Author's Note : Because I am a damn liar about update rates, and we're still packing the small things up to make room to pack up the big things next, have… I don't know. My inability to not write in an absent moment, I guess.
I might be able to get another one out, and I might not too. All depends on a lot of things I have little to no control over. So I'll try, but I'm making no damn promises. The backbreaking stuff is next, after all.
Russian Roulette : Muzzle Flash
Chapter 5
(Monday the 1st of May, 1972. Sonya's Condo, Mafia Land.)
"Tatiana! Help!"
First, the named nurse tasted the soup she had on the boil for dinner.
…needed more pepper. White pepper, preferably. "Did you finish that thing for mom yet, brat?"
"Oh for fuck's sake! I will buy a bottle of aspirin and get it done tonight!" Sonya whined behind her, the clatter of claws on hardwood heralding Alek's presence before the dog appeared like magic at Tatiana's hip. "Tats, please. I do not know what to do…"
The newly husky-fied canine was pleased to get a small chunk of chicken out of the dumpling soup, licking her fingertips 'clean' in thanks. "Okay. Go get comfortable, I'll be there in a little bit. Let me feed your morons before we get entirely distracted."
Her bratty baby sister went, without another word. That serious, then.
"I will accept that from the little dragon, Tats. I don't have to accept that from you." Lando pointed out from the kitchen table he had already covered with various bits of paper and dossiers with Natalina's help.
"Am I feeding you?" Tatiana countered carelessly, tossing the wooden spoon down to land in the sink with a clatter and pulling a bowl down from the cupboards.
"…yes."
"Then you're whatever the hell I want to call you." She insisted brightly, getting a ladle out too before unplugging the crockpot.
Ganauche would be late tonight, he had some sort of conference-review thing with the CEDEF going on. Natalina would be back in minutes, presumably, so she could help herself. Which just left the man with an entire new leg in need of a bowl, as apparently Tatiana would be eating late tonight too.
She intended to, but it was a good thing she made soup instead of something less tasty some hours after being made. Easy to reheat, too.
Lando was not pleased she took the red wine bottle from on top of the fridge for herself and her sister, even more annoyed she put down a glass of milk for him to drink with his chicken and dumpling soup.
"Bones, hon. You have so many new bones and went through so much calcium and proteins to get that leg back. You still have an iron deficiency making up your formerly missing blood volume, as a matter of fact you just need more of everything as your body evens out from surprise restoration after basically freaking out on us about it. Drink up, nurse's order."
"I'd prefer something I can get my damn teeth around." Grumbled the man who had formerly been scraping by and now got rather depressed when the meal options on offer were mainly soup, as he did that more than he was comfortable with while trying to stretch his funds to cover this or that life need. "But thanks, Tats."
Cesare had his fellow trained up nicely. He always thanked her for a meal, before even tasting it.
Semi-sweet, sort of more stupid. He had no idea if it was even something palatable for him to eat yet.
He'd still eat it even if he didn't like it, too. Even if it wasn't something he could stomach all that much of, the absolutely silly 'tough' man. This Mafioso would eat bricks if she ever half-assedly seasoned it with enough salt and pepper, and probably still thank her for that as well.
Padding on, the canine was happy enough to hang around Lando's knees now in hopes of tasty chicken bits and didn't need to be 'let out' yet to avoid him breaking more doors, Tatiana went to go see about whatever problem Sonya had now.
Odds were, boy trouble that the adorable dumbass only realized now she was neck deep in.
If she was coming to the nurse to panic about it, and not sitting on it to dump on Skull's lap for help in sorting it, then it had to be boy trouble.
Pretty awesome she hadn't fucked this up somehow, after years of trying to hook her sister up to some ass or another for stupidly shallow reasons.
"Reborn said he is not going to stop." Sonya hissed at her the moment she got through her baby sister's bedroom door, striving to be calm and unbothered as always but critically failing a bit given her wide grey eyes.
"Not until you're married and firmly out of the dating game. Preferably, married to him." Tatiana confirmed the obvious for her brightly, offering the wine bottle to her first since it really looked like her sister needed a drink. "This 'courting' thing might seem antiquated and bullshit to us, Nya… but. Italians? Italians with old traditions and blood? All's fair in love and war, and they went and made it into an art."
Originally more to… 'bury the hatchet' than because anyone really wanted to marry this or that so-and-so. With such a family-focused Mafia society, ending a feud between two syndicates normally did result in a marriage. A joining of two 'families'.
Of course, two former enemies would not be very trusting with their unique and oftentimes Flame-able women marrying a previously hostile Mafioso and vice versa. It was a coin toss which party would be the one to murder the other in those cases, and even Flame-less women still had options to remove unwanted husbands if they were smart enough to get it in before the Mafioso had the chance to rid themselves of conniving bitchy wives.
So, courting became a thing. A publicly watched affair, sometimes lasting a year or more, where two parties tried to bury their prejudices to get along before being hitched together for political reasons. Where they were judged to get a general estimate on how honest their respective groups were being to the old traditional arrangements to stop hostilities.
Otherwise, small bit of great hate-sex and possibly a murder in short order would inevitably happen.
Reborn the World's Greatest Hitman obviously had no hostile or otherwise dealings with the 'de Mort' famiglia in need of watching to see if he was behaving himself. Nope, the man was doing it, saddled himself with those restrictions and rules, because he wanted to. To prove to anyone that wanted to know, and the woman herself, exactly what he was and how far he'd go to get what he wanted.
That was Sonya, by the way. If no one caught that, like apparently this little thief had completely missed.
"Since Reborn decided to 'court' you, he basically said to anyone and everyone 'I'm chasing this until she gives in and gives me everything'. Half to warn off… um, competition, and half to… 'call dibs', I guess. To warn everyone he's fully willing and is able to go through anyone that wants to try objecting or snatching you for themselves. He's committed enough to go to war for you, if need be."
"This is so stupid." Sonya sighed out, plastering a tattooed hand against her forehead instead of take the offered bottle.
