Week 51: Neighbors, Season 3

"'Fuck off before I cut you' can work too, so long as you're open to self-defence. Not that I'd really recommend it, but sometime you just need someone out of the way." The door, slightly ajar, was pushed open to reveal the speaker, a masculine-looking woman with messy short hair. She was wearing a "reasonably-priced" business suit in the fashion one might at the end of a long day's work, her tie loosened and carrying her jacket underarm. "Hi. Shinobu Kisaragi. I'm guessing you're Silvia? And you're Hugo, right? Nice to meet you." She had a cheerful smile on her face as she spoke, switching between Japanese and English as naturally as if it was how the languages were supposed to be spoken. "Overheard you guys talking and thought I should come say hello. No hablo espanol, though. Mind if I come in? It'd be nice to know who I'm going to be working with. If I'm not interrupting anything between you two, that is," Shinobu added with a grin.

Hugo blinked in confusion at the Mandarin, but understood enough to realize the apparent woman before him wanted to talk. He stood at speed, offering her his seat. "Sure, yeah, sit down, vata. And you're right, I'm Hugo. Hugo Zumisimo, but my old team used to call me 'Juice'." Hugo's English was very Feddy and heavily accented, but it seemed natural to him, as well. He smiled widely and gestured to his chair. "Sit, sit. Sit! Do you not speak a language all of us understand?" With that has hand flicked in the air once, a nervous reaction, or more likely, that WF hand sign.

"You don't know Japanese or Mandarin, right? Unless Silvia here can speak English, we aren't going to be having the most lively conversation, huh?" Shinobu shrugged as she looked up at Hugo, taking the offered seat. "Not that I mind being a third wheel," she added, and then turned to Silvia for a moment. "You don't speak English, right? Sorry about this mess."

"So J, you're ex-Fed... I'm guessing you're a gun guy? I don't mean to stereotype, but statistics are what they are." It was obvious from looking at him that Hugo probably put plenty of big holes in people without a gun, but she didn't think that 'Hey, have you ever punched a man's heart out' would be the best topic for a friendly conversation.

"Erm...I'm afraid I don't," Silvia replied, trying to keep up with the conversation in a language she didn't understand. Her Japanese wasn't quite flawless anymore, but it was certainly better than her Mandarin. "And sure, come in. You're the other new Agent, right?" She paused for a moment and turned to Hugo. "She's the other new Agent, right?" Then something seemed to click in her brain and she turned back to Shinobu. "Wait...what do you mean, "interrupting anything"?"

"Yeah, yeah, this is that Shinobu lady," Hugo nodded to Silvia, before turning back to Shinobu, grinning a little. He scratched the back of his head, hand twisting just once before sinking into his afro. "Guns are a pretty good bet. I do the best weapons--heavy weapons." He laughed a little, putting his hand back down. He seemed young; grinning, a little shy, a little embarrassed, and very aware of how huge he was and how little it would take for him to crush something. "And we're just talking about Oracle and stuff. I'm mostly just glad to be employed." He laughed a little more, standing carefully to the side, avoiding stepping too close to the chair or Silvia's sleeping bag.

"Yeah, that's me. Shinobu Kisaragi, infiltration specialist. Thought I might have been ruining a moment since I couldn't tell what you two were saying. Wouldn't have made the best first impression, yes?" Shinobu replied. At this particular moment, at least, she had quite a lot of control over the conversation, and that gave her a chance to see what these two were like. "So what do you think of the place? Not the best accommodation I've stayed in personally, but as HQs go it's nice." She paused for a moment and turned to Hugo. "I get what you're saying, yeah. Before I came here, work was all pretty patchy and not really anything I wanted to be tied down to. Oracle seems pretty cool. You adjusting okay?"

"I...er...no, nothing like that," Silvia managed to stammer, although she was starting to flush slightly. She didn't think she and Hugo had been having a "moment". But then again, she wasn't exactly the best judge of these things. Besides, she'd only just met him. Sure, he seemed like a nice guy, but she'd talked to shopkeepers in the wilds more than to him. Well, over several conversations, anyway. Spanning several years. But still, she barely even knew him. All these thoughts flashed across her face for anyone with the skill to read them (Lying and Acting roll is a fail by 8 ).

"The...accommodation, yes," she managed, dragging the subject in another direction with some effort. "Yeah, it's pretty good. Well, most things would be pretty good compared to what I've been living in, but still. It seems pretty secure, if nothing else."

"Er, well, yeah, except for the Mandarin thing," Hugo smiled, only now looking over at Silvia as her face contorted. His brows rose and he kept his eyes on her for a moment, before turning to Shinobu again. "You did interrupt a Mandarin lesson. I uh.. need to start at the basics." His eyes moved back to Silvia's face. "Er, one sec.. You okay, picara? You're making faces." He looked down to Shinobu. His voice was amused and admonishing. "Are you teasin' her? You shouldn't tease her, heba. She's nice."

"What? No, I wasn't teasing her or anything," Shinobu responded while resisting the urge to grin. ((Pres+L&A success by 3)) "Some people get flustered over little things, y'know? Maybe it's because she's nice. Oh, and sorry about interrupting the lesson. Getting started on a new language can be rough."
"Oh, sorry for that, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything," Shinobu said in apology to Silvia. ((If you want to do an opposed roll to see if she realises Shinobu's totally doing it to see what she does, I passed Pres+L&A by 8.)) "By the way, he says you're nice," she added nonchalantly.

