[Volterra] Liberté (Émilie)

How it had come that Émilie and Ségolène had agreed on going on a trip to Italy together was a mystery to Ségolène. She remembered quite clearly though that it had been when they had met at Spiridon's a few weeks ago. First she had had a vision from Émilie's past, then they had indulged in drinks and finally, when they hadn't been sober anymore, they had decided to travel to the Tuscany together. It was a good thing though or that was at least what the librarian wanted to think. They had just arrived in Volterra and brought their bags into their hotelroom.

It was time to go exploring now and Ségolène was quite eager to do so. There were museums and historic places to visit! However, the Bellefeuille graduate had the sinking feeling that she would not be able to convince her friend to go to the Etruscan Museum or any other place comparable to that. Nonetheless she felt incredibly relaxed. As long as Émilie (and no one else for that matter) would not touch her, Ségolène thought that she could quite enjoy this trip.

She had not changed her attire upon her arrival in Italy. The weather was pretty much the same as it had been in France so why change? Admittedly Ségolène looked like the librarian that she was, wearing rather traditional clothes and nothing too fancy. She was not here to attract male attention anyway or at least she hadn't given that option a thought yet. She was not the flirtatious kind of girl anyway. In fact, it made her nervous when a young man showed interest in her. It scared her even. After all, if they got along and got physical at some point she might end up having a vision of him with his ex girlfriend or something along the lines of that. It was not going to work out in her opinion.

"Are you ready to go out?" Ségolène asked her friend, already grabbing her handbag. "I think we should explore the town and..." She paused briefly, not wanting to talk about her wish to visit a museum just yet. "And we could have lunch somewhere then. We could search for a restaurant close to the Roman Theatre then we might be able to look at a historic sight whilst eating."

They had a few days to explore Volterra and its neighbourhood. They did not have to start with a museum's visit but Ségolène could hardly wait to see all these special places she had read about in a guidebook. Maybe Émilie would find a nice guy to hang out with and Ségolène would just be in her way - that would be the perfect chance for her to visit all the museums she wanted to see.


@Émilie Côté

Ségolène was probably the last person she had ever expected to holiday with. It's not that Émilie wasn't excited, far from it. She was just pretty sure they had different ideas of what the perfect holiday entailed. But however different Émilie thought her traveling companion might want to spend the next few days, she was nearly certain that with an outfit borrowed from her and a bit of effort put into her makeup, Ségolène would have a tough time rejecting the plans for a perfect evening out on the town. And if she had to do what Ségolène wanted during the day to help convince her, then so be it.

"Give me two minutes to change," Émilie requested, rummaging through her newly deposited bag, searching for her perfect 'exploring the city but looking fabulous and not like a tourist' outfit. She found a white linen dress, long and flowy, warm enough with a sweater and a bit of magic. She quickly steamed out the wrinkles with her wand before scurrying of to the bathroom to change as quickly as possible, hoping to stick to her two minute promise.

She missed the two minute mark but was ready in under five; she hadn't allotted time for checking to make sure her hair and makeup were still perfect.

Roman Theatre? "Ooh, are we close to Rome?" The woman had seen a film called Roman Holiday once and had that picture perfect idea of what Rome and Holidays were supposed to be. Scooting around on a little Vespa, holding onto a very tall, very dark, very handsome Italian man. And food. Yes. "Lunch sounds perfect. Definitely something with a view." The lunch she wanted was wine, and the view she wanted was Italian men. Émilie was determined to make this her best holiday yet.

She grabbed her wand and shoved it her purse before throwing the door open, holding it for her friend to pass through. "Lead the way!" She happily suggested, knowing she would be absolute rubbish at finding her way around if she were left in charge. She had not bothered to learn any Italian before her arrival, save the words 'vino' and 'grazie', and she was pretty sure the street signs wouldn't have either of those words on them.

