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rainbowfic2012-02-21 02:20 am
sarcasticsra) wrote in rainbowfic2012-02-21 02:20 am
Platinum Blond, 18 + Fire Opal, 15 + Nacre + supplies and styles.
Authors: Sara and Kelly
Colors: Platinum Blond 18. If there was any shame in a dude getting a pedicure I don't think there would've been a feature about it in Details magazine. (Secret nerdiness!) [Kelly] + Fire Opal, 15. obssession [Sara] + Nacre [both]
Supplies: Novelty Beads [Kelly], Stain ("Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."), Stickers (Geek vs. Nerd)
Style: Interactive Art, Saturation, Paint-by-Numbers [Kelly]
Word Count: 3,503
Rating: PG-13, for some non-graphic violence
Story: Polyfaceted; title of this is Defining Nerdom.
Summary: Geeks, nerds, whatever you'd like to call them—the Corlionis are it.
Notes: Spans 1986 to 2038.
5. secret compartment
"Torey!" Isabella calls. "Come on, we need money."
Torey rolls his eyes, but she has a point. There are no meetings coming up, as far as he knows, and no one has anything pressing, so he unlocks the drawer of his desk the money's in and counts it quickly to be sure no one's been "borrowing" since the last time they had a chance. Satisfied, he joins his siblings in what amounts to a rec room, taking his seat. "Whose turn is it?" he asks.
"David's," they say unanimously.
David looks ridiculously pleased with that and rolls the dice.
"Doubles," Nicoletta mutters. "Of fucking course."
David smirks and moves his cannon, landing squarely on Free Parking.
"Fucker's gotta be cheatin'," Johnny says.
"Fuck you," David replies, collecting the money from the center.
"At least it's not real this time," Isabella says.
Torey shakes his head. "Never. Again."
"You say that every time it gets brought up," Angela points out.
"And I will continue to."
Nicoletta smirks. "What, a literal fucking fight over three thousand was too much for you?"
"You almost stabbed David," Torey says, "and it might have actually been fatal that time."
"Would've blocked her." David rolls again. This time, his doubles land him in jail, and he swears—and, Torey notices, doesn't pay to get out.
Angela takes the dice from the board. "I would have killed her if she had," she says.
"Aren't you two just the sweetest," Isabella deadpans.
Angela rolls her eyes and throws the dice, moving her ship. She lands on Atlantic Avenue.
"Mine," Nicoletta crows. "With three houses, that's $800. Pay up."
She hands over the money. "Choke on it."
Isabella grabs the dice. Her roll puts her on the Short Line railroad. "That's mine," David says.
"You're in jail," she replies sweetly. "Guess I get a free ride."
"Fuck you, little bitch."
"Shoulda fuckin' paid ta get out," Johnny tells him, picking up the dice.
Just after he rolls and moves, Nicoletta's phone rings. She glances at the ID and answers with an all-business, "Yeah?" After a moment, she stands. "I have to take this. It'll be awhile."
Torey nods, gathering up the bank's money for safe-keeping. "Game's on hold again."
11. sub rosa
"How are you people such idiots?" Isabella growls at her computer screen. Another screed on Harry/Hermione being the only valid pairing, in the wrong community again...if she modded, they'd have a universal ban fast. As it is, she just might ban them from her journals.
Fine. They want to be idiots, they'll get a subversive fic.
It doesn't take long to write, but then, it's not very long, just very pointed. The summary alone should get people's attention right off the bat: "Harry, happy with Ron, has never been in love with Hermione. He's not sure why everyone thinks he is."
She hits post.
The flood of comments she gets within seconds is enormously satisfying—she's posted to two comms, one for the good pairing and one for the ridiculous, and the fastest comments are the ones flipping out at her.
This is where, were she older, she'd sit back with a cigar and a glass of good wine and laugh at the reactions. As it is, she grabs a soda and grins at the amount of flailing and flaming going on, considering just how much she wants to feed it.
18. mislabeled
Leo frowns as he reads a comment on his latest post, titled, "Why House and Wilson Are Not Gay, End Of Story." It's actually comments, three in all, another idiot arguing for that disgusting pairing. Why are slashers so universally brain dead?
"Go flame somebody else," he types in his response to the moron. If they want to be wrong about something, they can be wrong about it somewhere he doesn't have to see them.
Naturally, he gets a comment from some other idiot, one that claims the series of comments was not a flame, it was a disagreement, which is just as irritating.
This one gets told, "If you keep flaming, I will report you."
They're such idiots.
When the first moron replies again, also insisting their comments weren't a flame, he rolls his eyes. This time, he says, "Fine, enjoy your ban."
That'll show them.
2. key
Cristina is only half-listening to the debate at the other end of the table. There's some deal going on that concerns their side of the business, and she's involved with talking to Leo and Is about her end.
