Day 56: Callahan's Grocer (Morning)

[boketa]

Goku was stuck against against the windows of the Doyleton grocery store. It was likely the young boy's face was fused to the thick glass now that he'd been standing there for about ten minutes, transfixed by the amount of food that was sitting in one location. What were the odds?! It was a chance too good to pass up. Honestly, when would this food

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[dual_worlds]

As Spock had been informed, he'd been placed in confinement for the duration of last night (although it was worth noting he didn't remember any of it). Unfortunately, today's schedule made it almost impossible for him to locate the other crew members unless they happened to be assigned to the same bus. Within a few minutes of finding his seat, Spock realized that he'd ultimately need to make contact with them once they reached their destination.

Of course, he'd been interested to see how the new regime would carry out their excursion into Doyleton, or if the weekly trip would be canceled altogether. It seemed like, for an organization concerned so concerned with conserving their resources, they wouldn't have spent the money to dress their guards and bring the subjects into town. However, Spock knew it was also important to consider how they appeared to outsiders. Judging by the military's behavior, it was obvious they did not want to alert outsiders to their presence within Landel's Institute. In all likelihood, this concern would affect other aspects of their captivity in the future.

Still, it was odd that they'd received an allowance for the day. Spock wasn't certain whether they had an ulterior motive, or if they were simply keen to find other ways to reward captives based off of their rank.

In the meantime, Spock was interested in making contact with Kirk, McCoy or Nyota. Although he'd failed to locate them among the intermingling crowd of patients pouring into Doyleton, he'd heard there was a bulletin board in this part of town. However, since it wasn't in a centralized location Spock couldn't say that he knew Kirk had left a note or even knew where it was located.

There was a patient he recognized, though. There was Goku, his face pressed stubbornly against the glass window of Callahan's Grocer. Quirking an eyebrow, the Vulcan approached him from behind.

"What are you doing?" he asked. In all likelihood it was irrelevant to what Spock needed at that moment, but he was privately curious to understand Goku's strange behavior.

[doneinthree]

Where the last Doyleton outing had been characterized by rain, this one had snow, falling in heavy, steady flakes from the grey sky. Which was fine. Awesome, even. Kirk might have spent the last three years in San Francisco, but he'd grown up in Iowa, state of corn and predictably unpredictable snow storms. And it wasn't like he'd recently gotten his fill of snow after having been forced to venture several hours across the frozen tundra of Delta Vega in order to reach the only Starfleet outpost on the surface or anything like that.

Kirk sighed and stopped where he was to turn his face up to the sky, closing his eyes at the icy brush of snowflakes on his skin. Fine, he wasn't really bothered by the weather. The clothes they'd shoved onto him weren't pretty, but they were warm enough. If he got through today without getting crippled by a cold, he'd be satisfied. It wasn't that but the health of the rest of his crew which preoccupied his thoughts - and his irritation. The bus ride over had confirmed that Uhura was fine, but Uhura was the one he'd been least worried about.

Not counting those who weren't current prisoners of Landel's (a whole other can of worms he wasn't touching, for the sake of his sanity), that left Spock, who'd been taken for observation, and Bones, who... well. Kirk didn't know where to begin there, except that his absolute first priority right now was to track down both of them. He hadn't spotted either in the confusion of arrival, but Doyleton wasn't that big. Someone had mentioned a bulletin board at the grocer's. Probably a long shot - he wasn't sure why either Bones or Spock would want to stop for groceries, even with ten dollars in their pockets - but hell, what was Kirk's life except an endless series of long shots?

Evidently, it wasn't long enough. He'd barely taken five steps in resuming his walk to Callahan's when he spotted a dark lanky figure ahead, actually standing right in front of his intended destination. Kirk's face lit up with a grin which was one part incredulity, two parts relief, and one part knowledge that he was an insufferably lucky bastard. Whatever, he'd been right.

His stride lengthened as he moved to meet up with Spock, and... the child he was talking to, apparently. Spock liked kids? Go figure.

[boketa]

Whoa. Whoa, WHOOOOA! Someone was magically materializing--Oh, no, it was just Spock. The young boy turned around and lifted the brim of his yellow rain hat so he could see the man better.

"Hi, Spock!" He called, louder than what was socially acceptable. Spock had said something, but the moment was gone and so the monkey boy smiled vacantly while the silence between them sung with tension. Thankfully, Goku's cyclical mind filled in the blanks without preamble. "I'm hungry!" He whined before pointing a stubby finger at the woman behind the table of fresh produce sitting outside. "But she won't let me eat anything!"

"If you give me money, I'll let you have that apple, kid."

The woman's request was met with wide eyes and a huff. Every time, she kept coming back to this money thing! Well, he didn't have it and he can't recall the last time he had to give a tree money for one of its apples.

"Those apples aren't yers! You stole 'em from the trees, and trees give 'em up without money! Yer not playin' fair! Witch!" Oh, it was on now! Goku would not let anyone stand between him and his food!

[dual_worlds]

As usual, Goku had no concept of how to behave in a public area. This shouldn't have surprised Spock, and in all honesty it didn't. Even so, the sides of his eyes faintly tightened at the loud greeting. That volume level wasn't comfortable for his ears, nor was it appropriate when they needed to avoided drawing attention to themselves.