Tatiana shrugged and took the first nip, because Ganauche finally found a red wine she liked and it was tasty. Gave her a nasty fucking headache if she got her fine ass drunk off it, but a little bit now and again was nice. "You, well… more he, has competition now. By the way. More than Fon, I mean. There's… six? I think Lando said, men who would very much like to add in and see if they wouldn't be more your speed. All they need is to talk to your original two horny men to be 'allowed' by your own rules."
Her baby sister sat on her bedspread first, then flopped over to play dead.
Amused, she wandered over to join her in bed. "So? What finally clued you in? Because… had you bothered to ask any of your Italian morons, they would've told you all this. Fuck, Nya. Cesare basically gave marching orders to Dante, Natalina, and Lando to help him 'handle' all this. You didn't realize he knew something you didn't?"
"I did not expect this much!"
"Why the fuck not?"
"No one is this interested in me."
Tatiana propped herself up on an elbow, half to plant the open wine bottle on the end table next to her sister's bed. "Nya. The vory we dealt with in one single corner of Moscow were a bunch of chicken-shit morons. They were more scared of our old man than willing to risk a girl who didn't at all seem interested in that kind of foolishness when you were both fucking busy and not even there. You didn't pay them attention, so your handful of 'fuck you're hot, can I bang you' admirers didn't say shit. Had it been one of them, this 'pile on' shit would've still happened the moment you might've appeared to think about it. Some guys honestly don't need to rub their dicks on a girl to inform them they're interested… but apparently you just have to be different."
To be brutally honest here, aside Reborn and Fon?
All her 'possible' men knew shit all about Sonya. If they were smart, they knew 'Donna de Mort' and 'Nightshade' and were chasing that.
She got flipped off, in her face. "I got catcalled and flirted with, I know this. But if they were afraid of Arseniy's reaction to trying shit all with me, not worth my time. Besides, none of them wanted to even get to know me. It was all physical, and that's… not really all that interesting to me."
"But now it is?"
"No." Sonya stoutly refuted flatly and with heat, making Tatiana's evil little heart palpate in sisterly glee.
Someone was getting some more than she already admitted to her, recently. "So… which one are you fucking?"
"Still Fon. And fuck is Fon a horny bastard." She instantly admitted, sounding just exasperated and weirdly without hesitation or dislike to go with her words. "I thought Reborn would be exhausting… yeah, I no longer believe that."
"…baby sis, male Suns are generally well aware they want sex more than most people can even put up with." She advised her poor, oversexed little sister with all the fucking amusement. "If Reborn isn't well aware he wants to fuck you more than you'd like and has compromises in mind or is willing to not until you want it… don't think Storms generally have that little 'Activation problem' to worry about. You'll need to tell Fon what amount of sex is okay for you, not just expect him to want it at the same rate you do. Saying nothing and just trying to 'endure' it is not nice to him."
The only still active thief between the two of them made a rude noise, rolling over to cuddle with Tatiana's chest. "Yeah, got that. He just snuck in another on me by surprise. I am going to be more careful with what I let him do to me now. Fucker used cuddles to lure me in and get his hands on me."
"Smart." She had to allow for the assassin's due here, because yes. That'd work on any Sun, or Sun tainted, Flame using woman. Fuck, Sun Flame using men too. "So what did Reborn do that finally clued you in he has no intention of stopping regardless of who you're in bed with?"
"…apparently, the asshole knows I'm 'with' Fon." Even sarcastic finger quotes were used here before Sonya went back to her laying down hugs she liked to call 'snuggles'. "Told me he was willing to 'steal me' from him if he had to. Then used books he challenged me to steal to bribe me into range to kiss stupid. Just kiss, then set me down and walked away."
Ooh. Using her Storm habits against her. Bold choice, given Reborn knew all the ins and outs of being a Sun and how to use that better.
"Are you using Fon to see if Reborn would fuck off?"
"Not intentionally. Happy accident. Fon, and I, are still trying to figure out if he just wants a convenient fuck buddy or if he wants me. Figured if I could answer that much, then maybe this could get sorted in a few days… but no. Nope. He is physically incapable of answering one single question I ask if it is not worded exactly and to the point I want answered. Otherwise he will give everything but."
Huh. "Maybe he just needs more time to put it together for you?"
"Is it fair to give him more time?" Sonya countered immediately with tired and bitter regret, planting her face in Tatiana's cleavage herself. "Reborn's already past that point, apparently. If I let Fon develop something that will break our friendship if I end up choosing someone else… but that is no damn reason to not give him time to sort shit out. I should not have to default to one or the other, for any other reason than I want something with them."
"I'm sorry to say, Nya… you're not getting out of this cleanly or without hurting someone. And that's not your fault." She hugged her sister to her chest strongly when all she got in return was a long sigh, rubbing her bare back with both hands. "So if it has to happen… yeah. I agree with what you're doing. Start with who you know longer, sort it out properly and with all due care, then move to the next one if he's not what you want. Fon made the choice to try it here and now, if he's not fully aware of the chances of maybe not 'winning' your heart then he's a dumbass idiot. He brought that on himself. Reborn also has to know, with what he's doing, that he opened up himself and you to that."
"…how about neither?"
"Your choice."
The Storm-Cloud literally pondered it for a long couple of seconds, and the Sun hoped both men at least knew that there were limits with this woman. If Sonya got fed up too much with their antics, she'd put a sudden and abrupt end to everything so she could walk off free and clear instead. Alone maybe, but without having to make a choice about a life partner she wasn't even certain she needed or wanted.
This far into a professional thief's career, there were obviously times when you just had to cut your losses and move on with whatever the hell was left. To reposition, to try a different method, or just to walk away from it all.
Of course, this was also a Mafia Land contractual agent. Probably a life-long one. Several of them, in fact. 'Failure' was not something this island accepted, so the island's agents did not accept that outcome when they put their evil and devious minds to something.
Maybe she, and Bjǫrn, should go and have a little chat with both of Sonya's more persistent admirers. Just to warn them, if they didn't know, that there was only so far this situation could be stretched out to before it snapped clean in half.
"Just focus on Fon, Nya. All you can do, really. One at a time, trying to handle both at the same time will easily get you in over your head way too fast. Get in mind some very solid boundaries to keep to for Reborn, too. Just in case."
