(no subject)
3 February 2007:
Despite how much warmer the store is then outside Kathryn's still bundled up, only now the front of her coat is open, and her scarf is dangling from a coat pocket, instead of around her neck. A shopping basket is balanced in the crook of one arm as she's crouched down in the aisle, looking over the varities of vegtable soups. She's pulling cans from the shelves, looking them over, returning some of them, a few make their way into her basket. Not many though. Who knew picking soup could be so complicated.
Andre turns the corner away from the dairy section and walks down the soup aisle. That's right, walks. Not bumps, hobbles, or swings. It's not the most assured and steady walk that the world has ever seen, and it relies on the aid of a cane firmly gripped in his left hand, but both feet are touching the ground in the type of sequence that makes up normal everyday walking. A shopping basket is held in his right hand, containing small amounts of essential items. He too approaches the soup, eyeing the little discount tags under each brand and considering.
Lucy strolls the liquor isles, as usual, two bottles of wine and a case of Pear cider in her basket, as well as a rather unlikely variety of fruits and breads. It's warm in the store, and she carefully tugs at her scarf and buttons as she rounds the corner into the Premade Dinner aisle, intent on a several cans of spaghetti-o's. It does not take long for her to notice Andre in his careful stride, though the lack of crutches throws her. "Andre?" she says, "'S'that you, mate?"
Kathryn mutters something to herself as she returns yet another can to the shelf, then looks up quickly at the sound of a familiar name, and a familiar voice. Sitting back on her heels Kathryn turns to see the two also in the aisle with her, her gaze going quickly between them both. "Hey! Both of you!" She just grins at them both.
Turning to look in two directions at once is still difficult when one is walking with a cane. Andre stops in mid-reach for a can of beef barley vegetable soup (now with extra carrots) and elects to look in the direction of the first spoken words first. "Yeah," he begins as he turns his head. Recognition of Lucy comes after a second or two of looking, at which point he adds, "Hey!" He nods in greeting, then turns the other way, Kathryn's voice and face more immediately familiar. "And hey!"
She's heard of market run-ins before, but this was probably a first. With an easy smile she takes a few cans of Campbell's Chunky stew and tosses them in her basket, saying, "Kathryn, I didn't even see you! How are you, both?" She takes in Andre's cane and gives it a light poke. "No more crutches, then, eh?"
Kathryn grins a little wider. "It's okay, I'm just all down here sitting on the floor." She swivles to look towards Andre as well. "Yeah, lookin' better there, man! Feeling better too I hope?" Her gaze flickers to another can of soup with mild distaste before putting it back on the shelf as well.
"No more crutches!" Andre confirms. He sounds tired, but that doesn't mean he can't also sound thrilled. "As of Thursday. Six weeks was plenty!" He nods briskly, turning a broad grin toward Lucy and then toward Kathryn. "A little more tired, since I'm not used to this thing yet, but better. How about you two?"
"What did you /do/, anyway, Andre?" Lucy asks, coming round to Kathryn's side and investigating the soups she's perusing.
"Hey, that's great!" She grins to Andre, then continues. "Eh, I'm pretty cool. Never can seem to find one of these without a lot of peas in them though. Ugh." She gives an exaggerated shiver as she points across the beef vegetable soups, then reachs for Chicken instead.
Andre resumes his motion of pulling down that can of soup, the basket sliding down his forearm as he does so. "I didn't do anything," he explains in a tone that sounds /very/ practiced. "Got randomly mugged in an alley by someone way the heck bigger than me." Andre frowns, first at nothing in particular, then more deeply at the can of soup. "Peas are better than carrots. Cooked ones, I mean. The best part about them is the crunch, and they're just squishy in soup." The can is replaced.
Andre , Lucy, and Kathryn stand in the soup aisle of the grocery store. Lucy stands to one side of Andre, who is facing the cans of soup and who has a cane rather than crutches. Kathryn crouches on the other side, considering the types of soup lower down.
Natalie has a bag over one shoulder and a basket over one arm. Her step is quick and purposeful - just a few basic supplies on her way home - and it takes her directly through produce, where she grabs several apples, and then into pre-prepared foods. Soup. At the crowd in the aisle, she clears her throat. It is perhaps a bit pointed.
