Intro: The foolhardy plotless saga marches on and I've lost control of the story! Hehehe! Hwoarang's still angry and there's nothing I can remotely do to calm him down! Thanks again to FNAFFRENZYCAT for the review! How did this chapter get so long?! Goodness!
Somehow Lucky Chloe eagerly convinced a half-asleep Lili to share hotel rooms in an impromptu giggly sleepover, the overzealous one tugging in a colossal suitcase with all her might through Lili's luxurious room. Through heavy lids and a haze of deep thought, Lili supposed the more the merrier. Chloe squeals approvingly, squeezing her newly found friend as constrictively as a python and launches herself headfirst onto the queen size bed. "Ooooo! Soft!" her joyful voice is muffled by silk sheets, shuffling arms in the welcoming embrace of fabric.
The heiress grew to be in two minds about her new roommate come bedtime, with incessant questions and machine gun fire babble from the never ending energy source in bed next to her. "Some of the guys at the tournament are sugoi kawaii desu!"
A yawn punctuates disinterest at this hour.
"There was a cute guy with crazy sexy hair! Mā! I didn't get his name! Oh hey," Chloe shuffles closer to Lili, almost uncomfortably close in distance with her loud voice descending into a playful whisper, "Lili-chan, I saw you with Claudio-sama on a motorbike! Vroom!" Launching upright in bed like a viper rattled from her nest, Lili's nostrils flare almost over defensively in the face of Chloe's wide grin. "What's going on with you guys?"
Indeed, their earlier encounter was playing on Lili's mind in annoying photographic clarity in an infinite loop. Mixed emotions and confusion hand in hand stomping intrusively behind weary blinks, "Nothing!" Protests come thick and thin, voice overwhelmed by such implications working Chloe's mind overtime.
"Hontô?" Chloe pulls up sheets with a sly grin, "Come on! Spill!"
"Good night Chloe!" A swift and expert move of the duvet severs the conversation, leaving her companion out in the gossip lurch. Detective Chloe's leads were too irresistible to abandon, quirking brows.
But that could wait until morning.
If Chloe could contain herself.
Hwoarang was still clearly smarting from such trauma the night before (much more than Claudio's bloody nose), glaring daggers at Claudio. In no uncertain terms, he brusquely withdraws his motorbike key and waves it sarcastically.
"Good morning to you too!" Claudio cheerfully breezes past the stare that threaten to singe him if he dared approach, politely tipping a porcelain mug his way.
"Look at him! All fancy and stuck up!" Hwoarang mumbles to Steve, "Hope I get to face him first!" Cracking knuckles and it wasn't even noon yet, already bust for the thrill of the fight. Shrill voices in the foyer loom into audibility, Lili trailed by Chloe whispering musically in a manner that seemed to irk her friend.
Asuka and Katarina are sat sharing pancakes, heads cocking in unison at the spectacle of little miss prissy and her cat sidekick. Behind sunglasses, Katarina's eyes were sparkling with amusement, "Your friend is coming."
"She's not my friend!" Asuka snapped, stabbing her pancake abruptly, "Did you see the shiner she gave me yesterday? Huh?" Thrusting her limb into Katarina's gaze, the Brazilian promptly casts it away, "C'mon, I'm trying to eat! Put your war wounds away!"
"Stuck up, prissy little..."
"Suki," Katarina cautions with a fork somewhat menacing in her new found friend's face, syrup dribbling from a pancake piece," "Comfort food is gonna make your friend disappear, so chew and close your eyes before you bust a damn vein!" Reluctance steels as Asuka grudgingly accepts, chewing vehemently in disdain.
Lili turns violently upon Chloe's sharp nudge, catching Claudio's gaze suddenly frozen in bewilderment momentarily. "Well, well, well," Hwoarang's voice breaks up the moment between them, "If it isn't Robin Hood and Maid Marion! Motorbike hopping from place to place defiling my beauty!"
"Who cares about your hunk of junk?" Lili airily dismisses, "It's in one piece, isn't it?"
"That's not the point!"
Paul Phoenix suddenly looks anxious, leaping from his stool to see if his own motorbike was intact, paranoia breaking him into a cold sweat.
"And sending poor Claudio's nose one step closer to reconstruction is?" Lili rolls her eyes, earning a quiet snigger from Claudio which hardly quells Hwoarang's temper.
