A/N
German translated at the end
Conversation at the Bonnefoy's is written in English. Even though I'd love to take the challenge to write it in French, it's unnecessary. After all, I'm sure they speak Spanish/Italian at the Carriedo's too, and I wouldn't be able to pull that off. My translating app is my best friend when it comes to these two languages after all. So just think of Franada speaking together in French and Spamano in Spanish/Italian.
xxx
Alice swings the pub door open and waltzes inside. It's not hard to spot the albino sitting at the bar, already fighting with the bartender.
"ALICE! Help me out, will you! Zat guy doesn't want to give me any Feldschlösschen."
The Englishwoman lets herself fall on a seat next to the noisy man. "A brown ale for me. –Is that a new German beer? Don't mind him, Sir. Just give him a Krombacher." Turning her head to look from one man to the other, she drums her fingers impatiently against the wood while the barman fills a glass.
"Nah. Not German." Gilbert doesn't know whether he should complain about which country which beer comes from, complain about the newly employed bartender calmly refusing his request or complain about Alice's attitude. A pale hand slams down on the wood, as red eyes stare at the poker-faced man at the other side of the tap. "I don't want a Krombacher! Gimme a Feldschlösschen!"
"Sit down and drink what I give you or my troll kicks you out." Gilbert continues to argue with the bartender for some time and laments over the glass placed in front of him. –A Krombacher.
Completely ignoring his rant over the only partly-awesome choice of beers, Alice jugs her beer down and calls for another. One more complaint before Gilbert does the same. Waiting for the refill, the white haired man takes the time to turn towards Alice and greet her. "You didn't go all-out, I see?" he comments her outfit rather than actually say hello.
Raising an eyebrow to look at his outfit in return, the Englishwoman shrugs her shoulders. Black, ripped pants and band shirt; he didn't bother taking any flashy clothes out either. "When deciding between dressing up and getting to chug a beer earlier… Well, the beer won." She takes the second glass and repeats the same routine as with the first. Chug and order another in one go. "Otherwise I might have dyed my hair pink before coming. Or black. Put on all my piercings and…" She finishes her third ale.
"Heilige Scheisse! Alice, calm down! I don't want you to be hammered before I get to tell you about my awezome…" The blonde woman shuts the white haired up with a glare and orders her fourth beer. Finishing the drink in one go again, the German winces as she smashes the empty glass down once more. "Fucking shit! You need to find an outlet for your anger!" The German ruffles her hair, causing it to look worse than one would think was possible. Shrieking in complaint, Alice tries to evade his hands. "Bottling up isn't healthy, Alice."
Must be nice. Being too busy with his own life and messing with other people's problems because he doesn't have any himself. The German's always been like that. Alice sighs. "Gil, please never get a girlfriend, never marry and most certainly NEVER get kids. Just stay the happy idiot you are."
To focused at watching the man behind the bar holding her glass, the Englishwoman doesn't realise her German friend's complaining pout. "I DO have a girlfriend!" Alice's focus shifts. She stares at the man with a doubting look.
"Yeah… The one nobody's ever met… Sure…" Raising an eyebrow, the blonde woman supports her head with an arm placed on the bar. "How was that again? Overprotective father?" Alice can't really get it into her head her old acquaintance never manages to bring the girl along. Or imagine Gilbert acting all lovey-dovey with the little, fragile looking cutie he continues to brag about even though none of his friends believes they're actually together.
Gilbert growls. "Overprotective brother." He rolls his red eyes. "I'd say that's even worse." The Englishwoman grumbles. Yes, brothers always mean trouble. She slams her glass down once more. But ex-husbands are worse. Or daughters. Or fucking rivals! Gilbert shift once more. "Rivals? Did you meet Toni?"
"Meet, my arse." Alice's fist crashes down on the wood. Spitting all her displeasure, the Englishwoman complains about her companion's bff. "The cursed git turned up at her doorstep, talking me into babysitting Lovina." Gilbert; the «gentleman» he is doesn't respond at first; doesn't even react at her cursing his friend. Then his imagination most likely manifests in a short movie of how Toni might have tried to force Alice to babysit Lovina. Breaking into a fit of laughter, the white haired man almost falls of his chair.
Wait, not just almost.
