Welcome to Paris (shamanman)

Slowly and hesitantly she pulled herself out of the American fashion designer's hotel bed. She began slipping on her stilettos and a complementary hotel robe, which almost hung off her slim and fit body frame. Maryse headed for the door of the hotel room but then remembered why she was there. Before her hand touched the door knob, Maryse turned herself back around and walked back to the bed. She hovered over the man, her pupils began to get big and she placed her hand over the American's sleeping face.

"Remember this name. Maryse Bellegloire. Remember this face because it will be a face you'll see frequently. You will not think of any other woman beside Maryse; me." She paused for a moment."Oh yeah and none of your latest designs will be released to the public until I get my hands on it."

Maryse removed her hand from his face and her pupils shrunk back to its normal size. She left the hotel room and strutted toward the nearest elevator, entering it alone. It was very early in the morning and she didn't expect to run into the tourist that occupied this very hotel. It was a good thing she didn't too. Maryse didn't feel a robe and stiletto heels were appropriate attire to be seen in. Especially since she thought of herself as a woman who represented the city of love.

Maryse exited the elevator, passing through the lobby and finally making her way out of the exquisite hotel. She called a taxi and when one finally heard her calls, she slid in and gave the taxi driver an address."Rough night?" He asked in both his and her native tongue. She didn't answer him right away but when she did, it was in her most powerful voice, demanding that he wouldn't talk to her the entire ride. The taxi driver obeyed, not uttering a word the entire ride.

The ride wasn't too long and included a trip passed the Eiffel tower, which was one of her favorite places in Paris and it wasn't because of how beautiful it looked at night or what it represented in Paris. It was because of the foreign men who would visit it with their pockets full of cash and their titles fully recognize. It was because she could act like an air-headed French woman and attract the attention of more then one suitor. A suitor who would willing pay for what she wanted and help her get by on her own-- well, at least that's what she thought. No man is safe in Paris when she's around. And with a simple illusion she could block out the competition, filling their head with no other image then herself.

Maryse paid the taxi driver kindly when he dropped her off at the specific location she wanted him to drop her off. A five story building that stretched a good hundred feet across a block. A man stood at the entrance of the building, letting people in and out. When he saw Maryse, he took his hat off and smiled before saying,"Bonjour Maryse. Bienvenue à la maison!" He opened the door, letting her into her apartment building.

Once again she got on an elevator, hitting a button and waiting just a couple minutes before it made a dinging noise and let her off. She walked down a hallway to a door, lifting the mat and picking up a key which she used to open the door revealing a rather tasteful room she categorized as the living room. She walked in, kicking her heels off and slamming the door. Maryse scuttled out of the living room to her own room, where she slipped out of the robe and began putting on a blouse, a pair of long dress pants and a pair of boots. She comb her hair and then put it in a French braid. To make herself look like a stereotypical French woman, she wore a beret.




Leaving the apartment building, Maryse had began strolling down the street. Because of the part of Paris she lived in, Maryse was stopped multiple time by tourist who was in need of directions. Sometimes they didn't need directions, they just wanted to talk to her in french and tell her how beautiful she is and she enjoyed it. Maryse would put on a show and act as if it was the first time she heard of it." Je suis belle ? Merci ! " She would peck whom ever complimented her on both cheeks, which seemed to be a custom French people performed on western TV.


Maryse finally stopped at a French café known by most tourist. She took a seat outside and waited for someone to take her order.

Joshua arrived in Paris a little earlier than expected. He had been invited to a convention concerning the change of momentum's abbreviation. The kgm/s was a little to clunky for the tastes of most people. The decision was to be proposed anf voted upon by a think tank of the more 'creative scientists' as in they didn't want some boring name so they brought in the less stern of the bunch. Joshua was one of the men invited known for both his intelligence and eccentricities.

When he walked out of the airport he hailed a cab. When the cabbie asked for money he replied in broken french. "Do you know English?"

"Oh ho ho, yes I do." The cabbie replied in a thick french accent. "Where to?"

"Somewhere near the Eiffel tower." Joshua answered. He really wanted to see the sites before going to the convention.

