Luxembourg Palace, Outside | April 14, 2012 (11:35 AM)
Setting out with a fiery spirit Karlita was eager to make her way to the Luxembourg Palace. As she walked along the gutter, she envisioned the palace in her own image. Beautiful, vibrant flowers, placed in gaudy expensive vases lining up the hallways. The floors so clean her reflection could be seen in every tile. Butlers in masculine attire, ready to aid her and bend to her every whim. They were also gracious enough to ignore Karlita's thievery as she plucked petals and extracted the essences of the flowers.
Of course, that was all in her imagination, Karlita would be wise to thank her lucky stars she didn't bump into anyone as she walked along the edge of the pathway. It took some time for her to reach her destination, her walking time would have most likely have been cut in half had she taken the train, but nonetheless Karlita was there and ready to pluck some pedals and of course, take note of the beautiful building. The palace was three stories high, although Karlita didn't pay much mind to the architecture as she was enthralled by the flowers. The was a tiny railing about ankle height, obviously meaning:
'Don't cross this point!'
Any normal person would realise this, but Karlita was a special case and slyly crossed the railing to inspect the flora.
Express Train | April 14, 2012 (11:05 AM)
Leonard and Rein had not said a word to each other during the trip, both of them more or less in their own worlds for the time being. Leonard had considered striking up a conversation a few times, mostly out of curiosity about what sort of place Singapore was and whether or not everyone there had an accent like Rein's. He was so used to the way people sounded in Brooklyn that he had to get his bearings a bit whenever he heard someone who sounded nothing like what he was used to. The words never really came to him though, for the most part because Rein seemed like the type who preferred to be left alone, but also because Leonard had a lot on his mind -- this was
the day, after all.
`Rose...` Leonard thought to himself, holding out the locket dangling around his neck for a moment and opening it as he looked inside.
Shortly after he had gotten on the train, Leonard had gone along with his original plan and pulled his mobile phone out of his duffel bag, putting it in his pocket. He would have done that during his solitary trip on the streets of Paris earlier, but his mind was elsewhere and he wanted to just take in the view of all the beautiful streets -- there was probably only one way that experience could have been better, to be honest, and this had nothing to do with those thugs. Idiots trying to mug him aside, he was having a decent enough morning. As he waited for the train to arrive at the destination, Leonard would have preferred to remain standing, mostly just leaning against something like a railing, but he figured he might as well sit down. There was plenty of seats available since it was hardly busy right now. He kept his duffel bag close by, and mostly just tried to relax a bit.
Staring into the locket, Leonard's mind continued to reflect on why he was here. Though part of him had wanted to wish for something different, his adopted father had told him to be completely true to himself and not let anything get in the way of that. His insignificant, humble little world had been shadowed by a dark cloud ever since that day, no matter how hard he tried to keep his chin up about his life. It was sort of ironic yet sort of tragic -- someone who had been robbed of his parents before he even had memories, and who had lived a life full of misfortune and violence, had honestly been fine with his lot in life until
that day. It was not being deprived of his parents so long before then that had destroyed his world -- Grove had truly been like a father to Leonard his entire life, and so other than curiosity about what the people who raised him were like, he honestly did not feel a sense of emptiness about losing them.
At the very least, Leonard did not feel it
consciously. Whenever he tried to even get a glimpse of a memory before his real parents died, he felt himself getting heavy and his mind started blanking out. Somehow, it was as if a sort of psychological wall had been put up which prevented him from remembering anything -- it was like his mind was protecting him from something. In all seriousness, it was sort of...
terrifying sometimes... when he thought he might remember something.
It was difficult to say he
missed his mother and father, because he never
knew them. Perhaps there was a hidden sense of longing to know them, since he was deprived of a basic human right, but there were honestly plenty of people in the world who were better off
not knowing their 'real' family, and there were not plenty of people out there who were deprived of parents -- loving parents included. Grove had loved him like he was his real son, so he never felt like he lacked a father. Perhaps there was a lack of a mother in his life, but he was not alone in that sense either. Yeah, part of him wanted to get to know both his mother and father, and spend some time with them, but he would not have been willing to risk his life for that. Generally speaking, being adopted had taught him that blood really was not thicker than water at all. Leonard was satisfied with the man who raised him -- truly, he was grateful for it all. Thanks to that man, Leonard knew what it felt like to have family.
That was why he could never understand what his mind was shielding him from.
Meanwhile...
Reinald, who was seated facing Leonard with his back against the direction the train was traveling, stopped playing his mobile games - the phone had disappeared into his hoodie pocket by the time the train was leaving the third station, so he was left with only his iPod for the rest of the journey. Partly to save the battery for later (you'd never know when you might need to make emergency calls), partly because he grew bored with the limited apps he could use without internet connection (even those with high adrenaline rush like
Temple Run 2 would quickly lose their charm by the third round).
The clash between the past and now was a constant sight as the train breezed down the route through the network of old and modern Parisian buildings. However, he wasn't really interested with the sightseeing opportunity beyond the window. He was more interested in what was
inside the train.
Even though he didn't show it on his face, deep down the concept of double-deck trains intrigued him - something that didn't exist back in his hometown. What's more, the French spared no expense to decorate the inside to reiterate Paris being a city of fine arts to both its own people and foreigners, with wallpapers of Gothic art covering the ceiling and the back of the seats nearest to the doors to give the interior a somewhat pseudo-refined look.
There was hardly anyone on board - just a handful of lone passengers scattered around the rows of colorful leather seats - and Reinald's quick sweep around the train fell back to the companion across him once more.
That was when he noticed the locket that Leonard had, and the American seemed to be in deep thought as those blue eyes were staring into it. Reinald couldn't see what was inside the locket from where he was currently seated. Whatever it was, it must be something the blond boy hold dear. He was curious why Leonard had what appeared to be a longing expression on his face but chose to keep his mouth shut, swallowing down the urge to prod into the privacy of a stranger he only knew a moment ago.
...Well, he wouldn't like people poking their nose into his personal space, either.
The train ride continued on in silence, with both boys lost in their own thoughts and worries, too preoccupied to watch the scenery outside that blurred by.
Luxembourg Palace, Outside | April 14, 2012 (11:39 AM)
`Woah... check
this place out...` Leonard thought to himself.
With his duffel bag over his right shoulder, Leonard found himself staring at the palace. Really, while he was used to buildings he was not used to something this old-fashioned -- it was really appealing to him. Leonard had always wondered what it was like to live in the old days, considering Grove had done his best to at least educate him a little about them. A world without the smell of cigarettes at every turn, and without the fear of guns firing off at any moment. A world without all the nonsense that was caused by the modern world. That sounded like a great time to live in as far as he was concerned, although he was not naïve enough to think the people in olden days did not have their own share of problems too. There were some benefits to the modern world as well -- though Leonard sort of found technology somewhat annoying he could still appreciate that it allowed people to maintain contact over longer distances easier, for example. Even so, he could not help but find the castle-ish building in front of him, and its surroundings, beautiful. He wondered what it looked like inside.
On the other hand, Reinald had his mobile out and the camera app booted up, shifting the angle of his phone here and there to capture artistic pictures of the Palace and the Garden. He did brought along a DSLR, but had left it back in the hotel with the rest of his luggage. Well, he didn't exactly have to rely on a pro device to take a cover-worthy photograph - he had the innate skills to take excellent pictures regardless of the type of cameras, without the need to photoshop them later.
He wasn't the only one shooting away madly at the attraction site; many visitors around him were doing the same. The only difference being that he didn't try to put himself into the frame of the small mobile screen like the rest.
Behind the camera was where he truly belong, not in front of it.
The thought of having a camera directed at him made the young Asian shudder a little. He was used to being a subject of joke at how he had - in the opinion of the peers around him throughout his school life - a 'desirable' appearance (which he had no idea what that was supposed to mean), but being the center of attention didn't sit well with his reclusive personality. Thankfully, his family didn't fuss about his aversion of being photographed, not even questioning how he was rarely -
never - in the yearbooks.
It was almost as if he was a forgotten ghost left to wander the earth, leaving no footprints behind.
While Rein was taking pictures, Leonard was just really taking the surroundings of the whole place in. Not really one to use a camera himself, he usually preferred to see things firsthand. He was quite enjoying the sight of the building itself, as well as all the complementing backdrop - both natural and manmade - that accompanied in. He knew there would be a chance to see the interior soon enough, but he was actually making the most of the exterior for now. It mostly seemed like a peaceful day, with some other tourists - if 'tourist' was even the best way to describe him, since it was pretty questionable given his reasons for coming here - looking at the architecture and the vegetation alike. Honestly, overall it just felt like a normal day - or rather, normal in Paris, if one could even define 'normal' in the first place - for the most part, and it was a lot more pleasant than the sort of lifestyle that Leonard was personally used to dealing with -- a nice change of pace, which could only have been better if they were here to enjoy it with him.
