Alberto "oh no" Scorfano (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prontissimo) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kaisou2022-03-01 06:14 pm
prontissimo) wrote in kaisou2022-03-01 06:14 pm
action + text; open
WHO: Alberto e tu!
WHERE: Around town + network
WHEN: 1 March
WHAT: debut of a very smad Alberto "oh no" Scorfano...
WARNINGS: none. preteen abandonment issues?
🌊 a. arrival
[ A nightmare. That's surely what's happening. It's taken Alberto hours to come to that conclusion, but that's the only sensible explanation, and Alberto's not typically the type to err on the side of sensibility. He's dreaming that he's on his island again.
And again.
And again...
Every turn he takes, no matter if he leaps off the cliff, dives into the ocean, slips into the sea from the smooth-pebbled beach, or just runs around aimlessly... it lands him in the center of the wilderness of his small, uninhabited island — a place he's called home most of his short life, regardless of how much weight the word "home" carries, for better or worse. He's tried desperately to return to his new home with his boss at the pescheria, Massimo, in Portorosso, but even though the human town is just a couple miles off shore from his own private island... it's ever farther away, with every attempt to escape. He's trapped. Again. He's alone. Again...
And that's the real kicker. No one's gonna come save him from this labyrinth. No one can get in. He's not sure he can get out. This is just... his life now. Just like it was before. After hours of futile attempts to swim away, he's inevitably spat out by the sea, left ashore alone and angry. So after hours of wandering in what should be a perfectly familiar expanse of nature and nothingness that he typically knows like the back of his hand, but now has strange new paths he's not sure how to navigate, he keeps finding himself lost, arriving back in the same spot, or somewhere new, maybe leaping from one side of the tiny island to another with a single turn... Even for someone a bit saner than this strange child, it'd drive a person mad.
So after a full day spent this way, he can tell the sky is growing dark, bizarre as it is that it's still red and cloudless and alight in a way he's never seen. Surely, he must be dreaming. Can there be another explanation? So, the most reluctantly he's ever done anything... he retires to his tower. It's destroyed. Just like he'd last seen it, after quitting the triathlon, betraying Luca, Luca betraying him... after Alberto ruining everything... but before he fixed it. The last thing he wants to do is string up the hammock in his dilapidated lighthouse again, but for all his confusion, despair, panic— what else can he do?
Maybe if he's dreaming this nightmare, the way to get out of it is to undream it, if he goes to sleep while he's asleep... Big brain stuff, eh?
But not. Like, at all. He can't sleep but for a few minutes at a time, after such a distressing day. And that awful voice in the back of his mind tells him this is how it's supposed to be, as "Bruno" steals the sleep from him...
You're supposed to be alone.
It was too good to be true.
Massimo's better off without you.
This is your life, Alberto...
Alone. Da solo. Solitario.
...So deal with it. Even if he never recognized that he was actually in a maze, the mental effects absolutely felt like one. After a few hours of his Bruno off-and-on whispering dark thoughts to him, he decided sleep would not help. Maybe stars would, though. At the very least... looking at the stars makes him think of Luca now. And bittersweet as it is, that's a helluva lot better than whatever Bruno had to say.
So, just as dawn is breaking in this weird red, cracked sky, Alberto ascends his staircase to reach the top of his lighthouse, ready to start a fire and spend yet another sleepless night by himself, hoping to catch the last cascade of stars across the changing sky before they disappear to light, dreaming, escaping, silencing his Bruno...
But instead finds himself—
somewhere else?
A city.
A big city.
He made it out of his labyrinth alone. He could only make it out of his labyrinth alone — that's the real challenge for a child who's spent a bulk of the past fourteen years in some kind of solitude, plus the past two years in absolute total isolation. There's nothing Alberto prizes more than a sense of capability... and whether or not he should believe his father, he does, and still firmly believes he's old enough to take care of himself.
But finding himself in the city of Kaisou, his only experience of a human town being a small fishing village on the Italian Riviera in the 1960s...? Well, this throws him entirely for a loop.
He barely skims the instruction manual for his cell phone, doesn't even make it past the first few pages, and, uh, fucking wings the rest of it. Like he always does with anything in life.