Lucy looks up at the cough a bit down the aisle. She does not recognize the brunette, but clearly Natalie recognizes them. Or at least her companions. Still, Lucy simply turns back to the soup and picks up a can of spaghetti-o's, trying to figure out if her basket has room.
"No! Eww!" Kathryn is quick to protest. "Carrots I'll eat. Peas are just /gross/! Especially if they're out of a can in any way, shape or form!" She shakes her head, opening her mouth to say something more, but pauses at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Turning to look in that direction she blinks, seeing another familiar face. "Hey!" She grins, scooting back out of the way to clear a bit more of the aisle. "It's becoming like old home week or something in here." Kathryn laughs. "Class of '07, theme: Soup!"
"I happen to like peas," Andre notes, picking up a can of split pea soup for emphasis. "They're good for cold weather in soup, I think. But carrots...really need to be raw, I'm sorry. Bugs Bunny could not do his whole shtick with a mooshy carrot." His upper lip curls back in what he thinks is showing bunny teeth, but this particular weirdness only lasts a couple of seconds. His face returns to normal at the sound of the throat clearing, and he shifts his position to look toward the sound. Recognition is again instant, but speech is quieter as he offers Natalie, "Uhm, hey."
"Kathryn" Lucy says seriously, "I don't know if we can be friends anymore if you don't like peas." She rearranges the spaghetti-o's in her basket, and catches the air of recognition among her company. She, of course, has no idea who Natlie is. "Hello, then," she says awkwardly, and gives a little obliging smile.
"Er-- hey." Natalie's gaze blinks surprise toward Kathryn, lingering on her for a moment before Andre begins to speak and her eyes whip toward him, startled and narrowed in the same instant. There's a moment in which she swallows, and then she turns a slight (oh so slight) nod to Andre. "Andre," she greets.
Kathryn only shakes her head quickly. "Really, I don't want to argue. Can't we all just accept our differences in taste and...eat whatever soup we like?" Her tone is mock serious, but her eyes dance with her own amusment. She falls quiet though as she watches the exchange between Natalie and Andre.
Andre lowers his arm, allowing the basket to slide back down to where he can release the can into it. He does so ungracefully, expression not even close to unfriendly, nor even entirely rid of his smile from the Great Soup War, but he continues to speak more quietly. "How are things?"
Natalie's hand finds the strap of her bag, fingers tightening there as her gaze ignores poor Kathryn and the stranger to fix solely on Andre. "Things are fine," she answers evenly.
Her gaze flitting between Natalie and Andre, Lucy quickly turns to examine her wine, as if she hasn't checked it half a dozen times already. Clearly there is something else here than a mere supermarket run-in. "Well," she says, stepping out of the congregation and a bit down the aisle. "Perhaps I should...go muck about the, um, cheeses..."
Kathryn looks between Natalie and Andre, feeling she's intruding onto something she doesn't really want to. "Um." She rises slowly to her feet, the movement made a bit awkward and lopsided due to the heavy basket she's balancing. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Could use some Pepper Jack, maybe do sandwhichs tonight and forget this whole soup deal." Kathryn laughs slightly, trying to lighten the situation, though rather uneasily. "Nice seein' you guys though!"
"That's good," Andre responds to Natalie, smiling awkwardly. Kathryn and Lucy's words cause him to look a little more animated again, though. He would lift both hands in protest if he had the facility to do so without falling on his butt. As is, two fingers lift off the cane, and he allows the shopping basket to slide back down his arm as he faces the pal of his right hand outward. "No, you don't have to leave just because we haven't, uh, seen each other in a long time."
Natalie lifts her brows, and she remains silent as her gaze shifts toward Kathryn and Lucy each in turn. She does not offer similiar encouragement, instead lifting her arms to cross them lightly over her chest.
Lucy notes the lack of comment on Natalie's side, and though she offers a warm smile to Andre, gives a slightly chillier one to the newcomer. "Hello," she says calmly, if a little too smoothly. "And it's quite all right, I hate to /intrude/."
Kathryn nods. "Yeah. I'll let you guys catch up. Call me or something later if you want though, we can hang out or whatever." She offers to Andre, in alternative to hanging around now. She then in turn nods to Natalie. "See ya around." She smiles, but it's more cautious then her usual.
