Ductility Part 2
2025-04-08 14:11![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mekachu04Kidd ducked behind a pile of sorted boxes, heart in his throat as he listened for any hint he'd been spotted.
The teens continued harassing the old man's apprentice, his own entrance thankfully gone unnoticed. He didn't know any of them himself, but he thought he might recognize a few of the voices. the oldest boy was one of the new upstarts if Kidd was connecting the voice to the right person
Regardless, they were one of the shitheads who'd been getting their reputation for lighting fires when displeased; thankfully the old man's place wasn't exactly flammable, sheet metal and scrapes and not a stick of wood to be found.
still, could spell trouble if the old man was getting tangled in the city gangs.
He almost felt bad for the apprentice. almost. personally he thought the older kid was a prick. emotionless little robot, except Kidd's little toys showed more personality then the older boy.
Well, that wasn't quite right. The boy has shown plenty of expression at Kidd's expense when he'd laughed himself right off his little stool when Kidd had been messing with one of the torches while waiting for Boss to show up, and the thing had literally blown up in his face. The kid had taken one look at Kidd and then burst out laughing - some weird breathless donkey bray - and Kidd was still waiting for his eyebrows to grow back, damnit.
he'd still chuckle at Kidd now and then and the day Kidd decided Boss's coin wasn't worth it anymore, he was gonna kick the other's boy's ass.
it was the only hint the jerk was human under that welder's mask. At this point, Kidd wondered if it was welded to his ugly face.
an ugly face that was currently repeating itself, telling the little gaggle of arsonists that the boss wasn't there and to go away.
Kidd slumped against his hiding place - he was about to get to listen to someone else kick the shitbag's ass first, and he was kinda bummed. he hoped the group didn't kill him outright, but maybe Kidd could sweet talk his way into the job for Boss. he was better at finding scrap, but he kinda wanted to know how they got the sheets to stay together like that - so flawlessly. how they build stuff way bigger than he was managing to do.
they could build a ship - he bet. if they wanted to.
he certainly wanted to.
depending on how the fight went down, maybe Kidd could break it up before they outright killed the kid. The guy was awful but Kidd wasn't sure he was ready to stand by and listen to him get murdered. if he was careful he could -push- the scraps around enough to spook them off without giving anything away.
He wasn't himself sure why him and the scrap heaps got along so well, but he was also very sure at this point, no one else heard or felt her the way he did, and he wasn't keen on that fact being public knowledge. Most of the time, others just assumed the Heaps was settling, or haunted, when weird stuff happened around Kidd, and who was he to tell them otherwise.
"Look," Boss' apprentice was explaining, sounding on the edge of bored and irritated, "you wanna hang out until he gets back, be my guest. but I ain't the old man, and I ain't got nuthin to do with your little spat with him. So I'm going back to work, and you're going to leave me alone, kay?"
Kidd tched. What a dumbass. if shit worked like that, then there would be gangs in the first place.
Sure enough, the sounds of a scuffle could be heard, and there was a cry of pain.
but it was over way faster than Kidd was expecting, and he glanced back out of his hiding spot...
to carnage.
The apprentice was armed with a length of piping, rusty end peeling back to an impromptu weapon edges covered in gore. What had been a back of 6 adults (or close enough) was reduced to the one upstart, holding his side as blood poured past his fingers.
Kidd watched in fascinated horror as the last man standing stumbled back, "what the fuck, calm down! wait a minute!" as Kidd's coworker turned to him, adjusting his grip on the pipe
"I told you, I dun have nothing to do with whatever your peoples beef is with the old man. i aint a stand in for him, I ain't your punching bag."
"okay! okay! look, i’ll tell Boss to back off, we'll deal with the old man later, we won't involve you! Just.. just stop now. let me go. you made your point."
"let you go?"
"... please."
Kidd watched the two stare each other down.
"let -you- go?" he asked again, and the older teen nodded, his blood splattered dreads moving stiffly as he did, and kidd watched carefully, the tension in the air thick.
Kidd was a child, but boss' apprentice was only a handful of years older than him, not even a teenager yet. Combined, they were maybe as old as the young man now kneeling at the doors of the metal shop. Kidd watched in a horrified fascination as the boy turned to one of the other 5, a man gasping wetly, face down a few feet away.
