-insert name here-'s Place and Everywhere Else ~ Geezerville

[Jessi_Deramis]

{{lol! Guess me having to go home didn't slow things down. I had time to leave work, go get gas, get situated at home, just in time for you to post! Perfect timing! XD}}

Before they got to the quieter area, Jessi responded to what Daniel said about fawning, rolling her eyes slightly. "They do? That sucks. I hate it when people drool over celebrities, especially ones that are famous for doing nothing. But this isn't a celebrity... this is Beethoven! It's like meeting Ghandi! I..."

When Daniel said it was time to go in, she went silent. She listened to him say it was totally up to her. That was really nice of him... and totally nerve wracking for her. She simply breathed for a moment and said the first thing that came to mind.

"... Let's do it."  

[FireSpark]

{{ Sorry for the delay. Wanted to make good post, but also had to chase rugrats about the place. }}


Daniel flashed Jessi a quick toothy grin as he pushed the door open. Inside, Ludwig was busying himself with several sheets of music, shuffling them about and mumbling and humming to himself. He didn't turn around at the sound of the door opening.

"Ludwig, friend! It is good to see you again."

Ludwig still didn't turn around. Instead he just raised a hand in the air, sending a few pages of his sheet music to the floor.

"I have already said I am much too busy to be entertaining offers now. Besides I have very much all the financial backing I require, thank you. Now, go away."

Daniel made a scrunched face at the man's back. And turned to Jessi as he picked up a basket of flowers that sat just inside the room's door.

"He's not usually like this. Probably just the jitters."

Turning back into the room, Daniel raised his voice and directed it at Ludwig.

"That, or he is just being a pissy little hündin tonight."

For emphasis, Daniel hurled the flowers at Ludwig's head. By Daniel's broad smile, it had the desired effect, as Beethoven came spinning off his chair furiously.

"H-How dare you, you impudent little...You."

Beethoven's fury melted into laughter at the sight of Daniel's face. He quickly crossed the room, seizing Daniel in a vigorous embrace.

"It is good to see you friend. I had not heard from you for several days. I was worried that you might not come. But where are my manners? Please, come in my friend."

Seemingly for the first time, Beethoven seemed to notice that Daniel was not alone. Half nudging Daniel into the room and out of the way, he took Jessi's hand.

"And any friend of my friend, is my most beautiful friend indeed."

He ended his statement with a gentle kiss on the back of Jessi's hand. Daniel interceeded then, taking Jessi's hand back, and pushing Beethoven back a bit.

"Easy Ludwig, you've got plenty to fawn over as I recall."

Beethoven merely shrugged with a laugh.

"One can never have too much to love, or so I'm told."  

[Jessi_Deramis]

{{I LOVED your post!! Definitely worth the wait! biggrin }}

Jessi stood in the doorway and barely registered anything Daniel said at first. She was staring at the very back of the Ludwig von Beethoven. He was right there, before her very eyes. He was...

She jumped and yelped slightly when Daniel threw the vase of flowers toward Beethoven's head. She quickly grabbed his arm and looked at him with fear in her eyes. What was he doing?!

Before she could ask him that, though, she heard laughing behind her and soon, Daniel was swept up into a hug. She gasped softly and turned just in time to look in the face of Beethoven. She couldn't speak. She could barely move. Was this real? If this was a dream, she never, EVER wanted to wake up.

She did register, however, the fact that Beethoven was kissing her hand. She blushed and managed to bite her tongue and keep her shout of glee bottled up. This was nuts! No one would ever believe her. She was so glad Daniel was here, too, witnessing all of this. She had someone she could talk with about this later.

"I... th.. thank you, sir."  

[Jessi_Deramis]

{{Supper! Be back soon}}  

[FireSpark]

{{ Glad you liked it. Though it was a basket, not a vase. Oof, that would've been a bit much. blaugh }}

Daniel straightened and set right the only chair in the room, and allowed Jessi to sit herself in it. Once he was certain she was alright, and that the wide eyed gaze was simply from amazement, he turned his attentions back to Ludwig.

