RP/G: Another Bedroom, Another Family

[Nicky]

Topic intro

[Nicky]

"So che questo è inconsueta, ma davvero vorrei avere più attenzione per la tua cucina Dolorada,I know this is uncharacteristic but I really wish I had paid more attention to your cooking Dolorada," Rosa admitted as she tore off a piece of bread from her slice. "Cucinare per se stessi è un compito grande, anche di decidere, fare la spesa e poi in realtà la cucina. Ero esausto, prima avevo anche iniziato a mangiare.Cooking for yourself is a big task, including deciding, doing the shopping and then actually cooking. I was worn out before I had even started eating."
Charlie glanced around his new room one last time before he tumbled down the stairs and to the kitchen. He stopped in the doorway as he saw a girl he didn't recognise sat at the table.
Rosa heard the noise of the young male before he appeared. She turned her head to look at him before looking at Stefan. "Quindi questa è la mia sostituzione?So this is my replacement?" she questioned.

[SPI]

Addolorata slid the second loaf of Focaccia off her baking tray and onto the wooden chopping board in the middle of the island.
"Stefanio!" She scolded, summoning Stefan to ferry the loaf over to the main table in the kitchen round which he and Rosa were sat. "Non voglio che il povero ragazzo a trovare voi due hanno mangiato tutto il pane con il tempo si sveglia."I don't want the poor boy to find you two have eaten all the bread by the time he wakes up.
"Coming caro,Coming dear," Stefan assured his wife, dropping his Focaccia on his plate and standing up to attend to the waiting loaf. "Morning Charlie," he said cheerfully as he heard Charlie enter the kitchen behind him.
"Mi hanno insegnato di più, Rosa,I should have taught you more, Rosa," Addolorata agreed. "Naturalmente siete i benvenuti a goccia per alcune lezioni o solo per alcuni prodotti alimentari, se siete in difficoltà. Si sa che c'è surplus di cibo sempre più a Camera dell'ospite del D'Amato che in qualsiasi mensa dei poveri,Of course you are welcome to drop by for some lessons or just for some food if you are struggling. You know there is always more surplus food at Camera dell'ospite del D'Amato than at any soup kitchen," Addolorata offered, having made a similar offer of meals the day Rosa had to move out.
"Charlie," he said, keeping to English for the boy's benefit, "This is Rosa Beaumont. Rosetta was my last charge. I am hoping as she isn't living too far away you will see enough of each other to get to know one another." He returned to the table, sliding the piping hot Focaccia onto the platter in the centre.

[Nicky]

"I think for the moment you may be seeing quite a lot of me until I can actually cook. Io sicuramente porterà sulla vostra offerta Dolorada,I will definitely take you up on your offer Dolorada," Rosa replied switching languages effortlessly.
Charlie crossed the shortest distance possible to a chair at the kitchen table before he slunk into his chair. He immediately rested his elbows on the table. He was still at the awkward phase where he didn't feel like he fit in, especially as Rosa seemed to slot right back in even though she lived somewhere else. He reached for the focaccia that has just been placed on the table.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Rosa said with a smile as she saw him not only reach for piping hot bread but also had his elbows on the table.

[SPI]

Dolorada smiled and nodded as Rosa accepted her offer. "Osserverò in avanti ad esso, Rossina.I will look forward to it, Rossina."
"Now, ask Charlie what he would like to drink for me," she ordered Rosa. "Conoscete che cosa dobbiamo offrire.You know what we have to offer."
Stefan nodded along to what his wife had said to Rosa. "Any time," he added. "You and Luca."
He turned to look at Charlie as he began to tuck into the bread. "Elbows," he mouthed in English, as he motioned with his own, lifting them off an imaginary surface.
Dolorada followed Stefan over to the table and slapped Charlie's hand away from the bread gently, shaking her head at him. "Caldo,Hot," she cautioned.
"I'd watch that," he said, "Dolorada's food is always piping hot when she puts it on the table."
"Here," he pushed his plate towards the boy, with an untouched slice of the last loaf on it. "I've not touched it," he reassured.

