A piece of home [open]

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve usually didn't go Downtown. It was far too away from the country that she loved so much, full with people who'd usually avoid her and far too many English speaking people who didn't understand her accent. But she figured if she'd found nice people inside Hammel, she might as well meet some nice ones outside.

She walked around town, sending awkward smiles to every person who walked by. Well, that wasn't working. After a few dirty looks sent her way and 'weirdos' muttered under breath as she passed, she was sure she wasn't about to find anyone like her out here. Why had she come outside anyway? She looked down at herself. Oh right. Instead of wearing boots, like most people were around her in this cold weather, Genevieve wore her flip flops. No wonder people thought of her weird. So what if she didn't know how to dress? She wasn't some fashion savvy person! And that was obvious with her long skirt and far too big sweater and her far too old scarf, dressed more like a homeless person, or a very old woman, rather than a fifteen year old girl. At least she'd managed to figure the flip flops had to go, despite her usual dislike of closed shoes. Fact was the weather wasn't about to get any warmer any time now, in fact, it was probably only get colder, and she needed something to keep herself from getting sick all the time. The reminder of that made her sniffle, as she was still working out the leftovers of her cold. 

"I believe I am lost..." She muttered to Vivan, who was as usual standing on the girl's cheek. She looked around, hoping to find someone familiar, or some place that'll tell her where she was. That's when she saw it. A tiny little store that reminded her of home. A tad on the tacky side for her taste, with the French elements being widely exaggerated, but that was to be expected in America. It was like every other country was a cartoon. Still, Genevieve couldn't help but feel attracted to the store, and she hurried to look from outside the window. 

It was so quaint! What with the little tables and the French decoration. She pressed her face against the window to see from all angles, making the people inside turn to look at the weird girl making faces, pressed against the glass. Ah! There were baked goods too! She looked down, moving her hand to her pocket and bringing out a tiny bag full of coins and bills. American dollars were so difficult to figure out, especially the coins. "Okay... so this is a one, a five, a twenty and a fifty... and a bunch of coins." That was... seventy six plus... coins. So if she could find some boots that cost less than that, she could at least have some tea and cake, right? 

With a nod of determination, and still looking down at her money, Genevieve turned briskly to enter the shop... only to collide with someone else immediately after. Someone had gone ahead and opened the door and had been trying to get in just as she'd turned to get in as well. She fell to the ground, not even noticing who it'd been, and she moaned in pain as she landed on her bottom. This was so not her day. 

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas was feeling good, he'd just completed his evening jog, taken a shower,and was now headed out to get a decent meal at a nice Italian restaurant he'd found in town. He was currently wearing a pair of black slacks, and a nice, blue collared shirt.

Along the way he paused, having spotted a familiar looking bakery across the street, he had gone there for his bread for over a year, preferring his bread to have come straight off the oven to the cold generic store brands. As he looked at the bakery he decided, that one baguette wouldn't ruin his appetite for the evening, at least that's what he told himself, knowing full well he would likely eat and buy a large assortment of breads to take home and wouldn't make it to the restaurant on time.

After crossing the street Andreas, walked up to the door, but just as he opened it he felt someone bump into him hard, this bump was nowhere near strong enough to topple the large man, but he still felt it. Turning around, ready to tell the person to watch where they were going, Andreas heard a moan, and looking down his words dried up in his mouth, his eyes had fallen upon a girl sitting on the ground. "Are you okay?" He asked in a worried voice as he bent down to help her up, hoping he hadn't hurt the girl.

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve moaned in pain, her backside hurting from the fall. "je-" English. "I am okay." She said, eyes still closed as she winced in pain. Why did these things always happen to her? Someone out there must really take pleasure in seeing her suffer. Sick. She blinked her eyes open and turned them up to see exactly who she'd collided with. A man. Oh no! She hurried to kneel up and looked up at him with a flushed face. "I am sorry!" She exclaimed, "I did not hurt you, sir?" Her accent and panic was making her English difficult to understand, but she still tried anyway. Oh, why did she have to be so clumsy all the time? If only she hadn't been looking down at her- Her Money!

The French girl suddenly turned, looking around. Indeed, her tiny bag was now on the floor, her coins making a pile on the street and her bills... her bills? She crawled on the floor to her tiny bag and picked it up, turning it to see the insides. Empty. "No!" She cried out, looking about the street. Indeed, the bills were being dragged on the street aimlessly. "No no no no no." She crawled towards them, which wasn't truly a good way to catch them, and tripped on her own skirt when she tried to get up, falling forwards and barely managing to keep her face from hurting with her arms. This so was not her day...

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas breathed a sigh of relief as the girl told him that she was okay and got up. He really didn't want to be responsible for the girl being hurt, though she still looked like she was in pain He did look at her a little strangely when she said a french word, thinking to himself, well that certainly is different. When the girl asked if he was hurt in her thick accent, having to think for a minute as to understand what she said, he waved his hand saying, "You're okay, don't worry about me I'm not that easy to hurt."

Andreas watched the girl with a pang of sympathy as she suddenly turned around and grab a bag that apparently had fallen when the two of them collided, feeling bad for the girl as she began to crawl after some money that must have fallen out of said purse, Andreas jogged up and collected as many of the bills as he could, though the five dollar bill had escaped him going into an alley that was next to the building, turning back to the girl he got down to one knee, extending his hand out to her,and said in a kind voice, "Hey, come on, stand up. I grabbed your money for you. You don't need to be sad." Andreas was assuming her sadness the moment she fell forward on her arms and knees.

