[For Giorno, too. But he'd much rather focus on other people. He doesn't know how to make himself feel better, and anyway just being in a green place helps in some ways. It helps him enough that he can stop thinking about his own problems in order to focus on 1) getting out of this labyrinth and 2) making Mettaton smile.]
[Their paths cross frequently enough that it's not difficult, either. And he knows what makes Mettaton happy by now. So, when he manages to sneak up without being noticed, he makes magic happen.]
[It actually looks like the Cinderella transformation, which suits him just fine: gold shimmers up around Mettaton, wrapping around him in delicate swirls of color, which floats for a moment before settling in the form of a dress.]
[For the final touch, a bronze figure manifests in front of Mettaton to carefully place a flower crown matching the dress on the robot's brow. Behind Mettaton, Giorno crosses his arms and grins. Nice.]
v. he don't play by rules ( graham )
[Giorno doesn't like camping, but he likes it better here than he did in Perdition's Rest. Even though it's wet here, the forest is easier for him to adapt to than the desert. Water's just water, anyway, and he's able to keep his things dry enough that he doesn't complain too much about it.]
[He's setting up a spot to rest for the night, with his back to a big tree and a few other people bustling about--Fugo, Mettaton, a couple of others he trusts not to murder in his sleep. There's a stack of cans by one of the roots of the tree, easily fifty of them, and a small glass jar next door.]
[His feelers are out, waiting, listening even as his eyes are on other things. There's a sense of life in the woods, and he tenses, worried it might be one of those lizards, but . . . no, that's something else. So Giorno sits back on his heels and waits for it to reveal itself. When it does--]
Graham? [That's a much more welcome visitor.]
vi. girl don't play the fool now ( hayame )
[Listen: the vast majority of the time, Giorno knows when someone doesn't trust him. He's perceptive, and his job and occasionally life depend on being read as trustworthy. So the way Hayame looks at him tells him she's got something to say.]
[Even before today, but now . . . she's not that subtle in the way she approaches him. It's shortly after his announcement about food, but he's pretty sure that's not why she's here.]
[Better to play dumb, though. He gives her a bright smile and a wave, his other arm still holding the jar of ladybugs to his chest.]
Buon giorno, Hayame. Did the fruit disagree with you as well?
vii. you can find somebody better, girl ( sai )
[It'd be inaccurate to say that Giorno's come to terms with killing the three-headed lizards. It's more like he's resigned to it--bitterly--and he's determined to do it in the quickest, least painful way possible.]
[That's one of the reasons working with Sai is such a blessing. Sai is quick and efficient, taking no pleasure in doing what needs to be done. The two of them figure out a rhythm without saying a word when they work together, so that when a bunch of lizards come after them at once, it takes just seconds to dispatch them. Giorno immobilizes them, wrapping vines around them so that their legs are pinned to their bodies, and Sai follows him, putting them down one at a time.]
[It's still not what Giorno would rather be doing. But if he has to, he'd rather do it with someone like Sai.]
[When it's done, he stands back, surveying the carnage in front of them with a slight frown. Turning to Sai, his expression clears.]
closed prompts.
v. he don't play by rules ( graham )
vi. girl don't play the fool now ( hayame )
vii. you can find somebody better, girl ( sai )