Stoking the Fire

"Dear Caen,

Seven years is a long time, I am sure you would agree. Nearly eight, by now, no?
I know you are still after information. Or, perhaps not. Perhaps you think me dead. That would not surprise me. However, if you do seek this information, go to the forest 2 miles East of Westopolis at 0030 hours. Go to the large clearing in the centre.

Yours sincerely,
Xavier Flare"

These words arrived through the hedgehog's door, in the form of a letter. Needless to say, it left him stunned as he poured the morning's glass of orange juice. He bit into a slice of toast as he put the letter down on the counter.  "Xavier Flare..." He muttered to himself "How is that possible?!" He shouted, slamming his hand down on the letter "why would he just leave me all these years?!"
Tears began to roll down the side of the hedgehog's cheeks. To say he was sad was an... Understatement, to say the very least. He looked out the window "why has he only decided to contact me, now? After all these years..."

He looked down at the ground, smiling "That's not important. He's alive. Dad is alive! I... I wonder if he'd be proud of me..." He looked up at the clock "right. I have... 14 and a half hours. First things first, I... I need to..." He clicked his fingers as he processed his thoughts "get supplies! Yes, plenty of sugar and... Maybe a little caffeine to make sure I can get through the night without falling asleep."

The hedgehog sped off around his apartment, completing his morning routine in less than half the usual time, taking a shower, getting dressed, ensuring everything is clean etc.
When he reached for the door handle to the front door, he sighed "I just hope this is real..."

Out he went, stepping out onto the sidewalk, moving in the general direction of a nearby grocery store.

It was a calm morning, The sun had not long risen, and with it came the normal routine of the purple snow leopard in her small apartment on one of her few days off work. 

She, naturally had no idea what to do for the day as she was somewhat of a workaholic and literally made sure her only focus was her cafe job. Maybe she could just make an appearance in there in case they needed someone at the last minute?
Hmm maybe not. It was early in the week so they weren't so busy, especially at this time. The morning coffee addicts didn't appear until mid morning, maybe closer to the afternoon.

She sighed and ran a bare white hand through her black hair before going to her fridge to get some milk to make cereal. Upon opening the door however, she found that she was in fact, in dire need of a shopping trip. There was nothing in the cold box other than a sad and lonely egg and some leftovers on the top shelf.

"Okay Yuki, guess its shopping time." She went into her bedroom to get changed into her normal attire before grabbing her keys and purse and leaving to head out.

(I haven't the slightest clue how to join this roleplay 0_0)

As the hedgehog walked briskly along the sidewalk, his coat billowed behind him slightly, almost like a cape. He fumbled with his pockets, searching for... Something. He just realised- he had left the gloves he would usually wear behind in his rush. "Oh, well," he muttered to himself, taking his hand out of his pocket. However, what he did not realise was that when he did so, his wallet fell out of said pocket, landing on the pavement, open. If someone were to look into it, they would see a driver's licence, with a picture of the hedgehog's face, as well as a debit card, and a small amount of money- presumably just enough for what Caen had in mind.

Soon, he made it to the grocery store, and picked up a basket, immediately making his way to the confectionery aisle, and browsing the wide selection of foods on offer- some foreign to him, some familiar favourites.

With her rather large bunch of keys that were really just mostly key rings with the apartment key... Somewhere? Yukiko stuffed them into her purse as she left the apartment complex to head towards the nearest supermarket for some well needed stocking up. 

The air was a little chilly but not so much to need to wrap up excessively. This made the violet feline smile softly as the wind tickled her ears and made her sigh contentedly. The colder weather was what she enjoyed more than most, which was also one of the reasons why people thought she was a little bit strange. She looked across the road she had come to and couldn't help but notice an unusual object laying on the sidewalk on the other side. It piqued her interest, so she impatiently waited for the traffic to clear before fast-walking across. She hoped it wasn't just something stupid like a discarded candy bar wrapper that got stuck to some gum or she would feel pretty stupid about her actions. 

As she got closer to it, her eyes widened considerably as she registered it as a mans wallet. She frowned to herself as she bend down to pick it up, brushing her long hair behind her shoulder as it fell forward when she moved down. 

"Why hasn't anyone else picked this up and handed it in to the nearest Police Station or something?" She pondered to herself as she began to open up the side of it in case there was any form of ID that she could distinguish. She may be lucky and the guy would still be nearby. Opening up the side completely she came across a driving license that held the photograph of a male hedgehog. He was red in colour, but his quills were styled unusually, more like hair is the only thing she could think of to compare it to. 

