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 Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:53 pm
Who: Vivi and Doucette
Where: Barton, a restaurant fair
When: Noonish
Weather: Cool and breezy, mostly sunny
The Barton Annual Restaurant Fair couldn't have been held on a better day. Just like many delectable morsels that day, the spring weather was practically made to order -- cool but sunny, with a gentle breeze blowing in to n** away the sweat on the brows of those slaving over portable stoves. Restaurants from all around had purchased booths and set up early in the day, hanging colorful signs and preparing foods to lure in critics and customers.
Vivi LaCelle and Shepard Ryan had driven in to do the same, and fairly quickly they had managed to set up a Vermillion booth -- a black sign with red lettering proclaiming their bakery's name and address, and plush red fabric twisted around their booth poles. Stacks of macrons, bite-size tiered strawberry shortcakes, chocolate-dipped eclairs, and spring-themed cupcakes of all flavors were the real lures, and Viviette made sure that Shepard had plastered a smile to his handsome face as he sold the goods. The day was definitely going well, the Frenchwoman thought to herself as she rung up another customer, dropping a businesscard into their white paper to-go bag and then waving them off with a smile.
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Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:15 pm
There was little more exciting than the promise of a restaurant fair for Doucette as it was one of the rare times she could really go out and explore without feeling shy or self conscious. People who went bowling as a means to make friends mystified the red-headed woman as she found the bowling alley to be a rather stuffy and over-noisy place. Restaurant fairs on the other hand, that's where she felt comfortable mingling. Finding new stores, new owners, new job opportunities, it was enough to make anyone feel alive and Doe certainly felt the bounce in her boots as she made her way around the stalls, sampling and buying.
As an added treat, Doucette had contacted the fair coordinators and had them agree to allow her dogs to join her in her excursion, and Dolce and Gabbana were on their best behavior in their hand-made collars. Perhaps they strained at the edges of their leash from time to time, but most of the stall owners that knew her were happy to give the pugs some small scraps and her babies were an ice breaker for new stalls with new people she'd never met before.
Though the Irish gal preferred to stay away from the dessert stalls (for really, she couldn't work off that many pounds!) fate wasn't in the mood to put up with her belittling of a bigger a** and a good sweeping breeze plucked her straw hat from her head and delivered it right atop a little sign that read Vermillion. "Oh golly!" Doe muttered to herself as she jogged up to the stall and then peered sheepishly at the woman and man behind the counter as she retrieved her hat, "I'm feeling right scundered about now," the woman said with a small laugh and reddening cheeks.
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Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 7:52 am
"Ah?" Vivi leaned over the booth table to watch the redhead, offering her a tilted smile of welcome as she collected her hat. "Are you? The wind, it seems it knows you are in need of some sweets!
"Scundered means 'embarrassed', not 'hungry', Vivi," intoned Shepard from behind the Frenchwoman, shooting Doucette a mild sort of smile and nod before turning to the next person waiting in line. Vivi let out a little chime of laughter, touching her cheek with one hand and rolling her eyes at herself.
"Ah, now we are both scundered! The English, it is not perhaps my forte." She grinned broadly without any trace of the aforementioned embarrassment, and gestured to the sweets littered all around the booth. "Perhaps I may interest you in something anyhow? My cakes are better than my speech!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:21 pm
Doucette couldn't help but to let out a small laugh at the woman, the man's reply only furthering the bubble of mirth. Certainly not one of those cruel laughs, it seemed to further brighten Doe's already joy-filled featured. "If it helps, scundered isn't entirely English," the Irish woman said with a shrug and only the slightest hint to her accent. Sure, Irish people spoke the English language, but she knew from others that certain words of hers were not so common round these parts and almost fit into a new category of language. "Strange" was the category most people put it in.
"Since your speech is already delightful I must assume your cakes are sinful," Doucette replied with a smile and the slightest of blushes across her cheeks. Really, the girl was almost like a traffic light at times! Not entirely awkward, but certainly not confident, the woman poked her gaze around the table. What girl didn't love sweets? But then, what girl could afford to eat a whole stall full?
