<blockquote>"I think... I can't really remember, but I think they're having a sale on extra-small condoms, too, so you might wanna stock up," Radin responded when Cayson inquired about other deals. If he hadn't been wearing prescription sunglasses, his friends would have been able to see the teasingly mischievous glint in his eyes. "Get a few boxes, you know, just in case you feel like getting a little spunky..." Though, with whom Cayson would be getting spunky, Radin did not elaborate. He simply wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, then continued to face forward, intent on finding the grocery store and getting their shopping done. Cay could think whatever he wanted about what Radin had said — that it was a mere joking mockery, or that it perhaps had other implications, such as a romance between Cayson and himself, or even Cay and Winger... In any case, Radin didn't think his orange friend would take offense at any of the implications. After all, they'd fooled around with each other before, and, well... they both liked Winger... I really do wonder if those two might like each other, and want to hook up, exclusively, the green male's mind rambled, slipping from thoughts of fruits and vegetables back to a possible romance between his friends. Maybe my joke was actually my way of trying to cajole facts out of them... eek. I'm not subconsciously jealous, am I? Eww. Just then, Rad noticed that they'd reached the store. The weight of the three combined pendragons easily caused the doors to slide open, and soon they were out of the light and the heat, and facing row upon row of gleaming tiles, light fixtures, and confectures for every taste bud...
Cayson laughed out loud at Radin's condom crack. "Aw, man. It's not my fault that you're the one that's packing." Cayson grinned widely, leaning a little so that he could look at Radin from over Stormwing. He caught part of Radin's eyebrow wiggling and that set him off. He fell into a fit of compulsive giggling. He liked to laugh this one did. It felt good. Specially those laughs that hit the depths of your belly and echoed right on through the rest of your body. Had Radin been walking beside him instead of Stormwing, he would have clapped him on the back. A friendly "all's well" gesture. He wasn't though. Cayson made a mental note right then. Maybe he'd corner him inside or something... He stroked his chin, a most devious gesture, as the trio entered the grocery store. Once inside, Cayson gave an exuberant flourishing wave to the store's door greeter, who surprised, waved back with a startled smile on her face. She'd obviously seen too many sour faced customers already today. Cayson then headed over to the rows of carts. He pulled out one, discarded it because it was annoying and squeaky, and then settled upon the second one in the row. It was slick and rolled smooth. "Dry goods first...? Or...?" He asked as he started to move the cart over toward his waiting friends.
<blockquote>Radin shook a fist at Cayson, a mockingly stern look upon his face, before he turned to survey the grocer's gleaming interior. The other arden's joke, as well as the sights in here, distracted him from anymore potentially envious thoughts. Just as his eyes were straying over a nearby fruit stand, Cayson called out. "Dry goods first...? Or...?" Radin padded over to join him at the carts, nodding at the suggestion. The fruit could wait. Meanwhile, Stormwing had already passed up the carts, and was wandering up the first aisle. Which, by coincidence, or perhaps not, was the canned food aisle. As she strolled along, she pulled random goods off the shelf, stock-piling them in her arms. She cast back intermittent looks at the boys as she went, as if asking them to hurry up so she could empty her arms into the cart. "Stop being so anal about whether it squeaks," she called to Case. "Just get one over here." Just then, a nearby nioti began screaming, and Storm jumped. She looked away from the ardens and towards the sound. A kiom — probably the young one's grandmother — was trying to hush the young pendragon. But his wailing went on and on, and he pounded his fists. Winger's ears laid back as she watched, bothered by the high-pitched shouting. Perhaps, if she hadn't recently been honing her Zen-master skills, she would have burst out at the mother to shut her kid up... Instead, now, she calmly set her jaw, tucked her cans to her chest, and walked back towards Radin and Cayson, whom were still nearby to the carts. "Kids. I never want one of those," she said passively as she dropped the cans into the cart. "Maybe it's things like that that make the grocer put the condoms on sale."
