"Don't worry Riley, it's all fine. It's my fault for being late, had to grab some coffee else I would have shared your fate, haha. But with that out of the way let's get out of here, I told the doorkeeper I've come to pick you up and he'll pass it to the headmaster. You ready?"
Riley glanced at the clock, with almost twenty minutes past six he was indeed late, but she didn't mind, standing up and stretching as she answered with a "Hell yeah."
He nodded at her with a smile, tilting his head to get her to follow him as they walked out the front door, doorkeeper nodding at them as they stepped into the cold dark, Rick's white stripes the only thing she could see clearly enough to follow.
"My car is right over there, feel free to take a seat at the front."
A few moments of careful walking and a couple of almost-slipups later they've made it to Rick's car, headlights turning on as he unlocked it.
"Just put your stuff in the back for now, we can sort it out later." He answered her question before she had a chance to even ask it as they strapped themselves in, Riley feeling drowsy again from the warmth.
"Judging by your expression you didn't sleep too well, eh?" He tried to lighten up the mood as he turned on the engine and pulled onto the road, Riley looking back at the orphanage as it zoomed away.
"Slept fine enough, just for not as long as I should have for..." She mumbled out, having to shake herself away from dozing off yet again.
"Don't worry, getting to the shop we want will take at least forty minutes or so anyway, feel free to catch a few more Z's."
She turned her head towards him and lifted a brow- "Isn't there a supermarket like ten minutes from here?"
"Sure is, but that's where Ella will be going with the kids, and the last thing I want is for you to stumble into them on accident before you get used to them."
Riley was satisfied with the explanation, turning her head back towards the dark road, letting the warmth pull her into some more welcome sleep as Rick turned on the radio, lowering the volume until it was just some background noise.
***
"Riley, we're here."
She groaned as she forced her eyes open, taking a moment of looking around in panic to remind herself of the day's events, Rick smiling softly as he leaned over her.
After unbuckling and scrambling out of the car, she took a look at the mostly empty parking lot, barely illuminated by the dimly glowing sky, only a couple other cars scattered around the place.
"Chilling." She admitted more to herself than anyone else, stretching a bit after the car ride as Rick walked around the car.
"Yeah, no joking. I've read horror books with less of an atmosphere than this lot. Best keep going or we'll find ourself as protagonists of one, heh."
Riley chuckled along, following Rick as they made their way to the main entrance, uncountable fluorescent lights spilling out through the glass doors.
"So... what are we shopping for anyway?" Riley asked earnestly, the details escaping her poor memory.
"Clothes and hygiene supplies for you, maybe some food afterwards, basically whatever you feel you're gonna need."
Riley stopped in place and raised one groggy brow at him.
"I have clothes already, some spares in the bag."
"If you had to have your first impression with the rest of the family in those, how would you feel?"
She was taken aback by the unexpected question, thinking of all the worn parts and holes in the spare clothes making her feel uneasy.
"I... I see. Are you sure you want to do this Rick? I'm not exactly lacking in clothes, and new ones are gonna be pricy."
"Less so than you'd think. Besides, it's not like me and Ella just woke up one day and decided we wanted another kid, we've been saving for a bit just for an occasion like this."
"And more importantly, you deserve to feel good in your skin, and that means clothes you're not ashamed to be seen in."
Riley nodded slowly and followed along, her brain thinking the whole situation through on all cylinders. She's never had an opportunity to choose her clothes, donated ones were just given to the kids that needed them the most and most vaguely fit them- with a bit of brawling helping in deciding who got the nicer ones.
So much agency on her head all of a sudden, jeez.
She was lost in thought as Rick grabbed a shopping cart and went straight towards the clothing section, Riley almost tripping once they'd stopped all of a sudden.
"Guess we should get this squared off first, just so that it's gone and done."
Riley was confused before she turned towards the shelf in front of which they'd stopped, lined up with female underwear of all sizes and fits.
"I'll... leave it to you to find your size and pick the ones you like, gonna go grab some coffee and clothes for myself. Be back in a few."
She could swear she saw a blush under his fur as he walked off, leaving her with the empty shopping cart and a wall full of more sizes of bras than she thought existed.
Find my size, right.
