The Ballo Signora

[Robin Lichester-Raven]

Robin flipped each gold and sliver coin from one hand to the other, counting the day's busking tips with hearty clinks.
"Fifteen forty, fifteen sixty-five, sixteen galleons. Sweet!"
His pockets heavy, the circus artist made a beeline for the first restaurant on the Auckland boulevard that looked like its meals were in the mid-range of prices. It was a tourist-y area, which meant that the food and wine was always going to cost more, but that meant a bigger audience for Robin's shenanigans. He'd finally gotten his official busking license after playing a few dodge-and-rolls with the local coppers, so he was free to pester and entertain all day from nine till five.
Robin spent most of the day juggling, but if the crowds doing their shopping spread out a bit, he'd occasionally indulge in some flipping and one-man adagio. If it got hot, he also liked to take his shirt off and watch the averted eyes and smiles run over people's faces.
He'd been doing the circus gig for well over ten years now, and the half-gypsy man had yet to get tired of it. He loved the audience, he loved the girls (and the guys) who approached to be thrilled and to catch a eyeful, but most of all he loved raking in the galleons for what was nothing more than child's play for him, now.

Robin passed on falafels, and fish and chips, since his 'pocketbook' could take a greater hit that day, and decided to treat himself to heartier fare. The Ballo Signora was pouring out wafts of saucy-smelling steam that made his stomach rumble audibly. Robin practically skipped in and seated himself in an alcove.
Menus flapped above the bar separating the busy kitchen from the dining area, and he perused them lazily whilst momentarily glancing around for a waiter. His eyes scanned over another brunette, curly head, then returned with alacrity.
Damn, that is a tall dude.
Robin craned to see past the quite unusually tall figure before giving up and slipping out of the booth he'd secreted himself in. He was inconvenienced, but not irritated, and glanced curiously at the person as he walked past to read the rest of the menu.
Hot damn.
Well, Robin didn't read for long. He was a fan of split-second decisions, and turned on point to dump his pert arse into the seat across from the gentleman. The performer clicked with one hand at a waiter (more for theatricality's sake than actual rudeness) whilst not taking his eyes off of the thoroughly interesting wizard.
"Actually, no menu for me, thank you." responded Robin to the waiter's query with his strange, miscellaneous accent. It was quite a mix of Romanian, Kiwi and English.
"I'll have one of those," He pointed to the brunette. "- And whatever he's having."
You'd had to have credited him for the cheek of it. Robin grinned his most charming grin and rested his chin on his hand.
"So, just whose silent and solitary dinner am I brightening up right now? You can call me Robin."
Really credited him.​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

Alessio had only ever been in New Zealand once before, and that was only to try and convince one of his younger brothers to not follow in his footsteps. He failed, and the boy decided to run away with his werewolf friend, and Alessio had returned to Italy working with his uncle. However, he was back in New Zealand because he was asked by his slightly younger brother, Cirino, to catch up. He had not had a proper conversation with either of his closest brothers for years, what with Ciro having spent the last few years avoiding Italy as if she carried the plague once more, while Alessio was busy with their mother's family, and Basilio was busy with their father's. Being new to the country, he was naturally attracted to the tourist-side of things, and found this Italian-themed restaurant that amused him greatly. It was so incorrect about his culture, that it simply had to be their meeting place, there was just no way around it.

He read over the menu, a gentle smile growing as he looked at the names of the various dishes. Italian was his native language, and even he could not make out half of what this said. He checked the time, finding that he would be waiting a further ten minutes before either brother would show up. He had not expected to be so early, but it had just happened. He put his menu down, not bothering to order ten minutes before he expected his brothers to arrive, and took a sip from his glass of water. What was he going to do for ten minutes?

Alessio looked up from his glass when someone that was not either of his brothers sat down in front of him. The Italian man eyed him curiously, wondering if perhaps he had mistaken him for someone else. What confused him more was when he appeared to be asking for a menu, as if expecting to actually stay there. His lip curled slightly, however, at the man's words. He was certainly confident, and if it weren't for the fact that Alessio found him both attractive, and funny, he would not be sitting so charmingly in that seat. Alessio's glass touched the top of the table, and he readjusted his scarf to loosen it slightly. It was light, more for dress than warmth.

"Alessio," he replied intertwining his hands on the edge of the table, leaning forward slightly as he regarded Robin with a mixture of outright astonishment, and intrigue. "May I ask how you came to be so theatrical, Robin?"
​

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[Robin Lichester-Raven]