"Let you go..." he said again, circling the fallen man, before turning to the one still conscious.
"Okay," he said calmly, and Kidd felt his skin crawl, then the boy was raising his pipe and Kidd ducked back just as the man before yelled for him to stop. the sound of metal on flesh and bone echoed and Kidd held his breath in the silence that fell after.
"Well," said the old man's apprentice, "you better hurry up and go."
Kidd could hear the older teen scrambling away, could picture his dark skin and pale hair as he went throwing himself over debris and scrabbling over piles as he fled.
Kidd had seen dead bodies before, but he still wasn't sure he was ready to look at the small massacre left painted across the doorstep of his employer. he was.. well, he supposed he might want to be nicer to the freak, because really, where had *that* come from!
he was still there when the old man did wander back, heard him swearing up a storm at the bodies left out in the sun. The two went inside to argue, voices loud enough to be heard, but words lost, until they were back outside, and Kidd peaked up to see the old man pushing the boy out the door, "you'll be lucky if i take you back at all after this!"
"that's not far!"
"Neither is having to clean up the mess of feral little killers leaving corpses on my doorstep like overgrown house cats!"
"This isn't my fault, they were here for you!"
"I didn't ask you to do this! don't you dare turn this on me! you can't kill everyone that looks at you funny or says something you don't like. and I'm tired of dumping bodies because you have a temper!"
The two were staring each other down, and Kidd was unnerved by the fact he could almost -feel- how angry they both were. like the air soured with it. and - to Kidd's surprise - the kid backed down, looked away, hunched in on himself.
"take the day off, cool your head, and let me deal with this. come back in the morning. and take the kid with you. I don't want him sniffing around today."
Kidd barely had time to register the old man waving in his direction - rude, outing him like that!- before the words registered, and the apprentice was expressing his feelings exactly: "What! Why me?"
yeah - Kidd could care for himself thank you very much, why'd the old man expect him to go with the psycho killer?
"Just go," the old man growled, shoving him toward Kidd. "keep each other out of trouble."
"i don't need some seeing eye dog, and he dun need a babysitter-"
"i will see you both tomorrow"
Mr. Psycho Killer pulled his bloody leather apron over his head and threw it and his gloves back at the old man before turning heel, storming toward kidd's hidey. He barely slowed as he stormed past, huffing a 'you heard him' as he stormed past.
Kidd gave the old man one last uncertain look, before skulking after the older boy.
Kidd was small and fast, and even then, he found it a struggle to stay at the boy’s side once they hit the crowds of the city, the older boy slipping through gaps in the flow of bodies as smooth as a dance. he'd almost have thought he boy was trying to lose him, except as they approached a street with food stalls, he slowed down to ask, "you eaten yet today?"
Kidd had not. He's been planning on using the coin from today's haul to get something, except those plans had been decidedly derailed. the boy stopped to look sideways at him, and Kidd realised he wasn't wearing the mask for once.
and really - why would he. but Kidd also realised, he wasn't sure he’d seen the boy without it. His face was pocketed with ance and burns, almost enough to compete with Kidd and his freckles. Unlike Kidd’s freckles, the other boy would likely grow out of his own day. His hair was just as dishevelled in the front as the back, wild uneven bangs hanging over his eyes brushing the cheeks and the tip of his nose.
Like Kidd, he had a near permanent kind of ring around his head from the band of his mask, whereas Kidd's was from his goggles. Despite the wildly different colour in hair, they didn't look too dissimilar actually, though Kidd's skin was far paler. far too skinny, far too gangly, and for his years over Kidd , the other boy wasn't all that much taller. Kidd had been catching up over the last year whereas it didn't seem his coworker had grown at all.
the boy's head was titled to the side, Kidd assumed to get his bangs to fall away enough for him to look over the prices of the stalls, and standing this close, Kidd could help but smirk at the angry grumble the boy's stomach made at the different smells of food cooking, only for his own to grumble back.
strangely the boy made no move to any stalls though, instead hanging his head, "what do you want to eat?"
it was low, almost defeated, though why Kidd couldn't have guessed, "are you serious?"
he shrugged, "why not. My usual lady's not here today."
