In search of information - Christophe (open)

[christophe]

"My favourite colour? Ah... blue I think. Like the ocean. Greenish blue. I'm not all that sure what its called in English. We say it as bleu azuré in French but that probably doesn't help you a lot." He smiled when he picked up on just how excited Lia was for him and he had yet to tell her about his second job. The downside was it would leave him little time to socialise but in the end it would be for the better as he would have the use of a boat and hopefully pick up a stack of loccal knowledge about the wildlife that inhabited the seas around the bay. It was good that Lia also liked similar things because maybe then she might agre to join him out on the water from time to time.

"I would like very much to have dinner. I will need to let my mama know so she doesn't make anything for me. I will be there as soon as I can."

They ended the call and Christophe smiled to himself. Two jobs, a new friend in Genny and now dinner with Llyria. It didn't get a heck of a lot better than that!

[Lia Juarez]

Lia began to sing softly as she shopped, thrilled she would be able to celebrate with Christophe. She gathered the last few things she needed and paid for it and then headed to the market where she got the ingredients for dinner. Shrimp, Mushrooms, heavy cream, butter and fettuccine for Shrimp Alfredo and some fresh spring vegetables for steaming. A loaf of day old bread, raisins and a bottle of port wine were the beginning of bread pudding. Heading home, Lia worked out her meal plan in her mind. When shegot home she began to cook immediately and then went to her room to work on Christophe’s mojo bag while the sauce simmered.

[christophe]

A quick run home to get changed saw Christophe ready to head out once more. "I am eating at a friend's house, maman," he told his mother. "I shouldn't be all that late."

"If you need picking up call me," she replied.

"Merci, maman." He grabbed his jacket and set off once more...

The evening was balmy and that made walking an absolute pleasure. It would take him perhaps 40 minutes to reach Llyria's home in the Venice Beach area, his own home being situated in Riverside but he had plenty of time as it was still reasonably early. And perhaps by the time he reached her house his excitement over the interview would be under better control.

Unlikely but he could hope!

Finally he saw her road and made his way towards the Juarez household. He reached up to ring the doorbell, straightening his shirt as he did so. He'd stopped just the once on his way to buy a small spray of white orchids, mostly because their scent was breathtakingly heady. Hopefully she'd like them.

He stepped back a pace and waited for the door to open...

[Lia Juarez]

Lia couldn’t help but honk the horn when she pulled into the driveway and saw Christophe standing at the front door. He looked so serious standing there. She jumped out of the car and ran to him practically jumping him. “I have all kinds of goodies in the car, want to help carry? “she asked while hanging from his neck. The sun was setting behind Christophe and she was shadowed behind the fall of his dark hair.

At Christophe’s nod she led him to the car and opened the hatch to fetch the bags from the stores she had stopped at. They carried them inside and she led them first to the kitchen where they dropped off the food stuffs and continued onto her room where she gently set down her supplies next to her altar. “This is my room,” she said simply. Like the rest of the house there was a Muslim influence to the furnishings. There was a queen sized platform bed on onside of the room and a large fluffy Berber rug over by the windowed wall with the altar. The altar was simply a small low table with a pale yellow silk cloth over it with a small pile of rocks. There was a branch of lavender, a pink stone and a napkin as well.

Lia blushed and grabbed a jacket to cover the altar with. “make yourself at home, Christophe. I just need to start the pasta water. Be right back,” she said and fled the room.

[christophe]

The sound of a car's horn blaring right behind him startled the French boy. He hadn't expected to beat Lia home and so he turned to see who had arrived, surprise very evident across his face when he recognised the driver. He returned her hug and added a bright smile for good measure. She had a way of lightening any mood without so much as trying.

"Of course I will help," he answered with a nod and he wandered around to the boot of the car and reached in for what looked to be the heavier bags. "You are perhaps expecting more company?" he teased. "Like maybe 50 other people? You have enough groceries here for that many!"

She laughed and then led the way inside and into the kitchen where he placed his bags down onto the counter.

So this was Lia's room. Christophe wasn't at all sure what he'd expected and as he'd had no pre-conceptions he looked around it in interest.

He nodded again when she said to make himself at home and Lia vanished to start their evening meal.

Christophe walked slowly around the room, not touching or prying in the slightest. Make yourself at home most definitely didn't mean feel free to snoop although he did peek under the cloth that Lia had draped over the table set against one wall. A small pile of rocks and some flowers. Were these a part of the charm she had promised to make for him? Time would certainly tell...

