anything and everything

Scene: Ariel and Daniel

MissAvarice

I realized you never saw baby Daniel. He was a huge sweet heart so here.

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"Ariel!" Daniel ran up to his older sister and grabbed her wrist before she could slip out of their house. Well, it wasn't really their house. They'd found one that looked empty in the woods. It was probably a vacation house, Ariel had told them. 

"Yeah?" Ariel asked, looking down at Daniel. He had recently turned 10. She knew exactly what he wanted.

"You promised you'd take me with you today!" Daniel exclaimed. "I want to see the humans too!"

Ariel was only 13 but her maturity was far beyond her years. It had to be. Her family would have died if she didn't step up when their mother failed to join them.

Daniel had taken a while to understand their situation but ever since he grasped it about a year  ago he'd done what he could to make it easier. He would watch Clover and take care of her while Ariel did her best to put dinner on the table.

Ariel looked at Clover. She was good at entertaining herself. It wouldnt be the first time she was left home alone but Ariel still didn't want to let Daniel come with her to the small human town where she had made a habit of snatching coins and stealing food. She had her magic now and could use it in an emergency but Daniel...

However a promise was a promise and she couldn't bring herself to break Daniels heart.
"Yeah. Alright. Grab your hoodie and follow me." Ariel said. She used bobby pins to hold down her ears and hide them under her hair but she still wore a hoodie or big scarves to hide her grey skin better too. Only Clover had white skin, neither was sure why. 

Daniel ran off to the room he had claimed as his own and came back with his hoodie. Ariel seemed satisfied so she took her brothers hand and showed him into the human town. There was a small grocery store that she wanted to get food from tonight. She hadn't gone in there before and hopefully wouldn't be noticed tonight.  She told Daniel to grab some kind of grain after she showed him what to do. She'd get the meat since that was usually harder to hide. A small bag of rice would be an easy grab for Daniel.

Something small and easy to hide. Small and easy to hide... Ariel saw a roll of ground beef pressed into a tightly wrapped cylinder shape. That shouldn't be too hard. She glanced to make sure no one was watching her before she picked it up and slipped it into her pocket. She then shoved her hands into her pocket to hide the meat from view and continued to walk.

That didn't look too hard! Daniel made his way towards the grains to find something else for them to eat that would be easy but filling. Daniel noticed a small bag of rice and decided to go for that though as he was slipping it into his pocket, a store employee stocking the shelves noticed his action.

"Hey, kid, where are your parents?" The employee asked. Daniel startled and looked up at him before around for Ariel. What was he supposed to do now? Ariel hadn't taught him that!

Ariel ran to Daniel. "I'm here with him." She said, setting a hand on her brothers shoulder.

"What's in your pocket?" The employee narrowed his eyes.

"My phone." Ariel replied.

"Show me." The employee demanded.

Ariel took her other hand out of her pocket but she didnt comply with the employees demand. Instead she thrust both of her hands forward with the shout of "vent!" The force of wind that came from her hands was enough to knock down the shelves on either side of them and throw the employee backwards. Ariel grabbed Daniels hand and ran towards the store exits, using magic whenever she needed to get someone or something out of her way.

It all seemed a blur as they ran back to their house. They made sure they weren't being followed before they returned to their house. Ariel locked the door before looking to Daniel. She had all intent to tell him this was why he wasn't allowed to come with her when she noticed his hands full.

"What did you...?"

"The bags were in a cart by us. I grabbed them." Daniel said, offering Ariel the grocery bag he'd managed to snatch as they were running without her notice.

Any worry or anger faded as Ariel let out a laugh and pulled her brother into a hug. "Nice job Danny." She said. After her using magic, they'd have to move again, but at least they had enough food to last them for a few days. "You'll come out with me more often."