ArchivedLogs:Hot Pot and Ice Cream

Hot Pot and Ice Cream
Dramatis Personae Hive, Melinda	2013-03-03 Some worries. Some conversation. Some food.
Location <NYC> SOME CHINESE GROCERY - Lower East Side
Just outside of Chinatown, there is a Chinese grocery where one can get all of their Chinese cooking needs. The stuff here is cheap, yes, but it is all well known labels with translations provided, as opposed to the really authentic shops where those who cannot read Chinese characters would likely fail to understand what they are buying. The linoleum is white and gray, but has taken on a yellowish tinge, despite the scent of chlorine and frozen fish hanging around in some of the refrigerated food aisle. All manner of brightly colored packages of premade noodles draw the largest crows, as well as the bulk prices on tofu and squid. Outside it is dark but in here the lights are harsh-bright, glaring down on the sprinkling of shoppers browsing the aisles. Maybe this is why Hive is squinting, or maybe he's just very critical of the shelves in front of him. He's a little shivery in a freezer aisle, giving intent inspection to packages of frozen fish cakes. His battered old jacket is zipped up, hands shoved in his pocket with a cloth grocery bag dangling limply empty from one wrist. Melinda wanders down the aisle humming to herself and thinking about mochi ice cream and whether it would be easy to make. She's got some strange idea that the mochi is warm when it's ready to go around the ice cream and whether that makes for messiness when it is rolled and pinched around the ice cream or if the ice cream is squirted into a pre-made mochi bubble. Then she considers tasting a mochi bubble and how the first few bites might be like inari before the walls seal up, on account of how squishy mochi is. She is wearing whitish mittens, scarf and hat with her red peacoat. Her slacks indicate that she just got off work. She also has a reusable grocery bag, but hers already has some veggies in it. She blinks when she spies Hive and takes a moment to be sure it's him (as she is tired and isn't one hundred percent trusting her eyes today) before smiling and waving a little. "Oh, Hello." "Fish sausage with curry flavor? Fish cakes with broccoli?" Hi, Melinda. Hive apparently can't make life choices. He frowns at both these options. "I like your coat, have I told you that?" He doesn't seem to be looking at it, though. Just at the frozen cakes. "Actually the bean curd looks good too. I shouldn't shop when I'm hungry." "Oh goodness. Yes. Don't shop when you're hungry. What you need to do right now is walk away, buy something ready made, eat it outside, wash it down with some milk and then in a few minutes, try again." Melinda smiles at Hive and brushes some imaginary dirt off her coat. << no, but it's nice to know anyway. >> "Is fish sausage any good?" "Or," Hive says, grinning a little crookedly, "I could stay here and stupidly spend half my money on filling my fridge with everything in here that looks good. -- You might have a point," he concedes. But still eyes the sausages. "Some of it's good, some of it's shitty as hell. Like any sausage, I guess. This brand," he gestures towards the one he's eying, "is pretty decent. I like to put it in with eggs. What're you looking for?" "Oh, I felt like noodles, and then I felt like a hot pot. Now, I just feel like ice cream." Melinda shrugs and turns to follow Hive's finger to the sausage in question. << Did Jim really buy you flowers? Said he did before he said you spent the night. >> The thoughts that follow are a bit uncomfortable as she tries not to imagine Jim and Hive kissing, especially given how stiff Jim is pretty much all of the time. He is shit with women after all. Maybe he's a man's man. "The first two things sound good still, but ice cream. It's soothing." Hive winces, at Melinda's mental images, kind of cringing down into his jacket. "Um -- yeah, he, uh, did," he allows, with a twisted hook of a smile, "I said I liked heather and -- mmn. Ice cream is delicious. I've never had mochi ice cream, is it good? It /sounds/ good. I mean I like mochi and I like ice cream, how can that go wrong?" "It goes wrong when you try to bite into it when it's too cold and get brain freeze right up through your teeth," Melinda watches Jim cringe and is apologetic. "Sorry. Heather? I'm not sure what it looks like." Her mind is nervously jumping from subject to subject to avoid thinking about something that has been pestering her, especially around Hive. She begins imagining a small purple flower like baby's breath, but with more leaves interspersed throughout. "You can have some of mine when I buy it. Try it out before you do." "I wish brainfreeze actually freezed your brain, I could use some brain stasis sometimes. Heather's -- I dunno. Heathery. Purple. Sort of on stalky clusters." Hive shrugs a shoulder. "That's not far off. I could -- no, shit, I can't show you. Oh, right, I could. The normal way." He pulls his phone out of his pocket, swiping it on and opening up a browser. "Um, you okay? There wasn't any kissing. Just by the way." "Sorry, it's just distracting enough pain to make a person forget for a while