"Alice babysitting Lovina… This should've been filmed!" But he won't stop laughing even as he hits the floor but continues to roll around, holding his stomach. "Toni's new strategy to get on your nerves." Well, at least it seems he still sides with Carriedo.
Alice glares daggers at the shaking combination of white and black, trying to make out where it starts and where it ends. As soon as she figures, the Englishwoman tells herself, she will ram her elbow in his stomach, hoping the pain might actually shut him up. She settles for pouring the Krombacher standing next to her over him instead, waiting until the laughing bundle starts spiting and picks himself up. "Alice! Was that MY beer?!" The blonde regards him with cold smile and shrugs her shoulders.
"Maybe."
xxx
Smiling as he looks at Kuma-what'shisnameagain?, Matthew thinks some more about the stories Kiku told him. Japan sounds like an interesting country. He's never been to any other countries than Canada, France, England and the US. Imaging a place so different from everything he knows is almost impossible. Trees with flashing red leaves, old-fashioned temples and malls with little shops where you could get lost looking at all the small, cute and odd things they present for sale. Where fruits are horribly expensive but made perfect and people think any foreign-looking person is American.
"Salut Papa." After bringing his teddy bear back to his room, the teenager returns to the salon and spreads his homework on the tea table. His father happily waves a Bonjour at the boy from behind the open kitchen.
"How was school?"
Flipping through his notebook, Matthew has to think. Today. What did he do toda… OH. Right. –Maybe he shouldn't tell Papa about that. He MOST LIKELY shouldn't. Shrugging his shoulders instead, the teenager mumbles an "It was ok." Instead, doing his best to sound natural without having to look at his father. He's a bad liar after all.
Trying to focus on his homework once more, the gentle clattering noises from the kitchen blend into the background. His hand moves, but his thoughts are drifting off to somewhere else.
How did it turn out?
His sister came up with a weird bunch of ideas just to meet someone who might probably be a bit closer to their mother than she would like. Thanks to that, somehow; though he still doesn't really get what happened today, Kiku and Matthew managed to talk his sister into going home.
Maybe he should really ask Papa if he could get his phone before his next birthday.
"Mathieu, what are you doing?" The adult's sudden question brings the teenager back to reality. His father stands behind him, pointing over his shoulder with one hand and a wondering expression. Matthew turns to look at his homework again. Ups. He started doodling wherever there was free space rather than actually fill in any answers. Baby polar bears, foxes, ice-cream and other little foods with cute faces like on the pictures Kiku showed him. "Is that supposed to be a hamburger? And a grumpy tomato?" The adult takes the sheet to inspect it with his lips curling to small smile. "Mathieu…" Oh no. The high schooler doesn't like the tone in his father's voice. If he talks in that humming way, it always means trouble. Gently placing an arm around his son's shoulder, the Frenchmen sits down next to the boy and looks eyes with him.
"Don't get it wrong… I was just lost in thoughts..." Matthew tries to explain what doesn't need to be explained, looking away to ignore the mocking look in his father's eyes. Before the adult can ask any weird questions about why his baby-boy would be so lost in thoughts he actually starts doodling happily smiling baby animals, the teenager tries to think of anything to keep the man distracted. ANYTHING. "Err, Papa… What would you do if Mum got a new boyfriend?"
Oh no. NOT anything. ESPECIALLY not THIS!
Surprisingly, his father blinks and leans back. Matthew, glad he got some of his personal space back, turns to face his father. Well, he already asked. He doesn't really want to look at his Papa right now, and it's a very odd topic to talk to your parents about, but can't be helped now. As Gilbert would say: «Face it like a man» -Or something like that.
The Frenchman, obviously taken aback by his son's sudden question, clears his throat. "Well… In the unlikely event of a… boyfriend…" His blue eyes drift away to look into the distance. Then he turns back to his son with a smile. "I highly doubt that would happen." Having forgotten about the doodles, the blonde man releases his son and returns towards the kitchen.
"Papa!" Quickly putting his notes away, Matthew shuffles after his father, not ready to give in yet. "Not even a «what if»? I mean… You guys were married. Would it really be that odd if she found somebody else?" With a raised eyebrow, the adult turns from the oven, holding a gratin which he brings to the table.
