ne me quitte pas [josh]

After the initial high of the honeymoon had worn off and Joshua had paid attention to the beauty of Paris instead of just the beauty of his wife, he found it to be every bit as interesting as he'd hoped and imagined. At night it was gorgeous and the view from their hotel window did not disappoint, during the day it was full of life and colour. It was not as nature-filled as home but the excitement of being in a new and unexplored place was enough that he appreciated the change of scenery. It was even easier to appreciate the city with Nell at his side, for he enjoyed most activities a lot more when he had the chance to share the experience with her. What better a place to spend your honeymoon than in the city of romance? He had delighted in checking into the hotel, knowing that they were 'Mr. and Mrs. Dale' instead of 'Mr. Dale and Ms. Shepherd'. They were linked, now, more so than they had ever been. They were married. There was still a part of it that didn't feel real, a part of him that kept twisting the silver band around his finger as if to verify that it was real. After all the months of being engaged, after all the time spent waiting, now their marriage was a real and documented thing.

As a Fire elemental, Joshua could get by in most temperatures, but he appreciated the moderate weather and the fact that he did not look like a freak for not wearing a jacket to fend off a chill. He also appreciated that most of the world agreed with the use of Celsius and not Fahrenheit, for though he knew the formula for converting and was otherwise capable of looking up a converter, it was nice to avoid the hassle of going that extra mile. He was content to allow Nell control of their direction, for it was food that they were deciding upon and there was no contest for who was more of an expert between them. As she glanced over the map he glanced around the city, gray eyes taking in the scenery before flicking back to his wife in time to see her pocket the map. His look was expectant, wondering if she'd found anything of interest, and she confirmed his curiosity a moment later. "Oui," he agreed, a smile touching his lips. "Perhaps later we can pay a visit to La Maison Stohrer as well. I'd definitely like to check it out." There was little question as to why he wanted to go—it was a bakery and there was not much Joshua liked more than sweets and pastries. Besides, the place had a history. A place that could satisfy both the history lover and the sweet tooth within him? Why the hell not?

There were plenty of other places around the area that called to his desire to explore but there was also plenty of time left in their trip. For now, it was hunger that called to his stomach and demanded sustenance so Josh was more than happy to oblige. Once they'd found Rue Montorgueil, he found himself momentarily overwhelmed by the amount of activity. The pedestrian-only street was bustling with locals and tourists alike while they walked underneath colourful store awnings and past uniform buildings of sandstone-beige. He caught snippets of conversation from those around them and was pleased to find out that he understood much of what was being said. Having taken several years of French both in and outside of school, he knew the differences between Canadian and Parasian French and could adopt his speech accordingly. If there was one thing he didn't want, it was to embarrass himself in front of the native-speakers.

He didn't know much about the Au Rocher de Cancale, nor did he need to. It was a cafe, they were hungry, that was that. The building looked aged and he wondered how old it was. Had it always been a restaurant? What was it's history? He forced himself to concentrate on the menu instead. His curiosity would not outdo his hunger, not now, anyway. "I don't know," he mused as he scanned over the choices. "Being vegetarian certainly doesn't help my choices... most of the main courses involve meat somehow." Vegetarian Problems. He was frowning thoughtfully as he scrutinized his options more carefully, glad that there were English descriptions as well. For the tourists, he guessed. "Maybe this dish here with the mushrooms and potatoes, I'm not sure..." There were a few meatless sides but his hunger wasn't that easily sated. I guess I could just order more than one, he reasoned with himself. After all, it's not like we're short on funds. Being rich had advantages, especially when it came to travelling. Glancing up from the menu, his gaze found Nell's. "You?"

