When Xanxus arrived with a date, it had been mild news among the mafioso already at the ball. A bit vexing for the women trying to catch his eye, but not noteworthy.
Then people actually saw what said girl looked like, and that abruptly changed from "mildly interesting" to "Holy Shit, where did he find someone that hot willing to act as his date?!" in short order.
Daniela was immensely pleased...and the fact that Xanxus' date had her cackling with delight made more than a few people nervous. The old Donna clearly loved the girl Xanxus had brought and was animatedly chatting with her at length about something.
What really topped it off was the Look Timoteo Vongola had on his face when he saw her... he definitely recognized her and he was beyond shocked to see her there. That he kept rubbing his jaw without noticing it made a lot of people wonder if the girl had something to do with the fact he had a very rough encounter in the Varia base some time back that left him with more than a few broken bones and a very incensed Storm.
Rumor had it someone from the lower ranks had kicked his ass while he was there, but no one had dared to confirm it.
Xanxus was in a very, very good mood and it was only getting better. As he had predicted, the second people got a good look at his date they were the center of attention.
Everyone kept giving Rosethorn second, third and even fourth looks. The women kept either hitting their own dates or giving Rosethorn looks of envy and jealously respectively, as if they saw her and immediately felt inferior.
The men drooled for all of several seconds before their dates (or wives) reminded them they were unavailable.
Xanxus had no doubt if Rosethorn went to the food table alone she'd be mobbed by admirers within seconds.
The real kicker came when he spotted his grandmother who was watching all of it with an expression of someone who was being immensely entertained.
He made a beeline for her.
"Hexe, this is Daniela Vongola, the Eighth Vongola boss."
Rosethorn firmly cemented herself on his Nonna's good side with a single move.
"Boss, I thought you were introducing me to your grandmother, not your Aunt. There's no way she's over fifty," said Rosethorn.
Daniela's eyes gleamed at that. She hid her mouth with her hand, clearly trying not to laugh.
"You're not trying to butter up an old woman are you?" she asked with mischief.
"I've meet someone who fought in World War Two. She actually looks like she was on the front lines, where as you look more like someone's favorite aunt than a grandmother. Besides, your son looks older than you do," she replied with perfect sincerity.
Daniela cackled.
"I approve of her grandson. Wherever did you find such a delightful young lady?"
Xanxus' grin was all teeth.
"She found me. She actually had the balls to infiltrate the Varia and got away with it for months until she tossed the old bastard out of the office when he flared his Sky at her. Then she cemented a place with us when she killed the traitorous Cloud officer I had," said Xanxus grinning darkly.
Daniela's eyes sparkled.
"You're the one who broke my son's jaw and threw his Storm out through a closed door?"
"He had it coming. The last Sky I had to deal with had a similar bad habit of flaring his aura around people who were supposed to be allies in order to get them to fall in line," said Rosethorn without remorse. "I'd do it over in a heart beat... his Sky is far too similar to Dumbledore for me to ever get along with him."
"Dumbledore as in Albus Dumbledore?" said Daniela, expression full of complete sympathy. "If my son reminded you of that fool, then it was no wonder you reacted so badly."
"About the only thing I can say in your son's favor is that at least he doesn't look or act as cowardly as Dumbledore was," said Rosethorn.
"On an unrelated note, what was this I heard about a rash of mass pranking in the Iron Fort?"
Xanxus went stone faced.
"It was either that or stage a coup," said Rosethorn.
Xanxus shot her a look.
"I set up a privacy barrier the second we started talking. Any bugs or Mists trying to listen in will only hear random small talk and her teasing you about your date. That or her making some very lewd insinuations about what we should do after the party," said Rosethorn.
"Oh I definitely like you," said Daniela, cackling. "You had better not let this one slip out of your grasp, grandson."
Xanxus smirked.
"I have no intention to, Nonna. I found out the old bastard was lying about me being his son...if not for Rosethorn finding out Ottabio had been selling information to Sawada and Viscounti we might have gone through with a fake coup to rattle the cage a bit and get Nono off his ass about the rats in the family. She's the one who suggested we prank the living shit out of them instead."
