Sing, sing to me! --- [ M a x ]

[Stefan von Engels]

With a loud laugh, a short blonde hoisted himself up onto the stage. The theatre crews still hadn't cleaned up, so the props were still there. Oh how he loved the sets! This one was a lovely floral scene, a garden with a bench, the iron and wood swirling into intricate shapes on the arms of the bench. The legs curled into black swirls and the fake vines caught them as if holding the bench down. He always liked to sneak down here when everyone was gone. Or so he thought.

Giggling softly as he floated across the stage, Stefan ran his hands along the plastic vines, wishing and hoping with all his little heart that this were all real. His sneakers squeaked against the polished floor and he quickly sat on the bench to take them off. Pulling and tugging at the laces, his deep brown eyes quickly scanned the auditorium. No one was here that he could see.. it wouldn't matter anyway. Should anyone have been there he would have sat them down and given them a show! But of course, he could entertain his own imaginary group. Finally dropping the heavy shoes to the ground, he hid them behind some random loose leaves and stood on the edge of the stage. He softly stepped toward the bench, singing the beginning.

"You wait little girl, on an empty stage, for fate to turn the light on. Your life little girl is an empty page that men will want to write on~"

He sang loudly and proudly, and wouldn't be surprised in the least if people poked their heads in the large double doors to find out what was making that noise. To be honest his singing was lovely, even though he wasn't a songbird. It wasn't too masculine and low, it was mid-tone and it wavered in all the right spots. It was the only thing about him that was really.. rather flawless. Stefan held his arms out from his body slightly and smiled, hopping up onto the bench, a grin coming from him as he liked the way his pendant looked in the light. It was translucent and red, and when it bounced off of his chest, it left whatever was behind it red when the light shone through it. The spotlights were focused on the bench from the previous show and it was perfect. He couldn't ask for it to be any better.

"You are 16 going on 17~"

He stepped along the bench slowly, holding his hand out as if dancing with an imaginary person, and backed up slowly when he said the last few words.

"Baby it's time to think~"

Stefan kissed the imaginary hand in front of him and smiled warmly to no one except his imaginary girl. Stepping again to the other end of the bench, he gently hopped off it, landing perfectly despite the silkiness of his socks against the polished floors. This was the advantage of being a dove in his case, he would be soft and floating in whatever he did. This, of course, was only an advantage when you're Stefan. He giggled softly before continuing.

"Better be wary, canny and careful.."

He led his imaginary partner up onto the bench and held his arm up as if he or she were walking along the bench, smiling up at what would be the person's face as he led them along the platform. He stepped backwards a bit as he did before on the beat of the last few words again, his footfalls perfect and in line. He was a dancer's dream, really. his only issue was memorizing choreography. He would rather make up his own. It was more fun that way.

"Baby, you're on the brink~!"

Stefan pulled his invisible partner down and spun them around with a laugh, he sat on the bench now, miming having his invisible lover sit down beside him, his hand along the back as if around his or her shoulders. He crossed his legs, not fidgeting any with his feet like he normally did, tapping out a random beat.

"You are 16, going on 17, fellows will fall in line~"

He nodded to thin air and held his arm out, sweeping it slowly in front of him as if motioning to a vast land or something amazing. He raised his eyebrows in mock a 'oh yes' expression and laughed loudly, standing and keeping the motion going before stepping around the bench to the back of it, bouncing on his feet.

"Eager young lads and grueways and cads will offer you food and wine~"

With a mimed kiss to the cheek, he crossed his arms on the back of the bench, the wood a glossy dark color. He tapped his forhead softly and smiled the same 'oh yes' expression he had use earlier. The was really fun, actually. He would have to suggest to the teacher they do this musical. This would surprise no one coming from the Austrian kid. They tended to get mad at him when he playfully claimed not to know any English, referring to his teachers as 'Frau' or 'Herr' and demanding everyone 'halt dein mund, oder singe!'

"Totally unprepared are you, to face a world of men, timid and shy and scared are you, of things beyond your ken~"

He stood slowly and dramatically before dragging the tips of his fingers over the arms of the bench, making his way back to the front. He sat again, and took his imaginary partner's hands in his, patting them consolingly before stealing a nuzzle to their cheek and jumping up, pacing before the seat, with his hand on his chin, as if thinking.