Kidd grabbed his arm and drug them over to the stall at one end - meat wasn't usually in his budget, but if someone else was paying? "Cabbage rolls!" he piped up to the vendor, who was looking them over suspiciously.
"Two orders," the boy added, pulling a coin bag out.
Kidd almost -almost- felt bad the way his face fell when the lady quoted them the price. almost spoke up, maybe they could share a plate. but he was counting out coins and Kidd kept his mouth shut.
It took him an uncomfortably long time to hand over the coins, the two plates of food steaming away at the vendor's side. Kidd didn't understand the look she gave the two of them at first, didn't understand until she sighed, setting the coins down and pointedly counted them out - they'd short changed her.
The boy was fumbling for the bag, hands shaking for the first time, and the lady turned to Kidd with a sigh. "can -you- count?"
"I can count!" the boy defended, but Kidd was starting to think maybe he couldn't, squinting at the assorted coins in his hand in a panic.
Kidd grabbed enough to cover their bill from his open palm and handed it to the lady, taking their food in turn as the boy shoved the other coins in the pouch.
He refused to look at anyone as he followed Kidd to a less crowded side street. "so, Psycho Killer can't count. didn't see that one coming." Kidd joshed him, handing over the plate before sitting down to dig into his meal. he practically moaned over the roll
"i -can- count, i just... wait, what'd you call me?"
"Psycho Killer, ya know, like that song?" Kidd talked around a mouthful of food, "Psycho killer, kes kes kay, better run run away?"
He looked at Kidd, clearly confused, "Qu'est-ce que c'est. not.... kes kes kay."
Kidd shrugged, "whatever. Still, it ain't wrong. one wrong look at you, and people oughta run away. or you massacre 'em like you did today."
he didn't say anything to that, picking at his plate a little longer before biting into his own food.
niether said anything for a moment, just eating.
"I thought you were done for, to be honest," Kidd said finally, sucking his fingers clean, "no way you were gonna be able to take on 6 teenagers. was totally ready to have to help the old man burying you in a ditch somewhere."
"thanks" he said drying.
"No! I mean! just.. look at you! who'd look at you and think you had it in ya to kill a man. much less 5." he held up his now clean hand for emphasis.
Psycho Killer titled his head again, this time, Kidd could see him squinting at him, studying him - wait. no. Kidd lowered his pinky slowly, and the boy didn't seem to notice.
"so, what happened with the coins back there?" he asked, dropping his hand completely.
"I'm not stupid, I can count."
"I didn't say you were stupid. and so what if you can't count, sn'ot like i can read"
Psycho Killer wrapped his hands around his legs, propping his chin on his knees. "some of the older 5 coins..... they feel the same as the quarter piece. I get them mixed up sometimes."
Kidd frowned, puzzling over that. "What? they don't look anything alike. they're not even the same metal."
"but they're the same size. and the older 5 piece. the coin is softer so the edges get worn fast, and" he shrugged, and kidd could see him toying with the coins. from here, he supposed they did kinda look the same once they got grungy enough.
"Are you blind or something?"
"Of course I'm not blind!"
Except he looked nervous. Kidd kept his mouth shut for once, just watching him
"I see you just fine! i see .. just fine... it's just... I get headaches when I try to see details on things sometimes.. or colours for some reason. i . i dunno how to explain it. i can see the lady hanging her laundry down there," he gestured down the alley, "but.. it's hard to tell what colour the dress is. or what's drawn on it. But she's clear as day, same with her kid in the basket."
Kidd looked down the way, her green dress with white flowers. but he didn't see any kid, even if he saw her talking down into the basket. He believes a child was there... but..
"You see the kid now?"
"yeah..."
Kidd mirrored his pose, thinking. "Can I tell you a secret?"
"Why?"
"because I don't think people see the way you do. the kid is completely in the basket."
"yeah, so?"
"so... the basket is in the way - you -cant- see him."
"yeah i do.."
"Listen here, Mr. Psycho Killer, no one can see that kid right now. just you."
