#Lost in the Supermarket | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ariadnewhitlock · 2 years ago

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Lost in the Supermarket || Andy & Ariadne

TIMING: Last week LOCATION: A grocery store in town PARTIES: Ariadne @ariadnewhitlock & Andy @declinlalune SUMMARY: Ariadne and Andy are both shopping, when they suddenly end up somewhere that is… not home. CONTENT WARNINGS: none!

She’d told her parents that she would run and do a grocery shopping before their family dinner. It wa something that had been tradition for years, and despite her lack of needing to eat, it was still something that brought Ariadne comfort, and made her life feel at least partially normal, despite the fact that nearly everything else felt entirely strange.

Ariadne had grabbed a few items and was pushing a cart around the store - trying to not grab too many more sweets (though, thankfully, her parents were exceedingly understanding with her newfound extreme sweet tooth) than were needed. She spotted another figure by the salad dressings. “I - excuse me, I’m between the Italian dressing and the honey mustard - do you have a favorite? Also open to other options.”

Andy needed to pick up a few things on her way home from work, and it made the most sense to stop at an actual grocery store rather than the corner store, or even the pharmacy. If she brought home more peach rings, Kaden may actually kill her. The bottle of wine– not as expensive as anything Kaden would deem good wine, but more expensive than what she and Alex had presented him upon his arrival, was an afterthought. The velveeta block– a stance against Kaden’s cheese-monger ways, a forethought, and the bottle of Italian dressing a means to redeem herself for being called unhealthy.��

As she went to grab a packet of croutons, Andy heard a voice amongst the dull radio that played over the speakers. “Uhhh…” She looked back towards the dressings, then pointed to the one she’d thrown in her cart. “I hear it’s healthy, but usually we just eat chunks of lettuce if we think we need greens.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, but maybe a small exaggeration. “What are you making? Might determine what’s better and what’s shit.”

“Some sort of mixed greens salad. I think my mom’s going to just throw like, lettuce and tomatoes and lots of carrots. Cucumber, maybe?” Ariadne offered the other woman a small smile, “I think chunks of lettuce sounds pretty fantastic, personally.” She glanced down at the floor, “personally, I’d rather have a bag of gummy bears, but I do at least sort of like salad. I like that you can put lots of different dressings on it.”

“You just - you seem like you probably know stuff, and you’d think I’d know better, but I guess - I don’t know. Long day of classes makes me less sure of myself.” As well as the whole recent undead thing. Ariadne bit her lip, “thanks a lot, for talking to me.”

“Cucumber is good, goes well with Italian dressing.” Really, Andy wasn’t a fan of thick dressings like ranch, which, if one were to look at her other dietary choices, would be a surprise. She hated that she’d become the woman in the aisle discussing salad dressing, but that’d been her sad reality since things had slown down. The lack of running meant a steadier lifestyle, and somehow, that meant discussing dinner plans.

“Gummy bears are good, but peach rings are where it’s at.” She smiled kindly at the younger girl before grabbing another pack of croutons, deciding that she could use a snack for the ride home. Andy’s brows arched at the blonde’s clarification that it seemed like she knew stuff. She couldn’t help but laugh, and with a shrug, she turned fully towards the younger woman. “Sure, whatever. Take my word on the peach rings though, they go above and beyond gummy bears.”

“Ooh, that’s true! I don’t like the dressings that feel all soupy or whatever - if you’re going to have soup, you might as well have that, right?” Ariadne made a face.”Anyhow, thanks. I think I’ll go with that one.”

Another pause, and, “I’ll have to maybe get some of those before I leave.” Even though she’d decided not to get much candy this time, she couldn’t resist trying something fun and new. She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d missed out on trying peach rings before, but that could all change today. Ariadne was just about to thank the other woman again when she heard a small crash. “Should we go and make sure everyone’s okay?”

“Haven’t thought about it that way, but sure.” Andy smiled at the young girl, pushing her cart to the side so that somebody else could pass through. As much as she wanted to sit and discuss salad dressings, it was about time she started to head home.

At least, it would have been. The crash was loud and disorienting, but there were no screams that accompanied it. Maybe something had fallen off of the shelves, or maybe somebody ran their cart into something. Andy couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t hurt to go and check it out. At the young girl’s question, Andy nodded slowly before turning on her heel, leaving the cart behind. Andy rounded the corner, immediately taking note of the door that had driven itself into the ground. Except there were no cracks at its base, and nothing else was disturbed. Andy’s brows pulled together and she looked behind her at the blonde. “Did you notice this before?”

