anger and trust

Who: Max and Arienne
Where: The house
When: Morning

Max was in the foulest of moods that morning, storming around the townhouse, off and on the phone with various people. He wasn’t even mindful of Arienne sleeping away and he usually was. He hadn’t even changed out of his clothes from the night before and his black slacks were somewhat wrinkled and he’s stripped down to his white undershirt, the bloodstains spotting it faded to a light yellow over time. The knock at the door had pulled him long enough out of his pacing and he expected to see one of his men waiting but instead there was a bouquet of lillies left on the stoop and the sight of street children running away. Scowling, he picked up the flowers and slammed the door shut behind him, rattling the gas lamps in the foyer as he stomped to the kitchen.They certainly weren’t for him. No one would send him flowers. So that meant they must’ve been for his sister.

Max did not approve of the flowers.

The final slam of the door had Arienne coming downstairs. She'd been going to come downstairs anyhow, with him storming about, but she'd been getting her clothes on and the like. Making herself somewhat presentable before she went to find out what he was upset about. But she put down her hair brush and opted not to do anything with it, letting it fall loose around her shoulders as she took the steps quickly, finding him in the kitchen. "What is it?" she asked, not bothering with the traditional 'good morning'. Clearly he was upset, and she was cutting straight to that.

"What is it?" Max asked her, hands on his hips as he turned to look at her. "What is it? Some self absorbed, narcissistic, egotistical wannabe vigilante decided he was going to off Iakov Konovich last night. That was my kill. That was mine! And now this piece of trash is going to get the credit for it and I am going to rip him limb from limb. I'm going to put him on the rack and make him beg for mercy. I am going to pour acid into his eyes. And this?" He pointed to the flowers that he'd dropped on the table. "I do not approve of this."

Arienne listened to him, eyes on her brother until he pointed to the flowers. Then she spotted them, having overlooked them previously. The news wasn't good. They wanted the man dead, just not yet. It was premature, it wasn't on her timeline. "I'm sure you will." she said to Max, putting a hand on his arm to comfort him lightly as he ranted. "I know it was your kill. It was always meant to be your kill." she added. That had certainly been her plan. Max was meant to take out that man. And likely others leading up to that, of course. But in her mind it was always going to be her brother who got to claim that. She looked at the flowers, reaching out to pick out the news clipping. Reading it over, she saw the news she'd just been given reflected there, though there was a name. She turned the clipping around so he could see it. "Eric Martens." she said. "Apparently, the rack's next guest has a name all laid out right here, nice and pretty for you."

He took the clipping from her a little more roughly than he usually would have but he was in a mood and he didn't care. Too riled up to have gotten the paper that morning, Max was feeling the steam rising to his head again at having missed this. Eric Martens? The junkyard dog? "I'm going to maim him." He wouldn't kill the man. No, that would be too kind. He was going to make that man beg for his life to be ended.

"You're going to have to find him before the police." she said, tone light, reasonable. She began to search for a vase, finding one under the sink. Filling it with water, she put her mind to the predicament. "However you do decide to work him over, dump the corpse someplace near where some of the killings took place. It'll look like the public took matters into their own hands." she suggested, moving to start putting the lilies in the vase.

"I'm going to rip off his nails," he continued while he watched her work with the flowers. "I'm going to pull out his teeth and leave them in a little bag around his neck." Max looked at the article again, reading over what the police were saying. There'd be a manhunt and it would complicate things but it wasn't anything that was new to the assassin. "I don't approve of those flowers. Are they from your 'friend'?" he asked because no, he hadn't gotten sidetracked enough to study the bouquet with narrow eyes, as if they were a new creature that he was intent on observing. "I haven't met him and I don't trust him. He's male."

Ari smiled just a little as she arranged the flowers in the vase, then took the ribbon and tied it around the vase itself. Looking back over her shoulder at her brother, she tsked slightly. "Keep at least one tooth--drill a hole through it and hang it someplace. It'll be a pleasant reminder for you." she said. She'd told him previously she didn't want dismembered body parts in the house, but a tooth was fine. "I imagine they are from him, yes." she said, nodding. "He'd be the only one who knew where I was located." Not even people at school really knew she wasn't at the family home. "You haven't asked to meet him. And he's been a perfect gentleman." she added, which was true, in a sense. They'd not gone to bed together yet. Branded and skinned each other, sure, but she was still a virgin.

