risorto | {ic inbox}

Well, if you're going to start anywhere with learning Italian, cursing is a good place. We tend to pride ourselves on imaginative ways to insult and offend each other. Sometimes it's even affectionate.

But I suppose I should teach you some of the tamer ones first. [It wouldn't be responsible otherwise.] I still wouldn't recommend saying any of these around any grandmothers, but most people wouldn't be offended hearing these.

Accidenti = damn or if someone is describing something bad that happened to them, it's more or less the same as saying "that sucks"
Cavolo = it's along the same lines as saying "holy crap" when saying it by itself. If you say "che cavolo?" that's like saying "what the hell?"
Che palle = we say this when something happens that we don't like
Porca miseria/vacca = dammit

Porca translates directly to pig, but we often put it in front of other words to make it a little more vulgar. For example, porca Madonna is far more offensive than saying Madonna by itself.

Definitely don't say porca Madonna in front of a grandmother.

im not gonna be saying ANY of these in front of any grandmothers
not only because theres none here but because im not stupid
grandmothers can be fucking lethal with a ladle

these are great though!!
finally i can mouth off to giorno and jotaro
and kakyoin
kakyoin might kill me if i said some of these though

weve got something like "che cavolo"
not as vulgar though
ours is "ça va", which if you ask somebody means something like "are you okay?"
but you can just answer with "ça va" again, which is "I'm fine" or "it's okay" or whatever
if you ever go to france youll hear that all the time

[Of everything that Polnareff writes back it's the last sentence that stands out the strongest to Bruno. The sentiment, he thinks, is general. Something that could or would be said to anybody, but it's still a stark contrast to saying something like "You hear that all the time in France" or "If you were in France, you'd hear it all the time."]

[If you ever go. You'll.]

[Those aren't words for Bruno, but he doesn't offer any correction because it seems too general a sentiment to get nitpicky over. There's no reason to bring it up right now, not to Polnareff. So, although there's a small delay before Bruno even begins to write back, he leaves it be to the point it likely seems as though he's ignoring it altogether.]

If you think those are good, then you're probably going to get a lot of use out of the more vulgar words and phrases. You might as well get as vulgar as possible if Kakyoin's going to kill you anyway.

Cazzo is probably the most useful to know. Translating it literally, it means dick (so testa di cazzo would translate to dickhead), but we also use it like the word fuck. Che cazzo è would mean what the fuck is this, che cazzo vuoi is what the fuck do you want, etc. Stare sul culo essentially would translate to being a pain in the ass. Stare sul cazzo is an even less polite way of saying the same thing.

And then of course there is vaffanculo or sometimes we verbally shorten ti to fanculo. More or less, go fuck yourself. We tend to use that one affectionately. So say Giorno is giving you a hard time. You could say vaffanculo to him and he wouldn't take any offense. The same with vattela a pigliare in culo, which is more or less up yours.

You can also say ficcatti un/a X in culo to say "stick a X in your ass" and substitute more or less whatever large object you can think of for the X and either use that affectionately or not depending on your tone.

Tone aside, if anything involves a family member, especially "your mother" (tua madre), don't say it unless you want to chance a fight. For example: tua madre è una troia is calling someone's mother a whore. Or something that's a little more unique to Napoli would be vaffanculo a chi t'è morto is telling someone to go fuck their dead family members.

Though if you definitely want to start a fight immediately, you can say ti faccio un culo cosi. You need to do the hand gesture with it to give the full effect, but I can promise you that any Italian will immediately try to take a swing. Calling someone a stronzo/a (asshole/bitch) tends to have a similar effect.

And of course, you can combine a number of these together. In fact, that's encouraged.

[It isn't that he thought about it-- he didn't, because he's not that careful. But if it had been pointed out, he wouldn't have taken it back, because he holds the same hopes for Bruno that he does for Kakyoin. Anyone who comes here who was revived, he thinks, has a chance at going home. It's why he's so intent on Abdul coming-- not just because he misses him (and god does he ever, desperately so), but because coming here means another chance.

It'll come up someday. But for now, there are better things to focus on.

It takes him a while to reply-- not because he's upset, no, but becaue he's writing all these down. But there are little texts sent, between scribbled notes, each one coming with a few seconds delay after the other:]

holy shit bruno

okay but whats the hand gesture

i am definitely using all of these against kakyoin
and jotaro but mostly kakyoin, i can curse jotaro out in french
since I was responsible and taught him how to swear
not you though
you get an exception because you were kind enough to teach them

i think insulting someone's mother is kind of a universal thing
its not like in france we're okay with that
maybe england its fine i'd believe anything of them

so how many of these do YOU use
or are you more the sort who just threatens in a quiet voice without cursing

You hold your hands out in front of you, index finger pointing down and thumbs out to make a box. Move them further apart, but don't worry about it being necessarily a smooth motion.

Glad to know I'm an exception. Just don't sell me out to Kakyoin.

Cursing while threatening someone is something any street punk can do and then have no follow-up. They're probably not thinking either, so they've already lost the fight possibly before it even started. But if someone can tell you something similar without swearing or getting worked up, it makes you wonder whether or not they've done exactly what they've described before. That's the sort of image you have to project as a leader, so I rarely ever got pissed off enough to be anything else.

