August 20th, 2014
Mid-afternoon
Sunny with a breeze

Rose was usually the good child. She was usually the angel in her family, while her siblings were the ones who got in trouble. But today, Rose's mother had decided that Rose would be the most useful to drag along with her to go shopping. They had run out of several things that her mother needed, or at least wanted, to keep her plants alive in their house. Which was why, on this particular day, Rose was standing behind her mother in line in Dogweed and Deathcap. Every once in a while she would humph loudly to show her disapproval of where she was. It was Rose's mother's only day off of work this week. They had been all around London doing errands, Rose being more of a help than she realized. All Rose really wanted to do, though, was to be with her siblings, playing with them. They had all been left home with Rose's great aunt, who had been a very big help to the blonde mother of Rose.

They had passed the ice cream parlor earlier, and Rose was still pouting about it. She had dragged her feet on the floor and begged her mother to get her some ice cream. Her mother told her she didn't know if she had enough money to buy her some ice cream today, with a hint of guilt in her voice. She reassured Rose that if they finished their errands, maybe she would get her some ice cream.

That "maybe" meant no.

Rose injected extra drama into a sigh, making it obvious she didn't want to be here at all.

The little redhead at least looked mostly respectable. Rose was only barely six years old. She had turned six at the beginning of August and it was nearing the end now. She remembered being told that six was a very big age to turn and that she would be going to Kindergarten soon at their local school, which Rose was excited for. Rose's auburn hair was braided into two braids, though of course there were flyaways. Her curly hair never seemed to want to be entirely tame. Rose's mother, however, looked a lot more respectable, with her blonde hair in a casual ponytail and wearing black robes reaching down just above her ankles. She looked organized and like she had places to be.

"Mommy," Rose whined, fidgeting. "I just want to go home, I don't want to be in this stinky- planty- place."

Pearl Moon smiled weakly, not looking at her daughter. She looked up and watched the line shrink so that it was one person shorter. "I know, honey. We're almost done, okay? I just have to check out and then we'll go home." Rose leaned out to the side, measuring the line's length by all the legs in front of her and estimating exactly long it would take for them to get to the front.

If her calculations were correct- "That's gonna take forever," Rose complained.

"Forever is a long time," Pearl answered bemusedly. "We'll get to the front eventually."

Rose tugged on her mom's robes. "No, we're gonna be standing in line forever. Forever and ever and I'm never gonna get ice cream."

Pearl absentmindedly used her free hand to brush some of Rose's hair out of her face, and Rose let her with a very emphasized huff. Fine, let her do it. Wasn't like it was going to matter anyway.

Rose spied a girl around her age standing in front of her, and leaned in. "Psst. Hey." Rose's voice carried an American accent, as did her mother's. Her mother had grown up in America, and it had rubbed off on all of her children. She asked, "You're trapped here too?"