,,it's like you hit me with lightening,,gareth

[maureen antoinette dupont]

-- it was a gorgeous parisian atumn day. maureen couldn't see wasting the day indoors. maureen hadn't been to the gardens in a while, but it was just as captivating as she remembered. the trees were changing colors, and it was crisp and cool, just enough so it was invigorating. maureen hummed to herself as she walked through the gardens, admiring all the lovely scenery. there was nothing she loved more than paris. it would always be her home. unlike her brother, she had no desire to leave this place, at least not for very long. what would she do without her aunt and her family. she would certainly be very lost in the world without them.

-- her feet fell in little thuds on the grass as she tried to search out a nice spot to people watch and to get some peace and quiet. maureen did a couple quick little dance steps as she walked. she did this quite frequently, especially when she was happy. she didn't really care if other people thought her odd. dance consumed almost every part of her being. it was her life, her passion. maureen was surprised at the number of people here today. it wasn't crowded by any sense of the word, but normally there weren't as many people. the wonderful weather had brought everyone out today. it made her happy to think other people appreciated the nice climate as well.

-- maureen found a nice little spot clear of any people, but it gave her a wonderful view of the gardens. she could still hear the traffic and people talking, but it soothed her. she had grown up with this noise, and she hardly even noticed it. she wondered what tourists would think of this place. she definitely took it for granted at times. it was only at times like this when she really stopped and appreciated paris. it kind of saddened her that her brother thought of leaving sometimes, but she knew nothing was holding him here. she would miss him horrible, but now was not the time to think of sad things. he was still with her now, and that's all that mattered.

[gareth nash brace]

Of course. Of course this had to happen to him, of all people. The ratty old Polaroid camera that he had owned since he had first been interested in photography; broken. Not beyond repair, but Gareth wasn’t exactly an expert in putting cameras back together. He took the photos and they came out pretty well, but he had no idea how to build a camera, let alone repair all the broken bits that were scattered at his feet. Well, they weren’t that little. More like big chunks of camera, which was going to give him hope that it could be repaired. But right now, he couldn’t move. That camera had been even more important to him than the most important person in his life. Everything was scooted down a spot on the list when the camera came into the mix, so what could he do other than try not to cry and get the broken pieces to a repair shop as soon as possible? Of course, not having a car and not wanting to risk a crowded bus or the even more crowded metro, he had to walk all the way to the shop, just to be told that it would take about a week to fix something so old, and at a cost of forty Euros. That was pretty expensive for a repair shop, but he could deal with it. He didn’t have enough money to go on a spending spree, but he wasn’t dirt poor either.

”One week… one week,” he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair as he exited the repair shop and looked around the street. Okay, so it was a nice day. On these kinds of days he normally went out and took pictures with the Polaroid, but seeing as he wouldn’t be getting it back for a week, the tiny camera he had gotten for school would have to do. He was pretty sure that it was in his pocket, but after an attempt at retrieving it, it became quite clear that he was cameraless. So he had left his school camera at home and his favorite one was broken. That was just great, really splendid. So what was he going to do for the rest of the day? Honestly, Gareth had no idea. He supposed that he could go sightseeing… there had to be some place in Paris that he hadn’t seen yet, right? Right. So where should he go…? He had already been to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Seine, Montmatre, le Louvre… where had he not gone? There was that garden that Cass had wanted to go to, but shouldn’t he save that for, well, Cass? He really didn’t have anything else to do, though… So to the Tuileries Gardens he went, navigating his way through both cars and pedestrians like he had grown used to for the past three years.

He looked sadly around the gardens; it would be so nice to take some pictures here. It was all so pretty and well designed, hell, he could have even used Cass as a model for some pictures… he was sure that the younger boy wouldn’t have minded. In fact, Cass probably would have been happy to pose for Gareth… but it was no use to call him and ask him if he wanted to meet up. The other student was probably working on a project of some kind, and Gareth would never disturb Cass from his work, especially because he really didn’t do much real work in the first place. So he was alone in the gardens for today, and that was fine with him. He had been alone for most of his life, never having more than a few friends at a time. Actually, he was pretty sure that his current friend count was higher than it had ever been before, and that was probably because he wasn’t very well known in Paris. That may have seemed a bit backwards, but it wasn’t, really. Betws-y-coed was such a small town that everyone knew everyone, especially in the schools. And everyone knew about Gareth’s father, too… But that wasn’t a good track of thought to go down, especially when he was alone. It wasn’t good to think about when he was around other people, either. When was it good to think about his father? Never, that was when. He was probably being too harsh on the guy, but… Gareth had simply never seen a good side of him, and he doubted that one existed.

Well, he might as well try to find somewhere to sit. It was getting tiring to stand for so long, especially when he was looking quite depressed. Most people were giving him a wide arc when they walked past him, and that was kind of insulting. Well, not insulting, really, but it might have contributed to why he wasn’t stopping with the whole sadface thing. And then someone walking past did a little dance mid-step, and a small smile found its way onto Gareth’s face. Wasn’t that the point of performers? To make people happy? Well, the photographer doubted that she was really hired to do any of the little dancing she had just done, but it still made him happy to see that someone was having a better day than he was. And so, it may have been a little creepy, but Gareth followed her. The view of the gardens was nice anyway, so it wasn’t like he was being stalkerish or anything. And she was vaguely familiar… he wondered where he had seen her before. Paris was a big city, after all. Maybe she was another student? Well, whatever. He eventually found a seat on one of the many benches, putting his chin in his hands and staring out across the gardens. It was way too noisy for his tastes, but he was too lazy to move.

notes Gahd, sorry it’s so long. And Gareth isn’t going to approach Maureen first, so… XD Sorry, it's bad

[maureen antoinette dupont]

-- maureen's thoughts continued to roam as she absently picked at the grass in front of her. the green blades let out little snapping noises as they were broken. as she released them, they scattered in the breeze. being alone wasn't normally what maureen liked, but today it was nice. she didn't have to worry about making conversation, or doing something fun. she could just be alone and do whatever she felt like. thoughts of her parents flitted back into her mind. maybe it wasn't right to suppress the memories. it wouldn't hurt to think about them every once in a while. but it still hurt. one would think that over time she would be able to deal with it. it hadn't gotten easier.

-- she wondered how her brother dealt with it. maureen usually danced when she was feeling upset, but did her brother write? did he write about someone in pain, or did he try to write happy thoughts. she realized how far she and her brother had grown apart lately. she would definitely have to change that. her legs grew restless. they seemed to know her need to dance away her sad thoughts. maureen grinned to herself and stood up, brushing away the grass from her bottom and clothes. her feet carried her gracefully through the gardens, making little steps here and there. she was truly inspired by the weather and scenery around her. even some of the people. maureen didn't feel shy or nervous about just dancing in front of random strangers, maybe they would like it. and maybe even someone would chose to dance with her.

-- her feet carried her past a bench, with a lonely guy sitting on it. she only assumed he was lonely because that's exactly how he looked. the boy was just sitting with his chin in his hands and was staring out. maureen recognized him from school. she sat down beside him. "hello. i think we go to school together." maureen said, smiling, hoping she could at least do some act of kindness for the boy so he wouldn't be so sad. she tried not to be annoyingly upbeat or happy, because she knew how she was when she wasn't in the best of moods and on of her friends tried too hard to cheer her up. sometimes one just liked to be sad and gloomy.

ooc; no worries! so sorry it took so long! :(