"Mathieu, this is your mother we're talking about. The scratching-cat. I've never met a man who would actually go through all the trouble to get close to her." With a wave of his hand towards the cupboards, Francis askes his son to bring the plates, then he halts in his movements for a split second. But no matter how many times Matthew askes, his father won't say a word about what he suddenly remembered.
xxx
After finishing another few, or not so few glasses, the two debating adults started their forth shouting fight and ended it; deciding neither of them won. Again.
"This is getting boring." Alice slams her half-finished ale down. Are they growing old? Is that it? "You're just coming up with new excuses every time!" The Albino chuckles.
"Zhat's no excuses; I'm just explaining why I'm right! –Aber is wirklich stink langweilig, if you don't know what to answer anymore."
"Because you don't make ANY sense! You just mix and match completely different things."
"Quatsch! I ALWAYZ make sense." And there we go again! Why, just WHY did Alice agree to go drinking with the German? Ignoring the fact they both go wasted after a few glasses, Gilbert has the extra nasty habit to start «sleep walking» as she calls it. Halfway leaning over the bar with his eyes partly closed, whatever he says makes less sense than ever before and he starts slurring his words with German. "Oooh, ab in den Süden…"
Alice secures her head with her hand, fighting to keep herself up. Trying to make his words out, the Englishwoman looks around the room. Smoky, smelly pub as always. But one of the sole places the four frenemies didn't get banned from. After some time she realises, Gilbert isn't sleep talking but singing.
"…der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht!
Der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht.
Und ich sag...! ©"
The Englishwoman slaps him upside the head, complaining about his horrible singing. Oddly awake as soon as he realizes Alice doesn't like his song, Gilbert continues raising his husky voice with every single word escaping his throat. The melody however, changes. It's a new song.
"Ich bin so schön, ich bin so toll
Ich bin der Anton aus Tirol.
Meine gigaschlanken Wadln san a Wahnsinn für die Madln.
Mei Figur a Wunder dar Natur…©"
Without another word, Alice empties her pint once more… Over Gilbert's head. "Stop your fucking singing. You suck without a band. Does your German sound even worse when you're drunk?" Spiting and shaking his head, Gilbert grabs the corner of the bar to bring himself up and grabs his pint. With a swift movement, the Englishwoman manages to escape the beer he throws at her. "Missed me!"
"No-P-e." Popping the «p», his wide grin looks even more annoyingly. Slightly shrieking, Alice realizes the horizon is turning, accompanied by his malicious laughter as he orders another beer and lifts it up, to congratulate the woman on her fall. "Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude! –And; nur so nebenbei, that wasn't German. –Not real German." As awezome as his amazing self is, Gilbert holds his hand out to help the Englishwoman get back up, even though he is still shaking with laugher. With his other hand fondling for his phone, the Albino explains this stupid song could never be German. "It's shitty Austrian dialect, I tell you. Oh, and you GOTTA see this video! It's this weird dude singing about how handsome he is…"
Ignoring another fit of laugher, Alice shoves the hand with the gadget aside. "Like heck could I tell if it's crappy German or stupid Austrian German or weird Swiss German or whatever? It sounds horrible without a band, that's what counts." She looks around the room. "Go find some drums and let's talk about it once more."
Gilbert pouts and puts his phone away, revealing a snuggly duckling cover. Then his grin widens as he starts drumming his fingers against the wood of the bar. Alice stops her rant to listen to the rhythm. Right; who needs drums? "Who needs drums?" The Albino words the blonde woman's thoughts and winks at her. "Who needs a mic? A stage?"
"Who needs anything when we've got ale." The two reflect each other's grin, grabbing their pints to slam them together and start… Wait, where are the glasses? Turning at once to stare at the barkeeper, the English as well as the German complain in one voice. "Hey! Give them back!"
But once more, the man's face doesn't show any emotion. "Your glass was empty anyways. And I will only refill it once mores" Is all the soundless voice states.
"Sir." Alice leans over the bar, pulling out her most refined ladylike-act. "I really think you're a nice guy. And I'm thankful you're acting as a stand-in for the bartender. But I must decline." Smiling while trying to act over her dizzy mind, the Englishwoman knows better than Gilbert: pure debating won't help her. The man is only helping out. He doesn't seem like someone who would be a regular. Which is a pity, he seems like someone she could get along with.