The utter brat blew a wet raspberry into her chest. Down her cleavage.
"…this means war, bitch."
"Bring it."
(Wednesday the 3rd of May, 1972. Mafia Land.)
With yet another cracking noise that echoed, this bō split cleanly down the middle and exposed the steel core it had been reinforced with. "…perhaps not."
"I am really hard on my equipment, Fon. That might just be an enduring complication." Sonya twisted the ruined halves, extracting the metal to likely use against him instead. "I think… maybe, a Propagated one will be more… durable."
"Your charm weapons do not break at a similar rate?"
"Does not matter if they break, I just make new ones from the master copy." A pause, and the woman then frowned thoughtfully as she critically examined her own form instead. "Actually… I never had one break on me. I think. A Sky can cut through them, they have lost form on me, but never broke before."
Tossing the length of steel to the forest floor instead, she continued on her way to the stock of staves he had acquired for her to break. As the practice katas for bō practitioners sometimes required strikes at a blocking opponent and she was indeed very 'hard' on the weapon of choice, but now she selected one to copy instead of to learn with.
Fon patiently waited, examining his staff and the breakage already apparent where she had struck out at his. "Could you not simply use any length of wood to Propagate? I still do not mind you breaking them, to be clear. I obtained them with that intent, to make the process easier on you. I merely ask to see if such is possible."
"Proportions are a bitch and a half. Yes, I can fiddle with them with Cloud Flames." Sonya informed him easily and without guarded care another Cloud might have when clarifying on their ability, selecting the lacquered black staff he suspected she wanted for herself to copy. "It is just more of the same Flame, after all. Layering them like that makes the end result less… stable. Those break. I could build up length or width the same way Skull builds himself back up, but that is significantly more intense and focus-heavy for me to do."
He sharply hit the middle of his staff with the heel of his palm, causing it to finally give up under the abuse and split in half there leaving him with two parts of a former whole. Steel core and all. "I will require a new one as well, on your way back. Is that… layering fragility because you form two or more of the same copy within each other, or another reason?"
"…I honestly do not know."
The Storm did not mind her frequent distractions, as they always tended to be in the nature of exploring and refining her own abilities as their intent here was. This very curious woman was easily distracted by such, and equally was pleased at his curiosity sparking her own. Even when there were no results to be shown for it.
These lessons will take months at this rate, just to familiarize her to some of the katas for bō wielders for her to select a school to dedicate to first. Fon equally did not mind that either.
They both enjoyed the process of refining their skills and learning new ways to apply them. Doing so together was an equally enjoyable way to spend some unclaimed hours. He did not normally use weaponry so susceptible to burning up in his hands, but that did not mean he refrained from learning the forms when learning new schools of fighting.
It was a complaint she had against him, an 'inability' to teach another. Well, Fon was just not used to teaching novices and what was acceptable there as he was with teaching other senior students of the same master.
Equally hopefully, this would address some of that 'useless' label she also liked to apply to him.
Sonya did not seem to mind his corrections, but then again the woman was… very durable.
Fon pointedly refocused on his sparring partner's experimentations instead of dwell on how far he had pressed that feature of her already, determined to not rely on the basely physical allowance he had been gifted in this competition.
…competing with a Sun for a woman's attention meant some cheating may be required. He was not that principled, if he was forced to be honest. Not remotely honest all that often either.
He still caught the new staff tossed at him from an entire forest clearing away, distracted or not.
"Right, this will break." Sonya warned him, utterly innocent of the Storm's preoccupation before her return. "But it should break in three, I want to see what is left."
Fon blinked at her end result, once the black lacquer Propagation was close enough that he could see her alterations in detail. "…how did you get them to form interlocked as that?"
"…why can I not?" She countered with audible confusion, studying the same for a moment.
Instead of 'layering' them one at a time to an obstructionist point by making the staff too thick in one direction, the woman had formed up three equally as far into each other as any one specific Propagation. Retaining the circular shape of the weapon's shaft the best she could, but such left it with three semi-defined 'lobes' still in need of gripping around.
Which was a little too thick for her small hands to hold comfortably.
"I believe… I might be better suited to using that than you." He allowed after another moment to study the altered weapon, offering her the one she tossed to him instead. "You will be more clearly able to see the damages if it is being used against you, rather than needing to split your attention to study it."
The thief still sulked slightly, but apparently agreed with his reasoning and allowed the trade easily enough.
Fon just felt better with the clearly compromised weapon in his hands rather than hers. She was the one learning, it was his responsibility to ensure all care that could be taken was so she could learn safely.
The weight was uniquely different than expected, instead of the expected heft of three reinforced bō staves it barely weighed the same as a similar length of unaltered wood. With this way of… expansion, it left the composite weapon as balanced as a single one would be.
He took the measured step back and to his left, turning to fully face the woman who made it.
Her first offhand swing, from the ground up to crack against his chin if not warded off, broke through it almost instantly. Fon had to drop the shattered parts and dodge backwards awkwardly, mainly by twisting around her strike instead of neatly evading.
"…Fon. I told you it would break."
He examined his palms to be certain that while pinched, he had done no permanent harm to himself. "Yes. Yes you did."
"You dork." Sonya abandoned the experiment, mostly if not in spirit as the remains of her Propagation remained littering the ground, to step forward and inspect him in concern. "Are you okay? I did not hit you, right?"
"You have still failed to do me major harm." He assured her evenly and when that predictably failed to assure the thief, he tugged her into his arms for a hug so she would not be left to just hover in her thwarted care. "I am fine. My palms were pinched as I gripped the fractured remains too hard, but that was my own mistake."
Sonya reached up to poke at the side of his neck, drawing back the finger to show him the blood. A minor cut judging from the amount, if anything.
"…not entirely unexpected, when there is such a risk of splinters. It will stop bleeding shortly."
"I should have hit downward, but I did not want to risk your knees to large sharp splinters." She admitted equally as bluntly, deciding his hold on her was to her taste right now and burying herself into his chest. "If there would be any, which there were."
"That would be quite a lot more uncomfortable." Perhaps this was where they should cease for the day, Fon liked to keep his risks of death to once per day if he could.
