Author's Note : Family visiting is nice… but after the fact I'm one of those weird ones relieved to see the back of visiting family. Since my nieces and one singular nephew are all under the age of ten, I suspect that'll drop off the less they can have massive breakdown fits about how strange everything is suddenly.

Ah well.

Russian Roulette : Second Chamber

Chapter 73

(Wednesday the 1st of December, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"Sonya-"

"Rémy." The woman gave him a polite smile, only slightly strained as Rémy Sartre joined her for breakfast. "Leave Cesare alone. I understand your reservations, but even suspected criminals deserve the right to make a living. Even while under investigation, perhaps especially so."

It did keep the man in one place, for reasons he'd comply with more than any polite request from police. Rémy just really didn't like it was Skull and Sonya who were providing a suspected serial murderer employment. Just because the godfather of her kid had been a friend of his, he got her position on the chef and understood it.

"I wasn't going to say anything."

Even young Shamal, Sonya's godson seated next to his godmother awaiting breakfast, looked highly skeptical of that claim.

Okay, yes. Obvious lie.

There was a chance the man just had horrendous luck with employment opportunities and kept being in the wrong place at the right times. He couldn't prove it otherwise, and Sonya was aware of the possible threat now.

For right now, that had to be enough. However little he liked it. "Is Hawk up yet?"

"Not that I've seen." She shrugged elegantly, leaning back in her chair so the son of her housekeeper could deliver a coffee tray to the table. "Which one do you think is more likely to be him?"

"Hard to say." Without knowing anything of the man in question aside from physical traits, anything was possible right now. "I can't even say if 'I didn't know' is a valid defense to any of his possible past actions that might have consequences pending either. Are you still interested in sending him with me to figure out which it might be?"

"That's up to Hawk." Sonya claimed, flicking her godson's hand away from the mugs and personally giving him the mug already full of orange juice instead. Shamal pouted, accepted the alternative, and slunk off pointedly. Seemingly unbothered by her child's attitude, she started pouring them both a cup of coffee. "If he wants to know I will, which I think is very likely. Given he went to bed with that file of yours."

"Hard to blame him." If Rémy lost his memories, he'd be unable to leave the mystery alone. No matter what unpleasantness remained behind him, or crimes he'd been suspected of. Getting paid to figure it out was a nice little bonus for doing it for another man in desperate need of the service. "When does Skull get up?"

"About noon." The man's sister informed him dryly as she doctored her mug of coffee first. "With his usual schedule, Skull doesn't really like getting up in the morning hours. At all. Ever. If left to his own devices, he won't wake until well into the afternoon. Ciceron should get him up shortly before one, then we can go see whomever you think will deal with the police investigation."

Since the lady was paying all his bills currently, Rémy was perfectly fine with her dictating his schedule. A lazy morning in a tiny Italian village nestled between mountains was no hardship, neither was the company.

Even if her godson did not like him at all, which was as adorable as it was snotty.

"Hawk… did you spend all night reading those?" Sonya suddenly demanded, straightening up in her seat as the man in question arrived at what appeared to be a public eating hall with Rémy's half a year of work clutched in hand still.

"Might've."

"…I didn't know it bothered you this much."

"I didn't know it bothered me this much." Hawk countered tiredly, tapping the files against a shoulder as he stopped at the table to speak with her. "Apparently it does."

She studied him thoughtfully, from the disheveled hair and the growing whiskers on his face to his moderately neater clothes, with a frown. "Then I take it you will be accompanying Detective Sartre to narrow down the possibilities once we're done today?"

"I don't mean to abandon you right before a busy holiday season, Miss Bazanova."

"I have extra help coming this month. If you need the personal time to clear this up, take it. Better now when we're just busy than later when who knows what will be even more important."

Hawk blew out a sigh, glancing at him with those supposedly highly identifiable yellow eyes.

"I have no problem helping you out." Rémy insisted for himself, again. Even if it'd stretch beyond a couple weeks to mean he'd be working another holiday again.

Beyond just the very decent pay to do it, he became a PI just to help people like him. People that needed answers, just needed a little help, or needed someone with his connections to help them out of misunderstandings with the overworked and sometimes underfunded police forces.

"You might as well both take the truck with you." Sonya continued draping herself back against her dining chair as if it were more comfortable than he knew it was. "And though you will be accompanying us to the police precinct at least, you will be careful. Yes?"

"Of course, Miss Bazanova."

"Then the morning, at least, is yours for now. I'll have Usov fetch you when we're ready to leave." She glanced between both Hawk and Rémy, then raised an eyebrow. "I'd take it you two might want to discuss where to start in on, now?"

As the employee in this situation, it didn't really matter much to him. He'd get paid either way, and there was the whole drive up the continent to Switzerland still that he could speak with Hawk in. The loan of a vehicle was particularly nice on top of everything else so they could decide where to start on their own later.

As per usual when Sonya hired him to help her out, it was only occasionally tedious work for a very nice but more importantly steady paycheck.

Was it any wonder she was his favorite client?

Being a pretty young woman and Skull de Mort's little sister was really just a lovely bonus.

"If you don't mind."

"Of course not. I need to go chase Shamal to school, instead of letting him lurk around and miss it." At Hawk's grimace, she rose from her spot and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're not the only driver we have. I can get the kids to school myself for a couple weeks, and Skull can bring them home again."

The man she found without a past or any knowledge of himself remained looking guilty as she left them to it. Hands defensively clenched on the five best possibilities of who he might be, hunched shoulders, and a tight expression under his ungroomed face, it didn't take a detective to see it.

"The unknown is always worse than knowing." Rémy offered to the man, to be reassuring but he wasn't entirely sure if it'd work.

Something they had a lot of time together pending to figure out.

Hawk slapped the file on the table before dropping into the seat Sonya left open for him. "Yeah… but not even knowing what I know is just as bad."

He didn't doubt that a damn bit. "Let's fix that for you. Which one do you want to look into first?"

(ooo000ooo)

(Wednesday the 1st of December, 1971 continued. South Giovanni Bosco Elementary School, Sestri Levante, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"Are you even listening?"

"Shut up." Shamal hissed at Ottavio, irritably. "Mamma's dealing with the police investigation today. I want to listen in."

"Why the hell would I care about your groups' security?"

"Do be quiet, Jacopo. The people with important jobs are working."

"You are attracting attention over here." Mingxia pointed out over the remains of her cold lunch, utterly indifferent to the Cloud's ugly glare for chipping in. "Could you… perhaps have this chat later?"

"He's rather lucky Usov doesn't attend classes with us anymore." Larion chipped in just to contribute something, absently sneering at the meals provided to the student body with the snobbishness of a better cook than the entire school lunchroom staff put together. "Usov wouldn't just ignore him."

"It's Ottavio." Sneered the Cloud to the only Mist remaining at school, shooting the two Rains a heated look each. "And you two need to shut up when your betters are talking."

