acrimsonking (acrimsonking) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2020-01-03 12:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | #january 2018, anthony, anthony x caius, caius, mila |
Who: Anthony and Caius, w/ a cameo by Mila
When: Morning, Friday, January 12th
Where: D’Onofrio Management Offices
Status: Complete
With the knowledge that Michelle was wanting to retire, Anthony had been content enough to leave the hiring of a new assistant to someone else in the company. He rarely made employment decisions of the administrative staff, because he rarely had to deal with them on a face to face basis. But soon after speaking with Caius about the Moretti girl, a thought had lingered in the back of his mind, formulating slowly until he finally had the time to sit down and think it over. It hadn’t taken him long to track Mila Moretti down at her parents' house, and he was able to speak with her face to face without anyone hovering.
She had been apprehensive of him at first, which he understood, but Anthony knew how to charm people, and if that didn’t work, well… money did. And he had offered Mila plenty of it, more than an administrative assistant should be making, especially one without experience or a degree. But it was enough to help the girl get out of her parents’ home and back on her feet… not to mention all of those medical bills that would soon start rolling in.
Most people would consider what he did to be bribery, and they would probably be right. But it would benefit him to have Mila Moretti close by, and if he garnered her trust, she might turn out to be a useful tool. Anthony could tell the girl had been uncertain, maybe even a little nervous, but the money had been too much to pass up and now she was here in his office, picking nervously at the sleeves of her lovely blue shirt. She didn’t look as worn and tired as she had when he first spoke to her, but make up could do wonders for a woman’s eyes and skin. She would be trained today by Michelle to ensure the transition would be a smooth one when Michelle finally left the company, and Anthony was enjoying speaking with her as he waited for Caius to arrive. His son probably ought to know who would be answering to him for the foreseeable future, after all.
Mila was nervous. And uncertain. Anthony D’Onofrio was intimidating, and like Caius, she knew what he was, and had as soon as she let him into her parents’ home a couple days ago.
All of this was going through her head now as she made some small morning chit chat with Anthony as Michelle got her desk up and running to train Mila over the course of the day. Anthony was speaking to her about what he expected of her when he paused mid-sentence, looking past her towards the large door.
“Caius,” he called, motioning for his son to come inside the office. “Before you get settled, I want you to say hello to Michelle’s replacement. I believe you two know each other.”
With the generational curse broken, his memories firmly in place, Reagan’s magic restored, and Baron banished for good, Caius was feeling much better about life and more himself. It had been almost a week of peace now -- besides Zania’s problem, but he wasn’t taking that on personally -- and he felt like he was settling back into a normal state of being. He’d caught up on sleep, he was eating better and spending more time on his appearance again. Caius looked a lot less like a rumpled crazy person than he had in ages. At least that was how he felt, anyway.
He had a meeting with a city council member later in the day, so Caius had dressed extra sharp even though it was Friday. He strode into the office with purpose, but then his gaze settled on his father and who else was behind the reception desk. Mila Moretti. So she was going to be Michelle’s replacement. A weird feeling washed over him, like he wanted to swiftly escort her out that instant, even though she’d done nothing wrong. He approached, his expression neutral until he gave Mila and Michelle a faint smile. “Good morning,” he said, his eyes lingering on Mila. “Welcome.”
It felt weirder than she thought it would, greeting Caius now. The deep-seated knowledge of what he was had risen inside of her again, but like before, she didn't feel scared. Maybe a little intimidated, but Mila was guessing that was just the D'Onofrio family as a whole. She quite suddenly realized that if Caius didn't want her there, he could make her life a living hell. Give her impossible tasks, belittle or pile the work on until she broke down and quit. But she hoped he wouldn't. She may have told him what he was, but Mila didn't think she had done anything unforgivable. And he had confirmed that she was clean now, so there was no ancient, dark entity inside of her to tempt him anymore. So Mila managed a small smile. "Good morning."
"Michelle will be working with Mila today, and quite possibly Monday, to get her up to speed on what needs to be done around here," Anthony explained, maybe mildly amused by the polite interaction. “Of course, you're free to speak with her as well, so she's aware of your expectations for the job."
