Author's Note : FYI, we're going to start jumping months of time from now on. Like the next chapter will probably start halfway through January instead.

I could continue covering each development as they happen chronologically… but then I'd get nowhere by the end of this 'book'. So most of the serious developments starting have been covered now, and hopefully what happens in the future isn't too jarring to get to later, but we seriously need to start covering the actual meat of the story now.

Russian Roulette : Second Chamber

Chapter 40

(Tuesday the 22nd of December, 1970 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"And just where have you been, sleepyhead?"

"Sleeping in." Sonya blandly informed Tatiana sourly in their native Russian, pressing a kiss to their foster mother's cheek and patting Arseniy on the arm on her way past them on one of her front sitting room couches to pick her own spot on the next one her sister was on. "Is that a crime now?"

"You'd probably get that gleeful little smirk of yours if it was." Mused the redhead dryly, stretching out the best she could just to be in the way with a measure of gleeful amusement. "Where, though? I checked your room… you weren't sleeping there, little lady."

"Of course not. It's right over the fucking entrance, I hear everyone coming in or out the front doors. When I sleep in, I sleep in different beds. I have a fuck-ton of them now."

She huffed, helped by no small means by Sonya physically crawling over her since she wanted to be sprawled out. "Lisa's refusing to do anything fun until you showed up, you little brat. You could've come down here earlier."

"…no." She slid into an actual spot but left her legs over her sister's lap, wondering just where her brat was.

Shamal could've eaten earlier with the dogs, admittedly. Alek had certainly proven than if he was hungry, he'd eat whatever the hell he wanted and there was no reason Marco wouldn't at least hang around to sneak a bite or two or learn the same habit. She kind of doubted the young Mist would have Anna wake him for such an event if she hadn't been interested the first time it happened, her brat hadn't struck her as an early-bird morning person or one that liked getting up early for anything.

More of a night-owl, really. Perhaps he slept in on the same days she did?

Besides, brat was on 'vacation' and a growing young boy. He might still be asleep.

"Are you sure you don't mind us being here, Nya?" Lisa inquired curiously after the customary suspicious eyeballing of the provided refreshments, distracting Valera from the view out the front-facing windows that showed the back of a row of houses by attempting to take his stuffed green and purple zebra sitting next to him.

Her almost three-year-old little brother viciously seized the poor stuffed animal around the neck, hauling it protectively to his tiny chest and ferociously scowling up at their mother moodily for the 'betrayal'.

"Not a damn bit. You want my bedroom for the next week or so?" She could either crash with Verde the entire week, only bothering him every other night to cuddle with her, or more likely she'd just take one of the guest rooms. Like the corner one that shared a bathroom with Shamal's room.

Her foster mother just blinked at her curiously, for some reason taken aback by the offer when she slept there the last time she visited.

"It's the only room, aside the half-done one on the sixth floor that is Cherep's, that has it's own bathroom to itself. There's also a couch, if you want Valera with you. So long as you don't mind hearing everyone going in or out the front door, that is."

"Yes." Arseniy decided for them, now looking at her instead of keeping half an eye on the view out the hallway and into the dining hall that had an assassin-chef making the preparations for lunch further in. "What do you know of this whole stupid affair?"

"Sometimes there might be civilians, ask before you get too far into the night." She admitted first, because that had been something she really had been surprised to learn when Tyr informed her. "No weapons is a rule, but Renato and I snuck a gun and my entire armory in on our first Ball and I got stuck with a knife on the second so it's entirely possible people just play lip-service to that one. At the end of the night there's a snow-ball fight, so either wear something waterproof or bring something warm for just after. All guest are given the option of a night over in the Iron Fort itself or a local hotel to change at afterwards… you two will want to pick the hotel while Tats will probably be safe either way."

Their foster mother rubbed her face with the hand not engaging Valera in a tactical-heavy war for keeping his comfort toy at hand instead of confiscated by their mother. "This just sounds like a bad idea entirely."

"They will have halfway decent vodka?" Sonya tried, hitching up a shoulder in a shrug when the two older Russians pinned her with the exact same look. "The snowball fight's more a… symbolic thing. You get to pelt whoever pisses you off more in the head with a packed bit of Cloud Flame Propagated snow, without retribution outside that night. I was invited to help with production that first time, and the second we didn't quite get to that part of the night…"

"…some childish-assed bullshit. Why not just get into a fistfight or two?"

"The founder of Vongola wasn't so much a Mafioso as he was a vigilante." She supplied for the vor's benefit, before he spoke that thought to the 'cream' of Italian criminal society and offended them about their stupid as hell 'tradition'. "The second head of Vongola was a Mafioso, but who knew how he took power from the 'First' Don Vongola and what caused all those stupid 'traditions' to stick around."

The older man tisked in a way that sounded both reproving and sour. "Eggs can't teach a hen, girl. I'm going to pretend I'm mute the whole fucking night, since apparently this is all more for your other girl-friend's reputation that we were invited at all."

Lisa patted her vor on a bulky and colorful forearm fondly. "For Fiorella to show she actually has a Home Tutor and a showcase that I'm no wilting wallflower nor will I teach her to be either. Don't worry so, Nya. We know better than to insult the locals to their face about their ridiculous habits."

"Yeah, but what they get touchy about is never really all that obvious from the outside." A couple dogs started barking, she'd bet a single kopeck that it was Alek and Marco getting overly excited and feeding off each other, and the scramble of paws and little feet on the floors herald her very mussed brat still in his pajamas excitedly darting into the sitting room. "Hey, brat. Oversleep much?"

Tatiana scoffed, tossing the mass of her blood-red braid over her other shoulder. "Hypocrite much?"

"I knew you all were here, I just went back to sleep after being told." Sonya defended herself pointedly, idly watching Shamal try to decide who to hug first in his pre-Christmas surprise.

"Nonna!" Grandma apparently won the impromptu Mist-run popularity contest, and she gracefully leaned backwards against the couch's arm just to accept his gleefully excited hug. "I guess this is why mamma said we had to get our Christmas shopping done early?"

"It very well might be, but may I point out Christmas is just in a few days? Or in a week. Most would've gotten their shopping done the month before, if they're paying attention." Lisa teased in good humor, tugging some lanky hanks of Shamal's bangs as she snuggled the kid into her arms. "How have you been, vnuk?"

Valera did not look happy his mom was fussing over another child while the Mist expounded on his new favored complaints about public schooling, one hand creeping to the heavy hunter's knife their mother kept in her purse. Arseniy grabbed it before his son did, without so much as looking over or bothering with responding to the betrayed little glower growing darker on Valera's face.

Sonya had her hands full with Alek greeting her after a night apart, even if the little fluffy idiot had to know she'd always pick him up after whatever she needed to do alone. Marco, just because someone was petting his brother, also needed attention or he'd whine and mope about it as if no one loved his shaggy ass but Tatiana had eagerly taken the massively fluffy idiot.