Also, he was vindicated in desiring to be the one to wield a compromised weapon. She might be able to 'heal' from such damages using her brother's ability, but Fon was of the opinion the siblings had done so for him entirely too often already.
It still remained a disquieting ability. To know or witness their injury or death, and yet for them both to ignore the pain and grievous bodily harm through sheer willpower and continue on.
His reaction speeds saw him through the testing fine enough. "Tea?"
She snorted into his chest. "Seriously?"
"After your brother had me melt metal to make a grappling hook for him by hand, I figured out how to boil a kettle in a similar way. Ceramic and metal."
"You mean after you saw Reborn do it, you then got competitive and stubborn about learning how to do the same damn thing."
…yes. "Regardless, I did bring along tea to have as well. If you would like."
"Yeah, sure. Fine. Let me go poke the splinters of a Propagation for a bit while you make it."
He did not wish to let go. Fon did so when she pulled away herself, and only then went off to where he left the small basket of tea making supplies he brought with him out here.
"…these are hollow, not solid constructs." Sonya informed him in surprise in mere moments, shifting through her slowly melting shards of Propagation that she presumably could not hold for long in that state. "Even weirder, you can easily poke a finger through the insides out."
"Indeed?" One was tossed at him, already fizzing away from the outside edges in as it lost the structure they had been formed with. Fon poked his own finger through the bright lavender purple side to show on the false lacquer one, as easily as if there was nothing there. "…strange."
"Not… really." She refuted slowly, seated with no care in the middle of the scattered remains and inspecting two fragments in turn. "It is why Skull's ability is so damn hard. He does it cell by cell, not in large chunks or groups. I think… I think this is just how Propagation works. One-sided force fields or something in a predetermined shape, but when you form up multiples you compromise these weird insides in a way they do not normally strain against."
"So when one is moved in a way another should prevent, it all falls apart where they intersect?" Hence why she was so confident her tri-Propagated bō would break, that he did not heed as strictly as he should have. "Curious."
"Why can we not do this without a structure to 'copy'?" Wondered the thief next.
Not something Fon could answer for her, so he opted to settle in a less disturbed section of the day's clearing to make tea in. "Why can you not form a compounded copy without that flaw?"
It wasn't information he could use, mainly. Outside another rare chance to fight a different Cloud, perhaps. That did not mean the information Sonya liked to seek out and poke was of no value, Fon could easily see himself dealing with a young Cloud or two in the far future.
Tian of the former Green Dragons was not a young man any longer, someone either independent or neutral would need to learn his information to pass on in the generations to come. He did so now out of duty, but only when someone had a new Cloud to bring to him for that information.
Perhaps… Sonya might like to meet him?
It would mean taking her into China once more, and… well, perhaps later. He would be looking into that shortly, but preferably Tian would not mind coming out of China instead if Fon explained the situation.
"…that needs practice." Decided the Storm-Cloud belatedly, causing him a bit of confusion until he remembered the question he posed to her. "Do you mind if I experiment with that for now, Fon?"
"Not at all." The injuries to his palms were starting to form blisters, and while he could continue past their formation it was quite unpleasant to do.
She would likely be further displeased if he tried, as well.
"I think I need to obtain a 'charm' sized bō for you to Propagate for us instead for future lessons. If you would not mind."
"Not a damn."
"That also means if you wish, you may select from the store of them which you would like to keep for yourself." Fon invited peacefully, amused as she went straight for that black lacquered example to take. "If you now know the size you would appreciate learning on."
"This one." Sonya needlessly informed him, hugging the shaft of the bō to her generous chest.
"Aa… of course."
She had been very pointedly avoiding that one in their attempts to find the right length and size for her, though she lingered on a second longer over it each time she selected a new one to test. It may have been an educated guess, but he was still satisfied he had guessed correctly.
"I have two additional questions." Fon allowed as the tea brewed and she admired her new acquisition. "Firstly… is there a standard weight to Propagations?"
"…weight?"
"The one you handed me was the weight of a single bō without a reinforced core, despite being presumably three interlocked."
Sonya regarded him slightly sheepishly, a rueful smile on her lips. "Uh… Fon? I… am not good at judging weights. That is something you will have to ask Verde to figure out."
"Then I take it you would not be able to answer if that was due to copying just the lacquer, or the wood and lacquer, rather than the entire weapon plus the steel core."
She pondered his words. "Those are… some actually damn good questions, Fon."
He eyed her warily as she then turned to plant a hand on her hip and regard him pointedly. "…yes?"
"Now if you could only answer questions as succinctly."
"Ask one I can answer for you, then."
"Do you want kids?"
Fon blinked, slightly taken off guard by the bluntly short question. "I… would not mind fathering a child or two. If I have the choice to do so."
"I want at least one. Mostly for the experience, less so for the child, so until that changes it will likely be in a few more years. I want to want a child before even planning for it." Sonya informed him equally as bluntly, setting her new bō to lean against a tree trunk on its own before prowling across the clearing back to his side. "So there you go, you did manage to answer one question so far."
"It is not that I do not wish to answer your previous question, it is that I cannot." Allowed the assassin ruefully as he handed her a cup to hold for when the tea was finished brewing. "I did not… expect to be allowed, therefore I had little forethought in speaking up. Not by you or my Mountain Master, who is already allowing my sister to dwell outside his reach to learn a valuable trade to return with. She has yet to return, therefore asking for more is not… wise."
"But you did."
"…yes." An allowance given less on his own merits and more for her own. "My intent with speaking up when I did was to inform you that you do have options, you do not need to settle with just anyone."
She eyed him warily this time, mildly suspicious given the twist to her lips now. "If you did not think you could, then why say something?"
"Frustration." Fon admitted bluntly, unable to do more than shrug for a moment. "I had a fond hope you might be amenable when I was less… constrained. But then you did not turn Reborn down flat as I expected, and I realized you were not as fine alone unsupported as I thought. Asking you to remain so in the face of opportunity is cruel, and I will not ask that for no guarantee I can give in turn."
The thief sighed instead of ask him another, allowing him to pour her tea first and settling back to ponder it as if it had the answers she sought.
