thirty sixth dance | video;

[motioned]

[Today, the NV turns on as the girl on the screen is walking down the produce aisle of a grocery store, though she's not necessarily looking to buy anything.]

It's been a while since I was here! I don't usually go shopping or anything like that, but I thought it would be good if I tried to get a job again since it's the summer. I don't want to just sit around, after all!

[She smiles, before something to the side catches her eye - there's a fly sitting on an apple. Alarmed, she reaches for the piece of fruit, pulling it out of the middle of the pile where it had been resting. Of course, this sends the apple just above it falling down, and when she reaches over with her other hand to grab it, she slips. The hand that had been going for the falling apple instead hits the pile as she tries to save herself from falling, but all this really accomplishes is sending a good amount of the apples onto the ground.]

Oh, oh, jeez, I didn't mean to—

[From behind, there's a gasp from an onlooker, and she casts a worried glance behind her, starting to run before promptly tripping over a fallen apple. Muffled laughter can be heard before she picks herself up, sprinting down the aisle before she thinks to turn the NV off.]

Comments

[directorestheim]

[There's a quiet sigh.]

...You will get yourself looked at if you're hurt, right? With the recent events, we all need to be at our best in case something... happens.

[motioned]

Oh, I'm fine! It's just the apples I'm not really sure about.

[directorestheim]

I'm sure those apples can be replaced.

[motioned]

Still, it's sort of a shame! That they went to waste, I mean.

[directorestheim]

I'm sure it's happened many times before. Not to those apples specifically, but accidents in a store.

And those won't go to waste. Bruised apples are still edible, after all. The worst is that they'll be turned into pies.

[motioned]

I guess that's true.

Really? People here'll still eat them even though they fell on the floor?

[directorestheim]

[He adopts a more amused tone.]

That's what washing is for. Natural grown fruits probably had bugs crawling over them before, and might have fallen to the ground naturally anyway. They're meant to be eaten and then thrown back into the ground, even.

[motioned]

Well, I knew that, about the bugs and everything! I just thought most people don't like to eat stuff after it touched the ground.

[Which she still thinks is a waste, of course, but it's still what she's observed.]

[directorestheim]

Well, they might not.

But I bet they wouldn't be able to tell the difference if no one said anything.

[motioned]

But the people at the store would know, so they might just get rid of them, right?

[directorestheim]

That's doubtful.

If they can still sell it off, then they might just put it back on display again with no one the wiser. If not, I'm sure they'll still sell it at a discount to make a profit.

There will always be people who need to eat, even those who can't afford the regular prices.

[motioned]

[She brightens considerably.]

Really? Well, as long as they're not gonna be wasted, I'm really glad!

[directorestheim]

The way businesses work, they wouldn't throw anything away unless they had to. You needn't worry about the apples-- just about yourself after a fall like that.

[motioned]

Oh, you don't need to worry about it, I'm used to it! Um, falling, I mean.

[directorestheim]

[...Last time he had been here, Hope had been quite used to falling as well.]

If it helps, it usually means you're about to hit a growth spurt. The clumsiness.

[motioned]

Really? Because it's been happening ever since... Um, I mean, all my life, and I'm still not that tall!

[directorestheim]

[Well, he did say 'usually'.]

Yet you do ballet, correct? I have it on good authority that these things usually pass when you reach adulthood.

[motioned]

I do it, but that doesn't mean I'm very good at it...

[She gasps lightly.]

Really?

[directorestheim]

They tend to.

[Again, amusement.] They did so with me.

[After a very, very irritating year when he was nineteen and grew the better part of a foot.]

[motioned]

[And then he made all her dreams come true.]

Nobody ever told me that before!

[directorestheim]

That's how it tends to be. It's easier to trip and fall over yourself when you're still growing, after all.

[motioned]

So I'm going to get taller, too?

[directorestheim]

It's a likely chance, yes.

[motioned]

I never knew that before!

[All her excite.]

[directorestheim]

It's how children grow up. So you don't have to worry about things like that.