A Special Sort of Sweet (Elise and Lovino)

[Elise Peeters]

It was the most heart-wrenching sight. Nothing, nothing, had been spared. Elise surveyed the ruins of her shop and tried to swallow the lump forming in her throat. All her confections were either gone - stolen, no doubt - or splattered across the floor. It hurt to see pies flattened and frosting smeared across the floor. Her glass windows were shattered, the sharp pieces joining the debris on the floor.

There was a crunch of glass under her foot, and tears sprang into her eyes. She had spent a sleepless night in her room above the shop, hiding in her closet once the warnings about the pirate raid had rung out. She heard faint sounds of crashing below and could only pray that her patisserie would survive. No such luck.

The strain of the night before and the awfulness of the scene finally caught up to her. Sliding down to the clearest spot on the floor she could find, Elise took a moment to breathe deeply and resist dissolving into tears. She needed to calm herself. There was no time for her to fall apart; her livelihood depended on it.

Summoning the last dredges of her willpower, she stood up shakily and looked around her once more. She faced the daunting task of cleaning up the whole space before she could rebuild and refurnish it properly. Then there was the matter of the pastries themselves...

With a deep sigh, she navigated her way across the room, deciding to dispose of the bigger pieces first. She would pile the damaged fixtures outside before sweeping up the broken pieces and scrubbing off the pastry remains staining the floor and the walls.

It could take her days to finish. She didn't have time to mourn or cry.

[Lovino Vargas]

The marketplace was as busy as usual, people milling about through the streets on their way to their destinations. Not that Lovino really cared, he was just here to get some groceries since it was his turn to do so. Mainly he just ignored most of the people around him just as they ignored him.

As he was walking along though, one thing did in face catch his notice. People seemed to be slowing down and murmuring amongst themselves as they passed by a particular shop. But wasn't that shop... Getting a little worried Lovino sped up a little, stopping once he was in front of Elise's shop. His eyes widened at the sight of the wrecked shop, wondering who would do this.

He walked further into the shop surveying the damage when he spotted Elise. Carefully walking around the mess he approached her carefully. "...Elise? Are you ok?" She appeared to be alright, but he felt that was the best question to ask first.

[Elise Peeters]

Elise had piled the last of the broken chairs in front of the shop when she heard a familiar voice behind her. She spun around and offered a small smile for her friend.

"Hello, Lovino." She tried not to wince upon hearing her cheerless tone. She attempted to sound brighter. "How have you been?"

Looking around, Elise found that the marketplace was busier than usual, with people frantic to right their business in time for the shoppers and customers. The immediate area was a mess. She turned back to Lovino.

"What brings you here today?" she asked. "I thought you would have heard of what happened. It's a bit chaotic here, you see."

She gestured toward her shop, and the full reality of the destruction hit her again. She hurried to turn away and wipe her eyes, which were traitorously tearing up again.

[Lovino Vargas]

The Italian saw her smiling, but frowned at the tone of her voice. It was pretty obvious she was just trying to make him not worry, after all that's what he did a lot with his own brother. When she asked how he was he replied, "I'm alright, but I only just got here so I haven't had a chance to hear about what happened. What did happen?"

Honestly, when he'd seen the crowd in front of her shop he hadn't really noticed the state of the surrounding shops. But when he thought about it he realized that in fact much of the crowd he had seen had in fact belonged to the shopkeepers and family and friends, trying to fix up the area. It seems Elise's shop had been ones hit the hardest, though why they'd ruin a patisserie shop like this he just couldn't understand.

He saw her turning around and his heart ached, it hurt to see such a strong woman reduced to this. Carefully he put his hand on her shoulder. He really wasn't very good at comforting people, but he'd at least try. "H-hey... It's alright to be upset, I came here to help."

[Elise Peeters]

It was the touch of her friend's hand on her shoulder, more than anything, that helped Elise collect her composure again. Feeling heartened by his presence, she straightened herself and faced Lovino.

"You did?" Her eyes widened, a little taken aback by his kind offer. "I - well, thank you. Thank you so much. I hate to trouble you, but I really do need an extra hand..."

She contemplated him for a moment longer, wondering if it was worth bothering him about. Elise couldn't deny the sincerity on her friend's face, and so took his hand and led him inside.

"It was a raid," she explained, sighing. "As you can see, the result isn't pretty." She picked her way across the room, warning Lovino about the bits of broken class and wood. "I'll have to close up, at least until I can fix this up and make another supply of pastries. It might take a terribly long time. It's such a mess."

