Out in public (Luther and Darcie)

Luther had thrown himself into his work after his accident and hadn't been out in public for anything other than a mission in about a year now. He was self-conscious about his... replacements. They didn't feel right. Mainly because they didn't 'feel' at all. His entire arm bellow the waist, including his hands, were metal.

Thankfully his friend, at the time, Richard Romain had been on hand to whip him up some pretty lifelike arms. Well, they were lifelike from a distance. If you ignored the fact that they were metallic, even from a distance. And shiny black in colour.

He was very glad that he was able to wear his traditional long sleeved overcoat. Moving over to the bar, Luther ordered a glass of coca cola. He wasn't able to get drunk anymore... he didn't trust himself to be drunk. He sighed and sat forlornly looking at his glass of coke. Tentatively he tried to pick it up.

Immediately the glass began to crack as his accidentally put too much force into it. He let go of the glass and looked at it's cracked surface with a sad expression.

Darcie was merely sitting in the pub, she had hoped that she would be able to see some of her friends from Durmstrang here, maybe even some of the students that she had been missing in her absence, however, she had seen nobody.

Sighing lightly she continued to pick through the basket of flowers she had recently picked and she made a chain of roses, to go through her hair, looking up from her work, she spotted a rather sad looking man.

Although she did not know him, the expression on his face alone was something that Darcie could not bare to look at, and so she hurried over to the bar where he was sat, bringing her drink with her, forgetting about her flowers temporarily.

"H-hey are you alright?" she asked kindly, with a soft smile playing on her lips, as her blonde wavy hair hung down by her face.

Luther was busy looking at the cracks in his glass and was so busy that he almost missed the fact that there was a woman now sat next to him at the bar, with a chain of flowers in her hair. She had spoken to him as well, asked him if he was alright.

It had been a long time since he'd had any kind of human interaction other than his soldiers. He nervously tugged at the black leather gloves that covered his metallic hands. He hated any sight of his arms,

"I'm alright..." he lied quietly before gesturing at the glass, "I seem to be having trouble with drinking this glass of coca cola. The glass seems to be very brittle."

Darcie seemed to feel the sadness radiating off the man sitting next to her and her heart was a little torn by each syllable he muttered to her, biting her lip she wondered what she could do to make him feel better and she cast her eyes around the bar.

"Well, we could always get a straw if the glass is too brittle for you to pick up, I think that can happen when cleaning spells are used too much, have you found that?" she asked in a happy tone with a large smile on her lips.

Letting her smile grow, if that was deemed possible Darcie added; "My name is Darcie by the way, Darcie Vane."

Luther was actually a little confused. He was a genius in most things but human behaviour was beyond him. Why would she want to talk to him even though he wasn't trying to keep a conversation going? In his experience that made people stop talking,

"A straw you say?" he paused to think about it, "It would be childish. But no more childish than drinking coca cola at a bar. As an adult. Thank you. I haven't really found that... I don't do many cleaning charms. I prefer to clean by hand."

The smile she was wearing was infectious it seemed for he smirked faintly, the closest he really got to a smile,

"Nice to meet you Miss Vane." he held his hand out to shake her hand. Immediately he regretted it but he couldn't pull it back without feeling rude. He swallowed thickly, "My name is Luther Amsel."

Darcie tilted her head to one side when he said that it would be childish, she often used straws and she found herself wondering if she was behaving in a childish manner when she did so. She didn't suppose it much mattered, especially when she enjoyed doing it.

"Well childish or not, as long as you get to drink the drink you paid for it doesn't matter does it?" she asked cheerfully "Besides I often use straws to drink from, so, I wont think badly of you if you do."

When Luther produced his hand for her to shake Darcie held her hand out immediately and gripped Luthers with her own, remarking about how cold he was to touch, Darcie kept quiet, she did not want to be rude...although she could not help herself.

"Oh my, you are cold Luther, it must be from the ice in the glass, I hate it when it's so cold you can't hold your drink." she pouted.

Luther glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Why was she tilting her head to the side like that? It didn't give her any new vantage point, it was totally pointless. But she had a point,

"I suppose so." he replied quietly, taking a straw from a nearby box. He dropped it into his drink, "Then no one will feel bad about it as I won't think badly of you either."

