oo1: actual intro!

[cursedtolive]

[action - around town in the afternoon]
[There's a small little boy walking around town. A flat cap pulled down over his eyes, and a brown jacket even in the middle of July. His outfit choice looks a couple decades out of date, too, although the clothes are definitely from the right era. Fashion statement?

Seemingly lost in his thoughts, Czeslaw Meyer-Stanfield is not paying much attention to where he is going. He passes by houses, by shops, by people. He might accidentally bump into people, at which point he will blink the surprise away and smile sheepishly, with a natural-sounding]

Oh...! Oh, I'm sorry [mister, or miss]. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going. I didn't mean to run into you. Good afternoon!

[action - 459 Stone Street]
[Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope. He can't handle this family arrangement. His "mother" won't let him hole up in his room, though, so he's sitting in a chair in the corner of the front room watching the door so he'll never be surprised by his "father"'s homecoming.]

Comments

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Me? Well, I spend a lot of the time now just hanging out at Alveare. Sometimes I help Miss Ennis to the groceries and we'll have lunch there...

[action]

[justdumbluck]

I mean like fun stuff.

[Grocery shopping with Ennis sounds fun, but pretty much anything is fun if Ennis is there.]

[action]

[cursedtolive]

[Pick on you. Tease you about Ennis. Um.]

I just talk to everyone! I don't really have hobbies or anything...

[action]

[justdumbluck]

Not any?

I guess I could try introducin' you to some a' my friends here.

[Though a few of them aren't too talkative--Barton comes to mind.]

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Uh-huh. I was on my own most of the time before I got to Manhattan, so I didn't have a lot of time to sit down and do something fun. I... guess I read, sometimes.

[action]

[justdumbluck]

Read..?

[Not what he would have expected, but he can do this!]

You ever heard a' Peter Pan?

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Of course I have.

It's the kid that never grows up, right?

[action]

[justdumbluck]

Yeah. that's it! My friend lent the book to me back when we were kids.

[He grins.]

What else do you read?

[action]

[cursedtolive]

[He thinks for a bit. Well he read that book on chemistry, and that book on modern alchemy, and studied how to make bombs before........

No, not things he could tell Firo. What is a good children's book?]

Um... I read Oz. And Peter Rabbit too!

[action]

[justdumbluck]

[Good move, Czes.]

Oz? I've read those ones too! I think Maiza's got a few of 'em.

How about Alice in Wonderland?

[action]

[cursedtolive]

I've read that, too. Alice in Wonderland's famous, after all.

[action]

[justdumbluck]

[He smiles teasingly.]

So you've read all the famous ones, huh?

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Well I've also read stuff like Oliver Twist, too.

[action]

[justdumbluck]

Yeah? That's the Dickens one with the Artful Dodger and all of 'em, right?

[action]

[cursedtolive]

That's the one.

To be honest, I read non fiction stuff more than stories like that, but these are more fun to talk about aren't they?

[action]

[justdumbluck]

Definitely.

[He laughs sheepishly.]

I honestly can't think of much nonfiction I'd wanna read.

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Firo, you probably talk to everyone and listen to Isaac and Miria more than you read anythin' at all!

[action]

[justdumbluck]

[He can not refute that.]

So? I've got better things to do than spend all day with my nose in a book!

[action]

[cursedtolive]

[He knows you bro.]

Books are good for you! But I guess you're right. You're always busy going to that casino to work.

[action]

[justdumbluck]

Sure they are. Just not as important as other stuff.

[He can't dismiss them entirely; he has friends who are big readers and he's enjoyed a few himself.

He shrugs.]

I gotta make sure everything's runnin' okay over there, and books don't make that any easier.

[action]

[cursedtolive]

I heard you're doin' a pretty good job, though?

[action]

[justdumbluck]

You do?

[Flattery gets you one happy Firo.]

Well, I hope so. I try.

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Oh yeah! I hang out at Alveare, remember? I always see Maiza an' the others there, so I hear some stuff too.

[Casually letting Firo know that kids can eavesdrop on Martillo talk easily yup.]

[action]

[justdumbluck]

[Firo's used to relatively open ways of the Family, so he doesn't see too much wrong with Czes knowing some things. Besides, Maiza wouldn't say anything too important in front of someone he didn't trust.]

So you're interested in what goes on with the Family?

[Maybe Czes wants to become a picciotto!]

[action]

[cursedtolive]

Well, I've got to worry too, y'know, since Maiza's in there and so are you. And Miss Ennis is friends with a lot of them, so I hear them talking to her sometimes. Randy and Pezo try to get me to play with them...

[Translation: they find him scheming pranks on Firo and join in]