— [AU] Gone away

charred-remains:

She quickly shrugged to the ouch, not caring one bit. Once again he chuckled to something that most people wouldn’t do, most people would react harshly to her insulting manners.

It wasn’t important either way. If Ginji wanted to act like a fool or keep acting casual about things then she wouldn’t stop the male. “Pride? I couldn’t tell if you had that or not,” she replied, looking over with a dull expression. “I shouldn’t? You couldn’t even beat me in an arm wrestle.” Ouch, bringing back old wounds. Leyna glanced away, looking at her hand for a moment when she thought about that night. Could he really be a threat? That match was friendly and didn’t show her true strength, but the same could be said about him. Looking back over to Ginji, she crossed her arms. “If you could actually beat me in an arm wrestle I would take you more seriously.” Then again, the chances of that was rather slim.

So she had guessed right. The way he was smiling and saying nothing told her that Ginji was hiding something, maybe something that was serious. She was good at detecting lies; even better at lying herself. The chances of Ginji telling the truth was slim, therefore it would be pointless to even ask. She would let it slide, for now. But he tried anything funny, she wouldn’t hold back.

Why couldn’t Ginji take the damn hint? She didn’t want company, she didn’t need it. “Then why don’t you take the damn hint and leave? What’s the point of staying with someone that’s bothered by your mere presence?” This was the first time that someone didn’t leave because of cold remarks. Leyna scowled at his remark, rolling her eyes in annoyance. “I don’t need company.” It wasn’t going to be the simple for the male, if he wanted to stay with her then he would have to deal with the coldness.

“You’re wasting my time.” It was quick response to his statement. “Keep wishing, I don’t need to lighten up. If you’re fearing for your safely perhaps you should leave before anything happens.” She ignored the last remark, only grunting instead.

Not even a second later someone on the street bumped right into shoulder, stopping her for a moment as she frowned deeply. Leyna wouldn’t in the mood to deal with the moron. Breathing deeply and closing her eyes, she took a step but paused when she heard a voice behind her. “Hey bitch, watch where you walking. I think you own me an apology!” Great, just perfect. Opening her eyes and looking over shoulder, she gave a dull stare. “I own nothing to a moron that can’t walk correctly.” With that she looked away, once again walking down street and ignoring the voices behind her.

Sadly there was a tug on her arm as the person ran over yanked on her arm roughly, red in the face and glaring deeply because of her remark. Oh, that was a wrong move. Before the male could say anything Leyna quickly broke her arm away, moving right behind the person and grabbing onto his arm tightly, twisting it firmly behind his back. “Let me make this clear,” she stated coldly, twisting his arm a bit more; forcing the man on his knees “I could easily break your arm right now. Get out of my sight in ten seconds or else I’ll make you regret touching me.” The person nodded quickly, showing that he understand. Leyna released him, watching closely to see if he would try anything. He stood, glared embarrassingly but quickly took off running, muttering something under his breath and lowering his head in shame.

“What a damn pain,” she scowled loudly, rubbing her shoulder for a moment. “Damn bastard pulled my arm too hard.” In all honestly she knew Ginji was still there, but she couldn’t care. “If you don’t pay attention, you will deal with morons like that.”

“You’re really hurting me here, geeze,” sheepishly he chuckled, feigning a bit of care for her repeated bashing against his claims that she was damaging his pride. What pride, right? Maybe that was true. Sure, he had his pride, but it wasn’t always very noticeable. His pride lied in the sort of things that most people had little concern for. Fonmachines, for example. But all this was beside the point.

“I’ll take you up on that.” Ginji could only smile at the woman, folding his arms back behind his head after her claim she could only take him seriously if he could actually beat her in an arm-wrestling competition. Unlike that first little encounter they had that went, ah, not so well. “I’ll win next time, and then you can stop trying to mince what’s left of my poor pride, hm?” Sounded like a good plan to him. Or, perhaps, it was just a good excuse to be able to see the woman again without her getting so exasperated with his mere existence and attempts to speak with her. Not that he should be so persistent in the first place. It likely wouldn’t end well for either of them.  

There it was again. Such unexpected animosity toward a stranger—Ginji didn’t imagine she was acting this way just toward him, after all. Asch really just desired to be alone. She detested his presence, it would seem—he was only wasting her time. Truly, he had to wonder what it was that made this girl so adverse to even having a conversation. It wasn’t like he had done anything wrong to her, correct? Though maybe it was just the fact she was so against the idea of being around him that made him so determined to talk to her. Ginji was rather stubborn, even with things like this.

“I think you do need to lighten up.” He laughed once again, in an attempt to show he was only joking. Yet it was true all the same. A little bit a brighter out-look could do her a lot of good…

Alas, he didn’t even get the chance to offer a friendly nudge of words in that direction before a little bit of a situation grew out of a little accidental bump of shoulders between Asch and another man on the street. Though Ginji had been in Kimlasca for a while now, this city was relatively a new position for him to be staying—he was still surprised by some of the violence contained here, and how quick some people were to get offended. Including that stranger, who quickly got into a spat with Asch over something so insignificant.

He was startled by the grab that pulled her back when she attempted to walk away—even more startled when Asch turned the situation around in an instant and twisted the man’s arm behind his back; threatening him, before releasing him, and letting him run away. She really was strong, wasn’t she?