"Is that your secret - you think I'm crazy too?"
"yeah, maybe, but that's nothing to do with -"
"Then don't call me that!"
"don't ca... what, Psycho Killer?"
"yeah! that!"
"Would you prefer stick-up-the-ass?"
"try my fucking name, /Kidd /"
"i dont know your fucking name you freak! you never bother to tell me!"
it should have been funny, the baffled look on his face. Kidd could see the wheels turning in his head. The indignant outrage turned quickly to muted embarrassment. "It's Keillan."
"Psycho Killer Keillan."
"shut up."
Kidd chuckled, letting the tension bleed out a little. " You got a family name, Killer Keillan?" Kidd could throw him a bone and drop the psycho, he supposed.
"Nah," he said, smile sad, "they made it pretty clear they didn't want me back."
"fuck them then." Kidd sneared. he might hold on to his family name with both hands - a coupe he can't remember the faces off, but he remembers their scared voices, hiding him at the cost of their own lives - but he's seen enough shitty families since then to know that blood doesn't guarantee shit. from what he's seen, if anything, it was just a handy excuse to exploit someone - do it for family.
Killer Keillan snorted, but it didn't do much for the sad look.
"I believe you - that you see the kid in the basket. I bet it works for other things too - you see stuff other people can't. maybe it's why you don't see real good otherwise. or maybe it's /because/ you don't."
"I think it's the weld flame."
"what?"
"I can see what I weld, but... but I get headaches a lot, working for the old man. The more I stare at the flame, the harder it is to see anything after. sometimes.. sometimes i can't see anything for hours. The helmet helps. like.. the little slits make it not so bright."
"I guess.. I guess staring at those little flames is probably like looking at the sun too long."
Killer Keillan nodded. from here, looking at him, Kidd could see how red and irritated his eyes looked, the whites running over with red blood vessels like little lightning strikes. he looked tired, honestly
"Sometimes," Kidd hesitated, before spilling his own secret, "all times really, the ... metal on the island sings to me."
"what?"
"I can .... feel? it. the scrap yard. like a deep hum in my bones. and when I'm upset, it .... comes to. some of it. like the steel and iron."
"Is that how you find all the good stuff? I thought you were awfully lucky."
"the aluminum and stuff, the copper and lead. it doesn't. It's like a quiet little void. I look for the places that don't sing. it won't come when i call it, but it's funny how hard it ignores me. wood and dirt don't do that. they don't care. i don't even notice them. but all the stuff the old man pays the most for - its shineys like these little pockets of nothing, where even the singing is lost."
"you... you shouldn't tell people that." the boys said warily, looking around uneasy.
"I figured out your secret, I just kinda thought it was fair..."
"I don't think your thing is like mine. i don't think it's like mine at all."
"...really?" had he made that big of a mistake?
"I ... the ocean around here isn't exactly clean, but... have you ever tried to go swimming before?" he looked uneasy, "in the ocean, not like in the river when it rains."
"I dunno how. I fell in once, playing by the docks. the workers had to fish me out."
"fish yo out, or jump in after you?"
"... jump in."
"like you couldn'y move? got really tired even though there wasn't a reason for it?"
"yea...."
"Dun go around the ocean again, Kidd. She dun like you more."
"/Don't go around the ocean./ I'm gonna build my own ship and sail away from this stupid island one day. Gonna sail around the whole world like King Roger did, and find the One Piece." Killer Keillan was shaking his head no the whole time Kidd talked, and Kidd raised his voice in anger, "I'm not staying on Kutzk one day longer than i have too. I'm getting out of here and I ain't never looking back. the ocean will just have to deal with that."
"Pretty sure you ate a devil fruit," Killer Keillan whispered, "that's why the Heaps like you. but it also means the ocean hates you now. and she'll kill you for it, and she won't ever stop trying."
There was something about the way he said that, that had Kidd shutting up. "You can't ever tell nobody about this Kidd - pretend you didn't even tell me. and certainly dun let the old man know."
"really?"