At least, it
was normal...
♫ Persona 3 OST - Afternoon Break Turning his face towards part of the surroundings, Leonard noticed a young woman somewhere that he was pretty damn sure she was
not supposed to be -- over what was clearly supposed to be a border to prevent people from ruining the garden, and seemingly getting a
really close look at all the flowers. Sure, the woman with light skin and deep maroon hair might have just wanted to take a better look, or perhaps she was taking a close photograph. Honestly, Leonard was hardly the type who cared about needless rules or formalities, so whatever floated her boat was fine if no one was getting hurt. With that said, the problem was that she looked like she was picking some of the flowers. Leonard did not know much about Paris, but he was pretty sure that
picking flowers from the gardens of Luxembourg Palace was probably illegal. Okay, it might not have been as bad as, say, someone trying to steal the Mona Lisa or something, but what was this woman thinking?
If Leonard had been a cartoon character, this was probably when a big exaggerated tear drop would appear on top of his head.
"O
kay..." Leonard said, thinking out loud.
Next to Leonard, the outspoken thought made Reinald lower his phone, and he turned around to give the American a curious look. "...Something wrong?" Then he followed Leonard's gaze and noticed the young lady among the flower bushes.
That made the Chinese man raise an eyebrow. She must have climbed over the railing that kept the tourists off the grass to get in... But what Reinald found it amusing was how
nobody, not even the staff on-site, seemed to find it strange how an outsider had trespassed into the area that was supposedly out of bounds to all visitors. Even more so that she appeared to be... plucking some flora?
With a small shrug, he raised the phone camera and snapped a photo of the lady. Proof of her illegal antic aside, the perspective and framing were perfect - as if the girl was one with the flowers.
Maybe everyone's too busy admiring the sight to care for a seemingly harmless act like this. It sounded like a dumb excuse, but the situation itself was
absurd, anyway.
"Beautiful place, isn't it?" he murmured, glancing around the Garden. "Want to take a look inside?"
"Hmm?" Leonard mumbled to himself as Rein's words pulled him out of his distraction from the woman, "Uh, yeah, it is..." Leonard responded to the first question, though not until the second had been asked already. It should have been apparent from Leonard's tone of voice that he was genuinely sincere about thinking their surroundings were beautiful, because the awkwardness prior to answering had been out of distraction instead of hesitation, "Let's do it."
Though ready to go inside and see if the place was as gorgeous on the inside as it was on the outside, Leonard could not help but think about what the young woman was doing. Had she seriously gotten lucky enough to have broken the rules on the one day that the security was too incompetent or preoccupied to pay attention? Sure, it was pretty early in the morning, but no one other than Leonard - and possibly Rein, if he had heard Leonard's thinking out loud - seemed to be paying attention enough right now to notice her. Leonard, on the other hand, kept paying attention to her. It was hard to say if it was due to his general inquisitive nature, or just because of how weird the situation was -- probably both, honestly.
The white lilies were her favourite of the bunch. That's why Karlita was picking those ones whole, just severing them at the neck with her nails, placing them within her clutch. Some of water inside the flowers would drip or squirt out, as if she was beheading life citizens and the water was their blood. After collecting a few more pedals, a stamen and stigma or two, she placed her findings within her clutch and decided to enter the castle, who knows what they might have inside…
Luxembourg Palace, Inside | April 14, 2012 (11:43 AM)
To Karlita's dismay, it wasn't exactly how she imagined the interior to be. Her hard heels clicked against the tiles of the reflective ground beneath her. The castle was so very clean and it appeared is if there was more velvet rope then open area.
'Don't touch this, don't go over here, don't pick the flowers in this vase.'
All these rules, how dreadful, how on earth is a young woman supposed to fully experience this castle if you have limited access to the many nooks and crannies hidden and tucked away out of sight. Karlita's nose began to twitch, it was a familiar scent, one of rich red roses. They weren't outside, but hidden somewhere in this castle. Closing her eyes she could almost follow the scent, it was leading her along a set path. Due to her work, Karlita had somewhat of a superhuman sense of smell, it's almost on par with that of a bloodhound. Elevating her nose into the air, Karlita used her powered nostrils to track the rich scent of these roses in the air. With her eyes closed, she blindly followed the pollen trail floating daintily in the air, unnoticeable to every tourist in the castle. Guided by her nose, Karlita could sense the bodies she had passed by, nearly crashing into a few poor fellows, admiring the artwork, taking pictures of the interior. Karlita was stopped by a small roadblock. Two poles connected together by a velvet rope, hooked to each pole by their sides. This roadblock was cutting off a single room from the rest of the hallway. Placing her hands on this rope, she could feel the soft bristles rubbing against the palms of her hands.
“There’s only thing standing in my way and some sweet roses. If I could get them, I could ferment them into some seriously powerful pheromones…” Looking around, Karlita hesitated. Her earlier plant picking plan was easier, all she did was walk on some grass and swipe a few pieces of flora. This time, it would be a serious crime. One that could land her in canyon of crazy trouble. Karlita weighed up the possibilities in her mind, on one hand, extreme consequences. The other, a new perfume type for the locals, she could make a large step in her apothecary studies too.
With a deep breath, Karlita unhooked one of the velvet ropes, reaching out to grab the doorknob and secretly get these gemmed flowers hiding behind the door.
"Hey," Leonard suddenly said before Karlita could touch the knob, "whattaya doin'...?" he asked casually.
From the moment Leonard and Rein had entered the building, Leonard was quite taken in by how beautiful the place was inside. Honestly, it was the sort of castle that he imagined someone like Lucifer Van Bonaparte might own, which made him wonder if needed to get used to such extravagant visuals being regularly around him for a while. Unfortunately, he was unable to really take in each and every detail right now as he wanted to, because that young woman from earlier had his inquisitive mind too distracted. What the heck was that chick's deal anyway? Had she been a completely ordinary person doing completely ordinary things, Leonard would have just gone about his own business, but now he was curious.
Knowing that if he let that woman out of his sight, he might lose track of where he was, Leonard had quickly signalled Reinald with a "Hey, I'm gonna follow that chick...", and a quick side nod of his head as if to confirm that Rein should follow him if he wanted to avoid getting separated. He received a curt nod from the Chinese man in response, and started on his way through the halls, taking occasional note of the beautiful scenery but making sure his eyes never completely lost sight of his target. As they took off after the flower lady, Rein continued taking photos with his camera, seemingly having no difficulty doing so while on the move.
When the young woman finally stopped, Leonard had another one of his 'if he was a cartoon character there would be a big tear drop going down the back of his head' moments at the sight of her unhooking ropes that were
clearly there to keep people out. Sure, Leonard was not the first person on the planet who would follow a law that had no meaning, but he figured there was a pretty good reason that boundary was there. He was starting to wonder if this girl was actually
trying to get in trouble or something. After he called out to get her attention, he just stood there casually, duffel bag over his shoulder and silvery-blue eyes watching her reaction.
Behind the blond, Reinald still hadn’t spoken another word. All he did was raising the phone camera at the lady in question and casually snapping another picture of her, a close-up this time. An eyebrow arched slightly as he was more amused at how photogenic she was - even without the flower bushes around her like just now - than about catching her red-handed here.
Caught in the act, she was done for. Any normal person would have stretched out their arms and accepted their fate. Before turning around, she thought of a plan. Considering only one person called out to her it can be assumed only one person noticed her and because of that, Karlita could most likely make a break for it. If she was desperate - maybe even throw some of her flowers to distract him - although that’d be a last resort. The main issue being, she couldn’t speak the best English, so this language barrier was for sure going to get in the way.
To make some sort of impression, Karlita performed a turn with a hairflick to move with her, as if trying to distract the person who caught her with her own womanly charms.
Turning to face the voice, she saw not just one but two, the other person was taking photos of her. Not only were there two witnesses but photographic evidence of her crime! Well now her escape wouldn’t be as easy as just rushing this one guy. The blondie must be rather brave to call out someone in public. A real ally of justice!
The fellow snapping the photos was clearly of some Asian descent, but appeared slightly older. Justice. He could be just about anything, he might not even look his ethnicity, similar to Karlita in a way.
Well, she had to say something. Oh! Her Spanish to French book! Surely that would help, maybe they knew some French, even if she was just going to say awkward phrases.
“Quelle?! Moi?” Karlita chuckled with a nervous laugh.
