to paris with love

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli's school is not a terribly interesting school. It is, as far as Alli is concerned, a perfectly boring and average school in all possible respects. But some alumnus went and made themselves a bunch of money, and apparently they think it's a good idea to spend some of this money on "improving the cultural exposure of today's youth". (Alli has never met the alumnus in question, much less heard them speak, but she persists in picturing this spoken with a haughty British accent.) What this means for Alli is that she and a number of other 'deserving students' are being shipped over to France for free for a week. Alli's not quite sure why she counts as deserving- because her mom's single, maybe?- but she's hardly complaining. It's a free trip to France, after all.

In her usual style, Alli packs an hour before she has to leave and ultimately makes it out the door only ten minutes late after forgetting at least three vitally important items (her eyeliner!). But she makes it through Pearson security with plenty of time... well, more like barely enough time. But the important thing is, she's safely ensconced in her seat when they take off.

Once she's gotten her bag stowed and her legs rearranged in a doomed attempt at comfort and generally considers herself suitably settled, she turns to her seatmate. "Is your brain doing an Eeeeee France! thing too?"

Comments

[hatchedplan]

"Adventure time. Is it accessible or am I wobbling in?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"I mean, if you wanna bond with the harpies, tough luck. Most of it should be fine? If I forgot any stairs, I can just lift you over." She grins. "Super strength!"

[hatchedplan]

"I mean, I might be able to bond with harpies, too," May points out, and she touches the side of the car for balance and goes around to get her chair out of the back. Out it comes. In it she goes. "Me and the chair should probably take separate trips if you have to haul us."

[coeur_de_lion]

"I wouldn't hurt it! But if you want."

Alli leads the way in. There's a rather intimidating man at the entrance to what appears to be an abandoned school. Alli smiles at him and greets him by name, at which point he smiles and becomes distinctly less terrifying-looking. "Hey, kitten. Who's your friend?"

"This is May! She's a critter too but hasn't been to our Avalon before, so I'm showing her around," Alli tells him.

"That so, that so? Well, nice to meet you, Miss May. You stay out of trouble, all right, kitten?"

"I'll consider it," Alli deadpans.

"Scamp. See you around, kitten, have fun with your shopping. And try not to buy too much eyeliner, okay?"

"Eyeliner is good for the soul!" Alli yells over her shoulder as she heads in. As they're leaving earshot, she adds to May, "He's been friends with my mom for... merde, I don't know. Ever. Critters tend to know each other. Small world and all that."

[hatchedplan]

"Is this more like belonging to an obscure religion or living in a small town that happens to hide in Toronto?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"Meh. If you live in Avalon, that thing, otherwise the religion one?"

[hatchedplan]

"Fun stuff. Give me the grand tour?"

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli's not very good at tours, particularly when most of the initial scenery is just "here there be houses", but she tries. (The actual phrase "here there be houses" makes multiple appearances.) The streets aren't terribly busy; they run into a harpy and a naga, but Alli doesn't seem to know them and they just pass by. After a few blocks of this, they get to what Avalon considers 'downtown'. It's a cute little square with lots of small cafe-style stores, with a fountain in the center and a fair number of patios outside various establishments.

"Book store's on the far side," Alli tells her, pointing to the relevant canopy. "First, though, we should stop in the bakery." She points again, this time at one of the patio-containing spots. "I mean, it's not France, but the croissants are still wicked delicious."

[hatchedplan]

"Are you buying? I don't want to make any extraneous purchases until I've had a thorough look through the books."

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli attempts to calculate in her head, but promptly gives up and pulls out her wallet. "Can do," she reports. "So, croissants?"

[hatchedplan]

"Croissants!"

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli promptly heads towards the shop in question. Croissant time!

[horsefeathered]

There's a familiar face on the patio, sitting at a table across from a centaur girl. Jenny waves. "Alli! May! Hiiii," she calls over. "What're you guys doing here?"

[hatchedplan]

"I'm checking the place out. I belong to this obscure crittery religion now, got to know what it's about."

[horsefeathered]

Jenny giggles. "I belong to a perfectly normal non-crittery religion, thank you very much!"

[led_to_water]

"Normal?" the centaur asks dryly.

[horsefeathered]

"Yessss, thank you! And not even a little obscure," Jenny replies airily. Then she refocuses. "Oh! Sorry. Emma, this is Alli and May, they go to school with me. Alli, May, this is my friend Emma."

[hatchedplan]

"Hi, Emma," says May. "I was referring to asking Alli earlier if being a critter is more like, I forget what else, or belonging to an obscure religion. No offense meant."

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli just waves hello.

[horsefeathered]

"Oh it's totally fine, don't worry! I didn't think you meant actually," Jenny reassures her. "Whatcha think of Avalon so far?"

[hatchedplan]

"It's - pleasantly surreal?"

[led_to_water]

"Oh! Jenny, is this-"

[horsefeathered]

"The new critter girl from France? Yep!"

[led_to_water]

"Ohhh. Um, sorry, May. I thought you were just, uh- visiting Toronto, or something, at first. Welcome?"

[hatchedplan]

"No, I live in town," May says. "Nice to meet you."