Hugo's eyes narrowed slightly at Shinobu, but he smiled and rolled a shoulder. "Maybe, maybe. And don't be too preoccupied about the lesson. I think I need lots more help." He looked at Silvia, but continued to speak in English, smiling at her. He looked slightly apologetic. "But it's my fault, not the teacher, I don't think."

"Oh, no, that's fine, not your fault," Silvia stammered in reply, apparently totally unaware that it was completely Shinobu's fault. Then she turned to Hugo. "It's fine, really," she began, before her brain caught up with the last part of what Shinobu had said and she turned to face her, blushing. "He what? I, I mean, he did? I mean...erm...why did he say that?" Then, as if realising quite how she sounded, she seemed to subconsciously withdraw backwards, as though trying to get the floor to swallow her up, which was indeed exactly what she wanted.

"I'm just an assassin, Silvia, not a mind-reader. I guess you made a good impression," Shinobu replied with a smile, trying to make Silvia feel complemented rather than just awkward. This was all pretty useful to know about her behaviour, and that would make things go much more smoothly in future. Well, maybe now some things would go a little less smoothly thanks to what she'd suggested, but that's just life. Time to change the topic, perhaps? For a moment, at least. "So is this your usual style?" she asked, indicating the arrangement of furniture and candles in the room. "Nice and simple, tidy."

"Oh, um..." Silvia glanced around the room and hesitated. "Well, I guess so, in general. I don't have much stuff to spread around. I'm used to keeping it all in a backpack," she said, apparently grateful for a chance to change the subject. Her blood was beginning to recede out of her face. Slowly. "Don't usually have the candles out. I was...um, doing some meditation when Hugo arrived."

Hugo grinned a little, seemingly content to let the two other agents talk while he looked quietly around the room. As Silvia spoke though, he narrowed his eyes on her, playfully. "Oh, I recognized my name! Saying good things, I hope." His smile widened, and his fingers went to flutter. He paused for a second, and he shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "She's being nice to you, right?"

At Hugo's words, Silvia turned back with a slight start. By now, she seemed thoroughly disoriented. "Oh...er, yes. I mean, yes. Well, kind of. I mean, it wasn't anything bad...it wasn't anything at all, really. Just that you'd come by. That's all. So nothing bad." She managed to stop herself before she dug herself even further into her verbal hole. "She's being nice, yeah. I'm just getting a bit...um...worked up. Over nothing."

"Nothing? You sure, picara? I could beat her up for you, if you want. She looks easy." Hugo grinned wider, voice obviously teasing. He seemed very gentle, despite being heart-rippingly muscular. His hands were still stuffed in his pockets, and he rocked slowly on his heels. He spoke to Shinobu, keeping his eyes on poor Silvia. "You got many siblings, linda? Younger ones? You seem like an older sibling."

"Er...no...I'm sure..." Silvia's voice was taking on a note of doubt as she registered the language that Hugo was using to refer to the other female Agent. "We were just...um...talking." Considering her current mental state, she did an admirable job of concealing exactly what they'd been talking about. She even almost managed it (Lying and Acting is a fail by 1).

"Yeah, a couple. Got a little brother and a kid sister," Shinobu replied casually. She was curious to see just where Hugo was going with this, since it could say a lot about the kind of man he was if her hunch was right. "How'd you guess?

Hugo faced Shinobu, eyes glittering. "Something you're saying is making picarita here all.. flustered, but both of you say nothing is happening." He waggled his eyebrows conspiratorially. "The only people good at that are older siblings... Like me, but especially Hector, my middle brother. I call him Heckle." The nuke smiled widely, and looked from one woman to the other. "Something tells me Silvia isn't used to it, poor pretty thing."

"Oh, really?" Shinobu responded sheepishly. "I didn't notice at all. Guess I must just be used to stuff like that happening around me, probably said something without even noticing..." ((Passed P+L&A by 3.)) She glanced over at Silvia, surprised to see the state she'd worked herself into. Well, "surprised". ((Passed P+L&A by 2.)) "Sorry if I've been saying anything that got you riled up, Silvia. I didn't mean anything by it."

"No, no, it's fine," the other woman replied, hastily. It was quite clear that she didn't blame Shinobu for anything and was scrambling to apologise for her own behaviour. "I'm just overreacting, is all." She paused for a moment. "So what have you been talking about with him?" Once again, she seemed to be trying to change the subject, and not very well at that.

"Oh, you know, stuff. He asked about my family, talked a bit about his own, he called you pretty... Just small talk, really," Shinobu replied with a shrug. "How about you? Got any siblings?"

Hugo's eyes narrowed as the two talked in Japanese, giving Shinobu a little wary glance. There was a playful little smile on his lips, however, and he continued to rock back on his heels. After a while he just watched whoever was talking, trying to listen for his name.

Silvia seemed to start to perk up slightly at Hugo's apparent compliment, but Shinobu's question quickly deflated her. "I...I used to," she said. Now her voice was shifting into sadness. "A brother. Yuki. But...they told me he died. In the tsunami." Her gaze moved towards one of the candles still burning on the floor, and her voice quietened even further. "I only found out when I got back to Japan."

Shinobu's face fell. "I'm sorry," she said, putting a hand on Silvia's shoulder in a comforting gesture, the playful tone gone from her voice. In that moment she'd forgotten the rule she'd learned while travelling around between ronin hotspots - if they don't bring up family, you don't bring up family. "Lots of people I know lost someone, or were that someone... Finding out that they hadn't even told you must have been... She shook her head. "Sorry for mentioning the subject."