anything other than how cold that thing around ones teeth is." Melinda moves closer to get a look at the phone image as Hive looks it up. "I'm okay, mostly. On edge, I guess." There are quick flashes of finding Shelby, the site of her forehead, her uncomfortable breathing, the sight of her hand and arm. "I'm sorry there was no kissing. I hear that's nice and distracting as well." Hive tips the phone towards Melinda, showing her the picture of the purple flowers on the screen. "No, I mean, um, there's no kissing cuz we're not -- I just crashed on --" He stops, eyebrows raising at Melinda. "Wait, what? What the fuck happened to Shelby?" he says, startled. "She's safely back at school. She's okay," Melinda says, but offers more bluntly, << Shane and Jim seem to think that this week is far too busy for hunting the perpetrator down, but next week will do nicely. >> She's a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing, but individuals who lash out at young girls and are removed from standard means of recourse really shouldn't be allowed to continue. "Crashing is okay. I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't tease you too much. It's just how Jim said it that was amusing." "But who -- but /what/ -- what the fuck?" Hive is still just kind of startled, staring at Melinda with noncomprehension. "I mean, who -- did -- someone attacked her?" The images gleaned from Melinda's head apparently aren't making a whole lot of sense to him. "No, Jim and I -- ngh." "Yes. Someone attacked her in broad daylight about a block from here. The police where still on the street when she called me for help." Melinda takes a deep breath and tries to remember things in order, slowly and clearly, all the way from the phone call to the time when she tucked the girl into bed and called the school. She has a headache from thinking about it too much and not sleeping because of it. "I'm sorry." Hive leans a shoulder against the freezer doors, scrubbing his knuckles against his eyes. "Oh, man. Oh, shit. That's -- fuck." He studies Melinda's face a long quiet moent. "That's fucked up as hell. Right around here?" He glances towards the front of the store pensively. "Shit, I'm sorry. You seem kinda beat. We should --" He bites down on his lip. "At least she's safe at the school now, right?" "I'm beat, but I'll be okay. Going to make noodles... or hot pot and eat mochi ice cream because it's soothing." Melinda smiles tiredly and reaches out a hand to touch Hive's shoulder comfortingly. "Yes. She's safe at the school. They'll take good care of her. Hun, your stressed. Can I make you dinner or something? Stuff you full of ice cream?" "Oh, man, hot pot. Um. Are you offering hot pot because /shit/ if that doesn't sound better than fishcakes. Actually everything sounds good. Except, shit." Hive's shoulder sinks slightly under Melinda's arm. "Is she -- she can't -- I mean, we'll fix it." He doesn't sound /entirely/ confident. Mostly tired. "I'm alright," he adds with a crooked smile, "it's just been a longass week." "It's not painful, not for the most part. Yes, I think she'd like it fixed, but I also think she wouldn't want everyone stressed over it. She doesn't want Jax to know - so... you know." Mel gives him a slightly brighter smile and squeezes his shoulder before reaching into the freezer beside him. "How about some fish cakes with the hot pot. Come on. Tag'll be getting home soonish and he'll be hungry too." She slips the package of fish cakes into her bag and moves on to the ice cream. "Green tea or strawberry?" "Why doesn't she want Jax to know, he would totally want to -- Oh." Hive cuts himself off, having answered his own question, but it prompts a slightly puzzled look. "-- Though she's never seemed much fussed /before/ about -- hm." His hands scrub through his hair, and he smiles a little easier at the obtaining of fish cakes, trailing along after Melinda. "Green tea. Shit. I'm getting spoiled now." "She's mature when she has to be. I'm sure she'll go back to being a spoiled brat just as soon as the hardship's not so fresh." Melinda offers the crook of her elbow to Hive to hold as she finishes leading him through the grocery to the register, all the last of the ingredients picked up. "You deserve to be a little spoiled, hun. Everyone should, from time to time. It's some of the easiest joy we can dish out." "Thanks," Hive says, as he slips his hand through Mel's arm, and for a moment he doesn't sound his usual default-gruff, just quiet and genuine. "S'-- been a week. Guess it was pretty good luck running into you. For me, at least," he adds, smiling just a little. "For you it's like more mooching. Here, let me get some of --" He reaches for his wallet as they get to the register. "Guess trauma does weird things to people." "We cope in our own ways - and don't cope in other ways too." Melinda shakes her head and shrugs as he starts to pay, pulling out her purse and combining cash with his. "Food is the one thing I never really care about mooching. Pay if you like, if you can afford it, but always know you can eat with me if I have food." When they are done paying, Mel takes Hive home and feeds him. It's a pretty tasty hot pot.