Then David says something about "talk to the Chinese fuckers", and she says to Is and Leo, "Just a second," ignoring the look Leo gives her. "Which Chinese fuckers?" she calls.
"Taiwanese group," Torey says over David's muttered imprecation.
"I'll do the translating for you."
David bristles. "I speak Mandarin."
"You think you speak Mandarin. I studied in Shanghai. I think I speak it better than you."
"Oh, fuck that," David starts, but Torey holds up a hand.
"She has a point, David," he says. "She has the experience. Include her on this."
David mutters something under his breath that she doesn't quite catch.
She rolls her eyes and finishes up with Is and Leo—nothing huge, just getting a couple of contracts vetted and firmed up—before catching David on his way out of the conference room. "What's this deal?"
"Fuck off."
"Sure, bungle it because you fuck up tonally. I've heard you. You fuck them up half the time and mean something completely different." She smirks at him. "Want lessons?"
"Fuck you," he snaps. "I do not fuck it up."
"You want to risk whatever this deal is about on that bet? I'm sure Torey will like that."
David rolls his eyes. "Keep the fuck up. I'm not fucking repeating myself."
"I'm listening."
It's not terribly difficult, and she fits it in around her real business; mostly, she acts as translator for her family. It's easy enough, and it's not fucked up.
Not that David acknowledges that. Dick.
19. only for the initiated
There's a note on her desk. Nicoletta picks it up and corrects her initial thought: there's a note on her desk in Latin. It says simply, "My office. Come alone."
It's not signed, but considering there's only two other fuckers in the office who know Latin, and one of them sure as fuck wouldn't send her a note, she knows who it's from. Jotting down a reply, also in Latin—"What do you want?"—she has Cary deliver it to David.
His reply is, bluntly, lame, but at least he's keeping to Latin. "Just come in here."
She considers that, tapping her pen on her notepad. It could be interesting, or it could be boring. If he's sending notes in Latin, he's either bored—definitely possible—or secretive.
It's a gamble, but she sends Cary, who has a look like he'd really like to get laid in return for playing messenger boy, with a note asking, "Have something to play with?"
The message she gets in return says, "If you came here, you'd find out."
She figures that means he probably got a new toy. Grinning, she thanks Cary—she'll drag him into her office after she's through seeing whatever the hell David got, she decides—and heads for David's office.
7. true feelings
Johnny's singing along to what's playing on his computer—"Sarah Brown Eyes", from Ragtime—when Sable opens his door.
"I have that—" She blinks. "Were you singing?"
"Yeah. That my contract?"
"Yeah." She walks to his desk and gives it to him. "You were singing along to something?"
"Ya know I sing, Sable."
"Knowing and hearing are two different things," she replies, and he snorts. "What song is this?"
"'Sarah Brown Eyes'," he tells her. "'s from Ragtime."
She gives him a look. "Musicals?"
"Got no idea how much I spend on Broadway." He flips through the contract, glancing at her notes. "Thanks, Sable."
"You're welcome." She shakes her head, muttering, "Musicals," as she leaves, and he grins, turning the music back up.
13. subliminal
Lea's finished all she needs to for the costumes today, so she's watching the rehearsal. Absently, she mouths along Lady Macbeth's lines: "Think of this, good peers, but as a thing of custom: 'tis no other; only it spoils the pleasure of time."
"You shoulda tried out for the play," says a voice suddenly, and she turns to see Johnny and Torey walking up behind her.
She smiles at them and shakes her head. "I prefer working on the costumes, thank you."
"You could do both," Torey points out. He leans with an arm on the back of her seat, and she doesn't mind.
"It wouldn't be easy to fit my own costumes," she points out.
"You're talented," Johnny says with a grin. "Coulda managed."
She smiles back.
8. hide in plain sight
Elisabetta smiles as she holds Martin in her arms, rocking him slowly. "And may my myself do nothing usefully and love yourself so more than truly," she murmurs softly.
"E.E. Cummings?" George says quietly, suddenly appearing in the doorway. "Already, Ellie?" he teases. "He's only three months old."
She grins, pleased that he recognized it. "We have to start while he's young."
"Good point," he tells her, walking in the room and leaning to drop a kiss on her forehead. "Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear: the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun more last than star," he recites quietly.
Her grin widens, threatening to split her face in two.
16. hid it so well I forgot where it was
"So Elizabeth lied about being a virgin, and everyone knew it, but it was this really nice fantasy, something they could believe in. Plus she got to say she commanded the wind and then have it happen—Spanish armada learned that the hard way—so she seemed like a demigod to the English, essentially. Anyway. The virginity thing didn't really lend itself to having an heir, and the closest one was the Scottish king, James Stuart."