Daniela approved.
"I told that idiot it was only going to bite him in the ass sooner rather than later, with the way he was leading you on. The rings are blood-locked...with how thin your connection to the Vongola is the only way you'd become Decimo is if all other heirs were suddenly removed or rendered incapable. However he didn't want me to tell you anything..."
"And since he's head of the family, you had to keep silent even though you didn't agree with it at all," said Rosethorn with sympathy. "And the irony is that he's still less of an idiot compared to Dumbledore."
"So if you had exposure to that senile fool, what House were you in?"
"Half-blood and I was a Gryffindor...though the Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin first. The old bastard openly tried to force me into being his little martyr due to some half-assed prophecy. As I found out later when Xanxus finally called me on the fact I hadn't entered the Varia normally I went Active the night I was supposed to sacrifice myself for a bunch of backwater morons who likely haven't even learned their lesson properly," said Rosethorn.
"Oh, so my grandson managed to snag England's so-called Savior as his Cloud? How has he been treating you?" asked Daniela, full of sympathy.
She had kept track of that debacle...mostly out of boredom. Anyone with eyes could see the poor girl was being absolutely snowed under and no one dared to speak up against Dumbledore to help her out. Finding out she was a Cloud said volumes of how trapped she must have felt.
Rosethorn shivered.
"I was fully prepared to end up very dead when they busted me... instead I took over the Cloud officer position without even knowing. I honestly have no intention of ever going back... I like it in the Varia better because at least they treat me like a person, not some prized brood mare they can parade about."
Xanxus wrapped an arm around her waist...much to the amusement and approval of Daniela.
It was the first time he had shown any interest in a girl his own age.
As predicted, when Rosethorn went to get something to eat the area was suddenly swamped by most of the single males there.
She took far too much pleasure in revealing what her "necklace" actually was.
The second most of the men there saw a live king cobra rise up from where it had been napping around her neck, they gave her a wide berth. Especially since she was way too calm with the deadly snake around her neck.
Only one person had the balls to go up to her when the snake woke up.
"Ciaossu. Interesting choice in neck-wear, miss...?"
"You must be Reborn. Viper's said a lot about you," said Rosethorn cheerfully. "Is it true you speak Reptile, or is it just lizard and bug?"
Reborn smirked.
What came out of his mouth was close enough to parseltongue that she could understand most of it...and more importantly so could her snake. She beamed at him.
"I'm called Hexe... Varia Cloud officer and currently acting as my Boss' shield against his rabid fangirls or those trying to get into his pants."
Reborn looked rather amused hearing that.
"This is Leon," he said, holding out his hand so a chameleon could crawl into it. "He's a shape-changing chameleon."
"He's positively adorable. This is Set, though he's a normal cobra. Viper had a field day when I told them why I needed a king cobra and about died from laughing when they saw me wear it like a necklace. I think they were hopeful for me to get plenty of blackmail pictures."
Reborn smirked. He liked this girl. And it only grew as he got to know her a little better. Not once did she treat him like a child or have the same awe that most mafioso did upon meeting the World's Greatest hit man.
No, this was more like a conversation between equals who had a similar love of reptiles and causing chaos.
If only he weren't cursed and a few decades younger... he wouldn't have hesitated to pursue this delightful young woman.
Vongola Nono had a very pained look on his face the second he realized who the girl was that his adopted son had brought as his date. She might have cleaned up considerably, but he recognized those Flames anywhere.
And if he recognized her, then so had Coyote... which likely explained his very pissed off growling. He had never quite forgiven the girl who had made a fool out of him and insulted his Sky so blatantly. And that was before she broke his jaw and threw the two of them out of the office!
The girl turned, took one look at them and had a very self-assured and darkly amused smirk. If it wasn't for the public setting Coyote would have challenged her then and there for what she did.
"Coyote looks like he's about to have a coronary," said Xanxus with open delight. This was far too entertaining not to watch.
"Why exactly does Nono have such a pained expression on his face?" asked Reborn. He had followed Rosethorn back to the table they were sharing with an amused Daniela.
