Author's Note : Yes, 3000 acres does mean 4.6 square miles. That's not particularly out of the question land-size… in America, Russia, or before the communist revolution in China. With where Sonya's living that would mean she outright owned the local town, the more rural but still lived on mountain streets nearby, the entire mountain behind her, about half of another to the north, three more distant villages just up the mountain side, and everything else between. Legally. Without taking into account municipal owned land or those that did own their own damn places.
I didn't think three thousand acres was too much either, especially considering the mountainside and how 'remote' from a big inhabited city center her castle is. At first.
With how much three hundred acres was mistakenly marked if just three got turned into three thousand, out of Italy's 116,347 square miles total (which is all the measurable land even including island masses) Sonya would've 'owned' 468,750 square miles of it. Hence why the Lackey's aware it wouldn't hold up in court if they tried to enforce the mismarked deeds. Bjǫrn initial reaction is from seeing/traveling through some of the bigger countries, like Russia and China, and knowing full well that in sheer space European countries tend to be a hell of a lot smaller. To be fair to him, Italy's mostly a peninsula…
Yeah, I had to somehow reduce the size of the area once I realized how much three thousand acres didn't fit the location in question. I made a mistake, that was me correcting it. If it comes out to anything, probably not more than just an interesting interlude with Viper's reaction.
Q: Who raised the others (Galina, Adrik, Dmitry) when Sonya was younger?
A: Well… I had planned on getting into that more in-depth at the start of RR, but then several reviewers informed me I had way too many OCs after only getting through Lisa and Arseniy. And then I still had to do Aleksandr and old man Zolotov, so I scrapped just about everyone else not 'needed' to further the plot a little without pissing people off with yet more 'unnecessary' characters. To be honest, a few readers even forgot where Hawk came from and it's been less than ten chapters since he popped up. Some of you might want to read that kind of 'background' details, some would only if they stuck with it this long, and there's probably a fair few that don't care to be forced to dredge through it.
Q: Didn't Fiorella already know her husband and the Vongola Famiglia are mafia?
A: No. In the end, keeping quiet about your day-job because of legal violation issues and keeping quiet because you're part of a secret society is not all that different from uninformed perspectives. Aside that, Fiorella's an outsider more than just being a civilian could explain. Completely on the outside looking in, her family comes from north Italy while Vongola's about as south as you can get while still remaining on the main landmass, and she's basically just a professional mom in the midst of a lot of professional killers and thugs. There's reasons for why Timoteo went so far outside the mafia for a wife, which we might or might not get to. It depends.
Edited (9/26/2018) - Minor corrections.
Russian Roulette : Second Chamber
Chapter 7
(Sunday the 17th of May, 1970. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)
Waking up in almost pitch-darkness only lit by soft and diffused moonlight, Fiorella simply lay there and felt her burningly sore muscles.
She might've overdone things heavily chopping down a previously rather fetching tree from the feel of it. There were more than enough sore or burning muscle groups to make her instantly regret not getting more exercise in her life, and to be sure getting to the bathroom would be an ordeal.
It had been way too long since the last time she chopped firewood and chopping an actual freshly fallen tree trunk was a bit more than different from just collecting fallen dead branches to burn. The last time she had used a hand ax had been after she graduated from upper-secondary school, she and the rest of the classes from her school had a bonfire-campout to celebrate and say goodbye to each other…
Distracted by old memories or not, it was a little hard to miss one of her two bedfellows suddenly rolling over to give her another newly familiar hug. In the dark, it was almost enough to see the very faint glitter of that yellow Sun Flame as it seeped into her achingly abused muscles.
"Hi." Tatiana Primakova greeted her, quietly out of respect to those still sleeping but brightly enough to feel cheerful. "Feel better?"
"…I am horribly sorry." That was not the best introduction she could have to meet Sonya's older sister. She didn't believe anything she spoke of yesterday was remotely coherent, and she knew for a fact she didn't even give the lovely woman a greeting after being introduced to her.
A bit more personally and quietly embarrassing, now she was aware of it, being in bed with the Russian sisters allowed her to feel exactly how fit the both of them were compared to her. The Sun on her left was almost heavily muscled for a woman, built a touch stocky even when stacked next to a mother of three. The still sleeping woman on her right was sleeker and less defined, but no less soft in form than her older sister was.
Surprisingly, yet another reminder those around her tended to be utterly divorced from 'lawful' work didn't immediately trigger a rush of anger to somehow manage without lashing out at those that didn't deserve her scorn.
Very cautiously, she thought back to when Timoteo finally told her exactly what it was his 'family business' entailed. That nothing about it was respectable, that her sons were expected and would be the next leaders for criminal factions without so much as her agreement needed, that the man she married had thought and operated like she wouldn't have accepted him at all if he was remotely honest with her.
…ignoring how it would feel to realize you married and had several children with a complete stranger that had never trusted you a damn bit. That nearly five years of life had almost been a complete and utter lie, or at least built off one.
She felt weirdly muted and just overall tired now, still rather betrayed and angry but without the almost toxic and choking bitterness that she had been feeling for nearly a full month. Yes, she was still angry with her husband but it wasn't the only thing she was feeling anymore.
Embarrassment was a bit of a bad feeling, but it was different.
The busty redhead picked up her left hand, passing a thumb over the blisters she rightfully caused herself with the metal handle of the strange battle ax her younger sister allowed her to use. "Give me about five seconds to further reduce the strain you put yourself under, then if you need the bathroom or a drink of water go my way rather than Nya's. She gets… grumpy when others crawl over her."
"I am still very sorry." Fiorella attempted again, both happy and annoyed by her own inability to manage much else to say right now.
"You can feel sorry, I like hugs." Insisted the brashly chipper woman back, with a smirk she could only dimly see the more she adjusted to the dark of a rural comune rather than a big city's eternally lit nights. "Try moving now."
As Tatiana had even gotten to her aching back before she felt confident to try adding that to the list of complaints her body was feeling, Fiorella gave her a hug that wasn't emotionally needy or expressly to allow more access to heal by before gingerly trying to get up.
