Forums » General Roleplay » Blood-Stained Gold {1x1}

"Hm?" Geneviève looked over at the lottle girl before smiling slightly. "Oh, you would not care for this book... It is romance." A little girl surely wouldn't want to hear about that; besides, the French girl doubted she could translate properly from French to English. But the child looked so sweet and anxious, hoping for Geneviève to say yes to her.

"Romance?" the girl repeated, clasping both of her tiny hands together in glee, "Ooh, is it about a prince'n a princess? Can you just read me just a lil'?" Agnus was practically begging now, squishing her hands against her puffy cheeks as she spoke. Her older sisters were always too busy to read to her, and Lyric would always act disgusted at the notion of romance. The youngest of them all always found such stories compelling, but with no one around to play pretend with her it was hard to keep her imagination open to the genre.

"Purty please?"

Getting sent home early was always a silver-lining in Beau's book, even more so when the sun had barely began to set. He was lucky in that regard to have finished his section in record time and able to be granted a quick leave. Walking home he rubbed the soot from his face with the back of his arm, only to smudge a whole new layer of black onto it. He needed to bathe -- and sleep -- but mostly bathe.

By the time the front door opened, he was surprised to see his sister curled up next to Genevieve in the living room.

Geneviève had read to Agnus, stumbling a bit over her words as she attempted to translate as smoothly as she could, but eventually the girl had fallen into a dreamy daze listening, so she slipped into French, reading to the girl in the foreign language while explaining in small snippets in English what was happening. The girl would be able to picture it just by Genevieve's expressive tone, and he had found herself enjoying reading to the eight-year-old. She hardly noticed when the front door opened and Beau entered.

"'Lo." Beau said tiredly, but with enough respect to nod at the women in his presence. He must've looked filthy, covered from head to toe in dust and ash. He'd left his boots outside on the wooden steps from habit, knowing good and well his grandmother would wring him dry if footprints were left to dirty up her floor.

Since he didn't find himself home in the middle of the night as usual, a dip in the stream to wash off the grime was best. He trotted up the ladder to his room to fetch clean clothes for later, as he began to walk back out the door and towards the backyard -- that is until he looked over at Genevieve once more.

"M-M-My sis-sisters ain't give you a-any trouble did they?" he questioned, genuinely curious if the woman was alright or not. From the looks of it all seemed peaceful, but it couldn't hurt to check in.

Geneviève glanced up when he returned down from his room, having only responded with a quick hello before. Now she paused her reading to look up at Beau, and she looked surprised at how dusty and dirty he appeared. But she gave a quiet nod. "Today was nice," she said simply, before quickly asking, "Mr. Eaves, do you like coffee, or tea during mornings?" She wanted to know, since Cecilia and Piper had suggested sharing a warm drink with him in the morning as well. She was not as skilled at making coffee as she was at making tea, but she may ask Judith how to make coffee later.

Beau blinked in confusion, but regained his composure after a beat, readjusting the clean clothes in his arm, "I -- I-I don't have much time for either i-in the mornin's but -- cof-coffee, if I had to choose." He couldn't help but to furrow his brow at the question, seemingly spoken out of the blue. Wondering where Genevieve was getting at he turned around fully to face her, not in too much of a rush to dip in freezing cold water, anyway.

Geneviève nodded, smiling. "Very good to know. Thank you." However she offered him no explination before going back to reading in French to Agnus, a mischievous smile on her lips all the while.

The confusion only grew within Beau -- that and curiosity -- but he continued on out of the door. Agnus stirred slightly at the noise but remained asleep, nuzzling closer next to Genevieve as the tale was read on to her.

Geneviève read to Agnus for a good while until suddenly she found herself at the end. She set the book aside and looked down at the sleeping child. A dainty hand reached out to brush some stray hairs from Agnus's face, smiling softly. Beau should be back soon, she supposed. When would the girls get back though? Hopefully not too late that night; they needed to get some sleep at least.

Beau bathed for quite a while, relishing in the feel of sunlight on his back and crisp, cool air in his lungs. He hated those damn tunnels, but had to admit it had gotten easier to will his legs towards the caves every morning; much easier than when he first started.