"It's a gift," replied Robin, his smile growing.
The man certainly had an intriguing face. Handsome, certainly, but not at all typical. Robin tracked the movement of a pale hand where it pulled down the scarf slightly, and almost gulped when it revealed a strong and sinewy throat. His mouth went dry, and suddenly, making this man smile was his only desire for the evening.
"Alessio," he repeated, completely bungling the pronunciation. Robin pouted at himself and tried again. "Alessio,". He fairly purred that time, and he perked up at getting it right. "Gorgeous name. Just like its owner. So, what did you order?" said Robin, launching himself head first into seduction mode. "Dinner's on me, by the way, unless you wanted to ask me out," he winked, "But I'm choosing the wine, and you have my permission to scold me if I get it wrong. The dolcetto, please," Robin added to the waiter, who left looking as astonished as Alessio probably felt.
The acrobat finally took his head off of his hand, but only to lean back and get a proper look at the wizard opposite him.
"I must admit, I am surprised to see a genuine Italian man in this painfully non-genuine Italian restaurant. You are Italian, yes?" Robin confirmed. "Damn, that's hot," he added under his breath. His face turned serious for a moment, and he tilted his head in a bird-like manner. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
That thought verbalised was usually the first that would come into someone's mind before even approaching a potential crush, but Robin was clearly a 'Leap first, ask questions later' kind of man. It helped with his profession, which involved diving off of high platforms, but often got him into trouble while courting.​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

He did his best not to laugh at Robin's attempts at his name. Some may have been irritated, but that was certainly something charming about how he pouted, and then seemed so pleased with himself over having pronounced it correctly. "Oh really?" he mused at the invitation. "You have no idea of my tastes. They could get rather... expensive. I was going to be paying today, therefore I will continue to do so." Cirino and Basilio would probably be late regardless. Why should he lose a perfectly good opportunity for a nice lunch with a complete stranger? There were two more seats, if they had any major issues, they could just join them. "Don't worry about pronunciations." He leant closer to him over the table. "Most of it is spell wrong." He then smiled at the waiter. "I will have the Lasagne Al Ragú, and so will Robin."

Alessio inclined his head in agreement as Robin spoke. He too would not have expected to find an Italian at this restaurant, as everything about it would either offend or amuse. Fortunately, Alessio saw the humour, but someone more like his father certainly would not. He sipped his water again, and smiled at his companion. "Was it the accent, or the name?" he asked, returning his glass to the table. "I was born in Florance," he added, almost as an afterthought. Upon being questioned of his plans, however, his smile fell slightly. "Ah, yes. I expect my brothers to be seeing me, soon," he explained, looking at the two unoccupied chairs at the table. "Cirino and Basilio, are their names."​

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[Robin Lichester-Raven]

Expensive tastes, hm, thought Robin, charmed. He flapped his hand at Alessio's assertion of paying.
"Ah, we can fight over the bill later. I can always go outside and make more," he told Alessio self-confidently. Robin balked for a second, realising how that must have sounded, and quickly delved a hand into his side pocket and removed one of the soft green balls that featured in his daily acts. He smiled at the Italian and flicked it from one pointed finger to the other, back and forth mesmerisingly before it disappeared up his coat sleeve.
"Juggler," he confirmed. "Not grifter, or pickpocket, or whatever the hell I just implied before." Robin looked sheepish for the first time during the utterly fearless conversation he'd started, but the facial expression disappeared quickly enough. Smiles looked good on his face, and he knew it.
The bottle of dolcetto arrived soon after, and each man had a generous glass of the fruity, slightly dry red wine to sip. Robin sampled his, then waved a finger at Alessio.
"If you don't like this one, then I'm at a loss."

He could listen to this man talk all day. The pout returned when the Italian granted a smile to the waiter, but not to Robin, and it turned into a full blown sulk when he was told to expect more guests.
"Well, they'd better be as pretty as you," he teased with his grumpy face still in effect, folding his arms across his chest. "I bet you have a twin, too, that would be the icing on top of a very rich and decadent cake. How could I handle that much man?" Robin lamented, throwing his hands up. At this point, he was giving any Italian a run for their money in melodrama. He had no idea just how perfectly he'd hit the nail on the head. Alessio was taking everything he threw at him in stride, and it was his nature to push and prod until he could illicit a reaction.
"Well, it's nice to see something genuinely Italian in this joint," Robin added. "Florence, hm? Lovely place; too many dogs, though." The circus had covered most of Europe at least three times in Rob's lifetime, and if he hadn't visited the countryside of Italy, he'd certainly resided in the capital cities for a few months at a time.​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

Alessio shrugged to himself. He was not too bothered by who would be paying, as he knew he would be. He was not about to let himself be indebted to the man, especially if he decided to stay around. There would be two other men to feed, and they would be his brothers. It would not be right to have a stranger pay for Cirino and Basilio's meals, but he was flexible with his own. But the man's comment did leave a few things ambiguous as to what he did for a day job. He nodded, however, when Robin clarified himself. For only a moment, his confident smile seemed to falter, and it was a shame, really. it was a nice smile, and he was quite pleased to see it return when it did. He looked up at the bottle arrived and he was given a new glass. With another smile for the waiter, he accepting the new glass, and sniffed the wine, before taking a sip. Robin was correct. He liked it, but he attempted to keep his pleasure to a minimum, and simply 'hmmed' at it.

