Nora (thisishappening) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-08-07 13:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, kanan jarrus, nora valkyrie |
Who: Kanan Jarrus and Nora Valkyrie
What: Nora helps Kanan do the shopping
When: mid-June
Where: Local store
Rating/Warnings Low/None - Kanan has a Dream-related eye injury
Status: Complete
Kanan had not been out of the house very much since losing his sight. He’d gotten very good at navigating through Chateau Katou easily enough, but the rest of the world beyond his front door? Ha! Not even close. Kanan hadn’t even managed to get down the front walk to get the mail from the mailbox without tripping over a slight unevenness in the pavers. Something that if he could see would have been easily avoided.
Both Carolina and York had been gently nudging him to get out of the house more. And now with Carolina gone on assignment out of the country, York had taken over the nudging full time. He told Kanan that he couldn’t stay in his house all the time. It wasn’t good for him. It wasn’t healthy. He shouldn’t give up his independence. He could function fine on his own, but he never would if he didn’t try.
If anyone understood what it was Kanan was going through, it was York. York may not have lost sight in both of his eyes, but he’d had to adjust to only having sight in one. If York could do it, then Kanan could too. He just had to try.
He needed a few essential items at home and this seemed like a good opportunity to take York’s advice. So he called for an Uber and gotten a ride to the closest grocery store to pick up said items. The Uber driver asked Kanan if he wanted her to wait and then, perhaps a bit concerned, asked him if he wanted her to come inside with him. Getting help from Carolina while shopping was one thing, but Kanan had a little too much pride to let the Uber driver put her driving on hold just to help him get toilet paper, cereal and dish soap. He told her nicely that he was fine. She nodded, not entirely convinced, and said that she would be nearby so when he was done and called for another Uber, she’d come back and get him.
Kanan got out of the Uber feeling a little proud of himself. He was out of the house! He was doing something on his own! He could do this! He could hear the sound of air conditioning indicating where the entrance to the store was. Walking with an extra air of confidence in his step, Kanan made his way towards them.
Once inside, however, all that confidence immediately vanished. There was so much noise in here. There were thousands of different voices, children crying, carriages crashing into one another, items beeping in the check-out lines, cash registers dinging. It was all happening all around him and all at once and Kanan froze. This was too much and he didn’t know what to do. He was lost and alone and overwhelmed.
“Hey!”
Kanan sucked in a tight breath and jerked towards the voice that had suddenly come up behind him.
“You can’t just walk in and then stop like that!” A man’s voice, older sounding, deep and gravelly, barked at him. “Get outta the way!”
“Sorry,” Kanan muttered and cautiously moved to the side, hands out and groping around hoping not to bump into any displays grocery stores were notorious for putting right at their entrances. He felt the air shift as the man moved past him quickly and heard a grunted “asshole”.
Kanan struggled to catch his breath. He wasn’t ready for this. This was a mistake. He just wanted to go home, where it was quiet and safe and he knew where everything was. He fumbled his phone out of his pocket ready to tell it to call York to come get him.
It’d been a really, really good month for Nora’s website and YouTube channel a couple of months ago. Things weren’t so great now, but back then? She was killin it. So her bank deposit came into her checking account, and she could afford to buy food again! More than just ramen and Koolaid. She could get real fruits and vegetables! At the store!
She hopped off the bus and hummed her way across the parking lot, skipping a little on her way. That is until she heard some jerk-face yelling at some other guy right inside the front door. Frowning (which was a strange expression for Nora), she grabbed a shopping cart and headed in after the meanie face.
“Hi, there!” It hadn’t taken long for Nora to realize what was going on. She’d heard the yell, and saw the man in the sunglasses, reaching around him and stumbling. “Here’s your cart!” She put on a bright smile as she stepped closer and took hold of one of the man’s hands (the one without the cell phone) to rest it on the handle. “Let’s get started!”
“Huh?” All of a sudden someone was right there. A woman. Young. A bright upbeat presence. High energy, almost electric. The next thing Kanan was aware of someone had his hand and moving them to the handle of a cart. The other hands were smaller than his, slender and delicate. The skin felt warm and her grip on him was sturdy and confident. Even before the woman stated she’d brought him a cart, Kanan knew she was there to help.
It took a moment, but Kanan closed his free hand around the firm handle of the shopping cart. A little bit of that overwhelming fear started to subside, replaced by embarrassment. “Thank you,” he said softly. “I...uh…” he wasn’t used to fumbling for anything, much less for words. “I thought I could do this on my own, but I was wrong.” He gripped the shopping cart, something stable for him to grasp.
