Scritch, Scratch. Scritch, Scratch. That was the nervous tune they walked to, the sound of nails against cloth and stitches sometimes followed by a hiss of pain and a grumble. Depending if he hit a soft bit or not. Martina turned to walk backwards and look at her brother, his squinting eyes and his sniffling nose, he kept at it despite the obvious pain.
Like a dumb dog licking its wounds she would need to put a bloody cone on him.
"Either you stop that, or I am going to sew your hands to the sides of your legs,"
"It´s itchy. Like a bug's bite or a bad rash," He complained.
"That's good. Means you would be healing well if you stopped that," she turned on her heels again and motioned for Puma to fall in her arms, "Eat a cookie or have a smoke if you are nervous, but please stop that,"
He obliged and pulled out a cigar out of his case, which was dented on the side and had to be muscled into closing and opening. She would see about buying a new one for him.
"What are we going to do now, Martina?" He asked after the first few puffs, and she almost threw Puma into the air after having waited so long for the question. In the end she settled to just mess with him.
"The same thing we do every night, Nico - try to take over the world!" She gave the streets her best evil laugh as she fondled Puma, who looked annoyed at all the noise. Nico, like the good wet cookie he was, wasn't as amused as her.
"I am serious Mar, I was just stabbed in the gut and you," He paused and looked at the thread in her cheek with apprehension, "got hurt. Think it will scar?"
She put a finger to the wound lightly and traced it, what a rush that fight was. There were embers still in her chest and a longing to repeat it; Alas, she was refused and would need to find a new partner to dance with, but still it would make a good memory.
"I think I will make it leave a scar, you know? Adds a flare to have one in the face, I could be the next Joker I believe," And it hurt when she smiled at the thought and she turned to look at him.
"So. Why so serious?" She got a snort of amusement from him and counted it as a small win.
"Because you haven't answered me yet, what's the plan now?"
"Hm, well for starters we are going to make their boss pay for our expenses, then take everything that ain't nailed to the floor,"
"Must we though? We could leave now and wouldn't have lost anything," She rolled her eyes so much they almost went white.
"Why are you still preaching that? If we were to ditch this place, we would have done it from the very beginning. Instead we are here, me having defeated Orillas 'The Stalwart' and you having beaten the black girl, what was her name? Need to throw them in when negotiating,"
When Nicolas didn't answer immediately, she raised an eyebrow at him.
"You don't remember her name?" He squirmed a little as she asked him slowly.
"She never said it actually. She seemed to dislike me," Her mouth fell open as she stared at him, shocked at his attitude towards a worthy opponent.
"So you didn't present yourself? You didn't even say why you were fighting? You two just slugged each other in silence and forwent everything? Nicolas!" She was ashamed of him!
"It was a fight, Martina, not a meet and show we were in. I asked her for her name, once, and she didn't answer," He thought about it for a second and added, "at least not with her name,"
"Of course she didn't, you are supposed to present yourself and go from there. That's how you are supposed to duel! You don't just grunt and slap against each other as if you were engaged in angry sex. My goodness Nicolas, don't you know a thing about proper duelling?" Puma snorted at him and shook his head as if he shared her disappointment, but more likely than not he was just taking a pot shot at her brother.
"And where did you learn that?"
"From Grandma Itse, of course," He chewed on the words and decided to just shrug away the issue.
"Anyway, do you know how to get there at least?" She sniffed haughtily and decided to let the matter rest, but she made sure to remember it. She couldn't let him embarrass her like that again.
"Of course I do. I beat it out of the tail they put on you before I went to watch you get punted through a building,"
"I still think you could have helped me there,"
"And I am telling you I won't become a kill stealer of all things, how will you level if I take on everyone? Or work up the courage to pull out your swords. On that note, you didn't use your special attacks," He cringed as she finished speaking.
