ArchivedLogs:Pins And Needles

Pins And Needles
Dramatis Personae Melinda, Micah
In Absentia	15 June 2015 '
Location <NYC> 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 crowds, as well as the bulk prices on tofu and squid. It's an average Monday night in the City and Melinda has taken a short walk over to the local Chinese grocery to pick through the vast assortments imported vegetables and specially processed desserts to find a few key ingredients. She's got a list in one hand and a basket in the other, a few leafy green things inside already, with a lumpy root. She's scratching at the back of her neck as she stares through the frosted glass of the freezer case, considering quietly its innards. Shopping tends to be a bit of a dull chore, but it is better in pairs. Micah has his own basket over one arm with a few items already in. The redhead is in typical evening gear of a tee (green with a jubilant T-rex on it, bearing an adaptive reacher in each hand, under the heading 'UNSTOPPABLE!') over faded blue jeans and sneakers. He is murmuring about 'baby bok choy' half under his breath as he trails a decent way behind Mel. Three guesses what he's looking for. "Aha!" Apparently the cabbage has been discovered! Micah picks over the offerings to find ones with the least wilting to add to his basket. Once obtained, he finds his way over to the freezer section to look over veggie buns. Melinda may still be a little damp from the rains from before, her white blouse clinging to her camisol especially around her shoulders. She's wearing loose curvy jeans that have a little more flare around the ankles than is fashionable right now, but no where near as wide as the bell bottoms of yore. She pulls out a package of shumai and considers. "I don't know. Frozen's okay, right? I mean, with how labor intensive they are otherwise, frozen's good?" Micah finally settles on a brand of buns and opens the freezer quickly to retrieve a bag for his growing basket-bounty before closing the door again. Even so, he shivers a little at the blast of cold on his arm in the process. "I've gotten frozen veggie dumplin's before that were good for like...tossin' in a soup? Or dressin' up some ramen. Not servin' t'guests quality food, but good enough t'eat for m'self, for sure. S'worth tryin' at least once, I'd say. S'good t'have quick things sometimes." "Yeah, quick things. Hmm." Mel pulls open the door and selects a small tray of shumai and puts it into her basket, making sure the door is closed behind her. She looks over at Micah and gives a little smile. "Been tired enough lately that all I do is reheat things. Everyone tells you that you're going to be tired as a parent, but you never really understand it until you're in it, right?" She shuffles down a few doors and looks in at the desserts, lips pursing. "So, how have you been?" "It's a full time job that can call you in for whatever hours they want an', oh...y'still gotta work another job t'make money since the other one only /costs/," Micah agrees with a small, lopsided grin. "But there's a kid in it for you, which keeps y'goin'." He shifts the basket in his hand to redistribute the pressure. "I'm...okay. S'been an odd time with the twins graduatin' an' all. An' Jax's still...not. In a great place. All the dream stuff came to a head an' since then feels like it...collapsed. I dunno. S'hard t'get anybody t'talk t'me 'bout anythin'." A rise and fall of his shoulders is most of the way to a shrug, but not quite. "Been makin' a lotta headway on the first prototype for Flicker's new arm. Makes me feel like I'm not just standin' still all the time, at least. How 'bout you, 'sides from the tired?" "You want to talk about it? I... have no idea what was going on with most of that. Got some scary dreams. Lost Hive for a while. Then he came back and Flicker's gone and everything's just kind of flat. I don't know." Melinda picks up some mochi ice cream and slips that into her basket before wandering forward, angling toward one of the aisles, this time with sauces. "Tove wants me to pick up mushroom soy sauce. Says we need more umami." “I dunno. That's it with me, too. I got very little idea what's goin' on anymore. We was pretty set on tryin' t'stop things happenin' t'the point of riskin' lives an' alla what's happened t'Hive an' Flicker an' then...?” Micah gives another half-shrug. “The mushroom bases're nice for soups, too. Gives a little somethin' dif'rent t'start from.” "Maybe it never happened." Melinda offers quietly, her lips pursing for a moment. "No one wants to talk about it because it doesn't happen because it got fixed. Isn't that the problem with time travel problems? You set out to fix something and only manage to erase the impetus that started the need for dreams to come back from the future to start." She gives a little shrug, her whole speech half hearted. Her gaze is traveling from bottle label to bottle label as she looks for her specific ingredient. “There were so many 'its'. Most of 'em still in the future. Think I'll only feel okay once some of those dates go by without the events on 'em. Don't know as we've done enough t'change it but don't know what else t'do, so...” Micah's free hand turns palm-upward, empty. It seems like he has finished gathering his needed items, since he only glances over the items on the shelves with no real study. Melinda selects her bottle at long last and slips it into her basket as she looks over her list. "I don't know if I want to live in fear the next five years. I don't want to keep sitting on pins and needles waiting for the next terrible thing." She stuffs her list back into her pocket and heads for the front. "Okay, I'm good. Let's get out of here." “S'prob'ly the better way t'do. Never been good at not worryin', m'self.” Micah gives an acknowledging nod. “Yeah, I'm set, too. Time t'check out.”