( ( Sigh, it’s very much my fault for like… not really getting to anything related with the event with any of my characters, and I feel really bad about that… I planned to reply to stuff, but I just couldn’t think of anything, and then with one reply I wound up forgetting to post and arghhh. A bad rper is me… But, I guess I can always try to make up for it with this aftermath/one month later thing, right?? Sigh… ) )

Vita o Morte (Zodiakos Event)

Luck was certainly not on the side of our elderly sommelier. Just as he had begun to feel accustomed to the environment of the strange but fascinating world that was Arcadios, Gigi had suddenly found himself in quite the predicament. Upon awakening in the bed of his small but comfortable room, the sommelier had nearly figured that the strange voices and visions that he had seen moments before were simply just fragments of a dream. Ah, but how wrong he was. A cool, metallic feel was wrapped around his neck, and when the elderly Italian man had placed his hand on the object, he had felt the vibrations of a gentle humming noise emanating from it as well. What did this mean? What could it mean, except for one distinct possibility? As he gently and carefully eased himself out of his bed, having a bit of difficulty to breathe, the sommelier was greeted with the sight of a box sitting on the small table where he would enjoy his breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and the small snacks in between those meals. A small key lay next to the box with a slip of paper attached to it, and Gigi walked in a rather brisk motion towards it. Adjusting his glasses, the sommelier read the clearly-written words aloud. “Kill or be killed. …” He fell silent, holding the key with a steady hand. This had to be some sort of a joke, right? Or, perhaps he was still, somehow dreaming? No, the feeling was all too real… And, Gigi wasn’t exactly the sort of person to have bizarre dreams such as this to begin with.

Although a sudden feeling of anxiety had swept through the sommelier’s calm demeanor, he had gone ahead and opened the box with the key. Weapons, tools, and poisons: These were the last things that he would expect to have had the chance to lay his eyes on in his lifetime. He stared silently at the contents of the box, his anxiety somehow beginning to fade away. But, a few moments later, the box was shut, and the sommelier had gone ahead to prepare himself his morning coffee with a piece of coffee cake that he had purchased in his recent outing to the markets of Arcadios. He really did love the markets… Once the coffee was eventually ready, Gigi poured a cupful and was already chewing a bit of his cake in his mouth. The box still sat on the table as the sommelier took his seat, its presence casting a sense of gloom among the comfortable living space. Gigi ate and drank in silence, giving the occasional glance to the box. 

But, he was soon lightly mumbling to himself. An occasional, indistinct word here and there was spoken, until his eyes gave a sudden and deep focus to the box and key. “I must… kill someone in order to survive. Questo è… necessario…? Davvero necessario?” chew chew, chew chew. Once again, the sommelier was silent and remained so until his coffee and cake were both finished. Back to the box he went. Back to staring silently at its contents he went. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the sommelier had carefully removed a vial of what was simply labeled as “Poison”. There was a sigh, and there was a grunt. Both sounds were evident of the sommelier’s unease, as difficult as that was to believe… No, he couldn’t truly go through with this, could he? Murdering someone -truly murdering them- was an act of pure evil. He couldn’t… he couldn’t possibly allow himself to have anyone else killed by him… But what about his own life? If anything, Gigi should have simply sacrificed himself in order to allow someone else to live, if that was truly how this whole “game” worked based on his assumptions. Ah, but then he would never be able to return home. He would never be able to see his brother or the rest of his “family” back in Roma at the ristorante… What a problem, indeed…

… … … … …

The vial of poison was empty and thrown away in a trash bin. The sommelier had exited his small home and made his way towards the large city through the winding but pleasantly cool atmosphere of the caves where the Village of Valor lay. Once inside the city, Gigi walked onwards, his typical, taciturn expression shown on his face. And, when he had spotted one of his favorite, outdoor dining tables, the sommelier took a seat. On the table, a bottle of one of the wines that he had kept in his home as well as two wine glasses were placed. There, he waited… He patiently waited for a passerby as he stared in a sort of daze at the bottle of wine. A red, crimson color, it was…

( ( …..There’s an event that involves killing people or something?? Oh……

Oh my god it’s Battle Royale all over again.

Oh god I’m kind of excited. I know I’m going to have Panda Hero participate but… maybe Gigi and Pompadour? ) )

❀ Putting up Shop [Open]

that-one-flower-girl:

Aeris knew next to nothing about setting up a proper shop, she was certain she hadn’t thought this through properly. Yet getting the chance of owning her own place, she couldn’t pass it up and sometimes you had to take chances like that right? Now that she was actually standing outside the shop with all this stuff she was starting to have a few doubts. No, she could do this! She just needed a little help thats all. That’s why she’d appeared before the kindly gentleman.

