Aveline-Chevalier-RP

Aveline sat with her legs crossed on the park bench, her sketchbook lying on her knees and her pencil held in one hand. The page was blank; the pencil still had a sharp tip and an unused eraser. Her empty hand was rolling the fabric of her long skirt back and forth between her fingers while her soft green eyes flitted around, looking at everything that moved and the things that stayed still, trying to find some inspiration for art.

But nothing gave her that spark, that sudden surge of creativity.

Nothing had since she had left France with her father.

With a soft, melancholy sigh, Aveline untangled her skinny legs from her skirt and stood up, closing her unused sketchbook and tucking it under one arm. She supposed she had better be getting back to the hotel. Her father would be getting off work soon, and she didn't want to worry him.

She left the park and set off down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. There were plenty of cabs, but she hated riding in them -  they stank of smoke and other people, and were much too new for her taste. Really, anything with an engine was too new for her taste.

She turned a corner sharply, too sharply, in fact. Her foot slid on a patch of cement that was still slick from yesterday's rain and flew out from underneath her, launching her forward, directly toward an unsuspecting person.

A single word flew from Aveline's mouth in what was probably the world's quietest yelp.

"Merde!"