Venturing Outside

[dolcezzamacabra]

WHO: Prosciutto [ dead_head_ham ] & Rhode Kamelot [ dolcezzamacabra ]
WHAT: Rhode needs to get out of the house
WHERE: A bar near the airport, where nobody would look for a girl who is trying to hide.
WHEN: The evening of November 18

Comments

[dolcezzamacabra]

Rhode looked fit to spit at that remark, sputtering for a moment before finally speaking. "You have been refusing to give me so much as a hint since you gave me this thing and you have the nerve to act like I should know how to use it?!"

Muraki's name ruffled her a bit, and she fell silent, hand tightening slightly on her throat as the shadow of something dark passed over her expression.

"He's dead. It doesn't matter."

[dead_head_ham]

"No one taught us a damn thing when we first discovered the Arrows. The Vescovo family has had five years to fucking figure it out and spoil themselves with science. L'Squadra didn't have those luxuries. Our skills were earned on the streets. The only reason I'm bothering to say a fucking word now is because, as it turns out, the Vescovo house is still using Stand arrows on new Soldati. Those two kids at the club, for instance," he explained, taking a few hard puffs of his cigar.

"And you used it in front of Gavin. And who knows what other high ranking family member saw you. They KNOW what that is, Rhode, and I have no doubt your fucking pension will run out soon of they link you back back to us."

[dolcezzamacabra]

"It was an accident!" Her voice was raised again, hands clenched and nails digging into her palms as she realized what he was saying. "I haven't used it before then! He was going to be shot and I just- I don't know what. Nobody saw it, Kris didn't see it. Kris doesn't know."

"You gave it to me. You can't act like you didn't think I'd use it. Or you did, because that's why you gave it to me in the first place, right? To see some crazy kid lose it while you watched and laughed." Rhode seemed to remember her encounter with his Stand rather quickly, edging along the wall a bit as if worried it would be coming at her again.

[dead_head_ham]

"Quit acting like a brat and think, will you?" he chided, delivering a swift punch with Dead's massive hand. He made certain no mark would be left...he wasn't about to leave his imprint somewhere Gavin could easily find it.

"When I gave you that Stand, you weren't Gavin's charge. You weren't even in that house. Things are different now and you're a commodity. And trust me, he WILL find out. That bastard has eyes and ears just about everywhere."

[dolcezzamacabra]

Having the wind knocked out of her chest was far from a pleasant experience. Rhode couldn't breathe, the seconds she couldn't inhale stretching into a terrifying panic of suffocation. When she finally gasped and felt air hit her lungs, it took several minutes for her to catch her breath before she answered. She didn't like this at all; she would much rather have dealt with Kris' annoyance than actually getting hit.

"He won't..." Rhode trailed off, not sure what Kris wouldn't do. He wouldn't let her be hurt. Would he? Not unless it was her own fault. But if she'd thought it wouldn't change anything if he knew about her Stand, why hadn't she told him about it yet?

"What do you expect me to do." Her tone was uncharacteristically devoid of bitterness, as thought it were a sincere question.

[dead_head_ham]

There was a long, sickening silence in the air. No sound but the steady excretion of mist from Grateful Dead's eyes, the buz of the lighting, and the gentle flickering sounds of Birthday Massacre's candles could be heard. Prosciutto finished off his cigar and dropped it to the floor, stamping it out. He wanted to make certain the words he spoke next were crystal clear. Things had gotten serious...more grave.

This wasn't a game anymore.

"The next time you see Gavin, volunteer for Project Arrow....as a subject."

[dolcezzamacabra]

Rhode was starting to wonder why this sort of thing kept happening to her. She just wanted to have a night out, not with fighting and dramatic displays of how much better someone else was at having a Stand than she was. She wouldn't be so lucky, though, because not only did she end up sitting against a wall with a stinging face and a sore chest; she was being told to do things to keep someone from getting in trouble for doing something to her in the first place.

"No." The girl started getting to her feet, suddenly feeling like she was cornered and threatened; She needed to get out of here, back to the safety of home.

She didn't care if he tried to hit her for it. "I'm not doing any projects. Not like that." Even if she didn't know what the specifics were, she knew the terminology. She was finished with being a subject, of any sort.