Dolce, having not gotten any scraps in a significant amount of time (dog minutes are quite long you understand), snuck around to the other side of the stall. Leaving just enough slack so that Doe wouldn't notice a straining upon the leash, Dolce plotted her butt right next to Shepard's foot and looked up at him with wide-eyes and a loppy tongue.
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Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:09 pm
"Ahh, you flatter!" Vivi said airily, admiring the way the color spread on the Irishwoman's cheeks. How adorable, the blush! she thought to herself with faint benign envy. What an air of endearing delicacy it gave the other! "But at least I have learned a new word, even if you say it is not-quite English."
"Oh, no y'don't, y'little bugger," Shepard was meanwhile telling the puppy at his foot, fixing its almost-irresistible cuteness with his patented scowl. He continued boxing up some macrons for a customer, trying to pointedly ignore the little thing, all the while very careful not to step on the delicate puppy tail. "Y'don't think I know how to withstand cuteness? I got armor 4 inches thick, little guy."
"Ah, oh yes he does!" Vivi cooed with a faint laugh as Doucette surveyed the table of sweets. She knelt near the little pug, putting out her arms and beckoning it to reject the Aussie and come to her instead. "Do not attend to the armored Shepard," she instructed it, and tilted her head up at Doucette inquiringly. "Your little precious, may he have some whipped cream?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:29 pm
Dolce squinched her nose in a cute way before letting her tongue tumble back out the side of her mouth. Always partial to men, she gave a delightful yip at Vivi before proceeding to pay all her attentions to Shepard. If a challenge was what he was offering, it was a challenge she was going to give! Gabbana on the other hand was entirely happy with anyone willing to dole out affection and she bounded in circles around Vivi until the leash was quite knotted and useless. Doucette couldn't help but to groan.
"I'm quite sure whipped cream would agree with them perfectly," the woman replied, swept up in the other's sugary sweet attitude. An apologetic smile was given to Shepard as Dolce continued to trail his shadow with folded ears perked for the slightest of crumbs. The dogs were her personal vacuum cleaners at home, but she did her best to keep the generally pudgy pugs in shape by trotting them around the island in her free time.
Doe's watery gaze slipped back to the tray of cakes and she could feel her mouth water as she decided between them. "Vermillion? Is it new? I'm afraid I've never heard of your establishment." Not that she knew all the places opening and closing in these areas, but it was kind of her job to be keeping up to date. Perhaps she could write them a review some time, especially if no one else had grabbed it up first.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:56 pm
"Ah-oh, mon mignon, ah-oh! How will I get you some treats this way?" Vivi chirped, slowly and carefully untangling her legs from the leash-binding she found herself in. She wagged a finger at the pup as she did so, but her years as an acrobat made the task rather easy, and she managed to make her movements graceful instead of jerky as she extracted her feet from the web. Then, leaving Doucette to untangle the rest of the leash without audience, Vivi moved toward a blue plastic cooler in the corner of their booth. "The little sweethearts, there is nothing like them. You have had them long? I have a kitten at home, but he would rather die than be on a leash. "
She popped open the lid of the cooler, turning her dark eyes back to Doucette to offer a quick smile. She spoke as she worked, pulling out a few random tupperware containers and balancing them expertly on one hand as she rummaged for the right box. "We are fairly new, though, yes! A few months, perhaps. We are on Gambino -- a card, I shall give you one in just a moment. But it is so that you may not know us -- we are not so very large as some of the names here today. Ah, here it is. Here we are."
Vivi carefully replaced the other boxes into the cooler and snapped the lid shut, placing her full weight onto the plastic to make sure it was on tight. She whirled back around and stepped quickly back to the front of the booth, slowly peeling back the tupperware lid to reveal the sweet cloud of whipped cream within. She dipped a pinkie into the corner of the box and tasted it, smiling in satisfaction. "There is nothing like it! I am very weak against whipped cream."
