The New Guy in Town Goes Shopping (Open)

[Nicholas Kells]

Nick wasn’t usually one to be found with a shopping cart full of sweetened cereals, microwave pizzas, and containers of Ben and Jerry’s. But his daughter, Rachel, was coming up to visit for the first time since he had moved to Pilot Ridge. Not that Nick usually was so see-through in his attempt to win her affection, but it had been a while since she had come for an extended visit. He was feeling just a tad bit guilty about being busy with his new job and all, so he wanted to make up for it. And Rachel was one of the few people who knew how to manipulate Nick as well as he did it to everyone else.

It didn’t really help that he knew his ex-wife would want a full report the moment Rachel went back to her.

It also didn’t help that he hadn’t learned his way around the grocery store yet. Usually he just ran in to grab a few essentials for himself, so he’d never taken the time to learn were everything was.

He took a quick inventory of his cart, making sure he had everything to make her favorite meals and plenty of snacks. The only thing missing was…fruit snacks. He looked around a few aisles but couldn’t find them anywhere. Frustrated, he walked up to one of the other customers to ask them.

“Excuse me,” he asked. Still upset with himself for not being able to find them on his own. “Do you happen to know where I could find fruit snacks?”

[Evgeny Demidov]

For a guy that loved hotel food, Ev had decided he wanted to try and cook something, so he bought a small electric stove and after reading enough pages in the internet, he decided to try some pasta in a five cheese sauce. It seemed delicious and easy at the same time, even for someone who had never cooked in his life. The grocery store, well, that was something else entirely, he couldn't help but asking to himself how could people find something in there. It was all so disorganized, and there were so many items, many of which he had no idea what they were.

Spatial awareness, duh! Evgeny thanked all the gods available after fifteen minutes of searching for pasta when he remembered that with his power he might get an advantage. And so, focusing a bit with his eyes closed, he examined almost every object for sale in the store. Well... I... think that looks like... pasta... yeah, that should be pasta. He unfocused his power and started walking towards the next aisle when a man approached with a question. A very good question actually.

"What.. are fruit snacks?" For a thirty years old guy that has been in every continent, tasted all kinds of food and has lots of money with no idea how to spend, he has barely eaten any snack or candy in his life besides the military-issued snack-energy bars and the occasional chocolate bar.

[Nicholas Kells]

Just great, Nick thought to himself. I have to pick the only idiot in the supermarket to ask for help. He smiled at the man and took a deep breath before answering. He felt a little silly having to explain what he was looking for and most likely why he was looking for it.

“Well,” he said, wondering how to explain fruit snacks. “It’s like a gummy candy. Usually shaped like some sort of cartoon character. I’m not a big fan of them personally, but my daughter loves them.” He smiled and shrugged slightly. “Kids stuff, you know/”

He started to look over the man’s shoulder to see what was down the next aisle. Maybe he could find them near the cookies. Or maybe he could find a customer who looked like they were a parent.

[Evgeny Demidov]

"Oh, candy!" Evgeny exclaimed in a rather childish manner, holding himself together from raising his arms happily at the same time. "Ok, let me check." He went and closed his eyes for a second, becoming aware of every object in the grocery store. "I have some Spongebob-shaped candies in the next aisles. I love that show, it's so good." He really, really, loved it. "There are also some pineapple shaped thingies. And some strangely cutie bears." He opened his eyes broadly as his mind relaxed and his power went passive again. "Who eats bears anyway? Isn't that odd? They do look sort of tasty."

Poor Evgeny. Not only most of his youth had been taken away from him, but he didn't even know it. He had never eaten, or seen a gummy bear and had no idea that talking so enthusiastically about children's cartoon's didn't look good for a thirty years old. But dang it, he was so innocent at heart, that even if someone told him and make fun of him, he would only smile and make fun of himself with them. Angels looked evil and corrupted next to the Russian man.

"How old is your daughter?" It was just casual conversation.

[Nicholas Kells]

Nick was beginning to think that his first assumption about this man was the correct one. Not only was the man an idiot; he was a childish idiot to boot. Nick took a very deep breath, about to excuse himself to just go look for the fruit snacks on his own. Wandering around the store would be better than sitting here watching the other man freak out about candy.

But then, the other man got an odd look on his face, like he was concentrating and started to explain that he knew the location of the snacks. He's one of them, Nick thought to himself, managing to hide the scowl that threaten to creep across his face.

After another deep breath to compose himself Nick managed a smile. "Yes. Spongebob sounds like a good choice for her," he said. "Thank you for..." he paused, wondering if he should say using your ability in a sentence. Or if he even could say thanks for that without the need to vomit afterward. "..your help."

Nick started to push his cart away from the other man, when he realized he was apparently still in the middle of a conversation. He didn't really feel comfortable letting a strange meta know any details about his princess daughter. But her age seemed safe enough to volunteer. "She's ten."he said. "Do you have children?" he continued, feeling as if he might as well go along with this conversation.

[Evgeny Demidov]

"Oh God no!" Evgeny let out almost by reflex with the question. "I mean. I like kids, but having kids? That... seems too much trouble."

He scratched the back of his head. Awkward moment, even if Ev could not notice... he was way too naive even for that. It's hard to say how someone who could let this little facts escape him had worked in intelligence where the details are the most important things, but well, social awareness skills and figuring out the security detail of a local insurgence group were two very different skills, specially since most of the social interaction you've had for abut half your life were with soldiers just as naive to what is being a civilian like him.

