Lending a Hand (Feliciano)

In three months Lu had managed to more or less avoid contact with most of her neighbors. She left very early in the morning so that she could walk or jog to work and came in rather hurriedly when she returned. Oh she'd responded to any greetings extended to her, but seldom offered them herself. She'd also heard a great deal from her Italian neighbors across the hall and even more when they were in the hall. She therefore made attempts to not be there when they were. It wasn't that Ludoviga hated Italians or anyone else. She just wanted to preserve her beloved privacy.

Today, however, her good luck in avoiding her neighbors ran out. When she walked up to the apartment building after her shift a crowd of annoyed tennants had gathered around the doors. The doors themselves were ajar, clearly blocked by something that no one had the sense to move. After nudging her way through the crowd she came to the source of the problem.

There struggling with several heavy boxes and parts of...something... one of the young Italian men that she'd caught sight of via the peek-hole in her door. It was the happier of the two, or at least the one who scowled a lot less. He was grunting and whimpering and having an awful time of getting his things out of the way. The sight of him and the lack of help he received were upsetting. Lud rolled up her sleeves and crouched, grabbing the corners of the largest box and then used her legs to rise up.

He was so frustrated he could cry! In fact, he was on the brink of doing exactly that. It had seemed like a great idea, getting a potters wheel set up in his in-apartment studio (and no, he had not checked with the land lord, he hadn't thought to - he just wasn't the sort to think things out) so he could work from home as well as when he was at school.

And it still was! But the process of getting it up there... not so much. For one, he hadn't counted on the thing being so heavy. For another, he didn't think that he'd get it stuck in the doorway. Or that the delivery man would leave them on the street corner and not help him to get it upstairs.

...he didn't count on people needing to get through the door, either.

So yes, he was more than ready to burst into tears, and his eyes had already begun to well up with the salty excess of his emotion when someone stepped in and picked up his box for him. Blinking up through tear-hazed eyes, he beamed. Oh! How nice for a complete stranger to help him with things! Quick as a snap the urge to cry was gone, replaced by his ever-present beaming smile.

"A-ah! Grazie! Thank you! Uhm. My names Felicaino, do you live here? You look a little familiar but not quite- actually you look a lot like Ludwig, who lives here! Are you related? I live on the second floor, do you think you could help me all the way up there? Because I can't even lift it - wow you're really strong-!"

Yes, this was undoubtedly one of the Italians from the apartment across from hers. The voice and rate of chatter were unmistakable. How he was fitting in so many words without so much as a breath, however, was a complete mystery. It was just as well - right now was not a good time to try getting a word in edge-wise. She stood upright with the heavy box and nudged another out of the way of the door with her foot.

"Stack another on top," she managed to instruct, just loud enough to be heard over the energetic young man. She bent her knees a little so he could do so without too much inconvenience. Already she was mentally going over the fastest way to get all of these... whatever they were... up to the second floor.

Doing as he was told, Feliciano took a small break from his talking to grunt lightly at the weight of even the second, smaller box before lifting it and putting it down on top of the first.

"Grazie, signore~" he said with a half-pant. "You're really strong, thank you so much for helping me- ah, but you didn't answer my question! Do you live here? What's your name? Mine is Feliciano, but of course, I already said that! Whoa, you even sound like Ludwig! And Gilbert! I bet you're related, or at least from the same place! Are you German? Do all Germans look like you except for ones with Albanism then? Because you look almost exactly the same only I think you're a little shorter and-" he drew in another gasp of air here between words "- and maybe your face is just a little bit softer but not by much! Are you a cousin maybe? What's your name? It's nice to meet you, thanks for helping me!"

(G-gah, I'm sorry it's so short-!)

"Lu," she managed to grunt out not long after his breath for air. She'd actually somewhat underestimated how heavy these were, and now she was in a bigger hurry to get away from the front door and all these people. Just using her strange new ability right then and there was tempting, but what would all these people say? They might even seek her out for an explanation and that was the last thing she wanted.

There was also the issue of not knowing the exact lay-out of the inside of the Italians' apartment. She'd tried to teleport without a visual of where she was headed before and had managed to avoid a chair in her stomach by mere inches. Their only option was the elevator.

"Grab the rest of your things," she said, walking towards it.

He'd mentioned other Germans in the building, hadn't he? It was unlikely they were any relation of hers. She knew nothing about relatives in London.

"Ah! Si! Okay! That would be a good idea!" Feliciano said, grabbing the last few remaining things in a precarious balance of a tower that stretched a bit higher then his own head. Most would have found it easier to carry them bundled more closely or in two stacks instead of the off balance accident waiting to happen that he carried. Most people would be right. In fact, even Feliciano would likely find it much easier to carry things that way, he just hadn't thought of it. And so, like a child trying to carry his block tower, he started for the elevator, a stream of incessant chatter clouding around the two of them as he went.

"In fact, a very good idea. Do you live here? You are from Germany, right? Because, wow, even your name is like Ludwig's! Lu, Ludwig, Lu, Lud, they're really close, you see? Is Lu short for anything? Like Louie? Or is it just Lou? Lou is a nice name I think, even if it's a bit short, but sometimes short is nice, it's certainly a lot easier to say. A lot of people just call me Feli because Feliciano is kind of a mouthful - three whole syllables! But Lou is nice. It's short and simple. I like it! I like you! Thanks for helping me, Lu! I don't think anyone else was gonna..."

Once they were in the elevator and Feliciano's chatter was bouncing off the walls the temptations to simply teleport grew considerably. This elevator was notoriously slow and the lack of even a few seconds for quiet was maddening. Maybe if she just went to the hall... it wasn't a busy floor, maybe no one would be there? Oh, right. The Italian. There's no way he'd keep quiet about someone suddenly disappearing and showing up somewhere else. Lu sighed quietly and looked up at the number indicator above the door. It was at 2, but taking its own sweet time to stop.

"I don't... have any family in London," she managed. Yes, she had a cousin named Ludwig, but it had been over a decade since she'd last seen him and it wasn't exactly a rare name for a German.

"Oh? That has to be really lonely!" Feliciano gasped out. Having no one? He'd always had someone around, be it his nonno or now his fratello. He'd never really had to live on his own or even spend the night on his own apart from sleep overs. And those didn't really count because you were with a friend!

"You really have no one at all? But who do you eat dinner with? Or spend your night with? Or talk to when you're bored or make breakfast for or get breakfast from? Who tells you that you can't go outside dressed that so go back inside and change right now Feli, no brother of mine looks like that? You have to be so lonely!" He let out a sudden excited sound, face comically close to a character with the light bulb going on over their head. "I know! I'll be your person in London! I'll make sure to see you every day so you won't be lonely!"

Every day...? As in... every day? Lu's temple was starting to throb painfully. This was why she avoided her building mates. She was fond of the quiet and the ability to concentrate without interruption. She opened her mouth to tell himself when the elevator finally arrived. She shuffled in and placed her foot in front of the door to wait for Feliciano to join her.

"Don't you ever need time to yourself?" She asked. Being blunt was tempting, but those large excited eyes held her annoyance at bay.