Arseniy rolled his eyes when Shamal hugged his bicep, giving his lover back her knife once the god-grandson was out of stabbing range and grabbed by his aunt.

Said brat, of course, ended up headfirst in Tatiana's busty rack sitting on Sonya's legs. Only after a good couple wiggles, mainly to get his face out of there, did he resign himself to being so smothered. "Hi, zia."

"Bambino! What, so you're excited to see nonna and nonno, but I get this little pouty face?"

"Well gee, Tats… if you didn't try to smother the poor kid in your chest every time you hug him then maybe he'd be more excited to see you." Sonya observed dryly, pushing the dogs away so they weren't nosing about the coffee table holding a whole tray of black tea that hadn't been touched yet or bothering her foster father because he smelled probably a lot different than the women did. "Just saying."

Shamal ended up in Tatiana's lap instead of halfway into her chest, when the redhead shoved the other thief's legs off her, which it seemed he didn't mind quite so much even if his head was bent forward to account for her contours. Just so the nurse could slap her sister in arm to compound her crimes after the shoving. "Shut up, you. What's the plan, anyways?"

"There's a plan?"

"Girls. Really." Lisa sighed, as if their bitching was at all surprising or not expected, giving Marco a few friendly scratches when the canine investigated her for how willing she was to spoil him and Alek carefully sniffed at both her foster parents from safely behind his littermate. "Sonya, when is Cherep expected home?"

"Eh… anywhere from today to about a week from now. It all really depends on if he ships his shit and drives himself, or just drives himself and his shit here on his own." Really, it mostly depended on if his Rain hype-man picked the smart option or would be risking his neck alone out there. "He should be here no later than the first of next year, either way."

"Good." Declared their foster mother in that tone both Sonya and Tatiana knew well from their girlhoods, but the older woman carried on before either of them could ask just what their brother did. "Now… are you sure you do not mind staying home with Valera while we go to this… Ball?"

"I've been twice, it's really more for the local powers to get face-time with their 'leading' syndicate than it is a party for networking with syndicates not local to you. Even if everyone seems to treat it that way for some reason." Not to mentioned she really wouldn't feel safe in the Iron Fort without at least a hitman in her pocket distracting the hell out of her, and she was pretty sure no one wanted low-key tense Clouds being annoyed to hell and back again by required social necessities at a 'high-society' party. "Besides, I wasn't invited."

"Seriously?" Tatiana demanded hotly, apparently offended on her behalf for whatever reason.

"I told Nono Vongola to fuck off on his wife's behalf while she wasn't talking to him, we really don't like each other much." Sonya allowed for dryly, slanting a wry grin at Lisa who raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow at her for that admission. "Little after you left us that night. Needless to say… he's not going to be all that pleased when I get dragged into any conversations. Also, can you let Fiorella know I'm spending the whole of January at home? We can do whatever vineyard thing she wanted to do early next year… she just needs to let me know when. Oh, and my Lackey's still waiting on Vongola's negotiators to get back to him about those amendments to that contract she wants me on."

Her sister, not to mention her brat, both laughed their assess off the couch next to her. Shamal, very thoughtfully, ensured their landing wasn't the impact with a marble floor they deserved for it from how the floor deformed oddly for solid stone and saved his aunt from at least a mild headache when she twisted to ensure he landed on top of her. Didn't save them from being licked to death by dogs as Marco dove into the pile heedlessly and Alek very grudgingly licked a few square inches of the nurse before more eagerly sniffing the kid, but it did save them from some pain.

"You're such a petty little shit." Lisa sighed yet again, this time faking the forlorn tone, as if that was at all objectionable to her or really was all that remarkable to anyone in the damn room.

"You always say the nicest things, mom." Sonya countered blandly as she gave Shamal a hand up out of the doggy/aunt-pile, much to her foster father's amusement given his entirely conspicuous snicker-snort.

(ooo000ooo)

(Tuesday the 22nd of December, 1970 continued. Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

While fascinating to watch the Lovely Bossy Dragoness with some of her immediate family, and it did do unspeakably soft things to his blackened heart to see how readily accepted young Shamal was in such a tight clique, Cesare was… not a family man.

He really could only take a dose or two of 'family', even heavily criminal family, antics.

It took up until just after lunch before he couldn't stomach another bit of the in-jokes and snide bickering going on, which he only understood due to Mist Flame mental translating fuckery he wasn't actually sure any of the little powerful family recalled was a thing. While thankfully Sonya did not mind him bowing out of the kitchen for a while…

…this was not remotely what he had in mind for an afternoon off.

"I don't suppose…"

"Nope." Usov denied cheerfully, idly rifling through a file cabinet's content and picking files out at will without two glances at what they covered. "Dama said to handle the problem, we handle the problem."

Cesare glanced over the information being pulled out so casually, all of it files on every member of the household he worked in without anything extra, then to the two law enforcers attempting to troubleshoot their equipment and get something to work hunched over a monitor on a cart in one corner of the rented room. "…yeah, I don't believe you actually require the assistance."

"I don't." Confirmed the Mist boy flatly, slanting normally brown but now unearthly glowing dark blue eyes to him over a shoulder as he did something improbable to a document deemed fit to be left behind. "But the point remains, you asked for something different. And you were ordered to help clean up this mess."

"And she deemed it my responsibility to 'learn' better, yes. I was there when she decided so. As a matter of fact, so were you." Countered the assassin, getting up from the police-rented kitchen table and passing one painfully new scut of intermediate age between young teen and young adult with a carton of take away coffee in hand. He hitched a thumb questioningly at the kid's back, got a dismissive wave of a hand aimed more at the table than the young police officer…

Cesare picked up a mug of coffee, his brand of beans he kept at the castle. Freshly brewed, but with that slight edge of burnt bitterness that meant Ruslana made it. As if the copper inset in white porcelain hadn't already informed him it was from the very same kitchen he needed some time away from, since the mug was part of the Lovely Bossy Dragoness' good set of china for her high-class assassin gentleman caller, the scent was scores better than the cheap dregs the police were drinking.

A part of him, petty and shallow as all fuck, hoped the idiots could tell there was better coffee in the room and choked on their envy.

"In all actuality, all I'm supposed to do is waste your time. Since, of course, you're costing the boss time." Usov countered dryly, slamming the last drawer he emptied out of anything they might want from the police espionage attempt. A absent twirl of a wrist had all the files he took out of the file cabin neatly stacked in an arm, and the child aimed a fairly pointed look up at him. "So, ask already. I'm getting a little tired of waiting."

"Yes, because you have so little time to waste now." Cesare countered pointedly over the rim of his mug. "Ask what?"

"Well, the other point to this whole waste of time," Usov clarified snobbishly, looking like a little overworked paper pusher than a reality-warping underaged minion of a criminal power he was, "was to teach you how to work in a group rather than on your lonesome."