But he's definitely not dressed for this weather, walking around in a tank top and shorts, barefoot in the snow... The latter is the most problematic. So his first priority is to take shelter. He can't afford getting wet when he doesn't know where the hell he is... or what these humans here are like. The townspeople in Portorosso were hard enough to win over... and he has the scars to prove it. He's not taking any chances. Find him in town immediately after escaping his labyrinth, feeling some kind of way, stewing by himself, wandering very obviously hopelessly. Dai, Alberto, forza... ]
☕ b. buona fortuna e buon caffè;
[ His whole labyrinth experience has left him particularly grumpy, to put it lightly. There are some unseen sides to Alberto, behind the exaggerated but genuine charisma and whimsy, and the city of Kaisou has the unfortunate privilege of first meeting secret-smad Alberto. Bruno got the better of him in that labyrinth, and that pestering voice hasn't quite let up yet.
Find the child in a convenience store, the first place he finds, arguing loudly with the attendant at the counter. ]
I— told— you! I'll pay you back, okay?! I just want espresso! Es-pres-so!
[ The attendant retorts hotly, "Kid, I know what espresso is, but we don't sell espresso, and even if we did, you need money!" But Alberto just groans exasperatedly, dragging his hands down his face with some theatrics. He's... clearly having a rough time of it. Help a kid out? Or... not? He's gotta learn how the world works, after all. He was a big fish in a small pond, and now he's a little fish in a big sea... He doesn't even know what "North America" is, man. Kid was educated by a single narcissist with very weak commitment to his only son's betterment, even at the basic level. Alberto's wit is owed to his own merit. Kid still writes his Ǝ's backwards, though. The fuck does he know about the world? He ain't even got shoes... and winter here is quite unlike winter in Liguria. Just to see the child is disconcerting, let alone tune into the increasingly aggressive public problem he's instigating. ]
🛵 c. text; un: signorvespa
ciao a tutti
dont know how this Everrything Machine works
BUT
looking for massimo marcovaldo
bushy mustacehe and eyebrows
one arm
probly the biggest human ever?
mean cat macchiavelli
also has a mustache
but a cat mustache!
also looking for luca paguro
short with brownhair round face big brown eyes fishface
NICE GUY
and i guess giulia marcovaldo
red curly hair wtih lots to say HA
anyone seen thees people? and/or cat???
ciao
alberto scorfano
[ He attaches a couple photos of photos: he received a color photograph of Massimo, Machiavelli, and himself, as well as a black-and-white photograph of Luca, Giulia and her mamma. For someone who's scarcely used even his own 1960's technology... Alberto's getting the hang of the cell phone pretty quick. Even if he's... determinedly calling it an "Everything Machine." Education and intelligence have little to do with each other, at the end of the day, okay. ]
WHERE: Around town + network
WHEN: 1 March
WHAT: debut of a very smad Alberto "oh no" Scorfano...
WARNINGS: none. preteen abandonment issues?
🌊 a. arrival
[ A nightmare. That's surely what's happening. It's taken Alberto hours to come to that conclusion, but that's the only sensible explanation, and Alberto's not typically the type to err on the side of sensibility. He's dreaming that he's on his island again.
And again.
And again...
Every turn he takes, no matter if he leaps off the cliff, dives into the ocean, slips into the sea from the smooth-pebbled beach, or just runs around aimlessly... it lands him in the center of the wilderness of his small, uninhabited island — a place he's called home most of his short life, regardless of how much weight the word "home" carries, for better or worse. He's tried desperately to return to his new home with his boss at the pescheria, Massimo, in Portorosso, but even though the human town is just a couple miles off shore from his own private island... it's ever farther away, with every attempt to escape. He's trapped. Again. He's alone. Again...
And that's the real kicker. No one's gonna come save him from this labyrinth. No one can get in. He's not sure he can get out. This is just... his life now. Just like it was before. After hours of futile attempts to swim away, he's inevitably spat out by the sea, left ashore alone and angry. So after hours of wandering in what should be a perfectly familiar expanse of nature and nothingness that he typically knows like the back of his hand, but now has strange new paths he's not sure how to navigate, he keeps finding himself lost, arriving back in the same spot, or somewhere new, maybe leaping from one side of the tiny island to another with a single turn... Even for someone a bit saner than this strange child, it'd drive a person mad.