Ségolène was not surprised when Émilie requested some time to get changed. She had expected no less and just hoped that her friend would dress in a way that would not attract the attention of the entire male population of Volterra. However, she feared that this would not be the case. Émilie liked getting attention and Ségolène could hardly blame her for that. The other witch was a pretty woman and she deserved to have some fun, especially considering that Volker had split up with her.

Taking a seat, Ségolène pulled out her travel guide and studied it. She was well prepared already but she figured that the two minutes would rather be twenty and she wanted to spend the time sensibly. The Roman Theatre was definitely something she wanted to see and according to the picture from the travel guide it was very interesting indeed. There were other sights she considered worthwhile as well. The Palazzo dei Priori, for example. There was an art exhibition now and the librarian hoped she could convince her friend that a visit would be interesting. She wanted to see churches, too. The Etruscan Museum and the Alabaster Museum... However, she figured she should maybe take it slow and suggest some souvenir shopping. Surely Émilie would be in for that?

"We're not particularly close to Rome," Ségolène answered belatedly. They were closer to Rome now then they had been when they had meet in Chatoeil though, but that could hardly be what Émilie meant. "The Romans lived here as well and built a Theatre in the 1st century BC..." Her voice trailed off as she realised that Émilie was probably not at all interested in a history lesson.

A smile spread across Ségolène's face when her friend agreed with her suggestion. She was naturally blissfully unaware of Émilie's interpretation of what kind of view she was expecting.

The librarian walked out of the open door, happy to hear her friend ask her to lead the way. Once they had left the building, Ségolène took a map out of her bag and then gestured to the right. "We have to go that way. Do you want to look for a restaurant right away or shall we do some window shopping first?"

She felt slightly insecure about her holidays with Émilie, knowing that the two of them were quite different. However, she was determined to make the best out of it and find compromises wherever possible.

"Oh, that's a shame," Émilie said with a pout. They were in Italy, how far could Rome really be? She wasn't sure where exactly on the boot of the country they currently were, nor where Rome was, but it didn't make sense that they shouldn't be close. Oh well, she would still settle for non-Roman Italian men and little Vespas. She couldn't quite remember the name of the town they were in, though she did know it sounded very Italian and that was good enough for her.

She hadn't even noticed that Ségolène had continued talking about something history-related, having caught her reflection in another mirror and fixing her hair one more time. "That sounds really interesting," she responded, having decided long ago to use that as her go-to phrase whenever her friend said something she either didn't understand or particularly care about, which both covered a broad range of topics.

Émilie looked down at the map, but quickly gave up trying to understand anything. It was a map of Italy, in French, but understanding maps was something that she had never excelled at, or tried to excel at, or even wanted to excel at. It would just be much easier if she and Ségolène stuck together and if she let Ségolène be in charge of all the directions, because even if she knew how to read a map, she wouldn't know how to figure out how the directions translated to her left or right. And then if Ségolène wasn't there to show her around, she was sure she would be able to find a nice, helpful local who wouldn't mind being a tour guide.

"Restaurant, please," she requested. Shopping would be much more enjoyable with a little bit of vino. And doing whatever Ségolène wanted to do would be much, much more enjoyable with a lot of vino. She followed the suggestion to walk to the right and they were soon in a larger plaza with a fancy Italian name that the woman didn't bother trying to understand: Piazza dei Priori. "How about here?" There were plenty of little shops and cafes and people to look at while she sipped her wine.

She pointed at the closest cafe, outdoor seating set up with a few small heaters to make sure everyone kept warm. Émilie made her way to the cafe as quickly as possible, the prospect of wine putting a spring in her step. However, all her hopes were dashed when she realized she didn't even know how to ask for a table, let alone order any specific type of wine. "You might have to do this part, Ségolène," she said with a giggle, hoping that her friend knew at least a little more Italian than she did.

Even though Émilie claimed to find the information interesting, Ségolène didn't believe her. It did not matter much though. While the librarian would have liked to share her knowledge, discuss the history of the place and just chat about culture, she was quite pleased to just see it all and know things she wanted to know. She thought that she might still occasionally share bits of information, believing that even Émilie would appreciate some background knowledge.