Kathryn nods. "Yeah. I'll let you guys catch up. Call me or something later if you want though, we can hang out or whatever." She offers to Andre, in alternative to hanging around now. She then in turn nods to Natalie. "See ya around." She smiles, but it's more cautious then her usual.
"You're really not intruding," Andre repeats. "I mean, it's a grocery store. It's not like you climbed the drainpipe and snuck into my apartment." He laughs very quietly, more a twitch of his shoulders than a proper noise. His eyes pan across the aisle, from Kathryn to Lucy to Natalie and back.
Lucy shakes her head and shrugs. "Nah, it's all right, really. I've pretty much done my shopping," she says, and gives another tight, mildly uncomfortable smile. "Kathryn!" she blurts out, turning to her friend. "I'll walk with you back to the flats, if you fancy company."
Natalie's brows shoot up at Lucy, dry amusement coloring her gaze as she sizes up the other woman. "Yes," she answers quietly. "Intruding is a horrible thing to do." Kathryn recieves a somewhat more patient glance and the tip a nod - "Yeah, probably" - before Natalie turns to scan the soups. It is what she came here for.
A quick glance at Kathryn's watch elicites a slightly bug-eyed look and a muttered 'holy crap' as she looks back up. "Seriously, I do gotta go, it's later then I thought it was." The look she gives Andre is purely apologetic as she shrugs, then looks to Lucy. "Yeah, sure! I'll grab a few more things, then meet you by the front door." A nod, a quick smile to the others there, before she turns to go finish grabbing the last things she needs quickly.
Lucy flashes a /very/ thin smile at Natalie, barely more than a flash of her teeth, and hefts the basket back into the crook of her elbow. "Well, on that note. Nice seeing you again, Andre," she says kindly, touching his arm with a friendly look, "and I do hope we can have some proper hang-out time later. And--nice meeting you," she mutters in Natalie's general direction. "So to speak. Ta," and with hardly more than a look she turns on her heel and exits the aisle to meet Kathryn.
Andre inclines his head in the direction to which Kathryn has departed, in lieu of a proper wave. He then takes a good long look at the contents of his basket before glancing between Lucy and Natalie once again. "Um...if people really are taking it as intruding, we can all just go back to shopping." His brows raise slightly in an attempt at diplomatic posturing, but they only raise higher still as Lucy taps his arm and then departs. His head tilts back in that direction, and he blinks bewilderedly.
As the others wander off, Natalie wonders toward Andre, "Friends of yours?" Her hand skims up the rows of soup, lingering over a selection as she studies it.
Andre's attention redirects toward Natalie again, this time with no other faces vying for attention. "Kathryn, I keep bumping into around the park and coffee places and stuff. The other one, uh, what's her name? Ran into her at White Room just once the other day." He grabs another can of pea soup and places it in his basket. "Lucy. That's it."
"You're just making friends all over the place," Natalie murmurs to a can of tomato soup. "Has your taste improved?"
"My taste?" Andre's eyes squint slightly, somewhere between confusion and offense. He shifts his weight slightly against his cane, responding after a pause that's slightly longer than normal conversation would warrant. "If you mean that they don't tattletale, then yes. As far as I know..." The last sentence is added very tentatively.
"I was going more for the 'self-righteous bastard' angle, really, but that'll work," Natalie allows. Tomato soup drops into her basket and she bends to study varietys involving chicken.
The corners of Andre's mouth pull toward the sides of his face, though it is indistinct whether this is a wince or a flicker of a smile. "Um. Also not as far as I can tell. Kathryn's been nothing but nice. Beckah, she lives next door, she's totally unpretentious and respectful." The expression veers toward smile as he says this, but then returns to something more neutral. "Lucy...she can snark, but...not wanting an open door near you's not quite self-righteous..." He lightly scuffs his left foot against the floor.
"I know Kathryn," Natalie offers by way of idle conversation. Another can finds its way to her basket. "You're still using a cane."
Andre nods in response to that idle conversation, though his expression brightens more considerably at the mention of the cane. He taps his fingers along the curve of the handle. "I am! Just got it instead of the crutches on Thursday!"
"How's that going?"
"So far so good." Andre sounds pleased. "Makes me a little more tired to have to really use it again, but it's a rewarding kind of tired."
