Author's Note : I lived through my trip, yay...

I forgot to ask this last chapter, but how many of you are interested in seeing either the actual Sims3 file of the castle or just image-captures of the main features? Enough interests and I'll figure something out, although fair warning I loathe social media so anything with that will likely be avoided the best I can, but something like a Dropbox or a OneDrive folder of pictures is entirely possible.

Edited (9/26/2018) - Minor corrections.


Russian Roulette : Second Chamber

Chapter 8


(Thursday the 21 st of May, 1970. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Sonya eyed her sister's back, rather unbothered while the redhead intently went through her entire wardrobe for aims of her own. "I thought you had more to cover with Ganauche?"

"That was just part one." Tatiana insisted without giving her the courtesy of pulling her head out of the tiny mirror-room, which was probably going to end up a closet regardless of what it should've been used for given it was the only mirror in the set of rooms the sisters were sharing. "I got Ganauche to accept that Lightnings in general are mistreated without actual intent to do it, which is probably only just the tip of the iceberg around here. So, it's… I kind of have to wait until he reaches the next conclusion on his own. That there's no way I'm the first one to realize this kind of thing, and it's probably been going on with full awareness for a while in some places..."

"You realize, being a Lightning, it's either never going to happen or he's going to get there entirely too quickly." Pointed out the younger sister idly, burying her nose back into her paperback novella.

"I'm aware."

Humming absently, because the other woman was certainly old enough to handle her own relationship issues herself and it was really just absent chatter that occurred her to speak about, she attempted to lose herself in a plot full of Tuscan vineyards and a rather generic murder-mystery attempt.

It wasn't a bad attempt but pulling in another character at the last second to be the killer in the end kind of ruined what little enjoyment could be had in puzzling it out yourself instead.

With her mind wandering as the book tried and failed to hold her waning attention span, it finally occurred to her that Renato might actually not be attending Shamal's whatever, second grade or form, graduation at the end of the month.

The fact he had to immediately duck right back through 'her' territory after dropping Cesare off?

Sonya scowled at the lines of neatly printed text in front of her, as if they had something to contribute to her current line of irritating thoughts.

The hitman was fastidious about appearances, from reputation-based to even just his own personal one. Considering that at the point they had met the then-teenager had been wearing silk dress shirts and erased the freshly given bruise being slugged full in the face would cause anyone before confronting even an eleven-year-old girl like her, he was always looking out for what kind of impression he gave others and controlling the variables that might so much suggest something about himself aside what he chose to show. Mainly to hide the details from her and others, but he had been getting a tiny bit sloppy on that end these days.

At least around her. She wasn't sure if that was intentional or not, and the inability to do much if it was honestly-based instead of faked made her itch a little.

He also wouldn't get on the ground with her and Shamal, there was that whole if rather silent OCD-freak out after being smuggled in a shoddily carved out backseat of a clunker of a car, and the man was always in a two-piece suit and tie these days.

Not that… it was bad Renato wore suits. He wore them really well compared to some others she might not be able to name at this late date. She'd greatly prefer him in a suit than another of those luridly eye-watering swimming shorts.

...peacock. Of course the one time she saw him out of those stupid suits was in that brightly colored monstrosity, so now she had a preference for his dress.

Weird.

The point of this mental wander was that she probably should call Shamal's school and get the details instead of just wait for the hitman to collect her for it. Although, she wasn't sure if she knew the school's name.

Alright… instead, she should probably take advantage of knowing where Lady Vongola was residing these days and call her first. Fiorella probably knew if she had known how long it took a bus to transfer the less orphaned Flame children the Iron Fort housed to and from the place, even if she was vaguely sure the bulk of those Flame orphans were mainly homeschooled for various and obvious reasons.

Then call the school. If the ex-civilian wasn't entirely sure of the date herself.

Urg, she had to be social… or wait for the woman to call her. Either or.

Dropping the so-far ignored little novel, it wasn't the book's fault its writer was a little less polished than she had wanted and just for refining fluency's sake as it was perfect the way it was, she rolled off her bed.

Mostly just to see what about the closet-mirror-thing was so fascinating to her sister to the point the nurse took a seat inside of it.

"…Tats, what are you doing?"

The older Russian wiggled her toes in the overly broken-in old battered pair of boots the younger inherited from the deceased Crina, and the gypsy woman had bigger feet than Sonya so Tatiana probably only felt a slight pinch if anything at all.

Tossing her fire-bright hair over her shoulder, the nurse peered over and up at her curiously. "Seriously, where do you get these?"

Swallowing her first impulsive and admittedly rude as hell demand to know what her sister was thinking, she simply sighed slightly. "If I tell you, will you not wear those?"

Sensing something, in some magical empathetic way of either nurses or big sisters everywhere, she slipped the somewhat ragged pair of boots off her feet. "You wore them to Woodstock, are they special?"

"…they were given to me." And they had no use aside being a pair of boots to wear in situations losing one's footwear was a high likelihood, what the hell was wrong with her head? "By someone who's dead now."

"Ah." Tactfully sliding the boots to a farther corner of the mirror-room, Tatiana gathered Sonya's áo dài to her chest before getting up and checking the garments out against her chest. "Sorry. I thought you just kept them around for nasty work, not for sentimental reasons. But, if they are that important to you… why don't you get them bronzed?"

That was… not a particularly bad idea. The nasty jolt that happened when her big sister was curiously trying out her old shoes then could never happen again, and then there'd be an object to glare at when she got annoyed all over again at the old bat's death.

Fully aware the suggestion was her attempt at an apology and seeing no reason why not to take it, the younger thief slid into the tiny closet and fetched out the old boots. "Do you think there's a place around here for that?"

"Probably not. Stuff like that's more industrial-heavy in utility, getting something bronzed is more a service you'd find in a bigger city. I could be totally wrong, but then again this is a pretty small town." Considering the purple and red loose silk splayed over her generous chest, in more angles than was normally possible given the wall-to-wall mirrors plating the entire tiny room, the nurse pursed her lips. "This is… actually pretty awesome. I didn't do it justice when you told me and looking at the end-product now, I want one."

