Forums » General Roleplay » The Rose Affiliation

Yuri never even learned what the movie was but it still felt comfortable. Being with Lemon. No family drama on either side, no guns or knives, or even annoying students. It was nice. It was perhaps why he fell asleep in such a strange an intimate position with Lemon, not waking up even when a ray of light spilled over the bed.

"Did you decide on an itinerary?" Yuri grunted, not opening his eyes when he finally did wake to Lemon's nudging. He took his glasses, sitting up and just sitting for a minute before he committed to getting up. "I read that you can spend a week in the Louvre and still never see all of it. But maybe we should start in a cafe." He still felt full from their large dinner, but an artisan coffee sounded perfect. Once Lemon finished her shower, he took a quick one himself, changing into clothes suitable for sightseeing. "What about you? What do you want to see most?"

Lemon thought for a long hard moment, she pored two coffees handing one to Yuri “no cafe not this morning” a smirk crossed her face "I want to take you to this book store called Shakespeare and Company they say many writers have visited like Ernest Hemingway, Then we must go to the flagship Louis Vuitton store and get macaroons at Ladurée for lunch. This will let us spend the whole afternoon at the Louvre getting lost" Lemon dug in her massive bag pulling out a camera and hung it around Yuri's neck and put an old ratty yanks cap on him and she dawned a matching cap over her long blonde flowing hair before topping her outfit with a no brand worn out leather cross the body bag. She took a few steps back and smiled proudly "Now we are perfectly ready to look like awful American tourist" She giggled looking in the mirror at the two of them"Just be loud and only speak English and no one will ever know" She chuckled harder knowing that after going to their expensive school both of them could speak fluent French if they wanted to do so.

Yuri took the coffee with a grateful sip, though he pursed his lips slightly at the denial of a cafe. That was half the point of being in Paris. The quaint coffee culture, the shops, the...bookstores? He paused to consider that as he took another sip of his coffee. "Alright. I'm not against this plan," he hummed. He quickly finished the coffee and toed on his shoes after fixing his outfit. "I don't think it's much of a stretch to call us horrible American tourists but I will gladly refrain from speaking French. Maybe for you, it's a challenge but I have no talent with the 'romance' of such a language." Or maybe that was romance in general. He held the door open and motioned for Lemon to lead the way. "The earlier we start, the more of the Louvre we can see."

Lemon walked out the door giggling “of course the boy who starts a club for romance can’t speak the language of love, how ironic” she laced her fingers in his as the walked threw the lobby. The baseball caps hid them a bit but the two carried an air of mystery,deadliness, and elegance that many people stopped and looked or whispered about them.

A while latter lemon found herself gliding a hand along a massive bag in the Louis Vuitton store a small green bad full of macaroons she keeps popping in her mouth “what do you think Yuri, do you like this piece” she walks over a to where Yuri stood a bit out of place, a little man holding several bags and a belt Lemon already decided on following behind her. “Look I know you don’t like this stuff but you can’t come to Paris and not get a Louis Vuitton plus your bag is falling apart” she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up like a sad puppy dog. “ or you can kiss me right here” she batted her eyes at him , she quickly pops a macaroon in his mouth as he starts to answer “we will take the big one too and please have them delivered to our hotel” she turned back to look at Yuri

The city was strange. Yuri had already come to that conclusion by the time they reached the Louis Vuitton store. And yet, he didn't hate it as he watched Lemon flit about, being herself. He supposed he did look out of place but he enjoyed the experience in his own way, the faintest smile on his face.

"If you want a kiss, you should at least wait until we're somewhere more romantic," he finally sighed before gesturing to some other items that the staff. "Whatever bag Lemon says is the best is good for me. I think we're done here." He stole another macaroon from Lemon before pulling away. "I'll be waiting outside the door for you so don't take too long. We still have lunch and the Louvre to do." Shaking his head, he went outside and leaned against the building, enjoying the warm air as he hid another small smile. Ah yes. This was a strange way to spend his time but he didn't mind it at all.

After finishing up with the little man and making sure all her items would get delivered to their hotel, Lemon walked out of the store and wrapped her arms around Yuri from behind as she giggled. She wrapped her hand in his as they made their way down the small street to the Louvre. It was one oh those prefect days and Lemon stopped on a side street and leaned into Yuri "We need a picture" She holds up her phone to take one when she hears a click followed by another. Her eye dart around "Did you hear that?"

