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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Jan 28, 2022 13:29:22 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2022 13:29:22 GMT
"I'm not awake either, but all the same, I'm so happy to be able to say it to you, I'll say it again, too," Cassie replied, leaning across the table to kiss his cheek. She smiled softly at him. "Good morning."
She took the mug from him, and stirred a spoonful of sugar into it while it brewed. "I almost never sleep well, so I know-" Cassie was interrupted by her phone ringing.
🎵 All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a circus 🎵 Cassie flipped her phone over, and the caller ID displayed 'It's Britney, Bitch.'
"It's my boss," she sighed, as Britney Spears continued to play. "I should take this, or he'll continue thinking you murdered me. He's... dramatic." She hit Answer.
"CASSANDRA JAN, I NEED TO KNOW YOU'RE NOT DEAD IN A DITCH SOMEWHERE, OK?!"
Cassie held the phone at arm's length away from her head, wincing at the volume. "Christ, Bell, good morning to you too."
"I'm on the other side of the globe, you tell me you're going to the middle of nowhere with the hot cop, and I'm supposed to not be worried when you don't answer?"
"That's fair. I didn't mean to worry you, I just was having a good time and forgot about my phone entirely," Cassie said mildly. She turned on FaceTime and smiled a little as she moved her arm around, getting Luca into the video. "But as you can see, I'm not the only one who's not dead."
There's the sound of wild scrambling, and then Bell's face appeared on the phone, his other hand gripping his hair, tears running down his face. He let out a shriek of joy, sobbed a few times, then managed, "Jāné del-am... Luca, is that you?!"
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Jan 28, 2022 16:31:09 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2022 16:31:09 GMT
Luca returned her smile as she told him she wasn’t awake either, and how she was so happy and would say it again too, and she did. He blushed a little after she kissed his cheek, and he glanced down at the cup he held in his hands while he rested his arms on the table. “If you keep being so sweet to me, I might turn into a puddle here before long.” He mentioned with a grin. He glanced up at her when she started to talk to him about sleep, but her phone interrupted her. He blinked as it played a song he’s not familiar with at all, and raised an eyebrow as he listened to the lyrics, and fixed his eyes on her when she told him it’s her boss and she needed to take it. He tilted his head and mouthed, ‘murdered you’? He grinned some more in amusement and shook his head in disbelief. That’s a first. “Pff, I guess that’s why you chose that particular ringtone for your boss…” He muttered into the mug as he took a sip, and then started to set it down, but stopped when he heard a male’s voice yelling loudly at her worriedly. What the hell…? The voice caught his attention, as his eyes widened in surprise. He continued to listen to a voice he hasn’t heard from in years. A voice belonging to someone he thought was dead, but clearly, was alive. He leaned forward, and smirked when Cassie turned on FaceTime, and he looked into the video. He let out a loud, excited laugh of joy, seeing his old friend, but also laughing at Bell’s reaction of seeing him. “Oh mio Dio, Bell. After all of these years, I thought you were dead, amico.” He laughed again, still can’t believe it, and then it was his turn to run his hands through his hair, as tears welled up in his eyes. “Fucking, damn it, Bell.” He started tearing up as the reunion got to him. “Asshole.” He covered his mouth with a hand and leaned back in his chair, trying his hardest not to burst out crying in front of them, as he looked away. After a minute, he announced in a shaky and quiet voice, “Sorry. I…I need some air. I’ll be back.” He excused himself from the kitchen and walked out onto the front deck.
@mayhem
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Jan 28, 2022 17:48:03 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2022 17:48:03 GMT
"Oh my Lord, you two," Cassie giggled, looking back and forth between the two of them, as each of them got increasingly happier and louder. She was really glad she'd had the idea to do this.
As Luca excused himself, Bell called out, somehow crying and laughing at the same time, "We haven't seen each other in 80 years, and you give me two minutes? Come back, you dickhead!" After the front door closed, he said to Cassie, "Don't you dare break his heart, Cassandra. Don't you dare."
Cassie crossed her heart, holding the phone so he could see it. "Cross my heart and hope to die. Et cetera. Wasn't planning on it, even before I figured out who he was. He really is the sweetest guy."
"Right?" Bell gasped, between hiccups. "If you don't go give the phone to him, you're fired."
"Actually fired, not 'left the tacks in a different location and forgot' or 'didn't reorder shellac' fired?" Cassie returned, smirking. She was messing with him, just as he was when he 'threatened to fire' her.
