RP Log: Niou, Ryoga, Ryoma

[perfect-synch.livejournal.com]

Date: Backdated to sometime during Christmas break. ^^;
Rating: G
Summary: Mrs. Echizen sends Ryoma, Ryoga, and Niou grocery shopping. Need I say more? :D




Ryoma stared at the list in his hand, blinking, then stared back up at his mother. But she continued to smile sweetly down, then turned him and shoved him gently toward the kitchen door. "Thank you, sweetie~" she said, and then he was in the hall and he really had no choice but to find Niou and his brother and... go grocery shopping.

He went back to the living room, where Ryoga was watching some baseball game from the couch and Niou was lounging on the floor polishing darts. He held up the offending piece of paper as he leaned in the doorway, waiting for both to look up. "Hey. We gotta go to the store for Mom."

Somehow, Ryoga and Niou had managed to pass nearly ten full minutes in complete silence -- it was some sort of small miracle compared to the way the rest of the holiday had been until then. While Ryoga could not care less about the Japanese baseball game, his brother had started to get twitchy about being followed around the house. He was, evidently, allergic to Ryoga's brand of curiosity, which mostly involved investigating every piece of his family's life that had not been his own. There was also the way Nanjirou watched him closely, as though Ryoga would explode at any minute and his mother always diverted her eyes, like Ryoga made her feel guilty.

Now flopped lazily over the couch, his eyebrows rose at his brother's words. "Grocery shopping?" Lifting himself easily from the couch, he went to stand beside his brother, looking over the shorter boy's shoulder. "What's Mom making... a turkey?"

…there were a few things Niou didn't do: music, gardening and cooking. His food-shopping experience began and ended with the vending machines and cafés, and he said as much in tone of mild disbelief: "Purii~"

But he didn't like the way Ryoga was standing, and went over to mirror him over Ryoma's other shoulder, reading a few entries from the list with growing incredulity. Sugar, brown sugar…" There was a particular difference? "Bread crumbs, cranberries, asparagus…"

"Yeah, sounds like a whole turkey dinner," Ryoma said, glancing at the list again. It wasn't that long... maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Maybe. And turkey was okay, he supposed - he still wasn't that fond of American food, in general, but he certainly didn't hate everything about it. And if anyone knew the few things he did like, it was his mother.

He glanced up to both sides before stepping out into the hall, grabbing his coat, mittens and scarf, looking over expectantly at the two older boys. "Sooner we get this overwith, the better," he pointed out. "Store's not that far from here."

"Couldn't agree more," muttered the elder, nearly identical Echizen sibling, wrapping a scarf around his neck, and pulling on his coat, noting with due humor that Niou moved as though he intended to stand between Ryoga and Ryoma (physically, if not figuratively) at all times. Whatever. Ryoma led them out the door, as he was the only one that knew where they were going, and Ryoga lagged behind a moment, locking and closing the front door on his way out, moving at a meandering gait a few paces back from the silver-haired phaser.

Mostly, Ryoga ignored the pair in front of them as they walked, instead watching the scenery they passed – noting the route they took to get to the store; which of the houses had dogs out in the yard, or some sort of garden – which homes had a window or more illuminated by some light within. He did not much notice the cold, for all his complaints to the other American at the Brotherhood, as his attention drifted elsewhere – anywhere – so long as it made the walk pass a little quicker. Ryoga was never known for any sort of over-developed (or even reasonably developed) sense of patience.

When they arrived at the store, a family-owned grocery store; the sort where it was actually harder to find simple ingredients than it would have been at the supermarket, the elder Echizen sibling made a show of opening the door marked “pull” and holding it for both Ryoma and Niou. He wondered, if they were not in a public place, would Niou have phased through the door just to be contrary?

He very much would have, but as it was, Niou simply smiled in a manner vaguely irritating and inclined his head in a formal bow – "Thank you, gracious Gacchan~" trailing Ryoma past the counter at the front. More than the fact that the brothers looked so much the same, the phaser didn't like Ryoga's eyes. They were too sharp, in his opinion, and saw too much. Worse, they did so quite blatantly.