“Je suis simplement ... Inspecter les conditions de la réparation des domaines.” Leonard had at the very least made a mental note about the fact that this young woman was quite attractive, and now he was able to see her blue eyes for the first time too. He did not think too much on her appearance though -- the whole situation was a bit too absurd for him to be distracted by her looks, even with the hair flick she added in seemingly for seductive purposes. Still, he finally started making more of an active thought about the cocktail dress she was wearing. For someone who seemed to have come to this place just to pick flowers and sneak around like a ninja, she was dressed surprisingly formally -- far more so than Leonard himself was, to say the least. It sort of made him wonder what the heck her deal was even more.
Only once the nervous words started coming out of her mouth did Leonard quickly realize they had a problem.
Perhaps assuming this woman would be able to understand or speak English by default was a bad idea, but Leonard could hardly have been blamed for counting on that when you considered how this was the very first time he had ever left America. All he could really do was stand there as she awkwardly tried to talk to him. From what he could tell, she was using a handbook - similar to what he had - in order to translate whatever her language was into French. Leonard had admittedly only used his handbook a few times since arriving, so he knew virtually no French at all. Like he told Rein earlier, he was unable to really even order food or ask for directions without consulting that handbook first. Given how she needed a guidebook - not to mention how nervously she was speaking - it was safe to guess her native language was not French, and he could rule out English too since he had already spoken it to her and had apparently not been understood.
Off the top of his head, Leonard had a sneaking suspicion that 'moi' was probably 'me', so at the very least she realized he was addressing her -- sort of obvious. The words 'inspector' and 'conditions' were recognizable, but he had no idea if they were being used in the context they would in English. There were also a few other words that sounded like they were fairly close to English, but unfortunately that was about all he had to work with. Leonard knew that an inspector was someone who enforced the law -- another word for a cop, basically. Maybe she thought he was a powerbroker? No, that made no sense at all. He clearly looked like a tourist himself, so it was more realistic to guess that she was asking him not to call law enforcement on her.
In all honestly, Leonard had never really thought about getting her in trouble, since he mostly followed her out of inquisitive nature rather than out of some sense of obligation to make up for the seemingly sloppy security here today. If this woman was not hurting anyone, Leonard really did not care less what she was up to -- he was still curious though. Rein had apparently just taken another snapshot of her, so that meant they had evidence now, but that was really not his intentions for following her. Still, the snapshot might have further justified this woman thinking they were planning to call security.
"Uh, I don't really know what yer sayin'..." Leonard said honestly, perhaps a bit awkwardly. Sure, he had taken a guess about what she meant, but he might have been wrong. He was starting to think it might have been a good idea if he got the handbook out of his bag. Leonard was the resourceful type - it came with the territory of being 'street smart', generally speaking - but language barriers were sort of foreign to him.
While Leonard seemed to be staring at the pretty lady (was it a habit of his to do that to everyone he first met?), Reinald was already pulling out his own handbook with his free hand after she had spoken something to them. Flipping through the pages expertly with just his thumb, he frowned a little, before he breathed out his attempt to reply to her, “
Désolé... je ne vous comprends pas. En anglais s'il vous plaît?”
Then his eyes looked up into the lady’s blue ones; he could feel his cheeks burning, inwardly cringing at his (bad) French as he tried to give her a small smile.
Leonard shifted his expression only slightly in response to Rein suddenly speaking something he could barely understand at all, but he figured that it was French. After having more or less been asked by the Asian fellow to come along with him to help out with communications, it seemed like Rein was a bit more used to this than Leonard was. At the very least, he kept his handbook more readily available to him. Leonard had mostly kept his own in his duffel bag, only bringing it out during something important.
Well it seemed as if these two were as out of the loop of the French language as Karlita was. But they seemed to be making an effort to try and understand what she was doing. Things were about to get pretty technical with the translation books. The blonde fellow spoke some English and appeared confused with her. She could try speaking some English, but she only knew some very basic words.
The Asian man began to flick through a book similar to hers and began speaking to her in French, strong enough that she could pick up on what he was saying. Flicking through her translation dictionary…
She could decipher his sentence for the most part.
“Engalish? Erm, I know little… I do not live in Francia… I’m, sightseer.” Her poor English aside, Karlita thought maybe she could smoothly change the subject. Opening up her clutch she revealed some of her flowers.
“Flowers, I travel to see them. You like too?” Reinald relaxed when the lady replied back in English, albeit broken. He knew that she was obviously not French since she also had to use the handbook like he did, which meant her native tongue was something else. Whatever it was, it was better than nothing - at least there was a common language of sorts they could all converse with.
Pocketing both his handbook and mobile phone, he continued to give her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. We’re also sightseers like you.” He gestured at her politely to make his point clearer.
When she opened her clutch to show them, his face lit up at the sight of the flowers. He wasn’t interested in flora per se, but he had to admit that they were beautiful. That aside…
“You like flowers a lot?” he asked, wondering if this girl was a plantsman. Technically, the term ‘plantsman’ was used to reflect one’s attitude to - even
obsession with - flora, but the word ‘obsession’ was rather inappropriate towards a lady he had just met.
Well, if she would go to the length to swipe public flowers from a tourist attraction site in broad daylight, maybe she was quite the flower enthusiast after all.
“Uh, my name is Rein.” He tugged at his hoodie collar, sheepish, vaguely aware that it was the second time he was slow to give his name. “And this is…” he paused, giving the American a sideways glance.
"Name's Leonard -- Leo works too." Leonard said casually.
Thinking it over, it was clear to Leonard that this woman could at least speak enough English for them to know what she was saying, though - given how she reacted earlier, at least - Leonard still somewhat questioned if she could understand someone
else speaking it very well. He made a mental note to keep his language as simplistic as possible when talking to her, and also to avoid letting his accent get too overboard.
Still contemplating why she was dressed so nicely, he did acknowledge that it was possible that a tourist might think that this sort of dress code was appropriate when visiting such a beautiful location, taking another moment or two to really take in how nice his surroundings in this palace were. Regardless, if she was travelling to 'see' the flowers then why was she
picking them in restricted zones? Alright, perhaps she could be forgiven as just being some sort of ignorant tourist, but even Leonard - who had no experience of the world at all outside of his little place in America - thought it was fairly obvious that the boundaries she had been crossing were there for a reason.
Smirking a bit at the absurdity of this whole situation, Leonard waited for the woman to respond.
Karlita smiled sweetly and nodded at their introductions. Rein and Leonard. At least they were friendly. Leonard seemed to be eyeing Karlita, she noticed that he’d been interested in her cocktail dress, was it really so strange for him to see someone dressed like she was in a public setting?
Placing her hand behind her head, resting on her neck, Karlita giggled. This was probably a good time to introduce herself as well.
“Me?” Said Karlita as she pointed to herself. Just from their eyes she could tell they were waiting for her own introduction.
“I am called, Karlita. My mother country is Spain, because I was born there. Rein, Leonard, it very naice to meet you.” With her introduction done, Karlita walked over towards the duo. Remembering why they had most likely stopped her, Karlita looked at Rein.
“Rein, that is, photographia, no? I seen that you were taking photos of me, yes? Why not let me pose for you? Aha!” Ah, so she’s Spanish - that explains, Reinald thought as Karlita was replying back to them. His eyebrows shot up when she came forward and… asked him to take more pictures of her? He was perfectly fine as long as he stayed behind the camera, but his mind couldn’t help thinking about how the situation was escalating to a whole new level of absurdity before his eyes.
“N-Nice to meet you too.” He stepped back on reflex as Karlita approached him. From the way she carried herself, this girl seemed to know how to utilize her good looks - she wasn’t shy about using her charm on others. Something Reinald couldn’t bring himself to do.
He wasn’t sure if Spaniards were this bubbly (in the weird way) like Karlita, and part of him wondered what she was trying to achieve here. Or maybe he was thinking too much, that she probably didn’t mean any harm - the moment when she showed them her flowers, it was obvious she didn’t know that they had already spotted her stealing flowers from the Garden when they were all still outside a moment ago.
…Not that it mattered now.
Pulling out the phone from his pocket once more, he let out an inaudible sigh before he spoke to the girl again, “I guess I don’t mind… but, here?” He glanced up at the door behind Karlita.
What an odd place to take pictures. During the exchange between Rein and Karlita, Leonard had made a mental note that the young woman was Spanish, but beyond that he found himself far more curious about how she was acting, and also how Rein was reacting to said behaviour. One of Leonard’s 'tear drop' moments would likely have happened when she asked about Rein taking her photo too -- things had just gotten even
more random... somehow.
It was a bit difficult to tell if Karlita was flirting with Rein, trying to redirect the topic away from her crime (talking about photos was probably
not the best strategy, all things considered), or if she was just some oddball who wanted to be a model -- heck, it could have been all three. Anyway, Rein certainly seemed to be getting a bit awkward as she approached them, even if he did agree to take her picture. Rein was the shy type, perhaps?
