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Episode 2 - Strangers

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Post by Preffy~ Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:27 am

Nineteen. Four years younger then him. Alfred did certainly did have that youthful look to him, although the height thing made it difficult to believe on first appearance that he was younger.

“Identity crisis? Is that the reason for your trip!” He grinned a little, “You hear of people taking trips far away from home to find themselves'!” He wished he could have done something like that a few years back. Factors such as his parents not allowing him to go (education was more important than silly fantasies after all) and homesickness prevented such a thing. He was homesick even now, but Alfred was even further away. Did he not miss home?

He started to wonder why he was becoming curious enough to ask all these questions. He was only meant to help write some bloody lyrics and go back to normality. Finish his current work, maybe speak with Mistinguett some more…

But no, he had started to become curious. "Or is your identity crisis settled now?"
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Post by King of Spades Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:39 am

His crisis was over for sure. He had Mistinguett after all, and the fact that Arthur was one hell of a fine gentleman didn't mean anything. No, not all. It was all healthy envy from man to man.

"Finding myself, huh? Hm...That sounds about right. While I love my country, I couldn't find the music that moved my soul there. America will forever be my inspiration, but in the end I fell in love in Paris. Do you know what I mean? Maybe not. I don't even understand myself." He chuckled.

Without them realising they had been walking again and the café was right before them. It was as always crowded and full of people creating art with their hands, minds, hearts and their cups of coffee. They were lead to a quiet corner, a table for two, by a waitress.

"Okay then...so...where exactly from Britain are you from?" What the hell? Shouldn't they go straight to the point and work on the god-awful lyrics? Why was he asking questions about Arthur's private life?
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Post by Preffy~ Wed May 02, 2012 5:17 am

“I do understand, there is just an atmosphere to Paris that makes you fall in love. Well .. Paris IS the city of love…. As Francis would say” Arthur scowled at the mention of his annoying acquaintance.

As they arrived at the café, Arthur noticed the waitress who had served him earlier was still working, she gave a smile of recognition and lead him and Alfred to a table. After taking their orders, a tea for himself and coffee for Alfred, she left them.

There was a brief moment of silence, Arthur had considered how best to start discussions about the lyrics when Alfred broke the silence, asking not about lyrics but where he was from.

“Well, I live in London currently, my parents moved us there when I was 10. As lovely as they are, they like to show off their wealth you see. If they saw that flat I was living in, they'd be horrified” Arthur laughed a little, suddenly feeling that familiar wave of homesickness, “and yourself? What part of the States are you from?” Might as well keep the polite conversation going.
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Post by King of Spades Tue May 08, 2012 1:47 am

Alfred gasped and laughed at Arthur's statement. "Boy, don't tell me you're like the crown Prince of England or something like that! I mean...my family is pretty well off— we do live in a mansion, but they weren't too happy with me leaving for Paris...so they don't support me as much. And besides, while we're well off,we don't really own the town or anything, so my flat wouldn't really shock them." The American shook his head, still chuckling. He found himself being curious about Arthur's life, and really, there was no reason to be. However, he figured that some polite conversation would hardly hurt any of them.

"Well, I live in New Orleans, Louisiana— you've probably heard of it. My family had been moving around the countryside back then during the Civil War, they then settled there...where I was born and where I grew up being a happy little country boy. We moved back to New Orleans when I was about fourteen." While the Jones family had managed to maintain their wealth, most of the people in the south were still suffering financial problems as an aftermath of the war, even though it had ended decades ago. The shadows of a nightmare past mingling among the hopeful exhaustion— all of these things that shaped the face of a society were all too visible in the city life. And Alfred liked to compose music out of that.

This time however, he was going to write a love song. With the help of an experienced Englishman.

"So, how do I woo Mistinguett?" Alfred bent himself forward, supporting his tilting head with his propped arm and smiled, a hint of a tease in his expression.
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Post by Preffy~ Mon May 14, 2012 10:28 am

Arthur laughed in reply to Alfred's question, "What would you do if I was the Prince of England?"

Again he laughed and shook his head. As Alfred continued telling him about his life, Arthur couldn't help but notice how similar the two of them were. Both of their parents didn't approve of the decision to visit Paris, both of wealthy family. But Arthur wasn't that far away from England, where as Alfred was much further. He must be terribly homesick, Arthur thought, did he even have friends here? Or was he completely alone?

Their orders of tea and coffee were brought over, both gave their thanks to the waitress and again she left them.

Arthur took a sip of tea, deciding to keep the conversation to the topic they were here for. Just as Alfred had said, how to woo Mistinguett indeed.