Cayson had amiably grinned at Radin as he shook a fist at him. He was always such a good sport. Able to give and take jokes as easily as he breathed air it seemed. With the cart selected, and Radin still moderately nearby, Cayson lightly elbowed his suave companion. "I don't think she knows a thing about the skill and nature of shopping cart selection. No sir'ee! The acquisition of raw and processed goods is just utterly demolished if one's cart has a constantly squeaky wheel." He said this last sentence in an authorative matter-of-fact tone of voice. Cayson gently pushed the cart. It rolled effortlessly, almost without a sound, a few inches away from him. Must have been recently greased, he thought. He looked up as the sound of a screaming youngster cut through the market's otherwise comfortably humming atmosphere. Someone wasn't buying them their favourite cereal? Who knew. Cayson spotted the noise maker, struggling with a kiom and outright throwing a fit. Case snickered quietly to himself, leaned lightly on the push-bar of the cart, and fixed his eyes on the scene. He then started to go through a variety of what he liked to think of as funny faces. Eventually the wailing youngster caught sight of this ever changing display of facial antics. There was a moment of silence as the nioti stopped crying and looked at Cayson as if he were an escaped circus freak. Cayson then made another face, and the nioti broke out in a new collection of wailings, perhaps even a pitch higher than the last. "Oh well," Cayson murmured softly. The kiom who had been trying to calm the small child now hastily ushered him away. It took a while, but the wailings eventually died down. Cayson's eyebrows rose, amused, as Stormwing mentioned why she thought the condoms were on sale. During the kid's screaming episode she had returned to them and the cart, arms loaded with some goods. "Oh, I don't know. They're not all bad. I think I might want to have some. Someday anyway. Maybe." A puzzled expression befell Cayson's face. He really hadn't given the idea of progeny much thought. Then, with a chuckle he added, "I was a bit of a screamer myself... well, sort of still am."
<blockquote>Storm subconsciously tilted her head, ears pricked as the kiom ushered her grandchild away. There was eventually a surcease in the wailing, and for the first time since entering the small grocer's, the thill recognized other noises. The quiet humming of the fluorescent light fixtures. The faint, mellow sound of music playing over the loudspeakers. Cart wheels rolling smoothly along the tile that looked like two-dimensional teeth, whitened to perfection by the reflection of the lights. Amidst these noises, there was no more crying, but she did notice the faint murmur of a squeaky wheel. She looked at Cayson as if she expected him to gasp at this noise, but he didn't seem to hear it. Not surprising, really. Of the three of them, she had the largest ears, and henceforth the best hearing. "Well, good for you, Cay," Winger spoke in belated reply, after she'd finished scrutinizing the store's myriad of noises. "If you have the time, the patience, and the money for kids, go for it. I'd rather be unchained for the rest of my mortal life, thank-you very much." She was about to go on, but then Radin cut into her small rant with a little joke. "Kids aside, you should really ask him for details on the screaming." "Why?" "Because it's so, so true," Radin responded. Without elaborating anything else, he began to pad up the aisle, to the place where Storm had been minutes before. Without looking back to see reactions, he began to select some cans off the shelves. "That was pretty ambiguous," Winger said, turning her attention back to the orange arden. She could imagine what the green Dragyn was speaking about — but why such a succinctly sexual comment here? Was he trying to embarrass Cayson? Nah, that was too out of character for Radin. But maybe... maybe he was trying to make her feel uncomfortable, somehow? Improbable. Radin was a big, fat sweetheart, and she was wrong to think low things about him. She brushed aside her thoughts, and continued her dialogue towards the sun-colored male. "And I'm not going to ask for details. You two can keep them all bunched up in Radin's toolbelt, where they belong." With that, she began to stroll up aisle two, soon drawing nearby to Radin. She'd already selected her choices however, and it wasn't long before she reached the end of the aisle. With one glance back — the shade-clad Radin was reaching atop a high shelf to grab a can of pilldickle nectar, and Cayson was still a few feet behind him, wheeling the cart — she then disappeared around the end cap to begin browsing aisle two: the fruits.
