Author's Note : This is your regularly scheduled, post-Vixy blew up at someone, reminder that I hold no fault with lurkers or those that only occasionally review. Do your thing without fear, my lurkers. If you don't feel okay with posting a public comment, nothing should force you to unless that's also what you want. I don't mind, you'll all get what I have when I have something regardless.
Trust me, my responses are bitchy enough that if you think it has nothing to do with you it probably has nothing to do with you. I don't write for reviews, I don't write for much anything but my own enjoyment, I post so others that might like it can read it too.
Unfortunately, writing a story seems to come with both an expectation to do a reader's thinking for them and having half my work flat out ignored because reasons. At the same time it seems. We are nearly two million words deep in the story, and more than halfway through it. I don't understand why this is a continual thing.
Either I'm doing something not quite right, not everyone that can't grasp the concepts I'm covering dropped out earlier on, or maybe I'm too popular for my own good.
At this point, who knows.
Russian Roulette : Second Chamber
Chapter 68
(Monday the 8th of November, 1971. The Arcobaleno Manse, far outside of Farindola, Province of Pescara, Abruzzo, Italian Republic.)
The highlight of the rest of the 'Arcobaleno' returning… was the bare second of Reborn's unguarded and absolutely priceless reaction of bewilderment when, the moment he and Verde walked in, Lal Mirch ambushed his 'teammate' without a word spoken and planted a kiss on the other man.
Sonya timed it. It took two full minutes before the Rain let the Lightning go. Probably an eternity of awkwardness for her poor ex-lover, given he wasn't interested in her and how fast his thought process was.
Verde regarded his attacker dubiously in return once he was free of her, wary and obviously not entirely appreciative of her antics. Lal merely shrugged it off and then immediately tattled on the thief to the Sun.
With a grunt of unsurprised irritability, the Frenchman stalked off in the direction of the staircase to 'clean up'. While the Mafioso went on to first recollect his lizard then advanced on Sonya with a less than pleased expression on the visible half of his face.
Two days of having a broken femur, and she wasn't nearly as grumpy with her student as she might otherwise be for that. Reborn wasn't a great healer but he was a healer, and the itchy Sun Flames soothed the deep ache she had been dealing with ever since she split the bone apart.
Verde never reached the second floor, he popped out of existence for his own 'chat' with Checkerface before he even got a step up onto the stairs. Hearing the reason why that happened had the hitman deciding to finish with her thigh then cuddle Leon on an armchair until his own 'chat', instead of getting through the shower first.
There were four full bathrooms in the manse, he couldn't deprive anyone from their chance to wash up. Regardless, he sat and glowered moodily into the distance until his 'turn'.
The lowlight of the whole incident was the return of Skull and Fon, sometime after true dark.
Triad assassin was perfectly unmarked, her brother's entire left side from the shoulder down was an ugly mottled bruise. Not a series of bruises, just one massive and deep one. The clothing that he apparently borrowed from their foster father didn't conceal everything, and even just his left hand was awful to look at.
When Fon disappeared for his own one-on-one session with Checkerface, it left Skull bewilderingly flailing at the sudden lack of support in his 'I am mostly fine, I swear' defense. Or rather, it left him without a character witness to how little it actually affected him.
Aside from the pain. There was no doubt a lot of pain. He couldn't even dodge the prodding quickly, which rather outed that inevitable inability for Voodoo to fix.
It took Reborn an entire hour to decide what he thought about the full scope of 'Cloud Voodoo' as the originating Cloud could do it. Not just Sonya having divots of flesh missing or a single if important broken bone, a full body of broken bones and damaged organs being basically ignored instead of someone then assuming he had to fix it. While the Storm didn't have a whole lot of time between arrival and being nabbed… he made damn good use of the time he had to spill the beans all over the place.
Pointedly, to make it expressly clear how little he thought about Skull 'dying' for him like he had.
Rather, he appreciated it. He really did… but the end results were kind of horrifying for him and he'd really rather that if Skull did it anyway to get some kind of help for it afterwards. Please, thank you.
Verde was suddenly ever so helpful in noting what observations he already had about it all, including the fact Sonya had issues supporting even a few dozen Voodoo marks. Then the whole 'she got shot through the chest' thing came up again and what medical help she didn't get for it.
The whole night then turned very loud, and to be frank she wasn't in the mood to listen to it. Skull dipped out of it when Checkerface returned a very affronted Fon to nab him in exchange, leaving the thief as the only subject to direct any ire or confusion at.
When it got to the point even Luce was frowning worriedly at her, she got up and went to bed.
Oddly, and highly suspiciously, Skull got returned to 'their' bedroom instead of downstairs after a few hours. He laughed instantly at the sight of the bunkbeds they'd be sharing while forced to remain here, claimed the top bunk, and hoisted himself up to turn in too.
Boots and all, the dork. He probably just didn't feel great anymore and didn't want to bend in half to take them off, but she preferred to think he was just being lazy and unbothered by it.
As Sonya didn't particularly want to speak about her interview with the Ancient Asshole either, she just hugged her dog and settled back down again.
The next morning was, in a word, better.
Viper made breakfast, because apparently that was something they did occasionally. Verde was already up and lurking away, stabbing Skull in the back with a shot of morphine the moment the siblings plus dog reached the ground floor.
"I don't think surprising me with it is going to help, man." He told the other man irritably while rubbing his left arm, but notably didn't squawk harder about not needing the painkiller. "You're going to make me paranoid."
The Lightning glowered back at him moodily, disassembling the syringe and just flicking the needle away while the other part went into his lab coat's pocket.
The metal suddenly disappeared midair, which meant he got it from the Mist ignoring everything to nurse a mug of coffee at the table.
"I understand both the process of and the utility needed, and I do appreciate you have at least informed one medical professional of your… unique trait." Verde informed her brother as Sonya helped herself to the coffee Reborn had apparently just made a new pot of. "I fail to understand the rejection of reasonable medical assistance when it is possible."