"I thought you told me the 'peasant' blouses were all the 'rage' now."

"There's this… fashion revolt going on." Admitted Tatiana rather cheerfully, swishing the loose sleeves around herself. "No one's really listening to the fashion industry right now, especially after that disaster of a skirt they tried to push."

Sonya folded her arms somewhat defensively over the boots, curious and unsure how a 'fashion' revolt was done at all. "What do you mean?"

"Well, after all those years of pushing shorter and shorter skirts, suddenly trying to go to knee-length made a lot of women… unhappy. That some are ugly ass skirts didn't help them much, not all of them admittedly but more than enough kind of makes a girl seem like an old-school spinster." Hooking both the Vietnamese traditional dress and matching pants over an arm herself, the nurse helped herself to another pile of only half-unpacked stack of dresses to pick through. "So, some American women are picketing against the 'midi' pushers in New York and about everyone else is figuring out their own thing."

"…good for them?"

She shot her a grin over a shoulder, picking through the five cocktail dresses she had so far and catching on her original red one with the really short hem. "You were stupidly ahead of the fashion curve there, baby sis. I'm going to take a leaf out of your book, but otherwise dig out my old teenage fashions for this year. Why not? There were a couple pieces I really liked, and not just because Arseniy would very grudgingly get them for me for completing some task Lisa set for me."

"That is…"

"Hilarious. Can you imagine him picking out some of those frilly skirts I have?"

Sonya thought about it. "You realize he probably stuck one of the non-vory idiots with shopping for Lisa, then claimed the results only if it was what she wanted, right?"

"Oh yeah, obviously. But still…"

(ooo000ooo)

(Thursday the 21st of May, 1970 continued. Moscow School #3054, Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.)

Galina knocked lightly on the doorframe, hopefully to not interrupt young Miss Sōng Mingxia as she finished off her round of tests. "Lisa, your vor and son have left for the day."

She earned herself a tiny lift of the head rather than a more direct verbal acknowledgement or a full nod, but as these placement/examination tests were supposed to be timed the older woman didn't look away from the stopwatch in her hand. She didn't take offense, their new principal was always very strict about placement tests being as close to accurate as they could manage to get it.

Now she could manage more, children and lessons both, with the school her daughter practically built just for her. Obviously, her younger daughter had little to no interest in scholastic efforts for younger children. The tedium of repetition to hammer lessons into young minds tended to bore the thief and make her impatient. Sonya was never going to remain as part of the staff for long, she greatly preferred dealing with those that at least knew their basics and didn't need the obvious pointed out for them.

Old man Yaozu glanced at her as she joined him near the teacher's desk, but also said nothing as the two of them waited on the young Rain girl to finish up.

Mingxia, instead of finish early and stop the testing herself, used every moment of the remaining twelve minutes to be doubly then triply sure the answers she had written down were what she wanted to go with. The observing Lightning, as even a half-assed teacher, rather appreciated that kind of dedication.

She could list entire classes she knew for a fact had kids that would've rushed through it then give up once 'done' without checking their work over.

When Lisa declared the allotted time over, with a sharp click of a stopwatch's timer button, the younger Chinese girl very firmly put her pencil down and left her work on the table instead of scribble even just a second more.

"Hopefully the both of you are packed," Galina observed tartly as she led the way out of the schoolhouse the last time for them both, "otherwise it's entirely likely your things will be 'lost' in the mail."

Right now, she wouldn't put it past anyone around here to marginally inconvenience Sonya in hopes Gedeon would pat them on the head once or twice. Way too many were fully aware there was a significantly sour relationship between the former head of the Flame offices and their new boss, and just as much was shifting around as the 'old guard' that worked under old man Zolotov came to a decision if his son was the kind of man they wanted to work for.

Which left these little pockets of influences or jobs open the opportunistic and hasty could snatch from their betters. It didn't always work out for the best, but occasionally there was one or two with decent ambitions and opportunity to make something of it.

Occasionally.

More often, it was just a bunch of ass-kissers being stupid. Which, when the new Pahkan knocked them down a peg for their inevitable stupidity, would just bolster Gedeon's control so of course he wouldn't put the effort in to stop his clan from doing said stupid shit.

Thankfully, Galina wasn't part of that anymore.

Smaller, more intimate, operations removed the need for stupid behavior to stand out from the ten or even a hundred others just like you attempting to impress the same person.

"Miss Galina?" Mingxia eventually spoke up before she could take the both of them to the car she had to liberate for their use instead of pulling from the Zolotov clan's motor pool. "When will I know how I did?"

"Results are going to be posted to one of Sonya's mailboxes, and then she or her Lackey will send it on to the castle. In two to three weeks." Lisa would be submitting her exams early, with the exams from those graduating and those participating in exchange programs within the Soviet Union.

Technically, given her age, Mingxia should either be changing from primary to secondary education or just completing her first year of secondary. As the girl was 'homeschooled' in a rather unofficial method, they were attempting to fill out her blanks enough to join her age group in Europe instead of being held back a year.

They wouldn't learn if they succeeded with her until she did if the records were going to be sent out of the Soviet Union. The government was told the girl would be going back home, for 'family issues', just to enable her change from Soviet schools to Italian ones.

Sonya would have to smooth things over on that end, or maybe Galina would be given that task later on.

"Would you like us to get word to your brother when they arrive?" Before the girl could demur, and she would to the point any Soviet Rain would consider a touch too much, the Lightning gave her a very pointed look as she held open the back door to the small sedan she stole for her and the old man. "Your results are going to where he's at, it wouldn't take more than five minutes for someone to let him know."

Mingxia, sweet girl who was just a tiny bit too timid to inspire confidence in her plans to study and practice law, did at least think about it before refusing-

"Alright."

She paused at that vastly different reply than expected, but the girl accepted the offered conveyance and slid in far enough for her elderly caretaker to join her. With a shrug, she shut the door and slid herself into the driver's seat.

Galina had to deal with a large number of other children aside young Miss Sōng. It was entirely possible she simply felt more secure being dealt with one-on-one than just as one-of-many, and equally as likely to take advantage of her opportunities when she wasn't taking it away from another student.

