prontissimo | kaisou inbox

[ Alberto casts a curious eye on Bruno when he admits his Gift, shifting his gaze to watch Luca's reaction, somewhat nervously shoveling in a large mouthful of pasta as an easy excuse for silence. Alberto watches Luca's face searchingly, expectantly, unsure what Luca's reaction will be, just trying to keep a poker face as he chews. He knows how Bruno feels about his Gift. He purposefully didn't spill the beans like he did with Pepa and Julieta's Gifts; Alberto figured if Bruno wanted to reveal his own, that's his business. But he can't help inwardly feeling so excited to brag about Bruno to Luca. A whole new kind of grownup compared to most anyone they've known back home — and it's just one incredible impressing thing after another, in Alberto's eyes, foreign as that might be to Bruno, too. He's got two little boys sitting here hanging on his every word, practically starry-eyed over him, in total contrast to the panic this evening started in. ]

Wow, that has to be pretty interesting having a whole family that's magic. Um...if you can see the future, does that mean you can change it? Like...do things different to get a new future? Because if you can, that could be pretty useful.

[But it could also be a problem if that means he can find out secrets like that. It's not that Luca wants to keep secrets from him, but...well, if they let him in on the sea monster thing, he really wants it to be something he and Alberto decide together.]

Is it anyone's future or just your own? If it's anybody's, I don't want mine read.

[Bruno can just about feel Alberto's gaze boring into the side of his skull. He does cast a glance at the boy, to offer a brief, reassuring smile. It's a little on the nervous side, but he doesn't want Alberto to feel worried about him. That done, he turns his attention to Luca. ]

No, I can't change them. People...seem to think I can. They blamed me for causing their future happening, back home. But it's not on me. I just see them...anyone's.

[He appreciates that Luca pushes away from his own future, it brings another tiny smile to his face.]

Y'know, Alberto said the same thing. Sometimes it happens beyond my control- but I can avoid purposefully looking.

[ Alberto shoots Luca a little smile when he hears Luca decline having his future read, and then turns that little smile on Bruno when he mentions Alberto had said the same. Alberto and Luca see eye-to-eye about the importance of dreaming about the future, relishing in the unknown — it's this sort of thing that shows exactly why they're friends. What's more, Alberto takes Bruno's candor as an invitation not to worry for his sake, and so lightens up right away. He does raise a brow, though, some shade in his tone, twirling his empty fork as a conversational prop as he jumps back in — at least he's talking between bites, though. ]

I still think your neighbors sound like jerks... No offense.

[ But really, yeah, offense. Alberto's not great at group conversations still, as thrilled as he is by the chance to have any at all. Chitchat comes with practice and he's got many more years left to master it... if he ever does. ]

Edited 2022-08-20 19:24 (UTC)

Oh.

[In that case, that power sounds like the worst. If you can't do anything to change it, what's the point in knowing the future? It sounds even worse when other people were going around assuming whatever he saw was his fault. Luca smiles a little when Bruno points out that that he and Alberto said the same thing, and when Alberto speaks up, he realizes that they agree yet again.]

Alberto's right. It's horrible that everyone blamed you for something you couldn't even control.

[Like how people held Alberto and him being sea monsters against them even if they couldn't help it. He knows what Alberto meant about Bruno being 'under the dogs, too' now.]

Thanks. If it happens and you can't control it it's okay, but I'd rather not know.

[And sure, he'd rather Bruno not look either because secrets, but if nothing Luca does would change anything anyway he doesn't want to be sitting there dreading something bad that's going to happen, and if it's something good he'd like to be surprised when it happens.]

Yeah, I mean, they've apologised or...some of them have, but it's still not been...great.

[He realises he might be unloading on a couple of kids which he really would rather avoid doing, but he realises this is an opening for him to do some primo bitching and he can never pass it up.]

You know there's this one lady who blamed me for her goldfish dying? It was kept in this tiny little bowl with like...nothing. Just water. I didn't need a vision to tell her that her fish would die but she held a grudge over me for that forever and it's like lady, take better care of your fish.