Somehow between the blur that was getting to soak in an almost scorching hot bath and being pressed with some of the older sister's clothing to sleep in, which might have included some kind of dinner within but she couldn't be sure, dear Nilda ended up sleeping on a couch shoved up under a window. That still left Ganauche and their Superbi driver unaccounted for but in a way, she was kind of pathetically grateful for that.
Timoteo's Lightning Guardian hadn't expressly been the straw that broke the camel's back, but she was aware the man probably took her very unfortunately timed breakdown that way. Ganauche saw a lot, and she suspected he very thoughtfully held his silence on a lot of it, but it didn't mean he wasn't sensitive to why some things happened around him.
He deserved an apology himself, and an explanation. Not doing either would ensure the Mafioso would always assume it had been his fault, and it really wasn't. Even if he was distinctly more murderous and lethal than she had assumed to be just knowing he was a bodyguard, and his arrival had been a rather unfortunately timed reminder at the wrong moment.
Before she even managed to put a foot down on the ground, both Nilda's and Sonya's heads popped up. Her Rain bodyguard woke up even more and looked almost like she wanted to say something but ended up shutting her mouth under a very clearly glowing lavender glare from the blonde aimed at her.
Tatiana snickered, utterly unafraid of that grumpy and very irritable little sister of hers as she rolled into Fiorella's abandoned spot to smother that day-glow gaze with yet another hug. "I'm with Nya, anything and everything can wait until at least dawn."
Sonya snorted, very pointedly wiggling out of her sister's hold, and equally as pointedly thumped her head back down on her pillow while ignoring her elder sister quietly laughing at her and everyone else.
It drew Nilda's attention firmly off her, and Fiorella just appreciated that little bit more privacy before she had to face the damage she had done.
(ooo000ooo)
(Sunday the 17th of May, 1970 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)
"Nya, why are you attending church?"
"Shamal's Catholic, and I want to be sure of which one he might prefer when he picks one himself." Sonya informed her, in an almost dead copy of her overly loud whisper as she joined her for 'post-mass brunch' followed by a Rain woman and a formerly civilian woman. "Why?"
"I don't know, kind of weird." She mused in a more normal tone, nibbling on what was for her a typical 'post-easy hospital shift' breakfast but kind of looked like a four-course meal to a civilian. Blinis with a generous helping of jam slathered on top, an entire empty bowl of what could've been porridge, an omelet stuffed with sausage and potatoes she was currently on, and a few stems of previously eaten fruit in their own bowl. "I mean, you once asked me if I had a religion. I kind of wondered if you got into it after that or something."
Tatiana had been more watching Fiorella take in exactly how much she had eaten compared to what she still intended to eat, with a growing smirk to show how much she didn't mind to keep the former civilian at ease with her obvious confusion.
"Sun Flame users have ridiculously over the top caloric intakes." Eventually relented the nurse, taking pity on the wife of a Sky who apparently never noticed the same in those around her before. "Especially in healing Suns, but basically all who use Dying Will Flames eat a lot more than what most think is 'healthy'. That energy has to come from somewhere, after all. Highest would be Suns and Storms, all the way down to Clouds who are stupidly conservative in energy levels compared to the rest of us."
Which was a tiny bit obvious, given what the other two Flame using females were picking out to eat compared to the portions the few other non-Flame users in the room had before them. The woman with the fabulous silver hair was going heavy on the potato, sausage, and egg scramble while her sister went in for a bowl of protein-heavy porridge studded with raisins herself. Both of which were likely choices made in respect to the expenditure of any Flames the previous day and wouldn't be the only things they ate at this meal to even out six-to-eight hours of nothing while asleep.
The fact she hadn't noticed a difference herself might mean Skies were more 'normal' than all, or that even that small of a detail had been hidden from her notice and could be astronomically or only slightly more than 'normal'.
"Just because I'm more efficient doesn't mean you need to be jealous." Shot back Sonya blandly, accepting her per-usual omelet and bacon with toast she had a taste for since who knew when from her green-haired cook.
It didn't exactly explain why Cherep ate more than his fellow part-Cloud, if by the caloric charts in St. Julian's claimed all Clouds were light eaters and it had proven true enough for everyone else that needed the same information. Then again, a near-eternal use of Cloud Flames to Propagate Cherep's own flesh and blood would mean a constant drain on their brother while Sonya had more than just Cloud Flames to support using.
It couldn't be a complete list for energy expenditure, obviously given the glaring lack of records on Sky eating habits and needs. Maybe it was just also less than complete on Cloud Flame users too.
Fiorella eventually settled into a seat across from the redhead, choosing a distinctly less filling item to start on from the available buffet of pre-made foods. Nibbling cautiously on a crumbled bit of a cake of syrniki, she then added a bit of sour cream to her plate to dip a forkful in as she adventurously explored a bit of Russian cuisine as one of the other women across the room at a different table was doing as well.
"You might be more efficient, but at least I still have my muscle tone." Tatiana continued the semi-familiar bickering, wondering if she should add a bit of the protein heavy but lightly fried cheese cakes to her meal or if she would be safe enough with just all this.
It was never easy to judge things right, so many stupid little factors made it entirely too easy for her to overeat. Not eating right for an Activation-heavy workload was half the damn reason she got so skinny just before Valera was born and given how badly she alarmed both of her siblings, overeating was easier to swallow than under eating and losing an 'emergency' store of energy for bad days at the hospital.
The stress hadn't helped a damn bit, and she only learned the caloric thing well after the fact.
Well, live and learn and all that.
"Miss Primakova, if I can-"
"You can call me Tatiana, or even Tats." Seriously, she sobbed into her chest for a full five minutes then fell asleep in her arms. They had to be on first-name basis by now.
Rain lady of watchfulness not so much, but apparently still a known individual to her baby sister enough to allow her nearby while sleeping.
Lady Vongola flushed slightly, fiddling more than eating her third small cake of cottage cheese held together with egg. "Um… yes, aside the whole inviting myself over debacle-"
"Not to interrupt you again, but…" Holding up a hand to give the illusion of privacy, she shot the poor woman an amused smirk behind it. "...it's a common thing where we come from. Nya will note it's not culturally accepted around here and expect the 'usual' call ahead thing, especially just so she's not gone when you get here, Russians really don't care all that much if you drop on by for a meal or so just to say hi."