"You need someone older and wiser, telling you what to do.."

He pondered for a few seconds before straightening up and stopping, pulling the partner from their seat and wrapping his arms around their waist. With a loving smile he spun the both of them around a few times, giggling before stopping.

"I am 17, going on 18, I'll take care of you~"

Supporting himself on one leg, he bent the other behind him a bit and smiled, holding the pose with his invisible lover for a few seconds before laughing loudly and collapsing on the bench. This probably wouldn't be the only thing he sang, but it sure was the only one that no one heard.

Or so he thought, seeing as he heard a loud cough from someone hiding in the seats.

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[Joseph "Max" Keys]

A few members of the drama club were practicing their one-act that weekday afternoon, so Max had decided to come and watch, hoping their one-act would give him inspiration for his own. After they finished, the actors left, leaving the crew to clean up the stage. However, the crew was having a discussion with the director and writer in the back room, leaving Max alone in the concert hall, the only one sitting in the audience seats.

There he sat, hunched over his notebook, scribbling away as the ideas flowed from his mind, through his arm and hand, and out the other end of the pencil he held. The room was silent, so when Max heard giggling and the squeaking of shoes, he was so startled that he dropped his pencil.

He ducked down to pick it up, then peeped over the seats in front of him. A boy, perhaps a year younger than himself, took off his sneakers, hid them by the side of the stage, then started walking toward the bench and singing Sixteen Going On Seventeen from The Sound of Music.

Max wondered what the boy's major was. Obviously some sort of performance; it seemed too in the boy's nature to perform for him to major in anything else. He had a nice voice, there was no doubt about it, and he was a good enough dancer to dance convincingly as if he had a partner. Max guessed he was a vocal music major, a dance major, or a theater major. If he was a theater major, he was probably a year below Max, as Max didn't recognize him from his year, and Max knew all of the senior theater majors.

The more he sang and danced, the more Max realized that if they were to perform that play, this boy would be perfect for the role of Ken. Granted, this was based only on looks and performance. Max knew nothing of this boy's nature or acting skill, and from what he had seen in the boy, wasn't sure if he'd be able to act a Nazi or not. But then again, Max had acted the same role a few years ago, and he was hardly the serious type either. Well he was sometimes, but most of the time, he was much like a less giggly version of the boy on stage right now.

Max waited for the boy to finish his song. He didn't appear to realize anybody was there, so after the boy had uttered his last note, Max stood, closed his notebook, and started applauding slowly, a smile on his face. He got up, stepped into the aisle, and started walking toward the stage. "Very nice. If this was an audition, I'd definitely give you the part." he told the boy. Pause. "Have you ever been in a musical?"

[Stefan von Engels]

With a final laugh, Stefan collapsed onto the floor and leaned his head on the edge of the seat, closing his eyes softly. The feeling after preforming was the more glorious feeling. Lie you accomplished something amazing, even if no one was there to see. His adrenaline was pumping and his face was flushed. It wasn't much exertion, but dancing and singing just had that effect on him. It made him giddy and happy.. well.. most things did that to Stefan, actually. he was just.. that way with the world. The world was his stage and even the most unwilling people were in his audience. Upon hearing clapping, he opened one eye.

"Very nice. If this was an audition, I'd definitely give you the part. Have you ever been in a musical?"

Opening both eyes now and raising his eyebrows, he surveyed the person. A year older, no doubt. Dark haired, handsome. Hm.. but of course, in his mind a song formed consisting of lyrics that contained 'handsome stranger' or 'hair flowing like the ocean at night.' to everyone these things seemed corny, and yeah, they are, but Stefan's mind simply can't think without music and lyrics anymore. Everything he sees the people don't talk, they sing, and if people walk and not dance, it's because they're acting. Rolling onto his feet and jumping up with a flourish, his pendant again caught the light and he bounced the large plastic music note in his hands a few times.

