The Occupation

[Viverescribere]

Her eyes briefly flickered wide at the sight of the genuine gratitude in his own, leaving her to wonder once more just how different he was compared to his fellow officers. None of them would be glad a French woman - real or fake - would take a walk with them. Even if they were, it usually seemed to be the mere lust of a...well...Annalise didn't really wish to think about such matters lest she be sick. But Amsel...he did not seem like the type to want a night in her bed. Just a simple walk. It was...refreshing. Yes. Refreshing.

Bowing her head slightly, she took a small step back from the entrance to settle herself elsewhere. Upon his news, Anna quickly gave him back her gaze, once more unable to help her visible surprise. "Congratulations, sir." She murmured gently, sincerely meaning so. The beginning of a new life was as good news as any. She knew how much she secretly desired a family of her own. A loving husband...children...

Not in this world, it seemed. Fate would have it, it looked like.

"Your brother is a very lucky man indeed. To be able to have such good fortune even during times like this," Annalise found herself continuing, the strap of her pocketbook being fidgeted between her hands. "I'm envious, to say the least." After she was done, she lowered her head once more and took a few steps away to stand near the lamppost.

Annalise would soon realize that she wasn't going to follow out her plan of leaving as soon as she could no longer see him in that building. She would wait. Perhaps it was curiosity. The fact that this man had family that he seemed to care about...it made him more human to her. Not so much as the enemy anymore. They all had things or people they loved. But those things could be the reason that they bled. For now though, Anna remained under the golden pool of light, staring down at her feet as she waited patiently.

 

[Jess Incognito]

The cool air bit into his face, the only exposed skin he had left, once outside again. He found Annalise quickly and the pair resumed their walk without missing a beat. He glanced at her once as they walked, pulling apart the words she had said before he entered the post office. They seemed to hold a sadness. Rolfe didn't have children of his own and had never thought about it, mostly because he had yet to find a woman he could consider marrying. As it went, children were not exactly possible without one. And he considered himself content with that.

"What did you do before?" he asked, thinking of it somewhat randomly. Before this occupation, he meant, and before the war. Of course, he knew much about her. He had read all files describing their French employees and even some distasteful German officers. He did not remember all of them, but he did not know many of those people personally.

Besides, the files were dry and simply put. He wondered how she would phrase her answers and what the information in the file meant off the page.

 

[Viverescribere]

"What...what did I do before...?" Annalise repeated the question, having actually and literally stumbled briefly upon him asking.

What did she do before? What she actually did before wasn't the same as what her file said she had done before. How she longed to reveal everything that she had done before her job as a secretary. Back in Germany, she was in school. She wanted to be a writer. How she wished to be a writer. Her parents were managing to put her through school, considering that her father still had the family business of an instrument store upon which they were able to sell instruments, fix, re-string...anything and everything.

So it probably made sense as to why music was a part of her file that the Gestapo had on her. Courtesy of the Resistance.

"I...well, I was a piano player at one of the top end restaurants. You know, the one that plays those peaceful tunes for people to eat their meals to? I did that as one job..." Annalise began to explain, looking down at her feet as they continued to walk, "Music had always been a large part of my life, been a part of my family for years. It's just something I can escape to, even now. We all need something to escape to during these years, don't you agree, sir?"

 

[Jess Incognito]

Rolfe nodded. He was glad that her work had meant more to her than Musikerin. The one word used to describe her life before meant very little. It did not describe what or where or why, as he felt himself wanting to know about her.

An escape. Interesting question. Rolfe did not lend many thoughts to escape. He did not also think much about spirit and morale, not in his men nor himself. His own morale, if that's what it should be called, stood an infallible wall - a cold, hard thing that was his will to go on. There had not been much time for music, but how Annalise spoke of it now, he agreed, "Yes, I suppose its necessary," for there to be music and escape, though he did not understand personally what letting go for a few moments felt like.

"I should like to hear you play, sometime," he said after a few slow steps passed by underfoot. He thought, somewhat impulsively, that if he would listen to any music, he wanted to hear her. It had been a long time since he truly listened. With the war, anything was prone to change in an instant, but if there was a possibility, he meant what he said.

