Hey guys, just a quick fic about why Citron and Eureka CAN (but don't) speak French too often.
A/N: I'm JUST starting to learn French, so if I messed up, please don't send flames, just correct me and I'll (hopefully) find a way to fix it.
Some Diode tones here :)
It was a hot lazy day. Satoshi sat at the table, waiting for something to come save him from the inevitable bordum of a summer afternoon.
The Pokemon where all off doing their own thing (Pikachu and Harimaron recently found a way to play 'fetch' with a small pink ball Eureka had given them). They had already trained for the day, and lunch was still boiling away. The trainer sighed, feeling the utter defeat that came with being a teenage boy with nothing to do but sit with an empty stomach.
He leaned back on the legs of his chair, twirling his hat around his fingers.
"Eureka," the inventor's voice came from across the campsite. "Viens ici, sil vous plait." Satoshi's ears perked up curiously. He looked over the table where the girl was sitting opposite of him. She had a bright orange crayon in her fist, as Dedenne acted as her model.
What did he say?
"Pourqoi?" she responded back, her eyes not lifting from the picture she was drawing.
"..Je besoin d'un ruban.." he sounded embarrased, pausing before replying. Satoshi glanced over. Citron gave Horubii a pat on the head, mumbling a 'thank you' for bringing him a screwdriver. Eureka stood, looking slightly annoyed, and made her way towards her brother.
"Quelle couleur?" the little blond girl shuffled in her pouchette, looking around for something. Curiously, Satoshi watched the siblings, not understanding a single thing in their conversation.
"Bleu?"
"Non."
"Blanc?"
"Non."
They continued, bickering mildly as Eureka pulled several things from her bag. The boy stood, placing his large grey work gloves into his jumpsuit's pocket.
"Jaune?"
"J'ai d'un ruban or."
"D'accord." the boy sighed. "Puis-je emprunter ce, s'il-vous-plaît." the inventor finished wrapping his jumpsuit's sleeves around his waist.
What are they saying?
He hadn't heard French before he arrived in Kalos, and thus only knew one word ("s'il vous plait" meaning 'please'). There were occasionally instances where it would pop up and leave him completely dumbfounded.
"Hey, Serena" the raven haired boy turned to face her and Tairenar, who was enjoying a brushing. "What are they talking about?" he whispered.
"I don't know." her attention didn't stray from her Pokemon's glossy fur. "I can't speak French."
"What? You're from here, right?"
"Well, yeah. But I just never learned. My mom's from the Johto region, and I never knew my dad. He's the only one that couldn't taught me." She looked disgruntled and slightly offeneded.
"Merci." a little ways a way, the inventor thanked his sister.
"De rien!"
"Why don't you ask them yourself?" the girl gestured with the hairbrush to Eureka, who was trotting back the table.
"Ask me what?" She smiled brightly as she searched in her crayon box for a particular shade of reddish orange. Dedenne sat back up, determined (and expecting a treat) for being a good little muse.
"Um.."
"He was curious what you guys were talking about." Serena butted in, still seemingly annoyed.
"Oh!" Eureka popped her head up, bright blue eyes looking mischevous. "Don't tell him I told you, but he wanted a ribbon." She pointed at the back of her brother's head, a small gold coloured bow sat neatly in his hair.
"He's so cute.." the Kanto boy murmured absent mindedly, forgetting that both the girls could hear him. Although they had been together for a few weeks now, it was still taking the group a bit of time to adjust to the new dynamic.
Again, Serena gave him a look that could be described as crestfallen, yet at the same time annoyed. But instead of remarking, she turned around, leaving the conversation completely to focus on Tairenar's fur.
"He think's it looks really girly, but it's hot out, so he wanted to put his hair up. You know, that way his neck doesn't get all sticky and gross." She scribbled an orange looking blob, then searched for a brown crayon. "He's just embarrased that you'd hear him."
"So he asked you in French?"
"Oui!" The little girl gave him a thumbs up and giggled. "He may be gay, but he's still a guy."
"True, true..."
For a minute, Satoshi watched him working. There was something else he wanted to ask, but didn't know how to approach it. After a little bit of mental debate, he decided just to ask out front.
"How come you two can speak French, but Limone-san can't?" Satoshi remembered a while ago when their dad had to ask Citron to translate a sign in front of a cafe they were visiting.
"That's because he's from Hoenn. That's how he got Bursyamo." She started casually. "He met our mom here in Kalos while on a family vacation. They fell in love, and then settled down.."
A silence fell between Satoshi, Serena and their pokemon. They had never heard about their mother, but all of a sudden it made sense. Limone being a single parent, Citron having to basically raise Eureka.. it was because their mom was gone.
"Onii-chan learned from her. He's actually fluent." She twirled a pink crayon between her fingers. "He used to read me books and sing me songs in French, but he's been using it less and less since Mama passed. I've only picked up enough from him to get around town. But that's about it." She hesitated, looking over at her brother, then back at Satoshi, her voice now a whisper. "He was my age, you know..when it happened.."
"I-I'm sorry.."
The warm summer air breezed by gently, only the chink of tools and foot steps of their playing Pokemon could be heard. It felt akward to be having a conversation so solemn, and yet, the little blond girl didn't appear sad. Instead, she continued her picture humming lightly while Serena brushed Tairenar's tail for the third time.
She probably never knew her mom, like how I never knew my dad..
It felt like he'd been suckerpunched. Eureka wasn't upset because she didn't know what it was like to have a mother, but Citron, he had (atleast from what he understood), about 7 years with her before she died..
Satoshi stood. Pikachu watched from the grass, having caught the pink ball Harimaron had threw for him.
"Pika-pi?"
The Kanto teen had his copper eyes locked on the hunched figure across the campsite. Playfully, he bent over, and blew onto his exposed neck.
"Eh?!" The boy whipped around after been abruptly pulled out of 'the zone'. "S-Satoshi?"
"Hey, Citron." he plopped down in the grass next to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Hi." The inventor smiled, blushing lightly. "Want to lend a hand?" he offered him a wrench.
"Oui!" Satoshi copied Eureka's expression from earlier.
"Huh?" Citron blinked, slightly confused and bewildered at his boyfriend's sudden French. Nevertheless, the two began working together to bring the invention to life. Satoshi smiled, determined to make the blond as happy as he possibly could.