paradisalogs | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Grandson and grandpa [or Tsuna and Giotto]
What: Tsuna recovering from EH. Family bonding time. Cuddles.
When: This morning
Where: Giotto's room
Rating: PG-13? (if tsuna flashbacks or something idk)

[Tsuna slept like the dead since he fell asleep in Giotto's arms. He was absolutely exhausted from the trip and had missed out on quite a bit of sleep due to anxiety, worry and grief. His sleep had been dreamless, and maybe blessedly so, because if he had dreams they would almost certainly have been nightmares.

When morning finally comes, his eyes flutter open, before fear suddenly floods in and he scrambles to a sitting position, jumping when Giotto's startled cat jumps off the bed. He looks at Gatta, and then he scans the room as his mind scrambles to think of what had happened last.

He remembers... the ship crashing. Him stumbling out and seeing Paradisa. Giotto finally came to him-- he was in the flesh, not a hallucination-- before Tsuna had fallen asleep in his arms.

That.... had actually happened, right?

Or was that a dream?

This looks like Giotto's room, and yet, he's spooked and uncertain if it really is. What if that had been a dream, what if his hallucinations had just gotten worse? Where was everybody, where was Reborn?

When his eyes land on Giotto, his expression remains guarded. Was he truly, honestly the real thing? Or was he a hallucination, and was he going to try and twist his position as the next Vongola boss, and tell him he should protect Reborn and Martel, protect Allen and Ino, those who were now his family, and get rid of everyone else...?

If Reborn or Martel or anyone he knew was there with him was nearby, he couldn't see or hear them. They couldn't validate if Giotto was the real thing, or if this place was the real thing.

His heart is racing.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay.

[He might actually believe him now. It does feel and seem like reality.

If that was the case... then at least they wouldn't have to deal with those sorts of things happening anymore. Not for a bit, at least. They actually had a moment's reprieve.

He jumps a little when something brushes against his back, and his grip tightens on Giotto slightly. It was probably just Gatta, but he couldn't help still being a bit on edge after those four days.]

[He feels him jump at that, and hushes him, running a comforting hand through his hair again.] It's just Gatta.

[He was probably too frantic and upset to even think about using his intuition (if he even had it, Giotto had yet to see any indication that he did) to be able to distinguish from reality and illusion, like Giotto was.]

[He nods, slowly relaxing again. His hyper intuition hadn't sent off any warning signals, but the fact was that Tsuna was just skeptical of trusting even that. If the castle could manipulate them to see things and hear things that weren't there, who was to say it wasn't trying to lull him into a false sense of security?

At this point, however, he was pretty certain it wasn't an illusion.

He gives a tiny smile when Gatta comes around and mewls softly at him. He reaches out and gently pets her back, feeling her spine curve into his hand. Gatta was really the only animal he'd ever really gotten along with, and he never minded her rubbing against his legs that much, but this was the first time he'd actually reached out to touch her.]

[Giotto smiles as he relaxes, and relaxes himself. he had been worried about Tsuna not believing this was all real, but he seemed well on his way to doing that. There was still that twinge of guilt, though, for setting him off in the first place, for being the thing that Tsuna hallucinated while trapped on that ship. Who knows what the thing pretending to be him had said? And Giotto hadn't been there to help at all, been there to support Tsuna, though he wonders how much good he would have even done.

He banishes that, though, and looks over at where Tsuna is petting Gatta.] She likes you.

Mmn.

[He's very relaxed now, nestled against Giotto as he pets his cat. It's the safest he's felt in days, and he seems content to just lay here for now, curled up in Giotto's warmth.]

[Giotto honestly smiles now, watching them. He thinks about what to say that is harmless, isn't talking about what happened to Tsuna or anything heavy.] Did you know I'd always wanted a cat, but never had one before this?

[He blinks, tilting his head slightly to look up at him, even though it's impossible from this angle.]

Why didn't you get one before?

G never let me have one. [He shrugs.] Anyway, I had such a busy lifestyle I never would have been able to be around to take care of it.

[A busy lifestyle... Tsuna falls quiet at that, withdrawing his hand from Gatta.]

What kind of things do you do, exactly? As a mafia boss?

[Giotto blinks. He wasn't exactly...expecting that question. Not as such. Hadn't they told him what the Mafia does?] ...Nobody's told you?

[And anyway, did Tsuna really want to talk about that right now?]

Reborn's kind of told me some of it. What a mafia boss is supposed to do and all... Protect their family and stuff like that.

[He's also heard about the mafia through the news and school and other such things. Doing things like warring over territories, drug trafficking, and extorting money out of businesses, but he couldn't imagine Giotto doing anything like that. At least... that's not the kind of things Giotto would enjoy doing, or had made the mafia for.

He wants to hear his side.]