The assassin stared at the boy flatly for a long second, then glanced over to the now three members of Italia's military police basically scratching their heads over their whatever number 'malfunction' they had suffered since the boss returned home. "Yes… I see. I should really be working with others that so badly outclass the poor saps they are pitched against all I 'need' to do is drink coffee and wait around in plain view. This, Usov, is not working with. This is working around, at best. More superfluous I could not be if I tried, and trust me. I once worked with Sinclair. Being 'useless' is an annoying result of such short-lived stupidity."

"That." The not even preteen child insisted pointedly, waving the files under his nose. "Is exactly the point. Others, Cesare, others have skills you do not have. Have skills that are situationally more useful at certain times. You have all these skills. I warp reality! Just ask, and I can do that for you. The boss can tear anything asunder with her bare hands, multiply matter with barely an effort. You have that too. Galina can make a sheet of paper into bulletproof material, has various powders that can give anyone she dusts with it the same. Learn to use us, when applicable. We do not require purchasing, bribery, or convincing. Just ask, Cesare. Our skills are yours to make use of. You are one of us."

"Very… creepy, Usov." Muttered the assassin around the rim of the mug.

"You ran with others in your childhood, did you not? For reasons, whatever they were which no longer apply…" Usov glared up at him, that unearthly glow in his eyes intensifying to a gut-wrenching degree even as the Mafioso glowered dangerously back at him. "Whatever they were, whatever reasons, you once ran with others. Pooling resources, wasn't it?"

"You, child, are treading on dangerous grounds."

"I don't care about your past. No one but Shamal does, and he only cares for what lingering connections he can get to his deceased godfather. Adapt, survive, live on. Pool resources with us now, Cesare. Your invitation was bought by the strength of character of Renato Sinclair, don't piss it away in the wind for pride." The Mist snapped reality in half, an after-image of burning indigo eyes lingered in Cesare's for the second it took for him to grip his knives which prevented him from cutting the little brat…

…the Mafioso found himself in the sunken kitchen garden, coffee mug spilled on the dirt under his sensible leather loafers he worked in. Sans an upstart mind-reading little brat with a limited number of days left to live, any files they had gone to retrieve, and the trifecta of inept police spies.

"There are better ways to make a point." Cesare announced into the silence bitterly, anger piqued and perfectly aware of it.

Better the child took himself off, and left him somewhere without easy targets. Cesare did not feel like socializing too well at this point in time.

"Have fun?"

Of course. He sighed heavily, sheathing his filleting knives into the sheaths strapped to the underside of his forearms. "Lovely Bossy Dragoness, I am not currently… fit for public right now."

The boss drew on one of her ever-revolving cast of vaguely oriental-style pipes, blowing out an entirely obscene amount of tobacco smoke over the banister that separated the raised patio from the back acers. "Five minutes, then you can screw off for however long."

"I take it this is my real punishment for that murder?"

"I really don't fucking care about you killing people, Cesare." Insisted the blonde boredly, making a small circle with the bowl of her pipe as she watched the dogs race about the cleared if not quite maintained garden. "I do care there's people in this place that could've short-circuited a lot of the trouble we're currently experiencing. But no, I'm not that much of a dick. Everyone's going to have their own opinions about it, but I've said my piece. Five minutes on something else."

"Hmm?"

"Well, two things. No, you can't kill Usov. Trust me, you don't want to open that can of worms. He's never going to be physically present enough for it, and each time you fail he's just going to be a brat and taunt you about it more. Just… don't go there. Ignore him, it'll piss him off more."

He had to laugh, even if he really didn't feel all that amused. "And just why would you let me know what would irk the boy more?"

"Because Usov's a creepy little fuck sometimes. If he fixates on you, maybe he'll stop calling me 'Dama' to piss me off."

"No, I won't!" Said brat spoke for himself, without doing them the courtesy of being present to take his licks like a good boy.

Sonya drew on her pipe again without so much as a flinch or twitch, which was markedly better than what Cesare could keep him to.

"…so, what exactly did you need?"

"Not 'need', more like 'want'. Mom's going to want the run of the kitchen for Christmas dinner… but Russians do Christmas after the rest of the world does." She clarified, with something significantly less personally sore or infuriating for him than expected. "While I don't think anyone will complain, I need you to stock a few things extra for next week on top of what you've probably already got planned. We're going to have two Christmas dinners this year, one you don't have to cook."

Cesare first picked up the mug, aware he was the one who would have to clean it anyways so he might as well take it with him. Then he climbed out of the sheltered garden nook to join her on the patio. "While I of course will do the preparation and most of the work for Ruslana to whip together a fine dinner for the 'rest of the world's' understanding of when the event occurs… and acquire the ingredients for your equally charming mother, I believe I might be best served elsewhere those nights."

Sonya turned to him fully, arching an eyebrow instead of ask.

Which he appreciated her not asking… he did. Even if she was apparently curious enough to give an expression this time.

"You, and your family, are entirely too sickeningly sweet." Cesare took great joy in informing her, earning himself two raised eyebrows now. "I greatly prefer savory, Lovely Bossy Dragoness. So much sugar gives me… indigestion."

She tapped the burned-out ash in her pipe's bowl out using the balustrade. "Okay, whatever. Just… don't do anything else stupid. Also… the Chinese don't do Christmas, but they do a New Year's thing. Can you ask Mingxia what she and old man Yaozu want for it?"

Significantly less murderous distraction than what he wanted, but the temptation of learning more of Chinese cuisine was a great motivator indeed. Curious that she seemed to think he required more buttering up to remain in her household, even if his recent 'murderous impulse' seemed to have irked her. "Am I your head chef or not? Of course, Lovely Bossy Dragoness. Just leave the schedule and gathering supplies to me."

"Also… I might want to do a little dinner-party at the end of January. I'll let you know next week if we're going to do it or not, and a general estimate on numbers."

"Hmm? Mysterious…"

"Please. Just something Fiorella mentioned a while ago that I might just… weigh in on. Besides, our neighbors have been getting a bit unruly when I'm out…"

(Tuesday the 23rd of December, 1970. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Lisa eyed the stonework behind Sonya, taking in the pale peach-orange façade of her castle in the extremely early dawn light. "I'm not sure how you deal with all that space, although I must admit I love your bathroom for the same reason. Very relaxing, very big, and that bathtub… I may have wasted the entire morning in that tub."

"As long as you had fun, nonna." Shamal weighed in, marching down the front stoop with two garment bags accompanied by his aunt hauling the smaller of the three pieces of luggage she brought down to Italy with her. "That's the important part."

Arseniy eyed the kid's general position skeptically, given that garment bags hung over both the kid's sides and basically covered his head entirely. He then glanced at her, while taking both the suitcase and the garment bags to load the rental car Hawk needed to get his driver's license in next week but they got early for this whole situation.

"So long as he's having fun, what the fuck do I care what he's doing?" Defended the younger thief dryly. "So long as it's not stupid, I mean."