[Fuck that lady!!]

Anyway, uh- important life lesson, kids is don't let other people judge you for things outside your control. Don't forget you're just as important and unique even if you're different or you don't do exactly what they want you to do.

[ Alberto wants to be very touched by Bruno's bit of fatherly wisdom imparted on the boys — and really, he is touched, and knows Luca must be, too, as they both share these sentiments very close to their hearts. But he's distracted. By the fish. Because humans keeping fish as pets in the first place is, well... news to him. ]

Wait, wait, hold on— I mean... Thank you, Bruno, yes, true, but back up: A lady kept a fish in a bowl of water? Why? I mean— if she was gonna eat it anyway, why was she mad at you that it died...? Was she saving it for a special occasion or something?

[ The only logical explanation, naturally. A fair assumption for an ex-fisherman? ]

[He'll keep that whole life lesson in mind, although it can be somewhat tricky to not let people judge him when they're chasing him with harpoons. However, like Alberto his mind wanders to the fish in a bowl. The fish was supposed to be staying alive in a bowl?]

How long did she expect it to live in there, anyway? I mean, she can't have been planning on keeping it too long if she's keeping it in a bowl. Why didn't she catch it closer to when she was going to eat it?

[Because Luca also assumes it was for food. Sure, he's aware of pets like cats and dogs, and of course his family kept crabs and the goatfish (though they were being raised for food), but none of these creatures were being kept in a small container you might put food in. Something like that sounds like it could only be a short term plan.]

[Honestly the fish is a really big distraction. Bruno's still pretty pissy about it and it happened well over a decade ago. ]

I know trust me. She wasn't gonna eat it. It was a goldfish. Y'know, a pet?

[He might be a little confused about how these kids don't know about goldfish. Don't MOST kids have one growing up? They even had them in the encanto and that place was well out of the way of society at large.]

Didn't you guys ever have pet goldfish? They're prizes at fairgrounds a lot, I hear.

[ Alberto casts a wary glance to Luca. Is this a human-ing thing they're missing out on, or is this simply a cultural thing that's different between Portorosso, Italy and El Encanto, Colombia...? Could may well be either — or perhaps even both. It's beyond Alberto's scope. So, as with anything Alberto doesn't fully understand, of course he won't admit to it, and just... boldly pushes on. ]

I meeeaaaan— obviously the ground wasn't very fair to it, considering, y'know, it's dead.

[ He points his fork at Bruno emphatically at the last bit. Not only is he not familiar with the concept of a pet fish, clearly, but also unfamiliar with the term "fairground." ]

Fish can't be pets. At least, on land. Since, hah, they live in the water...? If she went to visit it in the river every day, that's one thing, but, um—

[ He throws another cautious glance Luca's way, knowing his friend will be with him on this, and shifts the direction of his rhetorical fork-pointing Luca's way. ]

...That'd still be pretty crazy, eh?

[Luca had been thinking of an explanation of how of course he's had fish before, they just don't keep them in bowls where he and Alberto were from so it sounded strange. However, when Alberto speaks up, he quickly amends what his response is going to be.]

What he means is, we don't keep fish as pets in Portorosso, so this all sounds very strange to us. We keep cats and dogs as pets, though!

[Just to throw in one thing that he knows is a normal human thing to confirm to Bruno that this is just a small cultural difference, but they still know something about what he's talking about!]

Wh- [you can practically SEE Bruno's brain trying to do the mental gymnastics needed to understand what Alberto is saying] no, no. A fairground is like what this place has sometimes. With the sideshow stalls and the rides?

[He does not want to try and have to explain fairground in-depth, this was an error. ]

But yeah, no. They keep fish in bowls- or I guess tanks here, these days. Have you guys seen any of the pet stores here? You'll see 'em there, just...swimming around. Little fish buddies.

[Whhyyyyy are these boys so attached to fish?]