"Caen...Flare..." The name rolled off of her tongue as she quickly glanced up to see if there were any Mobians around who matched the same colours as the on in the picture she held. A shiver ran through her body as she thought of the name flare. It made her think of fire, heat and warmth which she wasn't the biggest fan of. 

"Well, I guess I'll hand this in as soon as I've done my shopping. Maybe, with any luck I may find him in my way."

She put the wallet into a zipped compartment in her purse and continued her way to the supermarket. 

Arriving inside the large store she was met with the familiar blast of air that greeted every customer. She grabbed a cart and hung her purse from the handle and slowly began to make her way around the store, picking up her necessities as she went. 

Around the corner of the next aisle, she spotted a flash of red out of the corner of her eye which caught her attention and she made a sharp turn towards it, taking her cart with her and accidentally hitting another shoppers making a loud clang echo around. Her ears flattened as she she lowered her head in embarrassment, a bright red blush taking over her face. 

"I-im so sorry! I... I didn't m-mean to, please l-let me help y-you. "

She mentally cursed herself as her nerves caught her out again. She quickly gathered the other customers items and placed them back in their basket in order. Bowing lowly, she dashed off again to try and catch that red flash.

The hedgehog continued to peruse the aisles, picking up anything that looked remotely sugar-laden, chucking it straight into his basket. Soon enough, his basket was about half filled with all types of colourful treats, including several drinks, sweets, and a few cakes. He shrugged his shoulders "may as well get a few things to fill up the fridge, as well," he said to himself, walking away from the aisle he was on, and moving onto the one next to it.

Caen stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a loud clang. His eyes scanned around him, trying to detect the cause of the noise "trouble? Now?" He asked himself.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a female voice apologise in an increasingly nervous manner. "Good. Nothing can get in my way, today, not a chance.," he said to himself, walking away from the noise, and back to scanning the selves for your standard foods- pasta, bread, milk and the like, still unaware that he had lost the one thing he would have required for all this.

She spotted him! 

Or that would have been the case if the one she believed it to be hadn't turned round to show that they were in fact female. Yukiko felt as if she had been apologizing a lot more than normal today, she mentally scolded herself for making so many mistakes as she bowed to the third person in apology that she had either disturbed, bumped into or hit them with her large disagreeing tail. 

Her amber-orange eyes wearily gave a last minute glance around before she stepped into the next aisle, which held the checkout are at the end. No luck in finding him in here, that's for sure. 

"I guess it's to the Police Station for you then," She said quietly as she patted the area where the wallet was safe and sound.  "They'll find your owner, much faster than I could anyway. "

The violet and white female looked back up to continue her shopping to notice that a few shoppers were giving her odd looks. She felt herself sweatdrop and her face once again began to heat up rapidly at all the unwanted attention. She his her gaze under her dark bangs and quickly strode down the aisle towards the checkout area, picking up some assorted meats and pastas along the way. 

Aside from the obvious thought of where this wallets owner could be, one other more pressing matter came to fruition: 
How was she getting this food home?

It was early. Early for most, anyway. When Flo had begun his walk a short time ago, the city was calm. The sun had just begun to peak out from the eastern horizon, and the stars could still be perceived in the pale morning sky. Now the sun shown brightly and, the city was lively, teeming with people heading to their destinations to begin their day. That wasn't the case for Flo. His day had begun quite some time ago.

Not long ago, Flo's shift came to an end at his new job. He had been up since yesterday afternoon, and he was feeling completely worn out after a long night at work. But he was off today, and while originally he planned to just go straight to his apartment and crash, he had had a sudden change of heart. He decided he was going to stay awake the entire day and enjoy himself. He was sick of spending his free time up by himself at night. The fatigue would pass, he told himself, and he would do whatever he wanted for the entire day.

Flo realized it had been a long time since he had last eaten, and he decided he would treat himself to something special. Chocolate. Not just any chocolate, he decided. He would go to the supermarket and try a bold new flavor he had never tried before. Yes, that would be a grand start to his time off.