"Because if I met him, I'd kill him and then you'd be upset about it and then where would we be?" he pointed out to her and shoved the newspaper clipping in his pocket. Max didn't need a lot of reasons to kill someone but he had plenty to kill this person that Arienne liked or was friends with or whatever it was that was going on there. He tried not to think about it. "And I don't want to keep any teeth because I hate Eric Martens and I am going to stab him in the throat -- No, I can't, because then he'd die. Dammit."

"You could always not kill him." Ari said patiently. "You've got more control than that. Everyone else might think you're just some mad dog killer but I know better." she said firmly. "And flowers are a good sign, I would say. Especially ones that come with a big red flag we need to pay attention to." she added, being reasonable. She exhaled and turned around, leaning against the countertop as she leveled her gaze on him. "You can't stab him in the throat." she agreed. "I suggest you just render him unconscious until you can get him someplace much more private, then you can take your time and decide what you want to do with him."

Max scowled at her and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was acting like a child with the pouting and the spewing of anger. "He's not coming here," he said after a heartbeat or three. "He's not coming here and he's not allowed to know where you are. This is my house and I don't want to have him at my door all smarmy and aw shucks and trying to make me not want to kill him any more than I already want to. You're here because I can protect you here. He might be your true love or whatever it is you said was going on, but you're still my sister and I had you first." Which may have sounded odd and it wasn't that Max saw his sister as a possession. It's just that Max was there first and therefore he was the more important one. The idea of having to share his sister's affection and company was not something he particular liked.

Arienne listened to Max's rant, one eyebrow arched. She didn't break into it, at all, letting him get through the whole thing before she even started to address it. "I never said he was my 'true love'." she said first. She was tackling everything reasonably, keeping her tone even. "I said we have a connection, an understanding. I imagine other people might call it that, but that's a ridiculous concept to people like us. And by 'us' I'm including you." she said, knowing he would understand that at least. "I'm still your sister, and I'm always going to be." she continued, stepping forward to give him a hug. "And I'm never going to leave you behind, or forget about you, you're always going to be a huge part of my life. I promise." she told him, looking him in the eyes. "And he isn't going to show up and behave like that. In fact, I don't believe he'd ever set foot near this place unless explicitly invited to do so. I'm positive whoever delivered that didn't know who it was from or who it was going to. He wouldn't jeopardize things like that. If you meet him, it's going to be when you decide you're ready to, at some location where none of us is going to be at risk of being spotted. And then were're going to meet, and I'm going to stay between you both. But it won't be until you truly want to. When you're ready to. And I'm not pushing that. It's going to be on your time frame."

He was still scowling even as she hugged him although by the end of her assurances it seemed more like a pout than scowl. It was very difficult to get around the idea of sharing his sister with someone else and Arienne was smart. She knew how to get to him but he felt assured in the fact that she wouldn't manipulate him. "Maybe," he gave and it was somewhat sulky. "Does he know about me?"

"Yes." she said, nodding. "He does. I told him about you, about how important you are, and that you're on board. That you know what my plans are, my ambitions. And that you want to help me get there." she said, watching his eyes as she gave him a soft smile.

"And how does he feel about that?" he asked. He was trying very hard to be civil about the whole thing, knowing that he owed it to his sister and her infinite patience with him to give a little on his end. "And I take it this should be the part where I find out about him, isn't it?" He was still angry but it had calmed as he had something else to focus on.

"Cautious because he's aware he needs to be, and grateful we have an ally?" she suggested. "And I've told you most everything already." Except his name, or position in things. She spoke of him but not about him, possibly.

That peaked his interest and he raised a curious eyebrow at her. Cautious because he knew he needed to be. Fear maybe? That would be interesting. That would be almost delightful really. "So who is he then, Arienne?"