Killer Keillan nodded, Kidd imagined back at the face he made earlier, bashing the back of a man's skull in. "they'll either enslave you for it, or kill you outright. world government too - they'll take away anything that make you *you* for the devil fruits,"
The teens continued harassing the old man's apprentice, his own entrance thankfully gone unnoticed. He didn't know any of them himself, but he thought he might recognize a few of the voices. the oldest boy was one of the new upstarts if Kidd was connecting the voice to the right person
Regardless, they were one of the shitheads who'd been getting their reputation for lighting fires when displeased; thankfully the old man's place wasn't exactly flammable, sheet metal and scrapes and not a stick of wood to be found.
still, could spell trouble if the old man was getting tangled in the city gangs.
He almost felt bad for the apprentice. almost. personally he thought the older kid was a prick. emotionless little robot, except Kidd's little toys showed more personality then the older boy.
Well, that wasn't quite right. The boy has shown plenty of expression at Kidd's expense when he'd laughed himself right off his little stool when Kidd had been messing with one of the torches while waiting for Boss to show up, and the thing had literally blown up in his face. The kid had taken one look at Kidd and then burst out laughing - some weird breathless donkey bray - and Kidd was still waiting for his eyebrows to grow back, damnit.
he'd still chuckle at Kidd now and then and the day Kidd decided Boss's coin wasn't worth it anymore, he was gonna kick the other's boy's ass.
it was the only hint the jerk was human under that welder's mask. At this point, Kidd wondered if it was welded to his ugly face.
an ugly face that was currently repeating itself, telling the little gaggle of arsonists that the boss wasn't there and to go away.
Kidd slumped against his hiding place - he was about to get to listen to someone else kick the shitbag's ass first, and he was kinda bummed. he hoped the group didn't kill him outright, but maybe Kidd could sweet talk his way into the job for Boss. he was better at finding scrap, but he kinda wanted to know how they got the sheets to stay together like that - so flawlessly. how they build stuff way bigger than he was managing to do.
they could build a ship - he bet. if they wanted to.
he certainly wanted to.
depending on how the fight went down, maybe Kidd could break it up before they outright killed the kid. The guy was awful but Kidd wasn't sure he was ready to stand by and listen to him get murdered. if he was careful he could -push- the scraps around enough to spook them off without giving anything away.
He wasn't himself sure why him and the scrap heaps got along so well, but he was also very sure at this point, no one else heard or felt her the way he did, and he wasn't keen on that fact being public knowledge. Most of the time, others just assumed the Heaps was settling, or haunted, when weird stuff happened around Kidd, and who was he to tell them otherwise.
"Look," Boss' apprentice was explaining, sounding on the edge of bored and irritated, "you wanna hang out until he gets back, be my guest. but I ain't the old man, and I ain't got nuthin to do with your little spat with him. So I'm going back to work, and you're going to leave me alone, kay?"
Kidd tched. What a dumbass. if shit worked like that, then there would be gangs in the first place.
Sure enough, the sounds of a scuffle could be heard, and there was a cry of pain.
but it was over way faster than Kidd was expecting, and he glanced back out of his hiding spot...
to carnage.
The apprentice was armed with a length of piping, rusty end peeling back to an impromptu weapon edges covered in gore. What had been a back of 6 adults (or close enough) was reduced to the one upstart, holding his side as blood poured past his fingers.
Kidd watched in fascinated horror as the last man standing stumbled back, "what the fuck, calm down! wait a minute!" as Kidd's coworker turned to him, adjusting his grip on the pipe
"I told you, I dun have nothing to do with whatever your peoples beef is with the old man. i aint a stand in for him, I ain't your punching bag."
"okay! okay! look, i’ll tell Boss to back off, we'll deal with the old man later, we won't involve you! Just.. just stop now. let me go. you made your point."
"let you go?"
"... please."
Kidd watched the two stare each other down.
"let -you- go?" he asked again, and the older teen nodded, his blood splattered dreads moving stiffly as he did, and kidd watched carefully, the tension in the air thick.
Kidd was a child, but boss' apprentice was only a handful of years older than him, not even a teenager yet. Combined, they were maybe as old as the young man now kneeling at the doors of the metal shop. Kidd watched in a horrified fascination as the boy turned to one of the other 5, a man gasping wetly, face down a few feet away.