Being tired and absent minded, Flo accidentally walked through the "exit" door of the supermarket. It didn't really matter. Being quite early in the morning, the store was very empty. Flo grabbed a small hand basket and began racing for the isles. He decided he would save the chocolate for last. It would be more fun that way, he thought. He realized he had better check to make sure he had the funds for this little escapade. He took his wallet into his hand, and peaked inside. It all totaled to a rather pitiful sum, but it would be enough. He replaced his wallet clumsily and tiredly, and it fell out shortly after he began walking again--very near where the purple snow leopard stood.

He began walking toward the isles when he spotted Caen. The bus! Of course. He remembered him.

Energetically, but with a hint of shyness, he called out to him. "Caen! Hey Caen, remember me? What are you up to so early in the morning?" he yelled out to the red hedgehog with a smile.

With his basket nearly overflowing, the hedgehog looked at all the food he was planning to buy, ensuring he didn't miss anything. Soon enough, he nodded, before his ears perked up at someone calling his name. A young male voice by the hedgehog's guess. It almost sounded... Familiar, like he had heard it before. As his eyes scanned around the area, his vision soon met with the person that accompanied the voice. Following up the calling of Caen's name, the person before him said 'remember me?', which, to be honest, Caen was struggling with. "Uh... Yeah... You're... Uh..." The hedgehog scratched the back of his head. Something was clicking in his mind, he knew he had met the hedgehog before, but he could not place where. "Uh... Sssslow, was it?" He guessed.

He paused, widening his eyes. He [b]had]/b] seen this person before, back in Chun-nan! He clicked his fingers "wait! Flo! That's it!" He wiped his forehead "sorry, I'm terrible with remembering people. But, uh... Yeah, hi! I'm just uh... Doing some shopping. Let's just say I need to keep my sugar levels up tonight. I... Uh... I'm meeting someone that..." He looked at the ground "well, this is gonna sound stupid but... I'm meeting someone that I've thought to be dead for seven years,"

He looked back up again "ah! Talking of which, I need to check if I have enough for all this stuff!" Caen said, patting his pocket. There was nothing there. He reached into the same pocket, searching around with his hand "no..." He whispered, more panicked as he began to search every pocket he had, as well as dig through the basket "no, no, no... Where is it?!" He said louder this time, probably loud enough to be heard throughout the store "this can't be happening! Any day but today!"

White tipped ears twitched as they picked up a nervous, shy voice say the name that had taken over her mind since she stepped outside her home. He was definitely in here now! 
She stepped forward in anticipation for finding this evasive male, only to hit something with her boot. Looking down to what it could possibly be in the middle of the shop, only to widen her eyes in surprise. 

Yet another wallet was laying at her feet. 

Surely she was imagining it. Wasn't she?  Slowly bending down in disbelief, she picked it up and held it in one hand, flipping it open to again, look for ID. As she mouthed the name of the owners wallet to herself, she was starting to believe that someone was setting her up or something. Surely. It was a rare chance to even have one wallet drop into your metaphorical arms, never mind two. 
She glanced up to where Caens name was spoke and she took a step back. There right in front of her were the two very Mobians she was looking for. 

Feeling a little worried that she may get a dirty look thrown her way for interrupting their conversation, Yukiko moved her cart forward towards them and cleared her throat in their direction. Hopefully they would hear her as being so shy sometimes took over her.

Flo chuckled understandingly at the hedgehog's difficulty in recalling his name. "Hah, no worries. We only met that one time. I'm surprised that you remembered at all." Flo scanned the hedgehog's basket as Caen explained what all of the energy dense foods were for. 

Just as Flo was about to inquire further about the curious reasons the hedgehog was here, Caen announced that his wallet was missing and had begun to panic. At first, Flo looked distressed, not sure what he could do to help his new friend. He then composed himself and decided he needed to help, somehow. "We'll find it, Caen! Where's the last place you remember having it?" The silver chinchilla began scanning the area. "Maybe it fell out right around here." Flo looked hopefully over to the snow leopard as she approached them. "Hey, miss! Have you seen a wallet? My friend here lost his!." While waiting for her to come forward, with all of this talk of wallets, Flo felt compelled to rest his hand where his own wallet lay. When his hand made it to its mark, a vacant glassy eyed expression painted his face. "No. Way." the chinchilla said flatly.

Caen sighed, letting his arms droop towards the ground, as he hung his head "of course this would happen," he said, in a solemn, defeated tone. He looked up as Flo appeared to be asking a snow leopard if she had seen Caen's wallet. One thing that struck the hedgehog as odd was the fact that he had sworn that she had cleared her throat earlier, as if to get their attention. He shook his head, believing himself to be imagining it.