Curious.

Were the other Rains doing the same self-sacrificing bullshit?

Lisa would have to assign Rains with semi-pushy opportunistic assholes just to get them their rightful opportunities to advance either themselves or their knowledge base, in that case. Were there enough young, selfish but smart enough, brats to pair with each of the Rains?

Making a silent tisk she pulled the car out into the day-traffic of Moscow, so the last three members of Sonya's household could join everyone else in Italy.

No wonder the thief was so annoyed when the basics were published on her. There was always something more to add, wasn't there?


(Friday the 22nd of May, 1970. Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland, United States of America.)

"You've been gone for a while."

Viper wordlessly settled in next to him on the park bench, the ever-present cloak draped around the Mist seemingly made out of dark dyed cotton instead of medium weight or even heavy wool this time.

Skull kind of wished he thought to find a warm-weather variant to his stunt uniform, like before when he was going through the freaking desert, because black leather jumpsuits did not breathe. To make things worse, they all had to be suited up and impressive for this PR stunt thing to help generate in-country interest in the touring show for the rest of the States. So he couldn't just reach back and unzip the top half of this thing, even if he was probably on the edge of heat exhaustion already in the shade and doing nothing.

He had pulled his helmet off, his gloves were long-since abandoned on the bench's metal arm, and he had an entire bucket of ice chilling some number of sugar-syrup carbonated drinks he never actually tried before right next to his boots, but he still kind of didn't want to do anything.

As a stuntman, he kind of did his thing while in motion. He could totally do the whole talking with others part, he actually liked talking to other people, but getting into it himself right now would ruin some of Mauricio's fun boasting of just about everything to do with their lifestyle. It wasn't just amusing the hell out of him, the news reporters were hanging around him and the ice bucket just listening to the Spaniard wax on lyrically about everything too with little smirks themselves.

Well, Siegfried wanted the heat. Roy was just a little put out the stuntman thought to bring something chilled to this shindig and not anyone else, because that meant he'd get the greater amount of exposure to the national news people as they sought out something to take the edge of the day's heat off with between speaking to entertainer groupings.

All without saying a damn word himself.

The Esper right next to him started to snicker, obviously dipping into minds and removing even the effort speaking about anything would require in this climate. Skull reached down and pulled out another of what the locals called 'pops' from the watery ice water, handing his visitor a chilled glass bottle with an amused smirk himself.

Skull would eventually get off his ass, the whole point of the entire day was to promote himself as best he could. While the Rain was getting there as an orator, Master Liam had been very amused to find himself a protégé brought in by a former member of his circus and given some tips freely just for making him laugh, he was not the 'best' the former Czech runaway could do on his own behalf. He was… but he'd get there in his own damn time.

Like when it wasn't high noon, or when those clouds hanging around started to gather to give everyone a little respite from the summer heat.

Besides which, eventually even a Rain might have an issue keeping enough moisture in his mouth to keep talking with. It hadn't happened yet, and Skull was duly impressed with that, but Mauricio probably would like his own chance to take five himself.

"Your sister and I have completed our arrangement." Viper informed him, more than halfway through the strawberry-flavored soda he handed him, in what was supposed to be his 'native' French. "On both sides."

Appreciating the unasked for and unpaid for help in hammering home 'Skull's' native land more in the minds of anyone eavesdropping, he responded in the same language instead of pointedly in English for the locals' convenience. "So, how did you find the whole 'teaching' bit?"

"Annoying as expected, but surprisingly more lucrative than assumed." Shot back the other almost simply, eyeing the level of red liquid left in the bottle. "Even managed to annoy the hell out of her by the end, for specifically being smarter than the pawns I normally use… mou."

"Neat."

"I will be visiting less." Warned Viper in the next breath, before the Cloud could continue with his very pointed avoidance of his best friend's and his little sister's issue with getting along properly as they probably should as former associates and his sibling/friend. "The consequences were known of… and asked for. Sonya proved a deft hand at avoiding complications and wasted effort, more so than I had wanted."

Whelp, that was confusing.

Ignoring the raised eyebrow aimed in his direction, the Mist drained the drink and allowed the glass to drift from their hand to wander its own way to the nearest trash can. No one gave it any notice, even the man it very nearly hit upside the head and did splash with droplets of water.

"…sooo…" Drawled Skull, a bit confused as to why he had been informed of any of this. "Did you have fun…?"

He grinned in the face of the highly vexed expression aimed at him, attempting to bump shoulders with the other only to entirely miss making any contact whatsoever even with him right next to him on the bench.

"Seriously, all I'm interested in hearing." It was too hot to get into anything more.

"You really are the biggest dork I have ever met." Viper marveled, enough sarcasm lacing his tone to ensure the stuntman understood that was not meant as a compliment.

"I know, it's great isn't it?"

Snorting, the miser equally as annoyingly made a grabby motion with one hand.

Skull obligingly dug out the last strawberry flavored soda-pop and handed it over before digging out a Coke-a-Cola out for another reporter seeking a break under a nearby tree. "If you're busy, and not that I'm complaining mind you, but why did you visit me? I thought you left these events as either when you've dealt with too many idiots or if you needed a break from some problem or another."

"The fact you've noticed I have a habit or pattern to my visiting is half of it." Explained the Mist very pointedly, tipping the capped bottle in his direction to acknowledge the point he raised. "With what I am getting into, the habits I have acquired over the years need… dealing with. Before the others realized what I got away with and turn their attentions to trying to take it away from me. Mou, especially for the advantages I would like to keep."

Digging out another two bottles of soda from the now simply slushy-ice water tub, he very carefully lobbed the lemon-lime one at his Rain before settling back with another and shaking his hand to get most of the rapidly warming water off. "I'm not exactly predictable."

"Which is a help, indeed. However, you're not this year."

"Not this year." If he'd go back to the Großes Volksfest or not was entirely up in the air still, but there was also still the possibility that if his career really took off to go touring around by himself. Mostly.