She slunk off into the changing room, trying to read the sizes off of worn tags, eventually piecing together both relevant numbers and walking out. She grabbed a few pairs of underwear and socks of her size, annoyingly hidden in the nearby "Kid" section, before going back to find proper bras... only to look up deadpan as her size was all the way up on the highest shelf, mocking her.
For fuck's sake nobody with that size was gonna be tall enough to reach that high up.
Having Rick reach up to help her with this was certainly an option, but not one she'd rather subject either him or herself to. She looked around for an alternate solution, eventually finding an unopened cardboard box of what seemed to be sweaters judging by the writing on it, dragging it next to the shelf and climbing up, just barely managing to grab a handful when she stood on her toes.
"What are you doing Riley?" She heard Rick behind herself as he got back to her, dropping a couple packs of coffee and some socks into the cart.
"Compensating." Riley responded with a deadpan voice, climbing down from the box and dropping the bras in the shopping cart.
"You sure got the right size?" He questioned as Riley pushed the box back to where she got it from,
"The same I'm wearing right now, and it fits well enough I guess."
"Alright, worst case Ella can go out with you and help you out with fitting. Anything else you feel you're gonna need?"
Riley shook her head, any of the more intricate designs for underwear just making her tilt her head in confusion.
"Onto shirts and jackets!" He slowly turned the cart around towards the tops aisle, so full of clothes it made Riley's head spin as she tried to look at it all.
"I think your size is further into the aisle, any idea what are we looking for?"
"XS? Have had the most luck with that size if memory serves."
"If not XXS, yeah. Best to just try both and see which is better. See any designs you like?"
Riley looked at the shirts, going through the designs, most of the overly girly stuff more offputting than anything. A bit further into the aisle there was some stuff that grabbed her attention, dark shirts with geometrical patterns, some metal band ones, one with the night sky all over.
After taking them with her into the changing room, she sadly realized that most of the shirts were just a bit too large. Fucking XXS, what kind of size even is that. Bullshit.
She groaned in annoyance, sitting down on the bench inside the changing room, trying to convince herself that the M sized space shirt actually fit her and didn't look like a night shirt on her lanky body.
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In the end, after sorting through the rest of vaguely interesting shirts she was left with only four that actually fit her, and one that was just a bit too large but comfy enough that she didn't care.
As she carried the good shirts back to the shopping cart, Rick was busy doing something on his phone, too engrossed to notice her walk back.
"What's up?" She asked him, his expression looking quite concerned as he looked up at her.
"Just checking the morning news... there's something about the orphanage I took you from, sounds serious but details are, well scarce. Wonder if it's gonna develop into something bigger."
Boy do I as well.
"But that's neither here nor there, found something nice for yourself?" He tried to change the mood as he got up, taking a look at the shirts Riley'd brought.
"Not that much choice when you're the size of a garden gnome."
He chuckled and nodded appreciatively at the clothes, before seeming to have realized something, bursting into laughter and leaning himself on the cart, his tail shaking rhythmically.
Riley looked up at him, her brows furrowing. What was going on? He couldn't have connected her to the news on the orphanage... could he? She was about to start panicking before she took a glance at the clothes, the revelation cutting through her anxiety in an instant, her cheeks lighting up with embarassment as she couldn't help but giggle.
"Hahaha, trying to fit in aincha, haha..." He laughed out, getting his bearings as he smiled down at her.
All the shirts were very dark with white markings on them.
She giggled on for a longer while, the anxiety leaving her system. God did she need that. After a minute or so she was finally done, looking up at Rick, who was still smiling widely at her.
That felt nice.
"W-well, should I change them?" Riley asked, not wanting to accidentally insult her new family.
"No, not at all, it's hilarious! Ella will love it." He had to stop himself from falling into another chuckling fit as he spoke.
Riley smiled and nodded in response, grabbing a hold of the shopping cart and moving on towards bottoms, before a ringing noise interrupted them both.
"Speak of the devil..." He chuckled to himself, pulling out his phone and answering the call.
"Hey sweetie, good morning! I'm alright, yeah, yes, she's here with me, we're grabbing some clothes. Yes, yes... yes, don't worry we're gonna be quick with it, it's going very well so far. Yeah, I'll pass it on, take care!" The call went by quickly, Rick ending it in less than a minute.
"Your wife?"