Cayson silently hung his jacket on the cart's push bar, thinking heavily as he did so. Something wasn't quite right with this situation. Even though he had laughed at Radin's further mentioning of his screaming, it had seemed awkward. "Yeah, yeah..." he had said in response to Stormwing's comment on the ambiguity of Radin's words. Though, they really weren't all that ambiguous if your mind was in the gutter. Radin had only been joking though. Right? Then why couldn't get the feeling of stabbing meanness out of his head? Surely Radin wasn't meaning to be hurtful. Maybe he'd only gotten a little careless with his wording. Some wire had been mistakenly crossed somehow. Whatever the case, Cay watched as Stormwing disappeared into the next aisle. He hung back for a few seconds before pushing the cart up beside Radin and parking it. He lightly drummed his fingers on the push bar, meeting Radin's eyes with a questioning gaze when he finally retrieved the pilldickle nectar. "Rad," he began cheerfully. "Walk with me, talk with me. Is something up?" His tone was calm and casual as was his stance as he leaned lightly against the cart. He wasn't exactly expecting Radin to tell him precisely what the problem was, if there even was one at all. Specially in such a public place like this. Maybe he would give him a hint though.
<blockquote>"Rad, walk with me, talk with me. Is something up?" Radin winced at these words. He'd thought that he was being more subtle... but perhaps the green monster within him, no matter how small, had exposed itself in his words, in his jokes. Giving his friend a sideways glance, he was glad the sheepish gleam of his eye was hidden by his prescription shades. He suddenly felt a little ashamed of himself... if not for having acted a little envious, then for then simply thinking jealous thoughts. "I... well... I guess I'm just curious about you and Storm, to be honest. I'm sorry if I've seemed a little rude 'n crude, it's just been gnawing at my subconscious a little." He reached an arm up to rub at the back of his neck as the two strode down the aisle, Cayson quiet as he maneuvered the cart alongside Radin. "Anyway, what I'm wondering about is whether you two might..." Just then, Radin heard a scream, and it cut off his voice. Startled, his ears pivoted around, and he tried to guess where the sound had come from. Even as he did so, he realized it hadn't been a terrified scream, like someone had discovered a writhing worm in the steak freezer. It sounded more like a... giddy shriek. The kind a teenage girl would utter on an emotional whim. "What was that?" Radin asked, and even as he did so, he scurried to the next aisle. He'd had a sudden guess about the noise, and its origins. As he scampered around the end cap and peered down aisle two, his premonition was proved true. Two young thills were on either side of Stormwing, chattering away amiably. One was so excited — that, or audacious — that she had a fierce clutch on Storm's arm, and was squealing in her ear like they were best friends. Radin winced as he saw this uncomfortable situation, but he didn't immediately approach. Like he'd said earlier, he was a little more gay than straight, and he had little stomach when it came to writhing, squealing, exciteable girls like these. "Er, what do we do?" The green Dragyn muttered when Cayson rounded the aisle, still leaning on the push bar of the cart. "Peg them with cans of pork and beans or find the nearest broom and swat them with it?"
