by Sable Sylvan
“Fine, do I at least get to watch you fish?” asked Artemis.
“In that?” asked Jasper, looking over Artemis’s sundress and sandals.
“What’s wrong with my outfit?” asked Artemis, putting her hands on her hips.
Jasper looked over Artemis again. The dress was perfect on her. Its soft, thin fabric presented her curves, curves accentuated by the pose she’d made. “Nothing, if you don’t mind it getting absolutely wrecked by the hike down to the stream, and the hike back up,” said Jasper.
“I can’t hitch a ride with you?” asked Artemis.
“Fine, meet me out back in 5 minutes,” said Jasper. “You’ll have to come back inside when I shift back, and you’re going to have to hold onto my fur tightly. I don’t want to have to fish you out of the river.”
“Okay,” said Artemis. “I’ll clear out the car and meet you out on the porch.”
Jasper tossed Artemis the keys. “Deal.”
Jasper went to the porch to get unchanged before his shift while Artemis unloaded the car. She resisted the urge to look at Jasper’s nude form: she’d given her word she wouldn’t, although the memory of his dingle dangling made her blush. She took the pastries out of the car but couldn’t lift the fifty-pound bag of rice, so she left that in the back of the car. She hung the keys back up and went to the porch, where Jasper was waiting, looking out over the river.
Artemis grabbed the bucket next to Jasper and got on his back, using a chair to prop herself up so she could mount him with ease. She gripped his fur, slinging the empty bucket on her arm as she held tightly with both hands, and wrapped her legs around his back.
Jasper walked them down the darkened path to the stream and let Artemis dismount. She put the bucket down on a flat patch of ground and then, went to take her seat on the rock she’d sat on before...but her flat sandals didn’t have much grip, so she slipped and fell into the brook from her perch.
Jasper lunged forwards to try and catch Artemis gently with his paws. He couldn’t retract his claws: bears have nonretractile (non-retractable) claws. He caught her side with the side of his paw and rolled her gently so she was against his fur, but his claw did catch on her sun dress, tearing it wide open. Not that it mattered...as Artemis’s dress had become soaked when she hit the water.
Artemis got her bearings and stood back up. “That’s gonna leave a bruise on my thigh,” said Artemis. “I’m going to be fine, though. I didn’t hit my head, nothing broke, and I feel fine.” She sat back down and got the bucket at the ready while she sat, wrapping what remained of the sundress around her.
The pale pink sundress was now thoroughly transparent from the water and Artemis’s bra and panties were on full display. Artemis looked down. “It’s entirely see-through, isn’t it,” said Artemis. She stood and pulled the dress right off, wadding it and putting it in the bucket. “I won’t need this any more...might as well make the best of this.”
Artemis walked into the water, wearing only her sandals. She walked carefully and looked for fish. Jasper looked down at the puny human: there was no frikkin’ way she had taken her clothes off and was just fishing in her underwear. “So how do you do it?” asked Artemis.
Jasper swiped at the water to demonstrate. “Got it, chief,” said Artemis.
She looked for any sign of fish in the water as Jasper waded into the deeper waters to give her distance. He didn’t want to accidentally swipe her while he was on the hunt. He looked over the water but was distracted by the fact that just behind him, Artemis was in the water, wearing only her underwear. Didn’t she have any idea what that did to a man?
“I caught one!” called Artemis. Jasper looked back. In Artemis’s hands there was a small fish. Jasper shook his head. It was too small, it needed to go back into the river to live and to breed. They were after the old fish that couldn’t have any more fry. Artemis tossed her little buddy back into the water and looked for a bigger fish.
Jasper watched as Artemis tried to swipe at a fish, resisting the urge to laugh. Artemis had no idea what she was doing. Jasper watched as the fish came his way and he caught it with ease, tossing it to Artemis to put in the bucket. Once they had two more fish, he was done, and they went back up the trail, Artemis on his back and a bucket of fish on his mouth.
Artemis went in as Jasper unshifted, kicking off her wet sandals and leaving them at the door. She went through the dresser. She didn’t need to waste another outfit, so she wore the jeans and a shirt she’d barely done anything in the day before, and went barefoot down to the porch.
