Open Playful Shopping Trip

[Seren Dipity]

The cracks were lava! On tippie-toes, Seren softly jumped from one cobble to the next, carefully avoiding the red hot grouting. Of course it was pretend lava, just a fun game which Seren with her vivid imagination and clumsy footing wasn't very good at. She had lost her balance so many times but wasn't keeping count since she had no reason to. It was just a bit of fun to keep herself amused inbetween shopping for her new school supplies, and to give her poor, exhausted grandfather an opportunity to rest on a bench nearby.

She stopped and turned to her grandfather to check on him, she called over to him "Pops? Are you okay?" Pops grunted back that he needed five more minutes and she understood. The poor man wasn't young anymore, but had been coerced into taking Seren for her school supplies as her father was busy with work, and her mother had passed away when Seren had been very young. "Okay, take as long as you need." Seren replied patiently.

She followed with an over ambitious leap to a wobbly cobble, except she hadn't known it was wobbly until she slipped and fell on her backside as a direct result. "Ow!" She landed with a thud and her cheeks immediately reddened (her face cheeks that is) at the embarrassing fall.

 

[Luna Blanchard]

The long hours of shopping had not been part of Luna's plan for the day. She had initially thought that the shopping for her supplies will, at most, take only an hour or two. She did not expect that after two hours, her list is not even half-way crossed-out. With a sigh, the young girl folded her list and resumed her walking. She had been with her father earlier but he had to leave after receiving a call from his office. With another sigh, she brought out her list and read through it again, as if by doing so, the list would magically complete itself. That would have been really convenient, except that she wasn't sure if such is possible. Maybe it was, but even if it was, she's yet to start her schooling, it would be impossible to do such thing at her level. Another sigh. If her father was here, then she would have been done already and her plans and schedule for the day would not be messed up. Now she had to reschedule everything! This was not okay. Luna, though not one to deny herself some fun and adventure occasionally, loves to have everything done on schedule. Another sigh escaped the young girl's lips, more frustrated than before, she was supposed to be playing with her younger siblings at this time already! Yet here she was, doing her own shopping with only a list and her father's written instructions on hand.​

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Too preoccupied with her thoughts to see what was happening before her, Luna squealed in surprise as she struggled to maintain her balance after abruptly stopping before she collide with a girl, probably her age, who was sat at the ground. "Are you okay?" She extended her hand, offering help although she wasn't sure why the girl was on the ground anyway. She mentally scolded herself for not paying attention to her surroundings. Spacing out when in deep thought is not a good habit to have. "You should probably stand already, you don't want to get your clothes dirty, do you?" She realized that although not her intention, she might sound like she was calling the girl out for her actions. She mentally gave herself another lecture. Hopefully, the girl will not take her choice of words wrongly.​

 

[Seren Dipity]

Seren gave a vauge, but pleasant, look up at the girl. "Me, oh yes I'm fine thank you." She replied, using the girls offer of a hand to stand herself up. She brushed off visible dirt from her jeans, "I don't think I've dirtied my clothes too badly, thanks." Seren thought she'd better explain exactly why she'd been found sitting on the ground. "I was playing Don't Step on the Cracks because they were made of lava, when I slipped and fell over that wobbly cobble." She pointed at the offending stone, "And it really hurt." She added parenthetically.

Seren had another look at the girl, this time more studious than the first. She looked friendly enough, and clearly a similar age to Seren. Perhaps she would like to join her and play the amusing, and slightly dangerous, game with her. "Are you in a hurry?" She asked, "Because if not, and you would like to, you are welcome to join me in playing Don't Step on the Cracks, even come up with a better name for it if you can think of one?" She offered, "Just watch out for those menacing wobbly cobbles!!" She advised based on experience.

 

[Luna Blanchard]

Luna smiled in relief when the girl said that she was fine. That was good, her worries were unfounded. She struggled to pull up the girl from the ground with one hand as her other held her bag of supplies. She wasn't that athletic after all, physical activities weren't part of her favorite things to do. "That's good to know then." She gave the girl a smile which was barely noticeable but there. She scanned the girl's appearance as she listened to her story. Her words reminded her of her siblings, this is the kind of thing that they'd do. A soft giggle, very much unlike her, escaped her lips at the thought, but she cleared her throat and shifted her attention back to the girl. "It looked like it did." She responded, her voice taking a lighter tone. ​

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Luna didn't have the heart to tell the girl that she did not have time to play with her. This was her weakness, while she usually didn't have any problem saying no to people, she cannot deny anyone who reminded her of her family. She should probably work on this soon, she cannot just say yes just because someone reminded her of her father or her brothers. "I'm shopping for some supplies right now, but I don't see why I can't join you for a few minutes." Just a few minutes, she told herself. Her schedule for the day's messed up already anyway, there was not use crying over spilled milk, she would rather make use of the day than be frustrated over her ruined schedule. Moreover, her father's probably at home already, she didn't have to worry about her siblings too much now. "No. I think that's a pretty good name already" She didn't think that she would be spending a long time playing so she found no reason to change the name of the game. "Noted! Let me just put this thing down" She said keeping in mind the girl's warning as she placed her bag down next to an old man. "How does this game work?" She asked. While she's at it, she might as well learn a new game that she could introduce to her siblings. "What's your name by the way, my father always tells me not to play with strangers." She knew that the girl still qualifies as a stranger even if she knew her name, as she still knew nothing about her. But at least, it would be a start.​

 

[Seren Dipity]

Seren beamed as the girl put her shopping down and told her she could spare a few minutes to play. Seren rarely had someone else to play with so it was a real treat for her to have the company. "I think a few minutes is all we need!"

The girl asked how the game worked. Seren begun explaining enthusiastically, "Well in this game an evil witch has cast a curse on this very cobbled street, and turned all the grouting to lava! We can only step on the cobbles to get us to the 'safe zone'." She abrivated with her fingers. "Which is that bench over there," She pointed to a vacant bench close by. "We have to jump from cobble to cobble unless we can find another way there before the lava gets us!" Seren had stopped believing in Santa Clause, or the Tooth Fairy years ago, but now she had solid proof that magic did 100% exist and she felt all that childhood wonder flood back with the discovery. Her imagination ran wild with her and created a fun game with it. "Are you ready to play?"

The girl asked for her name which made Seren realise that she didn't know their name either. She had been referring to her as 'the girl' in her head without a second thought for what the name really was. "Of course! My name is Seren, Seren Dipity. What's your name?"