WWW: Non-Perishables

[Event !]

Some are born to greatness. Others have greatness thrust upon them. And still others realize that there's no electricity in their homes which renders the electric stove, the microwave, and the hot plate useless.

We hope you like tortilla chips and salsa, because that might be all you can find as you look for an open store.

[Lucas Blacke]

It was odd for Lucas to go looking for food as he usually had plenty, but the store where he usually stocked up on supplies due to bad weather or something. True, it was a bit hard to wade through the snow as it lay pretty high, higher than he had ever seen by the way, and he assumed that the temperature was low as well. Luckily Luke had an ability that kept him warm, though not warm enough to be able to go out in just a shirt. His immune system wasn't that good, nor was it worth the risk.

With a leather coat on over his sweater he tried to see through the snow which store was open, and which sold what he needed. Now, what he needed was just about the easiest food seeing as you wouldn't need any electricity to prepare it, something a good amount of people had to cope with. He could do meats, but vegetables were his goal, and mostly fruits. Things that didn't perish as fast as meat would when kept out in the open.

But when he finally found an open store he was baffled by the amount of people already there. It seemed he wasn't the only one with an idea like that..

With some luck he could find one bag of apples left behind by someone and decided to take it to the register, but as counter-luck he realized he had forgotten his wallet as he hadn't been planning on going out in the weather they were having. Just his luck.

He contemplated quickly running back to get his money; his house wasn't that far, but that would mean leaving the apples behind for someone else to buy. What he could also do was hide the apples somewhere and hope they would still be there when he got back, or he could just risk it and go out without paying..

After some consideration he went with option #2 though, hiding the apples and running back and forth between his place and the store in the hopes the apples would still be there. Not that running would be easy with all that snow, but he had been training and would likely be a bit faster than most people running through snow.

But first he needed to find a place to hide the apples though, people were already eying him..

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh had been at the apartment she shared with her room mate that morning, today being her day off of work. She was suppose to go in to work a shift, but with the terrible weather conditions she had gotten a call from Bessie's telling her not to bother. Which was fine for the blonde; she was happy to stay inside where it was warm.

Until the electricity went out. Which wasn't the worst thing to happen, but combined with the fact that her and her room mate were all out of snack foods? The only things left in the cupboards that were useful without power were a couple packs of instant noodles that could be eaten raw and saltine crackers. Not exactly the best, or most nutritious option.

So, they had decided that Carleigh was to go to the store to pick up a few items that could hold them over until the power came back on. Food items that hopefully weren't as high in sodium content. The weather couldn't be that bad, right?

But the California native was in for a surprise. Despite being in Vermont for over five years, Carleigh really wasn't properly acclimatized to the harsh, cold winters. Teeth chattering so hard she bit her tongue a couple times, she finally had made her way to the store, wallet tucked into the pocket of her parka. Layered over top of a sweater and long sleeved shirt paired with her warmest pair of leggings and boots. And she was still cold.

"Okay... let's see here." She mumbled to herself, not surprised to see the store packed full of frantic people and crowds fighting for food items. It appeared like the rush had beat her there. Eyeing the shelves, Carleigh went to grab a few items when other people would beat her there or have the advantage over her smaller frame.

She let out a frustrated sigh. This was hopeless! At this point, it'd be better for her to trudge her way all the way out to Bessie's and hope that they hadn't run out of supplies yet. Her gaze landed on a familiar someone; someone from Hammel, Lucas? They had only talked once, maybe twice, but it was still enough for the blonde to remember his name. What caught her interest was the bag of apples in his hand, and clearly other people's interests were piqued as well. She began to walk over to him, trying to make eye contact. Maybe he'd remember her and take pity on her empty arms? She could hope. There really wasn't much else the blonde could do.

[Lucas Blacke]

The amazing timing in forgetting your money was not only stupid, but also funny in a way. Normally he would have no trouble keeping cash on him, but right now he didn't have any on him. So he had decided to hide the apples somewhere and make sure no one found them as he would quickly run to his house to get some money. Still a facepalm was in order, going out to a store without any money.. only Lucas could manage that.

That was when he noticed someone walking over to him. A girl. A girl that seemed oddly familiar from the current distance, but didn't quite ring a bell yet.. maybe he had seen her at Hammel before or something. Why Hammel? Well, because she struck him as a blonde bimbo that one would usually see at a school. Cheerleader material almost. Nevertheless she did look hot. And so he looked her over with nothing less than eager eyes as he was halted in his thought when he realized something.

He did know her! Wasn't she the one who he was talking with when he tried calling his parents? That talk on his birthday.. was it? He remembered it was a talk that did not end up being one with a good ending, so maybe now there would be a second chance or something.

