asphodelmeadows | [Open] Evening, Grocery Store

Entry tags:

[Open] Evening, Grocery Store

She didn't mean to cause trouble - honestly.

But that didn't faze the fact she was standing in the middle of a decimated aisle, boxes of pastas scattered and squashed across the floor, alongside a couple groaning, rising shoppers. Or a cart had toppled over behind her, blocking her way out. Not that she was trying to escape, but the victims of this mess didn't even look at her when she tried to help them up, and just stood there, looking as confused as ever. Better yet, she could hear the tell-tale sounds of crashes in other parts of the store, making her flinch and duck passed the pair, making a break for it around the corner.

All she wanted was to pick up a few things she usually missed!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

"-that's kind of hard. It's the only real market in town." The joys of living in Asphodel.

And she's sincerely concerned as she glanced at Bennu- only to realize he was joking around. Queue a foot shuffle and weak attempt at a counter.

"Well, that makes you my accomplice, you know."

"Does it?" Bennu appears to contemplate this for a moment, receiving his completed sandwich with an absent nod for the part-timer. "I trust we have a good lawyer. I refuse to partner in crime with anyone who can't get away with her misdeeds."

On that witty note, he takes a bite and involuntarily pulls a face. Oh. So that's why he doesn't eat meat.

"If you weren't caught up in it as a likely suspect, I'd just ask you. You were pretty smooth operator with the staff."

Okay, fine, so she has no lawyer. And she might have seriously admitted it - joking in the first place or not - but instead she freezes in the middle of taking her own sandwich, seeing him make that face. You know, from the corner of her eye.

"-what's wrong? Under cooked or something?

Ah, so she'd noticed! Bennu tries to look haughty on purpose, swallowing his lump of sandwich thickly, and grins.

"The joys of trying new things," he remarks. "It's fine. Yours?"

Courtesy would enable him to finish it. He wouldn't make her pay twice, that wouldn't fit the evening's flavor at all.

But how did anyone stand this texture?

"-pretty good, actually." But then, it was meat and cheese. What's not to like?

Though of course, not everyone had the same taste... And she might be slow about eating, when she's giving him a confused look for that answer. "If you don't get sandwiches a lot- what do you like to eat?"

The word "salad" was halfway out of his mouth before he realized he was answering the wrong question. What did he like to eat? That was...

Bennu took another bite, chewing only on one side of his mouth and trying to avoid the meat with his tongue. "....I don't actually know," he finally replied, not sounding nearly puzzled enough about the fact. "Guess in that case, I should start finding out."

...that was strange. But then, who is she to talk? She's eaten the same thing every day as far back as she can remember, and she's not stopped buying it. Isn't that its own brand of weird?

The admission allows her to keep from staring - a little - and she nods around a full bite. "Yup. I guess you're marking that off right away?"

Edited 2013-02-11 02:23 (UTC)

"Did I say that?" Bennu asks: she'd paid for this, after all, and it wouldn't do to sound ungrateful. Still, he can tell he's being obvious, so he decides to deflect from that particular topic. (And he'll finish this sandwich, darn it. No point in making something at home if he's holding food here.)

If he'd wanted to avoid sounding self-centered, however, his next topic for their dinner discussion doesn't help much.

"But enough about me. You like the bike?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject