#casual space uryom

Mod Zee’s first entry to the flashfic week! Enjoy, all. 

“I’m heading out to the store.” Hedge tugged his coat on, meandering towards the door. Guineas let out a squeak and threw him a thumbs-up, too engrossed in crocheting and Alton Brown for the moment.

“Which store?” Vladia was slumped in a chair. Counseling had been going… relatively well. She was still a ball of anger and issues, all of them pretty damn understandable given her circumstances.

“Just the grocery store.”  Hedge froze near the door. “Hey. C'mon with me.”

Hedge casually cleared out his ears after the outburst. Yep. Those would be ringing for an hour or so. Lack of screech or no, Vladia could get LOUD.

“We’re cleared to make short trips into town. That does include you.” Two weeks since the clearance and she hadn’t left the base once. The former bat/bird/whatever hybrid fidgeted in place a moment.

“I - why would I go to a grocery store? We have food here!”

“Yeah, but they have ice cream. And I have spending money.” He held up a few twenties.

–

Cars made Vladia nervous. People got into chunks of metal, accelerated around at speeds they didn’t really have the reflexes to deal with, and hoped they didn’t slam into each other. Flying was a much more sensible mode of transport… she almost missed it from time to time. Granted, not being stuck as a monster was worth it, but it didn’t make the transit any easier. At least Hedge was a sane driver. He kept his speed under control, kept the radio at a decent volume, and she was pleasantly surprised when he rolled the windows down after a few minutes. A little fresh, moving air did make it easier to stomach things.

When they pulled up to the Sav-A-Bunch she was almost - almost - relaxed.

“Try to keep it under thirty, `kay?” Hedge chimed over his shoulder. She gave a vague nod, and started to head towards the brightly-lit edifice.

Brightly lit.

Populated.

Her breath caught in her chest a minute. She could do this. She could… she glowered as she stomped into the store. Right. Ice cream. This place had ICE CREAM. Ignoring Hedge, she headed off to one side of the store - milk was over there. Ice cream had to be near, right? Milk. Cheese. Deli meat. Beer - no ice cream? She doubled back and checked behind the glass of each door.

“This… makes… NO SENSE.” She finally barked. “If you have all your cold stuff in one area, why would the ice cream NOT be there?!”

“Yeah, I know, right?” She stiffened up. A scruffy looking twentysomething pushing a cart full of empty boxes shrugged behind her. “You go to Wally World and it’s all in the same area.”

“The hell is Wally World!?”

“Uh…” He coughed. “Wal-Mart. Sorry, dunno if that’s a local thing. Should have guessed you weren’t from around here from the accent.” Vladia blinked a few times. She didn’t have an accent! She-

“Yes. That is a perfectly reasonable expectation. So where IS it?!”

“Oh. Uh - yeah, this isn’t the only cold aisle. Most of it’s along the back wall - so’s the fresh meat. I can show you if-”

“I can manage.” Still grumbling under her breath, she turned a corner, and - well, yeah, he was right. The whole back wall of the market was freezers. Meat. Meat. Lots of meat. Ice - who bought ICE?! Wasn’t that why people had freezers in the first place? Her mind reeled at the revelation, but she avoided another ranting fit. Bags of chopped fruit. Potatoes in various sorts of cut up states. And -

There it was. The promised land.

For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed at the floor-to-top-of-case display of dairy goodness, as she was with the fact that there were four - count them, four - doors full of it. With eyes wide, she paced back and forth like a caged panther, trying to decide. Thirty. She had thirty to spend. How much were they per conta-

—

“…you gonna eat all those in one night?” Hedge looked vaguely amused as he put up his purchases - some dry goods and some stuff that Vladia was not paying attention to in the slightest - on the conveyor.

“Clearly.” Six pints of the stuff. SIX. And she was still under budget! She stacked them up, as he shrugged.

“`Kay. Just stop if you get a stomachache.”

“You clearly underestimate my stomach.”

“Having a party?” The cashier piped up. Vladia glared at her.

“Yes. It’s called the ‘Vladia got talked into going out to get ice cream and now she is going to make sure she gets said ice cream into her belly’ party and it is going to be AMAZING.”

“…sounds like it?” Her smile was a little more forced as she rang them up with rapid, practiced grace. Hedge laid down the funds. The transaction was over with another layer of required social niceties, and they were outside again, Vladia clutching a bag that contained her confections.

“Let’s get back quick.”

“…hey. V?” Hedge slid into the car, tucking his own bag behind the seat.

“I know, I know, just - punch it.”

“No, really.” He smiled. “That was pretty good. I’m proud of you.”

“…what.”

“I know this kind of thing puts you on edge. You coped, you got through it. So… yeah. Good on you.” He scruffed her hair - and then opened the glove compartment, and fished out something wrapped in plastic. A single napkin, wrapped with a plastic knife, and… a spoon. She blinked a few times, squinting at him.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t see a reason for you to wait for your sweet, sweet reward?”

“No, why do you HAVE this in the car?”

“Oh. Uh… whoever usually borrows this car likes to be prepared.”

“…there are ketchup packets in there.”

“Yeah.”

“Hot sauce. Hand sanitizer. More napkins - how often do people eat in here?” She already had a pint of Phish Food open and was shoveling it into her mouth. Her rant could pause a beat. She could enjoy this. And… she could check off one more 'regular’ thing that she could get through.

Not a bad evening, all things told.