"Is that funny fancy man?!"
"It shouldn't be," Claudio shrugs mid sip, "That is my poor nose she's referring to."
"Well we can arrange further damage if you even so look at my bike again. You think you're so funny, don't you? People rolling in and out of this damn tournament like a goddamn hotel."
"But we are in a hotel!" Chloe pipes up shrilly, much to the chagrin of the ranting redhead, "Nya!"
Hwoarang promptly ignores her, "I don't like you Mario!"
Claudio doesn't bother to correct him, instead looking at the long suffering Steve resting his weary head on the table, rolling his eyes at his friend's loud antics. Supposed you're used to the walking foghorn, si? "Come on Steve," Hwoarang drags his friend by the collar childishly, "Let's go see whose asses we'll be kickin' in the tournament first." Glaring at Claudio, there's a glimmer of hope that he was first.
Chloe cranes her head in childlike curiosity at Hwoarang, silently mesmerized at his reckless swagger away from the scene and happily squeals. Claudio and Lili look to each other in perplexed unison at Chloe's sudden awe, "Uh...I'll be right back guys!" Before Lili could interrogate Chloe's random train of thought, she's soon a whirlwind of honey blond pigtails bouncing in the distance after Hwoarang and Steve.
"Uh oh," Lili cringes, "I know that look."
"I take it she's taken by Hot Wheels."
"After a whole night of listening to her talk about Lars and Leo, I'm surprised. Then again, I don't think she knows that Leo isn't a guy," Lili suddenly blurts into Lucky Chloe's perky oh-so-sugar filled voice, "Leo is so kawaii desu! Such beautiful soft hair a like a kitten." Legions of mock cat purrs ring out from the blonde's soft lips prompting a chuckle from Claudio, snorting into his mug.
"You could wait until I finished drinking." he smirks, wiping at his lips with a napkin, "You also wait until your poor friend is further out of sight before you character assassinate her."
"I mean no harm, she is my friend after all."
"Your friend kept you up, didn't she?" Claudio observes Lili's weary blinks with a tut, "The cat needs a muzzle."
"That's a little harsh."
"No, that's Hwoarang's department."
"Your nose looks better," Lili remarks coolly, "Looks like he's losing his touch from the last few tournaments."
"It's nothing," he laughs, "He's an amateur, let him think he did a big something."
For the first time since their altercation, Lili's sweet delicate features soften into a more relaxed sheen, throwing her head back with dulcet laughter ringing, a quite pleasant sound. Momentarily stunned into mesmerized silence and devoid of wit, Claudio is bestowed with fascination. The very same girl that had stirred up a cloud of vengeance over tea stains was now amiable. Positively glowing.
You're the same person, right?
"You're a devious man mister," she says, vaguely impressed and eyes sparkling with mischief, "Letting Hot Wheels have his cake and eat it." Spinning elegantly with lofty aplomb, she flicks back blonde hair with a sly smile. "I best not leave Chloe alone with him. What kind of a friend would I be?"
"Leaving her with a human inferno? Sounds unsafe. You better hurry or Chloe may suffer a fiery hell beyond comprehension."
Upon that dark humored veil, Lili bids Claudio farewell with a mock curtsy and strides down the foyer after her errant companion, no doubt a slave to drooling over the resident bad boy around these parts. Left to gather dust in deep thought, Claudio's glance lingers over Lili for longer than intended.
In this instance he gathered several things.
He didn't know where she came from.
What she did.
Why she was here.
It was a rare occurrence to verbally spar, and once physically. and lock horns with someone and acquire no formal information. Yet Claudio can subtly gauge threads of information about Lili, something beyond words alone. Something beyond this stuck up, snobby sheen she well maintains as an graceful exterior.
It soon dawned on the Italian that he hadn't seen her fight yet.
He chuckles, at once remembering that was half-true. The fight in her eyes last night when cornered by accusations and throwing insults at Hwoarang defending the honor of his sore nose.
She could be elegant, refined even.
At the flick of a wrist, competitive and passionate.
In a blink, persistent and infantile.