But that could help, at times like these.

There were tables of perishables at the front, and shelves toward the back. Thinking back, he recalled the rest of the list: flour, choc-chips and butter; potato, eggs and turkey… right. Some of that ought to be within a four-metre radius, at least.

Ryoma grabbed a shopping basket as he passed through the doorway, glancing around. He'd been here before, sure, but not in a very long time. He looked at the list again, then up at the rows of fruits and vegetables, figuring they could get those out of the way easily enough, at least. He wove in between the stacks of produce, glancing around for the right things. He stopped when he got to the vegetables; here were potatoes, and here was asparagus... but he realized he had no idea how much of either to get.

... Great. He picked up a bag of potatoes, trying to gauge how many were in it. "... Think a bag's enough?" he asked, raising one eyebrow and glancing back for the other two. Not that they probably had any idea, either, but it was worth a try.

The elder Echizen sibling eyed the potatoes, sparing a glance at Niou almost as though he expected the other boy to give his opinion. Honestly, it looked like too many potatoes, though he was not used to cooking for so many people as there were in the Echizen household -- with his parents, the two brothers, and Niou they had a full house. "That should be fine, Chibisuke," said Ryoga dismissively, leaning over his brother's shoulder to check the list once more. While they were in produce, they might as well get... "I'll get the asparagus." He had already made note of where the asparagus was in his first glance down the aisles of produce, and had not trouble making a beeline for it, even if he had no idea how much of it they were supposed to buy.

"Pity there weren't oranges on the list," Niou snerked. Not to be outdone, he wandered off in the opposite direction for the fruits. "Cranberries~" …came in punnets, didn't they?

"... Okay, then." Ryoma blinked, having suddenly been all but abandoned as the other two went off in search of more perishables. Glancing at the list, there wasn't anything else they needed that appeared to be in this section - most of it, aside from the actual turkey and the eggs, looked like it might be more likely found in the baking section.

Wherever the hell that was.

He glanced at his brother, inspecting the asparagus, and Niou, searching for the cranberries. **I'm gonna look for the baking stuff,** he said, sending to both Niou and his brother. He didn't need a rapport to speak telepathically with anyone he chose - it just made things easier, and he could hear the other person back without making any effort. Which he wasn't, now, assuming Ryoga was not likely to reply in the same manner. **Someone find the eggs.** And he turned down the first aisle towards the back, looking for flour, sugar, etc.

"Someone find the eggs," repeated Ryoga aloud, and in English, his attention turning back to the silver-haired teen over by the fruits and berries, bagging a bundle of asparagus. Continuing on in English, he opted, "I'll get the eggs. I think I saw them over by dairy when we walked in." He caught up to Ryoma long enough to say, "I'll take care of the butter, too," and drop the asparagus into the basket, before meandering down to the display case with various yogurts, butter, eggs, cream cheese, etc. He had to wait for an
elderly woman to get her own groceries before he could take a package of eggs...

...Once more, there was the question of how many they needed. A dozen? Half dozen? Two dozen? A dozen seemed like the safest bet... but what about the butter? A stick was a half-cup, and they came in packs of four... two cups. Was two cups enough? Next time, if there was a next time, he was going to ask his mother to be a bit more specific.

Niou returned with a punnet of cranberries, having virtually inspected them all in search of the perfect pack (which didn't exist), and ended up just grabbing any old one. Problem now being that the others had moved on. He scanned the back of the store (the eggs could go to hell). **Where did you go?**

**Back aisle, found the baking stuff,** Ryoma replied, eyeing the various brands of white and brown sugar. He was currently trying to remember which kind his mother used - he finally settled on the two brands that had the most familiar logos, betting those were likely what she used and if not, they were at least popular enough to be decent.