She had nothing in her arms as she walked up to Luke and he instantly knew she was after his apples. Well.. maybe he could convince her to share them? As it was right now he would need to hand them over anyway as he didn't have any cash on him. This would likely make her run off with the food and leave the Texan hanging. But did he have another choice?

He wondered. ''Car-lay, is it?'' He asked jokingly, almost certain he had made the same joke if they had indeed met before. There was no way he would pass up a chance like that again.

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh stuffed her hands into the deep pockets of her jacket, walking with a purposeful stride with only one goal on her mind. She couldn't imagine that her room mate would be too thrilled if she returned home empty handed. She wasn't expecting him to give her the entire bag of apples (because how demanding would that be?) but hopefully a few of them that could be thrown in rotation with the packs of noodles and crackers already at the apartment.

Her usual cheerful and beaming smile coloured her features. Despite the terrible weather circumstances, there was no need to be grouchy or at least let it reflect in her face. She vaguely remembered the talk that they had shared at the school; the details slipping from her mind as time had passed.

She removed a hand from her pocket, giving a small wave to greet Lucas as she nodded. "Yeah, you remember me?" Carleigh asked, still smiling. At least it wasn't one-sided. That had the potential to be awkward. "And you're Lucas, right?" She knew, but it seemed more polite to confirm it this way.

"Real shitty about the weather hey? We lost electricity at my place. I never expected it to be so hectic at a grocery store." The blonde said with a frown.

[Lucas Blacke]

He still needed to find a place to hide the apples, but with Carleigh now talking to him that idea quickly faded and the thought replaced by a simple acknowledgement of her probably wanting some food too, the weather warranted it anyway. At least she was into foods he liked as well, it seemed, but he wouldn't just hand them over like that, he'd want something for it. Maybe the promise of a cup of.. whatever she liked to drink or a promise that he would at least get his hands on some of those apples, or the usual Luke thing of course.

He shouldn't have thought of anything pertaining to one of his favorite pastimes, but she did look pretty good and doable. That and Amber and he weren't a couple yet. Wait, he had used that argument before..

Anyway, his mind steered back at the conversation at hand now he nodded at both questions. He did remember her and Lucas knew for a fact she had known who he was even before she came over, because not only would he be too hot to forget (especially in this weather) but also because he saw it in the way her face moved and how she walked over to him, with deliberate movements as if walking up to someone you already knew instead of a stranger.

''Aye,'' He responded about the weather as the nodding stopped. ''though I've seen worse. In terms o' temperature anyway, snow not so much.'' He also agreed with the thing about it being hectic, and he knew he could find himself in that statement all too well as he looked at the bag of apples in his hand. Which he soon stretched out.

''Hectic 'nough fer me ta ferget me wallet back home, so take it.'' He nearly pushed the bag into her hands as he hoped she would at least share one instead of running of like some.. high schooler.

''Don't 'ave anythin' ta pay it with anyway, an' I doubt I can convince ya ta pay fer me.'' He laughed.

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh knew it would probably be a stretch asking Lucas to share the bag of apples with her; as far as she knew, he had the food and money to pay for the apples and likely didn't need her coming up to him to waste his time. Maybe she'd get lucky and would fine some abandoned food left around the grocery store shelves, but chances of that happening seemed pretty slim. The shelves were bare now; the desperate even leaving behind items that had seen better days. But maybe she would find more crackers, or something.

Always naive, the blonde was completely clueless to Lucas' train of thought. It hadn't even crossed her mind; she figured the best she could do was offer to pay for the bag of apples completely and take a few for herself and her roommate. But Lucas appeared to be the type who was financially secure, at least well enough to support himself in a way she wouldn't be able to manipulate. Not that she herself was in a place to do that any more after telling her dad she wanted to work for her own money...

"Yeah, we met at school." Carleigh nodded, a smile still on her features. She shivered at the thought of the temperature going any lower. To her, Vermont might as well be the Arctic. "Oh really? I don't know how long I'd last in that weather, I'm such a wimp when it comes to the cold." She said with a laugh. How people were able to survive was a mystery.

As Lucas stretched out the bag of apples without a word, the blonde looked over at him with a quizzical expression. Then he admitted he didn't have a way to pay, which theoretically gave her the upper hand. Not that she was the type of person to use that to her advantage in any way. "Oh man, really? That's brutal." Before she took the bag, she tapped her jacket to confirm that her own wallet was there. Hesitating, Carleigh took the bag from Lucas and frowned. "Do you really take me for a bad person?" She asked, gesturing with her head towards the tills. "Come on, how about we split the bag at least? I don't mind; you're nice enough to offer in the first place."

