badfic_manor | text | wait and see (risk)

I got it! [ And Sayu brandishes the chopsticks, triumphant. ] It's okay. Now listen -- [ she turns to face Gokudera, hands on her hips and her face set ] -- I've only known you for like, half an hour and you've called yourself all kinds of unpleasant things. Who else says that? 'Cause I don't think you're a delinquent or a [ not gonna swear ] bad person. Bad people don't offer to help wash dishes, even if they smoke. So quit it.

[ .... And then she quits, painfully self-aware of her well-meant, if stress-provoked, outburst. What if he doesn't want to talk to me anymore?

Just like that, her first friend here -- gone! ]

[Hayato pauses to stare in shock for a moment. He wasn't expecting that. No one had ever really talked to him like that before. He gives a quick chuckle and shakes his head. She was cute, but she didn't know shit]

Have a good sit down with the cops in Sicily along with half the thugs. They'll tell ya.

[He shrugs and leans back]

Actually you could probably ask anyone around here too. I don't usually get along with people well. Most of 'em suck anyway so I figure why bother.

[He smirks and chuckles again]

You seemed like a good kid though. If any asshole was going bug ya, I figured I would do the least amount of damage.

[ Oh, come on, that smarts like a judge's sentence!

Dishes done, Sayu leans back on the sink and crosses her arms. ]

What do you mean, cops and thugs? You're too young for that kind of stuff. I don't believe it. And for the last time, stop. You're not an [ can't say it; substitute: ] annoying person, so you're not bugging me. [ Softer now. ] I hope I don't sound too rude or forceful, but please listen -- maybe thinking what others say is true is half the problem.

[Hatato slouches back in his chair, kicking his leg up on the table]

I'm not lying. Sicily is a big shithole filled with a bunch of shitheads. The easiest way to make it there is to be under the law.

[He shrugs in an uncaring gesture. If she couldn't handle that fact now, it would probably be several times worse if he waited until later... if she had even decided to put up with him long enough anyway]

I don't care if you believe me or not, but it's just going to end with an "I told you so".

[He leans his head back to exhale the smoke, and watch it drift up to the ceiling]

Stop swearing!

[ Scrunching up her mouth, Sayu ignores the blush of embarrassment in her cheeks, the rush of confrontation in her chest; taps her foot to some (fast) beat instead. ]

You were eight. It's... it's not that I don't believe you; that wasn't what I meant. I just... I don't think it's right! Not when someone's eight, not when someone's any age. Just because the world's a [ "synonymize" ] dump doesn't mean you have to make it even more of one. That's why the law's in place. [ She leans back further, uncrosses one arm. ] I'd know. My dad's a detective.

[ Question now is -- how long can you put up with her naivety and sheltered worldview, Gokudera? ]

Yeah, well the "law" is doin' a great friggin' job.

[Hayato sighs and shakes his head before looking forward at Sayu again. He couldn't help but a be a little bit jealous of her, but at the same time he wasn't. She would find out that the world was made of shit someday, and it was going to be a shitty day for her. But... the way she thought of everything just seemed so... childlike.]

I don't need your sympathy about it, I'm alive and that's what matters.

[He forces a little smile. He didn't want to be the one to take her cute little sheltered world and beat it until it looks like the shitty one he knew.]

So, your pop's a detective? That explains a lot. Must be a good guy, you came out nice.

.... Thanks. Dad's a wonderful person.

[ But Sayu sees right through that smile, Gokudera, reads that "sigh and shake" combination as well as her brother can. Things got too serious too fast. Look at him, though! He wears "this world's a rotten mess" on his sleeve like he's going on twenty instead of fifteen. It's just not right.

If I were in a position of power, I would make the world a better place.

But what does that mean and how would she do it, anyway? ]

Well [ she bites a question ("what's your dad, do?") at the bud; gives a real smile ] thanks a lot for eating lunch with me, Hayato. [ She laughs. ] And for getting me out of my room.

[ Hayato smiles a bit more genuinely. He actually had fun kind of helping her out, even if she did pull the mother-like nagging about his cigarette. She was the first ( human) person he had actually gotten along with in all his two months of residency at the manor. But then again she was the only person he was civil to.

He takes his leg off the table and sits up a bit more properly]

It's no trouble. It was kind of fun. Want me to walk you back? I can show you where my room is in case you need anything.

[ Getting along with someone and being civil to them? A case of causation rather than correlation, Dera! ]

Yeah, it was! And that'd be great, actually. [ Sayu laughs again. ] I'm kind of bad with directions. Do you know where I could find shoes, too? You... can go outside, right? I'd go crazy if I had to stay in here all day!

