People Watching

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Starring

 * Eliza Kate Grace
 * Julius Alexander Von Albrecht

People Watching
Eliza Grace



''*Oh, but honey, why on earth do you need to buy that expensive handbag? Don't you have five others, just like that, back at home?*'' Eliza's thoughts mimicked a mans voice as she observed a couple arguing outside of a store just across the street. Call it a weird hobby, or just a quirk, but when she had been younger, her parents had always made her laugh by imitating what people may be saying to each other. They had said they were, 'people watching.' What better way to entertain yourself while you sit at cafe?

*No I don't! I have Gucci, Louis Vitton, and Prada, but I don't have Chanel!* Eliza giggled to herself at that thought and then finally turned her eyes back down to her laptop that she had out. She connected her mobile hotspot and turned it on. It was time she get back down to work, it was time to work on her article. This one was a rather annoying piece meant for the women readers and was all about fashion. Surprisingly enough Eliza had to study more about things for this one than for most other articles. While she did dress nice, she never wore anything that was super expensive and despite having grown up being able to afford nice things, she naturally tended to stray towards the clearance racks. For example, this afternoon, while she did look nice in her dark denim skinny jeans, button up light blue plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her biceps, and black boots that came up just past her ankle, she hadn't spent more than twenty on any of these, aside from her thick black pea coat hanging on the chair.

Eliza strummed her fingers on her keyboard, thoughts bouncing inside of her mind. She wasn't sure what to say to them. She was supposed to be talking about latest trends, but what was she to put? ''*In latest, breaking fashion news, this season lace is the way to go. Try Raquel Allegra's new raw-edged stretch-lace top that while it costs enough to feed a small village in Africa, it's lack of fabric will be sure to attract the men, just try not to wear it in the cold!*'' She scoffed at the thought. One of the downsides of being one of the few female reporters working at her newspaper and being good at her job, she often got assigned the worst jobs, simply because she could make it sound good.

After another five minutes of sitting there staring at a blank screen, she finally closed her laptop and sighed heavily. She'd try again later when her mind wasn't so frazzled. The waitress brought her another coffee and Eliza poured a couple packets of sugar into it and stirred. "What a job I have." She said quietly to herself in a disheartened voice.

Julius Von Albrecht



He sighed rather deeply as he stood there, a neutral look forced on his face. He looked over at the man crouching down in front of him as he held his arms out wide, allowing him to put his measuring tape about the circumference of his waist, then down his legs. "How much longer is this going to take?" he demanded rather bluntly. If his tailor gave an answer, he didn't notice. He was too busy being annoyed. After all the tens of thousands of dollars he'd spent on custom-made suits of the finest caliber, the least this man could do was remember his damn measurements. It was irksome. In some ways, it was insulting, and he was very seriously thinking of taking his patronage somewhere else. In fact, he was about ten seconds away from that decision when something across the street caught his eye.

What he saw changed his attitude completely. Sitting there, at one of his favorite cafes (if any cafe could be called a favorite of his, that is; he wasn't exactly a fan of coffee) was a scene of ever-so-slight frustration. A laptop closed, and he was none too sad to see that happen. It served two purposes for him; First, it got rid of a small bit of technological presence, which was never a sad thing; Second, it opened the view to a rather more pleasant piece of scenery. If he was being honest, the poor girl sitting at the table was more than 'just' pretty, but less than truly breathtaking, but her looks were enough to strike a bit of fancy in him. He figured that he might as well saunter on over and see what she was all about. That was when he noticed that he was being spoken to, and although he hadn't quite heard the words, he guessed what they meant easily enough. "Yes, thank you. One of my men will be around to pick it up when it's finished. Do try to keep something on record for the next one, will you?" And even as he spoke, the count was pulling his coat back on and heading out.

At once, he was bombarded by the scents of society. A thousand different aromas of sweat and perfume reached his olfactory senses at the same time, but his little sniffer was able to sort straight through them and get to the one he wanted. Hundreds of years of practice had taught him to do that. Her scent wasn't particularly sweet, but it had a certain quality to it that he rather liked. It was very difficult to describe, if you'd never smelt it before. See, everybody has a unique body chemistry that causes them to excrete certain pheromones which come across to the senses as a smell, and hers was a kind of a gentle scent that almost reminded him of the hearth in wintertime. It was not because it smelled ashen or smokey or anything like that, either. It was simply a smell that seemed warm and comforting to him. He rather liked it. '... God, I'm creepy,' he thought. This train of thought was distracting him from walking anyway, and even as he bumped into another pedestrian, he was pressing thoughts of the scent from his mind. As he disgustedly brushed the filth of the human - yeah, the guy *totally* smelled human - off of his sleeves, he approached the cafe, striding boldly through the door. Why he needed to be bold about it even he didn't know, but it struck him that this was the opportune moment to be putting on overt shows of confidence.

His stride carried him straight where he was going - but not too straight. No need to make it obvious that he was there for one purpose and one alone. Instead, he played off his attempt to not blanch at the overpowering coffee smell in the store as a sneeze, and he then used that motion to 'notice' the girl where she was sitting. He took just enough time to smile and hesitated just long enough to 'make a decision' before taking that same confident stride over toward her table, clearing his throat and adjusting his collar as he made his final approach. "Excuse me," he said, hand already on the back of the chair opposite her, "But is this seat taken?"

Eliza Grace



Eliza's thoughts wandered to her current life situation. She had just recently turned twenty-four and what was she doing with her life? Honestly, she couldn't say she had many friends outside of her job, and even then, those were more just acquaintences rather than friends. Her mother was constantly on her about marrying and having kids, she was always being told, *You're clock is ticking Eliza Grace, and time waits on no one!* Was it her fault that she wasn't ready to be tied down again, let go of the adventures life had to offer? She wanted to explore and she wanted to travel, but currently she was working a job that gave her enough money to get by with a few little luxuries and she hadn't traveled any where outside of her current town.

When was the last time she had done anything courageous? Or even remotely interesting? Eliza could remember a time when she had wanted to be an international reporter, traveling all over, and finding the stories that others were scared to write. What a dreamer she had been... Eliza sipped her coffee and let her thoughts drift to happier moments of her life. She thought of her parents. They were currently out of town, now that they were retired and had very few responsibilities they were constantly traveling. She had to admit, jealousy had reared it's ugly head and she told them that they were cruel for waiting so long before traveling, they should have taken her with them.

Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone sneezing. Eliza looked around to find the source of the noise and saw a handsome man standing not to far away from her. She saw his gaze on her and quickly looked away, trying to keep from staring or observing as she liked to call it. Eliza wasn't one to really take much notice in the opposite sex, which was probably why she hadn't dated anyone since her ex-fiance. She wouldn't have noticed him except that they had the same college class and she would have failed her class had it not been for his help.

*"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?"* Eliza was pulled from her thoughts and looked up to meet the eyes of the handsome man she had seen just moments before. It took a moment for the words to register and she shook her head as a rush of heat bloomed in her cheeks forming a soft blush in her pale skin.

"Oh, no, not at all." She stuttered out shyly, her hazel eyes darting around nervously as she motioned for him to take a seat. Eliza had never been the most socially graceful when she didn't know someone, let alone when they were tall, dark haired, and handsome. She wasn't sure what else to say, quite honestly it wasn't often that this sort of thing happened often to her, so after a moment she went for introducing herself. "I'm Eliza Grace." She said softly with a small smile and held her hand out to shake.