With a snort, Shamal pulled his attention away from his necklace his godmother wore for him and shot the little brat a dry look. "Betters? You? You're not better than anything or anyone, Jacopo. Especially not a student sixteen times more studious than you, and a kid younger but better at your job than you. And if you want Usov to weigh in here, Larion, go ahead and call him in."

"I'm not that stupid…"

"It's Ottavio, Shamal Tringali."

"I don't care if people know my dad's surname, or that I don't use it anymore." It was slightly annoying the other kid would out that possible alias before he could even use it, but it wasn't a point to be contentious about. "Unlike you, who just couldn't wait to shed your name. Like a snake."

"I could escalate this instead, if you so insist."

"Yeah, no." Shamal corrected lazily with a nasty smirk. "Master Tyr and mamma both already discussed it. They already know where they stand. Sucks to be you."

Sonya might not have told him, but Usov's dad was entirely willing to let him know the head of the Varia Assassination Squads called shortly after he, his uncle, and his godmother's student got home. It wasn't remotely a stretch to realize the adults were going to let it be decided between the two of them.

"And just why would they not do anything?"

"Because poor information is just as bad as no information, Jacopo. Zio was very offended you thought he was that kind of pacifist and told me he'd do all that stupid shit." Skull might not be that kind of pacifist, obviously given he lived with them without any issues with his own sister, but the possibility had been there.

"Sloppy." Mingxia observed tartly, mostly just to not obey the 'be quiet' order Ottavio shot at her. Master Fon's little sister eyed the both of them pointedly, arms set on the cafeteria table so she could lace her fingers before her mouth and look very sternly reproving. "No, Shamal. Before you say it, that should be made clear first. It was sloppy on both of your parts. Bad information and the revenge for bad information, are two very different incidents that require handling. How was he supposed to know his information had been bad if you didn't tell him?"

…or not. Weirdly nettled by Mingxia's softly spoken point, Shamal shot her a look then focused on Ottavio. "Zio said there's multiple types of 'pacifist', and no he's not an 'absolute' one. He's a pragmatic one."

The other kid, infuriatingly, shrugged. "I passed on all I learned of the personality type as Master Tyr and I encountered one. I didn't say your 'zio' was one. That's your fault."

Making a rude noise in his direction, the Mist flicked a wrist. "Inoffensive intentions aren't valid complaints. You supplied information outside our normal interactions, which means any reaction is entirely earned. Now, go away Jacopo."

Mingxia sighed softly from across their table.

Larion poked his lunch tray away from him with a single finger, leaning forward across said table to address them both next. "Whatever you want to imply here, Ottavio, you did something and shit happened because of it. Now, get lost. You've spent more than enough time posturing for an alibi, you shouldn't abuse an information pipe for no gain. That will get you into more trouble than you can cause Shamal right now."

Ottavio eyed the Rains skeptically, shot Shamal a glare, then stalked off.

"…he's going to assume you both can maybe be used against me."

"Let him." The younger of the two Rains dismissed tiredly, getting up from the bench to toss the tray he was finished with. "It's not going to be possible. But the attempts will be interesting. More interesting."

Neatly stacking her dishes to pack away in a moment, Mingxia leveled her red eyes on him seriously. "You need to cover your ass a little better than this, Shamal. No, Miss Sonya will not interfere… but if you wish to continue unpunished for this kind of behavior you need to do the legwork at the same time. Make it clear there is a cause, it's how she gets away with her own behavior. There seems to always be a clear, understandable cause for her retributions."

…actually, she would know. His godmother brought the young Rain to go witness the end-results of one of her gambits, at Mafia Land. Verde had to go with her for protection, but she had been there.

"I'm not… that kind of straightforward type."

"Emulate your godmother in your own way but be certain you have all bases covered. At least, if your aim is to not drag your troubles to her doorstep."

Shamal placed a hand against his chest, full out pouting across the table at her. "I'm wounded here, Mingxia. Do you really suspect me of intentionally making trouble?"

"Are you breathing?" The older girl pushed herself up from her part of the bench, sweeping all her dishes into her arms and shooting him a haughty look. "Just in case you missed that, Shamal… yes, I believe you're intentionally making trouble. It might not have started out that way, but now you have the leeway you're going to milk it for everything you can. Just like your mother, in that. She knows when to cut her losses and settle for the next best thing. Can you?"

"Who knows?"

(ooo000ooo)

(Wednesday the 1st of December, 1971 continued. Carabinieri Command Station, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Skull de Mort looked highly unimpressed with his explanation. "You didn't know the State Police had an investigation going on in your literal backyard for an entire year?"

Domiziano Montalbano crossed beefy arms over his chest and leaned back in his office chair, regarding his 'guests' warily. "It may surprise you, but the State Police and the Carabinieri are different organizations-"

"A year." Sonya de Mort interrupted pointedly from her brother's side, equally as unimpressed and more hostile in it. "No declaration of reason, or a charge laid at someone's feet. Usually, we just sit and wait when the police have something to do with us outside the Soviet Union. We both are more used to law enforcement organizations in capitalist countries, we know you're not the KGB or anything like them. There's still two small families we have that don't have faith in that, and one has a dutifully Catholic mother that's very nearly driven to paranoia because we caught the investigation and no one's said anything for why it's there."

"You have a suspected murderer on staff." Montalbano countered just as pointedly, raising a hand before the fully show-suited famous stuntman that arrived so suddenly could open his mouth. "I realize you didn't know that until very recently, I can appreciate that much. The man known as 'Cesare' is still suspected of murder."

"Yeah, that's nice." Skull waggled a finger at him, still phenomenally not happy at what cause brought him and his sister to the local Station Commander of the Carabinieri. "No one said anything. And like it or not, even suspected criminals deserve to be able to work for their living until charged with something. We respect your suspicions, but until anything's proven one way or another there's no reason to piss off one of our few native employees. We have more than enough trouble hiring locally for help to keep up the castle, we probably couldn't get a chef willing to cook for the staff and whomever is home randomly if we in any way mistreat Cesare."

His apparent little sister at his side grimaced slightly, probably the one to suffer through trying to hire whatever help they didn't already arrive with.

"We, the Carabinieri, are not the ones investigating you." Montalbano reminded them both tiredly, rubbing a hand across his face. "I will convey your complaints, of course… but I am not the man responsible."

"Lovely. You can convey our 'concerns' to whomever you think is responsible too." Chipped in the older brother brightly, with a not particularly friendly grin plastered across his painted face as he clapped his hands together. "Either charge someone or in the new year both my sisters and I will start talking. To whomever will listen. The journalists I deal with, the professionals my sisters are involved with, foreign states, whomever. We will raise unholy hell if the situation continues as is. You've had several months, terrified one of our ladies to an unreasonable degree, and in general we can only assume right now legal emigration isn't enough to legally live in a different country. If you were going to 'find' something, you would have by now."

