You and me, baby (Stuttgart)

[Till Hoffmann]

Germany was without doubt the most beautiful country in the world. To Damian Walhalla, at least. Till Hoffmann, he wasn't so sure. He loved England very much, but he had to admit that his Vaterland always had a pull on him, no matter what. He always felt right at home, here, always. It was as though he'd never left, as though the past almost twenty years, now, could be erased. Frankly, it was a scary thought, but it didn't deter him from the sights.

Sure, it was only a week. And sure, most of it was going to be spent in Würzburg, watching Damian perform. But now, Till was taking his weekend. Damian would join him later on, and they'd go spend the night at Otto's in Heidelberg, which wasn't a great distance away, according to the map.

The Alte Schloss, which Till was visiting, right now, was pretty awesome. He wondered what the percentage of magical folk had been, back in the day. Squibs didn't have special schools to learn all these things. And children of Squibs, even less.

[Lucianna McKnight]

Lucianna honestly didn't think that she would ever end up in Germany and she was quite excited about having the opportunity to play there even though she did feel extremely nervous about it. Not because she was doubting herself, just because it was a new place with new people and well, if she made a mistake, the second violins would give her the fish eye.

It truly was very pretty there, though. Lucianna wasn't sure that she would want to live there but still a nice place to visit, none the less and as she was looking around, she wasn't watching in front of her and slammed into someone and instead of falling backwards like she normally did, she just teetered and stepped back a few steps.

"Oh, excuse me." Lucy said, apologetically. Although, she did have a smile on her face. Not because she thought it was humorous but because she noticed that the person she had bumped into had hair that was a wonderful shade of blue. Sometimes it was nice not being the only person who liked radical hair colors.

[Till Hoffmann]

'Vorsichtig,' Till said as someone bumped into him. Seemingly superhero reflexes kicked into him at this point, for he stealthily turned around, grabbing the arm of the person who'd bumped into him before they could come to more harm. Those fantastic skills he'd somehow developed trying to prevent his friend Lucianna from getting injured. She was a clumsy one, that girl.

And speak of the devil!

'Luce! What on Earth are you doing here?'

He'd prepared his answer for when she asked him the same question: he was here on vacation, and a friend was performing in Würzburg, so he'd come to see that.

[Lucianna McKnight]

Only one person had ever been that quick to steady her and that was her friend Till who she automatically recognized as soon as she was no longer wobbling like a teeter totter. Oh, she had missed that boy, they had a lot of fun together but she hadn't seen him in such a long time and she instantly began beaming.

His question was understandable, she lived in London, seeing her there was probably a surprise. "Well, I'm performing in Würzburg which I am super excited about. What about you?"

Till really was a hoot. They had a lot in common, mostly their sense of humor and their hair style which is why it was so easy for her to get along with him. Actually, their unusual hair color was probably what united them in the first place, little did they know, they would become great friends.

[Till Hoffmann]

Till was quite pleased to see his young friend. With all that had happened at Zauberpet, and now here, he hadn't seen the girl in a long time. It was sort of reassuring, to see her freakishly-coloured hair. The oddity was familiar, comforting, and he was quite happy to see it. Her hair also made him seem less of a whack, in comparison. Sure, it was a beautiful, vivid blue, but you know, it seemed a green-haired girl stood out more to people. But he was a proud whackjob, regardless.

'Ooooh, that's so great!' Till gushed happily. 'My -' He cut himself short of saying boyfriend. No, no. Some things he never said. Even if Quinn and Lucy thought they had him figured out, they were wrong. 'My friend is playing there too! You might meet him, he plays the contrabass, so I guess it depends what piece you're playing, where, when, and all that. It's something from Wagner.'

Well, that clarified things up a lot. This was a Wagner-themed festival, this year. Obviously it would be something by Wagner. But so much as Till adored watching and hearing Damian play, and thought that he was a marvellous musician, half the time, he had no idea was it was his lover was playing.

'Congratulations! I hear you have to be really awesome to get one of those invitations!'

Ooooh yeah.

