Context is Overrated [Giza/Aurora]

Giza doesn’t know which one upset him more: the fact that Miss Aurora is treating this chump like a friend to her, or the fact that the two of them had cross-path multiple times. He wanted to snatch that first-aid kit out of Blue Jay’s reach just to teach him a lesson, but he doesn’t want to upset Miss Aurora even more than she is now. The fact that he’s being scolded by Miss Aurora right now is just humiliating, especially when Blue Jay is near.

As soon as Blue Jay threw his sword at him, probably in frustration, Giza ducked just in the nick of time for the blade side swing by harmlessly before it fall into the water behind him. From what he can tell so far, he knew Blue Jay can’t teleport himself if the sword isn’t on his hand. So either he’s an idiot or he’s using this as a distraction. Giza has seen how the sword can magically appear right at Blue Jay’s hand, so he need to keep a close eye on them in case his power return and start to retaliate. It is also rather insulting that he actually speak in his defense when Miss Aurora accuse him of lying to her. He then turned toward Miss Aurora, who looked really upset with her arm fold:

“A-As much as I hate to agree with him, he’s right: I-I wasn’t lying to you, a-and I know you can handle your own problem. I-It’s just…I...”

Giza felt nervous about saying it out-loud; he just fidgeting with his hand while thinking of a way to deliver his reason. He could feel the pressure built up in his stomach, making him all squeezy about the situation at hand.

“I-I just don’t want you to hang around with him.” He blurred it out, “Miss Aurora, w-why do you always hang around with this…this Bulwark idiot? What does he have that demand all your attention to him? I don’t understand why you’re treating him like a childhood friend. I want to know why you are so concern about his safety even though he had been such a nuisance to everyone. Why are you focusing so much effort on siding with him? A-And the reason I didn’t drag this limping piece of shit out of the dock was because I can’t lift him up. I was worry if I dragged him out in the open, people will see, and there’s a chance he might wake up and attack me. So I thought disarming him would help me move him out easier without worrying about him attacking me with that sword of his.”

He then turned toward Blue Jay with anger in his eyes:

“The reason why I hate you is because you have been hogging Miss Aurora’s attention all this time. What make you so special that you deserve such special treatment? You’re just an idiot who do more harm than good to anyone around you! So now that you finished patch yourself up, get lost!”

Blue Jay visibly jumped when the slab of concrete landed beside him. That and Giza’s kind request for him to get moving did not go unnoticed by Blue Jay, and he figured that now was probably a good time to go unnoticed from the scene. These two had their little chat handled. He didn’t see any reason to stick around.

His foot, however, begged to differ. It was probably adrenaline and his sword that had allowed him to put any weight on it during the fight, because with past dues from putting weight on it plus the hole Giza had gone and stuck in it, it was not in the mind of letting him leave. In attempting to stand up, he gave a grunt of pain and fell back to the ground.

Meaning he was stuck here, listening to these two bicker until his sword came back and decided to start working for him again. Since he wasn’t in any technical danger, it could go and take its sweet time. It probably would, seeing as he’d just chucked it in the ocean.

He tried to zone the two of them out, focus on something like making sure all of his injuries were properly dressed, but that meant focusing on the injuries that were feeling as bitter as he was. There was only so much he could take. Thus, halfway through Aurora’s last word, Blue Jay interjected his own.

“Would you stop your high and mighty disparaging talk like I’m not right here? There’s no need, yeah? You’ve already attacked me out of nowhere, and after you dragged me out of the ocean after shooting knives at me - and have you ever gotten seawater in a cut before? It stings like hell! And after that, you figured you should just go and cut off my hand rather than, I don’t know, helping out the person who isn’t breathing? Look, I know you need to make yourselves feel all powerful or whatever and I, the Bulwark who screws up left and right, am the perfect person to kick after you’ve already literally rubbed salt in my wounds, but is it really goddamn necessary? No, no slack can be cut for Blue Jay, can it? Because I deserve this or whatever because I’ve stepped on your toes or that line between downtown and the docks.”

His eyes were closed in frustration and his head was down. He began quietly, but the tone of his voice quickly rose. If someone tried to cut him off, he’d go heedlessly right on talking, louder than before.

“Do you guys have any idea how hard it is just to get some peace to practice for a bit?! I can’t go anywhere, no matter how who cares out of the way it is, without the police showing up twenty minutes after I start. If it’s not police, then it’s a super who’s decided he’s got a vendetta with me because I keep running into the rainbow moving truck with an anger complex for no reason other than I’m unlucky or I have to because it’s kinda my job to try to stop someone from wrecking the news station for the tenth time this month, like it isn’t going to be turned into a pile of rubble the next week anyway. But oh, if I don’t try to stop you, clearly I suck at my job and it’s all my fault that Aurora whatever stupid nickname they’ve pissed you off with destroyed your building.

