asphodelmeadows | [Open] Evening, Grocery Store

He glances away, looking for the customer service counter. "Someone has to. You'll talk yourself right into the red."

Patting that shoulder again, he lifts his hand and drops it back to his side. "Come on. Let's leave both your conscience and savings intact."

And with that, he turns to set off, trusting that she'll follow behind. Though a little smile over his shoulder can't hurt.

"Thanks! I mean- I think I'd have to pay, anyways, if they have cameras. It's not like I can skip town." But she follows willingly enough- even raising curious stares on her company instead of, say, bemoaning her life savings.

But there is a store about them, still echoing with the occasion run-in, though she does finally see one lady with a mop heading the way they came from. Why it's only one and she's moving like this is an ordinary day? No clue. But eventually they make it to the obvious information desk, and she rushes out a question before her nerves get the better of her.

"Excuse me- Can I talk to a manager?"

The guy behind the desk looks up and stares like "why would they be coming to ask him?" before nodding slowly. "Just a moment, please." He turns to pick up a phone and dial, and in the meantime Shiki fidgets on her feet, side-eying Bennu.

"So, you... Didn't you come here to pick something up, too?" She assumed, but she needed something to say, since it looked like the phone call wasn't ending anytime soon.

Bennu glances over, one food tapping idly while he waits. "Not especially," he admits, almost as if confused by the question. "It's cold. The store was bright. I'm sort of like an insect, really - wanders at random, easily lured into bright, warm places. Ah."

The man on the phone had seemed about to say something, but instead was just looking at them for a moment before returning to his call. Bennu smirks. "Bennu Tammuz, by the way," he remarks. "I'd give an occupation, but that'd require having one."

Edited (tenses) 2013-01-30 17:00 (UTC)

-she started out idly intrigued, but his explanation has her meeting his eye for a surprised second before pointedly looking forward to the desk. Trying quite valiantly not to grin. Too much.

She could buy that excuse, after all.

She doesn't glance directly back again until he's giving introductions, then she smiles, far more friendly than anything she'd manage in her shop. "I'm Fujiwara Shiki, and. Well you know where I work."

"You clock in quite a few hours, at that," Bennu deadpanned, encouraged by her reaction. She was kind of pretty when she smiled, but more importantly, if this was going to go off without a hitch he needed her cooperation.

The phone call showed no signs of ending. Bennu clicked his tongue against his teeth. It would've been so much simpler to just duck out and run. No wonder she always looked so frazzled.

"Here, it's for me," he offered, and reached for the phone. "I understand, he's busy. We won't take too much of his time."

The clerk at the counter simply blinked as the phone was lifted from his hands in mid-sentence. Bennu grinned. Sleepy little night, huh? On a day like this, you had to make your own fun.

And he still wasn't sorry about the pun he'd made.

But a few beats avoiding a glance, wondering at the unexpected help, and mentally checking off when and what she still needed to do later, she glanced up at Bennu's voice- Only to be caught looking at him from behind. Doing a double take, she shook herself into joining him in leaning over the counter. Hopefully there was no one on the other end yet to hear her mumbling to him.

"What are you going to say? Won't he have to see the damage or talk to the staff?"

Not that that anyone looked ready to rail against her, so far.

In response to her concern, Bennu simply held up his index finger and winked before turning his attention fully to the phone he'd just commandeered.

"Hello, is this the manager? Sorry to butt in, but really, there's no need...." Bennu frowned for a moment as the man on the other end mumbled something. "Just a spot of trouble. A friend wanted to apologize, though it could have happened to anyone...

"Here, sound repentant," he told Shiki, handing her the phone. "Points off if you whine, but you don't seem the type."

The less the man actually saw of the damage to his store until the two of them were gone, the better.

Oh, she's not the type to sound it. Just look like a miserable, water-logged cat, as she takes the phone. A quick breath in-take, though, and she just comes off guarded.