"Is there a point to this?" Torey asks her tiredly.
Nicoletta grins. "There is. James was Elizabeth's first cousin twice removed. When you're finding someone to take over and don't have an immediate heir, you go further out. Which is what the Genovese are going to do."
"With that history lesson," Leo mutters, "you better be right."
10. between the pages
David hunts through the shelves for the book he wants, grabbing it as soon as he spots it. Teresa walks into the room just as he does.
"What book are you going to read, David?" she asks him.
He holds up the book for her: the first in a two-volume leather-bound set. "A biography of John Adams. He was the second president, after George Washington. A lot of people thought he was kind of a jerk because he was really arrogant, but he was really, really smart and really good at politics."
"Oh." She nods, apparently considering that. "You're smart too. I bet you know everything he was talking about."
He grins at her. "Thanks, babe."
She shrugs, but smiles back. "It's true."
9. buried [treasure]
Teresa doesn't feel like painting today, not yet. She wants to try a style different for her. Right now, she's curious about Orphism, so she's reading about the Delaunays. She's not very used to strict geometrics, so seeing why they did what they did might help.
The book is a huge one, probably two feet tall. It's at least as tall as some of her good-sized canvases. Not all the words are easy for her, but she can get a lot of it from the pictures. There are a lot of them, too, and they're in bright, pure color.
She likes her collection of art books. There are a lot of them—she buys them, or Mama or her brothers buy them for her—and she knows them all, at least what they're about and the basics of what's in them. She might not be smart, but she knows what's in her library.
15. under the bed
Stefano pulls the box of toys he keeps under his bed, dumping them out and picking out Spider-Man first, his favorite. Then he sets up some of the others.
"What're you playing?" He looks up. Isabella's standing in the doorway.
"Spider-Man's gonna save the world. Wanna play?"
"Can I be the Green Goblin?" she asks, walking into his room.
"Sure." He finds that toy and holds it out for her to take.
"Green Goblin's trying to take over the world, right?"
"Right," Stefano says with a nod. "Spider-Man's gonna save everything. He's the best."
"What about Batman?" she asks, grinning, and Stefano rolls his eyes, but smiles.
"Spider-Man's still best."
3. locked door
Torey finds Teresa and David in the living room, Teresa working on a coloring book and David watching her. "Want me to read you guys some more X-Men?" he asks them, since it's been a few days.
"Yeah!" David says, then looks at Teresa. "I mean, if Teresa wants."
Teresa looks up and smiles at him. "Yes, please," she says.
"You remember the rules?" he asks, but it's really aimed at David because Teresa takes care with any paper.
He heaves a sigh. "No pulling or tearing or crumpling," he recites.
"Right," Torey agrees. "Which one?"
"Magneto!" David cries.
"And Mystique," Teresa adds. "Is that okay?"
"That's great," Torey assures her. "Want to come up to my room? We'll pick one out."
They follow him upstairs and they spend a few minutes deciding on the issue.
"That one," David says finally, and Teresa nods.
"Good choice," Torey agrees, picking it up.
Torey sits on his bed against the wall, and Teresa tucks herself comfortably under his arm. Even at David's age, he would never admit it, but he cuddles next to Torey, too, as Torey starts to read to them, doing voices the way they both like, and they're both engrossed just a few pages in.
6. false wall
It only takes Torey a second to notice what's different about his office after he steps inside—there's a framed, vintage Hulk poster hanging on the wall that definitely wasn't there the day before.
Grinning to himself, he sets down his wallet and keys and steps back out of his office. Given the recent events with Leo, he has a pretty good idea who got it for him, and he heads for Isabella's office. Rapping quickly on her door, he pushes it open and walks in. "Thanks for the poster," he says, and she looks up, grinning.
"I thought you'd like it."
"It's awesome," he agrees, then smirks. "And might be a reminder to Leo."
She laughs. "Yeah, maybe, and not just to him. It fits you."
He grins at that. "Thanks."
She shrugs, still smiling. "It's true."
4. under the floorboards
"C'mon, how hard can it be, Tore?" Johnny asks him.
"Making wine?" Torey replies. "I don't know. I've never done it before."
"Bet we could figure it out."
Torey shrugs. "We could try."
It's stashed in the shed, in a tub that's closed; they couldn't get a barrel to age it in.
And, as it turns out, it isn't easy.
"That smells terrible," Torey says. It's not gag-inducing, but it's close. Johnny's making a face, too.
"Maybe it tastes better'n it looks," he ventures.
"You try it," Torey says immediately.
"You're older!"
"You have a better immune system!"
They stare at each other for a long moment; then, nearly simultaneously, they dip a finger in and then taste it.
That is gag-inducing, and Torey really hopes it's a good fertilizer when it's dumped out.
