Caffeine Does Wonders For the Soul (open)

[ulric]

[Open to any and all.]

“I don’t see why I have to do this and not you.”

Ulric looked up and glared. “You’re doing it because I’ve got to finish the one on musical theory.”

“But it’s your homework.”

“Actually, the correct way of putting it is it’s our homework. Now, just get going so it’s finished before anyone notices.”

Arguing with oneself took on a whole new meaning when you were a doppelganger. When Ulric first discovered his gift, he had been horrified and wanted nothing to do with it. However, the many uses of being able to create self-aware clones of oneself eventually dawned on him. And at the moment, his clone was doing the most hated task of writing a paper on medieval history. It was no wonder his clone didn’t like it, as Ulric himself couldn’t stand it.

They were tucked away in the back of a small café in Le Cours Julien, and Ulric wasn’t really worried about being discovered. He could always claim they were twins, and he had taken off his coat and sweater so they didn’t look like they were dressed the same. The only thing that might give them away is he came into the café alone.

Ulric had long ago discovered the best way to get things done quickly was to do it all at once. In this case it was two essay assignments he had procrastinated on. While he didn’t over use his power (there were distinct dangers in being what he was), Ulric appreciated the fact that his clones were self-aware and yet knew everything he did from the moment they split. He also got all of their memories when he reabsorbed them, so it was a quick way to learn. The biggest downside was the fact his clones were just like him…they hated doing homework as much as he did.

He had picked this café for two reasons. The first was the fact that his roommates found the fact he could double himself weird and the fact that he did it to do his homework borderline cheating. The second was that hardly anyone he knew came here. It was a small, off the beaten path kind of place that had great coffee and homemade pastries and had been in the same family for over twenty years. Even so, Ulric hadn’t bothered to make nice with the locals…he didn’t need to draw more attention than usual.

“And why does it matter that in the thirteenth century the failure to maintain proper rodent control lead to a massive plague?”

He sighed and looked up from the two pages of musical theory he was busy describing. ’Do I really whine this much or is it because the topic is insanely boring?’ Ulric rubbed his forehead before answering, “Because if I don’t hand it in tomorrow, I’ll probably not pass the class. Just finish the damn thing.”

Ulric looked down at his cup of coffee, realizing he emptied it a few minutes before. Well, one thing he knew for sure, his addiction to coffee and caffeine existed in his clone as well. If he fed him more of it, perhaps it would help get the paper written faster.

“I’m going to get us some more coffee. Stay here and try not to cause trouble. I mean it.”

The clone gave him the wicked grin that meant staying out of trouble was not high on the ‘to do’ list. The trouble with being Ulric was that it was more fun to get into trouble than stay out of it. Deciding that it was worth the risk, he went to get the coffee.

Behind the counter was a woman who had to be in her late 50s. The steel gray hair was pulled sharply back from her full face which was split by a large smile. He ordered two cups of the house blend in near perfect French…after all, living here for two years had improved his language skills immensely.

As the woman told him that she would brew a new pot if he would just wait, Ulric motioned it would be fine and turned around to lean against the counter and watch the door.

[undine]

Slowly a pair of shoes was dragging along the pavement; within the shoes were a pair of feet that went on to accompany the rest of a body. Without realizing it, the one whom walked leisurely had confused the days. Undine puffed aloud, annoyed and now understanding that with speed came excess time. There was so much time, and she was so far ahead, that she had muddled the time when she was meant to be working at the Theatre and arrived an entire day early. The manager, a tall, though everyone was tall to Undine, had stared at her with an expression that said he was both confused to see her but also pleasantly surprised. After she had foolishly reminded him that today she was working, he in turn reminded her that it was actually tomorrow when she would be working. Embarrassed she did not exactly feel the need to rush off too quickly, deciding that would only make her look all the more foolish.

This response delighted her Manager, as the older male often seemed to enjoy her company. Time passed much more slowly while she just stood there, attempting to force interactions to make up for her mistake of arriving twenty-four hours ahead of schedule. Less than thirty minutes remained until the time when people would be arriving, and having stood there already for a near eleven minutes she wondered at which point, she should leave. The taller blond male, however, continued to prattle on about quite a lot of things, many of which she wasn't too sure she was getting the precise meaning. Only three days had passed since she had last seen him, that being the being the previous occasion she was working at Theatre de la Criée, but still apparently plenty had occurred within his life that his stories dragged on. Much of his retellings were about a woman, someone with whom he had had a previous relationship and was apparently still interested in him. Undine knew very quickly the intention of this story, as it continued and he described the woman’s appearance and the devotion she had for him. Jealousy, however let down her boss might be were he to discover this, wasn't an emotion she would feel for him anytime soon.

Within five minutes of the subject of this unknown person, the brunette grew tired and excused herself from the scene. Listening to something you didn't have a particular interest in for more than sixteen minutes, and also having to force oneself to make conversation on the subject, could somehow seem to take hours for many people. Undine was unluckily like them; only having her mind being which worked at disturbing speeds caused such situations to seem as though they were lasting over a course of days. Freed from the unpleasant dialogue she very nearly skipped from down the roads away from the theatre. However, as she tripped on a small pebble at normal speed, falling into a stranger she decided firmly against any frenzied action. Was her present pace even at a normal one at all? It seemed irritatingly slow, though still she discovered that she was becoming desperate for something to drink.

As if answering her request, a Cafe seemed to appear before her eyes, lucky. Undine skipped lightly through the door and walked to the location she knew for sure the line was while glancing lazily at the people sitting at tables. Line, there happened to be lacking of such a thing actually. Her head whipped forward, her loose hair slapping her in the face as she came to quick stop just as she bumped into an individual standing before her. A single second passed before she looked up, her brown eyes widening in surprise at the person standing in front of her, who also happened to be facing toward her. If ever she had seen anyone as tall, her memory couldn’t seem to recall, and the four foot ten nineteen year old took a good three steps back before she smiled awkwardly.

