Tastes like Chocolat

[Jacky]

We had chosen the Garonne, this time. A lot of rain had fallen in the spring, so the river had grown broad. Any other smaller river could’ve carried us too. La Louge, for instance, would’ve done fine. It’s a small tributary of the Garonne, which fingers its way through the land in small bends and curves, with few villages at its banks.
I would’ve chosen La Louge, in any other circumstances. But not this time. The Garonne lead us to big cities like Agen, instead of the small riverbank communities. City people were not as bothered by ‘river folk’. And cities granted you to blend in the crowd. Villages did not.
We needed that, for now. While something, a darkness, chased us forward through the country, we searched the anonymity. The ability to disappear unseen.

But after nearly five weeks in Agen, we had left. And the riverbanks once again only housed small villages, giving us little choice but to stop somewhere, sometime. We needed to make repairs, collect supplies. We couldn’t do that in the middle of the countryside.

We arrived in the small village of Vaux-devant-Bourret in the morning of a summer day. The first houses of the town lay more than eight hundred meters from the riverbanks. Trees gave no clear view of the river from the town. But we knew, even then, our approach would not go unnoticed. The puffing of the boat engines and the sound of the children playing would alert the villagers.
And, as before, we’d be set apart by our air of indefinable otherness; the patched trousers, the work boots, the faded T-shirts which proclaimed us outsiders. And, of course, the boats.
Our group has shrunk to only four of them. A small flotilla of green, yellow, blue, black, red. Some boats flying flags or damp washing. Others decorated with plants, paint and lamps.

It all screamed: Otherness.

This time, that was just what we wanted though. Isolation would be a bliss.

-------------------

Meanwhile, in one of the narrow streets of Vaux-devant-Bourret, a girl ran down the stairs of a small chocolaterie. The shop wasn’t opened yet, so she walked to the shelves and picked a pain au chocolat from the pile. Silently, she sat down on the counter with it facing the windows, and began breakfast.

She didn’t know whether her mother was up yet, but she couldn’t sleep any longer after that dream she had. Of all the stupid things she could dream, her mind had picked out the worse. A dream of the past, with friends and enemies from the past. Armande, the dead old lady, and Comte de Reynaud, and Roux. She had woken with a start, and the dream had popped like a balloon inflated too far.

Nervously, Anouk swung her legs against the counter. She wished the memories of the dream would go. For some reason, it made her feel weird. As if she did something that was bad. As if what happened in Lansquenet was wrong.
With her breakfast in one hand, she forked her fingers of the other behind her back and made a little sign in the air.
A breeze, vanilla-scented, nutmeg milk, dark roast of cocoa beans over a slow fire.
It wasn’t magic. Not really. It was just a trick, a game she played which comforted her. There was no such thing as real magic in Anouk’s world anymore.

She saw a shadow in front of the shop window, which startled her. It was only the first customer of the day though – an old man who was there every morning. Anouk quickly put the rest of the pain au chocolat in her mouth, jumped of the counter, and walked to the back. “ Maman! Monsieur D'Aubigne is here!”

[Jacksblackpearl]

Vianne stood outside on her small balcony, listening to the wind as it ran away from her. She knew what it was trying to say, she knew where it was running to, but this time it had no affect on her. Deep inside she felt a bit anxious, but it did not scare her, not anymore. The idea of now staying in one place and building up a realy life for herself and Anouk, and a future for the both of them was very new to her, yet it was a welcome new thing in her life.

The shout of a childs voice brought Vianne back to reality and she stepped back inside, closed the balcony doors and headed down the stairs. She had already seen monsieur D'Aubigne scurry over the streets towards her shop, he was always the first customer.
She opened the door to the shop and looked at her daughter and D'Aubigne "Good morning, Monsieur D'Aubigne, the usual?" She asked politely as she went behind the counter and started to reach for the dark-chocolate-cinamon-cake.

[Jacky]

The old man nodded, his eyes slowly travelling over the goods in the shop. The chocolats, sweets, and cakes. "Oui. And a pain d'épices, please." He said. The chocolaterie was barely different from any other these days. The colorful decorations were gone. There were no bells, or wind chimes, or sachets by the door. Monsieur D'Aubigne thought little of the shop other than a great place for dark-chocolate-cinamon-cake.
Anouk though, who stood in the doorway to the back of the shop, watched her mother pack the goods and wrap them in fewer ribbons than she used to do. She didn't like the change, but knew not to speak of it.