"Let you go..." he said again, circling the fallen man, before turning to the one still conscious.
"Okay," he said calmly, and Kidd felt his skin crawl, then the boy was raising his pipe and Kidd ducked back just as the man before yelled for him to stop. the sound of metal on flesh and bone echoed and Kidd held his breath in the silence that fell after.
"Well," said the old man's apprentice, "you better hurry up and go."
Kidd could hear the older teen scrambling away, could picture his dark skin and pale hair as he went throwing himself over debris and scrabbling over piles as he fled.
Kidd had seen dead bodies before, but he still wasn't sure he was ready to look at the small massacre left painted across the doorstep of his employer. he was.. well, he supposed he might want to be nicer to the freak, because really, where had *that* come from!
he was still there when the old man did wander back, heard him swearing up a storm at the bodies left out in the sun. The two went inside to argue, voices loud enough to be heard, but words lost, until they were back outside, and Kidd peaked up to see the old man pushing the boy out the door, "you'll be lucky if i take you back at all after this!"
"that's not far!"
"Neither is having to clean up the mess of feral little killers leaving corpses on my doorstep like overgrown house cats!"
"This isn't my fault, they were here for you!"
"I didn't ask you to do this! don't you dare turn this on me! you can't kill everyone that looks at you funny or says something you don't like. and I'm tired of dumping bodies because you have a temper!"
The two were staring each other down, and Kidd was unnerved by the fact he could almost -feel- how angry they both were. like the air soured with it. and - to Kidd's surprise - the kid backed down, looked away, hunched in on himself.
"take the day off, cool your head, and let me deal with this. come back in the morning. and take the kid with you. I don't want him sniffing around today."
Kidd barely had time to register the old man waving in his direction - rude, outing him like that!- before the words registered, and the apprentice was expressing his feelings exactly: "What! Why me?"
yeah - Kidd could care for himself thank you very much, why'd the old man expect him to go with the psycho killer?
"Just go," the old man growled, shoving him toward Kidd. "keep each other out of trouble."
"i don't need some seeing eye dog, and he dun need a babysitter-"
"i will see you both tomorrow"
Mr. Psycho Killer pulled his bloody leather apron over his head and threw it and his gloves back at the old man before turning heel, storming toward kidd's hidey. He barely slowed as he stormed past, huffing a 'you heard him' as he stormed past.
Kidd gave the old man one last uncertain look, before skulking after the older boy.
Kidd was small and fast, and even then, he found it a struggle to stay at the boy’s side once they hit the crowds of the city, the older boy slipping through gaps in the flow of bodies as smooth as a dance. he'd almost have thought he boy was trying to lose him, except as they approached a street with food stalls, he slowed down to ask, "you eaten yet today?"
Kidd had not. He's been planning on using the coin from today's haul to get something, except those plans had been decidedly derailed. the boy stopped to look sideways at him, and Kidd realised he wasn't wearing the mask for once.
and really - why would he. but Kidd also realised, he wasn't sure he’d seen the boy without it. His face was pocketed with ance and burns, almost enough to compete with Kidd and his freckles. Unlike Kidd’s freckles, the other boy would likely grow out of his own day. His hair was just as dishevelled in the front as the back, wild uneven bangs hanging over his eyes brushing the cheeks and the tip of his nose.
Like Kidd, he had a near permanent kind of ring around his head from the band of his mask, whereas Kidd's was from his goggles. Despite the wildly different colour in hair, they didn't look too dissimilar actually, though Kidd's skin was far paler. far too skinny, far too gangly, and for his years over Kidd , the other boy wasn't all that much taller. Kidd had been catching up over the last year whereas it didn't seem his coworker had grown at all.
the boy's head was titled to the side, Kidd assumed to get his bangs to fall away enough for him to look over the prices of the stalls, and standing this close, Kidd could help but smirk at the angry grumble the boy's stomach made at the different smells of food cooking, only for his own to grumble back.
strangely the boy made no move to any stalls though, instead hanging his head, "what do you want to eat?"
it was low, almost defeated, though why Kidd couldn't have guessed, "are you serious?"
he shrugged, "why not. My usual lady's not here today."