Ginji frowned as she rubbed at her shoulder, seeming to ignore her warning about being careful himself. “Does this, uh… Does this happen a lot?” For clearly she was as good a street-fighter as she had claimed. She had experience under her belt, certainly. “People around here sure take stuff seriously…” Carelessly, the white-haired man reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder, still frowning thoughtfully. “Is your arm alright? You’re not hurt, are you?” Call it friendly concern, that’s really all it was. Ginji would be concerned over anyone who appeared to be hurt—and that didn’t disclude Asch. “Maybe you should go back home and get it looked at.” It was likely nothing, but, there was no harm in precaution, he would always say. “I’ll take you there, if you want.” Ginji didn’t know where she lived, but, by this point he practically had the map of the city memorized—if she told him, he could find it. 

— [AU] Gone away

charred-remains:

Guess Ginji wasn’t happy with her response, the fact he was frowning showed it. Yet it didn’t matter at this point, it would be better if she was honest in the first place instead of giving false information. There was a reason why she avoided people.

The frown didn’t last long, so it was replaced with a different expression. How could he brush something off so easily and quickly? For a moment Leyna was puzzled. This was the first time she had dealt with someone so strange, someone that made her curious. It was strange. Most of her life she was always surrounded by people that were either snotty or stupid, people that she couldn’t bring herself to care about. But Ginji was the opposite, different from what she normally dealt with. Even though her expression didn’t show it, she was slowly wondering about white haired male. No, there was no need to even think about it. 

“I don’t waste my time with weaklings.” It was blunt response to his statements, but it was truth regardless. “I doubt you would last long against a fight with me. I got the name Asch the Bloody for good reasons, it’s not something to take lightly,” she explained, looking away and nearly sighing. Did Ginji ever stop being happy?

Glancing back over, she quickly picked up the fact the male had blatantly avoided her question. Leyna wasn’t stupid, it was a trick she often used if people were asking too many questions. So Ginji was either trying to hide or avoid something, that much was obvious. “I don’t play games.” Even though the statement was short and blunt, and her face had no expression; it was a warning for the older male.

Whatever Ginji said was lost in the wind, she didn’t wait for him. It was better to get away before anything happened, she didn’t want to give Ginji the wrong idea about their relationship. Maybe he would take the hint and finally leave her alone.

Soon Leyna heard footsteps behind her, and shortly Ginji was back once again. This time walking besides her, even smiling about it. How could he keep ignoring the coldness she was giving out? Blinking from confusion, the red haired woman looked away. “Do you not understand that I want to be left alone? I don’t need company,” she responded harshly, “But if you want to waste your time, then go ahead. Just don’t expect me to be friendly.”

“Ouch—“ Ginji couldn’t help but breathe out that small response to Asch’s rather tactless and blunt retort to his observation. He chuckled  little bit, despite it. She certainly didn’t bother holding back, did she? It was openly displayed in her claim that she could quite easily beat him in a fight. He shouldn’t take that street title of hers so lightly, it would appear.

Unfortunately, it was like Ginji to take most things lightly. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, or was tactless or careless, certainly not. He just chose to display a casual air about most things. If he could help it, he preferred to keep the atmosphere from being unbearably serious is all. Things were easier to bear that way. “Geeze, think of a man’s pride when you say things like that—“ he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in a vaguely sheepish manner to go along with his whining hoax. “I’m not helpless, you know. You shouldn’t underestimate me, either,” he said, in a playful mimic of what she had said. But, it was true. He could hold his own in a fight; he wasn’t weak. Though he supposed that didn’t mean Asch still couldn’t beat him—he wasn’t going to underestimate her just because she was a girl. With a nickname like that, she could easily be a distinctive threat.

Again, the white-haired male simply smiled. That was his typical response to most things he wished to avoid and didn’t wish to confront. Asch was obviously well aware that he was avoiding her question—and was far from happy about it. She didn’t play games, she claimed in an expressionless and curt way. He offered no response. He had nothing to say about it. It was a rather tender subject, to put it lightly. It was in the better interest for the both of them if Asch never knew why he was out this early—or why he was here in Kimlasca at all. Ginji didn’t often lie; in fact, it was simple to say he wasn’t the best to trust with your secrets at all considering his tendency to be honest and hide little—but this was a bit of a different situation. In a serious situation like this, at least, he would lie without batting an eye.

Though her discontent was clear, Ginji wasn’t expecting to be completely disregarded and abandoned. Which he was, as Asch turned away from him and left without a word, leaving him only with the sight of her long crimson red hair moving away from him down the empty streets. That wouldn’t do. So without another thought, Ginji took a few quick steps to catch up to the woman—before falling into step beside her as if nothing was wrong at all.

Asch didn’t approve. Her confusion was clear—but it faded away into annoyance a moment later, before she turned away and gave a cold snap at him. She wanted to be left alone. “I know,” he replied, still smiling regardless. “At least you’re pretty good at giving off that feeling.” Everything about her clearly screamed to leave her alone—but, he couldn’t help himself. “Besides. Everyone enjoys company. Even if they won’t admit it.” Ginji laughed, smiling at her even if she refused to look back at him. Truly, he should just give up. There was nothing to gain from bothering her other than trouble. But, once more, he couldn’t help himself. She was interesting. And seemed lonely—at least to him.

“I wouldn’t call it wasting my time. I have nothing better to be doing.” Well, that was a lie as well, wasn’t it? Maybe he wasn’t as honest as he thought he was. “You’ll lighten up,” he decided, nodding. “At least I hope you will. For the sake of my safety,” he chuckled vaguely. “Wouldn’t want you carrying out that whole ‘beating me in a fight’ thing.”