Her foster father grunted, laying the dresses Lisa and Tatiana would be wearing carefully over their overnight bags and the luggage they'd need for the half-day long drive down to the southern end of Italy where the Iron Fort was.

"Arseniy, you did bring down a suit… right?" Lisa suddenly questioned archly after checking to ensure she had their inventions safely in her purse, before the older vor could slam the boot shut. "You're not going to try to leave it behind and go in your track suit, right?"

He looked at her expressionlessly, for a long moment. His lover stared back, imperious and entirely unimpressed.

Eventually, the vor gave a soundless tisk. "Should go check."

"Yes love, bring it down when you find it too." Lisa shot at his colorful back tartly, heaving a sigh when he just grunted in response. "Men."

Sonya looked down when someone tugged on her skirt, her baby brother equally as imperiously as his mother holding up an arm to be picked up. When they were righted again, him in her arms, Valera ignored his poor bossed around sister and sent their mother a curiously suspicious look.

Silently, because apparently Arseniy wasn't the only man of few words in the family.

"You're staying behind with your sister, Valera. Behave. It'll only be for two and a half days."

Valera shot a sideways look at her, Sonya tilted her head and eyed him back from the corner of her eye.

After a moment, the toddler grumpily slumped into her arms.

She was taking that to mean 'sure'.

Tatiana pressed a kiss to little Valera's cheek, darting in another for Sonya, then bounced over to Lisa just to take her arm in her own. "Road trip with mom! I call shotgun."

"It'll take about eleven or twelve hours, all total." She volunteered, even if she suspected the older woman knew full well how long the trip was from either personal experience or her own world-trotting thief days. "You have reservations at the Cala del Porto, on the harbor of Vibo Valentia, under the name 'Primakova'. Two rooms, two queen sized beds. For three days, just in case."

"Mmm… are you picking up the bill for us too?"

"Consider it part of your Christmas present, from me and the brat."

"Oh good. Then I can pick up more texts to compare the curriculum around here to what we've got…" Lisa heavy-handedly hinted at, both brightly and pointedly.

Amused, Sonya huffed while hauling Valera higher up on her hip instead of let him go off after her dog with that look in his eyes. "Well then, by all means. I'll even get the room service bill, too."

Her baby brother sharply hauled on a hank of her bangs, moodily glowering. She pointedly ignored him, if he wasn't going to talk she wasn't going to guess.

Lisa sighed, pointedly eyeing her biological son until he noticed.

Valera sulked, crossing pudgy arms over his chest. Still silently.

"Face it, we are all utter brats."

The older woman gave her a tolerantly amused look, tugging Tatiana on to the car as Arseniy finally came out of the castle again with yet another garment bag slung over a shoulder.

(Wednesday the 24th of December, 1970. Sonya's Bedroom, De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Her wake-up call being an elbow to the base of her spine and a dog's surprised barking, Sonya figured she could be excuse for being a bit grumpy right now. "Brat, someone had better be dying."

"We don't have a nativity!"

"…can I murder whatever the hell that is?"

Alek, after sniffing suspiciously at both her and the kid, decided his rude as hell wakeup call was in fact a call to vacate the room. Her dog grumpily slunk off the foot of her bed and made for her bedroom door, only to appear stumped at it not being magically opened for him. For all of two seconds before someone noticed his contemplations on where to start gnawing it open and did it for him, then she watched as he got a face full of Marco's tongue before the thief's attention was forcibly redirected.

"You can't kill baby Jesus!" Shamal practically howled in her ear, and when she risked a look backwards over a tattooed shoulder the brat was indeed pouting ferociously to go with that outraged tone of voice. "Mamma, take this seriously!"

"Won't make me feel better about being woken at…" She squinted at the analog alarm clock on her bedside table, next to the lamp and a phone that saw significantly more use, then shot her godson an unamused glare of her own when she understood he had woken her at before six in the damn morning. "Shamal, seriously?"

"We're suppose to add baby Jesus tonight, mamma." Giving up on the decently practiced if still faked wounded outrage, the young Mist draped himself across her back to presumably mope about the whole subject but thankfully continued in a more normal tone that spared her hearing. "I forgot it was a thing. We just saw it on the day before Christmas in the Iron Fort, because we were encouraged to not be anywhere but the children's wing for the Ball. Half the time when I went to bother you those times you went with Mister Renato was just to go past it and see it."

"I need more than the day of warning to do anything about your religious shit, brat."

"You're probably going to be asked where you put yours. Figured I should say something before we go to Church."

"…it's Wednesday."

"Christmas Mass. This evening and tomorrow morning."

"…fuck, I forgot that was a thing." She muttered into the crook of her own elbow, raking the fingers of the same side's hand through her disordered hair before pushing herself semi-upright to a half reclined sitting position. "Why, exactly, did you feel the need to wake me up this fucking early? It's evening Mass if we go today, right?"

Her brat was silent long just long enough Sonya gained the suspicion there were multiple reasons for her wake-up call. "Because the morning before was the only time the orphans at the Iron Fort could see the nativity they set up. I just remembered, and telling you even if you can't do anything about it is time-sensitive."

"Except, Shamal… Usov exists. We can mock something together to display rather easily, he and Anna can keep it up for however long we need them to."

Obviously scrambling for some reason she'd accept for his reasoning, the child blinked his big brown eyes over at her innocently in a decent bid for time.

There were about three beats too many of complete silence for her to buy that, however.

"You know… telling me what you wanted to know will get you an answer that much quicker." Sonya pointed out blandly around a jaw-splitting yawn. "There is little I'd not tell you, and most of what I wouldn't is either highly sensitive and personal or not my place to tell others about."

Shamal gave her a, either real or more expertly faked that his usual expressions, half-pout of suspicion and disgust as his whole elaborately complicated sideways interrogation thing was given up without protest. "I wanted to make sure you were here."

"…as in, I exist?" Didn't they already have that conversation?

"No, as in you in your room." Under her utterly blank stare, and before she decided if that referenced her sleeping in her room or a heavy-handed hint he wanted her around more, he slouched backwards against her thigh moodily. "You've been missing occasionally when I come in to bother you. I don't like that."

"Did you check Verde's place? Sometimes when I can't sleep I go bother him." She was trying not to hog the scientist to herself, because he was working on things on her behalf… but the lure of a semi-decent night's rest was really something she wasn't into denying herself. "Or I go out into town to just wander about, or I go swimming, or-"

Shamal blew a raspberry in her face.

Not that she was all that offended or anything, but Sonya needed a moment to take in the kid's sheer gall. She had people still avoiding her personal space on Mafia Land, hardened criminals from around the world not brave enough to brush shoulders with her, but this tetchy brat felt fully comfortable in being a little shit to her face.

It made her feel… disgustingly gooey.

"If you're out and about doing your Cloud thing, Miss Anna will tell me so." Her brat informed her as a matter of fact, as if the trifecta of Mists she had stocked her own damn household with keeping tabs on her wasn't remotely weird or a little creepy. "But now she's added a new one, the 'Miss Bazanova has not given me leave to inform you of her whereabouts' one."