The brunette gave her a small, tremulous smile in return. "May I now get out my apology for my self-centered emotional tantrum instead of actually managing a greeting beforehand?"
"Nope." Denied the nurse cheerfully, getting back involved with the job of supporting her metabolism as well. "Seriously, your mental and emotional health is as important as your physical. If you needed Nya to get the space to, then get it out and pick up the pieces to move on with."
Fiorella gave it barely a moment of thought, that timid little expression turning into something wry and a lot more human to the obvious pleasure of Nilda Superbi. "Can I at least ask to restart our acquaintance?"
"I don't know… I mean, I really like hugs."
"Please?"
"Fine." With an outrageous pout to earn herself a small laugh, Tatiana turned expectantly to Sonya. "Nya?"
The thief finished nibbling apart the last half of her current piece of bacon, before getting around to doing as asked in a very bland tone of voice. "Fiorella Vongola, this is my older sister Tatiana Primakova. Nurse, general Sun Flame user, and giver of 'damn good' hugs. Tats, Lady Vongola. She of the fabulous shoes."
The civilian lady put her face in her hand, trying to hide the growing smirk as if the tremor in her shoulders didn't give away her somewhat sheepish laughter.
"You know, if you're feeling contrary still we could always have a bit of Fut Gar practice." Glancing back to her sister's unexpected overnight guests, she still cracked her own grin. "But those are fabulous shoes you sent me, Lady Vongola. Thank you."
"…you're welcome, I guess. It's nice to formally meet you, Tatiana."
"That is Mrs. Silvery-White, one of Ottavia Vongola's hatchet women and agents. Now currently Fiorella's bodyguard and general spy."
"Former agent for Ottavia. And must you?" Asked the Rain lady with shallow exasperation, more amused than irked even for being outed as a 'spy' in front of several people. "Nilda Superbi, Miss Primakova."
"Nice to meet you too." Sort of, although admittedly the civilian or formerly-civilian woman was still kind of more interesting to her.
Fiorella looked up from her hands in time to accept a pitcher of coffee for her and her Italian friend/bodyguard/spy from the hands of the assassin cook, who seemed mildly curious over the new ladies but tactfully letting the women sort things out themselves. Cesare looked instead at his boss with a politely professional smile. "Lovely bossy Dragoness, the men your guests brought were redirected to the local inn. Would you like me to call them back up here?"
"One second, Cesare." Looking back at said guests, who both glanced down at the borrowed clothing that Fiorella actually fitted and Nilda was a touch tall to do with Sonya's sizes, the younger thief waited until they both were paying attention again. "Fiorella, did you have a reason to visit or did you just need a change of venue for a moment?"
The woman in question gave her little sister a wry smile over a coffee cup, then started ticking things off a hand. "Welcome to Italia as a resident, Sonya. Have a bottle of wine! It's one of my favorite vintages, done by a charming vineyard near home I wanted to know if you would like to tour with me sometime later this summer. I was also wondering if I could ring you up sometime soon, for an in-depth conversation about a few stranger things I would appreciate a second opinion on? Furthermore, as I only recently became aware of the undertone of my lifestyle that seems everyone is involved with, is there a different job description you prefer than just Soviet Flame expert or just a 'Principal' title?"
"I retired from being a principal, but I'm a professional thief by that trade." Allowed her baby sister with obvious amusement. "Usually for jewels and antiques, and occasionally books. Otherwise for whatever someone would like to pay me outrageous rates to steal."
"Black market nurse." Tatiana volunteered for herself, because it seemed the lady just really appreciated the frank way Sonya detailed what she was for her. "Most of the way to being a black-market surgeon. Former safecracker."
The Mafioso hanging around their table raised a finger. "The wine is already in the wine cooler, lovely bossy Dragoness. The fine fellow with one eye ensured it was stored away after your equally as lovely sister stopped teasing the poor man."
"I'd rather have in-depth conversations about mafia and mafia etiquette in person than over the phone, but I would not mind if you would like to call in the next week or so." Continued the more ash-grey blonde at their table after a nod to him to acknowledge his point. "The wine-tasting sounds fun, but as most of the summer is reserved for my brat and I have to go back to work almost immediately after… perhaps a raincheck for next year or something once I'm back from my 'usual' work in winter?"
"Lovely." She decided with a shrug and a pause to sip her drink, before setting it down firmly. "Then it was a delightful visit, Sonya. You have a very charming home, I adore the library-esque in feel and look you are going for. We should get out of your way before we take up your entire evening. Thank you for having us over, for what should've been a short few hours…"
"Thanks for the firewood." Sonya shot back equally as sarcastically, earning a self-conscious laugh from her she couldn't quite catch beforehand. "Behind you, the green-haired lady in the kitchen? Her name's Ruslana Tolmachyova, non-Flame using mother to a young Rain boy. Down the hall a bit, brunette woman sitting with another boy? Zinaida Samuila, equally normal mother to a child with Mist Flames. If you want to talk with them about the trials of raising Flame active children or just to complain with, don't think they'll mind too much."
Fiorella pinned her with an attempt at a playfully haughty look, which really would've worked better had the woman not been embarrassed still from cuddling with them all night. "I… would love such opportunities, thank you. But I need to go rescue Silvano from my sons, he's a wonderfully warm man but a touch more than permissive when it comes to their less than polite antics."
"By all means, go rescue Mr. Silvery-White. After breakfast."
Nilda palmed her face with the hand not cradling her coffee, which didn't cover the smirk on her face.
"After breakfast." Agreed Fiorella wryly, before looking up at the chef. "Would you please call our driver and Ganauche back up here? Not immediately, but just once they have things reassembled?"
Tatiana glanced over to her baby sister as Cesare insisted he'd be delighted to, and it seemed her prickly little sister was not entirely against the Italian interlude of managing emotional angst nor losing half a day to helping the other woman manage it in a healthier way than repression.
Then to the platinum blonde on said thief's left, who seemed to have run herself ragged trying to get the newly and painfully poorly inducted prior civilian wife of a fairly powerful Sky to settle on her own to the point of apparently missing a few things in front of her nose.