“I should just be more careful, you say. I’d like to see you guys try to do my job with powers like mine. Fighting? Forget trying to use my full power. That’s how I destroy the next building over or break all the ribs of the person I’m trying to stop! I’ve got to be careful I don’t accidently kill anyone! You know what else I can do? Teleport and stab things. That first one’s really useful for stopping people, isn’t it? Aurora’s shrugged off a stab to the arm and you aren’t even one of the tougher supers! So what am I supposed to do with a sword? I can’t go deeper than skin because unlike some people I don’t want to cut off anyone’s arm and I certainly can’t go for the places that’ll actually stop people! But if I don’t use enough power, god knows they’re not holding back against me! Giza, you were going for the kill, weren’t you? Yeah, you want to know why I ‘cause trouble for everyone around me’? So I could return the favor and stab you in the lungs and then shock wave your guts, or I can play glorified whack-a-mole and try to nonlethally whittle down my opponent while also trying to mitigate not just my property damage but yours - because every dollar you cost the public is another reason to shoot me on sight - and keep innocents from falling into the crossfire with powers that are meant solely for killing dragons! So I pick the option that makes me a decent human being and as a result my normal day is to get offhandedly called a useless idiot like it’s a matter of fact by a kill-happy magician and an egotistical kill-joy I can’t seem to get away from, the first of whom doesn’t know the first thing about trying to use his powers for good and the second has no clue what it’s like to deal with powers that not only screw with you on a daily basis but are meant for absolutely nothing besides killing!

“So yeah, go ahead and keep on blaming me for everything. That’s the only goddamn thing I’m good for, isn’t it? So sure, you can go on pretending that I’m the reason Aurora isn’t constantly watching your every move with amazement and respect, like that’s why she doesn’t see you for the oh so special thing you are! And you can go on pretending like I’ve got no clue what I’m doing so you can feel like you, Aurora, are ever so powerful, because gee if this is the best I can do you must be perfectly right in all of your actions because you’re so much better than me! See if I care if you don’t seem to have an ounce more of respect for me after I help you out or if I mind being constantly talked down to or if I mind having to deal with all the consequences of your stupid destructive actions!”

Blue Jay dignantly crossed his arms and huffed. He didn’t really care if he’d gotten off topic or however much time he might’ve just spent doing so. He wanted to pretend like he was dry and not bleeding and that the burn on his shoulder wasn’t beginning to, you know, burn, and instead he was home or resting on a rooftop with a coke and some ice cream. And he wanted to stew in the anger that resulted from a situation that could’ve been avoided as a whole if Giza had just let him harmlessly shoot shockwaves at a bit of water.

"Are you done?" she asked flatly. "There are a lot of deserted areas on the outskits of town. You might have better luck practicing in Evergreen Hollow."

She was content to leave it at that. The rest of it was such a rambly rant that Aurora doubted even he knew what he was talking about or trying to say. Commenting on something like that would be a waste of time. The picture itself becoming clear though, and it made her stomach burn. She didn't belong to anyone, she didn't owe anyone anything, and she couldn't allow the people she associated with be hurt, whether she willingly associated with them or not. If Giza was going to keep acting out like this, it was going to become a problem. For now, she had a responsibility to the person wronged by her subordinate.

"Do you want me to carry you home?" she then turned her attention to Giza. "And you, I will talk to whoever I damn well please. I talk to a lot of people, not just him, are you going to go cut off all their hands too? This is your last warning. If I see you attacking people for this reason again there will be severe consequences. And stop lying to me, you're not very good at it."

Giza couldn’t believe what he’s hearing before him; he doesn’t know which is worst: the fact that Miss Aurora considered Blue Jay to be better company than him, or the fact that she actually had been in his home that she offered her help for him. He slowly walked back against the metal wall behind him, speechless of this. He slowly slump down on the ground, unable to say anything in response to that.

In response to her word, Giza wrapped his arm around his knees and sit there, contemplating about what he should do. He felt cold and empty; his whole purpose of doing anything was to get Aurora’s attention, to have her impress by his action. But if all of those things he did for her were meaningless, then what is his purpose anymore? Being rejected is one thing; being insulted by a rival and rejected by the very person he looked up to is another.

He wished he could just sew Blue Jay’s mouth up to stop him from speaking anything, but since Aurora is here, he must listen to what she order him to do. He gave her a promise that he would be by her side no matter what, but so far he has been unable to fulfill any of that promise. He wished he could have finished off Blue Jay before Aurora arrived at the scene, then he can at least doesn’t have to listen to his preachy chalk-scratching voice.

But the worst part? He couldn’t even come up with a reason to explain his position. He felt like the two of them had conspired together to beat him down. The fact that Aurora decided to take Blue Jay’s side in the argument, everything in life just faded away from his grasp.

“And there you go again, blaming that your faction attacked me on me.” Blue Jay muttered to himself. Bitter or not, he guessed it didn’t currently really matter. Complaining because one wants to fume a bit is not a time to make a convincing argument. He wasn’t in the mood to attempt to actually solve any of these problems, so he wasn’t going to try. It wasn’t like luck was giving him any shortage of encounters with Aurora to discuss stuff later in.

“That’s… comforting to know.” Blue Jay sighed. Comforting for the other people at the house, too, he was sure. At least if Aurora should ever decide to take advantage of the fact she knew where he lived to try something drastic, she was going to be outmatched by the large number of other supers there. It was one pro to boarding with a bunch of people who made the laundry room a living nightmare and stole his ice cream with teleportation powers.

“But no, I’ll take care of myself.” He said, waving dismissively. “Just give me ten minutes.”

With Aurora’s mention of him, Blue Jay cast a look at Giza huddled in the corner. He seemed so dejected. He guessed he had just been chewed out by Aurora, and while Blue Jay had long since learned not to put much weight on her opinions of various people, Giza seemed to care a good deal. Blue Jay was getting flashbacks to some misunderstandings with his own faction, and couldn’t help but feel some, well, sympathy for the guy. Plus, he seemed sorry enough. Blue Jay was going to take this as an apology from Giza.