 

[Viverescribere]

During the brief moment of silence that filled the air between them, Annalise was transported back to her childhood. Summer days working in the family music shop, of playing the instruments during quiet times or writing nonsense in her many notebooks. She would often create short imaginings in those notebooks, fantasy worlds that she would personal love to delve into...or the different lives that she believed of living. Writing and music. Her two passions in life. Now they were merely dusty memoires on an old shelf.

"Hear me play?" Anna repeated, a ghost of a smile on her lips as she even provided a small laugh to accompany it. "I haven't played for almost a year now. The war doesn't really agree much with instruments, nor does your Fuhrer...so it would seem." She commented, glancing up to the General, "So many strict rules now about who can play music and who cannot. Who can write and who can sing. Not to mention what is allowed to be hea-" She cut herself off immediately as she realized just what sort of rant she was going off on, clearing her throat and sharply looking away.

"My apologies, I did not mean to speak out of turn." She mumbled, lowering her head but not out of shame, but to avoid eye contact with two patrolling Nazi Officers who marched down the street toward them. "But I would not mind playing some pieces for you...should you ever wish to hear them or have time for them." Annalise then continued, stepping sideways briefly onto the road to allow the officers to pass. She was not stupid enough to get in their way. Many of the Nazi pigs could be brutal just by themselves...put them together in pairs or small groups, it became cruel and unfair.

 

[Jess Incognito]

Rolfe watched her passively. She had spoken out of turn, but he preferred to ignore the trespass. As they were alone, this judgement could be entirely his own, not governed just this once, by those rules of which she spoke. He noticed her discomfort at the approaching officers. Rolfe nodded at their obligatory salutes - not der Hitlergruß; he was glad they chose the more discreet greeting.

He didn't like the way their eyes grazed Annalise's shape, pretending to know what went on beneath her clothes. It was a hungry look, but fleeting as they soon passed by. No wonder she stepped out of bounds for them. He found himself marking their faces in his mind, a small check against them, though they were perfectly within their rights and perfectly outside Amsel's usual interest.

"I'll find the time if you would be so much the rebel to play one song," he continued after the two officers were out of earshot beyond them. He did not know why he felt so great an urge to encourage her in this, even when what she said was true and it would be so far his biggest trespass.

"Would you like to get a cup of coffee?" he asked, switching gears. Such a thing could be costly, he thought, as it was on a list of strictly rationed luxury goods in the city, but the offer had already been presented. He didn't often seek the company of others and was afraid his attempts at prolonging their conversation may be clumsy. Still, he persisted, "On me, of course."

 

[Viverescribere]

Annalise had to suppress the urge to squirm and fidget under the hungry looks of the passing officers, counting down from ten to steel her nerves and control her furiously beating heart. She was used to such gazes from Nazi Officers, both on the street and within the offices, so knew how to keep her expression unfazed and passive. On the inside, however, there was a completely different story. She either went from being terrified - especially if there was more than one at the time - to, on other occasions, being completely furious. Anna had heard countless stories about other women and girls not being so lucky and not just being let go to pass-by on the streets.

She just hoped she would remain one of the lucky ones until the end of the war.

Her gaze flickered back to him and lingered there for a moment, a faint glimmer of shock in her eyes as he continued to push the matter of hearing her play. Of course she couldn't help but wonder if this was just a way to catch her out, to have her arrested. But then she wondered...why would Amsel wish to do such a thing? He had actually been...considerate and a gentleman during their brief encounters.

"A...a coffee monsieur?" Her surprise was only doubled by his question and she gave a small laugh, "You continue to shock me, Major Amsel." Annalise admitted, readjusting the strap of her pocketbook as they carried on down the rather desolate street. She knew how expensive coffee could be, especially in France. The Nazis provided barely anything to those they had conquered...let alone luxuries such as coffee. She hadn't tasted coffee in...well, she believed it had been a year anyway. "It is very hard to come by though, oui? Perhaps...perhaps something else other than a coffee might be more suitable. Not to mention less expensive."