“Haa, excuse me. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t see you there.”

[ulric]

Ulric had been watching her, shuffling along outside the café, when she had suddenly turned and entered through the door. The girl was…tiny. And like most cases, Ulric felt like a giant standing before her. Therefore her words were extremely humorous to him as he looked down into dark eyes that matched his own.

The pale blue shirt he wore was unbuttoned at the collar and left un-tucked. The sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows to give him some freedom while he worked on his paper. The dark chocolate slacks he wore were at least clean. Ulric did take care with his appearance…sometimes. At the moment it was a bit more haphazard as his dark curls hung loosely around his face and any semblance of the careful dress his father demanded had been abandoned in favor of comfort and the saving of time.

“Well,” he said with a chuckle, “forgive me for finding that hard to believe.”

The girl was definitely beautiful, all eyes and lips. But she was so tiny and delicate that it seemed as if a strong breeze could blow her away. Her thin frame barely seemed to hold up her clothes and he wondered if it was intent or just natural that she be so slender. And just standing next to her had Ulric wishing his height had been less. In the same way she was almost unnaturally small and thin, he was unnaturally tall. It didn’t help that both of his parents were over six feet tall.

“I hope you don’t get a crick in your neck…perhaps it would be better if I sat down?” He smiled, the twinkle appearing in his eye as it usually did when he interacted with a beautiful girl.

His interest in the girl had caused Ulric to forget one very important fact…around the corner from where he stood, his clone was sitting. And if Ulric knew himself any (which he would say he did in most cases), he knew that his voice combined with a female one would soon attract the attention of the other him. And where one of Ulric could already be distracting and sometimes embarrassing, two of him almost always led to trouble.

Even so, he decided to risk it and hope he had the good sense to stay out of sight (his clone). Ulric took a seat at the small table next to the counter and once more smiled at the girl. He never had a problem flirting, never had an issue talking to complete strangers no matter who they were. His mother used to say that Ulric never met a stranger…and it was a gift that he was rather proud to have.

“Please, forgive me for blocking the counter. I was just waiting for the pot of fresh coffee that the madam is making. Go ahead and place an order if you wish…I’ll just wait over here.”

He hoped that she might see the open invitation to join him, but that wasn’t always the case. The girl seemed a bit distracted, like her mind was completely somewhere else. Even so, if the opportunity presented itself, he would definitely be happy to get to know her better.

[undine]

Hearing her excuse the second she said it quickly made her feel regretful. What an awful attempt to dismiss her mistake, anyone could see that amongst the two of them, it would be him who would likely have the trouble in seeing her. Undine wrinkled her nose, the irritated thought she was having of herself momentarily displaying itself publicly on her face. That ended quickly as she remembered the other person and that people often misinterpreted her expressions as they never knew it was all for the inner dialogue. Focusing her attention fully back on the stranger, she worked with difficulty to control her face from expressing what she felt, it had been over ten years since she felt as little as she did right now. ‘Yay’ for inheriting the genes of your mini-momma.

The sound of his voice pulled her back from the drifting she had been doing; she had trouble keeping her mind from wondering after the speed kicked in during high school. While the real world went in slow motion, she was set to fast forward. Naturally, with those opposites, the one zipping ahead tended to get lost during that speedy chaos. Cases of nostalgia or recalling memories have always been the worst in keeping her focused. Having someone, obviously more than just a few inches over six feet tall standing in front of you, reminding you of how you felt when you were little around adults brought up old thoughts. Eventually it would then trigger more memories to spiral out of control as her mind got off track entirely and pretty soon, she was thinking about the shiny rock she found by a lake when she was six.

“You don’t have to sit. Really it isn’t like I’m not -“ Undine stopped speaking, it was clear he was going to sit even if she went through her daily speech of a sore neck being quite normal for her.

Typically when a person took a seat it made it possible for Undine to look them more directly in the eye, in was disheartening when she noted that he was still a fair few inches taller than she. Sighing slowly she tugged lightly at her white ruched front shirt, though the action was more out of feeling awkward rather than to loosen the fabric, as it was she was about six pounds lighter than she was when she first purchased the top for work. Undine nodded once at the unnamed man before going to the counter. When she first entered the café, she had honestly just thought about grabbing something that she could take and go, but now she couldn’t help but feel she shouldn’t be rushing. Though her clothes were looser than they had been just a week ago, her long sleeved shirt, black slim legged pants and ballerina flats that she wore reminded her that unlike she had fixed in her head, she really didn’t have anything to do today.

Undine informed the elderly woman what she wanted, and pointed to the table where she had decided to sit. With an outstretched arm she pulled the chair back slowly, one such as herself could never be to careful of a moving chair. Clumsy people were meant to look out for anything that might suddenly appear in their line of direction. Disastrously clumsy people like Undine were meant to make sure they themselves never made an innocent object or person suffer because she happened run into or fall over it while it was perfectly still. Her dark eyes darted up once into the strangers handsome face before she sat herself down on the opposite side of him. This person seemed friendly enough, and she supposed it would be polite of her to sit with him while he waited for his coffee after she had so rudely run into him.

“I hope you don’t mind that I sit here, but as I’ve already gotten comfortable I would feel silly if you told me to move.” The smile on her lips was somewhat more reluctant than it normally was. Now as she was sitting there was some subtle regret when their height difference grew once again. It seemed even good looking people became intimidating if they were so much larger than you were.