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 Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:04 pm
Maia shook her head. "I'll ask him," she said. She wanted to see what Seamus could do, she already knew he was smart. He knew people by name, he'd proven that when he'd led her to Toby. "I'll ask him when I'm giving out cupcakes."
The selkie's enthusiasm seemed to fade slightly. They had to keep gift giving a secret? "Alright, I'll give you and Dari presents at home and invite Lori over later. No one can complain about my giving Seamus a present." She hesitated, then said, "If I tell you mine, you have to tell me yours," she said. "It's the fifteenth of December."
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:14 pm
"Huh. Alright. Oh, before we get there, Sunday tends to be the grocery shopping day, even this early? So it'll probably be full of people. There's nothing to worry about, I just figured I should warn you ahead of time." People mulling around was still new to her, after all. He didn't want her being surprised.
"No, I don't think anybody would complain about that," he agreed then, and smiled and glanced over to Maia. "That's a good one. I'm October sixth." Except he knew for a fact that that was the day he was actually born.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:38 pm
Maia seemed pretty concerned, when she heard about the crowd, despite Toby's assurance. She nodded. "Thank you, I appreciate it." He was so thoughtful! "Aren't we there yet?" she asked, peering out the window. She expected to see a parking lot full of cars.
"October is the month with pumpkins, isn't it?" she asked. "Everyone seems to want pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread or pumpkin spice everything. Or maybe that's thanksgiving..." She puzzled over this. "The leaves are always beautiful then, too."
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:43 pm
"Yeah, that's the one. Unfortunately pumpkin season starts earlier every year. You'll notice that. Stores will put out holiday stuff way too early." He paused then and pulled into a parking lot which was, as Maia predicted, pretty packed. It always looked like more people outside than it actually was, though.
"Mm-hm. I love the fall. Back home everything was orange and red and yellow. There's less of it here. Not none, but less."
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:01 pm
"Maybe people want to think selling stuff earlier makes the holiday last longer," she suggested.
Maia knew better than to pry, but she was intrigued. "You mean where you lived before you came here?" She asked. It stood to reason that Toby had been relocated as well. "Oregon goes red, orange and yellow too. It gets cold and people stop coming to the beach. My seals always came up on the shore around then. Its a beautiful time of year."
They were in the parking lot. At last!
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:05 pm
"I have no idea," Toby said with a shake of his head. He hadn't worked retail since he was a kid, but he felt like every holiday lasted longer now. Maybe he was biased. The holidays are a big deal as a kid. "Yeah, where I came from. I think spring and fall are tied for my favorite."
He parked the car and got out, stretching. Alright. Every aisle. They could do this. "Are you ready?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:24 pm
"I like summer and fall best," the selkie mused, "At least there. There's always loads of people, and it's finally warm enough to swim with out some one giving you a funny look. I have a feeling it's always warm enough to swim here."
Maia climbed out of the car. "Ready!" she agreed. This time, she didn't offer Toby her hand.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:29 pm
"Well, most of the time." He headed inside, committing his parking space to memory and audibly locking his car over his shoulder. The automatic doors to the store slid open and the pair were briefly visible in a monitor over the inner doors. Toby turned to grab a cart, figuring there was no way this was going to be a "only a little basket" trip, and then they were inside the doors and there in the produce section.
The shop was reasonably full for a Sunday morning. The customers were generally of an older set and Toby recognized with some horror that he was of the same set in every way but physically. Was he one of them?
"Alright. Do you want to start here?" Toby smiled to Maia reassuringly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:40 pm
While not as crowded as the parking lot had seemed to imply it would be, Maia was still nervous. People couldn't recognize her for what She was, not without her pelt, they wouldn't expect a sea creature in a landlocked state, reason told her that. She instinctively moved closer to Toby.
She nodded. They could start in produce; she'd wanted to get some fruit anyway. "Apples?" she suggested.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:51 pm
Toby noticed the young woman come closer to him and didn't shift away. It could all be very overwhelming moving to a new place with some strange organization, nevermind the fact that Maia knew she had been seen online. He would just be calm and cool in response to her nerves and everything would be fine.
The first little produce stand held berries and the like, but beyond that lay the apples. "Do you know what kind you like?" He approached and looked them over. Something told him he was going to have to choose.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:58 pm
Maia moved away from the cart to look at the apples. "These," she picked up a golden delicious, "And these," She handed him a honeycrisp. "They're really sweet, have you had them before?" Nervous or not, she was determined to enjoy this trip. She picked a couple more apples before moving to the berries. "Which are the best tasting?" she asked, looking to Toby.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 3:02 pm
Toby watched Maia choose several different apples and held out a plastic bag for her. The cashier was going to have a hell of a time ringing those up. Maybe they'd go through one of those self-serve aisles and tell the machine it was all the same type. Being a couple of apples off in inventory wouldn't surprise anyone.
"That depends on what you like," he said, putting the bag of apples in their cart and looking over the berries. "Raspberries are kind of tart. Blueberries might be a good start. Those ones." He pointed.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 3:15 pm
Maia picked up the blueberries indicated. "What fruit do you like best?" she asked. He had to have a favorite fruit, didn't he? So far he'd been reluctant to share his favorite anything, besides color. "Do you want some bananas?" Maia had caught sight of the yellow fruit and was heading towards it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 3:16 pm
Toby followed after easily.
"Sure, bananas are good," he replied with a little nod. He had to shoulder past a woman to meet Maia and gave her an apologetic smile. Sorry, grocery shopping with a selkie with ADD. "I don't think I have a favorite. Maybe oranges, but we have plenty of those."
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 3:23 pm
Maia added bananas to the cart. Hm. She glanced at Toby. "Now where do you want to look? Want vegetables?" Maia didn't seem especially keen on them. "Maybe carrots?" she suggested.
She looked around and spotted a bag of grapes. "Oh, what are these?" She asked. "More berries?"
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