Still, Leonard had also noticed that Karlita was quite friendly, with a presence that seemed to be mixing ditzy mannerisms with seductiveness. It sort of made it difficult to tell if she had her head on straight or not. Was she pretending to be weird, or was she oblivious about her charm? Then again, she might have been one of those types who was clever yet at the same time had their head in the clouds.
Leonard had planned on giving some snarky comment about how odd this whole situation was, but before he could say anything...
“Aha! Much love! Now… Where should I stand…” With much glee, Karlita looked around for something expensive to pose near. With something elegant nearby, her beauty was sure to shine through. Perhaps it would be enough to distract them from her thievery and attempted breaking and entering.
Eyeing a vase of unique design, Karlita decided this would do. The swirling azure pattern. Matching her eyes it was sure to bring out a beautiful trait in Karlita. Fluffing up her hair, Karlita was ready to model, but noticed Leonard standing out of frame awkwardly. Surely he had come to the palace to create some new memories. Karlita gestured for him.
“Come, come, join me in photographia, it will be the fun!” Reinald followed after Karlita in silence, the phone camera poised and ready before him as he watched the Spanish girl searching for her ideal picture-perfect spot. He was amused at her peppiness when she finally stopped before an antique vase as blue as her eyes; at the same time he had a bad feeling about all this, especially seeing how Karlita was beckoning at Leonard to get over to her side while she moved closer to the fragile artifact.
“Um,” he tried to call out to the lady. “Be careful - the vase…”
Leonard could tell from Rein’s words that they had the exact same concern going through their heads -- really, this was an accident waiting to happen, and everyone except Karlita seemed to realize it. Still, he only vaguely noticed Rein’s comment, because he was actually a bit too distracted by Karlita. Alright, sure, she was pretty, and her body language was complimenting it, but something about her calling out to him to come join her for a photo - those energetic blue eyes staring at him - had sort of... gotten to him.
"Just like back then..." Leonard said, thinking out loud, albeit rather quietly, "Rose..." he continued, still speaking under his breath, his silvery-blue eyes getting a bit melancholy.
Thankfully, Rein’s words telling her to be careful had come soon afterwards, meaning that Leonard was sort of pulled out of his little trance somewhat. He had not really been speaking loud enough for anyone to hear him anyway, and neither of them were all that close by now.
"Huh? Oh, I... guess...?" Leonard said in response to Karlita, replying late due to Rein speaking first and his own delays due to what was on his mind, feeling a bit out of it.
The tone in Leonard’s voice did not really indicate that he was particularly shy or anything, but rather that something was on his mind. It was also a fact that he had always thought taking photos was kind of awkward, though he was not exactly one of those people who thought that having your photo taken would suck out your soul or something.
Still carrying his duffel bag over one shoulder, Leonard casually walked over to where Karlita was, making sure not to touch the vase or anything. Not like he could have anyway, considering Karlita was right next to it and he would have needed to be sitting on it to come between them. He still had a really bad feeling about this, but he was sort of lost in his own world.
Reinald couldn’t catch what Leonard was saying - too much environmental noise around them bouncing off the glossy walls and floors - but no way he would miss the same look he had seen back on the train. Something about Karlita must have a similar effect as the locket the American had with him, which seemed to be evoking some sort of memory in the blond boy. A sad one.
Filing that curious bit away at the back of his mind for now, he raised the camera, watching the pair of Caucasian tourists he had encountered today getting into position through his mobile screen. Karlita was in high spirits, while Leonard was lost in his own thoughts. Sure, the blue in their eyes did go well with the cerulean vase, but other than that, the dissonance between them made the scene appear more comical than it already was.
“Ready?” he called out to the duo, waving at them with his free hand to get their attention. Then he brows furrowed. “...Can you two stand closer together? Leonard isn’t in the frame.”
“Hmh! Come, come!” Karlita gestured towards Leonard to move closer, but it appeared that the blonde boy was in his own little world. Being the headstrong woman Karlita is, she moved herself closer to him, coiling her arms around his left shoulder, as if snuggling in onto him. Being so close to him, Karlita could feel his lean arm muscles, she was somewhat in heaven.
Afterall, it had been years since she last cuddled up close to someone.. Despite the tourists around the area, Karlita managed to block all the noise out from around her. She could hear her own breath, somehow, she could smell a sad scent coming from him. Tugging on his arm, she seemed to have broken him out of his trance as his legs gave way a little.
“Closer, yes?” Leonard's moment of spacing out ended abruptly by Karlita's voice, and it was only at this point that he really noticed that the woman was now holding onto him, almost flirting like a girlfriend might. Perhaps because of how absurd the whole situation had been so far, alongside the melancholy he was just feeling, Leonard had only just
now noticed that Karlita was taller than him, although it was hard to tell how much her heels played into that. It might have seemed like a trivial thing, but he always sort of found it annoying when women were taller than him -- sort of just
cemented the fact that he was short.
"Uh... yeah..." Leonard responded, his voice still not really indicating he was shy, but just that his mind was throwing too many thoughts at him.
The current events were really messing with Leonard's head, and Karlita being attractive only made that more difficult. Trying to focus, his present mind state sort of zoned in and out of what was going on. He was also having a difficult time telling if Karlita was the pushy type of woman or if she was just really excited about the photo for some reason. The former was something he found annoying, while the latter was fun to be around. Either way, he tried to get his bearings a bit in order to avoid potential problems with the photo -- for whatever reason, it seemed to mean a lot to her. Really, Leonard was not all that accustomed to taking pictures in the first place, but there were a few exceptions.
"Hey," Leonard suddenly said, his mind quickly coming back to reality, "look out for the~"
♫ Final Fantasy XV OST - A Quick Pit Stop Stringing Leonard along, Karlita turned to face Rein and smiled sweetly, but due to her heels, she managed to somehow roll her ankle. It was at this moment, the earth stood still. Poor Karlita, as she fumbled backwards, her heels did not aid her in the slightest. Completely losing her grip on Leonard, she backpedaled her way into the azure vase. With a high-pitched gasp, she quickly realized this was going to be bad.
“Eya!” Lying on the ground, against a pile of broken porcelain and a rolled ankle to add to her misery. She looked up to the boys in pain.
“Mierda!” Reinald was as surprised as the Caucasian pair - so much so that he tapped the button on reflex, jumping a little at the deafening sound of alarm thundering down the corridors, and a picture of the fall was automatically saved into his smartphone. Without giving the screen a second glance, he pocketed the mobile before rushing forward to give Karlita a hand.
“Hey! You… okay?”
“Nnn… Pain…” Karlita winced as she struggled to get up, unable to put pressure on her ankle, she was unable to move around with ease.
"Shit!" Leonard cursed, "Sorry, I should've caught you..." he continued, leaning down on one knee.
The tone in Leonard’s voice implied he was legitimately beating himself up about the situation. His words were genuine, as if somehow he felt like he
could have helped if he had not been spacing out, or at the very least believed he
should have helped whether he was able to or not.
"How's this...?" Leonard asked, trying to keep his tone calm, gently placing a hand on her ankle to try and work out how bad it was.
“Argh! Leonard, it … It is, most painful.” The pain could be seen plainly on her face, this was seriously going to leave a mark in the morning. Trying to bear the pain, Karlita attempted to stand on her own two feet, but staggered and fell back to the floor, landing on some of the broken pieces of the vase. Swiping some of the pieces out from under her, she looked up to the two boys, offering her their support.
“This, is no good, no good at all.” The blaring alarms throughout the Palace was beginning to give Reinald a headache; it wouldn’t be long before this area started to swamp with running security and staff, putting them in an even stickier situation. They didn’t have much time to waste, not with Karlita’s sprained ankle and the luggage Leonard had with him.
Squatting down, he gave the Spanish girl his back. “Come on, I’ll carry you out of here.”
Karlita nodded, and used her small strength to climb upon his back, how kind of Rein. Resting upon him in the piggyback position, Karlita thanked him with all her heart.
“Si, gracias, Rein.” “You’re welcome,” was the curt reply, before Reinald glanced at the blond American. “Let’s go.”
"Ahrite, good..." Leonard said, glad that Rein had done that.
Leonard would have offered to carry her himself without the slightest hesitation if he had not been carrying most of his belongings with him over one shoulder currently, so he was relieved that Rein was apparently traveling without too much on him. That simplified the situation, but it was still a bad one.
Reinald stood up, making sure Karlita was secure on his back, and turned on his heels before he began to brisk down the hallways - with an extra weight behind him. While he didn’t seem like the athletic type (especially with this hoodie, which wasn’t exactly the right kind of clothing to show off one’s build), Reinald considered himself decent with sports. Besides, he didn’t have a choice.