Luther flinched when she shook his hand. He could see it on her face, she could feel how cold his hand was. As soon as she let go of his hand he pulled it back immediately,

"Yes. That must be it." he agreed quickly, too quickly. He reached out to bring his glass closer, trying to do something to distract from the coldness of his hand. Unfortunately he misjudged how much force he was using and the glass shattered in his hand. Several pieces of glass stabbed into his hand and stuck there. Or rather, they were stuck in the leather of his glove, not a single one had so much as scratched his metal hand. He dropped the remains of the glass on the table and stared blankly at the shards, "Damn."

Darcie smiled happily when he seemed to be going to get a straw for himself, Luther really was a funny one she was beginning to see, although he was kind of cute the way that he answered so methodically, as if every action had to have some sort of point.

"I'm glad." Darcie said with a happy little laugh after she had finished, she was beginning to really enjoy being in his company.

Turning her head to look at her flowers for a moment, Darcie jumped when she heard shattering and cried out when some cocacola splashed onto her lap when Luther's glass shattered.

When she saw that he was hurt, with some glass being buried in his glove, Darcie gasped and she started to try and remove the glass, cutting the tips of her fingers as she did so.

"Oh no! Luther are you alright? What happened?" she asked frantically "Was the glass being brittle again? Maybe you should go and get a healer to look at your hand."

Luther glanced at her again. She seemed to be observing him. That wasn't exactly something he could argue against seeing as he was doing the exact same for her. Her smile made him smirk that faint smirk again. Seeing nothing to add to what he'd said, Luther merely nodded.

When the glass first shattered in his hand Luther zoned out. He was mentally preparing to have himself be berated by the person he'd splashed with his drink. But all she did was give a little squeak. But she was more concerned with his health, even to the point of hurting herself. He pushed her hand away as gently as he could,

"Don't cut yourself trying to help me." he told her calmly as he began to methodically remove the glass with his free hand, "I'm fine don't worry. Didn't feel a thing."

Darcie pouted when Luther pushed her hand away from his own, she understood that he didn't want her to hurt herself but he had pushed her away rather roughly and she wondered if she had done something to offend him.

Placing her finger in her mouth she sucked the blood away, all the while she hoped that she had not hurt Luthers feelings or something by acting the way that she did;

"I'm sorry, I...I only wanted to help." she sniffled a little "I suppose it was a good thing you were wearing your gloves, otherwise you would have been really hurt." Darcie said with a small frown on her face, which many had called cute.

Taking out her wand, Darcie dried her clothes with a large smile on her lips even if her finger kept bleeding.

Luther saw Darcie's pout and realised that, once again, his version of softly was not the same as other people's views on softly. He winced a little bit. He hadn't meant it to feel like it was something harsh, he just didn't want her to hurt herself over him. Especially when his hands couldn't be hurt,

"It's alright, I just didn't want you to cut yourself." he explained to her quietly as he repaired his gloves with a wave of his wand. He gave her a faint smile as he looked at her cutely frowning face, "I doubt it. I'm rather thick skinned."

Seeing that Darcie's fingers were still bleeding, he pressed the tip of his wand close to her fingers, healing them properly before smiling very faintly,

"There. All better now." he nodded to her, "I don't want you hurt after all."

Darcie giggled a little bit, it seemed as if it was an accident that Luther pushed her away a little too roughly and she was very glad that she had not upset him in any way, after all she could be making a new friend here! She thought with a contented smile on her lips.

"Awwww well thank you Luther, although I really don't mind being a little bit hurt as long as you're alright, after all it was my own silly fault that I hurt myself wasn't it?" she asked with a light smile.

Unable to stop her smile growing Darcie grinned as her fingers were healed and unknowingly she went to hug Luther, but stopped because she thought it would be odd to hug him so early in their meeting...it would be odd wouldn't it? She debated.

"Thank you so much, you didn't have to do that I'm sure they would have stopped on their own."

The giggle was a good sign that he hadn't offended her too much, or maybe even not at all. Luther had to admit that the little contented smile that she gave him after the giggle seemed a bit strange to him. Almost as if she was in on a joke that he wasn't,

"That's a strange way of looking at it Darcie." he commented with a raised eyebrow, "The blame lies solely on me for breaking the glass. You have no part in the blame."