"Oh, no, no. I wouldn't make it." his speaking voice still held a beat to it, as if he were saying lyrics. A German accent was weaved in there thanks to his heritage, but it disappeared when he sang in English, as most accents do. he shrugged and jumped over the edge of the stage, landing square on his feet 5 or so feet below. Dove's luck, dumb luck. Take your pick. He bowed sarcastically, the movement seeming perfectly normal for him and his nose went well past his knees. Overzealous must have been his middle name, for when the cast of a play for their major were asked to bow while clasping hands, he nearly pulled everyone down with him. ".. and no, I have yet to be in an official 'musical'. But isn't the world just a big musical? Music is everywhere! Kids tapping their pencils in class, people tapping their foot in a certain beat?" his feet thudded out a random beat with his heels and the tips of his toes on the carpet of the auditorium to prove his point. "Schöne!" he exclaimed with a laugh.

"Oh, and danke danke for the compliment. It means a lot." he nodded softly, remembering his manners. 'Always thank your audience and tell them how much they mean to you!' his mother would tell him with a laugh as a 10 year old Stefan preformed for her in the living room of their little house. .. before that bastard ruined their lives.

With a small shrug, Stefan stepped closer. "Hallo, anyway. My name is Stefan. I would hug you to greet you, but I have a feeling I would get slapped. The people here are very harsh." Stefan pouted a bit and held his hand out. "A handshake will have to do, but if you are comfortable with a hug- by all means go for it."

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[Joseph "Max" Keys]

Oh, no, no. I wouldn't make it.
The boy didn't seem too startled by Max's presence. In fact, although slightly surprised, he was quite graceful in, well, everything. Even in his speaking, although he had an accent, it was as if he was constantly singing.

"But it seems to come so naturally to you." Max pressed on. The boy seemed somewhat shy about his acting skills, but he was very good. It surprised Max that he had never been in a musical before because it seemed acting in musicals was in his very nature. His next statement confirmed this.

But isn't the world just a big musical? Music is everywhere! Kids tapping their pencils in class, people tapping their foot in a certain beat?
Max laughed. "Very true! Although sadly, you can't really burst into song and expect everyone to sing and dance along with you." he added with a chuckle. "Though yes, music is everywhere... you just have to really be paying attention in order to see it. Or er, hear it." he said.

Oh, and danke danke for the compliment. It means a lot.
"Your welcome." Max said, bowing his head in return. This boy was very... merry, for lack of a more fitting word, but also polite. He was happy, kind, graceful, and seemed to always be singing... altogether, he seemed like a boy around whom it would be difficult to be upset, for his entire nature was so full of joy. "Are you a theater major, by chance?" he asked, hoping for a yes answer. Max hadn't seen this guy in any of the past school musicals, which meant that he was either a new student, or he had never tried out before. Max was confident that if he had tried out, he would have had some sort of important role, and the two would have known each other before now. He figured if this boy was a theater major, Max could convince him to try out for the next musical, whatever it was.

Hallo, anyway. My name is Stefan. I would hug you to greet you, but I have a feeling I would get slapped. The people here are very harsh. A handshake will have to do, but if you are comfortable with a hug- by all means go for it.
Max laughed. "I'm Max, and I don't know which people you have met here, but I happen to be for hugging. I see no reason to be against it." he said, holding his arms open wide for a hug.

[Stefan von Engels]

With a smile- when did he do anything without one- Stefan sat on the back of one of the chairs in the auditorium. Lovely seats, padded softly in the colors of the school, and there were hundreds of them. He idly wondered what it would be like to preform when all of the seats were full. He crossed his left leg over his right and after retracting his hand, let both his hands fall clasped into his lap.

"But it seems to come so naturally to you."

Nodding softly, Stefan looked up at him. "Yes, yes. My mom got me to watch musicals starting when I was a bit younger then 9 since I liked dancing." he shrugged a bit, the moment looking extremely feminine since he was sitting the way he was, with his hands clasped that way. It was true, when he was a kid he liked to dance and sing so his mother saw an opportunity for him, and showed him all she could so that he would have a talent- a way to go out into the real world and make something of himself. Too bad she didn't know that in the perils of what would come the comfort of singing and dancing would be the last thing his mind clung to for sanity.

His foot lightly tapped to something only he could hear, it seemed. One and two and hit and pause and tap and tap and tap. "Indeed the world is all music!" his smile was wide, and really, it could stand to be smaller. His smile was so wide it left black spaces at the edges where he simply didn't have enough teeth to fill the giant grin. The only way people have commented on this, however, is saying it was adorable. It didn't annoy Stefan, but he thought it looked rather odd indeed.