"Ludwig, really? I made a promise that I'd be here tonight. When have I ever broken a promise?"

"First time for everything."

Beethoven chuckled as he went over and produced a glass decanter of some dark brown liquid. Pouring two glasses, he handed one to Daniel.

"An Amontillado Sherry. A Venetian lordling trying to woo me to Italy left a small cask of it for me. Salut."

Daniel tipped his glass back slightly at the same time Ludwig did. Beethoven loosed a contented sigh as he set the now half empty glass down. He turned his gaze to Jessi, with a half bow.

"So. Perhaps a formal introduction is in order my Lady. I am Ludwig von Beethoven. Judging by your reactions, you have heard of me, and thus have me at the disadvantage. Might I have the pleasure of your name?"

Daniel just looked on with a knowing look, and slight grin.  

[Jessi_Deramis]

{{Oh! lol!! That makes more sense. I was a little surprised when I thought it was a vase! lol!!}}

Jessi watched as the two men drank of the sherry. She guessed it wasn't common for women to drink back then, so she tried not to feel insulted that she wasn't offered any.

When Beethoven turned his attention to her again, her cheeks flamed bright red again and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. When she spoke at first, her voice was nearly inaudible. She had to clear her throat and try again, forcing herself to be a little louder.

"Jessi... Jessica." She quickly caught herself and used her full name. No one would use an abbreviated name here. She hoped 'Jessica' wasn't an unheard of name.

"My name is Jessica, sir. And... if you don't mind me speaking out of turn, I think it's wonderful that you want to stay here in Vie... Wein. I have fallen in love with the city."

She also quickly caught herself before she said the full 'American' name for Vienna and used the German pronunciation of 'Wein' ((Veen)) instead.

Jessi looked at Daniel and smiled slightly, hoping she sounded appropriate for this time period. He would know better than she would since he lived here for a couple of months. She had no idea how he had done this on his own.  

[FireSpark]

Ludwig smiled broadly at Jessi again.

"A beautiful and rare name it is. And I would love to know how such a beautiful creature such as yourself managed to come to be on the arm of such a...dummkopf, heh, as Herr Sternschritter here."

He looked over at Daniel with a friendly smile, showing his name calling to be in good spirits. Daniel chuckled but stepped forward to stand close to Jessi, leaving his glass behind.

"I'm sure that she would love to tell you the tale. But perhaps it could wait until after you have amazed us with your talent this evening? Judging by your open pocket watch over there, you're supposed to be wowing the crowd out there in less than a quarter of an hour."

Ludwig's eyebrows suddenly shot up, and he jumped to the table where he'd been working, stumbling and cursing to himself as he gathered up his sheet music.

"Ach, Daniel, you do this to me again? Making me late. They will think that I have begun too think to much of myself. Well, go on, go on. You will not be able to enjoy the music much from back here. Go."

Daniel held out a hand for Jessi, and made sure to use the full name.

"If you insist Maestro. Shall we, Lady Jessica?"  

[Jessi_Deramis]

Jessi felt as if her face would remain bright red permanently. She had never experienced such attention before, and she felt she was getting attention from Daniel as much as she was Beethoven, which she was pleasantly surprised about.

She took Daniel's offered hand and stood up from the chair. She softly spoke before they left the room.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Sir Beethoven. Thank you for meeting with us, and I am certain that you will do marvelously tonight." 'Sir' probably wasn't the correct term to use, but she couldn't think of the appropriate title to use! Daniel had called him Maestro, but she was afraid it would sound odd if she used it.

She stepped out of the room with Daniel and as soon as the door was closed, she looked at him with wide eyes and a growing grin on her face.

"Oh... my... GOD!! Can you believe that just happened?! Can you believe we just spoke to THE Beethoven?! He kissed my hand!! Well of course you're used to speaking with him... but I'm not! That was amazing!! Oh Daniel, thank you!"

She forgot to ask this time. She simply threw her arms around Daniel's shoulders and hugged him tightly in excitement.  

