#bergen_county

A rattle-clatter-crash as half an aisle of product is knocked over in a certain grocery store in Bergen County.  A rather dazed looking Bluebell stumbles away, glancing about her in shock and dismay.  She clutches her shopping bag to her, backing away, and runs into an employee who is gazing at the mess in even MORE dismay - after all, he's the minimum-wage drone that will have to clean this up. 

The store employe and the pooka exchange glances, and then Bluebell tries to dart for the end of the aisle, only to find her egrees blocked by a double-wide stroller and shopping cart.  Her nose twitches and she nimbly jumps over them rather like a gymnast - or a dancer! and continues, heading for the sliding doors.

"Hey - HEY! Come back here, you didn't pay for those!" A cashier shouts, and a bored-looking security guard moves into the doorway...

"Whoa-now, hang on..." says a tall, Mom-looking lady getting her cart in the way. Bluebell might recognize her, if she takes the time to think. But Kerri doesn't look very happy about the idea of a shoplifter.

And when she recognizes who it is, she looks baffled.

The shorter, slender lady with dusky skin and wide dark eyes that lean towards an Indian (not native) heritage looks started and confused. Not so much the look of a shoplifter, as the look of someone out of place and frightened.

"Hang on," she repeats. "I'm sure this is a misunderstanding," she says carefully, giving the younger woman an out if it was shoplifting.

Does she actually seem to be carrying anything?

"I steal only hearts and with a return policy." She shakes her head at Kerri, clutching her bag to her chest. Glancing around her, she sees the cashiers huddling and whispering (this at least breaks up the monotony of the day), and her ears sink back across her head.

Kerri, on looking, will see that she does have a shopping basket with product in it... but these are a different store brand - not what is carried here! In fact, the basket itself says the name of a convenience chain based out of upstate New York, and not this local Bergen store.

She blinks at the basket, then gets a warm smile, taking the basket from her slowly and putting it in her cart. "Accidents happen!" she declares clearly enough for any onlooker to hear. "Come on, let's get the rest of the things we need." she says easily, as if the two have been shopping together all along, and moves a little further into the market (and further from the cashiers).

Kerri Davidson is an absolute regular at this store. With the amount she's known to buy, she has a fair impact on all of their paychecks.

Indeed, more than a few workers tip their hats, literal and otherwise

And one guy behind the meat counter says "Sale on Salami if you're interested, Kerri"

"Sorry about that!" she calls out to the young man rearranging the birth control aisle, fully taking responsibility for the event, if not the clean-up.

Bluebell's nose twitches, still tense... and she follows, a hand on the cart, sticking close to the troll like a burr.

"Oh, Pete, could you wrap me up a pound of that? And two pounds of the ham, thank you!"

It seems that Bluebell was shopping that very aisle, though in a different store.

Then she murmurs quietly to Bluebell, "You were shopping near DarkGate weren't you?"

"You got it!" Pete says

A pack of 'First Result' tests, and.... a rather large amount of discounted Easter candy. Bluebell nods a little numbly, and discretely shakes the basket a bit to rearrange the goods, the box falling below an entire herd of chocolate rabbits. "A rescue mission." She says, nodding to Kerri.

annd soon he's assembling quite the meaty collectionn. He knows how she likes it packed

Oh, Kerri noticed that box, Bluebell wasn't quite quick enough.

"Pete, you're my hero, as always," Kerri gives him a grin as she collects the packages. And she moves on with Bluebell, hopefully to a quieter aisle....

"I know how I know you, but what should I call you here?" she asks quietly as they 'shop'.

"My mother called me Baijanthi, but she calls me no longer. One who I once thought would become my mother couldn't say it well, so I told her to call me 'Bunny'. You may call me 'Grateful'?"

"No worries, none at all," Kerri assures her. "Just good timing. So, you happened to bump into a little shortcut that I'd rather not everybody knows about. I hope you can keep that quiet as an exchange of favors?"

She nods, her ears bouncing with emphasis. "We are good at being quiet, lest the hunters hear."

"But of here, and hear, and hare, where is here? And where is hare?" Sounding rather baffled.

"You're in Rivervale, a little south from where you gave that winning dance performance," she says, rather than naming Caer Falken.

"A rather remarkable rabbit hole." She says, softly.

"And I'm sure it'll be easy enough for you to get back again...but let's wait for Curtis to finish cleaning up, first."

She frowns, wrapping her arms around herself as if cold, or to make herself look a little smaller in profile. "Back, is certainly a direction one might go."

A kind and curious look. "You're upset. And not just about the unexpected landing. Let's do this...we're just going to take this basket and put it here...." she tucks Bluebell's market basket behind the cardboard of an endcap display. "You can pick it up later, and pay for it where the payment should be made, if you want. We'll pay for this, and then you and I will go have a chat. Sound okay?"

She nods a little. "I haven't elsewhere to be..."

Bluebell does glance back at the basket as they walk away, but clearly is not eager to explain herself to the store staff.

they leave her be.

Kerri brings up her cart. "Just a light run today, Janice," she says to the girl at the register. A 'light run' would be enough to feel the average family for a week. And yes, Kerri has brought many canvas shopping totes.

Bluebell takes up a spot at the end of the register and bags the groceries deftly, freeing up the Cashier from having to do so as well as ringing up the groceries.

And the eggs and bread are neither under the canned goods nor squished by the pineapple.

And soon enough they are tallied up, paid for, and heading out the door. "I don't have anything perishable here, so let me pop it in the car...and then let's get a coffee or what you like, and we'll talk."

"You shall let me buy you a cup?"

The store is in one of those mini-malls ubiquitous to New Jersey, but this one's not terribly banal. Not everything is a chain store, and the coffee shop is clearly locally-owned.

"Or an urn, or a vat..."

"If you like," Kerri agrees, then laughs. "A medium is fine. Ah...should I order?" she asks, not sure how the pooka will manage it.

It's not a busy time of day, so nobody is sitting at the outdoor tables. Easy enough to claim one.

"Whatever you'll have, the same, only to match myself, shorter and with a touch of mocha?"

Kerri grins and nods, indicating the table. "Meet you there," and she goes inside to order.

A satyress comes out... ready to serve them. Leya Mendoza from the apartmennt, the more academic of the twins

"Oh.. Hea.. Mrs. Davidson. I was about to take your order."

"Oh, thank you, Leya! I was just heading in." She gives their order, then adds, "You're doing well?"

A small frown creases her face at the Satyr, an unhappy expression, but she smooths it away to give the stranger a smile and nod of greeting.

"More less, sis is still working at the strip club, but that's not for me so... gettinng along"