"Never say that again, please. Its beyond embarrassing,"
"Now you know how I feel," She looked around and saw both marks the lad she got her information from spoke of, "we are about a block away so put on your best scary face, we have deals to make and people to threaten,"
"Try and keep it civil, Mar,"
"But of course, I am no savage. I will speak for as long as they listen,"
[O.o]
Coltello was chewing his fingers to the bone as he waited, waited for a sign that someone was coming with their cargo or a sign that those two had fled to the docks so that he could cut off their retreat. Except that the only sign he had right now was of his father's growing annoyance as his face became colder and colder still as they waited in the office; At night and with just one Snail light showing his face Mondo Lotta looked like an apparition ready to take his soul for all they were family.
He worked his digits over the Den-den's shell as he waited and his father stared at the door, this was his only chance to make it right and it seemed to be slipping through the gaps of his fingers with each second after midnight that went by.
"What are we expecting to happen now Coltello?" He was looking him right in the eye as he waited for an answer, only cold patience in there.
"I should be getting a call any moment now. Just a little longer," Was the quickest answer he could give, but it didn't sway his father at all.
"Any moment is not an answer," He declared slowly, "Any moment can be in a second or an hour. I´m past playing the waiting game, we will leave this for tomorrow or any day now once you have whatever you are waiting for at hand. Understood?" His words shook his nerves one at a time and soon enough he was following him as he stood up.
"Wait, wait, just a little more. Please, just wait a little more, dad," Lotta froze for a second and balled his ring crusted fingers before letting go, how long ago had they stopped being father and son, had frayed that thread until they were but boss and subordinate. In a moment of soft heartedness, he sat back down and sighed, age was mellowing him down.
"If you don't tell me for what reason you called me in the middle of the night and had the slave brought here for, I will have you shadow Diena for a month," He was actually considering doing it now that he said it, perhaps she was right and he needed to see reality outside the family. Perhaps he had coddled the boy too long, he knew the result of it had seen kings raised in bubbles and they were pathetic; They were but weak men with luxuries.
"Well, remember yesterdays brawl? The one that got Tero a broken arm?"
"The one you tried to take a woman by force?" He replied with embers in his voice.
"Yes," Came his answer after a bout of silence, "the same two people began a fight in the bar, our bar, and they beat up every person in there. Diena and Uncle are supposed to call me when they get things under wraps, and I think I know why they are here,"
"And why is that?" Lotta asked with impatience and a lick of anger that made Coltello brighten a bit.
"It's beca-" He couldn't go any further before a knock on the door that rattle the windows and threatened to tear the wall boomed along the house. Then came another and the ring on the door could be heard slapping the wood like a cry for help.
They heard someone opening the door, already screaming for whoever it was to stop, and then the crisp and loud sound of flesh smacking flesh.
"Slave stay there unless we call for you," Lotta ordered as he heard boots stomping on the stairs. The laugh, the grumble, and a rumble began to become louder as they drew closer and he undid the mechanism at the bottom of his desk, left it locked and loaded in case of the worst as his son's face was drained of blood.
"Anyone home?" Came the voice, all soft and high notes from the other side of the door, "Mind unlocking the door for us?"
"Who are you?" Asked Lotta.
"Open up and I will tell you, only right we speak face to face, from one boss to another," Neither Mondo made any moves to open the door or undo the four locks upon it.
"We are perfectly comfortable speaking like this, what do you people want?"
"We want to save you!" The woman, because no man could have a voice so sweet, answered with mock in her voice.
"Save us from what?" They asked befuddled.
"From what I am going to do to you if you don't open this fucking door,"
When no answer was forthcoming, the woman gave them a laugh and kicked the door lightly before she spoke again.
"Nico, get rid of this door," She ordered.
"Are you sure, Mar? Look at the carvings on it, they are beautiful," Mondo Lotta gave the man on the other side a satisfied nod, he seemed like someone he could get along with if he saw the beauty in it. Most all only saw it as opulent decoration but it told the story of the Family, and in its own way it was a source of pride for him.