He approached Flo, tapping him on the shoulder, "don't bother. I don't want to bother people, 'cause they're probably busy enough as it is."
At that instant, Flo's eyes appeared to glaze over, as he said 'no way'. Caen raised his eyebrow "you didn't. Tell me you're joking... That's it, there must be a thief around here." Caen said, his voice growing angrier. He turned to the snow leopard "miss, have you seen any suspicious-looking individuals around here?"

Yukiko looked over the chinchilla and hedgehog, her ears slowly folding back in worry that they were getting mad because of a wallet thief. 

"I-I uhh..." Her voice began to fade to nothing as her face began to go red from embarrassment at trying to keep calm. She instead opened up her bag and pulled out the dropped wallet to quickly look at the ID on it to compare them. She had to make sure for certain that it was definitely going to the correct owner. She proceeded to do the same with the one she still held in her hands and nodded gingerly as she held out both money containers in front of her and lowered her head as if she had been scolded by someone.

"I found these! The o-one for Mr Flare outs-side, and Mr Chinchillas was j-just a few f-feet behind us..."
She slowly swiveled her ears to pick up anything that would make her worry any more and found nothing to be afraid of, so moved her gaze back up to the two males in front of her. 
She turned to Caen for a moment. "Y-you are a very e-evasive hedgehog, haha..." Then bowed to Flo. "And y-you just happened t-to be in the right p-place."

Naturally her nerves must have made her sound really suspicious, what with that darn stutter, but hopefully her explanation, as patchy as it was might lessen the potential upset the two harbored at that moment. She didn't like being in the same place as angry people at all.

"I'm so sorry if I have inconvenienced you both at all, b-but at least they're back in y-your possessions."


((Sorry if Flo has an actual second name but I wasn't sure so went with the safe option.))

((No worries. In the vein of a lot of the animal characters from the Sonic universe, he doesn't.))

Flo looked over to Caen as he tapped him on the shoulder and gave the recommendation that Flo not disturb others with Caen's own affairs. "But she might have seen it, and it's so important," Flo protested. "I mean, you might have dropped it around here."

Flo then turned to the snow leopard and listened to her explanation. When she revealed their lost wallets, both excitement and relief washed over him, and a smile lit up his face. "Thank you so much! You're a miracle worker!" As Flo put his wallet back in its proper place, he started to ponder the circumstances. Even one as naive his him began to think this whole situation was rather odd. After all, Flo had his wallet when he entered the store. That he knew. And him and Caen both just happened to both lose their wallets near the same time to be found by the same young woman? But she seemed so nice, he thought to himself. And besides, her story does make sense. And why on earth would she steal them just to return them? No, she couldn't be a thief.

"Thanks again. So, um, how did you find them again?" Flo then glanced over to Caen to see his reaction to this whole awkward situation.

Caen's jaw dropped when he saw the snow leopard produce both his and Flo's wallets. The fact that she had them the whole time definitely raised his suspicions. Was this girl a thief? In all honesty, Caen did not believe so. The stuttering that the girl was suffering from appeared to be more anxiety-based than fear-baser. At least, that's what Caen thought. He shook his head. Frankly, he was just glad to have his wallet back.

The hedgehog gladly accepted his possession back, nodding his head "th-thank you so much, miss! You don't know how much this means to me!" He said, smiling widely, trying to seem as friendly as possible "nonsense! The only one who was inconvenienced was you. Still, you say you found it outside... Hmm... I must've dropped it. How careless of me." He continued, beginning to look at the ground. Caen looked back up, still smiling "i-is there any way I can repay you, miss... Uh..." He stopped, stuck on who this girl's name was.

At the sound of the two males relief, she brightened up. They were just happy they got their stuff back. 
"W-well, like I said...Mr F-flares wallet was on the g-ground just across from t-the crossroads at the end of the road. I-I was surprised that nobody p-picked it up before, so guessed it was fairly r-recently it was dropped." She made a mental note of her nerves fading away slowly, along with her crazy stutter. "Yours, Mr Chinchilla was actually right here in t-the store. Just there a-actually. "

She turned around to show them literally just around halfway up the last aisle. "I kinda kicked it w-with my boot, so I apologise if it's dirty at all. "

