Grano Salis
By TwinEnigma
Warnings: Non-senshi focused, original characters, death, language, violence; see author's notes in first chapter
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I write this for profit.
Chapter 1: Un idea perplexi na (1)
Three men sit in a dingy bar, crammed around a small, well-worn table as they eat lunch and talk about the previous night's game. The TV blares in the background, a smartly dressed anchorwoman running down the day's headlines. Stock numbers crawl along the bottom of the screen in an endless march.
"And that brings us to our next story," the anchorwoman says, turning. "Spokeswoman and leader of the landmark Crystal Tokyo project begins the first leg of her western tour today. The Crystal Tokyo project gathered international attention with its groundbreaking architectural design and then with its revolutionary mission of peace and goodwill. The project is slated to be completed in early June of this year. We're now going live to..."
One of the three men snorts, turning away from the TV as he dug back into his fries. "Can you believe that shit?"
"What, that city thing they're making?" the man to his right asks, putting down his beer. "The city of peace or whatever?"
The first man nods, viciously stabbing a fry into his ketchup. "Sounds like a crock of shit, if you ask me. I mean, really? Peace and love and all that new age, hippie bull – who believes in that fucking shit anymore?"
The third man rolls his eyes and dryly observes, "Obviously, not you."
"Damn fucking straight," the first agrees, devouring the fry with aplomb. "I'm too smart for that shit."
He swallows noisily and takes a swig of his beer before adding, "It's just smoke and air. Politics. Makes some bureaucrats somewhere happy. And meanwhile, the world's still a clusterfuck, but now the rest of us foot the bill for some sparkly tourist trap."
"Except we're not," the second man points out and the third scoffs.
"Except we are, in a way," he says, and aims his fork in the direction of the second man. "You haven't noticed their global fundraising campaign?"
The first man smiles and sips his beer, barely concealing a snort as the second man sputters.
"That's charity," the second man manages and pauses to take a drink. "It's not like everyone's paying in – and, you gotta admit, it sounds like a good thing, yeah?"
"Yeah, well, humans are fucking bastards, man," the first man says, finishing off his meal. "How long do you think that love and fucking puppies bullshit is going to last? And who the fuck do you think's gonna live there? Sure as shit ain't gonna be assholes like us – at least, they ain't gonna let us in the front door, if you know what I mean."
"Give them a little more credit than that, Lucio," the second man sighs. "It's probably going to be some kinda big think tank or something."
"Don't be naïve," the first man, Lucio, scoffs and finishes his beer. "Who's gonna clean up after those scientists? I'll tell you who..."
"It's Japan, you dumb fuck: they've probably got robots for that kinda thing," the second man says, rolling his eyes.
The third man arcs an eyebrow, leveling him with a pointed stare as he interrupts before the first man can speak again: "That is, provided, they even manage to get this place off the ground. I have some serious doubts about how they're going to pull it off in the first place. Every country is going to be watching them and waiting for a slip up – the poorer nations in particular."
"Ah, don't worry," Lucio says, clapping the third on the back with a hand. "You know if anyone fucks with their pretty crystal toybox, we Devil Dogs will be there to fuck their shit up in five with 98,000 tons of diplomacy at our backs."(2)
The second man chuckles and the third rolls his eyes, saying: "Didn't you get enough in Iraq already?"
"Fuck no! I'm a fucking animal, man! Oohrah!" the first grins widely, displaying too-white teeth.(3) He then cocks his head to side and lightly punches the third man in the arm. "Just fucking with you, man, lighten up. Wife'd fucking kill me."
The second man shakes his head, eyes drifting back to the TV. The image of a well-dressed foreign woman with a funny hairdo giggling and leaning on a taller man's arm as camera flashes set off around her is on the screen, the closed captioning flicking through the reporter's words. His eyes automatically slide to the corner where the time is and he curses, "Shit, I gotta get going."
The second man looks up, also muttering a curse under his breath as he reaches for his wallet.
"You guys gonna show up tonight?" Lucio asks, standing and wiping his greasy fingers on a napkin.
"Oh yeah, sure thing," the third man says, tossing some bills on the table for a tip. He curses, "Xara... Any of you got a quarter?"(4)
"Aww, what's the matter, Doc? Ain't got any loose change in that pretty wallet of yours?" Lucio asks, clapping him on the shoulders.
"Tozz fiik, Lucio," the third man shoots back good-naturedly and the first man laughs. (5)
"I've got it," the second man says, digging into his pocket. He pushes through the coins in his hand with a finger and picks out the quarter, along with what he needs for his own tip. The coins hit the table easily. "Seven, right?"
"I hope you're ready to lose, Wil," Lucio says, reaching out to take his hand with a firm grip. He shakes it and claps him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, right, if you don't scratch on the eight ball like last time," the second man says, slapping him on the shoulder as he edges by.
Chapter Notes + Glossary:
And so we get the first glimpse of our players. Hopefully, you can already pretty much guess what sides of the fandom each man represents.
(1) "The idea is strange to us" (Latin)
(2) "Devil Dogs" refers to the US Marine Corps; 98,000 tons of diplomacy is an aircraft carrier
(3) "Animal" in military colloquial basically means he's hardcore and will take shit no one else can deal with; "oohrah" is the US Marine Corps general catchall greeting/battlecry, similar to the US Army's "hoorah."
(4) "Shit" (Egyptian Arabic)
(5) "Screw You" (Egyptian Arabic)