"I'm Evgeny." Right hand offered to shake, broad smile in face. "So you're not from around or you're just not used to shop for candies? Or to shop at all like me?" He laughed a bit. "I'm definitely not from around, if the Russian accent wasn't obvious enough."

If being too friendly were a sin, Ev would burn in the coldest circle of hell. You can't blame him, though, he doesn't have friends yet and is really desperate for some.

[Nicholas Kells]

Nick couldn’t help but frown slightly at the man’s comment about kids. Having children was hard work; that was sure. Nick enjoyed hard work. But he didn’t really consider them trouble. If anything it was the world that was the trouble. And his ex-wife.

“I’m not sure I would call it trouble,” Nick said. “But I guess it’s not for everyone.” Nick would have definitely never described this man as a solider, but then again when he sees a grown man get all excited about Spongebob it’s hard for him to have any respect for such him. As much as he wanted to go with his impulse to go on with his shopping, he knew that living in Pilot Ridge, he would have to come to terms with living around many…eclectic individuals.

“My name is Nicholas Kells,” he said, giving the man a firm handshake. “I just recently moved into the area.” He forced himself to paste on a warm smile. “So what brings you to the area?”

[Evgeny Demidov]

"Hammel." Evgeny considered for a split-second telling his whole story, but he could. The very short version would work just fine, though. "I'm their new P.E. teacher." He signaled the end of the aisle and started walking towards it. "Let's get those fruit snacks, no?"

It was a , rather sad, attempt to make the conversation a little bit less awkward by walking through the place instead of just, well, standing there like two friends, which clearly was not the truth. Now, what should we talk about? As much as Evgeny would think it out, though, it was a hard call. He didn't know about sports, drinks, food and didn't feel like talking about girls. What else could two grown up men talk about? Jobs. How silly of me.

"What brings you here." He asked as the changed aisles, noticing the Spongebob fruit snacks not far from them. "Work too? You look like the lawyer type. Or one of those American super cops, federals, is it?"

[Nicholas Kells]

Nick followed Evgeny down the aisle, feeling like he should have known that the man worked for Hammel. Where else would they work? he thought to himself. It also made sense that he was a P.E. teacher. In Nick’s experience most physical education teachers weren’t all that into children on a personal level. Not something that Nick personal felt was right. Having a sergeant yell at you to give more push-ups was all well and good. But when it was directed at a small child it was different.

And yet on the outside, Nick kept his smile on as Evgeny led the way. “Yes, work,” Nick said, a little flattered that he had been called an American super cop, but he was still cautious about this man. “I got a position at Operation Patriot.” He paused. “Have you heard of it?” Seeing the fruit snacks, he reached out to pick out some My Little Pony shaped ones. Those seemed like ones Rachel would enjoy.

[Evgeny Demidov]

"Operation Patriot... Nope." Evgeny said quickly as he tried to juggle the information in his brain.

The name, however, did ring a bell. He had seen it a couple of times before in some intelligence reports back when he was still Russian Black Ops, not three months ago. Reports, however, that weren't for him to read, and since most governmental agencies work in a need-to-know basis, Ev didn't have the clearance, nor the curiosity, actually, to research about it. After all, even if he worked in intelligence, above everything else, he was a soldier, and soldier just follow orders. And so, the so called Operation Patriot just stood behind, along with all the other secret organizations and secret military operation code names and acronyms that had passed through Evgeny's ears during his decade of Black Ops service, which was a, rather alarming, big number.

"Sounds like big and fun, care to tell me about it?" He said as the Nicholas took the fruit snacks. "My... little... pony..." He slowly read out loud from the box taken by his conversation partner. "Do kids seriously eat animal-shaped snacks?" Ev grabbed a box of his own and examined it closely. "Isn't that... cruel? Hey, I just saw this cute little pony in TV, I'm going to go ahead and eat it now." He giggled. "Think I'll get in trouble if I open a box? They look tasty."

[Nicholas Kells]

Nick wasn’t about to give out details about Operation Patriot anymore than he would tell the man details about his daughter. So instead of answering, or even coming up with a suitable lie, he pretended to be busy reading the nutrition information. He figured it would be easy enough to swing the conversation back to fruit snacks.

And he was right. “Yeah,” he said, placing the box inside his cart. “It’s not cruel,” he answered, once again confirming to himself that this man was an idiot. “I guess they don’t believe in shaped snacks in Russia. And the manager might frown on you snacking right here in the aisles. In America we usually pay for things before we open them,” he said as he started to push his cart towards the checkout. “Thank you again, for the help.” As much as he was starting to despise this man, he still couldn’t help be polite, for the most part.

((OOC: wrap?))

[Evgeny Demidov]

"Hmm..." Evgeny sighed. "Guess you're right."

He decided to place the snacks box back in its place. Noticing Nicholas was taking his cart towards the checkout, Ev wondered, for a quick second, what was he doing there in the first place. Right. Pasta. He nodded while remembering where was it that he saw it not long ago. He was even starting to get a little bit hungry.

"It's ok man." He said, choosing not to follow the man. "Have fun with your daughter." He raised his hands slightly to signal a goodbye, and turned back to see at the fruit snacks. "Heck, I'll take one..."

He did, and proceeded to hunt down the other ingredients for his pasta in cheese sauce.