"You have a suspected murderer on staff." He reminded them both solidly. "An individual suspected to be related to an organized crime syndicate as well. We will investigate both."

"Do so… with a warrant or at least a stated reason for it." Sonya de Mort countered flatly, turning to leave with that as a farewell.

"Seriously dude, if you'd said something we wouldn't have cared about you doing your job." Skull de Mort finished very tartly, with a shrug as he followed the woman. "This shit… this just seems shady without any given reason for it."

"I've just given you the reason."

"Didn't help us at all last year." He shot behind him without turning. "Shocking that you know the reason when apparently you didn't realize it was going on, without talking to anyone else. Imagine that."

Montalbano considered the situation as his office door was shut surprisingly gently behind the famous stuntman.

Not particularly the most pleasant confrontation he ever had, but not the worse either.

They wouldn't be able to conclude if either were involved in organized crime themselves with just this. Unfortunate, but not the worse outcome.

(Friday the 3rd of December, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"Imagine that, the police cleared off."

Lal Mirch regarded Skull skeptically. "With one conversation?"

"With the threat of going to the press hanging over their heads. Without a warrant or even a charge to throw at someone they really don't have business spying on 'perfectly legitimate civilians' living near them." Sonya corrected absently, speed-writing an entire list of who was all going where when they showed up for Palaemon. "Skull's famous, regardless of what else he might be suspected of his talking to the journalists about how shiftily the Italian police are…? Would not be very good for a public entity like a police precinct, their relations with other countries' police forces, or even with their own civilians."

The Rain regarded her Tutor next, who didn't so much as twitch under the stare. "Could you have done that before this?"

"Not really." Ripping off that page, the other woman handed it to the teenager who asked for it and sat back in her office chair to look at the other adults in the room. "Skull, go gather up everyone else in the dining room please. Lal… what worked was an entire year of poor results. A year is long enough that most would assume either something would be found to follow or there's nothing 'important' here, Anna and Usov ensured nothing 'incriminating' was noticed aside from the guests we've had. That year of nothing and Skull's complaint are what worked. Without a warrant or anything to actually investigate us about, they have to go with what's written down about it. As far as anyone is concerned, Cesare fired the police mole for trying to steal the silverware. That's the last 'we' know of their man's situation."

"A conversation got a police investigation to fold when you are fully responsible for the guy's death." Repeated Lal in exasperation, running a hand through her short blue hair as she tried to make sense of the events. "Is that usually how these things go?"

"A year in which we did nothing too exciting." Sonya countered pointedly, giving up her desk for her young butler to start planning upon instead. Rounding the desk, and pausing only momentarily to scratch Alek's left ear, the Storm-Cloud shrugged it all off. "We can afford to do that, because nothing was going on here. This isn't some criminal holding trying to duck law enforcement about our current illegal activities, it's a household where people simply just live. Now, obviously some suspicions remain… Cesare's still on staff and neither Skull nor I are very bothered by the possible pending criminal charges. There's a logical explanation, yes. But still."

"Which means I might not be able to pull the same thing off."

"Not likely, not with what you're intending to do." She shrugged again, gesturing somewhat vaguely to get Lal to start walking to where she was calling a household meeting about the month's expected guests. "With what you've stated to me as your plans, which obviously should remain fluid somewhat to adapt to future events… if you get fingered as a possible criminal you'll have to do what Cesare did. Pick up and move your headquarters elsewhere where you're not possibly wanted. Gambling you've got more territory available than you can be found guilty within. Once you're established well enough the locals think better of you than you are, you could wait it out instead. But you might want to set up secondary channels and locations to do business that way for a little while. And those things require groundwork if you want them to remain secured."

Lal thought about it as they passed the 'rainy day gym'/storage room at the back of the castle's ground floor. "But shouldn't I have alternate business contacts anyway? To start with? From what you and Skull have said, I'm going to need all the work I can get my hands on to 'establish' myself with."

"That's… a personal choice. Yes, you'll reach more people with multiple contact points, but those things are usually out of your immediate sightline and control. Who knows who's all coming and going, or even how infested it might get with more police moles looking for people just like you. Or, other syndicates with less than pleasant intentions for you."

"So… at least wait until I have a couple really trustworthy guys."

"Your choice." Sonya countered evenly, overtaking her just to plop her ass on top of one of the tables to wait for everyone else. "Now, with how you've decided to handle things last month… I'm not going to drag you along to the Vongola Christmas Ball with me. There's little to no point in slitting your wrists before you even really crack down to work by introducing yourself as someone to watch around to all the Dons from that corner of the country. However, I do have homework for you to do while ducking all the criminal influences we're about to play host to. Again."

"I'm helping with Cathy." Lal protested mildly, since that was on both of them even if 'Tony G' wanted Nightshade to pay back the favor of getting them out of there.

Playing bodyguard/tourist guide/translator for his wife wouldn't be too difficult, and it might even be a bit of fun while Sonya was distracted by Donna duties.

Besides which, that woman needed some major help with her wardrobe. That eyesore of a dress she wore to 'lunch' with them… ow.

Of course, not being a girly girl type woman meant Lal probably wasn't the woman to help with that… but there was always Skull. Since the stuntman had a better eye for fashion and makeup than herself and his sister put together, the man could be dragged along for shopping trips to play fashionista for them.

From what she'd seen of him when he was 'left behind' on any of the trips that might contain some shopping in it, Skull wouldn't complain a damn bit.

Well, he'd complain. Just simply so he could complain about that disaster of eveningwear cheerfully and at volume.

"I'm sticking Anna the Mirror Lady on Cathy." Sonya corrected very dryly, a slightly lopsided smirk on her lips while they waited for her household of people to start filing in. "She needs to get out more, and if I can't go to Rome on a coin flip…"

"…why can't you go to Rome?"

"Nest of Clouds. The Visconti Famiglia staked out Rome and the Vatican. And I'm way outnumbered there." The woman shrugged again, a bit stiffer than before in her office. "You don't want two Clouds in the same general area, especially not Hard Flame Clouds. We tend to get… pissy with one another for little to no reason or without self-control. Happens between me and a couple kids in Moscow, the only type I know I can deal with decently well without picking a stupid fight with are Inverted Clouds like Adelardo Cavallone and Skull."

"I don't mind Anna's company… so long as she leaves that nightmare of a spider in her room." Lal countered easily enough. "And there's always Milan and Venice. Milan might actually be better."

"Cathy wants to shop in Rome, though. Less for the shops and more probably just so she could say she's been there. I can always call and ask if Don Visconti would remove his less than impeccably self-controlled cousins out of the city for a day, but this close to Christmas and a major holiday season… I probably shouldn't put that on them right now."