Nell understood him more than anyone else, her joking tone bringing a soft smile to his face. "You know me so well." He would certainly hope they knew one another well. It wouldn't do to get married to someone he wasn't comfortable with. He noticed her smiling and laughter, noticed more than usual how happy that she was, and it pleased him to think that he had that kind of an affect on her. Her happiness meant a lot to him. He had proposed to her in an effort to show her exactly how much it meant and now they were strolling the streets of Paris as man and wife, married at last. He chuckled at her teasing and reflected on all the times she'd ensured he didn't starve himself while studying for an exam. "If you say so, ma cherie," he returned, grinning. He was pretty hungry and so he definitely wasn't going to argue with that one. Nell was lucky in that Joshua was careful about his diet and his consumption of sweets. He knew that they weren't the best things for his health and so he tried his best to be cautious about it.

Having been vegetarian for over half of his life, Joshua was more than accustomed to the limited menu options when it came to dining. It was cost-efficient to avoid the staples such as steak and lobster and other pricey meat dishes but to someone as wealthy as Joshua that was not the issue in the least. Sometimes he did tire of restaurants serving the same old things for their vegetarian options, like those with his diet were an afterthought tossed in only so that they didn't have any complaints. He suppressed a sigh. Ah well. He looked up at Nell and blinked in surprise when she suggested trying one of the meat dishes, as if she'd just suggested he try and build a rocket to the moon. It was not something people suggested to him often and had it been anyone else, he'd have politely declined and went back to perusing the menu. As this was his wife, though, her suggestion gave him pause. "I... no, I'm not allergic," he assured her. He supposed it was theoretically possible that he was allergic to some meats due to the fact that he didn't eat any of them but he didn't have allergies that he was aware of. "I've been vegetarian since I was six. It involved a rather traumatizing conversation over dinner that I've never really forgotten." He chuckled at the vague memory. He hadn't liked the idea of eating anything that was once as alive as he was and so vegetarian he had become.

Still, as an adult he was able to consider things without the sort of disgust that he'd possessed as a disturbed six year old staring at his plate and trying to overcome the fact that the chicken was formerly a clucking, egg-laying, breathing creature. Furrowing his brow in thought, he returned his gaze to the menu. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. We are in France, after all, it doesn't seem fair to shirk the experience." He remembered the trip to Spain and how he'd been unable to try a lot of the local classics. Food sampling added a lot to the travel experience—a literal taste of another culture. He nodded softly to himself as if confirming the decision. Now that nothing on the menu was forbidden to him (a strange but rather freeing feeling), he had a lot more things to ponder.

His gaze found the dish that his wife was referring to. "Choucroute garnie?" he said aloud, mostly so that she had the pronunciation for it. "Do you think that's what you'll get? I still haven't decided, myself..." There were plenty of choices but the fact that he was vegetarian meant that he hadn't tried or at least could not remember the taste of most meats. He knew chicken had been the meal of choice when he'd made the decision to switch his diet but he didn't know what it tasted like. "Confit de canard... duck, would that be any good?" It might have been silly to ask Nell seeing as everyone's taste buds were different but he wasn't sure who else to trust. "And I guess I'll have to try the escargot," he mused, chuckling. Snails. He wasn't sure how he felt about snail but it was a classic, he figured it couldn't hurt to suck it up and try it. "Maybe some French onion soup, too... I'm not used to having choices." Even the French onion soup was traditionally cooked with beef broth. He'd had a vegetarian version of it once at a restaurant and found it to his taste and so he found himself wondering whether the original would be more appealing.

At six years old, the mere idea that his food had once lived and breathed just as he did had horrified him. Now, twenty-one and a grown, married man, Joshua was easily able to laugh at Nell's words and shake his head. "Ah, you can thank my parents for that." He assumed that Donovan and Patricia had not anticipated the reaction that their son had given. Though very intelligent and above the average reading level for his age, most of the books he had read thankfully avoided the delicate subject of butchering innocent animals for human consumption.

