Florenza- Nyo North Italy
Salvatorio- Serborgia
…
Ludwig sat at a table by himself, sulkily nursing a pint of beer in his hand. He was in a public house, noisy and crowded despite it being around midday. Sure he was meant to be working; as a police officer, he should be walking around the streets stopping crime for hours on end. But what was the point? Everyone helped the criminals anyways! The police force was that hated. Even the criminal-hating rich loathed the police, whose funding came from their taxes. Ludwig had already lost count of the number of time he'd been attacked by the people he'd sworn to protect.
And his uniform was stupid too.
Lost in his own thoughts, Ludwig didn't see a young woman sit next to him until she spoke up.
"Hello there," she spoke in a cheery, thickly accented, voice, "you seem lonely; mind if I join you?"
Ludwig grunted, not looking at her.
"My name is Florenza Vargas; may I ask what yours is?"
"Ludwig," he grunted, not taking his eyes off his pint.
"That is a nice name, Germanic, is it?"
Ludwig grunted a noise that probably meant yes, or ja, as he'd say.
"So are you from that new Germany country?"
Another 'yes' grunt.
"Please talk to me..."
Ludwig sighed and looked up at her. His first thought was of just how beautiful this woman next to him was and how he could easily compare her to some sort of goddess. No, this woman surpassed any mere goddess in beauty. She was tanned with carroty-brown curly hair tied into a ponytail and wide amber eyes. Her curved figure resided in a red dress with a low-cut neckline that made him blush, and he quickly looked away.
"Why do you want me to talk to you?"
"Because you are handsome!"
Ludwig couldn't help but blush. Why was she being so forward? Especially to someone of his profession. He wondered if she was just distracting him whilst she robbed him, and his hand instinctively went to his breast pocket, which caused Florenza to scowl, clearly offended. He didn't care.
"Even thought I am some rotten 'blue lobster' who does nothing but waste people's money?"
Florenza cringed a little.
"I don't care; I just want to talk to you. You seemed like you could do with the company."
Ludwig looked away, embarrassed. Maybe she was a 'renter' and hoped he'd be interested in parting with his money in exchange for… other favours.
"Danke," he mumbled.
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"Oh, sorry, it is German for thank you."
"Dan-ka? How cute, say more words," Florenza looked at Ludwig expectantly.
"Uh-um sure, no problem. What would you like me to say?"
"Anything you like!" exclaimed Florenza, smiling widely. Ludwig nodded and thought for a moment.
"Ich heisse Ludwig Beilchmidt. Ich bin Deutch. Ich denke das sie wunderbar sind." Ludwig prayed that she didn't ask for a translation.
Florenza though for a moment before speaking again.
"And what does that mean?" she asked.
Damn. Damndamndamndamndamndamn.
"Oh," he began, wishing he could just run, but he was too terrified to move, "it means 'I am called Ludwig Beilschmidt. I am German. I…'" Ludwig mumbled something incoherent.
"Pardon?"
"I… think that you are wonderful." Ludwig's face was almost completely red at this moment, covered by his large, gloved hands.
Florenza stared for a moment, as if in shock, and then pulled Ludwig into a tight hug.
"You are so sweet to think someone is wonderful just for saying hello. But I guess that means you are pretty lonely, yes?" she looked at Ludwig with concern in her large eyes, which were locked with his light blue ones.
"Well, ja, err, yes," admitted Ludwig, "my older half-brother is staying with me at the moment but he will go back to Germany in a few weeks. I am usually all alone."
"That sounds so sad!" exclaimed Florenza, "Do you not have a fiancé or wife to keep you company?"
"Nein, never had one," confessed the policeman, "just me."
"Is that why you are miserable today?" inquired Florenza. Ludwig shook his head.
"Then what is it?" she asked.
"My job."
"You hate it?"