Cayson had been listening avidly to Radin's words. His ears trained forward, still leaning easily on the cart. It had something to do with Stormwing of course. At first Cayson was a little taken aback. Mildly startled by his friend's words. That had both agreed that Winger was indeed a mighty fine specimen. Neither of them had argued about that. She had been a wicked addition to their little posse, not only because of her reputation, but also because of her sleek looks and sharp attitude. Now unless Cayson was mistaken, Radin was feeling a little... displaced? Before Radin could finish, and before Cayson could reply with some reassurance, they were interrupted by a scream. Cayson stood stock still, his feet rooted to the floor in confusion. Radin broke away from him to investigate. Realizing that it wasn't a scream of distress, Cayson shook his head with a small laugh and pushed the cart slowly after Radin. At last he rounded the corner. Radin was there, gazing at the scene before them. Er, what do we do? Radin had asked him. Peg them with cans of pork and beans or find the nearest broom and swat them with it? The orange arden muffled his follow up laugh with his right hand. "Broom. Definately broom. Wouldn't want to waste good cans on them. I think a taser gun would be even more suitable though." He watched for a moment. Stormwing obviously wasn't enjoying the rabid attention she was getting. Some pendragons just didn't know how to control their excitement levels it seemed. Motor mouths. Thankfully their type was usually easy to detect, pretty harmless (as long as you just nodded along with what they were saying and maybe said an occasional "uh huh"), but not always that easy to get away from. "Ah, hello ladies," Cayson began loudly, drawing attention to himself. "We're sort of busy shopping. Getting supplies, you know? Maybe we'll see you cuties later tonight?" That last part was a lie of course. He had no intention to meet up with these two. He was even thinking about spending the night in... even though there was supposed to be a particularly big bash going on. Someone's birthday apparently. Cayson couldn't even recall the name of the birthday pendragon at the moment, only that there had been a party attached to it. He'd most likely remember the name in good time.
<blockquote>All she'd heard was a ululating shriek, and then Stormwing had found herself the unwitting captive of two overexcited teenage girls. Now, even several minutes after they'd caught sight of her and pounced, she was still stuck in their grip like a bug on fly paper. They were squealing about how pretty she was, about how unjust it had all been, about what a nasty bitch that Koani was... but Storm wasn't listening. She was looking around the grocery store with pleading eyes, wondering when her two knights were going to save her. Luckily, Radin and Cayson soon appeared. Though the green arden looked a little uncertain of what to do, his friend padded forth with ease, chatting down the ladies. Miraculously, they eased their grip on Stormwing, seduced just by Cay's sing-song voice, and they waddled over to him, ever-enthusiastic as they told him how cute he was, asked him which party he was going to, and did he have a girlfriend? Storm sighed as she watched them surround him now, and she rubbed her arm. She waited for the squeaking, squeeling, squeeing pair to leave the orange Cayson alone, and they soon walked off, politely dismissed by his words. Though he'd just subtly told them to piss off, they hadn't caught his nuance, and as they giggled their way up aisle two towards the door to the grocer's, and exited, they were still whispering to each other and laughing and being insanely obnoxious. "God, dammit," was all Storm said after they'd left. "I hate people like that. Don't they realize you're more than just some 'celebrity'?" Even as she said it, she rolled her eyes, and rejoined the ardens at the cart. She leaned heavily on the push bar, in Cayson's old position, then turned to look at him. "In case you want to reclaim your cart-pushing duties — no. If something like that happens again, I want to have a cart to put between me and them. Or use as a weapon, if it comes to that."
No longer in any danger, Cayson chuckled to himself. "They just wanted some ego stroking, that's all. They'll have something new to tell those little leeches they friends as well. Eeee! Guess who we met at the grocery store today?! Guessguessguess!" he squealed, imitating one of the girl's voices. Cayson shuddered. "I hope they choke to death on their own waggling tongues." He then looked over at Stormwing who had stolen his position as cart pusher. "I guess if it were fully loaded, and you rammed it into someone, it'd hurt... we should try it out if those things come back. Or maybe have a test run with one of the store's employees." He looked around sharply, trying to catch sight of a uniformed employee. There were none in their general vicinity though. "Maybe we can just play bumper carts in the check out lane later on then. So, right." Cayson blinked, realizing that they were still in the fruit section. Speaking of fruits, Radin appeared to have shuffled away. Most likely incredibly put off by the thills and their squealing. He didn't blame him. Cayson loathed the type as well. "Um. What were those things that your mushy, uh, Scooter liked? I can't remember if we got them here or not," he asked Stormwing, although he wasn't exactly thinking about Scooter. His mind was slowly drifting back to his exchanged words with Radin before they had been interrupted.
