i desire the finer things in life.

The humiliation was bad enough, but finding that the hand he instinctively reaches out to catch his phone catches nothing was worse. For a moment, he can’t process what has happened, the man’s voice drifting as if he’s underwater. If Lui was underwater, he would most definitely be done for. In this kind of situation, too, he…

Shaking, he pushes himself back onto his feet, fingers pressing against each other as he tries to stay calm. The panic, undeniably, won’t leave his eyes, so much that he probably shouldn’t need words. Please… give it back. That’s all I have. All he can do is shake his head, pointing to his phone and back at his own chest, hoping the stranger would understand. Though… it really had been obvious that it belonged to him, no matter how he thought about it, huh?

Guilt washed over him the minute he saw the kid’s reaction. Greed had only meant to tease him some but whatever this thing was, it seemed really important to him. Maybe he had gone too far this time..?

Rubbing the back of his neck, he crouched down and handed the device back to him. “I’m sorry, kid.” It seemed like he couldn’t speak but Greed hoped that he could at least understand what he saying. 

@a-variice

    It had only been a day since his arrival, and there wasn’t a second where Osomatsu thought, Oh, this seems like the kind of place I could get used to. Not at all. A day and a half of bus rides and walks to nowhere in particular, he’d decided that even though this wasn’t his home, and frankly it never would be. The only thing he could do is try to find the similarities to his Akatsuka ward, like a park or pachinko parlor or a fishing pond or…

    a bar.

    Yeah, that sounded good.

    So he quietly shuffles in and orders a beer; they don’t have the kind he likes, of course. He leans on the bar and waits til the bartender– tall and angular and muscular– goes through the motions, handing him the bottle and asking for the standard 500 stardust. Wait, stardust? what happened to yen? Osomatsu blinks dumbly, barely able to produce a word for a solid thirty seconds. He didn’t even have a wallet with him. 

    “Can I start a tab.”

It was his first day on the job and so far everything was going smoothly. It wasn’t a hard job, at least not for him. Being a bartender seemed to suit Greed, he liked the loud atmosphere and the alcohol, and he supposed the people weren’t too bad either. He at least hadn’t had to deal with any problem costumers yet, which he was thankful for.

Unfortunately for Greed though, that was about to end. Some guy leaned on the bar and asked for a drink, staring blankly at him after he told him how much it’d be, before finally asking if he could start a tab. There was something about him that he didn’t like, maybe his face, it looked kinda like a puppets face.

Ayato smiled pretty softly, grateful for the compliment. He seemed nice enough. “Thanks, glad you think so. Art isn’t for everyone, yeah.” He could have a worse customer, all things considered. It was annoying to have customers who were basically just paying to sit there and make him listen to them talk for an hour. It’s like, okay, I get it, you have morals. Good for you. I never asked for every detail. 

Made sense, then, that he hadn’t been here too long. He’d suspected but he couldn’t have been sure, anyways. The guy stood out, though, so he figured he would have noticed him.

Ayato raised an eyebrow, as if to say, “Wow, aren’t you special.” Then he shrugged. “It’s more of a personality thing than appearance, really. People here tend to be more extreme as far as they go.  I’m sure plenty are nonhuman, or at least used to be.”

Greed let out a small laugh. “I was joking, kid. Can’t ya have a little fun?” This kid was amusing, that was for sure. 

One thing the guy said did interest him though. Used to be human? Was this place somehow able to make those were nonhuman, human? It made him curious and want to know more. Though he doubted this guy knew. 

“Extreme, huh? I’m assuming you’ve met some of these people then? Everyone seems pretty normal personality wise to me, but maybe that’s just me.” Greed shrugged, he’s met some pretty extreme people throughout his life and so far no one here seemed to fit that bill, but he figured that he just hadn’t met them yet.

He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, unable to get what he mentioned earlier out of his mind. It did kind of sound like he knew what he was talking about, at least to an extent. Ah, what the hell. “So, you said something about plenty of people here possibly having been nonhuman. Why wouldn’t they be the same as they were before coming here? I mean I don’t have the same powers I did as before, but I figured everything else at least was still the same.” Greed put his hands on his knees, leaning forward. “Basically what I’m saying is that it sounds like you know that for a fact.”

Ayato nearly groaned in response. This usually happened after a while, but it wasn’t quite as bad with people who’d brought something to entertain themselves. Of course, it did seem like this guy hadn’t been here too long, so figures he wouldn’t. 

Trying to be civil and stay focused on his piece at the same time, he responded. “Well, art in general it’d be quite a few years. I just got here recently though, so that’d put it to a week or two. It depends.” 

His reply was short, but it wasn’t really any kind of thought provoking question. Thank god. Still, he figured he might as well try to help the conversation along, though, and asked his own.

“When did you get here? It’s a nice town, though it tends to attract oddballs. Not referring to you or anything, just in general.”