Elaborate ruses were a part of the Emilie de Rochefort experience after all as Claudio was slowly gathering along the way with the scraps of knowledge discarded, crumbs the vague trial she left behind in her wake. It was well veiled by haughty poise and a seemingly unflappable disposition (though this facade crumbles at times, he snarks inwardly). The many machinations to lure those into action, namely Asuka, was enough to detect a streak of misbehavior in Lili, not gathering malice in the slightest but sly sadism. A cat trying to catch the mouse, ever patient by the hole.
Claudio has a creeping epiphany.
Perhaps that's why she toyed with me.
Claudio would be lying if he said he wasn't amused, catching a glimpse of said girl's glance before her first bout against a young German girl that Chloe babbled about dreamlike all night. Leo humbly bows, determination in her stride as she readies her stance. Chloe is in the ranks to support her friend, baffled at once Leo's gender is revealed and shrilly giggles deafeningly next to Claudio, "I thought she was a bishie! Oh my!"
The very same grace and ruthlessness Claudio had witnessed during their blink-and-you-miss-it sparring surged in flashy aplomb in contrast with Leo's fluid motions. Chloe whimpers, hiding behind oversized paws unable to look at the ongoing onslaught.
It was level until Lili got the upper hand, sending Leo reeling onto gravel. Perhaps it was a good mood or impulsive graciousness, but Lili extends a hand to her opponent and mouths something like you did good. Briefly, Lili's blue eyes fall on Claudio, working overtime to decipher his own thoughts this instance and he can only emulate, feeling a smile creep. Taking part in these games was just fine, win or lose.
Chloe jumps on Lili's back, nearly toppling the blonde over with joyous whooping at her victory.
Maybe there were better things to do than play these games.
Maybe she was just a distraction.
But there had to be something that captured his attention nevertheless.
Spirit, determination, stubbornness.
It was all the things Lili didn't say that was loudest as of now.
"Can't believe I'm facing Xiaoyu first!" Hwoarang moans into his beer bottle, already sloping down that slippery slope of drunkenness, "If I have to hear about Kazama this and Kazama that..."
"Steady on!" Steve slides away the bottle, "You ain't gonna be in no fit state if you-"
"Shaddup! You ain't the boss of me!"
"What would Baek say!"
"Ah stupid, interfering old coot..." he slurs, nudging his cellphone aside as it vibrates.
"Speak of the bloody devil! Who should come ringing now, but the old coot?" Steve folds arms, "Come on, better get talking. You know Baek will keep ringing and ringing like a concerned parent. It's kinda sweet really." Hwoarang pulls a face of disgust, pressing the cancel button violently and seeks solace in yet another beer. One beer becomes five or was it ten and soon Steve joins the ranks of the drunks, albeit not as brash and deafening as his friend, erupting into horrendous sing-song. Soon Chloe is at their table and chugging beer through a straw, the obstruction of wearing kitty paws hardly useful for grabbing bottles.
"Hey *hic*," Hwoarang ambles, "It's a life-size...cat! So soft!"
Steve wriggles eyebrows, "Do...cats come in pink?"
Claudio resists laughter, calmly passing by at the most inopportune time to be in Hwoarang's sights.
"Look," Hwoarang's voice trembles and points less than gracefully, "It's the thief! Freakin' Italian job all...high and mighty! You nearly stole my beauty you...*hic* asshole."
Chloe burps under her breath.
"You stay away from my pretty...precious, Mario! You look like...a gay Elvis!"
"Thank you for your inebriated dose of originality Hwoarang," Claudio accepts graciously, "Best of luck standing upright tomorrow, va bene?"
"You saying I can't beat...Jin's little floozy?!" Hwoarang bristles angrily, tanked up to the nines, slumping in the booth inelegantly, "You gotta deathwish or something?!"
"Hwoarang-sama you must calm down!" Chloe launches herself into his strong arms, allowing the Korean sanctuary as he nuzzles against her furry bolero clad shoulder, hearing amorous mumbles of hmmm soft kitty dispensed in beer ridden breaths, gusting past ears.
"Chloe, have you seen Lili?" Claudio inquires despite this amusing spectacle.
Chloe shrugs, patting Hwoarang's back heartily. "She can't have gone too far, nya."
Claudio listens in on Lili chatting happily on her cellphone in what sounds to be French, her native tongue, ah something new about her. In French, words ooze off her tongue in a sophisticated purr, "D'accord Sebastian. Dites-papa je l'ai dit bonsoir. Bonne Nuit." When the call ends, she cradles the phone close allowing blonde bangs to conceal her expression.