“Jasper, I couldn’t get the rice out of the car,” said Artemis.
Jasper put down the fish he was descaling. “I’ll get the rice and start the rice cooker, you work on the fish, okay?”
“Got it,” said Artemis. She went back to work with the fish. It was a good thing she was wearing old clothes. She filled a chum bucket with the extra fish parts, put those in the compost, and came to the kitchen with the fish. “So, what’s on the menu today?”
“We’re going to wrap those and put those in the freezer,” said Jasper, pulling something out of the fridge. “We can eat those tomorrow, but I’ve got something special in store for tonight.” Jasper revealed the bundle in his hand. It was raw salmon.
“Why can’t we use this fish?” asked Artemis. “It’s fresher.”
“Because to make sashimi, we have to have fish that’s been deep frozen for at least twenty-four hours,” said Jasper. “I had the maid get this before we got here, and I was going to make sashimi for myself before I knew you were coming...but when you found all that roe, I decided we could make sushi too.”
“You know how to make sushi?” asked Artemis, working on wrapping the individual cuts of fish in plastic.
“Of course, I’ve been to Japan for work,” said Jasper. “I try to learn how to cook a dish from every country I’ve visited. I’ve prepared everything we’ll need. You can help by topping the sushi with roe when I’m ready.”
“Alright,” said Artemis, smiling to herself. “Jasper Dixon...you never cease to amaze me.”
Chapter Six
Jasper prepared the rest of the ingredients while Artemis wrapped the fish and put them in the freezer. Jasper put out a bowl of vinegar, a mat made of bamboo dowels kept together with twine, a rice paddle, the salmon roe he’d prepared the day before, and seaweed strips from a package, along with a few other things. He cut the sashimi grade fish into parts and tried a piece, as they had lots of sashimi.
“Is it good?” asked Artemis, wrapping up a fish.
“Oh yeah,” said Jasper with his mouth full, savoring the piece of juicy fish.
“I can’t wait until I get to try it, then,” said Artemis with a smile.
Jasper picked up a piece of sashimi. “Open your mouth,” ordered Jasper.
Artemis opened her mouth like a baby bird and stuck out her tongue. Jasper placed the piece of fish on Artemis’s tongue. The sight of that cute pink tongue and her natural pink lips sent his cock aflame. Artemis had no idea how adorable she looked.
Artemis took the fish on her tongue and chewed it gently, letting the natural flavors of the fish envelope her mouth. The fish didn’t taste ‘fishy’. It tasted very savory, almost like a fine steak, and the fish was very fatty, a sign of its high quality. “Very good,” said Artemis.
“Are you an adventurous eater?” asked Jasper.
“I’d like to think so,” said Artemis.
“I’m surprised,” said Jasper. “You couldn’t get half my friends from Port Jameson High to try raw fish.”
“Well, when I left for college, I wanted to try as many things as I could,” said Artemis. “I wanted to break out of my shell and be adventurous.”
“Are your parents the same?” asked Jasper.
“No, my dad’s lived in the same town all his life,” said Artemis.
“And your mother?” asked Jasper, mixing the sushi vinegar mixture into the rice with the paddle, folding the liquid into the
cooked rice carefully without mashing up the rice too much.
“She’s passed,” said Artemis, not missing a beat as she wrapped the second to last fish.
“I’m so sorry,” said Jasper. “I had no idea.”
“Well, she passed when I was very young,” said Artemis. “She was a travelling artist who never stayed in one place for long, but she fell in love with my dad, so she settled down. She got really sick, and one thing led to another...and I didn’t have a mom anymore. Maybe part of me wanted to do so much stuff because my mom didn’t have the chance to. I know she loved me and my dad, but she was a woman who wanted to see a lot more of the world. She had all these travel guides she left me. Maybe one of these days, I’ll visit all the places my mom couldn’t.”
“Are you close with your extended family?” asked Jasper.
“There’s really just my dad,” said Artemis. “And he didn’t have any sons, so the name ends with him, or with me.”
“I can’t imagine not having huge clans to take care of you and protect you,” said Jasper.