"Could Skull go to Rome without issue?" She wondered next, because making up an excuse for Sonya to not go and send her brother in her stead… might actually work out better. "We can take Cathy there one day, then Milan the next. Maybe even make a day of it to go up to Nice, or Bern."

"Skull could probably go… but I should probably still warn Don Visconti ahead of time. We're not going to have any solid plans until Cathy and Tony G get here."

"Skull could go where?" Asked the man being discussed curiously as he wandered back to them, presumably having alerted most of every adult that lived on the estate their presence was desired.

"Shopping with me and an American woman later this month." Lal smiled wolfishly at him, which only earned her an amused eyeballing back that was only playfully wary. "Speaking of, want to come to Rome with me and the wife of the man that got us out of America? We're just doing a little shopping…"

"Somehow, I highly doubt that. But sure. Sounds fun."

"In about a week or two." Sonya advised, giving her brother a more serious look the next second. "Are you sure you don't want to take the month to go put on a show somewhere instead? I wouldn't mind handling this all myself, it's more on my head than yours."

Skull waggled a finger under his sister's nose. "Ah, ah, ah. I live here too. I'm perfectly fine with helping by being a body in a spot in exchange when it's my off-season and all I'm doing is relaxing. It'll be fine, Nya."

(Wednesday the 8th of December, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Sonya gave Fon a utterly flat, exasperated stare down as he climbed the last stair to the second floor where she had paused to sort out her handful of jewelry. "Why… why do you have such shit timing?"

The Triad Storm assassin shrugged absently, hands stuffed in both sleeves per usual and utterly unconcerned by her attitude. "I have no idea what you might mean."

With a very noticeable and aggravated sigh heaved at him, and one more dirty look, the thief stopped adding jewelry on top of her markedly more upscaled outfit and stalked over to the railing. "Shamal, grab your uncle and go to Mass without me."

"But mamma-"

"You don't want to be late. It's, apparently, a special nightly Mass."

Her godson made a sulky, aggravated groan and started stomping up the stairs too. He shot Fon a nasty look on his way past, presumably on his way to find where Skull was in the castle to drag on to whatever they had been assembling to go do this night.

"Okay, so. Your shit timing aside…"

Fon manfully refrained from rolling his eyes at her continued bitching. "You requested that I catch up to you as soon as I was no longer required elsewhere. You did not state a date, a time, nor a timeframe within for this to happen, only ask me to come here. I am here. Now just happens to be the day when I arrived. Would you please tell me what was so important?"

She did not appear to be very convinced by his argument, but she did change the subject. "I need you to be in Hong Kong on the fourteenth of February, and just stay there until I get there. Trust me, you can't miss what I'm about to do."

"…could you have not asked this of me at our next 'enforced' meeting?"

"No." Sonya flatly denied, aiming a pointed look at him to reinforce that denial. "You are the only person I'm warning ahead of time. Be at your Triad's headquarters the night before your New Year's celebrations kicks off."

Fon paused and studied the woman's tight features closely. "Do I need to remind you I am a loyal Triad member?"

"Not the issue, Fon. I don't give two damns." She held up a hand before he could respond. "Along the same lines, same issue as the last time you tried to remind me of that. I have your Mountain Master's permission, but it's not going to be 'official'. It's never going to be official."

The… when they were returning Nuan to her parents?

Was there something Duyi had not mentioned to him before he left Hong Kong only a day ago?

The sheer impossibility of that had the assassin regarding the thief dubiously.

"He wouldn't have suggested anything of the sort to you, because he needs the plausible deniability that he had anything to do with what I was asked to do." Sonya informed him shortly, making a semi-frustrated flick of her wrist at him. "And I can't tell you what I'm going to do, because you also need plausible deniability that you had nothing to do with what I'm about to do."

"…Sonya, I do not believe this is the best way to ensure… whatever it is, does not result in a bad ending for yourself." Fon was… not the best with riddles and puzzles, to be honest.

He did not have the patience for them.

If she was making enough of an effort to ensure he was forewarned just enough to know it was something requested of her, on the approximate date she intended to do it, then he was certain someone should know what was pending before it happened.

"With what it was and what I need to do, I don't think there's a better option."

Fon puzzled over the very vague information he now knew, but there was little he could conclusively decide upon. Her aims, what it was specifically she was asked to do, and what it all had to do with the young Sky the Wo Hop To Triad had, were questions he did not feel right leaving alone. "I would feel much better if I was at least aware of what intentions you had for this unspecified action."

"You can't fucking lie, so no."

"I do not require the ability very often." He protested, then pointedly turned to face the windows outlooking the back patio and the garden square nestled into the base of the castle when she moved to start stripping out of her outfit. "Hence, when I require to mislead someone I am reliably believed."

"I bet you anything, that's on minor or embarrassing details no one really wants answered." Shot back the thief from inside her own bedroom, a slight rustle of fabric slithering to the floor behind him letting him know that he should not turn around. "If this was anything else, I'd just tell you. With the details I'm juggling, hell no. I don't want to make it difficult for you, because like you keep claiming in my face you're a 'good boy' Triad man."

Fon heaved a sigh, impatiently waiting out her outfit change and only moving when the click of claws herald the arrival of her canine companion. Alek sourly eyed him first, then slunk past to nose right into Sonya's bedroom.

Two seconds with his head stuck into her room, the dog pulled away and slunk off again.

…unusual. Fon had not observed that habit from the canine yet.

Sonya returned in presumably her nightwear, and it took him a few seconds to realize the fuzzy pants were depicting some kind of bird-creature with bizarrely human-proportioned features. "Why are you still here?"

"I would still like to know what it is you intend to do."

"No."

A not surprising response, but one he wasn't going to accept. "I insist."

"I know it doesn't sound that way, but I am trying to help you navigate this."

"I appreciate that. I would still like to know what it is that you are treating this carefully."

The thief attempted to poke at the general space in front of his chest, had to shake her arm to get the long-sleeved shirt to flop off of her hand, and only then successfully jabbed a forefinger at him. "No. There's no reason to make things more awkward for you, and I'm going to have to make it a little already. You keep reminding me you're a good boy, so I'll not interfere in that."

Fon smiled politely in her face, then darted forward with intent before she could react.

(ooo000ooo)

(Wednesday the 8th of December, 1971 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"…what, the fuck?"

"Your sister is being a brat." Fon answered instantly, without a shred of self-consciousness in his tone or any care they caught him… doing this.

"I," Sonya spluttered, squirming hesitantly and ineffectually between red-robbed arms around her waist because she really didn't want to harm the man holding her off the floor, "am trying to set this up so you're not caught out. Asshole. Let me go!"

Skull thought about maybe helping for a split second. "…okay then."

"What? No, Skull, help!"