"Uh," Leonard muttered, thinking out loud for only a moment, "I think this way." he signalled, pointing with his free hand, "There weren’t many people there, so we’ll get out easier." Leonard said, immediately putting his street smart nature to use as he ran alongside Rein.
Reinald nodded and went in the direction the American was pointing without another word, occasionally pausing to look around and make sure no one was pursuing them. At this moment, the young Chinese man had pushed away his usual shyness, allowing the quiet, steely wit underneath to shine as the trio made their way out of the Palace with the confused crowd.
Luxembourg Palace, Outskirts | April 14, 2012 (12:19 PM)
"... Shit," Leonard said, taking a breath as he put down his duffel bag for a moment and leaned forward a bit, "that was close..."
The group had managed to make it outside and even reach the outskirts leading to the streets, and had finally stopped to catch their breath. While there was undoubtedly still a lot of chaos going on back there, they had likely managed to escape any chance of being uncovered as the culprits, at least as long as there were no cameras in the building or something. Probably a bit too late to dwell on something like that now though.
"You guys okay...?" Leonard asked, turning his head.
Reinald stopped short behind the blond, then dropped to one knee to put Karlita down on the ground. Sliding herself off of Rein’s back, Karlita shuffled into a more comfortable position. Trying not to prod her ankle. Reinald then turned around to sit next to the Spanish girl.
“We’re fine… I think,” the Chinese boy said finally, then he glanced at Karlita.
Looking down at her ankle, glancing at Rein, then Leonard. Karlita was aware of the trouble she had caused, looking once again at her ankle, she made a sigh. Not one of relief but a touch of sadness.
“Leonard, Rein, I am… extaremary apologetic for what it is I have caused. Estoy tan retrasado…” Karlita mumbled to herself in Spanish a little.
"Hey," Leonard responded after another breath, trying to keep his language simple, don’t worry."
“It’s okay.” Reinald waved away Karlita’s apology, regaining his usual demeanor. Looking down at her feet, he asked, “How’s your ankle? You might want to take off your shoes.”
If she keeps those heels on any longer, the ankle would swell and make the pain ten times worse… Nodding, Karlita smiled sweetly, a little bewildered by the two boys’ concern.
“Gracias a vosotros dos.” "Yeah," Leonard said in reaction to Karlita’s gratitude (at least, that was what he guessed 'gracias' meant), "no problem."
"Oh, there's a '
problem' alright,
shortie!" a male voice said, speaking in English but with a French accent.
♫ Persona 3 OST - Master of Shadow `Huh...? 'Shawty'...? That
voice...` Leonard thought to himself, eyes turning in the direction of the one addressing him.
"I bet you thought you were
really cool earlier,
didn't you?" another familiar - to Leonard at least - male voice spoke aggressively.
Facing the direction of the voices, the Leonard and his new acquaintances would see men that were only familiar to - at least in as far as Leonard knew off the top of his head - the Brooklyn youth himself. Rein
might have seen them depending on where he was when they ran off, but Karlita would never have seen these people before in her life. It was the three goons that Leonard had fought earlier in the morning -- he could hardly forget idiots this soon after making fools out of them.
It was very sudden, three menacing figures began to pester the group. Dressed like everyday thugs, they were indeed intimidating to Karlita. They looked like the kind of French thieves that’d rob an old grandmother, heck, steal candy from a baby.
Karlita had never seen them before, but they seemed to have some beef to pick with Leonard. Not wanting to aggravate the situation, Karlita whispered to Rein beside her.
“Uwa, whom they are? They are the frightening…” Reinald had raised an eyebrow when he heard the voice, but he couldn’t see the face of the owner when he was seated down with Leonard towering over him and Karlita, blocking the view. He caught a glimpse of the speaker after the American turned around to face them, and now both of his eyebrows arched upwards.
There was something familiar about those rough-looking men… Ah, hadn’t he seen them just this morning?
“Y-Yeah,” he mumbled, agreeing with Karlita. “I don’t know… but seems like they’re acquainted with Leonard.” Then he shifted himself closer to the Spanish girl - not like he had anything on him that could protect them from those thugs, but it was better for the two of them to stick together in this situation.
"Eh, they're no big deal..." Leonard said, keeping his bravado up, "Just a couple'a old girlfriends,
right laydies?"
Leonard did not like this situation
at all, despite how he was behaving. Sure, he knew that these three were no match for him, but with Rein and Karlita here things could get... ugly -- certain cards were potentially taken out of the deck. He needed to plan his reaction to this situation carefully, so for now he would just keep acting snarky to distract them. At the same time, he was carefully analysing each of them.
"So, back ta get yer asses beaten again, huh?" Leonard said, making a smirk at the fellow whose nose he busted earlier -- the guy currently had bandaging around his face, "Nice look ya got there, buddie."
"Keep laughing, short shit." one of the thugs from earlier said, "You won't think you're so hot soon."
"Oh yeah?" Leonard responded casually, scratching the back of his head as he stretched slightly, "Honestly, I haven't missed ya guys at all... How'd ya even find me?" he asked, though he was fairly sure he had an idea of how -- he just hoped he was wrong, even though nothing else made sense to him.
"You talk too much, runt." a new male voice said.
`Shit,` Leonard thought to himself, turning slightly, `I knew it...` he reflected, his eyes widening for just a moment, only to narrow shortly afterwards. This was
bad.
It was the only thing that made sense, but Leonard had wanted to imagine somehow his hunch had been wrong about it. Unfortunately, he was dead accurate, and it was as bad as he was picturing -- might have even been worse. Apparently, these assholes had been waiting for him, because while Leonard and his acquaintances were rushing outside and catching their breaths, they never even noticed that there were people hiding in every corner of this place. There was probably, what, more than thirty of these jackasses now? If Leonard had not been so damn out of it, he would have seen a trap like this before he had walked too far into it, but now...
The only thing Leonard could guess was that those goons he beat up earlier were not just any random thieves, but rather part of some organized group of crooks here in Paris. Leonard lived in a neighbourhood surrounded by the Mafia, so this sort of thing was hardly unusual for him, but he had sort of hoped that he could leave that part of his life back home in America while he was away -- apparently not. It seemed as though this sort of bullshit was drawn to him like a magnet.
"Get it now, runt?" the man who spoke previously - the one who seemed to be the leader - said calmly, "You're finished -- time for a reality check, kid."
`This doesn’t make any sense...` Leonard thought, `Those idiots would’ve had to move pretty quickly to set somethin’ like this up... I mean, me an' Rein haven’t even been here for an hour, yet even those three managed to show up...`
Leonard carefully analysed each of the thugs that had appeared, thinking the situation over. He could only suspect that either those goons had gotten on a train themselves shortly before he and Rein had, or they had actually been aware of the two youths’ location before they even got on their own train. It
might have been possible that they discovered their location after the train trip, but it would have been a pretty close call for them to all get here in such a short amount of time -- that was, unless their base was actually fairly close by. At the very least, it was unrealistic to think they took a similar train to get here unless they knew where Leonard was before he got on the train.
"So, basically, ya guys cried to mum about me kickin' yer ass, right?" Leonard said, sighing slightly, putting on hand on his hip for a moment.
"You still talking big, short shit?" one of the thugs from earlier said, walking up to Leonard with a cocky expression on his face, figuring there was no way the kid planned to fight back in a situation
this bad, "I think we need to fix that attitude of yours!" the man said, pulling his fist back and taking a swing at the Brooklyn kid.
Leonard was already gone by the time the fist would reach him though, just like last time. Really you would have thought these goons would have learned their lesson, but considering they had so many people now they were probably feeling overconfident. At any rate, Leonard had swiftly ducked the punch, a smirk on his face moments before it was about to touch him, and as he came back up he gave the man a powerful palm strike that would have resembled an uppercut in terms of arm motion, smashing up into his face from his chin and sending the thug flying backwards until he hit the ground. Some of the other ruffians looked shocked, more than anything because the kid actually still had so much spunk in him despite the situation. Did he have a death wish or something? Any regular person would have been cowering and begging for their life by now.
"Bon," the man who seemed like the boss said, "assez de cette -- utilisez vos têtes."
While the gang had been aware of Rein and Karlita when the three came running in, it was only at this point that they decided to take advantage of their presence here, since apparently being severely outnumbered was not enough incentive to make this Brooklyn punk behave himself. They had the favour of numbers and position, since they had appeared on the street around the trio. At this point some of the group which had appeared behind Rein and Karlita started to close in on them.
"I see you have some friends now, huh?" the man who had been the one giving orders out of the three thugs earlier in the morning said, "You might want to start cooperating before something happens to them..." he continued, looking at Karlita with a smirk, "The young lady, for example..."
Narrowing his eyes at the approaching goons from behind, Reinald pulled Karlita closer into an embrace.