"Good for you." It's difficult to tell whether Natalie's words are serious or not, and another can tumbles into her basket before she finally turns toward Andre with a brief nod.
Andre follows Natalie's example and grabs for another can as well, without bothering to see what kind of soup it contains before releasing it into his basket. "How's the math?"
"Mathy." Natalie's stride carries her several steps away before she draws in a breath and sighs, allowing, "It's good. I'm a bit behind from being sick for awhile."
Andre winces outright now, the sympathy in his eyes unmarked by restraint or caution. "Oh jeez, you too? They're not kidding about calling that thing a plague."
"Me, Bahir, Ben-- basically everyone I know," Natalie answers with a short nod. "Took me out for nearly two weeks."
"Me, Beckah, Kathryn..." Andre adds to the list with an equally short shake of his head. "/Two/ weeks? Crap. Mine wasn't quite that long, but it felt it."
"I was delirious at poor Ben for days," Natalie allows with the smallest (smallest!) of smiles. "He ended up dragging me to the doctor in my pajamas."
"Oh man. At least I was already in the hospital for physical therapy when I passed out. Saved that kind of embarrassment." Andre winces yet again, the shake of his head becoming more pronounced. "Good of him to drag you there, though!"
Natalie's smile widens perhaps a touch. A touch! "Yeah," she agrees. "It was."
Andre's shake becomes a nod before petering out in a tilt of curiosity. "I don't think I know Ben." The statement is intoned like a question.
"Er. No reason you would." Natalie's step carries her down the aisle. "He lives next door to me." *re*
Andre is in no position to follow swiftly, but his head turns so that his eyes can follow, at least. "It's really wonderful when neighbors turn out to be that cool." A smile plays on his own lips now.
Natalie's steps are, perhaps politely, not swift. Her smile is, briefly, dreamy. "Uh huh."
Andre stirs himself into slowish motion, right shoulder inclined further toward the ground than the left, thanks to the weight of soup cans in his basket. "I think Beckah and I /got/ each other sick, but we're sharing the tea-and-soup-making duties after. Definitely nice." His smile is comparable to Natalie's, equally briefly.
"Ha. Yeah, well, I got at least three of my friends sick. The next week I dragged /Ben/ to the doctor. Everyone's managing ok now, though."
"Hopefully now that it's made the news and stuff, they'll keep it from hitting /too/ many more people. Because the news will slam the doctors who don't fix it, of course."
Natalie's brows wrinkle as she turns to stare at Andre in disbelief. "It's a virus. It's not like doctors can just fix it. That's kind of like saying the media will come down on them if they don't cure cancer."
"True, true. Not even antibiotics are good for that." His voice lowers.
"If people get sick, there's not much they can do outside of controling the symptoms."
Andre lifts the hand holding the basket halfway toward his head, then thinks better of trying to rub his forehead with said occupied hand and lowers it again. "Which...I guess they did ok with. I mostly felt really tired in the hospital, rather than under attack."
"Under attack?"
"Like my sinuses taking up little hammers and beating at my brain."
"Oh. Well." Natalie smiles slightly and tips her head. "Yeah. I had some of that. It was the fever that killed me, though."
Andre wrinkles his nose in further consideration of sinus warfare. "They said fever's why I passed out. If you stayed conscious, consider that a plus!"
"I spent the better part of four days sleeping on my couch," Natalie allows.
"Which doesn't really count as conscious, I guess."
"Not overly." Natalie's steps carry her round one aisle and she pauses momentarily, awkward as she watches Andre. "I'm hitting the frozen foods," she explains.
Andre nods, glancing down into his basket again. "I think I've pretty much got all I can carry," he observes as he looks back up. "Glad you're feeling better now."
"Yeah." There's a brief pause and then Natalie allows, "You too."
"Thanks." Andre's voice is quiet as he tilts his head toward Natalie one more time before steadying cane in one hand and basket in the other, then turning the corner out of the aisle.
Andre, Kathryn, and Lucy run into each other in the supermarket and discuss the merits of different vegetables in soup. Natalie shows up and proceeds to scare Kathryn and Lucy off, then she and Andre talk for the first time since the hospital visit. Both are civil, and even smile some!
Also, Andre version CANE, not CRUTCHES!