"You're dressed in your pajamas." He pointed out blandly, trudging up the stairs the rest of the way because he was already halfway up them before the sight of Fon holding Sonya off the floor stopped him in his tracks. He could catch the elevator on this floor too, there was no reason why not. "You didn't even intend to catch up with us for Shamal's religious thingy. Right now, I believe Fon over my bratty sister who left me to go do obligatory religious stuff in her place."

"Hey!"

"He's also not broken." Skull continued before she could add anything onto that. "Which he would've been, had you really taken offense to this. Have fun, goodnight."

Sonya attempted to kick a leg up, for momentum reasons to escape by rather than by force, and Fon grabbed it just so she was now hanging upside down instead before turning to give him a slightly sideways nod. "Have a good evening, Skull."

Skull reached behind him, caught Shamal before he could burst in on the scene and do… whatever the little Mist might want to do, tucking him under an arm to carry to bed. "Come on, brat. Way past your bedtime."

"But zio!"

"Nope."

For one, Skull wouldn't ever do that to Sonya because of the risk his little sister might unintentionally harm him learning how to flail around. She'd feel utterly awful about that if it happened, far more than she would've had she accidentally hit someone not family. For another, his little sister needed interpersonal hand-to-hand experience when the intent was non-lethal.

If Fon wanted to take the risks, full power to that guy.

Shamal flailed in his grip, which kind of reminded him the brat might have a decidedly different opinion.

"Nya doesn't get to wrestle with people very often, Shamal." He informed his nephew quietly while they left the pair behind. "Tatiana sometimes, but usually it's just Nya reacting to what Tats does instead of being fully involved. She won't wrestle with me anymore, not since her strength ballooned out to even a light brush from her could take off limbs if she didn't watch it. So no. We're not going to interrupt one of the rare times she gets to fool around with a friend."

"I don't like him." Whined his armful of kid, kicking his feet ineffectually because there was no way he was going to drop the wiggling burden of his own nephew from such a slight rocking motion. "I'd just throw him out the window on this floor, zio. I swear."

"Uh huh." Besides, Sonya gave a token protest. She didn't greatly mind, because she probably agreed she was being a brat. If Fon got anything out of treating her the exact same way he was treating Shamal was a wholly different matter, but there was a concession going on.

Again, his little sister couldn't be all that upset because the assassin dude wasn't grievously injured or dead.

"Zio!"

"Shamal." Skull cheerfully whined back, plopping the kid on his own little loafers in front of his bedroom. "Bedtime, kiddo. I will put Anna on you if you don't brush your teeth and go to bed."

His nephew crossed his thin arms over his chest, scowl-pouting right back up at him instead of doing as asked. "But I don't like him. And… and you don't like him!"

"…I don't mind Fon. He could be worse." Shrugging, he planted his hands on his hips and didn't budge. "That's pretty irrelevant. Nya likes him just fine. What's your issue with the guy?"

"What? But zio!" Shamal stomped a little foot, darted a suspicious glare down the hallway to the general area he left Fon and Sonya at. "No! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"Wasn't aware there were sides here."

"He doesn't deserve mamma."

"…technically, in my opinion, no one deserves either of my sisters." Skull drawled wryly, rubbing at his forehead with the palm of one hand as he tried to make sense of what Shamal's utter refusal to let that go on was. "Ganauche the Defective sure as shit doesn't deserve Tatiana… but then again, that's really not my place. I'm not Tatiana. It's what Tats wants that is important there. Fon and Nya are just friends, kid. They whack each other around, poke fun at each other, then go on with their lives. Not exactly the same thing as what Tats has with her Italian Mafioso."

"Exactly. So we should distract Mister Fon so mamma can get an appropriate distance from him. Like a country-sized space."

"Nope." Skull hooked Shamal's stomach with a foot to push back to his bedroom door before righting himself again. "Apples to pears there, kid. Also… it's not our place to dictate who Nya can be friends with. While yes, our opinion can influence what she thinks of her own friends… no one has any right to dictate who another person spends time with or doesn't. So no."

Bite-sized little Mist did not remotely look sold on his logic, which wasn't at all that surprising. He remained here, which meant Skull had some leeway in whatever this was.

"What. The fuck. Are you two doing?"

…or the brat was betting on Lal to break up whatever Fon was doing with his little sister when the Rain came up the stairs to her guest room, if he wasn't going to be helpful. Skull pursed his lips suspiciously, earning himself a completely innocent pair of blinks from said brat.

"Bed. We're talking about this in the morning."

"Sure zio, whatever you want." Now happy as a clam, the kid tripped right into his bedroom without a fight or a threat or two to not stay up spying on his godmother's 'chat' with the Triad assassin about whatever she was being a brat about.

Skull raked a hand through his short purple hair, ruffling it after a moment of hard thought.

…yeah, fuck it.

He wasn't being paid to deal with Shamal's Misty self-entitlement to another person's personage with or without their permission or awareness of it. Viper was enough for him, to be perfectly frank.

Sonya was probably aware she was the target of it, and she had three little Mists who all found her 'important' enough to either keep an eye on her person or be around her as often as she'd tolerate. The only thing required was to check she was aware Shamal had dim opinions on any male within arm's reach of her, then she could do whatever the hell she wanted to with that.

In other words, Skull was going to bed. He did his obligatory family thing already today.

(ooo000ooo)

(Wednesday the 8th of December, 1971 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"If you would merely-"

"I'm never going to let you forget this, if you fuck it up." Sonya interrupted the asshole shortly, pointedly getting more than enough space from him that she'd be able to dodge in time the next time he lunged for her. Fon merely looked amused at her actions, but he was still here.

So she could take this as him being 'very insistent'.

"Long story short." She started flatly, taking another step back nearly on Alek's tail away from the Storm. "Nuan asked Daniella di Vongola to ask me, with your Mountain Master's awareness, for me to spring her from your political cesspit so she has a genuine chance to find herself a Guardian. I'm going to 'steal' her on the night of your New Year's celebrations, basically plan on going drinking with her at whatever Flame-infested bar we find, then hopefully she'll have someone to drag home with her in the morning."

Fon instantly frowned at her, half disproving for all of a split-second before that fell off as he thought about the implications rather than just reacted to her admission. "…and you wished for me to 'chase' after you in the moment, to give Miss Nuan 'protection' our Triad would trust in more as you throttle what trust we have in you at the same time."

"I'm basically committing political suicide for Princess, yes."

The assassin frowned even heavier, actually almost straight out scowling at her now. "If you are not careful enough, it will be more than just 'politically' suicidal."

"Obviously."

He didn't so much react to her tone as sigh at her in general, which wasn't particularly flattering.

Sonya rolled her eyes and scratched at Alek's ruff in some half-assed apology. "So yeah. Not only Wo Hop To Triad members, I'll have to dodge the rest of the Wo-group Triad members in general while trying to navigate your rat's nest of a port city with a hanger-on that isn't nearly as acrobatically inclined as me."