His wife seemed rather enthusiastic about his sense of adventure, a fact that brought a smile to his lips. Usually rare, he found that in Nell's presence it was much more difficult to stop smiling than to start. She made him happy. He hoped she knew. "Do as the Parasians do," he finished with a nod. It sounded like a plan to him, at least, even if there was a twinge of anxiety. Should he really be doing this? He had been a vegetarian for as long as he could remember and suddenly jumping ship (even for a short time) was definitely a step. Was it forward or backward? It doesn't matter. It can't hurt. With that simple thought, he shrugged off any concerns he may have had. He found the whole concept of activists a bit fruitless anyway. He could respect what they were doing in trying to promote vegetarianism and animal welfare but they would never eradicate carnivores completely. Animals would always be slaughtered, meat would always be a staple of many family dinner tables, so he didn't feel any sort of guilt as he locked in his decision to order. "It's definitely been great so far." He wasn't one to allow a botched meal to ruin his entire day—or in this case, his entire vacation. "I'm spending time in Paris with my beautiful wife, what could go wrong?" His tone was light and carried a joking air.

He considered her words for a moment. "Like a raccoon. Except you don't get stuck in people's walls or rummage through their trash cans." Raccoons were cute but they were a source of many a home-owners agitation. They had to keep locks on the bin lids outside in order to avoid the crafty little critters having a field day. He laughed and reminded her, "Well if I'd ever had chicken before..." He understood what she was getting at, though, and so his amusement was not accompanied by an eye-roll. Gamey. Huh. He figured it meant the meat tasted wilder, but what did that mean? He'd never had any regular meat to compare it against! If Nell likes it, I guess it can't hurt to try. There was some flaw in his logic, like the fact that Nell would eat almost anything for example, but he was confident enough to give it a shot. He placed his order in what he thought was decent French, guessing that the waiters might know English as well but deciding to spare them the trouble. It was always easier to converse in your native language.

He made idle conversation with Nell until the food arrived and then gave his plate a critical inspection. The smell coming off the meat caused a weird tug in his stomach due to the fact that it was not something he usually ate but it was not enough to deter him from tasting it. What did deter him was Nell, her chanting causing him to laugh. "Jesus, babe, do you want me to choke?" He was kidding, though, and after laughing it off he cut off a portion of the meat and stabbed a fork into it, sticking it into his mouth and hoping for the best. At first he was not sure what to expect—what did you expect when you hadn't a clue what something was going to taste like?—and he made a face as he chewed slowly and tried to figure it out. It was unlike anything he'd ever tasted, predictably, and he furrowed his brow after swallowing and tried to figure out how to describe it. He couldn't. "It's... not bad," he said in order to assure Nell that his uncertainty was not out of disgust. "Gamey, I guess." He chuckled. Well, at least now he had a taste to associate with the description? He took another bite, deciding that it was not half as awful as it could have been. "It's good," he concluded after another bite or two, then joked, "So did I pass your little initiation?" He took a swallow of coffee and popped one of the roasted potatoes that came with the dish into his mouth. Now that's what I call good. Potatoes were possibly his favourite of all foods. Still, the decent taste of the duck meant that he was a lot less intimidated by the thought of eating snail—no matter how gross they looked. He decided to try those afterwards, though, not wanting the tastes of all the different foods to interfere with one another. "How's yours?" He predicted that the answer would be positive, this was Nell, but he decided to ask to be sure.

Despite not being nearly as much of a cinephile as his wife, Joshua was genre savvy enough to understand some of the basics, like how going into creepy and dark basements when you hear a noise is never a good idea. "Great. Now if we end up in a river it's going to be all my fault, huh?" He was smiling as he said it and he took a sip of his coffee afterwards. He hadn't been much a fan of the stuff when he was a kid but he had definitely acquired a taste for it once he'd hit high school. He had to admit that the French knew what they were doing with their blend. "Hey, at least we were smart enough to tell people where we were going. That already puts us ahead of the idiots-in-movies game." Though he played it all for jokes, Joshua couldn't imagine how frightening it would be if you really did get kidnapped in a foreign country with the realisation that your family back home hadn't a clue where you'd gone. That was a good way to be shit out of luck. He couldn't hold back a grin when she called him sexy, liking the word choice. He was a fairly confident person and thought highly of himself but that didn't mean a compliment from his wife wasn't capable of making him feel pretty damn amazing.

