So What About You?

Who: Arienne and Nico
When: After school
Where: Park near the school

It was beneath him, Nico knew that, but it was also an opportunity not to be missed - and Nico rarely missed an opportunity that didn’t come with strings attached. Still, busking in the park by the school, just as the place gave out... It wasn’t his usual style. But he could do with the cash on a short term basis, and the kids were good for spare change. Anyway, it was a nice day for the time of year, so he’d set himself up with his guitar, leaning against the park gates, hat at his feet, making eyes at the girls passing as he played things he thought they would like. He was pulling out all the stops today, and if the clatter of coin and the giggles he was getting were any proof, he was doing pretty well.

Arienne heard the music first, before she recognized her cousin. She smiled at it, as she rather appreciated music herself, and therefore was drawn in that direction. She stood back a little as she saw him, and the girls smiling as they went by, some dropping change into his hat. That was when she recognized Nico. Giving it a few moments, she waited until most of the girls had started to go past properly, then she approached. She had her hands clasped in front of her, the musical notes bracelet she always wore in view. She didn't interrupt his song, merely smiled at him, and she dropped some cash into his hat, not change.

Nico looked up as the cash fluttered into his hat, raising his eyebrows slightly as he caught his cousin’s eyes, but he didn’t stop playing. He did, however, segue smoothly into a tune he knew she liked, lifting his voice to the words with a smile playing across his face. Of all his relatives, he knew she appreciated the music most. Max might come to him for recommendations, but Arienne understood. As much as any of them could, at least.

She smiled, delighted, as he changed the song, and, after a few moments, harmonized with him. Which was actually pleasant for her. She didn't get to do much singing these days. She'd done a lot of it in France, she'd been part of the school choir and such, but here, it just lacked the artistry it required in her eyes. So, she'd forgone it and instead set her sights on city wide domination. A girl had to have her dreams.

Nico’s grin widened as she joined him, clearly thrilled at the accompaniment. It wasn’t often he got to sing with someone else - mostly these days he either had solo gigs, or a seat in a band playing back up to someone else. Usually some woman in a glitzy dress, trying not to wince as she went flat on the high notes. Such was the reality of life, but he was chasing his dreams, so it was all fine by him.

She put her concentration and effort into it, knowing she had the talent, at any rate. Plus, since she was harmonizing, not taking any lead, it was easier. It was easy for her to find her place in that song, with his voice. When it drew to a close, she noticed a lot of other students had been looking across at them, not coming over, but paying attention. "You've got fans, Nico." she told him warmly.

Nico glanced at the group, giving them a different smile to the one he was already wearing - he was a man of many smiles. The one for his ‘fans’ was meant to be encouraging, and thankful, but not too encouraging to make them think he wanted to actually talk to them. After that moment, he turned his attention back to Arienne, stooping to pick up his earnings. “Well, I work at it,” he told her, pocketing the money - though over half of it seemed to be her ‘donation’, which bugged slightly. He didn’t like charity.

"You do." she agreed. "Shall we walk? I haven't seen you in too long." she noted. She'd technically seen him at her mother's funeral, but it was more like she managed to spot him lurking in the back, and he was gone before she'd gotten to say a word to him. She'd always thought him to be interesting, with his continued defiance even if he kept the family name. She generally ditched it, going by her mother's maiden name as opposed to DiGiovanni. But when they were younger they'd sometimes sing together, they shared that love of music, at any rate. He also had an easy personality to get into conversations that she was more interested in than most of the family. All of those things on top of the fact that he didn't seem to treat her like a silly little girl with no brain in her head was all something that lent itself towards her liking him, so much as she 'liked' anyone. She liked him better than most people she was related to.

Nico shifted to swing the guitar round onto his shoulder and offered her his arm. “Let’s walk,” he agreed, his eyes dancing. He had nothing against the younger generation of his family. He would never hold them responsible for what had gone before. “I don’t think we’ve spoken for more than a few minutes since... Well, since you were a whole lot shorter,” he teased her.

She laughed at that, smiling. “We haven’t. It’s a shame.” she said, wanting to let him know with that statement that she didn’t hold the same types of opinions about him as the rest of the family. She was certain he would be of no real use to her in the future, but one never knew. There was no reason to burn a bridge, especially with a family member who didn’t fall in line like he was ‘supposed’ to. After all, she planned on obliterating the line altogether. “I see you’re still playing, and better than ever.” she complimented.

“Well, it’s pretty much what I decided to do with my life,” he pointed out, assuming that she already knew that - he would be incredibly surprised if anyone with their name didn’t. Max had never suggested that his parents had decided to entirely sweep him under the carpet. He was an embarrassment, unwelcome, but the gossip still reigned. Aunt Cordelia saw to that. “I prefer not to spend time busking in the park, but it’s good to test out new material.” Which had been what he’d been doing before she came along - running through some songs he’d written in the last few weeks. It had only been when he’d spotted Arienne that he’d switched to something that was actually recognisable.