Caius was still adjusting to the truth of his bloodline, and having the woman who revealed it to him right in front of him again was a bit surreal. Would she think he would be a horrible boss now? That he was a danger to her? She probably wouldn’t have accepted the job if she did, he thought. Or she at least wouldn’t come back the next day. If she could sense Caius’s demonic blood, she could surely sense it in Anthony as well. Had she applied for this job on purpose to be close to them? He had a lot of questions, none of which could be answered at the moment, in front of Michelle. Caius glanced between Mila and his father, smiling a bit wider. “I’ll let her get settled in first, there’s a lot to learn,” he said lightly. “But I have every confidence in Miss Moretti, she’s very astute.” And discreet, if she knew what was good for her. “I look forward to working with you,” he told Mila, then addressed his father. “When you have a free moment, I’d like to speak to you in your office.”
Mila wasn't entirely fooled by the politeness on Caius's face, or in his smile. But he didn't look angry, so she tried to get herself to relax. There was a part of her that wanted to just grab her things and run, call Aaron and beg him to pick her up. But she needed this job, and she didn't want to come across as meek or weak-willed. So she smiled at Caius, her gaze ticking then to Anthony. She wasn’t stupid enough to think that conversation wouldn’t be about her, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. All she could do was try to prove she could do this job and do it well, regardless of what she knew of them.
Anthony was fully prepared for Caius wanting to speak to him alone, and he nodded. "Get settled and I'll be there in a moment." There would be explanations, he was sure, but hopefully Caius would just accept the hire and figure out how to handle it, because Anthony didn't intend on letting the young woman go on her first day. Or second. He saw the potential and the benefit of having her there and that was that.
When Michelle had things ready for Mila, he left the two women to get to it and paused briefly in the employee lounge to pour himself a cup of coffee. He was sipping it as he entered his office, glancing briefly out the window to the snow coming down. No fog. No threat of a blizzard. That was something. Anthony only turned back to his desk when he felt Caius's presence in the doorway. "Is this a closed door conversation?" he asked his son with a raised brow.
Caius had more to discuss with his father than Mila Moretti -- really, she was now only a small part of what he wanted to talk about. He hadn’t yet approached Anthony to fill him in on what had happened with the coven, wanting to be sure he had his words together. Talking to his father was always a chess game that required strategy. That was how it had felt for most of his life, at least. He nodded and left the trio at the front, going into his own office to hang up his coat and get his laptop started up. He found Anthony in his office with a cup of coffee in his hand, and quirked a faintly amused brow at him as he stepped inside. “Aren’t they all?” he countered, shutting said door behind him. Caius went and sat down in one of the chairs in front of Anthony’s desk and propped one ankle up on his knee. “So ... Mila Moretti. Interesting choice. I wasn’t even aware that she had applied for the job.”
"She hadn't," Anthony said simply before sitting down. "I approached her. I believe employing her will be a mutual benefit. She earns a generous salary, and I'm able to use her as I see fit. She may not know that yet, but she will in time, when the job is too precious for her to lose." Relaxing now, Anthony cocked a brow and studied his son. "I know you'll treat her well. She seems like the type who is eager to learn." And she didn't seem to be fearful of Anthony, or Caius, despite what she knew of them. Anthony saw that as a strength, rather than a weakness.
He was both surprised and not to hear that his father had offered Mila the job himself. He had a plan for everything, a ‘use’ for everyone, so why not a use for this too? “Of course, she’ll be treated fairly, in relation to her performance,” he said, his eyes keen on his father’s face. “Can I ask how you might ’use’ her, as you put it?” Caius doubted Mila was some business savant, filled with some hidden potential that Anthony was trying to tap into. There had to be something else his father had deemed beneficial to have around the office.
Anthony took a sip of the hot coffee and then placed the mug on his desk before looking at his son. "No," he said simply. "At least not right now." And that was that. He didn't expect an argument, so he leaned back in his chair and studied Caius expectantly. "Is there anything you would like to talk about?" He doubted Caius would have come inside, shut the door and made himself comfortable if he simply had questions about their new receptionist.
