Prim and Proper Sophistication [Maria]

[Maria Stark]

Maria was going to shop in the in the shopping center but the colleagues from her work who she was going with cancelled last minute. So she was alone in the shopping center. She was already bored. It just wasn't that fun alone. She tried fitting some dresses or outfits but it just wasn't the same alone. She gave up after 10 minutes. "This isn't working." She really thought she could take a relaxing break between the shadow slaying and her job as a kindergarten teacher but no... Every single colleague didn't came. She really felt abandoned by them.

Eventually she saw a girl reading a book. She went closer as she too seemed alone and lonely. Everyone else seemed to have at least someone. And the girl didn't look all to bad. "umm... What book are you reading?" Maria asked as she was close enough.

[Maria Stark]

At least she didn't seem to shout at her or chase her away. She told Maria she was reading some kind of chivalric romance story. She didn't answer however which book it was. She did ask what Maria was doing here."I was going to shop with my colleagues, but they all ditched me last second." She answered honestly. Her curiosity wasn't gone. "You still don't told me which book you're reading. What are you doing here." She asked the girl that was sitting here. "Mind if I sit her too for a moment? She asked. If the other girl answered positively then she would go to sit on the same bench.

[Deleted]

"Well, the book I'm reading is called Le Morte D'Arthur. I apologize for not telling you earlier. You can sit here next to me. I don't mind at all. As for what I'm doing here, I'm mostly relaxing here." she responded with a smile. She had been taught to hold a polite conversation with people if they asked her to as expected by her late parents herself. The young woman seemed to be quite nice, but there was something that she hadn't been told of. For starters, the young woman hadn't gave out her name yet, but she'll give it out when she will take a seat next to her. The district was a place for her to relax and let off steam whenever there was paperwork to be filled out. Besides, the work involved was quite boring to some people if they belonged to a rather upper-class family. Although, it was nice to make new friends once in a while including Shadows themselves. Yes, one Shadow she met was considered a friend that would never harm her. On the other hand, there was that little boy who was quick to become friends with her too if there wasn't something strange about him.

[Maria Stark]

She quickly sat down aside the girl. "So, I am Maria Stark. What's your name?" She asked in return. She couldn't call her girl all the time could she? "What do you do for a living? Still a student? I am a kindergarten teacher myself." She told the girl aside her. Maria never regret this choice actually. Sure strange things happened lately but that didn't scare nor changed Maria, yet. She hoped nothing big would happen. "What do you think about the entire quarantine thing? She asked a few moments later. It was a question she asked frequently lately to see what people would react to. Maybe some didn't want to talk about it and she could quit about it then. But she was too gathering intelligence about the barrier.

[Deleted]

"Nice to meet you, Maria. I'm Isolde. As for my occupation, I'm mostly a student, but I suppose that my occupation also lies with the royal family. And I think it's a good job to actually be around kids too." she responded. Maria had been straight-forward with her questions and answers as she was mostly curious about what she did. It was normal for people to be curious about the world around them. Although, she somewhat regretted telling that last bit of the first sentence, but it was for the best anyway. Besides, she wanted to see if there was a reaction regarding that line as most people would've dismissed it as a crazy claim like most ignorant people. Then, Maria had asked her if she had any thoughts on the quarantine. Well, there was some things that she could describe to her. She responded, "I think that the quarantine had made all means of escape impossible, but I think I manage through it. Besides, it isn't too bad except that I can't visit my family who lives so far away from the heart of China."

[Maria Stark]

"Nice to meet you Isolde." She answered her introduction. She was a student just as Maria guessed. Many people she spoke with recently were students. She wondered why. She said escape was most likely impossible. Was most likely true too. That and the continuing shadow thread was increasing with the month. "I hope it's over in the summer, we are supposed to meet our family outside of China then." Maria answered to that Isoldes only bad thing about the quarantine was that she couldn't meet her family outside of China. Maria too had a lot of family outside of family, all of it except her parents in fact.

[Maria Stark]

She had a person named Zhou with her. "Zhou? Is he? You know? Thee..." She asked, blushing a little. Isolde was really at that age in which people had boy and girlfriends, sometimes very fast after each other. Though not everyone was like that. She asked what she did as kindergarten teacher. "I prepare simple tasks for the children to do, as well keep an eye out on them while they are working or playing. Furthermore I also correct their work." Maria said. It wasn't as much work as they didn't have homework, and the tasks they made were really simple. Five year old sometimes needs help to count to ten in some cases. Most could do that on their own though.

