Long Distance Family

Who: Pandect and Sophie
When: Morning
Where: Streets of Marquette

Pandect had no time for rude people, they were too snappy and had a tendency to be unkind, and seeing as Pandect didn't believe in hypocrisy he avoided being rude as much as possible. It was hard when he was irritated, and he always got irritated when he got into a fight, so he was acting with an even more deliberate carefulness than usual. Slumping a little, keeping his head down, keeping out of notice of people. It was easier to be polite with less interaction with people.

That's why he was the reason he was out of the Lamplighter in the first place and wandering around the streets of Marquette. Mr. Andrew was back in his managerial position, cold and all, and complaining, and sneezing. And with Pandect with his injuries, not as bad as he had before granted, but enough to make him feel stupid for getting into a fight in the first place. It was much better for him to leave the Lamplighter and head to town.

Sophie was having a really bad day - it was safe too say that she was feeling harassed. She'd dropped Dean at school this morning, because she needed the car , and she'd been meaning to go to the autolot to see about picking him up something second hand for himself (so she could finally get her car back full time, and because he seemed to be keeping up his end of the bargain and keeping up his school attendance these days), but she'd found when she'd gotten into town that she'd forgotten her purse, which had meant driving home again, finding it, coming back into town again - and then she couldn't find anywhere to park, so she'd had to find a space and then walk, and it was cold and she'd left her hat on the kitchen table when she'd gone back for her purse and so... So it was an extremely flustered, cold and harassed Sophie that gave up on the idea of car-shopping for the greater need of a warming cup of coffee as she headed for the diner, not looking where she was going as she rummaged around in her bag, looking for something.

Pandect felt ridiculous, Mache had worked as hard on converting Pandect as he had Kels (for all the good it did him) and had practically rubbed into his bones the idea that you were always careful, watchful, after a fight (Pandect refused to use the word hunt, he was not a hunter) and yet here he was embarrassed and with an armful of young lady and a faceful of blonde hair. She had hit him right on the breastbone with the crown of her head (he had a bruise there of course) and kinda of stood there a moment stunned. He didn't quite blush, because he was too old to blush and released the arms around her immediately, going instead to steady her with a gentle hand to her shoulder.

"Pardon me," he said gently. "Are you alright?"

The first thing Sophie knew about having walked right into something - or, apparently, someone - was when she hit chest, the bag she'd been holding in front of her now squashed between them before she stepped back and looked up, slightly wide eyed. "Oh, god - I'm so sorry," she gushed. "I really should have been looking where I was going! Are you okay? God - I'm so embarrassed, I usually have more awareness than that..." she added, blushing slightly. True, she didn't have her husband's werewolf reflexes, but usually she did rather better than walking into people!

Pandect blinked at the accent and shifted awkwardly, "It's alright, really," he said quickly trying to project more the idea of gallantry than someone who couldn't pay attention to where they were going. "I'm sure millions of people bump into each other every day. I'm fine," he said quickly, because really? comparatively he was, although he snuck in a quick rub against his breastbone with the heel of his hand.

"Nothing got squished, did it?" he said looking down at her bag that was looking kind of flat where it was being held against her chest.

"What? Oh! Oh, no!" Sophie told him, realizing that he as referring to her bag. "No - it's good, all fine... I was just... Look, I'm really sorry." She looked round and saw they were just outside the diner, which had been where she'd been headed for in the first place. "Look - can I buy you a coffee or something to make up for it?" she offered, indicating the diner. It would at least assuage her conscience for nearly sending this man flying in the street, after all.

Pandect looked at the diner where he had met with Reiz that first time, ah, the irony, sometimes he felt like karma worked as much on him as through him. It wouldn't do to refuse a lady, Pandect knew he was hopelessly backwards on somethings, if he hadn't spent so much time working bars and diners he would never have agreed to letting a lady buy anything for him, but times were changing. "Alright," Pandect said with a smile. He hadn't heard a British accent since the War, it was very charming and quaint, old good memories for the most part. Other than the blitzes. A reminder of pleasant things. And besides this young lady appeared to be flustered, it would be best to agree. "I won't say no to a coffee."

He should probably eat too, he wasn't quite sure when he had logged in his last square meal. He checked his stride, Amy complained his step was too long, and assuaged any discomfort at having the young lady purchase something for him by holding the door.

Sophie smiled a little at the gesture - she really had no problems with someone being a gentleman like that and her parents had always said that it was something that should be done. Personally, she didn't expect or insist on it in any way, but still, it was nice. She stepped inside the diner and picked a table, waiting for the man to join her. "I'm Sophie, by the way," she said, figuring that if she was going to by the guy a coffee, she should really tell him her name.