He also tossed a bag of flour in (damn, baking supplies were heavy), but frowned when he scanned the shelf and came up with no chocolate chips. Maybe they were up by the candy or something. He figured they shouldn't get the turkey until last, and someone else was definitely carrying that.

Deciding on a dozen eggs and two packages of butter, Ryoga ran the list through his head once more -- the show of glancing at the list had really be just that, a show, as he had memorized it the first time he saw it; Niou had probably realized that by now, though. They would still need the turkey... and a rather large turkey at that, for five people. Maybe about twenty pounds? Did turkeys get that big? Whatever. The chocolate chips were somewhere with the baking supplies, probably, which left the bread crumbs...
where the hell would breadcrumbs be? His mother was decidedly weird – who bought bread crumbs at the store, anyway?

The bakery might be a good place to start -- at the least, he could ask someone where he was supposed to be looking for that sort of thing. Once more, as he passed his brother (and now Niou, too), he deposited the items in the basket and said, "I'm gonna go figure out where the hell breadcrumbs are."

"Good luck," Ryoma tossed after him, though he was glad that they were almost done. The turkey wouldn't be hard to find - so it was just the chocolate chips once Ryoga found the breadcrumbs. "Wonder if they're with the candy or something," he muttered, glancing up at Niou. "Didn't see candy on your way back here, didja?" He definitely didn't know where the candy was. And if the chocolate chips weren't there... then he was at a total loss.

"No?" Niou said. He'd just tracked up one aisle to get to where Ryoma was, and that'd been garbage bags and detergent. "I say we split." It would be quicker (supposedly), and since they had Ryoma's mind link, there would be no real getting lost. Hoisting the flour and brown sugar from the shopping basket without asking if it was heavy, he wandered back over to the front of the store. **Coo-ee~!**

The oldest Echizen sibling stared at the row of packaged bags of bread, going through the various types of buns, rolls, baguettes, murrains, sweet buns, cakes… this was the most logical place, but where the hell was he supposed to find breadcrumbs? Couldn’t they just… buy bread and make crumbs of it? Was this whole exercise really necessary? “Ch,” hissed the boy, shoving his hands in his pockets. The breadcrumbs had better be the most important part of the whole meal; they did not seem to have much to do with turkey.

…Croutons. They could take a rolling pin to croutons, and they would get something like breadcrumbs. Stalking along the aisle, though Ryoga was certain he had not seen the breadcrumbs the first time, the mutant ended up in front of the artisan, a heavy glare fixed on the man behind the counter. “Do you speak English?” he asked, mostly just to be a pain in the ass. The kid working at the bakery looked back at him, completely miffed, stuttering out a careful “No, I’m sorry,” in English. That was no fun. “I’m looking for breadcrumbs,” continued the mutant, going back to his second language. He was pointed in the direction of the breakfast foods aisle… however that made sense.

At least the basket was lighter now; Ryoma passed up and down a few aisles, no luck, until he heard Niou. **You find somethin'?** he asked, following Niou's mental voice. He passed his brother harassing someone on the way - but that was Ryoga's business, not his, so long as it didn't get them thrown out of the store or anything. Niou was up at the front.

"No," the phaser laughed from the boxes of nuts and their scoopers, catching Ryoma at the edge of his vision. This place was driving him insane. There was a set of scales hanging from the ceiling. The traditional feel to the Echizen's house and neighbourhood was wonderful, but – vending machines! Why was the suburb so normal that they didn't have those shops solely comprised of shiny everything-vending machines?

Because those'd be hella useful right about now. "I don't know where they are." Logic did not work in grocery stores. The rules of the real world did not apply.

Appearing out of nowhere, almost as though he could teleport, the older Echizen sibling deposited a bag of breadcrumbs into the basket moodily, muttering something about breakfast foods, before folding his arms over his chest and surveying what his brother and Niou had happened upon. "I don't think this is the section we're looking for," Ryoga commented almost blandly. "Don't they sell Nestlé, here? Bright yellow bags? They're
impossible to miss." Which was not to say that for all of his own casual observation of the store that he had seen anything of the like. "Then again, they think breadcrumbs belong with the oatmeal -- logic doesn't apply to this place."

