Welcome Wagon (Feliciano)

Ludwig looked down at his third and final suitcase. It was empty, and he placed it gently beside the other two he had tugged over to London. Home sweet home, he thought sardonically, looking around at his little apartment. Actually, it was about as big as his dorm back at the small Munich college, but this time he didn't need to share the space with anyone.

So, perhaps he should be a little more positive about this whole thing. He had come to broaden his studies and find his brother, and now he was here, accomplishing both of those tasks. The first more so than the second, because when he wasn't unpacking or sleeping he was at the London college, answering all the German studies students excited questions about his fatherland. He had also already planned out some of the semester with the professors, which included trips around the city.

Yes, actually, this would be a getaway, and he might as well enjoy it. He wondered if there were any massage therapy places around here...

He paused when he heard a small rapping on the door. Was someone at the wrong address? Probably not, it was most likely Gilbert. Ludwig opened the door to greet his brother. But it wasn't him.

He had heard down the grapevine that there was a new person in the building. Which actually meant, of course, that he'd seen him carrying things up and had asked around until he found out the new tenant's rooming situation and his name. Ludwig. Sounded a little bit intimidating (as had his face, during the brief glimpse he'd gotten in the front hall), to be honest, but Feliciano was undeterred. After all, he lived with his brother, who was quite possibly the world's crankiest, most terrifying person he knew.

And so he was here, a quick 'Welcome to the building!' sketch of the building itself in black and white with a colourful arrangement of flowers surrounding it and a large scripted 'WELCOME' scrolled across the top cased in a plastic covering and held tightly in his hand. Along side it was a milo bar he had picked up earlier, and a bottle of wine he had splurged on. He'd been intending it for himself and his brother later in the week, but this seemed like a much more noble cause, and he had gladly sacrificed it (without telling Lovino, shh!).

Taking a breath, he knocked on the door, holding it in anticipation until it opened and then letting it out in a quick, shocked movement. He was so big. And tall. And BIG! And his face was really serious and kinda scary... but... for the sake of making new friends...

"Hello! My name's Feliciano and I wanted to officially welcome you to the building! I even got you food - so this house may never know hunger - and wine - so that it may never know thirst and always be a bit tipsy because that's kinda fun - and a picture - so that. Uhm. It'll be artistic? I don't know, the picture just because I wanted to draw you one, I guess!" He declared, the words falling out in a heavy rush.

"I hear your name's Ludwig!" he continued, pushing forward without pause. "To be honest I thought that sounded a bit scary at first, and you look a little scary, too! But I bet you're not! I bet you're secretly really nice or something, or grow flowers or like kittens or puppies or volunteer at an orphanage every weekend or something! So I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt and not be scared of you yet so I came over and brought you these! And I hope you like them and welcome and I'm on the second floor so if you ever need anything you should just stop by, or you should just stop by anyway and say hello and I'll make you something nice to eat, okay? It's really good to meet you, I hope you like it here, hello!"

Ludwig's eyes fell first at the sketch--a beautiful black and white (was it of charcoal? Did people still use that to draw, Ludwig wondered) with splotches of colored flowers and something in cursive on the top, but it was obstructed by his neighbor's hand.

Ludwig opened his mouth to protest at the gifts, but the other was too quick. Quick enough for even Ludwig, who had dealt with some speedy mouthed professors, to be lost in the drabble. Slowly but surely the other slowed down due to losing breath, and Ludwig was able to follow. He tried to contain a laugh at the things this guy...Feliciano. When Feliciano finally stopped, Ludwig was between a laugh and leaving his mouth slightly agape. He wasn't sure what to respond to first.

"I don't work in an orphanage," he finally managed, picking to answer one of the few things he had caught. "Sorry." He stared down at his neighbor, a relatively average looking foreigner (Either Italian or Greek) with a thinner figure but a radiating bright face that made him look around nineteen or twenty. He had a large smile, but it wasn't hearty like the ones he was accustomed to.

"And I couldn't possibly take all of this," he glanced at the picture again. If the man was willing to give that away, then Ludwig could take it. He didn't understand art, but it was pleasing. "Yes," he said again, ma I really can't take so much for just a welcoming gift. And, well, hello. You seem to already know my name, Mr. Feliciano." What else did he remember him saying?

Oh, yes. He decided he was better off not commenting on the "scary" look. "Please, I have been rude. Come inside." Instead of sounding inviting like he thought it did, it came out more like a demand. He stepped to the side and gestured Feliciano inside. "Explain this custom of never ending thirst, or something?"