“And I can’t imagine having that many people give a shiz whether you live or die,” said Artemis. “I’ve always looked after myself. Don’t let the fact I sometimes wear a dress make you think otherwise. My dad worked long, hard hours at an Asher Lumber mill so I could go to college. I had no idea he was even saving for college when I was growing up, but he scrimped and saved every penny. I can count on two hands how many times we had food at a restaurant. I did all the cooking, all the cleaning, and didn’t exactly have a maid to come in and stock the house with food like a fairy godmother.”
“I had no idea,” said Jasper softly.
“Look, Jasper, the important thing is, I worked my ass off to get where I am today,” said Artemis. Artemis put the last fish in the freezer. “Next year’s senior year, and I can finally get a good job after college, doing marketing or public relations, maybe even at Asher Lumber if I pull this off, and then, I can take care of my dad the way he took care of me. He deserves at least that much.”
“You’re a good daughter,” said Jasper. “Even though you don’t have a lot of family...the family you have is the most important thing.”
“See, you get it,” said Artemis. She washed her hands. “Look at Mr. Billionaire here understanding the plight of the common man...or woman, as the case may be.”
Jasper shook his head. “That’s Sensei Billionaire to you, you wanna add sushi chef to your illustrious resume or not?”
“Alright, what do we do?” asked Artemis.
“It’s not that complicated,” said Jasper, who washed his own hands too. “First, take a little bundle of rice like this.” Jasper picked up a bit of rice. He shaped it into a squat cylinder with an oval shaped top and bottom.
Artemis followed suit. “Now, use the nori, the seaweed, and wrap it around your sushi, with the rough side of the paper touching the rice,” said Jasper, showing Artemis how to do it.
Artemis wrapped the seaweed around the ball of rice like a label around a can. “Now what?” asked Artemis.
“Just squeeze it, and it should stick together,” said Jasper. “Now, just use that spoon, and add wasabi, and then, roe, like this.” Jasper used the spoons in the bowls of wasabi and salmon roe to show Artemis his technique. He topped the fish eggs on the rice as if he was adding whipped cream to a cup of a hot chocolate.
Artemis did the same thing, and put her sushi down on the plate next to Jasper’s roll. For a first attempt, the sushi looked pretty good...for a few seconds.
“Aww, man, mine fell apart!” said Artemis. Her roll had looked good in her hands but once she put it down, it had fallen apart entirely.
“I said it was simple, not that it was easy,” said Jasper. “I think your roll wasn’t tight enough.”
Artemis readjusted her roll, but it seemed to get worse. “I can’t fix it, can you?” asked Artemis.
Jasper tried, but also failed. “Get two bowls out of the cabinet,” ordered Jasper. “Eating bowls.”
Artemis went through the cabinet and pulled out two regular bowls. She placed them in front of Jasper. “Perfect,” said Jasper. He placed the ruined roll in a bowl. “These’ll be our chirashi bowls.”
“Chirashi?” asked Artemis.
“It’s Japanese for ‘scattered’, we’re basically making a bowl of the scattered remnants of our failed attempts at sushi,” said Jasper. “We can try again with another roll. This one’s really simple. Just make a ball of rice again.”
Jasper and Artemis both made new balls of rice. “Now, all you have to do is put some wasabi on the top,” said Jasper, using the green spicy paste he had laid out on the countertop. He used his finger to put a dab of wasabi on the top of the rice ball and Artemis copied him. “Next, we just put a sliver of the sashimi on the top, like this.” Jasper put the raw fish on the top of the sushi so that the rice and the cut of fish were pointed the same way, layered on top of each other perfectly. Artemis did the same thing, and put hers down. This time, the sushi stayed together.
“I did it!” said Artemis.
“You can keep practicing with the roe if you want, just put the discards into the bowls,” said Jasper. “I’m going to do some more advanced rolls with the mat.”
Artemis made another sushi using the roe while watching Jasper. He lay out the seaweed, a full sheet rather than a strip, rough-side up on the mat, before adding a layer of rice over the sheet, and then, he added a line of sashimi over the rice. He used the mat to roll the layers into a cylinder, and then, he used a knife to cut the sushi roll. He then cut up the roll and put the pieces of sushi on the serving tray, before starting another. Even though he had big shifter hands, with paw pads and everything, he had good knife skills.