"I'm the one who broke his jaw and three of his ribs...and then I sent his Storm right after him before he had a chance to defend his Sky's rather dubious honor from a girl half his age," said Rosethorn dryly.
Reborn stopped what he was doing, and looked at her with an unidentifiable expression on his face.
"You're the one who broke his jaw?" he said with a flat, neutral tone.
It was pretty clear to those that actually knew him that Reborn was trying his best not to break into hysterics.
"Have you ever heard of Albus Dumbledore?"
Reborn nodded.
"Well he had the same bad habit of flaring his Sky whenever things weren't going his way. The second the old fool did that within close proximity to me it sent me into a flashback. Most of what I did was on pure instinct, especially since Dumbledore kept trying to force me into being his Cloud," said Rosethorn.
Reborn winced with empathy. He knew how bad it was when a Sky tried to drag in an element stronger than they were by force. If it happened repeatedly enough, then it was only natural she would have developed a knee-jerk reaction to it happening around her.
He had his own method of dissuading such attempts among the more foolish Skies who couldn't take a hint. Most learned to leave him alone once he started maiming the idiots.
Reborn patted her knee with sympathy. So he changed the subject instead.
"How did you join the Varia? Did you just kill the Cloud Officer and take his spot or were you recruited?"
"I broke in while Viper was out for two weeks, wrote myself in as a new mook in the Lightning division and kept my head down while going through training and the standard missions until Nono set me off and brought me to the Boss' attention," said Rosethorn dryly. "You should have seen Squalo's face the second he found out a civilian managed to slip into their ranks and they didn't catch it for months."
Dead silence.
"You're joking," said Reborn in disbelief. The Varia were the Elite. He had great trouble believing a mere civilian had managed to infiltrate them long enough to become Cloud officer.
"Levi might be ridiculously loyal, but he doesn't really pay attention to the little details like who's in his division... Lightnings have one of the highest turn over rates...next to Storm, but that's mostly because of Bel's temper tantrums. I didn't even know it was possible to become an Officer by killing the current one until after Ottabio was turned into charcoal. He really should have knocked," said Rosethorn. "Actually..."
Rosethorn pulled out a cell phone from who knew where...and with a few swipes pulled up a few photos.
"What are these?" asked Reborn, mouth quirking upwards.
"That would be a photo I took from a pensieve of the reaction Squalo and the others had upon learning I was a civilian who didn't have the slightest idea what Flames were, and yet managed to infiltrate an elite group of assassins and kill one of the Officers without even knowing that it would automatically make me one so long as I had an identical Flame type," said Rosethorn dryly.
"Wait, you can take photos from inside a pensieve?" said Daniela, eyes gleaming.
"So long as it's one you can pause, then yeah. I see no reason why you couldn't take photos so long as it's not digital... unless someone can explain to me why electricity doesn't work around magic."
Daniela looked like Rosethorn had just given her access to the world's greatest blackmail.
"I'm sensing embarrassing moments that were forgotten about suddenly being caught on camera and then shown around," said Xanxus smirking.
Rosethorn suddenly grinned evilly at Daniela.
"I'll loan you my personal one if you can help get pictures of the Boss when he was an angry little brat fresh off the streets. Viper would pay a fortune for those and I bet Bel would get a kick out of seeing the Boss so young."
"Hey!" protested Xanxus.
"Deal!" said Daniela cackling. She loved this girl, she really did.
"I need a drink," said Xanxus grumpily.
"I'm fairly certain Timoteo made very sure you wouldn't be able to get anything except wine," said Reborn.
"What a coincidence. I brought firewhiskey with me along with several pranks to liven up a potentially boring party," said Rosethorn.
She suddenly had Reborn's undivided attention.
"I like you," he announced.
"So... who wants to hold the camera and get the blackmail developed for later?" asked Rosethorn.
Daniela was having trouble in not laughing her ass off.
"Grandson, if you don't marry this girl I will be so disappointed in you," said Daniela dead serious. She was also holding a camera with a gleam in her eyes.
"I seriously need that drink."