"I am… aware I am on borrowed time-"
"You are on 'borrowed' shit all." Sonya flatly interrupted pointedly, shooting him a less than pleased look. "You are on my time, and my time is not borrowed. It is bought, or it is gifted."
He belatedly lowered the teapot to sit on the ground again and cradled his tea in his hands despite the irritation it gave his blisters. "…not that I wish to further annoy you, but did I buy it somehow?"
"If that makes you feel better, sure." She offered unconvincingly. "I do not care if this takes a full year, Fon. I want you able to tell me what the hell it is you want. I am fully aware the longer I make Reborn wait the more annoying the fucker will be, and I will deal with that if I have to. You said something, and the very least I can do is figure out what first before I commit to options that cannot be taken back."
"…aa."
"You may not have a lot of time, but you do have some." Sonya reinforced pointedly, sipping at her tea and making a pleased hum to find it was a spiced black variant. "If that helps."
It did. "You do not sound… pleased with that."
"Is it fair to give you more time here? I cannot 'guarantee' shit all myself, just that I will hear you out."
"That is precisely what I asked for." Fon countered mildly, still warmed by her as always exacting care in everything brought to her to deal with. "I do believe that is fair enough."
She remained unconvinced and uneasy, returning to her tea with a stubborn frown.
Not particularly pleasing. He shifted to seat himself on the ground as well instead of remain on his knees, setting his tea aside for the moment. "May I hold you?"
As she previously claimed, Sonya immediately slid over to allow him that on request. "How bad are your palms now?"
"I have done far worse to myself." Allowed the Storm easily, showing the right palm and the growing blood blister there for her own information as he settled her comfortably in his lap. "It may still be tender when we are… forcibly recollected, but it should not remain so for long."
"…shit, Fon. I can ask Tats-"
"One has to learn moderation somehow." He countered with amusement before she could finish the offer, wrapping one arm to hold her across her softly armored belly. "I will not say no if your sister will not mind, but when I injure my hands I take it as a sign to perhaps spend a few days resting instead. It is not an ill-timed injury to need haste to be seen to."
"At least you can learn moderation."
"It took some… time, admittedly."
This made her laugh, and she finally settled fully to enjoy both the tea and his company. Which reminded him, he rescued his from growing cool on the forest floor.
"Since you are on my time right now, and it was me who provided the cause, I want to ask Tats to heal this. You should not have to suffer it because I am overly curious."
"Fair." Fon gave in with simply, dropping a kiss to the top of her head that seemed to not be a gesture she often got from the wide grey eyes blinked up at him in surprise. "I was curious too."
She huffed at him, settling into his heat firmly to enjoy that across her bare back as well.
…well, the assassin had promised to keep her warm before. He did not mind being held to that promise.
(Thursday the 4th of May, 1972. Mafia Land.)
While there were dog salons and pet amenities on this island, Sonya was not a faceless or nameless visitor able to risk that with minimal trouble. She could also scrub down her damn dog herself, but if she did Alek would whine at her until she spent hours just letting him lean on her somehow for 'comfort'. Preferably she would be petting him during those comfort hours too.
Instead, she took her fluffy dumb good boy to the beach the last day they could spend on whatever the fuck they wanted. Alek got his coat scrubbed clean of the last of his temporary dye job by the waves and he wouldn't whine at her for rinsing out his fur once they were home again.
He tried to get away with skipping his rinse once, the salt drying on his skin drove him nuts trying to scratch it all. Now if they went to the beach, he was not at all against a doggy bath post-beach play time.
"Is it me, or Lando? Or Viper? Presumably, I haven't even seen that… Mist."
"Yeah, you wouldn't." Tatiana offered to Natalina wryly. "Nya put out that she didn't want to hear them, so of course the dumbass went the whole distance and ensures no one can hear them. Shamal will be the only one able to tell if they are in or out."
"It is not you, it is me." Sonya informed the hitwoman very dryly next, sitting slightly apart from the other women because Alek had no care to who he was splashing with seawater in aims of having her throw his ball back into the surf again. "You have heard Clouds are contrary difficult assholes to deal with, right? I am not all that different…"
"The Storm side of you doesn't help a damn."
"Thank you, peanut gallery. Shut up."
The Sun laughed wickedly and made no such promises as she let her head fall backwards to ensure her neck tanned up evenly.
Waiting for the Italian woman to look at her, the thief could only shrug. "I invited you, and Lando is temporary. It is a change, and I am not… easily accepting of changes, even ones I have made myself. It took me months to switch to the condo, and I remained for as long as I could sharing a flat with my sister even once I had it. I could make the effort right this moment, but then there will be another period of awkwardness as I miss his presence when he leaves to go back and support Cesare for me."
It meant she wasn't paying attention to her dog so when he came bounding back for yet another round of fetch, he barreled right into her. Floppy wet dog fur went everywhere, and so too did the water he was soaked in.
Alek did not care he knocked Sonya over, and he dropped his ball to lick at her neck and face as per his usual when he was magically in range to try it.
At least most of his doggy-safe dye job had leached out of his pale fur, and the two other snickering assholes she was here with got water slung in their direction too by the whipping of his tail.
…also, she was wearing a swimsuit. Who cared if he got her wet?
"Alek, off." Ordered the Storm-Cloud with exasperation, straining a little to keep his tongue out of her face and more importantly her mouth. "Great help you two fucks are."
"Were we supposed to be helping?" Tatiana drawled sarcastically, stretching out her toes in sequence just to be that tiny bit more of a bitch right here and now. "Whoops…"
Natalina snickered guiltily, but also wasn't budging her ass an inch to 'help' any either.
Sonya grabbed the ball that ended up at her hip and tossed it so the backspin would prevent the damn thing from getting too far out and being lost to sea. Because Alek would chase everything thrown, no matter how bad an idea it was. Her dog tore off after it, digging rude sandy paws into her gut to push off her with.
That was going to need either a dip or more water to wash off, and she didn't feel like dumping a water bottle over her stomach so a quick swim it was. "Sit, stay, good girls."
"Oh, oh. I'll give you a 'good girl', Nya." The smile that bloomed over her sister's face was evil incarnate. "Enjoy your dip, bitch."
