<span style="font-family:Risque">It was an early Thursday evening when Adelaide began making her way back to the small little place that she tended to call home. It was always sad for her because despite her active role with the newspaper and despite the fact that people talked more at night when they were drinking, she couldn’t stick around for a few reasons. Primary among them was the fact that the streets after dark were not safe for a young woman to be walking on her own. Pretty much anyone who stumbled upon her could do whatever they wanted to her and get away with it and after dark was when the more dangerous types tended to be around. Sighing as she walked, she digressed in the fact that it kept her out of some of the more intriguing stories. <br/>
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That didn’t mean she couldn’t notice things as she walked, though. Her eyes were always looking for things that could create interesting stories because of that, she’d turned herself into quite the observant person. However, it could also get her very off track as to where she was going and what she was really supposed to be doing - getting home. <br/>
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So lost in people watching, Adelaide didn’t even notice when she almost walked right into a police officer. The collision was prevented simply because he had been paying attention and his arms reached out to stop her before she ran into him. <br/>
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“Oh!” she snapped back to her senses. “Pardon moi, Monsieur!” <br/>
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Although she tried to just walk around him and continue on her way, he didn’t seem like he was going to have that. His hands didn’t release her right away and if they had, Adelaide probably would have fallen over so that was a good thing for now. “Are you ok, Miss?” he inquired, his body bending down so that he could look her in the eyes. “You look a bit… lost.” She probably looked more than just lost so that was actually one of the most polite words he could have decided to use. <br/>
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“No worries. I’ll be fine, I imagine. I was just heading home,” Adelaide tried to reassure him that she really was ok and that she knew where she was going. She even added an affirmative nod for effect. However, then her eyes flickered around just a little and she realized that she had somehow managed to get way off track from where she had been heading. She still knew where she was and how to get home, but it was going to take a lot longer now than she had initially hoped. <br/>
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“Alright, Mademoiselle. If you’re sure…” He gave her an eye of uncertainty one final time before he headed on his way. <br/>
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She nodded back in his general direction and continued walking on cobblestone. This time, she tried to focus more on just getting home otherwise it would be dangerously late soon.</span>