<blockquote>Winger smiled and shook her head at Cayson's jokes, even as she leaned forward on the cart and began to push it up the remainder of the aisle. She tried her best to forget the girls whom had just 'assaulted' her, and focused on her friend's singsong voice. When he eventually stopped talking, after a query about Scooter's food, her white-tipped ears twitched, and she looked over at him with her mismatched eyes. "He likes most fruits... they don't sell valli chow here, though. They sell that the fresh market, or the pet store," she informed him. Silence ensued now, and the thill turned her head to look up the aisle. The green Radin was further along, browsing, not really picking and choosing, just looking. Storm's tail swished as she wondered if something was bothering her verdant friend, but she didn't say anything. She just kept pushing the cart, until they reached the end of the aisle, at which point she turned to Cay and said, "Can you please scope out aisle three, make sure there's no rabid teenage girls over there, before I go over?"
"Yeah, yeah, I believe it. That must be why he likes Radin and I so much," Cayson said as he disappeared around into the next aisle in order to check it out. He saw no sign of any rabid teenagers. In fact, there was just an older thill near the other end of the aisle, looking carefully at a few products in order to make a selection. Cayson would have called her a kiom, but that word looked as if it may just offend her. Sure she looked older, but her clothing, her makeup, marked her out as one who was desperately trying to hold onto her youth. Cayson hovered for a moment, discreetly watching her out of the corner of his eye as he pretended to look interested in some shelved goods. She made four more selections before she looked as if she were ready to go. Cayson pivoted on one foot, about to turn around and give Winger the all clear when the stranger caught his eye. She didn't seem too enthralled. Cayson smiled politely before taking off out of the aisle hastily. Okay, so perhaps he hadn't been so discreet in his observations. He just wasn't cut out for that sort of thing it seemed. Rounding the corner he nearly walked right into the cart Stormwing was currently attached too. Instead his blue banded fingers closed around the other end of the cart as he came to a jerking stop. "Whoa! You almost ran me over!" He was kidding of course. He was the one who had nearly run into her. "The way's all clear though. No rabid fan girls waiting to talk your ears off." He let go of the cart and moved out of the way, leading Stormwing around the bend. Much to his relief, the kiom whom he had been watching earlier had already left.
<blockquote>Storm stuck her pierced tongue out as Cayson as he pretended to be hit by the cart, and then the two friends turned around the corner and found themselves in aisle three — boxed goods. The brown thill looked left, then right, then left again, eyeing the contents of the shelves. Cereal, flour, baking soda, and all sorts of powders flanked each other, each boasting a bright label. She tried to think if she needed anything that came in a box. Storm was rather fond of the breakfast cereal with marshmallows... but that was one of those things she could do without. Thus, she quickly moved down the aisle, pushing the nearly empty cart before her, until she reached the end. A quick sniff told her meats was the next section, but she stood still, waiting for her companions to catch up. Radin was in the middle of the aisle, reading the nutrition facts on the back of a bran cereal. Or that's what it looked like. As Winger watched him from a slight distance, she thought she felt his gaze on her, as if he was staring at her out of the corner of his eye. It was hard to tell with those sunglasses. In any case, she looked away, idly brushing red-dyed tips out of her face. She watched a pendragon couple brush past, pushing a cart full of beer and other party supplies, and waited some more.
Cayson retrieved a few packaged boxes of some mixes for sauces and a few other things. He passed by the cereal though and landed right in front of the stacked coffee grounds. He knew that he could probably survive a day (weeks maybe?) on just coffee alone. He pulled his favourite brand off of the shelf and settled it into his loaded arms. Stormwing was already at the end of the aisle, waiting for them. He walked toward her, carefully placing his load of groceries into the cart so that nothing they had picked up earlier would get squished. He felt as if he were being scrutinized somehow. It made some of the shorter hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Cayson brushed that off though. It probably just had to do with the grocery store itself. He'd never really liked public places like this. They let just about everyone in. "So what's next? I know we've got the liquids to hit up as well. They stash those in the back though so that customers have to wade through everything else first. Placement marketing..." he trailed off, looking up at Winger and wondering what had caught her attention.