[dead_head_ham]

"Listen to me, damnit! If it gets out that you have a Stand, we'll both be dead! They'll trace you back to me, and that will trace them back to Lionello Vescovo, you idiot!" he shouted, slamming the glass his drink was once in into the wall closest to her head. Another pause, and he turned away, trying to catch his breath. This wasn't good...he needed to calm down.

"I...You don't actually have to undergo the process. I'd actually advise you didn't I have no idea what that kind of exposure to the Arrow will do to someone. And even then...I don't want to see everything you have be ruined because I was an idiot. I...I don't want anyone else to end up like me."

[dolcezzamacabra]

She flinched from the glass he threw, an arm up to keep the broken pieces from hitting her. Once he'd calmed down a bit, or at least seemed to have gotten some control over himself, she ventured to speak. "What process? What's any different from what you did?" He was visibly shaken talking about it, and it didn't make her nerves feel any better.

"I can just tell him." She said it quietly, watching him for any signs of another outburst. "Kris wouldn't tell as long as I'm an ace up his sleeve. I can lie and tell him it was from before, when I was in the hospital." Rhode crossed her arms over her chest tightly, as if she were suddenly cold. "Kris won't let anyone hurt me."

[dead_head_ham]

"...Are you really willing to bank your life on that?" Prosciutto asked. It was a simple, yet potent question. And it meant a great deal more than the words did alone. There was a heaviness to it...what Prosciutto was saying meant quite a lot.

"Whatever it is you decide...I suppose I won't have any choice but face what comes next. This is when I tell you the other part of my story, kid...the part that may help you understand."

[dolcezzamacabra]

Rhode barely hesitated before answering.

"I am."

She knew better than to think Kris would protect her if it benefited him more than she could, and if she wasn't useful anymore, he'd lose any interest in her wellbeing. She did trust him, though- More than any other. He was her family.

He was her only loyalty.

She watched him for a moment before bending down, carefully picking up the larger pieces of glass on the floor. She put them in the closest trash can that hadn't been disrupted by Prosciutto's anger, brushing the small bits from her hands deliberately.

[dead_head_ham]

"You asked about the procedure...well I know a thing or two about it. They developed the whole thing after screwing up with me. Vescovo has had one of the five arrows for longer than La Squadra has had our own. I simply led Risotto and the other founding members to the abandoned dig site where Cosimo found the original. This is the part where it gets weird...," he said, wishing he had another cigar.

"You see, I looked up to Cesare the first much like you do to Gavin. When I found out he was the one that arranged the death of my branch, I confronted him. The first question on my mind was why he didn't kill me. And do you know what his answer was?" he asked, turning to face her again, much more calm than before.

"Because you're useful, Lionello. Both you and Cosimo."

[dolcezzamacabra]

"That's what matters." She sounded a bit... different, for some reason. Colder. She looked tired, worn down, for a moment. "Being useful. When I'm not useful anymore, he won't need me. That's why I'm not going to stop being worth his attention, no matter what." She smiled slightly, a sad expression, but it was a hollow motion. When she turned around and started pacing across the room, something shifted in her demeanor

[dead_head_ham]

"And what then? What happens when that use runs out? Cesare abandoned me and Cosimo for dead...what makes you think Cesare's heir won't do the same to you? After he stabbed me with the Arrow, and nothing happened, he just tossed me into the mud and covered up what was essentially an experimental murder," he practically spat the words

[dolcezzamacabra]

"The day I can't go farther is the day I'll happily die for it." She sounded annoyed, pouring her own wine after a momentary struggle with the corkscrew. "I will put the gun in my mouth and pull the trigger, because that's the day I won't want to live to see tomorrow. I can't live for ninety years like you; I would be stuck in that mud for the rest of my life. I'd rather die for him than rot for nothing

[dead_head_ham]

"Hmmm," Prosciutto remarked, his stand fully moving back into a docile state now as he moved up beside her, resting his elbows on the bay with something resembling a smile on his face. She was right. And he couldn't help but find himself a bit chilled by her words. It was something an old, near hopeless old man like himself needed to hear from time to time. The name Lionello Vescovo was as good as dead...but the name Prosciutto was whispered with fear and dread amongst those of the underworld.

"I like the way you think kid...even if that's unlikely as it is...Lord knows I'm never going to forget you."