"…I do not believe this will be good for your general health." Stressed the contemplative assassin, crossing his arms over his chest which didn't reassure her a damn bit about if he was going to keep his hands to himself. "Sonya… this sounds particularly hazardous. For you only, and I do appreciate the pains you are attempting to take to ensure you are the only one at risk… I do not believe this is a good idea."

"That's kind of the point here, Fon."

The man's features tightened, but did not shift from just a disapproving frown aimed in her general direction.

Notably, he didn't argue that Nuan would eventually find a Guardian in whatever was going on in his homeland. If even Fon thought the young Sky should've been given more freedom to find herself a Guardian or two by now, then the situation might actually be worse than she assumed with what little Daniella didn't tell her.

"No, it's not a great idea." Sonya reaffirmed tiredly and ruffled her very patient good boy's ears one last time. "It is in fact a stupid idea. I don't know Hong Kong all that well, no one with sense tries to steal a Sky without any Guardians from their syndicate if they don't want to leave or without a solid escape plan… and we're not even going to leave the city for a nearby port instead."

"…and I cannot assist beforehand, for any preparations I might attempt would be scrutinized after the fact for any collusion as we are associates."

"You wouldn't be able to help even if I didn't tell you what was going to happen."

Fon sighed at her, tipping his head back to stare sightlessly at the ceiling. "I was aware my Mountain Master was losing patience with the fuss surrounding his niece… it is not a stretch to assume what you claimed is in fact correct. I will check with him, of course. Privately and carefully. I… have little doubt that if not you, then I would be asked to do this instead."

…that wasn't entirely out of the question. Sonya was a convenient scapegoat, a foreigner with tangential interests that had proven to be willing enough to assist the Sky in question already once before. If she wasn't here to be used to skirt around whatever political bullshit Nuan was caught up in, then a loyal Storm of the uncle's who was incompatible to said Sky… would have been the next safest bet to get around whatever was in Zhōng's way.

Was… was Fon not supposed to be a specific Triad's man and only just generally Triad-connected?

Actually, if she wasn't here then would this whole situation force Fon to 'hide out' in Europe for a few years until his 'crime' of doing what she was planning on doing passed out of the arguable public mind?

Making the whole shit fest with Checkerface turn from an annoyance to something to earn enough money to remain safe while hiding from the Wo-Triads and their agents.

The thief roughly palmed her face as she wondered.

She was fairly certain Fon indeed was supposed to be the Storm Arcobaleno. He was the 'Eye of the Storm', she was there for the whole incident that earned him the title. He was a phenomenally powerful Storm Flame user… dressed in red and an impressive martial artist. There had been three, apparently, martial arts tournaments hosted by the entirety of China's underworld that he probably won.

…well. Shit.

He was one of only three people she was mostly certain of, the other two being Skull and Reborn who she knew from early enough when she remembered enough. Sonya still wasn't betting on anyone else's survival besides Verde's, who was uninterested enough in criminal lifestyles if not their information base to just focus on his own interests and allow others to assume what they will about him.

She'd bet if he hadn't had a rude early awakening about his own Flames and the severely limited job prospects Flame users had, Verde would've attended that first meeting out of sheer curiosity then remain on the outside of the group just to observe the others for more information. Playing up the lurking observer was a favorite trick of his in public settings with people he shouldn't piss off around, and some people found that extra creepy without a Lightning's hyper-focus added on top.

Being that off-putting would've isolated Verde from the others, true… but maybe that would've been a good thing in a group that hadn't already mostly known each other before being 'collected'.

If anyone else survived to the very last day, then yay. Surprise, sucked to be them.

It would change jack shit and furthermore meant she'd have to watch the others she cared more for suffer through twenty-thirty years of being extremely vertically challenged in a highly competitive, cutthroat industry of crime and blood money. Some people she genuinely did like, Lal, to some her brother really did like, Viper.

She didn't, now couldn't, remember enough details to be sure of more than just the array of Flame types. That was so basic information that a surprise different character could come in and she'd not know any better who was the 'better choice' for whatever Arcobaleno.

…to be frank, it wasn't Sonya's place to wonder how someone else's life should go. She was just going to close that line of thinking and shove it in a box, because she was here now and she'd do whatever the fuck she thought was appropriate in the moment.

"Put that out of your head." Advised the thief sourly, and maybe a bit flatly. "I'm going to get Princess a bit of leeway, you are going to be the harried bodyguard for this whole little event. And again, Fon, you fuck this up I will never let you forget you insisted on being told."

"I have little doubts you intend on that. It will not be necessary." Fon insisted to her face.

(Monday the 20th of December, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Antonio Rico Giuseppe Giordano threw his arms wide the moment one of his men let him and his wife out of the rental car, grinning a fit to crack his face in half. "Ladies! Imagine meeting you two here."

"Yes, surprise." Lal deadpanned, standing next to Sonya and sounding more amused than exasperated at his antics.

She rolled her eyes at all of them. "Welcome to Death Castle, Tony G. And Italy too, I guess."

"You sound so enthusiastic." Teased the older man with a shark-like grin as he advanced on them, this time not in working clothes that made him look ten times more respectable than their last 'meeting'. "And I totally need to ask about that name…"

"My brother named the castle." Sonya shrugged that off, because she really didn't mind… now. It was kind of exasperating at first, and still could be, but it was her brother who did it. She'd live with it. "I assure you… there's no other reason for the name."

"Sure there's not." 'Agreed' the American Don pleasantly, so falsely she was kind of surprised he wasn't struck by lightning for doing it. "You sure about putting all of us up for the next two weeks, Bazanova?"

"I've got the space," it would also be easier to ensure Tony G didn't use his spot in her favor against her somehow just in case that was part of his plan, not that Sonya suspected him of being that kind of asshole… but she hadn't survived this long by being stupid or taking stupid risks, "also helps my family does our formal Christmas gathering in January. You won't be imposing, otherwise I'd have a different opinion."

"Sure, I understand." Probably more than she'd like, but he was also a man that survived this long by not being stupid or taking stupid risks. "Well, whatever the real reason, we appreciate you putting us up for a bit."

The thief smiled politely. "It's safer. No gossipy hotel staff to worry about, police taps, the works… especially since you're here arguably on my invitation…"

"Yeah, yeah. Covering your own ass. Self-interests, I can work with that." Pausing only momentarily to tuck his wife up under an arm, Tony G repeated the greeting in English for her.

"Thank you so much, girls." Cathy enthused brightly, hands clasped in front of her chest and just admiring the pale orangish stones that made up Death Castle itself. This time in a less eye-gouging dress of stripped blue and white skirt with a white tee under a light blue jean jacket. "This is gorgeous, so pretty…"

"While you're in residence," Sonya started pointedly, mildly amused by the completely different reactions to her continued use of Italian, "you'll be able to understand every language being used. I've got three Mists in residence who handle translational difficulties, one of which I'm entirely willing to loan to Cathy for the duration of your stay. Anna?"

