(Untitled)

[roulettespin]

Characters: Nero (roulettespin and anybody who wants to help put out a small grease fire?
Setting/Location: Kitchens
Date & Time: Day 2, late afternoon.
Warnings: Nero makes food.
Summary: It doesn't go so good.

Comments

horrible first impression? MAYBE

[aveclumiere]

Lightning had meant to head up the main stairs for her room but she couldn't help but stop when she smelt smoke.

Her first instinct was to find the source and extinguish it, and she already began creating escape routes if the fire got too out of hand. How ready was the caravan for that sort of accident anyway? What about all the younger passengers who might get lost, or confused during the evacuation?

She barged into the kitchen and froze when she smelt burnt eggs. What a joke, it was just some idiot who didn't know how to cook. Urgh, it smelt awful, and the smoke in the room wasn't making it any easier for her to spot the culprit. She coughed into her hand as a waft of dark smoke trailed her way and she squinted through it, barely able to make out Nero's figure beside the frying pan.

[aveclumiere]

She scoffed at his statement, looking out into the nearest window to catch a glimpse of the giant who was pulling the very caravan they were standing in.

"Might be better that way. I never liked useless chit-chat, and having him commentate on every single thing might grate on my nerves."

But still, because the giant never said much, there was no knowing what was going on inside of his head. That is, if there was anything at all in there besides the urge to pull them back home for whatever reasons.

[roulettespin]

"Just 'cause it's bigger, doesn't mean it's stupider," Nero pointed out, rubbing under his nose with his not blue hand. It was a bad habit, sure, but there was nobody here to stop him, and it always happened when he was trying to do some serious thinking.

"The way I see it, he probably sees everything going on around here. Nobody else is in a better position, except for maybe that Cid Guy. But between you and me, I think he's got a couple of screws loose."

[aveclumiere]

"...true enough."

Lightning couldn't help the annoyed puff of breath that left her lips at the mention of Cid. She had her own fair share of complaints about the guy, and the thought that he was in charge of getting them back home gave her tons of reasons to doubt his word.

"Don't get me started on him. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up taking us down the wrong direction because he's got his stupid map upside-down."

[roulettespin]

"Gotta agree with you there."

Nero snorted, shaking his head. His hand moved to the back of his neck, scratching the hair there while he frowned.

"I don't even like it when people who do know what they're doing think they can take charge. Even worse when it's somebody who's one ogre short of a moving caravan."

[aveclumiere]

She nodded, agreeing with his sentiments wholeheartedly. She didn't want to admit it but the fact that she felt almost powerless being dragged around in this caravan was one that was practically driving her up the wall. It was a small bit of condolence that she wasn't the only one seriously bothered by it.

"Right. There's not much we can do if he suddenly decides to change courses either. I can't speak for the rest of the passengers but taking something down that big isn't going to be easy work."

[roulettespin]

"What kind of a leader asks everybody else what they're supposed to do like that, anyway? Like anybody knows better than he does. Nobody has a damn clue." Nero's issues with authority ran deep, but when it came to authority that didn't know what the hell it was doing--that was way worse. There was just no forgiving it, and no accepting it, either.

"If he's from around here, then shouldn't he know about a river that big? And if he isn't from around here, then where the hell does he get off steering this thing? Not to mention... I just don't like his face."

[aveclumiere]

That comment earns a good smirk from Lightning and she doesn't bother masking it. At least Nero seems to know a rotten apple when he sees one, and it's always nice to have people who can agree on just how badly run this place is.

"Good catch. If it weren't for Diana proving his innocence and intentions to me, I'd have found him and strangled some real answers from his throat."

She leaned back on the nearest counter and continued her train of thought. He made a clear point, the fact that Cid had to resort to asking them what they thought the next course of action should be was pretty disturbing in and out of itself. Why would he consult a bunch of people who weren't even familiar with the geography?

"...tch. If anything, he might have been trying to get on our good side. Chances are, he wouldn't have listened to us no matter what the vote was. He might have made a decision already, just masquerading around as a caring, thoughtful leader aboard a caravan filled with passengers. A fake democracy, in other words."

[roulettespin]

To be honest, Nero didn't much buy this whole he's definitely telling the truth thing, but his trust was running lower than usual--one could probably say it'd hit rock bottom. He didn't have any reason to believe this Ms. Diana, or Wonder Woman, or whatever her name really was; just because other people were going along with it didn't mean he had proof. He was looking into it. For the time being, the sound of strangling Cid Amon period wasn't sounding too bad. Getting information out of him would be icing on the cake.

He flexed his fingers, staring at his hand for a moment. "Maybe he's innocent, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out he's messing with us. Messing with all of us. That, and he doesn't seem stable enough to be in charge of this thing, either. I trust that ogre more than him, at this point."

[aveclumiere]

It didn't strike her that she should have clarified by saying she had confronted Diana and experienced just for herself how trustworthy the lasso in question was, but she continued to gloss over that detail. Unless Nero expressed his distrust outright, she had no reason to reiterate.

"It's more likely to me that the two of them are in it together. Either that, or he's fooled the giant into doing what he wants somehow."

[roulettespin]

Nero wasn't complaining out loud. Not yet, at least. Wonder Woman seemed like she actually knew what she was doing--kinda like Trish, actually. Reminded him a lot of Trish, which meant Nero wasn't gonna start any problems until he needed to. For once, he was experiencing some semblance of calculation, of reason. It was just kinda strange that so many people seemed to trust her--maybe they knew her, or maybe they knew something he didn't. Hard to tell sometimes.

"Guess it'd be hard to fight one of those things outright," Nero admitted. "Tricking it to work for you's kinda smart. Don't know if Cid's that smart, though. Sure as hell doesn't act like it."