The Villa Is Open

[shipwreck_light]

Zephyr had a plan. "We are gonna make you the best electric milkshake that ever was!"

"Or will be!" Pip joined in, clapping her hands over her head as she danced along before him and Roa and generally got in the way of where they were trying to walk.

This gave Zephyr plenty of excuse to pause at the end of the hall and make himself a sweeping gesture. "In the historya... ah..." one that should have ended with him banging his hand on the wall.

Except for the part where the applicable wall had disappeared and not in the usual behold the busted drywall kind of way. It was just gone. Likewise, the hallway and the entirety of Sky Plaza.

Zephyr stood on some low, sweeping stone steps. That happened to be outside, while just a moment before been /inside/ and headed to the kitchen. "OK, what the hell?"

Roa took in the sudden sky all golden up the flanks of the villa before them and held her finger to her lips in curiosity. "I don't know, actually." Then, she attempted to walk down the way they had come. This got her over the steps and almost to the spray from the fountain in the drive before it became quite apparent merely turning around wasn't going to accomplish much besides dampening her shoes. Back up she went. "This *looks* like where they held the last Court of the Manor."

"You dunno?" his next sound was an odd one, not a moan and not a laugh, and awfully feline besides. "Yeah, that's not freakin me out or nothin. Dun you know everythin?"

"Zephyyyr. Same to you."

"You guys," interjected Pip, her bare toes rapping on the stone. "Think this's kinda the same thing happened to Seb."

"Hm?" Zephyr craned himself her way, and their hands tangled together, wires all a-flash.

"Mm!"

"Mnhn."

"Nnn~."

"Well, I like your theory so far," Roa nodded. Mostly, she wasn't being silly right back at their latest ridiculous display. Mostly. "Happened to Siebenkas...?"

"Yeah, he had this dream," the elder of the two evokers almost began to explain, digits working.

Whatever he meant to coax out of the recollections between them, Pip took over, swaying as she did. "He thinks was a dream, but is totally notta dream. I know. I touched him thinkin about it an it was all wrong fora dream. Still didn't make any sense, but not the same kinda way dreams do."

"Also, Seb never dreams he's nekkid. Fun fact."

("So useful, too," Roa remarked, quite to herself.)

"But, he walked outta his bathroom an alla a sudden, he was in this bar in Old New York an there were all these other people an he was almost kinda sorta mebbe flirtin with this mob boss lady over gin an tonic and then there was this real cute muddy guy. Seb didn't think he was so cute, but I did. He got way more distracted by the other lady evoked with her eyes and the booze was good an there were pretty blond polyamourous peeps bonkin in the restroom an... an... an..."

Her not so little description might have gone on another few hours, except that Zephyr reached around with his unoccupied hand and tickled her. The way they'd tangled up together, she must have known it was coming.

Which left Roa to conclude Pip wanted tickled more than she wanted to discuss any washroom adventures. "On one hand, that sounds very much like a dream to me. On the other, if there's some sort of precedent for people in our manor suddenly disobeying all known laws of physics. And you're not playing some sort of elaborate prank."

"Hey! I had my heart set on givin you your first electric milkshake an that's not somethin I'd go back on for any money." Next thing she did know with any certainty, Zephyr had play staggered over, clutching at his shirt, "'m so disappointed it /huuurts/."

"Well, you can make it up to me when the universe goes back to normal."

Grin for the time being, too.

"It is going to go back to normal?"

"Did last time. 's why we still gotta Seb an notta portal to someplace called Dan's," said Pip.

"Alright, so why don't we...?"

"Make the besta it?"

"Yes!" Roa swung from Zephyr's grasp. He only then reached for her, trying to find that place in her moments where the best meant [concrete] he could play after and with her. As it was, he missed her as she skipped the villa steps instead, swirling her skirt in her hands and calling back after: "We're going to get company, right?"

"Woul, that'd be nice, but if not," he shrugged. "We get blitzed an watch the stars come out." A quick little sigh and a pop of his shoulder after, he followed.

Pip watched the space in the sky where the clouds should have been. The end of her nose twitched. "We're so gettin company. Can smell it, almost. Somethin's zactly not right out there." Laughing then, she blew past them both and straight through the doors.



Stuff you actually need to know available in this direction:
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/18653.html

Have fun!

ETA: This post has not been up thirty-six hours and we officially have more than 500 comments. SO I SUPPOSE THIS ISN'T FUN AT ALL AMMIRITE? XD

ETA II: I am really, really touched that everyone wants to take care of the deceased fellow in the pool. I'm sure he appreciates it (he didn't even have a name in the story where he first appeared ;_;). But, alas, there was only one of him and he's currently being handled. He may be installed in a bedroom shortly, and should that happen, I will give him his own thread for poking purposes.

Comments

[sarcasticsra]

"I'm twenty," Marietta said. "I go to CUNY. Was on my way to meet Mom for lunch when I ended up...here. Wherever here is. This is pretty weird, isn't it?"