"That's so useful!" Outright beaming at the Mirror Lady that let herself out of the castle via one of the hallway windows instead of using something so plebeian as a door, the older woman would've bounced on her toes… had she not been under her husband's arm. "Oh… you're so pretty too, darling… thank you so much, Miss Anna!"

The 'usual' reactions to a Mist showing up mid-conversation generally tended not to be enthusiastic compliments, and apparently even her mostly night-dwelling Mist user hadn't expected this very different reaction than normal. Anna blinked in bemusement several times before belatedly dipping the power couple from America a hesitant curtsy. "That's very kind of you to say, ma'am."

"You can trade with her about the full understanding of Italian, or one of the two others. But while you're here, now, not speaking Italian will not be an issue." Allowed the Storm-Cloud fairly, reaching behind to knock on the door to let Palaemon know their guests had arrived. "Otherwise, you'll be set up on the second floor. Fiorella di Vongola will be here later in the week to deliver your invitations to the Ball, and join us for a little shopping herself so she can get something for her husband without him knowing all about it ahead of time."

Lal hopped up onto the front porch railing to arguably 'move' out of the way of the men handling the luggage, and Palaemon opening the doors behind them. Sonya obligingly moved down and out of the way too, joining the couple on the pavement leading from the garage to her front door.

"Any questions?"

"Sounds like you've got all the bases covered." Tony G allowed for, mainly just words to watch his wife delight in understanding what they were all talking about even if it wasn't English. "I take it you also have plans on entertaining Cathy while I'm off talking to old grouchy men?"

"There's always emptying your bank account…" Sonya taunted back mildly, rather more politely than she usually would if only because she did owe the man. "I believe shopping is one of just many things Cathy will want to do while here, and we have two weeks until the ball. There's also taking in the sights, touring religious buildings, Rome, Venice… there's a lot we can do. A lot of expensive, once-in-a-lifetime kind of things…"

"And there's the downside of trying to swindle a thief." Announced the American Don fatalistically, but with enough good humor even his men transferring luggage from their rental to a pile under Palaemon's stern eye didn't really react. "I'd almost be stupid enough to dare you to try emptying my bank account, but I think your sticky fingers might just get caught in it. You of course won't mind if I send a man with you ladies, right? Just to keep an eye on things… and the butcher's bill."

"Of course not, and of course you won't mind also outfitting Anna along with your wife… right? Since she's going to be going with, specifically for Cathy's comfort and everything."

"…there it is. We good now, Bazanova?"

"It's de Mort in this country." Countered Sonya with a simple shrug. "Dinner's at six, breakfast is at seven in the morning if you're not eating with the school-aged kids at five thirty, lunch is at noon. The chef's a Mafioso, be late to a meal if you dare."

Catherine Giordano threw herself forward to hug her, gleefully and as strongly as a middle-aged middle-class living woman could. "This is fantastic, girls! I absolutely love this! You've made my whole decade."

"I do believe that is the point." Protested the Storm-Cloud, patting the woman awkwardly on the back since she didn't really want to hurt her. "Anyway… want to meet my brother, Skull de Mort? He's home for the holidays."

Given her response was a squeal of excitement into her neck, she assumed so.

"Does he do autographs? Please tell me he does autographs!"

"I am sure, if you ask nicely enough, he will."

(ooo000ooo)

(Monday the 20th of December, 1971 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"You, are even better in reality than I imagined when Nya told me how her adventure in the States ended." Skull informed Cathy outright, already half-grinning at the woman and her husband over his empty plate. "I'm so glad it was your husband my sister ran into."

The wife of an American mobster tittered behind a hand like a seasoned socialite, giving him more than enough of a hint which of them tended to be the one to attract attention to themselves for the other half to strike at unexpectedly. Lisa did the same damn thing for Arseniy, being gregarious and personable herself to root attention to her so the vor could maneuver things half in the background.

It made him seriously nostalgic for his childhood hiding behind Lisa's knees or Sonya's back.

He had a suspicion the 'eye-sore' of a dress worn to the meeting with the girls in America had been worn for more than the reasons Lal or Sonya wondered about. Mostly just to shock and awe them and force them to think her somewhat simpler than she was.

That was hilarious, especially since it apparently stuck out in their minds so badly the two of them still talked about it.

Skull was pretty damn certain Cathy wouldn't require a European fashion-trained eye for her shopping, but like hell he was going to tell either his sister or the Rain that. Free shopping trip for him, score.

"You're not flirting with my wife, right?"

"Do you see your wife? Of course I'm flirting with that." She was safely married and happily so, flirting with her was just for fun and apparently even the husband was fully aware of that.

'Tony G' just got smugger, Cathy got more delighted, Sonya was so damn exasperated with him he could tease her for the rest of the year about it, life was pretty good right now.

"I'll be sure to keep lover-boy under control." Lal teased him dryly, not as exasperated as Sonya was but also not nearly as indulgent in his silliness. She changed the subject almost a little abruptly for that to be the case. "How many days do we get your wife for?"

Tony G made an absent shrug, lifting both hands but leaving his arm thrown over the back of Cathy's chair. "I only need her this Friday night, you ladies can have the rest of this week and almost all of next to kit yourselves out wherever you want to go."

"…right, so. Ground rules." Sonya very bluntly changed the entire subject with, rubbing at the ridge of her eyebrow as she pushed her empty plate aside. "Do not wander the grounds past nightfall, unless you're utterly okay with a spider the size of a human head sharing the hallway with you."

"Say what?"

"The Mirror Lady's familiar, is an orb weaver the size of a small lapdog." Somewhat repeated the thief flatly, quickly to get it all out before someone else interrupted her. "He hunts at night, we let him because he can wrap up a human sized individual and cement them in place for dealing with in the morning. If that bothers you, stay in your damn room."

Cathy blurted out a semi-horrified, more hilarious laughter from between her fingers as her hands flew up to cover her mouth two seconds too late to completely cover her delighted grin. It finally made his sister pick up that the lady might not entirely be as ditzy as she portrayed herself, but she had to focus on the husband more right now and address his highly incredulous expression.

"The last set of guests we had made it somewhat clear they'd have rather be told Pavuchky exists before taking residence in my guest rooms." Continued Sonya slightly slowly, but at the very least she didn't shoot the American Mob wife a suspicious look for her split-second of utterly honest expression. "So… Pavuchky exists, he's the size of your head, and no he can't kill someone yet."

"…yet." Echoed the American Mob Don slowly, both eyebrows almost merging with his hairline on top of his head. "Well. That's a thing. Apparently."