"Hello? Yes, I'm the one who- No, I think the others involved left." She looks back at the disaster area, listening to the other end of the call a moment before shaking her head. "No, I don't think anybody's hurt, but I'm still sorry. I should have heard the cart behind-"

She doesn't finish, face flinching clue enough that she was cut off. But her face quickly blanks out at whatever the guy is actually saying. A few, silent beats, and then she's stumbling in daze.

"Yes um, thanks. Sorry to take up your time." Shiki stares oddly into the receiver a beat before returning it to the clerk. Then Bennu's getting one confused glance. "He said he'd like to write up a report and all... But he has dinner in ten minutes."

"A man after my own heart." Bennu's a bit taken aback too, but the only emotion registering on his face is mild bemusement. "Shall we follow his example? The whole bike-and-running offer still stands - just won't be as grandiose now that you've confessed."

That had been freakishly easy, in retrospect, but Bennu wasn't one to question or second-guess good fortune. What would happen, happened, and he dealt with it then. No point in worrying over anything that didn't. That'd be enough to drive anybody crazy.

Or at least, enough to bother them, and Bennu detested feeling bothered. He made a point of avoiding it whenever possible, no matter what that involved.

Shiki's confused stare just got a lot more focused on Bennu himself, but hopefully that's forgivable. She isn't sliding passed the unexpected security of her bank account quite so fast. Still- he was. Offering her a ride again.

"...I did lose the food I was going to cook tonight." And used up all of the time she incremented for said cooking, according to one of her time pieces. Which she belatedly catches herself checking, so she drops it again to question Bennu. "Where did you want to go? I just go to a bistro most nights."

And how fast could they get there, from this side of town? She wasn't sure- She'd never been on a motorcycle before.

Edited 2013-02-02 04:22 (UTC)

"Then why don't we shake that up?" He drums his fingers on the counter once, then turns with a wave for the customer service assistant (who still doesn't seem to understand why he isn't holding the phone anymore). "When you see a place that looks good, just point and yell.

"How's your lungs, by the way?" Bennu asks, trying to steer her towards the door now that their minds were, according to him, made up. She'd given him something to do tonight. The least he could do was treat her to dinner in return, and then they'd have something to joke about if he ever got bored and came to bother her again. "The bike works up a pretty nice wind."

-and here she thought she was shaking things up. But, what's the harm, at this point? She's already toppled a store and getting on with her charming not-customer. Who's got her out on the street and raising brows at his questions.

"-I don't know. Can't I just poke you or tug if I see a place?" Or was that rude? Were there good and bad manners when riding behind someone on a bike? Seemed to bypass a lot of stuff right there.

--or that. That would work too. Bennu twitched his shoulders; he'd been doing a lot of shrugging lately, and while he wasn't exactly self-conscious about it he kind of felt rueful about being a broken record. Perhaps he bored so easily because he was a boring person, himself. The thought amused him.

"Sure, if you want to make sense," he supposed, striding through the door without apparent acknowledgment of the blast of cold air hitting him full-force. "Lean the right direction so I know where to turn. Just don't fall off. My reflexes aren't quite that good."

And he headed for the lone motorcycle parked in the front of the store. It didn't have a helmet hanging anywhere in sight.

"-don't worry, I'm not falling off anything. I don't have time for the hospital tonight." And, that was as strained as her grin as she scrambled to keep pace with him, pulling her hood up. But who could blame her, huh? She was flying a little blind here.

At least the cold meant she'd stuck to her jeans tonight, since she was sure that was needed biking wear. Like helmets. And the lack of two - much less one - has her tilting from one foot to the other beside the back wheel.

"Do you take passengers a lot?"

"If I answered honestly, you might not climb on," Bennu replied, mounting the bike himself. "You got someplace to be, by the way?"

She kept looking at her watch, or talking about the time. Maybe working in a clock shop made people a little....cuckoo.

Someone should really stop him, Bennu mused. The world would never know how blessed it was he kept a good portion of his brilliance to himself. A brilliance miser. That was him.

"..ah- No! Not right now." Sure, she'd spaced out a beat like she was actually calculating something, but that aside. She came up and slid onto the back of the back like a pro, once snapped out of it.

