asphodelmeadows | [Open] Evening, Grocery Store

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[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!

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"..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?"

Nice job on the evasion, Bennu. Yes, she gave an "Are you kidding?" glance for a second there, but if edging her on before speaking is what counts...

"Sure! It was a blast." And true enough, though she doesn't really have a proper way to describe how it felt, since it felt... strange, in more than just an unfamiliar way, so she rushes on with "Where'd you get it? I've never seen a bike shop in town."

"No? How about that." Bennu frowns for a moment. Where'd he get...

....he can't remember ever not having it. Every day he gets up and bums around town on his bike, sometimes driving out to the city limits but never past. Every day he just zooms around in the same circle.

Wow, he's pathetic. That's actually hilarious.

"It was a long time ago. You remember everywhere the clocks came from?" he replies, in order to have something to say, but he's grinning as if the memory were a fond one. In reality, though, he's just blown his own mind. He doesn't even know where his bike came from.

It doesn't bother him so much as make him want to break out laughing.

That's not an answer. And moreover, he pinned her with a question of his own. Any surprise she freezes mid-bite, trying to think...

"-I have paperwork on most of them. Somewhere." Okay, so her office is a neglected space for papers where she digs in a panic if she actually needs a record, and she would be hard pressed to place the origins of any one piece. It's not like she gets a lot of stuff! Her grandpa left such an insane amount of clocks and pieces and supplies she had yet to reorder anything! Everything went out, or stayed in town.

But, in the spirit of the good cheer Bennu's managing, she gives a small grin. "Besides, my clocks aren't quite the same. I have the shop."

He actually cracks up at that. "Touché."

Polishing off the rest of his sandwich as quickly as possible (swallowing is still a bit difficult, but he poker-faces it as best he can), he flips a few coins of his own into the tip jar and leans on the counter to watch her eat, grinning all the while. "If it's all the same to you, though," he points out, "I'd rather have the mystery bike. Adds a little bit of interest to life."

He's only just beginning to realize how starved for that he is. Which is in itself interesting. But how grim would life be if he couldn't at least amuse himself?

Ha, look at that. Who can blame her for grinning a bit too proud? Sure, the whole thing's a little surreal - even after the evening started by demolishing a grocery aisle - but she's still enjoying herself.

Still. Shiki blinks back to reality a bit at the motion and sound of the coins, staring at the cup a beat before looking down at a clock on auto-pilot. And she wish she hadn't, because she has to squash the urge to instantly bolt and get back. (She should have the counters wiped off by now.)

"-yeah. I mean! Ah, I'd think riding the bike counts as interesting. Around here."

"You can't be saying you're bored," Bennu retorts with mock surprise, brows rising almost up to his hairline. "Here? Where there's scintillating activities every night, and such a rich cultural scene? A lady of standards, I see."

He lobs his trash (a spent napkin) at the wastebasket one-handed and smirks only slightly as it swishes on in. "We might have to mix that up a little more often, from now on."

Her shoulders twitch with a laugh, though she feels the need to defend with a "It's not so bad here," even if she's giving quite a curious, heaven forbid hopeful side stare.

Wiping her own hands, Shiki pushes her plate, crumbs and all, to the other end of the counter before looking Bennu's way again. She, should be heading back by now, but his words make her hesitate enough to try, "Do you want anything to drink, too?"

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