"Aye. She wanted me to pass on that they're all excited to meet you eventually, especially Timmy."
"Eventually?"
"I'm not gonna force you to stand in front of them all when we get home, you'll have your room and then will be free to come out to the rest of the family when you want, at your own pace."
"How are you gonna explain it to your kids?"
"Oh that's easy, as far as they're concerned you're just sick and will need a few days to feel better, which isn't that far from the truth anyway."
"I see. What about having to go to the bathroom?"
"You'll have the large bedroom, we've used it mostly as a guest room until now since it has a small attached bathroom."
"What about meals?"
"We're not gonna chain you to your bed you know, if you feel like you can deal with a few curious kids then you're more than free to go out and grab some food. Although for the first few days I'm probably just gonna bring the meals to your room if you'd prefer that."
She nodded at the offer, not really sure whether she could actually deal with a few curious kids.
"Any more housing questions Riley?"
She thought for a bit, a question quickly popping up-
"Will I be able to go out for walks and such?"
"Of course, you'll get a front key. Just lemme know where are you gonna head off to in case something happens."
She was satisfied with the responses, taking a deep breath and pushing the cart on, one more question coiling up in her mind, left unspoken for now as they went into the bottoms aisle, Riley drawn towards running leggings and darker jeans, thankfully managing to find a relatively well fitting pair of the latter, the last in stock.
As she emerged from the fitting room, holding a few fitting clothes, she noticed that Rick wasn't around, making her look in the nearby aisles, finding him looking at some jackets.
As she walked up to him he turned towards her, grinning widely as he held-
No fucking way.
A brand new copy of her current jacket, showing off its black finish, and as opposed to her current one's worn down or grayed out- this one's decals were pearly white.
"You've got to be kidding me..." She remarked as she picked up the replacement, the same size even as her current one.
"Thanks for finding it, Rick."
"You're welcome Riley. Put it in and we're done for the clothes, aren't we?"
"Think so, unless we both forgot about the same thing. You mentioned hygiene, right?"
"Yeah, it's four aisles ahead. What about it?" He asked as they both made their way back to their cart and pushed on, Riley noticing another person in the shop for the first time that morning.
"Don't you guys already have a shower gel and stuff? Why do we need to buy more just for me?"
"We do, but it's for, well, fur and not skin. If you wanted to use the skin one with fur you'd need an entire bottle every shower, and apparently the other way around it just feels slimy and sticky, different formulas and such. At least shampoos are the same, but I'd still rather you grab your own, just so that everyone has their own and nobody is upset about anyone using anyone else's... as has happened before."
Riley lifted an eyebrow at him, curious about the unspoken story.
"Lily threw a fit after she caught Andrew using her shampoo over and over, since then we just have a separate bottle for everyone, works best this way."
"Why was he using her shampoo?"
"Cause it made his hair soft and smelled of strawberries."
"Couldn't he just have grabbed a bottle for himself?"
"He did later, but that was a few years ago and let's just say back then he was... a bit insecure about his masculinity, and didn't want to be caught buying 'girl shampoo', despite using it at home since the 'guy' stuff is so shitty."
"Oh joy." Riley responded in a mocking voice, having an idea of the type of boy Rick was talking about.
"Don't worry, he's got a lot better about this since then. Last time I heard he was even considering picking up knitting!"
"Oh. Glad to hear that, at least."
The mental image of Bruce knitting was equal parts amusing and disturbing. She shook it off and turned into the hygiene aisle, dazzled by the absurd number of different gels and conditioners.
"Uhh... got any recommendations?" She asked, having no idea why would she choose one over another.
"Not for shower gels, but I can grab you the same shampoo and conditioner that almost all of us use if you want. Just tell me your favorite fruit and go grab a shower gel for yourself."
"Uh... peaches I guess." She didn't eat nearly enough fruits to make an informed decision, but peaches smelled nice enough the few times she had them, or at least yogurt that claimed to have had them.
After walking over to the shower gel shelf, Riley swept it over with her eyes, crouching to grab the cheaper stuff. Most of the writing at the front of the bottles might as well have been gibberish, but she eventually managed to find one that looked slightly more enticing than the rest, some light green one that was apparently apple scented. Neat.