... I was just curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.

The Mafia is for protection. But not just the Family. Mafia Families claim a territory and the people and businesses within it pay for protection against common thugs and other families. If they don't pay...

[They don't get protected. He somehow doubts that's what Tsuna wanted to hear.]

... you don't protect them.

[The answer is quiet, a statement, not a question. He shouldn't have expected anything more, really. But, well, that was just business, wasn't it?

... he feels like he's missing something, or maybe Giotto isn't telling him all of it. But he'll remain quiet for now.]

We're less cut throat than most, and we charge differently depending on the situation, but...

[He looks at him and sighs, shaking his head.]

I'm not sure what you expected, Tsuna.

[He's not sure he totally believes him. Giotto was a man who'd pick a stray kitten off the street and take it in and take care of it. He didn't believe he would outright refuse someone protection just because they didn't pay, especially if the area they lived in was dangerous. Maybe that's what he meant by "less cut throat" and "charge differently depending on the situation".

And it did make sense to have people pay for it. The Mafia was as much of a job as anything else was. How else would Giotto get the money to support himself?

It certainly sounded bad and unnecessarily harsh on the surface, but Giotto was being vague and leaving out details. It was a bit strange that he wasn't trying to justify it or make it sound better, but Tsuna remembers the marks from awhile ago. The Vongola family-- and probably the mafia as a whole-- had been one of those regrets.]

What else?

[Giotto stares at him. He almost expect Tsuna to pull away, to be angry at him for saying that, but he hadn't. The way Tsuna seemed to hate his position with a passion...]

...In-fighting. Keeping the other Families in line. Even our allied Families, since they sometimes don't keep up their ends. And rival Families... [A sigh.] They want you territory, want to see how far they can push you until you snap back at them. The moment they sense weakness... They'll move right in.

[That's what happened with Elena. He was weak, he was afraid of all the power he had, and had gotten rid of it. He thought the name could keep them in line. he didn't want to be like the others who used force to intimidate the people and collect what was theirs. And then they attacked.]

[In-fighting. It was a constant struggle to keep their position. Tsuna remembers all the fights he's had with different families. The Millefiore, the Giglio Nero, the Simon... he even fought within his own family once, during the Scramble for the Rings.

But if there's one thing he's learned, it was that fighting didn't have to end in destruction. It didn't have to end in tragedy for someone. For all the families he had fought, he now had just as many allies. ...hadn't Reborn said that Giotto also had accepted people from other mafia families?

It sounds a little like Giotto's making things sound worse than they are again. He didn't doubt that there was a lot of fighting sine he's experienced it himself, but it's almost like he's trying to scare Tsuna into thinking he was this big bad Mafia boss.

... nah. That would be just silly.]

Is there anything else?

Edited 2013-05-10 21:13 (UTC)

[Yes, when they did accept. Other times they ended up right back where they started, or they ended up dead. It was just the way of things. You couldn't save everybody. He learned that one the hard way.

But why is Tsuna even talking about this? He though Tsuna disliked the Mafia and didn't want to be a Mafia boss. It made him slightly baffled and confused.]

Well, there's smuggling, but... Tsuna, why do you even want to know? I thought you weren't going to become the next boss?

... I'm... not sure.

[This is the first time he's ever openly admittedly to anyone that there might be a chance that could happen. Or, at the very least, that he hadn't completely written it off.]

Tsuna... [Giotto looks at him, and brushes his bangs out of his face and sighs.] Tell me.

[Tell him what you are thinking.]

[He winces slightly when Giotto brushes the hair out of his eyes.]

I still don't want to, I'm just... I'm not totally sure I won't end up doing it anyway anymore.

[A little sigh at his wince, realizing he's still quite jumpy, and Giotto runs a hand through his hair again to calm him. He's trying to think of what to say to that.]

I wish I could tell you that wouldn't happen, that you can choose what you wish, but... Tsuna, once you're involved in the Mafia, you can't get away.

... I thought that might be the case.

[He really could be stuck with the Mafia, really have to take his position. It suddenly makes him feel very uneasy, and he curls into Giotto more.]

[Giotto wraps an arm around tightly. he can't shake those feelings of guilt at Tsuna's position, because even thought he said it had given him friends and made him a stronger person, there was still the fact of what he had waiting for him. A job he didn't want, and even worse, a job as a criminal.]

...I'm sorry.

[And he could feel the depth of his guilt, the sincerity in that one-armed hug and in his voice. And it made Tsuna feel bad, because he knows Giotto would never wish something like that on him. He never meant for the vigilante group to affect his family and descendants in such a negative fashion, and yet, that was what ended up happening.

It wasn't fair. Not to Tsuna, and not to Giotto, either.

He lets his eyes flutter closed. But...]

Maybe it won't be so bad.