She held out the box, offering a taste to Doucette before the doggies would get their share.
Meanwhile, Shepard was doing his very best to ignore the pup at his feet, but as a lull in customers took away his only legitimate distraction, he couldn't help but peer down at the little thing again. Making sure Vivi was quite preoccupied with her whipped cream and Doucette, Shepard slowly crouched down by the animal, pretending for a moment that he was just checking on extra to-go boxes.
"Alright, little bugger, alright, just a quick rub, then." he said in a hushed tone, a rugged sort of boyish smile blossoming on his face. "But if you want treats you'll have to go over to the girl, right? Nothin' for yeh here."
He reached out a calloused hand for the pug's ears, gently scritching behind them, his muddled eyes becoming bright and warm.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:18 pm
Gabbana obediantly remained still as Vivi extracted herself from the leash so inexpertly wound about her. Doe often lost her temper when Gabby did such things, but Gabby liked the graceful woman and the way she talked to them and so she sat pretty as a peach with her little curled tail wagging. The Irish woman gave the pup a stern looking as she set about getting the knots out of the leash. Surely the pug had been trained in the art of leash tangling, there was no real other explaination for such expert twists. "I believe they're about a year and a half or two years old? I adopted them about a year back now, but they still act like puppies!" Doucette couldn't imagine any cat wanting to be hauled up in a leash, but then she'd never been much of a cat person; the pups liked cats more than she did! "Oh! Pardon my manners," the red-head started, coloring around her cheeks per-usual, "The one by your friend is Dolce, and this one here is Gabbana, or Gabby for short. I'm Doucette," she finished, extending her hand pleasantly to the woman as the man looked preoccupied.
Flaming curls bounced against her cheeks as she nodded along with Vivi's speech about their new business. The card was certainly promising, for if such treats could be carted around in this stall, no doubt the main store would be full of lovely (and fattening) surprises. "Perhaps I could help a bit?" Doucette said, her blush coming back under her freckles just as soon as it had begun to fade, "I work as a food critic. I'd be happy to stop by and give a review of your store some time, on the house of course. It might help to get the name out there some, and it's certainly cheaper than trying to put together some advertisements." Not that she thought people would read her review and be impressed or anything, but a name in any paper is bound to get people's attention.
Doucette couldn't help but to gasp at the revealing of the puffy whipped cream; all she'd ever seen was whipped cream in a can! That or it had already been dolled onto whatever food she'd had ordered for it. It was certainly a delightful looking sight, and she couldn't resist dipping her pinkie in in similar fashion to Vivi. Eyes closed with girlish delight, Doe even wiggled slightly at the taste on her tongue. "That is certainly, the most amazing whipped cream I've ever tasted. I should think I might steal it all and not let the pugs have a drop," she said with a laugh.
Dolce, having at least won the man's attention, gave him another puppy grin with half-lidded eyes and a little push of her head into his hands. Perhaps she understood no treats, perhaps she didn't, but the pup didn't wander back to the two women and Gabby. Instead, Dolce began issuing big, slippy kisses upon the man's hand with her tongue. After only a few licks (if he hadn't already done the "oh god, cooties" squeal) Dolce proceeded to roll onto her back, half way on his foot, and look up at him with her little paws in the air. See. She could do tricks for treats!
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:05 pm
"Damn ankle biter," murmured Shepard fondly as Dolce's textured little tongue rolled over his rough knuckles, and he couldn't suppress the warm chuckle that thrummed in his chest as the pug flipped over onto his sneakered foot. Rubbing her soft stomach, Shepard shifted his weight slightly and craned his neck upward, the top of his copper-colored head just barely peeking over the counter. The coast was clear: no customers approaching just yet, and Vivi was casting her magical whipped cream spell, so no worries there, either.