Kidd grabbed his arm and drug them over to the stall at one end - meat wasn't usually in his budget, but if someone else was paying? "Cabbage rolls!" he piped up to the vendor, who was looking them over suspiciously.
"Two orders," the boy added, pulling a coin bag out.
Kidd almost -almost- felt bad the way his face fell when the lady quoted them the price. almost spoke up, maybe they could share a plate. but he was counting out coins and Kidd kept his mouth shut.
It took him an uncomfortably long time to hand over the coins, the two plates of food steaming away at the vendor's side. Kidd didn't understand the look she gave the two of them at first, didn't understand until she sighed, setting the coins down and pointedly counted them out - they'd short changed her.
The boy was fumbling for the bag, hands shaking for the first time, and the lady turned to Kidd with a sigh. "can -you- count?"
"I can count!" the boy defended, but Kidd was starting to think maybe he couldn't, squinting at the assorted coins in his hand in a panic.
Kidd grabbed enough to cover their bill from his open palm and handed it to the lady, taking their food in turn as the boy shoved the other coins in the pouch.
He refused to look at anyone as he followed Kidd to a less crowded side street. "so, Psycho Killer can't count. didn't see that one coming." Kidd joshed him, handing over the plate before sitting down to dig into his meal. he practically moaned over the roll
"i -can- count, i just... wait, what'd you call me?"
"Psycho Killer, ya know, like that song?" Kidd talked around a mouthful of food, "Psycho killer, kes kes kay, better run run away?"
He looked at Kidd, clearly confused, "Qu'est-ce que c'est. not.... kes kes kay."
Kidd shrugged, "whatever. Still, it ain't wrong. one wrong look at you, and people oughta run away. or you massacre 'em like you did today."
he didn't say anything to that, picking at his plate a little longer before biting into his own food.
niether said anything for a moment, just eating.
"I thought you were done for, to be honest," Kidd said finally, sucking his fingers clean, "no way you were gonna be able to take on 6 teenagers. was totally ready to have to help the old man burying you in a ditch somewhere."
"thanks" he said drying.
"No! I mean! just.. look at you! who'd look at you and think you had it in ya to kill a man. much less 5." he held up his now clean hand for emphasis.
Psycho Killer titled his head again, this time, Kidd could see him squinting at him, studying him - wait. no. Kidd lowered his pinky slowly, and the boy didn't seem to notice.
"so, what happened with the coins back there?" he asked, dropping his hand completely.
"I'm not stupid, I can count."
"I didn't say you were stupid. and so what if you can't count, sn'ot like i can read"
Psycho Killer wrapped his hands around his legs, propping his chin on his knees. "some of the older 5 coins..... they feel the same as the quarter piece. I get them mixed up sometimes."
Kidd frowned, puzzling over that. "What? they don't look anything alike. they're not even the same metal."
"but they're the same size. and the older 5 piece. the coin is softer so the edges get worn fast, and" he shrugged, and kidd could see him toying with the coins. from here, he supposed they did kinda look the same once they got grungy enough.
"Are you blind or something?"
"Of course I'm not blind!"
Except he looked nervous. Kidd kept his mouth shut for once, just watching him
"I see you just fine! i see .. just fine... it's just... I get headaches when I try to see details on things sometimes.. or colours for some reason. i . i dunno how to explain it. i can see the lady hanging her laundry down there," he gestured down the alley, "but.. it's hard to tell what colour the dress is. or what's drawn on it. But she's clear as day, same with her kid in the basket."
Kidd looked down the way, her green dress with white flowers. but he didn't see any kid, even if he saw her talking down into the basket. He believes a child was there... but..
"You see the kid now?"
"yeah..."
Kidd mirrored his pose, thinking. "Can I tell you a secret?"
"Why?"
"because I don't think people see the way you do. the kid is completely in the basket."
"yeah, so?"
"so... the basket is in the way - you -cant- see him."
"yeah i do.."
"Listen here, Mr. Psycho Killer, no one can see that kid right now. just you."
"Is that your secret - you think I'm crazy too?"