As Stormwing and Cayson meandered towards the end of the aisle, Radin kept an eye on the pair. He was pretending to be interested in the nutrition label on a box of bran cereal, but he wasn't actually reading it at all. Hidden behind his prescription sunglasses, his dark eyes were on his friends, as his mind idly wandered. They seemed jokey, and more prone to kid around with each other rather than with him. But, Radin reminded himself, now slipping the bran cereal back onto the shelf, and turning to sidle towards them, it was probably all in his head. And it was bad to let this peculiar jealousy manifest itself in his behaviors. Checking himself, he smiled as he approached his friends, and clapped his green hands together, as if suddenly refreshed and ready for anything. "Who's ready to pick out a juicy steak?" Radin asked, and he stepped in front of the two to guide the group into the next aisle. It was cooler here, of course, as the various cuts of meat had to be refrigerator. Whereas his interest in the cereal had been false, the green Dragyn's curiosity here was really and truly piqued. There was just something so delectable abou raw slabs of meat, squishy and succulent, squeezed by Saran wrap. It gave him the giddyshivers. In fact, he liked them so much, the teenager couldn't help but reach out a finger to prod one, grinning as he did so. All envious thoughts had completely fled his mind.
Meat. Although Cayson himself rather prided himself on being a carnivore (he had tried to become a vegetarian at one point in time, only to fail miserably), he often had conflicting thoughts about store bought meat products. Most things you bought in the store were already dead. Already chopped up into neat pink slabs. In a way, Cayson felt that it was cheating. It removed the hunting process from the entire chain... making everyone dependent upon the supermarkets. Despite his feelings, Cayson himself wasn't much of a hunter. Just like how he wasn't much of a spy. The sight of blood could at times even make him feel a little squeamish. He'd been born with a silver spoon in his mouth after all. Never having to worry about just where, or how food was to be provided. Most everything was at his fingertips. All he had to do was ask. In a way, Stormwing was now sharing his wealth. That settlement that she and her friend had gotten had come out of his mother's pocket. That much he knew... although Koani had been a little loathe to tell him much of anything else. He hadn't seen much of her since then and hadn't seen his Grandfather in who knows how long. Ever since his Grandmother died, which seemed to be what had caused this entire mess. A disastrous ripple effect. He supposed that he was still unsure about what to make of Stormwing. She, like the rest of the school, didn't know he was of Grader blood. Radin of course knew, being his closest confidante since childhood, as well as a few other Dragyn's, but that was really it. Stormwing had beaten up his Mother. That in itself was mind boggling. Shouldn't he hate her for that? He thought that perhaps he should. But here he was, having moved into her dormitory with Radin, laughing, and rolling with the jokes. Cayson grinned at Radin as stepped forward, clasped his hands together and led them into the meat department. The cooler air was refreshing and the scents wafting in the air ever so delightful. There were slickly packaged meats and some more of the fresher cuts behind glass display cases. Cayson laughed as Radin reached out and poked one of the squishy packages. Radin sure had his quirks. Cay loved him for those. "Playing with your food, tch," he said with an amused shake of his head. "What would your Mother think?" Cayson chuckled and moved up to the meat counter, intent on getting some of their favourite fresh cuts. While waiting for the butcher to fill his order, Cayson leaned lightly against the glass display case. Stormwing was idling by Radin, and Cayson found himself looking at her. I should hate you, he thought to himself, but I don't...