17. between the couch cushions
Lea is talking to Torey and Johnny when Leonardo storms into the room. "This was in with my stuff!" He holds up a plastic green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure.
She sighs, glancing over to where a certain pair of their sisters are too-studiously playing some sort of card game. "Girls, do you have any idea how this toy wound up with Leonardo's things?"
Nicoletta looks up, giving her a very unconvincing innocent look. Beside her, Johnny snorts. "Sometimes they just turn up," she says, eyes big.
Isabella trades a card from her stockpile into her hand. "He had them when we were younger," she offers. "Maybe they got mixed up."
Leonardo glares at her so hard Lea wouldn't be surprised if Isabella combusted. "I never," he grits out, "had these."
Isabella shrugs, glancing at Nicoletta. "So you stole it from Stef. I hope you feel guilty."
Nicoletta barely, badly, smothers a laugh with a cough.
"Lea!" Leonardo half-demands, half-whines.
"Leonardo, it is only a toy," she says. "Give it to me. I'll make sure it gets back to its rightful owner."
"I don't care if it does," he snaps, but he hands it to her just the same. "You'll regret this," he tells Isabella and Nicoletta before heading for the door.
"Bye, Turtle!" Nicoletta calls out. Leonardo's face flushes red, and he stomps the last few feet out of the room.
Lea sighs again and shakes her head.
1. pearl
Nicoletta carefully wipes the claws completely clean of blood and tissue. "They fit perfectly," she remarks.
"Fucking better." David inspects the wounds on the corpse on the floor, some dealer who was trying to fuck him over. "Had Angela's hand size for the guy to base it on."
"Huh." She finishes one side and inspects it closely. "Titanium? It'll hold its edge?"
He grunts his agreement. "Fucking effective, it looks like."
She grins. "Did you hear him scream?"
He grins back. "That was awesome."
"You're an awesome brother," she says, sincerely and without planning, and isn't the least surprised by the look he shoots her. They're not usually like that.
"Hell yeah I am," he says after a moment. "Just too bad they couldn't be adamantium."
14. safe
Gino has the stopwatch on his phone brought up. "Ready?" he asks Vito, who nods.
"Yeah, I'm good."
"All right. On your mark, get set...go." He hits the start button, and Vito immediately starts working on the practice safe in front of him.
It's old-school, tumblers, but it's got a bunch, and he mentally notes where the clicks are. Then it's a matter of doing them in order, and that's not hard at all; he swings it open soon, and glances at Gino, who's grinning.
"Forty-two point three seconds. That's five faster than your record."
Vito grins back. "I can totally do better."
"What, are you going to steal another safe to try?"
Vito's grin widens.
12. cipher
Romeo makes another note on the sheet of paper in front of him, then pores over the page some more. "That doesn't make any sense," he mutters to himself, shaking his head.
"What are you doing?" Nicoletta asks, wandering up to him. "Homework?"
"No," he says absently, squinting at one of the characters on the sheet.
He can feel her looking over her shoulder. "Without even asking," she says finally, "I'm going to assume this is nerdy."
"If I can get it, I'll solve a forty-year-old serial killer case," he informs her.
"So it's nerdy in a detective way," she says, nodding.
"It's—I guess," he agrees reluctantly. "It's the Zodiac code."
"Oh. That guy." Her interest lost, she leaves him alone, leaving him to try to match up symbols into brief, important words.
20. how long did you plan on keeping this from me?
Leo tries not to sigh as he walks into the room. He only wants a cup of coffee, not to have to interact with these idiots he has to call family and coworkers.
They're all in there. Johnny, David, Nicoletta, and Vito have controllers in their hands; the other three are watching. "Really?" he can't help but ask. "Video games?"
The three not playing exchange a glance, Torey shrugging and sipping his coffee before Isabella mocks, "Really? Pissy, pretentious meta?"
Leo flushes red. "This coming from the one who started a flamewar in Harry Potter fandom?"
She just shrugs, looking pleased with herself, but Johnny curses when he blows up because he's twisted to look at Isabella. "...ya write fanfiction?"
"You sing along to musicals," she points out.
"Musicals, Johnny?" Nicoletta asks, grinning. On the screen, her character narrowly avoids a grenade.
"Asks one of the biggest history nerds I've ever known," Torey adds.
She snorts. "Yeah, and how big is your comic collection?"
"Still one of the biggest history nerds we know," David mutters.
She gives him a look. "You leave me notes in Latin."
Naturally, Vito misses the point of the whole thing and volunteers, "I time safe-cracking."
That's actually the one that gets the rest of them laughing, for some reason. Leo rolls his eyes and gets his coffee, muttering, "Nerds," under his breath.
