concoursec | (no subject)

"Not long" was exactly the case. In fact, Espio was still in the process of moving in - granted, this was largely because he'd spread out his stuff so much in A205 that it was slow work clearing up. Especially since he had taken to reading every sheet of notes he came across.

And so, with yet another armful of stuff he came wandering into the room, piling it onto his bed.

"Hm?"

He was pretty sure that sound of crumpling paper wasn't part of the small pile. Frowning, Espio moved the textbooks and discarded jacket aside, to find a... drawing of himself. A surprisingly good drawing of himself, too!

He glanced at the wall dividing his and Tobias' rooms, figuring it must be from the kid. It was an odd gift, and Espio was inclined to call it childish if not for the quality of the drawing. It was also a little disconcerting for it to be a drawing of him... but oh well. It was still a gift.

As he attempted to repair the accidental crumpling, straightening the paper out on the bedside table, he called out to Tobias. "Didn't know you could draw so well!"

The boy perked at the yell from the other room, looking at the wall and blinking as if he could see through it to his roommate on the other side. He paused for a bit, then put the book that he had been sifting through aside, sliding off the bed and going to peek into Espio's room.

"...I practiced a lot."

Espio glanced back at him, with a grin. "I can tell - it paid off! Thanks, kid. I'll find somewhere safe to put it. ...somewhere."

He gestured towards the pile of junk on his bed. And on the shelves, and on the floor. With Espio currently being considerate enough to confine his mess to his own room, it already looked as though a bomb had hit it. A 'safe place' wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"I'll clean up later."

Tobias's face brightened up, looking ecstatic that Espio's so cheerful about the gift. The boy shifted into the room a bit more, dressed casually today -- only a simple pair of pants, which showed the hints that years of malnourishment had left on his body, the ones which hadn't yet disappeared from time here.

"You're welcome. I can't really do a lot, but I do drawing really good."

Well, at least it made the kid happy. Espio tucked the drawing into the back of a textbook for safekeeping, before turning to face the skinny boy properly. He was going to say something of the lines of 'but giving someone a picture of themselves is kinda creepy' but thought better of it.

"You can do more than you think, if you put the effort in," he said instead.

Tobias, Espio noted, was far too skinny. He had noticed it before, but it was extremely obvious without a shirt on. Espio figured that he probably wasn't too great at some of the more physical classes.

"Don't you have a class you're really good at, at all? I was good at rock climbing." Mostly because he could stick to the wall, but Tobias didn't need to know that.

"Not really. I can't dance or read or write really well, and I don't understand what a lot of the teachers are saying, so I don't do really good in any of the classes...."

Which was generally why he had to ask Marco or Grell for help with almost everything he was given to do. Not to say he wasn't getting better, but well... it was obvious the boy didn't have any confidence in himself there, either.

"I can just run really fast and draw really good."

"At some point, you couldn't do those, either," Espio remarked, picking up some of the books and - shock, horror! - putting them on the shelf. He seemed to think about something for a moment, before nodding. "From the look of you, I'd say you should put self-defense and military movement on the priority list."

He shook his head rather hard, the look on his face setting into stubbornness again.

"I don't like fighting, and don't want to."

Really, he was in self defense entirely because Marco had made him; even in that class, he was still doing terribly.

"I'm still fine with getting hurt. I just like learning magic."

"And I said that if you can't defend yourself, I'm stuck doing the defending for you!" Espio responded, making out that this was some enormous chore. "What happens then? I get hurt? Your other friends get hurt?

"Self-defense isn't really about fighting, anyway. It's to protect yourself - evasion, blocking, and the rest. It'll help you protect yourself, and knowing how can help stop you panicking when you're in a tight spot!"

That... that caused Tobias to stop for a minute, looking down and thinking. Someone getting hurt... because of him? He hadn't ever really thought about that before, and he didn't like that idea, not at all. But even if he didn't know why Marco, at least, wanted to protect him (and anyone else Tobias seemed to be making friends with that would), Marco had already made it clear that he wouldn't just let it happen. Was that why...?

"...Oh." That was the only reply Espio was getting.

'Oh?' Was that it? Just 'oh'? Espio frowned, but then shrugged. It seemed that he was at least thinking about it. "So keep that in mind! Keep yourself safe."

"I... I guess so."

Amazement of amazements, Espio had actually gotten through to Tobias with logic. Such a rare achievement should be made a holiday of or something.

"I just... don't like doing anything because I always hurt people whenever I did."

Espio shook his head. He knew what Tobias meant, and could perfectly understand where he was coming from, but... "Sometimes, you have to hurt people. Fighting is my life, but it's not because I like hurting people - it's because if I don't take out the bad guys, more people will get hurt! Do you see?"