First, Sonya grabbed her damn towel to take with her closer to shore. She had no doubts her sister would dump something sticky and probably ice cold all over it behind her back, especially if that would annoy her.
The hitwoman just gave her a wave, mildly distracted by watching a disturbance further down the boardwalk for them.
By the time she got back, two more tosses lengthwise down the beach for Alek that made him dodge around family groups and little Mafia children, that distraction had reached them.
Tatiana was paging through papers curiously much to one man's glee, and Natalina was holding some fuck at gunpoint. Where the hell that gun had been up until this point?
Was beyond a simple thief.
Said fuck went pale the moment he locked eyes on Sonya padding back. "Oh… no…"
The man her sister was humoring brightened just as quickly. "Oh, yes! I take it you are this lovely dear's sister, then?"
She eyed him, then shot the nurse a look. "What the hell, Tats?"
The smirk she was then treated to was not encouraging, and the papers were handed to her. "Can we do this, Nya?"
"It's just a suggestion!" Shouted the man being held up desperately, kind of sort of waggling his hands in the air since he was not lowering them because Natalina was not lowering her gun. "There's no requirements here, just say no and I'll get him out of your way ladies. Please…"
That highly annoyed this other still unnamed man. "My fine, if nervous, fellow-"
"You have no idea what that is!"
He blinked, then turned entirely too quickly and eagerly. "…should I? Are you famous, dear?"
"Infamous." Tatiana corrected like the evil bitch she was, while Sonya finally got interested in whatever the hell she was holding that was so confrontational. "Do you even know where you are, sir?"
"Mafia Land. Yes… bit… more wholesome than I was expecting." Announced the man who sounded like he came from somewhere between Poland to Austria, simply and to the point despite the four looks of complete disbelief his claim earned him. "Excuse me, how terribly rude. I am Franzi Näf, photographer and connoisseur of lovely women. You are?"
In other words, paired with the information in her hands, this sleezy man shot pornographic photos for R-rated men's magazines. Somehow, he got on Mafia Land to try it here… and the island gave him a bureaucrat to try to run herd on him while attempting to entice highly paid criminal women to let him take pictures of them naked. To publish, in multiple 'editions' according to this 'contract'.
"…Nightshade. Equally, as charmed as you are." Not.
Turning to her sister as peppy and connivingly clueless finally got a damn clue, Sonya flapped the papers in her hand once. "Seriously, Tats?"
"Read what it's for before you say no, brat." Tatiana stoutly ordered, arms crossed under her generous bust which did distract the porn photographer for a few seconds more than at all polite. "Yes, most of my motivation here boils down to wanting to make Ganauche's eyes pop out… and everyone else's. Tiny bit to pull you down with me into sheer sin icon status, since you are a bitch sometimes. But it's for a good cause."
"Really?" Natalina demanded with all the skepticism, the gun not wavering a damn from keeping the Mafia Land internal agent under clear and steady threat from a contractual one. "A good cause. This bullshit?"
"For the kids. Who end up being born to women that have no idea what the colors of Flame means, what the best is for Dying Will Flame brats, or how to care for them. If you can't get your tits out for another woman's benefit or to help the kids, who can you do it for?"
"…admittedly, to be very clear and transparent here, I have no idea how to do that. I was mostly hoping to find someone to do that for me, Miss Nightshade." Näf instantly interjected very damn sheepishly, wincing when the nurse suddenly pulled a gun on him too from their tote bag of supplies and doggy toys. "I'll be quiet now."
"Luckily for you, we do know how to do that." Sonya drawled sarcastically, kind of… really disgusted by this 'contract' in her hands. There were so many stupid fucking loopholes and omissions it wasn't worth the saltwater the cheap paper could maybe soak up, much less the ink it was typed with. "Like everything I do, Tats… this has to go through my Lackey first."
"Sure! What he'll offer then will be a shit ton better written than that piece of crap is. I'd feel much safer with that."
"Sometime next month, since I am spoken for this weekend and however fucking long."
"Even easier."
"You ask Galina if she would like to join in."
"Eeh… that's a bit more difficult, but sure. Maybe her husband won't mind showing off his wife."
Sonya sighed through her nose, already foreseeing the issues she might end up with if she humored her sister by participating in a pornographic photo shoot. "Natalina? Would you prefer to remain the muscle for any other women that might join in, or would you like to participate as well?"
"Depends on the terms your Lackey gives us." Decided the hitwoman damn near instantly. "I'll see about it then."
"…fair enough." The thief held out the six pages of shitty legalese, pinched between forefinger and thumb, just in time for her dog to race back again with his ball in his mouth. "Take these idiots to Bjǫrn, if you would. The faster that shit is corrected, the better I will feel."
"With pleasure." Natalina smiled at both of the men, without anything pleasant or humorous about it, gesturing with the barrel of her pistol as she snatched the papers in her remaining free hand. "March, assholes."
"…I am not comfortable with the idea of spreading my legs for a camera." She had to admit while working the ball out of Alek's jaws carefully enough he would not lose a fang.
"Okay. Are you fine with partially clothed? Well… 'just' panties, really."
Sonya absently gestured to her outfit as it was currently, soaking wet and barely more than scraps across certain bits of 'inappropriate' anatomy. When at home or at least in front of people she knew she did not mind being naked, in public was still a… she knew it was not appropriate, at least. That was the only hard limit she was semi-sure of in need of minding. "That I will do."
Tatiana tapped her fingertips, of the hand not wrapped around a lowered gun of her own, against her lips thoughtfully. "I think I'm going to be taking over the kind of pictures we're going to be giving. A mix of topless and nude will just have to be good enough for that sleezy prick. And if he complains… well. I'll just have Natalina and the other women take over his company by force."
"He may just be the photographer, not the editor or owner of any particular magazine."
"He got here somehow, I don't think they'd let some big-mouthed moron in if he didn't have the right assets or connections to back it up. Or sponsor. But, we hook his balls up to enough car batteries and he'll sign anything to get us to stop." Countered her sister without a drop of care or concern. "And if not, well. Nothing says we can't publish it ourselves… with whatever money he has to his name."