He picked at his back precariously. 'Hopefully nobody will want to inspect it.' He thought to himself feeling his swords hilt through the bag.

After a few minutes the cabbie stops the car in front of a caffe. From what it looked like he was staring at a woman. "That is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." He told me. "Can I drop you off here? No charge."

"Just so you can stare at some chick? ...Seems like a fair deal." Joshua pulled his bag out of the cab and himself with it. He noticed the woman the cabbie was staring at sitting down at one of the tables. Hoping to see how much French hospitality has changed he sat next to her. "Do you mind if I take this seat?"

The café was filled with tourist and Maryse had a good laugh at those who tried to pronounce French delicacies to the waiters and waitresses at the café. When a waiter finally took her order, she was proud as she loudly told him," Je veux une tasse de café , un peu de crème et beaucoup de sucre . Je voudrais aussi aimer une crêpe avec un lot de fraises." She ordered a cup of coffee and a crêpe filled with strawberries. The foreigners watched her for a moment, amazed but at the same time envious. After the waiter took her order, a man in a funny big hat beckoned for him and in an accent Maryse has never heard before said,"I'll have have what the lil' frinch darlin' ova there is having."

The man looked her way and wink, but Maryse paid no attention. She was too busy looking at her own reflection the glass table she was sitting at provided. Maryse wasn't a woman who was obsessed with her own appearance. She was a woman obsessed with what people thought about her appearance. Maryse's mother told her that it didn't matter what she thought about herself, nobody cared what she thought about herself. We don't check our appearance out of vanity but out of concern. Her mother once told her. You may have "man convincing powers" but that won't be enough. A princess cannot be just intelligent to become queen can she? No, she must catch the attention of a king and marry him.

Maryse giggle as she reminiscent in the times her mother use to call her powers "man convincing powers". When both she and her mother found out about them ever existing, Maryse's mother would have her practice them on her boyfriends or husbands. She would tell Maryse to convince the men to buy her what ever she wanted. At a young age, Maryse learned how to control her powers and use them on people. Maryse learned that men were her best option when it came to mind control. Men were vulnerable and weak when it came to women.

Maryse made sure she was flawless. As she checked her face for any marks and her hair for any loose strands, a male voice spoke and for a moment she was unsure if he were talking to her. She took her eyes off the glass table to look at the man. There was not much about him she found interesting besides his hazel eyes. He wasn't very rich looking. A part of her wanted to say no just because of it. But she decided not to. Maryse put on her best pretend smile and did her best to say in english,"sure, have a seat."

Joshua Sat down next to the woman. He had met many women over the years, but the one sitting in front of him was one of the most beautiful he had seen, rivaling that of even supermodels. The Red Raccoon turned to the waiter before sitting down. "Bring some bread and oil."

"Right away..... tourist" One of the waiters told him with obvious distaste for the lack of trying to speak french.

Once the waiter was gone Joshua turned to the woman. "As you probably know I am the famed scientist and engineer Joshua Christopher. The main question to you would be what is your name mademoiselle? A beautiful woman such as yourself must have an interesting story living here." Joshua spoke to her in a Chicagoan accent. Once he was done speaking he smelled the air, it smelled like fabric. Not just any fabric, but high quality thread. The smell mixed from the shavings of a designing pencil Joshua deduced that she might be a fashion designer.... before looking at her hands. The lack of defined muscle or callous hinted to the fact she must have been 'very' close to a fashion designer in the recent past. "So is he a boyfriend or a one night stand?" Joshua asked noting that her hand showed no mark of ever sporting a ring. Joshua took a sip from a bottle of water.

Maryse couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he mentioned he was a famed scientist. Which isn't always her first reaction. Usually when a man tells her of his importance, she would smile and show signs of affection. That wouldn't happen today. She sat very still and silent until the waiter came back with their order. Maryse took a sip of her coffee and a bite of her crêpe."Maryse." She looked at Joshua then back down at her food."Maryse Simon." She created a fake last name like she always would when it came to meeting strangers. Another lesson her mother had taught her at a young age.

