Alistaire bristled, looking mutinous. "I am not," he said flatly, "stupid. I am, however, taking into account that going grocery shopping during a potential mission seems useless, which was why I was dubious about it in the first place. So forgive me if I don't consider your ridiculous antics all that amusing."
And with that, he swept off behind Oliver, deliberately walking next to him, though he said nothing whatsoever, gloved hands tucked into the pockets of his coat.
grey dragon
inle-roo
nyxtsuki moon
meegane
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:57 pm
"Consider yourself forgiven for having no sense of humor," Evan muttered, watching the trio up ahead with a bemused smile. They all looked so tiny and timid, little mice on a city street full of cats and dogs. He was glad they were only going to a grocery store; hopefully they would feel more comfortable in there.
Evan herded the group into a General Groceries, pleased to find that it wasn't very crowded at this hour. If they were lucky, they could get what they needed and get out without incident. He paused by the carts, giving the trainees a considering look. It would be more efficient for them to split up, but Oliver looked like he was going to bolt or faint if someone so much as looked at him funny--inflicting Al on him was out of the question. Noemi seemed to have Oliver and Shu well in hand, though, and Evan knew that she knew what to look for as far as food went.
"Okay," he said, having reached a decision. "Noemi, Shu, Oliver--you take one cart between the three of you. Have fun, make good choices, and don't break anything. Wait at the front of the store if you get done first. Al," he smiled down at the Sun trainee, all teeth, "you're with me."
Noemi really really looked between the two older hunters with carefulness and wariness reserved for the mist huntress herself. If the two came to blows or something, she'd be very...very distressed.
"Yes sir!" Noemi instead focusing on the order and smiled at her two best friends. "We can take this one! Let's start this way yeah?" AWAY FROM THE TWO ADULTS.
She led them over to the barralls of candy, putting some in the cart. Like true teenagers.
"Shh, here..." She snuck a piece and smiled at the two mischievously, "Just one piece though!'
Even if they were ahead of the two male hunters, Shu couldn't help but took a peep back. Since she had only one brother, it was interesting for her to see how two possible boy friends interacted. Boy friends, not boyfriends. The feeling - it looked like kids were released but one of them was curious of their daddies caretakers' conversation. She couldn't hear what they said, but their smiles seemed to suggest they were having a good time.
Shu was super happy to be given a cart of their own, she waved back with a bright smile. "See you later then, Evan and Mr. Alistaire!"
The two girls stayed close together like two affectionate kittens stuck close together in their walk, it was such a cute scene. In her home country, there were supermarkets also yet for someone who never go to big cities like this one since her wake up, it was so much fun.
"Hehe, Mimi, secret between three of us? Sure!" She replied the mist huntress with the same mischievous smirk. Pushing the cart with their own pace with mingles, the three parked it aside to pick up some biscuit products not far from the candy section. They discussed - er - only two of them to be exact of which was cheaper when sound of something hitting the cart rang behind their back.
Shu then heard a young laughter and saw the back of two running boys, she rolled her eyes widely at the cart, a pile of crackers that not supposed to be there were seen. She quickly looked at the direction where the boys ran towards, but they were gone. "You are right, Mimi. They are so naughty, just wait when I catch them." She puffed her cheeks and put each of the box and package back, without noticing she included three boxes of pocky......Pocky? Well, everyone knew what was that for.
As she shoved the pocky back to "correct position" which was totally wrong, the huntress pushed their quite empty cart towards next section. "Oliver, this way~" She softly called her new friend's name as he seemed very anxious and not really paying attention.
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36 - 40: As you turn to grab an item and maybe debate with your teammates on what to get next, someone helps themselves to the cart. Lose the last three items you picked up.
Oliver was just starting to settle down when there came a terrifying sound. The rattling of cart wheels and creaking of metal, and the shouting of happy children. The poor teen yelped and dodged behind their cart to avoid being struck, and then covered his ears as half a display of canned pet food fell with a loud crash.
"Ah... s-sorry," The life trainee muttered nervously to Shu and Noemi, despite the accident being not his fault in the slightest. His cheeks turned slightly red as he shovelled cans of "Real Prime Rib" and "Atlantic Salmon Flavoured" pet food out of their cart and carefully replaced them on the display.