Which was actually an issue a lot of Flame users had, being Inverted when someone with a Classical nature was needed generally worked out poorly in those situations. Inverted Suns did not make great nurses, equally so Inverted Rains weren't the best negotiators you could throw into a situation… but it still happened.
Lastly she took in the poor woman in question, who had now something stable if awkward to build herself back up from with a promise of a future conversation and some major brute-force therapy with a battle ax. Who did all that upsetting of a seemingly fairly experienced Inverted Rain to the point of distraction, managed to slide herself into the allowances of a prickly Storm-Cloud, and frankly accepting of a Sun user's hug so innocently without suspecting healing-reasons or Activation manipulation.
Well… it had been interesting at least. Kind of eye-opening to the local power structure and how it treated those with 'lesser' power, or none at all, which really just reinforced her current worry about mislead Lightnings and how they were treated.
Some shit was seriously going wrong in this country.
She and Ganauche needed a fairly in-depth conversation soon, sooner than she had expected, but that wouldn't be nice to have in Sonya's home while she was trying to adjust to it.
…and she still needed the man for the whole 'fend off Nicolai's assumptions' thing. There was no way this was going to end well.
The choice was between her own short-term comfort without resorting to the 'family' card and never hearing the end of it or being honest enough to maybe have an actual relationship with the guy after the dust settled.
(Monday the 18th of May, 1970. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)
Sonya showed her sister into the Mirror Lady's claimed bedroom on the third floor of her castle, very firmly tugging her into the room before shutting the door pointedly. "This, Tats, is why I didn't bother to buy any yarn."
"…oh my fucking god." Equally as disturbed as she was fascinated, Tatiana stared blankly at the massive pet Flame-spider sitting in the shade between the two forward-facing windows in this room.
Pavuchky probably stared back, but with eight eyes that didn't blink all facing everywhere it was a bit more difficult to tell where Anna's darling pet was looking. It also didn't move, because the spider probably didn't give a damn what was wandering into his reach as long as there were no sudden movements.
The Mirror Lady herself popped out of the full-length mirror propped up in one corner of her room, ducking some of the spider's oversized web covering on her way. "I've got about… sixteen kilometers of string, Boss Lady. All undyed. This is all from the last year, bolts of fabric will take a small bit longer."
Ignoring the title, Anna was now never going to stop calling her that for asking if she'd stop in the first place, the thief instead considered the offering she held looped around her arms and trailed back into the mirrored surface it was brought out of.
The string wasn't… quite the size she hoped for. The length was fine, she might be able to get several sheets of Flame-resistant cloth out of it. The diameter of the spider-silk string was less than ideal, seemingly being barely a millimeter if not smaller. The thinner it was the more likely it wouldn't perform as she wanted when used like yarn, right now it was just like strands of undyed silk thread.
"Would he mind weaving it into a yarn or cloth himself, or should we invest in a loom?" It was too small for her to try out her beginner skills with knitting, unfortunately. "Would he coat a length of yarn with silk, and would that be Flame-resistant?"
There was probably something a professional could do with it, but she was very damn far from 'professional' anything that didn't included stealing the belongings of others.
"We'd have to try an experiment with the yarn to see if that would work at all, but a loom might be fun." Anna replied after a moment of thought, and a speculative glance to her pet. "However, this is already almost a hundred strands spun together already. Getting it thicker for yarn might not be practical just yet. Or we'd have thick and very short strands."
…Sonya kind of wondered who would be using said loom, her, the Mist girl, or the spider. Besides which, if that mass in her arms was all one length then 'shorter and thicker' would not be a problem in the least.
She considered the absolutely unmanageable armful of milky-pale spider silk string being presented to her, half-suspicious the only reason the entire amount was being held at all was due to Mist Flames.
Really, the most important thing she could think of for Flame-resistant cloth was actually underwear rather than just sheets or towels. If only because she had burned off all her own clothing once, and that had been really fucking uncomfortable and cold walk to find more. If the spider-silk was equally as resistant and strong as that square patch she once experimented with…
"I think Peter was asking for something with tensile strength and might be resistant to Flame he could use in one of his projects some time ago, Anna. We had nothing to give him, so he might be interested in seeing the raw string you've got from Pavuchky." Aside that just weaving it into a cloth was likely the only use for all the silk the spider had produced, and the Mist had saved up. "I'll get at least a small loom set up down a level, but could you wind at least a good portion of that on some length of wood for easier use?"
The best course of action might actually be getting Shamal's permission and starting up either a sheep-farm or silkworm farm in his name, then either modify or reproduce the Flame-induced pregnancies in a few control animals in hopes the result of Flame-resistant fibers reoccurred.
It was a lot of spider silk string all together but given a blanket's worth of yarn was up around the range of a kilometer and a half of knots reduced to a three by maybe four-five feet of material… this was both thinner and would require more of it to match the same size sheet of the end-product material.
What they had so far was probably only five or six bolts of fabric from one massively oversized spider for one year. The size of the strands also meant the weave would likely be finer than just a bolt of cotton cloth, probably along the same fine feel of cashmere if not silk. They also didn't know how long the Mirror Lady's pet would live, if this all was a third of his life's work or if Flames being fed to him would lengthen the spider's life to net them a few more sheets.
What else was yarn and cloth made out of?
Flax and cotton.
…cotton was actually a more ideal substance to start in with, on second thought. Easy to grow in a civilian run farm, any color deviations could be explained away with 'experimental' strains of the plant. No possibility of a strange diet which might result in unintentionally encouraged cannibalism…
Although… how much Will did a plant have?
Could plant fibers end up with a resistance to Dying Will Flames?
Perhaps, once the brat was up here and able to decide the future for his discovery, Verde could be tasked with figuring that out with clinical trials.
Sheep might produce more wool than silkworms could produce silk, but cannibalistic sheep would be harder to hide if something came up to civilian attention. Before they decided on either, someone or Verde had to find something else for the animals or insects to eat without forcing them to attack either each other or more normal variants of their species in search for the Flames to supplement their existence or diet.