"Right, y'little blighter, right," he said, shaking his head and gently squeezing one of the pup's paws between two of his fingers. "Let me see what I can do. No promises."
"Enchanté, Doucette, Gabby, Dolce! I am Vivi, and the grumpy one is called Shepard." Vivi shook Doucette's waiting hand warmly, and then reached over to pluck a business card off one of the counter's waiting piles. She waited with the card in hand as Doucette sampled the whipped cream, her lips quirking up at one corner as the other gave her reaction. Her personal favorite treats were always the simple things. "A critic? Of course, you must come! Especially if you enjoy the cream as much as I! I often steal it for myself when I am making the chou à la crème."
She pointed with the card to the few remaining cream puffs on the table, the fat little rounds smothered with dark chocolate and filled to the brim with puffy white whipped cream -- one of which was being slowly pulled away from the others. A man's hand, looking somewhat disembodied from Doucette's perspective, was slowly and fumblingly scooting the thing away, and in the moment of silence that followed, stopped frozen in its tracks.
Coughing, Shepard Ryan slowly rose from his crouching position, his face wearing a strange sort of guilty scowl.
"Hungry," he explained curtly, not quite meeting either woman's gaze. He lifted the cream puff and took a large, rather pointed bite out of it as punctuation.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:33 pm
Dolce cocked her head to one side, shifting back and forth upon his sneaker like there was in itch in her back. Oh! The belly! Yes, that was definitely the spot, and Dolce let out a happy grumble as she stretched out for maximum tummy-exposure. When he squeezed her paws she put them together and did a sort of wiggling begging motion with them as if to say 'come here'. The adorable meter for such actions went up considerably when she did it on her hind paws, but there were certainly merit points for cuteness when the action was done on her back. Patience. Dolce knew patience well, and she rolled off his foot and plopped her butt next to the sneaker in case he needed movement.
"You must be very lucky then, working at such a mouth-watering shop and looking so lovely," Doe complimented with a smile, thinking of how many sit ups she'd have to do if she often stole smidges of the whipped cream. It certainly hadn't tasted low-fat! Though Shepard had disappeared behind the counter, Doucette had nodded along with each of their names and been just about to reach out for the card when it had been swished to the side as a pointer for the cream puffs.
Those watery eyes grew just a bit wider as she watched one of the puffs attempt to sneak off. Ants? she wondered for a moment, thinking that it was really only inevitable what with the fair being held out-doors and all, before she spotted the hand that was doing the sneaking. Doucette pulled her upper lip into her mouth as a means to keep from laughing, but the corner of her lips were pulled up in a smile to give cheeks dimples near indistinguishable amongst the freckles. Quickly Doe ducked down to the bags she'd dropped at her feet and russled in them before pulling out a generous looking sandwich of sorts.
"If you're hungry, you should eat something healthy," she almost scolded, before turning red to the ears and downcasting her eyes. Not that she wanted to imply their establishment wasn't...healthy...but one shouldn't eat only cream puffs as a means for hunger, just for pleasure.
Dolce squinted her eyes slightly as she watched the man eat the cream puff. Hadn't that been for her? The softest of whimpers was carried on the wind from the little pug, tail tucked up and ears drooping.
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Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:06 pm
Vivi said absolutely nothing at the exchange, keeping her lips in the exact same smile she'd held before -- until she caught the look on Shepard's face, the blank shock that spread over his visage as the Irish woman extracted the sandwich from her bag. Ah, the Shepard! Would he ever learn? Vivi ducked her head, her bangs falling a little over her face, as she put her hand to her mouth and laughed silently, her shoulders shuddering with mirth.
"No, ah, I'm-- " Shepard said, backpedalling quickly, the half-eaten creme puff still held gingerly between his fingers. He gave Doucette an shy, helpless sort of smile, and he rubbed his stubbled jaw with the knuckes of his free hand. "I'm, ah, allergic to sandwiches." He said with a slightly awkward apology in his tone, his eyes purposefully not watching the silently shaking shoulders of the Frenchwoman beside him. "Especially if they come from pretty girls. Break me out in hives, yeah? The prettier they are, the worse it gets."