They walked through the town for a bit. Ségolène was quite impressed with the old buildings, the architecture and the display in the shop windows. There were so many alabaster figurines! Some were so adorable. She'd make sure to buy one for herself at some point.

"Okay, restaurant first then," she agreed, a hint of sadness in her voice. She would much rather forget about food and drink altogether if she could just explore the town some more. In fact, Ségolène would go exploring until she was completely exhausted and then go to bed. However, that did not seem to be Émilie's preferred was of being on holidays.

When they reached the Piazza dei Priori, the young witch's eyes widened and she bit her lower lip. "Oh my..." she breathed in amazement. "That's the Palazzo dei Priori. It was built in the 13th century," she explained, pointing at a building with a tower and a big clock on it. It was one of the historic buildings of Volterra and connected to the cathedral - two sights she definitely wanted to see. However, Émilie did seem oblivious to the old building and had instead found a café.

Suppressing a sigh, the clairvoyant nodded. "Sure," she said and made her way towards an empty table with view on the Palazzo. "Buongiorno," she greeted a waitress. "Siamo in due. C'è una tavola per noi? Forse questa tavola?" She pointed at the table she wanted and was glad when the waitress told her that they could take it. "Grazie mille."

"We can take this table," Ségolène briefly explained and took a seat.

The waitress remained by the table and asked for their order. "What do you want?" the librarian asked her friend, ready to translate her order if necessary.

"Palazzo dei Priori," the girl repeated, doing her best to sound interested but knowing that in about five minutes she would forget the words she had just said, never mind remember the information that Ségolène was offering her about the place they were standing. It was pretty though, Émilie could definitely give her that, but the old buildings here looked just like the old buildings at home. At least her friend should be pleased with the choice of cafe since there were definitely plenty of other old buildings to look at while she drank.

Émilie smiled as Ségolène stepped up to take over the speaking role of getting them into the cafe. The woman nodded along, pretending that she understood exactly what was being said, nodding the most fervently as Ségolène indicated the table they wanted. "Perfect!" She clapped her hands together a couple times, copying the "Grazie mille," towards the waitress as she took her own seat, settling in for the perfect view of a man sitting at the table next to them, engrossed in a book and a cappuccino. A couple glasses of wine, and Émilie wouldn't need much encouragement to try and distract him from his reading.

"Ooh okay," Émilie said, pulling out of her one-way staring contest with the Italian reader, nodding her understanding that she needed to order. The menu didn't have pictures and she wasn't about to try and translate anything to get a better understanding of her options. "Vin," she directed towards the waitress, already forgetting she wasn't in France. "Oh," she added, "Vin-oh," she repeated, smiling as sweetly as she could. This was one of the Italian words she knew, and she was going to use it well. "Blanc-oh," she added, hoping that was at least close to the Italian word for 'white'. She looked away from the waitress as soon as she said this, missing that she was on the receiving end of a very dramatic eye roll.

Her stomach gave a rumble just as she was trying to decide if she wanted to eat anything; she turned back to the waitress, smiled again, and asked for "Fromage-oh." Oops, what was the word for please? Asking Ségolène for tips on that would make it far too obvious that they were tourists, and she thought that up until this point she was keeping a pretty good cover. It was all for naught, though, when the waitress spoke a long string of rapid words in what she could only assume was angry Italian. "Um," she said, looking to her friend for help. "Can you get that?" she asked her in hushed French, not recognizing any words from the waitress's question about what types of cheese they wanted.

Ségolène listened to Émilie as she made her order and had to fight the urge to step in. Really, even if one didn't speak Italian placing a simple order like that could not be a problem, could it? Apparently it could. While the wine order was still charming, the librarian couldn't help but whisper "formaggio" under her breath when Émilie spoke of fromage-oh. Well, if they hadn't been discovered as foreigners so far, it was obvious now that they were tourists. That, however, was not a problem. They were tourists, after all. There was no reason to deny this fact. Besides Ségolène wanted to visit the sights which definitely was not anything people living in Volterra would do much.