[Nicky]

Charlie felt lost as they all slipped in and out of Italian and English. He lifted his elbows up off the table and tried his hardest not to do it again. It seemed like the most natural thing for him to do so it was going to be hard to get out of that habit.
Rosa recited off the top of her head all the drinks that were available before she looked at Charlie and waited for him to answer. She felt sorry for him but in a way jealous. She wished that she got to go back to the beginning. Maybe that time she would do something different. She was in such a daze that she only just caught the end of what Charlie said and asked him to repeat it.
"Apple juice," he said stressing it clearly before he took Stefan's offer of his slice of bread. "Thanks." He wasn't normally sheepish but everything still felt odd.

[SPI]

"Succo di mela,Apple juice," Stefan relayed to Addolorata, voicing the word slowly so Charlie could get used to the sounds simple of Italian words.
"So, what are your plans for the day?" He asked Rosa, making conversation.
"Se avete intenzione di insegnare al ragazzo italiano, insegnargli l'italiano con i modi di base, Stefan,If you are going to teach the boy Italian, teach him Italian with basic manners, Stefan," Addolorata scolded her husband. She returned to the table a moment later with a glass of fresh apple juice and placed it before Charlie.
Per voi, Charlie,For you, Charlie, she said, smiling at the lad before taking the final seat at the table. The advantage of a late breakfast was that she had cooked for all the guests by the time she sat down and didn't have to worry about the meals again until the evening.

[Nicky]

"I have a meeting for work and then I am planning to see Luca," Rosa explained. "He's been really busy recently and we haven't really had a chance to see each other in the middle of all of this mess with me trying to sort out my new apartment."
Charlie repeated succo di mela in his head a few times to try and remember it before he looked up at Dolorada and smiled. "Grazie," he said quietly before he began to tear his bread up.

[SPI]

"That's not like him," Stefan remarked warmly, adding "though I suppose it may have set in that he hasn't got too many chances left to work hard if he wants to graduate with a good mark."
"I did warn you you needed to arrange your new flat ahead of time. Deveraux may select and outfit it, but the rest is down to you to organise. You can't have much left to do though, surely?"
"Sei il benvenuto,You're welcome," Addolorata returned politely, beginning to tuck into the hot bread before her delicately. She paused to allow the steaming chunk she had separated from the loaf to cool, taking a sip of her cool tomato juice.

[Nicky]

"I know it isn't like him," Rosa said quietly. She was torn whether to accept Stefan's suggestion or realise that Luca had been avoiding her ever since she had moved into her own apartment. Whether it was because the pressure to be together in that way had come back or something else, she still wasn't sure. She wished that everything had never happened and she hadn't been so stupid to let it go that far.
Charlie found it odd that Stefan and Rosa were speaking in English just for his benefit and leaving Addolorata out in the process but he didn't want to question anything as he was too new at all of this. The fact he was technically a secret agent was the easy part, trying to slip into a family that seemed to have already been set up for a number of years was what he found the most hardest.
"Everything is nearly sorted its just living there now which is going to be the challenge," Rosa joked, trying to cover up what was going through her head. "If I have to admit it, it is really lonely just being there."

[SPI]

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll get an invitation to a night out and his new found dedication will blow over." Stefan said lightly, smiling at Rosa. However, he hoped for the lad's sake that he would keep up with his workload for no reason other than wishing him all the best in his chosen career.
"You'll adapt quick enough, Rosetta," Stefan assured her. "Once you settle in and it feels more like home you won't feel so odd when you stay there alone. I am sure you and Luca will, ah, sleepover at each other's still," he said expectantly. He tried not to say too much in front of Charlie without wanting to encroach on Rosa's privacy. He was aware that Rosa felt she still had issues with Luca, however, but he was certain that sooner or later the couple would have to rekindle their relationship. They certainly seemed on much firmer ground than they had been when Rosa's laundry was first aired in public.