He just sat for a few minutes, thinking. "Very true! Although sadly, you can't really burst into song and expect everyone to sing and dance along with you." Max, hm? He seemed cool, calm, collected.. the rough opposite of Stefan, actually. "Well I don't know about you, but I do it anyway." he smiled his innocent little smile and nodded. It was true, he would frequently just burst into song regardless of if anyone would accompany him in dancing or singing. His next question seemed to be unneeded, as it was kind of obvious, but to be safe. "Oui oui!" he laughed and hopped off of the seat he was perched on. "I am in theatre." nodding enthusiastically, Stefan was outright surprised when Max held out his arms for a hug.

"I'm Max, and I don't know which people you have met here, but I happen to be for hugging. I see no reason to be against it."

"Well hello, Max!" he sang happily. "You have just made my good list. .. though my bad list is inexplicably empty." with an amused shrug, he stepped forward and happily wrapped his arms around Max in a would be bone breaking hug. No matter how tight he tried to make his hug, it always came out.. erm.. feather light, pun intended.

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[Joseph "Max" Keys]

Yes, yes. My mom got me to watch musicals starting when I was a bit younger then 9 since I liked dancing.
Max grinned. "Really?" He asked. "Same here! Well more like she was into musicals so she took me to one. I liked it so much, she got me to do the kids productions. Background roles and such. It was so fun." he said, still grinning at the memories. "Musicals were something my mother and I shared a love for..." his voice faded a little. Shared. His mother was no longer here to share it with him.

Well I don't know about you, but I do it anyway.
Max laughed. "I can see that. No surprise at all." he said. "I do sometimes. Not in the most public of public places, and usually when I'm listening to music on my iPod. Or when I'm driving and listening to music, I do that too." He admitted. Stefan seemed to be a much more open person than Max was. He was completely comfortable in his own skin and wasn't afraid of people thinking he was odd, even if that meant giggling wildly, dancing around and singing, or asking to hug people he just met. Max liked this about Stefan already.

Oui oui! I am in theater!
Max, once again, grinned. He spoke French! That was a first. Max was part French and part English, so he spoke French almost fluently. "Vous parlez français? Moi aussi!" he said with a smile. "I'm part French and part English." he said. "But I was born here. What about you? I can tell that you aren't from around here." he said, getting to the question that he had been wondering since the boy first opened his mouth.

You have just made my good list. .. though my bad list is inexplicably empty.
Max prepared himself for a hug that would crush him. He assumed, with this boy'd enthusiasm, that his hugs would be just as enthusiastic as everything else about him. And by the look of the hug, it seemed Max would have been crushed, had Stefan been strong enough to crush him. But Stefan's hug wasn't extremely suffocating. It was enthusiastic despite it's lack of strength though.

"You've made my good list as well, Stefan." he said. "And I don't really have a bad list. I don't see any reason to dislike people." he said with a shrug.

[Stefan von Engels]

Stefan nodded at Max's recollections, starting his own. He'd have several small shelves of videos in his room, he remembered them now, one was blue, one was green, and the other few were white. All the videos were musicals. Some well known ones, some rather obscure ones, but all had a lot of dancing. He remembered trying to learn all the dances from them, but giving up after learning about 20 videos.

"Musicals were something my mother and I shared a love for.."

Stefan cocked his head a bit. Shared? So it seemed that he himself didn't have a perfect family either. For some reason it felt nice to know that he didn't have to be a bit jealous of this new boy, but at the same time, being Stefan, he had to feel really, really bad about it. "Share..d..?" he asked, putting emphasis on the past tense ending. Moving a bit closer, he gently touched Max's hand. "You're not alone in not having a family member. I don't have a dad, and the dad I did get abused me and my mom." stepping forward again, he gave Max another small hug before leaning back on the back edge of the seat again, obviously in a bit of distress over the sad assumption.

"Or when I'm driving and listening to music, I do that too."

With a small laugh, Stefan nodded. He liked the way Max said this, as if he was a little kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, forced to admit some terrible secret. As if that was embarassing! Pft! They hadn't seen Stefan sing into a fan and pretend he was a robot. It made him giggle and people stared, often rolling their eyes at this seemingly grown up boy doing childish things like this.

"Vous parlez français? Moi aussi!"