The clairvoyant's thoughts drifted off, wondering if historic places could trigger a vision for her. She half wished they would as that would make her see further into the past then she had ever done before and at the same time she feared the intensity and the effects of such a vision. Her thoughts were brought back into the here and now when Émilie addressed her again.

"Huh?" she asked and looked from her friend to the waitress who repeated the different kinds of cheese that they had to offer. "Umm... un vino bianco e una selezione di formaggi italiani per lei, per favore. E per me... un cappuccino e di bruschetta. Grazie mille."

Ségolène didn't even bother to translate anything from the exchange with the waitress. Instead she smiled at her friend and took a deep breath. "Isn't it amazing to be sitting here? Just imagine how many generations of people have passed this place over the centuries. Imagine all the scenes that have taken place here..." The young witch stared at the Piazza and imagined scenes from the past. A dreamy smile spread across her face as she envisioned a fiery Italian man propose to a beautiful woman. However, she was well aware that some less pleasant scenes had taken place here as well. That

Her thoughts were interrupted when the waitress came to their table again, putting their order on the table. "Grazie mille," Ségolène muttered. The bruschetta looked delicious and the smell of the cappuccino put another smile onto her face. "If you'd like a piece, feel free to take one." The librarian told her friend.

Émilie just watched with awe as the woman across from her settled everything for them. Ségolène was quickly showing her worth as a travel companion, first knowing enough Italian to find their hotel for them, then knowing how to read a map, and now knowing even more Italian, enough that she was enabling Émilie to be able to eat. And drink. Most importantly, drink. In the two months since she and Ségolène had met up in Chatoeil, Émilie had been venturing out more, being more social, even finding a new apartment with a lovely English roommate. And all of those things usually involved alcohol in some fashion.

"Thanks," she said sweetly to her friend after the waitress had left them, assuming that she had ordered only the most tasty cheeses for her, even if she was pretty sure none of them would be as good as some French cheeses. But now was the wrong time to wish she was back in France, especially as Ségolène was talking to her again.

Was it amazing to be sitting here? Yes, yes it was. Émilie sighed, having just made brief eye contact with the reading Italian man sitting behind her friend. She wasn't exactly going to bring him back to their hotel, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to shamelessly flirt when she had the chance. "Yes, this place is amazing," she said, turning her attention back to Ségolène. "How old is it?" She was talking about generations of people and the witch was having a hard time imagining anyone older than her grandparents enjoying the plaza they were seated in. She hadn't bothered to do any research about Volterra before they got here, and she wasn't about to pick up a travel guide any time soon.

She smiled at the waitress as she set a glass of white wine before her, congratulating herself that she had made a successful order, quite unaware that Ségolène had reordered it for her in Italian. Minor details. The cheese looked especially delightful, along with whatever Ségolène ordered, but Émilie had other priorities: wine. She picked up her glass and took a healthy sip, smiling again as she set it back on the table. "Thanks," she said again at the offer, deciding to stick with the wine for now.

"So where did you want to go first?" She asked before taking another sip of wine and shooting another quick glance at her new friend the table over. She was very tempted to wait and see where he was headed off to before she formed any opinions, but she was sure that Ségolène had some sort of plan. And with her end goal of getting Ségolène to go out tonight, Émilie was going to agree to whatever she wanted to do during the day. She took another large sip of wine, if only to prepare her for whatever more-educational-than-fun thing they were going to do.

"In the 8th century B.C. the Etruscans began to settle in the area and in the 4th century B.C. the defensive wall was erected to enclose the urban centre..." Her voice trailed off. Ségolène loved history and could go in depth with information about Volterra, but she was aware that Émilie was probably not really interested in it. However, that didn't mean that Ségolène was any less enthusiastic about the history of the place. "Well, Volterra is pretty old. The remainder of the city walls are still there and can be visited." She went on to explain.

Émilie seemed more pleased with drink and food than with her surroundings though. The librarian figured he could not blame her for that. Most people were more interested in food than in history when they were hungry. Nonetheless Ségolène wished her friend would show a little more interest in the place, would be a little more eager to learn about its history. However, she had to admit that Émilie had already asked some questions so maybe she should be happy with that.