"Yes, it is rather nice," he eventually said, but he could not help it as Robin continued. He had no idea how correct in his assumption he was, for Cirino and Basilio were his triple brothers, that happened to look just like him, baring a few differences from their natural tastes and years spent apart. "Indeed. How could you handle three of me," he responded, hinting at the truth of his brothers and he. He was being theatrical, but he was possibly telling the future without even realising it. Cirino and Basilio would eventually reveal themselves, and Alessio was not entirely sure how his new friend would react to them, nor how they would react to him. He was clearly a funny, confident man. One who performed often and clearly felt he was good at it. By the trick he had been shown, Alessio was inclined to agree with him. But his brothers would not share his interest, and he knew this. He only hoped that they would be their general, polite selves and not make the man feel unwelcome, and Alessio was certainly happy to keep him around.

"There are quite a few, I supposed. But I did not grow up in Florence, so I would not be able to truly comment." He sipped the wine, finding it sweeter with every sip. "Where were you born, Robin?"​

 

[Robin Lichester-Raven]

"Three?" replied Robin, his stomach doing a little flip of shock. Was he being teased back? "Well, I'd definitely take pictures."
Alessio had barely reacted to the wine, which made him want to pout more, but he was a practiced tease and knew when he was being toyed with in return. He wanted to shake the Italian and yell 'Do you like anything?', yet it was just impatience at not getting immediate results. A chase it would be, then. He'd been fortunate so far, and had gotten away with plenty of socially unacceptable behaviour, but if he was going to be serious (was he?) then he needed to take a few hits to the ego.
"Where did you grow up, then?" Robin asked Alessio, before he was distracted by being posed a question of his own. For the first time during their entire unlikely conversation, the acrobat grew quiet and contemplative.
"Europe, definitely. La Grande picked me up somewhere in Wales, but no one can ever agree on where, and everyone does agrees I'm not Welsh." he told Alessio. "Or at least part Welsh, anyway." His skin colour was certainly not as swarthy as his fellow acrobats, but he had the kind of olive undertones that had come from some unknown ancestor.
Robin took a deeper sip of wine and envisaged three of Alessio. Christ, maybe there was such a thing as too much man.
"So when do you think your 'twinsies' are showing up?" he asked his sudden flame. "It's, what, twelve-forty? When do you guys usually take lunch?". Robin was starting to perk up again now that he was off the subject of his heritage. He wasn't ashamed, but he'd found his true parents long ago and contact with them had been few and far between since. He was better off where he'd been raised, which was constantly on the go.​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

He could have continued trying to convince Robin that, he was one of three, but he decided that it would be more interesting to let the topic drop for now, and just watch his face twist around when Cirino and Basilio did eventually decide that it would be good to grace him with their presence. He sipped the wine once more, still refusing to allow too much to go noticed by Robin. he had started this, and Alessio was not going to make it easy for him. He Robin liked the chase, then Alessio would certainly enjoy watching him chase. Who was he to deny Robin his fun? No one was getting hurt near as he could figure. Although, it would depend on how Robin behaved himself around Alessio's brothers, as they were not as fond of games as he was, and he doubted they would approve of his new, very interesting, friend over there.

Glad that he had successfully deflected the attention of Robin from his home life, he relaxed a little into his seat, and found it interesting that Robin had no idea of where he had been born. His family were so strict with birth records, that he could probably find where his most distant relatives were born and buried. It was a completely alien concept to him, for one to not know where they were from. However, he found it also interesting that he would have spent the majority of his life travelling, something Alessio wished he had done more of before he decided to work with his uncle. "I assume then you picked up some languages along the way?" Alessio spoke three, with Italian being his mother tongue, and default language. He also spoke French, while English was his worst language, and occasionally he mixed words. The worst offender was confident and condiment, and so he avoided ever using those words.

He once again checked the time, even as Robin had said it. It was not from a lack of trust, as he was sure the man could tell the time appropriately, it was more from habit. He sipped his wine contemplatively, thinking about whether they would join him if he had a stranger at the table already. He decided that, yes, they would, and probably make all sorts of assumptions on their way towards the table. "Generally we would have lunch at one, however they should be coming within the next ten minutes," he explained. "Although, to my knowledge Basilio has not been to New Zealand. I suppose he could be lost." But then again, Alessio would never be that lucky.​

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[Robin Lichester-Raven]

"You'd assume correctly," replied Robin. "Conosco un po 'd'italiano, po 'di spagnolo," he said, waving his right hand in a 'small amount' motion, "But mostly român and English."
At no point did he miss Alessio's deflection of the family question, but he knew as well as anyone how sensitive such information could be. Rob would find out as much as he could from the brothers soon enough, and he could wait ten minutes.
"I can swear in at least eight, though," he added as an afterthought.
Their lasagna arrived in a most timely manner, and Robin began to pick at his like his namesake. He ate a lot, like any man would who lead an active lifestyle, but he was too distractible to sit down for proper meals. Alessio was witnessing a the rare event in which he was forced to sit still and eat like a normal person. Robin conscientiously tried not to play with his food (most of it did end up in his mouth), but various salad greens and pasta made rotations around his plate as he talked.
"Can I ask what brought you here, then?" asked Robin, following a bit of sauce on the corner of his mouth with his tongue. "New Zealand's about as far away from Italy as I can imagine. The Cirque makes its way around Australia and the surrounding islands every few years, hence why I'm spending my time off busking the streets. It's ..." he paused, swirling his wine. "Surprisingly nice to hear another European voice." He smiled at Alessio, but this smile was different from all the ones he'd bestowed so far. It was sweet and somewhat wistful. It changed soon enough into the properly lecherous. "Especially one so rich, you could drizzle it on a pudding. Mm ... actually, I could do with some pudding later." Another lettuce leaf found its way into the acrobat's animated mouth.​