"Take Bjǫrn with you. He will at least ensure you have all of it to spend as you like. And maybe not let him live all that long. He seems the type to try backstabbing those that do him wrong, even if that will only make his situation worse."
"I'd like to dig into him, first. Just to ensure he's just not moronically 'excited' at the chance to get criminal women in front of his camera lenses, but yeah. No. If he is always this level of sleezy slimebucket, and that shit piece of contract work is normal for him, I'm totally going to kill him afterwards and confiscate the negatives. Eww."
Sonya tossed Alek's ball one last time, just to keep her dumbass formerly fluffy boy from continually licking at her hand curled around it. "Confiscate them anyway. You are explaining to Shamal why his godmother and zia are plastered all over a porno magazine. Maybe tell Skull at the same time?"
Sniggering, Tatiana reached out to hug her only once before letting go again and repacking her piece back into their supplies bag. "Oh… oh his expression though. You are now forgiven for the 'good girl' comment. That thought is going to keep me warm and snug at night for months."
"This counts as an early birthday present. Since I foresee that getting buried under your wedding preparations."
"Deal. Thanks, Nya."
She eyed her sister skeptically.
"Just think of Tasty Muscle's reaction, or hell. Even Reborn's."
"The odds I will be able to catch either reaction to me 'baring my tits' in a porno magazine is very low, Tats." Furthermore, she had no doubts her imagination would utterly fail to match reality. Maybe if she paid Viper enough, she might get pictures. "You are very lucky this is for a good cause."
"I know, right?" Insisted the bubbly Sun nurse with evil glee. "Instead of any public service announcement or whatever other shit that would out us, a hippiefied girly mag? Those horny assholes that like them will spread it to all four corners of the globe without help, which means more of the women that might end up in this position can easily access the 'right' information to help them figure shit out."
"If they realize the information applies."
"All we can do is try, Nya. Even one or two 'successes' will make the whole effort worth it."
Sonya sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose absently. "How long do you believe we can keep using 'free love and hippies' as an excuse to hide Flame user information in?"
"Pff, forever. Might need to throw in some 'Bohemian Naturalisms' in there too, to mix it up now and again. We treat it like the Zodiac or some shit near civilians, no one will notice it has a whole different and more immediately practical use."
(Saturday the 6th of May, 1972. The Arcobaleno Manse, far outside of Farindola, Province of Pescara, Abruzzo, Italian Republic.)
The first sign of the others wasn't anything Lal Mirch had been expecting. While she was sitting at the dining table nursing her very first cup of coffee for the day, and sourly expecting to be snipped at by bitchy hitman for the 'shit quality' of her military styled black brew, Sonya darted through the front door at speed. Slamming it open and leaving it that way without care.
Chased in not only by her gleeful dog, but her brother too. Skull cursed viciously when he just missed grabbing her heel before she bounded up the stairs and scrambled to follow without even a 'ciao'. Alek slid on the floorboards with a noisy racket of claws on wood, almost running in place for three seconds before finally being able to change his momentum to follow.
Lal sipped her coffee, wondering what the 'issue' was today.
Colonello came down next, excited the idiot. Even more stupidly, he stood at the base of the stairs. "Is it starting? Should I go set up?"
He squawked in surprise when his shoulders were used as a springboard by thief, then he got damn neatly plucked up and spun out of the stuntman's single-minded way. Which did at least get him out of the path of charging dog still chasing the siblings, even if the both of them were faster than he could keep up with.
Sonya bounced off the floor, grabbed the hanging light fixture over the dining room table to swing herself clear, then spring boarded off the cupboards using her boots right on back over Skull's head. Skidding with his own momentum before he could correct for it, he used the lower cabinets the same damn way to give himself a boost to keep going without losing all that much ground.
Then they both darted outside in short order.
Alek yelped in more surprise than hurt when he slammed into the wood, scrambling and flailing to get traction on heavily waxed floorboards again. By the time he muscled enough to even reach near the front door, the Cloud siblings were back and racing up the stairs again. He then went that way too, even if it was clear he was never going to catch up.
The female Rain just heaved a sigh, exhausted just watching the both of them.
Alek on top of that?
At least Marco wasn't here to bark up a storm while failing even worse than his brother at keeping up.
"…Lal? What?" At least keeping his back plastered against the basement door, Colonello vaguely pointed in the direction of the Cloud siblings with one hand and wide blue eyes. "What the hell is going on?"
"Sonya annoyed Skull." She reported absently, wondering if she should get up to pour herself more coffee or order him to do it for her before he went out to try and snipe Checkerface in the head for them. "They're having a… disagreement."
"That's a disagreement." He parroted stupidly, sounding torn between being bewildered and highly amused. He barked a laugh and raked his fingers through his hair as he apparently decided to be amused as all hell. "Seriously? About what?"
"Who knows? They'll get around to airing out grievances eventually." Lal immediately leaned backwards so she and her coffee weren't 'over' the table anymore, because by prior experience she knew the moment Skull cornered his sister on some kind of furniture that'll happen. Likely, when he was holding it and his sister off the ground. She didn't feel like cleaning up a shattered mug and spilled hot coffee this early in the damn fucking morning, the sun wasn't even out yet. "But yes. You should go out and set up if you want a crack at this too."
"…in a minute." Colonello insisted, entirely distracted by the siblings' antics. "I want to watch this."
"They do it about once or twice a month when they're 'home', idiot."
"I've never seen them do this before!"
She just sighed again, draining the last of her mug and getting up to pour herself more.
Admittedly, yes. The siblings were circus acrobats, they could use everything and everyone in their way to dodge and avoid each other and do it with skill. It was an impressive display… the first few times.
By the seventh or so time you got 'caught up' by rubbernecking at the whole 'scuffle', you learned to let them do their thing and just keep doing whatever you were interrupted from. They'd usually leave you alone if you weren't in their way, and you could at least catch part of it safely enough.
This time, when Sonya hit the base of the staircase, she did a cartwheel one-handed to the side to change her momentum. She still slid slightly in Lal's direction, but she darted off to the living room couches and armchairs instead of using the kitchen again.
