Thai Thani (Restaurant)

Roderich leaned back in his seat, crossing his legs as he thought. 'Well, I have vacationed in a lot of places. I don't travel much outside of that, though. It's actually a little strange for me to be alone here, I'm...well, if I'm totally honest,' he said, more than a little embarrassed, 'I'm a bit sheltered, I suppose you'd say. I have played in an orchestra, but I usually do private concerts on our house's grounds.' He paused, removing his glasses and polishing them, a habit when he was saying something embarrassing. 'I suppose I'm not the usual sort of person you'd find at a school like this, hm?'

(No big! XD)

"It's got to be a stretch for you, compared to what you've always known, but that's what school is supposed to be about. Expanding horizons and comfort zones. Because you can't always stay with what you know in life. It's why I was never part of some JROTC program. I know the military. I want to learn something I don't already know."

The waitress came with their food, and Ludwig had to admit it smelled delicious. "Well, I suppose we should dig in."

'Yes, well, that was the idea. I'm not so sure I'm very good at that, though.' Roderich sighed, fully aware of his shortcomings. He'd had people looking after him his whole life, and he had an unpleasant feeling he'd end up latching onto someone else here, too. 'I have say, I admire your attitude. I'm hopeless, I'm not very decisive at all.'

Roderich spared the waitress a smile as she set down their plates. 'Thank you very much, miss,' he said, with a nod. She smiled in return, glancing back as she left. Roderich watched her go, briefly interested, but he quickly dropped the idea in favour of eating.

'Looks good, doesn't it?' he said to Ludwig, spreading a napkin on his lap. He'd had etiquette firmly instilled in him.

"It really does," he said as he followed Roderich's example and put his napkin on his lap. He quickly dug in with a set of chopsticks and let out an appreciative hum. "Mmm.... It tastes just as good as it smells." He continued eating a bit more. "Being more decisive is something you have to really want to be. And I think for some people, it comes with something that you really want."

It was a bit hot, but still flavorful. "How is yours?"

"Is it difficult? It seems like it would be. I don't dance at all though, so maybe it isn't." Toris asked. He was a little surprised, but ballet was nothing to be ashamed of in his opinion. He started eating his rice as he waited for Ivan to answer.

"Not really...it becomes difficult vhen you don't communicate. Just like vith sports...you may be the star of the team but it is imposable to play vithout the others." He tried a bit of his food and coughed. God it was spicy...

"I did not know fire could be a flavor..."

Roderich took a bite, rather delicately. 'Delicious. I forgot how much I liked Thai. I'm usually more into sweets than savoury things, but I knew a girl once who made really spicy food...she turned me on to it.' She'd turned him on to a lot of things, but he thought he'd steer clear of that particular line of thought. He couldn't stop a small smile from escaping, though. He covered it with another bite. 'Yes, I suppose I ought to try a bit harder at making decisions for myself. This environment will be better for it than home, at any rate; they're all a bit too ready to mollycoddle me there.'

"Was she your girlfriend?" Ludwig asked. "Or just a close friend. You seem to have fond memories of her." He took a bite of his noodles. "Unless it's too personal."

His own experience was almost non-existent, so he couldn't know if that was too personal or not. He knew Gilbert was always willing to share details. Often far too many. Ludwig had never really kissed someone he was interested in to date.

He continued eating, using the chopsticks because he felt they were fun, particularly compared to simply using a fork.

'No, it's not too personal at all,' Roderich replied with a smile. 'I don't mind talking about things like that, I just didn't want to bore you. She was...well, we weren't exactly dating, she was my parents' friend's daughter. She used to come over and...play piano with me.' He gave Ludwig a look and a very faint smirk. He hoped he didn't come off as some kind of playboy, but at the same time, he was curious about Ludwig, and thought he'd offer some information about himself to start with.
He took another bite of his meal, nodding at the chopsticks in Ludwig's hand. 'You know, I know how to use about fifteen different forks and I still can't manage those.'

Ludwig looked down at the chopsticks in his hand. "Comes from moving around as much as I did, I guess. I grew up around kids from all over, too. There were times that if I didn't learn to use these, I might not have gotten to eat."

He took another bite, this time of the curry. "The moving around makes me seem like I have all kinds of experience, but aside from the occasional friends, I never got to have any close friends or anything like that."

'That's a shame. I've always been surrounded by people. Still, plenty of opportunities for that now that you're here, right?' Roderich said, taking a sip of his drink. 'I don't suppose you've met anyone else yet, have you? Maybe there'll be a mixer or something, that would be good for getting to know people.'

"You're the first that I've met so far," he said as he continued eating "I don't know how I'd do with going to a mixer. I don't always feel at ease in large groups."

He was nibbling at he noodles again. He silently sucked a stray noodle into his mouth.

"Have you gotten to meet anyone other than me yet?"

Roderich smiled at the sight in front of him; Ludwig somehow looked very cute while sucking up noodles. He shook his head, reminding himself not to start thinking like that. 'I haven't met anyone yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm quite fond of parties and things. I like to...socialise.'

"You seem like you would enjoy it," he said. "I've never been much for socializing in general. I think people that knew me would be surprised that I'm talking so easily with you."

He took another bite of his curry along with a bit of rice. "I think I'll manage to come back here as often as m money will allow. This food is wonderful."

He ate a bit more of the noodles. "Speaking of money. I'll probably want to find a job somewhere around campus."

'Yes, well, I enjoy company...' Roderich replied, before taking another bite. 'And I'm curious; how is it you're talking to me so easily, then?' He gave Ludwig a small, slightly playful smile. He was being perhaps a bit more friendly than he would normally too, but he kept that to himself.

