✮– That man was so blindly optimistic it hurt. His confident and showy attitude reminded him of how he had had felt when he had first joined Passione: confident there was nothing he couldn’t achieve with a bit of work and luck. Stands and thievery were both exciting, they were intoxicating like a drug, and as such, they could make you forget how dangerous the game is. Some of the novice members of the organization had lost and paid a harsh price; he had almost been one of them.
He remembered feeling unstoppable when Sweet Dreams had manifested for the first time. Meeting other users, especially some with more aggressive stands, had tragically reduced his confidence, though: he had learned having a Stand didn’t grant victory.
❝I appreciate your enthusiasm, but before taking flight, we need to make sure you won’t get burned and precipitate like Icarus. The sky is great, falling from it and hitting the ground isn’t.❞ He exhaled, then crossed his arms. ❝I hate to be the boring one, but you wouldn’t be the first man I see getting in troubles because he thought his stand was omnipotent.❞
For a moment indecision took over his facial features. Valentino had quite few points he wanted to make, mostly based on his own experience, yet he didn’t feel like talking about his past too much. It was a part of his life he wanted to forget, even if it was always tragically relevant; while he couldn’t exactly go around claiming to have been part of a criminal organization, those years had definitely shaped his personality.
❝You see,❞ he eventually began, vague as ever, ❝I used to work with people like us, and I can assure you things got ugly at times. Stands sometimes made it worse, tragically. Awesome powers or not, promise you’ll be careful, okay?❞
❝On a more optimistic note, it’s good to hear you’re not a blank slate; it’s good to hear we have something to work with. I do need more details, however. You don’t have to share why or how you began to steal, talking about your specialty would be enough… Have you ever broken into a house without attracting any attention? Stolen in public and got away with it? Pickpocketed?❞
That optimism and confidence wasn’t really anything more then a ruse, a bit of an act. If the student didn’t do that, he’d probably just get trampled by anyone who’d want to take advantage of someone with a couple of misarranged thoughts and doubts. But as the saying goes: tell yourself something long enough and you’ll believe it, or something like that.
What the other thief had shared did pierce right through the mask, almost cracking it. Of course he was aware that Stands weren’t really equal but way to rub it in... “Listen, I’m well aware that I ain’t got some omnipotent powers that’ll get me outta everythin’, chill.” In fact that was why he was so glad for this diplomatic outcome, being in the dark about the other person’s powers really put him at a disadvantage. He had a lot of utility but his offense and defense weren’t amazing... Best wipe that thought from his mind for now, unless he accidentally blurts it out under pressure.
So this wasn’t Valentino’s first time tangoing with others like them, huh? It was good that at least one of them was more experienced with this kinda business, as most of Charlie’s interactions with other users were too short to really gain any valuable insight. That and his paranoia and fear usually pushed him to get out of those situations as quickly as possible.
“Alright dad, I’ll be careful.” he spoke with a bit of a grin, putting as much sarcasm as he could into that ‘dad’. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, he was glad to have someone else looking out for him. Made him feel a bit safer. Not that he’d let his guard down just ‘cause of that though.
“Well, let’s see... I have gotten into a couple of houses without any incident and I have successfully pickpocketed a few time too. So I’d say breaking and entering is prolly my forté.” Though given his current reliance on his powers for his thievery, he wasn’t really too confident that he could always pull the pickpocketing part off.
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