Pulling his eyebrows together for a moment, Stefan seemed deep in thought before smiling suddenly and giggling. "Nein, ich spreche Deutsch und Englisch. Es tut mir leid!" he smiled a bit, amused. He hadn't met another German speaker here yet. "I just know random words in random languages and use them accordingly. For example.. oui and non in French, nee in Dutch, 'Jeg er ked af' in Danish, and a few others." he shrugged. "I just get bored of English so easily~!" with a nod, he smiled again when Max mentioned he had been born here. Well that was good for him! It had been hell for Stefan to get over here with his injuries and such, they all suspected he was dangerous. Steff? Dangerous? Only if you're afraid of PDAs. "Lucky! I was born in Innsbruck, Austria. It's lovely there, but it made it all the harder to come here." Thoughts of the lovely streets and vendors filled his mind, the close houses and how you could never go out without bumping into someone you know. The amazing look of the place, and how you could see the peaks of the alps from your bedroom window every morning.

Lost in memories, Stef became quite distracted.

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[Joseph "Max" Keys]

Max nodded sadly when Stefan asked about his use of the past tense. "It's kind of a long story, but my mom died when I was fourteen. I still have my dad and my sister though. I'm lucky." He shrugged. He wasn't going to mention that he and his father watched his mother die. He also wasn't going to mention that the man who mugged them and killed his mother also injured his father, and his father was lucky to be alive. He hadn't told that part to anyone, not even his best friend. Former best friend. She hadn't spoken to him in ages.

"Wow..." was all Max could say to Stephan's story. "That's tough..." he sighed. "I'm sorry I can't say much more... I'm curious as to whether your dad still lives with you, but I feel it's not my place to pry." He noticed that Stefan, too, had used past tense. Abused, not abuses. He hoped this meant his dad had been locked away or something. Such a man didn't deserve the title of dad, Max felt. Father maybe, paternal parental figure maybe, but it took a lot more than marrying a woman with kids to be a dad.

Max noted Stefan's confused look at his French, then pulled an embarrassed grin. He put his face in his palm. He recognized 'Deutsch und Englisch' to mean 'German and English'. "Oh man, I'm sorry." he said with a laugh. "I'm fluent in French. I've met a few people who know some French, but nobody who is fluent."

He nodded at what Stefan said about being bored by English. "Sometimes I randomly break into French. It's a habit I've toned down because I sometimes speak in French with people who don't understand, and then I have to reexplain what I said."

Stefan mentioned that he was born in Austria and Max's eyes lit up. "Oh wow! I've always wanted to go there. I have heard it's beautiful." he said. He paused briefly. "What made it so hard to come here, though? If you don't mind me asking... I know it's hard to get citizenship and all, but I didn't know immigration was that difficult..." Max began to wonder if it was difficult merely because he was a shifter.

[Stefan von Engels]

"That's.. horrible." was all Stefan could say. His happy mind did all it could to shut out bad thoughts and so to him they simply didn't exist until someone brought them up and made a whole conversation about it. "I.. wow.. I'm so sorry." he dipped his head slightly and for a moment the smile was gone, replaced with a sort of deadness in his eyes. They seemed to darken, the gentle twinkling back light behind them put out entirely- the once twinkling, shiny, happy expression replaced with a matte look of sadness. As if it was obvious, Stefan didn't like to talk about the death of family. Anything else he could find a silver lining, but when someone you knew died- to him- nothing good could be found in it. Normally he could say '.. well the bird died, that's sad, but it was killing the worm population in that area. If he wouldn't have died, there would be no more worms for the other birds.' or '.. so the dog died, but his claws were hurting the little girl when he went to jump on her to lick her face, and the cats as well when he just wanted to play.' even if the upsides sounded unreasonable, he would say them if only just to make it seem a bit more bearable.

"No, no.. my dad was a nice man. He died of an asthma attack when I was young.. it was my step-dad that did those things.. I.. uhm.." he wasn't going to mention that he was dead as well. Nor was he going to mention that Stefan was the one who killed him. Painfully. If he'd known he would do it, he would have prepared.. but no.. his shift came at a dramatic time and took the closest thing to anger the bird, the jackal. His mother should have known, but she wouldn't have thought so seeing as it wasn't his birthday when he had shifted. It was a few days before, actually. He had spent his birthday attempting to get a passport and papers. That, was actually, one of the next subjects that came up. After the languages, of course.