"Yeah, because waltzing into a hospital when the ability is based on Cloud Flames is going to work out for me. Or Nya. Or… anyone."
The Sun very pointedly didn't let her brother have a mug, shooting him a sharp look before he could even reach for the pot. "Viper already said not to let you have a cup, Skull. Have some of Fon's hot leaf water."
"Vipes knew I could do this for years, why aren't you all pissy with them?"
Said Mist scoffed with actual humor at that attempt to throw them under the bus. "For I am not you, family to you, or responsible for anything about you. Mou, Skull… it sounds as if-"
"Yeah, don't go there." Giving up on getting himself caffeine, and not taking part of what the assassin had left to brew, Skull instead made himself a plate of the food left on the stovetop. "It's been two days, it almost doesn't even hurt anymore."
Fon slunk through the front door just in time to hear that, then jabbed two fingers into the back of his left shoulder socket just to prove him wrong. Skull squawked in offended pain and very nearly dropped the plate as he cringed at whatever protest his body gave him for that.
He would have broken his plate and wasted the food a prickly Mist made, had the assassin not predicted that reaction and caught it for him. While balancing on one leg to keep the front door open enough Alek could slink through under his other to go do what doggies did outside first thing in the morning.
Fon wordlessly dumped the plate back into Skull's hands, let the door shut behind him and the dog, then wandered over to get a cup of his 'hot leaf water'.
"Nya! They're picking on me!"
"…you must be really desperate to turn to me for help." She informed her brother dryly, semi-impatiently waiting for her turn at the food. "You left me to deal with it all last night, suffer."
"Not intentionally!"
Reborn drummed the fingers of his right hand off the countertop next to her, not twitching when she shot him a look for it. "In the end, Skull, it's your choice. If you would rather I not take a look at it, I won't. I… appreciate the point you are not ever going to be in need of my… other skills. Just, sit the fuck down."
Skull shot him a sideways look, mulish only a tiny degree but semi-hesitant under the puffed up affront. "I wouldn't know how to let you take care of it. I don't get medical help, half because I can't and half because I don't want to. I've got something else that works just fine. I'm standing here, aren't I?"
"So we'll stock you painkillers instead."
"…can you do that?"
"I am a legally certified EMT." Scoffed the hitman pointedly behind his mug of pitch-black coffee. "Between me and Verde, who is a legally certified medical lab technician, we can keep you in morphine if you'd rather continue as you are. So long as you don't develop a habit."
"Err… I just kind of drown myself in the local variant of paracetamol. Nya's got morphine at home, sure… but that's something I can't get caught with doing my shows around the world."
Reborn pointedly stared him down. "We'll stock you morphine."
"Sheesh… okay."
"Have you investigated my certifications?" Verde butted in with, apparently having either already eaten or waiting for them to prove the Mist could actually cook before helping himself. As his question was paired with a dubious look to his previous day's teammate, there was no doubt who he was addressing.
"Your Mafia Land hospital certification, and your college record." Dismissed the hitman with a flick of his left fingers in the Lightning's direction. "I also closed a few holes in your current 'alias'. No need to thank me."
Bullshit, but that was a very pretty 'excuse' to not be pissed off with him for knowing that. Sonya sipped at her coffee one last time before helping herself to the food next.
Verde, instead of getting pissy about the background check by Mafioso or being irritable with the violation of privacy admitted to, peered at the hitman strangely through his glasses. "Do you have anything else besides a paramedic's license?"
Reborn peered back under the brim of his fedora, blank-faced and not so much as twitching. "Why?"
"I possess several degrees in various fields of science as you well know, Sonya herself has all but the physical degree for a master's in Foreign Affairs. I am curious what fields other 'criminals' see fit to obtain on their own."
"…you're a diplomat?" The hitman barked a laugh, entirely too gleeful over that tidbit. The grin now plastered across his face probably meant Verde would get an answer and she'd never hear the end of that particularly unfortunate choice of a past life. "A Storm-Cloud diplomat. Well fuck, now I've seen everything."
Sonya rolled her eyes, flicking a bit of fried potato in his direction he carelessly swatted out of the air with the back of a hand. "Skull, they're picking on me."
He sniggered into his ham, though there was a weird tilt to his smirk as he bumped their shoulders together gently in solidarity.
"…I have a master's in mathematics." Reborn boasted easily in Verde's direction, amused at her expense enough to be gregarious in sharing harmless but slightly revealing information. "With minors in psychology and teaching. Got it in one scholastic year."
"Impressive." Verde gave as the Mafioso's due, a little too easily and quickly to have been polite or truthful from anything but a Lightning. "Viper?"
"Mou… never saw the point."
He regarded Fon next, the master martial artist gave him a completely bland smile over his green tea. Just daring him to ask.
Lal rescued the Lightning before he pissed off the Storm, coming down the stairs and getting ambushed by a curious scientist next. "Miss Mirch, do you possess any certifications or degrees?"
"…seriously?" She asked a little caustically, trudging along to the coffee pot next. "Give me five minutes to wake up first before the third-degree, Verde."
"She's got several licenses to dive, working on her dive mastery." Sonya derailed the man absently, before the Rain got pissed off instead. "Military, Verde. They don't tend to give out degrees for things like field tactics or warfare leadership."
"Not quite accurate." Lal corrected semi-sarcastically, refilling her mug already since she drained half of it instantly once it was put in her hands by the Mafioso either manning or guarding the coffee maker. "I was an officer. They do have an education requirement to get a commission. I have a master's in Strategic and Military Sciences, which might not tell you a whole lot. It's where I learned French and Arabic, too. Should've learned English while I was at the Academy, but eh."
Unfortunately, that was kind of the wrong thing to say to Verde to just satisfy his curiosity and get him to leave you alone. "Military Sciences… I have not heard of those. Do you still possess your texts?"
Surprisingly, the Rain pointed him to one of the bookcases next to the record player and the clunky television set. "Help yourself… just stop trying to ask me questions before I get a cup of coffee down."
"Very well." He then wandered directly to said bookcase, leaving the rest of them alone without another word and his semi-casual interrogation not quite done.