He went back to his canvas, putting in a bit more detail. The guy had given him a good amount of money, so he’d be doing color on top of everything else.

 It looked fine so far, but he had to say doing portraits was his least favorite thing. Easy to find customers for, but jesus. So many complaints. At this point, he’d written it on his sign that if you wanted him to make you look better than you actually did, you DO have to specify, or that’s your own fault. He was tired of a thousand women, men, and everything else droning about “Make my nose smaller! Cover up that mole! My hair isn’t balding that much!” 

Thankfully, this guy seemed pretty compliant all in all. He’d even stayed pretty still the whole time, an honest miracle. 

Greed leaned back in his chair again, his expression becoming a little less bored. “Years, huh? That’s pretty cool. Art was never something I could really get into, just not my thing, I guess. You seem talented though, especially for someone so young.” He wasn’t one to usually give praises to others often, but he felt like this kid deserved it. His art was pretty good.

“Hm...” He leaned back more, tipping the chair back some as well. “A couple days, two I think? Hasn’t been that long.” It was a nice city, but sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder about how everyone else back home was doing, were they worried about him at all? Greed shook his head a little bit, no use thinking about, it’s not like any of them could do anything about it.

Ayato nodded. Well, at least he didn’t have to deal with people just hanging around for what had to be the hundredth time. The guy had an interesting face, too, very angled with a smug grin near constantly seeming to be plastered on it. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not, but mostly it rang out to him as the definition of shady. 

He was grateful for the money, but he found himself wondering how this guy had it. He hadn’t seen him around before, and he explored the town pretty regular. He had to be new. Maybe he should mention it? Nah, fuck it. He himself had stolen before, and he never did it without decent enough reason. If he got into any trouble for the money he could always just tell the police the truth. I mean, painting an image of the guys face he’d get a pretty good feel for how he looked if needed.

He doubted it, though. Guy seemed smarter than to get into trouble like that. He’d pickpocketed without the notice of anyone else, god knows it was possible. 

 “Yeah, that’s more than enough. I’ll get you change.” He went into his drawer, a makeshift cash register for now, and pulled out a five. “Thanks. Can you sit there?” He pointed over to a stool situated just off the road. “You can look at your phone or whatever else, it’d just be helpful if you stayed there so I can get it done quicker. Need be I have some extra paper and crayons you can mess with, they’re mostly for kids but I won’t judge.”

“No problem, kid. Not like I have anything better to do today.” Greed sat down, twiddling his thumbs some. He’s never gotten anything like this before, and figured treating himself would be nice. He’d be sure to hang it in a place where it’d be the first thing someone would notice when coming in. They’d get to see a painting of his face and his actual face, a pretty good deal if you asked him.

Some time had passed, he wasn’t exactly sure how much but he’d guess about a half an hour to an hour. While he didn’t really care how long this took, he was starting to get bored. “So,” Greed started, leaning forward some. “How long have ya been doing this?”

It’s not that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, it’s just that this kid was so short he didn’t notice him. Greed knocked the boy over, some kind of expensive looking device falling to the ground as well. “Whoa,” He caught it before it fell, examining it curiously. “Huh... Looks like this is worth a lot.” He looked down at the kid on the ground, tilting his head to the side.

@a-variice

Ayato was relieved when he heard of Buckanan street. No, it wasn’t impossible to find clients at other places, but a bustling street of people looking for things like his artwork really helped the search. He was grateful for it, having a stand was much less annoying than any other process. Getting commissions wasn’t that easy without people knowing you. 

Well, he’d work up recognition one way or another. He sighed. Sitting on the side of a street with hundreds of other stands wasn’t the most exciting way to start up, but it was what it was. Everyone starts somewhere. At least he was better than when he did start out.

The crowd blurred together, everyone seeming sure of where they were going except for one man in particular… Who honestly, just looked kind of like he was loitering around with no clear goal in mind. He went from place to place, leaning over people’s stands in a curious way. Ayato groaned when he came near his. He’d already dealt with too many people with no money in their pockets just asking for free art. Yes, his art was worth a pretty penny, but it was worth it. If you didn’t think so, maybe shut your mouth and leave.

Greed was just wandering around Stella City, getting to know his surroundings so that he wouldn’t get lost for when he actually wanted to go somewhere. In his wandering, he came across a street that had all sorts of performers and artists. It was pretty neat and he found himself attracted to many different booths and stalls, seeing what everyone was selling. 

Nothing was really catching his eye though, and he thought about leaving until he saw an art stand that was doing portraits. The guy running the stand had some examples, and they were actually pretty good. 

“Nice art, kid.” Greed stopped examining the paintings to look at the person. Seemed young, certainly younger than him, and also had a somewhat annoyed look on his face. Maybe the kid thought he didn’t have any money and didn’t want him to waste his time. He dug in his pocket and pulled out some cash, handing it to the other. “Here, this should be enough for one, right?” How he got this money wasn’t important.