Feliciano couldn't help but jolt slightly at the... request? to come inside. Honestly, it sounded a bit too forceful to be a request, and he almost wanted to scuttle backwards and away but... just as you couldn't deny someone hospitality, you couldn't refuse theirs either, that was plumb rude! So instead of going with his instincts and taking off, he slipped inside instead. Besides, this way he could just drop off the gifts and leave them here for him to enjoy, and no one could tell him no about handing them over.

"Well of course you have to accept it! It's a welcome gift, and you can't just not take a gift! But I'll just leave it here for you, okay? If you don't want to take it, I mean, this way you can blame having it on me!" He did at least want the gift, didn't he? Feliciano sure hoped so, he'd really thought about the wine - especially since he had originally got it for himself and his brother, and he was rather incredibly picky with his tastes - and worked hard on the picture. Sure, the milo was less exciting, but it was delicious and fun and who didn't like that sort of thing?

"and... uhm... no," he giggled slightly at the other's question, "it's not 'never ending thirst' it's... 'so this house may never know thirst' but I think what I was actually supposed to say was 'so this house may always be merry' because I think the candy - which is supposed to mean 'so this house may never know hunger' - covers drink as well? At least... water and stuff. It was supposed to be bread, of course, because that's what it really signifies, but I didn't have time to make any at home and I didn't really just want to bring you a loaf of bread because that's not that delicious." Oh, wow, now that he was talking he felt a lot more comfortable here!

"It's a sort of blessing gift, see? For good luck! When you move into a new place you're supposed to get food and wine - or beer or some other alcohol but wine is obviously the best, and this is one of the best of the wines out there because it's Sicilian, si? So you have to accept them because it'll bring you bad luck otherwise! And if you get them you'll never go hungry and you'll always have merriment - I think that's a word, even if it is kind of a funny one - because you were given the blessing by the hands of your friends and neighbours! I'm not really your neighbour, I guess, but I think it still counts because we all live in the same building, si? I'm on the second floor, by the way, you should come visit me some time! I'll make you food and we can hang out, si? It'll be so much fun! I think we'll be great friends!"

Ludiwg nodded at Feliciano's explanations. It certainly was an interesting house greeting, and the symbolism made sense, even if it seemed a bit cheesy. He appreciated the gifts much the same, and found himself more inclined to agree. "You seem to be a very charismatic person," he remarked, "And you draw very well."

If Ludwig was 'scary,' then this guy was 'funny.' The milo bar was interesting, but the wine and the picture seemed to go a little out of the way for just house-warming gifts. "I've... always liked drawings--especially paintings--but it's not my specialty," His memories of his childhood were fleeting since an old accident of his, but he did remember someone, maybe in the family, who painted.

"And, well," he continued, blundering through, his awkwardness coming and replacing his sternness. "Alcohol is not an enjoyable lonely drink." That's what bars were for. "Tell me more about the picture and I could pour out the wine?" His mouth twitched at the corner in an attempt of a smile, "Please," he tacked on.

Sure, he had friends, but they were all in another country right now. They weren't tech savvy and some of them were at the age of getting married and some were already engaged. He needed a new friend.

Feliciano's face fell a bit at the terminology. Drawing. It wasn't a drawing. It was a sketch. A very detailed sketch he'd spent a lot of time on. It wasn't a drawing or an idle doodle that he'd thrown together because he'd felt like it. It was something he'd worked on to get right and kept going back and correcting until he was satisfied. At the repetition of the term he couldn't help but look a bit upset and disappointed. but. Wine! Who was he to turn down that?

And maybe he just didn't know better, anyway. He said it wasn't his speciality, after all. So he'd give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, Feliciano wanted to like him, he really did. So he would! He'd like him until he had a lot of reason not to, and knowing him he still would even after that. He was just affectionate that way. And stupid. And forgiving. And a doormat.

"Ah, si, drinking together is always best!" he agreed, finding himself a seat. "And... it's just something I made, si? For you. Because you're new and I wanted to give you something beautiful to welcome you to the building. I'm a visual arts major, si? Focusing in oil paintings and sculptural work - clay in particular - with a focus in realism in both. So I need a lot of practise with my linework anyway. And I thought it'd be a nice present, si? Do you like it?"

Ludwig looked in his cupboards for some wine glasses, but since he hadn't brought any with him, he was at a lack. He barely had any good glasses to begin with. But he did have tumblers, so he would have to make do.

He poured out the first glass for his guest when he remembered that wine needed to be airated. (Just another reason that it wasn't as good as beer. One shouldn't have to work hard to pour out a drink.) He thought for a moment before 'marrying' the drink; he poured the wine from the one glass into the other, and hoping it would airate because of the movement. He did it twice and grabbed a third tumbler to use for the second glass of wine, and eventually brought the two drinks to the table.