Skull apparently flipped before even descending the staircase, because he landed sideways and already facing the same direction. One of his heavy boots still slid out on him, but a single touch of one hand on the floor had him instantly correcting for that before he ended up doing the splits right there. "…Nya…"
"I didn't know you were there!" Insisted Sonya hastily, and to be frank very damn falsely.
"Bullshit, Nya. With my promotional work?" Seizing the sectional his sister was seated on the far end of it like she hadn't been darting about, he hauled the entire thing into the air to tilt her towards him.
Which didn't, as every time he tried it, work a damn.
She backflipped over the arm her back had been against, darting under where the couch once sat to scramble right back past him.
Then they went outside again, Skull throwing the couch back into place with no care to anyone watching and the heavy thud of it hitting the floor.
"…apparently." Lal then offered to Colonello in hopes that would get his ass in gear, returning to her chair to continue drinking her damn coffee at. "Sonya ended up working in the same city Skull was performing in."
He just scratched at the back of his neck next. "How would he even know? Did she tell him?"
"Headlines." She stated flatly as the dog finally got to the ground floor, spending a second looking bewildered at not finding either sibling for a second.
A second was all it took for Skull to lift something probably entirely too heavy for anyone else to do as easily, his sister to dodge him again, and for him to throw it back to where it should be without care for the racket or if it would land right.
Which was usually the case, somehow.
Alek bolted for the still open front door, got surprised by his mistress bolting over him, then her brother, and slid right on out of the door as he still couldn't get enough traction on his paw pads to change his direction that fast.
"…the only headlines we got that skipped reporting on Skull's shows was that one…"
"Nightshade." Lal confirmed for her former student, though he was still an idiot. "Sonya's 'working' name. Didn't we tell you that?"
"…uh, no." Colonello informed her bluntly back, now just bewildered. "No one mentioned that to me. The 'Donna' de Mort thing, yes. An infamous thief? Nope, no one said shit to me."
"Well, there you go." She offered blandly and with little care, because she had been warning him and he didn't listen to her. "Reborn, the World's Greatest Hitman. Sonya, Nightshade. Fon, the Eye of the Storm. Still don't… really understand that one. He's an infamous martial arts master, won the Underworld Martial Arts Tournament three times now. Viper, the Esper. No fucking clue either. Had that moniker long before I ever met them. Skull's the odd duck out, Colonello. Fuck, even Luce is a Donna too."
He eyed her suspiciously, suspecting bullshit. "The Underworld Martial Arts Tournament."
"There's also an Underworld Cooking Tournament."
"…what the fuck?"
"Apparently, it's very cutthroat." Lal repeated what Cesare had told her about it, when the Mafioso was trying to get a rise out of her. Sonya's right-hand and personal assassin was not sold on the quality of the female Rain's character, even now. And frankly she liked it that way. "I have no doubts the Underworld Martial Arts Tournament is equally as cutthroat. I've never been to either, don't want to, but yes. These are things."
He made a highly disbelieving, whiny noise at the back of his throat.
"They were forced or started underground, Colonello. Despite that, they still like doing things everyone else does. Competing against one another? Are you seriously that surprised?"
Then the Mafia got entwined in it all, or maybe it even started out that way. Lal didn't care, all it meant in the end was that both Tournaments were as bloody and vicious as everything else the Mafia touched. Likely the 'anything and everything goes' kind of competitions now.
At least this finally reminded him what he was to do this morning, and with one last huff he pushed off from the basement door. Had to pause for the siblings to dart down past him again, and bolted up the stairs despite the fact the dog was still running around too.
Sonya tossed a packet at Lal on her way by, opting to just go out the still open door this time instead of trying to duck around her brother using any more furniture. It slid down the table under the force it had been thrown with, coming to a neat halt by her hands.
…yeah, but. She'd have to put down her coffee to pick that up, and that opened her back up to the risk of broken mugs and spilled coffee.
She debated it until Alek reached the ground floor again, then heaved a sigh and put her mug down to pick the document envelope to see what the hell this was. Colonello clattered right on out after the dog with his sniper rifle before she even finished the handwritten cover page to fully read through the contract for all details and the reason why.
So Lal read it, despite the first damn page of the contract making her want to light it on Flames and dump it in the trash immediately.
There were two packets, one for Luce. Which halved what she had to read before setting it on fire.
…if they didn't get an adult female Rain by the deadline, then maybe. She'd be opting into all the clothing options available, but fuck. It was a tidy paycheck on offer, regardless of what optional restrictions a woman might want for their turn. And all negatives were going to be turned over to Nightshade for disposal, so it wasn't like the pictures would be used more than this single once.
From tactical officer in the Goddamned military to being offered stupid amounts of money to do porn, fuck her life.
Then again, if what Sonya had covered for her about young Rains and what Tatiana covered with Galina about young Lightnings were all true…?
Yep, there was a need. Kind of shitty this was how Mafia women thought to address it.
Anything to toss down that deep dark pit of ignorance was at least something.
She still wasn't all that enthused by the offer in her hands, but maybe Sonya had a better pitch or more detail to make this less… debasing. If only her brother would stop being 'offended' at being upstaged one single time and chasing her around to let her make the damn pitch.
…though, if the thief had informed her brother she was maybe doing this then Lal was a canary. Skull was only offended, not panicked.
Tucking everything back up in the envelope and tucking that under her thigh for safekeeping, she went back to drinking her damn coffee and waiting for everyone else to bother to show up.
Odds were, Verde first. Then Reborn, probably. Viper was likely already here just not in the mood to deal with two hyper Clouds playing chase plus dog. Luce sometime after the hitman, and of course Fon would not bother at all until forced to.
Lal took a decent swig of her cooling coffee this time, absently watching on as Sonya chased by Skull chased by Alek ran in again. Aiming for the basement this time.
She was not cleaning the damn floors, or at least not alone. Those two could damn well help, and if Colonello succeeded in sniping that Ancient Asshole he was fucking helping. If this 'weekend' went bad, she'd offer up some damn toothbrushes.
Fuck, if her moronic and idiotic former student failed to snipe Checkerface… she'd probably still give him a toothbrush to scrub the floorboards clean while they were gone.