Capital, Old Sport

Who: Nico and Max
Where: Little Haven
When: Morning

Max still did not approve of the flowers. He’d glared at them all through breakfast the previous day and had to work hard to resist crushing the entire lot but Arienne being upset or annoyed with him stayed his hand.

Even more so, he didn’t approve of the fact that Eric Martens had turned himself into the police and thus preventing Max from exacting his revenge. He was somewhat relieved from taking his frustrations out on a street child he’d run into late last night and so he wasn’t storming around in a rage and thus was able to wander around in public. He’d ventured into Little Haven, considering dropping in on his younger cousin whom he hadn’t seen in some time. However his trek was stalled by the very distracting display of shiny wind chimes. They were in all sorts of styles and he paused to consider the one with decorative little birds on it.

“If you look at them right, you can almost hear them singing.” Nico had spotted his cousin from a little way off and approached him from behind. He knew that that was not always the most wise thing to do, but the fact that Max had gotten himself distracted by some fake birds amused the hell out of him, and he couldn’t resist. Still, he spoke from just out of range. He had a survival instinct, after all.

It took Max a moment to recognize the voice but he looked over his shoulder at his cousin who wisely stood a few feet away. It was never good to sneak up on Max. “I just hear bells and the last I checked, birds screeched.” Max wasn’t one to appreciate the sounds in life. Music to him were the screams of the dead or the music from his radio. Birds were a pest in his opinion.

“Birds sing,” Nico clarified, moving a little closer. “You just need to listen properly,” he added, bringing his hands to his mouth and whistling out a couple of birdsong impressions without thinking too hard on it. Nature’s music, it was all around: and one of these days, he would get Max to appreciate the beauty in life.

Max raised an eyebrow and pulled a little face. Nico was someone who did weird things like that and he wondered if it had to do with all the piano playing which was one thing that Max did not mind about him. “Is that what you were doing today? Going out to sing with the birds?”

Nico smiled a little. “Actually, I was out of milk. so I was going to get some more. You disappointed?” he asked, clearly amused. He thought his cousin probably did imagine him as someone who would wander out just to sing with the birds, rather than someone who would live a vaguely normal life.

That was exactly what Max thought. Nico was different from the rest of them. Arienne who was fractured, Lucas was a poncey son of a bitch, and the others all seemed to have sticks up their asses. “Maybe a little. I guess though it could be considered that you’re what? Enjoying life’s little pleasures?” The whole bird singing thing reminded him of that cartoon that had come out with those seven stupid dwarves. “I was coming drop in, see if you were working on anything new. I’ve gone through all my records.” It was a major appreciation Max had of Nico was the music he produced and the recommendations he had. Much of Max’s most soothing music were recommendations from his cousin and he could always use more.

Nico tilted his head to one side in thought for a moment. “I might have something new for you - you looking to listen, or for something you can take away with you?” he asked, knowing there would be a difference. He definitely had new music he’d been working on since he last saw his cousin, but he hardly got to record a lot. If at all. He had some new discs though, some good pieces he’d picked up that he thought would be in Max’s taste. He could pass them on. Max would more than reimburse him - he could always get money out of his cousin. Max knew the score. At times, Nico felt like he was on commission, but he was good with that. It was nice to be appreciated at times.

“Have you been working on new things lately?” Max asked curiously, pulling his silver dollar from his pocket to run the coin through his fingers. He had no problem paying his cousin for the records, knowing how expensive they could run. It’s just Max was not one to go wandering through a music store to find things that he didn’t know about first.

Nico smiled and gave Max a Look. “Whenever am I not working on new things?” he asked, amused at that.

“I was just wondering because we’ve recently acquired a new asset that I think you might be interested in.” He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it over. Yes, the one he doted presents on was Arienne, but he may have had a soft spot for Nico for certain things they shared in personality that Max hadn’t forgotten about. This was the one who he dragged along with on his secret experimentation's on birds an the other small animals that would roam the backyard of his old home. The card held the information for a local studio whose owner had needed assistance.

Nico took the card and held it by the edges, reading the words inscribed thereon, before he looked up at Max - always up. There were times when being short really hit home. “We being the family?” he asked, carefully, keeping his voice neutral.

“It’s still a legitimate business. He applied for a loan, he has time to pay it off,” Max said and waved a hand to dismiss what he assumed was unnecessary worries about familial connection. “You’re the one who didn’t change their last name,” he pointed out.

“Time to pay it off, but things will go smoother if he greases the family wheels,” Nico added, knowing how these things went. He handed the card back. “Thank you for the thought. I appreciate it, but I can make my own way - and I shouldn’t have to pretend to be someone else to be able to do that,” he said, firmly. “I’m not ashamed of who I am, I just don’t want to surf on it either. I’m good enough to make it on my own.”