It surprised him when she said that she'd never seen a raccoon before. It had made sense when he'd told her about fennec foxes and she'd been ignorant to their existence but a raccoon was much closer to home—right in the backyard sometimes!—and so this one took him a moment. It wasn't the first time she'd caught him off guard with something, though, and he recovered quickly from it. "They're cute," he assured her with a chuckle. "Annoying as hell, of course—not that I find you annoying!—but pretty adorable." He interrupted himself with laughter in his voice, trusting Nell to understand what he was insinuating. "Next time the staff warn me about raccoons around the garbage we should go out and investigate." He usually trusted that the locks on the bins would hold and that he had nothing to worry about but if Nell had never seen a raccoon then he figured it was time to change that. Pictures were never as good as the real thing. He instantly understood why she'd likened him to a giraffe but decided to play around a bit, rubbing at the sides of his neck and frowning as if he was concerned about something. "My neck is not that long, Nell, be nice." Dropping his hands back down, he shook his head. "I'm sure I ate meat but I can't remember the taste." It had been far too long for that. After a certain period of time, the taste of all foods started to fade from the memory. He could often remember if he liked something or not but the actual taste was harder to recall.

The mental image of a council of omnivores judging him for his meat-eating adventure was amusing enough to bring a smile to his lips, though he managed to keep any actual laughter at bay. "Is it? Huh." As he didn't eat any kind of meat, it hadn't mattered to Joshua which one he tried first. It was weird to consider that he liked the taste of something he'd sworn himself off of for his entire life but he easily shrugged it off. He was not the type of person that constantly doubted his own decisions. Confidence could be an asset in times like these. Nell was much more adept at talking about her meal than he had been and he wondered if she knew the origins of a lot of foods thanks to her interest in it. Though Joshua was highly intelligent, there were a lot of things he did not know. Still, sauerkraut sounded German and so it wasn't surprising. "I'm not the best judge but if they can make meat taste good... well, that's a pass in my book." He went on to eat the rest of the food that he'd ordered, making comments to Nell on the taste as he did so. He found the snail to taste more like butter and garlic than anything else, not that it was a bad thing, and he decided that he really liked the soup. Shame it was made with beef broth. It did, admittedly, taste a little (all right, a lot) better than the vegetarian version. I wonder what else I'm missing out on? Nell could probably write a book on all the excellent foods he needed to try.

After the adventure of trying all the different foods, Joshua was gladdened by the prospect of the wine tasting that they had planned to follow it with. He wasn't as schooled on wine as Nell probably was but he enjoyed the taste enough that the prospect was good. She slid the map over to him and put him in charge of locating the bar, something that didn't surprise him. He did not need to ask to understand that Nell's sense of direction wasn't as good as his own. He frowned at the map every now and then as he worked out where they were going, then looked up and gave a decisive nod. "All right, I think I got it." He did not know Paris very well and so there was one case of turning down the wrong street but he managed to find the way in relatively good time. "And we're here." There were going to be quite a few other people hanging around but the thought didn't bother Joshua as it once would have. He still wasn't the most social guy on the planet but he'd come to accept that not everyone was out to get him. It helped with things like this.

Much more of a realist than either an optimist or pessimist, Joshua didn't have high hopes about their hypothetical kidnapping. He was confident in himself but not enough to believe that he had high chances of escaping from someone that was armed and dangerous. Then again, we're armed too. A smirk touched his lips as he was reminded of their elemental powers. They had more on their side than most realised, though the fact that the government might take interest if the kidnappers reported being set aflame or wrapped with vines was enough to remind him of the risks. He was glad that this was all in theory anyway. He didn't like the idea of being kidnapped—who would? There were services that allowed you to pay for the kidnapping of yourself or your loved ones and he just did not see why anyone would want that experience. "Or I'll just burn the place to the ground," he said, chuckling as he spoke out on his earlier thoughts. "But MacGyvering it does sound more fun." Because fun was totally what they should focus on for their not-kidnapping invented experience, right? Totally.