She does delay a bit on holding on tight, though, since she'd get muffled. "Sorry. I don't jump off schedule a lot."

"No kidding." Kicking off the bike's stand, he starts the engine and squeezes the breaks a few times before leaving his parking spot. "You mind sharing what's on this schedule of yours? Ah, once we're done--"

There isn't much of an opening in the traffic, but it'll do. Bennu grins and tears out onto the road, gunning the acceleration to quickly both reach and then surpass the speed limit. The lady leads a busy life, apparently. He fancies his driving style will accommodate that.

"-there's nothing big," she admits, focusing on finding a good rest for her feet. "There's cleaning the shop and boxing some clocks to ship, and a late call from a customer to-"

To what, she doesn't fill in, since Bennu speeds off and she's grappling for a grip around his front, making only a small yelp. And it's, it's not bad, in a heart-in-throat and blurred cars and confusing rush kind of way. She'd never even thought to ride a bike before, so why...

Except she's supposed to be searching for something, and squinting through the traffic shows he is still in the business part of town. Most she can't make out, but she remembers to try and prod his rib when makes out what proves to be a small bakery restaurant.

He can't work up too much speed - it's still a small town - but Bennu tests the limits much as possible, clipping corners and passing drivers who apparently just can't be bothered to try their luck above the speed limit. When he's driving, it doesn't really matter where he goes; lately, it's even felt a little bit nostalgic...

Mind empty, he almost doesn't feel the prodding until it's too late; as things stand, she'll have to hold on tight: he needs to take this turn a bit sharply.

"Express delivery," he explains as they careen up to the storefront. "This the place?"

And clutch she does, even if she has to turn her head - a second too late, since she already smashed her nose in his back.

She's scrunching the feeling out of it when he speaks up, draws her attention up to the place. "Yup. It looks like it has a lot." Or else she hopes so, since she's never been here. But there's the usual advertisement of "Soup - Sandwiches - Bread - Pie" up top.

And she looks it over until she has the though to perhaps, loosen her death grip. "Ah, sorry-" Please keep loaning a couple shoulders for her to get up, though.

He'd be all too happy to oblige, Shiki, no worries. And once you're done, he'll follow suit and stroll on in.

"You lost your groceries, so it's on me," he volunteers, perusing the menu for anything vegetarian. Salad. Salad. God, he's sick of salad. He has salad every day and this is the first time he's ever been sick of it. Why's he a vegetarian again?

In the spirit of disrupting her evening, he decides right then and there to order meat. After she's ordered, of course - which he indicates she should do with a sweep of his arm. Ladies first.

Even ones with rumpled noses.

She stumbles a few steps to the door, looking back at him

"-you don't have to do that! You saved me from paying for those along with the whole store..." And she meant it, the guy had jumped in when he didn't have to, and stuck with her afterwards... And that offer has her reassessing the whole dinner. Because ah, paying.

Just look at her clearing her throat, moving forward.

"If anything, I should be treating you."

Just try and fight with her before she requests a turkey cheddar sandwich from the server.

Oh, he won't pass up a free meal either; it kind of ruins the whole concept of treating her something, but it's not like his pocketbook is overflowing. Bennu grins - "Suit yourself, though the offer stands" - and ordered the first thing his eyes landed on.

Steak sandwich, huh? Why not.

He has his wallet out anyway, Shiki. Do you fight the point, or do you let them at least go Dutch? This is amusing him. And it's your move.

There was a small beat of hesitating (Is it rude to refuse? She really didn't do this enough.) but when she shook her head, she was more than certain.

"No. Thanks, but I want to pay you back somehow. You saved me more than a meal back there."

And unless he wanted a free custom-made clock, a steak sandwich was all she had.

Edited 2013-02-08 22:19 (UTC)

Bennu chuckles. "If you insist."

The workers behind the counter don't seem to be in a hurry making the sandwiches, but he watches them with absent interest all the same. "You still didn't get your groceries, though," he points out. "I recommend not using that store. Just in case your picture's up, labeled 'Known Troublemaker'."

This grin hopefully indicates he's kidding. It could have happened to anybody, after all.

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