When a girl with an arranged marriage meets another guy~

[[I'm gone for the weekend, so if you want me to make the first post you've got to wait, sorry <3]]

Red slowly awake by the light of the sun falling through his window. When he was finally totally awake he stepped out of his bed to put on his clothes. They still smelled like the market, but that isn't so weird when you stand all day on it. So ignoring the smell he stepped out of the house; to the market.

((Sorry for the small post, I feel sick and uninspired u___u))

Alice braided her long auburn hair back before she got to work, her father was a blacksmith who was already set at work for the day. Being the only child of her family, it was only natural for alice to learn her fathers trade. She left her home and walked down the street to the market place.

"good morning father." she smiled as she walked in to his forge.
The big man set his tools down and approached his daughter. "Alice dear, we need to talk."
Alice didn't like his tone.
"you are getting older Alice, you should be married by now."
She let out a worried laugh. "father, I'm only twenty. I have plenty of time to get married later."
He shook his head. "no, i can't have my daughter not being taken care of. Smithing only provides so much." he sighed. "you aren't going to like me for this, but I have arranged for you to be wed to Leon."
"Leon?" Alice protested. "but I hate him! I will not marry that man!"
"the arrangement is done Alice, you will marry him."
Alice stormed away and out of her fathers store. She was fuming, how could he make her do something like that? She sat on a crate and sighed as she put her head in her hands.

(I hope you feel better)

When Red reached the stall the old man, which was the owner and so his boss, greeted him loudly. Red just grinned back, and took his place after the stall. He would just serve customers all day long again. It didn't earn great, but it was better than nothing. Plus, the old man used to be a friend of Red's father, which passed away when he was only twelve. Since his mother had left him even before that age, the man took care of Red until he reached the age to take care of himself.
Suddenly he noticed a glance of a girl, stepping out mad of the blacksmith. He had seen her before, it wasn't such a big town here. He was curious, but he couldn't leave the stall.

((A little, thanks~ <3))

Alice ran a hand over her face and looked around. She needed something to distract her cram the terrible news her father had just dumped on her. She caught the stare of a man a few stalls over. He was handome, there was no denying that. Alice didn't know his name, but he had worked there about as long as her father had his smiting shop there. It was strange that in the small town she had never bumped into him. And honestly, she didn't even know what he sold.

After making sure she had a few coins to spend, Alice straightened her skirt and walked over to the stall. There werent any other customers so she didn't feel bad for just going over to talk.

She walked up with a smile on her face, her bright green eyes seemed to sparkle. "hi" her voice was soft.

Red became out of customers, as the girl he just noticed approached. She was absolutely pretty, she had beautiful eyes and a smile of an angel, as they say it. He had dark eyes himself, with along going darkbrown hair. His skin had gotten tinted, he stood in the sun all day long after all.
And then she spoke. Her voice wasn't loud at all, so he barely heard her. Though of what he heard, her voice seemed pretty as well. 'Hi, can I help you?' he answered almost automatic. Or maybe it was totally automatic. If you have customers all day you don't expect someone - someone pretty - to go over for a talk. Above, he never really 'talked'. All he said was related to selling.

Alice smiled. "I'm not sure..." she said playfully. "Honestly, I'm not even sure of what you sell here." she looked around the stall for some kind of hint. "Which i find rather odd, because you have worked here almost as long as my father has had his store, over there." she put a finger on her chin and thought a moment. "And it's strange that i have never spoken to you before, I don't even know your name." She glanced behind her, just to be sure that she wasn't going to block a customer and get the handsome man in trouble. "My name is Alice by the way." Her bangs fell into her face when she tilted her head and smiled at him.

'We fix things. Like clothes and shoes.' Red answered while he took a quick look at his hands; they were full of tar. When she spoke about her "Father's shop" he watched along as she pointed to the blacksmith. He kept looking at it until she talked further. 'Well I guess it ain't that strange.' Red murmled, but loud enough to hear. 'I'm Red' He then said, louder. He didn't make any attempts to make the conversation go further, but he wouldn't really mind if she did. He couldn't think of a decent reason why she would, but she apparently also had found a reason to go introduce herself to him.

Alice smiled at him. "Red, It's nice to meet you finally." she saw him try to wipe the tar from his hands, it reminded her of what her hands tended to look like at the end of a day of work. Just then her father threw open the door to his shop, his face was blackened with soot and his hair looked singed. "Alice!" he shouted.

the girl cringed. "Oops. Guess i should get back to my father. He probably needs my help fixing something." she put her finger to her lip. "Just don't tell anyone that a woman fixes things, they tend to not appreciate that too much." she winked at him. "You are welcome to come say hi whenever you want to." she waved at him as she turned around and walked back to her father.

"Yes?"
"Get inside. You have work to do." He held the door open for her.
Alice scowled at him, she wasn't going to go into this arranged marriage happily, in fact she planned on doing everything possible to get out of it.

Red smiled friendly and watch her go back all the way. Even when she was actually in the blacksmith he kept staring. Of course he wasn't going to shout around that the daughter of the blacksmith actually fixed things. And that she walks away while working. He sighed and turned around, facing to the customers which weren't there at the moment. Since it was part of his job waiting a lot he had put a crate after the stall to sit on. Just when he wanted to take place on it a man appeared at the stall. He took the clothes and told the man to come back in an hour. There wasn't any other work, so he could make it in that time easily. Then he finally took place on his crate, took his equipment and started to work on it. It was a little feminine work, but he was actually quite good in it.

Alice tied the leather apron on so it would hold her skirt out of the way. then she pulled on a pair of oversized gloves and began hammering out a sword.

