Logs:Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
Dramatis Personae Kitty, Leo	2021-02-14 “Made new plans. Netflix and wine. Can’t go wrong with that.”
Location <NYC> Grand Street Market - Lower East Side
This neighborhood fixture has stood at the corner of Essex and Grand for a long, long time. Though it has a name and even a proper sign which declares 'GRAND ST MARKET', to much of the neighborhood it is simply the bodega, as though there weren't 10,000 others like it throughout the City. It's open 24/7, but after midnight anyone who isn't a trusted regular has to ask for their purchases through the bulletproof glass service window. Business tends to be slow but steady most weekdays and extremely lively on Saturdays--almost as lively as the trade in community gossip at this underrated social hub. The long counter extends back from the front door that opens onto the corner. Many of the more expensive small items, such as cigarettes, medications, and electronics, are sequestered there between the old-fashioned cash register and the late-night service window set into the outer wall. Farther along the counter, there is a food prep area that serves up coffee, soup, sandwiches, and a rotating menu of Dominican snacks. Between the end of the food service counter and the back wall, there is mounted a dry, crumbling cork board overflowing with event announcements, ads, and lost pet fliers and a slow but reliable ATM. Beyond this, the rest of the respectably sized store is crammed with shelves and end caps and refrigerated display cases. It sells prepared foods, produce, groceries, home goods, alcohol, personal care products, toys, over-the-counter medications clothing, and a variety of Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Chinese specialty items. Interspersed with and crowding between these common household necessities are small luxuries and occasional startling whimsies. In addition to the human employees, the shop is staffed by Coquí and Sapo, the resident cats. Like much of the frosty city the bodega is festooned with brightly colored pink and red this evening, strings of hearts and bright boxes of candies and chocolates highlit in endcaps at the crowded aisles. Thought it's icy outside in here it's almost too warm -- save by the refrigerated sections in back where currently one friendly neighborhood terrorist is squinting at the selection of beers and wine coolers. Leo's peacoat is warm, his plush scarf (with blue abstract wave patterns) still wound snug around his neck, umber corduroys neatly fitted, a stippling of dirt and ice still on his black ankle boots. He has one arm clutched somewhat protectively around the two heart-shaped boxes of chocolate in his arm and is not, in fact, looking at the alcohol at all just at the moment but down at the phone in his hand until he finishes his text message and slips it back into his pocket. Kitty doesn’t intend to match the store decor, but her red down coat happens to be the same shade as some of the bright hearts on the decorative strings. Her black leggings are tucked haphazardly into her chestnut winter boots, and brown curls spill out from under the white knit toque. Her eyes still have the vestiges of sparkly eyeshadow on the lids, telltale black lines faintly showing where mascara had been wiped away. She marches to back of the bodega, pulling a few packs of jerky off of a shelf on her way without stopping. Her focus is entirely onto the wine coolers, so much so it’s not until she’s already opened a fridge and reached for a cooler that she notices Leo’s presence. “Oh, hey. Been a minute.” Her eyes glance over Leo's boxes briefly before she realizes the door to the fridge is still open - she quickly bends down, reaching for a sangria cooler on a lower shelf. Leo looks up with wide, startled eyes, freezing with one hand in his pocket. His expression collapses into a warm smile a moment later, eyes crinkling as they light on Kitty. "Kitty! Oh. Yeah -- yes, it -- yes. Are you -- you aren't -- have you been --" His eyes lower to the floor, his hand pulling from his pocket to join the other, wrapped around his chest to hug the chocolates lightly. "Hi. It's good to see you again." He looks back up, glance catching on the sangria before lifting to Kitty's face. "Sunday night in?" Kitty’s eyebrow quirks up, a wry smile forming as Leo stumbles through his greeting. “You too, Leo,” she says, more warmly than her offhand acknowledgement before. Her hand wraps around a bottle and she stands up, letting the fridge door swing closed. Her expression tightens a bit before answering. “Unexpected night in. There was another plan, but —“ She shakes her head, fingers squeezing around the neck of the bottle. “What about you? Last minute Valentine gift shopping?” Her eyes flit from Leo’s face to the chocolates and back again. "Oh -- I'm really sorry. About your plans." Leo replies with a wince, head dipping. "Oh -- no, I don't --" His smile now is a little crooked. "I don't really think I'm at the top of anyone's -- uh." He shakes his head quickly, shifting to a somewhat sheepish: "I like the little