fandomhigh | French Study Group. The Library, Late Monday Afternoon.

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French Study Group. The Library, Late Monday Afternoon.

Those arriving for the inaugural meeting of the French study group would find that Emma and Sookie had laid claim to some of the large study tables towards the back. There were some tartes aux fruits and petite madeleine to one side for people to snack upon.

No, Emma hadn't made them. She'd gone to Patisserie Poupon.

But don't think for a second that Sookie hadn't taken careful note of what she thought the ingredients in said pastries might be so she could make her own sometime. Hey, if she was studying like the French, she should cook and eat like them, too!

It was excellent logic, thank you.

"Welcome!" Sookie said to the newcomers as people wafted in. "I mean, um, bienvenue."

Sookie, sadly, was not able to really get rid of her own accent to replace it with a French one, no. The effect was...memorable.

Memorable was a good word for it. Emma just kept a smile on her face and managed not to dissolve into giggles. "Enchanté," she said dryly. "Je m'appelle Emma Frost, son nom est Sookie Stackhouse."

"Oui!" Sookie agreed happily. "And I'm gonna switch to anglais here, since we're studying French and don't know it parfait yet. So, welcome to our French study group. For our first day, we were kinda thinkin' we'd just introduce ourselves and say why we're learning French. In my case, it's 'cause a number of people 'round my parts have French roots, and it'll be more useful for me."

Emma waited until Sookie was finished before nodding. "At my former school, it was required that the girls learn at least one foreign language," she said. "Those of us in the upper class--" and she did not mean upperclassmen. "-- were expected to take French, as our teachers felt it was a language that required elegance of thought and mind, and I enjoy the discipline required to learn other languages."

"So let's hear who you are, and why you're here, and what you'd like to study in particular, be it verb forms, literature, or whatever else you want to work on."

"I'm working on my accent," Sookie shared.

We could all tell, Sookie.

"And help yourself to all the pastries," she added with a Vanna White-like wave.

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As one usually does at these events.

They don't have to be in French!

If you haven't finished your assignment yet, use the library computers to log on to your homework, and work together to learn Français!

They're around!

Let's hear it for our fantastic adviser, letting us use the library!

No world-ending before my nap.

Considering that Alexander was coming to this club after pizza and belching contests, delicious French pastries seemed the epitome of class.

And Alexander felt almost as awkward as the first time he'd attended court after spending the rest of his life as a slave.

Sookie was totally there, surreptitiously trying to sneak an extra tart or two.

For science.

His French was still pretty terrible, considering the only exposure he'd ever had to it was here, but of course Alexander was going to try to at least get part of it in the language they were studying.

"Er, um," he said, giving a good, strong start. "Bonjour, mes amis. Je m'appelle Alexander, et je suis...er...uh, well, I am studying Français because ma mère believes it is important for a person in my position to know of many different cultures, even ones he has never encountered before. I suppose I would take a particular interest in the culture of the French, though, I hope to get t oa point where I could esily converse with someone in that language."

William was looking... More than a little gobsmacked by the selection of food. Strange, he was able to accept advances in technology with little problem, but the *food* constantly surprised him.

William's French was... Definitely not anything resembling Parisian standard. "je m'appele William, et chus icitte //because I thought a more formal study of the language could be useful//."

~~pls excuse mun's actual barely passable knowledge of joual and pretend that was all in French. Feel free to have your character boggle at said street French as well~~

Am actually sneaking pings at work bc I am impatient, but I shall be around laaaaaters!

Henry was paging through a volume of enlightenment essays and trying to look benevolent and fade into the background. That seemed to be his role as advisor.

"Um, hi," Bobby said, giving a little wave. "I'm Bobby McCallister. My mom thinks it's the everyone's duty to explore a language and culture beyond your own so I thought French sounded neat." And he sure as heck wasn't taking Spanish. "Um. I guess I want to learn how to speak it?"

Bobby was eyeing the little fruit tarts and wondering just how many he could eat before he was officially rude. Maybe he could smuggle some out afterwards.

Clark smiled brightly at his turn. "I'm Clark Kent," he said, looking at the other kids with hope that they wouldn't always speak French. "I'm here because I'm trying the first level of French again since I bombed it over the summer. Hopefully I'll pass this time!"

"Salut, Alexander," Emma said. "Hopefully you'll be be able to carry on a basic conversation with someone without accidentally calling them a turnip or something like that."

He was tiny! It would be mean to be a bad influence on the ickle little freshman, right? Right.

"Salut, Bobby," she replied, giving him a bright smile. "Hopefully we'll help you get to a point where your mother is happy with your progress."

"Bonjour, mademoiselle Frost," he replied, grinning back at her. "Ma mére est...um, maybe we can distract her with French when she comes this weekend?"

"Were those words?" Sookie wondered, staring.

"Bienvenue, Clark!" Sookie said happily. "That means 'welcome.'"

"Good thing I didn't just assume you were cursing at me!" Clark said jokingly.

Rilla wandered over to the food, brightening considerably as she recognized ~~William~~ familiar faces.

"Ouais, I mean, yes, rather," William said, with a bit of a blush. "That's why I'm here, really. The French I am familiar with is not exactly the French of the classroom."

"Bonjour," Rilla said, looking around nervously. She hated doing introductions, and lisping in a foreign language would be humiliating. "I'm learning French so I can read novels, mostly. My brother Walter swears they're better untranslated and I don't want to feel entirely like a dunce."

"Well, unless it's a turnip I'm actually talking to," said Alexander, because, where he was from, you never knew.

"Well, if the novel was originally in French, knowing something about the culture would give a better context, and does sound better to say you've read something in the original language," Emma replied.

"You could try," she answered, trying not to sound dubious. Somehow, she doubted a parent would be distracted from their first glimpse of Fandom. "You could show her to the library, and leave her with Mr. DeTamble?"

That was what the adviser was for, right? Giving them legitimacy?

Bobby looked over at the librarian dubiously. "I don't think he deserves that."

"Or an onion." Root vegetables. Honestly.

"It's fascinating, though," Sookie admitted. "French Creole's a big thing where I'm from, so I'm used to hearing non-classroom French myself, but that sounds -- different."

Rilla smiled. "My brother simply adores France. We wish to go there some day."

"It is the language of Montreal's working class ~~though it doesn't have a name yet~~," William admitted. "And thus, the tongue that most of us lads ended up picking up, much to the chagrin of our instructors," he grinned.

Alexander's grin turned a little wry. "That was a little...unexpected, wasn't it?"

If only Alexander knew how it would prepare him for his future...

"And you're tryin' to coach yourself out of old habits?" she surmised. "But y'know, I think it'll be better that you know both. You'll be able to talk to actual French-Canadians that way, right? 'Cause you won't sound like a textbook."

William looked up from his study of the fruit tarts as he spotted Rilla. "Please tell me I'm not alone in being quite confused by the variety of food available," he asked with a pleading look. Seriously, he was pretty sure some of these weren't even in season, and what on Earth were the green things with the little black seeds?

"Not at all," Rilla murmured back. "However do they manage to have strawberries this late?"

"Is it strange that that's been one of the more difficult things for me to become accustomed to?" William asked her.

"Precisely," he nodded. "The French of the prairies, or even Acadia, is quite different, but studying Parisian French ought to at least make it- mutually intelligible, is the term, I believe."

"I don't believe so," Rilla said. "Susan serves wonderful food, but it's normal things. Nothing at all like these tarts."

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French Study Group. The Library, Late Monday Afternoon.

Arrive/Mingle/Food!

Introductions!

Lessons!

Talk with Sookie or Emma

Talk to Mr. DeTamble

OOC

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