ᴠᴜᴏᴏᴏᴏᴏɪɪɪ!

 “Is that a sword?”

“Voi…” An incredulous curl of his lips. “Looks like you don’t need a vision check. Or do you fancy a demonstration to believe what you’re seeing?”

                                   SARCASTIC STARTERS  //  ACCEPTING

THAT. …

    Is just wrong on so many levels that it bears scrutiny. ( MOCKERY, too.     Will get to that. )IRRITATION rises to a challenge perceived, flashes behind the smoky glass of crimson hues. Its sharpest edges are smoothed into the polished rim of a tumbler near overflowing.

                                         [  IT’S THAT BAD.  ]

                Xanxus’ drawl comes bearing the veneer of languid indifference ;                unhindered by the series of tiny ticks — of ivories against cut glass.

‘ My happiness is none of your concern, Superbi. ’

                               No. … Definitely not.                                       HEAVY SARCASM couldn’t have been more                             OBVIOUS, but that doesn’t mean it won’t                             be I G N O R E D all the same.

            You wanted to tell me EVERYTHING back then…

Hisui began shaking violently, like a leaf fighting a gale. This was the renowned Vongola? If so, it was truly no wonder it had taken them almost half a year to receive her request. No, it was still all just a great conundrum to her. She knew next to nothing about the mafia, only enough about the yakuza friends of her parents to get by with disillusionment, really.

“S-s…?” 

The erratic thudding of heart muscle against her rib cage was beginning to hurt, and all of a sudden she found herself willing for the man to vanish, his crooked smile and eccentric long, pale hair altogether. His presence was too overwhelming. Hisui tries to recover some confidence in the reminder that she is not his target – but why did she find even that so hard to believe, all of a sudden?

-- BUT, had the nature of her case truly been so cheap and inconsequential, Squalo would not have given her audience in the first place, would he? This would have been a simple hit left to the mangy dogs of Vongola’s lower echelons. Just how straightforward could the matter be, if it had to be consulted with XANXUS in order for special permission to be acquired? Or for the case to be addressed to Varia to begin with? 

Her case was worth some purport, alright. And it had better be worth his trouble.

“Heeeey... Who do you think you’re dealing with? Something that insignificant should be the least of your concerns, shouldn’t it?” The remark isn’t meant to comfort her, not by a long shot. It nothing, it was meant to further daunt her - and for good reason. After all, the profession of extortion isn’t limited to extract the ends of Varia’s victims, but also the wits of its clients so that no one - nonentity, political figurehead, nor daughter of - can even think of double-crossing or challenging its authority. That is the stringent quality of VARIA.

A soft chuckle soon left the lavender eyed male’s lips once Squalo said his piece. Mocking a hurt look, the snow white haired male even pouted. He wasn’t bothered by the lather’s tone, if only it was a means of egging him on.

“You know you missed my crude humor~♪ I’m pretty sure that people are getting a laugh, but it’s only because we’re slightly greeting each other in an interesting manner.”

They would be laughing themselves to their demise.

They aren’t drawing blades to square up their accounts - as of yet, even though Squalo would more than receive the shot with open arms. But as diplomacy would have it, there was no avenging old injuries now that the snotty Vongola Tenth had avowed formal alliance with what had become of the Gesso lately.

Friend or no, stepping forward was a compulsory step towards ousting the toxin in her life. Even if it will shred the Kano family name apart and leave her with fragments of nothing but pretend bliss to live off of – the life she currently led under the direction of her father was no way to eat, breathe, or love with dignity. 

She sat quietly in the cafe booth, fingers tightly interlocked on her lap. Her gaze, blank and grave. It was fearful desperation, no matter how adamant she was about putting up appearances. It was the first time she had gone out of her way to borrow from her father’s connections to… outsource to such a dangerous service. The mafia. Kings of skilled crime and racketeering. 

There was really no backing out now.

Superbi Squalo isn’t some mere halfwit who would simply take her solicitation at face value. Should her words be all truth, the woman possesses a talent that could be of convenience. Still and all, this was not a matter the Varia commander had not taken up at length with the Boss: depending on the profundity of her utility, she could be just as much of a source as a burden.

It was all too damn storybook. The adolescent daughter of a high level bureaucrat; hails from a conservative family with a silver spoon between her teeth; and yet she’s acting beneath her privilege to solicit hitmen? She’s either thick towards reality, or looking to trade. As far as Squalo is concerned, he’ll compel her to attest to the latter. There’s more to be learned yet from this ridiculously idyllic farce.

 Seems like he had spoken in his mind too soon, because not too soon after that he heard Squalo speak. Well it wasn’t a lie that he had many enemies, and the white haired male held back one of his men. Plastering on the most cheerful, and largest smile he glanced at Squalo.

 “I hope you realize that you just yelled butter in Finnish and you’re being stared at by the Finnish Mafia~♪”

 There it was, Byakuran’s own way of greeting the Varia member back. He hadn’t seen him, let alone the other members since the Rainbow Battle. Well that would sort of be a lie he supposed. There was the future incident as well, but that wasn’t technically him per say.

Needless to say, he would have a few sharp things to say if Varia, the least agreeable of the famiglia, is to show any care for maintaining even a semblance of friendliness with Byakuran. All of that strictly being ironic, of course.

           “VUUOOOOOOOOI--!!

“Voi. Shut it, Bel!” He orders brusquely, not caring to help the attention they attract. “Which do you think matters more: the Boss’ stupid cravings or your worthless opinion?” A pause as he tosses some sort of condiment container across his shoulder, straight into the cart. 

     八十 “Haha, if Squalo says so~" 

Takeshi’s grinning around his shot-glass, tiliting it back some to finish what’s left. After all… there were quite a few to get through, and he’d only had two. No room to let his mentor down after what was likely a very stressful day. Stressing months, he’s sure.

“Ha? Goal?” He echoes incredulously, lobbing yet another black look in Takeshi’s general direction. As usual, it sails clean over the younger man’s head, whose frivolity remains in poor taste on Squalo’s palate - never to make headway, it seems. Doing a slow burn, he narrows his eyes as Takeshi’s face becomes awash with a bloody flush of color. It’s not the outrageous pink that gives him away -- but rather, the deplorable flicker in the fellow sword champion’s eyes. Still boyish.  

Squalo isn’t by any means so stupid as to never notice it at face value.