Instead, she started a different topic. "Maman, I don't want to go to school today. Can't I stay and help you in the shop?"

---

Meanwhile, the boats of the river people had moored. Roux stepped on the shore. Quickly, a thin girl with a pierced eyebrow stepped from another boat and walked up to him.
"Roux.. how long do you think it'll take before we can go?" She spoke with a certain haste in her voice, as if every second would be one too many.
"We need repairs, Zezette.. Give it a week, two maybe." Roux told her. "We can live with that."
She gave him a look, "I hope you're right." She said, before she stepped back to help the others to set finish their temporary settlement.

[Jacksblackpearl]

Vianne wrapped the chocolate-cinamon cake into paper and then into a platic bag. "There you go, that will be two francs please" She charged the old man.
Her mind wasn't fully occuppied with the job, something as simple as the ribbons reminded her of the way it used to be. Back when she still used magic in her store, things were a lot more fun. Now it was just a chocolaterie, like any other. Even though she still cared for her business it was not the same as before, which was a painful thing to face up to.
Once again it was Anouk's voice that kept her from drifting away with her thoughts. "Hm? Oh, honey.. I don't think that is a good idea. You can not miss school days just because you don't feel like going, besides.. wouldn't you miss playing with your friends on the school playground?"
It had taken a while before Anouk started acting like a normal kid her own age, in the past she did not have many friends, she even had trouble coping with other kids around. The friends she did have were lost again because we had to travel from town to town. It hurt Vianne to see her daughter grow up like that, and now that there was a big possibility for these sort of things to change, for Anouk to have friends and keep them, she did not want to intervene by pulling her daughter out again.

[Jacky]

Anouk frowned a little, looking away from her mother to the door of the shop which fell closed behind monsieur D'Aubigne. She didn’t say anything to her mother’s words. To that assumption of friends. Anouk didn’t have many friends, even now. Sure, she wasn’t weird any more. Her and Maman fitted in. She wore all the right clothes and black shoes. She had the right hair, the right schoolbag, the right set of pens. But still, the kids found reasons to tease Anouk. Anouk, with different tastes. She tried to fit in, she really did, if not for herself than for Maman. But she liked all the wrong books, and poems and games and classes. The friends she did have, Carol and Claire, they only liked her for who she pretended to be. And Carol and Claire, they were best friends, which always made Anouk the fifth wheel of the wagon.
She didn’t tell Maman any of that though. Not like she had done, when Maman would’ve given a smile, a cup of hot chocolat, and a rhyme (not a spell, mind you), which would comfort her.
Anouk put on her coat and grabbed her schoolbag. “Okay. Bye.” She ducked past the counter to the door, without a goodbye kiss.

[Jacksblackpearl]

Vianne frowned as she watched her daughter hurry out of the shop without even a goodbye kiss...
"I swear that girl is behaving strangely" she mumbled to herself, not understanding why Anouk would run out like that. School started in ten minutes, she had time to kiss her good bye... or.. what it something that was not hip any more? "Silly child" she exclaimed and decided not to give it any more thought. SHe'd talk to her about it after school, right now she had to move herself towards all the chores she had to do. She had to go into town for more ingredients, and make a new amount of chocolates in order to keep the town satisfied. Her chocolates might not have anything special anymore, still they were the best in town..or so many people told her.
Vianne waited for Claire to come in for work, which gave her time to go into town and pick up the things needed for the shop.

[Jacky]

(waaah ik maak de hele tijd onbewust huge posts )

Anouk walked to school the long way, over Rue des Garçons which lead to the village's small cemetery. She crossed through it to the street where the school was. She liked the cemetery.. and taking this route meant she didn't have to pass Rue de Rivoli, where her friend Carol lived. She was not in the mood for Carol and her eternal critism.
She felt strange today. That dream had set a silly feeling of nervousness in her stomach, and it seemed as if the wind blew in whispers today. It had done so before, the last time in Lansquenet. Whispers meant change, usually. Anouk tried to ignore it, reminding herself what Maman said (the wind can't whisper, magic isn't real). Still, she tugged her coat around her more securely as she entered the school playground.