[Lucas Blacke]

He smiled when she said that she couldn't last long in that weather, and in reply Lucas looked her up and down with a shake of his head. ''Girl, ya'd be fine in weather like that. 'Cause ye'd still be hot.''

There it finally was though, the thing lowering his attitude a bit. The expecting tapping of the jacket to confirm her wallet was in there, almost taunting Lucas into withdrawing his offer and taking the apples for himself. Luckily for her though she was a girl, because if she were a guy he would have flatly knocked her out and taken back his apples. ''Aye, it sucks.'' He replied at the 'brutal' comment before she patted down herself and seemed to tease the Texan, actually. He raised a single brow as she took the bag of apples and then asked if he really thought she was a bad person.

And this was where it all got complicated. Would he simply say no and try to flatter her in some way, or tell her the truth and say that everyone at Hammel struck him as bad? There were only a handful of people he liked back at the place anyway, and Luke would adamantly sustain that their conversation back then, short as it was, did end badly. So yeah, he thought she was a bad person, though not because of what she did, which was nothing at all, but because of her timing. He was trying to reach his parents and chickened out at the last moment, so really he was projecting his anger for himself on to her, he supposed.

But how was he going to tell her that?

''I mean,'' He began with a shrug, not quite sure still if he should twist the story or keep to the truth. ''no..? Yes..? Back at Hammel..'' He sighed as he let down his shoulders a bit. ''I didn't have th' best time at Hammel,'' Lucas continued as he very nearly dropped his accent to indicate he would likely not joke around anymore. ''let's just say first that when ya came over it wasn't th' best timing ever, I was pretty mad at meself fer personal reasons, reasons ya have no doubt heard.'' Carleigh was friends with Lucy, right? He wondered how big the odds would be of her being told he slept with Sawyer? ''So I think we got off on th' wrong foot. That an' everyone back at Hammel was bad in me eyes in some way, an' in yer case, ya simply didn't have enough time ta convince me otherwise. 'Cause if ya knew me reputation with girls back then ya would have had th' biggest chance ever ta do that.''

He wasn't sure if he had told her what she wanted to hear, or even if it made sense, but it was out there now. He quickly talked over it though, telling her that they could indeed split the bag.

''We can do that, I'd wanna reimburse ya fer it, but sure.'' He offered.

[Carleigh Davidson]

Carleigh wasn't 100% certain, but she felt the colour rise in her cheeks. Pink, burning against the surface was still cold from the outdoors. She was still easily flustered despite the confidence she tried to project. "Well, still don't think it would help me out much." She said with a laugh.

Tapping her jacket wasn't meant to offend Lucas or anything. Rather, she was legitimately double checking that her wallet was there. How embarrassing would that be, if she and Lucas were to go to the checkout only to find they were both short on cash. She also didn't mean much by her comment, as naive and unaware as the blonde was about the conversation they shared back at their old high school. For Carleigh, it was just another day and conversation that turned slightly bitter, but for what reason she couldn't remember. Maybe she had said something at the wrong time, or maybe he was in a bad mood. Maybe both. The details weren't in the back of her mind anymore.

She couldn't help the way one eyebrow raised in confusion. Yes? Even if he was unsure and initially said no, it still was a big hit to her ego. For someone who wore pride in being happy and generally a nice person to get along with. Her eyebrows narrowed further. "Uhm... I don't remember anything being mentioned really." About his personal reasons. Lucy had never said anything to her about the situation. Carleigh had never even met Sawyer, knowingly at least. She rocked back and forth, awkwardly, as he tried to explain himself and the situation. The details were a bit vague, which didn't help the blonde as her own memory of the events were hazy. "I mean, I had heard things about you being a flirt I think, but that isn't really a big deal, right?" Lots of people were flirty; it was high school afterall, and not a fact that was likely to change any time soon.

Maybe she had lingered on that facet of the conversation a bit too long. Carleigh was just stunned. "Nah, don't worry about it, really. Do you think there's anything left in the grocery store worth exploring?"

[Lucas Blacke]

There was no reason not to laugh at her comment of being hot not helping. As if. Lucas instantly knew of one way it could help her stay warm. Well, two ways, but his second idea was a bit.. meh. Or good, depending on if she would go for it. But in any case he would only tell her his first idea. ''Ya could just go up ta a random guy, look at him with those gorgeous eyes o' yers an' suddenly ye'd 'ave an extra coat.'' That flirting bit being dismissed by her as something everyone did was wrong as hell, well maybe it held some kind of truth, but Lucas knew he was a tad beyond just flirting in high school, flirting was his life.