He had been listening the entire time, and when he put his drinks on the table he grabbed his reading glasses, wanting to see the piece in a little more detail. He scrutenized the picture, looking at every line of the building. Some were the tiniest marks, and Ludwig couldn't even imagine his hand moving in so small a motion.

And the flowers were of varying colors, which he had noticed earlier, but looked life-like. A focus in realism in school must've helped somewhat, because the picture was definitely life like. He would have to go outside with his new picture and compare it to the actually building, since he had never really taken the time to just look at it.

"It's very beautiful. I can't appreciate it very much, I suppose, because I don't quite know what it takes to make somethign like this," Ludwig paused, putting the picture back carefully on the table. He was being honest, becuase two lines drawn of different sort of pencils really mattered nothing to him; only the end result, "but yes, I like it, and I will hang it up when I get the correct frame for it."

He went for the wine and took a careful sip. It was pretty good, considering he wasn't usually a fan, and the man certainly had a taste. The red was warm and more fruity than velvety.

"Thank you for all of this. I really appreciate it. This was a much better greeting than I have been getting."

"What does knowing how to make it have to do with appreciating it?" Feliciano blurted before he could really consider the idea. Of course, when he looked at a piece now his mind automatically went into critique mode, thinking about the strokes and how they were employed... but hadn't he loved art just as much before he had any formal training? Now he just understood why he thought it beautiful, not just that he did.

"Can't you just look at something and get joy from it without knowing what the lines are called, or appreciate a building without knowing how it's made? I like reading some books and I have no idea how to write other then e-mails and sometimes a paper or two, stuff like that." He shrugged, taking an appreciative sip of his wine, eyes fluttering to shut as he let the flavour roll over his tongue.

"Mhmm~" he hummed his approval. "And of course I welcomed you, you don't have to thank me! I just wanted to say hello! I like getting new neighbours!"

Ludwig paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer the question. Technically, what Feliciano had said was the idea around which tourism revolved. "I have a slightly different meaning to the word appreciation. What you're talking about is admiration for me. I admire your art, because it is beautiful, but I cannot appreciate it to its full extent, because I don't know what kind of effort is involved in it. I could only appreciate the fact that I could never do it."

Ludwig leaned back into his chair. It made him wonder which was more fulfilling for an artist: appreciation from peers or admiration from a passerby?

He took another sip from the wine, resisting the urge to just finish it off. It was good, but it wasn't savor-worthy. Neither admiration nor appreciation there.

"Am I the only new one in the building as of late, or have you been greeting others similarly?" He didn't want to pry into the apartment business, but he did want to know if he might have to deal with a tight knit group or not.

"Ohh." he paused, giving a moment to think that over. Appreciate versus Admire. Oh. Hunh. He'd always sort of thought that admiration came because you knew how it was done and wished you could do it yourself? Of course, he was no great shakes at words or their meanings, and Ludwig's explanation of the two made sense to him, so he let it roll off and hoped he might remember it in the future. Besides! He said that he thought it was beautiful, and that was more than enough for him!

...and then came the question. Oh. He had to stop and think about that one. Had anyone else moved in recently? He couldn't recall, so chances were not that he had noticed.

He gave a shrug before responding that, "Oh, I don't know. I welcome people to the building as soon as I know they've moved in! But... sometimes I can miss them because I don't notice that they're new or I wasn't around when they came in so it can take me a while, haha~" Perhaps it was a haphazard way to go about things, but spontaneity was the spice of life, right? At least, he thought so. It certainly kept things interesting. "I think it's just good neighbour-ism to welcome people when they join, you know? Maybe that sounds a little crazy, but I think we could all use some welcome in our lives, and kindness too, so I like to try and do this when I notice people move in. But sometimes I miss them because I don't always notice, so it's just whenever I see someone new or hear someone else moved in."

Ludwig wondered how no one could notice a new occupant in the building. It seemed obvious: An empty nameplate would now be filled, a new face in the hallway, a day of a few crates being moved through the elevator. Perhaps it was just him, or maybe it was just Feliciano; he did seem to be one of the types to have permanent residence up in the clouds.

"It doesn't sound the least bit crazy though. If it is considered crazy to the people around here, then I would not want to see what sort of character they are." Ludwig stood and took his wineglass to the kitchen and set it on the counter. He walked back to check to see if Feliciano's was empty.

"But, if you don't mind answering," Ludwig began, "did you happen to greet--or have you met with--Gilbert Beilschmidt? He moved in a while ago, but I'm curious."