But I'm also not a nun, Polnareff, and I don't think anyone on my team with their foul mouths would have respected me if I never used a single curse word.

[Plus, to be honest, it's a little funny how they sometimes don't seem to know how to respond when it happens during casual conversation. Especially the first few times. But Bruno will never admit that even if questioned.]

[He practices that a few times, until he's got the gesture down well enough that he could whip it out if need be. You never know, after all.]

i never thought you were a NUN believe me
but you definitely haven't sworn in front of me
(this doesn't count)

that's pretty good though
about that whole leader thing
i'm pretty good at threats when im fighting but not like that
mostly just to make me sound cool
which is also important

[Is he joking? Maybe! Maybe not, though. Maybe a little bit of both.]

And yet you came to me and not Fugo or even Giorno about how to swear in italiano.

What do you think sounds cool?

[Because maybe he's joking a little bit, but Bruno's got this funny feeling maybe not so much. Cannot imagine why.]

because i like fugo but i don't know him too well yet
and giorno is my son
you can't ask your son to teach you to curse

[There's-- hm. There's two ways this conversation could go, but-- Bruno had told him a lot. Maybe not confided in him, but there was still a lot of Bruno's past that Polnareff knew. And while saying her name still hurts, it's getting easier. He thinks maybe it's easier the more he talks about it, but who knows.]

remember i told you i went to all those countries? poland and germany and all that?
i was hunting down a guy
my sister's killer
so i finally tracked him down with kakyoin
and before i killed him, i told kakyoin, you gotta say something good
not just "fuck you"
something like
"for my sister's soul and honor, so she can rest in peace, i'm going to send you straight to hell"

and then we did

[Bruno's response doesn't come immediately because it comes to him almost immediately. He'd almost entirely forgotten about her, the little sister he cared so much about that was alive and well during those brief few days before the illusion fell apart and everyone woke back up to reality. Sherry, that was her name, wasn't it? Bruno can't help but wonder briefly if that's the same name, but it's a detail that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things because that explains now why Polnareff ran off after everything returned completely to normal.]

[Bruno hadn't really known Polnareff at all when that happened, he just knew he was upset about something and Giorno was worried to the point of agitation while he waited for Polnareff to return. But it makes sense now. Bruno never had a younger sibling, but he knows what a similar loss feels like to know that he probably wouldn't have reacted much better in the aftermath himself. So, in some ways, he hates that this conversation is in text because these texting conversations never feel particularly personal to Bruno and certainly not relative to what Polnareff's just told him, but it is what it is.]

Then you said and did something incredibly good, Jean.

[Geil's death had been sweet. He'd enjoyed it. It hadn't helped, not the way he'd thought it would-- but god, he's glad that bastard is dead. Even now, with his own grief renewed, with Sherry's memory still sullied by the things he'd done to save Reimi, he's content in that knowledge.]

yeah

[It occurs to him that this is the first time Bruno's ever used his first name, and it's noticeable for a couple reasons. The first: he's starting to become attune to these kinds of things with Bruno, for reasons he's still not quite ready to articulate, much less acknowledge. It's there, yeah, a spark of a thought ready to be probed, but just as he had the night they'd been drinking, Polnareff pushes the thought away. Not yet. Soon, but not yet.

The second reason: people so rarely use his first name nowadays. Jean, which has become a sort of shorthand for when people really mean what they say. I won't leave you alone, Jean, that's the last time he heard it, a fervent text from Jotaro that had meant the world to him.

He likes it. He liked it then and he likes it now, coming from Bruno.]

anyway so if you ever need a cool one-liner
you know who to talk to

[A beat, and then, both teasing and not:]

so is it jean now
or was that a special occasion?

[It is meant to encapsulate more or less exactly that degree of sentiment, so it would seem that it is just a special occasion, a means of connecting on a human level through somewhat impersonal means. But the question does give Bruno pause enough to rethink it and evaluate a few things for himself. He'd always defaulted to Polnareff partly because that's simply what he's heard everyone calling him and always assumed that was his preference, and partly because Bruno just didn't know him all that well and there's always something a little intimate about first names.]

[There is, of course, still a chance that it's his preference. Bruno wouldn't hesitate to respect that. But the latter reason, not knowing each other well enough, that seems a lot less true nowadays. Not when there seems to be a developing undercurrent of understanding between the two of them where it seems every now and again, certain things are left unsaid but still mutually understood.]

I suppose it's only fair with how often you call me Bruno. Very few people ever called me that back home you know.

[Capo. Buccellati. Rarely, if ever, just Bruno. But that's largely only applicable to life back home and not so much here where Kakyoin's become the rare exception by calling him Buccellati. He doesn't mind it particularly, however, because usually when someone calls him Bruno around here, it's not all that different from calling him Buccellati back home. But the thing of it is, everyone's consistent in whether they call him Buccellati or Bruno. All except Polnareff, who mostly calls him Bruno, but he's said Buccellati instead a rare time or two, and Bruno wonders now if he maybe should have thought something of that sooner than now or maybe he shouldn't now.]

