fatealteration | (no subject)

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"...and the newcomers are settling in pretty well. One of them is even a teacher, so we might be able to begin dividing classes further," Juli said. She turned the page over in her notes. She didn't need them; virtually everything she had to say was committed to memory, but she felt more secure having them anyway. She looked up from the notebook. "I think it'll be a good move. There's been some behavioral issues among some of the students and the extra challenge might settle them."

That wasn't all that Juli had to report to Giorno Giovanna, but she thought she pause for comment while they were still on a high note.

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"Close," Shepard said with a smile. "I'll be 29 this year."

’Ha!’ He was pretty decent at this. Tall-men aged slower than his people, but…

“Yeah, I figured.” Chilchuck gestured his pint towards her face. “You don’t look far off from my party leader back where I’m from.”

"You had a team you were working with?" Shepard took a swig of her drink.

“I was an adventurer. My speciality’s dungeon crawling.” Chilchuck sunk his chin into his palm as he reminisced. “I’ve been in a lot of different parties over the years, but to tell you the truth…I was thinking of retiring after this last job I was on.”

Huh. "You already old enough to retire? Or just tired of the dungeon life?"

“A bit of both.” Chilchuck’s warm expression dimmed. This last ‘job’ was too crazy just to drop on someone he’d just met. “I was planning on starting a locksmith business…you know. Something quiet.”

He took another swig.

“Then I ended up here.”

"Not interested in starting up a locksmith business here?" Her tone was teasing, but she was half-serious about it.

"Pft. With how many random trinkets Her Highness brings me to crack open I might as well start charging." Chilchuck laughed...and then he sighed.

"...So? What about you, Commander?" He peered at her over the brim of his mug as he drank. The candlelight was pretty flattering on her. There was something about her that reminded him of Namari.

"Me?" Shepard wasn't used to people asking questions about her, but then again, most people back home knew her story. Whether she wanted them to or not.

"I'm military back home." That was probably obvious. "I figure it'll stay that way until I die. Don't think retirement is in the cards for me." She appear terribly bothered by that -- and she wasn't, either. Like Anderson, she wasn't terribly fond of the quiet life.

"That so? Well, it's not so bad to die on your own terms." To punctuate his statement, Chilchuck polished off his mug. "Actually...it might be the only freedom any of us can hope for. I should know--I've died in crap ways for crap pay."

"You died?" Shepard leaned forward, a brow raised.

“Oh. Yeah.” Chilchuck made a face as he recalled the exact incidents. “It’s a little hard to explain, but…if you die in a dungeon it’s not necessarily permanent with a decent cleric around.”

Huh.

"So how did you die exactly?"

‘Urk.’

“Like I said…crap ways for crap pay. Because of our stature and lifespan, people of my race get treated as expendable in almost every industry…but especially dungeon crawling. I started a guild for that reason.”

"That's a shame," Shepard said. "Guess you find it everywhere. It's the same back home. People like to paint every species with the same brush, treat them the same. But people are more than their species."

Shepard took another drink from her bottle. "It's good you stood up for yourself. I admire that."

"Thanks." Chilchuck said it easily, and he meant it, too. He was used to other races being condescending about that sort of thing but he didn't get that feeling from Shepard.

A moment of quiet passed. The nights at the villa were pretty warm. Chilchuck could see people meandering about in pairs beyond the windows in courtyard below.

"You know...I'm here most nights." He cleared his throat. "That is, it's quiet and the drinks are decent. That's all. So, if you ever need to get away or get straight talk from someone..."

"Yeah. That'd be nice." She hadn't had anyone to drink with since before she got here. "Still can't believe the people running this place aren't even old enough to drink here."

“You mean Giorno?” Chilchuck barked in laughter before sighing. “Oh, that doesn’t stop him.”

"What's he like?" Shepard didn't exactly get a chance to get a great read on him earlier. And what she saw was the professional Giorno. Was he like that underneath? Shepard wasn't sure.

‘Hm…’

That was a question he had gotten a few times now. After all, Chilchuck was one of the few people there that predated Giorno at the villa.

“…You know, the reason he got propped up as a leader was because he made this place into what it is. Almost everyone here has lost all their prior connections. Cities and countries got torn apart. But here in this sprawling complex by valley on the edge of nowhere we’ve got plentiful food and resources. It’s like a little paradise.” Chilchuck stood and went to refill his mug. “It’s been six months now, though, and I can’t say I feel like I know him well. But I don’t distrust him either. He keeps people at an arm’s length…can’t say I fault him.”

Shepard nodded as Chilchuck went on, absorbing his words into her mental rolodex of people.

"So you'd say he's a good guy." That's what she seemed to get out of it. "You're lucky. A lot of people out there are taking advantage of the chaos."

There was no arguing with that - they were lucky. That’s why Chilchuck hadn’t packed up and shipped out yet. It was still chaos as far as the eye could see. The most he could hope for was staying alive so he could see his friends again.

“His heart is in the right place. And he’s got his head screwed on straight…for the most part.” He couldn’t say the same about his party lead where he was from.

“That said, he’s still a kid. Whether we live or die isn’t all on him. I just want to make sure he feels that…argh. Same with all these damn kids.” Chilchuck took another big swig of his refilled drink even though it was making him too honest. “Juli and Zelda too. They’re all too damn responsible! I want to talk to their parents!”

"Kids really ought to be kids," Shepard agreed. "Isn't easy when your world's been turned upside down like this, though."

“I know.” Chilchuck plopped down into the seat across from her. “…Could I ask a favor?”

Shepard raised a brow. "Sure." She was used to doing favors. It felt like every day back home she was doing some sort of quest for someone.