Ségolène took a sip from her cappuccino, smiling dreamily. This was really quite perfect, wasn't it? While she was eager to go exploring it felt great to sit here, at this historic place, have a cup of tasty cappuccino and look at the Palazzo dei Priori while looking forward to visiting all the sights.

She picked up a piece of bruschetta and shoved it into her mouth. Only now that she ate it, the young witch realised that she had been quite hungry. "Try some of these," she offered her friend before answering Émilie's question.

"I was thinking we could visit the Palazzo first, seeing how we're here already. Or, if you'd prefer that, we could first go to the Acropoli Etrusca and kind of explore the sights in chronological order. There are also some museums I'd like to see..." her voice trailed off and she offered an apologetic little smile, thinking that she was maybe offering too many cultural activities at once. Émilie was probably not even listening to her anymore. Ségolène had noticed that her friend had been looking at something behind her but did not bother to turn around and check what it was. It could hardly be as exciting as the Palazzo anyway.

Her eyes widened as Ségolène started going on about the very fine and detailed history of Volterra, which was definitely not what she was going for when she had posed the question. But finally she seemed to get the hint that she was offering too much information, reeling herself in and simply stating that Volterra was really old. That was much easier to comprehend. "Interesting," she offered, regretting her question, but congratulating herself for asking it in the first place.

Émilie sighed, not wanting to eat the bruschetta, not even touching the cheese that she had asked Ségolène to order for her in the first place. "Okay," she said anyway, obliging her friend and picking up a piece, just narrowly missing the other's outstretched hand. She took a tentative bite, not really knowing what to expect, but was pleased to be pleasantly surprised by it. "Good," she said, cheeks full of bruschetta, her head nodding a bit as she chewed.

She was talking about the sights now, only really recognizing the word 'Palazzo' in all of her suggestions. While the woman was unsure what the Acropoli Etrusca was, she was sure that it sounded surely boring. "Palazzo, definitely," she agreed, though honestly she would be totally fine with sitting at this table for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying her 'sight' just enough. As if on cue, he looked up from his book to flash her another smile, and Émilie couldn't help but offer one back before giggling into her glass of wine.

"What's the Acropoli..." she trailed off, forgetting the word that followed it, even though she had heard it just a moment earlier. "The thing you were talking about." She took another sip of wine, nearly finishing her glass, before finally picking up a piece of cheese from the board in front of her. It was some random Italian thing, no doubt, no where near as good as camembert, but she had to give either Ségolène or the waitress credit for picking something that still tasted decent.

She pushed the cheese board towards Ségolène, wordlessly offering a share of her order. "This is good too," she pointed at her offering, not completely sure just what sort of cheese she was requesting her friend to eat. "Also," she took another sip of wine as she formed her next thought in her head. "The guy behind you can't stop looking at you." She wasn't sure why she said that he was looking at Ségolène when she knew he was actually looking at her, but if Ségolène was going to have fun, than so was she. Émilie was very curious to know how well she would receive the compliment, real or not.

Émilie's reaction had to be expected. Ségolène was not really disappointed. She had known even before they had come even come to Italy that she would not be able to impress Émilie with facts about the history of the place. Therefore she offered a little smile in return, thinking that maybe she'd find a little story that would even trigger Émilie's interest in history.

"Yeah, isn't it?!" Ségolène said, before shoving the last bit of her bruschetta into her mouth. She liked especially the pieces with tomatoes. However, they had been served a selection of various kinds of bruschetta and also of cheese so there were some pieces that were more tasty than others.

"Okay, the Palazzo it is," Ségolène agreed. "There's an art exhibition currently too. So that's probably pretty interesting." Did Émilie like art? Ségolène wasn't sure but doubted it. However, she believed that her friend probably preferred to look at oil paintings with Tuscan landscapes over hearing stories about the history of the place.

