J'arrivé

[ds2k6]

[W] Just on the off-chance
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As the small rural village appeared on the horizon, Uriel sighed and broke his first smile in months. About ruddy time he found the place. Almost 7 years of looking... Had it really been that long? All those years away from the father who had brought him up, all those years since the death of the mother that had brought him to this place. The mother who had ruined his life. The mother who, thanks to her heritage, had lost him his carreer, his friends... The girl he loved...

He shook himself. Time to worry about that when he actually reached the town. Riding on the bicycle he had 'borrowed' in Marseille, he could reach it in... 5 minutes, maybe? Well, time to put his old soldiers muscle's to the test, it seemed. Almost feeling like a child again, he flicked the gears and pedalled like ther ewas no tommorow.

10 minutes later, he was walking across the village square, his expression not quite happy, but contented. He had found what he had been looking for, but had absolutley no idea what to do next. He supposed he could find his mothers family, but he didn't even know her maiden name. Not for the first time since leaving London, he realised just how much of an impulse decision his coming to France had been. About all he could do was speak the language.

Sitting himself down outside a café of some description, he took from his pocket a card. Every February he looked at it. The card itself was white, with a single red heart in the centre, the words I Love You embossed immaculatley across it. He had bought it when he had first come to France, intending to send it to Lucy first valentines day. But he hadn't. Every time he tried to write it, he got flashes of her face when he had showed her his power. 'Get the hell out, you freak'. Her exact words.

For all the love he had for her, for all he dreamt of her and wished for her every single day, how she had reacted scared him. His best friend, the only woman he had ever loved... So repulsed and scared by what he was. If she could not accept him, how could anyone else? His unit in Kosovo... They had been scared too. The Serbian soldiers. The man he had killed...

The enquiring cough of a waiter at his shoulder stirred him from his thoughts. Placing the card on the table, he smiled ever so slightly up at him. "Uh... Un verre de vin rouge, s'il vous plaît." . His french was nigh-on flawless, but his accent gave him aways as a forgiener: His East London twang was evident, but the hints of Isreali and French accents gave it a more cultered tone than most of the East End. That, and he was well educated.

The waiter nodded, scribbled his order down, and ran off to get it. Uriel looked after him, then turned to look out at the main square. There was absoloutley no way of telling which if any of these people were related to his mother. From what he had heard, most of the village had abilities - The Tainted, they were called. Even if he asked every one of them, Élaine was a popular name in France. And with no surname, he had almost no hope. Sighing, he looked back down at the card and stroked it delicatley. Lucy...

[undine]

A head of brown hair continued to bob from side to side as the body attached to it rocked in unison. This was a rare occasion when music was actually playing, giving the excuse for weird behavior. Presently there wasn’t a person as witness, which made it all the more enjoyable as the small teenager danced around the furniture in what little space she had in the living room. Music was playing randomly, and as the beat changed from one that was easily kept in pace with to an erratic rock song, Undine changed her tactics and began bashing her head aggressively as her long hair flew around her. Once the song ended, she collapsed to the ground and a loud huff came from her mouth as she slumped her posture and brought her chin downward sharply. Attempting to dance to such music was tiring, especially as the tempo kicked up somewhere around the middle and she saw fit to also kick up her pace to keep in check to the noise coming from the speakers.

Undine let herself rest there for a minute, not daring to rise and dance to the next song that started to play- it was speedy tempo. Boredom had brought it on; she spent the entire morning painting. When there was not actually anything to pain, that left it up to her imagination. Within a few hours, her brain screamed for a break, thoroughly sick of making up false scenes, and her arms, wrists, and hands all ached from the speedy strokes she had been doing. After putting down the paint brush and abandoning a half completed painting, she skimmed through the back covers of nearly all the books she owned to see if anything fit into her mood to read the entire contents. As was expected, nothing called to her. At that time, her nose wrinkled with disgust at the number of books she had put out of place and were now cluttering the past tidy room. Cleaning, she did not want to do it, cleaning; it was truly a horrible thing.

Afternoon at that time finally come around, and so she made herself a sandwich and devoured it readily. Her cheeks ballooned and her lips became astonishingly more pouted as she realized sadly that she had to find something to do again. Today was a lazy day, and she did not feel like getting dressed. Therefore, she put on some music. Almost an hour had gone by since she first starting dancing along with the music, ten of it spent presently on the floor. Undine chewed at the inside of her cheek while her thoughts flew quickly through everything she could still do while not changing out of her pajamas. There wasn't anything that she had not already done, besides cleaning- ick. Doing the same thing for an entire day wasn’t usually enjoyable; the first time she had the entire day off, she had discovered this fact. Options were at a minimum, dressing and leaving the house would be essential if she wanted to give this day a chance to be a little more exciting. There was still time, plenty of time was still left in the day before the sunset and she was left with zero choices for pass time.