Yuri rolled his eyes but followed Lemon even when she pulled him down to a side street. "Do we really need a picture? You're so-" He paused when he heard the sound as well, leaving fear shivering its way down his spine. He grabbed hold of Lemon's wrist and yanked her down the street, diving into the first bicycle alley he could find. He didn't even know if anyone followed them but his heart raced. A click? It could have been a tourist's camera or heels on pavement. Or a gun. He breathed out and looked Lemon in the eye. "Am I overreacting? I'm trying so hard to relax right now but I'm afraid that my step-mom won't leave well enough alone."

As Yuri's words expressed his concern Lemon rested her head on his arm as there is another click. Lemon's face fell a bit as she glanced up seeing a man with a camera "Stop worrying about it, they can't do much with just pictures" She cupped his chin in her and pulled him into her."This is our trip, we will deal with the outcome at home" She drops her hand "Come on we have more to see"

The relief left Yuri feeling shaky even when the tension never quite dispelled. Something was wrong. He felt it even when Lemon reassured him that it wasn't. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this," he sighed back. "We're having a vacation. I don't even care if people take a picture of us. I'm just worried about when it's not a camera pointed at us..." After another deep breath, he squeezed Lemon's hand and started back the way they'd run, knowing that the Louvre was only a few blocks down. The sun had already reached its high point in the sky, leaving them far less time than he would have liked. "Should we hurry?"

Lemon quickened her pace to match Yuri's she wanted to maximize their times well and she knew how much Yuri wanted to go to the Louvre. When they got to the entrance Lemon dug around in her bag and pulled out her phone typed quickly before tucking it away. Right away a young girl came up greeting them by name. "I got us a personal guided tour" Lemon held her hand out for Yuri to take as the girl directed them. Many people stopped and pointed at the two of them Lemon's soft features were in direct contrast to Yuri's serious demeanor and striking features making them look like quite the striking pair. As they followed along behind the guide Lemon could hardly focus on the paintings and instead, her eyes were fixed on Yuri as his face changed while he pondered each exhibit.

Yuri was in a state of wonder that they got to skip the line winding far out of the famous building in an organized spiral. Getting the personal tour was just the cream on top. And what a tour it was. Yuri listened to every word the girl, who turned out to be an intern and an artist herself, had to say about the paintings. Every so often, she would have a little tail about how this one was smuggled out of Italy or how that artist drowned alone in their bathtub. By the time they approached the Mona Lisa, it was well past noon and Yuri had taken hold of Lemon's hand, unaware of how much attention she paid to him.

"It's funny. People call her the most beautiful woman in the world, but she's so tiny and behind a layer of bullet proof glass." He glanced at Lemon. "And she's nowhere as beautiful as you."

Staring at the Mona Lisa it was the one time she had not been consumed by Yuri, so his comment took her a little bit of guard. However, her eyes remained fixed on the painting as a small blush crept across her face "You know she may look small but she is tough. She was stolen in 1911 and once this crazy lady tried to spray paint her when she was in Tokyo in 1974" Lemon turned her head away from the painting and towards Yuri as the tour guide backed away from them to allow them to talk in peace.

"People always want to abuse things that aren't there's to abuse. It's why beautiful women need to be tough," Yuri stated without once looking away from the painting. He found himself looking at it in a new light, seeing the similarities between the tiny square of canvas and Lemon. Not in looks. Lemon looked nothing like the Mona Lisa, but he found himself smiling at the idea of them being tough women worn down by the difficult years but still smiling. He could learn to love that smile.

"Ah, but we're hogging the front. Come on, Lemon. I'm sure we can find even more beautiful paintings in the next room." Grabbing hold of her hand, Yuri squeezed it before pulling them away from the crowd.

Lemon's eyes lingered for one more second before she allowed Yuri to pull her away and into a section full of Baroque style paintings where the guide started talking again about the artist. But as they wondered Lemon caught a swift moment out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn it was the same person but she decided to pay it no mind. That was until they found themselves in a gift shop and she picked up a paper seeing a picture of Bronx and her on the balcony and a small picture of Yuri in the corner. She quickly turned it around so Yuri wouldn't see and instead picked up a postcard as she heard him call for her.