 

[Cirino Raven]

Ciro had finished the last amount of packing for Abbigale, and finally he could get ready for his lunch with his brothers. He was not extremely excited to eat with them, as he did wonder why they could not just eat when he got home, but he assumed it was because Alessio was up to hiding from their mother. Again. Like he so often did. Ciro was often told that his years of travelling around in avoidance of the inevitable was silly, but at leats he eventually returned. Alessio merely stops by and then leaves just as quickly. Fixing the collar of his jacket under his scarf, he locked up the house and a wave of his hand and got moving towards the more tourist-side of town. Over there, there were all sorts of restaurants that often mislabelled everything they sold. One Italian restaurant was far more Sicilian than anything - and whether the owners realised it or not, yes, there was a difference.

He checked his letter, and looked up at the restaurant before him. It was nice, for what it was anyway. It was quaint, and did smell rather appealing, but not like home at all. He smiled slightly as he entered, knowing that this would have been Alessio's idea, perhaps. To pick the most offensive restaurant on the street and have them eat there. It was downright typical. He paused, however, when he found his vision of Alessio clouded by another man, and it was certainly not Basilio. The posture, and size was all wrong, not mentioning the colour differences of the skin and hair. Furthermore, Alessio looked too happy to have been sitting along with Basilio for an extended period of time.

He approached the table silently, not entirely sure what this was. The thought that the man had invited himself most certainly did not enter his thoughts, but perhaps this was someone that Alessio wished them to meet. If so, Ciro hoped there was more to him than what he could immediately see. He stood slightly to the side of the strange man, and looked to Alessio, waiting to be greeted, invited to join, and then introduced before he would sit down. "Hello Alessio," he said, announcing his presence to the strange man, just in case he had not realised he was there. "A friend of yours?"
​

 

[Basilio Raven]

Whatever the day was today, it all seemed rather grey for Basilio. Coming from the loss of a good friend was hard and Basilio was still young. Death was not something he'd had much experience with and so he was finding it rather difficult to deal with, especially at his young age. The friend in question had been rather young as well, not much older than him. He died of some illness that Basilio couldn't pronounce let alone remember and now he was expected to send his valuable grieving time with his brothers. The thought alone was enough to make him think he should have declined the offer. Truth be told though, he really did miss his brothers and it would be good to see Alessio whom he'd not seen in some time. The only problem, well one of a few, was that Basilio just did not feel up to going. It was hard to go out when he was still thinking about his last conversation with a friend he thought he had all the time in the world for. The man had only just become a father, it was hard to believe that his wife and son were now a member short. Though he often got on Basil's nerves, he would never have thought of him as anything less than a friend and so it was hard to feel all of the emotions associated with the grieving process. He knew them all, he'd read the books his mother gave him, he knew all about the stages of grief and he knew how he was supposed to handle them. The only problem was that he just had no idea which stage he was at and it was really bugging him. How was he supposed to handle all of this today if he couldn't even figure out what stage of grief he was in?

Leaving the grief to the wayside, Basilio eventually got ready for his lunch, in New Zealand of all places, with his brothers. It was entirely obvious who'd chosen the locale, yet it was also very strange as the last he'd heard was that Alessio was with their uncle, who he believed was not in New Zealand. Ciro, Jeremiah and the twins were the only siblings he knew were there. Still, he supposed that Alessio may have gone traveling again. Shaking his messy hair into place, Basilio kissed his mother on the cheek on his way out and made his way via both port key and apparition, to the meeting place. He'd never been to New Zealand and he did have to admit that he was intrigued by the surroundings. However he also knew why his brother and Abbigale had moved away and so he definitely knew that he would not be keen to stay. They had no problems with Scitorari or whatever where he was currently living and whilst Basilio didn't necessarily completely disagree with what they were doing, in fact he was sure that his now passed friend had dealt with them on occasion, he also didn't believe that it would be in his best interest to get involved. If he just stayed out of it, it was safer for both him and his family. After all, he was soon to be a married man, he couldn't be dragging his name through the dredged mud that was swept over that group of anti-ministry propoganderists. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he was not one to get involved in big movements, they were never entirely what they seemed. He would just prefer not to get involved at all and that was probably the smartest thing he'd ever decided.

