#* nico

Location: undisclosed bar

It was a mere flicker in the corner of her eye. Movement from the other side of the dimly lit bar as a few of the roudier patrons fell to a dull simmer, shuffled a little closer to one another as if giving every ounce of open space to the newcomer. Dilated pupils grew ever more as shock befell some, confusion so many more. Was it so u heard of that Nico Barone himself returned to the dive bars they once frequented together? The dart flew from lithe fingertips, poised with a certain grace that didn't feel right, when paired with the air-headed facade Milena wore that night. All the better to swindle assholes out of their montly rent and then some. No bullseye, but it embedds itself into the board not hairs edge from her last. It's far too early to go hard and go home.

The third dart twirls between two digits, lips purse and tangle between her teeth in mock reference to a woman weighing up her options. It's not the game at play that holds her attention, however, that which settles into the floorboards as he moves, the change in atmosphere that burns like the hole in the back of her head. She takes aim at the board, one eye closed as if it might perfect the shot — but instead of letting it fly across the room she turns on the heel of her boot and pins Nico with a dull tip to his shoulder, "bullseye." She adds pressure, but only just before pulling the dart back, "I knew you remembered this place."

Evidence he'd carried with him incinerated, the long hours into the night and then some hadn't carried the same weight the last few weeks had. Despite whatever guilt or grief might have made a home in the cavern of his chest, Nico had given him something back. Puprose. The Family as a whole would remain under his protection; whether they could move beyond their catastrophic loss or not; but the Barone's would continue to govern his loyalty. For everything Enzo couldn't have promised his own kids, Nate would continue to stand at their backs with the same promise he'd upheld for as long as he could. No longer did his mind wander; to the state of the former board - decimated under his failing watching eye - to the body of his former friend, beside his wounded daughter. Instead, it warped itself tightly around the premise of moving forward; of standing beside the new Don as he held a vice iron grip on the future of the organization; and the downfall of this hollow. It'd already been discussed; where he was to meet Nico when it was all said and done. When loose ends, however sharp, had been removed; the immediate knife at their throat no longer the same level of threat as it'd been only hours before hand. As he finds Nico within the tower, he does little more than nod. It's done. And now the ability rested in the Don's hands to manipulate the outcome with a far less pliable grip. "I can't remember the last time I went to a bonfire," it's offhanded, and were it even possible for anyone else to be listening, couldn't be too easily construed.

thank god film was cool again.

though she was still new to that particular aspect of the artform, her trusty digital camera hung up in favor of a far more expensive alternative, lore had taken to developing film like a duck to water. maybe it was the science involved, or maybe it was the comfort of repetitive motion, but when she was in montclair's darkroom the chaos of the world seemed to calm down, the rough edges of her own life softening. in the darkroom she didn't have to think about lizzie or the mess she'd made of her other friendships. instead, she simply revealed images. memories.

and occasionally, like that afternoon, she did so with a friend.

"oh, this is the one," she chirped the moment the image was fully developed, hanging it up in a prime location to dry before turning to nico. "of course, i am open to critiques, especially because it's a picture of you, but my professor said that the final is portraiture. and though i'm biased, i feel like that's a pretty damn good one."

The shudder of indiscriminate shock that rippled through the crowd as the lights cut out sett her fingertips alight. The twisted sense of longing that'd sat in the pit of her stomach all night now entirely aflame with a thirst for whatever came next. The pit of darkness didn't phase her - the woman more wraith than human disappearing into the shadows as she watched with a predatory interest as spot fires stirred among her peers. "my, my..." her tongue flicks with a sharp click against the back of her teeth as she leers in towards the familiar, "i'm shocked.." anyone in attendance who might have hoped for a smooth, non-eventful night had suffered some truly unfortunate brain damage or been sickeningly naive. "Tell me, Barone... - do believe in the boogeyman?" There's something harrowing about the slick pretense of her tone, a flicker of a wish upon her tongue that the whole yacht full of people be plunged into a hell of her own making. "What about deja vu?" a porcelain smile reveres in the lowlight of passing cellphone flashlights, sickeningly sweet in nature.

Although fault didn't lie within the palms of his own hands, Nate felt it like a noose around his neck. The Board - Enzo, people he swore to protect with every fibre of his being, gone. And the Family left in the resulting tailspin without any real idea of what they were facing. Though it was never a very well kept secret that Enzo had certain ways of manipulating and doling out punishments to his children, Nate had never found it within him to turn a complete blind eye. Regardless of the friendship that had grown between the two men, Nate was and had always been a subordinate. One entrusted to protect and simultaneously watch those he was told were most important, become victim to the kind of love nobody should have to suffer. His closest friend missing - Nate could help but feel conflicted at the flutter of relief that ease the tension that was once permanent between his shoulders when he looked at Nico. At any of them. "The Hollow claimed he was still alive," and regardless of who he'd reached out to within the police department, as Enzo Barone's - and the Family's entrusted protector, he was regarded with little more than suspicion. "I will always be loyal to your father, Nico." His low timbre is unforgiving, but the look in his eyes remained a stoic reminder that it didn't mean he was about to find himself on a hellbent path of finding the man, if it meant the people who remained under his protection would suffer because of it. With Enzo gone, that loyalty drew a direct path to Nico - to his siblings. He found himself at a crossroads; and he bled confliction. "You tell me where you want me to look, and I'll do it." Whether that meant look for the Don - or look inwards, focus on the new board, on those that remained. The decision wouldn't be Nate's to make - regardless of how much it burned to not know if Enzo was dead or alive.

"I know that Weddings can sometimes be a bit much," Ela spoke softly, drawing her chair a little closer to Nico's as she sat down beside him, a little way off the larger crowd of the wedding guests. Things hadn't always been great between them - a rough breakup usually did that, but Ela still cared and likely always would, "but you look kind of miserable, Nico. Is everything okay?"