Ari drew in a breath, and let it out slowly. This was it. This was where things could go well, or things were going to fall apart and she was going to have to use damage control to a degree she'd never even attempted before. But she trusted this was going to be okay. It had to be. If anything was going to work, it had to be. She moved to sit at the island counter, turning the flowers so she could see them with the ribbon as well. Her eyes lingered there, before she ticked them back to her brother. "His name is Nathaniel." she started. "He is in school with me, though never spoke there until after we started making plans. We met elsewhere. The Boardwalk." she continued. "The man who was just murdered? Is his stepfather." She stopped there, to let that sink in for him.

Max was quiet, much like he'd been that night when she'd laid everything on the table for him. He was quiet and still, watching her for a long while as he tried to process this. Nathaniel Konovich. Nathaniel Konovich. Not some son of some no-name captain. The son of the (former) head of the Syndicate (at least in this city). He took a step back and leaned against the kitchen table and rubbed his hands together, breaking eye contact with his sister and looking out the window at the grayish light of the morning. He'd seen the kid before. It had even come up about taking the child out but the Syndicate worked differently and wouldn't have the same kind of impact as it would have if, for example, Max had been killed when he was a child. And he still wanted to kill this boy, this Nathaniel. Not just for who he was, but because he was moving in on his sister. Arienne liked him though, had formed some sort of bond with him and killing him would upset her. It didn't mean he liked it. He didn't. He didn't like it all. This was sealing the betrayal to his family completely. This was the final nail in the coffin and Max... had no idea what to say.

Ari didn't try to make him say anything. She merely continued, her eyes firmly on him. "I'm the only one who calls him Nathaniel." she said. "We met on the boardwalk, and we both were playing the typical role we're assigned. Only we could see through it, on both ends. And we got to actually talking, and...we both want the same things. We both look at the bigger picture, and can see past the way things are currently set up. They don't work. Nothing works. And we can see a better way to do things. It'll take years. Careful set ups that we orchestrate. He was meant to be slowly moving up in the ranks. Getting people who were loyal to him so when eventually you did kill his stepfather, he'd be in a position to take over. At this point, that won't happen, unfortunately. It's far too soon. This...Eric Martens fellow has thrown a wrench into our works, and that's something that I'm taking personally. I have an agenda, and he's making me alter it. I'll adjust, of course. We'll all adjust our timelines, our plans. But I do hate having to rearrange things from such uncouth corners." she sighed and shook her head. "No matter. It'll get taken care of." she said with perfect confidence in both Max's ability to take care of business, and she and Nathaniel's ability to roll with the punches.

"I'll take care of Martens," Max said automatically. That was already clear by now. The rest he took in, forcing himself to be calm even though it all bothered him. There were many factors left there that would need dealing with. "Do you have a plan if he betrays you?" he asked her frankly, because at the end of it all, they both grew up in different worlds. Arienne played people and this boy could very well be playing her, maybe even beating her at her own game and his sister's protection was on the forefront of Max's mind. "If he does, I'll end him. If he hurts you in any way, I'll end him. I won't apologize for it."

"I know you will." she said, smiling in his direction. "He won't." she told him first. "However, if he betrays me, I imagine you'll hunt him down and spread his body parts over a half mile radius for the offense." she added, matter o fact in that. "And I wouldn't ask you to apologize for that. I need you in my corner, brother. With me. I depend on you protecting me when I need it. All I ask is that you don't make a decision on some perceived 'betrayal' until you ask me first." she said. "We're playing a complicated game. How our public personas behave will be different to the true story, something I know you understand intimately. So, there'll be a lot going into this, a lot of fronts put up and displays for the public that have nothing to do with the reality of the situation. I don't forsee at current there being any call for a supposed perceived 'betrayal', but one never knows." She smiled at that. "Unless we wanted to do something like date publicly, then have a messy 'break up' only to reconcile years later." There was a light laugh as she locked her amused gaze to Max's. "People do so love an epic romance. High school sweethearts getting back together would be front page news, I expect." It would be. Though she didn't think they were actually going to do that. But the story was an interesting one. "But either way, at current, all anyone knows about the two of us is we serve on student council together and are giving each other courtesies past the veiled hostility we've played up in the halls." she assured him. It was also there to illustrate the fact that what other people viewed was not what was really happening. "Beyond that, if he did truly betray me, you would be the first to know."