When he sensed someone else approaching, Spock glanced over in time to see Kirk. That captain appeared to be in good health, and it seemed he'd been able to locate him. Perhaps they'd even had similar intentions regarding the bulletin board. Admittedly, it would have been more convenient if they'd found each other before Spock had approached Goku, but there was no use in thinking that now.

Still, it would be difficult to leave Goku when it was clear he was about to provoke a civilian, and perhaps the disguised soldiers who were guarding them. Such a scenario could place the other subjects in the area in unnecessary danger, which seemed to be one of the boy's talents. Mouth tightening into a thin line, he turned to look at Goku again.

"You have money," he promptly pointed out. "Where is your card? Show it to her." Although he didn't entirely know the state of the economic system in this alternate early 21st century, he suspected it would be enough to purchase an apple.

[doneinthree]

Kirk arrived at Callahan's only in time to catch Spock's comment, but it was easy enough to guess what was going on between the young boy and the woman running the produce stand. How old was he? Ten, maybe as old as twelve? He might've been the youngest patient he'd seen so far, younger even than he'd assumed Landel or Aguilar wanted in their experiments, but Kirk had also seen far too much in these last two weeks to be surprised by the inclusion of young children. Although he doubted the boy was helpless (given what little he'd guessed of the Institute's criteria), it was probably a good thing Spock had stepped in. Somehow Kirk didn't think being a little kid would endear him to the townspeople, or save him from punishment with the "staff" who were already eyeing the scene.

"Friend of yours?" he asked Spock, the corner of his mouth curving in amusement. Maybe levity was a touch inappropriate given all that had passed last night, but Spock appeared to be physically and mentally in one piece, and Kirk was damn well going to be happy about that much. Delaying a few minutes to debrief his first officer wasn't going to change anything, anyway.

[boketa]

"Card?" Goku began to frantically check his person under all that shiny yellow plastic and denim. Eventually he came into contact with a hard rectangle that he had been chewing on in the bus. One of the witches had seen him and told him to stop before he ruined it. The monkey boy hadn't listened of course, so there were a few teeth marks around one corner of it.

He raised it up in the air and the clerk said,"Yeah, that'll work. Here--" She said as she bagged the produce and handed it to the boy. "You'll have to pay for it inside, I don't have a credit card machine--Don't eat it until you've paid for it!" The woman was at the end of her rope dealing with these wild patients. She turned her hard gaze on the two adults of the ragtag group. "Make sure he pays for that."

[dual_worlds]

"'Acquaintance' is more accurate," Spock simply replied in response to Kirk's question. "He has an incredibly perceptive sense of smell, which was once of help to me."

Granted, that help had come at a price. Goku had been so startled by the radio message that Spock had to later ask Ema for a rough transcription instead of hearing it for himself.

The woman didn't seem pleased by the boy's ignorance, and it appeared she was placing responsibility on him and Kirk. They could handle the transaction themselves, at least. Spock knew it was likely best to do that than leave Goku be, considering he was likely to cause a commotion if left on his own for too long.

"Understood," he said, then motioned toward the direction they needed to go. "This way, Goku. You must use your card at the register before you are allowed to eat." Spock glanced toward Kirk, a silent request for his aid. There was a chance the boy would wander off or refuse to comply, and Spock wanted to avoid making physical contact if possible. Someone as uninhibited as Goku would be uncomfortable for a touch telepath as himself.

[doneinthree]

"Acquaintance," Kirk echoed, not even bothering to hide his smile now. Trust Spock to treat even a child with all the cool detachment of a taxidermist. Granted, being a child in Landel's still put you in the exact position as anyone else (which was to say, hell on Earth and a hundred other planets), but it was a little hard to view the boy with such gravity when he was scampering around like an overexcited yellow duckling - and with Spock overseeing the situation like the put-upon mother duck.

Oh, how Kirk would've liked to see the two of them work together. "Any friend of Spock's is a friend of mine," he announced brightly, stepping forward to trigger the automatic sliding doors into the store. "Goku, right? I'm Jim." He couldn't say that he had any more experience with children than Spock (any at all would still put him above Kirk), but how hard could it be to pay for a single apple?

He let the other two pass before him before going through the doors himself, which put him alongside Spock again. Kirk glanced over to him, suddenly serious again. "Are you alright?"

yessss, how hard could it be?

[boketa]

"Yeah, I'm Goku! Nice ta meetcha!" He answered with childish zeal.

Everything was going rather smoothly until this new person named Jim exhibited signs of witchcraft. Goku jumped back from the sliding glass doors as if they were a giant maw, ready to pulverize him. He took a fighting stance, but the monkey boy seemed the only one cautious of the strange monster. Both Kirk and Spock entered without consequence. So, mustering up the courage (because that apple needed to be his right now!), Goku leaped over the threshold unharmed. Yes! Goku: 498, Monsters: 0!

Taking quick steps, he caught up with the two adults. He didn't mind picking up the rear since it gave him plenty of time to gawk to his heart's content. There was so much food! It was almost overwhelming. Goku had to come up with a plan to tackle this paradise.