He nodded happily when the subject came up. "That's cool! I've yet to meet another who's fluent in German.. I've met a Belgian- ironically he was a Belgian Malinois dog." Stefan giggled a bit. "Sweet boy, we talked a bit, but their version of 'German' is very different.. so we didn't get far." Stefan shrugged, seemingly lost in thought about the boy. Was his name Alec? Alex? Ally? Eh.. he couldn't remember. "I sing in German a lot. It's fun, and for some reason girls go crazy when you can speak another language. I assume French is better for that, though. I know I'd rather wake up to a guy softly whispering 'J'adore..' then to a guy growling 'Ich liebe dich!' in my ear." he laughed, imagining it. It'd been the source of a lot of laughs between him and hes friends in Austria. They'd always made sure to growl the sweetest things in the worst possible voice and accent to girls they liked, and in Stef's case, boys and girls. The girls would just giggle softly and walk away, normally to be seen sitting with the boy who'd growled at them in the park the next day.

"What made it so hard to come here, though? If you don't mind me asking.. I know it's hard to get citizenship and all, but I didn't know immigration was that difficult.."

He shrugged, sitting on the seat once again with little intent of moving again. "It's not that hard, actually.. just for me I guess." he tapped his foot on the hard plastic of the base of the seat and clicked his nails against the edge. "Probably because I came alone, with no family, and of course people get suspicious of my singing and happy demeanor. They think I was trying to hide something! Hah!" he seemed to be back to his normal self (which wasn't that normal to begin with..) now that the talk of death had passed and was brought back to more mundane and happy things. "..strangers to music, they were."

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[Joseph "Max" Keys]

Max nodded his head at Stefan's reaction to the description of his mother's death. Max and his mother had been close, but well, there was no use dwelling on the past. He had moved on, sure, but he would never forget. Stefan didn't appear to particularly like the topic of death (but then again, few people did) and neither did Max. When Stefan mentioned that his dad was dead but it was his stepdad who was abusive, Max nodded sadly. "I'm sorry for your loss." he said. Stefan didn't seem to want to talk about his family and death anymore.

Max laughed when Stefan mentioned the Belgian guy. "Yeah I met a girl who spoke a little French, but she said I spoke too fast for her and she could only understand a few words here and there." he chuckled. "It seems though that with most people, if they speak another language, it's high school Spanish." he made a face. "I don't speak any Spanish." he paused. "Well, no, I can say hello and count to five... though I think the first thing you should learn in any language is how to say that you don't speak that language, you know?" He laughed. "That was you don't accidentally get into any conversations with people who don't speak English."

He chuckled when Stefan mentioned that girls go crazy for multilingual guys. "Oh yeah. I dunno what it is, but girls go crazy for the European languages. French, German, Italian..." he sighed, shaking his head as he chuckled. Then Stefan mentioned the difference between French and German and he laughed. "I suppose you have a point there." he said. "They don't call French one of the romance languages for nothing."

"Ahh makes sense." Max said of Stefan's tale of immigration to America. "Americans can be very suspicious about the silliest things sometimes, huh?" he asked, shaking his head. He found himself curious as to why Stefan came here alone. Perhaps so he could go to Shifter Academy? He wondered if Stefan was staying with a relative or family friend or something. Max often found himself curious like this. For example, he earlier noted Stefan saying 'a guy whispering softly' rather than a girl. Granted, girls didn't usually whisper sweet nothings into guys' ears, but still, little things like this made Max curious about things that he knew he probably should pry about.

[Stefan von Engels]

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Stefan held his hand out in front of him in a gesture of 'stop', in a way. "No, no, it's fine! My father was a regular human anyway, so I don't know how he would have taken to my shifting.. Lionel- my stepdad.. he was a jackal shift.. and.. he didn't think a bird could overpower him, so he married my mother- a stork. I proved him wrong.. but he's.. no longer with us." a small nod accompanied this, and he just realized he worded it oddly. He really hoped that Max didn't assume the truth out of this statement, but then again- he didn't intend to give it away. After all, he could mean that Lionel and his mother had gotten divorced!

