Night 49: Pantry 1 - First Floor

[noifsandsorbubs.livejournal.com]

[from here]

An average man in good shape can run about ten miles an hour. Logan was not aware of this, but that was how fast his bike was going. Something had caught his eye on the road ahead, and he'd slowed way down to avoid slamming into anything potentially huge; and then, as he was veering toward the side of the road to get a closer look, the feeling of standing on the edge of an abyss and looking down washed over him.

And then, at the speed of a flat-out run, he'd crashed.

He stayed where he was for a full ten seconds, half-buried in - what? Debris? Pieces of the bike? He definitely hadn't been going that fast, and damn it, the road had been empty. He shifted and sat up, and the debris, or whatever, shifted with him. It sounded suspiciously like aluminum cans.

Pitch black, clearly an indoor space, and - what the hell was crunchy under his hand?

Cereal.

It was a goddamn pantry. And his ribs hurt. He could've invented a small journal's worth of new and creative words for the situation and whoever thought it was funny to jerk people around like this, but instead he said: "You okay?"

Comments

[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

"Hang on, hang on... I need to grab some stuff for my b--project..." Okay, so Logan enjoyed a beer or two or ten, but that didn't mean she was letting him in on her plans. He might think she was a raging alcoholic, wild from withdrawals or something. She would at least wait until she had a batch made before announcing her hobbies.

This pantry was all shelving from floor to ceiling. They needed to be systematic about this, not wanting to be caught in the middle of picking apples if something came after them. Though it was such a confined space, it was rather unlikely anything big enough to be threatening could be lurking in here. So, she had her manly mule and her sweatshirt to carry things in. It was definitely going to take more than one trip, but she would cross that bridge tomorrow when it came. "I'm looking for apples or oranges, lots of 'em, preferably ones we didn't squish. I need sugar, ketchup if we can find it, yeast... if we can find that, I need some cans of fruit juice..." Hmmm, was she missing anything? "Yeah... any of that... And then we can get the hell out of here..."

[noifsandsorbubs.livejournal.com]

Apples or oranges would have been okay, if she'd left it at that, but she didn't. Nowhere close. Logan's expression edged toward indignant as she rattled off her list. Ketchup? Ketchup and apples?

"What the hell are you making, Christmas freakin' dinner?" He tucked his beer in the crook of his arm and scanned the shelves.

No, that wasn't going to work. He set the beer on the shelf and stacked what he could find: two baskets of apples, a basket of oranges, two bags of sugar, three kinds of juice, and ketchup, all in a precarious heap, with the beer lying carefully on top. His flashlight was pointed somewhere he couldn't really see - he was peering over the side of his beer. "Didn't see any yeast," he said. "You're getting the door."

[36-24-35.livejournal.com]

Tifa whipped around with her usual, harmless smile in place, but her brown eyes were wide, dark brows raised in challenge. "I'm making homemade alcohol..." So he had better learn to behave if he wanted some.

She didn't find much on her end, a bag of dinner rolls that she could probably substitute for yeast.

Jeez this is going to taste awful.

"Wow, you work fast..." Taking off her sweatshirt and pulling down the gray smiley shirt underneath, Tifa tied a knot in the bottom of the sweatshirt and walked closer to Logan. "We don't need to take all of it this night. I don't want to be the only one empty handed if something comes after us." The beer took priority, and she set it down on the floor before going through all the ingredients. The apples were necessary so that would stay, oranges were going to make the alcohol too tart so she scrapped those, ketchup she put in her sweatshirt along with the apples. "If you can carry a can of juice and a bag of sugar, that'll be plenty." Plus, he could easily set them down if they found trouble. "I've got the beer..."

Tying the heavy sweatshirt to her waist with the sleeves, Tifa grabbed the rolls, beer, and kindly opened the door for them like a good girl.