Colors: Platinum Blond 18. If there was any shame in a dude getting a pedicure I don't think there would've been a feature about it in Details magazine. (Secret nerdiness!) [Kelly] + Fire Opal, 15. obssession [Sara] + Nacre [both]
Supplies: Novelty Beads [Kelly], Stain ("Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe."), Stickers (Geek vs. Nerd)
Style: Interactive Art, Saturation, Paint-by-Numbers [Kelly]
Word Count: 3,503
Rating: PG-13, for some non-graphic violence
Story: Polyfaceted; title of this is Defining Nerdom.
Summary: Geeks, nerds, whatever you'd like to call them—the Corlionis are it.
Notes: Spans 1986 to 2038.
5. secret compartment
"Torey!" Isabella calls. "Come on, we need money."
Torey rolls his eyes, but she has a point. There are no meetings coming up, as far as he knows, and no one has anything pressing, so he unlocks the drawer of his desk the money's in and counts it quickly to be sure no one's been "borrowing" since the last time they had a chance. Satisfied, he joins his siblings in what amounts to a rec room, taking his seat. "Whose turn is it?" he asks.
"David's," they say unanimously.
David looks ridiculously pleased with that and rolls the dice.
"Doubles," Nicoletta mutters. "Of fucking course."
David smirks and moves his cannon, landing squarely on Free Parking.
"Fucker's gotta be cheatin'," Johnny says.
"Fuck you," David replies, collecting the money from the center.
"At least it's not real this time," Isabella says.
Torey shakes his head. "Never. Again."
"You say that every time it gets brought up," Angela points out.
"And I will continue to."
Nicoletta smirks. "What, a literal fucking fight over three thousand was too much for you?"
"You almost stabbed David," Torey says, "and it might have actually been fatal that time."
"Would've blocked her." David rolls again. This time, his doubles land him in jail, and he swears—and, Torey notices, doesn't pay to get out.
Angela takes the dice from the board. "I would have killed her if she had," she says.
"Aren't you two just the sweetest," Isabella deadpans.
Angela rolls her eyes and throws the dice, moving her ship. She lands on Atlantic Avenue.
"Mine," Nicoletta crows. "With three houses, that's $800. Pay up."
She hands over the money. "Choke on it."
Isabella grabs the dice. Her roll puts her on the Short Line railroad. "That's mine," David says.
"You're in jail," she replies sweetly. "Guess I get a free ride."
"Fuck you, little bitch."
"Shoulda fuckin' paid ta get out," Johnny tells him, picking up the dice.
Just after he rolls and moves, Nicoletta's phone rings. She glances at the ID and answers with an all-business, "Yeah?" After a moment, she stands. "I have to take this. It'll be awhile."
Torey nods, gathering up the bank's money for safe-keeping. "Game's on hold again."
11. sub rosa
"How are you people such idiots?" Isabella growls at her computer screen. Another screed on Harry/Hermione being the only valid pairing, in the wrong community again...if she modded, they'd have a universal ban fast. As it is, she just might ban them from her journals.
Fine. They want to be idiots, they'll get a subversive fic.
It doesn't take long to write, but then, it's not very long, just very pointed. The summary alone should get people's attention right off the bat: "Harry, happy with Ron, has never been in love with Hermione. He's not sure why everyone thinks he is."
She hits post.
The flood of comments she gets within seconds is enormously satisfying—she's posted to two comms, one for the good pairing and one for the ridiculous, and the fastest comments are the ones flipping out at her.
This is where, were she older, she'd sit back with a cigar and a glass of good wine and laugh at the reactions. As it is, she grabs a soda and grins at the amount of flailing and flaming going on, considering just how much she wants to feed it.
18. mislabeled
Leo frowns as he reads a comment on his latest post, titled, "Why House and Wilson Are Not Gay, End Of Story." It's actually comments, three in all, another idiot arguing for that disgusting pairing. Why are slashers so universally brain dead?
"Go flame somebody else," he types in his response to the moron. If they want to be wrong about something, they can be wrong about it somewhere he doesn't have to see them.
Naturally, he gets a comment from some other idiot, one that claims the series of comments was not a flame, it was a disagreement, which is just as irritating.
This one gets told, "If you keep flaming, I will report you."
They're such idiots.
When the first moron replies again, also insisting their comments weren't a flame, he rolls his eyes. This time, he says, "Fine, enjoy your ban."
That'll show them.
2. key
Cristina is only half-listening to the debate at the other end of the table. There's some deal going on that concerns their side of the business, and she's involved with talking to Leo and Is about her end.
Then David says something about "talk to the Chinese fuckers", and she says to Is and Leo, "Just a second," ignoring the look Leo gives her. "Which Chinese fuckers?" she calls.
"Taiwanese group," Torey says over David's muttered imprecation.
"I'll do the translating for you."