[ Alberto catches Luca's drift, and nods eagerly along to reaffirm their normalness, yup. They're definitely missing something here... But Alberto is still troubled by all this pet fish business — especially learning there's apparently a literal pet fish business... ]

So let me get this straight: People here go to the water — take the fish out of the water. Put them in a bowl...

[ He picks up Lorenzo off the table in both hands as he talks, and animatedly carries him over the table, placing him at the other end like a little live rhetorical prop... The rat just looks around like "what's going on" as he soars over the table, squeaks as he's set down, then scurries off back to the food with Daniela. ]

...Force them to live alone on land with nothing to do and nowhere to go, so people can watch them swim in circles and pretend it's their pet... And people pay money at the fish store for this. Or win the fish contests at the fairgrounds.

[ He glances to Luca for confirmation on this. He's getting all this right, right? ]

And this lady in the Encanto— she expected her fish to live a long, happy life like that...? And then blamed you when it didn't? Juuust to be clear on all this.

[ Because when you lay it all out like that... that's bonkers. ]

Edited 2022-09-07 05:55 (UTC)

We haven't been to any of the pet stores. I don't think either of us were planning on getting a pet.

[Which is probably for the best with these two. They're not really ready to have a life in their care. Sure, they might have managed with the baby birds, but that was only for a week. A pet is a full time thing.]

Yeah, your fish lady sounds kind of crazy. Also, a lot of fish like to swim in schools, and even fish that usually stay in a small area still swim around in an area larger than a bowl. The people where you're from sound really unfair.

[Bruno has never loved these boys more than he has at this exact moment and he's just met Luca. ]

Yes- oh my God, yes you've got it, exactly, Kids. The whole thing is insane. And she really should have just not had the fish? Or at least not blamed me for the completely inevitable fish death. It was insane!

[ It's at this point that Alberto's incredulity finally breaks into hilarity — he caaan't with this story... He lets out a snort of a laugh, shooting Bruno a wide, wry grin. ]

Pffft... Hah, y'know what, bravo to the fish, man. Good for him! It sounds like it was a wise life decision to die...?

[ He gestures with his hands as usual, pinching his fingers emphatically when first applauding the fish; but when he gives a sarcastic wave of his hand as he cracks his joke at the end, he accidentally knocks over the salt shaker on the table. It startles the rats, but Alberto just rests his cheek in his hand smarmily, and doesn't even seem to notice he's spilled the salt — or if he did, doesn't even care to stand the shaker upright again. Definitely just clumsy kid stuff. Ooor maybe it's bad luck to speak so lightly about death, who knows — even if it's just a goldfish... But of course without any regard for superstition, Alberto pays it no mind, because he thinks his grim lil joke is very funny... ]

[Bruno's right. It just seems so bizarre that she cared so little about taking care of the fish, but then got so mad when it died. Alberto was probably right, but it still strikes Luca as a little odd to applaud a fish for making the good life decision to die, so he just turns and stares, not really noticing the salt any more than Alberto did.]

[Bruno, meanwhile, moves to take a pinch of the salt, hucking it over his shoulder, before righting the shaker again, mumbling something under his breath- unintelligible but worried. He busies himself with putting the salt back in the shaker- grabbing a pinch if any spills on the floor in the process- repeating the shoulder action.

Lightly, as if it's not happening:]

Hah, yeah. That fish got out at the right time.

[ Alberto watches Bruno for a second, before glancing at Luca uncertainly. Bruno does some weird stuff. But Alberto does some weird stuff — so he doesn't really ask about a lot of little things. Like maybe the guy just likes knocking on stuff. Alberto likes drumming on stuff; he gets it. But this? This is just a shade weirder than what he'd seen thus far. He keeps watching Bruno for a quiet, curious moment, then shoots Luca another awkward look and a tiny shrug, like his guess is as good as Alberto's.