[Deleted]

"Yes, I know him. It might interest you to know that we're dating." she responded. The secret was out though she had not told anyone about it before. Besides, Maria probably never experienced any romance before or had a boyfriend in general. It seemed almost unlikely that Maria would ever fall in love with a boy and would just stay celibate. Yes, she knew that most people would probably stay single for the time being until they could find someone that they like a lot. As for what Maria had told her about her duties as kindergarten teacher, she thought it was interesting to teach children how to do simple tasks and correcting mistakes for them. She could tell that Maria loved children which was quite intriguing, considering that she had never been around children before except for that little boy she met at the park. She responded, "Sounds interesting. I think children can learn about a lot of things if they set their minds to it."

[Maria Stark]

So they were dating. It wasn't even that funny anymore because Isolde was so direct about it. She did respect that courage though, to say that so boldly. "Have you ever..., you know...?" Maria asked Isolde. She didn't dare to go much further because it was so embarrassing. She probably turned a little red which really should tell Isolde what she was asking in the small chance she missed it.

"They really can yes. Okay sometimes you have to explain in five times but eventually they will understand it." Though that was only seldom. They really looked out that the tasks the children got were fitted for their growth and personal skill. Which wasn't really difficult as most children were about the same at that age. Of course there were some that always needed help.

[Maria Stark]

"oh excuse me."  Maria answered as it indeed was a little to personal. She just couldn't help herself but asking. But now she was going to wonder about it all day. "That might be a good idea but remember to be careful what you talk about with children from an orphanage." Children from the orphanage were mostly unstable because they can't have much parental love which children actually need. Especially in orphanages which had a lot of children as they had to give a lot of attention to all the children there. "hmm... an idea... If you like to read you could take a book from the library there. I think the young children would love that. She suggested the other girl. She did that a lot in her class, and the children did love that, but she wasn't that sure if older children still liked that, but it was worth a try.

[Maria Stark]

Maria really opened up some respect for the woman she just met. She was willing to visit an orphanage to give the children a good time just because she happen to meet a kindergarten teacher. Maria thought she had seen all kinds of people now, but this one she didn't meet yet. Too bad she already was engaged. Maria probably wouldn't dare to ask her out like that so that wouldn't likely happen anyhow. "How come that you just wish to do this for them?" She asked curiously to the girl. "If you wish I could go with you to help, I know what children usually like." Maria said to Isolde.

[Maria Stark]

She is an orphan as well? Well that explains why she so suddenly gets inspirited this way. Maria couldn't possibly know how it is to not have parents as a child. It must be hard. "Sure, when do you want to go, now or later?" Maria reacted, who didn't mind which of the two Isolde picked. She could go anytime today. "oh, if you want to go later remember not to call me during school hours please. It's not good for me to pick up the phone while on work." Maria explained to Isolde. As she couldn't make plans for private during lessons. She remembered reading this in certain manga's but she decided that it was bad form, and this wasn't a manga this was reality.

[Maria Stark]

"alright let's go then." Maria said as she stood up. "We should go to the library then. It's a small walk from this shopping center. " She said to Isolde. Libraries were useful. You often could loan a few books for a few weeks for a small price a year or such. The library staff was rather nice as long as you kept quiet. She waited for Isolde to follow her outside the shopping center. Maria came there often to get books to read in front of her class so she could give some advice to Isolde about the books she could pick.

[Maria Stark]

After a short walk they reached the library. "Do you already have a library card, if not you can get one here." She said when passing the counter with an rather old lady sitting behind it. She raised her hand to say good day to the lady, as she was rather fond of the quiet in the place. She then went on her way to the children section, which wasn't far in. So the children didn't have to walk very far so they won't get lost or don't get to read to much adult stuff. They could easily reach it if they knew the way though. "So we are here. Let's find some good books." She said as she lowered herself to the level children books. They weren't that high, as the children wouldn't be able to reach them if they did.

[Maria Stark]

Maria waited a while till Isolde had her library card. It was certainly a good thing to have. Now she actually could loan books. She walked with Isolde to the part of the children books and started to search too. There were many books. "there are many books here, I haven't found many books here that aren't in their rightful place." She said quietly as she took out a book and looked at it. It was fine and she could really take it to the children, but she also could take another book. Maybe it was better. She first dabbled through a few books.

"How about this one?" She said holding one book up. She remembered that she always liked it when she was young. It was something about not being afraid in the dark. She wasn't sure if this was what they were looking for, but it could be a start.