The weather was beautiful this particular October day and one could be forgiven for thinking that anything remotely bad could happen on a day such as this one. Anyone that wasn't Basilio Raven that is. Unfortunately for the thirty two year old bachelor, his day was about to get a whole lot worse. Not that it had been particularly bad yet. Normally Basil wasn't one to attend meetings, he often found them to be dreadfully boring, but considering the day he had ahead of him, he'd decided to occupy his time in other ways instead of conversing with his mother, or his siblings, or anyone that might even think to ask him how he was feeling about such a momentous occassion. Momentous occasion indeed. There wasn't this much pomp and ceremony when his brother had returned how with a petite blonde on his arm. He'd never actually met the woman, often too busy to bother with such frivolousness, but he'd heard a lot about her from his mother and even some words of interest from his father. Basil wished he'd been able to go the way of his brother and disappear for a number of years only to return with the perfect woman. However this was not the case, as he'd been left to pick up the slack of the two before him. He'd always been the last one to figure things out. Alessio had left the family entirely to get away from the clutches of his mother, though that wasn't the only reason. Still, Basil had to wonder if he'd be listening to his father drone on if he'd left with Dante a couple of months ago. A year? He couldn't even remember how long it'd been. Both Ciro and Alessio had been hesitant, but Basil had handed the freak his bag and sent him packing with words of encouragement and told him not to get dead. Live your dream kiddo! Damn, his whole family was more clued in than he was.
Eventually the meeting came to an end and Basilio sighed. He couldn't stay here any longer and so with a great show of annoyance, he stood from where he had been lounging and walked out of the room, immediately making his way down to the foyer. His mother would be waiting for him to ensure that everything was perfect. Basilio had no idea what this girl was supposed to look like, how old she was, or even if he would like her. He doubted it very much, considering she was picked by his mother, why couldn't he had been Ciro again? Abbigale had two kids to a previous marriage for crying out loud! It was all so utterly ridiculous. The rate his family was going they were all going to be disinherited and he'd get everything, not that he would complain really. He'd not seen a lot of his family in recent months, something that he, admittedly, did regret, but he had been so busy, it was hard to make time for them. A bit ridiculous really considering they all lived under the same roof. Well, not Amanda, she was married with a couple of kids by now. The first Raven child to marry. She was certainly his mothers favourite, though she didn't visit nearly as often as she ought to. Amanda and Basil never really saw eye to eye. Whilst she was only ever interested in finding a husband, he'd always been more into intellectual endeavours, like actually learning. Whilst none of the Raven's were dumb by any sense of the word, except perhaps for Giuliano, they all possessed different levels of intelligence. Basil liked to consider himself the smartest, though he was likely just being prideful. Of all his siblings though, with whom he liked or disliked in varying degrees (there were an awful lot of them) Isabella was probably his favourite. She liked to let everyone think she was a little angel and whilst that was mostly true, Basil knew there was something else too, he suspected they all knew. Except he rather appreciated her for it.
Of course his closest relationships were with his mirrors. They'd been together since conception so it was hard to not like each other, though, he could have said the same for Arturo and Giuliano, but one only had to look at them to see the tension there. Regardless, he had always been close to both Ciro and Alessio, though they did tease him mercilessly about his name. When he was younger, he'd hated it, now he just didn't care and it no longer got the reaction they wanted, well, not outwardly. In saying that though, Basil had done his absolute darndest to make sure that he was nothing like his brothers. He'd failed of course, but he liked to think that the differences outweighed the similarities. It was unlikely, but he had to try. Specifically, he drank cold tea instead of the normal hot tea. He had, at one time, considered trying coffee, but also knew that it would probably constitute getting thrown out of the family. His mother had been rather strict on that when they were children. At the time he hadn't really believed her, but, considering that their family numbers were decreasing almost faster that they were increasing, it made sense to be wary. Eventually the clock struck the hour he was dreading and his mother began to fuss. She was incredibly excited, the shameless meddler that she was, and Basil was only getting increasingly more annoyed at her. Still, he supposed he could give her this, but if he didn't like this, Kira, or whatever her name was than all bets were off, well, he said that now, but he knew he would never actually go through with it. His mother had always been sickly, who even knew how long she had left. She already had two illegitimate grandchildren that wouldn't inherit anything, Basil had to at least do something for her. Merlin knew Ciro and Alessio wouldn't.
The door open to reveal two young witches on the third knock. Basilio's mother immediately ran forward and greeted the both of them, smiling and talking to them like they were old friends. Basil rolled his eyes discreetly. He didn't want to disgrace his mother in front of guests. Let no man, woman or child say that the Raven's were less than chivalrous. The old notion of Xenia might have been outdated, but it still counted for something. So instead of turning on his heel and leaving, like he really wanted to do, Basil immediately bowed to both ladies and greeted them in turn. Left first and then right. He would have normally greeted his intended first, but as he had no clue of which she was, he decided to go the slightly less formal route. Basilio's mother immediately bustled the pair into the marble foyer as it was rude to leave guests on the step and Basil soon joined her in the lounge. He smiled at both of the woman. Though it was not exactly genuine and gestured carelessly to the bar. "Would like drink?" He didn't care much to pay too much attention to either of them. He didn't care much to be honest and so he also didn't care that he actually could speak English. He figured it would be fun to play dumb. His mother would hit him for it later, but she would say nothing for now. He only had to marry one, produce a child and then he was done. Though he would have preferred to choose his own bride, the choice was taken from him and so now he had to make do with what he had. "Whisky? Water?" Italian whisky was some of the finest in the world and even if they did not partake, Basil most certainly did.
ooc: oops, i had no idea it was this long. Sorry!
