kowase | IC INBOX

[ Wolfwood will follow after Vergil with little hesitation--in the back of his mind, he's still fairly sure the man would take him out at the knees, given a third of a chance, but he's made a business out of living next to dangerous things as if it was just... part of life.

smack the alligator on the nose for hissing and move on, so to speak.

he watches Vergil wrap his books for a moment, and then moves to mimic his motions, craning his neck to see just how papered the book is getting before it's suitable to but it in the box as Vergil also cuts to the quick. ]

Yeah, but I can talk and use my hands at the same time. I don't think about much, but I can pull that off fairly easily.

[ it's a little bit deadpan as he feels Vergil appraising him, continuing to wrap the book in his hands in the special moving paper. ]

Yeah, you can take off however much time you need, it's no skin off my nose, an' normally it wouldn't be a problem since we've got most of the shit we need at the cottage, but.

[ he runs his tongue over his teeth inside his lips, apparently hearing the word layoff and letting it go in the same instant to be free with whatever the hell it meant. ]

It's kind of a bad time for me not to have work that brings in money, so I was wonderin' if you could pay me in advance an' I could work the next however many jobs you can float me for free to make up for it when you get going again.

[ ... the point. Wolfwood's gotten to it. he continues to wrap a second book in paper. ]

[ he does appreciate the help. sitting in his office, alone, wrapping books and listening to some tired audiobook droning in a different language from some tablet on his desk.

he allows it to keep playing as Wolfwood joins him, and the noise from another being is more effective on helping him run from his own thoughts better than some audibook explanaining American History could. ]

It is in your contract.
That if you are to take time off work due to fault away from your own, you are entitled to a smaller, but liveable wage until such time where you can retun to your usual duties.

[ in short, you'll be getting paid still, wolfwood. but he turns to face him anyway, putting down another book. ]

Are you in some sort of troubole.
If it can be fought, I am cetain I could aid you. [ if he can apply sword-- ]

[ you don't even have to know what a Pinkerton is with Wolfwood. he blinks over at Vergil when the man reveals some mysterious clause in his contract that meant he was still getting paid, staring at the man as if he'd grown a second head. ]

Wait, you meant all that nonsense?

[ because certainly, he'd read it, but he hadn't... believed it. on No Man's Land people made contracts and broke them just as quick if they thought they could get away with it, and who could stop them, really? especially if they were someone with money or power--things Vergil has and Wolfwood could try to have, but it'd probably end up with him in trouble. ]

An' like. It's a good trouble to have? We took Evie in, right, with all the assholes running wild in the city, but Vash--red-coat moron--an' I noticed that she's... alone. In her apartment. I think somebody from the magical weirdo network checks up on her, but she's by herself an' she's just a kid.

[ ... even Nico had been up to his neck in other children, until everything happened. ]

So we were trying to figure out buildin' more rooms so she could come stay with us whenever she wanted, 'cause there's only the two beds at the cottage and she's a little girl, you can't make little girls sleep next to old men they ain't blood with, even if it's like, good people like Libra an' harmless dumbasses like Vash, and figurin' out stone walls is stupid-ass complicated, but then Vash met your weird naked friend and his magic teapot...

[ take a breath sometimes, Wolfwood. ]

[ listen, when the closest thing you had to an actual Dad figure in your life was a God of Contracts, you kept to your word, even if you made said word with someone who had no idea what a labor board was. ]

Of course I meant it. I would not sign my name to anything without being serious about the contents.

[ an antiquinarian never bought or sold fake or replicated goods.

he listens to the other, though, even up to the point where he starts to overexplain himself--and that's where Vergil reaches out to poke the man's shoulder.

as if to make him realise he's going off into a rant, like he needs to explain himself overmuch.

He's already said a few words that were enough. ]

You have a magic teapot like Gil does.
And you are using it to live in, and invite someone who deserves a kinder home than the one they have.

If I am to hazard a guess...

You need money for furniture for her inside that teapot.

Yes?

Everybody says somethin' like that 'til payment comes due, then they try to see what they can get away with.

[ what your Goddaddy thought and what the labor board thought didn't matter if you were paying someone below the table enough--and in a world where there wasn't a god of contracts, or a labor board, or much of anything except might makes right and every man for himself.

Wolfwood continues to look baffled for a moment, and then it turns to full a startle when Vergil pokes him, and he--pouts? at being interrupted? taking a breath and giving a nod because Vergil's got him dead to rights on what and where he was thinking, wrapping another book. ]

Furniture's expensive. I already don't pull weight at the cottage so makin' Vash and Libra do all the extra work to set us up is... tch. One of the scummier things I've done lately.

[ Kni's words still get him, sometimes, burrowing into his brain and making his thoughts spin. for a man who's used to shouldering everything, being told you barely do anything really, er. sends you for a mental spin. ]

So I'm fine with workin' for free later.

I am not so desperate for repayment or money that I would deny you an early payday.

Tell me, Nicholas, do you plan on leaving Dante's side anytime soon? The city? Go to a place where I am unable to find you?