David bristles. "I speak Mandarin."
"You think you speak Mandarin. I studied in Shanghai. I think I speak it better than you."
"Oh, fuck that," David starts, but Torey holds up a hand.
"She has a point, David," he says. "She has the experience. Include her on this."
David mutters something under his breath that she doesn't quite catch.
She rolls her eyes and finishes up with Is and Leo—nothing huge, just getting a couple of contracts vetted and firmed up—before catching David on his way out of the conference room. "What's this deal?"
"Fuck off."
"Sure, bungle it because you fuck up tonally. I've heard you. You fuck them up half the time and mean something completely different." She smirks at him. "Want lessons?"
"Fuck you," he snaps. "I do not fuck it up."
"You want to risk whatever this deal is about on that bet? I'm sure Torey will like that."
David rolls his eyes. "Keep the fuck up. I'm not fucking repeating myself."
"I'm listening."
It's not terribly difficult, and she fits it in around her real business; mostly, she acts as translator for her family. It's easy enough, and it's not fucked up.
Not that David acknowledges that. Dick.
19. only for the initiated
There's a note on her desk. Nicoletta picks it up and corrects her initial thought: there's a note on her desk in Latin. It says simply, "My office. Come alone."
It's not signed, but considering there's only two other fuckers in the office who know Latin, and one of them sure as fuck wouldn't send her a note, she knows who it's from. Jotting down a reply, also in Latin—"What do you want?"—she has Cary deliver it to David.
His reply is, bluntly, lame, but at least he's keeping to Latin. "Just come in here."
She considers that, tapping her pen on her notepad. It could be interesting, or it could be boring. If he's sending notes in Latin, he's either bored—definitely possible—or secretive.
It's a gamble, but she sends Cary, who has a look like he'd really like to get laid in return for playing messenger boy, with a note asking, "Have something to play with?"
The message she gets in return says, "If you came here, you'd find out."
She figures that means he probably got a new toy. Grinning, she thanks Cary—she'll drag him into her office after she's through seeing whatever the hell David got, she decides—and heads for David's office.
7. true feelings
Johnny's singing along to what's playing on his computer—"Sarah Brown Eyes", from Ragtime—when Sable opens his door.
"I have that—" She blinks. "Were you singing?"
"Yeah. That my contract?"
"Yeah." She walks to his desk and gives it to him. "You were singing along to something?"
"Ya know I sing, Sable."
"Knowing and hearing are two different things," she replies, and he snorts. "What song is this?"
"'Sarah Brown Eyes'," he tells her. "'s from Ragtime."
She gives him a look. "Musicals?"
"Got no idea how much I spend on Broadway." He flips through the contract, glancing at her notes. "Thanks, Sable."
"You're welcome." She shakes her head, muttering, "Musicals," as she leaves, and he grins, turning the music back up.
13. subliminal
Lea's finished all she needs to for the costumes today, so she's watching the rehearsal. Absently, she mouths along Lady Macbeth's lines: "Think of this, good peers, but as a thing of custom: 'tis no other; only it spoils the pleasure of time."
"You shoulda tried out for the play," says a voice suddenly, and she turns to see Johnny and Torey walking up behind her.
She smiles at them and shakes her head. "I prefer working on the costumes, thank you."
"You could do both," Torey points out. He leans with an arm on the back of her seat, and she doesn't mind.
"It wouldn't be easy to fit my own costumes," she points out.
"You're talented," Johnny says with a grin. "Coulda managed."
She smiles back.
8. hide in plain sight
Elisabetta smiles as she holds Martin in her arms, rocking him slowly. "And may my myself do nothing usefully and love yourself so more than truly," she murmurs softly.
"E.E. Cummings?" George says quietly, suddenly appearing in the doorway. "Already, Ellie?" he teases. "He's only three months old."
She grins, pleased that he recognized it. "We have to start while he's young."
"Good point," he tells her, walking in the room and leaning to drop a kiss on her forehead. "Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear: the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun more last than star," he recites quietly.
Her grin widens, threatening to split her face in two.
16. hid it so well I forgot where it was
"So Elizabeth lied about being a virgin, and everyone knew it, but it was this really nice fantasy, something they could believe in. Plus she got to say she commanded the wind and then have it happen—Spanish armada learned that the hard way—so she seemed like a demigod to the English, essentially. Anyway. The virginity thing didn't really lend itself to having an heir, and the closest one was the Scottish king, James Stuart."
"Is there a point to this?" Torey asks her tiredly.
Nicoletta grins. "There is. James was Elizabeth's first cousin twice removed. When you're finding someone to take over and don't have an immediate heir, you go further out. Which is what the Genovese are going to do."
"With that history lesson," Leo mutters, "you better be right."