"Nya… that's a damn big spider." Tatiana belatedly announced bluntly as if no one else could understand that detail but her.
Sonya glanced upwards and over, because Pavuchky was the size of a human head discounting all eight legs and that was really kind of disturbing in a way. "Flame-resistant cloth, Tats."
"…oh my god." Running a hand through her loose hair, the nurse shot her and then the Mirror Lady both looks of despair. "Who the hell left you two unsupervised?"
"This wasn't my idea, the Mirror Lady just got attached to the result of the experiment. And it wasn't hers either."
She shoved a finger into Anna's face. "I am not treating spider-bites from your pet."
The Mist girl sniffed in offense back, hugging the mass of pearly-white strands to her chest. "We do not require your expertise anyways."
"So long as that's clear. Can he do bandages?" Inquired her older sister, eyeing the silk contemplatively. "How well would those work as sutures? Does the silk dissolve naturally when exposed to human physiology, or would it be like stitching someone up with really thin fishing line?"
Pavuchky's 'owner' shrugged dismissively. "I don't know."
From the tone alone, the teenaged girl also didn't care.
Tatiana shifted almost a quarter of the way around to face Sonya instead, apparently deeming the Mist as probably not the one to talk to about this new discovery. "There's a… unfortunate propensity for Flame users to burn out sutures and stitches at bad times. How much will you charge the hospital to test that out as a possible solution?"
Sonya thought about it. "…is that 'propensity' just to… gain the attention of a Sun to solve their 'stupidity' and get out of the hospital quickly, or just accidental shit that happens before they remember they're injured?"
"More the former than the latter, but if you say yes it'd only be used for the latter." Admitted the professional nurse wryly, contemplating something else in her mind for a moment before refocusing back in on her. "So?"
"With as thick as the silk is in Anna's arms is, I actually kind of doubt it will dissolve within a month even with the immune system attacking it." She pointed out, unsure of the composition of spider silk aside 'something it ate' which probably meant 'masticated bug juice'.
…or had meant, until Pavuchky got big enough to go for small birds and rodents instead.
She'd have to bribe Anna to be sure Shamal's puppies didn't get eaten by the arachnid.
Her sister hummed, tilting her head to the side. "That's not entirely a bad feature, some sutures need to remain for a while after the injury superficially heals over. Especially skin or muscle anchored stitches, which we already use nylon thread for. They get removed through the skin anyways."
"How about you ask Pavuchky?"
The Sun user blinked at her, then glanced to the spider in question. "How do I do that?"
"Give him some Sun Flames."
Tatiana shot her a skeptical look, then a searching look to the politely blank features of the teenager, and back again. "Like… on a finger?"
Sonya shrugged, extending a hand with two small wicks of ruby red and lilac purple Flames to the spider now delicately picking his way across his 'home' web. Watching the production of Anna's pet first poking then tasting the Flames before eating it, and especially warily eyeing the arachnid that suddenly grew an inch bigger in the blink of an eye, the older woman looked entirely unsold on the suggestion.
"Why?"
"He might give you some silk to experiment with, he gave me a bit for giving him a bit of Cloud Flames."
"How much is healthy for him?" Questioned the redhead next, which finally earned her Anna's forgiveness for the previous refusal of responsibility to her possible mishandling of her pet.
Pavuchky decided to grace the nurse with a spool of silk of her own, winding a decent length on his back legs for a few grotesquely fascinating minutes until he had a couple meters and handing it over with a foreleg. With a very strange expression on her face, Tatiana gingerly accepted the fresh-made offering the spider held out to her.
"Thanks, little guy." She glanced down to the off-white loops of pearly silver in her hand, to her sister, then to the watching Mist. "…he's intelligent."
"How big is a spider's brain?" Sonya wondered next after accepting that apparent truth, trying to figure out how much of the arachnid's growth would translated to more brain capacity.
"A spider's brain can be anywhere from fifty to eighty percent of their cephalothorax, the first segment of their bodies where the eyes and mandibles are, and when they are young their brain can even extend into their legs for a time." Anna helpfully volunteered with a proud smile for her pet. "He is easily now the smartest spider in existence."
That didn't necessarily mean much, nor did it detail how and what the spider thought. If it had thoughts outside of prey-hunting/web spinning calculations, or even if it thought in a method a human could understand. Or if he didn't care, and just wanted the noisy creatures out of his lair already.
Was that emotional intelligence?
Did Pavuchky have emotions or enough intelligence to understand them?
Rubbing at the sudden ache in her temple, the Storm-Cloud tried and failed horrifically to stop wondering. "Does he get enough to eat, Anna? Should I make up some Propagated insects to help you feed him?"
"He shrinks slowly after you feed him as the Cloud Flames wear off, Boss Lady. I don't think he gets very much from your Flames, aside the red Storm he tends to eat anyways even if I don't see what he uses it for. His size right now is a nice balance, mostly feeding him off my own Flames and a bit of donations here or there from Flame-active wandering through here unannounced." Explained the Mirror Lady frankly, shifting the strings in her arms to start winding around a small dowel of Constructed wood she popped into existence to float in front of her. "I think if I fed him any more he would reach a size I can't entirely support myself, so if more silk is an immediate concern only you would be able to coax more out of him."
"What you have is enough for what I want to test, Shamal and you will have to collaborate for further needs if we have them." Besides which, if the spider was intelligent then demanding more than it would produce naturally for the food and shelter he was granted as the Mist's 'partner' would be rude. Even if it wasn't, there wasn't a point in forcing more until an actual use for all of it was figured out… and that could be considered animal cruelty.
This whole farce suddenly held more moral pitfalls than Sonya really felt like navigating all of a sudden.
"Well then, does he understand thanks, or should we just go find him insects to say it instead?" Inquired her sister slowly.
"Yes." Admitted the teenager with a beaming smile for the sisters.
…that really didn't answer much.
(Wednesday the 20th of May, 1970. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)
As Tatiana was still 'out' with Ganauche somewhere, the date had so far lasted the entire afternoon of Tuesday and didn't seem like it would end before lunch today, Sonya finally went to go see her library.
Such as it was and mainly to give Hawk something else to do before it occurred to the Storm to burn it all, so he would never have to deal with it again.
