Work Text:
Silco knocked twice before opening the door without wanting for an answer. Powder was sitting on the pile of blanket, half turned away rom him. She had her hair down instead of the usual braid.
“Hello, child,” Silco said.
“Hello,” Powder echoed.
“Your hair is going to get pulled if you keep it like that.”
Powder shrugged slightly. “I can’t… I don’t know how to braid it. Vi usually does it.”
“Do you want me to do it for you? If you have a brush and tie I could probably help you with braiding it.”
Powder nodded. She held up a brush cover in little doodles and a hair tie on her wrist. Silco sat behind her, took the brush, and started brushing her hair.
“Where have you been all day?” Silco asked.
“Around,” Powder muttered. “Mostly in the bar, helping to clean it.”
He started braiding her hair. “You usually come to see if I have something for you to do.”
“Sorry. I was busy. You usually don’t have anything that I can do. If you have something, I can do it tomorrow.”
Silco tied the elastic around her hair. “I don’t have anything for you to do.”
He touched the side of her face that had been turned away from him at first. She flinched, despite how gentle he had been.
“It’s almost like you thought I wouldn’t notice,” Silco said. “It’s a black eye. It’s pretty noticable.”
Powder shrugged. “You would’ve said I should’ve fought back if I told you,” she said quietly. “Wouldn’t you?”
“That really depends,” Silco told her. “No one really came into the bar today. So, unless you lied to me, there wouldn’t have been anyone you could have fought back against. Who hit you?”
“One of your goons. The green one. I told you didn’t like him.” She turned around so she was facing towards him instead of away.
Silco sighed. “I don’t expect you to fight fully grown adults. I expect you to tell me so I can deal with them.”
She shrugged. “It’s fine. It doesn’t really hurt that much anymore.”
“I was going to talk to him anyway,” he said. “He hasn’t been doing a good job. I’ll just talk to him sooner rather than later.”
Powder nodded. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to talk to him,” Silco told her. “Just like I’m talking to you right now.”
“Except, not like you’re talking to me now. You are actually nice to me. You’re not nice to them.”
Silco considered this, then nodded. “I suppose so. Well, go to my office. I’ll talk to the guy, and you can hear me being ‘nice’ to one of them.”
“I didn’t say you should be nice,” Powder muttered. “I just said you’re not.”
“Well, you probably won’t consider it nice. But, I do want you to listen to it.”
Powder nodded again.
-
Powder was sitting on the couch in Silco’s office. Silco was standing near her, watching the door very closely. He was waiting for Brad – the one Powder described as ‘the green one’. Said Brad was not currently walking through the door, which he should have done two minutes ago.
“If he doesn’t walk in this door in thirty seconds, I’m going done there and dragging him up by his ear,” Silco muttered to himself.
“Maybe he’s scared of you,” Powder said.
Silco sighed. “He’s supposed to be. But, it’s not useful when he’s too scared to do what I tell him to do.”
The door opened. Brad stopped walking when he saw Powder sitting there. She smiled a bit too much and waved at him.
“You’re late,” Silco said.
“S-sorry,” Brad stammered.
“Sit down.” Silco gestured to the chair across from his desk.
Brad walked over slowly and sat down.
“I told you specifically not to be late,” Silco said. “And, yet, you are late. Don’t say anything,” he added when Brad opened his mouth. “I need to talk to you about expectations. I expect you to do your job properly. I expect you to do exactly as say. And, I expect you not to be too weak to win fights against people your own age that you have to resort to hurting children.”
“I, um… I’m not entirely sure what you’re talking about. Sir.”
Silco sighed again. “If you keep lying, this is going to get very tiring very quickly, and I am going to get annoyed. I doubt that you want that.” He gestured to Powder. “Do you know her? You should. She was helping clean the bar today.”
Brad nodded slightly. “Um… Yes. Y-yeah, I know her. I-I mean, kind of. I don’t… I don’t know her well.”
“And, you are aware she is under my protection, no?”
Brad nodded again, but he stayed silent this time.
“And, you hit her?” Silco asked.
“I didn’t… I mean, it wasn’t–”
“You didn’t what?” Silco asked. “It wasn’t what? Do you want to know what I expect of you, Brad? I expect that you don’t hit people you know won’t hit back. It’s just pathetic. I’m assuming you knew she wouldn’t hit back. She is a child, after all. A young one.”
“I-I didn’t…” Brad stopped talking.
Silco sighed. “I did tell you to stop lying, no? You know the truth. I know the truth. Everybody in this room knows the truth.”
“I… I’m sorry,” Brad said.
“Why are you saying that to me?” Silco asked. “You didn’t hit me.”
Brad looked at Powder. “I am very sorry.”
Powder just smiled at him.
“I’m assuming you expected that she wouldn’t tell me,” Silco said. “I doubt you would have done it if you expect to get caught. Am I right?”
Brad nodded. “Y-yeah.”
Silco slapped him. Hard. Brad put a hand up to his mouth, and it came away very bloody.
“You should probably clean that up,” Silco said. “It looks bad.”
“You hit me,” Brad cried.
“And, you’re lucky that’s all I did. Now, get out of my office before you get blood everywhere.”
Brad stood up and walked to the door. Silco followed him, stopping him right before he left.
“Oh, and Brad. One more thing. You won’t be very happy with the consequences if you touch her again. Remember that this is me being nice.”
Brad nodded quickly. Silco let him go, and he basically ran out of the door. Silco closed the door behind him.
“Thank you,” Powder said. “I’m kinda surprised you didn’t do worse.”
“I told you,” Silco said. “I decided to be nice. You should learn how to fight, especially against people older and bigger than you. But, I don’t expect you to know how. And, until you know how, I will gladly deal with anyone who tries to put their hands on you. If that happens again, though, you need to tell me.”
Powder nodded. “Alright. Though, I think you probably scared that guy off from doing something like that ever again.”
“Probably. I don’t want you down there anymore. I’d rather you help with something where I can keep an eye on you.”
“I’m fine,” Powder said. “I don’t need you to keep an eye on me. I’m not that young.”
“That’s good. I would still rather you not be down there alone. For a variety of reasons, including that dangerous people tend to hang out there. So, please, do help with something closer to me.”
Powder nodded again, more hesitant this time. “Okay. I don’t know what I could do, though.”
“You make bombs, don’t you?” Silco asked.
“I did. And, then one of them killed my entire family.”
“You could make them again, couldn’t you?”
“I… I guess so,” Powder said. “But, like… I don’t want to. They killed people I care about, and I don’t want to hurt people.”
Silco sighed. “Well, I suppose that isn’t completely absurd. I do need someone who could make range weapons, and I would prefer it if you didn’t get hurt. With us living in a rather dangerous place and all. I guess it’s fine, though. I can find someone else.”
“I can try,” Powder said slowly. “I mean… I don’t know. If you really need me to do something like that, I guess I could try. Maybe?”
“Great, then,” Silco said. “Multiple problems are solved.”