This looks bad. He couldn’t possibly force himself through these gangsters and outrun them with an injured girl at his side; it was also too late for him to ditch them and run off by himself. Unlike Leonard, he had
nothing on him to stand a chance against the thugs. Out of the trio, only Leonard seemed like he could handle them on his own.
The only thing he could do now was not to provoke the gang and make the situation worse than it already was, then wait for an opening to escape (with the Spanish lady in tow).
“Take off your shoes - and quickly,” he urged Karlita in a low voice.
The men circling the three were ready to pounce at the drop of the hat. Rein was holding Karlita close in some kind of embrace. Becoming nervous, scared, Karlita started to jitter in her own fear. Being urged to take off her shoes, Karlita complied. This kind of situation was something completely out of her own depth. Slipping her heels off, she could feel the pain in her ankle once again.
Lowering her voice she whispered to Rein.
“We… We’ll…” Unable to form a sentence, Karlita held herself closer to Rein.
"Now don't you two go getting any stupid ideas, yeah?" one of the thugs coming up behind Rein and Karlita said, admittedly eyeing Karlita a bit at this point with a nasty look on his face. His expression did not seem to imply that he heard what Rein said though, or Karlita's response, so he was mostly just warning them without knowledge that the Chinese dude was possibly up to something.
"They aren't my friends..." Leonard said abruptly, and rather bluntly.
♫ Suikoden II OST - Reminiscence "What did you say,
shortie...?" the guy who had led the three Leonard beat up earlier said.
"I said I don't know 'em..." Leonard said simply, "They just ran into me, so it's not like we're 'friends' or somethin'..."
Leonard really had no idea how effective his words would be on the thugs, nor did he know whether or not Rein and Karlita would think he genuinely did not care about them, but at this point it was the only thing he could think of saying. The fact of the matter was, these two were only in this mess because they were near him, and Leonard did not want to be the cause of their pain. It was true that what he was saying was at least partially true, since he really could not say he knew either of them very well, but the part of him acting indifferent towards them was still a bluff -- the coldness in his voice might not have shown that though.
`All that time,` Leonard thought to himself, `you suffered 'cause I couldn't just spit it out... It's
not happenin' again -- my hesitation won’t hurt someone else...`
It was just something about who Leonard was -- he tended to be too empathetic for his own good most of the time. Throughout his life, he would take the whole weight of a burden that was meant for multiple people, carrying it on his shoulders alone, and he often put his own life on the line without hesitating to ensure the safety of total strangers. Leonard was strong; in fact, it was likely that very few people had inner strength that really compared to him. He was the type of person who would have died for what he believed in without hesitating, especially when all he had to lose was his life. Whether that was a virtue or madness was up to the observer to decide, but in all frankness Leonard could not care less how people interpreted it.
There was nothing strong about survival --
anyone could survive, or get through a bad life, but it took
real strength to actually stand up and shine a light in the darkness. It took courage and fortitude to do the right thing and to risk one’s own life, and it took strength to overcome the world. Leonard was nothing special -- he was just a street punk from America, not some superhero. Still, inside of him was a will of pure strength. He was not the type of weakling who got caught in the bystander effect, or someone who only did something if it benefitted them. He sure as hell was not the type to justify not doing what he knew was right with some sort of weak comment about how he was 'only human'.
"Who gives a shit, punk?" the boss of the group said, his goons still closing in on the trio slowly, "Even if that wasn't a bluff, we can still take whatever these two have on them as well."
Any of the thugs that were not looking at Karlita were mostly distracted by Leonard -- the Brooklyn youth seemingly had a death wish and had shown no real intentions of backing down just because he was severely outnumbered. His bravado was really doing their heads in a bit, since they could not really work out if he was courageous or just stupid.
"That's right!" one of the thugs closing in behind Rein and Karlita said, not paying attention to what they were doing because he was too busy checking Karlita out, "Why don't you come over here, girlie?"
How despicable. Grown men, using such vulgar tactics on the poor Spaniard princess. Turning her head, Karlita narrowed her brow and cursed him in Spanish under her breath.
"Tch," Leonard scoffed as he turned his face slightly, "leave her the fuck outta this, asshole!"
In the next moment, a punch had cleanly hit Leonard across the face. At this point, those of the gang who were not eyeing Karlita were smirking as the Brooklyn punk got clobbered.
"Ugh!" Leonard cursed, glaring back at the thug who hit him as he got his bearings again, feeling himself get a bit disorientated as he slightly got sluggish for a moment, looking for a chance to retaliate. At this point, his duffel bag was still within reach.
Seeing Leonard be struck before her own eyes, Karlita moved on her own before thinking.
“Leonard! No!” Swiftly pushing from Rein’s close protection, she lifted the closest object from the ground near her, to use as a throwing tool. The closest item in proximity was her own heels, so she ripped one off the ground and launched it at one of the assailants. Although she did manage to strike one of the men in the head, it wasn’t the man whom struck Leonard, nor the boss of the gang, who swiftly moved to the side. The force of Karlita’s throw knocked her off balance, putting too much pressure on her ankle, she fell to the ground, face first, exposing the underside of her dress.
"Patron!" the thug who had previously hit Leonard called out, but it was too late.
"
Argh!" the gang leader yelled, one of Leonard's daggers stabbed into his upper leg.
"Don't move!" Leonard called out, his other dagger held up against the throat of the man leading the gang.
While the turn of events would make any sane person cringe, Reinald knew he didn’t have the time to spare for an internal facepalm at the ridiculous development. He didn’t even bat an eyelid at the exposed panties like the thugs were (it was just a piece of clothing, anyway).
Without wasting another second, he picked up the fallen Karlita in one swoop and bolted past the gangsters before they could react, running as far away as he could manage with the Spanish lady in his arms.
Karlita's distraction had provided Leonard with the opening he was looking for. As far as he was concerned, it was the most ideal rule in a situation like this -- aim for the leader. Thankfully, the boss had been standing in front of most of his goons, likely because of how blatantly obvious it was that the situation was in his favour, so the only person Leonard had to get passed was the thug who punched him. Considering that idiot had turned around to see Karlita's shoe hit the guy behind his boss, Leonard had swiftly dashed passed him the instant the thug looked away.
By the time anyone had really figured out what was going on in the commotion, Leonard had stabbed the boss, who was too distracted from dodging Karlita's shoe and seeing it hit his flunky. The gang leader had only just noticed Leonard approaching with enough time to attempt a haphazard punch that the blonde swiftly dodged around before stabbing him.
That was all the time Leonard had needed. At this point, the entire gang had turned to see the sight of their boss in pain from the blade through his leg, and Leonard standing behind him with a dagger firmly placed at his throat. Leonard could effortlessly have sliced this man's throat open by now if he had wanted to, so it was actually something akin to an act of mercy that their leader was even still alive. Leonard telling them all not to move as he held their leader’s life in his hands had meant that no one could really do anything as Rein ran past.
"Patron!" one of the other thugs said, some of them starting to close in on Leonard.
"I said
'don't' fuckin' 'move'!" Leonard swore, the look in his eyes dead serious as the blade cut into the leader’s neck - only slightly - and drew blood, "Any of you assholes make a move - an' I mean
one fuckin' move - an' he's
dead!" Leonard warned, and the look on his eyes made it clear that he was
not bluffing.
The thugs all stopped dead in their tracks -- they could tell Leonard was serious. They all sort of just stood there, none of them really ready to risk making a move and potentially watching the boss get his throat slit open. The look in their leader’s eyes made it obvious that the boss thought he was about to die if they did anything suspicious.
To be perfectly honest, the boss was
right.
Somewhere outside Luxembourg Palace | April 14, 2012 (12:32 PM)
Reinald had run for a short distance with Karlita in his arms. Glancing over his shoulder to see that no one was chasing after them, it only affirmed his deduction: those gangsters real target was only Leonard, and him alone. Reinald and this girl happened to be there for those thugs to use as makeshift hostages to threaten the American boy.
He slowed down to a jog before he stopped to let Karlita down. Not because he was that tired from all the running and carrying her around, but he was beginning to feel awkward with a girl in a bridal carry pose in public. Maybe it wasn’t much of a big deal here - it’s the City of Love after all - but it just weirded him out.
“Can you walk?” he asked, still holding onto her to support her.
Karlita shook her head, using Rein for support. The fall did a number on her already strained ankle. Trying to rest it completely on the ground only caused Karlita more pain, wincing with a small girlish cry of agony. Thinking herself as just dead weight she proposed an idea to Rein, her noble knight.
“Rein, leave me. Run back, now!” Reinald looked into Karlita’s eyes for a moment before he shook his head. “You want me to leave you alone here, when you can’t walk on your own without me to support you? Besides, even if I go back, I’ll only be a dead weight to Leonard.”