[Jandro Juarez]

"Well I know how much you like to eat, Christophe and I wanted to impress you with my hostessing skills," Lia teased him back before disappearing. In the kitchen she started the water and dragged Jandro back with her to meet him. Lia grinned as she pulled him into her room. Jandro rarely entered her room so he was not at ease. "Christophe this is my twin brother Jandro. He takes longer at his makeup than I do, " she gave him a last jab and kissed his cheek. "She is just jealous that I am prettier than she is," he teased back. This was obviously a well-worn argument. Lia dropped it almost immediately. "Would you like to meet Saint and Coco? "she asked Christophe.

[christophe]

"Hi, Jandro," Christophe said with a friendly smile. "Llyria has done nothing but tell me about you and so I feel as if I already know you!" He could tell Lia and Jandro were close by the amount of mutual teasing that took place between them. It was good to see as all too often siblings bickered. That said, twins seemed to be the exception to that rule... as was the case right now.

"I would love to meet Saint. But Coco? Who is Coco?" Christophe didn't remember Lia mentioning another brother or sister. A friend? Perhaps but whoever Coco was he would be pleased to make their acquaintance.

Lia had already left the room by then and so his question was left unanswered. Christophe knew he would find out the identity of Coc soon enough, though. He fell into step at Jandro's side. "You and your sister don't look all that alike but I think perhaps that is due to your hair colouring or is it dyed?" Maybe Lia's was the one that was coloured but he had a feeling the pale blonde hue was natural. No glimmer of dark roots could be seen from the elevated view he had of her head. Their eyes were the exact same shade, though.

[Saint Juarez]

It was only a moment before a young malamute nosed her way into the bedroom. "Oh this is Coco... has Saint locked you out, sweetie?" she asked and led her to Christophe. Coco scented Reynard and wagged her tail furiously.Lia slipped down the hall to fetch Saint who was looking grumpy as Jonah was no where in sight. "This is Saint, Christophe. Please excuse his mood, his love interest has fled, probably because of my brother's foul moods.

Saint gave Christophe a patient smile and held out his hand. "J'ai même un tempérament, mais elle s'attend à ce que chacun passe leur temps musardant autour comme des héros dans un roman roman. I am Santos. So you are the rumored French man. I would like to say I have heard a lot about you, but my sister she is like a mouse regarding her dates. You would think that she was afraid we would do something embarrassing to chase you away," Saint said, looking as innocent as a murder suspect. It didn't help that he was dressed for Cosplay as Count Vincent and even had his fangs in.

[christophe]

Christophe greeted Coco with a friendly ruffle of her ears and she replied with a swipe of her tongue around his wrist. "Bonjour, Coc," he added with a slight laugh and she yapped back at him in excitement. "A cute dog," he commented. Similar in looks to Renard but a slightly different breed. Malamutes were Alaskan and Huskies came from Siberia... At least, originally. Renard, of course, was a Canadian-bred dog.

He followed Lia into the room to meet her older brother. Christophe reached out to grasp the offered hand, knowing Saint couldn't see his own. "You speak French much as swould a native," he said by means of a compliment. "I can see Llyria reading romance novels," he added with a teasing wink at the girl concerned.

He was a little suroprised Lia hadn't spoken of him to her brothers but that said, his own family knew little about her either. Christophe laughed at Saint's next comment. "It takes much more than this to frighten me," he confided. "Although I have to say that I hope those teeth aren't your natural ones," he added in after-thought. "I have heard much about you from Llyria. My condolences on your sight loss. That must be hard to accept and adjust to." He couldn't imagine being able to do that himself and so Saint could surely be allowed the occassional moody day. heaven knows he had a reason.

[Saint Juarez]

"Merci monsieur," Saint said baring his pointed fangs. "I have been modeling some clothing for Madeleine's web catalog, she has a small business selling costumes and goth clothing. Now I am exhausted, it was so much easier when i could adjust my own hair, etc. Women they are never satisfied.

Lia made a disgruntled noise and whacked her brother on the back of the head. "You have not seen dissatisfied until you see Saint and Jandro side by side in the bathroom in the morning. The amount of hair product is frightening!"

"That's no reason to whack me like a mole. I may see like one, but I am much cuter," Saint protested holding up his hands to fend off any further attacks.

"Relax I am just going to go work on dinner," Lia retorted and slipped around him to get to the kitchen where she put a heavy skillet on the stove and began to pull out ingredients.