Having been through all the books that made it up herself not too long ago, she knew perfectly well it was… a strange collection. Buying tomes on whims depending on access and interest meant that while the history section was overly detailed enough to have specific texts about various counties or disciplines in several time periods… the scientific periodicals was pretty much dominated only by geology texts or a few treatises by Nikola Tesla that weren't even here. There was only one true mathematical textbook, and she stole that from her own brother, otherwise that section was all manuals for various pieces of equipment she did or didn't own.
Most of it was fiction. A lot of fiction.
History was a recent fascination compared to the rest of her collection. One she probably would never really get on top of give how much there was and might not be recorded where she could find it.
In a world without the internet, libraries were pretty much the only place to learn new facts or basic skills without shelling out a massive amount of cash for specified lessons from professors of whatever discipline or some decently experienced guide. Having a personal library and not needing to visit a municipally owned building set aside for public use was actually a pretty damn good sign of higher than middle class living.
Normally, however, that was a small study-sized library. Perhaps a living room stuffed with bookcases more often than not. Not a specifically dedicated room that spanned two large bedrooms and a decently spacious hallway down a floor.
With twenty-four bookcases, stacked back-to-back in four rows of three cases in the middle of the library, her collection of reference material only filled maybe five. In contrast there were eighteen bookcases placed against the walls in-between windows or a fireplace… and those shelves were filled to the point there was six additional bookcases on the ground floor already crammed with yet more.
…and they were still waiting more bookcases to fit the last few stacks of fiction books she had without a place yet.
They were handsome pieces, in truth. Dark stained oak, the wood at least an inch thick at the narrowest and built to withstand heavy loads without additional supports. Whoever sent them, and she suspected it was a specific hitman and not her Lackey ordering her shelves, had some fantastic taste in furniture for a room with a light-tan painted walls and red brick tiled floors.
It didn't quite match the wood of the fireplace mantel, or the crown molding next to the ceiling and floors. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, if they got lighter colored couches with equally dark wood then it would look pretty damn good. Tan or not, she was actually thinking of several different colors instead of all the same for the upholstery. It'd have to go with the red-brown-tan coloration already without being too dark or too light, but that should be easy enough.
…which might actually mean it was a poor idea and would be entirely too eclectic for something 'classy' or 'tasteful'.
Sonya wondered if she cared if anyone else would think it would look clashing with multiple colors. "Hawk."
A shuffle, and a muffled cluck of something heavy being put down on wood, and the Storm in question poked his head around a support pillar that now capped off the rows of bookcases. "What?"
"Regret following my ass yet?"
"Of course not." He lied badly through his teeth, pressing up off the floor to rise to his full height and join her on the other side of the library. "There's… not a whole lot else I can think of to do other than this, or stare at a ceiling."
Given how frustrated he sounded, she kind of got the idea that his inability to recall anything more interesting to do was a bit of a problem. Yet he had kept on working on this, even if she was well aware how boring it was to sort and shelve books, and even after Verde and Peter got distracted by other concerns.
"There's an account stuffed with a couple hundred thousand euros expressly for purchasing books, think you can fill out the shelves with actual reference materials?" What he started in on might just be telling or might just be the contents of whatever bookstore he found first. Either way it happened, there'd be more books and she would never be against that kind of end-goal. "Basics to intermediate level reference texts, preferably. While you're at it, see what tickles your fancy or seems familiar to you."
There still was a need for a suitably hidden 'third' library, if they were going to count the ground-floor bookcases filled with works of fiction in several languages as a more casual one. Otherwise the arguably more valuable if stolen texts would never be stored here to allow a full accounting.
Yellow eyes flicked to the side, which was one of three empty cases in the isle he was physically standing within. The man himself hummed for a moment, probably working through all the obvious or not reasons she could have to offer that particular task to him. "Sounds like something I can do, Miss Bazanova."
"Before you go further than the comune's limits, I'd prefer if you were armed. With whatever, but armed." She shook her head at his suddenly wary glance. "Not that I expect much, but just to safeguard against general stupidity it might be a thing to go out at least able to beat off a mildly intent mugger or two somewhere civilian heavy."
Hawk remained silent for a moment, although he didn't look as if he was finished thinking over the offer so she refrained from starting in on checking over all her books from the trip and sorting. "Are you sure this is something I should do? There's no telling what would be familiar to me, or if I can pick out good books from those peppered with bad advice."
"No, although it won't matter. Verde's likely educated enough to overlook what you pick out and weed out the worst, or at least correct it with other and arguably better texts later on." Oddly, the news someone would be filtering things behind him had what was usually an argumentative and touchy type of Flame user less bothered than she expected.
…without knowing Hawk before he ended up as part of a Mist-puppeted zombie horde, there was no way to tell if that was a difference of his nature or just simply because the Storm didn't have enough of a base understanding to formulate an argument upon. Frankly, without express permission or any interest from a group of Storms, investigating that for what was the problem was probably equally as morally grey as experimenting on the Mirror Lady's pet.
Who might or might not really understand what was going on without Anna's Mist-based assistance.
All they did know of this man was he spoke French almost like a native, courtesy of Verde's understanding of his native language, and that he was a Storm. Just knowing the language well didn't mean he was natively French, he could've lived there for at least half his life to gain that fluency and his native language was something vastly different. Even which Polarization of Storm Flames he had was questionable until more of a personality formed up again, to be something else aside just a moderately stubborn hard worker.
"What do you want more than just 'other' subjects?" Questioned the Flame user she was thinking about curiously, apparently finally making inroads on planning out how to fill her request.
"A couple kids will be using this for their school work, not to mention we need a lot of geology or earth science texts to make sense of a probably short-term inquiry." Sonya thought back along who all still had to move down here, continuing listing things off as she figured out at least the short-term goals they had to get through. "Some law, more language primers, less history since I have that covered at least somewhat. Any glassblowing guides, maybe a shit ton more mathematical theory texts… basically anything I don't have already."
"That's everything except history and a few language dictionaries." Hawk pointed out needlessly, an amused smirk curling up one side of his mouth.