"Then cut a door out of the wall, I don't care," Came the impatient voice of the woman, and he wanted to see them cut through the thick steel bars entrenched in the cement of the walls.
"Ok, just be patient,"
In a moment of silence they all heard the song of a blade being drawn, that scraping of steel on leather they were all comfortable with -when it was pointed at someone other than them- and in went the curved blade of a sword like a raven's claws.
They watched as the man moved the steel in a sawing motion as he worked its way up. Up, up, it went. Up until it touched the first lock and sliced it. Up, up, it went and soon cut the second and the third. Up, up, it went and razed the deadbolt with a sharp ding. Now attached to nothing but the hinges - they gave out a cold and shrill melody as they moved- the door opened, and fingers began to sprout from the side.
They were long and brown and firm in their hold; They forced the door open slowly and methodically. Its hinges still crying. In came an animal that stood as tall as his knees, with a head too small by half for its body and ears longer than a full palm. A beast uglier than anything he had ever seen.
Then came the woman, a mound of hair buried her head but couldn't hide the dangerous light in her eyes or the sharp, hard lines of her face; A sadist's face if he has seen any, or maybe that of someone about to be paid. And Lotta liked neither, because they were either victims or debtors; Both positions of weakness and at the mercy of one so callous looking they had everything to lose.
And finally came the man, he dipped his head to make it past the door frame and took everything in the room with small, mean eyes - choosing what to take perhaps- that passed right through them as if they were part of the wall. He had the temperament of a butcher in the market, there was only meat to sell and meat to quarter for him and still guessing which they were.
Mondo Lotta was a man who prided himself in his disciplined attitude, but the seas know he was a hair away from strangling his own blood for this.
"Well, well, look who we have here Nico. The boss and-"She stared straight at his son and Lotta almost moved to cover him, almost, "Junior," The man made no sounds but he believes he saw him roll his eyes, ever so slightly. "Both Mondos here to receive us, quite the honour, right?"
"We were expecting you two, not quite like this though," He remarked to Coltello who looked ready to be swallowed by the chair, "Now, you know us, but who are you,"
"We are the Esquirla Family, I am Esquirla Ana Martina and this is my brother,"
"Esquirla Ignacio Nicolas, a pleasure," He said curtly from his spot against the wall.
"Now we all know each other, so let's begin the real talk," She carried on and Lotta raised his hand to stop her, she was setting the pace far too much. If he were to allow it, she would pick up momentum and then anything he said would be crashed and discarded, they would lose everything. He had done it one too many times to not recognize it.
Thing was, to be the focus of such intense gazes wasn't something he quite enjoyed. Much less when even the cat had a sharp pair of eyes.
"Before we do, I would like to know how my people are and where so that I may send medics to them," She put a finger to her lips and nodded.
"Well, fine. Seems reasonable enough, your goons are all bunched up in that bar with the roof that's about to fall off," It is called art woman, "Orillas is being taken care of by one of yours last I saw and-" She trailed off into the distance as she turned to give her brother a pointed look, "The black girl is where you heard your tail last spoke I think,"
Lotta wasn't someone prone to anger, he could ill afford it before - when he was weak- and it became a part of him in time but when faced with such blatant dismissal? He was forced to take a deep breath before speaking, couldn't be forgetting the position he was in now.
"The black girl is called 'The Wind' Kimele Diena, or was her name not worth remembering?" He intoned slowly and the other party, indignant, hit the armrest and made Coltlello jump in his seat. The stupid boy had better gather his wits if he ever hoped to lead.
"See what you do Nicolas, now I look like an asshole for not knowing,"
"I am not going to repeat myself on this,"
"I am ashamed at my brother's attitude, I really am, and I will try to cure him of his ignorance at a later date but we really need to speak money now,"
And just like that the charade was off and they were back in a bad spot, as if knowing what he was thinking she gave him a smile -predatory in its edges- and shook a finger as the cat that had settled on the table mirrored her.
They were one creepy family.