Checkerface suddenly popped into the room, making a show of looking around curiously and flatly ignoring Fon's spirited attempt to drive a shin into his head. The Ancient Asshole made another show of counting heads and coming up one short, then color coded his way-too-many-for-one-hand fingers to count again just to come to the conclusion they were still missing Luce.
The assassin spun with his unfettered momentum then attempted to kick out a knee. He irritably huffed at the lack of contact allowed and walked away from the Mist with his tea still cradled in both hands.
Skull and Sony exchanged a look, mostly bemused on both ends apparently. Her brother went back to eating quietly and she sighed, pushing away her half-finished plate to lean back in her chair.
Lal stole her plate to finish off, the bitch.
When Luce did come down the stairs finally, she was startled and not particularly pleased to see the Ancient Asshole between her and the food. Or her and the coffee, she was Italian.
"Welcome back!" Checkerface trilled, as if he had not spoken to them all individually once they had made it back yesterday. "I do believe the winner of this little race of mine is little miss Rain and Cloud part two! With the caveat that Miss Sky is marginally compromised right now and therefore couldn't fully participate."
"Yay." Sonya deadpanned, kind of wishing she hadn't left her tobacco pipe in the truck before all this shit kicked off so she'd have it now.
"…I kind of forgot it was a race." Lal stated rather casually around a bite of toast.
Skull shrugged his uninjured shoulder. "Fon and I went the slow way, mostly because we could."
Reborn snorted behind them. "We took an intentional detour."
Viper noisily slurped at their coffee with a delicate if wounded dignity about them like they wore that stupid cloak. "Traitor."
The Ancient Asshole threw up a hand and made a handful of confetti and glitter rain from the ceiling for all of a second, coating each and every one of them in the gritty or papery shit. While most of the Italians plus Viper and one Triad assassin regarded their various forms of caffeine now tainted with bits of paper or metallic glitter in irritation, and the rest of them sans Verde brushed themselves off, he clapped his hands together and beamed at them all.
"Now then! As some of you might already know, in the new year we will be finally getting around to the one of two mandatory bi-yearly missions I require you all for. While there will still be alternating monthly weekends that you cannot miss, I otherwise care not about the rest of the jobs I require! You may mix and match on your own, so long as they are done."
…seriously?
Skull was going to do nothing outside what he had to in order to be ignored. While money would get Viper's assistance, it wouldn't get Fon's, and the rest of them likely had enough funds in whatever they usually did to not care.
Except Lal, who did currently have money issues.
Well shit.
She had to help, which meant it might not be out of the question Reborn, Verde, and Fon might help depending.
…so that wasn't nearly as stupid of an admission as it might seem.
"And with this, ducklings, I bid most of you adieu!"
"…the confetti is real." Skull stated the obvious mournfully, poking at his now very colorful sunny side up eggs with his fork.
Lal pointedly took his plate to stack on Sonya's, then grabbed her mug to dump out too. "At least the glitter wasn't. That shit takes forever to clean up."
"Anyone else hear 'most' as a threat?" Fon posed to the rest of them almost philosophically, with a very pointed frown on his features as he passed the Rain his 'fouled' teacup.
(Wednesday the 3rd of November, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)
"I got 'I respect your position more so than the others, but I cannot do this without you. Do the minimum, that's enough'." Skull informed Lal Mirch idly, accepting the paperwork Sonya immediately discarded to him despite the fact it was her butler handing her it. "Which is nice, I guess. For shit he's going to do even if Checkerface knows I don't want to."
"Huh. He told me he doesn't care who set me up, or why and what for. I can figure it out better as part of the group than apart from it, and I already got a step up on my aims. Can't I just appreciate that?" With a disgruntled sneer, she slumped down in her own chair sat across his sister's home office desk. "Then, of course… I kind of need the cash. Isn't he just helpful?"
He snorted, though he didn't really feel all that amused. "What did you get, Nya?"
"I know you know, but I cannot allow you to know enough even if you cannot recall it all right now." As if that wasn't even more alarming than her Mafia Home Student's admission, his sister finally stopped the harried preparations to go to Mafia Land and 'deal with' the 'Zolotov technically might be at fault' thingy to give them some attention. "So… my memory's being tampered with. Hooray."
"What the fuck?"
"…uh, Nya? I kind of agree with Lal here."
Sonya planted both hands on her desktop, downright glowering across at them both. Palaemon very slowly backed up three full steps instead of insisting she really did need to look at his work over the weekend and sign off on it before she left again. "I know. But. Somehow, I also know I agreed to this."
Skull blinked at her, but no. All that irritation and anger was self-directed, not aimed at them or even Checkerface himself. "…but you know what he's after?"
"I knew what he was after… presumably. I don't know if it was something I have, which would mean Verde can probably catch it after yet another review of what little I do have, or something I guessed. Or something I once wondered." She took her hands off the surface to plant both over her face, rubbing in either exhaustion or irritation. Hard to tell with her. "He's Ancient, I'm a historian. Maybe it wasn't with what I think I have but in what I thought I had… I don't know. Well, I won't know now."
Lal relaxed only fractionally, but the fact Sonya had agreed to that manipulation took a lot of the alarm out of the situation. Somewhat. "I did appreciate that he went and gave a half-assed apology and tried to secure my consent, but that… now I'm back to not liking this anymore."
"He got your consent because that was my condition, he had to so I wouldn't either kill myself or burn the information he wants from what I know away with Storm Flames… and probably lobotomize myself." Revealed the thief grumpily, glancing over all the paperwork she had all over her desk because Skull kind of sucked at keeping things neat when he was doing her 'head of household' shit. She riffled through a bit of it, grabbed a whole chunk to shove on her butler-boy trying not to be alarmed at this conversation, and gestured the kid out. "The important part is he did get it. Whatever I know or knew was enough for some leeway in… whatever he wants."
Breathing in deeply, and pointedly not letting his still sore body stiffen up on him, Skull wondered rather fruitlessly just what it was his sister learned that the Ancient overly asshole Mist needed from her.
