Quinn let out a small content hum as he entered the grocery store, his hands in his pockets as he strolled by customers. The chatter of the customers reached his ears, but he was truly focused on what influenced the chatter itself: thoughts.

’Is this guy dumb??’, ‘My heart is pounding so fast!’, ‘Hope my husband doesn’t see this.’

A smile was present on Quinn’s face as he mentally browsed through the torrent of thoughts coming his way, sorting out what was interesting. In his mental sorting, Quinn almost walked into a stand, pausing with a slight gasp before snapping out of his daze. First, he needed to get his groceries, then he could check out what thoughts were circulating around the store. After all, he needed a few more ideas on what traits add into one of his character’s personality anyways.

Quinn pulled out his phone, reading through the list of groceries he made for himself prior to leaving before grabbing a shopping basket, gripping the handles as he began to make his way around the store for his necessities. Every time he went somewhere to get an item, there was always someone thinking an interesting thought, causing him to write down a new personality trait for his new character. Thinking worriedly about their child home alone? Protective. Thinking angrily about their sister’s decision she made without thinking? Caring.

Before Quinn knew it, almost a half an hour had passed and he still needed to get one more product out of 8. He made his way over to the shelf where the final product was, placing his phone in his pocket that was now full of ideas from thoughts he heard. As Quinn was about to grab the final product, he felt an eerie silence next to him, glancing only to see {{user}} standing there. He couldn’t hear a single thought from them although he could hear everyone else’s.

After a few moments of shocked staring and mental turmoil, Quinn ‘accidentally’ bumped into {{user}}, quickly pushing away the thoughts of others before replying “Oh sorry, I didn’t see you. Are you alright?”