There were some other kids early, like Anouk. They stood in a little group, chatting excitedly. Reluncantly, Anouk went over to them and stood with them, trying so hard to fit in.
"My mother says they're gypsies!"
"I'm not allowed to go to the river to fish now. They're dangerous. My dad says he hopes they leave soon! Everyone wants them to leave."
Anouk frowned, looking up from the ground. "Wait.. what?"
The girl who spoke first rolled her eyes. "Oh Annie." She purposely said Anouk's name wrong. "There's boats on the river." She turned back to the rest.
"Boats?" Anouk's frown remained, but her eyes lit up with a memory from the past. The rest ignored her, but Anouk bit her lip and hesitated. She looked at the school, then over her shoulder to the street. Maybe..
She looked back to the others who weren't paying attention, and slipped away.

Meanwhile, by the river, the 'gypsies' had moored their boats. The few children were playing on the riverbanks, kicking a can ahead of them in laughter.
"Hey, watch it." Roux warned them with a grin, as he set up some fishing lines on the shore. Zezette rolled a steel drum on the riverside, for a campfire when it would become night. A distant sound of music sounded from across the water as a saxophone began its eerily human melodious wail.
Zezette brushed the hair from her eyes, "When are we going into town? We need tools, for the repairs."
Roux casted a glance towards the village. "You really want to get out of here, huh?"
Zezette nodded, and crossed her arms over her chest. In reply, Roux shrugged and brushed the dirt of his jeans. "Ready when you are."

[Jacksblackpearl]

(verschrikkelijk gewoon die lange posts hahaha btw don't forget the other rp's ! )

It was half past nine when Claire came into the store, she took off her coat quickly and went over to Vianne behind the counter "Good morning, how are things going? Had a busy start?"
"it's alright, nothing too busy. I think the whole day might be a quiet one" she shrugged a little, for some reason her heart wasn't as much in this business as it used to. She used to live for the customers and satisfying their wishes, making sure they would come back on a daily basis. Now it hardly interested her, no matter what she did..or didn't do, the customers came back for her chocolate, in their own time.
"I'll be going into town now to get some new supplies, will you manage on your own for a little while?"
Claire nodded "Of course, you know I will" she smiled and patted her friend on the back "Go on, the shop will be taken care of"
Vianne smirked "Okay, I'll see you in a bit then" She grabbed her coat and put it on as she walked out of the shop, into town.

Vianne sauntered into the local grocery story, to buy a few kilo's of cacao-beans. She walked through the isles first to find some milk and butter, unintentionally she overheard a conversation of two women who were near the sugar
"Oh yes, very scary. I don't know what those kind of people are doing in our town"
"Oui, scum I tell you, they're nothing but scum(b?)River people belong on the river, not in our town!"
Vianne gasped, riverpeople ? Roux ?...

[Jacky]

Anouk make it to the gates that surrounded the school's playground. She slipped through them, in a direction opposite of where most kids were going. Just outside the playground, she took her backpack of her back and dropped in the low bushes where it was out of sight. She'd come back for it later. Freed of it's heavy weight now, she picked up her pace and started walking fast. Then, she started running. The cobblestreet stones flew past under her feet, as she boldly picked the way through town to get to the river..

Roux and Zezette had started their way towards town, crossing through the small forrest which seperated the houses and streets of the river. It was all uphill to the towncentre, so they didn't go fast. They reached the first streets eventually, and Zezette paused there.
"Ya think they'll start boycotting us again?"
Roux shrugged, appearing less bothered by that prospect than she was. "Probably. Let's get our supplies before they do, huh?"
"If it'd be that easy." Zezette glanced aside to him, a bitter tone in her voice.
In reply, Roux just shrugged and put an arm around his friend's shoulders as they picked up their pace again. She was the kind of girl who hardly dared to show in town if she wasn't welcome, so he felt like he should reassure her.

[Jacksblackpearl]

Vianne passed the women who were still gossiping about the river people, she gave them a short yet friendly nod and they replied with a 'hi'. Vianne had the urge to butt into their conversation and ask whether they had met the river people personally and whether there was a guy named Roux, but she knew that was highly unnormal and strange too. Even IF they had met the river people, the odds of it being Roux and his friends was very slim right ?

After paying for the groceries and walking about in town, a bit aimlessly because she had fulfilled her shopping task and tried to stall going back to the shop, Vianne found herself wandering down a long sandy path, to the river...