Basil soon came to what he figured was the meeting place. A restaurant in the middle of the rest of the strange shops. He squinted and a smile grew on his lips as he realised, with some amusement, that it was actually supposed to be an italian restaurant. Despite his initial melancholy, Basil's mood took a leap upwards at the thought of this trying to pass itself off as authentic. His mother would have been instantly cured at such a thing. That thought alone rather amused him. Shaking his head, Basilio stepped into the, Sicilian restaurant, or poor excuse imitation for, and immediately recognised both brothers. However it seemed that Ciro had arrived only moments before and currently, Alessio was entertaining. Basilio blinked. This was definitely unexpected and as a man who liked to have a plan, this was not welcome. Taking his cue, Basil walked around the table to stand opposite Ciro and looked at Alessio, his mouth turned down slightly. It would be rude to speak italian at this point, no matter how much he would like to and so instead Basil used his english words. "Afternoon, Alessio, Circuit. Would it be remiss of me to ask for an introduction?" Perhaps they had gotten the time wrong? Surely Alessio would not have double booked them, right?
​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

He liked being right, he always had, but it was not much of a hit in the dark. The man travelled, and Europe was a compact place. Move around there long enough and one could pick up numerous languages if they tried. Alessio smiled, just slightly, and hid it behind his wine glass, not wanting to have Robin feeling too confident. Personally, Alessio was not much of a swearer, he preferred to use his vast vocabulary to confuse others, rather than swear at them, and often it came to much the same result. He was pleased with himself, and they were mad. But considering Robin knew curse words in eight different languages, it certainly told him a little more about the man across from him.

He gave another smile to the waiter that brought them their food. He order two more meals for the brothers that had not shown up yet, just assuming what they would prefer from perusing the menu. He was quite sure he would be correct, as they had similar tastes in food. He began breaking apart his lasagna, cutting it into bite-sized square, similar to how one would a child. He had always eaten his food like this, since he was young, and really saw no reason to change a working formula. He looked up from his meal as Robin spoke, and shrugged slightly. A fair enough question.

However, as he began to respond, he saw his brother enter the restaurant. It had to be Cirino, he was quite sure. He wore a band on his finger, and to his knowledge, Basilio was promised but not actually engaged nor married. Ciro also tended to look busy, regardless of whether he was relaxing or not. He grinned at Ciro as he spoke. "Good afternoon, Cirino," he greeted, before noticing that his second brother, Basilio, had also entered the restaurant. They now stood around the table, waiting for him to invite them to sit, he assumed. "Robin, this is Basilio," he said, gesturing to Basilio with his hand. "And you have just met Cirino. Cirino, Basilio, this is Robin." He would let Robin decide whether they would know the circumstance of their meeting, and he would let his brothers decide if their common nick names would be used. "Come, join us. I have already order your meals. It can be a surprise."​

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[Robin Lichester-Raven]

Robin's eyes went comically wide at the sight of two more Alessios approaching their secluded little dining table. The reaction was little over the top, even for such a surprise, but it couldn't have been the first time that the triplets had been treated thus. His eyes when from Alessio, to Basilio, to Cirino and back again, before finally finishing on his impromptu date's and narrowing into mock outrage.
"You sneak!" cried Robin, pointing his finger at the more familiar brother. "You just sat there and listened to me crap on about having a twin, like I wasn't making a cur of myself, and continued to say nothing the whole time! That's, that's-" the acrobat looked awed. "Wow, that's worthy of me. Bravo."

Now that the shock was dying down, Robin had a good look at each brother and decided that he was in way over his head. Not willing to back down from a challenge, he swallowed as much of his apprehension as he could and let bravado take over. It seemed to be amusing Alessio, and so as long as he didn't openly insult the other twins, he should be in the clear.
"Of course it wouldn't be remiss!" Robin replied to Basilio enthusiastically. "Forgive me, I'm never going to remember who is who, so I'm just going to stick next to the one with the delightful nec- scarf. The delightful scarf," he corrected himself, and promptly pushed his plate next to Alessio's and shifted to the seat next to him.
"I'm surprised you didn't tell them to bring dates, also," chattered Robin amiably to the scarfed twin. "But you couldn't have known you'd have more delightful company, of course." The acrobat's grin was immovable.​

 

[Cirino Raven]

Ciro fought the urge to roll his eyes as he was greeted by Basillio. He had no idea why he received the nicknames, when it was not he who called Basilio 'Herb', as he did not indulge in such things. "It is good to see you well, Basilio," he replied quietly. At least he was not the only one confused. For a moment he thought that perhaps everyone knew about this man except him, and he would not have liked that. In fact, he was still not sure he liked the man, judging by first appearances, and it appeared as if at least one of his brothers agreed with him.