Don't get him wrong, the fact she had some leverage at all was probably the grace of a fluke in itself he was pretty grateful for. Just because she was one of those weird ones perfectly happy to read dusty history books for weeks on end, they had something to soften how irritatingly annoying it was to be collected against their wills.
And, of course, her condition for more if suppressed information they might not even be able to use in time would be to get consent. Fon had been irritable and angry at being stolen to do things for a man he had no connection to nor cared about, including that in the reactions of the rest of them had to the same thing?
His sister would hold that 'mandatory without even asking politely' thing against Checkerface.
If only just for the assassin's and his own sake, and mostly to be an asshole back to the one being an asshole to her.
…he was pretty lucky that Fon was enough of a good friend to Sonya that even if he was pissed off and angry, the Triad Storm still lent him his assistance. Limping through St. Petersburg with a totally unhelpful assassin who refused to do anything that might further Checkerface's goals would've been… bad.
"Are you going to then try to figure out what you knew, that he wants you to not know?"
"…I agreed to this, Lal." Pointedly didn't agree the thief slowly, giving up on her desk entirely now. "The condition was fulfilled. I cannot attempt to specifically search for what it was he wants to ensure doesn't affect his bullshit, not without violating the agreement and probably making things worse. If it's there, Verde will find it. If it's not… we'll just have to deal with that."
Skull gave her two thumbs up. "I give you my totally specific approval of whatever it was that you now specifically can't know for dubious reasons. Good job. Whatever it was. Even if only for that little I really appreciate it, sis."
Sonya rolled her eyes at him, though he knew her well enough to know she was pleased to hear it. "It could be nothing, and he's also just jerking us around by letting us think I know something."
"He had to change his antics, even if only limitedly. With a Mist? As good as solid confirmation there is something you knew."
"Yeah, I'm sorry to hear it put you at… whatever kind of fucking disadvantage this is, but I appreciate being included in your condition for it." Despite her words, the ex-military officer looked highly uncomfortable. "Though I kind of wish you didn't, just so we knew for sure what he's after."
His little sister could only shrug, not able to defend whatever her choice had been any better than she already had to them.
"…that first weekend. Near the end, I caught a look on his face when he looked at you that was… not his usual expressions. He might've been suspicious of you or what you knew even then." Continued Lal bitterly, glowering now at her own hands folded together in her lap. "Fuck, Sonya. I should've told you that weeks ago. I forgot about it with the shit-fest with Luce's demands and how to not incite a military anti-sabotage operation on us."
"There was a lot going on in the last two months. More yet to come, too." Sighing heavily, his sister just shrugged at them both. "I'm not even sure if I'd want you along for this one, Lal. I can't involve a complete outsider in this anyway, not even to teach you as a Mafia Home Tutor since it's my merit not yours so it's moot… I'm going to have to put off your instruction for a few days again."
"Better you than me."
"Hell yeah." Skull agreed with feeling.
He was moderately curious over just what he and Fon accidentally found out for Lisa and Sonya, but not enough to go back to Mafia Land for the big powwow about who's fault it was and who was getting charged for the damages. He'd learn about it when it was over, and that was fine with the stuntman.
His sister calling their mom that first night back had been… pretty loud as she straight up shouted at whoever got the terrible task of telling her the clan's 'official' stance on whatever. They were very lucky it had to be done through a phone line.
Skull was pretty sure it had been Dimitri, the poor guy. He was always getting caught by the edges of whatever it was Sonya was up to, that was true in their childhoods and still holds true today.
Then again, the reverse was true too.
"Skull can teach you to pick a lock and get you started on Russian, at least it'll be something." Decided Sonya solidly, shooting him a mostly teasing look. "It'll keep him on his ass like a good rich bourgeoisie should be."
He flipped his sister off next with a grin. "I work hard for my money, thank you very much. I'm self-employed, little miss 'I will steal everything, don't think I won't'. If those bourgeoisie assholes want to pay me to thrill them for a couple hours, then I'm going to earn my wages and stick it to those assholes by getting richer than them with honest work at the same time."
She shrugged, not defending herself or poking holes in his logic which was as good as her admitting he was right. "Anything either of you want to say or do while I'm still here, say it now. Otherwise I'll see you both in a week or so."
"When did you go to college?" Skull wondered, since half the reason he was sitting in her office was because he hadn't yet found the time to ask after Verde announced it so blandly like it wasn't surprising. "Furthermore, why didn't you tell me?"
Sonya shot him a dry look. "Exactly when did I have winters off for a couple years, Mister 'let's run away and join a traveling circus'? I did it by correspondence, mostly. I didn't finish, there's no point in saying anything because I have nothing to show for it."
"You were stabbed, you didn't just miss finals week or some shit." Chipped in Lal very pointedly, glaring at her own Tutor in pique and jabbing a finger in her direction. "With whatever alias you were doing it under presumed dead you can't even just go back to finish it later. It's bullshit you didn't get to graduate, Sonya."
"I'll 'finish it' when Shamal tries his crack at college." She merely shrugged again, even if she caught full well Skull wasn't happy being the last one to learn of her abortive attempt at some normalcy in her lifestyle. "Skull, I'm a fulltime mother and a Tutor right now. It's fine, I'll get it eventually. Right now there's more important things to do than study for a degree I already mostly know how to get."
…and she was probably embarrassed she didn't get her diploma, his little sister was a perfectionist. He bit the tip of his tongue hard because that also meant she probably didn't like it being discussed either. A failed attempt was as bad to her as failing to do anything at all or messing up horribly on her own merit.
Reborn and Lal each had a master's, Verde had several degrees.
Skull could probably get a bachelor's or associates in math if he sat down and went through the actual courses instead of just playing hardball with physics. Or whatever degrees there were in acting and showmanship, or maybe an engineering degree. Viper could bullshit whatever the hell they wanted and probably get a doctorate in finance on top of it, regardless if that was possible or whatever they might want to claim otherwise.