[Nicky]

Rosa glanced at Charlie before she looked back at Stefan. She wanted to speak to him about something private and normally this would have just involved speaking in English but that was complicated now by the fact that Charlie was around. French was also spoken by Addolorata so that took out their last common language. "Posso avere una parola in privato per favore?Can I have a word in private please?" Rosa requested quietly of Stefan.
Charlie tried to keep his head down and just block out all the conversation that was going on. "Io...ho bisogno di andare,I...I need to go," he said hurriedly as he got to feet and left the room.
Rosa watched as Charlie left the room which sort of suited what she wanted to talk to Stefan about. "I don't know whether Luca wants to be with me. He doesn't want to come to mine," she said quietly.

[SPI]

"Guardate cosa le due che hai fatto per il povero ragazzo ora,Look what the two of you've done to the poor boy now," Addolorata protested. "Si dovrebbe sapere quanto sia difficile possa essere per adattarsi in un primo momento, Rosa, e si aveva il vantaggio di non essere in un paese diverso, con una lingua che parlava a malapena,You should know how hard it can be to fit in at first, Rosa, and you had the advantage of not being in a different country with a language you barely spoke," she scalded, picking up his plate, dropping a little more Focaccia onto it and following after him with his breakfast in hand. "Charlie," she called after him.
Stefan looked at his wife and muttered an apology, offering to speak with the boy in afterwards, before returning his attention to Rosa. "Every relationship has its difficulties, Rosa. I dare say you've watched Dolorada and I struggle ourselves at times. But what you must remember is that whilst you both try to maintain your relationship, even at a distance, then all is not lost."
He paused for a moment in thought, considering how best to explain his take on the situation to Rosa. "If Luca truly believed there was no future for you both as a couple he wouldn't still be around. He may not know how he feels about you - and truthfully, I'm afraid I still believe that's his prerogative - but that's as much a testament that he believes he may still have a future with you as it is to the contrary."
"Perhaps, equally, this distance you're feeling between Luca and yourself is his way of showing you how much pain you've caused him, and how much damage you've inflicted on your relationship. Ultimately, whatever the cause, the solution is to show him that you've changed, that you are still changing, and that you are willing to do whatever it will take to regain his trust again."
He reached forward and placed his hand on hers, making unwavering eye contact. "But I'm certain he still loves you, and I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't all just his way of asking you to convince him of the same, Rosetta."

[Nicky]

Charlie had made it to the top of the stairs. He wasn't sure he could work out where he was supposed to fit into whatever family they had got here. He hated having to fit in to whatever situation. It never seemed to stay constant for him. Every time he would go to his second family something would have changed. Now he was in a foreign country with a language he couldn't speak and the past seemed to keep coming back so he couldn't try and take her place.

"I just don't know what to do. I sit there and I am being attentive and doing everything I think I should and then when it comes to going home he breaks it all off suddenly. I thought we had got past all that when I was still living here," Rosa said quietly. It was odd to be frank with Stefan but she needed to be with someone and Luca couldn't fill that role at the moment.

[SPI]

Dolorada followed Charlie up the stairs and was relieved to find him waiting at the top of them, albeit seemingly very uncomfortably. You held the plate out to him as if a peace offering. "Si mangia?You eat?" She propositioned him rhetorically, adding a little uncertainly "eat."

"There are obviously still some issues for the boy," Stefan remarked. "You must give him time Rosetta, but in that time you must work with him towards restoring your relationship, a small step at a time."
Stefan paused, in two minds to suggest what he was thinking. On the one hand it flew in the face of his general morals, on the other it would serve to confirm or deny Rosa's hopes. He pursed his lips before concluding that morals differed between generations, and to impose his own on a younger generation may be no more than just ideals.
"Rosa... take Luca out and ensure he has a very nice evening. Ply him with as much alcohol as you can, so he's as drunk as anything, and then see how you and he are together. Without any inhibitions you will know just how he feels about you, and maybe he will also discover it come the next morning too. You will still have a way to go together, but perhaps it will serve as the encouragement you both need to keep at it, no?"