"The Acropoli Etrusca is one of the oldest sights here. It's a remainder of the Etruscan time... Which means, it's even older than the Roman Theatre." She didn't say any more even though she could have. However, the young witch felt pretty certain that she had lost the former Papillonlisse already.

"Thanks, but no, thanks." Ségolène muttered when her friend offered cheese. She was quite happy with her bruschetta and didn't feel like eating any cheese now. Her friend's next comment confused the librarian though. "What? Why? I'm sure he's just looking at you..." her voice trailed off as the young woman was not sure what to think. She glanced briefly over her shoulder, chewing on her lower lip nervously.

"No... He's clearly just looking at you. I mean, look at you... You're stunning." She offered the little compliment but somehow feared that her friend would want to remain seated here and leave her to visit the Palazzo alone. Nonetheless she blushed a little and fidgeted with her hair. Then she shook her head, frowning slightly. "You're just pulling my leg, aren't you?"

"Ooh yes," Émilie cooed, probably not enthusiastically enough, even though she actually was quite interested in the idea of the art exhibition. She had just found a cheese on her plate that was surprisingly tasty, despite it being so Italian, and had just filled her mouth with it as the art was mentioned. And then she went on about the town, about how old everything was. Sure, she had asked about it, but even with everything Ségolène saying, she never actually said what the Acropoli Etrusca was. It was all well and good that it was old, older than the Roman Theatre, but the former butterfly still had no idea what sort of thing she was actually talking about. Some sort of building, sure, but that was as far as her knowledge went.

Émilie giggled and offered a quick "Thanks," at the 'stunning' compliment, not being humble or modest enough to deny it. But she wasn't fishing for a compliment, that's not what this was about. She just wanted her friend to have fun, more fun than just looking at buildings. "Well how would you know that unless you were sitting where I am, looking at him looking at you?" She raised her eyebrows knowingly, trying to send her a signal mentally that she wasn't pulling her leg at all, not even knowing if she knew how to do that if she wanted to. At least there was no proof that he wasn't looking at Ségolène.

But the waitress was back before she could try to do any more convincing, and even though Ségolène looked mostly done with her meal and was probably eager to go explore, Émilie quickly pointed at her empty glass and nodded her head, hoping to get her point across for another pour. "So the Palazzo," she turned back to her friend. "The art exhibition sounds perfect." And this time she definitely wasn't pulling any legs. Thankfully, she actually was interested in the art, spending time in the studio at Le Musée every weekend, spending whatever free time she had after work redecorating her new apartment.

"Do you know what sort of art it is?" Her favorites were impressionist works, but something told her she wouldn't be getting much of that here, especially since they were in Italy and it was just so old, which really pointed more towards all those Renaissance types. The waitress was back with her glass of wine, and as she took the first sip, she shot her Italian friend another look over the top of her glass.

While Émilie's reaction was not an enthusiastic one it was good enough for Ségolène. At least her friend said 'yes' to the art exhibition. She might actually like it in the end if she gave it a chance. Besides Ségolène could hardly wait to enter the Palazzo. She was curious to see what it looked like inside, having read so much about Volterra's history already. Since Émilie did not voice her questions about the Acropoli Etrusca, the librarian did not share more of her knowledge on the place, thinking that even her friend knew what an acropolis was.

She smiled as Émilie thanked her for the compliment. She really meant it and she found it only natural that a beautiful girl like the former Papillonlisse would accept a compliment like that. She herself would not but that was not the point. Ségolène did not view herself as stunning, not even pretty. She was just Ségolène, a bookish girl that could see other people's past without even wanting to. There was nothing about her that she deemed attractive or alluring even though there might be different takes on this.

"No..." Ségolène muttered but she didn't quite understand why Émilie would say such a thing if it wasn't true. "I'm sure you're mistaken. He must be looking at you." She was not sounding convinced but it seemed impossible that a man would look at her back instead of at her friend's pretty face.