He found it incredibly unfair his sister didn't have her special bit of paper declaring how good she was in whatever 'Foreign Affairs' was. Enough so he might just see if he could nudge her into retaking her courses a little earlier so she'd finally have it. Whatever it was.
Reborn claimed it was a diplomat's course, sure… but he was going to take whatever the hitman said with a hefty grain of salt.
Maybe a mountain-sized bit of salt.
He said so, because maybe she'd laugh.
Instead Sonya huffed dryly, which was close enough. "It's political. Yeah, diplomats take it too… but 'Foreign Affairs' is more how one government or national or corporate entity deals with outside influences. Doesn't have to be military or hostile influences, anything that can change policies or long-held traditions that isn't homegrown gets stuck under Foreign Affairs. I know the diplomat stuff too, sure. You can call me one if you'd like."
"Ew, political sciences."
His sister threw a pen at his head. It noticeably didn't lodge itself into the wall when he dodged it lazily by tilting his head just enough, so she wasn't all that annoyed.
"Let me guess, you minored in Ancient History for somewhere dusty and probably full of sand right now." Lal accused with a sharp grin.
"However did you guess, Lal? I thought I was pretty clandestine about it."
Yeah, sure she was.
Skull took in a deep breath as his sister waltzed off after a hug with her nose in the air, mostly just to check his ribcage wasn't pinching anything as he thought it might've been doing when he woke up. "We're totally going to bug her about getting her master's sooner than later, right?"
"Fuck yes."
"Sweet." He should… probably get one himself too.
Reborn had a master's degree in mathematics. As if that wasn't kind of galling, the Mafioso had a better scholastic record than the only 'civilian' in their enforced group…
A year to get a math degree, hmm?
Skull might just be able to pull that off too.
(Friday the 5th of November, 1971. Mafia Land.)
Coyote Nougat stared at his girlfriend but when her expression didn't change and no one shouted 'surprise, fooled you', the Vongola Storm Guardian slapped himself in the face out of sheer aggravation. "What the fuck is your family history?"
"A convoluted mess." Tatiana admitted with a bright grin. "Yeah, that's what you're going to be dealing with. Good luck! I'll be really interested in how it goes… but I'm going to go hide in the hospital now. On the other side of the island. Abandoned now or not, it's safer than this shit. Nya and Gedeon do not get along."
Ganauche lunged in and caught her by the elbow before she could dash off, then wrapped himself around her more than hugged. "No! No, your dad's going to be here. You're not leaving me to deal with both of your parents alone, right?"
"And grandpa, remember." His armful of bouncy gorgeous Sun reminded him entirely unhelpfully, darting a kiss to the underside of his jaw but ducking out of his light hold. "Grandpa's the one you probably have to worry about the most. Dad will let me fuck things up on my own but help me fix it afterwards, mom thinks you're cute, not too sure what gramps thinks of things."
"And they're all going to be on the opposite side of this clusterfuck we got to deal with." He whined into the back of her neck, because she hadn't exactly stepped away from him even if she wanted her freedom to move back.
…maybe he could get her to stick around a little longer. Maybe.
She knew much fewer than half of the people arriving for this 'council of thieves in law' they had to deal with per the compact Mafia Land was established on sure, but she knew the culture this came from.
There was no saving them from having to be the arbiter post in-law thieves deciding shit among themselves, it was a matter of Mafia Land security and Vongola was Mafia Land security. Kind of… really fucking sucked, but he was responsible for every and all CEDEF-de Mort interactions by his own demand.
That had come home to roost, in a hilariously bad way. At least they weren't the ones that did shit this time.
Tatiana put her head on his shoulder, giving him a private and wry little smirk. "Yeah, babe… there is no way this will end prettily. Too much history, and a whole lot of it bad, for that to be a hope. Hopefully they don't put Lisa in the spot of having to negotiate with her own younger daughter after the vory have their say, but if that happens then this is going to get downright ugly."
"That, actually, we can prevent." Mused the Storm Guardian slowly, raking fingers through his longish blond hair just to shove it out of his eyes for a moment. "Sabotaging the negotiations is reason enough to step in and prevent it."
"Then don't let Gedeon step in, because if just Lisa and Nya are a bad combination… that will get destructive. And bloody. And probably not great for the stability of this island entirely." She grimaced, tugging nervously on the tail end of her long red braid left unpinned to dangle down her back. "I'm not even sure if I'm kidding or not."
"Are you certain you cannot remain behind as our 'insider'?"
"You're going to have enough trouble with the vory, just including Nya." She shook her head to help hammer home how little she thought of his admittedly long-odds request. "Yes, she's the business owner in question and an independent island asset who's been 'betrayed' by her originating syndicate she doesn't belong to anymore. Who deserves Mafia Land's protection in taking a pound of flesh for her, for all she's done as an asset for them. She's still a woman, the vory aren't going to be gracious about her being involved. Me too? Worse yet, telling non-vory things about them?"
Coyote petted the straggly beginnings of a spruce mustache he was growing out again for solidarity with Timoteo about facial hair not being weird, which wasn't all even or more than a couple long wires mixed in with a heavy shadow of whiskers. "I understand your reservations about being put in that corner, but I resent you avoiding it anyway."
It amused his girlfriend, that was the only reason Ganauche pulled back the fist to the shoulder he gave the Storm for being an asshole in her face.
"If I was a guy I could… oooh!" Suddenly abandoning the both of them to one of the trickling arrivals to this clusterfuck of a meeting, Tatiana darted over to yet another Russian vor with prison tattoos and dusky but not dark skin to chatter away at him in their native language.
He very pointedly did not self-consciously adjust his eyepatch, the eyeballing Coyote pointedly gave him was unneeded.
Ganauche wasn't self-conscious of his disfiguring injury to the face, fuck you.
"You need to put a ring on her finger." The Storm told him lowly in their native language, so it wouldn't reach all that far in a slowly filling heavily armored meeting room the CEDEF could commandeer for Mafia Land business. "Then she'd be Vongola, not an outside agent, and we could get help for this shit."