So after a full day spent this way, he can tell the sky is growing dark, bizarre as it is that it's still red and cloudless and alight in a way he's never seen. Surely, he must be dreaming. Can there be another explanation? So, the most reluctantly he's ever done anything... he retires to his tower. It's destroyed. Just like he'd last seen it, after quitting the triathlon, betraying Luca, Luca betraying him... after Alberto ruining everything... but before he fixed it. The last thing he wants to do is string up the hammock in his dilapidated lighthouse again, but for all his confusion, despair, panic— what else can he do?
Maybe if he's dreaming this nightmare, the way to get out of it is to undream it, if he goes to sleep while he's asleep... Big brain stuff, eh?
But not. Like, at all. He can't sleep but for a few minutes at a time, after such a distressing day. And that awful voice in the back of his mind tells him this is how it's supposed to be, as "Bruno" steals the sleep from him...
You're supposed to be alone.
It was too good to be true.
Massimo's better off without you.
This is your life, Alberto...
Alone. Da solo. Solitario.
...So deal with it. Even if he never recognized that he was actually in a maze, the mental effects absolutely felt like one. After a few hours of his Bruno off-and-on whispering dark thoughts to him, he decided sleep would not help. Maybe stars would, though. At the very least... looking at the stars makes him think of Luca now. And bittersweet as it is, that's a helluva lot better than whatever Bruno had to say.
So, just as dawn is breaking in this weird red, cracked sky, Alberto ascends his staircase to reach the top of his lighthouse, ready to start a fire and spend yet another sleepless night by himself, hoping to catch the last cascade of stars across the changing sky before they disappear to light, dreaming, escaping, silencing his Bruno...
But instead finds himself—
somewhere else?
A city.
A big city.
He made it out of his labyrinth alone. He could only make it out of his labyrinth alone — that's the real challenge for a child who's spent a bulk of the past fourteen years in some kind of solitude, plus the past two years in absolute total isolation. There's nothing Alberto prizes more than a sense of capability... and whether or not he should believe his father, he does, and still firmly believes he's old enough to take care of himself.
But finding himself in the city of Kaisou, his only experience of a human town being a small fishing village on the Italian Riviera in the 1960s...? Well, this throws him entirely for a loop.
He barely skims the instruction manual for his cell phone, doesn't even make it past the first few pages, and, uh, fucking wings the rest of it. Like he always does with anything in life.
But he's definitely not dressed for this weather, walking around in a tank top and shorts, barefoot in the snow... The latter is the most problematic. So his first priority is to take shelter. He can't afford getting wet when he doesn't know where the hell he is... or what these humans here are like. The townspeople in Portorosso were hard enough to win over... and he has the scars to prove it. He's not taking any chances. Find him in town immediately after escaping his labyrinth, feeling some kind of way, stewing by himself, wandering very obviously hopelessly. Dai, Alberto, forza... ]
☕ b. buona fortuna e buon caffè;
[ His whole labyrinth experience has left him particularly grumpy, to put it lightly. There are some unseen sides to Alberto, behind the exaggerated but genuine charisma and whimsy, and the city of Kaisou has the unfortunate privilege of first meeting secret-smad Alberto. Bruno got the better of him in that labyrinth, and that pestering voice hasn't quite let up yet.
Find the child in a convenience store, the first place he finds, arguing loudly with the attendant at the counter. ]
I— told— you! I'll pay you back, okay?! I just want espresso! Es-pres-so!
[ The attendant retorts hotly, "Kid, I know what espresso is, but we don't sell espresso, and even if we did, you need money!" But Alberto just groans exasperatedly, dragging his hands down his face with some theatrics. He's... clearly having a rough time of it. Help a kid out? Or... not? He's gotta learn how the world works, after all. He was a big fish in a small pond, and now he's a little fish in a big sea... He doesn't even know what "North America" is, man. Kid was educated by a single narcissist with very weak commitment to his only son's betterment, even at the basic level. Alberto's wit is owed to his own merit. Kid still writes his Ǝ's backwards, though. The fuck does he know about the world? He ain't even got shoes... and winter here is quite unlike winter in Liguria. Just to see the child is disconcerting, let alone tune into the increasingly aggressive public problem he's instigating. ]
🛵 c. text; un: signorvespa
ciao a tutti
dont know how this Everrything Machine works
BUT
looking for massimo marcovaldo
bushy mustacehe and eyebrows
one arm
probly the biggest human ever?
mean cat macchiavelli
also has a mustache
but a cat mustache!