“I wouldn’t say wrong,” Nora gave the cart a little push forward, leading him toward the bread section of the store. She was headed over there, anyway, to get a loaf for her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Eaten every day for lunch, without fail.) “Maybe all you need is a little help! And you’re definitely not alone. I’m here now!” She added, smiling so brightly that it was obvious in her voice. “What can I help you find?”
Everything was connected through the Force. Through the Force, Kanan could sense the young woman at his side. It was clear that she wasn’t going to let him give up now. This was definitely happening and she wasn’t going to give him a choice. Kanan cautiously followed when the cart moved. His feet were still hesitant, but he forced them to move anyway. The girl wasn’t going to lead him astray. She was there to help. He stopped long enough to put his cell phone away in his back pocket. “Ok. I need to get some cereal and milk first. Can you help me find that?”
“Roger, Roger!” Nora bounced a little by his side. Thankfully, they reached the bread, so Nora was able to grab a loaf and toss it into the cart. “We’re by the bread now, and the cereal is on the next aisle. Milk’s at the back of the store, I think.” She glanced over at him, noting the scar tissue she could see on the side of his face. “What kind of cereal do you like?”
”Roger, Roger” drummed up memories of memories regarding the Clone Wars. Kanan hadn’t had any Dreams of that era, yet, but the girl saying the words did make him chuckle a little bit. “Thank you for giving me a hand,” he said. “My name is Kanan by the way. I was thinking of Cheerios...or maybe Lucky Charms?”
“Kanan? Really?” Nora laughed, completely missing the part where he mentioned cereals. (She’d probably have to ask him again when they got to the cereal aisle.) He’d pronounced his name just as she imagined! Because this had to be the same Kanan she’d met on Valarnet. How many Kanans could there possibly be in Orange County? “We talked on Valarnet! Do you remember? About the Gelato? I went to that place, and I had the marshmallow kind, and it was pre~tty a~ma~zing!”
Orange County was such a weird fucking place. Kanan would have thought that he’d be used to these little “coincidences” by now, but no, they still had a tendency to surprise him. “No kidding,” he laughed. “It’s nice to meet you in person, Nora.” He wondered what kind of world Nora would Dream of. Hopefully something good. Too many people’s Dreams seemed to be filled with violence, danger and trauma of one kind or another. Did she even know about the Dreams yet?
“I love that place,” he said. He was relaxing a little more. With Nora at his side talking cheerily, Kanan was more able to focus on what it was he was doing, where his feet were going. “The marshmallow is pretty good, but their coffee is spectacular. If you like coffee, you should get some.”
“I’m trying that next time! When I can afford it. Actually, I’ve got a little spending money right now! That was sort of my last hurrah between paychecks, and now… well, now I can have a first hurrah!” She turned the cart into the cereal aisle after finding the bread she wanted. “Okay… Lucky Charms? I hear those’ll rot your teeth, man.” Everything she said was with a smile in her voice. Her tone lifted gently, a sweet breeze on the air. She was, quite obviously, a very optimistic and upbeat person. “But I’ll grab a box for you. And while we’re here… there’s a bulk kind I like.” She grabbed his box and a bag of cardboard-tasting (but cheap and nutritious) cereal for herself.
“Only if you eat them for every meal,” Kanan answered, a small smile starting to form on his face. She’d only been with him a few minutes, but she had managed to put him more and more at ease while doing this literal blind shopping run. He followed the direction Nora aimed the shopping cart, still hanging on and not daring to let go. Not yet. “And I need Cheerios too. For when I’m feeling like an adult.”
He listened to her grab a box of cereal and noted the difference between how that sounded when it was put in the cart and the sound of the cheap bag cereal that was placed in afterwards. His head tilted a bit. He’d eaten those Malt-o-Meal bag cereals a lot as a kid. “Is there another cereal you like?” He asked. “I mean, I don’t want to criticize, but I’ve eaten that stuff before. Made meals out of it and it tastes like dirt.” He tried to think of a cereal someone like Nora might like. “What about Crunch Berries? Or Cookie Crisp?”
“Cheerios! Those are the best!” She grabbed a box of the Cheerios and slid them into the cart next to the Lucky Charms, and noticed the difference in size of the boxes. Cheerios were a lot more cost efficient per gram than the marshmallow stuff. But that was neither here nor there. They moved forward at a regular pace--Nora wasn’t about to let him wander slowly just because he was blind.
