At the Market

Who: Sophie and Domino
Where: Grocery store parking lot
When: Mid-morning

It was all moving along far too fast and things seemed to be spiralling out of her control. Having talked to Oz a couple of days ago and their having decided that her cousin Dean could come and stay with them for a while, with a heavy maybe on him moving to Marquette to finish his schooling and having called her Auntie Vicky to confirm, Sophie seemed to have lost control of the entire process. She'd expected to have a couple of weeks to prepare for Dean's arrival - school didn't start until the end of the month, after all. But her aunt had well and truly jumped on the 'possibly temporary' part of things and decided that if there was going to be a trial period, they didn't have any time to waste - if it didn't work out, she wanted him back in time to start sixth form college in the UK in September.

Sophie had been woken at the crack of dawn that morning (she was going to have to remind Vicky about time differences again!) to say that Dean would be arriving on Thursday evening. Two days - that's all she had to get everything ready. Two. Days.

It simply wasn't enough and Sophie had been up and flapping from the moment she'd put down the phone. She'd checked their linen stocks, cleaned the house from top to toe and then she'd headed out to the store.

The cart she was pushing on her way out was full to overflowing with bags, more food than anyone could ever want, but she wasn't sure what Dean would and wouldn't eat, so she'd erred on the side of buying everything. She could hardly see where she was going as she manhandled the cart across the parking lot towards her car. Of course, one of the wheels wanted to go in the opposite direction from the other three - some things never changed.

Domino was in kind of a hurry, he'd gotten into work and Mya pounced on him quickly with things she needed help with. He didn't mind, now that Brian seemed to not be returning Mya'd been stressed more than normal and Dom was more than willing to step in and help. With Tensiel out that day sick Mya managed to call in one of the night crew and once they came in Domino was able to pass off his tables and run the errands Mya needed. Good thing he'd driven to work that morning.

As he hurried through the parking lot he passed this lovely blonde who looked just about as stressed as the blonde he'd left at work. He was starting to think that maybe the saying was wrong; blonde's didn't have more fun, blonde's had more stress. When Domino passed her he noticed a can pop out of one of her bags as she hit an annoying pothole that seemed to be worse due to the clumsy state of her cart. Like a gentleman he picked up the can and hurried to her side. "Think y' dropped this."

Sophie turned as she heard the voice, stopping the cart. "Oh, thanks - these damn things never go where you want them to, I'm surprised I haven't littered the carpark with more than just that," she told the guy, rolling her eyes a little. Of course, it didn't help the amount that she had, which was half the problem. She took the can back off him gratefully.

"No'a problem." Domino said with a small laugh. "Not gonna be mad at anythin' tha'lets me 'elp a gorgeous girl like yerself." He said putting the can carefully in one of the bags. "Would y'like some 'elp t'ye car? In case y'drop another?"

Sophie blinked having to mentally translate the man's thick accent, then realised what he was actually saying. "Sure - that'd be great," she said, she crisp English accent now marred with a local twang she'd been picking up since she arrived in Marquette a couple of years previously. "Thank you very much. So - where's the accent from?" she asked him, curious.

"M'mum." He said with a grin. "But I grew up in Vancouver. How 'bout you?" Domino asked, her phrases more than the subtleness of her accent that he picked up on.

"I grew up in Britain - but I moved here a couple of years ago with my other half." Which should put paid to the 'gorgeous girl' remarks of earlier. "Have you been here long?" she asked him as they made their way across the parking lot. Even with two of them, it was slow going.

"Couple months." Dom replied, not really shaken by the 'other half' comment, didn't mean she wasn't still gorgeous. "Least been 'ere, been travlin' about fer a couple'a years now."

"So, what brought you to this neck of the woods?" she asked him. In her experience, there as usually something - people who ended up in Marquette. Well, it would be fair to say that they were more than usually different in some way.

He laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck as he thought of how to reply to that question. "Fate I guess." Domino finally decided on. "Kinda spent m'savin's travelin' and this is where I ended." There was no reason not to be honest, after all he didn't know her enough to worry about her judging him and most girls found his story of how he ended up here kind of mysterious; wanting to know where else he'd been.

"Sounds like a friend of mine," she told him, thinking of Billy. "Took to the road a few years back and kind of wandered. It was weird, really. I'd known him from a town I lived in for a year or so, down in Colorado, when we were younger. I moved back to England, he took to the road - and yet we both ended up here. He lives just a bit out of town now. Guess it's a small world." Or just a weird place.

"Sometimes th'world works in mysterious ways." He replied with a smile. "Town is quite welcoming to." It was the first thing Domino had though, of course then he'd met other were's and a place they frequented. After that he was sure he found out why it was so welcoming. "Like people frequently congregate t'th'same place, most times not even realizing it. Or so I've noticed in m'travels." How else could you account for so many were's in one area.

She chuckled a little. "Maybe people just have a pack mentality," she joked, not even thinking about the comment - but then she'd gotten used to that kind of thing over the years. She'd had to, with Oz, it came with the territory.

"I've noticed, even the 'lone wolves' tend to run in the same areas." He agreed, keeping with the metaphor. And why not, it was a good one. Even the kitty could appreciate the idea of a pack, after all, they were easier to avoid when they grouped up like that.