Ludwig looked surprised at her comment. "You can, that's right." There was a very similar feature at home, but there were enough good bars to have one within walking distance home. Besides, one needed to burn off some of the calories from beer and clear their head with fresh air before returning home.

"I don't have a phone, though, but if you have one and you feel it would be necessary then you should call. I enjoy walking." In the recesses of his mind was glad Halimeda had agreed to walk with him.

His face went red at her comment, but he figured that the bruise and the night would cover him. "Actually," he wanted to avoid commenting on what she said, "I do have an umbrella. I forgot about it, I apologize." He reached into his coat pocket with his free hand and pulled out a wrapped up umbrella about two hand lengths long. Stepping away from her he ripped off a small tag and flicked the stem out to its full length. Suddenly it flared open, and the black umbrella was middle sized--more than enough for one person but squeezing for two.

The crosswalk beeped and he returned, holding the umbrella over the two of them as they made it across the street. Wordlessly he handed the umbrella to her and removed his jacket. Though illogical, he justified himself mentally--they were already half way there and he had a long sleeved shirt on. He draped it over her, and considering it was still a bit big on him, it would do for her well enough.

"Thank you," he responded, just a bit gruffly, "for your comment earlier." He moved forward and continued on, making sure she was under the umbrella also.

He let the walk continue in silence for a while. Usually he was content with walking and having only thoughts of schedules and such as the rain made its rhythm on the sidewalk, but too many things were happening in such a short amount of time, and his thoughts were riddled with different things. The close proximity of Halimeda wasn't helping either. Ludwig may not always care for the ways of women at times, but he wasn't asexual either.

So many different loops had been thrown at him this week, he decided he might as well let another one loose and start something back up.

"I'm not crazy," he stated, looking straight ahead, "I know it may look that way, considering what happened at the bar. It probably looked strange, staring at your game, and it's even stranger that I'm being very kind to you and walking you home, but I'm not..." what was the English term for it? He didn't know. "Not a woman follower or anything."

He kept on. "And though I may not be entirely right in the head, I feel like it's not my imagination... there have been strange things happening at our complex."

And all of it was where Ludwig had hoped he didn't turn the conversation. Yet he did, and he had just ranted on some woman who probably now held doubts he was insane, if she hadn't before. Maybe he wouldn't see her again, and if so, then he wouldn't have to worry unduly about her reaction.

"I don't like it either," he managed, trying to be a little sympathetic. Her eyes were downcast and everything had probably just hit home with her. He squeezed her hand back, "I'm free for the rest of the week, if you would not mind playing the game at some other time. I don't think the bar will mind having me back, because I didn't break any furniture, and if it does then there has to be another bar somewhere nearby, unless your brother works there or something." Ludwig felt bad about ruining her night, and as they were approaching the front gate he realized he was running out of time to make it up to her.

He pulled out his key, fumbling with it into the lock. Though it wasn't on purpose, he had to wait for an answer, and it was buying him a bit of time.

"Yes, I would like to try to go and play tomorrow, thank you." And, suddenly, the lock clicked.

Funny how those things worked sometimes...

"Thank you for the compliment, and, well." He stumbled with a parting as he opened the gate and stepped inside. He didn't know what floor she was on, and now that he--and she--were home, he should probably just head back.

He walked over to the door to the staircase, not realizing how fast his legs were taking him. He turned back quickly, gave her a quick nod, and disappeared behind the door.

-----

He sped up the stairs at a breakneck pace, making it quickly to the fifth floor and even faster still into his room, slamming it shut behind him. When he was safely in his apartment, he sighed and leaned against the door.

That was an interesting encounter.

He made his way over to the drawer to grab a notepad. He wanted to record some of his observations and study them to figure out whether she was crazy or he was.

Because she was gorgeous, and it would be unfair if she was insane. Or he was.

He fell onto the bed, the pen cap at the corner of his mouth as he muttered a few things under his breath as he wrote a few words down.

Tendency to kiss = ?
Knows how to play billiards = +
Eyes
Hair
Laugh
Kiss
Lips

His mind tried remembering each as he wrote them down, but his mind was telling him that he needed to sleep. In his shutting down state he wrote down a few more things, pleasant enough before bed time.

Ludwig fell asleep with the notepad in his hand and the pen cap in his mouth.

Very similar to someone else = Remembering old things again = + = Like Elizaveta = +?+

Ludwig felt a bit groggy waking up Saturday morning, realizing that something had happened the night before when he nearly choked on a pen cap stored in the corner of his mouth. Next to him was a notepad of scribbled notes--the kind he took when he knew he would need to remember something in the morning.

Ludwig pushed the pad off the bed; he remembered exactly what had happened Friday night. And he remembered most of what he wrote down. He stood up and dressed, proud of himself for not drinking enough to wipe his memory. He went out to go to his living room, but paused, walking back over to the bed to retrieve the notepad and pen from the floor.

With pen and paper in hand Ludwig sat on the couch, making a very broad schedule for the day. He ripped off the notes from the night before and began a new page. He'd have to push everything back a bit for waking up late. He'd have to be at the gym at 10:30 instead of 9:30.... Everything wrote out for the day: Gym, back home to change and shower, lunch, studying, groceries (he made a mental note to make a list for that.) But his evening s left blank. He promised to meet the mysterious Halimeda he had met the previous night, but he had no information to go on, except for the place. No time, no number to call her, not a thing. Of course, he could just go to the bar and wait to see if she showed up, but if she didn't, then it would have been a colossal waste of his time.

Sitting there to ponder both ideas, he pushed back the gym another fifteen minutes. He had to get started on his day soon, and this business threw off his whole schedule. He'd get up in thirteen minutes. Could he figure it out in that time?

(( Here is the continuation of this thread, in a different place: http://lightningstrike.forumotion.co.uk/t121-a-second-attempt-ludwig-beilschmidt-and-halimeda-cosmatos#857 ))