At least the other woman was being nice to her. Ariadne was certain that she didn’t make any sense, and so the kindness was even more appreciated than usual.

Except that the red-head had taken off quickly and Ariadne couldn’t help but follow her. Even if she probably shouldn’t have. Curiosity undoing various animals’ lives and whatnot. There was a door in the ground. A door, in the ground, in the middle of the aisle. It sounded like the beginning of a questionably written children’s book. “I - no. I mean, I don’t think so, but I also am pretty sure I’d notice that, no matter how distracted I was. Did you?”

“No, I didn’t.” Andy looked at the door apprehensively, knowing well enough when to leave things alone. She thought about the painting that she and Metzli had gotten sucked through and knew that if something like that happened again, she might not be smart enough to get them out. That’d been Metzli’s doing, and Metzli wasn’t here. Instead, Andy’s company was a kid, probably around Alex’s age.

“Just don’t touch it.” Andy turned her back on the door which might have been her first mistake, because it flung open and an undetermined force of energy began to suck her through, as well as the cookies on the opposite shelf. “No– god dammit, no!” She tried to grab onto the edge of the door, but it was no help. Instead, she was being flung through, encapsulated in darkness.

“That’s super weird.” She made a face again, turning her head to look at the door. “I’d say it’s maybe some art installation, but I - don’t think it’s that.” Ariadne sighed. Which meant it was something else, and probably not something she’d like. Not that she was entirely opposed to new things, but new things that weren’t supposed to be there did a number on her anxieties.

“I won’t.” Except just as she said that, the door opened by its own accord and pulled the both of them in. Which Ariadne really didn’t like. She balled up her fists as they both hit the ground - though it was a few minutes before she opened her eyes - to what looked practically identical to where they’d just been. Except black-and-white. She looked over to the other woman, “uh. I’m not imagining things, am I?”

Maybe Andy had been too afraid to open her eyes for longer than normal, or maybe she’d taken a minute to adjust to the fact that they were back in the grocery store, but it was void of any color, aside from herself and the young girl beside her. Why the fuck did this keep happening to her, and why were portals decidedly opening up to suck her into some other dimension?

At least there didn’t seem to be any fog. Andy looked over at the blonde as she spoke and gave a short shake of her head before she got to her feet. She reached out to help the girl up before turning in a slow circle, taking in their surroundings. Definitely no fog, no lake. Maybe the door was the stupid painting’s cousin. “Just stay next to me, ok?” She cast a glance over at the blonde, offering a small smile. She took a step forward and glanced down the aisle, noting that the cereal boxes which were often in an array of colors looked like something sad out of a catalog that’d been discontinued. “What do they say about Kansas?” She couldn’t remember the exact quote, or the movie it came from, but she knew she was right on the nose with the reference.

“You don’t have to tell me that twice.” Ariadne nodded, trying to do her best to catch her breath. Whatever version of breath she had, anyhow. She wasn’t exactly thrilled - which was an incredible understatement, but still. “I’ll stay right by you.” The woman mentioned something about Kansas –

“Oh, like from The Wizard of Oz?” She looked over to the other woman, “there’s no place like home? Except this is sort of a reverse of that movie, ‘cause in that one she goes to the colorful world, and we… didn’t.” Again, stating the obvious. Ariadne was grateful that the woman didn’t seem to put put off by Ariadne’s utter lack of ability to string together anything remotely coherent. “You didn’t fall asleep, did you?” This wasn’t some awful nightmare she’d created, was it? “Sorry, just trying to wrap my head around all of this.”

Andy wasn’t sure what was happening, or why the door had appeared in the first place, but if it were anything like what had happened at Metzli’s gallery, then there was definitely a way to get out. She took a deep breath and tried her best to center herself. There was no use in freaking out, especially when anxiety was written all over the girl that’d gotten pulled into this mess.

“Maybe? I’m not sure, I’ve never actually seen it.” She wasn’t well versed in pop culture– that was more of Alex’s thing. Though, she wasn’t sure if the movie being referenced was much of an impact to pop culture as it stood. “What?” At Ariadne’s question, Andy shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. This isn’t a Freddy Flintstone situation is it?” She hadn’t taken the time to realize that wasn’t the correct reference, but did it matter? “No, I’m awake, and you are, too, I’m pretty sure.” She bit down on the inside of her cheek as she took another step around one of the aisles, then realized quickly that each had a door. “So I’m guessing you’ve never seen anything like this?”