boxes. They're -- fancy." There is perhaps by objective measure not much fancy about the inexpensive chocolates he holds, but he's still clinging to the boxes with some care. "And it's been cold and busy and it just -- felt like a good night for taking it easy. You know?" “Why be sorry?” Kitty shrugs, lifting the wine bottle up. “Made new plans. Netflix and wine. Can’t go wrong with that.” Her eyes light up now, smile widening as she lets out the tiniest of giggles. “They are nice, right? I love the ones where the top and the bottom are so perfectly flush with each other, when you can hold the lid and watch the bottom slide out super slowly.” She says all this with earnest, tucking the bottle into the crook of her arm along with the jerky. “It does feel like that kind of night,” she agrees, then adds more hesitantly, “I just moved in around the corner.” Leo's posture eases, and he lets out a quiet laugh. "Oh! Yes! Just a whole drawer of surprises. And with the little crinkly paper cups each one feels like its own little present." His smile is easier now, less sheepish than before. "Alright, Netflix and wine sounds like a solid backup plan. I'd gotten as far as chocolate and --" He shifts a little uncertainly from one foot to the other, "-- well, that's as far as I'd gotten." A bit brighter: "I didn't know you lived around here!" -- though this is immediately followed by a small cringe, an awkward: "-- right, just moved, you didn't. That's great, though. I mean -- I like the neighborhood. People -- stare less." “Chocolate is a good start. I hadn’t gotten to chocolate yet.” At this Kitty looks slightly perturbed, mumbling “I should get chocolate,” in a softer voice. Then, bright again — “Hah, that’s a glowing review. I like it too, it’s closer to everything than Inwood seemed to be.” She looks at the fridge again, eyes drifting to the faint reflection of Leo in the glass. “We haven’t had a chance to have a housewarming yet, but —“ Her smile is a touch nervous but overly earnest, “— if your plan is still in progress, I wouldn’t mind company.” A flicker of a frown. “Wait, are you allergic to cats?” "No, I love cats. If I can ever actually get a place of my own again, I'd probably..." Leo trails off, looking a little distant for just a moment before he shakes his head. Smiles shyly at Kitty, lifting his two boxes. "I'd love that. I have plenty to share. It could be a very small sort of -- housewarming present. I guess I can't exactly welcome you to the neighborhood since I don't live -- anywhere, but I do spend a lot of time here. So -- welcome?" The edge of nervousness in Kitty’s smile fades away, leaving behind just bright enthusiasm. “Amazing. We don’t have a cat, unfortunately, my roommate just sheds a little bit.” She opens the door of the fridge again, grabbing another bottle of the sangria cooler. Pauses briefly, brow crinkling. “Anywhere? That sounds — rough.” Shakes her head, spinning on her heel to face towards the front of the store. “Thank you. I am feeling — much less despondent about this evening, now that I’ve been welcomed so warmly!” "Your roommate --" Leo's brows scrunch, perplexed, for only a brief moment, before relaxing into an understanding, "-- oh. Oh! No, that's -- fine. Wait, does your roommate like chocolate?" He falls into step after Kitty, surreptitiously plucking a little bright red plush conversation heart (with XOXO embroidered in pink) off one of the endcaps to add it to his stash en route to checkout. "Well, it's been a very weird year. But I guess I spent so much of it depending on other people's warm welcomes --" He lifts one shoulder. "It's good to pass on." Kitty’s face scrunches up again. “I… I think they can’t eat chocolate?” This comes out almost apologetically. “But I could be wrong.” Kitty swipes another pack of jerky for her collection on the way to the cash register, dumping it along with with alcohol unceremoniously on the countertop. Her tone is a touch more somber when she replies. “Very weird seems like an understatement — I’m glad you’ve come through it alright, though.” It takes a moment to locate her wallet in the depths of her coat pockets, less time to ring it all up. "I think -- maybe very weird is just how the world is now. Or how it always was and I just learned..." Leo shakes his head. Fishes his own wallet out while Kitty is paying, digging out cash to buy the candy and plushie. He wraps his scarf a little more snug around his neck, pausing just before he holds the door open for Kitty. "Thank you. Weird or not I keep meeting -- really great people along the way." Kitty’s face flushes - whether from the cold air or the compliment, it’s hard to tell - as she steps out the door of the bodega, arms wrapped tight around the drinks and snacks. “Psh. Wait ’til you see me a few drinks in before you count me among great people.” Her glance to Leo has a hint of sadness in it, but it quickly wiped away by the next thought. “Do you have strong opinions on romcoms?” Her pace up the block is brisk and her smile wide. “I think, after the year it’s been, we deserve something mindnumbingly silly and sweet.”