We had to return home to drop off both Cinder's clothes, and her new bear (which she had spent the entire journey happily cuddling). On the way back, however, I did stop into a furniture store to see about ordering Cinder what she needed for her room.
Whilst she hadn't been at all enthusiastic to leave her new friend in the car, Cinder had a small smile on her face as she followed me around the store. The sales assistant, a teenager that is probably just working here to pay for college, watched us with a faint smile on their face. It took a while, mainly because shopping for furniture is mind-numbingly boring for a child, but we eventually decided on what we wanted.
But that was probably not the most important thing we discovered here. Cinder had said she wanted to paint her room red, so I don't know why I was so surprised when she found the shade of red that was linked to her in canon. She seemed even giddy about finding it, so of course I got it for her when I placed an order for furniture. The child was nothing but smiles as we headed back to the car. The furniture would be delivered to my apartment about two days later, but given there wasn't a delivery time, it probably meant that I'd have to spend all day at home.
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So it was that we found ourselves on the way to the local grocery store. ALDI (and I will admit that I almost had a heart attack seeing a store with the same name as one from my original world) wasn't the most fancy of stores, but it was cheap, and the food was of decent quality. If and when I wanted to get higher quality ingredients, I would go to smaller, family run stores. Given how businesses often end up here, I'd much rather support those that actually need it rather than one of the big companies. The fact that most small businesses are run by Faunus is even more of a reason to support them. As we travelled, Cinder once more stared at the city around us.
Thankfully for my wallet, I wasn't going to go overboard with dinner this evening. When we arrived, Cinder hurriedly dashed around the car to return her hand into mine. The parking lot is small compared to some in Atlas, but it is still a walk to actually get to the store. I picked out a shopping cart, and proceeded to lift Cinder up, and lowered her into it.
"It's so you don't get lost." I told her when she looked at me quizzically. "There's going to be a lot of people here, and I'd like to keep you safe. Alright?"
"...Alright, Mister Casper." She nodded in vague understanding. "I don't wanna be lost."
"Don't worry, you won't be.." I reassured her, then grinned. "Plus, riding in a shopping cart can be fun."
Cinder tilted her head, and blinked questioningly. I began pushing the trolley, and entered the store. I had a mental list of things I needed to get as I trundled around. When I picked things off of the shelves, I handed them to Cinder so she could place it down into the cart. I will admit, this was purely to keep her mentally occupied and not bored as most children are when they are taken to do grocery shopping.
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Cinder asked about everything I handed off to her, and I answered as best I could. Admittedly, most of what she asked was 'What are we going to use this for?' or 'What is this, Mister Casper?'.
It was her constant, adorable questioning that earned the both of us amused looks from the other customers around us. One of them, an elderly lady, came over and actually spoke to us. Cinder's shyness around strangers came back strong, and she all but refused to meet her eyes, and answered her questions with one word answers. Thankfully the old lady wasn't offended, and patted me on the shoulder for 'Doing a damn fine job as a Father' before she departed. It was..frankly a little bizarre to consider. It wasn't an unpleasant thought, upon further reflection.
Cinder Schwartz. That does have a nice ring to it. Of course, outright adoption was off the table right now. Given the strange legal systems here in Atlas, I would need to wait until Cinder is at least seven before I could fully adopt her. But...it would need to be her choice. If she'd prefer to remain as merely my foster kid, that would be fine by me.
Cinder asked more questions when we reached the checkout, mainly 'How does it work'. Both myself and the woman that was serving as our cashier didn't actually know the answer to that one. When disappointment began to form on Cinder's face, I promised her we'd learn how at home.
She did wave at the woman as we left though!
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When we arrived at home, Cinder proceeded to pick up her bear from where she had left it, and proceeded to collapse onto the couch, cuddling the bear sleepily. Before I had finished putting away the shopping, Cinder was peacefully snoozing away.
. I turned on the TV, which, once again in an odd twist, is still called a TV here, and sat myself down beside Cinder's sleeping form as the screen came on.
"-s is Cherry Shire for Kingdom News with a special report."
I raised an eyebrow. It was a rare thing, even here, for an Atlesian news network to do a special report, so my attention immediately and completely fell onto the screen.
"An Airship has crashed deep into the Mistralli Wilderness. Details at this point are scarce, but unfortunately, it appears that survivors will be unlikely. Among those on board were the Mistralli Tournament Champion, Peleus Nikos, along with his wife Thetis, and their daughter, Pyrrha."
It was at that precise moment that all my head summed up the news with a single, blunt thought.
...WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!!