Running a free hand through his hair, he sighed. “I’m not a fighter like him. He won’t be able to fend them off if I’m there to distract him.”
Karlita lowered her head. She didn’t know what to do in such a dangerous situation. It was such an extreme opposite to her usual carefree life. How on earth did this happen? A spiraling fall of danger, all because she wanted to take a photo with someone. Lifting her head back up, she moved strands of hair from her face, too see Rein’s eyes.
♫ Final Fantasy VIII OST - Tell Me “I… I don’t know… Leonard… He is our amigo, no? If we can’t help him…” Placing her hands together, Karlita looked to the sky.
“Dios esté con él.” She recited these words aloud at least three times. Taking a deep breath in, Karlita cracked a nervous smile. Pointing to an extravagant bar, Karlita urged Rein to take her there. It might seem a out of the blue, but there was a method to her madness.
“Rein, take me there. To the place called ‘Cadelori’. I’ll order a bottle of wine for trey, yes?” Reinald’s gaze followed in the direction where Karlita was pointing. “Good idea,” he murmured, leading her towards the bar slowly to minimize the strain on her swollen ankle.
As they walked, his mind tried to think of a way around the situation. “...I’ll get you to the bar, so you’ll be safe in public sight, for the time being. Then I’ll go back to check if the coast is clear and bring Leonard over.”
Extravagant Restaurant | April 14, 2012 (12:37 PM)
Upon entering the bar, the odd pair was greeted by the soothing background music in harmony with the dimly-lit interior, with polished floor, high tables and smartly dressed waiters. One of them walked up to them to show them to an empty table, but not without a raised eyebrow at Karlita’s shoeless feet.
Once they were seated and given the menu, the waiter stayed at their table with his notepad and paper poised ready to take their orders. Karlita attempted to use some French phrases but failed horribly without her handy translation book, lost during the rush of course. The waiter rolled his eyes, explaining how they could simply just order in English.
“Zook, Madame Zinderella, if you can’t zpeak ze Francias, don’t try. Zust order in ze language we can both understand. Engleesh, pleeze.”
Nervously nodding, Karlita complied, choosing some of the most expensive items on the menu, after all, her lovely friend Bonaparte would receive this I.O.U. Just another one of those perks to an all expenses paid trip.
“Please, lunch special for trey. And the biggest wine you have, yes?” “Is zat all?” was the waiter’s bored reply as he scribbled down her order. “Alzo,” he continued, glancing at Reinald with furrowed brows. “Go get new zooez for your Zinderella girlfriend.” With that, he left to pass the order to the kitchen staff.
Reinald, embarrassed at being seen as a couple with a girl he met only just today, gave it a couple of minutes after the waiter left before he stood up. “I… I’ll go out and take a look. You can just stay here until I get Leonard back.”
And he breezed out of the bar, not without a glare at the waiter who had just served them as he passed by him.
Karlita watched Rein walk away, hoping that he would find Leonard safe, unharmed from those horrible thugs.
Somewhere outside Luxembourg Palace | April 14, 2012 (12:48 PM)
Retracing his steps back to the street where they had left Leonard behind, Reinald thought about the two foreigners he had just met today. Something about them didn't feel right to the Chinese man - for one, they didn't seem like ordinary tourists coming to Paris just for a holiday.
At least for the Leonard boy, it was pretty obvious that he came here for a different purpose than mere sightseeing. Who would
blatantly arm themselves with knives like that on a normal vacation trip? There was also the longing expression he had when he was looking at his locket, and when Karlita waved him over to take pictures together.
As for the Spanish girl, even with her seemingly scatterbrained personality, was she truly an airhead, or there were something more beneath all that ‘act’? Like Reinald, she also broke out of her ditziness when she pleaded him to go after Leonard after he got her out of the gangsters’ clutches…
He was pulled out of his own world when he heard someone calling out to him. Looking around, his eyes fell on the familiar statue of Leonard.
♫ Final Fantasy VIII OST - My Mind "Oh, hey..." Leonard called out, his duffel bag over his shoulder as usual and for the most part back to his laid-back self, having just stepped out of one of the alleys that lead back to the street where the skirmish had happened, "... where's Karlita...?"
While part of Leonard wanted to ask Rein if he was actually here looking for him, his biggest priority right now was to make sure that their third companion was safe. After all, she probably was still unable to walk given the injury. Nevertheless, the thought that they were actually concerned enough to come back felt nice -- Leonard had more or less just expected he would never seen them again, considering they were basically strangers. Sure, Leonard had put his neck out for them just now, but it would hardly be the first time someone had forgotten him shortly after he more or less saved their life. It was also 'technically' his fault they were in trouble, if he could really be blamed for defending himself from thugs.
“She’s alright,” Reinald replied, then turning around to lead the way. “In fact, this has made her hungry enough to order three sets of special lunch to go with a big bottle of wine.” Then he let out a chuckle. “Three sets for each of us, not just for herself.”
"Oh yeah?" Leonard responded, smirking. He was ready to follow Rein's lead to wherever Karlita was waiting, though he seemed relaxed, "I can't say I've ever had wine before, but lunch sounds good ta me. I don’t think we’ll be seein' those idiots again," he pointed out, "Let's go."
Extravagant Restaurant | April 14, 2012 (12:57 PM)
Karlita checked her ankle. It was swollen, the blood had already begun to rise to the surface of her skin. Pressing her fingers against her ankle, Karlita winced in pain. She had dealt with some injuries in her work before, so this would be something simple.
Reaching inside her dress she revealed her clutch, similar to how a magician pulls a rabbit out of their hat or a coin from behind a person's ear.
Opening it up, some of the flowers had been crinkled, one of the more beautiful lilies was ruined, but the stem could still be used. Now, where to start. While the table next to her wasn’t paying attention, she slipped some of their water into her empty wine glass. Karlita then laid out her napkin before her, stripping some of the pedals she placed them along the smooth ivory material. Squeezing what was left of the nectar in the lilies she had collected into the water, she mixed some of the pedals in a specific order.
Dipping the napkin in the mixture, she scooped up some of the flora, quickly wrapping it around her bruised ankle. Karlita was lucky that the napkin was long enough to wrap completely around and still have room to be tied together. But being in a such a high-class area, they must only use the top quality stock.
From attending to her ankle Karlita, whipped up from the low ground to see Leonard and Rein outside. Raising her hand high into the air, Karlita chirped happily when she spotted them.
“Ore! Ova here! Leonard! Rein!” Karlita beckoned the duo over as she waved to them happily.
♫ God Eater 2: Rage Burst - An Extravagant Moment "Hey." Leonard said with a smile as he noticed Karlita was clearly excited to see he was, well, alive. He followed Rein in as the Chinese fellow entered the restaurant and walked over to her, "I heard you ordered lunch -- what're we eatin'?" he asked.
“The lunch special, hopefully it’ll be very tasty! It was moi expesciano! … Oh! A big bottle of wine too!” Karlita excitingly pointed to the wine, offering to pour some for the boys.
Reinald gave the Spanish girl a quick smile as acknowledgement, before he took his seat across her. His attention then shifted to the wine Karlita was pointing to.
“I think I’ll do that,” he said, picking up the bottle and noticing that the cap’s seal had already been removed. He turned the bottle around to look at the label. A Chateau Margaux 1787. He was amused when she had ordered the costliest food on the menu, but
this bottle here was the real money bomb.
If only these two know the story behind this fragile bottle. Alright, she did dress like a rich lady of sorts, but could she actually afford this over-the-top lunch before them?
Unless… His mind went to the letter still hidden in his pocket as he began to pour three glasses of deep-red liquor, not without pausing for a second at how Karlita’s glass wasn’t dry like the boys’. A quick glance below the table, he permitted himself a knowing smile before he filled her glass with the wine.
`'Expensiano'...?` Leonard thought to himself, `'Expensive'...? Well, with how she's dressed... although...`
Though Leonard had made a mental note about the fact that Karlita had apparently already started going through the wine, his eyes caught Rein looking under the table for a moment. Under normal circumstances, his curiosity would have caused him to take a look too, but from where he was it blatantly looked like Rein was checking Karlita's legs out. Alright, she
was attractive -- fair enough. Still, until this point the Chinese dude had seemed like a fairly shy and reserved type, so that seemed a bit too bold to be what it looked like; however, the quiet types were often the ones you had to be careful of. Leonard likely would have realized it was in correlation to the missing wine, but he was a lot more concerned about how Karlita planned to pay for everything. Still, he considered that there might be some hidden implication.
"I've never had wine before, actually..." Leonard said casually, not really sounding like he had an issue with her drinking but more that it was just foreign to him personally, "Who's payin' though? You rich or somethin'...?" he asked as he took a seat as well.
Karlita cocked her head to the side and laughed.