**Hope there's something to find,** Ryoma commented dryly to Niou, then turned to face his brother. "I noticed," Ryoma replied; well at least Ryoga'd found the breadcrumbs. "Yeah, they have Nestlé here - as in Japan. Dunno if they have it here." Nor did he have any idea where it might possibly reside in a store like this. It would figure, his mother shopped in the most confusing market ever. "Neither of you saw any candy at all?" That might still be their best bet. If anything was a good bet in this place.

"Yes," Niou said, and made a sour face. "Passed it on the way back here. Not there." Knowing the place, the choc-chips'd be up with the rice and pasta or something obtuse like that – if they had any in the first place. Not that he claimed to know the store so well – god forbid his brain would ever comprehend it. "I say we split again."

Ryoga gave a flippant shrug. "They're probably on the top shelf, somewhere, where Chibisuke couldn't see them." Turning to return to searching, he suggested, "I'll check with the dried pasta and canned goods; I don't think we've looked there, yet." Somehow, in his head, it seemed possible that maybe because chocolate chips came in bags, and pasta came in bags, the two could be in the same aisle. He was trying to apply the apparent non-logic of the store to his investigation; then again, that was a bit like trying to catch a fish with fishing wire and rod, but no bait, hook, or lure.

"I'm not that short," was Ryoma's reply - he'd grown ten centimeters since last summer, after all. But that aside, it did look like splitting up was the best way to go, in terms of searching for the last item on their list. He left the other two, weaving his way down a couple of aisles, glancing at the shelves (and sure to peek on top) until, lo and behold - there they were. Bags of semisweet chocolate chips, stacked one on top of the other.

And on the freaking top shelf.

Where was Fuji when you needed him? The world was so unfair sometimes. **Hey, I need you - spice aisle,** Ryoma sent to Niou. **Found 'em,** he sent now to both Ryoga and Niou, **Ryoga, you get the turkey and we'll meet you there.**

The phaser couldn't help laughing at that. Calling for help reaching for chocolate, and then commanding his elder brother to get the turkey of all things was just goddamned amusing. Trust Ryoma of all people.

"Need a boost?" he chuckled, coming up to rest an elbow on Ryoma's shoulder.

Glancing over with a wry grin, Ryoma shrugged languidly. "Could use one, or you could get 'em. Your choice." He still didn't understand the point of putting them up so damn high - or in this aisle at all, really. But apparently the owners of this store thought it made sense...

Niou opted to get the bag himself, though, grabbing it off the shelf and presenting it to Ryoma with the utmost care - except for the smirk plastered on his face, of course. Ryoma just sighed, taking the bag and putting it in the basket with the rest of the things. "Guess we should find Ryoga."

"Ch. If he wants a turkey, he shoulda just asked for that nameless guy," muttered the elder sibling, staring down a row of dead and packaged birds of different sizes, sorted by weight. He estimated the size -- after all, it was just one of many things his mother had failed to identify the quantity of on the list. Really, he just went with one on the larger side, but not the largest, either -- something even the brat could carry, he thought with a smirk.

Two aisles down, he met up with the other two, showing that he had found a turkey for them. "Please tell me that's it."

Niou poked through the basket, and counted the three items he and Ryoga carried between them, striking off the mental checklist: "Flour, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, breadcrumbs, cranberries, potatoes, asparagus, the godforsaken choc-chips and a turkey on the top. That's everything," he grinned. "Except for the money?"

"Got it," Ryoma said, pulling out his father's credit card, with which his mother had happily provided him. "Just gotta pay for it." He led the other two up to the counter, sincerely hoping that it would turn out they had enough of everything when they got home. He did not want to go through this again.