Remaining Budget: $245.15 Cart: 12/100 Items: 10 x 4.99
Evan sidled up to the cart as the girls and Oliver hit the seafood department. It hadn't been hard to find them; the crash pretty much led him right to them. "Change of plans," he told them. "Al's decided he's too good for grocery shopping, so he went back to base. It's just the four of us now." As he spoke, he reached for a bulk box of fishsticks. Unfortunately, he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing and grabbed a box of crab legs instead.
Noemi jumped as Evan's cart hit theirs, her eyes widening as she looked over at the sun hunter.
"O...Oh..." She flushed, "I'm sorry Evan...." I guess that meant that like Evan was babysitting by himself now. She reached over to tug on the sun hunters sleeve. "Did he say...anything mean to you?" Maybe they fought. She hoped Evan was okay.
Just as she moved her cart around the corner, just as teenagers ran past her and Oliver. She moved just barely before a pet food display fell and she was apologizing to the clerks even though it wasn't her fault.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you guys." She apologized to EVERYONE IN THE AREA.
6 - 10: This store has a section of barrels. It's not too surprising at first until a chorus of screaming kids alert you to the presence of candy. There are clear plastic bags nearby and scoops, so why not satisfy your inner child and add five units to your cart. As in five fully filled bags.
Catching up with Evan, Shu was comparing their carts with a funny expressions: Cans of pet foods in their cart? She didn't know they were allowed to keep real pets besides minipets.....or someone was stupid enough to shove them to their minipets. And crab legs! Wow, she wanted to join their dinner time. Then, Evan informed them that Mr. Alistaire escaped his duty. The Asian quickly scanned through the labour presented and then onto the stuff they grabbed, one - not two guys and two girls to carry all these back? That might be a problem, she thought as she frowned.
"He doesn't like grocery shopping? That's sad." The Death trainee leaned on the frame of the cart, "Hmm, we are quite good so far, don't worry." No one was missing, no one got milk threw on them and everything under control, it seemed. She jumped to give a hug to Evan when Noemi moved the cart. "I promise we will behave, ok Evan?"
Then she heard the apologies of her friends and moved to check, it was the running kids again. "Mimi, Oliver, are you alright? Not hurt?" She asked, still judging the teenagers considering this place as a great playground. "Where're their mothers? They owe you and Oliver an apology, I will go and get them, be right back."
There Shu ran along the passage to chase after the boys, where she overheard a round of cheering and discovered candies. Thinking it might help a little to bring back the good mood of her friends, she picked up the clamp and got five bags of colorful assortment of candies.
"Mimi, see what I get you?" She beamed and hugged her friend. "Oliver and Evan too." The candies were added into the cart without guilt. "We can't stuck at this store forever, let's move onto the next target."
The young girl radiated energy to encourage her little group, hand waving in the air and eyes sparkling.
Oliver should have felt relieved that Alistaire was no longer participating in the mission, but the change did not sit well with him. They were far from friends, every encounter had been unpleasant or antagonistic, and Oliver would never quite forget the fear of being stabbed in the leg with those chained daggers... But the other man's absence made him uneasy.
"Ah, Shu! I-it's okay," the boy nervously stammered, but he was no match for the other trainee's enthusiasm. Nor could he complain with the result, but weren't they supposed to get groceries? Oliver had not grown up a model child as far as preparing his own balanced diet, but he did know his old stand-by of Kraft Dinner and grilled cheese sandwiches were healthier than a bag of candy.
He had picked up a small package of Kraft singles, for the purposes of said grilled cheese... and then realized there was a whole island of hunters who needed to eat. So he selected something slightly bigger.
Quote:
61 - 65: You know what every kitchen needs? A giant cheese wheel! Too bad it takes up 10 units by its sheer size alone.
Quote:
Remaining Budget: 115.35 - 99.99 = 15.36 Cart: 42/100 Items: 1 x 99.99 = omg Oliver grilled cheese sandwiches forever
"Al always says mean things to me," Evan said to Noemi, looking down at her with a smirk, "but don't worry, I can out-mean him any day of the week." He frowned as a bunch of a*****e kids knocked over some pet food, and though the urge to chase them down and make them clean up their mess was strong, that would draw way too much attention to their little group. Shu had run off after them, anyway; she was sure to have a much gentler touch than him. "It's not your fault," he told Noemi as he helped her and the clerks pick up the fallen items. He didn't notice that some of the cans had fallen into their cart.