He giggled softly at the mention of the French girl. He had found that lots of girls just pretended to be fluent to get the attention of the male in question from the throng of attractive girls. "I've found lots of girls who claim to speak German, but all they know is 'Ich liebe dich.' and what their history class has taught them about the World Wars." he shook his head, laughing a bit more and smiled, back to his old self. "Yeah, in Croatian I can say Hello and count to 3, so you're ahead of me!" he clapped a little in applause for Max's knowledge of Spanish. "Well.. and the word hedgehog.. but I fail to see how far that'll get me." he smiled and shrugged. "By the way, how do you say 'My name is Stefan of Angels, I don't speak French.'? It might be useful one day. Not to mention French is so pretty." Stefan liked the flow of his last name when translated into English, and wondered if it would be as lovely into French. 'Von Engels' literally being 'of Angels' in English. It gave his name a lovely dramatic essence, he thought.

"Americans can be very suspicious about the silliest things sometimes, huh?"

Stefan nodded. "They insisted on checking my bags several times and sniffed my water bottle that had apple juice in it, looking for vodka or beer." he pouted a bit before rolling his eyes. "I've barely had a drink in my life, and I've been a good boy and haven't had any since I came here. The drinking laws are rather strict.." he shrugged. In Austria he could drink at 16, a bit younger if he were under adult supervision and within his own home. He had never been drunk though.. buzzed and tipsy? Sure! But never drunk. He could legally drink in a bar, alone if he were still in Austria!

"So have you actually been to France, or no?" he asked. Stefan had often met people who were full blooded european, but had never been to their country of origin. It saddened him to know they didn't fully know their culture, but he hoped that they would get there one day. Maybe Max was one of the lucky ones!

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[Joseph "Max" Keys]

Max listened to what Stefan said, nodding as he did so. Based on the wording it sounded like him or his mother had killed his step father, but Max didn't want to assume such things. It was a good explanation as to why Stefan would be sent away, but thinking about Stefan... he looked like a guy who wouldn't hurt a fly. All Stefan had implied is that either him or his mother fought with his step father and won. And now his step father was... no longer with them... which could really mean dead OR divorced (or both, if they had divorced and then he died). And Stefan was here. Although without a step father, Stefan's reason for being here could easily be that it was easier to afford. For a single mother, raising a son would be difficult, especially a shifter son. Both Max and his sister had been raised by his father (for the past four years anyway) and that was tough.

I've found lots of girls who claim to speak German, but all they know is 'Ich liebe dich.' and what their history class has taught them about the World Wars.
Max laughed at that. "Yeah, a lot of schools teach conversational French, but you have to study French a lot outside of class to become fluent." he said. "So I've met girls that can only count to five and say hello and the like, but some can hold basic conversations. Provided we're talking about like, food or animals or something." he laughed. He was going to comment that given what most history classes taught about World Wars and German, most girls probably didn't know much German that you could actually use. The one thing in German that Max remembered from history was 'Arbeit macht frei' or 'Work makes one free'. Hardly a thing you'd say to capture a guy's positive attention.

By the way, how do you say 'My name is Stefan of Angels, I don't speak French.'? It might be useful one day. Not to mention French is so pretty.
Max bit his lip, thinking for a moment before speaking, trying to speak slowly enough so that Stefan could catch it "Mon nom est Stefan-des-Anges, et je ne parle pas français." He smiled. "And how do you say 'My name is Max Keys and I don't speak German.'?" he asked in return.

They insisted on checking my bags several times and sniffed my water bottle that had apple juice in it, looking for vodka or beer. I've barely had a drink in my life, and I've been a good boy and haven't had any since I came here. The drinking laws are rather strict..
Max nodded. "Oh yeah... a lot of the laws here are strict... ironic that America's seen as a country of freedom and yet the drinking age is high and you can't bring nail clippers on an airplane." he made a face. He thought some of the laws were a little absurd.

So have you actually been to France, or no?
"I've been a couple of times in my childhood to visit my grandmother, but last time I saw her she decided to come here instead." Granted, it was his maternal grandmother, and the last time he had seen her is at his mother's funeral. But he didn't feel like bringing up the whole death in the family thing again. "It was her first time coming here since my sister was born. She was going on about how much had changed... you don't realize how much things change when you live here though." he said.