"I obviously live here. Do I sound American to you?"She asked in a harsh yet light tone."Besides, Paris is the best place to live. Look around you, you will see that I am right." She took another sip of her coffee.

The french woman then leaned back in her chair, swinging one of her arms behind it while crossing her legs. Maryse didn't take her eyes of the man. She looked him up and down wondering if he were special in any way. But he showed no signs whatsoever that he was at least involved in magic. There were no signs of him being a superhero or villian either and Maryse began to settle on the thought of him being an ordinary human and she loved ordinary beings. She could play them like a flute and manipulate them into doing whatever she wanted them to do.

"What are you talking about?" Maryse looked at Joshua in disgust.

Oh sorry, sometimes I get ahead of myself. I was referring to the Fashion designer, I deduced from the sorroundings that you had very close contact with one. They are a finicky bunch usually the only person they get that close to are those they sleep with. Although, you do seem to have a sort of unnatural appeal. Not that you aren't attractive. It's just that the level of attraction I've noticed you pull in isn't what I would consider humanly possible." Joshua gave his while spiel while sipping his water. The water was extremely clear, likely boiled multiple times.

He was unclear as to why, but he did believe his attraction to her was not just physical in nature. He was forgetting something. Deep within his mind he tried to remember what it was. While his mind raced going through his knowledge of the occult he remembered a spell to tell for sure what she was, or if the cause of the attraction that he felt towards her. He focused his mana to his eyes normally he could just see something, but it seems like her own mystical blood was diluted through human breeding. She had sort of a glow to her one as a descendant of an ancient race might have. The glow was such that she seemed closer to the root than most like her.

He's a stalker. Maryse thought as she listened to his explanation. There wasn't anything about her that could make him think she was sleeping or even in close contact with a fashion designer. She shrugged, taking a sip from her coffee."I have many connections. Maybe it is a... uhh... fashion designer... you smell? What are you, a dog?" Maryse asked but not in a sassy way."Tell me Joshua, if you're a famed scientist, where is your fortune?"

Maryse took her mirror back out and acted as if she wasn't listening. Men love a woman that ignores him . Once again, her mother's voice echoed in her head and she was yet to be proven wrong. Maryse made little eye contact with Joshua and when she did, she made sure her eyes fluttered like a butterfly.

"Well I'm not a dog it is fairly evident even to a mundane the sketching led is similiar to the one I use for schematics, and the lack of calluses seems to be a clear indicator among other things." Joshua seemed offended at the notion of being even faintly canine, but he couldn't rightly tell her of his magic. "Less like a dog, and more like a raccoon." When she asked her second question he blushed a little. "Well not only do scientists not get paid much, but the fortune I would have is being held by NeoNuclear. I am suing them though so they don't keep all the profits from stealing my design." Joshua looked around as he answered deciding what to discuss.

She raised an eyebrow to act as if she had no one what he was talking about. Maryse then shook her head and shrugged at what he said before finishing her crepê and dusting the crumbs off her clothes."Raccoon? The thieves of the night? The masked bandits that take the scraps the top dogs don't want?" She threw her head back and laughed."You're very silly." She crossed her arms and leaned farther back in her chair. This guy wasn't what he seemed."Scientist don't get paid much? Is that why you guys settle for out-of-style clothes?" Maryse asked like an airhead."You're telling me you come up with stuff and someone else takes the idea or whatever?"

"Raccoons are extremely clean creature that wash their hands before they eat, and they are extremely territorial and wild; more than a match for any dog." Joshua seemed to get offended by the woman's remark, but his tone was more of that of a joke than anything mean spirited. When she leaned back he took a gulp from his water. "Well, the actual pay is more that of an averagr worker than a celebrity, but the real money comes from ads and patenting your idea to sell to the market." Joshua answered her question rapidly anticipating her second. "Well, to use someone else's idea without permission, and I expect at least a few million from the lawsuit. The only problem is they keep postponing the trial, so I am travelling around solving cases and finding things for my shop until the trial can take place." Joshua gaveca little more information than he thought he should have; mentioning his detective work and all, but he honestly wanted to observe how the strange woman reacted to the partial truth.