She was hesitant when she looked Lovino in the eye. She wasn't sure that she wanted to corner him into following through with his promise to help, now that he saw the full extent of the damage "Do - do you still want to help?"

[Lovino Vargas]

It was a relief to see her calmed down and a bit more like her usual self. As they walked inside he took further note of the damage and frowned, feeling a spark of anger burn in his chest from the sight. He made sure to step around the broken bits of the store as she spoke and when she was finished he asked, "Was it pirates then? Or did you not get a very good look at who did this?" Regardless of if she knew or not though, he was going to figure it out and make whoever was responsible for this pay.

As looked at the mess again he was already thinking of ways to get this cleaned up faster. "I think we can get this place running in not too long a time. Do you have any insurance on the store?"

When he heard her ask him again if he still wanted to help he frowned. "Of course I do, stupid. I think I can rope my brother into helping clean the place up as well so it'll get done faster. And of course he'll probably end up roping a few people in to help him too. It's no real trouble." He really was serious when he said he wanted to help; he didn't have many friends, but the few he had he did honestly care about, though he'd express that in different ways depending on who you were.

((btw I checked and insurance was actually quite mainstream by the late 1800s so I'm counting it if that's alright with you))

[Elise Peeters]

Lovino's solution brightened Elise considerably. "Of course!" she exclaimed, chuckling a little at herself. "This shop is insured! Why didn't I remember that?"

She laughed, throwing her arms around Lovino's neck in relief. "You're brilliant!"

She sighed as she pulled away, surveying the mess with renewed optimism. "It won't take so long to put this all to rights now. And now I'm thinking of renovating the whole look for the shop."

She gave him a wide smile, and this time, it was much more sincere. "Thank you. You're such a wonderful friend."

She reached out to squeeze his hand quickly and exhaled. "All right, now we really have to work. We need to clear out all the mess first. Come on."

Elise led him toward the side of the space she had already begun to clean up, determined to at least finish emptying half of the shop by the end of the day.

[Lovino Vargas]

Sorry I'm terrible! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted ;;;; ))

The sudden arms around his neck made Lovino's face burn in embarrassment. That combined with the compliment made his brain short-circuit for a moment leaving him standing there stiffly with his cheeks burning bright red even after she pulled away. Shaking his head he composed himself and thanked his lucky stars she hadn't noticed it. With that he tuned back in to what she was saying, listening quietly to her words.

When she smiled again his cheeks flushed once more. "I-It's nothing, I'm just doing what any good friend would do." He smiled back, a real smile for once, feeling rather odd on his face but not in a bad way. He wasn't sure what to feel about her use of the word "friend" though. When she took his hand though he squeezed hers back comfortingly, hyper aware of their hands touching and the soft feel of her skin.

Realizing he was getting distracted again Lovino shook such thoughts from his mind though he was still a little red and followed her to the side of the shop, squeezing her hand once more before letting go and going over to a broken table, leaning down and checking that it was indeed ruined, two of the legs smashed apart with the table itself lying on its side like a wounded animal. "Where should I put the stuff that needs to be thrown out?"

[Elise Peeters]

Elise glanced up from where she was inspecting a set of upturned chairs. Frowning slightly in thought, she waved toward the doorway, where she had piled the shattered breakables first.

"Outside, beside the door." She lifted two of the chairs she found broken by their backs. "Hang on, I'll show you."

She nodded at him to follow her as she transported the chairs out of the shop. She placed them neatly beside the bin full of glass and china pieces, sighing.

"Those were my family's," she said mournfully. "They were beautiful...but I suppose they were much too delicate. I shouldn't have brought them."

[Lovino Vargas]

And then I break my previous record aka college kicking my ass ;;; Forgive me orz ))

Picking up the broken table which thankfully was not that big, Lovino followed her outside the door, and deposited it next to the chairs. He looked at the bin of broken china and frowned at her words. "You couldn't have foreseen something like this. Besides its not your fault those damn pirates trashed your shop, its theirs." He huffed while crossing his arms, just staring at the ruined furniture.

Looking up and down the street his frown deepened seeing how much damage this street had gotten. Partially why he was so angry was because he knew there wasn't much he really could do. He could help her clean up and maybe help refurnish her store, but he couldn't do shit to bring those pirates to justice.

Through the broken window he gazed at the remains of her shop trying to figure out how long this would take. Lovino turned back to her and asked, "Should I get more help? It's better to get this done sooner so you can reopen faster anyways..."