He had acknowledged upon getting into a relationship with her that his then-girlfriend did not know everything that most people did about the world and all its inhabitants. It endeared him to her, really, he found it more adorable than exasperating most days. Then again, he found everything about Nell adorable and he was admittedly quite biased on the subject. It was hard to believe that the bistro in Paris had once been a table in Tim Hortons where they discussed Josh's experiences with streaking and Nell's interest in the trapeze. We've really come a long way, huh? "Spirit animal indeed. Mostly because they will eat anything. Seriously." He shook his head. He always joked that Nell was like a trash compactor but at least she didn't get her meals by rummaging through the actual trash. That was more than a little gross to think about. Nell pointed out the trash thing and he ducked his head. "Hey, you compared me to a freaking giraffe," he shot back, though he was smiling. "What do you want from me, woman?" This, right here, this laughing and joking was one of his favourite parts of their relationship. He loved how comfortable he felt around her and how easy it was to simply trust Nell to understand him. There was no need to stumble over his words apologising for the comparison to a trash-rooting menace because she wasn't getting angry at him about it. "Next time I want to guest star in a horror film I'll be sure to do that." Seriously, the mental image of having a super long neck like that was freaky stuff.

Joshua nodded a non-verbal agreement, mouth full of soup so that he was unable to give any comment on the matter. Not that there was much else to be said. He had to laugh when Nell corrected him. "All right, babe, I'll give you that one," he said fairly, smiling. His face hurt from all of the grinning and laughing he was doing but it was a good kind of pain. Being in France with his wife definitely beat sitting at home and cramming for exams. He might not have minded school but there was a difference between being tolerant of something and preferring it over other things. "Though I'm still not sure how I feel about the snail. Escargot, sorry." He correct himself with a twitch of his lips. "Didn't taste like much of anything but I kept picturing slime trails." He shook his head. That wasn't the best mental image to adopt when you were eating something. Thankfully his iron stomach had helped him to remain thoroughly undisturbed by this. He'd ate them all, that was something.

He never really felt out of his element around people who thought themselves sophisticated, though this was most likely due to being raised with rich parents that spent their time at fancy parties and country clubs. He did look down on those who looked down their noses at others, though, and so he was slightly wary of their companions for the evening. He chuckled, catching her comment. "Hopefully they won't catch on to the fact that we don't belong here." His tone was light and had the air of a joke about it, though he was still curious about the sorts of people participating in the tasting. Most of 'em are probably fine. Just because some people had a sense of superiority didn't mean they all would. He accepted the glass that Nell handed him and decided to play along with her because why not? He honestly didn't give a shit what random strangers thought of him. Lifting his chin as if he thought that he was somehow above the quality of the place, he gave the wine a sniff as if that would affect anything before sipping at it. "Like a summer evening on the back porch of the mansion," he said, maintaining a careful poker face. "I've had better, of course, but what can you do..." It was pretty good, actually, he was just making a point of being a snob. It was fun.

Apparently Nell knew a lot more about giraffes than she did about raccoons and he listened with interest and raised eyebrows as she told him about their eating habits, barring their vegetarian diet so similar to his own. "Wait, wait," he said, setting down his cup of coffee to lift a hand in a 'stop' gesture. Hiding a smirk, he said in a serious tone, "You've got this all wrong. You are clearly the giraffe in this family." He was, of course, making a joke about how giraffes ate a ton and Nell could eat more food than most of the people he knew. It was impressive given her height and it was something that had always baffled him. He accepted it, though, much like he accepted all of her other little habits and traits. Of them all, it certainly wasn't the weirdest. "But no, I didn't know that." He knew many things but the daily food consumption of giraffes had never come up in his life before. Knowledge was power, though, so he saw no harm in gaining more of it. "An apology," he said in a disdainful tone. "How Canadian of you." It was easy to avoid laughter, even as he picked up his coffee for another sip. He didn't think he'd ever done a spit-take before, actually. It was probably a good thing that he also wasn't easily disturbed, for Nell's words might have horrified him otherwise. That was the point, he guessed, horror movies and all. "The Human Giraffe isn't as catchy, though," he said, as if this argument was the most important thing wrong with the idea. "Besides, giraffe print is probably out of season. Can't have my pals at the country club judging me." He actually didn't care about fitting in with the other rich folks and socialites that frequented those circles. He did his own thing. If they accepted him, fine. If they didn't, he considered it their problem. He'd married a woman from The Bronx, after all, he didn't really care for their types.