[Lucianna McKnight]

Lucy raised an eyebrow when Till stopped short and gave a laugh. If he thought that at this, Lucy wasn’t making any assumptions, he was wrong. She always felt like there was something Till was hiding but she also wasn’t one to pry like some might have been. If he wanted something to be secret, she respected that.

“Hmm,” Lucy said, remembering the only contrabass player she had ever met “I wonder if I know him.” Lucanna wasn’t sure what Till would be doing befriending someone as angry as the contrabass player she had met but then again, her blue haired friend was also a man and it seemed that the man she had met in the pub only hated women.

The woman let a smirk appear on her face when Till complimented her “Well, of course, I am rather phenomenal.” Lucy said, sarcastically as she flicked her long green hair back from her shoulders in a conceited manner.

[Till Hoffmann]

Till, King of Smiles, was also King of Discretion. After fourteen years of this, not bragging to anyone that he owned all right to the person of Damian Walhalla, he thought he deserved a freaking prize. A gold medal, of some sort. And it screwed with his man pride a little, not being able to brag about his catch. But he was used to it, and although it was kind of annoying, it really wasn't as hard as it had been in the beginning. He should get an Oscar for this, or a Goldene Bär, or something.

Till shrugged when Lucy asked herself if she knew him. He wasn't going to describe Damian for her, especially since he couldn't, not without using the word 'hot'. Impossible.

The King of Smiles was justly proving his title when Lucy said she was phenomenal. Of course she was.

'Well of course. Would I talk to you if you weren't?'

[Lucianna McKnight]

Lucianna raised an eyebrow and instantly dropped the mock attitude at Till's comment. "You're right, I know how picky you are. You only associate with those who are extrordinary," Lucy said, sticking her tongue out at him. He was a goofball. Maybe that's why she liked him so much.

Plus, she never met anyone who was able to adapt completely to her clumsy ways like Till could. Literally, anytime he was around and she was about to fall, he would grab her. She was pretty sure that if he was reading a book, eating an apple and juggling with his toes, he would still be able to right her without a second thought.

The mental image of that made her snicker a little. "Well, the feeling is mutual."

[Till Hoffmann]

'Well, of course,' Till replied, adopting a mock snobbish attitude. He was the King of Smiles, wasn't that a title of royalty, or something? Granted, not the same as being a Wittelsbach, but pretty awesome all the same. No one had a sexier smile than he did, that was for sure.

'When are you performing? My friend only performs tomorrow, but they have some sort of general repetition going on today for what's it called... Tannhäuschen, or something.'

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

Oh, Till, you're ignorant. Tannhäuser is what it is.

[Lucianna McKnight]

“That’s also when I play.” Lucy said, now really curious as to who this contrabass player was and why in the world Till would know such an unfriendly man. Oh well, he didn’t seem to want to give details. Lucy’s eyes widened a little at Till’s mispronunciation and couldn’t stifle a laugh.

When she was able to wipe the grin off of her face she said, “I believe you mean Tannhauser and if that is what you mean, then I can’t wait to hear it.” She’d begun learning it on the piano before but it was a challenging piece and she never went back to finish practicing.

It was funny how often she did that, starting working on one, got bored and started on another, perfecting the second but not the first until she somehow got the motivation to go back and practice the first. What she practiced really all depended on her mood.

Fortunately, Lucianna knew Faust like the back of her hand before she was even given the sheet music and she was suddenly really glad that she had such a great love for classical music and composers. “I’ll be playing Faust and I’m extremely excited about it. Before I learned the piece, I read the story which was really what inspired me to learn the piece.”

[Till Hoffmann]

'Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant,' Till replied, swatting the matter away as if it were some sort of troublesome fly. Tannhäuser, Tannhäuschen... What was the difference, really? He smiled to himself, thinking that if he worded this thought to Damian, the bigger Bavarian would probably be aghast, apoplexic, and a lot more words like that. Something about dishonouring the Bavarian culture, or whatever it was about. But wasn't Wagner from the East? Leipzig, or something of that nature.

'Oh yeah,' he nodded enthusiastically. 'He's a great musician, it should be something to hear, I think.' Not to mention how radiant Damian would be. He'd sell his soul to perform Wagner professionally, Till knew as much. Mind, he'd sell his soul for a Bavarian beer, too, but that was another matter. And Till might consider selling his soul for one too.