CHALLENGE COMPLETED: Carrot
Despite how much warmer the store is then outside Kathryn's still bundled up, only now the front of her coat is open, and her scarf is dangling from a coat pocket, instead of around her neck. A shopping basket is balanced in the crook of one arm as she's crouched down in the aisle, looking over the varities of vegtable soups. She's pulling cans from the shelves, looking them over, returning some of them, a few make their way into her basket. Not many though. Who knew picking soup could be so complicated.
Andre turns the corner away from the dairy section and walks down the soup aisle. That's right, walks. Not bumps, hobbles, or swings. It's not the most assured and steady walk that the world has ever seen, and it relies on the aid of a cane firmly gripped in his left hand, but both feet are touching the ground in the type of sequence that makes up normal everyday walking. A shopping basket is held in his right hand, containing small amounts of essential items. He too approaches the soup, eyeing the little discount tags under each brand and considering.
Lucy strolls the liquor isles, as usual, two bottles of wine and a case of Pear cider in her basket, as well as a rather unlikely variety of fruits and breads. It's warm in the store, and she carefully tugs at her scarf and buttons as she rounds the corner into the Premade Dinner aisle, intent on a several cans of spaghetti-o's. It does not take long for her to notice Andre in his careful stride, though the lack of crutches throws her. "Andre?" she says, "'S'that you, mate?"
Kathryn mutters something to herself as she returns yet another can to the shelf, then looks up quickly at the sound of a familiar name, and a familiar voice. Sitting back on her heels Kathryn turns to see the two also in the aisle with her, her gaze going quickly between them both. "Hey! Both of you!" She just grins at them both.
Turning to look in two directions at once is still difficult when one is walking with a cane. Andre stops in mid-reach for a can of beef barley vegetable soup (now with extra carrots) and elects to look in the direction of the first spoken words first. "Yeah," he begins as he turns his head. Recognition of Lucy comes after a second or two of looking, at which point he adds, "Hey!" He nods in greeting, then turns the other way, Kathryn's voice and face more immediately familiar. "And hey!"
She's heard of market run-ins before, but this was probably a first. With an easy smile she takes a few cans of Campbell's Chunky stew and tosses them in her basket, saying, "Kathryn, I didn't even see you! How are you, both?" She takes in Andre's cane and gives it a light poke. "No more crutches, then, eh?"
Kathryn grins a little wider. "It's okay, I'm just all down here sitting on the floor." She swivles to look towards Andre as well. "Yeah, lookin' better there, man! Feeling better too I hope?" Her gaze flickers to another can of soup with mild distaste before putting it back on the shelf as well.
"No more crutches!" Andre confirms. He sounds tired, but that doesn't mean he can't also sound thrilled. "As of Thursday. Six weeks was plenty!" He nods briskly, turning a broad grin toward Lucy and then toward Kathryn. "A little more tired, since I'm not used to this thing yet, but better. How about you two?"
"What did you /do/, anyway, Andre?" Lucy asks, coming round to Kathryn's side and investigating the soups she's perusing.
"Hey, that's great!" She grins to Andre, then continues. "Eh, I'm pretty cool. Never can seem to find one of these without a lot of peas in them though. Ugh." She gives an exaggerated shiver as she points across the beef vegetable soups, then reachs for Chicken instead.
Andre resumes his motion of pulling down that can of soup, the basket sliding down his forearm as he does so. "I didn't do anything," he explains in a tone that sounds /very/ practiced. "Got randomly mugged in an alley by someone way the heck bigger than me." Andre frowns, first at nothing in particular, then more deeply at the can of soup. "Peas are better than carrots. Cooked ones, I mean. The best part about them is the crunch, and they're just squishy in soup." The can is replaced.
Andre , Lucy, and Kathryn stand in the soup aisle of the grocery store. Lucy stands to one side of Andre, who is facing the cans of soup and who has a cane rather than crutches. Kathryn crouches on the other side, considering the types of soup lower down.
Natalie has a bag over one shoulder and a basket over one arm. Her step is quick and purposeful - just a few basic supplies on her way home - and it takes her directly through produce, where she grabs several apples, and then into pre-prepared foods. Soup. At the crowd in the aisle, she clears her throat. It is perhaps a bit pointed.