Whatever clothing she was wearing, she had not taken a great deal of time selecting. It was only a long sleeved sheer white shirt with a deep neck scoop over a clearly visible form fitting purple tank top. Dark jeans tucked into black lace up boots covered her lower half. Walking down the street, she discovered too late that the jeans were only somewhat too tight for her to be comfortable with; though the feeling didn’t override her joy she found from boot she wore after noting that they added an extra inch to her embarrassing stature and made her a less aggravating 4’11”. That fact in play, she skipped happily down the street before turning to enter the Café. Undine sadly, ended up walking into the door as it opened and a three people left. They did ask politely if she was all right, but after she smiled obviously finding nothing wrong with her sore nose and forehead, they left. These things were a simple part of her life, it was only a few hours ago that she had stumped her toe and fell off a chair while she was alone at home.

Even after entering, she bumped into a man who walked in the opposite direction. He didn’t seem to care, and apologized quickly before hurrying to a woman who was staring at him, obviously waiting. Not even a minute passed before her brown eyes caught hold of someone who was seated alone, he looked a little upset while he stared at something in his hand. Undine was blurrily quick as she closed the ten-foot distance and slid into the free chair at his table. After being in this town, she had become at ease enough not to feel the need to cover up the fact she was tainted, enough people here were also the same and it wasn’t as awkward as it would be other places.

“I haven’t seen you before. New?” Undine smiled warmly.

[ds2k6]

Stroking the card gently, Uriel continued to cast his mind back to his London childhood.Memories of time he had spent with Lucy flashed through his head, each one raising a smile that fell as soon as it appeared. No matter what, he couldn't shake the memry of their last meeting. It was ironic that, whilst it had been only three days after his mother died, Uriel felt no saddness for that. The fact that he had lost the girl he loved without even being able to tell her he loved her, and how she had treated his abnormality, was all he mourned for.

He jumped as a voice came from across the table. He hadn't noticed this woman approach the table, or even enter the restaraunt. That said, he had been totally pre-occupied with his thoughts... But what if she was one of these 'Tainted'? Maybe she was related to his mother... As soon as this thought materialised, he dismissed it. The chances of that happening were slim to nothing.

"Erm... Yes. Yes, I am. Just got in this morning.". His deep East London accent reminded him of how out of place he was here. It was unlikely this place got many tourists. Suddenly, he felt the familiar feeling of lonliness creep up on him, and suppressed it with a gulp. No time for crap like that.

The waiter toddled over to his table, and placed Uriel's wine down carefully. "Merci", he said, giving the man a slight smile. The waiter nodded and shuffled back into the café. Uriel turned back to his drink and took a small sip. The warm red liquid bathed his tounge in the most explosive combination of flavours he had experienced. It was as if his very tastebuds were dancing , and elegantly at that.

He swallowed with a satisfied sigh. It was certainly true, all those rumors about French wine. And somehow, it tasted even better in the country itself. With a pang, he thought of Lucy and the times they had shared a bottle of wine. He shook it away, and returned his attention to the woman opposite. "So, you live here?".

[undine]

Restraining the budding urge to giggle she pursed her lips after the man jumped when she had spoken. Surprise was not anything that usually happened for her when people suddenly appeared. More often she had seen them at least within the vicinity, as her eyes rarely missed anything; therefore, there was no reason for her to be startled when they appeared in front of her. However, Undine knew just how well she tended to surprise people. Quite often, she would zip to someone’s side and speak with them, and naturally, the response was usually one of shock. Either their faces displayed it clearly or some sort of shriek would come from their open mouths. It was usually the ones that attempted to stay in control that grabbed her attention further, restraining themselves from allowing her to know she had caught them off guard, yes they were always a bit more intriguing. The older man who had been sitting alone happened to be quite good at not revealing the shock on his face, but his physical reaction had been enough.

The expression on the man's face let her know he had started thinking about something suddenly, however the look faded with a note doubt. Certainly, that was something. Already her mind was flooding in ideas of what he could have possibly been thinking only to let the idea go with that type of mien. When he spoke her lips parted as her mouth took the shape of a small circle. The accent was not one she had heard before, not precisely. This town held occupant of many locations, usually being that the tainted came from different countries after discovering the town that housed so many of them, though most of them spoke either French English. Before she had even come here, she had not really known any English besides basic introductions, asking where the restroom was and noting how nice the weather was, but now she could have somewhat choppy conversations in the Language. The accent that this man possessed, however, was just a fraction different from every other one she had heard.

"Ahh ~ " Undine waved her hand softly at the waiter before he parted. "Soufflé au chocolat chaud please, and a small milk."

Just as the waiter nodded and retreated, she turned her eyes back on the dark haired stranger. His reaction to the wine was enjoyable, though it was very subtle. Rather than his face being an easy read, she could understand the frenzy of his eyes, plenty of people commented on the cafés wine. Eventually the smile began to sneak onto her face. First, the corners of her mouth had twitched, but as a sigh came from the man, the tugging won over control and a little grin of elation appeared. With another note of his expression, quickly taken in by Undine who had quite a bit of trouble not noticing things, her smile wavered and her brow creased. Here was a man with a story, and as far as her radar informed her, a marginally unpleasant one when recalled. She was just about to ask him what the matter was, but chose not to as her speedy deciphering caught the act of his mouth forming words before they even became vocal.

"Yes, I’ve been here for a few years, but France is home." Undine nodded and leaned forward folding her small hands in her lap. "What about you? Your accent is interesting, it’s familiar, but there is something different in it. And just curious... is there something the matter, you kind of give off the feeling you're upset."