by Zara Zenia
“I suppose we'll find out.” Voland takes them from her hand. “Let us see what we can do.”
It’s very strange and terrifying as we walk around the shop, picking things up and feeling at them with our fingers. Some things look more like weapons than food, while others look rather appetizing. There is one type of food that I enjoy the smell of more than the others. It comes in a bunch of fingers and is yellow. Looking somewhat like an oversized hand, I wonder for a while if it has been taken from a large, yellow animal that resides on this planet. Yet as I inspect it closely, I find it has no circulatory system or nerve endings.
“Do you suppose these hands can hold things?” I show a couple bunches to Draygus.
“I am just as unsure as you are,” he frowns. “Perhaps they are not even hands.”
“Hmmm…”
Regardless of whether they are real fingers or not, I do greatly enjoy the smell. It is naturally fragrant, with undertones of health, vitality, and strength. I have the feeling that if I eat enough of these, I will be very strong.
In the distance, I see the others picking out foods they think they’ll like. Victorinth seems to have picked up vast amounts of small things in colorful boxes, while Voland, being as sensible as ever, has looked at what the humans have been wandering around with and is copying them.
“This,” he shows me a giant object under his arm. “I think this will sustain us somewhat. Many of the humans are buying these, and look,” he points to the layer of fat around it. “It’s a form of animal, and therefore, will give us protein.”
I nod, fascinated by everyone’s different choices.
“I think it’s time we try to buy these,” Draygus ushers us to a long line of humans who are putting all their items onto a rubber conveyor belt.
“This seems very inefficient, standing around all day waiting to buy things. There are so many people in front of us, we’ll be here for some time,” I complain.
“I hear ya, kid,” a voice comes from behind me.
I spin around and see a rotund female. At least, I think she is a female, because she has sculpted those strange spindles from the top of her upper lid, and also has bright red lips that shimmer and catch the light. She gives me a slight smile.
“I hate shopping,” she agrees, rolling her eyes.
I’m dumbfounded, and so is the crew. It would seem we have blended in so well, the humans have begun to communicate with us.
“Well done,” Victorinth mouths silently to me.
Despite the amount of people ahead of us, their items are scanned through a laser device with tremendous speed, then placed into bags. The human then carries them away to consume them with vigor, I can only assume.
It isn’t long until our items have reached the human who is doing the scanning. I can’t help but worry that she will interrogate us as we approach, but to my surprise, she does no such thing.
“Good evening,” she says as she slides our items over the laser.
It isn’t long until she is finished and she stares at all six of us in turn.
“And how will you be paying today? Cash or card?” she focuses her eyes on Draygus, as he is obviously the oldest.
“Er… Rigel Credits,” he says.
“Uh?” the woman screws up her face. “What did you say?”
“We’ll be paying today with Rigel Credits.”
I can tell Draygus is nervous, but he’s trying his best. I can’t imagine how scared he is. Looking at him, I try to give him a look of encouragement, and he stares back at me with a worried expression on his face.
“It’ll be fine,” Victorinth whispers.
Meanwhile, the female, the gatekeeper of the food, is still looking at us strangely. She glances at the Credits in Draygus’ hand and then looks up at him.
“Sir… can you wait a moment please?” she stands up from her seat. “I need to speak to my manager.” And with that, she disappears behind a door at the end of the shop.
“Are we in trouble?” I ask.
“I think so,” Draygus sighs.
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