"Do you have a regular gig I could look to attend?" Arienne asked, assuming he had something going if he was talking life dedication. She did know that's what he was doing, but she also heard a host of other things, half of which she imagined were total dramatic embellishments on behalf of certain family members. "I'd ask our own, but I've asked after you before, and my tolerance for ridiculous drama from a grown woman is thin. I swear, the way things get, it's behavior that would be a better fit on a first year high school student." she confided, smirking very faintly. "I've little patience for such unnecessary histrionics."

“At the moment, no,” Nico admitted, ruefully. “But there’ll be something coming up soon,” he said with confidence, even though there was not, in fact, anything lined up. He was always convinced that major success was just round the corner though, and nothing could shake him from that belief. “Who gave you the histrionics?” he asked her. “Mother, or Aunt Cordelia? From what your brother was telling me, I hear she got a case of the vapours when it came time to pitch in with arranging your birthday party.”

"Both?" Arienne suggested. "I tend to stop listening when it becomes clear they're making it all about them. Which is about five seconds after they start, so..." she trailed off. "And if anyone's having issues helping arrange my party, they'd best keep that to themselves. I don't have a mother anymore to take care of these things. If they're going to be like that, it'll come back to haunt them." Not from her specifically, but there would be backlash, she knew. Anyone who wasn't going to go out of their way to take care of duties she needed that her mother normally would have performed would eventually get bitchslapped in some other area of their lives, her father would see to that--when he got around to it. "You'll be attending my party, yes?" she asked, wanting to put the explicit invite out there herself. “I would like you to be there.” And it was her party, so everyone else could go jump. Plus, part of her wanted to see people squirming if she not only had him there but made a point to speak to him publicly and smile, and possibly give him a hug...

“Max has promised me an invitation, so I figure I’ll be there. Not every day you turn eighteen, right?” he asked, figuring he had the age right - he had a good memory for that kind of thing.

"I suppose." Arienne said, nodding. "So long as you're there, I'll be happy. It'll be nice to have more family there that I'm actually happy to see." she added, since it was at the very least partially true. There wasn't any harm in a little shared camaraderie.

Nico grinned, his eyebrow raising for a second as he looked across at her. “Family issues?” he asked her. He knew Arienne was headstrong - if there was ever anyone else that was going to refuse to toe the family line, he’d say she was it. Max... Max was a special case, all things considered. Yet still he stayed within the family business, even though Nico knew he had more than enough reason to tell them all where to get off.

Arienne looked hesitant, but there was a smile on her lips, one that looked like she was struggling to keep away, but in the end it 'showed through'. "Just some." she said. "Since mother died, father's been...more distant than usual." Which Nico would likely know meant 'intensely distant' because he'd never been all that warm and present a father figure to start with. Too busy with the 'family business' to bother with children. "Beyond that, they all keep wanting to push me into marriage." she sighed. "Everyone save for my brother."

Nico’s mouth twitched upwards at the last comment, enough that he forewent the other things she’d mentioned. “Well... Max did kinda try and mention he wouldn’t mind you with me earlier on,” he joked - clearly joking on that front, though not actually about the fact. Just about the situation.

Ari's jaw dropped. "I--he was kidding, yes?" she asked.

“We’re talking about Max,” Nico deadpanned. He shrugged. “Who the hell knows.”

"Well, yes, but -- we're not Walkers!" she whispered, shaking her head. "He had to have been joking." she decided.

“I’m happy to go with the theory he was joking. And I am fully aware that we’re not Walkers. Hell, you talk to a lot of people and I’m barely a DiGiovanni. Maybe they’d prefer it if I was a Walker,” he said with a wink, then really thought about that. “Of course, if I was, and I’d tried to walk away, it could have gone very differently for me.” Like ‘torture and horrible pain until he gave up’ differently.

Ari made a face. "Don't say things like that." she said. "It's not true, never happened, so let's not think about anything that awful." she said, voice still low. "And you're still a DiGiovanni. And for what it's worth, you'll always be family to me." she assured him.

“Not true, never happened? The Walker thing? As I hear, it doesn’t actually matter how you’re born, to get into that family,” he said, aware that they were now talking on rumours and supposition. Those things about ‘the business’ that they weren’t really meant to know, only he’d never been as blind as he had been meant to be, and something told him that Arienne wasn’t either.

"No, I mean it's not true and never happened that you were one of them." Ari said. "As for the family..." she glanced around then back towards Nico. "I don't know. Sometimes, you just get uneasy in that house." Her tone suggested she suspected far more than that, but she kept it low key. "And 'family' for them, I quite heavily suspect is less than biological."

Nico stopped, turning to Arienne, his face oddly serious - far from a usual look for him. “You know - if you want out... My door is always open. You just have to knock,” he told her, seriously.

Arienne blinked, and stopped walking as well, looking at him. "I--" she started. Then she smiled a touch. "Thank you." she said. "I'll keep that in mind. One never knows. Currently, I'm not even staying at the family house, honestly." She downcast her eyes, exhaling lightly.

“Really?” Nico asked. He hadn’t known that - but then again, he hardly tried to keep in touch with the family news. Anything but, really.

"After mother died, I went to live with Max." she admitted, eyes still down. "It got a little too...hectic at the house." she said, appearing to hesitate over her choice of words. "It's much better at Max's, though there's still a ton of pressure from the rest of the family."