He waved a hand, dismissively. "Of course, you can always specialise in support magic and whatever, but you at least should know how to protect yourself in worst-case scenario."

Marco hesitantly knocked on the open door to the dorm room. "I hope I'm not interrupting." His face was a mask as usual, but he'd been pacing about the dorms, hesitant to truly check in on the kid again in case he was smothering him. Even if Tobias did seem relieved by the attention. "Espio," he nodded his head around Toby. Having caught at least the tail end of the conversation he could only agree with the chameleon.

He swallowed his shock at seeing Toby's back, frowning briefly only to instantly cover it, some of the earlier conversation he'd had with Tobias making more sense now. "O-oi," he hesitated, looking up and down the mass of scarred welts. It was the exact opposite of his father's back. Whitebeard had been scarred everywhere except his back. "Do those hurt any?" unlike with Sokka, Marco was hesitant to drag Toby to the nurses' given the kid's commonly scared reaction.

Edited 2010-09-12 21:59 (UTC)

"I..."

Tobias silenced at the hand wave, looking at Espio confusedly as he talked a bit more. It was true; once he had figured out what each class was about and what certain spells did, roughly, he had immediately latched onto the support types.

Any reply he would've managed to come up with, however, was forgotten at the familiar voice from the front of the room, Tobias looking back and brightening up immediately at seeing Marco. The boy was, as per usual, soon over and hugging his surrogate father tightly. He blinked a little, looking up curiously at Marco.

"Do what hurt?"

"Hey," Espio said, offering Marco a casual wave of the hand in greeting. He was about to complain about being interrupted, when Tobias decided that hugs were in order and he changed his mind - he'd said what he needed to say anyway.

However, upon seeing the scarring, Espio seemed to flinch. What a mess! He knew that Tobias was used to getting hurt, but geez. That much in one place? "Uh... I think he means your back, Tobias." Espio hadn't yet switched to calling him simply 'Toby', it seemed.

"Yeah, I do," Marco nodded, still reassured that Espio seemed to looking out for the kid as well. The pirate sighed and dragged a palm down his face. "Look this is why you have to at least learn to dodge. Or move out of the way. Don't just roll over and let them do whatever they want to you."

"Oh."

There was a pause, Tobias shaking his head a little and releasing Marco, looking back down at the ground.

"It doesn't hurt, and I still don't mind it..."

Another pause.

"...but... I can try to learn how..."

A small sigh that may have been of relief, and Espio perched himself on the one part of his bed that wasn't covered in junk.

"'Try to learn'?" he repeated, balling a fist and grinning. "Just try? Hah! Kid, you've got me on your side. I'll drag you straight past trying and into actually getting there."

He glanced again at Marco, before making a half-hearted gesture in his direction. "And I suppose this guy could be useful, too."

Marco grinned, thoroughly pleased that Espio seemed to be saying exactly the same things he'd already told Toby himself. "Just a little bit, eh," he deadpanned. "Even if you still want to focus on healing and things, at least learn enough that no one has to get hurt trying to keep you safe, eh?" he ruffled Toby's head again.

"Yeah," Espio agreed, looking to the side. "I mean, take Mighty - the amount of times I get hurt saving that idiot is ridiculous!"

Which was funny, really, considering how many times Mighty needed to bail Espio out. Really, the chameleon was just as bad for throwing himself in harm's way.

With both of them urging it, Tobias wasn't exactly inclined to argue against it, much as he might've wanted to. Sometimes, actual logic could be his worst enemy.

"...Okay. I'll learn how."

"Then that's that sorted!" Espio said, with a stretch. "Slack off, and you face some personal one-on-one training."

He looked to Marco, who - though Espio had always found him friendly enough - seemed to be more of a nice guy than his original estimation. He briefly considered apologising for the earlier misunderstanding, but quickly tossed that idea out of the window - it probably went without saying. "Assuming your 'Dad' here won't threaten to beat me up for it."

Marco shrugged. So long as Toby learned to defend himself in the long run, Marco was happy with it. Still, he coolly arched an eyebrow and smirked slightly, in a gesture most people on the Grand Line had learned to be terrified of. "Nope, but go too far and you'll find out just how far I can kick you, got it?"

Espio's initial response was to take it as a direct threat, make a fist and snap "just try it!"

Upon realising otherwise, however, he quickly backtracked and raised his hands in mock surrender. "But yes, sir. And..." now looking directly at Marco, "I'll want a word in a minute, you. Nothing big."

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ooc: lalala edit, CC totally gets spatial relations

We love you anyway CC.

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