“What? Nah,” She was blushing, even if he couldn’t see it. And Cookie Crisp sounded pretty amazing. She was a little tempted to splurge and spend her whole paycheck on the stuff, but she had to be grown-up about it. Ren would sigh if she only brought home bags of sugary cereal… again. “It’s okay. At least I’ve got money for it this month. I didn’t have much last month, so I mostly ate peanut butter and wonderbread.”
Ugh. That brought up some memories. “I know what that’s like,” he said. He was keeping up with the pace she had set better and better as they moved. Once they were in the actual isles the overwhelming noise seemed to quite a bit. And again, Nora was a nice guiding presence at his side. He wasn’t going to be walking into anything and destroying any displays. “I spent a couple of years rationing out those Cup-O-Noodle things. Dry, of course.” He made a face and laughed. “They were terrible.” He paused for a moment in thought. “You know, you didn’t have to help me. Can I at least thank you by buying you a box of cereal? One that you like?”
“Ahhh, Ramen noodles,” Nora said, nodding. She had a case of those back at the apartment. And they were pretty entertaining to eat dry, actually. Without that salty, powdery stuff on them. She nodded, then paused when he did, glancing back down the aisle. “Are you sure? I mean, you really don’t have to. I’ll get by with my Skippy.”
“Not even ramen,” he laughed, “more like imitation ramen.” And he’d eaten enough of it as a kid that it was a miracle that his sodium count wasn’t through the roof as an adult. He knew how hard it could be to be young and out on your own. He considered himself to be fortunate enough that Janus had found him (even if Janus would have been perfectly justified in killing him when he caught a much younger Kanan -- still going by Caleb back then -- stealing from him). Surviving was hard. Maybe he could help Nora in return for her helping him.
“I know I don’t have to,” Kanan said with a casual shrug, “but you didn’t have to help me either. I haven’t been without my sight for very long. If you hadn’t shown up, I probably would still be frozen in place at the front doors. I definitely wouldn’t have gotten my Lucky Charms.”
Kanan understood how weird it could be to have someone offer to get you something seemingly out of the blue. Katou had been suspicious of Kanan the first time they had met and when Kanan had been about Katou’s age he’d been highly suspicious of anyone attempting to help him. On the flip side, it could feel weird when someone offered to help. It was like receiving hand out. It could hurt someone’s pride, make them feel all weird.
Maybe there was a way he and Nora could help each other. Like the way he and Katou had first met.
“Well, okay!” Nora didn’t take a whole lot of convincing. The nice man was being generous, that’s all. And she could handle a little generosity. It went a long way as far as Nora was concerned. “Stay right here!” She left him standing there for a moment while she trotted back over to the boxes of Lucky Charms and grabbed one for herself. It was just seconds later and she was back at his side, setting the box in the cart. “Thank you! I mean, it’s gonna make a great dessert! What else is on your shopping list?”
Kanan smiled to himself when Nora finally accepted his offer. She was only gone for a moment, but he definitely noticed when she was no longer at his side. His grip on the shopping cart tightened a little until she was back. He heard her put another box in the cart
“Next is milk,” he said. And that was really all he needed as far as food was concerned. It wasn’t as if he could do a lot of cooking on his home. Just pouring a bowl of cereal could be a messy event. He had to keep his hands in the bowl just to be sure he didn’t pour it all over the countertop.
“Okay!” Nora turned the cart down the next aisle, headed toward the dairy in the back. “Milk. No cheese? Or vegetables? Or pancakes?” She asked, juuuuuust double-checking, as they moved through the freezer aisle. “Because those ones you put in the toaster? They’re pretty tasty! And almost as easy as cereal with milk. Just sayin’.” She stopped for a moment debating. No. She could get pancake mix and force Ren to make the ‘cakes for her. It’d be more bang for the buck, she assumed.
As Nora guided them through the grocery store, Kanan was thoughtful. Those toaster pastries were pretty good. And technically they were easy, but there was the whole “using the toaster” thing that Kanan wasn’t sure was a good idea.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to use a toaster, yet,” he said. He let go of the cart a moment to adjust his sunglasses over his milky eyes and scars. “I’m afraid I’d set the kitchen on fire or something.” And he was about 85% certain that would be exactly what happened. The confidence that had been in his voice throughout most of their shopping definately wavered into something that resembled self-doubt.