“How do they feel about that?” Nico asked, honestly interested in the answer. As much as he claimed to not be involved with the family. As much as he purposefully didn’t follow the family gossip, there were historical facts which were entirely unavoidable. Max was one of them.

Arienne shrugged one shoulder. "They stop talking when I enter a room, and father, I'm not sure he's actually noticed all that much. Cousin Lucas seems to fear for my safety...when our house was vandalized, apparently some things were done specifically in my room."

“Like what?” Nico asked, not jumping to any conclusions, but a whole lot of this was news to him. Of course, it wasn’t news that it would be news. He’d done this on purpose - but it was easier for him to isolate himself from the kind of faceless corporation that was his family than individual people who he cared about.

"I wasn't told specifically, but people seemed to think it was quite serious." Arienne said, which was true. Her family hadn't told her the specifics. Nathaniel had told her that she was going to want to have her bed cleaned before she slept in it again, but that was all she'd truly been told. That and she knew Nathaniel had stolen a piece of jewelry, and photographs that she'd told given him hints to find in the first place.

He considered this, thinking it though. “I can see how you wouldn’t want to go back there. So - living with Max, huh? How’s that working out for you?” he asked.

"Well. He's a bit overly protective sometimes, but he's generally very sweet to me." Arienne said, which was true. She let that truth ring in her voice. "I've never treated him like everyone else does, and he doesn't treat me like a silly unintelligent child." she continued. "So, it's been working out. I've been happier there than I have been since I got home."

“Glad to hear it,” Max said, not mentioning the fact that he didn’t treat Max like everyone else either. Nor did he treat her like an silly, unintelligent child. He didn’t do that to people. As far as he was concerned, people were people and they all deserved to be treated that way. At least, until they proved they didn’t deserve to be treated that way, but that was another story.

"Thank you. You should come by soon, have dinner with us." She invited easily, knowing she'd need to tell Max in advance, but if he was saying things like they should marry, then she imagined he didn't have much of a problem with Nico. Plus, she did know Nico treated everyone with respect and didn't shun anyone.

“Sure, I’d like that,” Nico said, sincerely. His reasonings were a mix of actually wanting that, and also not wanting to turn down the decent meal for free he’d knew he’d get.

"Perfect, then." Ari said. "Saturday, perhaps?" she suggested. Friday night, assuming everyone lived through the meeting of her life companion and her brother, was taken. But the next day should be fine. She was hoping everyone came out of it still breathing.

“Maybe we should see how Friday night goes,” Nico joked. “It’s possible that, after your that party, you won’t want to speak to anyone the next day, let alone actually have guests over.”

She laughed. “Oh, you’re not a ‘guest’. You’re family.” she insisted warmly. “So don’t be silly. I’ll be just fine.” If I’m alive. she imagined the night would be very much cut and dried like that. Either she’d walk out perfectly healthy and the picture of health, or she’d be dead.

He chuckled. “Let me ask you a question, cousin. Have you ever been truly drunk?” Somehow, he doubted it. He couldn’t imagine it, for all that she may be less willing to completely toe the family line than most. He didn’t see her as an all out rebel. It didn’t seem to be her style. She was quieter, more subdued than that.

Blushing slightly, Arienne smiled and shook her head. “No.” she answered. “It’s not really come up.” Which was true, actually. And drinking was treated differently in France than it was in America, so while she’d definitely had alcohol, it hadn’t been to excess. “Which isn’t to say I won’t ever be, just it hasn’t seemed the time as of yet.”

He grinned, throwing an arm round her shoulder. “Then one day, dear cousin, when we’re at some deadly dull social function. I will take you under my wing and teach you the ways of drinking. Consider it a rite of passage. Or just letting go for a while. And then, the next day, you can learn about the hangover - and with that you can remind yourself that nothing good comes without a price.”

Arienne laughed. “I’ll consider that a set engagement.” she told him. “I’m open to you teaching me the things no one else is going to.” What with her being a ‘lady’ and all. If only people knew. But she’d play up any aspect of her personality that worked, and in this case, it was more her naivety.

“Some of them,” Nico agreed, his eyes sparkling. After all, they’d had that conversation already today. “But, I’m happy to be your educator. At least you know you’ll get an unbiased opinion,” he added with a wink.

“Which I will value.” Arienne said firmly. She gave Nico a light little half hug, then kept walking. “Now, what are we going to do with the rest of the day?” she asked him. “Shall we get something to eat?”

Nico bit back the question about whether she was buying. It would be impolite - and anyway, given her contribution to today’s haul, he’d be able to cover it. Even if he couldn’t, he refused to be known as someone who couldn’t cover his own way - even if it was true. He never had enough money to go round, because he managed to spend it far too easily. “Food sounds like a solid idea - I know this great place not far from here,” he suggested to her.

“Lead the way.” Arienne said, happy to let him choose. After all, he probably needed to find places that were slightly cheaper than ones she may frequent. All in all, she didn’t mind. She was much less likely to be seen and later chastised by family members if spotted with him this way, after all. Though even if she was, she always liked a good argument with her elders.