the white pouch of blood. "You're kidding," Minerva giggled to herself, then returned the silver pouch of Iron-rich blood to the shelf.
While searching for something Ruin would like, she limited herself to the Chroma Corp. brand. She thought she knew what flavors Ruin would like; but, she found none of those. Now, Monday had put the perfect pouch in her hand. She knew she was going to have a great date night when she saw Ruin's favorite flavor on the label.
"Sharp Medical Services: Blood Pint - Cool Ranch flavor"