[ he knows furniture isn't cheap--which is why he isn't just going to give Nicholas some cash and get him to fend for himself. He's going to reach into his pocket--pulling out a fine leather wallet, and from it he produces a silver card.

He hands it to Wolfwood. ]

Go buy what you need. I am sure you will not buy so much to put me in a poorhouse. You have more sense than that.

I will garnish your wages weekly, so that you will pay back how much you used--but without denying you a proper payday when it is due.

Does this sound agreeable.
You will be working for less, overall, but your needs will be taken care of.

It ain't about desperation. Poor folks usually wanna make sure square is square--but rich folks don't get rich by throwin' their money around easy.

[ he looks mildly taken aback at the mild interrogation, blinking at Vergil as he asks where Wolfwood plans to be--and he thinks about it for a moment, scratching his cheek. ]

I mean. I don't plan to go anywhere, but shit outside of my control could always happen. There's a risk to be taken in that.

[ he blinks at the little silver card as it's handed to him, looking down at it, and then back up at Vergil as if staring at him is gonna make anything make sense. ]

Do I just. Let them take this? What is it? It doesn't look like... money.

[ and then Vergil lays out his terms and Wolfwood... nods, a little, continuing to give Vergil a bit of a Look--as if he wasn't expecting things to go this well, as if he had more groveling to do before he got what he wanted. ]

I mean. Sounds good to me, but are you sure? You don't benefit from it at all.

I do not like other rich people. [ a pause. ] I like two other rich people, but those people are just as strange as myself, where we do not hoard our money like greedy dragons and care entirely and only about profit and bettering noone but ourselves.

I was born into money, and I know the worth of it. And how to make more, easily. That does not mean I am a dragon sitting upon a hoard, only willing to collect more until I turn to dust and die; leaving it to noone.

[ he pushes the card forward again as Nicholas just stares down at it. ]

You are from a backwater desert planet, yes?

I would assume you do not have this sort of thing, there.
This is a credit card. You present it instead of money, and it will charge however much money the items you are buying to my account where my money is stored.

It saves us from carrying around hundreds or thousands of dollars when wanting to make a purchase.

[ he doesn't... think he gets it, that Vergil is so comfortable with who and what he is in life that he's unafraid to be without, to not save every resource just in case it came up precious, and that's probably the biggest difference between someone who's willing to put himself into a sort of indentured servitude situation and someone who has a company credit card to bandy about.

he grips the piece of plastic in his hand, staring down at it as if it's a joke--and again, Wolfwood doesn't have much in the way of pride, so if he goes to the store and they tell him he's nuts for thinking he can use plastic to get goods, it'll just be something he brings back around on Vergil's head. ]

Yeah. Everything's payment up front. Maybe a plan if someone has a good sense of where you'll be until you're paid in full, or if they've got something on you to keep you in line.

[ he doesn't know what a dragon is, but if it's not Vergil, then... he blows out a puff of breath, squeezing the card as he takes it in hand, bowing his head a little. ]

Thanks, boss. For everything.

Dystopia. It really sounds like a version of--what's that insane film about the desert and the cars...

...Mad Maxx?

I am terrible with modern films. Anyway, things don't work like that, here. So long as the card has room to charge for items on it, it can be used. I assure you a few pieces of furniture for your family is not going to put me out so much that the card will not work.

[ ...he casts a glance to wolfwood as he.... bows. Giving a little shrug with a hand. ]

...I owe you a deep debt of gratitude. This is not by any means 'paying you off' for coming to rescue me.
However, I can show thanks, and trust in you that you earned.

Go, get what you need.

Bring me my card back later.

[ Wolfwood stays politely quiet because he has no idea what a film or a Mad Maxx is, though he thinks he might've run one of the small bandit clans back in the day. thankfully, his sunglasses provide him with some measure of anonymity as Vergil explains credit cards and charge limits and he... really means this.

shrugging like a little slice of (nigh unlimited) buying power doesn't mean the world to Wolfwood. ]

... You would never have to pay me, for what happened.

[ he finally decides on, slowly. ]

I've given up every principle I've ever had on the off chance that one day, there'll be no more proverbial devils left to hunt and I'll be the last one that needs dispatching. I was always gonna come for the people that were taken, even if the kids hadn't been there, even if Dante wasn't somebody I cared about.

It's the last thing I've got to mark me as human, how much I care about giving people a better chance. [ he wants a cigarette he wants a cigarette he wants a-- ] And like I told Uncle Scruffy. You take care of the people you love.

You ain't gotta like 'em much, but you gotta remember to care for them.

Anyway. Thank you again. I'll be by once we've got some things hammered out, or if you need anything, you know where I am.

[ he gives a little half wave, and starts to move, slow, as if to give Vergil one last shot to say 'on second thought'-- ]

[ and no 'on second thought' comes. he watches the other as he moves to head out, waving his hand over his head.

He frowns a little, as he almost recognises the slow gait, as if the other is waiting for a shoe drop, but he just shakes his head. ]

...Those are profound words I never expected to hear from you. But I will commend you on them.

They are a sentiment that took me thirty-plus years to understand myself.

Perhaps you are not such a young, brazen pup after all.

Good evening, Nicholas.

IC INBOX - kaisou

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