She also took a quick glance over at the toothbrushes, grabbing the cheapest store brand one with a toothpaste to match, dropping them both in just as Rick came back with the shampoo.
"Alright, that's that, thinking about something else we could grab while were here?"
"I dunno, I think that's all, at least as far as hygiene goes. I guess a towel if you don't have any spares?"
"Thankfully we do, we bought new ones a few weeks ago and grabbed one more in advance. Oh, just thought of something, what about a brush?"
"A brush? I guess, never really used one."
"Definitely a brush then. Anything more, hmm... Ella still has a few boxes of tampons in case, so that's not an issue... can't think of anything more, let's grab that brush."
Riley was already on it, the t-word sending her flying a few moments earlier. The selection was fairly modest, but there was one neat looking wooden one, looking much less flimsy than the cheap plastic ones around it. She slid her finger into the hole on the handle and made her way back, spinning the brush around her finger and only barely managing to catch it once it inevitably flew off.
After catching up to Rick they headed towards the food section, Riley bringing up the question-
"What's on the shopping list?"
"For us? Nothing set, Ella is doing all the actual food shopping, we're just taking a look to see if we can get you something you like. Have any favorite snacks?"
The last time she had a bag of crisps was six years ago, orphanage wasn't too keen on spending on some unhealthy snacks, or just spending at all for the most part. Even once she'd made some of her own money on the side, she had better things to do with it than waste on junk food.
"Not really, it's not like we had any often. Just grab me some of your favorite I suppose if you really want."
He chuckled to himself, turning into another aisle.
"Ha, doubt you'd really want that. I'm gonna get you some peanuts then, I'm sure kids will share their favorites with you once you're settled."
"Why wouldn't I want your favorite?"
"Well, most humans in my experience are rather repulsed by the thought of eating insects, even dead ones."
"Oh. Peanuts it is then."
"Knew it." He chuckled to himself, grabbing a half pound bag of peanuts and one massive bag of peanut butter candy.
"Why the candy?" She asked, confused by the unusual flavor as well as the sheer size of the bag.
"Cause it's great. And it's something of a family tradition to gift it for smaller occasions, or, in this case, larger ones. Expect four more bags later today, haha."
Riley couldn't help but smile a bit at the gesture as they turned the cart around out of the snack aisle, Rick humming some tune to himself before asking-
"You drink coffee or tea?"
"Nah. No kettles for the kids, because they'd burn themselves or something. We got it sometimes with dinner, but I was never impressed with it.
"I see. Ella will be more than happy to show you her tea collection if you're ever interested. Any soda?"
Riley shook her head, more so because of ignorance than any preference.
"I think that's about all for now. Any other ideas before we head to the checkout?"
She thought for a moment before turning around and running back into the candy aisle, grabbing five smaller bags of the peanut butter candy.
"Might as well join in on the tradition from the get go!" She answered his question before he'd even utter it, the smile on her face spreading over to his.
A few minutes later they were done with the checkout, Riley wheeling the cart back to the parking lot, Rick having went to grab something in one of the nearby stores, telling her to wait by the car.
A peek outside the supermarket's doors made her change her mind. It was snowing, yet again. She certainly wasn't gonna go wait in the cold, waiting on a nearby bench, next to a news stand.
She sneaked a peek over the newspaper headlines, most of them sadly the national kind. Seems no news of her stunt just yet.
"Aaaaand it's snowing again." His exasperated sigh took her out of her little news hunt as he walked back to her with a small package, his glare threatening to murder the season of winter itself.
"Winter surprises drivers yet again..." She chuckled to herself as she got up, Rick groaning a bit at the overused joke as they make their way outside, quickly jogging back to the car before they got buried. After putting all the bags on the back seats and hopping back in the car thankfully cooperated, wipers cleaning the view as they rolled out of the parking lot.
"Where do we go now?"
"Well, we head home. Ella and the kids won't be back for at least a couple more hours, so we have all the time we need to show you around the house." He pulled back onto the main road, snow accumulating on the asphalt as the early winter showed herself off, white flakes lining the ground as white sky lined the heavens.
"Goddammit. Will have to shovel the garage drive again, sigh... At this point just placing a roof over it might be less hassle in the long run." Rick grumbled to himself as they drove off, the AC making the inside of the car drowsily warm once more...