“Ahaha! Well, not really, whilst I make enough to live, and occasionally go out. I am no special rich lady. Infact! Today I am meeting with very very mucho grande benefactor! They’re very rich, so they’ll take care of it all for me! Ahaha.” `'Today'...? 'Benefactor'...? 'Very rich'...?` Leonard contemplated, raising an eyebrow slightly, `No way... I had a feeling, but
still...`
Part of him wanted to shrug off what he was hearing, assuming it was some sort of coincidence, but unfortunately for Leonard he had two little problems with doing this. Firstly, he was way too inquisitive for his own good sometimes. Secondly, he tended to think that people who assumed things were a coincidence were short-sighted. Just the fact that Karlita was ordering something so expensive, and seemingly so casually, told him she was hardly ordinary. This much had been worked out even before she mentioned this 'benefactor', but the whole situation made the reason he was here come back to the surface of his mind again even before he spoke.
Now that she had said this much...
"You wouldn't be here ta meet that 'Bonaparte' guy too, right...?" Leonard said, sort of just coming right out about it honestly.
Slamming her hands down on the table in surprise, Karlita rocked in forward in her chair, leaning closer to Leonard. Her blue eyes widening. The impact from her fists rocked the crockery placed around, shaking the wine in their glasses. Without meaning to, she blurted out her surprise in Spanish. Which made some heads turn in their direction.
“¡De ninguna manera! Bonneparte también está deseando conocerte?” Shaking her head Karlita, rocked back in her seat. Digging in her clutch, Karlita brought a scrunched up letter. Dusting off some of the flora stuck to it, she showed Leonard.
“Escuse me, you also? A letter right? Is it written in Spanish no?” Karlita giggled to herself and made a high pitched squeal.
“Eeeee! Ehehe! Leonard! Why did you not say your mother tongue was from Spania!” `Are you
serious...?` Leonard thought. Of
all the people who could have been invited, it was someone he had been waltzing around with. Her words were an indication, but once the letter was out there was no denying it.
"Uh," Leonard said awkwardly, mostly sure he knew what she was saying, "mine's in English, but... yeah, it's in my bag..." he said.
`So... she has a wish too then...?` Leonard contemplated.
“Oh wow! Then Mr. Bon is part Espaniola part English, strange! Moi strange indeed!” Karlita sipped her wine, very intrigued with this new discovery.
Reinald hadn’t spoke a word while his two Caucasian companions were having a rather interesting conversation, sipping a little of his wine before setting the glass down on the table. The liquid filled his mouth and throat with a rich flavor - it truly lived up to its extravagant reputation.
He was content with listening to them quietly, not wanting to interrupt the air of excitement between those two. Besides, it was a good way to take his mind off the attention they were getting from the waiters and other diners in the bar at Karlita's outburst.
...Interesting. To think that he would encounter not just one, but
two of the many invited guests to this ‘Bonaparte’ person’s gathering upon his arrival here. An all-expense paid trip, a ‘promise’ that the invitee's wish could be granted…
It was all too good to be true. Too suspicious to ignore.
An offer that all of them would have to pay dearly for their deepest, darkest desire. For something they shouldn’t have it granted, regardless of their reasons - or secrets they might be hiding.
However, there was someone - some
thing - out there pulling the strings... To mislead them, the ignorant fools, to a certain end that none of them would have
wished for.
It was laughable for a scientific thinker like him to believe in fate and destiny, but he knew very well there were still things out there in this world that could not be explained with hard logic. Anything could be possible. Just like this meeting with these two - it was too much of a coincidence to be a mere ‘coincidence’.
The sound of approaching footsteps broke the atmosphere around the three odd tourists. His nose tickled at the nice aroma of food, but the smell turned a little sour when the familiar bored voice spoke.
“Ze lunch zets are ’ere. Moove your cupz to one zide.” A pause. “...Pleeze.”
"Uh," Leonard muttered, being pulled out of his own introspective thoughts regarding the situation, "right..." he said, moving the full glass of wine Rein had poured him out of the way.
It was certainly a ‘special’ lunch, enough to surprise the trio with three full lobsters soaked in sauce américaine laid down in the middle of a huge plate respectively. It also came with a mysterious side dish wrapped in cabbage secured by a piece of bacon around its center. Reinald could pick up a slight but sharp smell - some kind of spice - from the bits of gold-brown sauce decorated around the plate.
Karlita’s bloodhound nose began to take in the strong aroma from the meal. Placing her hands on her cheeks she internally squealed at the sight.
“Well, as we say back home, cómete tu corazón.” Karlita smiled as she looked at Leonard, then Rein. Topping up her glass of wine which had mysteriously been full only a moment ago.
Reinald returned her smile with his own, raising his still-full glass slightly before he spoke, a hint of amusement in his tone, “Or, as we’d say back from my home,
yam seng.” Then he took another sip, swallowing the alcohol down with the hidden meaning in his words.
Leonard gave a smile too in response to Karlita's words, noticing the attitude behind Rein's following statement but not really contemplating it. He could have thought deeper into all the things these two had been saying today, and normally he likely would have, but right now Leonard was content to just enjoy this one instant -- for all he knew, it could be one of his last. He slightly raised the glass of wine that he had not even committed himself to drinking yet, just to share the moment.
Luxembourg Palace, Outskirts | April 14, 2012 (12:29 PM)
Leonard's eyes were intense as he held the life of the thug leader in his hands, watching each of the goons for the smallest indication of them trying anything. He had more or less suspected that firearms were illegal in Paris, but it was still entirely possible one of these assholes had a gun on them, and he had no intentions of even giving them a chance to draw it.
"
All of ya," Leonard ordered, the dagger in his hand still faintly cutting into the man's neck, "get lost --
now!"
The thugs might not have been incredibly bright, but they realized that the boss would die of blood loss from that leg wound if he was not treated eventually, so the longer they stood there waiting the worse the situation got. Still, there was no mistaking the look in those silvery-blue eyes -- Leonard would cut his throat without hesitation if they tried anything. Even if the Caucasian boy did not seem like the murderous type, those eyes of his were powerful enough to send chills through the thugs.
"Hey, I said
fuck off!" Leonard swore, "Don't let me catch any of ya again, got it!? I won't go easy next time! I've got more important shit ta do than this! Until I see this 'Bonaparte' guy, I
can't die!"
Some of the thugs seemed positively spooked by what Leonard had just said, while some of the others seemed to be having a hard time believing it. Most of them had at least heard the rumours about a group of individuals being invited to Paris by the famous 'Methuselah of Paris'. Was this kid really one of them? It might have explained why someone who looked like a street rat could afford to come here. Even just imagining what that 'vampire' might do to them if they had hurt one of his guests was enough to give some of them nightmares. After all, there were many who believed Monsieur Bonaparte could see everything in Paris. One by one the gang started to back off, not really making any strange movements, as they left the alley. At this point, they could just hope the boss would survive. This would be the last time they even
thought of bothering this kid.
"A-Are," the leader said, "you... going to... k-kill me...?" the man said, speaking slowly and as calmly as he could, to not provoke the boy into slicing through him.
"Only if yer bitches do somethin' stupid..." Leonard said bluntly.
Eventually, they were the only ones left on the street...
"You've got a phone, right...?" Leonard asked the man as he was dressing his wound with a torn part of the man's coat.
Shortly after the thugs had all left, Leonard told the man he would dress the wound to stop his bleeding, but if the thug made any sort of sudden movements he would cut his throat open without hesitating. Honestly, with the wound Leonard had given him the man would not even be able to walk much less fight him -- the gang leader was at his mercy, and had agreed instantly. Really, he was grateful just to be alive.
"Y-Yeah..." the man replied.
"Ahrite then," Leonard said, "call fer help once I'm gone..."
The gang leader nodded, just surprised at how merciful this boy was. If he called someone, they would be able to move him, and make sure he got better treatment. Honestly, the kid could have just walked off without even bothering to make sure he had a way to get help, yet he was actually showing him enough concern to ask if he had a phone? The thug was honestly in awe of this kind soul.
"Are you... really here to see Bonaparte...?" the man asked.
Leonard smiled, but somehow it was a sad smile; in fact, he almost seemed on the verge of tears...
The young man from Brooklyn was not some naïve little kid -- he knew that he was putting his life on the line coming here. There were too many 'coincidences' going on, too many things this 'Methuselah of Paris' knew that he seemingly should not have known, and too many questions that needed answers. Leonard had come to Paris ready to gamble his life - as short as it had been so far, given that he was a mere nineteen years old - without the slightest hesitation if it meant there was even a
chance (that letter had only said there was a 'chance', after all) that his wish could be granted.
"Yeah," Leonard replied, his eyes determined, "there's somethin' I need ta do, an' I'm ready ta die fer the chance."
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