"Fuck you, Coyote. I don't care if she's Zolotov or an independent, but I'm not going to try changing it just so you have help with the Russian faction every now and again."
The other man didn't leave the side he was blinded on that he was covering for him, only snorting softly. "You're so grossly in love it's sickening. Maybe I just want you to stop moping when she leaves you to go back to work."
"Not going to happen. I will always mope. Do you see that? And she's with me."
"Can't say much for her tastes, then."
"Ganauche! Coyote!" Pulling her captive vor along by a limp wrist marked with an identifying blue candle flame, Tatiana bounced back into their small grouping with a wild grin and carelessly interrupting what the Lightning could've done in revenge for that comment. "This is Dimitri, the head of the Zolotov Thieves' Clan Flame users."
"…that's a conflict of interest." Pointed out the Storm slowly, as if the woman didn't probably know that better than they could upon just meeting him.
"Also, Nya's childhood best friend ever." With a now even sharper grin, she tugged the mildly amused vor to stand up straight next to her.
"What. The fuck." Complained Coyote in exasperation, throwing up both hands.
'Dimitri' shrugged his tattooed shoulders absently. "Yeah. You're going to be feeling that a lot here soon."
"I already told them all the family dirty laundry." Tatiana laughed very wryly, folding her arms under her bust which made it all adjust upwards somewhat distractingly framed by her much more modest tattoo work along just one shoulder and her inner wrist.
She was wearing a sundress, it was a nice view.
The number of times he saw her out of her nurse's uniform was in the low hundreds, okay?
It never was going to be enough for him.
"Yeah? Even the part where she very pointedly and publicly blew off the Pahkan for the Sovintnik, set him up for an investigation by the militsiya, and then at the same time got the previous derzhatel obschaka murdered for selling her the deed to the Academy of hers? All in the same less than ten minutes of a meeting the moment she wasn't a Zolotov anymore?"
She lifted a finger to her lips to pose as if thoughtful. "Didn't quite get there yet."
The vor, a doubly confirmed Rain if the very nearly lazily watchful air and laid-back personality of his was any indication to go with his identifying tattoo, cocked an eyebrow at her. "How about exactly how Sonya's little 'fuck you' boutique came about? What she's been doing with the shit she learned as a Zolotov on our behalf that continually undercuts the current Pahkan, permission to do it the old one gave her, to this day?"
"…didn't get there, either."
"So… you just went over the 'immediate family' fuckery instead, yeah?"
Tatiana beamed at the vor, much to his idle disgruntlement. "You're so sweet to volunteer this information for their benefit, Dimitri. You're such a good friend."
"Yeah… no."
"You're not a part of the council, you're a Zolotov and we're under judgement. You're likely here as the Flame user they'd prefer to check things with than go with he said she said details." Untucking an arm, she waved a finger under her fellow Russian's nose. "Which means you can probably stand on the side and make comments without earning anything more than two strange looks for doing it."
"No." Another voice interjected very bluntly, causing the vor to smirk and Tatiana to brighten even more.
"Arseniy!"
…yeah, he'd seen this vor before.
A tiny bit more salt-n-pepper than the year he came by the Iron Fort to drop something off to his younger daughter, the heavily tattooed and muscled still brunette man leveled a look on Ganauche he couldn't make heads or tails from.
He didn't have a candle flame tattoo on an inner wrist or bicep, there weren't a whole lot of vory gathering that had them. Somehow, this Flame-less man raised a pair of Dual Guardian Prospect Clouds and a phenomenally smart Sun aiming to become a surgeon, with a baby Cloud still growing about his knees at home.
Somehow.
Unlike Sonya's greeting to the older criminal in arguably hostile territory, his older daughter kept her hands to herself and just beamed at him. "Will you do it instead?"
"…can't." Another glance between them all went by, then the much older vor pinned her with an even more serious look than what appeared to be 'usual' for him. "Your mother and I want you to do whatever the fuck's the best for you, Tatiana. Whatever happens. Tell your sister too."
The Mafia Land nurse stared at him for a long and very quiet moment. "Arseniy, if the Zolotovs get banned for a year… I'll be kicked out of the hospital in disgrace. It won't matter what I've got going on, it can be done at another hospital."
"We know. But." Arseniy tilted his head in Ganauche's direction. "Not if you're not a Zolotov either, Tats. We'll deal with it as a family later. Your younger siblings might be the wild ones, but you're a redhead. Can't be too hard for you to follow suit."
Having said his piece the older vor literally just grunted at the younger, and somehow that was a legible order or something, then walked off as abruptly as he appeared.
…that amount of multicolored muscle should not be as stealthy as he was. He didn't even blend in with the equally colorful vory assembling at Mafia Land's behest, in a white tank top and decently serviceable corduroy slacks or not the older vor was underdressed enough it should stand out.
Fuck, some of these vory were in tracksuits covered with hastily thrown on suit jackets.
Tatiana sat back on her heels, staring off after her foster father for another few very long seconds. Blank-faced and everything.
Coyote clapped him on the shoulder, the unmitigated asshole. "I do believe that's acceptance, at least. From the father of the bride."
"Or," he shot back a little harsher than the Storm Guardian sharing the burden with him here probably deserved, "it's a blessing to jump ship instead. Tats, babe. You've got a place with Vongola, if only because of your surgery proposal and trying to adapt it to me. You could go independent, like your sister or just even join her instead. We're not going to do anything you don't want to do, just to get around a setback you didn't earn yourself."
"I've basically already left the clan as it is." She suddenly announced, despite the head of said clan's Flame users standing right next to her. "Nya wasn't the only one to realize we weren't going to like the next Pahkan nice and early."
Dimitri snorted a little sourly, but also didn't say anything to what was basically advice for abandonment or a recruitment effort of what had to be the best trained Sun they had going on right in his face.
"I know she never really asked you what you wanted before shoving you where she should've gone and running for it, Dimitri…"
He regarded her more seriously this time, but without any other indication of his own thoughts on the matter.