If he didn't have Mauricio, chatty flamboyant Rain he was, then Skull would've had to go back to the circus after this. Even with the Rain added to his 'troupe' it wasn't guaranteed he still had to, another person wasn't that much more expensive in traveling funds if you could split a few costs. It was just simply because this whole world-tour was more about exposure than generating funds, he was getting a tidy paycheck because of the miser negotiating on his behalf but renting out venues to perform dangerous stunts with a gasoline powered machine was… expensive as hell.

More so than he had actually expected it to be.

Sonya asking if he could arrange things for a sudden stunt show had come at the best possible time, it hooked up with the offer from the Englishman bankrolling the small details on this tour in return for the bulk of the proceeds. Skull had done a bit of research himself and paid attention while things were being sorted out before they actually set up in each city, partially on his own and a bit second-hand from the Spaniard's drive to ensure everything was as sorted as could be for them before the stuntman took the stage and learned a few things that wasn't entirely obvious if you didn't know what was going on.

The shows where Skull didn't perform were actually cheaper for their 'patron'. Because of small tetchy details like 'possible ballistic machinery' and 'venue insurance' in case of the worse. Roy and Siegfried incurred just as much for showcasing trained big cats in their show, being lion tamers on top of their magician tricks dusted off for the occasional variation, but when they and he performed the same night it could get stupidly expensive depending on how new the stadium or venue was.

There were separate risks coming with the Wild West show which included the problems with using live ammunition, the risk inherent to trick shooting or fancy horseback riding, and a couple hundred-pound animals with iron-shooed hooves prancing around. Acrobats only risked their props or themselves depending on the routine, the comedians and clowns only risked themselves even at the worst point of their careers, magicians could be a bit riskier, and on.

The tradeoff was that neither Skull nor the Wild West show needed a permanent stage, not like the lion tamers, the stand-up comedian that did better in a club or more casual setting, or the space requirements a group of Chinese acrobats that left them in Canada had needed. He and the cowboys could also perform more shows in simple parks instead of the historic or expensive enclosed places that cost hundreds of thousands of whatever currencies to rent for a night. Such versatility did reduce risk in some ways, increased it in others with shoddy props and other difficulties, and those tiny details were a hell of a lot more important than he had figured them to be.

No, the undying Cloud didn't need health or life insurance. That didn't mean everyone else around him was as safe from unexpected and unfortunate death or would survive hale and whole after being hit with a ballistic motorcycle getting out of his hand. He'd feel horrible if someone got hit by a mistake of his, so insurance wasn't entirely something to skip out on as he had assumed only considering himself.

Now he knew about all the little price-tags that came along with his career, Skull was saving up to handle a few of them himself. The first show he did after this world-tour event would be entirely on his own merit, just simply to see what kind of pull he ended up with. Where he would hold that was a good question, but probably France because that was supposed to be his 'home' ground.

Not being entirely tapped out after the show, just in case he didn't get invited back somewhere or had any inspiration to start touring himself somewhere this outfit hadn't gone yet, would be nice.

…replacing Dianna the Indian Motorcycle so he didn't have to use Cleo the junkyard bike when and if she got totaled would be nice too.

"You realize you now own a massive property and can store things you may require later there, right?" Viper volunteered for him, which was suspicious as hell in the first place, nibbling on some vanilla ice cream he had come into possession of somehow in the last five minutes while the strawberry soda floated untouched next to them.

"That's Nya's." Skull pointed out in return, palming crimped metal to open his drink.

"It has a six-car garage."

…right, it was a castle and not just a tiny tower cottage or outright library building he had honestly expected her to get. Getting an actual look at the property he was holding onto the deed of might also be a thing to get around doing the moment he had a free moment or two.

Well, in that case, his little sister might not be against holding onto a few things for him. Like an extra backup stunt-bike, his circus-era tool collection, or other promotional things he was being offered for slapping a decal on his bike during a show.

"Be careful of what you sign for those kinds of things, Skull."

Ignoring the fact he wasn't speaking aloud for the Mist to follow his line of thought yet again, he finally got around to twisting the bottle cap off what was probably his last drink. "This is assuming she agrees."

"Do you really believe she will say no? What you ask for would be significantly less than what she requires, easily accommodated aside with what I know of the plans for that land is."

Taking a large gulp, or as large as he could get with a small opening of the bottle, Skull instantly regretted it as the drink was almost tooth-rotting sweeter than the last 'ginger ale' he tried. Mildly annoyed, he eyed the innocent '7-Up' in his hand suspiciously. "You're being really helpful…"

Viper sniffed in insult for the leading question. "Some of the advice you offered became… useful. Mou."

Ooh. "Enough to get you to pay for dinner-"

"Not that helpful."

Aww…

With a snicker, he had only ever manage to gross out the Mist once and it was still funny to him, Skull set the bottle down to get up and move on with the actual reason they were all sweltering in the sun out here. "Well, if no dinner is on the line… how about some ice cream?"

There was another sniff, this one a lot touchier than insulted, before the cone in his hand evaporated in dark indigo Flames nobody paid much attention to.

"No, I'm serious. I want some ice cream too."

His visitor considered it, then a bit more while he put his gloves on again, and finally heaved a pointedly aggravated sigh before he could go tap out his hype man to take a break. "Fine."

Of course, the Mist immediately drifted off rather contentedly for someone annoyed and irritated for spending even that little amount of money on what could only be loosely termed as an informant. Which meant he'd might not get a face full of whatever it was he asked for, even if that would ruin whatever it was, for his 'payment' for good information.

Skull rolled his eyes before heading over to 'rescue' the reporters from his Rainy hype-man, wondering what he said that paid off so much the miser was actually buying him ice cream with only a token protest for appearances' sake.

It'd be nice to figure out, but the miser would probably try really hard to keep it from him so he wouldn't try to game the penny pincher to get 'rewarded' more often. He'd just have to deal with his curiosity, at least until the next time he somehow miraculously hit on something Viper felt deserved to be paid for.


(Saturday the 23rd of May, 1970. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Slamming a hand down on the annoyingly ringing phone, Sonya had to practically haul herself out of Tatiana's arms and her nest of blood red octopus-tentacle hair. Pressing the receiver she only just got bought and now probably should replace given the spider web cracks in the plastic to her ear, she narrowed her eyes on the dimly lit face of her bedside clock to see what the time actually was aside 'dark 'o'clock'. "Who the fuck is this?"

