Leading on silently out of the noise and chatting of the grand ballroom into the hall, Ludwig hadn’t even a clue of what to say now. So he managed to persuade Emerson to follow him without protest, which meant he was doing something right? She didn’t tell him off, she didn’t run away, she accepted his jacket….that meant he made the right choice after all. Still, that didn’t give him an answer for the silence that washed over Emerson like a cold shower stifling her words from escape.
The question she managed to stutter beforehand had made him question her own level of awareness in which he had promptly answered. “Correct, ve don’t vant to vaste time out here vhen your arm needs treated.” Wasn’t that obvious…? Ludwig didn’t state such words though, realizing he would be losing himself to insensitivity once again. The poor girl was grieving, of course she wouldn’t be thinking clearly, who would be?
Even as they entered the elevator and stood by awkwardly beside each other waiting for the doors to open up to the third floor, Ludwig was still lost for what to say as he stood completely still staring at the buttons in the elevator. To the German everything was ticking by so slowly, and it was almost painful how long it took before he heard the ding of the door opening. As he gestured her out, it was the first time Ludwig had laid eyes on her since they were outside and….her face was shaded again with redness. He looked away quickly pretending that he didn’t see and continued onward to their room.
Opening the door with a room key that had been snugged away in his pocket, Ludwig didn’t dwindle by Emerson’s side long before proceeding to the other side of the room where he rummaged through his own bag. He was growing ever more desperate for some way to consult this girl that he barely even knew without his own judgment and perceptions getting out of hand. From the far end of the room, knelt beside his bag the blonde opened his mouth to speak until he was cut short by an apology that seemed to come out of thin air.
"I have the awful feeling I'm just going to be a burden to you. How can I compare? I mean, 'Show no weakness?' "
The words that escaped were replaced with a hopeless laughter that left Ludwig to blink suddenly as his hands ceased to sort through the bag for a brief moment. He wasn’t used to this, hearing someone speaking so openly. Other people and even his fellow countries didn’t question themselves in front of him, to them he was only good at scolding and telling them to suck it up and therefore, they shut themselves off from him emotionally. Never did they try to seek some sort of understanding or consolation from him directly. Emerson was setting off a new trend it seemed… doing the exact opposite and more…she was being unnervingly honest with him, even to go as far as to confess herself a burden to him. She admitted it, she admitted she was weak and yet that seemed to make all the difference to Ludwig…
The German went back to searching, retrieving the first aid from the lower corner of the bag as Emerson continued to bring herself down a little further each time she spoke. “Emerson…” Ludwig stated, his voice monotone and serious but she had already started to speak again. This time she was back to the other issue of how such a cut was produced. Though, Ludwig found it interesting that she couldn’t exactly pinpoint how it happened… had she really been so distraught?
"And... danke... again. F-For trying to comfort me. My friends usually just leave me alone when I'm upset or something... I mean, we just work that way, all of us. And if it needs to be mentioned we bring it up later, but that's really - that's the extent of it, really. No one's actually comforted while I was upset... Oh." Ludwig’s face suddenly heated up the more Emerson spoke in such a way, as lines began to form over his brow in quivering embarrassment. And all this time he assumed the opposite, going out of his way just this once in hopes of comforting her the ‘right’ way when in fact no one did that to begin with.
“I…I see.” Ludwig blushed, waiting for the redness to settle. Damn it, how was I supposed to know that?? he thought in distress before forcing his thoughts to calm as he stood back to his feet. “So that is not the acceptable way then….” Ludwig concluded, avoiding Emerson’s eyes now as he opened the first aid on the table and pulled out the necessary supplies. Disinfectant and bandages. The cut was rather long so little band aids wouldn’t be of much help in the circumstance.
As Emerson quickly began to defend and explain her friends behavior, Ludwig realized that she hadn’t even stopped talking since they arrived in the room. She was practically stating everything that was running through her stream of consciousness at that current moment and Ludwig was beginning to wonder if he should say something to calm her down before her stress escalated any further….or at least tell her to take a breather.