"…and, Kazimir or Mikhail should be about the right 'status' now so it wouldn't even be abandoning your duty without anyone to take over. Irinei should be able to ride herd on either of them, so it's not like it's going to go to shit without you watching it either."
Vor Dimitri glanced at them, back at Tatiana, then looked at the ceiling high over their heads and heaved a sigh. "Fuck it. Hey! Superbi! Come here, you fuck!"
Oddly, Don Superbi glanced over with fondness for the rudely brash and loud Russian Rain stalking towards him. He did disengage with one of Mafia Land's master ferrymen with a polite word that unimpressed his fellow ship captain, meeting the other Rain halfway with a very wry little smirk to see what he suddenly wanted with him.
They brought in the Don because… it was likely that if this went just wrong enough all Zolotov clan members would be forced off the island. Immediately and without care if they had arrangements or not. Ganauche might not care for his girlfriend's syndicate, and apparently they all shared that opinion thank God, but he didn't want to force Tatiana or her parents into the sea without a possibility of rescue.
Don Superbi had the ship power to do that in the middle of international waters and get them to land all in one piece. Maybe a conflict of interest to drag the other Mafioso into this, but his girlfriend was a hell of a lot more important to him than the opinions of the decrepit assholes that ran this place.
This probably explained why they didn't even have to do much more than lightly bribe the swordsman to get him to agree to 'loan' them a couple ships. He knew Sonya's childhood best friend enough to be pleased to see him again, to go with the obvious decent relationship with the head of the de Mort castle household to agree to rescue the woman's sister and parents if need be.
Then again, Rains. Who knew what the two of them really thought of each other.
"Tatiana?" Ganauche prompted when the nurse remained silent and thoughtful in the wake of a vor she probably just got to abandon his syndicate with a paltry number of words. "What's happening here?"
"Nya knew early, but the rest of us aren't idiots." Tossing her head so her braid hung squarely down her back, the woman spun around so her dress would flair out nicely around her. "It kind of started with her and Galina, sure. They took Usov and Anna with them out of the situation… but that really didn't do much for the rest of us. Don't fret, babe. This has been brewing for a long time now, my sister should've been enough of a warning for him."
Ganauche held out an arm, getting her to slide into him willingly and without any reservations. "So long as you're sure about this, Tats. I mean it, but you don't have to."
"I'm going to do whatever the fuck I want to, as always. Like my parents taught me to do." Tatiana now beamed at him, evilly with too many teeth in the expression to be anything but vindictive. "I'm also going to go cash in two weeks of vacation right this fucking second, and crash at my sister's place. Once you're done here, come bring me your best recruitment pitch. And a ring, babe. Your little friend here is right, time you put a ring on it."
"…yes, ma'am. I'm going to spoil you rotten."
"Impossible, I already am." Sticking her nose in the air at him, she flounced off with a purpose to go do just that.
Coyote actually turned to watch her stalk off on them, then heaved his own sigh while running the fingers of his left hand over the back of his neck as he turned back. "Well fuck. In my defense, I didn't know she could still hear me before I opened my mouth."
"Do us all a favor, Coyote, keep it closed." While nurses may not need fine hearing, safecrackers did and it wasn't hard to keep in mind that nurse she may be now… she wasn't always a medical Sun Flame user.
Now they just had to get through Sonya confronting her previous syndicate about their possibly backhanded and not really attempting to 'steal' her business from her using an intermediary syndicate that didn't even know what they were aiming at. That wasn't 'asked for', just kind of suggested and mentioned it'd be appreciated while just enough information on Mafia Land got passed along to make the attempt actually worth something.
You know, after the vory-centric 'judgement' that had to happen first after Mafia Land presented their findings to them. Which they got from Sonya's mom, Lady Fiorella's Mafia Home Tutor, and firmly a Zolotov clan member even still in face of this shit.
…because said shit wasn't twisted enough, apparently.
(ooo000ooo)
(Friday the 5th of November, 1971 continued. Sonya & Tatiana's Apartment, Mafia Land.)
"…seriously?"
Tatiana chewed on her bottom lip, pausing in her frantic packing to get the fuck out of dodge real early. "Do you think I'm rushing things?"
Sonya blinked at her sister slowly from the couch, being napped on by dog and too comfortable to have been bothered by all the rushing around. "How long have you been dating Ganauche the Defective?"
"…since March of last year? Kind of?"
"The point of dating someone is to figure out if you can stand them in a different and closer situation, right? You decided to see about it, and now it has been more than a year. Almost two. If you did not dump him six months in, or even a year past the start, then obviously the next step would be arranging something more permanent."
With what little she understood things, the next move was living together rather than getting engaged. Then again, that might either be an assumption from thirty or so years from now or just her own preferences if the question of a decently receptive 'life partner' asked her to get married or some similar shit.
"I'm not rushing things." Agreed the Sun dubiously, fiddling with some kind of container-like thing she took out of the cupboards. "I'm just leaving the clan, the one I kind of never figured on leaving myself. I was just going to support it from afar, or watch it implode from here…"
"Watch it implode from a nice sunny Mediterranean beachfront. Fuck, Tats, that is what I am going to do. With six or seven mojitos in hand."
And a dog.
Alek wasn't to the point of separation anxiety, but it was obvious that whenever she got out of his sight for more than five minutes… he now got worried. Long enough that her somewhat independent canine could still heed the call of nature himself when he needed to, and he could just check on her and go back to whatever he wanted to do, but if she wasn't still there when he came back…
His new ability to chew through solid oak was a surprise. An unpleasant surprise.
…her poor front door, it did no one any harm.
Bonus, she had a pre-installed doggie door in her bedroom door now. No opposable thumbs needed, or teaching a canine how to open doors with long enough handles on them to allow for it. Palaemon was as disturbed as he was incredulous about it all, and the advice Maximillian passed along that he might want to order replacements to have on hand too.
Just in case Marco picked up on whatever Alek was doing.
Since neither Viper nor Luce gave her a warning her pet had 'mysteriously' and spontaneously developed even more destructive habits, she had to guess which one didn't tell her.