"Pandect," he said, sliding into the seat across from her and extended his hand. He usually only gave his last name to people who he was dubious about, and Sophie seemed flustered, but hardly a person who had ulterior or unpleasant motives. He wasn't sneezing at least. "And thank you for the coffee. I hope I haven't upset your morning too much by running into you like that." Folding his hands carefully in front of him on the table Pandect prepared to have a polite conversation, it actually would be a nice change.

"Pandect? That's an unusual name," she commented, though she had noticed that this man very clearly wasn't local. These days that hardly seemed surprising though - Marquette seemed more and more populated by people from elsewhere, herself included. "And no - I... I was having one of those mornings anyhow. The 'forget my head if it was loose' kind of a day," Sophie said as she ordered coffee and settled her bag down by her side. "I'm really not usually like this," she added. Normally, she was rather more sensible and together - she was just clearly having a bad day.

"My parents were... artistic in their youth," Pandect shrugged, moving his fingers to hide his half smile. That was about as much as he ever talked about his past. Mache had come off worse for it anyway, so he didn't have much to complain about. The waiter knew what he wanted, coffee black, that's all. "Everyone has those sort of days."

"Does it mean anything in particular?" she asked him, showing polite interest as their drinks were brought and she set about adding things to get it to her liking. Her parents had clearly not been artistic in their youth and whilst she had no issues with her name now, she knew that as a child she'd desperately wanted to ahve been called something rather more exciting.

Pandect hadn't really thought about it for a couple hundred years, he looked down at his coffee, he had a taste for bitter coffee now, too much time in small towns he guessed. And in bars were the coffee was brewed to scrape the drunk right out of you, diner coffee was child's play in comparison. "Its Latin, I can't really remember, something to do with Roman libraries I think, some sort of romantic thing like that. They spent quite a bit of time in Italy," he fiddled with his coffee cup. It was a long time ago, he was a very different person. What had his parent's named him after? "I'm afraid I'm rather disappointingly unromantic. To tell the truth I haven't given it much thought."

She laughed a little at that, sweeping her blonde hair back behind her ears. "I'm sure they're very disappointed to hear you say that. Bet you were the only 'Pandect' in your class at school, right? At least you didn't get landed with something common where there'd be loads of you all with the same name. Like... We had three 'David's one year," she told him. School - that felt like so long ago now, but it wasn't. Sophie was still only in her very early twenties, but with a couple of teenagers to care for, some days she felt a lot older than that.

Pandect was a little before public schools actually, he shifted a little awkwardly. That was about all he could take discussing his past. He was sure his parents were a little more than disappointed in him, the last time he had seen them he had been rather violently disowned. "Well David is a nice name, and so is Sophie for that matter. It suits you very well," he said politely.

Sophie screwed up her nose a little. "When I was younger I hated it with a fiery passion. Silly, really, isn't it - a name's a name. You just have to live with that. Get used to it." Or buy yourself a new identity like Lullaby had done - or, rather, she and her husband had done for the teen, since they could afford the hefty price tag and she didn't have a penny to her name. But as far as Oz was concerned, Lullaby was pack. Which meant that, as far as Sophie was concerned, Lullaby was family.

Pandect couldn't help a quick little smile at the young lady's little vanity, but covered it quickly. "I'm afraid that may just be me being unromantic again. I'm so used to being Pandect, I haven't ever really thought of it," he shrugged, sipped coffee to buy himself some time.

"You're young yet, you'll settle into yourself. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing all the way across the pond so to speak?"

She cocked a smile. "I've been here a while now - and I moved out here originally when I was still at school. Went back for a few years, but didn't settle, so back I came. A guy got me back, really - we got married last month," she told him, her smile widening into a beam as she showed her ring. Sure, she'd worn it since she was fifteen, but that little piece of paper made it all new again. And now she didn't have to explain why she wore a wedding ring when she was unmarried.

Pandect smiled, as unromantic he was, he appreciated marriage. When he was young that was what you did, you found a woman for whom you were amiable, you married, and if you were lucky you had children. Not that it looked like he would ever have the chance it seemed, not that he wanted to, he couldn't even keep his own brother from dying. There was no chance he could keep his wife and children safe. "Félicitations!"

He tipped his fingers underneath hers to get a look at it and had to pull his hand back to cover his big smile. "How sweet! Was it a very long courtship?"

"Thanks - and we've been together off and on for about six years now? A long time anyway," Sophie explained, skipping out on the fact that she's left him for three of those years, ran away because she'd been scared about what staying would entail. Being fifteen and soul-bonded to a guy had been an experience she hadn't been ready to cope with. "He would have married a lot sooner, but I'm afraid I put it off for a few years. Didn't want to rush into things."

"Yes, that is wise sometimes, you would have been very young. Too much passion too soon can burn out love. It is better to wait a little, until you are ready to form a family. To rely on each other," he took another long sip and made a small movement to attract the attention of the waiter. "You would not to ruin your marriage by moving too quick," he toasted her. "Better to learn each other first."