10. between the pages
David hunts through the shelves for the book he wants, grabbing it as soon as he spots it. Teresa walks into the room just as he does.
"What book are you going to read, David?" she asks him.
He holds up the book for her: the first in a two-volume leather-bound set. "A biography of John Adams. He was the second president, after George Washington. A lot of people thought he was kind of a jerk because he was really arrogant, but he was really, really smart and really good at politics."
"Oh." She nods, apparently considering that. "You're smart too. I bet you know everything he was talking about."
He grins at her. "Thanks, babe."
She shrugs, but smiles back. "It's true."
9. buried [treasure]
Teresa doesn't feel like painting today, not yet. She wants to try a style different for her. Right now, she's curious about Orphism, so she's reading about the Delaunays. She's not very used to strict geometrics, so seeing why they did what they did might help.
The book is a huge one, probably two feet tall. It's at least as tall as some of her good-sized canvases. Not all the words are easy for her, but she can get a lot of it from the pictures. There are a lot of them, too, and they're in bright, pure color.
She likes her collection of art books. There are a lot of them—she buys them, or Mama or her brothers buy them for her—and she knows them all, at least what they're about and the basics of what's in them. She might not be smart, but she knows what's in her library.
15. under the bed
Stefano pulls the box of toys he keeps under his bed, dumping them out and picking out Spider-Man first, his favorite. Then he sets up some of the others.
"What're you playing?" He looks up. Isabella's standing in the doorway.
"Spider-Man's gonna save the world. Wanna play?"
"Can I be the Green Goblin?" she asks, walking into his room.
"Sure." He finds that toy and holds it out for her to take.
"Green Goblin's trying to take over the world, right?"
"Right," Stefano says with a nod. "Spider-Man's gonna save everything. He's the best."
"What about Batman?" she asks, grinning, and Stefano rolls his eyes, but smiles.
"Spider-Man's still best."
3. locked door
Torey finds Teresa and David in the living room, Teresa working on a coloring book and David watching her. "Want me to read you guys some more X-Men?" he asks them, since it's been a few days.
"Yeah!" David says, then looks at Teresa. "I mean, if Teresa wants."
Teresa looks up and smiles at him. "Yes, please," she says.
"You remember the rules?" he asks, but it's really aimed at David because Teresa takes care with any paper.
He heaves a sigh. "No pulling or tearing or crumpling," he recites.
"Right," Torey agrees. "Which one?"
"Magneto!" David cries.
"And Mystique," Teresa adds. "Is that okay?"
"That's great," Torey assures her. "Want to come up to my room? We'll pick one out."
They follow him upstairs and they spend a few minutes deciding on the issue.
"That one," David says finally, and Teresa nods.
"Good choice," Torey agrees, picking it up.
Torey sits on his bed against the wall, and Teresa tucks herself comfortably under his arm. Even at David's age, he would never admit it, but he cuddles next to Torey, too, as Torey starts to read to them, doing voices the way they both like, and they're both engrossed just a few pages in.
6. false wall
It only takes Torey a second to notice what's different about his office after he steps inside—there's a framed, vintage Hulk poster hanging on the wall that definitely wasn't there the day before.
Grinning to himself, he sets down his wallet and keys and steps back out of his office. Given the recent events with Leo, he has a pretty good idea who got it for him, and he heads for Isabella's office. Rapping quickly on her door, he pushes it open and walks in. "Thanks for the poster," he says, and she looks up, grinning.
"I thought you'd like it."
"It's awesome," he agrees, then smirks. "And might be a reminder to Leo."
She laughs. "Yeah, maybe, and not just to him. It fits you."
He grins at that. "Thanks."
She shrugs, still smiling. "It's true."
4. under the floorboards
"C'mon, how hard can it be, Tore?" Johnny asks him.
"Making wine?" Torey replies. "I don't know. I've never done it before."
"Bet we could figure it out."
Torey shrugs. "We could try."
It's stashed in the shed, in a tub that's closed; they couldn't get a barrel to age it in.
And, as it turns out, it isn't easy.
"That smells terrible," Torey says. It's not gag-inducing, but it's close. Johnny's making a face, too.
"Maybe it tastes better'n it looks," he ventures.
"You try it," Torey says immediately.
"You're older!"
"You have a better immune system!"
They stare at each other for a long moment; then, nearly simultaneously, they dip a finger in and then taste it.
That is gag-inducing, and Torey really hopes it's a good fertilizer when it's dumped out.
17. between the couch cushions
Lea is talking to Torey and Johnny when Leonardo storms into the room. "This was in with my stuff!" He holds up a plastic green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure.
She sighs, glancing over to where a certain pair of their sisters are too-studiously playing some sort of card game. "Girls, do you have any idea how this toy wound up with Leonardo's things?"
