Day 56: Callahan's Grocer (Morning)

[boketa]

Goku was stuck against against the windows of the Doyleton grocery store. It was likely the young boy's face was fused to the thick glass now that he'd been standing there for about ten minutes, transfixed by the amount of food that was sitting in one location. What were the odds?! It was a chance too good to pass up. Honestly, when would this food

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[dual_worlds]

As Spock had been informed, he'd been placed in confinement for the duration of last night (although it was worth noting he didn't remember any of it). Unfortunately, today's schedule made it almost impossible for him to locate the other crew members unless they happened to be assigned to the same bus. Within a few minutes of finding his seat, Spock realized that he'd ultimately need to make contact with them once they reached their destination

[doneinthree]

Where the last Doyleton outing had been characterized by rain, this one had snow, falling in heavy, steady flakes from the grey sky. Which was fine. Awesome, even. Kirk might have spent the last three years in San Francisco, but he'd grown up in Iowa, state of corn and predictably unpredictable snow storms. And it wasn't like he'd recently gotten his fill of snow after having been forced to venture several hours across the frozen tundra of Delta Vega in order to reach the only Starfleet outpost on the surface or anything like that.Kirk sighed and stopped where he was to turn his face up to the sky, closing his eyes at the icy brush of snowflakes on his skin. Fine, he wasn't really bothered by the weather. The clothes they'd shoved onto him weren't pretty, but they were warm enough. If he got through today without getting crippled by a cold, he'd be satisfied. It wasn't that but the health of the rest of his crew which preoccupied his thoughts - and his irritation. The bus ride over had confirmed that Uhura was fine, but Uhura

[boketa]

Whoa. Whoa, WHOOOOA! Someone was magically materializing--Oh, no, it was just Spock. The young boy turned around and lifted the brim of his yellow rain hat so he could see the man better.

"Hi, Spock!" He called, louder than what was socially acceptable. Spock had said something, but the moment was gone and so the monkey boy smiled vacantly while the silence between them sung with tension. Thankfully, Goku's cyclical mind filled in the blanks without preamble. "I'm hungry!" He whined before pointing a stubby finger at the woman behind the table of fresh produce sitting outside. "But she won't let me eat anything

[dual_worlds]

As usual, Goku had no concept of how to behave in a public area. This shouldn't have surprised Spock, and in all honesty it didn't. Even so, the sides of his eyes faintly tightened at the loud greeting. That volume level wasn't comfortable for his ears, nor was it appropriate when they needed to avoided drawing attention to themselves

[doneinthree]

Kirk arrived at Callahan's only in time to catch Spock's comment, but it was easy enough to guess what was going on between the young boy and the woman running the produce stand. How old was he? Ten, maybe as old as twelve? He might've been the youngest patient he'd seen so far, younger even than he'd assumed Landel or Aguilar wanted in their experiments, but Kirk had also seen far too much in these last two weeks to be surprised by the inclusion of young children. Although he doubted the boy was helpless (given what little he'd guessed of the Institute's criteria), it was probably a good thing Spock had stepped in. Somehow Kirk didn't think being a little kid would endear him to the townspeople, or save him from punishment with the "staff" who were already eyeing the scene

[boketa]

"Card?" Goku began to frantically check his person under all that shiny yellow plastic and denim. Eventually he came into contact with a hard rectangle that he had been chewing on in the bus. One of the witches had seen him and told him to stop before he ruined it. The monkey boy hadn't listened of course, so there were a few teeth marks around one corner of it.

He raised it up in the air and the clerk said,"Yeah, that'll work. Here--" She said as she bagged the produce and handed it to the boy. "You'll have to pay for it inside, I don't have a credit card machine--Don't eat it until you've paid for it!" The woman was at the end of her rope dealing with these wild patients. She turned her hard gaze on the two adults of the ragtag group. "Make sure he pays for that."

[dual_worlds]

"'Acquaintance' is more accurate," Spock simply replied in response to Kirk's question. "He has an incredibly perceptive sense of smell, which was once of help to me

[doneinthree]

"Acquaintance," Kirk echoed, not even bothering to hide his smile now. Trust Spock to treat even a child with all the cool detachment of a taxidermist. Granted, being a child in Landel's still put you in the exact position as anyone else (which was to say, hell on Earth and a hundred other planets), but it was a little hard to view the boy with such gravity when he was scampering around like an overexcited yellow duckling - and with Spock overseeing the situation like the put-upon mother duck.

Oh, how Kirk would've liked to see the two of them work together. "Any friend of Spock's is a friend of mine," he announced brightly, stepping forward to trigger the automatic sliding doors into the store. "Goku, right? I'm Jim." He couldn't say that he had any more experience with children than Spock (any at all would still put him above Kirk), but how hard could it be to pay for a single apple

yessss, how hard could it be?

[boketa]

"Yeah, I'm Goku! Nice ta meetcha!" He answered with childish zeal.

Everything was going rather smoothly until this new person named Jim exhibited signs of witchcraft. Goku jumped back from the sliding glass doors as if they were a giant maw, ready to pulverize him. He took a fighting stance, but the monkey boy seemed the only one cautious of the strange monster. Both Kirk and Spock entered without consequence. So, mustering up the courage (because that apple needed to be his right now!), Goku leaped over the threshold unharmed. Yes! Goku: 498, Monsters: 0!

Taking quick steps, he caught up with the two adults. He didn't mind picking up the rear since it gave him plenty of time to gawk to his heart's content. There was so much food! It was almost overwhelming. Goku had to come up with a plan to tackle this paradise.