'Faust? Never heard it. Never even knew Wagner did something out of it.' Blasphemy, might have said Damian. 'I'm happy that you liked it, though. We read it in school, when I was twelve, and I found it pretty depressing, although I do like a lot of Goethe's poetry.'

He wasn't an incult, of course not! However, he might have missed out on many things pertaining to the Germanic culture, with his move to England, if his Literatur Professor in his first year at the Gesamtschule hadn't been completely crazy about forcing a bunch of twelve year olds to read Faust, Effi Briest, Die Leiden des junges Werthers, Die Dreigroschenoper, and a few more, most of which he remembered nothing. But still, it looked good in a conversation.

[Lucianna McKnight]

Lucianna laughed while most musicians would have gasped, given him a horrified look, and never spoken to him again. What they didn’t understand is that people were allowed to have different interests and obviously, if they weren’t a musician or really into classical music, how would they know the correct name for whatever prelude or overture or interlude et cetera.

To be honest, she was excited to hear what kind of talent there was there as well and she really felt extremely honored to be invited to play. Especially with people who loved the same music she did and who knew how it felt to practice for hours on end to get the song to absolute perfection and the satisfaction you get from making it perfect was almost incomparable.

“Well, not all good stories can be about butterflies and rainbows and princesses. Sometimes a good story requires the devil.” Lucy said, and at that, she couldn’t help but laugh because somehow, the mental image of Satan, appearing on a rainbow with a flurry of butterflies made it’s way into her mind.

[Till Hoffmann]

Till smiled a bright smile, splitting his face in two. Luce made him happy, she said funny things. She could forgive him for not caring what most of the instruments in an orchestra were, or always singing out of tune. Damian forgave him that too, of course, and that came with other benefits.

Rummaging in his pockets, he found a pack of cigarettes, and fished one out for himself, popping it into his mouth. And it was hard not to, especially when it seemed everyone around was smoking.

LIghting it, the cigarette between his lips, Till answered, 'Oh, I loved Mephisto. Favourite character. It was the rest of the story, pretty much.'

[Lucianna McKnight]

“I have to agree with you there.” Lucianna said when Till mentioned that Mephistopheles was his favorite character. Sure, he may have been deceptive and manipulative but he was the one who really kept things interesting in the story, what kept you reading. Well, that and the lessons to be learned.

Lucy rolled her eyes when she saw Till light up one of his cigarettes and she almost snatched it from him but she knew how people were about their nicotine fix. “Till Hoffmann” Lucy said, planting a fist on her hip as she threw him a disapproving look.

“Since when did you start sucking on those cancer sticks and when are you going to stop?” The green haired woman asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. She loved him dearly and she didn’t want to see his life shortened by something so trivial. Cancer sticks. They were the true Mephistopheles.

[Till Hoffmann]

Till nodded in approval at Luce's comment, as if to suggest that he knew he was always right. Duh. Mephisto wasn't that bad, really. He'd been honest from the start, the doctor had known that that black dog was the devil. And the devil had even been quite nice, too, with the guys in the tavern, giving them beer and all. Psh, poor Mephisto, everyone was always blaming it on him.

Till felt bad for lighting up right here in the middle of the street. It had nothing to do with Stuttgart, not at all. In fact, all those smokers were just encouraging him to have at it. No, he felt bad because it felt hypocritical. He'd told Damian he'd try to quit, and he really wanted to, but look at him now, with a cigarette in his mouth already! He'd been away from the Bavaria a few hours, and there he was, relapsing. Maybe it was lack of Damian that did that.

'Lucianna McKnight!' The blue-haired man shot right back at the girl, mimicking her tone and attitude.

Till looked at his friend, surprised, while blowing smoke in the air. 'You didn't know I smoked?'

[Lucianna McKnight]

couldn’t help but laugh at the way he mocked her mostly because it was pretty much spot on except for the fact that Till was a man…with blue hair…and who smoked. Yeah, you get it. She shook her head and said, sarcastically, “If I had known, I would’ve put an end to that nonsense.” Yeah, as if she had any sort of authority when it came to his life. Ha.