Nicoletta looks up, giving her a very unconvincing innocent look. Beside her, Johnny snorts. "Sometimes they just turn up," she says, eyes big.
Isabella trades a card from her stockpile into her hand. "He had them when we were younger," she offers. "Maybe they got mixed up."
Leonardo glares at her so hard Lea wouldn't be surprised if Isabella combusted. "I never," he grits out, "had these."
Isabella shrugs, glancing at Nicoletta. "So you stole it from Stef. I hope you feel guilty."
Nicoletta barely, badly, smothers a laugh with a cough.
"Lea!" Leonardo half-demands, half-whines.
"Leonardo, it is only a toy," she says. "Give it to me. I'll make sure it gets back to its rightful owner."
"I don't care if it does," he snaps, but he hands it to her just the same. "You'll regret this," he tells Isabella and Nicoletta before heading for the door.
"Bye, Turtle!" Nicoletta calls out. Leonardo's face flushes red, and he stomps the last few feet out of the room.
Lea sighs again and shakes her head.
1. pearl
Nicoletta carefully wipes the claws completely clean of blood and tissue. "They fit perfectly," she remarks.
"Fucking better." David inspects the wounds on the corpse on the floor, some dealer who was trying to fuck him over. "Had Angela's hand size for the guy to base it on."
"Huh." She finishes one side and inspects it closely. "Titanium? It'll hold its edge?"
He grunts his agreement. "Fucking effective, it looks like."
She grins. "Did you hear him scream?"
He grins back. "That was awesome."
"You're an awesome brother," she says, sincerely and without planning, and isn't the least surprised by the look he shoots her. They're not usually like that.
"Hell yeah I am," he says after a moment. "Just too bad they couldn't be adamantium."
14. safe
Gino has the stopwatch on his phone brought up. "Ready?" he asks Vito, who nods.
"Yeah, I'm good."
"All right. On your mark, get set...go." He hits the start button, and Vito immediately starts working on the practice safe in front of him.
It's old-school, tumblers, but it's got a bunch, and he mentally notes where the clicks are. Then it's a matter of doing them in order, and that's not hard at all; he swings it open soon, and glances at Gino, who's grinning.
"Forty-two point three seconds. That's five faster than your record."
Vito grins back. "I can totally do better."
"What, are you going to steal another safe to try?"
Vito's grin widens.
12. cipher
Romeo makes another note on the sheet of paper in front of him, then pores over the page some more. "That doesn't make any sense," he mutters to himself, shaking his head.
"What are you doing?" Nicoletta asks, wandering up to him. "Homework?"
"No," he says absently, squinting at one of the characters on the sheet.
He can feel her looking over her shoulder. "Without even asking," she says finally, "I'm going to assume this is nerdy."
"If I can get it, I'll solve a forty-year-old serial killer case," he informs her.
"So it's nerdy in a detective way," she says, nodding.
"It's—I guess," he agrees reluctantly. "It's the Zodiac code."
"Oh. That guy." Her interest lost, she leaves him alone, leaving him to try to match up symbols into brief, important words.
20. how long did you plan on keeping this from me?
Leo tries not to sigh as he walks into the room. He only wants a cup of coffee, not to have to interact with these idiots he has to call family and coworkers.
They're all in there. Johnny, David, Nicoletta, and Vito have controllers in their hands; the other three are watching. "Really?" he can't help but ask. "Video games?"
The three not playing exchange a glance, Torey shrugging and sipping his coffee before Isabella mocks, "Really? Pissy, pretentious meta?"
Leo flushes red. "This coming from the one who started a flamewar in Harry Potter fandom?"
She just shrugs, looking pleased with herself, but Johnny curses when he blows up because he's twisted to look at Isabella. "...ya write fanfiction?"
"You sing along to musicals," she points out.
"Musicals, Johnny?" Nicoletta asks, grinning. On the screen, her character narrowly avoids a grenade.
"Asks one of the biggest history nerds I've ever known," Torey adds.
She snorts. "Yeah, and how big is your comic collection?"
"Still one of the biggest history nerds we know," David mutters.
She gives him a look. "You leave me notes in Latin."
Naturally, Vito misses the point of the whole thing and volunteers, "I time safe-cracking."
That's actually the one that gets the rest of them laughing, for some reason. Leo rolls his eyes and gets his coffee, muttering, "Nerds," under his breath.
no subject
Right? Just trolling the fuck out of HP fandom. Lol forever.
Betta and George kill me with adorable every time.
SO SHOCKED YOU LOVED THAT NERDY BIT. So. shocked.
Torey always wins at being the best big brother.
They did. Because they're dorks. And I am with you on being surprised by that.
Oh, Romeo indeed. He's adorable, though.
Thaaaaaaaaank you. We both love it. It was fun.