#cape.starter

"Jag vet, älskling. Jag vet att du inte gillar din kundvagn; men det är för din säkerhet." Agnes tried to calm her son as he tried to undo the buckle of the shopping cart’s child seat. Fortunately, he'd not figured out how to unbuckle himself just yet; but the brunette knew it was only a matter of time. In recent weeks, the toddler had come to hate being in shopping carts in addition to his hatred of his stroller. Whenever they went shopping, he just wanted to be held by his mamma. That was the only way he wouldn't throw a fit. "Gunnar… Gunnar… Det är okej. Fem minuter till. Jag lovar." It wouldn't actually be five minutes; but as her son had no concept of time yet, she knew her words didn't particularly matter.

Keeping one hand on the handle of the cart, Agnes gently pushed it back and forth in hopes the slight rocking motion might soothe the toddler. Her efforts were in vain, evident by the increase in her son's whines and squirming. "Gunnar… Gunnar, sluta." She let out an exhausted sigh. "Kan du lyssna på mig, Gunnar? Fem minuter till. Vi går hem snart." She kept trying to reassure him. But she had to finish getting their groceries for the week. She couldn't keep giving him her undivided attention in the hopes he'd calm down. So with some reluctance, she finally bent down to scan the lower shelves for the strawberry applesauce pouches. "Jag vet, Gunnar. Jag vet…"

Juliette perused the space, intently looking at rack after rack. Fingers brushed against different materials and fabrics, and still she had no idea what she was looking for. She came with the purpose of wanting to heal her crushed ego for missing out on a limited item at Givens. LSTD always seemed to be the appropriate antidote to heal her but today, she felt like she was looking for an impossible item. Nothing was clicking for her at the moment, but she knew she had to walk away with at least one (or two items.) She wasn't one to wear too much jewelry especially when she worked in the kitchen for most of the hours that filled her day, but she suddenly was transfixed on a bangle bracelet. It was trimmed with a rose gold lining, with little marks that looked like different moon phases. She'd been so distracted that she hadn't noticed the person beside her, promptly knocking into them. "Oh!" She exclaimed, "Sorry, lost my head there for a second. Are you alright?"

Ever since summer had begun, Tallulah had been very skeptical about this whole independence thing. It had absolutely nothing to do with the Independence Day Carnival itself —the one that she had been tirelessly helping to plan— and everything to do with giving her almost teenage daughter her own small taste of independence while at the event. After much begging and a highly organized PowerPoint presentation complete with bullet points and pie charts, Tallulah had allowed Miranda to roam the carnival with just her friends, a 10PM curfew, and periodic text check-ins that were not to be missed.

Of course, Tallulah would still be in attendance as well. She had volunteered to work the event, and was doing just that, weaving in and out of the crowd selling 50/50 tickets. Just as she finished off a sale, Tallulah caught sight of her daughter near the Ferris Wheel making googly eyes at some kid Tallulah automatically assumed was trouble. It took everything in the former beauty queen not to not march right up to the little punk and break up their little love fest. Instead, she opted to play it more stealth and darted behind the cotton candy stand for a better vantage point, peeking out slightly to monitor the situation not realizing that someone else had been monitoring her too. 

Caught red handed, Tallulah heard someone call out her name. She turned around slowly greeting the looming presence with her million dollar smile in an attempt to conceal her blatant spying. She held up the tickets as a decoy ignoring the obvious and asked sweetly, “How about a 50/50? It's for a great cause."

He did love what he did but it did stress him out at times. The stories he heard and read about was a lot on the mind and body at times. So he loved to go to the water and just sit there and watch the waves roll. in and out, it always helped him feel better.

But soon as he put his hand down to think a seagull came by and snatched his popcorn. "Hey!" he sighed as the bird flew off spilling most of it along the way.

As the jazz blared in the background, Grayson tried his best to zone into the sound of the saxophone, to wrap his mind around the melody, but all he could replay in his mind was the utter disaster of the carnival. The slightest cut on his lip was a mark that he wished would heal faster, along with his racing thoughts that he wished would quiet down. Knowing almost all of the town had the fight on their phones and uploaded on some app that sounded like something a clock would sound like, he felt like it was harder for him to disappear into the shadows, but in this lounge? The lighting was enough to emulate it, at least for a bit. Realizing he was zoning out, he moved aside for the person behind him, "Sorry, didn't realize I was out of sorts, if you're ready to order you can go first."