[Genevieve Duval]

He wasn't hurt then. Good. Very good. Now what was she worrying about? Oh right! Money. She didn't even know how to use those stupid coins. Why did they have so many values and the sizes didn't match it and why change colour and- gah! These Americans were just far too odd for her to deal with. And their money was stupid! It wasn't even pretty and the bills didn't even have different colours. What was up with that? And they didn't have the value nice and big and bright and VERY noticeable like she was used to. Every bill looked the same! With some old guy in one side, a building or something on the other and every single one was green. Green! Why green? Wait! Money- right! She'd been pondering about the stupid bills that she'd forgotten about her money in the first place. And it wasn't like she could just up and go ask her brother for it, right? That would be far too weird. And- Oh, the man was back.

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "I am not sad." She said in a low voice, blinking in surprise. Why would he think that? She was just frustrated with- wait, did he say he had her money? "Merci!" She exclaimed with a bright smile, slowly moving to stand up without tripping over her skirt again. She smoothed it out, as if that would help her appearance in any way and turned to the man again. He seemed familiar... somehow.

"Merci beaucoup, monsieur." She said as politely as she could, embarrassed of what she'd done. "I did not see where I was going. It was my fault and- I am missing a five." She added as she noticed the bills. Oh come on! That five was going for her tea? She lost her smile and sighed. Well, maybe she could just... not eat anything in that little piece of home she'd found. She sent an almost tearful gaze at the store and sighed again. Good bye tea with honey.

"Thank you." She said again, turning to the man once more and sending him a sad smile. "I am sorry for causing trouble."

[Andreas Pruitt]

When the girl looked up at him, Andreas felt that he had seen the girl before, but he couldn't remember where. With a small smile he said watched her demenaor brighten as he said, "You're welcome mademoiselle." His french was extremely rusty, having not spoken much of it since college. He had chosen to learn the language back when he was schooling at Kocher, just enough to buy food from vendors, and, shamefully enough, so he could flirt with some of the pretty girls who had come from France to the school. None of that mattered now of course he was nearly ten years older and his desire to go around flirting with random women had become all but nonexistent.

His smile growing slightly as he looked down at the girl as she began to apologize, Andreas said, "Don't worry about it, just watch where you walk from now on, or else you might bump into someone who isn't as forgiving as me." noticing the girl's face drop heavily as she saw her five was missing, and her face becoming pitifully sad, Andreas felt a small tug on his heart for her and pulled out his wallet with a sigh, "I was just about to go in, so I could buy you whatever you were going to spend that five dollar on."

[Genevieve Duval]

Genevieve blinked in surprise at how he'd called her and then smile gently at the man. "You speak French?" She wondered, still smiling and hoping he'd say yes. She'd found two in Hammel who did, Colton and Audrey, the last one actually having family in France.

Someone who isn't as forgiving? Genevieve lost her smile and looked around. She doubted people could be as mean as to get angry for having her crash against them when it wasn't on purpose, although back in Kocher most people were snobbish like that. But this gentleman seemed nice enough, so she nodded at the advice, "Merci." She muttered shyly, still feeling guilty about it. Well, he was big enough as to not fall down like she had, so that was something right? Ah, but maybe she hurt him when she hit him? She looked down at her feet. Maybe she had and he was just being nice about it.

After his proposal, she looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "Really?" She asked, slightly mortified that she was going to make a stranger spend money on her, but then again... tea. "Like... tea?" She was acting like a spoiled little girl, wasn't she? "Lemon tea? With... honey?" She just hoped he'd say yes.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Looking down at the girl as she sent him a smile Andreas said with a small pinching motion, "A little yes, but I haven't had much practice." He hadn't needed to since it seemed like most Americans thought the only language they needed to learn was Spanish, and even then they seemed to hate learning it, but that was only from his experience with kids from Hammel.

Andreas started frowning when the girl suddenly looked away from him asking in a concerned tone, "Are you all right? You didn't hurt yourself when you ran into me, right?" This was one of the problems with being as big as he was, you have to make sure you don't hurt people, and this girl already looked like she was having a bad day, he didn't want to be the person to make it worse.

When the girl looked up at him, with her puppy dog eyes, Andreas felt even worse for her and said, "Yes really, I'm probably going to spend a lot anyways,and five dollars extra won't bankrupt me." When the girl said what she wanted in her small, shy voice Andreas chuckled a little, saying, "Yeah, I think that's just fine. Lemon tea and some honey." After confirming what she wanted Andreas held the door to the shop open sayingwith a small smile, "After you."

[Genevieve Duval]

"It is good!" She said with a smile, excited that she could speak her mother language. "You can practice with me. I am no good with English, but I can do French." She looked up at him with a bright smile, hoping he would agree on the language.

She shook her head enthusiastically at his question. "Non!" She exclaimed in panic, "But I- I did not hurt you, yes?" He was so tall, so she probably hadn't, but who knew? Maybe he just wouldn't want to admit it either. Men did that, right? They acted strong. She knew her dad sometimes did that and Julien- No, actually she just couldn't imagine Julien acting tough.

She smiled brightly then. Well, yes, it was a cheap request, but still! This was a bit embarrassing, particularly because losing her bill had been her own fault. She nodded along as he agreed on tea. Yes! She was going to have it after all. "Merci." She said with a shy smile as he opened the door for her and went in.

She looked for an empty table with two seats and found one right next to the wall, hurrying there to make sure they got seats. For a moment there she forgot where she was, looking around the place with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Well, this was... French. Or at least it was trying to. It seemed a tad tacky, but still it reminded her of home, with the Eiffel tower painted here and there and the sweet scent of French pastries. Somewhat like the stores one would find in Paris, right in the tourist crowded zones. Yeah, she wasn't complaining.