coeur_de_lion | to paris with love

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?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

coeur_de_lion

"Hah, sure. Within reason, though. I mean- have you seen that freshman girl? The really tiny blonde one who's been wearing hooker heels all year? How is she not dead?! Merde. Ice is bad enough in sneakers."

From:

hatchedplan

"Oh yeah. I don't even go for heels when I expect to be in my chair all day, I still have to get up for a second here and there to go to the bathroom or whatever - I imagine there's a way to do it without having to be able to stand at all but I don't know what it is."

From:

coeur_de_lion

"Get someone to help you, probably," Alli says idly as she places a card. "Oooh! Better yet, someone hot and shirtless."

From:

hatchedplan

"I think paraplegics can use handicapped-accessible bathrooms alone," says May. "If I were going to interact with someone hot and shirtless I think I'd rather it be in a different context, anyway."

From:

coeur_de_lion

"Meh, fair." She grins. "Any ideas on the lucky guy? I'm all for Ed Norton, personally."

From:

hatchedplan

"Nothing that specific."

From:

coeur_de_lion

"What, nothing? Merde. And here I was being all tactful by not even asking about people we know." She wrinkles her nose. "Probably because of the spectacular lack of options at school."

From:

hatchedplan

"I mean, I can name cute actors, but I cannot name cute actors who are so cute that I would like to have them shirtless and nearby solely on this basis, and I don't pay enough attention to unscripted interviews to know which ones are decent conversationalists when paid writers aren't feeding them lines."

From:

coeur_de_lion

"Hah. Man, I so would not care what Ed Norton was saying if he was hanging around shirtless." She pauses to think about this, smiling dreamily, then the smile starts to fade abruptly. "-Well. Unless he goes all American History X. Then, nope, get out."

From:

hatchedplan

"I haven't seen that one."

From:

coeur_de_lion

"I mean. It's a good movie. And he does do the whole 'I am a changed man' thing eventually. But he starts as a crazed neo Nazi, and swastika tattoos make even Ed Norton's otherwise flawless chest horrible."