Ciro watched the antics of his brother's companion, and he doubted he was half as impressed as he should have been. However, he tried not to look too disturbed, as he did not wish to be rude, but as soon as this guy was gone he was going to be looking for answers, and the first question would be where in Earth Alessio dug this guy from. This Robin was not the sort of person he expected his brother to hang around, and he had a small sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He looked at Robin with a serious face, and spoke to him softly. "You may call me Ciro." It was more than he felt he should give to the stranger, but he was a friend of Alessio's, and that made him a friend of Ciro's, in his eyes. He moved to take a seat, but found that the antics of Robin were not quite finished. He stepped around Robin and took a seat beside the man, feeling slightly envious of Basilio, would merely had to sit across from him. He was not sure on Robin, not at all.

Having found his seat, Ciro looked around the table, knowing two very well and the other he was not sure he wanted to get to know in the first place. Knowing he would need a drink for this lunch, he took his brother's glass as punishment for making him need it in the first place. He sat the glass down, and smiled at Robin, trying to bring comfort to the table. "Robin, what do you do for a living?"
​

 

[Basilio Raven]

Basilio really just did not know what to make of the man. He was yelling right there in the middle of the restaurant. What was wrong with him? Did he not have tone control? Was his volume button faulty? He looked between the two men. The entire atmosphere here was just totally wrong and Basil had the sneaking suspicion that they'd just walked into a date of some sort. Where had Alessio dragged this guy from? His choice of words left much to be desired and he was most certainly not... privileged. The way he held himself and his entire manner was just totally off-putting. Alessio obviously wasn't serious, this was quite surely some sort of harsh joke that he was playing on them. Obviously he'd gotten April's fools a couple of months late. Obviously this was not a date and obviously this... man, was not actually as ridiculous as he seemed to be, because quite honestly, Basilio had never seen a display quite like this before. If this were a woman, she would likely be a bimbo. He adjusted the scarf on his throat, clearing it as he sat down across from the man. He watched politely as Ciro took some of their brothers drink and took up the glass himself when it was placed back on the table. He handed it to the waiter that walked by and looked back at, Robin. That wasn't even a proper name. It was a bird, a symbol. Who was he, a gypsy?

Basilio didn't even have to look at Alessio to know that his brother knew exactly what he was thinking. As Robin mentioned being close to the brother with a scarf, Basil blinked and looked down at his own scarf and at the one on Ciro's neck before raising his eyes at his brother. Is he blind? his eyes questioned. He was being rather the grump, but when he is invited out to a family meal, he rather expected it to be family only. Unless... Basil immediately widens his eyes a little and looks at Alessio. "Please... don't tell me." He hadn't invited Robin to call him anything else and that was a stance from him. He was making a stand and that was how it was going to be. That and the fact that he hated being called Basil anyway, so why ask this stranger to call him vie a name he did not like?
​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

Alessio found Robin amusing. He was not sure whether it was because he found the man charming, or whether he was just in a particularly good mood. However, this obviously did not transfer onto his brothers, who were both giving him the impression that they did not like Robin. Too bad for them, because Alessio did, and he was paying for lunch, and he was the host. He's hosting, his rules, so to speak. Cirino was probably annoying because he was not told of the extra visitor, and probably because Robin was a little loud. Something Alessio rather liked. Basilio was probably mad because this was not strictly family, like Alessio had said it would be. But he was not a seer, how was he to know?

He laughed slightly at Robin's praise. "I thought it best to just let you find out," he explained. "Your face was unforgettable." He looked at his brothers, trying to get them to settle into the situation more, but he knew it would not be much use. He moved his plate slightly to give more room to Robin and his plate, and ignored the fact that his drink was being devoured by his two brothers, who could have easily gotten their own. He looked at Basilio just as Basilio asked his question, eyes widened. It took a moment for Alessio to click onto what he was actually asking. It could have been any multitude of things, really. "Robin is a friend, Basilio," he explained, looking at Robin, expecting him to agree. He felt like they were friends already, perhaps just passed acquaintances, but that was still friends. "Anyway, Cirino, Robin is a juggler, and street performer. You should watch him one day, he's quite captivating." He knew that neither of his brothers would appreciate it, but now they were annoying him with their rudeness.​

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[Robin Lichester-Raven]

Robin could have squealed like a schoolgirl at being called 'captivating' by the very one he was feeling captivated by. He still hadn't quite forgiven Alessio for pulling one over him, yet he was still so impressed that he let it slide.
It didn't take a genius to realise that the Italian Brotherhood (Robin was quite proud of this one) didn't see eye-to-eye with their brother on his addition to their lunch, but they'd just have to live with it for the time being. His life was crazy enough normally, but now he felt like he was being secretly filmed.
"You haven't seen anything yet, blossom," Robin told Alessio, mostly using the soppy epithet because he was sure it would annoy one of the twins, if not all. "The La Grande Tour Circa has taken up the park behind Worcester Avenue. I do tissue, fast-track, juggling and sometimes high bar there. Hey, tickets are on me!" he said.
The real climax of that introduction was Robin's swilling of Basilio's forgotten glass. With a sleight of hand worthy of Houdini himself, he'd filched it right from under the twin's nose as he passed to the waiter and taken a drag mid-sentence, all whilst waving his hands about like a proper Italian. It was all pomp and bluster, of course, to disguise a very practiced and graceful movement that had been ingrained into Robin since he could walk.
"Ah, I think your brother likes my wine choice, don't you?" He polished off the glass of red which left a silky residue behind. "We're due another bottle, anyway, since there's four now."
As much as he was trying to get under the brother's skins, Robin was still a diligent host, and leaned back in his chair to borrow two wine glasses from the empty table behind him. The two glasses he poured made no sound as they bubbled into their receptacles, and each 'Alessio' had a glass of their own now, plus the empty bottle besides.
"Speaking of professions, I never did ask you what you do, Alessio," Robin asked the man next to him, using his name warmly. "What has it been, twenty minutes since we met? How rude of me!".​