Looking around, Lucianna finally realized that they were kind of in everyone’s way and at that, she said, “Is there somewhere else we could go where we’re not in everyone’s way? You know this place better than I do.” Oh well, maybe Till could show her around or something. Yeah, her very own blue haired tour guide. Lovely.

“So, what’s been going on in your life as far as work and any excitement in the love life of my favorite blue haired man?” Lucy asked, winking a super corny wink that even she wasn’t able to keep from laughing at. Sometimes she surprised herself with the level of lameness she was able to achieve.

[Till Hoffmann]

'Sure you would,' Till replied, still clearly mocking her. Suuuuure, she'd have made him quit smoking, suuuure. It had taken Damian to convince him to try to stop. And Damian had convincing arguments that could coerce Till into doing anything. Not that he complained about that.

Till was a nice guy, though, and tried not to blow his smoke in his friend's face. If anything, it was the wind's fault. Why was it that cigarettes smelled so bad and were so bad for his health? There wasn't any other inconvenient, right? Smoking was a social thing; he didn't smoke alone all too often.

'Me? Never been to Stuttgart before, Luce,' Till answered, beaming. His experience of Baden-Württemberg was Otto's house in Freudenstadt, and that was pretty much it. He really did like the Black Forest. It was a good spot his childhood friend had picked.

'Ach,' Till replied, grinning. Funny how the German language seemed to creep up upon him whenever he was in his native country. 'It's the same old thing, always. Job's the job, and well, as for the love life... After 30 there's not much excitement involved, let me tell you that.'

Well, a lie. But that one was clerverly disguised.

[Lucianna McKnight]

Rolling her eyes, Lucy still couldn’t get that smirk off of her face as he made his little comment and all she could do was sigh as she said, “Well, if the fact that they cause cancer won’t stop you, then I suppose I can’t either. But when you get lung cancer, don’t come crying to me.” Of course, she was teasing, if she found out that Till got cancer, she would cry like a baby.

“Then I suppose you are useless,” Lucy said, teasingly as Till said that he had never been to Stuttgart. She hated not being familiar with a certain place but at the same time, it was always nice to explore certain places and try new things…right?

She wanted badly to call Till a filthy rotten liar but she resisted the urge and said, “I hope my love life isn’t that boring when I’m your age. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I suppose I’d have to marry my piano and we would live a happy music filled life.”

[Till Hoffmann]

Till playfully stuck out his tongue at Luce. He wouldn't get sick. He never got sick past the common flu that kept him sniffling for a few days. Damian didn't get sick often either, but when he did, it was a man's cold. Had to stay in bed a few days, and wouldn't do anything, and it was all soooo dramatic.

'I'm sorry that I seem to have no use to you, then,' the blue-haired man replied, mock offended. He had never been here, but chances were, anywhere he went in Germany, he'd know more about it than Luce ever would. Thanks, German roots.

'Oh, you'll see,' Till smiled. 'When you're an old man like me, you're going to realize that you're old, and that no girl wants you anymore, and your beautiful blue hair will turn all white, and all.' He sighed dramatically, and paused, grinning. Well that was pretty much all false. If anything, were girls were swooning around him than in his teenage years, though Till could suppose that this was because he'd learned English by now.

[Lucianna McKnight]

Lucy couldn’t help but laugh at Till’s comment “You know I love you, Till. You’re the most useful person in my life.” She said, giving the man an amused smile. Normally when she gave an over dramatic comment like she just had, the blue haired man would roll his eyes and make a lovingly snotty remark.

“First of all, if I end up being an old man, we have a problem because the last time I checked, I was a female.” She knew she was being painfully literal but it was amusing all the same “second of all,” Lucy continued, “You can always dye your hair to get rid of that pesky white hair.”

“Last, but certainly not least, I don’t think it’s possible for you to be unattractive. If anything, the older you get, the hotter you are.” Lucy said, giving the man the fakest seductive wink she was able to muster and it took everything she had not to burst into laughter.

