Red-Cross and Redder Lips

Packed To Our Teeth

      When the men finally do arrive, they come in dozens. Directive number seven announced that Adolf Hitler is officially preparing his Western attack, even though they've been shooting down Britain planes and boats for weeks now. Amélie, though, sits in the lobby down stairs watching the men arrive. It's not that she's here to watch the new faces, she's mandated to be here by those higher up to at least fake to their allies that they are prepared. Spinning her pencil, she almost doesn't see the stranger approach her until they speak, "Erm- Je m'appelle.. eh..." They stumble over French, a beginner mistake. "English? I know a little bit" Amélie says, and the smile on their face tells a thousand stories. "Thank God! another English speaker! I thought I was done for." Setting her pencil down softly, Amélie raises a brow and smiles, "yes I know how you feel. What is it that you need, Sir? The registration is to the left, I just sit here and make you all feel welcome." The stranger nods and grins, "you do? Well what else do you do? You've gotta be a medic, obviously, but you've gotta have other things to do?" "You catch my interest, I must say, but why do you ask?" she says, her tone soft and honest. "Well- Uh, I gotta show you something, it'll be real quick i swear, just take my word?" the stranger says as they tip their hat, and a short, curly, almost-white blond hair springs out and onto her forehead; she tucks it away as soon as it touches her nose. With a smooth hop off the counter and a sly smile, Amélie gestures with her head for the soldier to follow her as she walks around the corner and to the stairwell, "I think I can trust you, here- right this way."
       "Sooo, you're a girl?" Ingrid says as she reads the soldiers ID papers. They get passed to Lenore as Amélie runs a gentle hand through the stranger's soft curls. "Tell me, mister Ethel Hutchins, why did you tuck this all in there? And lie about your name?" Ethel's eyes don't leave Amélie's face as she bounces her leg anxiously, her hands digging at her thick jacket, "well, I go by Dolly to them, right? And uh, well my brother was taken for the war, and I figured I could help to-" "Is this story long? Or are you going to get on with it?" Ingrid interrupts, her English is far more British than Ethel's, and rolls off the tongue far sharper. ".... Well you guys asked so-" "Just talk, Ethel. Just talk." Amélie cuts them both off and let's the stranger speak as she lets go of the curls and reaches for the dog tags. The bolded side reads 'Dolly Hutchins', and there isn't a chip to be seen on the polished metal. "As I was saying, my brother was taken- well no he volunteered- anyway, for the war and I figured I could tag along and help out America in some way. They made me a messenger, I got a good ol' bicycle and all, hell, even the hat." The hat sits in Lenore's lap as she tries to read what it says; she doesn't know English. "Interesting. that is quite the story, Dolly, and here I was thinking it would be boring here." Amélie says as she stands up, her hand flattening the collar of Dolly's jacket and letting her touch glide along the neck of it, then off the shoulder as she walks to the window. Dolly's eyes remain on the brunette even if she doesn't look back, but comes to quickly when Ingrid speaks, "by the way, my name's Ingrid, this is Lenore, and- well you already know her. Why don't we get you unpacked? Lenore!" The blond drops the hat quickly and looks up. "Will you spin the record please?" she says in french as she takes Dolly's bag. Lenore runs from the room to grab a record and Ingrid heads downstairs for a cot, but Dolly stays on the foot of the bed with her eyes on her hands. "...Ethel, you can stand up, you know" Amélie says, her tame voice breaking the silence easily. Dolly pretends not to be startled as she stands up and walks over by Amélie, "yeah, 'was just thinking. Damn, what a view.." The rain had cleared now, and the sky was a bright scarlet red with dark grey clouds here and there over top. "It's hard to remember that half the planet is at war with a scene like this" Dolly says. Her host just nods.