 

[Cirino Raven]

Ciro watched them interact silently, and looked over at Basilio for a moment. Yeah, he didn't like it either. That made him feel a little better about his thoughts on this matter. He did not like not liking someone that Alessio clearly liked, but he could not also bring himself to be 'captivated' by the man beside him. He was loud and enthusiastic - like a child. Ciro was not quite fond of adults that acted like children, and that was probably going to stop him from looking any deeper into Robin's personality. He continued to watch Robin as he described his job, which had Ciro stunned. Robin was a circus performer, it seemed, and if Ciro hadn't have actually met the man, he would never, ever have imagined his brother with someone like that. Now he was quite sure this wouldn't work. He gave it a month. If that. He looked at Basilio, and tried his best to remain pleasant. "Isn't that nice, Basilio?" he asked, trying to get Basil to interact with whatever Robin was. His brother's friend, apparently. If that was what he wanted to call him, that was his business. But at least they could get free tickets to his shows, though he doubted he would ever take him up on such a suggestion. Ever.

Ciro was not impressed with the show, though he felt he succeeded in hiding the majority of his frustration through pursing his lips. If Robin left the table any time soon, he was going to stab Alessio with a fork. Many times. He did not find the little slight-of-hand thing Robin did, and he was more than certain that Basilio would not like it either. He gave a quick look of displeasure at Alessio, before clearing his throat, mostly because it was now nearly as dry as the sun. "Yes, more wine. That is needed." Because Ciro was not getting through this alone. He was sure Basilio would agree. He did, however, thank Robin honestly for the glass. It was the only reasonable thing he had seen the man do so far. He took a sip of the drink, and found it rather pleasant. He took another as Robin continued talking about something that probably wasn't important. However, he did completely understand what he said, and began choking on his drink. He tried to do it subtly, and managed not to spit his wine out, but he did cough several times and wiped his mouth with a serviette, before staring at Alessio sternly.

"Twenty minutes?" he demanded, a hand vaguely gesturing in Robin's direction. "You have known him for twenty minutes and you invite him to our lunch?" He began massaging his temple slowly, feeling a headache coming along.
​

 

[Basilio Raven]

When he had agreed to lunch all those weeks ago, Basilio had planned for all kinds of contingencies. At least he thought he had. Apparently the one thing he had not planned on, was Robin. The fact that this person was sitting across from him and engaging with himself and his brothers on a personal level, well, it was rather annoying and to be quite frank, it was ridiculous. Basilio didn't know whether he wanted to scold his brother, or kill him outright. Of course the latter would require weeks of planning and eventual upheaval of his life, but hey, on the bright side he wouldn't have to worry about Keira Kendall-White anymore. Basilio nodded to Ciro when he was addressed and just barely managed to keep a straight face. So he had been right. He was a gypsy. Typical. This was exactly the kind of behaviour that he would expect from some halfbreed. So of course it would be Alessio. Sighing inwardly and only barely managing to contain his disgust at the mentioning of getting free tickets, Basilio turned his head away to survey his surroundings. He hadn't really been looking forward to lunch, mainly due to his initial mood, but now he was definitely sure that he shouldn't have come. He just wanted a nice, quiet, luncheon with his brothers. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently, yes. He realised his mistake the moment that Robin reached over and lifted his glass. Well, he hadn't seen it be taken, only that it was now in Robin's hands. He stared at the glass for a moment before looking over at Ciro and shaking his head. Wine was not going to get him through this. He would have to be dead drunk, and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, not with the state of the wine in this place. That last glass he'd had was... fruity, but not the kind of fruity that was nice, the bad kind of fruity, overly fruity. He decided that for now, the best thing to do would be to remain silent as he knew what he was like. He had a tendency to offend people easily and he did not want to upset Alessio more than he already had, whether intentionally or not. However, he was not able to remain silent for long, because it was now that Robin decided to reveal that he actually did not have much of a relationship with Alessio. They had intact only just met. Twenty. Minutes. Ago.