"I'm used to people who like to drink. So I don't care if you drink until you faint." The man dries some glasses and sets them away before he continues. "But you're noisy. I'm just helping out for a few hours and my shift will end soon. You get your beer, I get my quiet evening. If you want another, order it when the second shift arrives. "
Shrugging her shoulders, Alice turns back to a sleepy looking Gilbert, complaining how he doesn't care as long as he gets a beer whether or not the guy is leaving. Alice wishes the blonde a nice weekend before she nudges her friend. "So. Which song?"
"Ärzte! Böhse Onkelz! Tote Hosen!" Imitating the barman's poker face, Alice declines each band her friend requests. "Come on Alice, really?! They're awesome bands with super famous songs!"
The Englishwoman frowns. Couldn't he come up with some better bands? Like Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd… Wrinkling his nose, the Albino looks up at her, complaining about all of them being English bands. "So what?! English bands are good!"
"1D is also an English band." Tired Gilbert doesn't seem to be down to negotiations. He shrugs his arms, refusing to change his mind. "Why does it always need to be an English band? Even back in high school, we mostly covered YOUR favourites!"
Realizing the quiet man is leaving his workplace behind the tabs, Alice takes the opportunity to get back up and makes her way up to stand on the bar. Folding her arms, the Blonde stares at the top of her white-haired friend's head. "Well, isn't it obvious? That's 'cause I am the singer. Of course I would chose the majority of songs." The Albino still refuses to let her go that easily, trying to convince her about random German songs he is certain she knew. –Which she does, given the fact that he wouldn't stop bugging her about «this awesome song he just found» day in day out anyways. Tired of his complaints, Alice places her fists on her hips. "Do I look like I speak German? No way am I singing a German song. That'd just sound horrible."
"Nobody is going to sing anything!" A new voice echoes through the bar as their old acquaintance, the owner of the bar makes his appearance. Not caring about him, the Englishwoman tries walking up and down her newly-found stage, making sure more and more people in the bar realize something is about to start soon. Some of the guests recognize the couple causing a fuss in the center of the dim room and happily approach.
Problem is, they still can't agree on a song. Standing at the bar, Gilbert still refuses to start with the intro, drumming some random rhythm while arguing with the newly arrived bartender. "Yes, we WILL sing."
Close before getting kicked out; either because of fighting with the second shift or because of starting a fight with each other, a tall man's sudden appearance interrupts the heated discussions. "Who's gonna sing what?" Followed by a whole bunch of people, the American –OBVIOUSLY an American; who else could speak with such a horrible accent? –swings his coke through the air and continues to cheer for some good music.
"Excuse me, sir. Minors aren't allowed in bars." The Englishwoman calls down from the bar, not the slightest bit fazed by his million-watt smile resembling her daughter's. And his laughter. This loud and annoying laughter, resounding in her ears. Like HER. Bloody hell. Another person added to the list of people she doesn't want to see, coming right after the Frog, her daughter, Carriedo and Lizzy; but before Gilbert and her brothers. The intruder approaches the bar to stand next to Gilbert, smiling up at Alice who just realized she is wearing a skirt. Better take some steps back.
"Well then, stingy English lady who reminds me of someone annoying dude I know…" He glances at the blonde with big blue eyes. "Which song's it gonna be?" With a smile, the BOY waves his identity card to order some drinks for his group.
Looking at the idiot leaning against the bar with his cursed bomber jacket and wide grin, there's only one song she can think of. Stuck in her mind since Amelia rushed out of her house the second time.
The blonde four-eyes takes another sip of his coke, smiling at some of his friends quarreling before his blue eyes turn to the Englishwoman once more. Alice frowns, as she mumbles the name: "Numb." Happily laughing something about Los Angeles, the blonde hands the barkeeper his loud speaker and takes a bunch of drinks in exchange. "I'm looking forward to the show." And off he goes, the fucking very male version of her cursed daughter.
Gilbert at least seems to be content with the choice, as he claims the loudspeaker and fondles with his phone until the well-known melody resounds through the room. The melody of a song her daughter would listen on highest volume whenever she was pissed at her mother but knew she was at fault as well:
"I'm tired of being what you want me to be
Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface
I don't know what you're expecting of me
Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes"
The Englishwoman closes her eyes even though she knows it will only make her recall all these fights she'd rather forget. Gilbert sings along with the whispered lines:
"Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow
Every step that I take is another mistake to you
Caught in the undertow, just caught in the undertow"
She never realized. Rather, she never wanted to realize. The lyrics, the music video… It all reflects the situation they are in. Talking about different things without trying to understand the other's point of view. Arguing over minor things, ignoring the fact that they're all based on the same confusing fact: they're different. And neither of them will ever change as much as the other wishes she would. Because they just too different. Neither of them could ever manage to change this much. Either they learn to accept the fact, or the situation will stay the same. Fighting. Day in, day out. It's tiring. Just tiring. They've been at it for such a long time already, both of them are tired out.