So indeed, he just guesses — in such a way that might bring Luca back to Massimo's kitchen before they knew what forks were for... Alberto stares Bruno dead-on for a silent beat, his face somewhere between determined and blank. Then with rigid, decisive movements, he reaches out for the shaker Bruno'd just righted, pours a bit of salt into the palm of his hand, which he automatically slides over between him and Luca, and throws a pinch over his own shoulder. All in one stiff motion, eyes unblinking and focused on Bruno... He has no idea if this is the right reaction. But maybe it'd seem more suspicious if they don't copy him...? Bruno's human, Alberto'd asked him explicitly; so just copy the human... That's the golden rule, right? ]

[Luca stares as Bruno seems to alternate between trying to put the salt back in the shaker and throwing it over his shoulder, completely baffled and trying to figure out what he's doing and why. What is this? Is it a human thing? Then, seeing Alberto tentatively join in, Luca decides he might as well follow his lead. Whatever Bruno's doing, it's probably best to seem like they already recognize it and know what they're supposed to do, after all. Taking some of the salt himself, Luca tosses it over his own shoulder while still watching Bruno blankly, wondering if he'll say or do anything that might make it clear whether they're doing this right.]

[Bruno's...really not used to people mimicking his little superstitions. They were always seen as odd and quirky back home. Just a Weird Bruno Thing. As a result, he stills as the boys copy him- suspicious for a moment that they're actually mocking him.

But they seem to be...pretty intently staring at him as they do it and that seems...sincere? He kind of stares back for a minute, not really sure how to process this- tapping his fingers on the table.]

...Right. Yeah. So that was a thing. With the fish.

Mmhmn...

[ Slowly nods, just slowly nods... With another uncertain glance to Luca, he hucks what remains of the salt he'd poured in his hand over their shoulders carelessly. It's— a lot of salt all over their floor now, for no clear reason. A great intro to Living Alone With Alberto now that Luca's moved in, Day Two, hoo boy...

But Alberto's face betrays his puzzlement, although he tries to keep a pokerface. He wants to know about the salt... But he can't well ask "why did you do that" when he copied him like he already knew. So he carefully tiptoes around the issue, finally distracted from the fish at least... ]

...Soooo— you, uh— you do the salt thing in Colombia, too, eh? Why do you guys do it...?

[ Oh, god. Oh, no. Falling back on "cultural differences" is maybe a clever cover-up on the one hand, but on the other, absolutely cannot hold water. Poor Luca — they may be in another time and dimension and country, but clearly, not that much has changed since their time in Portorosso... The boy's just out here doing his best, man. ]

[Luca shoots Alberto a look, silently ask him what he is doing. The 'cultural differences' thing works well, of course, but now they've already done the salt thing, and now Alberto's bringing up why Bruno does it, which might very well lead to him wondering why they do it. He says nothing, hoping he might be able to come up with an adequate lie when they come to it. If they come to it. Luca turns back to Bruno, watching and waiting for his reaction.]

What?

[Well. That might...explain the mimicry a little more. Bruno considers this a moment more and then decides that maybe the boys were trying to copy what they thought was a Columbian tradition. A little laugh escapes him as he shakes his head.]

Ohhh, no. No. That's not a Columbian thing, that's a me thing. It's uh- it's to keep away bad luck. You spill salt, you toss some over your shoulder.

[At least he bought the cultural difference angle! You win boys!]

[ Alberto knows they're not quite out of the woods yet, should Bruno ask why they do it in Italy, because as Luca can probably guess, he doesn't have an answer locked and loaded... And he might normally come up with one in this moment, were Bruno's answer to his question not so suddenly fascinating. It distracts and disarms him from his questionably smooth cover-up. ]

Wait— For real? You can keep away bad luck? Do you have to spill the salt for it to make the bad luck go away, or can you just—

[ He takes the salt shaker up again and shakes it directly over his shoulder. Because if it's that easy, he's astonished. This new fact is relevant to his interests — he can use all the help he can get staving off bad luck. Unfortunately, most all his bad luck is merely the consequences of his own actions falling like dominoes, but hey, can't hurt to ward off bad luck in general anyway, right? ]

Edited 2022-09-23 07:36 (UTC)

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heheheh opening this can of worms...

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