"The houses on the front lawn are private residences for some of the people here," barreled on his little sister stubbornly, as if continuing to talk would ease their guests' surprise and mild horror at that feature of life in Death Castle, "Palaemon is fully aware of all who live here and if they should be anywhere specific. Please check with him before confronting anyone, we have maids that come in the morning to clean who aren't aware we're criminal heavy and no one will survive scaring the piss out of Peter without Galina murdering them for doing it."

Tony G looked pointedly at the mostly rather empty dining hall, empty of everyone but his handful of American Mobsters bolting down their portions of dinner made by an old-world Mafioso chef and the five of them. "Are we going to meet these people before apparently risking murder?"

"Tomorrow morning, I had everyone else clear off so you can have the night to yourselves without having to remember who's all touchy about what. We'll ease you into that, before the Ball."

Sonya in fact paid everyone to go enjoy a night on the town tonight instead, either in an entire group or as individual family units. The only people left in the entire castle were them and Cesare in the kitchen, and of course Palaemon sorting out luggage to the right guest room on the second floor.

It was an easy choice for a lot of their 'staff', Ruslana and Zinaida wanted the personal time to spend with their families and Galina was planning a rather involved date-night in with her husband. Instead of tonight, Cesare and Palaemon would have their individual free paid time off sometime next week when things were more… established.

Skull wasn't even certain if Verde was aware of the offer or if Adrik just decided to get takeaway from somewhere in the commune instead of mentioning it. He hadn't seen the gawky scientist for several weeks now, come to think of it…

…weird, given they lived in the same place.

Then again, he did literally live in their basement.

"The top two levels of the castle are off limits, they're mine and my guests' floors." Skull belatedly picked up when Sonya rammed a pointy elbow into his thigh to remind him to put in his two kopecks. "Also, you damage a book anywhere from the ground floor to the library on the third and Nya here will take a fingerbone, so… just don't."

"The motorcycles in the garage are his, again please don't touch. They're not of road-safe specifications, so unless you're as good on a motorcycle as Skull is… just don't even try."

"We're not scraping you up off the pavement if you wipe out on one of my bikes."

Tony G leaned forward, one hand held up over the remains of dinner as if to beg for a moment. "Hold up, how 'not road-safe' are we talking about?"

Sonya and Lal both looked at him pointedly to answer the man's questions.

"Well… there's no speedometer… or throttle limits." Skull admitted slightly sheepishly. "Stunt bikes, everything not useful to me in doing mid-air tricks was stripped out. I don't really need to see how fast I'm going, so long as I can judge if it's fast enough… they also have two clutches, for both the front and rear wheels. It's a little more difficult to drive them than an off-the-lot motorcycle."

"If you stand there and watch, will you scrape me up off the pavement after I try to drive that beast?" Tony G asked, highly interested and apparently not just because it was Skull's bike. "Just so I can say I've tried?"

His wife rolled her eyes at him. "Men."

"Let's leave that there for the night." Agreed Sonya blandly, not even budging when he returned the favor of digging an elbow into her side. "The only fairly important bit of advice you need before tomorrow morning and everything we have going on resumes, is not to react to the Mists I have in residence. If you react, they'll keep doing it. Just ignore them if they're being offensive to you, anything is considered encouragement to a Mist Flame user."

"And Miss Anna, the Mist you're 'attaching' to my wife?"

"Anna will respect polite manners, so long as you're polite to her she'll be obliging enough."

Tony G shrugged that off, then speculatively took in the three of them in turn for a quiet moment. "And are you going to give us the rundown on how to 'deal with' you lot?"

"I believe you 'deal with' me just fine." Countered his little sister silkily with a smirk. "Lal here is easy enough, Rains aren't particularly argumentative by nature unless you're being stupid. Skull and I are rare enough types that the chance you'll be interacting with another of us alone is so damn low you probably won't even see more than three or so the entire time you'll be here. Visconti the Vongola Cloud Guardian, of course myself and Skull, then maybe Adelardo Cavallone or Don Visconti."

"We're going to be here for a couple weeks."

"If it comes up, I'll explain at that time."

The American Mobster thought about that, then nodded firmly. "So long as you do, sure."

(Tuesday the 21st of December, 1971. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"You're adorable, young man."

Shamal sheepishly scratched at a cheek, somewhat ducking away from the older American woman he 'escorted' to the dining room. "Thank you, ma'am. Excuse me."

Cathy looked highly amused, sashaying on to where her husband was cracking on with his work with a phonebook in hand.

…yeah, that partiality to ladies was going to give her godson some massive amount of trouble later in life.

Sonya tiredly rubbed the bridge of her nose, wondering yet again what the hell she could even do about that. Her godson had that ever since he had been four, as far as she knew.

It started with her, obviously. Shamal wanted a feminine influence in his life, and then set about twisting Sonya around his pinky finger the best his four-year-old cunning could manage. There was a slight bump with that stupid Storm-maid in Vongola's nursery wing, a female he hadn't remotely liked at all.

To be fair, his developing womanizer habits had worked out for him so far. There was also a slight part of her that was unwilling to greatly change Shamal's habits, just in case he could really interfere in a particularly objectionable situation for another woman some years down the line.

Then again, it might just be ladies he was close to. Sonya needed to observe the brat a little more to figure out which it was.

She was almost tempted to take half a year off just to be a full-time mother to have the time and all the opportunities to figure it out… but she'd drive herself up a wall trying to do that now. Her job was finally becoming entirely interesting again, taking a break right after finally earning herself a thief-related reputation would not help her a damn bit later.

Shamal's dim opinion on any and all of her male friends had been obvious enough, Sonya had gotten that idea some several months ago even if she hadn't understood it entirely. At least Skull approached telling her what her brat was up to in that nicely enough, with the attitude of 'just so you know' rather than 'why didn't you realize this yourself'.

…that wasn't particularly fair to her brother, but it could've happened that way. It was probably her own fears of missing some major red flag in Shamal's behavior that needed correction and just being too dense to realize it imposing themselves on her brother…

Sonya sighed heavily, slouching down in her dining chair to sulk.

Every time she thought she semi-got a handle on this whole 'other people' thing, something else rose up to smack her in the face. She was kind of in a place where her failures might just impact someone else's quality of life, and that was frankly terrifying.

Shamal eschewed the other chairs littered about, climbing into her lap instead to snuggle in under her chin.

She couldn't' be doing that badly as a mom. He was a healthy weight, getting in trouble at school and screwing around with his fellow kids. So what if he apparently didn't want her to have male-friends, she did and he'd just have to deal with that disappointment.

"Ready for next year?"

Her brat made a rude noise against her neck. "It's not even Christmas yet, mamma. Let's just get the holidays over with before making plans for next year."

Yeah… that sounded like a good idea. Which meant she should probably send her brat off to his last day of school for the year and go be a good hostess. Which meant lecturing more American Mobsters in how to not spark off Flame-user drama in her home.

…in a moment. She was comfortable here.