Luther had to admit that it was refreshing to meet someone as open and as friendly as Darcie obviously was. At one point there he was sure that she'd actually went to hug him,

"Nonsense. It was my fault so I needed to help you." he smirked faintly again, "There's nothing to thank me for."

Darcie smiled happily when he seemed to tell her that she was wrong, she was often wrong so she did not really think that it would make a great deal of change to her normal actions, although she wondered why Luther was so... detached.

"I often have odd ways of looking at things, or so people tell me, I think it's kind of nice to look at things in odd ways, it makes them so much funner than they really are." she stated, in a cute matter of fact tone.

Turning around Darcie was about to go and ask if she could get her flowers when she gasped and her hands flew to her mouth, although she did not want them to, her eyes began to water a little bit.

Someone had stolen her flowers!

Unable to stop herself Darcie sniffled and tried to hide how upset she was by returning to the conversation.

"S-so what do you do for a living Luther?"

Luther was rather puzzled because right now Darcie looked happy when he had just told her, rather bluntly, that she was wrong. It was his understanding that people were usually rather put out by that. Thinking about his little philosophy he nodded,

"It would also allow you to see things from a new perspective. One that others miss." he nodded as he looked at her cute expression, "You are right. Sometimes being odd is a very good thing. Gives you more ways of approaching problems."

At her reaction, Luther's hand immediately went for his wand but when he looked around there was no threat. It was not something he understood. There was no threat to her and yet she looked like some of the victims of shock did. He slowly eased his wand back into it's holster,

"I'm a soldier." he told her simply. There wasn't much else to say about it really. He saw no reason to give a rank. He looked at her, "What about you Darcie? What do you do for a living? And why did you look so sad a moment ago?"

Darcie was glad when Luther seemed to understand her point of view, it was something that she was rather keen on herself, she liked to think of things in the best way possible and this was often odd in many situations, there were so many bad things going on around them after all.

"Do you always think of things so analytically Luther?" Darcie asked with a little smile playing on her lips, wondering if there was a reason behind why he was like this.

When he told her what he did for a living, it made sense! He was a soldier and so he was used to seeing things from a more regimented point of view, it was so so clear to her now.

Darcie just hoped she hadn't offended him, and this was enough to keep her from being too upset for a few moments before the tears were back in her eyes.

"I...I teach soothsaying at Durmstrang, and I cover Dark Arts for my friend Tyler Potter, a-and....s-someone stole my flowers, that's w-why I'm so sad." she sniffled.

Luther could see that his words had a positive effect on Darcie but for the life of him he couldn't think why. He was practically a stranger to her after all. Why on earth would his opinion matter to her at all? It was rather strange if you asked him but it wasn't his place to say,

"Yes." he responded automatically and without any trace of feeling awkward or offended, "Ever since I was a child actually. I would always break a problem down to solve it. My teachers used to call me a genius."

He chuckled drily when she seemed excited about what he did. Apparently she thought that was why he was how he was. Although it was, partially, it wasn't the job itself. Luther still couldn't help but noticed that there were tears in Darcie's eyes,

"Teaching is something that is very had. I'm sure that means you must be very bright." he observed before frowning, "Your flowers were stolen? Did you buy them?"

Darcie began to feel a little bit self conscious when she was told that she was now sitting next to a genius, she was far from that she she hoped that she would not be picked up on anything that she was doing in her classes that was wrong...that would just be beyond embarrassing.

"Well...wow." she said, blinking a little in bewilderment "I'm sitting next to a genius how awesome! I was never very clever at school, only at divination really."

When Luther asked her about the flowers, Darcie blinked and some of her hot tears fell down her face, she wiped them away with a sniffle and looked at her lap, shaking her head a little;

"No I didn't b-buy them, I hand picked them from one of the creatures meadows, I...I wanted t-to give them to somebody." she sniffled even more.

Luther could see that revealing himself to be a genius was a bad move. It always had been in the past. People just thought he was some kind of muggle computer stuffed into a human body. The muggleborns at school used to call him a robot... well now they were right. He shook his head slightly,

"Don't think of me as any different to five minutes ago Darcie." he told her quietly, "Being a genius doesn't make me any less human, and so no less prone to mistakes."