“That’s fair. It’s not my favorite movie, I just watched it when I was little once or twice.” They couldn’t be trapped forever, could they? Ariadne certainly hoped not. “I don’t know who that is, but no?” Again, she hoped not. She’d been more optimistic as a child, able to try and convince Chance into trying new things (albeit with limited success, but still). “Yes, I’m awake.” I can’t sleep held back on her lips, because that wasn’t something you said to strangers. For all her failures, that was one thing Ariadne had been fairly good about. To prove it to herself, she bit down hard on her lip, and the wince was proof enough.

“Uh, no. I mean, I’ve seen the grocery store, but not in black-and-white, and I’ve never gotten pulled through a magic - is that the right word to use? I don’t know - but still, a magic door. Have you?” She couldn’t have, could she? Because things like this didn’t happen. Except that clearly they did, given the situation that the two of them were in at the moment. Ariadne looked over the other woman’s shoulder. “Uh - I think I see another door?”

“Huh.” So maybe she and Ariadne had more in common than Andy had originally thought. Where the blonde was all nervous energy, Andy felt like she was going to bolt through the ceiling. Maybe that was because of the nerves, but she had to get them out of here– wherever here was. She cursed herself for already having been in a similar situation. She looked for labels, but everything seemed to be a mish mash of words, not really forming any coherent sentence.

At her question, Andy looked over her shoulder at the younger girl and shook her head, then thought for a moment. “Got pulled into a painting once. Had some evil fog, but I got out.” She left Metzli out of the story, not wanting to out them for their cursed paintings. “But a grocery store turning black and white and a bunch of doors popping up? Nah, this is new.” The subject of magic should have been a touchy one, because that in itself had ties to the supernatural. But Ariadne seemed to know about it, so Andy didn’t bother trying to convince her it was something else. That wasn’t her job anymore, anyway. She wanted to protect people, but not by lying to them.

Once they came upon another door, Andy’s brows pulled together. She opened it and felt herself being pulled in again. Darkness, and then– the same environment. Black and white– void of any actual words on the packaging, and more doors. “What the fuck.” At least this time she hadn’t landed on her ass. “Hey, kid?” Andy called out, quickly stepping out of the aisle and looking down at another.

“Come on, I thought art was safe.” The words spilled from her mouth involuntarily, “sorry. Sorry, that was rude of me. I just - I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. Glad you got out.” Ariadne nodded. “It’s a very weird - no offense to the black-and-white store - situation - and I mean, getting lost in the store is one thing, but this seems to take that a few steps further.” It was all very confusing, the whole magic doors thing, but since apparently vampires and werewolves and what she was were real, it only made sense for magic to be, too. Maybe. It was giving her something of an awful headache, but she could focus on that later. Not now, when she wasn’t even in town. Or in the real town.

Ariadne watched as Andy disappeared into another door, only to fall out of another one moments later. “What the heck is right.” She glanced up at the door. “Why does it have a number on it?”

“I said fuck.” Andy squinted at the door, but prematurely shook her head at the blonde for what she had said. “Sorry. I’m just. Frustrated.” She grit her teeth and looked at the door that the other had been drawn to before glancing down the aisle, noticing that there were several different doors, all with different numbers. It took her a moment, but she got it.

“The doors. We need to open them in order.” This wasn’t as easy as just finding words carved into trees, but at least she felt like she had it figured out. “It’s like a maze, I think.” She and Alex had gone to a maze in one of the Carolinas after getting back to the states. It’d been an attempt on Andy’s part to impart normalcy into their lives.

“Yes - well - I’d prefer to probably not use that word, if it’s okay with you.” Which wasn’t even the point right now, but Ariadne wanted to make sure that Andy had heard her correctly. “No - I’m sorry. I - you’re obviously allowed to be frustrated, I am too, I just - also confused”

She followed Andy’s gaze. “Order?” She shook her head. Well, of all the people to get lost with, at least it had been someone who was apparently very good at problem solving. If they got back, Ariadne figured it would only be the polite thing to do to offer to buy Andy something, or at least make her a thank you card. “In order. Okay.” She could do that. “Like from 1, or from the highest number?”

Andy ignored her comment about not wanting to curse, deciding that explaining she hadn’t meant offense by it was not important at the moment. The black and white was beginning to merge into itself and it was getting harder to remember what colors actually were, save for the ones she was wearing already. Even her own skin seemed to be dulling out.