"More importantly, anything you find vaguely familiar." She insisted upon without actually bothering to give that the proper amount of annoyance. "I've got very little against funding whatever the fuck you end up wanting to do, so long as you provide a few work-hours along with everyone else. Until you know what that might be, maybe try to find something outside my very expansive book collection."
"That's… interesting."
How it was interesting was probably not something he was going to comment upon, no matter how long she stared him down.
It took a couple silent minutes, but he did shift the subject slightly instead of continuing his thought eventually. "I've a… question. You are a Cloud, right?"
…the fact there was probably nothing to the question than an assumed understanding of her type based on only the impression of memories kind of irritated her. "Yes."
"You're down 'here' from where you were because of a godchild." Continued Hawk curiously, seemingly with no intent aside listing details off in some search. "There's everyone from a former African cartel prisoner to a genius level Frenchman, your own 'kind' and a handful of locals being added… oh, and that Chinese pair that have yet to come down here…"
"Is there a point to this?"
"Why are you collecting people?" He asked, not with exasperation or curiosity but just enough wariness to provoke an answer.
Sonya stared at him hard, wondering if he had done that with purpose. "I'm not. About ninety percent of those people have picked to follow or tag after me on their own. Which, may I point out, you did as well?"
"You could just say no."
"I tried saying no."
Hawk scratched at the bare beginnings of a five 'o'clock shadow on his jawline. "Then what happened?"
"Verde. And you." She hitched a shoulder, then waved a hand to help dismiss the topic. "By the time Larion asked to come with I kind of gave up saying no. I could keep on saying no, but I'd rather be listened to if something occurs than be outright ignored because that's how everyone got in here."
He considered that, and her, before giving a shrug of his own. "Fair enough, I guess. Is… that it?"
Shifting her weight to one hip, the thief crossed her arms under her chest and studied his slightly bewildered expression. "One could say I left you at odd ends to ensure the first order I give you would be preferable to you than whatever else you aren't doing. Or that I left you to your own aims to simply see what you would do once you could make plans on what to do next. Stay or go once you were 'safe'. Either way, I could entirely be manipulating you into following orders I give by mere conditioning instead of because you want to follow them."
"…you could. Right now, it's not like I'd know much difference." He waggled a finger in her face, now actually moderately amused instead of wary. "But you said something."
"You don't have to be unaware of it to be indoctrinated." Sonya countered without much humor herself. "You just have to let it happen."
"The problem with the stance you're trying to fool me into thinking is that you could've just let that Mist take me anyways. Even if I didn't want to go." He refuted again, a wry-half smirk on his face. "Yet, instead, I'm here and fully in control of myself. See, I knew full well that Mist you were working with is out of my weight-class. I can burn off your 'Mirror Lady's' mental tinkering if I need to, maybe not the Mist-kid because he might just be a bit more than I can chew, aside the Misty-kids and one lone Rain there's just you. You're also entirely out of my ability to fight, but… right now, you'd instead fuck up whomever was trying to screw me over if it came down to it."
"…I'm starting to really hate my propensity to attract moderately intelligent or better people." She groused more at her ceiling than at him, irked and giving in to just being annoyed for the rest of the day. "Why can't you be gullible? You fucking walked right into a cabal of Mists fucking with heads…"
Hawk puzzled over that for her, like the complete and utter jerk he was turning out to be. "Well, we're assuming that's not worse than whatever I might've been running from. There's the devil you know, and the one you don't. Might've been the one I knew of was just a bit much, so I went with something no one seemed to know."
Under her rather unimpressed glare, he just shrugged again and spread his hands wide.
"I'm alive. Will probably stay that way too, and if whatever it is catches up to me… well, there's you." Giving it a touch more thought apparently just because, the irritating Storm made a little pleased hum again. "I think I used to play poker. You've got a good poker face, bossy lady, but you have tells. Way too many."
"You better not be a compulsive gambler." Sonya snapped at him, starting to see some humor in the whole situation. "I can handle it if you win or draw more than you lose, but if you're a loser compulsive gambler I'm tossing your ass out. You can go live on the mountainside instead."
"I have no damn idea. Should be something to figure out." Suddenly turning from mostly amused to a hell of a lot more serious, Hawk offered another wry smirk for her. "I know all the little niggling details, there's been nothing else for me to do but think over them all while I shelved books. Which I'm aware you left me to muddle through it all myself."
"And so?"
"At the least, in return for a roof over my head and a few professionally made meals a day, I can put up with menial tasks. Especially," he added pointedly, giving her an equally pointed look, "if said menial tasks are given with the intent of helping me figure out who the hell I am."
Well… that was a bust. Sonya huffed at the man, turning to leave the library.
"One last question?"
"Fuck's sake. What?"
"Why haven't you gotten into the sorting of your books?"
"Because if I start in on this, nothing else will be done." She, and conversely Galina, had figured that out about at the same time. Leaving it up to Sonya to sort the books in the schoolhouse's library pretty much was synonymous with ensuring she had way too much to do for at least three or more days. "And while I want to… if this place is to be ready before my brat gets here I can't. Be assured, I will be going through it once everything's settled. And if something's damaged…"
"But some of it started damaged…"
Sonya shot him a smirk and a shrug as she left.
(ooo000ooo)
(Wednesday the 20th of May, 1970 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)
"…is that it?"
"Well, yes and no?" Tatiana's expression showed she was very aware that didn't help him much, and she shoved a hand through her loose hair in frustration. "There's… just a lot of coincidences and not a whole lot of hard facts. Proving that is also… we're going to wait for naturally occurring incidents instead of manufacturing them. I'm only currently drawing off personal information in respects to three other Lightnings, one Russian, one French, and the last is a street-rat runaway from Iceland. And a tiny bit you. Some of those details… you'll have to ask them for more if you want."
Ganauche tapped his heel against the rocks, looking down below at the half-done railway and station boring out a tunnel through her sister's properties that their little bluff overlooked. "I… don't know where the other Lightnings Timoteo had to pick from ended up."