[FireSpark]

Daniel stumbled slightly from Jessi's sudden embrace, and not neccessarily from the suddeness of it. Having his hand touched and held, or having her hold an elbow as they walked was one thing. And those things had taken his best learned self control to hold himself in his right mind without turning into a mental tagled mess, and keep his tongue from tying knots at the merest graze touch. The suddeness and earnestness of the embrace caught him so completely off guard that he was literally at a loss for words. He blushed quite profusely, and tried to say something, but failed naturally, considering the circumstances.

"I, that is, uh, you, rather, um, I, feh, yes."  

[ThisEmptySoul]

Jessi_Deramis

.....she tried to look around for a clock, not even thinking that there probably weren't any around in this era.

{{Another random information session time? ninja xd

The clock is a very ancient invention. People have been using time keeping devices for millennia. The "modern clock", in a form more familiar to us, though not as old as the advent of time keeping, is still old in itself... believed to have started with the spring driven clock [wind up clocks] which seem to have been developed in the 15th century. From there, clockmakers tried to refine and improve upon it to make it more accurate since it would go faster when it was first wound and get slower as it wound down. The fusee was then incorporated to fix this problem, though it is questionable who invented it and for what purpose. There are conflicting records that point to different people, one such person being Leonardo da Vinci who sketched a device using a fusee around 1490.

Much later, the pendulum was discovered and extensively researched by Galileo Galilei in 1602. Its properties were first used for basic timing such as for the metronome [which, by the way, Beethoven was apparently the first well known composer to actually use markings for in his music. Other composers didn't like the invention too much.] Inevitably, the pendulum's potential use for clock making started to be developed with Galileo even trying to design his own, though it never went further than the conceptual stage for him. It wasn't until 1657 that a Dutch scientist/mathematician, Christiaan Huygens, had the first pendulum clock built based on his own design. Pendulums made time keeping far more accurate than spring driven clocks and continued to be the standard until around the 1930s when quartz clocks were invented.

While the clock wasn't quite a household item outside of the homes of the wealthy for some time as they had to be made by hand, [which, as you would guess, meant they were quite expensive] large, strategically placed public clocks weren't uncommon. [Think "Big Ben" on a much smaller scale.... though that particular clock itself was not up and running until 1859.] Naturally, this also meant their compact version, the pocket watch [which still used the spring driven mechanism] was also handmade and expensive, but not uncommon to those of power and affluence. When the Industrial Revolution came about between the 18th and 19th centuries, clocks and watches became easier to produce with less time required for each piece, thus making them more affordable to the common people.

Long story short, since it's 1800, there actually could very well have been a clock around.

Next order of business:

Jessi_Deramis

This [Beethoven] is a historical figure that changed music forever!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was so popular that he had to hold performances in some odd venues because there was not enough space in theatres to accommodate the amount of people who wished to see him perform, precedes Beethoven by a few years. Beethoven was even regarded by some as "the next Mozart" in his early days. He studied Mozart's work extensively, and one of his teachers, Joseph Haydn, was a good friend of Mozart. A few of Beethoven's pieces are even variations of the works of Mozart.

Another fun fact: Beethoven was hard of hearing and was not very sociable because of it and at times it made him suicidal.}}  

[Jessi_Deramis]

FireSpark

Daniel stumbled slightly from Jessi's sudden embrace, and not neccessarily from the suddeness of it. Having his hand touched and held, or having her hold an elbow as they walked was one thing. And those things had taken his best learned self control to hold himself in his right mind without turning into a mental tagled mess, and keep his tongue from tying knots at the merest graze touch. The suddeness and earnestness of the embrace caught him so completely off guard that he was literally at a loss for words. He blushed quite profusely, and tried to say something, but failed naturally, considering the circumstances.

"I, that is, uh, you, rather, um, I, feh, yes."

{{Thanks Tes. lol. smile }}

Jessi finally pulled back and grinned as she laughed softly. "Guess we're both finding speech difficult at certain times tonight. Let's go get a seat!"

She grabbed Daniel's hand and started leading him back down the hall.  