When Nora stopped without warning, the handle of the cart bumped gently into Kanan’s chest, who had not stopped along with her. He blinked slightly and listened for anything that would be the cause of the sudden stop. “Is everything alright?” He asked.
“Yeah, I’d worry about burns.” Nora didn’t like getting hurt. It happened sometimes, and she was a big girl--well, big enough, anyway--but no one really liked getting hurt, did they? Burns were the worst, too.
They were stopped in the freezer aisle while Nora debated pancakes. “Hmm? Oh! Right. Sorry, everything’s fine. I was just considering pancakes! I should probably get syrup and pancake mix, and… well, my funds are running a little low. Maybe I’ll have enough for syrup next month.”
Kanan drummed the fingers of one of his hands against the handlebar of the cart. He was getting an idea. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but he thought it would benefit both himself and Nora. He and Nora had only just met, but it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d offered a job to someone who needed it only minutes after meeting them. And that had actually turned out to be one of the best ideas Kanan had ever had. He and Katou had become like family, all out of a chance run-in meeting at a clothing store. The difference here was that Nora had rescued Kanan instead of the other way around.
“Nora?” He ventured after another moment. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You can ask me anything!” Nora said, turning to look at the man standing beside her. She finally took a moment to look at the tall man. She noticed some scarring around his eyes, not quite hidden by the glasses. But close. It was a valiant effort. “I’m an open book.”
Kanan chuckled a little bit at the “open book” comment. His hands flexed around the handle. “You said you were working, right? Are you working full time? Because I was kind of wondering. I really couldn’t have done this without your help, so,
“You said you just got paid,” he said. He assumed that meant she was working, but given how she was limiting herself to cardboard-flavored cereal and budgeting for waffles. “Are you working full time? I ask because…” he trailed a moment. He felt a little awkward, which was out of character for him, but really this entire situation had put him out of his element. He took a breath, “I ask because I think I may need this kind of help as a kind of regular thing.”
“Oh. Oh! You mean… like a job? A real job?” Nora had never really had a real job. She’d been paid under the table for things before, and had definitely put in her fair share of forty hour work weeks… but sometimes she didn’t actually get paid everything she was owed. So there was a bit of wariness. She really liked being her own boss, but then again she also liked pancakes with real maple syrup.
There was something about this guy, too, that Nora felt like she could trust. The look in his eyes--okay, the look on his face, anyway--and the tone of his voice… something about his unassuming nature? Nora really liked him right off the bat. They could totally work together.
“I can totally make that happen.” She said, giving him a smile he couldn’t see. “I mean, I’m only working part-time right now. I can definitely take on another job.”
“Yeah, a job,” Kanan nodded with a chuckle. “I don’t know if you’d call it a real job. It’d be like maybe once to three times a week you could help me with errands like this. You could probably put it on a resume as being a ‘personal assistant’, if you wanted to, so in that regard, yeah, it’d be a real job. You’ll have to let me know what your schedule is like with your other job so we can work around that,” he said, “the last thing I want to is to interfere with anything else you’ve got going on. I can pay you in cash, but it’d have to be under the table. Are you alright with that?”
“I can totally help with that!” Nora bounced a little beside him. That was exciting. It wouldn’t get in the way of her other endeavors; the vlog, her reviews, et cetera, but it would also bring in a little extra money. This guy had nice clothes, too--she had a feeling he was good for it. “I mean, sure. I guess. If that’s what you want. How could I say no to a blind guy in a supermarket, right?” The last part was a bit of a tease. She nudged his shoulder with her own.
Kanan laughed. There was something about Nora that he felt that he could trust. It was a bonus that she was on the network too. It may have been a little early for her to start Dreaming, but it was only a matter of time. Kanan himself hadn’t gotten any new Dreams since May when he lost his sight, but he didn’t think they were over. There was still too much left unfinished. The holocron that Ezra had made him especially uncomfortable. So when he started Dreaming again, it would be good to have someone else around, just in case things decided to go badly again. And it would be good for Nora once she started too, he thought.
Now it was just a matter of exchanging information and figuring out some type of schedule. “Do you have a phone with you?” He asked. “I can give you my number and you can send me what days you have available.”
“Oh! Yes, of course.” What kind of silly person didn’t wander around with their phone these days? Nora’s was cheap, and the screen had a crack, but it still worked. Mostly. She pulled it out to give him her number and program his into her phone. “I’ll send you my schedule. It’s pretty much open.”
This was exciting. A new source of income! She’d have to celebrate with waffles!