"YES!!" Bell hopped up and down as if to scoot the phone out the door himself. It would never cease to be incredible watching a fully grown, admittedly handsome guy in an expensive suit acting like... this.
"Alright, alright," Cassie sighed, moving out to the porch with the phone. She looked around for a second, spotting Luca balled up and sobbing like a baby on the edge of the far corner of the deck. She'd make this quick; she knew she wouldn't want to be interrupted in a similar situation. She dashed over, wedging the phone in one of his hands, and then dashed away, looking back with a little smile as she went back in the house.
"I told her she was fired if she didn't give you the phone, but you probably heard that. I didn't mean it, obviously, I just... Please don't leave me again? Never again, do you understand?" Bell said with a shaky chuckle. He rested his phone on a side table, the background details of his first class plane cabin coming into view on FaceTime. He wiped his hands down his face, grinding the tips of his fingers into his eyes. "Never again, Luca joon."
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 0:12:54 GMT
"We haven't seen each other in 80 years, and you give me two minutes? Come back, you dickhead!" Was the last thing he heard coming from Bell on Cassie’s cellphone before he abruptly went outside for air. He walked all the way to the bottom level of the massive deck he built, and sat down by the fire pit he had made several years ago. He wrapped his arms around his legs and bowed his head to rest his forehead on his knees, as he continued to sob after seeing his old friend was still alive. He didn’t bother looking up as he heard the woman walk outside, until she handed him her phone. He glanced back as she returned inside before he could say anything. Once he was there alone, he wiped at his wet eyes, and held the phone to his ear. “Bell?” He quietly said, as if he was still trying to believe it was really him. He let out a shudder as he listened to him before he choked back some tears. “It really is you…” He murmured and covered his mouth in shock. “I thought you were dead. You weren’t moving when I woke up in that god forsaken mass grave with the rest of our squad. I held you in my arms, but you were shot to death, like everyone else…I didn’t know if those fucks were able to kill you.” He shook his head as he remembered every single detail. “I was so seething with rage, I…wasn’t thinking at all. I only wanted vengeance for them killing you and the others. And I did, and kept going on some kind of personal vendetta to kill every single Nazi and German soldier I ran into.” He smiled a bit at the memory. “I nearly killed a whole battalion on my way back to base because I was still so pissed off after taking out the ones who ambushed us.” He sighed, lowering his head as he gazed at the stone flooring between his feet he laid out around the fire pit when he built it. While he held the phone with one hand, he rubbed at his eyes for a few moments with his free hand. He breathed in a shaky sigh, and then gazed at the screen. “Never again, Bell joon.” He smiled faintly. While he seemed happy, there was a lot of sadness and some kind of darkness being held back behind his green eyes. After being quiet for a little bit, he finally went on speaking, “I see you’re flying…where are you going? What have you been up to for the last eighty years?”
@mayhem
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 1:00:54 GMT
"I... I wasn't dead," Bell answered back, voice hoarse. His eyes, meeting Luca's, were flat black, all the shine gone out of them. His brow knitted with anger and pain at the memories. There were distant sounds behind him: footsteps, overhead cabins opening and closing, and rolling luggage going back and forth. "I must have been brought back by someone to the allied side, because that's where I came to several months later. They told me you were dead, and I believed them. I should have known, I should have checked. They knew I had nothing left to lose with you gone, and offered me an assignment in deep cover. Guess we had similar motivations for doing what we did for the rest of the war."
He gave a deep sigh, then said softly, "As to what I've been doing for the past 80 years, let's catch up when I get back to America, shall we? Divâr moosh dâreh, moosh ham goosh dâreh." The walls have ears.
The haunted, hollow-eyed expression disappeared, and Bell's trademark beaming grin came back, when Luca asked about his business trip. "The Sultan of Oman is a friend of mine, and he has this painting he just loves, hangs it in the hall by his bedroom. Says the shading on the fruit is the most exquisite he's ever seen. Anyway, it fell off the wall and got damaged, and he was beside himself. Wanted to make sure it was okay getting to me and back, so he paid for me to personally come get it, have Cassie restore it, and fly it back." He turned his phone to face the other seat in the cabin, which had a large briefcase on it. He unclasped its locks, delicately taking off the foam protecting the front of the painting. "Behold, Practice Still Life #36, a Luca Moretti original."