"That doesn't mean anything either!" Huffed the busty Sun nurse, throwing both hands up in the air only to pull her hands down to bury her face in them. "And even still, there's the 'normal' human reaction of getting depressed when you lose out in a once-in-a-lifetime chance to account for. With a big enough sample size, one or two of them might actually be the types to take personal failures that hard to do something utterly over the top and drastic with."
Well, with that little side-detail it made things a bit less strange he never thought of the subject before. "So, now what?"
"Galina and I need to have a very long talk." A heavy sigh, and she tipped over slightly to lean on him instead of sitting upright on her own. "Aside that, which is more back-home kind of stuff, this is your playground. Pass it on, don't, tell one person but not another, you'd know better than I would what would help your fellows out more."
Did all Russian Lightnings know each other?
That wasn't really something he could… well.
Even if Vongola Guardians were 'technically' not part of any other Famiglia but Vongola's, Ganauche could probably go back to his childhood home and ask for any child-related raising tips from the Nardone Famiglia. If the nurse wouldn't mind posing as a very interested party just trying to hammer out the logistics before committing to something, he could maybe get even the not-widely-spoken of tips more verbally handed down instead of committed to paper.
Then, if there was anything to her suspicions aside a whole lot of details matching up in individuals originating from all four corners of the world with the same traits, he could probably take a leaf out of the Russian play book and get in contact with Mafia School's teachers or student base.
"You went through a lot of trouble to 'break it to me' gently." He pointed out after a moment, a bit confused by exactly how much trouble she had gone through. Just to be extra, completely sure he understood a lot of the base she was drawing from and that she wasn't accusing anyone of anything.
"You're still a person, even if you think too hastily for everyone else's wellbeing." Tatiana muttered sourly into his shoulder. "Why wouldn't I?"
"A whole lot of people don't." Ganauche pointed out fairly, glancing semi-suspiciously over to the castle off to the side where her sister lived. Although, to be fair to the sisters, most of the time he interacted with the blonde Russian was when she represented a legitimate threat to his Sky or Timoteo's influences or now when she could be a very massive block on this… whatever it was.
Which, now removed from those situations and with the allowances of hindsight, his previous actions were hasty and ill-thought out. It didn't invalidate anything either he or she did, nor did knowing what he did now have affected anything he then would've wanted to do in the moment.
A lot of things could've been done differently, and an equal amount should've been handled just a bit better… but that didn't mean anything would change. One aberration did not an exemption make, and as long as Sonya Bazanova was simply a strange Storm-Cloud from Soviet Russia alone nothing should change.
Ganauche hadn't required a whole lot of one 'Verde's' upbringing, Galina's early adulthood flirtation with a possible Lightning-born implosion, or exactly how Bjǫrn earned himself the title of Lackey to understand what points Tatiana was trying to make about Lightning Flame users in the end. Having that detail she was working off of was rather reassuring, because professional Mafia nurse or not taking things on faith in their line of work was really fucking stupid.
It did let him know only one of the three others being used as examples were heavily into this lifestyle and the other two were not thinking correctly for criminals. Then again, that was probably exactly how that supposed Mist of Sinclair's was fucking with the Suns. Not enough information trading was going on to catch those kinds of blips, because they all weren't that trusting of each other in the end.
"In a way, I think that's exactly the issue with those like you. You understand the point or threat first, so Lightnings tend to react first. It gives the illusion you know what's going on, when really all it is that you just know where the damage is coming from and can get there before anyone else."
"…wait, what?"
He had to spend more than a moment rethinking down the path he wandered down to return to what topic she thought they were on. Before he could get there, Tatiana continued on answering his thoughtlessly asked question with a flick of her wrist for apparently everyone else involved.
"You start operating on half the facts, or just the pertinent ones, and after enough time not getting that underpinning detail even Lightnings start assuming they were entirely correct or not double-checking on their snap judgements because it ends up 'not important' to the following situation." Drawing herself upright, even if he really didn't want her to move, the nurse started picking herself up to go back to their rather abandoned picnic. "Lightnings are getting short changed as flighty when it's really everyone's fault, and no one seems to care all that damn much."
Glancing over a shoulder, where it seemed the Sun was working herself up into a fine snit on his if not every Lightning's behalf, the Lightning in particular they had discussed got up to follow her. "So, going to answer my other question?"
Tatiana shoved her hands into her pockets, rocking backwards on her heels before bouncing forward onto her toes. "What question was that?"
Before she could bend to clean up their lunch and stave off a conversation point she seemed weirdly shy of, Ganauche caught her around the waist so she had to look at him. "I know perfectly well Lightning-thought processes are a pain for non-Lightnings. Yet, that was very clearly laid out for a Lightning to follow and keep on track even through a couple hours' worth of information."
Expressly in a way to be sure she wasn't attributing blame anywhere, just that there was something identified once you looked at the broader picture than just snapshots in the moment. She had probably taken pains upon pains to edit anything smacking of blame out of her whole presentation, all alone aside the structure help if he knew anything about her.
"…Verde has opinions on the proper order of things." The nurse very pointedly gave as a non-answer, shoving her nose in the air even as she happily took advantage of the embrace to get comfortable against him yet again. "I lived with him for a few months, you kind of have to pick a few things up."
"Yeah, but that doesn't quite answer why."
"There's the thing with Nicolai happening now and not in another few months, and I asked… well, I asked my mom for a bit of advice. She did the whole globe-trotting thief thing before Nya did, you know. She's also a hell of a lot better in the diplomatic respect." Puzzling over something, Tatiana eventually decided to brush off the 'full steam ahead' brashness her Flame type was known for and gave him a tiny hopeful smile. "And… I kind of want to see where this might go. If you'd like…?"
"…I'd like." Ganauche confirmed with a bit of a cheesy grin. "As long as you ensure if we get into a fight your baby sister won't rip out my ribcage and make a coat rack or something."
"Nya knows better. And I did the 'buffer' thing with her and Sinclair that one time, odds are you've got one good fight's worth of grace to burn through before she seriously starts thinking of violent ways to remove you." With a dismissive shrug, she gifted him with a wicked smirk. "And, well… a coat rack? Eww… she'd probably make spoons out of your ribs if she goes for them. Just for that added ick factor with her grisly dinnerware collection."
That was not a whole lot better of a mental image.