Adrienne and Hope Meet

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Hope and Adrienne practice their French in the sunroom and discuss Lord Of The Rings.



Hope happily eyed the book she held in her hands. It was only the Hobbit, but she had finally gotten her hands on a French translation of it and she figured it would be good practice to read books she enjoyed in French to get an early start if she wanted to do AP French in the coming year. She was not really in the mood to go outside though, so she headed to what had become one of the favorite reading spots in the mansion besides the library: the sun room.  
  
She wished the other person reading a magazine an absent 'Good afternoon' and nestled herself on a chair, taking a few seconds to rearrange her skirt so it would not crinkle. She looked around the room once more before wanting to open the book and lose herself in Tolkien's world. She startled a little when she found the eyes of the other woman aimed her. 
  
"Getting prepped before the movie comes out?" Adrienne asked Hope curiously, looking up from her copy of Vanity Fair from where she was sprawled out in a chair across the room.
  
"Not quite, I am afraid." Hope tilted her head, trying to figure out if this was someone she had already met before or not yet. She was vaguely familiar at least. "I hope to improve my French. Though it will be good to reread the story before I see the movie."
  
"French, huh?" Adrienne mused, intrigued. She hadn't been able to tell that about the book from across the room.  "How long have you been studying French?" she asked in French.
  
"I started learning French in kindergarten. I have studied it since then and my parents encouraged me to work on it outside school too." Hope replied easily in the same language. "They favored France as a vacation spot also."   
  
"Where have you visited in France?/i>" Adrienne asked, the conversation topic really intriguing her. 
  
"Uhm, we have spent some time in Paris. We also did a round trip of the Aquitaine area once and we visited a few parts of Normandy. Have you visited France, ma'am?" 
 
"Many times, yes," Adrienne nodded, grinning. "I used to model, and then owned a modelling and fashion design company, so I traveled there fairly often. I'm in love with the food," she smirked.

Having been a model and having had a modelling agency? Her fellow students had mentioned Hope tilted her head the other way. "I am sorry for being so forward... Are you Ms. Frost?"

"That's right," Adrienne smiled. Damn, there were so many new students lately, she'd just assumed she'd met Hope in person already, rather than just recognizing her from the journals. "And that's not being so forward. I should have introduced myself properly. My apologies. Adrienne Frost, yes. It's Hope Abbott, right?

"Yes Ma'am." Hope nodded, returning the smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you.... I am afraid my mother and I never visited the fashion area's of France though." 
 
"That's a shame," the teacher answered wryly. "Unless you don't like fashion, of course, in which case that completely makes sense. What else does one visit in France if not the fashion areas, though?" she asked curiously, having not really experienced anything else in France but fashion and food.

"We mostly visited historical and cultural places. It has a very rich history." Hope explained. "May I ask what your favorite French food is?"

Adrienne nodded. "It certainly does. I should go back sometime and use my powers on some of those places," she mused aloud. "Mostly I like the wine," she smirked. "But I'm a big fan of crepes, too. And ratatouille."

"I enjoy a good bisque. I have tried escargots though and I was not very fond of those."

Adrienne laughed and switched back to English. "I've never tried them. I get sort of confused by them, honestly. I'm a vegetarian so I'm never really sure if they're meat or not."

She had to giggle a little at that and switched back to English herself. "I am not quite sure where I would place them myself. They are neither meat nor fish. To be honest, I just shuddered already at the look of them. The taste was not much better. I do not think you miss much if you have not tried escargots."
 
"That's good to know," Adrienne smirked. "So, that looks like a pretty thin book to make three movies out of," she commented as she gestured at Hope's copy of The Hobbit. "Do you think three movies is gonna be necessary for it?"

"It depends." Hope replied after a moment of thought. " I do not think it's necessary, but it might be helpful. They were forced to cut a lot from Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's world is very rich. It think it depends on the director's vision and how they shape the movie. Though I can also see money being a large motivator from certain corners."     

"Money's pretty much always the largest motivator... from what I know of the world, at least," Adrienne pointed out ruefully. "They had to cut a lot from Lord of the Rings?" she mused, not having known that. "So are the books worth reading, then? Beyond just watching the movies, I mean?" Adrienne had seen the movies, but she wasn't much of a novel reader. She hadn't read anything longer than a Vanity Fair in a long time.

"From the book to the movie some things were cut and some things were changed... But a lot of material from the movies also had to be cut and so the Extended Editions were created. Perhaps they are trying to avoid that." Hope shrugged briefly. "And yes, the books are certainly worth reading. Though they are certainly not for everybody's tastes...." 

"Whose tastes are they not for?" the older woman inquired, curious about how Hope would describe people who wouldn't be into Lord of the Rings, wondering if Hope would describe someone like Adrienne.

"The books are long and there is a lot of poetry and songs in them." Hope explained briefly. "Also there are quite a few characters to keep track of, though that is not as bad as in some of the more recent fantasy series or the Simarillion."  
 
Okay, yeah, definitely not Adrienne's sort of thing. "Maybe I'll just stick with my Vanity Fair and The Economist, then," Adrienne answered wryly. She rose from her chair and stretched. "I should quit bugging you about the book and let you actually read," she smiled.

"It's is alright, Ms. Frost." Hope smiled. "It's not often that I have the chance to speak French like that. I enjoyed it."