Reborn doesn't drink or eat anything the veritable parade of waitresses offer him. Reborn checks his watch and it's been fifteen minutes. He stands and leaves the room, ignoring the people trying to stall him.
As predicted, the Don and his Storm heir meet Reborn at the entranceway right before he manages to leave.
"Dear Reborn-"
"This is a joke," Reborn interrupts. "I agreed to meet you out of good faith and then you make me wait while your entire staff performs some kind of half-hearted circus act."
The Don keeps his face neutral, but his Storm son twitches a bit before controlling himself.
The Don turns to the staff waiting obediently off to the side, putting on a disappointed expression. "How is it that our important guest has only just arrived, yet you have already upset him?"
Reborn continues walking towards the door. He can use this treatment as an excuse to leave, they wouldn't try to physically stop him while negotiation is still possible.
Reborn's next step lands on something small and soft. He twists, stepping to the side and looking down. A little red tulip pokes out from the polished flooring, half crushed but still growing steadily and unbending as it reaches up.
Flowers begin to sprout across the floor of the foyer, an assortment of shapes and colours, following the path Reborn had taken from the waiting room he was led to. More burst to life right under his feet, nudging his shoes and leaning into his legs. The chandelier above him blooms with delicate glass roses.
The illusion shatters.
Different Mist flames surge over the room and Viper bleeds into reality beside Reborn. "How original, courting with flowers," they sneer.
Reborn raises an eyebrow at the floating Viper next to him. "Hello?"
Viper leans in towards him. "You don't want to be here, I don't want to be here. Let's leave first and then talk."
"I'm here because of you."
"What? No, it's a misunderstanding but listen-"
Another Mist, the one who created those flowers, steps out to the top landing of the stairs, looking down with a smirk. "You've crawled back again, Viper. Don't get involved in business that doesn't concern you."
"I've decided to get myself a Sky, and oh look, I've found one," Viper says easily, gesturing at Reborn.
Reborn hums with pursed lips. "You all have fun without me, I'm done for today."
The Don speaks up, sounding calm and sympathetic even when he slides a narrow-eyed glance towards Viper. "You've done good work for me before, Reborn, so I've gone out of my way to keep you a secret. But if you don't bond with my son, there's not much more I can do to keep you safe from the others."
"Oh?" Reborn muses. "Do you think I need protection?"
"From those that would hurt you, yes," the Sfondo Don says gravely. "You aren't bonded to all your weathers so people will fight for the empty space. It is cruel but tradition dictates any winning challenger gets a place at your side, regardless of what you want."
Because Reborn is unbonded to Verde, another Lightning can challenge Reborn's 'favoured' to prove they're a better Guardian, and if they win then Reborn has to take them in. However, Reborn can also fight in Verde's place, so Reborn isn't concerned at all. He's going to be the world's greatest someday; no one will get past him.
The Don folds his hands in front of him and shakes his head. "There are very bad famiglias out there and if you get stuck with one as a Guardian, I won't be able to help you."
Reborn takes a breath to steady himself. "I wasn't trying very hard to hide myself, so you're not special, and you don't have an advantage over me."
Which is a lie but Reborn has always been a very good liar.
"Do you think you can throw a tantrum and have your way?" the Don points out. "You may be a Sky but even you must follow the rules."
"I am a freelance hitman, a Sun," Reborn brags. "Let's not overestimate your power here, but even if the entirety of Italy wanted to strangle me because of you, I have the rest of the world to play with."
"I wouldn't do anything; the Vindice enforces-"
"China would welcome you," Fon cuts in from right beside the Don's son, one hand resting on the man's shoulder.
There is a brief pause because when did Fon get there...?
The Don's son twists away, arm coming up to elbow Fon but the martial artist just tightens his grip, shakes the man and smiles while the poor heir realises just how impossible it is to fight a Monster. Famiglia guards immediately step out into the open.
"Are these people bothering you, Reborn?" Fon muses.
"Not at all," Reborn says quickly because he doesn't know if he can fight off a famiglia of this size all at once, when they inevitably retaliate after Fon blatantly kills the heir.
There's a sudden loud screeching of car tires from outside, some shouting and then Colonnello bursts through the front doors, looking a bit wind-swept. Lal follows soon after and has that wild-eyed look of someone faced with Skull's driving for the first time.
"Ah," Lal says, recovering swiftly. "Good job, Fon. Now we have a hostage."
Reborn is torn between either laughing or crying. "Why are you here?" he complains quietly to the two soldiers standing next to him. "And go outside, I have things under control. I was literally about to leave."
"Wait in the car, I'll deal with this," Lal orders, completely ignoring Reborn.
The Don looks from Lal's uniform to Colonnello's almost identical one, bland expression finally breaking into something a lot like confused frustration. "You're military."
"Who are you going to tell?" Colonnello laughs. "Call the police, say the special ops is bullying the Mafia!"
Reborn rolls his eyes because fine, he's a hypocrite, but do these people know what the word 'moderation' means?! Let Reborn get the World's Greatest title first before they get him kicked out the fucking Mafia for having warmongering, law enforcement Guardians.
"Don Sfondo," Reborn begins earnestly. "I apologise, my Guardians are very new and want to prove themselves through unnecessary, holistic, and enthusiastic violence. This is so embarrassing for me - they have no self-control. I mean last time, Fon punched his fist straight through someone's chest and it was awfully messy."
Fon's smile grows wider because he's actually done that before -just to see if he could- and the memory is quite a happy one. The trapped heir is looking a bit faint.
The Don doesn't take much time to think about the threat because he is a logical man and pushing the issue right now isn't worth it. All of Reborn's people are very serious about fucking up this famiglia for even attempting to mess with them and it shows in their expressions.
None of them have the best sense of consequences or self-restraint, more likely to throw themselves in head-first and fight their way out later. So Lal will genuinely call in COMSUBIN and Colonnello will happily help out. Skull already asked on the car ride over if he should call the police and Fon honestly wouldn't mind just killing everyone.
The Don smiles wryly. "Lovely meeting you again."
"I wish I could say the same," Reborn says, ushering people out.