The rest of their time in the museum finally relaxed Yuri the rest of the way. He let himself get so lost in the paintings that once they reached the gift shop, he was ready to spend pointless money when normally he wasn't the type to commemorize events with trinkets. Unless they were for his siblings. Right. He found himself biting his lip as he looked at the stuffed animals and children's books about the art, keychains, and other meaningless things. "Should we buy matching t-shirts?" is what he found himself saying, even while looking at unrelated merchandise. "There's no point in coming to a place like this if we don't buy a few things. What about you, Lemon? Has something caught your eye?" he looked over, noticing that she seemed absorbed in something.

She quickly turned back to him "Tshirts Yes I love those" She was so distracted that her words weren't even coming outright. She let out a deep breath and shook her head a bit hoping she could avoid the Newspaper and thoughts of home for a bit longer. She ran her hand along the silly shirts finally picking out two with a picture of the Louvre and said Pairs. "These ones," she held up a nice cream sweater with Pairs in black on the front "And this one for your sister she will love it" Her smile was wide like she was proud of herself.

Yuri raised an eyebrow but let it slide when Lemon responded to him in a rushed, distracted way. Had she been lost in thought or perhaps did something else cause her weird behavior? It wasn't like he would force her to say but he was curious. "Ah...I like these," Yuri said as he finally pulled his attention back to the shirts. He picked up one in his own size, pleased with how it would look on both him and Lemon. However, the realization that Lemon knew he thought of his siblings left him flushing the slightest bit.

"You think so? She was always the sweet one while Endar tries to play cool." He sighed. Thinking about his siblings made him miss them but with things as dangerous as they were now, he wouldn't want to get them involved. "I'm just worried that my step-mom will try to get them into the business too. Staying away is...well, the best I can do now is send them gifts."

Lemon shook her head "Yes she will love it and don't worry too much, Honestly, neither of them is firstborn and technically they have a lower class bloodline in the hierarchy than you and me. So for them, if she follows the tradition they will have a choice at 18 to stay or leave and not a mandatory obligation to be in the life" Lemon knew she could only do so much to calm Yuri about his sibling's futures but she also knew her words pointed out the cold fact that Yuri was damded to this way of life. She tucked her small frame up under his arm and wrapped her arm around his waist and started to lead him toward the cash register. A squeal from a group of young girls in school uniforms made her pause as they pointed at the two of them and one finally came upholding a Newspaper. "Omg, THIS IS YOU THE GIRL ON THE COVER" the other girls rushed over and they started asking questions faster than Lemon could answer. Is this the guy you ran off with, why him, I thought you were engaged to Bronx, you aren't as pretty in person, why are you dressed like that, what family is he? and so on the questions went. Lemon's face became flushed and her grip on Yuri tightened as she tried to back away from the girls.

"That's might be so, but they are my step-mother's only children. My bloodline is something far different from their's but their mom is far different from mine," Yuri sighed. He was still trying to wrap his head around his true lineage. It was something far more elite than he ever imagined for himself, the second-rate son in a home he wasn't welcomed in. With Lemon, however, he had always been something more. He kissed the top of her head in a rare show of affection right as a group of girls blocked their way to the register. Yuri froze, staring at them in shock.

What? The cover of the newspaper? In a second, he pieced it all together. So that was what Lemon got so distracted by when they looked at the shirts. Not that she'd said anything then and now she couldn't even get a word in between all the questions being thrown at her. Yuri wrapped his arm around Lemon tighter, pushing her smaller body just the slightest bit behind his.

"Excuse me?" he cut in, his cold tone finally silencing most of the chattering voices. "Lemon's life is none of your concern and certainly nothing for some tabloid gossip. Don't comment on things you know nothing about." He reached out and snatched the newspaper from the one girl, giving it a quick glance, before tossing it behind him. "Besides. We didn't run away together. This trip is family business." Mostly his family, but he felt no reason to specify that.

Lemon let Yuri tuck her behind him and she instantly felt safe and a wave of calm wash over her. She pulled a bit on Yuri’s arm while slipping the cashier more money then probably necessary just so they could leave with their items. She let Yuri lead the way out of the store. Finally when they were back on the street Lemon was looking at her feet as they walked that awful newspaper picture burned in her mind but she also kept picturing Yuri’s protective face as he stood up to the crowd. “Sorry, Yuri” she sounds small and meek “I should have told you but I just wanted to be normal for one day” she stopped walking and a light drizzle began to fall