Lucy looks up at the cough a bit down the aisle. She does not recognize the brunette, but clearly Natalie recognizes them. Or at least her companions. Still, Lucy simply turns back to the soup and picks up a can of spaghetti-o's, trying to figure out if her basket has room.
"No! Eww!" Kathryn is quick to protest. "Carrots I'll eat. Peas are just /gross/! Especially if they're out of a can in any way, shape or form!" She shakes her head, opening her mouth to say something more, but pauses at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Turning to look in that direction she blinks, seeing another familiar face. "Hey!" She grins, scooting back out of the way to clear a bit more of the aisle. "It's becoming like old home week or something in here." Kathryn laughs. "Class of '07, theme: Soup!"
"I happen to like peas," Andre notes, picking up a can of split pea soup for emphasis. "They're good for cold weather in soup, I think. But carrots...really need to be raw, I'm sorry. Bugs Bunny could not do his whole shtick with a mooshy carrot." His upper lip curls back in what he thinks is showing bunny teeth, but this particular weirdness only lasts a couple of seconds. His face returns to normal at the sound of the throat clearing, and he shifts his position to look toward the sound. Recognition is again instant, but speech is quieter as he offers Natalie, "Uhm, hey."
"Kathryn" Lucy says seriously, "I don't know if we can be friends anymore if you don't like peas." She rearranges the spaghetti-o's in her basket, and catches the air of recognition among her company. She, of course, has no idea who Natlie is. "Hello, then," she says awkwardly, and gives a little obliging smile.
"Er-- hey." Natalie's gaze blinks surprise toward Kathryn, lingering on her for a moment before Andre begins to speak and her eyes whip toward him, startled and narrowed in the same instant. There's a moment in which she swallows, and then she turns a slight (oh so slight) nod to Andre. "Andre," she greets.
Kathryn only shakes her head quickly. "Really, I don't want to argue. Can't we all just accept our differences in taste and...eat whatever soup we like?" Her tone is mock serious, but her eyes dance with her own amusment. She falls quiet though as she watches the exchange between Natalie and Andre.
Andre lowers his arm, allowing the basket to slide back down to where he can release the can into it. He does so ungracefully, expression not even close to unfriendly, nor even entirely rid of his smile from the Great Soup War, but he continues to speak more quietly. "How are things?"
Natalie's hand finds the strap of her bag, fingers tightening there as her gaze ignores poor Kathryn and the stranger to fix solely on Andre. "Things are fine," she answers evenly.
Her gaze flitting between Natalie and Andre, Lucy quickly turns to examine her wine, as if she hasn't checked it half a dozen times already. Clearly there is something else here than a mere supermarket run-in. "Well," she says, stepping out of the congregation and a bit down the aisle. "Perhaps I should...go muck about the, um, cheeses..."
Kathryn looks between Natalie and Andre, feeling she's intruding onto something she doesn't really want to. "Um." She rises slowly to her feet, the movement made a bit awkward and lopsided due to the heavy basket she's balancing. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Could use some Pepper Jack, maybe do sandwhichs tonight and forget this whole soup deal." Kathryn laughs slightly, trying to lighten the situation, though rather uneasily. "Nice seein' you guys though!"
"That's good," Andre responds to Natalie, smiling awkwardly. Kathryn and Lucy's words cause him to look a little more animated again, though. He would lift both hands in protest if he had the facility to do so without falling on his butt. As is, two fingers lift off the cane, and he allows the shopping basket to slide back down his arm as he faces the pal of his right hand outward. "No, you don't have to leave just because we haven't, uh, seen each other in a long time."
Natalie lifts her brows, and she remains silent as her gaze shifts toward Kathryn and Lucy each in turn. She does not offer similiar encouragement, instead lifting her arms to cross them lightly over her chest.
Lucy notes the lack of comment on Natalie's side, and though she offers a warm smile to Andre, gives a slightly chillier one to the newcomer. "Hello," she says calmly, if a little too smoothly. "And it's quite all right, I hate to /intrude/."
Kathryn nods. "Yeah. I'll let you guys catch up. Call me or something later if you want though, we can hang out or whatever." She offers to Andre, in alternative to hanging around now. She then in turn nods to Natalie. "See ya around." She smiles, but it's more cautious then her usual.