As a matter of fact, if he wasn't so down at the time of that conversation in Hammel he would have likely been coming on to her about as hard as he thought he was doing right now, despite his thoughts about the girl being a cheerleader type and football teams and what-not. But even if that was true he would have a shot, or maybe even a bigger shot if she was into jocks. She likely didn't know his power so he had that advantage over her. But then again he had no idea what her power was. She could have very well read his every thought by then.

When it came down to it Luke was a sad, paranoid little fellow, always just assuming people read his mind. And if people would deny his claim of being sad he would interpret it as people calling him selfish, which, counting all his past events, could very well be true.

Moving on. She said she didn't remember anything being mentioned, which was a good thing in its own way because Lucas now had the ability of sharing his side of the story and his side only. Though he wouldn't clean it up in any way if she asked; he'd fucked Sawyer, plain and simple and Karalie broke up with him because of it, he would tell her that was what got him down instead of the messed up call with his parents.

But again, moving on. Lucas shook his head back to the conversation at hand and the words being spoken instead of merely thinking about what could have been. One of those could have been things involving the two people talking to each other right now.

''We could make a quick lap around th' store ta see if there's anythin' anyone missed, but I kinda doubt it right now. I was just lucky enough ta bump inta some apples. An' someone smart enough ta actually bring money.''

He leaned in to the girl right then and raised a singular brow while raising his hand for a whisper. ''An' between you an' me, she's quite th' looker.''

[Carleigh Davidson]

"Hey, maybe that'd help out in some sort of apocalyptic events in the future." Carleigh added optimistically with a grin, looking up at Lucas. "But I guess it works right now to get half a bag of apples, yeah?" She added with a playful wink. She'd have to keep his idea of getting an extra coat in mind because it really was that cold for the California native.

Lucas was right about that; Carleigh had been a cheerleader in her days at Hammel. She wanted to go back to help out with the team but it was hard due to the place she was in currently. Working gave her little to no free time, especially with all these bills to pay by herself. She wasn't sure if the independence was worth all the hard work. The blonde rarely went out, and when she did, it was usually just hanging out with Lucy whenever she had spare time. Adulting was hard; too hard.

Fortunately for Lucas, her power wouldn't help her to read his mind. But she was oblivious to subtle advances. And after a random hookup at one of the clubs for young adults downtown, Carleigh had decided that wasn't a lifestyle she wanted to pursue further.

"At least the chaos has died down a little. To be honest I was scared of getting trampled coming here." She admitted, blue eyes flickering down aisles to see if there was anything of interest hidden amongst the shelves. "Yeah, let's check it out. Might as well right? I'm in no rush to head back." Carleigh laughed, shaking her head back and forth. "Aww, no, don't worry 'bout it. Can happen to any of us."

His voice was suddenly closer to her ear; a slight tilt of her head and Carleigh was able to see his face through her peripheral vision. "Oh really? I can't see who you're talking about." She said, trying to contain the smirk that threatened to cross her features.

[Lucas Blacke]

Holding up a mirror right then would be.. stupid. At least in the way Lucas saw it. While she already should have known he was talking about her he had no need to escalate things further as of yet. He could go without food for much longer, but he didn't want to risk a fun snack for between meals.

The problem Carleigh was having was almost the opposite of what the Texan had, in terms of bills and stuff anyway. He was fully independent due to his parents taking care of those in an effort to make it up to him, but in a way Luke knew they were still paying with his money so it was all the same to him. Maybe he should go over there and tell them not to pay his bills anymore, Luke was doing well enough to pay all those things for himself. He had a job, plenty of inheritance money and.. well just that. But he still had plenty of time to do what he wanted, in that prospect he was happy as could be with his job. Not so much school, but he would suffer through it as best he could.

He added a nod at the end of his thought as Carleigh had just finished her sentence at that point. ''Aye. Me weakness; girls. Pretty sure everyone has that weakness though.'' He coughed. ''Every straight guy.'' He corrected quickly. Lucas would also be one of the first people to give her his coat, assuming he was wearing one at the time. Or maybe he'd just share his body heat or something if she asked, the Texan wasn't exactly cold or anything.

''People wouldn't trample ya, Car.'' And already with shortening the name.. but then again he did that for everyone he ever met (the girls anyway) so it didn't phase him all that much, it was just easy to do. ''Yer way ta beautiful fer that. Pretty sure men would be linin' up ta pick ya up, in more ways than one.'' He then laughed. ''Oh and don't ferget women, pretty sure they'd appreciate it too.''

But yeah, they should look around a bit more. Who knew what else people had missed? It would be fantastic though if at the check out they met someone just as stupid as he was who had forgotten his money. Oh! Thinking of money lead Lucas to an idea.

''What if I quickly run up an' down ta me house an' grab me money? Meet up here? We could go splitsies. I at least owe ya that.''