The waitress's arrival spared the librarian a longer conversation about the guy. She was actually relieved about this and quite happy that her friend was getting back to the topic of the Palazzo and the art exhibition. She smiled warmly as Émilie expressed that an art exhibition would be perfect, straightening her back as she did so. This was something they both wanted to do then.

"Oh yes," Ségolène said and rummaged in her handbag, looking for a flyer about the exhibition. "Ah, here it is," she finally said and laid it on the table. "Look, they're showing paintings by a local artist who has painted the Tuscan landscape in different seasons and at different times of the day. I think it should give us a good impression of how the region looks like. Maybe we even see places that we want to visit then." On top of the flyer there was an oil painting of a landscape with olive trees in the warm light of a sunset. While the painting looked like it was mostly decorative art it was still obvious that the artist was a good observer and technician.

Émilie simply shrugged as she sipped her wine, taking Ségolène's lack of interest in the man as a sign that she would just need to get her drunk before taking her out for the evening. Get her to loosen up a bit. Be .. fun at all. And until then, she would still be free to look for herself, and she was definitely no longer being coy about it, especially as she started in on her second glass of wine. But he was either oblivious to it or was just ignoring her as he had stopped looking up from his book, and Émilie was going to settle on the former option. She was definitely much more interesting to look at than words on paper.

"Ooh, yes, how lovely," she said, perhaps a tad too loudly in her efforts to show her enthusiasm for art she just really didn't like. She eyed the flyer that her friend was showing her, showing the landscape with very obvious Italian touches that just did not get her artistic senses tingling. But she'd do it, she could pretend to appreciate art for the sake of art, and she could especially pretend to appreciate art for the sake of guilting Ségolène into doing something more fun later that evening. "So let me just finish this," and maybe one more, or see if they do take away wine...

She took a healthy sip of her wine, splitting her attentions between the woman across the table from her and the man behind Ségolène. What were the chances that he knew French? The country was next door, wasn't it? And in the case he didn't know French, what were the chances that she could get Ségolène to translate for her? Probably slim to none on both of those, unfortunately. Émilie took a final swig of her wine, emptying the glass, before sticking a final piece of cheese in her mouth. "Let's do this," she said, her mouth not quite yet clear. The sooner they saw the art and the old buildings, the sooner she could have some more wine, and really, that was the most important part about this holiday.

She fished around in her bag for the Italian money she had exchanged her latest paycheck for, pulling out a handful of notes and coins. "Ségolène..." She held out a few notes, having no idea how much money she was handing over. The numbers on the notes were much larger than the notes in France, and she had enough trouble with those as it stood.

Ségolène raised her eyebrows as her friend exclaimed how lovely she thought the exhibition was. It was hard to believe that Émilie would be so enthusiastic about these paintings and, not for the first time, the librarian feared that her friend was not being sincere. If she didn't want to see the exhibition she could as well say so, couldn't she? However, maybe the former Papillonlisse just didn't care whether or not they saw it and wanted to do her a favour.

"Take your time," Ségolène offered but actually wished that her friend would hurry up so they could go exploring. There were so many sights the clairvoyant wanted to see, so many historic places she wanted to visit that she could hardly bear to sit for much longer. However, she had come here with Émilie and she knew that her friend had different priorities. They'd just have to find a compromise that would satisfy them both - if that was even possible.

To her big surprise Émilie finished her wine and the cheese quickly now and a delighted smile spread across Ségolène's face. "Il conto, per favore!" she quickly said to the passing waitress and was taken aback when she turned back and saw her friend holding out a few banknotes.

"Umm..." Ségolène made, feeling a little confused herself. Their bill arrived and Ségolène stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out what they had to pay. The waitress fortunately left them to it and the librarian scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Bien," she murmured, "we have to pay something over 60000 lira, which is maybe... 200 francs?" She really wasn't sure she was right there. However, she pulled out her purse now too and collected money from Émilie and herself to put it on the table. "I think we should be good now?" Speaking Italian was one thing but paying with a different currency proved way more complicated. All the young woman wanted now was to flee the scene but she knew that at the entrance of the first sight they'd encounter the same problem again.