"Uh… hi?" Cherep responded, bemused and wary for the sudden hostility she was treating him with. "Can I ask a question, or should I…?"

"…where are you?"

"Washington DC?"

"Cherep, you're six hours behind us."

"Ah. Suddenly this makes more sense." Was the suddenly sheepish answer from the other end of the line. "So… it's just six in the evening now for me… and for some reason I expected you to be closer to the UK's time zones…"

"It's midnight for me."

"Yeah… my bad." Her fellow Cloud admitted apologetically, a shuffling noise which was likely his boots on something metal echoing in an enclosed space to the phone in his hand and on across an ocean to her. "Sorry."

"At least it's not calling at two or something." She should've expected this. Her brother didn't tend to mind time zone differences much when out and about. It was his favorite excuse for why he didn't call very often, because what was 'after work hours' for him might just end up being at awkward times for the rest of the family.

Like halfway through lunch, or the middle of the damn night.

"…that's still entirely possible." He informed her way too brightly, before toning it down a little out of respect to her late-night end of the call. "Should I call back tomorrow? Preferably in the morning?"

Pausing to yawn widely, and entirely grateful to modern air conditioning when the drowsy sister she was sleeping with rolled over to cuddle herself back to sleep against her spine, the thief hummed dismissively as she sort of sank back to the mattress. "Now is probably better, I've got stupid shit to do tomorrow."

He made a rather annoying if probably thoughtful sound with his mouth. "Don't you mean today?"

"I mean tomorrow, Sunday. It's now officially Saturday for me."

"Well in that case, then I meant later today for you and tomorrow for me."

"I still have stupid shit to do today too." With a snort, Sonya shoved a hand through her hair to get it out of her eyes and away from the phone. "Aren't you on a pay phone? Now is fine, it was just a little irritating to get suddenly after an early start yesterday."

"Oh?"

"Picking up Galina and the Chinese pair from the airport, it's a bit of a drive to the nearest one. Their flight got delayed a bit too." They could not finish the train line fast enough for her, that stupid tunnel going under her castle was only one lane wide.

There was no through traffic both ways, you could wait there for an hour waiting for the last car to go through before the traffic pattern was shifted to allow the other direction to dribble a few cars on in. The only other way out of her comune was the mountain roads, and none of those were very big either.

Also, mountain roads. Switchback and hairpin turns galore, and there was a reason they bored out her bluffs to put in that tiny car tunnel.

With a sniff, and double-checking Tatiana was drifting off again before shifting herself to more easily hold a conversation since she ended up on her stomach to answer the phone, she wondered how much damage she had just done to the three-day-old phone handle. "Anyways, what did you need?"

"Well, firstly I just wanted to know if you'd mind if I stored a few things in the castle-"

"Cherep, I have a six-car garage." Seriously, she only needed two. A general car for longer trips for the students or maybe if the parents wanted to take their kids somewhere, and a probably way too damn expensive one for 'impressing' bullshit she didn't see much use for but should get anyways.

"…creepy." Before she could ask what he meant by that, the stuntman continued on. "So… motorcycles don't take up much space-"

"And no one wanted the tower-room or want to be on the fifth floor. I'm getting an elevator installed, it'll only go to the forth, but that's apparently too far away or whatever for everyone else. You and whatever two guests can have those rooms. The view is pretty spectacular… if a little high."

There was some suspicious silence going on the other end of the line before her brother spoke up. "Actually, that sounds awesome. Thanks, Nya."

"The tower's already full of the junk Tats was storing for you." Continued the blonde with little amusement, confused to the sudden weight this entire conversation had and not certain about how to ask about it.

She should probably ask. She just didn't feel like it or feel like getting embarrassed because she didn't understand right away. He'd clear it up for her if it was important, or it could stay unsaid.

"Okay." Cherep responded without catching on to her confusion or ignoring it for tactful reasons himself. "I was going to turn down a few sponsorship offers because I can't actually use a lot of the stuff they were offering, and I'm only going to accept the small things in return for breaking off whatever when I want, so is there a size limit or just limits you'd want me to keep in mind?"

"…can I use any of that?"

"Totally."

"Well… furniture for rooms is fine, even if it is themed. I have a damn kitchen, with two stoves and two fridges, so avoid anything cooking-related." She didn't need to hear from Cesare exactly how bad it all was, if it was even remotely a touch less quality than the equipment he had either brought in or asked Afanasii to get him. "Unless it's something you'd specifically like for your stupid tower-room."

"Okay, anything else?"

"If it's a toy, you're only getting it if Shamal doesn't want it."

He barked a laugh, which was just a little too loud for her. She thoughtlessly twitched the receiver away from her ear, and a little plastic crunching noise equally as too close told her that she was definitely going to need a new phone. Tiny plastic fragments decided to litter her shoulder and some of her side of the bed, which was kind of very irritating.

"…Cherep, you made me break my phone."

"Pretty sure there's an offer for one in the mess of paperwork I got the last couple of days." Dryly returned her brother, completely unbothered. "How about a Mickey Mouse themed phone? Or one with a giant living piece of candy-"

"Hell fuck no."

Trying to hang up on him ended up being the one last straw for the phone, it almost cleanly broke in half around her hand. Dropping the parts only hanging together through the merit of being a wired piece of technology, she instead ripped out the cord to the broken machine to cut off the noise of Cherep snickering at her expense.

To make things worse, Tatiana started snickering behind her too.

"There's plastic fragments in the bed." Sonya informed her with a decent amount of annoyance, brushing the ones she knew of off to be dealt with later.

"I heard."

(ooo000ooo)

(Saturday the 23rd of May, 1970 continued. Superbi Famiglia Headquarters, Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Tyr glanced down the hallway a slight distance to track the progression of chaos that came with traveling with young children, then turned back to Silvano Superbi. "I could return at another time-"

"No, no. Nilda has things mostly in hand." The strawberry blond swordsman insisted, ignoring the fact that young Master Enrico Vongola was attempting to sneak away from the turmoil his mother was stirring up trying to order the Superbi maids to pack a day-bag for her two oldest sons. Which would mean at least a fifteen-minute hunt for the child before things could truly be called 'in hand'. "We would be delighted to have you accompany us."