"So you're French?"
Lili shakes her head, "I'm from Monaco."
He whistles, "You mean the land of houses the size of massive mausoleums?"
"The very same," Lili nods, "You must be from Italy."
"What gave it away?" Claudio sarcastically sighs, arms folded.
"Maybe because when you're in deep thought, you monologue in Italian without realizing it." Lili says with a hint of smugness, "I'm not that great at it but I know when you're calling me a nuisance under your breath."
Been watching me closer than I imagined.
"I suppose I should practice using my inner voice," Claudio concludes with a click of his tongue, "But then I wouldn't be able to congratulate you on your victory today, and that would be a grave shame." Lili pivots in Claudio's direction, pausing with a tilt of her head as she analyzes his comment with a purse of her lips. It made him wonder if there was some underhanded game being played here or perhaps the girl couldn't take a compliment.
Finally she relents with a response, smiling sincerely, "Thank you." They walk along side by side in breezy silence back to the entrance when Lili breaks the momentum and blurts, "We got off on the wrong foot, didn't we?"
"Perhaps. It doesn't matter so much."
"I thought you were the biggest jerk."
"Oh?!" Claudio acts hurt, tone scandalized, "How mean spirited!"
"You're interferingly arrogant, a wise guy who must have the last word, someone who polishes and sharpens their wit to such a degree anyone approaching would be impaled..."
"Are you quite finished Lili?"
"And another thing!" Lili raises a finger to cement her point home before being cut off.
"You're impossible yourself, unreasonable, petty, argumentative, stubborn..." Claudio emulates playfully, "The list is endless, but that would be just cruel of me."
"You're secretive! Nobody knows a thing about you!"
"You're quite the game player."
They mirror each other's smirks, inches apart from one another. A loud crash or two alerts their attention and they rush inside to bear horrified witness at the rustling in the foyer. A blur of pink and beige twist vehemently, making Lili pale significantly in realization.
Chloe and Hwoarang were lip locked in a furious clinch, kisses loud and obnoxious in the foyer. Any louder and perhaps they would alert everyone within hearing range to stomp out with their pitchforks and scream to get a damn room. Hwoarang's hands tangle in long blonde strands, kitty ears brushing up against his cheek.
"Oh my God!" Lili whispers in horror, not knowing where to look.
"Hot Air really has some prowess, huh?" Claudio sheepishly smoothes back dark hair, "The demon drink has claimed more victims."
"Chloe!?"
"Nya! *hic*!" she sweetly blinks mid clinch, "Hwoarang-sama is so kawaii!"
"Come on kitty!" Hwoarang slurs, grabbing a paw and slumping up the stairs, "I wanna stroke your ears all night long baby!"
"Chloe!" Lili protests as they slip away, "Come back!"
"What a cute couple," Claudio looks at the stumbling duo giggle and hiccup out of sight with a pained wince, "Miss Chloe is going to feel it in the morning. As for Hot Air..."
"Oh I couldn't care less about him, that ruffian!"
Claudio pats her shoulder lightly, "I think she can take care of herself, but she has two wheels to contend with for love after all."
"What a thing to say!"
"It's true! Woe betide who comes between that man and his most cherished."
Lili sighs. "Oh Chloe, you have such poor taste. Even Leo would be a better match! I have to stop her!" Running up the stairs with urgent footsteps ringing out, Lili is halted by Claudio momentarily.
"What do you say we start afresh? Tea stains aside."
Lili looks down from the staircase quizzically on the spot.
"My name is Claudio Serafino. And you are?"
"Lili de Rochefort. Nice to meet you all over again, Monsieur Serafino."
"Likewise," he beams earnestly, "Now go rescue your friend from the jaws of darkness Signorina Rochefort."
"See you tomorrow."
"Without a doubt."
When Lili leaves on her daring rescue mission, Claudio muses that he's seeing more and more of this enigma unveil day by day. Looking at his bandaged arm, he wonders what he's feeling this moment.
It was strange.
But he had to find out.
Outro:Claudio, do you have a crush?! I think so! But don't you have a mission to do? XD Don't get too distracted sweetie! What will happen to Hwoarang and Lucky Chloe? No doubt their heads will hurt in the morning! Hope you enjoyed this mess of a plot...that isn't a plot XD xox