Snippet #2530430

As Ai entered, she bowed customarily to both Joel and Cain. Mannerisms and customs meant nearly nothing to Ai, having nearly no such things among her own kind (except for when she gave herself a name and when she expressed gratitude toward others as she found that bettered the thought process of the other party) yet they were very common among humans, especially among the Japanese and among the Mafia. Nobody ever told her why customs and manners were important, but she found that she could more easily gain the cooperation of another by preforming them as opposed to ignoring them. She was still learning all of them and she recently began to realize that different mannerisms where used in different places. A foreign man's form of greeting, such as people who'd arrived at the event a week ago, used the handshake method, while the Japanese bowed to each other. Indeed, manners and customs were trivial, yet Ai was willing to do anything to make her appear more trustworthy or more human.

Of course, because she was still learning them, she didn't remember to leave her shoes at the entrance. Ai rarely has been in other people's homes before, mainly staying at the Vongola headquarters in Japan (or before then, in Italy) so she uncommonly was in a situation where she'd have to take her shoes off.

Sitting on the couch adjacent to Cain and Joel, Ai was glancing around the room. "Hey Shaji," Cain spoke up, "I'd stand up to hug you, but you know, I have this strange leg feeling. Almost like I have a cast on it. Hehehe." Ai was about to say something along the lines of 'I wouldn't recommend you doing so' and get into a long and needlessly complicated monologue about why he shouldn't have for his own good, but Cain continued speaking.

"So who dropped you off huh? Your folks? Actually now that you mention it, I never met your folks before. I bet they're nice people." Ai was about to tell him that it was a CEDEF agent that dropped her off. "Oh. Did you know that this area has a nice lake. You should of brought a......Swimming suit?" Ai was about to tell him she had no intention of doing so. "So I see you like to travel light huh? Well that's cool 'cuz you know what they say........ Yup. I know you know, so I don't gotta tell you." Ai did not know. She deemed it unimportant, however.

Ai merely stared at the boy, the Boss. This was likely the longest conversation she'd had with him so far and she wasn't the one doing all the talking. In fact, it seemed to be a meaningless conversation. Humans tended to engage in that sort of conversation upon meeting each other, DiCaccio did it quite often with others. Cain had no use for the information that her family or somebody else dropped her off at the place. Ai would have rather been talking about backup plans in case the Rizzo found them or about the suspicion that they were trying to access their networks, yet the Boss seemed to think meaningless information was of higher priority.

Ai sat in silence until Eri and Fredrick arrived. She continued to stare between Joel and Cain, but her third eye darted all over the room. She almost always kept it hidden using her illusionry ability, and the car ride over was no exception, but it was here that she should have been allowed to keep it exposed. After all, she was among friends whom were about to learn about it anyway. Once Fred and Eri arrived, they were greeted by both Cain and Joel, but Ai merely stared at them. "Where's Keiko? Is she coming?" 'And Nami' Ai added in her mind. She then remembered to mention something. "The Storm Guardian wont be arriving today. She is busy. She did receive a temporary replacement ring." Then, Ai remembered about the two things she did bring with her. As if by magic, she presented her fist and opened it, revealing silver rings in her hand with a large gemstone on each of them, being orange and blue colored respectively. "I had brought these rings with me for the Boss and the Rain Guardian. They are B-Rank rings capable of producing deathperation flames. Both are some of the most expensive rings in the world, but they do not compare to the Vongola rings in worth nor power. They shall serve as temporary replacements until we retrieve the Vongola rings we had lost to the Rizzo. They will be key for your training. I cannot assure that others are prepared for if we lose any more rings, but the Boss should be able to order them ready anyway, should it come to that."