Artemis only messed up a few more rolls. She and Jasper took their dinner out to the porch with soy sauce and wasabi. “I have one more surprise,” said Jasper, pulling a bottle from the fridge.
“What is it?” asked Artemis.
“You’re over twenty-one, right?” asked Jasper, popping the top of the bottle as if it were a bottle of champagne.
“Yeah, why?” asked Artemis.
“You’ve never had marionberry wine before, have you?” asked Jasper.
“Never,” said Artemis. “But I did love the taste.”
“Then you’re in for a real treat,” said Jasper. He got out two champagne flutes and brought them with him to the table, along with two pairs of chopsticks. He turned the lights off on the way out, so that they were eating only by the light of a candle they’d brought out, one with citronella to keep away mosquitos. He poured two glasses of marionberry wine and gave one glass to Artemis. “To figuring out a way to get this job done.”
“And in a week, to getting this job done,” said Artemis, clinking glasses with Jasper before sipping at the wine. The wine was sweet and bubbly, and she could taste the marionberries. The liquid was purple and sparkled like grape soda. “This is good stuff.”
“You’re telling me,” said Jasper. “And it’s perfect, not too heavy for the fish. Plus, marionberries and salmon...well, that’s just Port Jameson in a nutshell.” Jasper tried the salmon roe sushi first.
“Oh, the roe is excellent,” said Jasper. “Tip: flip your sushi over when you get to your mouth, so that the roe or the fish touches your tongue, instead of the rice.”
“Alright,” said Artemis. She took one of the roe sushis and dipped it with her chopsticks into the soy sauce like Jasper had, before flipping it over so the roe was on her tongue. The roe was salty and a bit sweet and savory at the same time, and there wasn’t a bad fishy taste. “That’s so good, Jasper.”
“I knew you’d like it,” said Jasper, placing more rolls on her plate. “These rolls look the best. Oh, and the sashimi. Only add the wasabi to the sashimi, we already added it to the other rolls. And don’t mix it in the soy sauce bowl. Oh. And...try this.” Jasper passed her the bowl of pink slivers.
“What is it?” asked Artemis.
“Like gingerbread ginger?” asked Artemis.
“Kind of. It’s the same species, but this is called gari, and made of young ginger, which is naturally sweet, and then soaked in sugar and vinegar,” explained Jasper. “Not the typical kind you’d use for baking. Have a slice when you switch between different kinds of sushi.”
Artemis took a piece of ginger and put it in her mouth. The ginger wasn’t as slimy as it looked, and although it was tart, it was also sweet, but still had a cleansing effect in her mouth, like a mid-meal mint. Artemis saw the sashimi and put just a bit of wasabi on the sashimi before putting it in her mouth. The sashimi practically melted away in her mouth. It was very good: the fat was still there, as the sashimi, for all intents and purposes, was still ‘fresh’ even though it had been frozen, given that it had been frozen as soon as the Port Jameson fish market had processed it, so the sashimi’s solid fat hadn’t turned into liquid oil on the plate, but it did turn to oil on her tongue, the layers of fat melting and separating out the pink layers of fatty tuna.
“Oh, that’s amazing,” said Artemis, sipping the wine to cleanse her palate before having the sweet ginger to cleanse it further. “And as a bear...you get to eat this all the time?”
“Absolutely,” said Jasper. “I actually can eat it raw, from the river, but you’re a human so you can’t.”
“Yeah, because it’s being human, and not being a bear, that keeps me from eating sushi every day, Mr. Billionaire,” said Artemis.
“Is that nickname ever going to die?” asked Jasper, serving more sushi to Artemis, filling her plate up with the choicest rolls.
“Is it better than Rumpled Bear Skin?” asked Artemis.
“I’m more than just a billionaire playboy,” said Jasper, serving himself some sushi. “I’m actually a pretty great sushi chef. I’ll have to show you sometime.”
“Ha ha,” said Artemis.
“Yeah, you better laugh, because you’re totally going to lose the bet, and that means more meals with me,” said Jasper. “After all, you and I never said that the meals had to take place in a restaurant...and my favorite fish market back up in Seattle has started carrying some new stuff I have my eye on...”