"The thing about Mistinguett is," Another sip of tea, more thought into an answer, "she attracts so much attention. I've seen so many men try to gain her affection but it never quite works out for them, that's why your song has stand right out. Otherwise it'll probably sit on her table of ever growing gifts!"

It would take a few days for Arthur to really think on his own advice and begin to come to the conclusion that maybe he was wasting his time trying to gain Mistinguett's attention.
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Post by King of Spades Tue May 15, 2012 11:43 am

Alfred tilted his head and thought for a moment, a finger resting on his lips, sometimes the tip would bounce against it. The American hummed in concentration. "I would probably write my parents that I've met England's crown prince. Then they would stop blaming me for coming over to Paris." That was a brilliant notion indeed. "So...you don't really happen to be some kind of a prince? Don't worry, I won't laugh at you...prince charming in disguise." Alfred couldn't help adding a flirtatious wink. Oops, no homo.

Alfred turned to take in the scent of fresh coffee, eyes fluttering closed in simple bliss. He could practically smell the essence of life.

He should totally write a song about coffee one day.

He then listened to what Arthur thought about his intentions to woo Mistinguett. It didn't seem to be an easy task. Though, his very being was enough to leave a lingering impression.

For a moment he fell into silence. Blue eyes turned solemn as he idly rubbed his cup. "But...isn't she lonely? A pile of unopened presents and no love to unwrap. An artist like her can't find love in the ordinary."
Alfred looked up and met Arthur's eyes. "I want to be...special. So that she doesn't have to be lonely and sad anymore!"

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Post by Preffy~ Sun May 20, 2012 4:02 am

Alfred's wink was returned with a mischievous smile and a dramatic sigh, “Well, I'm afraid we'll have to just leave such a topic. If I AM the Prince of England then I don't want to seem too obvious do I?”

A laugh followed his statement, indicting it was all just indeed a joke. Foreigners were too amusing sometimes.

Arthur fiddled with his tea cup as Alfred spoke of Mistinguett. It did indeed seem sad, thinking of her life like that. “I guess no one knows what kind of life a lady like her leads. What if she already had a love, for example? Her adoring public have no idea!”

Such thoughts crossed his mind before, how could a woman as talented and awe-inspiring as her not have. But Alfred's words just now were quite romantic and inspiring, making Arthur smile in thought.

He took another sip of tea, “But, for now let us forget that and return our attention to your song! Did you read it again? I sometimes find if I read over my work again, I find things I want to change. If I may add a thought? What you said just then… It was quite lovely!”

The kind of thing any potential love interest might want to hear.
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Post by King of Spades Tue May 22, 2012 9:56 am

Alfred did read over his songs, but the thing about him was that he lacked the ability of self-reflection. He felt an emotion, wrote it down and found it amazing. So, he couldn't just read over a song and find flaws. So, Arthur was actually heaven sent. He was already all grins and every kind of sun beams, when he began to flip his pen and write his words down, matching them with the melody. In the middle of happy composing, his fingers stopped writing as a thought struck him. His eyes moved from the paper up to look at Arthur.

"Are you...giving up on Mistinguett?" The way Arthur was talking about her, as if she was his idol but nothing more, the fact that he was helping him with the song...

Alfred carefully dropped his pen on the table and tried to read the Englishman. "The 'King of England' has given up?" However, it didn't sound like he was mocking Arthur...just a melancholic statement. Of course, maybe Arthur was just an admirer. Maybe Arthur already had some pretty lady by his side. Alfred bit his lips and nervously twirled the pen between his fingers.
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Post by Preffy~ Sun May 27, 2012 9:08 am

Arthur watched Alfred as he wrote his suggestion down, seeing if it would match to that wonderful melody. Clearly it worked, judging by the smile that had brightened his face. Obviously Alfred had never considered reading through his work again, Arthur smiled at the progress already being made.

The smile turned to an expression of thought as Alfred asked him if he was giving up. Was he giving up? Or was there simply nothing to give up on! Maybe it was simple admiration for a beautiful star and nothing more. The fact that he had so readily agreed to help with this song, a song that would eventually be used to gain her affections, only seemed to back that thought up. Because really, what man would help another to gain the affections of a woman that he, himself had feelings for.

So Arthur gave the simplest answer he could as he looked down at his now half empty cup, “I don't think there was anything to give up on!”