"Twenty minutes." Though he was utterly furious, he remained dead quiet. He simply turned slightly to look at Alessio and smiled. It was sickeningly sweet. "That's Wonderful. Alessio. Twenty Minutes. Utterly Marvelous. I Wish You. Every. Happiness. Every. Single. One." He turned back to Ciro and smiled again. "Won't Mother Be So Pleased."
​

 

[Robin Lichester-Raven]

"Well thank you, thank you!" Robin immediately responded to Basilio. "Every happiness, indeed. I'm just jubilant, myself."
These brothers of Alessio's were starting to get on his nerves. He was trying to imagine them having a quiet, orderly lunch together and was frankly bored out of his mind at the thought. Rob loved the spark of fire that Ales got in his eyes watching him. Every little reaction he managed to elicit enthralled the performer, making him want to see more and more. Those brothers of his were raining on his parade, and it was time to step it up a notch.
The wine glass forgotten, Robin got ready to really make the 'interrupting' brothers squirm, but fate decided to sh** all over him the moment he opened his mouth.
"Robin!"
Rob jumped out of his skin.
"Baba?"
A furious stream of Romanian was making its way swiftly towards the table. Anything that could make Robin back up a notch was truly something to be feared. Said fearsome entity stomped up in the form of a short, swarthy-skinned woman of indeterminate age, though she was clearly well over eighty.
"You! You [untranslatable Romanian] were supposed to feed the horses ten minutes ago!"
Robin was starting to go a bit pink about the cheeks, and stood up to put an arm around his adoptive mother in an attempt to head her off.
"Baba, please, it's only- ten past four? Cacat! Okay, I'm sorry, you're right, I'm wrong, let's go now." What a kick in the teeth it was to leave just when things were starting to heat up. The old wench just pulled herself out from under his bicep, smacked him about the ear and practically glided back out of the restaurant as if running on pure steam.
"You can't do that anymore, I'm twenty-nine!" Robin yelled after her. He sighed, and turned back to the triplets. "Well, that's my cue. Thanks for lunch, gorgeous," he told Alessio, pulling out every galleon left in his pockets and stacking them neatly in the middle of the table. "Cirino, Basilio, let me know where you got those sticks up your arse from, they've excellent craftmanship!". Snooty brothers now forgotten, Robin turned all of his attention to Alessio, to whom he had one more thing left to give.
"This," said Robin quietly, "Is a lodestone." He removed the polished disc from the now-empty depths of his pockets and tucked it intimately into a fold of Alessio's scarf. "It's accurate up to about five k's. Drop it somewhere, anywhere where you're planning to be, and I'll find you again." He smiled, his hazel eyes lighting up again like the first time he got Alessio to laugh. "Be good to them, now. They're going to need an aspirin."
Robin leaned down and quite literally stole Alessio' lips in a short but deep kiss. It was over before there was time for him to pull away, but Rob had snuck in a taste of tongue and was clearly overwhelmed for a few seconds. Shaking his head to clear it, he gave the triplets received one last wink, and Robin was out the door.
The lodestone dropped from Alessio's scarf and into his top pocket, there to do with as he pleased.​

 

[Alessio Lichester-Raven]

Alessio was torn between trying not to cry, and trying not to laugh. It was clear to him that his brothers were both pissed off, and uncomfortable, and it was not something he wanted. However, Robin was just not someone he couldn't laugh at, and so he promptly re-filled his glass in order to use it as a cover for his near-irremovable smile. He did not want to think about what Cirino and Basilio would do to him if he broke into laughter while they were this angry with him. He would probably never seen the light of day again. However, the humour seemed to disappear along with Robin's smile as an older woman approached them, yelling Robin's name. Naturally, Alessio determined this woman to be a mother figure to Robin of some sort, as the man reacted just as he would his own mother should she be screaming his own name like that. He grinned as she smacked Robin across the ear, but just as Robin faced him once more, the grin was replaced with a more stoic look.

"Any time, Robin," Alessio replied, taking another quick sip go his beverage. He kept his mouth firmly shut as Robin continued, just watching the reactions of his brothers. His attention was taken from them once again, however, when he was presented with a gift that was placed into his scarf, he was slightly confused. He had not been sure where this was going when it had begun, but now he was curious enough to see where it could go. He had at first been confused by what followed, until the kiss, which Alessio was all too happy to reciprocate and watched him leave with his mouth slightly hung open.

He looked at the pale, almost dead faces of his brothers, and poked his food with his fork self-consciously. "Well..." He licked his lips, trying to find something to say, before deciding that just leaving would be the best option. "This was lovely," he said, finishing his wine with a vigour that suggested he was quite accustomed to drinking large quantities of the stuff. "We should do it again." He stood up, collecting Robin's money and adding his own to cover the bill, and leaving a little extra just in case Cirino and Basilio wanted to order more drinks after that display. "Say hello to mother for me."</FONT></SIZE>​

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<FONT font="Georgia">Cirino and Basilio ended up using every galleon left to them on alcohol to help them make sense of the world, and of what had just happened. It turned out that, yes, they both did need an aspirin or two. Alessio returned to the hotel he was staying at during his time in New Zealand quietly, still mulling over todays events. And yes, Robin finally got his butt into gear and fed the horses.
Their mother was not told of todays events.
The end. ​

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