Chuckling at Radin's statement, Stormwing tailed after him, pushing the cart as she went. She was glad for the stark coolness the next section offered, and she let her mismatched eyes wander of the choice cuts and selections of meat. She, like Cayson, was proud to be a carnivore, but she wasn't nearly as enthralled about meat as Radin seemed to be. As the Dragyn prodded some of the pre-packaged steaks, Storm found herself chuckling more. Figuring Radin could pick out enough meat for the three of them, Storm didn't browse much. She just followed after her friends down the aisle, her tail flicking, and her ears swiveling as she listened to the buzz of the refrigeration machines. As she moved, though, she felt Cayson looking briefly at her, and she looked back, wondering what was on his mind. Despite what the orange arden thought, Stormwing did know about his relations to Koani... or, at least, she'd been told about them. She couldn't remember the source — just some pendragon in Watani — but she remembered being whispered to about her roommate's parentage. She had been surprised and dubious, of course, and wondered why Cayson had never mentioned it, if it was true... and also why he, despite everything, still seemed to like her. Sometimes, in paranoid moments, she wondered if he was some sort of spy for his so-called mother, giving Koani feedback on how Storm was spending the settlement funds. When she thought thoughts like that, it gave her a sick feeling in her stomach, like a worm was crawling around in there. She really hoped he wasn't anything like that. Now, though, Cayson's gaze was upon her again, and she didn't feel anything intrusive or hateful about it. In fact, it seemed affectionate. But she really didn't know what to think about it — she actually preferred not to think about it at all.
Cayson hummed a small tune to himself as he helped Radin load the cart with their various meat selections. The butcher was watching them with a strange look in his eye. Perhaps he felt a little shown up. Cayson supposed that that guy himself liked meat, but compared to Radin's fetish? The butcher's love was minute, almost laughable. "Guess we've just got the beverages left, and well, whatever junk food we want to pick up on the way to the checkout," he said once they had finished loading. Cay himself was starting to feel a little distant. He supposed that maybe his morning coffee had finally worn off. Or it could be a mixture of that, and those conflicting thoughts. He guessed that he'd have to have a talk with Stormy sometime. Perhaps with Radin there as well, although he already knew the story. Maybe then he'd be able to get on with things. What would her reaction be though? Would she demand him out of her sight? Cayson didn't know... and there was but only one way to find out. The only problem was, he kept on stalling. Maybe he'd tell her today, or maybe tomorrow...
Brushing her thoughts aside, Storm followed the two ardens towards the end of the aisle. Like Cayson had said, they were almost done. They just had to pick up a few cartons of soda, and maybe some juice... some bags of junk food, too, of course. Then, they'd be on their way out of this place. Personally, Stormwing was eager to leave. What with her encounter with the squealing teenaged fans, and now her weird thoughts about Cay, she was ready to get out of here and get her mind on something more... distracting. "I want some diet cherry cola," the thill said idly as they rounded into the last aisle. This, too, was a refrigerated section. They were surrounded on all sides by packages of soda, jugs of milk, cartons of juice, bottles of water... and the list went on. She would have gotten her own drinks, but she was too busy guiding the cart. "And some citrus soda, too," she added. Radin gave her the thumbs-up to acknowledge her, and then began to dive into the various iceboxes. Using both hands, he dragged both of Stormwing's requested cartons out, and then dived back in to get his own choice drinks. Soon, the cart was completely full, though the Dragyn had somehow ensured that none of their other foods — most importantly, the soft, squishy steaks — had not been squashed. "Let's head to the register?" Radin asked, looking now between Stormwing and Cayson.
"Ayuh, register it is," Cayson said as he snatched his coat casually off of the cart's push bar. He fumbled for a moment with one of it's pockets. Finally getting it open he pulled out a hand held messaging device. A small red button on it was blinking furiously. He'd forgotten to check it this morning. Oops. The flat display informed him that he had 23 new messages. Cay flicked through them all as they headed over to the register in order to pay for their goods. All of them - crap - save for one. It was from Jaceen and all she had sent him was a time and date with a question mark. Trying to confirm a time for supper sometime this week. It had been getting tougher for them to see each other now that Cayson's schedule (and incessant need for partying it seemed) tended to conflict with Jaceen's already busy schedule. Jaceen would have to wait for a reply though, as Cayson was still unsure just what he'd be doing later on this week. Things tended to just, crop up on him. He jammed the small device back into his coat pocket with a faint sigh once they had entered into a short check out line.