She noticed his firm gaze on her many boxes of flowers, maybe he liked flowers as much as she did? Either way she watched him as he placed the bag he was holding down on the ground, did that mean he was willing to help? Though she was sure her offer of money would entice people or give them more reason to help she hoped it was enough. After spending so much on all the other little bits she didn’t have all that much left. Her head tilted a little to the side at his question, subconsciously she turned to look back at her boxes of flowers. He spoke with an accent she wasn’t familiar with but of course she understood his question.  

“Well yes I’m hoping to sell them sir,” she explained turning her head back around to face the man. Maybe he was finding out what she was planning to do before offering his assistance, she supposed that was a wise idea. “I had a stall around here for a while and eventually got enough money to start a proper shop, I don’t know if it’ll be any good but I wont know if I don’t try.” Plus it was something to keep her occupied.

Before the young woman had replied to Gigi’s strange (but still important!) question, the sommelier took the opportunity to have another quick glance at the boxes of flowers the sat to the side. Oh, how he loved flowers greatly, although that fact was kept well-hidden from his co-workers back in Roma… If this young woman truly planned on opening a flower shop, she would truly need all of the help that she could get. So, once the young woman responded to Gigi’s question, the sommelier returned it with a gentle nod of his head. And as he walked towards one of the buckets of paint, he uttered quite simply to the young woman, “Then, I will help you…” He had also added a moment after his first utterance, “Soldi… … You do not have to worry about paying me.” It would have left a rather uncomfortable feeling in Gigi’s conscience if he had done a favor for someone whose intentions were good only to ask for money out of them. The elderly Italian believed that it was in the young woman’s best interest if she saved her money -at least from Gigi’s help- and used it to maintain her shop and such.

When he bent over to pick up the single bucket of paint, one could have sworn that they heard a crack or two of bones, but Gigi appeared to pay it little mind. The small wince that had flashed across his face did show otherwise, though… But, with the bucket firmly grasped in both of his hands, the sommelier walked inside of the empty shop and placed it inside, repeating this several more times as he brought in a few more paint buckets. His pace was relaxed and slow but also resolute, and once he had stopped for the moment, Gigi approached his paper bag filled with his day’s groceries and revealed a loaf of bread. Tearing a piece, the blonde elder soon put it into his mouth, chewing it a great deal as he always did when eating food. Ah, next to wine, food truly was one of the greatest enjoyments for Gigi. And, of course, he didn’t want to appear rude and hoard the bread for himself, so the sommelier also ripped a piece of the bread and offered it to the young woman. “Signorina…” He said, the bread still in his hand. “… Fresh from a bakery.” chew, chew chew

It really was amazing what interesting shops Gigi had managed to discover in his short time of being in the strange world that was revealed to be named “Arcadios”, and that same feeling was also felt back in Roma. Of course, there wasn’t any place that could replace his actual home…

Una Ragazza Innocente (Closed - Nanako & Gigi)

littledojima:

The girl was only happy to give someone compliments when she felt necessary, and she really had enjoyed the flower that was given to her very much so! It was nice to receive such a gesture from a complete stranger, even though Nanako had been nervous at first everything was going smoothly now! “O-oh, so it was one of those dares? The ones that come every Monday?”

A bright smile was on her face as she asked, because how she knew of those well! Some of those she received weren’t exactly Nanako-savvy but the ones that she didn’t like doing were just declined!

It was interesting with the many people Nanako had met who were from different places! So far the only people she knew that where here from Japan, or rather her home town was her daddy, big bro and his friends! Well, Souji had gone home but she knew he was always welcome at the Dojima household.

“Inaba is a small town in Japan so that’s okay you don’t know of it! Not many people do, but I love Inaba!” Even while the murders were going on, Nanako loved it all because it was her home and it made her feel safe, yes even after she was kidnapped. She tried to understand Gigi though, and even though he didn’t speak the same language as she at least they could both speak English together! “Yeah, Japan is really cultural! I-I’ve never been out of Inaba except for trips, but from what I’ve learned in school Tokyo is really bright and lively!! Oh, sake? I’m young so I can’t drink it but my daddy loves sake, and beer.. Sometimes I have to bring him a beer which I don’t mind.. But u-um wine?”

Nanako was more worried about his drinking habits but it had somewhat slowed down recently which was good for her in the Dojima household. She didn’t know if he had been drinking here much, but it was a possibility.

