Trash Friends

Doodle or Die prompt: "An extraordinarily THICK raccoon" -Mistylamb
Room: Everyone


"Oh come on- are you telling me you wouldn't even eat something nice like this? It was still in its wrapper when I found it!" Panda hoisted the double cheeseburger so Toshy could inspect it.

Toshy leaned forwards, narrowed her eyes, then took a step back. "Part of it is missing. Someone took a bite out of it then threw it away. Maybe it tasted bad. Maybe they found a hair in it. Whatever, it doesn't really matter why- I'll just trust that person's judgement."

"Who? Where are they?" Panda peeked above the rim of the dumpster and made a show of searching for the burger's last owner. "I don't see 'em. Point is, you can't know what happened, or why it's here. What about my judgement? I'm a bonafide found-food expert, and I will vouch for this tasty little morsel. Try it!"

"Are...are you drooling on it?" Toshy was horrified.

"Wha? Oh, maybe a little. Usually I eat whatever's in front of me right away. I don't have it hanging out under my nose, being a temptation. Sorry. It looks like it only got on the bun. Here I'll tear that bit off. Don't be such a priss." Panda wiped her salivating mouth with the fur of her forearm and performed the promised droolectomy, then popped the soggy piece of bun in her mouth. She started to offer the diminished burger to Toshy again, but then saddened. "There's no way you'll even take a tiny  taste of this, is there? I ruined it!"

"No." Toshy watched Panda's lip quiver and felt the need to dial back her answer. "Hey, look- I appreciate the gesture, but even if it was completely intact, that wouldn't change where you got it from. I'm not eating anything from a dumpster. It's gross, it smells fiercely awful, there's flies buzzing around, and there's cockroaches darting all over."

Panda let a curious roach crawl over her knuckles. This allowed her to gently deposit it further away from her prized burger. Panda sniffled. "They're not cockroaches, they're trash friends. They're just misunderstood...like me." To keep herself from bawling, Panda stuffed the entire cheeseburger in her mouth. It was impossible to be sad when she was eating.

Toshy petted Panda's flank in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. "I uh-" It was hard enough to figure out what to say when emotions ran high, but she found she couldn't concentrate on talking at all while she stroked Panda's cushiony hip. She removed her paw, but her brain still felt fried.

Panda gave out one last big sniffle and wiped her runny nose on her other forearm. Then she started happily sifting through the debris again. The morsel had piqued her appetite, and now she was on the hunt for more.