The German continued his stoic, silent demeanor anyway as he poured disinfectant on the clean rag provided and approached Emerson with it, discarding his jacket from off of her and retrieving the arm he needed, all the while listening to Emerson relieve herself of thoughts and feelings that seemed to have bottled up thoroughly during the awkward walk back to their room.
“Is that so….?” Ludwig raised his eyebrow partially on realization that she was comparing him to her best friend and looked back at Emerson for the first time since they had arrived inside. In other words, her friend had the same social tendencies as himself….socially inept. Ludwig didn’t need someone to tell him that, he always knew he acted differently from others but that was because he considered everyone else irrational and unorganized in their endeavors…well and he did have a difficult time speaking to others freely. Sure, he got embarrassed a bit easily sometimes but it was all to protect himself from the critique of others especially after everything that had happened to him in the past. Well, and truthfully people just simply annoyed him easy, so being alone seemed like the best solution to that problem.
The German shook his head, waving the girl’s worry and embarrassment off as if it didn’t phase him in the least, she was obviously flustered and was saying things she didn’t entirely mean. Ludwig wiped down the length of the cut and then continued to pat it down, putting pressure on the cut so the disinfectant would soak into the wound further.
"C-Can I just say this is an off day for me? I... normally I'm not this emotional... or - or silly. Or mind-bogglingly stupid."
The pause after these words gave Ludwig the indication that he could step in now, his silence no longer overtaking him as he began to unroll the bandage. “Ok, let’s get a few things straight….” The blonde looked back at Emerson, up from the bandage he was tending to make sure he had her attention. “First of all, you are not stupid and I refuse to let you speak as if zat vere true.” He replied seriously, his stare discouraging her from saying otherwise.
Ludwig looked down again as he unraveled the bandage, beginning to circle it around Emerson’s arm easily like he had done it a hundred times before “Secondly…You couldn’t possibly be as weak as you lead yourself on to be….it’s true zat you have much improvement to make but…if you are brave enough to say such honest things to me then I find more strength then veakness in that….” Ludwig paused, wondering if Emerson knew what he meant, his hand continuing to move over and around her arm, brushing the softness of skin each time with his progression. “…I’m referring to your humility by the vay.” Ludwig finished as he ripped the bandage, the sound rather loud and rough but with no harm done as he tied it off.
“Thirdly…” he announced, before she could make a move to respond. His voice changed slightly into a low hesitance as he released her arm and took a step back as he commonly did when individual proximities were a little too close for comfort. “If I am as similar to your friend as you believe….then vould this friend agree with me zat you…. talk a lot when you are trying to hide something from zem?” Ludwig spoke inquiringly but his expression couldn’t hold much control, not by such tender words that could have a variety of reactions involved and his eyes softened and jaw unclenched as he swallowed.
“I’m sorry…it’s just…about your mother… you seemed so upset.” He wasn’t going to bring up the cut incident for now, what really mattered was why she had gotten so upset in the first place. He might have crossed the line but how else were they supposed to handle what all had happened. Besides he had already crossed the norm of simply coming outside to consult her…He always had to finish what he started so how was this any different?
Ludwig rubbed his neck as he turned away to put the materials away, leaving Emerson to ponder his question for a moment. When everything was put back neatly in his bag Ludwig looked up to see the glint of sunlight coming out of the sides of the curtains and the room suddenly seemed so dim with only the lamps to provide light. The curtains were a thick, dark red fabric for keeping the sun from seeping through into the room and it made Ludwig almost forget how nice it was outside today.
“We should go on a walk, talk outside….wouldn’t you agree?” Ludwig asked finally. “It’s better than lingering in here…” He sighed for obvious reasons. For one they were very…very alone in this room…and still with only one bed which continued to irritate the Germany immensely but also because the fresh air and warm weather provided by the island would do some good right about now.
"Hmm...?" Ludwig waited, as he folded his arms looking back in Emerson's direction. He lowered his chin slightly as he forced his lips to curve barely only to twitch slightly. The German seemed to give up as he averted his eyes and faked a little cough.
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