By the time he was back inside his grandmother and sisters were at the kitchen table, though the twins were still at the mill. Judging by the sun setting overhead, the two would most likely be walking back home by now.

Catching eyes with Genevieve once more, Beau was a much cleaner sight to behold to say the least. His golden hair was still damp, but the sun had dried most of it while he relaxed near the grass for a while. He wore a simple button up shirt, white, with loose black slacks -- comfortable, the right attire to laze around the home in.

Geneviève glanced up from her place at the table with the other woman. Gold hair. She smiled slightly but didn't greet him, only remaining quiet. Beau was handsome, she supposed, as far as an American miner went. A bit rugged for her taste, but not unattractive, especially when clean. She smoothed back her hair and kept her gaze lowered slightly, as if not wanting to linger on the man for too long.

"Beauregard, I don't suppose you'd mind runnin' into town and delivering a letter to post would ya?" his grandmother asked from her perch at the table, crossing her hands daintily, "The faster we send our thanks back to Ms. Leclair's company, the better."

Her grandson nodded, but before leaving to gather the family horse's reigns, was stopped by Judith. "Ms. Leclair, would you like to visit the shops down into town? Or perhaps sight-see? I can't imagine bein' cooped up in here all day is too much fun for ya?"

"Shops?" Geneviève repeated, her interest suddenly peaked. She smiled shyly and nodded. "If I may, yes please." She stood. "May I get my purse?" But already she was heading back for the bedroom to retrieve her coat, gloves, and bonnet anyways; no proper woman should be seen outside the home without those key thhings.

"There's some things that's just universal." Judith said to the girls with a wink, rushing back over to prepare dinner. After Genevieve returned, looking positively regal whether she realized it or not, Beau opened the door for her to pass through. The drive to town wasn't too long, but with one of the strangers having a bit of a language barrier while the other was dubbed an intentional mute -- it could lead for a rather forced trip.

But Beau readied the horse nonetheless, and made sure to hold out a hand for the girl to hold while she attempted to right herself on the less than lavish carriage.

Geneviève made quick work of getting onto the carriage and sitting up, perfect posture and a cheerful gleam in her eyes as she awaited for Beau to get on so they could get going. She hadn't had the chance to shop in an American shop yet... But they looked so quaint and cute! She couldn't wait to get to town!

The center of town neared in no time, with dozens upon dozens of folks scurrying past in buggies and on foot to their respective outlets. After tying up the house, Beau hopped from his sister and helped down Genevieve, scratching at the nap of his neck off habit afterwards.

"I gotta dr-drop o-o-off this letter, but, is there anythin' you-you were lookin' for? We got dress sh-shops all around, hats, too?" He wasn't much of a shopper, that position was taken up by the twins in full, but he did frequent town for other things -- he wasn't necessarily a stranger to it.

Geneviève looked around, clasping her hands together excitedly. "Oh, I do not care! I wish to see all of it!" She smiled happily, looking at Beau, before gasping. "I wish to buy for your family!" she suddenly exclaimed. "What do they like?"

At that Beau had to smile, the likes of which showed his teeth in a well spaced row. He didn't know too many women eager about buying gifts, especially not towards anyone they'd only known for less than 24 hours.

"Well, y-y-y --" he stopped suddenly, sighing only to take a deep breath through his nose, "y-you don't haf'ta d-do that if you don't want. My s-s-sisters all like different stuff, it-it'd be a hassle to get 'em all one bi-big thing, ya know?"

Geneviève paused, processing his English for a few moments before nodding. "Different things, then. Many gifts, mm?" She smiled again, and gazed around eagerly. Oh, where could she possibly begin? So many new things for her to explore!

"Oh, alright then." Beau breathed out, having never witnessed anyone so -- happy at the prospect of spending money.

"We can l-l-look around toy shops for the young-youngest two. The twins like dresses, access-acc-uh, j-jewelry'n all. My g-grandmother can always use fabric to knit with." Beau rounded off, thinking aloud as the two of them walked side by side to the nearest clothing shops.