Kathryn nods. "Yeah. I'll let you guys catch up. Call me or something later if you want though, we can hang out or whatever." She offers to Andre, in alternative to hanging around now. She then in turn nods to Natalie. "See ya around." She smiles, but it's more cautious then her usual.
"You're really not intruding," Andre repeats. "I mean, it's a grocery store. It's not like you climbed the drainpipe and snuck into my apartment." He laughs very quietly, more a twitch of his shoulders than a proper noise. His eyes pan across the aisle, from Kathryn to Lucy to Natalie and back.
Lucy shakes her head and shrugs. "Nah, it's all right, really. I've pretty much done my shopping," she says, and gives another tight, mildly uncomfortable smile. "Kathryn!" she blurts out, turning to her friend. "I'll walk with you back to the flats, if you fancy company."
Natalie's brows shoot up at Lucy, dry amusement coloring her gaze as she sizes up the other woman. "Yes," she answers quietly. "Intruding is a horrible thing to do." Kathryn recieves a somewhat more patient glance and the tip a nod - "Yeah, probably" - before Natalie turns to scan the soups. It is what she came here for.
A quick glance at Kathryn's watch elicites a slightly bug-eyed look and a muttered 'holy crap' as she looks back up. "Seriously, I do gotta go, it's later then I thought it was." The look she gives Andre is purely apologetic as she shrugs, then looks to Lucy. "Yeah, sure! I'll grab a few more things, then meet you by the front door." A nod, a quick smile to the others there, before she turns to go finish grabbing the last things she needs quickly.
Lucy flashes a /very/ thin smile at Natalie, barely more than a flash of her teeth, and hefts the basket back into the crook of her elbow. "Well, on that note. Nice seeing you again, Andre," she says kindly, touching his arm with a friendly look, "and I do hope we can have some proper hang-out time later. And--nice meeting you," she mutters in Natalie's general direction. "So to speak. Ta," and with hardly more than a look she turns on her heel and exits the aisle to meet Kathryn.
Andre inclines his head in the direction to which Kathryn has departed, in lieu of a proper wave. He then takes a good long look at the contents of his basket before glancing between Lucy and Natalie once again. "Um...if people really are taking it as intruding, we can all just go back to shopping." His brows raise slightly in an attempt at diplomatic posturing, but they only raise higher still as Lucy taps his arm and then departs. His head tilts back in that direction, and he blinks bewilderedly.
As the others wander off, Natalie wonders toward Andre, "Friends of yours?" Her hand skims up the rows of soup, lingering over a selection as she studies it.
Andre's attention redirects toward Natalie again, this time with no other faces vying for attention. "Kathryn, I keep bumping into around the park and coffee places and stuff. The other one, uh, what's her name? Ran into her at White Room just once the other day." He grabs another can of pea soup and places it in his basket. "Lucy. That's it."
"You're just making friends all over the place," Natalie murmurs to a can of tomato soup. "Has your taste improved?"
"My taste?" Andre's eyes squint slightly, somewhere between confusion and offense. He shifts his weight slightly against his cane, responding after a pause that's slightly longer than normal conversation would warrant. "If you mean that they don't tattletale, then yes. As far as I know..." The last sentence is added very tentatively.
"I was going more for the 'self-righteous bastard' angle, really, but that'll work," Natalie allows. Tomato soup drops into her basket and she bends to study varietys involving chicken.
The corners of Andre's mouth pull toward the sides of his face, though it is indistinct whether this is a wince or a flicker of a smile. "Um. Also not as far as I can tell. Kathryn's been nothing but nice. Beckah, she lives next door, she's totally unpretentious and respectful." The expression veers toward smile as he says this, but then returns to something more neutral. "Lucy...she can snark, but...not wanting an open door near you's not quite self-righteous..." He lightly scuffs his left foot against the floor.
"I know Kathryn," Natalie offers by way of idle conversation. Another can finds its way to her basket. "You're still using a cane."
Andre nods in response to that idle conversation, though his expression brightens more considerably at the mention of the cane. He taps his fingers along the curve of the handle. "I am! Just got it instead of the crutches on Thursday!"
"How's that going?"
"So far so good." Andre sounds pleased. "Makes me a little more tired to have to really use it again, but it's a rewarding kind of tired."