Roderich shuddered at Ludwig's comment. 'Ugh, a job. I completely forgot about that. I wonder if I can get away with living off my credit card for a bit longer.'

"As far as talking to you so easily, I honestly don't know. You are fairly easy to get along with and to talk to. It must be your social nature canceling out my shy one." He sucked a noodle into his mouth. "Have you considered teaching instrument lessons? You'll have to suffer through a lot of mistakes, but it's got to be better for you than working in the cafeteria or the student union. And there's always the library, which wouldn't be so bad."

Ludwig wasn't sure yet where he'd apply, but he was certain he'd find something on campus. If not, there was a whole town of service sector jobs.

Roderich laughed quietly. 'I don't know, I've been told I'm quite hard to get along with...too strict, too annoying, et cetera. But I probably shouldn't tell you that, you're going to have to live with me.' It was true, though, and he wondered if he'd end up irritating his roommate into switching rooms or something.
'Ah, yes...music lessons. I suppose I could give it a try. Although I'd need to draw on every reserve of patience I have, I expect. I think the library might be a little bit too quiet for me. No music allowed, and all that.' He went back to his food, trying and failing to imagine himself as a librarian.

"I'll likely start with the cafeteria or some seasonal construction-type work." It was all down to how much he enjoyed working with his hands. "I can tell you that if you are looking at a job in marketing, it might not be a good idea. You don't paint a very positive picture of yourself," he teased.

The strictness he could likely put up with, even the music. Anything would be a change from what he lived with at home. "If you do teach lessons, just promise you won't smack the kids' hands with rulers when they mess up. I went to a woman who used to do that." He showed Roderich his knuckles, two of which had faint white scars on them. "She usually used a metal ruler, and since she worked with the woman, my mother couldn't imagine I was actually being hit with it the first time it happened. When the woman accidentally grabbed a wood ruler with a metal straight edge on it. My mother was livid. She picked me up from lessons and saw what happened. There was a lot of yelling on both their parts, then my mother threw a metronome at her." He chuckled. "I never saw her so angry. 'I vould punch you, you...' Insert a German expletive of two here. 'But it vould risk hurting mein hands.'"

'Well...' Roderich blushed. 'It's true. You deserve a warning. But consider yourself priveleged, Ludwig.' He smiled, teasing back. 'I don't normally admit to my flaws.'

He gave a small hiss when he saw Ludwig's scars. 'Good God. I can assure I wouldn't do anything so cruel. I can't stand violence.' He shook his head in distaste. 'Absolutely dreadful. She ought to have been locked up. Although, I must admit the metronome thing is rather amusing.'

Roderich stared at the scars for a minute, before a thought struck him. 'Is that why you don't want to go into music?'

Ludwig pulled his hand back and took another drink. He was just about finished with his food. "It isn't necessarily why I don't want to go into music, but I don't think that it's helped matters very much. After all, it doesn't take long to learn to play every note exactly right when there's the threat of pain." He got a few more noodles on his chopsticks. "But I think it took away any fun I might have had with playing music."

He ate the noodles, again having to suck on a stray noodle to get it into his mouth. "I have scars from helping on construction jobs at home and woodworking, too, but at least those came from accidents." He looked down at his hands. "These are the only ones I have that aren't."

"What were your instructors like?"

Roderich took another bite; he was never very good at finishing his plate, and he was starting to get full. 'My instructors... well, my parents taught me. And I was what you might call a prodigy...' He looked away and blushed, embarrassed to use the word, but it was what everyone called him. 'I had the odd instructor, but I outplayed them. It was pointless. And in any case my father insisted they were all teaching me wrong.' He picked over his food, hoping he hadn't sounded arrogant- or rather, knowing he had and hoping Ludwig would overlook it.

'Scars, hm? I've never had occasion to get one. I don't think I'd like to, either...' He laughed softly, thinking that scars suited Ludwig's image perfectly. He couldn't help wondering where the others were.

Ludwig nodded. "I can tell you that the scars aren't as bad as getting them," he finished off his drink and waited for their server to come with their bills. "Your father sounds like they type who felt he knew best. Don't get me wrong though, I'm like that way quite a bit, myself."

He put his drink aside and their server finally came back. She asked if she could get them anything at all. "I think I'm done." The waitress looked at Roderich, waiting for an answer from him as well.

'Oh, no, there's nothing else, thank you,' Roderich told the waitress, smiling and shaking his head. 'Shall I get this? Or are you the type to insist on splitting it?' He shot a playful smile at Ludwig, fishing his wallet out of a pocket.

"Unless this was a date, and probably even then, yes, I'd insist on splitting it. After all, you want to make that credit card of yours last you a while before you have to resort to piano lessons."

The waitress split the two checks and handed them to each of them. "Reasonable prices, too, so I think I can cover this without going broke." He smiled a bit at Roderich. "So maybe we can get back to campus and see if anyone has settled in."

'Aha, very true. I think I'll stretch my father's bank balance a bit more before I start job hunting...' Roderich handed his card to the waitress, barely glancing at the check. Instead, he smiled a little slyly at Ludwig. 'So, even if you were on a date, you wouldn't let someone pay for you? I've always insisted on paying for a lady. ...Not that you're a lady, of course, but you know what I mean. And yes, I think we ought to get back. I want to see who we'll have to put up with in our dorm. I could use a shower too, actually. I hope I can get in there while it's empty.' He couldn't help shuddering at the prospect of communal showers.


(I wonder if, when we've made our way back to the dorm, you'd like to cut in on someone else's convo? To meet and greet, you know. ^^)