"…probably the nights I go bother Verde. That's his place, brat. The rule is you have to ask before spying on our personal households, aside Usov's because he lives there already. You don't need my permission, you need his."

"But I'm your brat, I shouldn't need permission to know where you are."

Sonya hauled herself fully upright as much as a seated position allowed for, mildly amused and certain this needed derailment before it got even more weirdly out-there. "How about this instead. Make up a warning system so I know when you want me nearby? I can't always promise to heed it, and obviously if I'm not in the country it'll be pretty useless, but at the very least I could call home or something if it's lit up."

The fact he got super excited about the suggestion, after five seconds to ponder it over, told her it was probably something she shouldn't have suggested it at all. Shamal suddenly rolled his little boney butt off her bed, then ran himself straight into one of the walls of her mirror-room closet affair.

That he went through the wall instead of running his head into it was only the grace of his Flame nature alone.

Bemused, somewhat annoyed at the early hour still, and a little tired overall… Sonya wondered if she'd be able to fall asleep in an hour or not. An hour was about all the lazing time she had left, since she also had to do her conditioning today… well.

If she pushed that back to mid-afternoon?

…Alek wouldn't need her to walk him, he and his brother had the whole castle's stone-wall fenced in acreage to piss in.

The thief decided yes, yes she could afford more than another hour. Especially the only reason why she was up this fucking early had taken himself off to do whatever.

Hopefully she could get her ass back to sleep.

(ooo000ooo)

(Wednesday the 24th of December, 1970 continued. De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

"So… I think he intends to visit."

"All signs point to such, yes."

"I can hear you two." Skull called over a shoulder, not quite able to erase the smirk from his face anyways.

Sonya sipped a cup of coffee noisily, standing side by side with Adrik looking at a pile of shipping crates the stuntman managed to almost outrace on his way here from England. Their backs to the spot he parked his motorcycle into in the six-car garage, that seemed entirely abandoned still even if she had a lot of people here too, made the whole 'ignoring him' thing even more childish and funny.

Except, he appreciated childish and funny a lot. Which was probably kind of the point, but still.

The other thief, who he had no idea was helping her out, gave a bit of a rough-sounding cough before tossing his little sister a smirk. "Wonder when he intends to get his crap off the drive?"

"Hopefully soon, or I'll toss it on the roof and he can pick it all up from there."

"Nya… you're so mean." It didn't even earn him a twitch, and he used his best annoying whine too.

Rude as well as mean.

Skull finished up checking over his junkyard build, just to keep being sure that Cleo had made it without needing a desperate oil change or a set of new guts, and picked up his duffle bag of road-tripping supplies before he draped himself over his little sister's shoulders. "Sooo… mean…"

She grunted, annoyed he jostled her arm and spilled a bit of her drink all over her thumb. Transferring her cup to her other hand, she sucked on the 'wounded' digit for a second. Still solidly ignoring him too.

Adrik cracked first, starting to snicker into a fist.

"Hi, Cherep. Nice to see you at home for once." Sonya allowed dryly, around the knuckle of her thumb. "I didn't tell Shamal the whole family was coming in for Christmas, I was wondering if that was prudence on my part or a surprise."

"Quite honestly, I could probably do another year-long tour around the world… but it is nice to take a load off for once." He was pretty interested in seeing what space she intended to 'give' him, since he was holding onto the deed for her. "So, grand tour time?"

"Why don't you sort your crap first, not just this junk but the junk you sent on to me for all these 'promotional' deals you took?" At his completely blank look, because he didn't remember taking all that many she caught him by the wrist and tugged him surprisingly gently to the front doors of her ridiculous castle. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"I didn't forget!" He still seriously didn't think he had that much, but he gamely followed her anyways.

Skull was mildly impressed with the whole castle thing already, marble floors and an airy library-esque feel to the main floor with all those multi-colored bookcases against the walls contrasting with the light-toned stone, but he was more impressed that Sonya had gotten enough human-touch experience to feel safe enough to grab him again.

Also, there was an elevator at the back of the castle's main structure. Bonus.

"Lisa and Arseniy are down here attending the Vongola Ball, she's the current Lady Vongola's Mafia Home Tutor. Since her husband apparently failed to tell her jack shit about the lifestyle she was marrying into."

"Okay."

"Tatiana's also down here, attending the same damn Ball, as Ganauche the Vongola Ninth Generation Lightning Guardian… and the Defective's, date." She continued as she punched the fourth floor button for them as he got on the elevator behind her, which was unfortunately as high as the castle's back elevator could go.

"Gauche the defective, got it." Yes, he totally managed the name just to hear his little sister snicker at him.

Sonya rocked slightly on her feet as the elevator moved, likely not as practiced as him with all the elevators in various hotels around the world that he had practically lived out of for the entire year. "Valera's… somewhere around here. He's sulking that I'm not letting him ride my dog around like a toddler-sized pony, the brat."

"Did you… lose our little brother?" Skull questioned curiously, examining his appearance in the polished grey metal that made up the little moving box in her home. He might really need a shower, and perhaps a shave in a bit.

Also, he wondered what he'd look like with a nose-piercing…

"There are three Mists living here, it's not possible to lose shit."

"Really? Sweet. That'll be handy."

"Shamal, Usov, and his apprentice girl Anna." She ticked off a hand as the elevator doors smoothly slid open to let them out to a rather nondescript hallway.

…or as nondescript as a castle's back hallway could be, which was still pretty rich even if he had lived out of both crappy and well-appointed hotels for several months. "How is my little brat of a nephew?"

"Sharpening his deception skills, but I think he's doing well. Made a few complaints, made a few local friends apparently… not that the brat's told me that yet." Actually sulking as she said it, Sonya vaulted the railing of a staircase going up still from the landing the elevator apparently ended at. "Gained a bit of a crush on one of the maids, but he's not telling me which either."

Skull went the proper way around, amused at how familiar she was with shortcuts around her living space. Also amused she was so upset with her darling baby brat growing up, but that one was more an issue that just was rather than one that could be solved for her.

"So up here is all yours. I only just put someone in on the floor below, and that's Cesare the kitchen's chef. I only asked he stick around the summer months, but he's been hanging about for longer just because." His little sister informed him as he joined her on the landing for the fifth floor of her castle, flicking her hand at two more doors on this floor on her way past. "These two are your guest rooms, which are currently stuffed full of your junk, your room is up top on the sixth."

There was a significantly smaller staircase than the double-wide wooden affair connecting the fifth and fourth floors, he barely got an eyeful of yet more pale marble edged with a semi-darker wood floor before the view out those wide bay windows that made up most of three walls of 'his' bedroom caught and held his attention.

…this was really pretty country.

Tossing his duffle bag of overnight supplies on the made bed, queen sized and bouncy enough to do for now, Skull went right up to the windows facing the front of the castle grounds that gave him a fantastic view out over the nearby local village and the sea.