“I–” She bit her lip and chewed it between her teeth. “I’ll try to go from the highest. If that doesn’t work, then we know it's the lowest.” Hopefully nothing would happen by doing that. So Andy trotted off, yanking open the door with the number 12 above it. It spat her back out and a shuddering sound vibrated above her head. Slightly disoriented, Andy rubbed her temples, squinting past the aisle she’d been deposited into. “Let’s try for lowest. We should do it together, in case something happens.”

“Okay. Highest first, and then lowest, okay.” Ariadne figured that made sense - as much as any of this did, right now. They had to try something, because if they didn’t try anything, then they’d be stuck here forever - and given that apparently she was going to live forever, Ariadne found the prospect of that extremely unappealing. That and she’d be responsible for Andy’s death, even if not on purpose.

“Together works for me.” She looked over at Andy. “I guess we should just… go for it? On three?” Ariadne began counting, hardly waiting for an answer - which she knew wasn’t polite, but she also knew that if she thought too much, she’d get all up in her head about everything and then nothing would be accomplished. “One… two… three.” She stepped into the door, hoping Andy was with her, only to find herself back in the supermarket. Her head was spinning. “Okay - well - that didn’t - should we find number 2, then? I don’t know if that did anything.”

The only reason Andy felt confident in any sense of the word about their situation was because of what happened with Metzli. While she didn’t necessarily want to thank them for the experience since they’d been the one to get her into it to begin with, at least she knew what patterns to look out for here.

Andy followed her through the door and nothing happened. Instead of being spat back out, they simply walked through as if it were a normal door. Her head felt a little fuzzy, but nothing like before. She blinked rapidly, trying to regain some composure, before looking above her head. “Wait. No, look! None of the doors changed. We have to go find number 3 now.” She didn’t wait for Ariadne to follow her. Instead, she headed towards the aisle with the giant number 3 on it, holding onto the knob, waiting for Ariadne to arrive. Once she did, she pulled it open, and she felt herself stepping through, just like before. “Number 4 next.”

She wondered if her technical inability to feel fear was the only reason that she wasn’t completely panicked right now. Even so, Ariadne figured that she wasn’t exactly doing as well as she might have wished.

“Okay, okay.” Andy knew what she was talking about, and Ariadne was extremely grateful for that. “Yes, number three sounds good.” She did her best to follow Andy as quickly as was possible, only slightly flinching this time when they made it through the doors. Which was an improvement, given that she still felt wholly and entirely overwhelmed by the situation at hand. She waited until the other woman was near her, and then ducked through door four, only to once again be spit right back out. Which meant it was working, right? “I think I’m going to need to lie down after this. I never thought of it as so much effort going through doors.”

“I’m feeling a little lightheaded, too, but come on– we’ve got this.” Andy gave the blonde a reassuring smile before she led the way to door number five. The same thing happened to them. They arrived on the other side with no numbers above their heads changed.

She refused to get trapped here in this colorless world. Her own skin continued to desaturate, so much so that even her freckles were barely visible. Andy wondered what her hair looked like. Hopefully she wouldn’t find out. Andy motioned for the girl to follow her towards door number six, and again towards the next few doors before they arrived just below eleven. “Okay, this, and then we’ve got twelve left. Hopefully it… well, you know, lets us out?” Andy’s laugh was anxious, but she pressed on anyway, pulling the door open. As they came out of the other side, just like before, nothing changed. “Are you ready?”

“We’ve got this.” She repeated, barely audible. But still, saying it felt like maybe somehow, that would make it more real. That there would be more of a chance of them actually making it out. Not that Ariadne was entirely sure that she believed in luck in that sort of way, but half an hour ago, she also would’ve said that she didn’t believe in doors that transported you to totally different but the same sort of place, so she figured she couldn’t really speak on the subject.

She looked down at her hand, alarmed to find that it was starting to blend in a little too well with the black-and-white grocery store. Ariadne pressed her fingertips against her temples, doing her best to calm her nerves as quickly and efficiently as possible. Which, of course, was far easier said than actually done, but the thought had to count, right? “We - I’m -” she held up her hand, graying as it was. “What?”

“We do.” Andy wasn’t sure how time worked here, or if it were any different than in the real world. It all still felt like a dream. She wasn’t sure how she was keeping it so together. Maybe it was the fact that the kid next to her was just a kid and needed some guidance. Or, at least, Andy thought she was a kid. She had half a mind to ask how old the blonde was, but was interrupted by her plea.