“Mhm! It’s a strange name, isn’t it? I was really confused when I first heard it too!” But now Arcadios was her home, so it wasn’t as strange as it had been. “O-oh that’s okay!” She added once Gigi excused himself, smiling bright. “It’s my home now, but it might be best if everyone didn’t know everything about this place!” Nanako added with a short giggle.

“I’m happy to know that you have a friend here, Gigi! It makes you feel less alone to know at least one person is here!” That’s how Nanako felt until she met with Teddie, and having Teddie here was just the best wish that the girl could have ever hoped for! After all the blonde teen was the closest thing that Nanako had to a real friend, a best friend! “It’s nice seeing someone smiling!” A smile made her happy, not matter what age they were.

After she was finished, the girl looked up and couldn’t quite pick why he was looking at her with such sympathy. Nanako was okay! Sure she had been so lonely in the past, but all of it had been put behind her thanks to her big bro! “L-lonely? Well..” She thought the question over for awhile, first shaking her head but finally she spoke answering the question she had been asked. “I-I used to be really lonely until my big bro and his friends came around! My big bro is the best! H-he’s always here for me, and I love him so much! And my daddy is always busy but I understand.. He’s always had a really important job! Plus, my best friend Teddie is here so I don’t really have any reason to be lonely anymore!

I’ve met all these nice people here too, a-and I’m fine!” Still, she was lonely whenever her father wasn’t around especially when she got lost in Junes a few weeks prior to this, and the only person who found her at first was Adachi. Nanako didn’t even know that he was here, but she was thankful he was.

“Dare…?” Gigi muttered to himself curiously, wondering what it was that Nanako spoke about and what the word meant. Something about these “dares” being given to people on Mondays? Now that he thought of it, Gigi was given the request to hand out flowers on a Monday, wasn’t he? But the sommelier decided to shrug off that thought, instead focusing on the young girl’s other comments and such. And so when Nanako had mentioned how much she loved her hometown, the elderly Italian gently nodded, but he couldn’t exactly say that he was able to directly relate to her. Growing up in two cities throughout his life, the experiences and feelings that one felt being in a small but humble town was something unknown to Gigi. “… Never been able to know what it is like being raised in a small town… Ma, it would be nice, I am sure… …”

Onto the topic about sake that he had originally brought up, Gigi did have to admit that somewhere in his mind he was tempted to chuckle at Nanako’s comment about her being unable to drink any alcohol. Nonetheless, he kept himself together and remarked about Nanako’s father. “Birra e sake… That is what men giapponese drink…?” His remark was honestly more of a mumbling to himself, but of course when Nanako had even just brought up the word “wine”, the sommelier’s words were focused on her. He nodded firmly, and pointing at himself rather shyly with a finger, explained, “Mio lavoro… My job… Sommelier. I serve wines to customers in a ristorante… Io… I enjoy it very much.” He wasn’t exactly sure of what he could say on the subject, as awkward as he already was in conversations, but Gigi gave another firm nod to himself. If he was chatting with someone older, there was a good chance that he would have gone a little deeper into the conversation, possibly suggesting a wine that he could find in Arcadios to the person!

Nanako’s following words had struck Gigi with a… confused feeling, to say the least. To be honest, hearing the young girl say that this strange and mysterious world was her new home sounded both bold and odd to Gigi. Sua… casa? The sommelier thought as he tried not to have his stares draw too much attention to himself. Questa ragazza… She has already grown quite used to this place. …Almost a little bit frightening. Oh no, Gigi wasn’t going to speak up on that topic on his behalf at all. As much as the sommelier would try to at least adjust to his new surroundings and patiently wait until there was (hopefully) an opportunity to leave, he truthfully felt that he would never be able to call this… “Arcadios” his new home. He already had a home, and that home was with half-brother and all of his co-workers at the ristorante… Ah, but that smile that Nanako had soon given while Gigi remained deep in thought had managed to lift his spirits ever so slightly, and even he smiled faintly back at the girl before his expression returned to its typical, solemn look. “…Sì. Sono sollevato… I am relieved that there is someone from my home whose company I can enjoy while remaining here. Ma… We both wish to return, back to Roma.” Both men had their reasons for wanting to return to Roma, but their reasons were all the same in the end. They only wished to return back to their families, the people they cared for, and of course their comfortable lives.