[augusto_corlioni]

"Weird? Being here, meeting my granddaughter born sometime after I die when I meant to see Gabriella before my granddaughter's mother was even conceived? I think that's a little weird." Augusto smiled. "But a good weird. What do you study?"

[sarcasticsra]

"Well, when you put it that way," Marietta said, and grinned. "English. Creative writing, really. I'm pretty sure I want to be an author."

[augusto_corlioni]

"What sort of books will you write?" Augusto asked. He considered getting another glass of wine, but Pip would probably have all sorts of questions if he went back to the bar with Marietta.

[sarcasticsra]

"Mysteries, mostly," Marietta said, a touch sheepishly. "I've got this character I kinda want to do something with...she's a sociopath, but she trained herself not to kill, and she becomes a detective and uses what she knows about herself to catch serial killers."

[augusto_corlioni]

Augusto nodded, smiling a bit. "How much are you inspired by what our family does?"

[sarcasticsra]

A lot, given her mother. "A little," she said, and shrugged. "Mom and Uncle L are in charge now, did I mention that? Well, Uncle L is technically my cousin, he's Uncle David's son, but he's older than Mom, so..." She shrugged. "Mom still calls him Little David, actually. She's, like, the only one who can. They're kind of BFFs. He calls her Aunt Maria sometimes. You should see her face when he does it, it's hilarious."

[augusto_corlioni]

"No, you didn't mention it. That's going to take a little getting used to." Little David wasn't even three yet, in Augusto's reality. "So he did change his name? I thought he might."

[sarcasticsra]

"Yeah, he did," Marietta said. "Uncle David and his first three kids, with Maggie? Not the greatest relationships there," she said, and made a face. Understatement of the century, probably. "But he and his kids with Angela seem to...actually get along well, sort of, in comparison."

[augusto_corlioni]

Somehow, Augusto managed not to even cough at that.

"Angela Palermo?" He knew David was attracted to her, but David was attracted to most unrelated women.

He hoped David never found out about the particular background he had with Angela, then.

[sarcasticsra]

"Yep!" Marietta said. "They were totally in love, too. I mean, yeah, the way they acted, you probably wouldn't know it if you weren't family, but it's, like, a fact, from stories and everything I've heard."

[augusto_corlioni]

Of course David had fallen in love with a woman Augusto had slept with. That was how his son's luck seemed to run.

Not that he'd ever before thought David would find someone to fall in love with, not once the Maggie debacle began.

"You are talking about my son David, aren't you?"

[sarcasticsra]

Marietta smirked. "Yep, sure am," she said. "Aunt Nic told me Angela actually said it once, but she was pretty sure it was just the once. There's something I wish I'd been able to see."

[augusto_corlioni]

Augusto shook his head. "Angela hasn't even agreed to a single date with David yet, in my reality. That's...hard to believe. I'm sure you understand, knowing them."

[sarcasticsra]

"Oh, yeah," Marietta said with a grin. "I understand completely."

[augusto_corlioni]

Augusto shakes his head in an attempt to clear everything about Angela and David from it. "Tell me about your mother."

[sarcasticsra]

"Mom's awesome," she said, grinning. "We've always been close. She's a lawyer, which totally annoys Uncle Leo, especially since she can give him a run for his money in court. She and Uncle L took over in 2048, when Aunt Is retired. Oh, here, I've got my phone." She pulled it out of her bag and quickly found a picture of her, Mom, Uncle L, Uncle Aleksy, and Terri. "That's me, her, Uncle L, Uncle Aleksy, his husband, and Terri, their daughter. Their son, Isaak, was messing around with his new phone. He's who took the picture."

[augusto_corlioni]

A memory from a few years before crept up on Augusto. "Little David is gay?" That made the end to that argument...strangely fitting. He looked more closely at the picture. "You all look very happy. A good family. Is Maria also head legal counsel?"

[sarcasticsra]

"He is," Marietta said with a nod. "And no, she's not. Uncle Leo is."

[augusto_corlioni]

"Doesn't he have anything better to do with his time?" Augusto asked before he caught himself.

[sarcasticsra]

"Who, Uncle Leo?" Marietta asked, and smirked. "He practically lives at the office, according to Mom. He is married, though, weird as that sounds. You'd get it if you met Daria."

[augusto_corlioni]

Augusto did not ask why anyone would marry Leo. Judging by Marietta's words, he'd gotten no better over fifty years. Still, he was one of Augusto's children, and he'd keep that thought to himself as much as possible.

Still...

"Do they have children?"

[sarcasticsra]

"Three daughters, yeah," Marietta said. "Grace, Emma, and Jenny. They're awesome. Um. Not too fond of their father, though."

Honestly, Uncle Leo was an even worse father than Uncle David.

[augusto_corlioni]

That didn't surprise Augusto nearly as much as it should, but it wasn't as if his son was a remotely normal human being.

"That is...unfortunate," was all he said on the matter.

[sarcasticsra]

"Yeah, but they're great, so they have that going for them," she said, smiling a little.