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 7:22:35 GMT
Luca gazed at him sadly. He too, was led to believe Bell was dead, but he saw his body, and then later, was told his friend was among the dead bodies they’ve recovered in the mass grave of allied soldiers and civilians the SS soldiers murdered. He sighed, “They told me you were dead, too, found where I told them you and so many others were located in that grave. I was so distraught, so angry, I believed them, and then, I became busy taking out HVTs near the end of the war when the military and the government found out about my powers, and used me.” He lowered his head. “I…should’ve checked, but, there’s so much red tape within the government, I wouldn’t have been able to.” He nodded in agreement about catching up once Bell returned to the States. “Looking forward to it,” while adding in Persian, “Kah ain kar ra may kanand.” That they do. He remembered spending time learning Persian from Bell while they were hanging out in the trenches during lulls between the fighting in both World Wars. He was curious about it and wanted to learn enough to carry on a decent conversation with his friend, but after he thought Bell was killed, he didn’t bother. Maybe now, he could continue his studies and learn how to speak it through one of those online courses. He grinned back at him when Bell started to explain to him about his business trip. He listened to him talk about the Sultan of Oman being a friend of his, and how he had a painting he adored, and how the painting fell off of a wall and was damaged, and explained how he was taking it back to have Cassie restore it and send it back. He nodded, curiously waiting to see what the painting was, and he looked closely when his old friend showed him it. When it turned out to be a painting he made, he stared at it for a few seconds before letting out a good, hard laugh. “Ha haaaaaaa haaa hahaaaaaaaa haaa haaaaaaaaa! Is he a fucking idiot? That’s my worst painting, and even I know it’s my worst painting because it’s all wrong!” He laughed even louder, his laugh echoing in the cool morning air of the surrounding woods. Tears welled up and dripped down his face from laughing so much and so hard, and it took him a minute to calm down. “Oh mio Dio. Che fottuto idiota.” He rested his forehead against the palm of his hand, and shook his head; stifling some more laughter.
"And here I thought I threw that abomination of a painting away..." he chuckled, raising an eyebrow at him. "Were you rummaging around in my trash can one day? Why the hell would you want it...?"
@mayhem
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 8:48:59 GMT
"Every painting has its merits, Luca," Bell said, face crumpling in, trying hard not to scream-laugh with his friend. He wheezed a muffled laugh against his fist. "You should have heard Cassandra. 'I removed the varnish, why is it still so brown?!' The whole time she worked on it, she was just shaking her head in disbelief. I had to take her to my apartment and show her some of your other paintings to defend your honor."
Bell gulped down more laughs, face red. "No. God no I didn't save it from the trash, where it probably still belongs. So you can imagine my surprise when I'm at the Sultan's house for a party, I go to take a piss, and that cursed thing's just... there... on the wall... with inset lights and everything on it."
He laughed into his hands for another minute straight, had some water, put the painting back in its case. "I wanted to tell him, but listen, when someone mails you a Ferrari Testarossa just because you mention you've always wanted one, you don't shit talk his aesthetic sense."
The sliding door on his left side opened a few inches, and a flight attendant in hijab poked her head in to talk to Bell in Arabic. As he was talking, he put his hands up in prayer, touched his heart. He was clearly going for the charm offensive. Eventually, he gave a little shrug and apologetic smile, and nodded his head in goodbye to her. "I'm afraid that's goodbye for now, my friend. I'll be seeing you before you know it."
As if on cue, there was an overhead announcement. "This is your captain speaking. We've got clear skies out of Dulles, and a strong tailwind, so I expect we'll make good time to our first stop in Dubai for our change of crew, and will arrive at our destination in Muscat in around 17 hours. Thank you for choosing Emirates Airlines." The engines started to shudder and whine as they warmed up. Bell waved goodbye, smiling, but clearly heartbroken that he had to hang up.
The call ended.
///
Cassie was, once again, alone and unsupervised in Luca's house for an indeterminate amount of time. She wanted to wait to eat breakfast with him... but she was getting dangerously close to becoming hangry. So she made herself toast with peanut butter, and ate it while she sipped her tea. She wouldn't say she was addicted to her phone, really, but boy was it weird having nothing else to do but eat and think.
Now, in the daylight, she noticed there were a bunch of paintings hung around the living room and up the stairs, all with the same flourishes of brushwork. So, probably the same artist. Interesting. She walked around looking at them; there were a couple of portraits of people and dogs, landscapes, even one seascape that had impressive detailing on the ship pictured.
