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Outdoor Setting of a CafΓ© in Central Paris | April 14, 2012 (08:03 AM)
β« 10.000 Bullets (Tsukiyo ni Saraba) OST - Target
In the seating area outside of the cafΓ© Olivia was exiting, a man in his late twenties was reading the newspaper as he was seated at one of the tables, a slightly more than half-full cup of tea in front of him as he was looking through the stock market in the business section of the paper. Adjusting his glasses for a moment, he lifted the cup by its handle again and took another sip of the tea, placing the cup back down on the table afterwards. The man shook his head slowly, seeming like he had a bit on his mind -- perhaps a result of the fact that he was so caught up with his job that he had a difficult time relaxing.
Suddenly, the teacup shattered into pieces that were sent flying, causing the man to jump up from his chair in a startled manner, dropping the newspaper as the seat hit the ground behind him.
Turning around in multiple directions, as if frantically searching for a possible cause, the man noticed a girl sitting on a chair at another eatery on the opposite site of street, holding a slingshot. She looked around twelve years old or so, seemingly a little under five feet tall, and was fairly lean from the look of her. Her skin was the sort of light colour one would expect from a Caucasian, while her long - roughly halfway down her back, and generally a bit uneven; even slightly messy - Tosca rose (sort of a rose-tinted light maroon) coloured hair was a bit less conventional, uneven bangs framing down her forehead and then longer ones down the sides of her face. She had a deadpan expression on her face that looked bored, and her emerald green eyes stood out quite a bit due to how expressional and inquisitive they appeared. The stick of a lollipop was hanging out of her mouth. Her outfit consisted of a pair of sneakers, denim jeans, and a black t-shirt. Over the top half of her outfit, she was wearing a grey raincoat with the hood up despite the relatively pleasant weather.
"Hey, you brat! What do you think you're doing!?" the man yelled out at the girl, who seemingly made no reaction at all.
"Coll," a stern voice spoke out suddenly with an accent that sounded vaguely Irish even though he was speaking in French, "are you causing trouble again...?" continued the man who walked out of the building with a bag of takeaway.
The man who approached the girl appeared in his early-mid thirties, and was tall - definitely slightly over six feet - in comparison to the girl, with a slightly lean build that still looked very athletic and had broad shoulders. To be exact, he would have looked fairly muscular if not for the large black trench coat that covered nearly his entire outfit due to it reaching down almost to his feet, with the collar pulled up and covering most of his neck as well. The trench coat was left open, allowing his black pants, black belt with a silver buckle, and untucked dress shirt that was a very dark grey - virtually indistinguishable from black - to be clearly visible, and he was wearing black shoes. The collar button of the shirt and the one below it were both left undone. The man himself had light skin like the girl, also appearing like a Caucasian. His piercing grey-blue eyes appeared calm and focused, but were clearly looking at the girl in a scolding manner, at least to anyone who could see them from behind the pair of rimless sunglasses that he was wearing, which had small and completely round black lenses -- they looked more like black spectacles than regular sunglasses. His short hair was medium brown and slicked back for the most part, while it had a little extra volume at the top since the back part mostly stuck out behind his head slightly while the front had a more unkempt look to it -- bangs spiked out in a variety of directions.
"Who the hell are you!? Is this brat your kid!?" the man said out loud as he approached the two.
The stranger with the sunglasses turned to face the other man and placed the takeaway bag down on the table next to the girl, as well as the suitcase in his other hand. He placed one hand up behind his head and scratched his hair slightly with a somewhat sheepish look on his face.
"Oh, my name is Lawrence Cody. I'm a journalist from Ireland, and this is my daughter Colleen." he stated, turning to the girl, "Coll, apologize to the man!" Lawrence scolded.
"Sorry..." Colleen said half-heartedly, rolling her eyes slowly before she turned around and slumped down on the chair, taking out her portion of the takeaway from the bag and starting to eat.
"You need to keep that brat under control! Take the damn slingshot from her or something!" the man said.
"Yeah, sorry about that..." Lawrence replied, scratching his head again, "She can be a real monster sometimes..." he continued, moving his hand back down and taking a moment to adjust his sunglasses slightly with one finger, "Coll, give it to me." he ordered without raising his voice, causing Colleen to nonchalantly place it out on the table without saying anything or looking back at either of them, as she kept munching away at her burger.
Lawrence took a moment to open up his suitcase, turning to the man as he did, "So, what did she break...?" he asked.
"Huh...!? Oh, a teacup -- messed up my newspaper too!" the man replied.
"I see..." Lawrence said calmly, pulling out a noticeable amount of money. It would have easily been enough for the man to replace his newspaper, pay for a replacement cup for the cafΓ©, and even buy the most expensive meal on their menu, with a reasonable bit left to spare after all of that, "This should do it, right...?" he stated.
As Lawrence handed the money over, the man was more shocked than anything, actually having to stop his jaw from dropping. "Sure! ... Just make sure it doesn't happen again!" he said, getting a bit distracted by the money and almost forgetting how angry he was for a moment.
"Of course." Lawrence said with a smile, and then he rummaged through the suitcase again, "Oh yeah, one more thing..."
"Yeah, what?" the man replied.
"Perhaps you can help me with something -- you see, I'm looking for someone, and all I know is they're in Paris..." Lawrence said, pulling out a piece of paper and showing the man a photo of the person in question, "If you happen to see him, would you call the number on the back? I'm offering a reward for any leads..." he stated.
"A reward? Yeah, alright. If I find out anything, I'll call you." the man said.
"I appreciate it. That'd be great." Lawrence replied, his eyes turning slightly as he noticed Olivia, "Oh, excuse me miss!" he said with a calm look on his face, "Could I have a moment of your time?"