Given that Nell was his wife, Joshua certainly didn't have a problem with sharing his food. She could have stolen half the plate and he wouldn't have batted a lash, simply ordering more if he was all that hungry. Then again, Nell was not such an impolite person and he appreciated the courtesy even if it wasn't required. "Oh, sure, go ahead," he said easily, nudging the plate closer to the center of the table so they could both access it freely. "So how do they taste to you?" he wondered. His lip twitched as he added, "Like revenge? Probably a little less sweet." He didn't know if snail was something that he would ever order again if he had the chance. Not because it was horrible but simply because there was a much wider array of food from which he could choose. The duck was definitely better, though the vegetarian in him suggested that the French onion soup was the best. Meat, like everything else, would be more of an acquired taste. That was if he decided to ever branch out again after this. France was a special occasion, this was something that he usually would not do. Did Nell realise how much of an affect she had on him, how much she could potentially convince him to do? He was lucky she was a good person, that she was convincing him to try meat instead of murder.

What would have become of the pair if he'd been another rich and upper-class snob who looked down on all those with less money than his family's own? He guessed that they certainly wouldn't be standing together with rings on their fingers and wine glasses in their hands, pretending to be much more disdainful than either of them actually were. Whatever the case, he was glad things had turned out the way they did. "A bit," he agreed, though he didn't know wine as well as his wife. Whiskey was more his area of expertise. It tempted him to drink more than was probably safe and it was a good thing he knew his limits. Not that he was abiding by such limits tonight, however, especially not at a wine-tasting. It was more like wine-drinking, like a good excuse to sample from all the bottles without committing to any of them. Nell was apparently feeling the effects before he was but he did not bother to stop, didn't think about how it was probably best that he stayed sober and made sure they were all right. He was not as far-gone as she but the fact that he did not stop drinking was a sure sign that he was going to get worse instead of better.

Though he was not one for strangers, Joshua had no issues with chatting to the man on the balcony. It was a good excuse to practice his French and he felt that he was keeping up nicely, using Parasian French to avoid the judgement against the more Canadianized version of the language. He was proud of Nell, too, and how she was holding up (though as her husband he certainly noticed she was quieter than usual)... until her little slip of the tongue seemed to offend their conversational partner. For a man who spent a lot of time suppressing laughter, it suddenly became very hard to maintain his composure so as to avoid embarrassing his wife. Laughing at her in front of the other people wouldn't be good manners, now would it? He didn't think so. He wanted to inform her of her mistake immediately but it took a moment or two for him to be confident in his triumph over the giggle-fit. Lips pressed together and eyes bright, he took a careful breath and replied, "Ah, Nell..." Nope, nope, he was struggling with the laughter again. He swallowed it down with a careful sip of wine and tried again. "I think the word you're looking for is agents conservateurs, Nell. Preservatives, right?" His lips were fused firmly to keep out the chuckles that threatened to bubble to the surface. Be nice to your wife, he scolded himself. Wife. He still couldn't get over the word. "Preservatifs... ahh, il signifie condoms, Nell. Il était offensé parce que tu dit tu n'aimes pas preservatifs." At least he had managed not to bust at the seams laughing at her? He tried to keep his explanation as kind as possible, hiding a smile and hoping she wasn't too mortified by her first negative tourist experience in France. At least the food was good?

