[i][/i][color=f7941d][h3]Romaní Bogart [/h3][/color][sub]
[i]Savaging Savant of Strength[/i]
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71J6Yy7vhDs]theme[/url][/sub][hr]

There was a suddenness to everything in this moment. Time felt still, yet everything purposeful. Which each derived step forwards, there seemed to add another layer to the complexity of everyday. Rain had ceased, the chill of the night's wind was all that left the two aching for warmth. Hands gripped the cup which held the cappiccino's heating embrace in check, as lips cusped the liquid into mouth, dousing their throats and stomach in a welcoming snug of warmth. An awning, separating the two between the inside of the building and the out, one of which too drenched too be able to feasibly enter the establishment, the lady behind the counter was kind enough to pull out a towel and allow him to dry himself off, if only just slightly. His clothes still resembled traces of dampness, his hair fallen and unkempt, locks of silver hanging before his eyes, Romani adorned a light smile on his face, as he twirled the sugar one last time, blending it perfectly on his drink. The young girl's frown had subtle'd and her features seemed pensive, lose in the reflection of her own gaze. Lost in thought as her gaze peeked small glaces towards Romani, and back to her drink. The intervals of silence were long, almost as if Romani himself was allowing such to occur due to negligence or perhaps respect. 

Her wound, although visible was more like a small bruise rather than anything serious. Romani took several glances at it as their time extended. And soon, the young girl spoke, almost in mumbles. Rummaging the words which stumbled clumsily out her mouth, she picked up the courage to finally let out a [i]"Thank you."[/i] Romani didn't really know how to react as first, the suddenness of it was enough for him to halt his gulp and look at the child, tilting her sights away cusping the cup between both hands with gentle consideration. A blink, followed by the next-- [i]"What? Say something weirdo...[/i]" Romani led out a laugh, before finally being able to down another sip. I guess he didn't have much TO say. Everything that had happened was a spur of the moment kind of thing, the winds and chimes and even the rain was unexpected. To him, it was an ordinary day like anything else, but then he witnessed something different, and like a child gleaming for a new toy he had to outstretch his arm to grasp it in him clutches. But now... the answers escaped him, and so he smiled. A smile that perhaps was warm ye unkind, bright yet unhappy.   

[color=f7941d]"What happened?"[/color] Those were the words which stumbled out of HIS mouth. Reality seemed to have become much more weighted, their shoulder slumped ever forward and her eyes drifted to the distance. The blaring light of night embellished the reflection of liquid among glass and earth. The dew which permeated through the leaves and dripped ever so lightly onto a ripple in a puddle held the significance of wavering. [i]"You know-- There's something about drinking coffee with a kid I barely know that kind of brings up something in my mind."[/i] The young girl, perhaps avoiding the question, began to speak with a bit of shakiness in her voice. But for the first time in the long while that the two were together, Romani felt a sense of sincerity from her words. [i]"The fact that someone brings you cappuccino in a dreary night where I'm obviously a mess... It means, really, that this is all they can ever do for me."[/i] Like an arrow reaching it's mark there was a sting in the center of Romani's chest that he couldn't really explain. As if a dagger had made it's way through felt and into the epicenter of his self-worth, and overall the truth of the situation, all seemed to have befallen the young girl in a mindset of dread or even hopelessness.

[i]"You're nice... I don't even know your name, but... You're nice. I just-- I don't really think you should put your nose in other people's business." [/i] Romani's smile grew sadder, perhaps because those were some words he too used before. Not to meddle in what's not yours. To witness, perhaps spectate at a distance. To become an observer but never a player in someone else's game of life. Romani understood this reluctantly, but even so there was something that pushed him to know. Of course, it wasn't as if it was a mystery. Her bruises and cuts, her dirtied clothes and ragged hair combined with sudden burst of the home in the middle of the night. She had a fight with her mother, it seemed to have ended in the worst case scenario and she managed to escape, with at least something intact. But, what hurt the most was her semblance of strength. 

Or lack of thereof: [color=f26522]"I would like to say now,[i] 'I'd like to make it my business'[/i], but I'm not so kind as to want to harbor all your problems unto my life."[/color] Romani spoke earnestly as well. Perhaps out of frustration of helplessness of his own circumstances. [color=f7941d]"But I'm not as cruel as to leave someone who's obviously lost, alone."[/color] The young girl didn't leave her sight off Romani for one second, her maturity shone in moment of need, but simultaneously she didn't have the strength to retort. This is, to some extent, what she wanted to hear. [color=f7941d]"I think you know, more than anyone else, that the world isn't fair. It's never been, for anyone. But--" [/color] there wasn't a right answer for this, there wasn't something he could say to make anything better, so the words began to jumble and twist themselves in his head. Attempting to search for a pattern or a whisk of something profound, but nothing peered its head, nothing came to mind but just a blank slate, but even so, without much pause... [color=f7941d]"If there's anything I learned about anything... Is that the world isn't against you, it just, really doesn't care about you."[/color]

Her face became bleak, but perhaps she already knew this. Her silence depicted a heaviness Romani understood too often, her grip tightened around the cup and her lip sucked in [color=f7941d]"But that doesn't mean anything. The liberating thought about being invisible is that nobody can see you weaving through the cracks. Maybe we're really are just pieces of a puzzle that'll never get solved, but who the hell wants to live in a place where everything is just miserable."[/color] Romani didn't even know what he was saying at this point, but there was something liberating in releasing these words. [color=f7941d]"You're right, it's not any of my business. But I can't fall asleep tonight... knowing that I didn't do anything."[/color] He finished his drink and walked next to her, umbrella over her head. [color=f7941d]"Let's go to get that bruise checked. Please?" [/color]

--

The memory kept creeping into his thoughts. The morning seemed endless, altruism wasn't at all something that he was a master of, he was worried, but any one else would've done the same. Kindness was something that any man was capable, but what strength peered onto him that allowed his feet to move, or even stay resolute in keeping that child out of harms way that night? Perhaps he wanted to be hero, perhaps there was a certain yearning for something greater in his self, that demanded to be seen. There has been a sense of difference emanating lately, like something needed to pop out, something whispered sweet nothing to his sense. As if he was meant for more, but Romani, someone who's notability was short, who preferred to have his presence obscured, but his absence felt. To tower beyond his capabilities, allowing himself to become better than what he was prior. Strength drives the movement forward, will sustains it.