Sonya's ridiculous castle was perched on a hill, next to one of the mountains that made up the valley the little tiny village was centered within. On the sixth floor, with three windows on three walls, Skull had a magnificent view of not only the strip of pale tan beach next to an aquamarine sea stretching on forever… but a sky-high view of her tiny Italian fishing village nestled in the very green valley and almost half of the two dusty green-brown-gray mountains framing it.

There were a few farms on the sides, he suspected either grapes or olives from the very distant look he had of not only the plants but the farms' general layouts. They were perched halfway up the high hills around the winding village built up in apparent haphazard layers, all pouring into the sea and the few ships waiting for their loads in the harbor or for the few fishing boats out past the seawall protecting that strip of beach.

Okay, if only just for this view… Skull would not remotely mind calling this place home too.

The vertigo he felt this high up kind of reminded him a little of being airborne in the middle of his shows, and he loved it. The view was nothing to sneeze at either, but the height… the height was a definite selling point.

Turning on a heel, he shot an amused half-glare at his little sister. "No one else wanted the high-perch?"

"Nope. Thought maybe Anna or Usov would enjoy the view… but they apparently don't like being so far up." Sonya confessed easily, with a small smirk on her lips. "Kind of reminds me of being up on the high-wire, so maybe something this high is better reserved for those able to handle the height."

Oh yeah, that reminded him. "I want you to teach me to walk on a high-rope. If you don't mind."

"There's also a scuba-shop in the village, and apparently our prospective butler kid knows how to sail, and I found an Inverted Cloud just like you that offers horseback riding lessons he wants us to take."

…was this a competition? "Cliff-diving?"

"Could argue about mountain climbing a little…"

"Para-gliding?"

"Base jumping."

Skull… didn't know what that was. Awesome. "What's base jumping?"

"Bit like cliff-diving. Taking a parachute and jumping off a cliff or high place. Buildings, cliffs, whatever. How about camping? Shamal and I did for a tiny bit this summer… in our backyard."

Skull slapped his hands together in front of him, getting pumped up for the whole 'vacation' thing she had going for them. "Okay, okay, you win. What's up first?"

"Horseback riding. I promised Adelardo we'd be by around the end of this year and start of next. Besides, Shamal already knows how and can laugh at us while we learn." Sonya turned around to leave him in his room, waving a hand at him as she went out one of two doors on this entire floor. "We'll see what comes after later, once you have a general idea when your next show will be. But for right now? You need a god-damn shower, and it's Christmas. So, family time first."

He experimentally sniffed himself, and had to conclude she might have a point when he scorched his own nose on the tee-shirt he had on under his leather jacket. "Right. See you at dinner?"

"Don't forget to clean up your junk." Sonya shot behind her as she left him alone.

He did not have that much junk. Promotional junk. Skull was going to prove it, but before he stuck a foot into his mouth by getting proved decidedly wrong he should probably double check. Then he'd rub it in her face that he did not have that much junk.

Even if his little sister would probably never admit to being wrong.

One last lingering view out those windows, because seriously that was a brilliant view, and Skull left his somewhat bare little tower-room out the same door he got in by and went down the stairs. One of the stairs.

A set of stairs downwards.

Shaking his head, because of course someone like Sonya would pick up an entire castle when she finally needed a permanent address, Skull debated only a second before going through the right-hand 'guest room' door on the fifth level of the damn building.

Only to get a few gallon-jug buckets full of something tiny and rattling to fall on his foot. Next to the door, and from the looks of the darkened interior of the room there was more than enough junk to fill up the whole bedroom. Which looked a tiny bit bigger than his bedroom overhead, so… yeah.

Okay. He had a lot of junk.

Promotional junk, but still junk.

Toeing the bucket of M&Ms back into his apparent default junk-room, he glanced at the other 'guest room' he was getting.

Surely not?

He inched over, almost certain there couldn't be any way he filled both rooms already. He hadn't been on the road that long, nor could he seriously be that popular…

Easing the other guest room door open, Skull quickly slammed it shut again when a hubcap of all things rolled on out and apparently an entire avalanche of other promotional things started shifting rather ominously in the depths within.

"Okay… I have a massive amount of junk." Where the hell would he be stashing Mauricio when the Spaniard joined back up with him?

(Thursday the 25th of December, 1970. The Ballroom, The Iron Fort, Italian Republic.)

Politely accepting the small shot glass of vodka from a footman, Lisa immediately passed the alcohol to Arseniy to knock back for her once the boy got out of range. "This is… a little extreme."

"Boring." Volunteered the vor almost quietly as he discarded the shot glass on the banquet table providing small bites to eat while the socializing part of the night was ongoing.

Which, currently near them, held only empty containers for various forms of liquor.

"A bit… pretentious." She corrected in Italian so he could get in the practice he might just need if Tatiana was serious about her Lightning-boy, settling back into her 'politely interested' face for whomever her poor student wished to introduce her too again. "I'm tempted to get myself a lighter and just start sparking something interesting to watch. For a people so flammable by nature, you'd think they'd avoid easily fire-catching outfits."

Her darkly amused vor lover scared off the girl Fiorella had been forced into bringing over, and the current generation's Lady Vongola seized upon the tiny opening to gain some time to herself with all due speed. "Lisa… I must admit, I honestly didn't understand why you brought him along but I will fully admit my foolishness. I simply must acquire one of those."

"Arseniy's good for things like this. But a slightly overzealous bodyguard is a decent idea to pursue, especially ones equally as imposing as they're effective." Relieving her student from the untouched flute of champagne she had been holding onto for at least an hour now, and passing it onto her alcohol disposal method who swilled it back like the man deprived of his usual liberation he was, she guided the girl behind her lover for a moment of actual true privacy. "How have you been holding up?"

Fiorella gave the question some thought rather than professing her 'perfectly fine' line she had been feeding everyone since the start of the 'event'. Taking a deep breath, the Lady Vongola firmly put her back to the packed ballroom and shut her eyes. "It is… incredibly disturbing to realize exactly how many of those 'gold diggers' I used to resent abusing our staff are actually… well, mafia ladies. They keep wishing to 'talk shop' with me, now I'm not one of those 'dumb lambs' anymore who still don't know what lifestyle their husbands have involved themselves into."

"And what do you think of those women now?"

"…I prefer the company of your daughters more." Bitterly admitted the wife of one of the most powerful Italian Mafia men in the room, giving her Home Tutor a weak smile as a gust of cooler evening air finally reached them to enjoy. "At least they're not condescending about it when I learned what had been kept from me purposefully."

"Sonya very much would not, since I highly doubt she really remembers what blunders others make about things they don't know because she doesn't care to keep track of such nonsense, but I assure you Tatiana entirely would've had you known her before."

"At the very least, she hasn't done it to me." Fiorella corrected obediently if only a touch wryly, risking a glance across the fairly packed grand room to where the redheaded eldest of her brood was standing teasing her besotted boyfriend and husband's Guardian about something or another. "The timing just worked better with her then, I guess."