Cassie wandered back down the stairs, over to the large one over the mantel, studying it as she finished her tea. It was a large, beautiful portrait of a mountainous area with tall pines - if she had to guess, a depiction of a viewpoint somewhere around here. A black wolf stalked through a clearing in the middle-right. "Self-portrait?" she joked to herself.
A realization hit her so suddenly she almost spat out her mouthful of tea. She coughed, setting her mug on the fireplace. Of course, that's exactly when Luca walked in. "You're the guy that made that shitty brown painting of pears," she said, part accusation and part laughter.
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Jan 30, 2022 10:07:15 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 10:07:15 GMT
He started laughing at Bell when he saw how hard it was for him to not laugh with him. “Ha! You know you didn’t have to defend my honor. I would’ve agreed with her assessment of that horrible shit stain. But, at the same time…I appreciate you defending me.” He smiled. “I’d do the same for you, friend.” “The Sultan is, uh…yeah,” he chuckled in amusement. He blinked in surprise. “A Ferrari Testarossa? Seriously, man…that’s…wow,” he exclaimed as he glanced over at the car port where his beat-up old truck and his newer jeep were parked. Ah, he’d rather drive them instead, and not deal with the amount of money the insurance cost for a Ferrari. “I would still probably question his aesthetic sense.” A pause. “Maybe he’s colorblind like I am.” He shrugged and chuckled at that. He quieted down as the flight attendant poked her head in to talk to his friend, but couldn’t understand what was being said, but by the apologetic smile Bell gave the woman, he smirked and nodded back. “Hey, we can talk more when you’re finally home. It’s okay. Muraqib bashi doost.” Take care friend. He ended the call, and looked at the phone for a few seconds, realizing it wasn’t his, but Cassie’s, and then headed inside to return it to her. Just when he spotted her, she spoke to him, partially accusing him for painting such a terrible painting, but also laughed at him. He smirked and shrugged. “Yeah, I did make that shitty ass painting. Not my best…definitely not my best painting when I was starting out.” He walked over to where she stood by his fireplace, and handed her phone back to her. “It’s what happens when there’s no one to make sure I had the correct paint I wanted to use, and why I decided it was for the best to label certain things I have, like I do now.” He rested a hand on the mantle of the fireplace, glancing at a howling wolf figurine expertly sculpted out of wood with fine detail he bought somewhere, and then gazed over at her thoughtfully. “So…I guess you do know a lot about me? About how old I really am, and my abilities? Because I’m pretty sure Bell told you since that man can never keep his mouth shut.” He shook his head in disappointment, but clearly wasn't mad about it.
@mayhem
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Jan 30, 2022 10:29:24 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 10:29:24 GMT
"Well, at least you learned something from painting it, right? That's the most important part," Cassie said with a few more giggles. She picked the mug back up again to finish her tea, now that she was a bit calmer.
"When he got back with that painting, he kept crying on and off - and not in his normal crocodile tears way. So I asked him about it, as gently as I could. Wasn't expecting to be listening to him to go on about you for the next three hours. Not that I minded, it was an interesting story." She looked out the window, on the misty forest growing brighter as the sun rose, then back at him. "So, yeah, I know. Looking good for a man pushing 700."
Her eyes darted to him and back, and color rose on her cheeks and ears. "I was wondering, what do you look like when you, um... change? God, it sounds like I'm asking you to take your clothes off, I'm sorry if that's rude or anything."
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last online May 14, 2024 7:24:09 GMT
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Jan 30, 2022 11:04:45 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2022 11:04:45 GMT
He nodded. “I sure did. Don’t be a dumb ass with paint when you’re colorblind,” he laughed.
Raising both eyebrows, he was surprised, but also not surprised, how Bell was seriously crying off and on when talking about him to her for three hours. “Three hours…?” A soft smile. “I’m glad the story about me was interesting to you. It’s been a long and complicated life.” He gazed out the window with her, looking out at the forest, and enjoying the peaceful view. He returned his attention to her, grinning. “Thanks…I’m not sure how I’ll feel when I finally reach seven hundred…”
Luca noticed how nervous she was suddenly getting around him, and how warm the area around her cheeks and ears became when she asked what he looked like when he changed. He then started chuckling quietly when she brought up how it sounded like she was asking him to strip his clothes off. “It’s okay, you’re not being rude asking me about it,” he shrugged, smiling warmly. “Do you really want me to show you what I look like when I shift?” He wanted to be sure before he did anything.
@mayhem
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