[Till Hoffmann]

Till looked at Lucy as though this matter was all very obvious, very evident. Naaaturally, he would be the best, most useful, and all that. It sort of went without saying. He was practically royalty, anyway, wasn't he? Yeah, the King of Smiles, that was him. Speaking of which, he flashed his friend quite the bright smile.

Again, though, she said something that caused him to roll his eyes in amusement. 'Well, you never know. You might wake up with a big surprise one morning,' he said, then added, winking, 'Or a small one, you never know.' [ Click for OOC Comment ]

Till makes jokes about length! Who woulda knooown?

'Do you know,' he mused out loud. 'I haven't seen my natural hair colour in over fifteen years?'

He smiled in his mind. Fun times, good memories.

'Well of course I grow sexier every passing day! Haven't you noticed? You should also tell the girls about this, they won't fall for me.'

[Lucianna McKnight]

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

xDDD

Lucy's eyes widened at Till's joke but she couldn't help herself from laughing "Well, if it's a surprise, I prefer it to be considerably large," the woman joked as she threw a wink at her friend, still unable to keep a straight face from his comment. Oh, that man. He knew how to put a smile on her face.

Raising an eyebrow at Till, Lucy said, "That's probably a good thing by now. You would be all gray and I think the blue looks a thousand times better on you than gray ever would. Totally not your color." With that, the green haired girl gave a snicker and tousled the man's blue hair.

Lucianna brought a hand to her forehead in mock lightheadedness as she said, "Oh, yes. It's incredibly difficult to resist the charm of the oh so handsome Till Hoffmann. Just the thought of your name brings every woman to their knees." Surprisingly, Lucy was able to keep a straight face for this little act.

[Till Hoffmann]

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

My tagbar is so sexy.

Till nodded understandingly as Lucy said she would prefer to be well endowed. Quit understandable, that. He was quite certain no one would want to ask for a smaller... surprise. He wondered, though, if for girls it was the same thing. They probably didn't discretely compare the size of their lady parts in gym showers, though. Was it an enviable thing for a girl to have big lady parts? Till didn't know this, but he wouldn't ask, either. Questions like that tended to indicate he wasn't all the womanizer he was made up to be.

'Grey!' Till scoffed, almost offended, lightly punching Lucy's arm. 'Verdammt, I'm thirty, not fifty! And I'd bet I'd have so much sex-appeal with grey hair! It's a sign of, äh, experience! Ladies find that super sexy. But I'm not old!' He defended himself. His credibility was slightly affected by the fact she was messing up his hair, and when her hand went down, his went up to do some more tousling. Only Till could make the hairstyle of Till. Ha.

Adopting an unimpressed look, the blue-haired man crossed his arms. 'Psh, tell me something I don't know.'

[Lucianna McKnight]

Lucianna raised an eyebrow at Till as he seemed to be lost in thought and she almost asked him what it was that was occupying his mind but as soon as she opened her mouth, she closed it again, deciding she really didn’t want to know what he was thinking about.

The woman burst out in laughter at what Till said next and she nodded in amusement as he tried to explain the benefits of having grey hair. “I never said you were old you blue haired brat.” Lucianna said, teasingly, sticking her tongue out at her friend.

“Oh, I know,” Lucy said, smirking. “That must be some terrible burden having people fall all over you all the time. It’s the hair, for sure.” She continued, rolling her eyes, really, Till was hilarious and she missed being able to joke around with someone just to do it.

[Till Hoffmann]

[ Click for OOC Comment ]

I keep staring at his av. Man Moritz Bleibtreu is so hot.

'Well, you'd better not start that now,' Till replied, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out. 'As for the brat thing... takes one to know one, you know what they say...'

He smiled good-naturedly, all thoughts about lady parts fortunately far, far away. It was easier to forget something he'd never seen, really.

'Yeah, it is. It's like carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, constantly, it's soooo dramatic. Not that you'd understand, of course,' he teased.

He stopped laughing for a minute, and looked at his surroundings. Granted, this was Baden-Württemberg, here, not Bavaria, but...

'I could really live in Bavaria,' he said softly, a little more seriously. Wasn't Germany also his home?