The man really shouldn't be, given it was highly likely he would annoy their hopeful hostess with the news he was bringing with him. The Sword Emperor had very specifically removed himself from any power-games Italian Skies were somewhat notorious for playing with just about everything that so much as twitched wrong near them, lacking the leverage to stop something he knew for a fact would not end well was his own specifically created fault.

As Tyr wasn't going to be the one to admit that, in hopes of not alarming the men the head of the Superbi Famiglia would bring to secure his responsibilities until getting them under the eye of a full-grown Cloud Flame users, Silvano eventually continued the conversation.

"Has Timoteo said anything about… well…?"

"He insists it must be her own idea to return, until then he has tasked the remainder of the CEDEF to secure the far north and the Varia to ensure no one south of you will bother her." A lucrative side-job to task the two-score handful of assassins he had collected the last decade or not, especially while he hunted the countryside for a location to home them all within and he could not spare the time to ensure their behavior would not alarm civilians, he was of two minds about those orders.

On the one hand Timoteo had deeply wronged his wife in a way that her restraint, in merely leaving him temporarily or otherwise, was admirable. On the other there were three high profile but young children involved, who were all probably on the top of any lists for kidnapping while so far out from the Iron Fort's bulwark.

A priceless opportunity for less moral opponents of his father, which could described most of their ranks as a matter of fact.

The head of the Varia Assassination Squads did not envy anyone involved, which annoyingly enough was about to include himself in with that number.

His fellow swordsman absorbed his words for a long moment, a strange expression on his surprisingly refined if somewhat arched features. "Hmm…"

"Thoughts?"

"That is… assuming she will do so." Silvano pointed out for him needlessly, right wrist twitching as if the man was tapping the rapier belted to his waist against the same-side thigh. Additionally, the man's tone was made to be somewhat soft and forcibly neutral which paradoxically drew more attention to his observation. "You, and they, cannot keep up such efforts indefinitely."

Tyr had little to say in response and opted to remain silent.

He did not mind a trial by fire for his newer agents, the number he will lose in the end could be replaced with some effort and the competence the rest would gain was a worthy trade off in his opinion. Enough time and energy invested, and he could easily replace five to seven assassins at short notice if need be. They would not be the quality of what he lost but they would equally as likely be more motivated to prove and improve themselves to the 'old hands' that survived this.

Decent spies, competent infiltrators, and reliable informants were harder to replace with modest efforts or within realistic time constraints. There was a level of trust involved simply strong-arm tactics or straight intimidation could not insure between two parties that had just met, as well as unverifiable levels of competence or reliability simply beating the agents in shape could not solve.

Better positioned to absorb the risks his current orders imposed on him or not, the head of the Superbi Famiglia was still correct for both his Varia's and the CEDEF's currently dismal near-future prospects. The Outside Advisory Branch had just recently split themselves to take on a position on the international stage, Tyr himself did not have a large number of agents to waste on near-impossible tasks either as he focused on quality over quantity for his branch of Vongola. Which then made recruiting more for both organizations in the eventuality of unsustainable losses a difficult prospect, humans did not particularly like joining groups that near totally guaranteed their death.

The time he had saved tasking a Mafia Land Lackey with estate-hunting for him had been eaten up in short order already, and the main reason he had given for joining this outing was to pick up the best-fitting results the Lightning-Storm had found for him.

…even if a little more personal investment on his part and he might then be able to safeguard the back of his Varia with an ill-tempered Storm-Cloud's home territory. With a few massive bee hives studding the area just to add insult to injury to any attempting to ambush his assassins at rest.

The problem was that he did not have that kind of capital, especially not with his assassins tasked with a job from their parent organization without the ability to charge wages in return for the man hours, and he would have to rely on Daniella to bankroll the remainder of the expenses if he invested in undeveloped real estate.

"Federico Clemente Vongola, if you do not stop trying to sit on your brother I will see if Master Silvano will allow me to ground you to the estate." Leaving the handling of her fussy youngest to the other swordsman delighted to be given stewardship of the miserable toddler, Fiorella Vongola planted her hands on her hips and gave the master assassin a somewhat exhausted look he could not interpret. "Master Tyr, can I be impertinent and ask a question of you?"

Tyr obligingly took possession of the Superbi Head's rapier for him while he had a young teething child to handle for the lady, giving said mother a half-bow once the weapons were out of young Master Massimo's reach. "Of course, Lady Vongola."

Instead of the tight and irritated smile she gained the last time he witnessed someone call her by her title, the mother of three young boys merely nodded. "What are you? Daniella would only say you head up a security branch, and Timoteo refrains from saying anything when I ask."

"Lady Ottavia was not lying, I was and still am her head of domestic security if she finds something questionable enough to investigate." Catching the short 'Sonya did so' Nilda Superbi mouthed at him from behind her back when he straightened up, he then also nodded to the unsatisfied expression on Fiorella's face. "By profession I am an assassin as well as a swordsman, and I do not find your justified suspicion impertinent at all."

Fiorella's mouth tightened, but surprisingly aside a nearly silent huff and sigh she did not react as he expected the woman to. Which was, admittedly, a demand he stay far away from her sons as physically possible. "…I see. Thank you, Master Tyr."

She did immediately turn away, but more out of respect to young Master Enrico's third attempt to avoid inspection by the maids and get caught smuggling a small amphibian in his trousers' front pockets than from a distaste to socialize or interact with him. How no one caught it from the water stain spreading across the young child's pants was honestly something he was not able to begin to explain himself.

"She barely flinched learning Miss Bazanova was a professional thief, and her elder sister a black-market nurse." Nilda murmured quietly to both men on her way past to keep tailing her charge, giving young Master Massimo a wry smirk and his latest teething ring to gum instead of her husband's starched shirt cuff as well. "I'm officially a spy."

An… interesting interpretation for her role. Not incorrect but admittedly the least compromising admission she could make.