Irritated frustration ran hotly through Caius for a moment, a tightening of his jaw the only outward sign. He was used to that answer, but it got more and more aggravating by the year. No matter how hard he worked and how much he proved himself, there was always an inner circle of his father’s machinations that he wasn’t allowed into. He was tempted for a moment not to share anything either, to keep the coven and the ritual he’d led -- the power he’d led. But keeping it a secret wouldn’t benefit him in any way he could see. He laced his fingers together, elbows up on the arms of the chair. “Reagan’s magic has been restored,” Caius said. “And Baron’s spirit banished for good. She had apparently been possessing the youngest McCarthy son. We gathered a coven to do it, and I led them. I thought you would like to know.”
Anthony had already known about Reagan from Veronica, but he hadn't reached out to Caius about the news, assuming his son would come and tell him when the timing was right. He hadn't, however, known about the coven and Anthony's brows lifted in mild surprise for a brief moment before the faintest of smiles tugged at his lips. "A coven. That hasn't happened in this town in centuries. I'm pleased to hear about Reagan, of course," he added, almost as an afterthought. "Were you able to convince someone from each family?" That might have been the difficult part, given the egos in this town. Caius could have done the same ritual with a coven of random witches, of course, but having one from each of the original Six would have been immense power.
It happened rarely, but catching his father off guard with something never failed to give Caius a little thrill, and this time was no different. He smiled faintly himself, then nodded. “All of the Six were represented, amazingly enough. Plus Brianna McCarthy for Baron’s bloodline. Plus it was her son being exorcised, so ...” He shrugged one shoulder. “We had an audience of even more, and the O’Reilly familiar present. I don’t think I’m being arrogant when I say it was a great success.” That was putting it mildly. Even thinking back to how all that power had felt made Caius feel all stirred up inside. He wanted to do it again. “It was Reagan’s idea. I doubted it was possible, but ... here we are.” And now that they’d all gotten a taste of what they could do together, Caius couldn’t imagine one of them not calling on everyone again.
Anthony chuckled. "No, I wouldn't say that's arrogant at all. It's an amazing accomplishment to herd so many witches into one place, especially those older than you." He made a mental note to talk to James about the experience the next time they saw one another. Still, he found it interesting that the idea of a coven came from Reagan. Not that he felt like he underestimated her, but a coven was not something any of the families had considered in decades. "I'm proud of you," Anthony told Caius after a moment of thought. "Handling a coven is difficult, even for the most skilled witch. Just be mindful of potential consequences, should it happen again. There's a reason why the families separated after the Six were executed. We wouldn't want a repeat of the past."
It was so easy to think of himself as superior to nearly every witch that had been in that circle, Caius often forgot that several of them were older than him. He respected Shayna Mae O’Reilly and James McCarthy the most, though that was largely on reputation, he supposed. He hadn’t had a chance to see either of them really work until that night. They didn’t matter though, not really. He was the superior witch, and the extra power that was in his blood would put him on top of the magical food chain soon enough. Hearing Anthony say he was proud just enhanced that full feeling in Caius’s chest, and he allowed himself a genuine smile at that. “We won’t be meeting up for weekly rituals or anything of the kind,” he assured his father. “I have a feeling this will be for emergencies only. The kind of power we were wielding ... I can only imagine what regular use of it would draw in.”
Anthony knew his son well enough to know he would have been confident in leading a coven. And while Anthony knew James McCarthy was a powerful witch in his own right, Caius had an advantage in his abilities. "That kind of power could do great things," Anthony pointed out. "But it could also destroy the town." That amused him, for some reason. Maybe they would all be better off. Well, most of them. So many of the locals fed off of this town as much as the town fed off of them. "How is Reagan then, with her abilities back? No lingering side effects or backlash from the coven?" Perhaps the strength of seven witches held the backlash at bay. Or maybe it was hovering, ready to strike when they least expected it.