Shu had found them again by the time they had moved on, and while candy wasn't really on the list of essentials, he couldn't bear the thought of three sets of big, pleading puppy dog eyes if he said no.
He nodded instead and turned down the next aisle, pleased to see rows upon rows of different types of pastas. Pastas were cheap, versatile, and a good staple to have in any kitchen. He got a little bit of everything, juggling the boxes in his arms until he could dump them in the cart--covering the cheese wheel he hadn't noticed Oliver put in there while he was busy.
Quote:
41 - 50: Another turn in the store leads you to the pasta aisle. You can't go wrong with ramen, right? Add 20 boxes of pasta to your cart.
Noemi gave Evan a shy smile and nodded. She was sure the sun was capable of handling himself, so she really didn't need to worry about the sun. She smiled over at Oliver as he added a cheese wheel but kind of rose an eyebrow because their cart was getting super full and she was sure they were getting close to their budget being full but...
She added more crab legs to the ones in there and looked at Evan.
Then she looked over at Shu and hugged the death hunter. "Thank you so much..." She was eternally grateful that Shu would do such nice things for her.
Remaining Budget: 15.36 - 149.90 = -134.54 (oh my god) Cart: 72/100 Items: 14.99 x 10 = 149.90
Rejoining the team, Shu gave Oliver and Noemi a big grin. She watched as Evan added the pasta, 20 boxes in total in his cart, it seemed like many hunters love pasta as main meals. The petite Asian was oblivious of what Oliver grabbed before, instead she interestingly stared at the crab legs. "Mimi, you like seafood? Especially crabs?" They were delicious, and Shu just wanted to know her friend more.
Unexplained, they found themselves back to the dairy products again. "We have some crab legs, some candies, pasta, a lot a lot of pet foods and-," she was still confused by that, "how about some cheese? Cheese is good and can stuff you full easily!" The girl happily grabbed a cheese wheel, that ensured everyone can get at least some, stumbled for the unexpected weight and added it to their carts.
The crab legs just occurred to hide the existence of giant cheese wheel that Oliver put into the cart earlier, so Shu didn't notice that.
Now, they were really over budgeted by a bunch but the smile on the girl's face told she didn't notice at all. "What else to get? The cart is almost full. Evan?" Shu who climbed onto the cart to check the items jumped down and turned for Evan.
Quote:
You know what every kitchen needs? A giant cheese wheel! Too bad it takes up 10 units by its sheer size alone.
Quote:
Remaining Budget: -134. 54-99. 99 = -234. 53 Cart: 82/100 Items: 1 x 99. 99 = 99. 99 omg Shu became cheese fans = mouse also noooooo
Perhaps Oliver was the first one to actually be paying attention to price tags, or the busy atmosphere was making him exceedingly nervous, but shortly after the second cheese wheel was added to their cart he began herding the girls towards the checkout counter. At first everything seemed just fine... And then... Suddenly it was not.
As the bill began to climb, the Life trainee looked towards Evan with those light, nervous eyes. What were they going to do now, oh fearless leader?
Evan, for his part, had been primarily concerned with the safety of the group--and for good reason, considering how many times the girls and Oliver nearly got knocked over and/or knocked other things over. He hadn't, therefore, been paying as much attention to what had gotten put in the cart. Besides, he figured everyone was old enough and smart enough to utilize a little bit of common sense.
Once they started checking out, he remembered who, exactly, he was dealing with: a bunch of young kids who had probably never lived on their own and didn't have the experience with shopping with a budget that came with that. His eyebrows rose steadily higher as their total did. Two cheese wheels? Who the hell got all those crab legs? And why did they get so many cans of dog food?!
He wanted to tell the cashier to stop so he could cull the items they didn't need--which seemed to be most of the cart--but they were almost done and a line full of people had accumulated behind them. Running never occurred to him.
"Okay," he sighed, already reaching for his wallet. "$60 from each of you. I'll cover the rest. Let this be a lesson to you guys so you make better choices in the future."
Noemi's eyes widened as she watched the bill climb and her hands tucked into her two best friends.
Evan was spot on with kids and shopping, they never had to live alone, thus never learned the budgeting.
"Y..Yes sir...." She let go of Shu and Olivers hands to pull out her wallet and sadly hand over her card. 60$ seemed like so much to give away but it was her own fault and she was shamed.
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