[He might need that lesson beaten into him a few more times before it clicks.

Hayato chuckles, able to relate to the horrid feeling of being stuck inside all day]

Yeah there's a shi- della merda [Well... if she can't understand the swear, she can't get mad about it, right?] load of stuff outside. Your shoes should be in your room, unless the Author is being a puttana again. If you can't find any I've got some sandals that could last you until you get a pair of girls shoes.

[Hayato gets up from the table, opting to leave his sandwich behind. Someone or something would probably find it appetizing enough to eat]

Edited 2011-04-06 03:09 (UTC)

[ Sayu grins, gives him a dubious look. ]

I don't know, my feet look a little smaller than yours. [ She extends a foot: observe the petite size, the delicate proportions. ] But sure! Thanks a lot.

[ As they start walking out of the kitchen: ]

So what's a "puttana?"

[Hayato holds out his foot, and while he is a small boy, in comparison to Sayu's delicate proportions he could pass of as Sasquatch]

Yeah, your feet are kinda small... still a pair of flip flops could probably get you by, even if they're a bit big.

[He chuckles as he heads up the stairs leading to the rooms, she's not gunna like this]

Puttana is Italian for whore.

W-wha -- ?!

[ Blushing crimson. Sayu had been expecting Gokudera to say something like "a bittersweet pastry" that, when used in a sentence, could serve as a metaphor for a person others didn't necessarily like. But this --

-- so maybe she should've known better. As she trots up the stairs behind him: ]

Oh. I-I'm, um... [ defuse own embarrassment ] stop swearing! Even in Italian! It's rude!

[ "And it makes me super uncomfortable!" "Mannacotti" better not actually mean "manwhore." ]

[Hayato laughs, she got flustered so easy, he didn't plan on changing his dialect anytime soon, but he could tone it down a bit if it bugged her THAT MUCH... even if it was funny]

Alright I'll call her a 'cagna' or 'donnaccia' next time.

[As they walk by his room he stops and puts out his cigarette before he opens the door.]

Here's my room, I'll grab you my sandals just in case you need 'em.

[Hayato disappears into his closet, rummaging around his junk. It looks a bit like a dumpy apartment, worn furniture and he clearly is about as cleanly as the typical male teenager. Clothes shoved in one pile in the corner, papers with complex formula's scattered on a table and surrounding floor. also on the table is a section of wires and powers and god knows what else. Also there's no ashtray in his room. Guess why.]

[ Peering at the formulas as if face-to-face with a feral animal: ]

You... you like math, Hayato? This looks really complicated....

[ What's it even for, anyway? His work has to be voluntary since there's no school in the Manor, but why someone would drudge through so many radicals and variables and exponents is beyond Sayu.

Looking a little worse for wear now that she's been reminded of the fact she's technically missing a quadratics test: ]

What're all the wires and batteries for?

I'm good at it. It's actually chemistry, but I guess that makes me good at math by default.

[Hayato crawls out of his closet, a pair of plain, underused flip-flops in hand. He makes his way over to his table where Sayu is standing... and cringes a bit when she asks what the stuff's for. He sighes]

I told ya, I'm a thug. You really want to know?

[ Sayu gives him a thankful smile as she slips the flip-flops on. Not as snug as her shoes back home but they're much softer than the floor!

Teasing: ]

Well, it's not like you're going to tell me you make bombs or something.

um... actually...

[He sighed. She was bound to find out sooner or later. Especially if she started asking around. He reaches back and pulls out a few sticks of dynamite and puts it on the table]

There. Dynamite. That's what I make. Hate to say I told you so, but I really am no good.

[He waits for her telltale reaction. He was betting in a scream, perhaps some calling out on him being a criminal, and then perhaps a storming out of his room complete with door slam. This was gunna suck. He liked her too, but this was probably better for her in the long run. He only brought trouble wherever he went]

[ Her eyes travel from the dynamite to his face, back to the dynamite, back to his face, back to the dynamite (she's never even seen a stick of dynamite before this!), back to... wherever the dynamite came from when she realizes -- ]

You keep sticks of dynamite in your clothes?!

[ Flailing: ]

Do you... do you know how dangerous that is?! And you smoke! What if you accidentally set one of them on fire and explode?! I couldn't even tell you had them on you before! [ Her brows knit; she looks a little crestfallen now that she's calmed down. ] Is the law so bad that you really do need these back in Italy?

The reason I smoke is SO I can light the dynamite. I've got more on me too.