"So, how much have you altered your social circle due to their previous behavior?"

"Not a damn bit, no matter how hard that is." Turning back to the older woman, and adjusting her black lace and satin dress before she slid halfway out of the very boldly dipping neckline, she plastered on a 'polite' false smile she had on the entire night. "No matter how disgusting I find them, for the information I can get from them will either make it worth it or give me enough dirt to 'correctly' remove them from my social circle later. Permanently."

"Good girl." Lisa praised, knowing exactly how hard the girl was working to keep things at least at a polite level in this den of corruption and treachery glitzed up in falsified glamor. "Remember you can always come back and scare off the worst on Arseniy."

The vor they were using as an anti-spying device grunted a snort, amused at their plans or otherwise just by her words.

…or he was amused at his duties tonight, because that was entirely possible too.

"Off you go, my dear. Time to make nice with all the little bitches attempting to manipulate you." Preferably before she heard yet another three sour words against how much of Fiorella's time Lisa got by virtue of being the girl's Home Tutor. "Let them try, reap the rewards, and prune the deadweight as you go. Step one is always gathering more information."

The younger brunette sighed heavily, took in a new bracing breath of cooler air, and turned on a heel to march back into the fray with renewed determination.

Taking two steps to the side to remove herself from behind her lover, Lisa was not as amused to realize somehow Arseniy had gotten one of the footmen to bring him a local beer as she was by her student's dutiful obedience. "Okay. How? You've said maybe three words all night."

The vor simply saluted her with the fancy looking green bottle with a silver label, taking another swig smugly as he lounged in place to clear them some breathing room as she asked of him.

"I must admit, Mrs. Primakova, I like your style."

"Miss. Thank you." Lisa turned, utterly unsurprised they had been snuck up upon since they were heavily into enemy territory, to take in the appearance of the last generation's Lady Vongola. "We're not married, as I believe you are informed of perfectly well. Ottavia Vongola, I presume?"

The elderly Italian lady smirked lopsidedly, lingering in the arched doorway Lisa had missed existing in this little corner of the ballroom and did not make a lick of architectural sense in existing. "That would be me, Daniella Vongola. I've been waiting to meet you for some time now."

Examining the edges of her little doorway, she narrowed her eyes when the corner just wavered slightly out the corner of her eyes. Well aware of Mist-shenanigans due to the Moscow Web hiding young Valera for her while working, she concluded her Mist Guardian was letting the elderly Sky 'drop in' on them and this wasn't the security risk it initially appeared as. "Apparently more than enough to rearrange reality to suit you… hmm… flattering. I suppose."

The Sky tilted her head to the side to 'include' the vor in the conversation, but Arseniy simply remained in place blocking all view into the slice of the side wall they were speaking through. "Oddly, I understand perfectly. Frankly I'm more interested in your ability to raise a perfectly polite, if blunt, lady Cloud to be so well behaved. For their type."

"Stop making excuses for them." Lisa advised bluntly, even if she was absolutely sure her words would be just eye dropping water on an out of control wildfire from what her daughters had reported back to her. "Especially so early. They're perfectly capable of behaving themselves."

"So you buy into your youngest's theory of 'nurture over nature' then?" Daniella questioned without addressing Lisa's pointed comment, adopting a thoughtful expression. "Well, she is a very good example of it working."

Too old to make adjustments to her assumptions, or too unwilling. Unfortunate, as the former head of power having the ability to change her tune about anything as socially or politically charged as how certain 'valuable' members of their society were treated would help Tatiana's personal crusade to 'save' her boyfriend's fellow Lightnings in Italy.

Ah well, Lisa didn't require this Lady Vongola's assistance to ensure her eldest was satisfied and happy with her personal goals. Fiorella would do just as good a job, and perhaps an even better one than this old warhorse.

"So. We've met. Goodnight."

"The number of people that can dismiss me is small, Miss Primakova. You are not one of them."

"Am I not?" She countered sharply, amused as all hell. "As your daughter-in-law's Home Tutor, I'm afraid I very much am one of those few people. Unless, of course, you wish to interfere with my instruction of the dear girl and turn your successor's wife against you. I wouldn't think someone of your age and experience would like a rocky home life this late."

Daniella's smirk remained in place, and Lisa had the odd feeling of déjà vu for all of a split second. "But you need to work remotely, and my assets are more than you can turn down in the goal of getting dear Fiorella up to snuff quickly. You could, I suppose… but you do not want to go that way."

Unfortunately, the old woman had a point. Not much of one, but a point.

"While it would take longer, you are correct in that you could be of some real help… you are more a bonus than a necessity." She corrected politely, slightly amused how everyone older than her seemed to think their value was greatly inflated due to whatever reasons. "I do not require your permission nor assistance to necessitate pandering to your bullshit."

Honey brown eyes widened momentarily, then the grin turned disturbingly toothy. "Like mother like daughter, I suppose. Young Miss Sonya likes to call out things just as bluntly. Learned well from your knee, your youngest girl."

"And my eldest is in this very same room." Agreed the foster mother of the girls in question not remotely as darkly as she would've wished to, well aware of her stakes in this conflict and the very fine line she could walk and where she needed to stop. "Interesting how suddenly dependent they are on Italian goodwill in their very separate lives. More interestingly enough, how suddenly close they got to influential people within the same society. Almost… you could say, the same family."

The edge in Daniella's smirk turned from dark with a touch of threat to something older and more worn down. "You can't always guide the younger brats as closely as one might wish. It's their lives to fuck up, and fuck up they will a time or thrice."

"Not if you try to control them, no." Lisa agreed with most of her statement in spirit, mostly. "Oddly, they tend to pick the right choices once they understand the full scope. Strange how that works, isn't it?"

"Horses to water."

"Perhaps you require a different sort of water. Brine is technically drinkable, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Arseniy suddenly shifted his massive shoulders, gaining both their attention and revealing that Daniella had perhaps lingered on a touch too long to do this whole aside discreetly. They were starting to attract a bit of attention from those also lingering nearest to the walls aiming to either cool off or drink something to counteract the heat of this many bodies in one abet massive room.

"I think I agree with dear Fiorella, I simply must acquire something like him."

"That one is mine, alas." Lisa interjected a tiny bit smugly, smirking in her 'rival's' face. "Get your own vor."

Daniella only raised one eyebrow as she turned to take advantage of the opened side-portal to wherever her Mist Flame user was maintaining for her. "Been there, passed on the option to keep a man like that in my life, might only regret it a tiny bit… but I believe I made the right choice for me. Forgive my touch of envy, just an old woman musing."

"Don't say that… we're both grandmothers." She groaned around a laugh, rounding her lover to help hide the fact that the Eighth Vongola Sky had just made her departure. "I'm not that old."

Her utterly unhelpful and annoying vor made a skeptical sound while draining his beer.