And although Gigi had apprehensively thought that he had made a rather rude comment to Nanako, he was both relieved and surprised to see the girl unfazed by his words. Corragioso… That was most definitely the correct word to use to describe her. Placing one hand in his pocket and having the other gently push up the glasses that rested on his nose, Gigi had hoped that his following words would sound more comforting that his previous remark. “Tuo fratello e tuo padre… I know they both love you very much. …Sì. E, tuoi amici, as well. …All of them care for you very much. … … Molto fortunato.” But after saying those words, Gigi had suddenly turned away from Nanako, possibly out of embarrassment. And with his legs beginning to ache from standing and searching the large garden for the flowers that he had picked, his eyes scouted for a place to sit. Once he had found a small bench several paces away, the sommelier silently walked towards it and took a seat. Without saying a word, Gigi looked back at Nanako, seemingly waiting for her to take a seat with him. It looked like he was even growing hungry, as well…

(Fonte: sommelier)

( ( C’mon Gigi, we got some replies to do! It’s just Nana-chan, Aerith, and Luciano/myself, I think. ) )

❀ Putting up Shop [Open]

that-one-flower-girl:

Setting up a stall in Polis had been a cinch, well sort of. Getting all the materials there had been a bit of hassle but she’d had some help from various people here, including her own friends. Cloud had mentioned about getting a Chocobo, but catching one without gysahl greens was near impossible. She was sure the greens would be around somewhere but by that time they could have carried everything over.

The point was her little flower stall had done surprisingly well and had been for the past few weeks but now she wanted to one up. Having an actual shop was like a dream, and thats just it, a dream. Now though she’d managed to make it possible…well almost. There she was standing in the street outside a rather quaint shop with piles of all sorts of things. Pots, boxes of different flowers, tins of paint, various tools and other bits and bobs. To say she got a few questionable looks was a bit of an understatement but none the less. The shop looked a little run down and definitely needed some TCL, it was a lot of work for one person. Cloud and Tifa had already helped her transport everything here so she didn’t want to bother them again, maybe she could hire someone?

She had a little money left over after spending it all on extra materials and everything so maybe someone would help if they knew they’d get paid at least some money? Turning around on her heels among the piles of stuff she had there were a few people that walked by. Spotting a particular individual, they looked trustworthy and could possibly hold up heavy things. Walking on over she put on her best smile as she tapped the stranger on the shoulder.

“Sorry to bother you~ but I was wondering if you were perhaps interested in earning a little extra money?” She asked, hands held closely together. “I’m trying to set up a shop but there’s an awful lot to do so I’d really appreciate the help, I’d pay you of course,” she continued hoping her offer of money would inspire some much needed help.

Since arriving in the strange world (now revealed to be called Arcadios), Gigi was able to admit that he felt quite adjusted to its surroundings in such a short amount of time. Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure as to just how long it had been since suddenly finding himself in the unknown place, but he assumed it to be at least a few weeks. Regardless, he continuously pressed forward in his silent, gentle manner and constantly reminded himself that the only option for an elderly person like him in the current situation was to simply wait for the (possible) opportunity of being able to return home. His confidence in that possibility may have appeared to slowly fade away, but the sommelier still knew somewhere in his heart and mind that the possibility just had to exist. …It had to.

The sommelier was now seen walking around the center of Arcadios, or at least that was what he assumed it to be. The strangely-familiar architecture of the buildings reminded Gigi almost too much of the remains of the ancient buildings that still stood in his city of Roma, and he couldn’t help but be struck with a feeling of homesickness every time he had chosen to take a stroll through the city. Dressing in his same suit that he would wear to his job every day back in Roma and with a small paper bag filled with a small assortment of groceries held closely to him with both hands, the elderly Italian walked in his ever-careful but graceful manner, staring straight ahead. Oh, but there was something that caught his eye and even had Gigi stop his stroll to have a better look. A young woman who looked to be quite busy was seen standing outside of a small, empty building. Around her, various paints, tools, and such lay around. But what interested Gigi the most were the boxes of flowers among the materials. “… Fiori…” He mumbled, taking one more step towards the building. 

But, just as he had taken a firm glance at the boxes of flowers, the sommelier was suddenly chatted to by the young woman. She was trying to set up a shop, was she? Gigi knew the feeling of opening a new establishment far too well (if helping his half-brother open a ristorante was the same thing…), and he sympathized with the young woman’s efforts. And he couldn’t simply let her do all of the work by herself, no no. Oh, but he still had a question to ask the young woman before helping her, and so Gigi with his taciturn behavior silently pointed to the boxes of flowers after carefully setting down the paper bag and asked, “Quei fiori… … Are those flowers for decorazione? O… Are you going to be selling them?” Oh yes, it was quite the important question for the elderly man!

( ( I’ve been re-reading Gente lately just to refresh my memory on my muses and… GOD. Gigi, Luciano, everyone… Miei bambini… My heart can only take so much at once. ) )