Oh, good. Feliciano might have been rather dense, but he wasn't so clueless he wasn't aware that his... eccentricities could occasionally put people off. He was too touchy-feely, too forward, and too cheery for some, certainly an acquired taste. It generally took a lot of energy to be able to cope with Feliciano and his general bubbly...ness, but it seemed that Ludwig was managing just fine. Which was great! Perhaps they could be fast friends~ He really liked that idea, Ludwig seemed nice, if a bit serious.

Taking another sip of his wine as the other moved to the kitchen, Feliciano quietly swung his feet. He was rather taking his own sweet time with the alcohol, largely because he'd spent all his time with the drink slowly enjoying it's richness and flavour. To down it quickly was an utterly abhorrent thought to the Italian - enjoying wine was as much an art as the work he did on canvas, or with clay. He was still happily enjoying the taste when the German returned, and for all his at-the-bit approach to most of life he took his time finishing before answering the question.

"Gilbert?" He asked, setting his glass down. "Of course I know Gilbert! He lets me draw him sometimes for class and I like to play with his bird~ He's really nice, si?"

Ludwig waited in anticipation as Feliciano ruminated on the question. He had waited way too long for some information (Which, he figured, he should be getting himself.) His eyes locked on the glass as it parted from the other man's lips and the liquid inside swished around. He hadn't noticed how tightly his lips were pursed or the pain in his fingers until he heard the answer and relaxed, releasing a small sigh.

So he was nice? And he has a bird? Ludwig wasn't surprised at the art comment--weren't they fellow artists anyway, and artists had to help each other out, or some other thing.

"I... don't know if he's nice. I was going to ask you the same question." But the answer made him resolve even more than before to go see him. It was for another time though.

"I realize I'm jumping around a few topics here," Ludwig said, "but I'm trying to cover some ground bases. When I moved in, a few days later a storm came through... did anything strange happen at your apartment?"

"Oh, it wasn't a question," Feliciano added with a chuckle. "I just have a habit of ending things like that, I guess? I don't mean to, but it's a habit. It's more like confirming things to myself, si? Ah... see, right there I did it again!" Oh, but he was talking over the other, and so quickly shut his mouth to hear out the rest of the question.

A storm? Oh! The storm! That... he fidgeted a little, looking down to his fingers a moment. Yes, something strange had certainly happened, but up until now he'd tried not to discuss it. What if it didn't happen to anyone else? People might think he was crazy, if he told them that suddenly he could make colours change just by concentrating on them all because of a bit of lightning! That sort of thing didn't happen in every day life, it was kind of really insane. But... if he'd asked, then it was probably okay, right? Maybe something had even happened to him as well! In the elevator that guy had pulled in a bunch of water and made it go away, so he couldn't be the only one, at the very least. Maybe it had happened to everyone, even? At least, everyone who'd been home at that time? That would... actually be really, really cool!

"Si, something did!" He responded, looking up again and focusing in on the German, as if trying to figure out what had changed in him, though without having known him before hand it was doubtful that he'd be able to guess what was new about him. "I, uhm, something really, really weird happened, and now I can do something kind of strange, si? Is that what happened to you? Because... if you noticed it too you probably started being able to do things too, like the flood in the elev- uhm like some things that people can do." Because what if he didn't want Feliciano babbling about what he could do? "I can change colours, what can you do?"

Ludwig narrowed his eyebrows at the other as Feliciano was looking at him, telling his narrative (Obviously he had been the reason Ludwig was forced to climb the stairs again today.) For now he was focused on Feliciano's response to the storm, not really caring much for his spoken mannerisms. If his suspicion was wrong, Feliciano would have most likely responded with some sort of power failure--maybe everything blinking would constitute it to someone as strange, but Feliciano responded perfectly.

At least, perfect to confirming his suspicions. Whether or not everyone being in the same situation was going to be a comfort or not was yet to be determined.

"I can make myself hard and heavy or..." how could he phrase it? He hadn't really put a lot of thought into it. "Wind-like."

Ludwig paused for a moment before holding his arm out and closing his eyes. He wasn't one to take risks--in fact, he hated them--but he wanted to show his powers to someone else, and he needed to see if it was a one time thing. If Feliciano did anything funny, like head to the phone to call... whomever... then Ludwig could just tackle him. Feliciano didn't look that strong anyway.

Ludwig concentrated on making his body lighter, and, even though it sounded ridiculous in his own head, he also thought of the winds that blew around in England a lot. At first, he felt nothing, but after half a minute he could tell he weighed less. He opened his eyes back up, and had to look down even more than before to look at Feliciano. His head was very slowly making its way to the ceiling in this tiny apartment.