[FireSpark]

Daniel let himself be led by Jessi, as his abilities to self navigate had become as impaired as his speech. In his mind, which seemed to still be ticking over if randomly, it appeared as an ironic turn of events. When they had first arrived, he had been so confident and sure, truly content for the first time in a long time. She had seemed so shocked and overwhelmed, suddenly out of her depth in ways that she hadn't managed to comprehend. And now, here they were. Jessi laughing and as vibrant as she usually was, and he?

Daniel shook his head slightly, hoping to clear it somewhat, or at least shake something loose. He hadn't realized that Jessi had already found them a pair of chairs up front and was taking her place in one. Daniel sat next to her, though his mind continued to be everywhere but where he was. He was distracted by the fact that once again his mind had betrayed him. Seizing up for no apparent reason when people got close. No, close isn't strong enough a word. More like, intimate. Daniel flushed slightly as he thought it, and suddenly realized that must be it. Any conceived intimacy and his brain went into lockdown, which made no sense to him.

As the applause came up, and Beethoven took to the stage, Daniel was lost in his own thoughts. Even as the orchestra started up with the first notes of Beethoven's 1st Symphony, Daniel couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Not in the fashion of an impending doom or anything else so drastic. Rather, that there had to be a reason that he reacted in such a way. And many of the possibilities as to why made him uneasy.  

[Jessi_Deramis]

Jessi thought there might be something wrong with Daniel. He was so quiet now and he was no longer taking the lead. She led them into the performance area, she had found their seats, and she was the one doing the talking before the show started. She was trying to bring back the confident, talkative Daniel she knew. She didn't want him retreating back into his shell like he did sometimes at AS when there were a lot of people around.

Finally, right when the lights went down, she simply looked at Daniel in concern for a few moments and then turned her attention toward the stage. She hoped she hadn't done anything wrong and she hoped Daniel was feeling alright.

Before Jessi knew it, intermission had arrived. She felt as if the performance had just started. People were getting up and walking back up toward the doors to go get some refreshments or use the facilities, but Jessi was still seated, staring up at the stage with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide and glued on the piano Beethoven had been using.

"Oh... my... word... That was incredible!! It was absolutely amazing! I can't believe the first half is over already!"

Her eyes had watered during sadder and more-moving songs, and she had been on the edge of her seat during the louder and more-rigorous songs.

She looked over at Daniel. "What did you think, Daniel? Wasn't it amazing?!"  

[FireSpark]

Some of the music had eventually gotten through to Daniel, though it had only served to emphasize the emotions that were beginning to build in him. Daniel found that by the time a break had arrived and a number of those in attendance were up to stretch their legs, some even trying to get a word in with Beethoven himself, he was having difficulty keeping himself together. It felt as if a weight had begun building in his chest, trying to pull him to the floor. His head swam and his mouth felt dry, a strange sensation considering that he had never experienced it before. He needed to move, to go somewhere, anywhere. He stood but his right leg was slow in responding and made his motion more jerky and lurching than he had meant.

"I need to, uh, to, get outside, I think. Just a bit."

Without waiting for a response, Daniel headed for a side door to the hall. Quickly if clumsily he darted down a hall and through another door that led him out in the cold night air. He leaned on the wall, his face hot and breathing labored. Again interesting, considering he didn't breathe. What is this?  

[Jessi_Deramis]

Jessi looked at Daniel with extreme worry written all over her face. What was going on? Was he getting sick? But she didn't think he got sick. He couldn't die, he couldn't get hurt, so surely he didn't get sick.

When he got up from his seat, moving in jerky movements, Jessi quickly stood up to try and help him, but he was already moving toward the exit by the time she was up. She tried to follow him through the large crowd of people.

"Daniel? Daniel, wait! What's wrong?"

A few people looked at her as if she were mad since it was very uncommon and unbecoming for a lady to shout so, but she didn't care. She only cared about following David and making sure he was alright.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to. By the time Jessi made it to the hallway, Daniel was nowhere in sight. She looked up and down the hallway and even tried random doors. She couldn't find him at all!

She mumbled to herself in worry, "Daniel... where did you go? Please be alright..."

She said a quick prayer for Daniel's safety.