“Didn’t say you weren’t,” Max assured an took the card from him. He wasn’t offended. These things had to be done carefully with Nico. “It’s not the snazziest place in the city and he has reasonable prices. You’re the only one I know who’d get any use out of it anyway.” He tucked the card in his pocket and adjusted the black fedora on his head. “What can I say? Maybe I feel bad buying you out of your collections.”

“That’s what the term ‘buying’ means, Max,” Nico pointed out with a quirked smile. “I give you records. You give me cold, hard cash. We both walk away with something we want. If I didn’t want to let them go, I wouldn’t let you near them in the first place. If you feel guilty - I can up the price. I hear inflation’s a bitch,” he joked.

“Guilty,” Max repeated with a snort and rolled his eyes. “The ignorant feel guilty. I am above all simple human emotion. I’ve been asked to check in on you. Is everything going alright?”

“There’s no such thing as being ‘above’ human emotion,” Nico laughed, though it was clear that they’d discussed this before. “Human emotion is what makes the world go round - it’s in everything we see and do. It’s what makes life and all worth living. No, of course, that doesn’t mean that it’s always good human emotion. Or what everyone else might call ‘normal’,” he teased. “But it’s still there. I, for one, embrace that - and, as a result, I am always alright.” He paused, frowning a little. "Who asked you to check in on me?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.

“Aunt Cordelia, I’m suspecting,” Max said, speaking of Lucas’ rather intolerable mother. “She’s been taking it upon herself to check on everyone’s wellbeing now that my mother’s passed.” As if getting a pipe through the neck was ‘passing’. “Especially as she doesn’t get to be involved in Arienne’s birthday party preparations. The ‘vapors’ took their toll most harshly.” Max had been overseeing them all, although the hands on things were being overseen by one of the Walker women.

For once, Nico didn't have a ready smile. "I'm sure she's absolutely thrilled at the chance to be the family matriarch," he deadpanned. "Well, you can tell her what you like. You will in any event." Not that he held anything against Max for that - Nico was aware of the way the family worked and he didn’t live under any pretensions that just because he’d walked away, just because he - in his mind - had been disowned by his family, it didn’t mean that things would completely be turned on their head and people would start acting entirely against character.

“She’s trying, but she never had the personality for it.” Max smirked and flipped his coin from hand to hand. “So I’ll tell them you’ve joined a wandering minstrel group and are thinking of going blonde. That should suffice.” He rarely spoke the truth when asked to his aunts and uncles, thinking him errand boy. The gall.

Nico tilted his head to one side, as though taking Max’s comments seriously. “Think blonde would be a good look on me?” he asked, wide eyed. Not that he would ever consider such a thing, and the sparkling behind his eyes showed that he was joking. His tone, however, was perfectly serious.

Max studied his cousin intently, going along with the joking. It was his effort to be more... normal. More personable. Fit in like everyone else and with Nico it was easier. The younger cousin, the one who didn’t seem afraid of him and treated him like an equal. It meant things to Max that he couldn’t quite put into words. He wondered if this sort of camaraderie was like what Ari talked about having with the Konovich boy. “With a pink bow,” he said just as seriously.

Nico threw his head back and laughed, grinning widely, his smile seemingly taking up his entire face for a moment. "Of course," he agreed. "It simply wouldn't work without the bow. I'm sure she'll love that. And she'd probably take you seriously too," he added, rolling his eyes. His aunt had no sense of humour, and she probably believed anything anyone said about him.

“It’s certainly fun to try see what she will and won’t believe. We could come up with an entire story to tell your parents as well. The wandering minstrel with blonde hair and a pink bow. Have you taken up the fiddle now? Perhaps you’re doing Irish jigs and slumming it with even more riff-raff. Have you gotten some poor dear pregnant?” Max tapped his chin in his thought. Stories. How he loved them.

“I probably could play the fiddle,” Nico said, considering that. After all, how hard could it really be? It was just another set of strings. He knew the basics. “Slumming it is pretty much a given, if you consider our aunt’s and my mother’s definitions. Pregnancy? Possible, I guess - but if that’s the case, I’ve not been told,” he mused, running through the various suggestions and taking them as seriously as Nico took anything in life.

“They’d certainly love the idea of you getting some girl done up. Won’t that be just the scandal.” Max smirked and lifted his fedora to run a hand through his messy black hair, not nearly as curly as his cousin’s was. “But I like the wandering minstrel. We’ll stick with that. How much do I owe you for the records?” Not that Nico had them at the moment, but Max didn’t have worry about paying Nico in advance. He’d knew that he’d get the goods.

Nico rolled his eyes. “Aunt Cordelia would be gleeful if I got some woman knocked up - she’d think that it would mean that I would have to become the ‘responsible husband and father’ and get a ‘normal job’. Which would be whatever the family needed me to be doing, of course. The scandal would be a sideline - she’d live with that for the opportunity. If nothing else, it would give her something to hold over my mother,” he said. How his mother would see it, he wouldn’t even think of. He never did, not if he could help it. He shook the thought off, moving on. “You pay me whatever you think fit for the records, as always,” he said, knowing Max would be on the generous side. As always. In this, at least. Nico figured he didn’t actually know how much a disc would go for in an actual store, and he wasn’t going to disabuse him.