Calling your wife an animal wasn't usually the best idea if you didn't want to be put in the doghouse for the night but Joshua was confident he could get away with it given the circumstances. "You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals," he said lightly, waving a hand with a sip of coffee. He prided himself on how easily he kept the laughter at bay despite singing the song in his head as he spoke. The conversation had slowly dissolved from sensible chit-chat into insanity and that was perfectly all right with him. He and Nell had proved time and time again that they were capable of rolling with each others punches.

He realised right away when she apologised for apologising, at least technically, and he had to laugh at that, setting the cup of coffee down so that he didn't pitch forward and spill it on his hand. Fire might not have been able to burn him but boiling hot liquid would do a number on his hand. He could heal it but he preferred to avoid injuries altogether. "I'm more of a New Yorker than you are. Perhaps we were swapped at birth." And he thought of it in the context of a joke rather than applying their murky pasts to the situation for they were on vacation and he was happy and the darkness that often clouded his thoughts could not reach him here. He felt content, he felt safe. "What." It wasn't phrased as a question but now he was imagining a caped giraffe. "What powers would the poor fucker be stuck with?" He didn't know all that much about super heroes and so he couldn't think of any good ones off the top of his head. He'd be able to reach things on the top shelf of the grocery store, a woe of many a short person. Joshua had never had that problem himself but he imagined his wife had different stories. "Halloween is coming up, we have an excuse." Maybe they'd been watching too many horror films. Though he wasn't much of a movie-goer he allowed exceptions around the holidays when everyone seemed intent on movie marathons and the like. He didn't like to be a party pooper.

Weird. That kind of summed up the snails, if he were honest. Weird with a side of chewy. "Definitely," he agreed as he popped another one into his mouth. Not bad and not particularly good. Edible but strange. He honestly wondered where a lot of food originated from. Who had first seen a snail sliming its way across the lawn and thought, 'Hey, that looks tasty?' He wondered at the sanity of some of these people, including the ones who'd first thought of eating any animal's innards. "Sort of. It's... different, that's for sure." Hard to describe because he'd never tasted anything like it before, at least not that he could remember. He wondered if he would eventually go on to actually acquire a taste for meat. Joshua supposed it all depended on what the other kinds tasted like.

Hard as he tried to hide his amusement from her to help his wife save face, the strain in Joshua's expression must have given him away. Or was it in his eyes that she'd detected it, or simply the way that he hadn't agreed with her about the wine? Whatever the case, Nell caught on and Joshua was forced to collect himself enough to explain what was going on. It was hard and involved more self control than even he was used to but he eventually managed an explanation that wasn't interrupted by loud bursts of laughter and rib-clutching. He caught her blush and knew from her horrified expression after several moments that she had worked out what he'd said. He probably should have explained in English so that she would have understood quicker but the alcohol he'd consumed was affecting his thought process. It was making too much sense to him to speak French right now and so speak it he did. He started in surprise when Nell called after the guest who she had offended and even someone as confident as Joshua felt rather uneasy with all the eyes suddenly upon them. This is turning out well, he thought, though he felt worse for his wife than he did for himself. He wasn't the one who'd just informed a total stranger that he wasn't particularly fond of condoms. Pro-choice and all that?

He turned his head, gaze following her as she slid behind him to escape the critical stares of their fellow wine-tasters. It was like he could feel the judgement in the air, like they'd just wandered into the Thunder dormitory at the Academy. In his drunken state he found himself wondering if any of the people in the room were elementals and how many elementals are there in France, anyway? He had to remind himself that they were far away from home where their kind were more common and the idea that they were in a room full of people who might treat them like freaks if they knew somehow didn't make the situation any better. He was pretty far gone himself by this point and he felt warm, though he was not sure whether this was the fault of alcohol or embarrassment. "Should we head out?" The night was drawing to a close and though they could have stayed there a bit longer he had a feeling that Nell would be more than happy to leave the place. Hopefully they wouldn't bump into any of these people in the city when they were a little more sober. He'd prefer not to run into them again. "We could go back to the hotel or... or something." He hadn't planned that far ahead yet. Right now getting out just seemed like a swell idea.