She looked over and noticed the way that blonde’s hand had begun to meld into the backdrop of the store, fingernails and skin black and white. “Shit. Okay, it’s okay– we just gotta get out, alright?” Andy did her best to give the girl a reassuring smile before she tugged her along to the next door. She wasn’t sure if this was magic or what, but it was fucked up. Once they were below door number twelve, she looked at her and gave her a firm nod. She opened it up, pulling the blonde through with her. When they came out onto the other side, they were transported back to a world of color. Music poured over the speakers and Andy winced at the sudden noise. “We got out.” Thank fucking god. “Your hand– look at your hand.”

“We just gotta get out.” She repeated, both to assure the woman that she’d heard her and to reassure herself. Which Ariadne figured that she might have needed even more than the other woman did. At last from outward appearance, she figured it never hurt to offer kindness to someone else. Especially someone who was literally saving her life.

“We gotta, yeah.” She gratefully let the woman pull her through the door, and she took in a huge gulp of air, half-crumpling down to the floor and leaning back against a shelf. “We got out - I - my hand.” Ariadne looked down. “I - thank you.” She shut her eyes for a moment, trying to re-center herself. “I - I’m Ariadne, by the way. I don’t - I don’t think I ever told you, before.” She stood up, pressing her hands together, as if to make sure that they were actually, really still there. “I’m officially a super not fan of random doors.”

Even though Andy didn’t think that the air in the other grocery store had been any different, it felt like she could actually breathe now. She steadied herself by grabbing onto a nearby shelf, then looked over at the blonde. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she showed that her hand had come back into focus. “Must mean we’re actually back and uh, okay.” She looked down at her own arm, relief flooding through her.

As the blonde gave thanks, Andy shook her head. “Don’t thank me.” It had a double meaning, and maybe she should drive it in a little more, but she got distracted by her name. It was pretty. “Andy.” She smiled fondly at her before pushing away from the shelf. Where the hell was her basket? “Oh, me and you both. Never going to go into a random one again, that’s for sure.” She exhaled sharply and ran her fingers through the end of her braid. “Glad we made it out though, glad you’re in one piece.” Knowing Wicked’s Rest, it could have gotten a lot uglier than it had. “Do you–” She paused, then sighed, “you need a ride home or anything? After you’re done shopping? I can give you one.” If there was anything lasting about the black and white grocery store, then maybe Andy should take Ariadne home.

“Must be.” Ariadne refused to let herself think otherwise. That wasn’t a possibility, it just wasn’t. “It - I’m glad we’re back.” Glad was an exceptional sort of understatement, but it was all that she could manage right now.

“But - I -” she caught her tongue in her mouth, fighting the urge to dispute the comment, to say that she wanted to thank the woman and that she couldn’t stop her from doing so, but refrained. “Sorry. I’m glad you were here to help.” Ariadne nodded. “Belated nice to meet you, Andy. Glad you’re in one piece too.” Which was really not saying nearly as much as she wanted to say, but she supposed it’d have to suffice for now. “Uh - if you don’t mind, sure, that’d be great. I could walk, I like walking, but if you’re offering…” her voice trailed off as she grabbed a box of Cheez-Its off the shelf, before shaking her head and putting them back. Too much salt. A bag of Cheetos instead, in part to see what Chance would say about that. “I - I’ll be ready whenever you are.”

“Mmm.” Andy smiled at Ariadne, and this time it reached her eyes. The blonde was far more polite than anyone else she’d met in Wicked’s Rest, and really, she was pleasantly surprised. She had held her own in the weird black and white world, too, which made Andy curious as to why. It wasn’t her business, and she knew that, but if Ariadne hadn’t freaked the hell out in the weird alternate dimension they’d been thrown into, then what else had she been victim to? Concern ran parallel to paranoia, but she pushed it away, expression neutral aside from the smile.

“No, it’s no big deal, I can drive you.” Andy patted Ariadne’s shoulder hesitantly before passing her by. “I just need to find my basket. Grab whatever else you need and I’ll meet you at the front.” She headed down the aisle before pausing. “And no more doors, except for, you know, the front one.” Andy winked at the blonde before heading off to the next aisle to find her basket before returning to the blonde’s side.

#lost in the supermarket #chatzy #writing #c andy #// i had to do this title ok :/#also i love ci and i love andy sm #thank u for doing this <3

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