Pulling his wallet out, Max counted out some of the larger notes. He may kill homeless children and torture people, but he certainly tried to be more than fair when paying for the things he wanted. “This should suffice,” he said, handing Nico the rather generous payment. “I’ve got Arienne’s birthday things to see to.” There was a rather dark look accompanying that statement as he remembered the flowers. He did not approve of those flowers.

Nico caught the look and frowned. “You that put out about arranging your sister’s birthday?” he asked. “I thought the two of you got on...” At least, that was always how he’d imagined it. And, usually, he was fairly observant when it came to relationships.

“Hmm? No, no not about that. She’s a lovely girl. I don’t like the things that accompany it.” Boys. Boys were not to be trusted. And it wasn’t like Max could tell Nico about the whole Nathaniel situation which was still making him see a bit of red but he was still caught up in his other frustrations of not getting his claws into Eric Martens. He’d make the bastard rot, he’d just have to figure it out.

Raising an eyebrow, Nico went to what he thought was probably the heart of the situation, acting on instinct. “You can’t enter her into a convent if she doesn’t want to go, Max. She’s old enough to make those choices - and they’re never going to be good enough for you, or any of your family. Hell, all you can hope is that she doesn’t fall for someone like me. Or you. She’s always been a sensible girl. Far more sensible than us, that’s for sure.”

Max gave him a look, not entirely amused. “What’s wrong with someone like me?” Nico was right though, Arienne was a sensible girl but that was just it. She was a girl and she was his little sister and bad things could happen especially around that Konovich and why wasn’t he allowed to get rid of that problem it just wasn’t fair!

Nico raised and eyebrow. “You’re male, and you remember what it was like to be a guy at Arienne’s age,” he said, as though there was nothing else that he could have been insinuating. And, in fact, he hadn’t been insinuating anything different. Nico wasn’t that type, and he’d never treated Max the way that most of the rest of the family had. But guys would be guys.

When Max was seventeen, he was busy learning about human anatomy and the best way to dissect a corpse. Was Nico assuming that he had the same drives and wants as his peers at that age? The thought was a foreign one to him but Max didn’t say any of that. “I suppose. She just deserves better than the options she has.” He eyed Nico. “I’d trust you with her. You’re a good chap.” As if there was nothing wrong at all with the familial relationship there.

Nico laughed. “Okay, I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just say that. I’m her cousin,” he said, taking Max’s statement was though he’d made a particularly good joke, even going so far as to slap him lightly on the back. Lightly - Nico might not take life seriously, but he knew better than to really get a rise out of Max, even if he never seemed to acknowledge the potential danger outwardly. “They’ll be boys, they won’t be good enough. You’ll warn them off, your father will warn them off, she’ll be pissed and eventually she’ll settle - that seems to be the general way it works. If your father doesn’t fix her up with someone. Which, knowing your sister, will piss her off.” But he doubted it would be enough for her not to go along with it. Arienne wasn’t like him. She cared about her image, for all she could be headstrong. She would toe the family line - at least, Nico thought she would.

No, she has ideas about taking over the family and joining with the syndicate and ruling over everyone like the queen of her kingdom Max thought, remembering Arienne’s carefully cultivated image among the world, an image that Nico knew, but not who Arienne really was. “You might be right,” he admitted grudgingly. “You should come to the birthday party. It’s going to be a grand affair. Costumes, masks, the whole nine yards.”

Nico made a slight show of considering it. “I may just do that,” he said, though it was a given he would be there - if for no other reason than the food. He didn’t get to eat the way he used to. he couldn’t afford it. And whilst he was an outcast from the family, well - he could still attend their parties. make them pay for that extra plate. It felt like a little ‘screw you’. If they didn’t like it, they could always give word to turn him away at the door, but so far, they were still letting him in.

Max nodded and took Nico’s hand to shake. “Capital, old sport. I’ll let her know. She’ll be delighted to see you.” If Max was going to be ‘coming out’ too, he was going to have back up, as... interesting as it was to consider Nico to be back up in that sort of situation. “I’ll make sure you get an invite.”

“Well, you know where I live. Hell - maybe I’ll find myself a devil costume. Would be nice and appropriate, really. All things considered,” he joked, with a wide grin as he shook Max’s hand. He held no hard feelings to his cousins - it was none of their fault the family they’d all been born into. “Other than that, I guess I’ll see you around.”

“I’ll stop by if I don’t hear from you,” Max said with a nod and tipped his hat to Nico before clapping him on the shoulder. “Have a good day with your minstrel group,” he said with a grin and headed off, flipping the coin in his hand once more as he contemplated the orders he’d give for setting up Arienne’s party.