A small shy smile found it's way on to her face, but with it the blush on her cheeks was fading to a slight dusting of pink. Her ears twitched when she realised that Caen was trying to decipher her name. Her eyes opened fully as she mentally face-palmed at her ignorance. She knew them and they knew nothing of her, how bad was she at conversing with people again? 
"Oh yes, I do apologise... My name is Yukiko... Mikazuki. I'm a cafe all rounder at Dreams of Mobius. Maybe you've h-heard of it? We make a real good coffee. "

Hey, trying to convince potential customers to come to her place of work was never bad, especially if it helped the business and she was being honest. She waved her hands dismissively at the hedgehogs proposal. "There is no need for any repayment! I'm just glad they're back with the right people and not some thief trying to m-make a quick dollar. "

She found herself easing up and her large tail began to swish around contentedly. Before she knew it, her appendage had swirled around and almost made contact with the Mobians around, making her embarrassment return tenfold. 
"Oh!  I am so sorry!  I-it has a mind of it's own, I swear!" 
She held on to the handle of her shopping cart and began to make her way towards the most empty checkout. "Still need to think of how to get all of this home without anything spoiling. Maybe the staff will be son kind to hold it back and I can make a few trips? Or maybe I could call a cab..." Yukiko wondered quietly, but loud enough that her voice could be heard slightly. Then, she raised her voice for the two in front of her to hear clearly. "Well, I-I'm glad everything has been settled. I must return home to get this food put away... somehow..."

(I wont be posting at this time usually, but i was waiting until the last person posted so i will hop in now but always post after Xaelvik after this point)
A silver furred fox (yes this is thunder, but he is not in his cloak) walked by the store and hears the commotion inside and peaks in wondering what was going on. As he walks in he sees a chinchilla, and a red hedgehog next to eachother and a purple leopard across from them looking nervous and handing 2 wallets back over and he starts to thibk in his head 'Did she just try to steal 2 peoples wallets?'. As he listens to the rest of the conversation he understands that she found them (im just repeating information so i will be just cut to the chase, he walked in and hears the story)

(Am I too late? )

((I know I'm not the OP, but I wouldn't think so at all. Red's story hasn't even revved up yet. I guess I'll go ahead and post my response, and then we can start our turn order from there? It's up to you, Red, of course. Oh, and I'm adding colored text to Flo's dialogue. I add a lot of fluff, and I don't want people to feel forced to read through it.))

Flo was relieved. If his red, hedgehog friend had any doubts, it appeared that they had quickly vanished. That was all of the confirmation Flo needed, and all doubt left his mind. Anyway, Flo had never thought the snow leopard looked or acted like a thief. It's just that he's learned to be a little more cautious. Since he had come to this city, Flo learned quickly--much to his chagrin--that there were many people who took advantage of any opportunity that presented itself if it was to their benefit. That much Flo could understand. But in his experience, they often did this even if it came at the expense of someone else--including Flo. That part Flo couldn't understand. But he had met a lot of nice people, too. And he knew she must be one of them.

Flo then listened to Yukiko as she explained to the two in more detail how she came about finding their wallets. Flo laughed at his own clumsiness upon hearing where she had found his wallet. "It must have fallen out right after I checked my money, when I first came into the store!" Flo continued to listen. "Oh, no way! Don't worry about that. Dirty? It's never looked better to me!" Flo was intrigued at the part about the cafe. Coffee didn't interest him too much. He had tried it once, and it didn't work too well for him. But he felt sure that this cafe might have things that did interest him. Maybe chocolate cookies? Or hot chocolate with fluffy white marshmallows on top? Bring it! "I haven't been there myself, but it sounds really neat."


As Yukiko made her way to the checkout, Flo began to think. he agreed with Caen. They should repay her, somehow. She did them such a favor. He knew money wasn't an option. Not if he wanted to try that "bold new flavor" he so craved. Flo realized that he could be kind of selfish sometimes. He frowned.

What could he do? When Yukiko expressed aloud her dilemma, an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning. Why not offer to help carry her burden? He had no where he needed to be. That was it! He couldn't help but feel a little smug establishing such a great plan. He then looked to Caen. "I'm gonna help her out, Caen! Are you in?" He looked to the hedgehog, eagerly awaiting his answer, a bit afraid to do this by himself.

((Of course you're not too late, Jared! Although, I think you'll probably be the last person to enter the rp. Don't wanna get overwhelmed like the one where everyone and their dog joined. Also, I'd like to bring a waiting limit of a max of 2 days, so the rp moves along smoothly.))