[He takes out a smaller stick from his wristband, and begins playing with it absentmindedly. He wasn't expecting Sayu to start in on him about potential safety hazards of explosives... like it wasn't already completely obvious.]

If I didn't know how to use this stuff I probably would have been dead in a week after I ran away.... Sicily is where the Mafia began after all, you can't expect it to be a good place.

[He doesn't like that look on her face, it's even worse then if she threw a fit and stormed out. It was exactly what he didn't want to do. He brought his world into hers.]

Th-there really isn't much of a law over there anyways... all the law enforcement get paid a shitload to look the other way, if they aren't already part of the mafia themselves... I mean... I'm sure good law enforcement would help or something... but maybe Sicily is just too far gone..

I'm sure something can be done.

[ Her face is set; her posture's straight. ]

But it has to start with you. That's what my dad's always told me. It doesn't work if the police forces people to follow laws. I have to follow them because I believe they're good, even if other people are breaking them. Violence [ her eyes glitter almost imperceptibly ] is never a solution. The second you take someone's stuff, they're either going to take yours or someone else's. It'll just keep going. That's why you have to stop it by... [ she loses momentum ] by following the law and not carrying sticks of dynamite. At least not here! You're... you're not a thug or whatever here because this place doesn't have any mafias.

[ More quietly now, after a little pause: ]

Who knows how long we'll be here, anyway? So... we should be careful.

I can't. I need my dynamite to protect my... bo-

[His face falls... right... the battle against the millefiore had already LONG since taken place... and considering how under manned they were when HE was there... things... probably hadn't gone well...]

LOOK! I just need it alright?! The law ain't gunna do shit for me! It never has!

[Realizing he just snapped at her, he quickly glances away guiltily, allowing his bangs to drape over his eyes]

Sorry... it's just not something I can give up.

No. It's... it's okay. [ Her pride's wounded; her toes play with the flip-flop straps. ] I... I mean, who am I to tell you what to do and believe, right? I don't know anything about the mafia or Italy or... your life! [ She smiles -- ] We couldn't be more different, huh? I'm a detective's daughter from Japan and you're an Italian boy in the mafia! It sounds like a drama. [ -- and punctuates it with a giggle.

If I were in a position of power, this stuff would stay in a drama.

She has questions, but she won't indulge. Instead, Sayu gives him a genuine smile and tries to steer his thoughts away from whatever direction they'd taken: ]

I'd say you're pretty good at protecting people without any dynamite, you know [ a beat ] speaking from experience.

[He smiles a bit awkwardly, hoping he hadn't done too much damage. He didn't want to lie to her, but he didn't want her to know the whole gory truth either]

It kind of does, doesn't it? Damn, that's the sort of sh- merda my sister used to watch on the soaps back home. It's like that Rom... naww... that's too corny...

[He chuckles, but his expression quickly fades at the mention of protecting people. He looks down and off to the side. He had failed to Tenth, not once but TWICE now... He wasn't in any position to protect anyone]

No I'm not.

[ More questions pop up in Sayu's head, tucked away for the future: What's your sister like? What soaps does she watch? What's her name? ]

Yes, you are. [ Sayu even crosses her arms! ] You kept me away from all the [ beat ] sick freaks in this house and showed me where stuff was and even got me food and shoes! [ Grateful smile. ] I feel so much better now thanks to you. If you don't think that's evidence, Light must have never explained what that word meant to me right.

[ So there! ]

text | wait and see (risk)

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action | she's as stubborn as her bro, dera; give it up

Re: action | XD YOU WIN THIS ROUND SAYU!

action | /flex

Re: action | I never thought I would use this icon XD

action | /FLEX ♥

Re: action | /oogles muscles ♥

action | LOL "PUTTANA"

Re: action | Italian is a FUN LANGUAGE~

action | mi piace molto!

Re: action | Dera WILL say that to Sayu sooner or later~ and not tell her what it means~

action | "i told you not to swear! at least don't look so happy when you're insulting other people."

Re: action | XD "That's not... a swear..."

action | "uh huh." as an aside, today sayu learned not to take chemistry in high school.

Re: action | XDDDDDDDD Chem sucks. DON'T LET HAYATO FOOL YOU!

action | NOT FOOLED, DON'T WORRY

Re: action | XDD GOOD GIRL!

action | have heaploads more naivety!

Re: action | have heaploads more naivety!

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Re: action| Make him break out the PUPPY FACE why don't you! XD

action | someone's gotta do it

Re: action | AND WHO BETTER~ <3 <3 <3

action | ♥ i daresay this has been a beautiful thread

Re: action | ♥IT SO HAS! It's shamelessly sweet! XD

action | /brofist to a job well done