also looking for luca paguro
short with brownhair round face big brown eyes fishface
NICE GUY
and i guess giulia marcovaldo
red curly hair wtih lots to say HA
anyone seen thees people? and/or cat???
ciao
alberto scorfano
[ He attaches a couple photos of photos: he received a color photograph of Massimo, Machiavelli, and himself, as well as a black-and-white photograph of Luca, Giulia and her mamma. For someone who's scarcely used even his own 1960's technology... Alberto's getting the hang of the cell phone pretty quick. Even if he's... determinedly calling it an "Everything Machine." Education and intelligence have little to do with each other, at the end of the day, okay. ]
no subject
Yeah, I know, it's okay. [ She gestures to the menus hanging over the counter. ] Just go ahead and order what you'd like.
[ She had already been planning to pay for him anyway, knowing that he'd just arrived and didn't have anything with him. ]
no subject
It takes him a while to parse through the menu. Reading and writing and spelling, none of that are his strongest suits; plus he's suddenly reading in a new language he never spoke before until magically finding himself fluent in English today, so, uh, y'know, he's getting his bearings. At least a good smattering of these words are in Italian...? He even says, "Ehi, Italiano!" to himself softly when he notices, if Luisa overhears him. So he just gravitates toward those because they're familiar and they say the word "espresso" outright. But it's, like, fancy espresso — not just straight up like Massimo and Giulia make it. Espresso with cream...?! Luxury! What is an espresso macchiato — what is it "stained" with?! But in his excitement at seeing words he recognizes, he assumes too much, as he rushes the barista at the register, and starts rattling off at the girl in rapid-fire Italian, friendly and smiley at first... though his face falls quickly when he's obviously not understood. ]
Ciao, voglio un espresso con panna, doppio — per favore, signora — e, ehhh... Cos'è "macchiato?" Perché è macchiato — che tipo di macchia?
[ The barista just... stares, a bit slack jawed, glancing at Luisa behind Alberto as if for help... Who is this strange pair? Her shift just started, man! She fumbles for words, trying to register what was just said to her, except for the fact she's an average American college student who don't speak any actual Italian, kid. Even if he were speaking English like he should be, this is still overwhelming. At least a fair bit of what he said may be mutually intelligible to Luisa by pure chance, but it's almost all lost on the barista. At last, grasping at straws, she whips out her heavily English-accented, best and most-used bit of ninth-grade-mandatory-Spanish-class knowledge: ]
Umm— sorry, uh— Y-Yo no hablo español...
[ Now it's Alberto's turn to look at her like she's crazy. He then turns to Luisa incredulously, his gaze just as pleading as the barista's, but a bit more irritated, waving his hands at the girl demonstratively to Luisa, like "what's her problem!" Expecting far too much again, Alberto. Luisa is the saving grace here, once more... This is still better than his interaction with the clerk at the convenience store, but... not by much. ]
no subject
She wonders if it's because of this place. She and her family all somehow knew English when they'd arrived, but...it was just an odd sensation to hear both languages at the same time.
But seeing the poor, confused barista and the equally confused Alberto, she shakes herself out of her musings and holds up her hands. ] Uh, sorry...he's asking for a doubleshot espresso with cream, please. Also uh, what's a macchiato?
[ Luisa isn't actually sure either. ]
no subject
Yeah. She's right. Ehi, why's your menu in Italian if you don't know Italian, huh? You should tell your boss to change the menu.
[ Alberto, this is Starbrooks, they have a million stores all over the world... He's used to small, privately owned businesses that only exist in Portorosso, just run by the townspeople. He has no concept of a chain. At least he's not blaming her personally...? The barista looks at him like he's even crazier than before, though. These are her first customers today... Why her. ]
I'll, uh— I'll pass that along. A, uh, a macchiato has a bit of steamed milk... A-And an espresso con panna has a bit of whipped cream — it's a little sweeter, I guess? There's a slight difference...
[ Alberto seems satisfied with that answer, though he frowns deliberatively, humming considering. He turns to Luisa with a softer, more open expression, a little shyer now — polite with her... ]
...Can I try both?
[ ...because he clearly needs four shots of espresso. ]
no subject
Uh...sorry. I only have enough money on me for one drink for each of us.
no subject
...Espresso macchiato?
[ If only because he's so interested to see the "stain..." The girl nods, punching it into the computer, wearing an awkward twitch of a smile in the corner of her lips now. She turns to Luisa, still seeming pretty confused and uncomfortable but trying her best to be professional and polite here nevertheless... ]
And for you...?