[Though the latter is somewhat moot because now he is thinking about it.]

I could stop, if you want.

[He has a feeling Bruno doesn't want-- but who knows? Both Jotaro and Kakyoin were particular about what names they were called. Buccellati isn't the sort to suffer quietly (at least, not like this), so he probably would have said something if he'd hated it-- but best to be sure.

It's a little bit of a game they're playing right now-- or at least, it is on Polnareff's end. He asks the question because he ought to, but really, after a few weeks working on the Boat, he knows Bruno won't mind. He knows quite a bit about Bruno now.]

I didn't say I minded it.

Besides, I think we're past the need for formality, don't you?

[Not that Bruno really felt there ever was a need for or the presence of formality between the two of them.]

well yeah
you build a boat with a guy, its almost as good as being in a fight with him for bonding
but i thought id make sure
people are particular about names around here
thats the first time ive heard jean in a while

I've personally never been that particular about it, but Passione under Diavolo was very concerned with formality and rank. So most of the citizens wouldn't have dared call me Bruno and even the members of my team that I've known for years referred to me as Buccellati even in private. Although it was probably a little different for the team than your average citizen.

It probably didn't apply quite as much to Abbacchio, but for most of them, it was probably easier to focus on whatever mission was in front of them with that distance there.

[Or at least the illusion of it. Because no one would have stepped onto that boat in Venezia if that particular kind of bond had been fostered instead of what was really there.]

[Huh. That . . . makes sense, really, and fits into the hazy picture he's painted himself, but he's never heard it, not even from Giorno. There's never been any you know, most people call me Don Giovanna-- but that's not really Giorno's way, not even in casual conversation. Maybe some of that is modeled from Bruno. Polanreff wonders-- and he knows better to ask this, at least-- what it's like in the future, what names he himself uses for Giorno, what people call him.]

you know i was gonna say something like "well you wanna look at it that way, we're both giorno's consigliere, we're the same rank, so jean and bruno works"
but are we??
since im younger
and you've been doing this a lot more
i just want to be clear so i can pull rank on you if need be

[He hopes that successfully comes across as teasing. God, he does, and he stares down at the watch, frowning. It's all still a little unreal, this mafia business, and sometimes it's too easy to dismiss it as something from a dream. It's not that he doesn't believe Bruno, no, it's just--

It's all so hazy in the future. You will become Giorno's consigliere, you will help out Passione in ways you can't imagine-- it's all well and good to say that, but the truth of the matter is, Giorno will always register as his friend more than his don.]

[Bruno knows it's just teasing, but with Polnareff it's sometimes hard to tell when he's just teasing and when he's teasing while trying to get answers. He did express an interest in understanding the structure better, so...]

That's something that's more up to Giorno than either of us.

[But then there's a pause before another message comes through.]

But he's a bit of a mammoni, so I think I have the advantage.

[Sorry, Giorno. He's held out for as long as he can without taking the piss out of you. At the very least, Polnareff probably doesn't know what that means and Bruno isn't going to say? Some dignity possibly saved??]

[Fortunately (or unfortunately, in poor Giorno's case), the French word for the same concept isn't too different. Similar enough that he can guess, anyway-- and it's entirely possible Bruno will hear the sharp bark of laughter from Polnareff's room.]

UNFAIR
he shouldnt choose between parents like this he should be entirely unbiased between the two of us
besides which i gave him a TOY ROBOT

[Well, RIP Giorno's dignity. There isn't a chance that Polnareff will hear it, but Bruno does quietly laugh at the sudden laughter from down the hall and the message he gets back.]

He shouldn't choose, but now who's trying to turn it into a competition?

oh buddy it was a competition from day one
i have jotaro and his giant toy store on my side

speaking of which have you ever seen that place?
the den > the toy store but both are pretty amazing
im getting pretty amazing at putting together toy airplanes AND shooting pool
i was already p great about pool but with nothing but the boat to distract me ive had a lot of time to improve my skills

The novelty will wear off eventually and then what? Besides, I think I'm much more in touch with Giorno's aesthetics than you are and you know that's important.

I can't say I've spent much time there.

hey
HEY
i have at least once put on eyeliner
that counts

[That's more terrifying to admit than comes across text-- but then, right on the heels of that:]

you should come by sometime! ill show you it all
its pretty great
both bits i mean the toys there are fucking amazing
but also its fun to shoot pool after supper
besides if you come along we can team up against jotaro and kakyoin

It only counts if you managed to do an even line. I'd also be willing to award bonus points if you managed to wing it at all. But I think I'm still ahead when I'm wearing it more days than not.

Don't you think it's a little poor taste to beat someone in their own establishment?

it was more even than yours i bet
not wings though you got me there
i don't even know what wings area

and no
not when it's jotaro kujo
i lost a bet to him over pool a few months ago
after that all limits are off

If you want to learn, I can teach you. Or I'm sure Giorno can.

You should have told me that from the beginning. I'll definitely help you.

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