Her money was on the Mist, the ambiguous asshole. The Sky wouldn't have had the skills to repair those kinds of damages, when they all knew full well a Mist could Construct a whole building somehow?
"If you are that worried, make it a long engagement. Obviously things are a little rocky right now, no one will care that you might need an extra year to be certain your situation is stable. Use the next however many months as a kind of 'test drive' of the possibilities before you do something you cannot take back in his culture."
Tatiana tossed the thing in her hands into the sink instead of taking it with her, a kind of pinched frown on her face. "Fuck, that's a point I didn't consider yet. 'Lina said she had to take classes on Catholicism, so obviously I've got some hoops to jump through still. Right. I didn't just jump the gun, I just moved things on to the natural conclusion."
…if she insisted, then yeah. Sure.
But, why the Defective?
Eh, as long as Sonya didn't have to live with the guy then whatever. It was her sister's choice in the end.
Even if she had to, she'd put up with it for Tatiana's sake.
"Congratulations on getting engaged, I guess." Did it count without the physical ring?
"Your enthusiasm, I swear Nya. I'm just tickled pink by this outpouring of reassurances and affection for a heavy momentous turning point in my life."
"…are you being serious?"
"Pff, no." Tatiana flashed her an impish smile, but very obviously she wasn't moving on to finish packing up to go invade her castle and probably worry about their brother's undead state until her boyfriend could get to her. "You're actually breaking this down into more manageable chunks for me to work through instead of just letting me panic and second guess myself, if that's not your stamp of approval then what would that even be?"
She could've offered something there, words or a flippant promise that may or may not be extravagant. Sonya wasn't that stupid, sister or not the redheaded Sun would hold her to that if she was dumb enough to offer anything she might like.
"Good luck." She offered instead. "If it breaks down, Tatiana, it is not solely your fault. It will be unfortunate, and you always have a place with me if you need it, but if he is stupid enough to let you go or fumble something that badly between you both I will always have your back. Not just because the parents might not be able to help you right now or because I also have Skull at home, but because you are my sister and I love you."
"…thanks, Nya. I needed to hear that." Sonya even got a Sunny hug for it, which she withstood because the obvious next step now she wasn't worried she overstepped herself somehow would be an outpouring of bubbly glee. "Are you going to head off to the meeting? It probably started by now."
"Fuck no." Nothing interesting would happen until the vory had a chance to pass judgement first, something allowed in this situation because the Zolotovs were Russian and before the syndicates of Russia would let one of their own be 'punished' they had to agree it was deserved.
Bjǫrn was there, he'd keep her informed on what happened after that ever-so-popular opening gambit of schoolyards everywhere. Of the defensive power of 'prove it'.
Once, or if, Mafia Land got that they could then pursue their own vengeance without pissing off an entire country of criminals. Of course there would still be countless pissed off vory, but this way there wouldn't be a banding together of structured hostile elements that could put the island at actual risk. Of criminals that knew even more than the Zolotovs had of how Mafia Land's internal structure could be broken down.
For the sake of her temper, Sonya was just going to… not involve herself until she absolutely had to as an offended business owner targeted. Or a long since separated ex-syndicate member that got 'betrayed' by her originating syndicate.
Island invasions weren't uncommon, but usually that was a syndicate that had little to nothing to do with Mafia Land and they got pissy about that more than they had sense. Having property on the island before Sonya even got here meant the Zolotov clan had also signed a rental agreement with Mafia Land to hold a small foothold here.
A rental agreement Gedeon just violated the hell out of the spirit of. If not specifically the actual wording, then by telling a not so far-reaching syndicate with more muscles than sense just enough of how to actually maybe pull off one of those invasions. While that wasn't part of the sisters' rental agreement with the island for renting accommodations, that was part of their work contracts and Sonya's business agreement.
That 'keep Mafia Land business on Mafia Land' clause hadn't ever been more than a footnote in those contracts, but very obviously there was a point to that clause. A point Gedeon tried to get around by using an intermediary between himself and his clan doing it and another syndicate doing his dirty work in exchange for information.
Just… you know, if they'd do him a small favor and specifically 'take over' this one little shop front. Wasn't too much to ask for, right?
"No, I am going to go and maybe talk to Fon. He split a little too quickly for me to have talked to him after the weekend, and with this all going on… I probably should ask him my questions now." If the assassin was here, he could've gone straight back to China instead.
All on his own, too. She was so proud of him not continually mooching off her, but it came at maybe one of if not the worst moments possible.
At the very least, she could pass on in less urgently important ways that she wanted to speak with the Triad Storm and spend some time soothing her irritation in little old Chinese grandmothers that were really fond of her for some reason.
It was weird they liked her visiting so much, no one liked it when Sonya visited… but it was also somewhere to sit and knit with people that didn't cringe away from her or keep wary eyes on the Cloud.
She just liked being included, okay?
They also occasionally fed her, and her dog. For free. Which was nice.
She would pay them something for it, of course. She might like being included in their knitting circle and it was a lovely thought to include her in communal mealtimes without needing to be asked, but she was still a criminal and knew better to let a petty debt build up into something serious.
Gedeon getting an up close and personal wakeup call about all that shit she wanted to show him before he stuck his foot in it, but old man Milos wouldn't let her do?
Sucked to be him, but right now she'd just content herself with the minutes of the meeting and not be there to hear him whine and complain about it.
Besides, this was a legal fight. A criminal-legal fight, and no matter what a little Chinese Rain with legal interests would be missing the opening salvos… but nothing would be done quickly here. If Fon agreed to it, because while she and old Yaozu were Mingxia's guardians right now the Stormy Triad Assassin and Master Martial Artist Big Brother needed to agree before she'd ever expose his little sister to this circus, the girl could come see the biggest legal battle in criminal interests of the decade to see how this side of legality was upheld and argued over.
She'd even hire the man to bodyguard his own sister if need be. For the entire several days it might take for things to finally get to a point Sonya needed to be involved.