"With mademoiselle, he may go into the anaphylaxis!" Vivi stepped in to save the other (although it might be said that it was unclear just which one she was trying to save), one hand on her chest from holding the amusement in for so long. "Shepard, you are quite impossible."
"--not as hungry as I thought, anyway," Shepard continued, shaking his head woefully at himself. His attention now focused back to the betrayed little pug at his feet. He held up the remains of the profiterole and looked down at Dolce, waggling the treat a little."How 'bout it then, little guy? Do me a favor, don't get me in trouble for wastin' goods, yeah?"
"You must forgive him. He cannot ever go about a thing simply." Vivi addressed Doucette jokingly, her smile apologetic just in case the other had taken Shepard's comments to an offense. She set the container of whipped cream on the table and offered the business card again, finding a spoon for the whipped cream with her other hand. It was past time to get some of the sweetness for Gabby,who had been waiting so patiently for her taste.
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Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:14 pm
Doucette's features were naturally pouty, her small mouth seemingly pinched at the corners and the lower lips had the slightest of extra curve in competition to the top. Those natural features often made it hard to tell if she was sulking or contemplating the weather, and it was this face that Shepard and Vivi were met with at the refusal of the sandwich. Like a puppy, her head was lightly dropped to one side, her curls grazing one shoulder. New plans were not long in the making however, and with a twitch of her leash she called Dolce.
Dolce knew better than to resist. No matter the treats the man could have offered, Doucette was the end-point of all treats and without her well, what dog existed without treats? Ignoring Shepard (but giving the slightest over-the-shoulder glance to the offered pastry) Dolce trotted back around the counter and plopped down, waiting expectantly.
The Irish woman bent over and placed the plastic container upon the ground, its small handle sky-ward like a lunchbox a child had forgotten. Dolce eyed it with curiosity. Plastic was not high on her list of favorite treats, though it made a fun toy from time to time. "Trade," Doe commanded pleasantly, pointing over across the booth at Shepard with a wide grin. Dolce, though not the better of the two at tricks, grabbed the handle and trotted quite pagent like back over to Shepard and placed it at his feet before waiting expectantly for the uneaten half of the cream puff. Gabby, looking forward to her own share of the treats, deviously proceeded to bounce and entangle Vivi's feet once more in her excitement to get at the spoon.
"Problem solved!" the red-head declared, as if it were the most delightful thing to have happened today. Allergic to sandwiches. Really. Doucette waved her hand with a shrug at Vivi's comment, it was really no problem. Tons of sandwiches had been bought by the girl at various stalls along the fair routes and she was more than delighted to share with someone. In truth, she'd certainly bought too many for herself to be eaten in the corse of their prime, but she'd been at a loss to refuse the familiar and friendly restaurant owners who had begged her to try their newest specialties. Ah, a blessing for her belly and a curse for her wallet. What was a girl to do?
"That reminds me, what are Vermillion's specialties?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:30 am
"It's not actually making fools of ourselves, promise." Shepard said with a wry smile, leaning down to offer Dolce the rest of his treat. "S'allright, little guy. I'll trade with ya. C'mon."
He looked up at Doucette from where he was bent, and held up the box with the sandwich to show he'd accepted the trade. "Thanks for this, yeah?"
"Ah, but it is hardly a fair trade, a full sandwich for a half-eaten chou à la crème," exclaimed Vivi, who was still smiling brightly, also leaning with her arms outstretched to put the plastic spoon on the ground for Gabby. There was nothing quite like the look of unadulterated delight on Vivi's face, a jubilant sort of expression that said she had very much just enjoyed Doucette's one-upping of her grumpy Australian friend. More and more, she was liking this errant food-critic, with her adorable puppies, her persistent blush, and her wily mess of curls.