Seeing her cry, Luther could only feel the need to wipe away her tears. But he dare not actually try to do it. He was too strong, he might end up hurting her. So he merely gave her a sympathetic look,

"Which of the creature meadows was it?" he smiled faintly, "You were taking them to your boyfriend perhaps?"

Darcie blinked a little bit and she wondered why Luther would think that she would think any differently of him or treat him any differently, of course it was awesome being sat next to someone so clever, but she wasn't going to start spouting intellectual phrases at him.

"I wasn't going to Luther you silly." she said with a little giggle "That would be really weird for me to do that, so don't worry about it at all!"

When he asked her where she had gotten the flowers Darcie wiped away her own tears, and for once wished that she had someone else to wipe them away, and to be there for her when she was sad.

But she quickly banished these sad thoughts and returned to her happy state, there was just no being sad when she was with other people.

"I got them from the Faerie Glade." Blushing madly, Darcie shook her head wildly when Luther asked whether she was taking the flowers to her boyfriend "N-no! I don't have a boyfriend...I was taking them to my Dad."

Luther sighed ever so slightly. Everyone treated him differently when they found out he was a genius. Most were intimidated to be honest. When she told him that she wasn't he blinked a few times before giving her one of his faint smiles,

"Thank you, that means a lot to me." he told her with a tone of slight happiness, "You'd be surprised how many people do."

Luther couldn't help but notice that Darcie looked even sadder as some small tears ran down her face. He wanted to wipe one of her tears away and managed to do so by fishing out a hankerchief and lightly wiping her tears. It was strange but this time his touch was softer than he'd intended. It probably would have felt intimate even. He nodded,

"I know of it. Perhaps it is not too late to go back tonight." he suggested before smiling faintly, "So it is your father's birthday or something?"

Darcie, when she heard Luther sigh had thought that she had done something wrong, perhaps she did not say the right thing, or maybe he didn't really appreciate her giggling at what he thought to be a very serious matter.

However when he thanked her Darcie smiled happily and nodded her head; "There's nothing to thank me for, it's in my nature to be like this to everyone I meet, the only reason I would treat you differently would be if they had been horrible to me."

When he wiped her tear away Darcie gasped a little bit because it was as if he had been able to read her mind, if he had known what she had wanted at that very moment and it shocked her for a moment.

"I don't have time to go back, I have to do some work tonight I was only going to stop off and give them to him...I just felt like it you know there doesn't have to be a reason does there?" she asked confused.

Luther was growing to like Darcie more and more he found. She was nice and she didn't seem to giggle at anything that he did in a spiteful way. Although he was unsure how a giggle could be spiteful really. He smiled faintly,

"That's a lovely nature to have Darcie." he told her quietly, "Make sure that you keep it. People like you, real and good people, are far too rare these days."

At her gasp, which didn't seem to be an unpleased gasp, he smiled faintly. Sometimes it helped to be a genius and body language was something he'd picked up quickly. He smiled slightly more than he usually did,

"For most people there would have to be a reason. It speaks to your character that you don't need a reason to do so." he paused for a second, "What type of flowers were they mostly?"

Darcie smiled happily and she was glad that Luther seemed to be opening up a little more, he was smiling which was something that was always a good sign, but when he complimented her Darcie blushed and pressed a hand to her cheeks;

"Oh well thank you very much Luther, I will try to remain just as happy and cheerful as I am now, although it is getting so hard when the attacks keep going on."

When he asked her what type of flowers they were mostly, Darcie hummed and she counted on her fingers the different types that she had placed in thr bouquet;

"Well there were white roses, there were white stems of stock, and there were little white dasies in the basket too." she said with a small frown "I think that was it."

Luther had to admit that no one other than Darcie had managed to get him to open up quite as much since he lost his arms. Sure it still didn't seem like he'd opened up all that much but it was a huge improvement on what he'd been ten minutes ago. He smiled a little bit at her blush,

"You keep it up and I'll do my job and keep you and the other people of this country safe from any and all attacks." he smiled, "Deal?"

As soon as Darcie began to hum he knew that there was likely to be a list of flowers she'd picked. He paid close attention, committing each flower to memory,

"That's a lot of white. Got it though." he smiled faintly, "Seeing as you don't have the time to go and collect them I think I shall collect them for you if you would like that."