He looked up at Alfred again, the thoughtful expression replaced with a smile, “Anyway, moving on, I simply want you to tell me from the heart, what you feel when you think of Mistinguett!”
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Post by King of Spades Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:47 pm

"What I feel about Mistinguett?" He looked up with a somewhat confused expression, as if the question had sounded foreign in his ears. He had a lot of feelings surrounding that gorgeous woman. A lot of passion and euphoria, lust as well. A storm of words whirled in his head, many sounded poetic, some others were strong, but none of them were romantic. Alfred frowned. "I..." He looked away in shame.

"I can't do this!" He finally said, throwing himself back and slumped into the cushion of his chair lazily. "How can I write a love song when I'm still freshly out of my boyhood and without any previous experience of love?" Everything sounded insincere and suddenly unworthy of a woman like Mistinguett.

Arthur was lucky, he was content with admiring the artist, not desiring anything further. And Alfred began to wonder, whether or not he wished to seriously approach the French lady. He bit his lips as he contemplated everything.

But if he couldn't write a simple love song, then he was nothing but a composing failure. Alfred sighed dejectedly.

"Love is stupid," he said in an almost childish manner.
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Post by Preffy~ Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:44 am

“Love is stupid!”

That’s what Alfred had said.

Arthur recalled that day, as he sat in his apartment, he had tried to help Alfred write his feelings into a lovely song, but the man got too quickly frustrated. Claiming that he could no longer write the song because he had no experience to write it.

Arthur remembered finishing off his tea and looking at Alfred in thought again. What could he do further more to help? Writing anything was easy, as long as one had the inspiration to do it and as a writer himself, Arthur knew how stressful having no inspiration was. As long as Alfred had true feelings for Mistinguett then writing her a romantic song should be no problem, the only issue was gaining the creativity.

An idea came to mind and so he simply asked Alfred to meet him here tomorrow, with a promise that his plans would help bring his creativity to life. Alfred had still looked a bit downcast, but he still agreed. But for now he was clearly at a loss for what to do now and so he began doodling on his paper.

The next day Arthur had stepped out to a rather cloudy morning. He had grabbed an umbrella before heading towards the café and again met Alfred, only this time they hadn't gone in for tea and coffee. For most of the trip, he had been repeatedly asked where they were going, but Arthur only smiled in reply and told him to wait and see.

When they arrived at their destination, Alfred had stared at the beautiful building before asking him…. How on earth visiting the Louvre was supposed to help with his music problem. He had replied that 'music was also a form of art' and that maybe walking around such a grand museum it would help his own creativity and inspiration.

Because after all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
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Post by King of Spades Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:07 pm

At first Alfred was pretty skeptical about the museum visit. And while the Louvre was seriously overwhelming in its size and luxury, the American really couldn't get an idea of how it would help him. The collection of jewelry, fashion, decor and of course the paintings were immense, they rendered Alfred speechless and he swore he was getting dizzy from everything.

But as he strolled along with Arthur, observing the paintings from different eras in silence, he began to understand something. His English companion had chosen to remain silent, letting Alfred find everything out on his own.

Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Expressionism. Those were art movements inspired by the spirit of their time. Inspiration came from their surrounding, the impacts of their present, the fire in their hearts. And Alfred realised, that the same spirits could be found in music. Art is the witness of ages.

And Alfred felt a fire in his heart beginning to light up and heat his mind. It didn't matter if he was writing a love song or composing any other melody, he wanted to define an age with his art.

Leaving the museum, Alfred was still silent, and Arthur didn't bother to disturb him.

"I...wow." Alfred finally turned around to face the Englishman with wide eyes that now had a different glimmer. "Arthur...I think you might have changed me."
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Post by Preffy~ Wed Aug 29, 2012 10:59 am

Arthur could still picture that look in Alfred's eyes. He had laughed a little and patted the other man on the shoulder.

“I'm glad!” He had said, patting his shoulder. “ It certainly does leave an impression on you, doesn't it?”

They had continued walking on, discussing everything they had seen in Louvre and certain artworks that had stood out to them. Alfred had made a comment during their conversation that originally he had doubted the trip here, not seeing how it would help him with his song writing. Clearly from the way he had been talking afterwards, that had all changed. Arthur also remembered walking closer as they talked more.

Another topic came to a conclusion and Arthur had one more question. The one that had been in his head since Alfred admitted not seeing a point in the trip.

"So you've admitted the trip has changed you!" He had said smiling brightly.. or grinning maybe? "But what i wanted to know is, has it inspired you in anyway? That was my idea at least. I hoped it would help a little!"

It seemed like a good idea at the time.... now he wasn't so sure.
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