Caen smiled when he saw Yukiko's reaction, giving a slight chuckle when he saw her tail end up hitting a few people, with her explaining that it had a mind of its own. However, the smile dropped when Yukiko appeared to mutter about getting the goods she planned on buying home. Flo planned on helping her, asking Caen what to do. Caen smiled again, bowing in a theatrical style, as he had the tendency to do so "Yukiko, it would be my pleasure to assist in getting your shopping home. After all, it's the least I could do."

Caen straightened his back again, scratching the back of his head "sorry. I... Kinda have a tendency to do stuff like that. But, still, I'll be glad to help you. It's the least I could do."

He chuckled, again "I should probably pay for my stuff, first. I'm no thief, after all!"

Yukiko lowered her ears shyly as she waved the two males passively. "Oh no, I honestly couldn't ask you to do that! A taxi will be okay anyway, I-I'm just a short ride along the road anyway."

'Of course you can't force them NOT to,' she thought to herself. She smiled softly as she navigated her cart into a checkout area and placed all of her shopping onto the large conveyor belt to get it all scanned to pay for the total amount. Once the operative called the total, Yukiko pulled out her own money from her purse, noting she had obviously brought too much money with her. Before anyone else noticed, she quickly stashed the extra back inside and left herself with just over what was needed to pay. 

Bagging up everything securely and making sure no bags would burst on the way back home, Yukiko placed her stuff back into the cart to wheel back to the entrance to decide on what to do next.

Flo was relieved that Caen appeared as eager as himself to assist Yukiko. He also noticed that any fatigue that he felt when he had entered the store had now vanished. He guessed that the excitement over the wallet incident had probably gotten his blood pumping, but he thought it might also be something else; he was having fun, in an odd sort of way. Flo was glad that he had decided not to go directly home after work.

At Caen's remark about paying for his groceries, it suddenly dawned on Flo that he had never even begun his shopping. His gray hand-basket was completely empty. 

Before he could decide how to solve the dilemma, Yukiko politely objected to their offer of help. Surely she was just being polite, and Flo felt obligated to help her after the awkward situation involving the two wallets. "There's no reason for you to have to get a taxi. I totally want to help!" Flo then looked down at the ordinary selection of chocolate bars available at the register. He then let out a small sigh and cocked his eyebrows in concede. "Just give me one minute, and we'll be on our a way." He grabbed one of various candies that cluttered the checkout line and proceeded towards one of the empty checkouts, to save time. Just as he was approaching the empty line that was his intended destination, someone--apparently out of no where--beat him to the empty register. He wished he had just stayed in Yukiko's line, but oh well.

As he was standing in line, Flo began to ponder everything that had taken place since he had entered this store. He remembered that Caen's reasons for being here were not at all ordinary. After everything that had happened, he couldn't recall everything that Caen had told him. Everything happened pretty fast. He didn't want to be too pushy, but he was definitely going ask him again, when the opportunity presented itself.

Thunder hears them talking about a cafe and he thinks 'maybe i should go there sometime, see what it is like' after that he walks into the store and buys a small cola so it looked like he was actually there to buy something

(Okay, by the way the internet bill needs to be paid so I'm going to be slow in posts, I will try my best to keep up.)

Into the grocery store walked two individuals covered up in winter attire, an excessive amount of winter attire. Both appeared rather tall, to about the height of normal humans. One was female in clothing apparel, the other was male. They both has on jackets, scarves, long pants and coats. However what was really bizarre about the duo is that they both were wearing Russian ushanka hats. The slightly taller male appeared to be wearing a dark blue colored jacket. while the female appeared to be wearing a teal green colored one as well.

Both of them moved over and each one of them picked up a basket.The two people then looked around in the isles, after a moment of searching they proceeded to head towards where they could find cooking ingredients. They moved in slight unison so judging by this they appeared to be somehow related or associated with one another. The taller male one appeared to walk ahead of the slightly shorter female one as they moved down the isle.

Caen shook his head, walking over to a separate conveyor and unloading the items onto it. Motors whirred and scanners beeped until eventually the cashier asked for the total price. Caen pulled out a little too much money, huffed and said "keep the change" as he handed her the money and stuffed all of the goods into one bag.

Afterwards, he looked back at Yukiko, realising just how much she had bought. "Yukiko, I insist. Surely you can't make all of that out the door, let alone home? I know I couldn't." Caen said, holding out his arm "or... At least let me pay for the cab, if you really don't want me to help."