"yeah, maybe, but that's nothing to do with -"
"Then don't call me that!"
"don't ca... what, Psycho Killer?"
"yeah! that!"
"Would you prefer stick-up-the-ass?"
"try my fucking name, /Kidd /"
"i dont know your fucking name you freak! you never bother to tell me!"
it should have been funny, the baffled look on his face. Kidd could see the wheels turning in his head. The indignant outrage turned quickly to muted embarrassment. "It's Keillan."
"Psycho Killer Keillan."
"shut up."
Kidd chuckled, letting the tension bleed out a little. " You got a family name, Killer Keillan?" Kidd could throw him a bone and drop the psycho, he supposed.
"Nah," he said, smile sad, "they made it pretty clear they didn't want me back."
"fuck them then." Kidd sneared. he might hold on to his family name with both hands - a coupe he can't remember the faces off, but he remembers their scared voices, hiding him at the cost of their own lives - but he's seen enough shitty families since then to know that blood doesn't guarantee shit. from what he's seen, if anything, it was just a handy excuse to exploit someone - do it for family.
Killer Keillan snorted, but it didn't do much for the sad look.
"I believe you - that you see the kid in the basket. I bet it works for other things too - you see stuff other people can't. maybe it's why you don't see real good otherwise. or maybe it's /because/ you don't."
"I think it's the weld flame."
"what?"
"I can see what I weld, but... but I get headaches a lot, working for the old man. The more I stare at the flame, the harder it is to see anything after. sometimes.. sometimes i can't see anything for hours. The helmet helps. like.. the little slits make it not so bright."
"I guess.. I guess staring at those little flames is probably like looking at the sun too long."
Killer Keillan nodded. from here, looking at him, Kidd could see how red and irritated his eyes looked, the whites running over with red blood vessels like little lightning strikes. he looked tired, honestly
"Sometimes," Kidd hesitated, before spilling his own secret, "all times really, the ... metal on the island sings to me."
"what?"
"I can .... feel? it. the scrap yard. like a deep hum in my bones. and when I'm upset, it .... comes to. some of it. like the steel and iron."
"Is that how you find all the good stuff? I thought you were awfully lucky."
"the aluminum and stuff, the copper and lead. it doesn't. It's like a quiet little void. I look for the places that don't sing. it won't come when i call it, but it's funny how hard it ignores me. wood and dirt don't do that. they don't care. i don't even notice them. but all the stuff the old man pays the most for - its shineys like these little pockets of nothing, where even the singing is lost."
"you... you shouldn't tell people that." the boys said warily, looking around uneasy.
"I figured out your secret, I just kinda thought it was fair..."
"I don't think your thing is like mine. i don't think it's like mine at all."
"...really?" had he made that big of a mistake?
"I ... the ocean around here isn't exactly clean, but... have you ever tried to go swimming before?" he looked uneasy, "in the ocean, not like in the river when it rains."
"I dunno how. I fell in once, playing by the docks. the workers had to fish me out."
"fish yo out, or jump in after you?"
"... jump in."
"like you couldn'y move? got really tired even though there wasn't a reason for it?"
"yea...."
"Dun go around the ocean again, Kidd. She dun like you more."
"/Don't go around the ocean./ I'm gonna build my own ship and sail away from this stupid island one day. Gonna sail around the whole world like King Roger did, and find the One Piece." Killer Keillan was shaking his head no the whole time Kidd talked, and Kidd raised his voice in anger, "I'm not staying on Kutzk one day longer than i have too. I'm getting out of here and I ain't never looking back. the ocean will just have to deal with that."
"Pretty sure you ate a devil fruit," Killer Keillan whispered, "that's why the Heaps like you. but it also means the ocean hates you now. and she'll kill you for it, and she won't ever stop trying."
There was something about the way he said that, that had Kidd shutting up. "You can't ever tell nobody about this Kidd - pretend you didn't even tell me. and certainly dun let the old man know."
"really?"
Killer Keillan nodded, Kidd imagined back at the face he made earlier, bashing the back of a man's skull in. "they'll either enslave you for it, or kill you outright. world government too - they'll take away anything that make you *you* for the devil fruits,"