Great things were exactly what Caius wanted to achieve. He would do as many of them as possible on his own, of course, but it was tempting to know that there was another powerful resource to draw on. If they deemed the cause worthy, of course. That was the trick to it. “She’s doing very well,” Caius answered with a smile, rolling with the subject change. He’d gotten a satisfying response out of Anthony, there wasn’t much more to discuss there. “She’s whole and happy again. We’re both very relieved. But no, nothing out of the ordinary. I’m staying alert for any changes though, just ... in case.” Caius had a theory that the backlash was spread amongst all of them in the circle enough that whatever protections they had in place had absorbed it, but he knew he could be wrong.
"That's smart. That kind of magic can cause ripples in a town like this... you don't want it waking anything up." But now that he knew what was going on, and what had happened, Anthony would be paying closer attention to the undercurrents of magic in town. Things were already sliding down a dark path, and Anthony knew he wouldn't be able to stop that, but he could try to make the end less painful. At least for himself. "Do you need anything from me? You or Reagan? Perhaps with all of this behind you, we should finally throw you some sort of celebration for your elopement. I know your mother was disappointed that she wasn't able to see you get married. A party might lift her spirits some." And take her mind off of her encounter with Arthur Knowles.
That vague reference made Caius imagine huge Lovecraftian ancient beings emerging from the deep to terrorize the town ... which really wasn’t so far off from the fog, was it? Maybe they already were in the thrall of the Deep Ones, they just didn’t know it fully yet. That thought seemed laughable to his more rational mind, so he tucked it away and refocused. “No, we’re good so far,” he told Anthony, then gave a little huff and smiled a bit. “It feels good to finally be able to even consider a party. You’re right, I think it would be nice for all of us. I feel like we should host as maybe an apology for not having a big wedding here ... how is Mom doing, by the way? With the injury and all. I haven’t made it over there to see her in a little while.”
He made a mental note to talk to Miriam about planning a party for Caius and Reagan. It would take her mind off of things, at least. Maybe they could join together to guilt their son into having an actual wedding here in town. For family and friends, of course. But one step at a time. Veronica would no doubt push Reagan for it. Together he and Veronica had tried their best to keep their children apart... but now it seemed like the threat hanging over their families was gone. Why not celebrate. "She's doing all right," Anthony said after a moment of thought. "She's experienced some drastic mood changes since it happened. And she had a man approach her at The Boathouse a while back. A man named Arthur Knowles, goes by Vex. He lives off on Ludlow. It was not a pleasant encounter."
A wedding would mostly be for the benefit of the women in Caius’s life, but he would happily go along with it. In his mind, the marriage was already done, so there would be nothing major to stress about. It would just be a fancy party. Anthony’s words about Miriam distracted him from any thoughts about partying, however, and Caius frowned. “What sort of unpleasant?” he asked. Arthur Knowles on Ludlow, also known as Vex ... Caius filed that information away. He was confident that his father could handle whatever problem had cropped up, but if something needed to be done, he would certainly step up.
"I don't know how much your mother has told you about her past," Anthony said, well aware that this was Miriam's business, and she should be the one to decide what Caius knew. But at the same time, he felt it important to make sure his son was "in the know" about Vex and his little friend, just in case the man didn't take Anthony's request to leave his wife alone seriously. "She was taken as a child by an organization that triggered some abilities inside of her. Knowles went through the same situation, and saw Miriam in a vision. He approached her at the restaurant and upset her. I went to see him after she told me about it and... he's an interesting fellow, but unstable."
Caius nodded slowly through the explanation. He was making the connection that Miriam had asked him to enchant her ring because of this incident with this stranger. He wondered if Anthony had known more about her than she’d been aware of, or if they’d actually talked about all this like his mother had wanted to avoid doing. Caius hadn’t known about this man though, and it was interesting that the same thing had happened to him. It didn’t sound like he was a telekinetic though, which was also interesting in a purely academic way. Anthony didn’t say anything about the man harming his mom, so Caius relaxed a bit inside. “She recently told me about all this, yes,” he told his father. “Now I’m thinking it was probably after this man found her. I had no idea about any of it, I was pretty shocked.”