She smacked his abs with the back of her hand, even if all that really did was make her hurt her hand. "Shut up, dear."

(ooo000ooo)

(Thursday the 25th of December, 1970 continued. Front parlor, De Mort Castle, Moneglia, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italian Republic.)

Sonya rolled the bottle around between her hands, checking to be sure this was out of the castle larder's stock of local beer and not the bootleg stuff Arseniy preferred since it didn't taste like piss. "Not really, I mean… the year was kind of shit for me, Cherep."

"Really? You have an entire castle, filled it with all sorts, and all you can say is it's shit?" Despite also being Skull de Mort and kind of an asshole, her brother dropped heavily onto the couch next to her and left poor Verde and Scruffy the duty of cleaning up all the wrapping paper from the castle's 'adult' present exchange. "It can't have been that bad, Nya."

"Shamal's godfather died, so yeah I can." Not bothering in naming the Mafioso in question, well aware Cherep never recalled what it was anyways, she curled up into his side just simply because he automatically hugged her to his ribs as an automatic reflex.

There was a beat of silence as he absorbed that news.

"Well… fuck. That is kind of shit." Cherep volunteered quietly, giving her an extra hard squeeze she really appreciated. "Sorry to hear that… even if I didn't like the guy I knew you and Shamal really did, and I guess he was pretty interesting for… you know, being a hitman."

"Just not your type of people."

"No…" He drew out admitting, even if she wasn't remotely bothered and he had to have known that.

Sonya drained the mostly empty beer bottle, just so she could discard the glass and not feel bad about wasting the alcohol, passing it up for Scruffy to grab and stuff into his rubbish bin. "So… you're famous."

"Nice subject change." Cherep teased lightly, slouching down on the couch and taking her with him to wedge against his side and the back of the wicker couch affair. "So smooth, sis. So… yeah. Mostly due to Viper getting me rates on really unlikely happenings in my contract, and being the headlining act for a good half of the whole tour. I've got at least a solid base to build up on, but now 'Skull de Mort' is a recognizable name."

She focused more on the, purple and black of course, leather motorcycle jacket he was wearing than responding as he explained how he got a couple local television broadcasts here or there and that was why she really needed to invest in things like TVs to watch things like the news and him on.

Because of course Skull would rate himself as high as the nightly news networks in how important his shows were.

Plus, it was nice to finally get that damn hug she had been wanting since the news broke that Renato had hopefully 'faked' his death.

"You're not going to have issues working around me if I stay here occasionally, right?" Cherep wondered aloud after running out of things to ramble upon, shifting where his head lay just so he could clearly see out the front-facing windows and examine the back of Verde's and Usov's houses out in the front lawn. "Because I appreciate the space to store things, but I can totally-"

"Don't worry about it, you'll help by just popping by now and again." Her entire involvement with any variation of 'Skull' would heap suspicion on him… but he had to know that was a risk, right?

"…even if I don't live here with you, I'd still visit." Her brother promised firmly, wrapping both arms around her now. "Are you absolutely sure you don't mind? Even if you just lost a friend and I know you don't deal we-?"

"The arrangement always was you're holding the deeds to whatever I have, suffer." Sonya snapped, interrupting whatever sappy and probably sympathetic thing he was going to say because she really might start sniveling if he went there. "I was here first, you're stuck with me."

He sniggered into her hair, squeezing again and still not triggering that 'stop smothering me' reflex that would normally force her into getting herself some space again. "Greedy."

"What was your first clue?" There was plenty of things they should probably talk about, she just could not be bothered right now. There was a hug, her family was less than a day away from being all together again, and she was frankly tired of painful subjects where she had to be the adult and responsibly sort it all out.

It could wait until next year to be sorted out.

Not that she had been ignoring everyone else in the room, but it was the tail end of the 'official' function they had for everyone that didn't celebrate on the seventh of January and she had left them up to either funneling off to bed or cleaning up for Cesare and Ruslana. Verde was one of the last who had not left by this point, but he had a case of beer from Adrik to drink through and she hadn't thought anything of it.

"…oh, yeah. I made a friend the normal way." The skeptical look her brother shot her was entirely uncalled for, as was the snorting of beer that turned into a splutter Verde quietly did in his little corner. "I did!"

"The fact you call it the 'normal way' is kind of self-explanatory there, Nya."

"Fuck you, it was completely normal. Right, Verde?"

"Um… I feel I must point out our association began when you rescued myself and Adrik from a hostile criminal syndicate based in the state of California." Quibbled the scientist reluctantly from behind a half-drained beer bottle, apparently deciding to flee now she had dragged him into the conversation for he drained it rather fast and got up from the armchair tucked into the corner. "The fact it continued through a kidnapping attempt upon my person does not in fact support your argument of 'normality'. In fact, I believe it is the very definition of 'abnormal'."

"I was good. And I wasn't the one stalking anyone this time." The Lightning shot her a weird look, which was not helped by Cherep starting to laugh somewhat helplessly in her face. "Oh, fuck you both. I was really proud of myself."

The stuntman attempted to muffle his humor, ended up accidentally rolling off the couch because he was an asshole, and wheezed-snickered into the floorboards. Disgusted with the both of them, Sonya stole her brother's spot and mulishly sulked in it.

"Mate, I am so sorry. I know she's got a bit of an odd understanding of social etiquette, but damn. I'm just really sorry." Cherep offered to Verde, almost squeaking the last few words because he was that much of a jackass. "But oh man… that's funny."

Apparently deciding he was safe enough for the time being, Verde left his beer and the few other presents he had been given that night in the corner to approach their couch. "I do not believe we have been introduced. Gilles Verninac, otherwise known as Verde."

"Cherep Bazanov, or Skull de Mort. Her older brother. Still seriously sorry about her. I tried." Shaking the man's hand, without bothering to get up, the stuntman instead opted to beam up at the scientist instead.

"…I am almost afraid to ask." Mused the Lightning slowly, turning his gaze to the same window Cherep had been aimlessly staring out of earlier. Anna passed something along, and the man thrust the folded mass of fabric to her surprisingly. "Merry Christmas, Sonya. I will see you on the morrow."

"Night?" That was… well, technically by their standards abrupt leave taking happened in their conversations rather often. Verde leaving behind his beer meant it was a bit odd to her, though. "I wonder why he gave me a blanket?"

It was not the most aesthetically pleasing blanket she had now, but she liked the purple-magenta-blue diamond pattern on it. Sonya spread it out over her legs to get a full look at it, then realized it was about a third of the size she had assumed from the weight of it.

In fact, it was significantly heavier than a normal duvet. She couldn't figure out what he weighed it down with, and frankly at this point she didn't care.

She curled up on the couch under her new blanket, curious of the effect the weight gave. Cozy, but strange.

"Hey, share."

"You laughed at me, fuck you."

To compound his crime against her, her brother snickered. "Aww… come on, Nya. You love me."

"Apparently, you can be replaced with a blanket."