Sophie pulled another little face. She wasn't sure about the family thing - though she knew Oz would jump on it in a moment. So far, it was something they hadn't talked about. It wasn't that Sophie didn't want a family, it was just that they already had two teenagers and she wasn't in a rush to add babies into that mix. "Well, we kind of already have the family thing," she explained. "My sixteen year old cousin came to live with us over the summer, so I've kind of become his surrogate mum." She skipped out on adding that his girlfriend was living with them as well - the less said about the girl who was supposed to be dead to strangers, the better.

"Best no children for a while then," Pandect tilted his head and died another of his little smiles that wasn't quite a smile. "Besides, you are very young, it is best to wait a little for those things."

"How about you?" Sophie asked, sipping at her coffee, feeling that she was talking too much about herself right now. "Do you have any family?"

That was a question a little more difficult to answer than one would think. Yes, he had family, it was rather that his family didn't have him, didn't really want him. "I am very much alone in the world," he said instead. "But I have made friends here, small towns are good for that I think. and it is good you have family with you," he segwayed smoothly. "How is he adapting to America? The people here are certainly... bold," they had been when he had come down from Canada and they still were.

Sophie considered this. "He's settling in okay," she decided upon in the end. "At least, he went home a bit ago to see and he came back - so he must like it here. Which is good - it's nice, having family over here. Everyone else was so far away," she added, with a sad edge to her tone. Far away was really putting it mildly - it wasn't just the distance, her mother had basically disowned her for coming back out here, for marrying Oz. There weren't really any happy families. She had no idea how her Aunt Vicy was dealing with her sister right now - how she'd explained to Sophie's mother that she'd given Dean into the care of the estranged daughter.

The young lady's distress, tempered by her British reticence, relaxed and softened Pandect. For all his insistence that he was a patented unromantic he had an old fashioned sense of gallantry that turned him into a patient brother to Amy and an excellent listener. "It is very hard to be away from family, in one's heart as well, yes?" he said with an unconscious slip into French syntax. "Loving someone, especially someone in one's family... It can be a pleasure and a pain to love, to have hope. But you have your husband."

Sophie smiled a little, rallying herself. "My family is here now," she told him. They may not always be blood, but she had Oz, and couldn't ask for better. And Dean. And then the extended family of her friends and Oz' pack - all in all, it was probably a closer family than she'd ever had growing up.

The French were always more open with affection and Pandect was no exception, he reached across the diner table and rested his fingertips on top of hers. "I'm am glad of that then, for you to have good friends. Young ladies are not meant to be alone."

The French may have always been more open with affection, but Sophie was married to a werewolf - and she was always aware that touch meant smell and that lingered. She removed her hand from his as soon as she could without it being rude. "I'm definitely not that," she said, finishing off her coffee. "And I hope that you won't be - I mean, for long. Ever - I... I hope if you don't have family then you find friends," she said, rephrasing what she meant.

Pandect set his hands around his coffee cup again, not quite smiling, going a little still and sad. "I am used to my own company. I am old enough to be used to myself."

Sophie didn't think he looked that old, but she took the comment anyhow. "Well, I hope you're happy as you are then," she offered, not sure from looking at him that he actually was, but what business, really, was it of hers if he wasn't. She was suddenly very aware that she was sitting having coffee with a stranger, even if he did seem mostly harmless. Oz would definitely not approve.

Pandect saw Sophie look suddenly uncomfortable, and responded to it immediately. Even if Sophie were not married, she was rather young, she brought out rather more the need to protect than to... liaise. But it was possible that their meeting could be misconstrued, it was perhaps time to leave the young lady alone. "Thanks for the coffee," Pandect said politely. "I should probably continue on my way."

Sophie nodded a little. "It was nice meeting you," she said, foregoing on an offer of a hope that they meet again sometime. Not that she didn't, but... She was having a bad day today, she felt all sorts of off and she didn't exactly trust her judgment. "Thanks for sitting with me - I enjoyed it," she added. It was a small town, maybe if she met him again, she'd be in a better frame of mind. Yes, she'd leave it until next time to decide anything.

Pandect nodded, "You as well. I hope your day improves." He finished his coffee with a single sip and prepared to stand.

"Thanks," Sophie said, finishing out her wallet and leaving enough money to cover the coffee and a hefty tip for the waitress. Her own little amends to her bad day. Sophie always tipped more heavily when she wasn't doing well - a kind of an apology to the world around her who had to deal. It was just one of her quirks. "I hope you have a good day as well," she said, standing also.

Standing politely with the young lady, Pandect nodded his goodbye, "Thank you." He wished as he did sometimes that he had some sort of nervous tick to occupy his hands, a coat, or a hat to hold to take away some of his awkwardness. Sticking his hands instead in his pockets he left the diner, with his usually long strides. He hoped the young lady wouldn't see any grief for their coffee.