"Yes, actually," explained Ludwig, "I never used to. But people do not like police. I learnt that the hard way. I came here when I heard about how Mr Peel had set up a police force and wanted to be part of it! But it's not as fun as I thought it would be. The people lie to us, attack us, they even help and warn criminals. Just today some shopkeeper made an excuse for a shoplifter who stole a toy. From the man's own shop! But I was still the bad guy. And my wages are terrible, my uniform is ridiculous and the hours are so long!" Florenza listened to all of this patiently, patting the man's back.
"I never usually complain this much," he told her, "and I am sorry for burdening you with my problems. I usually just get on with things but this work is too much!"
"There, there," cooed Florenza soothingly, "just let it all out. I want to listen to you, and you need to talk about things like this. It is not good to bury your emotions and keep them bottled up. That is why I wear my emotions on my sleeves, as they say."
"You are probably right," sighed Ludwig.
"No, I am right!" said Florenza fiercely.
Ludwig couldn't help but smile at this.
"So what part of Germany are you from?" asked Florenza.
"Well, my mother is from Bavaria and my father is from Prussia, he's a Junker, as is my older brother, Gilbert."
"You mentioned your brother before," commented Florenza, "tell me, what is he like? Do you get along?"
"Sometimes," admitted Ludwig, "he cares for me a lot, but he's quite a bit older than I am and likes to boss me around a bit, but he's very protective too! He is only my half brother though; his mother died when he was little and our father remarried. But we see ourselves as full brothers. But lately I do not see him much. He works as a judge in Prussia, Berlin, to be exact, and we never have time to see each other because our jobs are so long. But now he is here. I wish it was because he misses his little brother, but I fear he is only in London because he knows his ex-fiancé is here."
"His ex-fiancé?"
"Ja, a Hungarian girl whom he was engaged to as an adolescent. But her family moved back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire before they could get married and the whole thing was called off."
"What a tragic love story!" exclaimed Florenza, "how romantic!"
"Ja, I suppose it is, but she married another man and they have a son. I tried to tell him this but he did not believe me. He has gone to visit her today and I fear the state he is going to be in when I get home."
"He will need his little brother to look after him, like he has done for you," Florenza told him.
Ludwig nodded. "Yes, of course," he whispered, then added, louder, "you have brothers?"
Florenza nodded.
"Yes, two." she said, "Lovino and Salvatorio; Lovino is older, Salvatorio younger."
"And what are they like?" asked Ludwig, wanting to know more about this girl.
"Well Lovino is very loud and swears and drinks and is a bastard to strangers, though only men, but he always takes care of me. Salvatorio is our baby brother; he is so cute! We all moved here together from Naples in Italy."
"You are Italian?"
"Si!"
"I thought you had a lovely accent! I just couldn't quite place it." Ludwig confessed.
"That is okay!" Florenza's cheeriness never seemed to be marred, for long at least.
"So what do you do for a living?" asked Ludwig.
"I am an actress!" said Florenza, "and that isn't slang for anything shady. I'm a real actress! I do performances of famous plays in a theatre! Well, a little theatre, but it is a start!"
"Wow that is amazing," said Ludwig, "I wager you are very talented, I wonder if I could see one of your plays?"
"Of course!" exclaimed Florenza, "I am performing Shakespeare tomorrow night at nine." She wrote the address of the venue in his notebook and bade farewell.
Ludwig finished his pint and left the pub in a considerably greater mood than when he entered.
…
Welp here's another chapter. It was gonna be longer but I decided to split it into two!
Historical thingy- the first police force was set up by this chap called Robert Peel to help tackle the immense crime rate in London without the use of the army. But at first his police force was pretty unpopular. The people of London gave then cruel nicknames, attacked them and even warned criminals of their presence. Come to think of it, they're still pretty unpopular…
Historical thingy 2- Germany was united in 1971, and Italy in the 1960s. Just wanted to explain some context of the times
Historical thingy 3- a Junker was a Prussian elite/noble and they pretty-much had all the important jobs and were favoured by the Kaiser.
So that's it for now; reviews are always welcome!