[ Alberto's gaze turns back to Luisa again, curious now what she'll order. ]
no subject
Just a black coffee, please.
no subject
Alberto, meantime, shoves his hands in his pants pockets awkwardly, kicking his feet idly and fidgeting with his toes as he does, staring down at his bare feet with an almost-grimace of a nervous smile. Once the exchange of cash is over, he'll look up to her apologetically, his smile wider but lopsided. ]
Eheh, I, uh— I don't know how much these things cost... I've only ever had espresso at home. It's free there — heh...
[ He doesn't even know what an espresso costs in Portorosso, let alone here, frankly. It's not that he takes anything for granted, that much is apparent just by his reaction here — but he's just... not in the know. Which is not so unusual for a kid his age, nothing exactly suspicious (yet), but he's clearly gonna have some trouble understanding the basics here... ]
no subject
[ She at least had more awareness of money, but money had never been an issue for them back home either. So some of this is a new experience for her as well.
Still, she does worry about what happens after this. She doesn't think he's old enough to really work, let alone afford a place to stay for himself. He didn't have anyone else here, and he'd arrived without winter clothes or anything to help keep him warm.
She couldn't just leave him after this, but...what could she do? Maybe take him to the Zodiac office? Could they help? ]
no subject
...Sooo, uh— You understood what I said. But she didn't. "Home" for you— [ He hesitates a beat, arching a brow, and leans forward tentatively at her like he's going out on a limb, doubt tugging his voice. ] ...Sei italiana?
no subject
No, soy colombiana.
no subject
Uhh— "Colombiana..." Like the, uh— like the coffee...?
[ He has no clue there's a country called Colombia. He doesn't know shit about maps of the surface or human geography. Nor does he know shit about sea monster geography. He has seen plenty of Colombian coffee advertised in magazines and fancy cafes back home, though — and they are in a coffee shop...? She knew just where to take him, after all? What's he to think?
What's more, he finds himself surprised to lapse unconsciously back into English without even meaning to. Being magically multilingual is weird. He's not sure he likes it... ]
no subject
His question does get a small laugh from her, but it's not unkind or meant to make fun of him in anyway. The question was just kind of cute in a strange way. ] Sort of. The coffee comes from the country of Colombia, which is why it's called that.
no subject
no subject
Um...oh! [ She retrieves her phone, and after a moment she pulls up a map of the world and then turns her phone around to show it to him. ] Here, see? You're from Italy, right? That's over here. [ She point out the country in Europe. ] Colombia is all the way over here. [ She then points out South America, and then zooms in on the continent to point out where Colombia is. ] Right here.
Coffee beans are grown and harvested here, then shipped out to the rest of the world.
no subject
He's never seen a map before. ]
Woah— Is this the world...?! Wait, wait, wait, let me see that?
[ Wiggling his fingers at it, as if he's calling it over... Kids... ]
no subject
[ She can't help hesitating for just a moment. It wasn't like she didn't trust him with her phone, but...yeah, no, she didn't trust him with her phone. ]
Uh...well, how about you try it on yours? You got one of these too when you got into the city, right?
no subject
Again: he hasn't even had his coffee yet... Luisa made a good call not letting him get two double-shots of espresso. Ahem. ]
no subject
Then, crouching down a bit lower so he could see what she's doing on the screen, she shows him how to pull up the browser, then search for a world map, as well as how to zoom in and out and move to where he wanted to look.
It's actually a bit weird, considering that in a lot of ways she's still getting the hang of this technology herself. But it was kind of nice, getting to teach someone else about it. ]
wrap?
As he putzes on his phone, the barista calls out that their order is ready, and he snaps to attention, grinning ear-to-ear. ]
Luisa! That's us!
[ ...Yeah, she knows, Alberto. There are only like two other customers in here, and they already got their orders. But he's obviously just so excited, the coffee being ready is the cherry on top of the cake. Again, though, seeing how excitable he is still, it begs the question: does he actually need it...? ]
That works!
When their order is called, though, she does wonder for a moment how good it is to actually give him coffee. But it is a bit late now, as she takes the cups from the pick-up counter and thanks the barista. Then she hands Alberto his drink, as she also considers taking him to the Zodiac building so they can help him get settled.
And then they would have to be the ones to deal with his caffeine buzz. ]