As the more patient of the little pugs helped herself, Vivi stepped easily out of the tangled chaos of leash, looking back up at Doucette and conversing easily as she did so, her black hair spilling over her shoulders with her fluid motions.
"Specialities? Ahh... I suppose our specialties are french pastry: the tarte, the baguette, the macron... I do not have so many left today -- I was not expecting such a crowd! But I do have a tart or two left. My favorite thing to make, alas, is the croquembouche, but so rarely does one get to make it!" Vivi sighed wistfully as she made her last step out of the leash-labyrinth. "Have you had one before, perhaps, Doucette?"
Vivi glided past where Shepard knelt with Dolce to the display case and extracted a beautiful little tarte aux fraises, just big enough to be a delicious personal dessert. The strawberries shone in the afternoon light, and crumbled pieces of pistachio just barely dotted the strawberry landscape, the bright green popping in the background of rich, sweet red. The Frenchwoman's slanted smile grew wider as she looked up at Doucette conspiratorially. "Now, with this, perhaps, we shall have made a fair trade, yes? I believe so."
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Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:15 pm
The red-head beamed, overjoyed that her trade had worked. Many months had been spent perfecting the little trick (mainly because Gabby and Dolce were stubborn about dropping the ball after they'd fetched it) and she was happy she had a reason to use it. And now she wouldn't have to worry about the man eating only whipped cream as a means of nutrition. "I am just glad Dolce was here to help avoid those awful hives," she replied with one of those pucker-lipped nods of sage wisdom, one might almost think she was about to cross her arms and start sprouting Confucius phrases.
Doucette waved her hands at the French woman dismissively once more. "Certainly it's a fair trade. Dolce might eat like her stomach has no end, but it's truly much smaller than Mr. Shepard's. In those terms, the trade is quite complete!" Besides, she had few others to share her sandwich treats with; the exchange really lifted her spirits in a good way.
The listing of specialties had Doe nodding her head with each familiar word. Although pastries were not usually high on her list of things to sample and review (simple things like fish and chips were usually the highest demand for review) there were quite a few words she recognized. The croquembouche however..."A what?" she interrupted with a slight rouge upon her cheeks, sure she couldn't have managed to repeat the word if Vivi coached her through it 100 times. "If it's as difficult to build as it is to pronounce then my awe will have certainly reached a whole new level!"
Vivi then drifted away and nabbed a lovely red treat piled with a certain favorite of Doe's: the strawberry. Mouth watering and smile growing, the Irish gal looked between the cake and the woman with a slight hesitancy. It was hard to resist though the treat was hardly a fair trade in her eyes. Granted, if she had learned anything with talking with the vivacious Vivi it was that she likely wouldn't give in easily. And so Doucette took the tart with unrefrained joy, her already glossy wet eyes inching nearer to tears over cheeks that bloomed yet redder.
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Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:34 pm
Vivi watched Doucette's expression with pleasure as the redhead took the tart, her heart always a step or two lighter when she was believed someone would receive true enjoyment from eating one of her confections. It was a similar feeling the one she'd had performing -- one always did their best and hoped only for the audience's delight. Smiles, smiles of all kinds: they were like water to Vivi.
"Ah, just another thing," she chimed, suddenly remembering the forgotten business card. Retrieving the thing from where she'd left it on the table, Vivi pulled out a pen from one of the pockets on her rich blouse and printed a number out on the back of the glossy rectangle. Flipping back the long strands of her hair with one hand, Vivi reached out with her other and taped the card to the top of the tart box in a quick motion. "It is my number, yes? There is a wedding in the next two weeks for which I am making the croquembouche of which I spoke. It is a wedding cake, but only traditional for the French. I do not know if you will be so awed when you see the croquembouche, but it is always a thing I find delightful. If you wish to see it, or to come by the bakery to perhaps sample the specialties, please -- do not hesitate to ring me. I would very much enjoy it! "
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