"Alice what were you doing out there?" Her father asked as he stoked the fire.
"Nothing," she grunted as her hammer connected with the steel.
"Don't lie to me girl." Her father growled.
Alice shoved the beginnings of the sword back into the coals to heat up again. "I wasn't doing anything Father. I was just talking to the man a few stalls over."
"You can't go around like that Alice. You are going to marry Leon, you cant be talking to other men."
she pulled the red hot weapon out of the fire and pointed it at her father. "No you decided he was who i am supposed to marry. Not me. I will not take part in marrying a good for nothing man who cant even take care of himself. I will talk to whoever i want and you wont stop me." she slammed the sword down and sent sparks flying off the anvil.

She didn't speak to him for the next few hours, until it was about noon. Alice took of her apron and tried to wipe the sweat off her brow. "I'm taking a break for lunch." with that simple statement she left the blacksmith's shop. She heaved a sigh as she leaned back against the wall once she was outside.

Since the man leaved Red didn't had any other customers to work on. He was just sitting on his crate when the same girl as before came out of the blacksmith. He wondered if she was walking away from work again or that she really had a break. Talking of a break, he decided to go for a walk. He dit noted his boss and then walked away. Without any thinking he walked towards the girl. When he reached her he went standing next to her but kept quiet.

Alice opened her eyes when she heard the sound of someone approaching. A smile crossed her face when she saw Red come and stand next to her. She looked up at him, she didn't realize how much taller he was when he was in the open she saw she looked rather small next to him. Alice smiled up at him. "are you taking a lunch break too?"
She felt like she had soot on her face so she tried to wipe it off. Normally she didn't really care about her appearance too much, but for some reason she didn't want Red to see her covered in dirt.

Red nodded 'I'm not having customers at the moment anyway'. He still kept an eye on the stall, just in case. Even though Alice was pretty, he'd prefer to work. That's when he didn't had to think or worry about anything but finishing the work. He looked at Alice for a second, and noticed that she wanted to wipe something away. He grinned a little 'It's still there.'

Alice's face turned red and she tried to remove the soot. When she got frustrated because she couldn't see whet she was doing, she gave up on removing it. She looked up at Red. "so tell me about yourself." she was trying to be friendly, but she didn't really know how. Her father was always very protective of her and she wasnt aloud out alot when she was younger. She didn't have many friends. The only person she actually knew that was around her age, was Leon, a pampered noble who wouldn't do a thing for himself.
She hoped she wasn't being to nosy, she just wanted to talk to Red, and she hoped he didn't mind.

Red was quiet for a while - what to tell about him? That he was just a marketchild which doesn't have parents and will work the rest of his life being lonely? 'I don't know what to tell..' He murmled 'I guess I'm not so interesting'. He thought a little more, but he couldn't really find something to tell. 'And, ehm, you?' He than asked leaving the stall alone and looking at her. He actually really was wondering what she was like.

Alice wrinkled her nose when he said he wasn't interesting. But hen she sighed. "I don't really have much to tell either. I'm the only child in my family, that's why I ended up learning smiting. My mother died when I was little so it's just been me and my father for a long time. I spend most of my time with him at work, so I don't really have any friends..." she looked up at him, part of her felt like he knew what it was like to feel alone, she knew the man who owned his stall wasn't his father.

Red was surprised to hear that she didn't had any friends. She seemed like a somewhat perfect girl to him, ignoring the fact that she was working. 'Well. I'm probably only child as well. I've got no idea who my mother is and my father died when I was twelve' He then sighed. It came over cold, but it still hurted him. What kind of mother would let her baby all alone? But he couldn't do a thing about it, so he tried to forget it and be indifferent about it.

Alice looked up at him. "I'm sorry about your mother, at least I know what happened to mine..." she knew she shouldn't push the subject so she let it go. A smile reapeared on her face. "so, what are your plans for lunch?" she looked up at him hoping that he didn't have plans with another girl or anything.

'I haven't really got plans. I just was tired of waiting, so I decided to to go for a walk' Red said smiling. He never had plans, he would just quit sitting after the stall and go around the town or so. 'And you then?'

Alice shook her head. "no I don't have plans either." she smiled. "would you care to join me for a walk?" she took a step out towards the market and looked back at him, her cheeks slightly red.

'Sure' Red answered while he stepped next to her. He still didn't care much for talking, but walking, well, why not. Alice was friendly, and not a shame to walk next to. It would rather be a pride than a shame. 'Are you at the market often?'

Alice smiled when he agreed, but then she shook her head. "No, I'm not at Market all too much. If I'm not working here, I'm doing chores at home. I swear sometimes my father just keeps me busy so i can't meet people." she clasped her hands behind her as they walked. AS they walked, Alice couldn't help but notice how old and simple her skirt was. it was rather plane, she made it years ago. A sigh escaped her, she was never aloud to buy new things whenever she went to market. All her stuff was ruined by her work, it was all scorched and patched. If Alice did ever get a date with someone, she wouldn't have anything to wear.

'Why is he so protecting? Not all humans are bad.' Red asked wondering. He analysed all the stalls; what, who, how, and how much. It was a somewhat strange habit he gained as he began to work on the market. When he discovered a new stall he had to take a look. Without saying something he headed towards the stall. As he approached it he noticed it seemed just another clothes stall.

Alice shrugged. "I don't really know why. He just has always been that way." she watched as he got distracted by a stall. When she followed him over her eyes got wide. It was a clothing stall and on display at the front was a beautiful pale green dress. Alice wanted to reach out and feel the soft fabric, but her hands were dirty, she didn't want to ruin it, so she took a step back and waited for Red to stop his browsing as she silently wished she had the money to afford the dress.