"Good for you." It's difficult to tell whether Natalie's words are serious or not, and another can tumbles into her basket before she finally turns toward Andre with a brief nod.
Andre follows Natalie's example and grabs for another can as well, without bothering to see what kind of soup it contains before releasing it into his basket. "How's the math?"
"Mathy." Natalie's stride carries her several steps away before she draws in a breath and sighs, allowing, "It's good. I'm a bit behind from being sick for awhile."
Andre winces outright now, the sympathy in his eyes unmarked by restraint or caution. "Oh jeez, you too? They're not kidding about calling that thing a plague."
"Me, Bahir, Ben-- basically everyone I know," Natalie answers with a short nod. "Took me out for nearly two weeks."
"Me, Beckah, Kathryn..." Andre adds to the list with an equally short shake of his head. "/Two/ weeks? Crap. Mine wasn't quite that long, but it felt it."
"I was delirious at poor Ben for days," Natalie allows with the smallest (smallest!) of smiles. "He ended up dragging me to the doctor in my pajamas."
"Oh man. At least I was already in the hospital for physical therapy when I passed out. Saved that kind of embarrassment." Andre winces yet again, the shake of his head becoming more pronounced. "Good of him to drag you there, though!"
Natalie's smile widens perhaps a touch. A touch! "Yeah," she agrees. "It was."
Andre's shake becomes a nod before petering out in a tilt of curiosity. "I don't think I know Ben." The statement is intoned like a question.
"Er. No reason you would." Natalie's step carries her down the aisle. "He lives next door to me." *re*
Andre is in no position to follow swiftly, but his head turns so that his eyes can follow, at least. "It's really wonderful when neighbors turn out to be that cool." A smile plays on his own lips now.
Natalie's steps are, perhaps politely, not swift. Her smile is, briefly, dreamy. "Uh huh."
Andre stirs himself into slowish motion, right shoulder inclined further toward the ground than the left, thanks to the weight of soup cans in his basket. "I think Beckah and I /got/ each other sick, but we're sharing the tea-and-soup-making duties after. Definitely nice." His smile is comparable to Natalie's, equally briefly.
"Ha. Yeah, well, I got at least three of my friends sick. The next week I dragged /Ben/ to the doctor. Everyone's managing ok now, though."
"Hopefully now that it's made the news and stuff, they'll keep it from hitting /too/ many more people. Because the news will slam the doctors who don't fix it, of course."
Natalie's brows wrinkle as she turns to stare at Andre in disbelief. "It's a virus. It's not like doctors can just fix it. That's kind of like saying the media will come down on them if they don't cure cancer."
"True, true. Not even antibiotics are good for that." His voice lowers.
"If people get sick, there's not much they can do outside of controling the symptoms."
Andre lifts the hand holding the basket halfway toward his head, then thinks better of trying to rub his forehead with said occupied hand and lowers it again. "Which...I guess they did ok with. I mostly felt really tired in the hospital, rather than under attack."
"Under attack?"
"Like my sinuses taking up little hammers and beating at my brain."
"Oh. Well." Natalie smiles slightly and tips her head. "Yeah. I had some of that. It was the fever that killed me, though."
Andre wrinkles his nose in further consideration of sinus warfare. "They said fever's why I passed out. If you stayed conscious, consider that a plus!"
"I spent the better part of four days sleeping on my couch," Natalie allows.
"Which doesn't really count as conscious, I guess."
"Not overly." Natalie's steps carry her round one aisle and she pauses momentarily, awkward as she watches Andre. "I'm hitting the frozen foods," she explains.
Andre nods, glancing down into his basket again. "I think I've pretty much got all I can carry," he observes as he looks back up. "Glad you're feeling better now."
"Yeah." There's a brief pause and then Natalie allows, "You too."
"Thanks." Andre's voice is quiet as he tilts his head toward Natalie one more time before steadying cane in one hand and basket in the other, then turning the corner out of the aisle.
Andre, Kathryn, and Lucy run into each other in the supermarket and discuss the merits of different vegetables in soup. Natalie shows up and proceeds to scare Kathryn and Lucy off, then she and Andre talk for the first time since the hospital visit. Both are civil, and even smile some!
Also, Andre version CANE, not CRUTCHES!
CHALLENGE COMPLETED: Carrot