The fact that Arienne didn't seem entirely concerned about the possibility of Konovich betraying her bothered him but he didn't put voice to it. She was protecting him -- this boy -- from him, yet did acknowledge that if something like that happened, Max would have his day. If Arienne told Nathaniel about him, then he would imagine Nathaniel would know then not to cross either of them. Max considered all of this, a forced calm spreading through him as he told himself to just listen, that he needed to be better at that. "I'll play nice as long as he does," Max assured, hating the idea but he had no other choice. He was doing this for her, not for Nathaniel. "I won't slit his throat when you're not looking. I'll even... meet him.... if you want me to, if only to make sure he knows that he isn't to play games with you or me." Every line in his body was tensing and relaxing as he worked through it.

Ari considered that, watching her brother. "Max, do you want to meet him?" she asked. "I don't want you to if it's just for me. Right now, I'm alright with you two not meeting. But if you actually want to, to...get your own take, or whatever it is you need to do, then I'll arrange it. But I want you to feel ready for it, not just do it because you believe it's something I want." she said genuinely, not wanting to rush him. She wanted him to be comfortable--or as comfortable as he was going to get--with it before it happened. She wanted it to be his decision.

Max gave her a bit of a look. "I'm not looking to shoot the breeze with this kid. I'm not calling him up so we can go bar hopping. I'll meet him once because that's all I need and that's it. I can only imagine the scenarios that are going through your head. Does it involve cutlery at a cafe table? It should, I've thought about it but now I have a face to stab the fork through." He pushed away from the table and came over to her, but his attention was focused on the vase and he needing to do something with his hands, he began arranging the flowers around. "Not that in actually meeting him would I stab a fork through his face. I would be extremely pleasant. I'll even wear my pocket watch." He was coming off almost flippant with his joking about the whole thing, but the only alternative was for him to get angry and stomp around some more and Max didn't want to do that. He could be pleasant and nice and play along even when he didn't want to and he needed Ari to see that. "It should wait until I'm done with Martens. I don't want to do this today."

"The scenarios going through my head aren't anything like that." she told him. She watched him arranging her flowers, and considered. "You tell me when the day is right." she told him, still leaving it in his court. "And your pocket watch is lovely. However, I would advise that you not try to play the nice face either. Just...be with him like you are with me. When you're with me, you're you. Not some...mask." she said. "If you talk straight with him, he'll talk straight with you. If he thinks you're pretending, he'd see it as having no choice but to pretend in return."

"I like the fork stabbing myself," he said with a shrug. At her suggestion, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "He doesn't have the privilege of getting this side of me. He'll get what I give the family. Someone calm and obedient despite them all thinking that I'm going to rip all their hearts out with my bare hands." Asking that of him was farther than he liked. As if he was meant to welcome this Nathaniel into their bubble of perfect happiness. "If he thinks he doesn't have a choice in how to act around because I don't trust him, that's his issue. I'm never going to trust him, he just has to convince me that he's loyal to you and then we'll have no issue."

Smirking slightly at her brother, she propped her chin on her hand. "I know you like fork stabbing." she said. "Alright. I'm just saying don't try to play him. If we're all in this together, he needs to be able to trust in you too. Though, at current, he trusts you because I trust you. He believes in my assessments." And she rather wished Max would as well, but she imagined that would take time. So she didn't say it. She merely told him the truth, and if he happened to reflect upon his own trust of her, then so be it.

Max wasn't so blinded by his sister to not have caught her pointing out the trust issue and he huffed a bit. "I'm agreeing to meet with him, aren't I? And I'm not talking about pulling out his fingernails. I think I deserve a bit of credit for that." He nudged her foot with his to show that he wasn't angry or annoyed. "I'm an old old man whose stuck in his ways."

"You're getting credit. I'm proud of you. I'm always proud of you. And I did tell you, did I not?" she pointed out. When he nudged her foot, she smiled at him, and leaned over to bump her shoulder against his. "You're a young man, who's got a system, but we're working on it." she corrected, a light affectionate tone in her voice. A tone that really would have fit better with someone speaking about warm, loving family things and not how she trusted her brother not to kill her boyfriend the second he was within sight.