"To be honest, I hadn't known either," Anthony admitted, even though it bugged him to do so. Very few things got by him, and it still irritated him that he had been with this woman for over two decades and he hadn't known about her abilities. But Anthony was aware of the fact that there was plenty Miriam didn't know about him, and never would. "I'm guessing Knowles is why your mother finally came clean about her past to me. He could cause problems for her, if he wanted to. He told me he would leave her alone, but I wouldn't trust that to be true. He wants answers about the organization that took him, and Miriam, and doesn't seem like the type of man to back off, even if he's threatened."
Caius frowned again over this guy. He almost asked his father for a description of the guy so he could find him in town easier, but stopped himself, not wanting to accidentally step on his father’s toes. If Anthony thought he had the situation in hand, it was in hand. “What answers could she possibly have? She was a child,” he said, his tone chiding as if Knowles was right there to listen. “She told me she didn’t remember anything from the kidnapping, she’s a victim in this as much as he was.” He scoffed a bit and shook his head, then gave Anthony another concerned look. “Is this organization still active? Is there anything we need to do about this?”
Anthony shrugged. "I think his interests lie less in Miriam and more in the organization that took her... and him. She's just another tie to it. They're not the only two in town to have run ins with this place, Caius. But he's someone to keep an eye on. I'm telling you this because I want you to be aware of your surroundings. I don't think he would be stupid enough to try anything, but I don't have a lot of faith in people's intelligence in this town. We'll do a better job at keeping your mother safe, no matter what it takes. As for the organization..." Anthony sipped his coffee before speaking again. "You have nothing to worry about. I have it handled. They're not a threat to us."
So they were still active, and Anthony did know things. While part of Caius wanted to insist on some more details, the rest of him was far too tired of having something heavy on his shoulders. If his father said they weren’t a threat, Caius would believe him and let it go. He nodded a bit, uncrossing his legs and sitting forward on the chair a bit. “Understood. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open,” he said, meaning for this man Vex. If he tried to approach Miriam again, he would regret it. Now that Anthony knew her truth, maybe Caius could get that ring back from her and ward it with something a little more protective.
"It's appreciated," Anthony told Caius. "And of course, if you and Reagan need anything..." The offer was always there, even if Caius chose not to take advantage of it. Now that Reagan had her magic, and the curse was supposedly broken, Anthony was sure the two of them just wanted to attempt a normal relationship for a while. If such a thing was possible. He moved to turn his computer on, now that it had settled into sleep mode during his conversation with Caius. "Oh, and please make sure to make our new employee feel welcome. We'll be having a retirement party for Michelle Sunday evening at The Boathouse. I expect you to make an appearance, of course."
Caius had been feeling very self-sufficient lately, what with breaking the curse and assembling a coven for the first time in centuries and restoring his wife’s magic -- something Anthony hadn’t been sure was even possible. At least as far as he’d said. So he was moving away from believing those offers from his father were genuine. He was more okay with that than he used to be, filled with an elevated confidence. Caius would just continue to excel, everything else would fall into place. “I’ll be there,” he said, standing up since their chat was obviously coming to a close. “She and I will get along fine, but I’ll still be keeping an eye on her.” Caius felt sure his father could understand that. Mila seemed clear of the force that had taken her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still vulnerable to it, or might pose some other problem for them. Caius turned to head toward the door. “See you at our two o’clock.”
Anthony had his reasons for letting Caius work these issues out on his own, despite his son asking him for help. Some of those reasons were purely selfish, but ultimately, he wanted Caius to be able to handle these things alone. Anthony wouldn't be around forever, and Caius would be the one to step into his shoes, not only with the company, but with running this damn town. So far it seemed like, with some help, Caius could manage it. He didn't say a word when Caius mentioned keeping an eye on Mila. That was only the smart thing to do, and Anthony would be doing the same. So he nodded and watched his son leave his office with a rare sense of pride before it faded and he returned to his work.