(ooo000ooo)

(Saturday the 23rd of May, 1970 continued. Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Fiorella pointed up the bluffs, at the pale-orange castle poking out from the nearby mountainside. "We'll be taking lunch up there, nonna."

Her mother peered in the direction, then gave her a very pointed look over the bonnet of the car the Superbi contingent arrived in to meet up with her and her father. "A restaurant?"

…well… "No, a friend of mine lives there. We are invited for lunch and dinner if we so wish, but mainly so we can accommodate the children without annoying other diners or spending too much money to eat out somewhere private before heading home."

She had more ulterior motives than the usual avoiding complication reasons for obtaining those invitations, but Sonya did invite them all up for the long-delayed 'chat' she needed to navigate the undertones of her life. The professional thief could entirely come off as a well-to-do bookish professor type easily, as she had when the Lady Vongola had been unaware of what kind of lifestyle most she knew of these days participated within.

Becoming aware of how isolated she had either allowed or unintentionally became was one thing, fixing it was another. Her parents were a good start, her older two were happy to have a pair of new nonni… but she had to ensure the reverse was true as well.

Her parents would then need to know individuals she was interacting with if she spent the effort to bring them back into her life as more permanent fixtures. Which then turned the very thing she was so irritated by, the non-obvious and sneaky ways others concealed their preferred illegal activities from those not 'in the know', into something she would then have to take advantage of.

Just so she wasn't obviously hiding something from her parents… when she was.

Master Tyr had already headed up there, sneakily but she was the mother of three boys. Eventually she noticed he wasn't with their party or lurking with the rest of the 'bodyguards' and caught sight of him taking the stairs to a higher road that led into the driveway of the castle.

…which brought up a salient point she only just noticed, why did all of the Superbi men look so nervous?

"Fiorella, we're going to head up that way." Nilda informed her, her husband already expertly managing Massimo's attempts to continue gnawing on anything he could get his tiny hands on… including himself. The platinum blonde gave her parents a professional smile, which tilted crookedly after a moment when he mother appeared highly unimpressed at such. "Have fun on the beach."

"Alright. Thank you for the lift, Nilda. And Silvano, thank you for minding Massimo for me." It would help not to have her hands full of toddler if her middle or eldest sons needed some kind of help or wanted more attention.

Besides which, Massimo was the safest one to leave with the other woman's husband. Enrico had found out and had already taken shameless advantage of the kind man's nature when she left them a so abruptly last weekend, wringing a disturbing number of sugared treats to 'assuage' their worry over their strangely acting mother when in fact they were really only jarred by her unavailable presence several hours after the fact.

Loriana Rampino sniffed, mostly for effect and not because she felt more irritation than normal because she had agreed with her daughter that maybe the youngest child should be left somewhere less sunny while they were visiting the beach, then allowed Federico to take her hand and lead the way to the sandy stretch of land he had been looking forward to all week. About since when he learned there was a beach that even Silvano couldn't say was unsafe, and he had the opportunity to get his newly found grandparents to go along with them so he could explore further than just within the sight of his mother.

It wasn't something the boys could do down in southern Italy, swimming in the sea with others, not anywhere public and certainly not near the Iron Fort or known Vongola properties. Her boys had learned in safely contained swimming pools, the novelty of a massive body of water full of interesting things was more than a little alluring to them.

Sonya's little comune had a seawall to prevent rough waters from threatening swimmers and somehow didn't entirely count as 'public' in the minds of the Superbi household, which she suspected she would learn the why for in time.

…which probably included into the why her personal bodyguard felt entirely alright with leaving her 'unsupervised' with her parents in a small village they had only visited once before. Obviously there was the Superbi men that were equally as obviously there for 'her and her sons' protection, but they would be removed a distance instead of within arm's reach as would be normal in public for the little family.

Fiorella took a deep breath, very firmly retaining her hold on Enrico's arm instead of allowing her middle child to join the eldest to be the 'first' on the beach no matter how much he sulked about it. The thief she really came to see today probably had a better and less obvious explanation for her, assuming the worst was a bad habit to get into.

Although, no matter how often she repeated that line to herself, she never managed to let go of all her suspicions.

(ooo000ooo)

(Saturday the 23rd of May, 1970 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"I beg your fucking pardon?"

Silvano drew himself up to a slow halt, peering through the oddly shaped foyer to the second floor where that voice had come from.

Hadn't the Sword Emperor been taking those stairs when they were just being invited into the castle themselves?

"…ooh shit." Nilda breathed out, glancing down to the puzzled expression on the redhead he had been almost introduced to before that sudden and short exclamation.

"Is this going to happen a lot?" Inquired the other woman, shifting her weight to the side to give her a touch more access if the piece at the small of her back was needed. "Because I like spending time with my baby sis when she's not colossally pissed off, or someone else being pissed off, so on…"

"I honestly have no idea what Master Tyr could've said to gain that response." His wife disavowed their involvement quickly, raising a hand and threading fingers through her unbound locks distractedly. "He rather failed to say much for his reasons for accompanying us here. However, the last time we visited she did not seem all that 'pissed off'."

Massimo, seeing flashing sliver locks flickering near his face, reached out and took a decent hunk of hair to fist and shove in his mouth in hopes it would sooth his likely aching gums.

"Hello, bambino." Cooed the Russian with a smirk, holding out a finger sparking with golden-yellow Flames temptingly when the child fussed with dissatisfaction. "I've got a much better thing for you to chew on."

She didn't try to take the youngest Vongola from him, and Nilda did take ruthless advantage to reorder herself and her hair further away from the distracted young child, so the head of the Superbi Famiglia didn't move away from her. "I then should take it you are Nurse Primakova?"

"I've never been famous before," quipped back the nurse, ignoring the strings of drool leaking down her wrist as Massimo subsided with the relief she was supplying him, "preferably you know me from something aside being Nya's elder sibling."

"I was more interested in the medical advisory sent out that comes explicitly from your work, especially as it pertained to young children."

"Yeah… that was terrifying." Tatiana Primakova mused, almost moving her right hand until she recalled its utilization as a pacifying device. Instead smoothing the hand of her left along the back of her neck while she thought back to something, only to huff and cock a wry grin for the drowsy toddler. "But that's entirely an acceptable alternative, thank you."