"I've become so numb, I can't feel you there
Become so tired, so much more aware
By becoming this all I want to do
Is be more like me and be less like you©"
xxx
A/N
Translation:
Well, many words, sayings and other things in this chapter… I'm sorry I couldn't really do it the way I prefer to do it; copy paste the part from the story and just re-write the German parts in English. It would turn out really messy and I don't like that. Plus some things can't be translated but need to be described… It'll take time to explain some of it, but here goes:
German and so on:
Feldschlösschen = Swiss beer
Ach du heilige Scheisse = Holy shit
Krombacher = German beer
Aber is' wirklich stink langweilig = Yeah, fucking boring
Quatsch = Bullsit
Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude! = A saying which is really hard to describe. I'll try it like this:
In the context of the story: You laugh because someone wished you misfortune, but it hit them instead.
Other context: It's the most fun if you can laugh because of someone else's misery. /Seeing something bad happen to somebody else makes me laugh. /Also used if someone else meets some misfortune which might have been meant for you. Eg: You're drawing lots to decide who needs to clean up. You win, somebody else loses.
Und nur so nebenbei = Oh, and by the way
Lyrics from the song «Ab in den Süden» by «Buddy»:
Oooh, ab in den Süden… = Oooh, let's head southwards…
…der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht! Der Sonne hinterher, eyo was geht. Und ich sag...! =
…Let's follow the sun, hey, (what's going on/ let's do that)! Let's follow the sun, hey, let's to that! So I say…!
Lyrics from the song «Anton aus Tirol» by «DJ Ötzi»:
Ich bin so schön, ich bin so toll Ich bin der Anton aus Tirol. Meine gigaschlanken Wadln san a Wahnsinn für die Madln. Mei Figur a Wunder dar Natur… =
"I'm so handsome, I'm so cool, I'm Anton from Tirol. My super-slim calves make the girls go crazy. My figure is a wonder of mother nature…"
xxx
Well, I'm not saying that Gilbert would listen to either of these songs. But they're pretty famous and the lyrics from «Ab in den Süden» are quite the match for the BTT (They could've written the lyrics when drunk) As for «Anton aus Tirol», well… It's an Austrian song about a narcissist. I think it's the perfect kind of song for Gilbert to sing if he wants to annoy Roderich. Plus… Anton – Antonio; way to go if you want to annoy Alice who doesn't understand the lyrics :P
xxx
Disclaimer:
I don't own any of the songs, lyrics, bands; band names, beers and so on. If you want to learn more about them, ask uncle Google and Youtube.
xxx
Songs:
The German songs don't have any further meaning for the story. It's just Gilbert fooling around.
The other songs however have a meaning:
I had the UK-Mano scene with the song in mind since the very beginning, and after a long search I used «Hearts Alive» as lyrics for the scene. But it's kind of odd to only have one single song in a ff so I decided to bring some other ones.
They mostly come when the relationship between two main characters starts to change. In other words: you can see this as a turning point ^^
When I listened to «Numb» again after a long time, it struck me as the perfect song for the USUK. It'll take some time, but at least the two are trying to start to understand the other person's POV.
I am also aware that it's not really the type of music you'd think Amelia listens to. But if it's supposed to be a message to her mum, I decided the lyrics count more than the type of music. Plus, if she wants her mum to listen to the song, she would have to choose a genre her mother would actually listen to and not plainly ignore it. So, Linkin Park it is.
x
Well, looking back, I don't really know about «Hearts Alive». It's not really got anything to do with the relationship between Alice and Lovina; but is more meant as an ice breaker between the two women. As for the lyrics… Kinda Alice drawing back from the outside world? Isolating herself until Antonio came to turn everything upside down? Does that make sense? It somehow makes sense to me, but I'm not really confident I could put it into words…
xxx
I hope you can enjoy some nice weather like over here ^^
-Himawari