"Are there bad alternatives?" Questioned the swordsman curiously, still not sure about staying close to the Sun Flame user even if she was tending to his charge's discomfort. At least not for long, just long enough to get him settled down for a mid-morning nap perhaps.

"You should hear the bullshit I get in Mafia Land when some of the residents realize I have a Cloud for a sister." Making a few faces at the teary-eyed toddler, the redhead then turned back to his wife. "And while we weren't pissed off, your little lady was-"

"Oh no. No, if Nono wants to speak of it later then by all means." Sarcastically drawled out the lithe ash blonde who swung over a balcony railing to drop to the staircase and descend to the ground floor. "I can't wait to tell him where to shove that."

A sharp, grey-eyed glanced over the group waiting for her below, and Silvano found himself with the rare opportunity to be dismissed from importance in seconds. The youngest of them was given more attention, and that was a bare split second more than the others.

"I did not take the offer as an insult, myself." Tyr observed after her, leaning over the railing she had simply jumped with little care.

"To a native, who has a premade network of local supports and contacts made up over a lifetime, it's not. It's a real honor." The sarcastic eye roll that accompanied her words ensured no one would assume she thought the same and pausing halfway down the stairs she turned back to look at the master assassin for only a few moments more. "I'm not a native, account for that in the restrictions and you get a whole lot of nasty implications. Bjǫrn's on hold for you, line three, and the files he sent on for you are in the sitting room at the end of the hall down the other direction on the second floor."

With that sorted out and somehow without electing a reproving response from the man she had treated with such behavior, the mistress of the castle descended the rest of the stairs to speak to her sister without raising her voice yet more.

"Should we get him some aspirin?"

"Err… do you have children's aspirin?"

"No, you quarter a pill and crush it into powder between two spoons. Then mix it with a little sugar and water… or I guess honey." The younger woman considered it for a moment before posing a question to her back. "Is there any real difference between aspirin and children's aspirin?"

"…basically, it's almost exactly the dosage you suggested." Tatiana admitted after her moment of consideration and a thoughtful frown. "Baby aspirin is actually exactly one fourth of the same dosage for adults, it's kind of weird you know that little trick."

"Renato got Shamal when the brat was three. Excuse me, three-and-a-half." Rolling her eyes again, this time without so much attitude, the thief remained about where Nilda had retreated to in order to avoid the toddler's reach. "Why do you think it's weird?"

The nurse merely hummed, then shrugged. "Well, it's a better suggestion than that really weird one that typically gets suggested for teething problems. Why people like soothing inflamed gums with whisky or rum is beyond me, aside being a strange way to disinfect open mouth sores and a great way to start a dependency on alcohol to sooth pain stupidly early."

"Yes or no?"

"…no, the kid's not in much pain nor is his gums inflamed that much. He's just tired of being grumpy and sore, and a bit impatient." Carefully extracting her finger, to much disgruntlement from the toddler, she gifted the child with a wry smirk as she wiped off the drool that had slowly leaked down her wrist on her sensible trouser pants leg. "Sorry, kiddo. It's nature and not an injury. I can't do much more for you without making things worse."

Taking that as the break in conversation as it was, Nilda gestured from him to the sisters more interested in the child in his arms than him for not usual reasons. "Silvano, as you were likely aware, the redhead is Tatiana Primakova and the blonde is Sonya Bazanova. Sisters, Sun and Storm-Cloud users, and completely Russian."

"Miss Bazanova, our thanks for your forbearance-" He tried to greet politely, only forced to a stop to grip the child in his arm before the youngest Vongola could lunge out of them. Apparently, his aim was to grab hold of ruby-red strands of hair to hold hostage for continued Sun Flame treatment. Supposedly since the nurse had stopped before he wanted her to.

Bazanova glanced down at the child once more before turning to follow the longer end of the hallway on the ground floor on to somewhere else. "There's a library on the third floor, Mister Silvery-White, you so much as crease a page and I'll throw you out a window… after giving Tats the kid."

Primakova smirked at him, when he apparently made his confusion as such a short non-greeting and irritable non-offer obvious. "Frankly, given what she's threatened me and our brother about when her books are concerned, that's a big allowance for her. As you probably don't want to shake her hand, nor do either of you really need reminders about being neighbors or keeping drama to bearable levels, the more important part is the kid in your arms and being a good hostess."

"Do you often explain for your sister?" Nilda inquired delicately, only to earn a pointed look.

"No one shakes Nya's hand, not when she can crush stainless steel between her fingers. She's not a fan of talking to people she doesn't know, the fact your husband has a nickname without actually interacting with her is phenomenal. Even if you share it." Wagging the finger young Massimo Vongola was watching for an opportunity to grab and shove back into his mouth again, she instead gestured to the upper floors. "The allowance to go to the library is odd, take it for granted and you'd really piss her off."

"That doesn't quite answer the question."

"Do I often ensure people know what they risk when it comes to my baby sister? Nope." Tatiana planted a hand on her hip, glancing over his wife from crown to toe. "But then again, I used to know everyone she did. I don't know you, so… I'd rather cover my bases. I never appreciate it when people complain about how bestial or thuggish it is my baby sister is when she smashes all the bones in a guy's hands in revenge for something. Like hitting on her, or spilling a drink on her current book, or just generally annoying the shit out of her."

The Rain pursed her lips. "Point."

Silvano glanced down at his own hands holding a child, musing on how difficult it would be to try to fence with a broken main hand… which would also rather incapacitate his ability to manage Massimo's never-ending quest to sooth his gums. It was perhaps for the best the child prevented the more common greeting gesture of a handshake, there were several ways he could see a simple gesture could turn into either an insult or a snub depending on the individuals involved and that feature.

Looking back up at the nurse, he decided to simply accept the invitation as the younger sister's bid to keep relationships decent. The library might prove quiet enough to lull the child into a mid-morning nap until his mother returned with his brothers. "Does she have any good books?"

"Well… if you read Russian yes. We're still trying to find her decent Italian literature."