Archive of Our Own

Lucanis stared at the note in his hand before crushing the flimsy between his fingers and wiping the smear of ink off of his gloves. It had arrived via a very harried looking fledgling a few moments previous, interrupting the most boring afternoon he had spent in recent memory. Rook was gone, off on some grand errand with Teia Cantori, leaving him to fend for himself for the better part of a week, mired in paperwork and with no one to complain to about it.

He stood abruptly, and swept his eyes across the mountain of unfinished paperwork on his desk as he pulled on his cloak. All of that could wait until he figured out what the newly promoted Second Talon needed his assistance with this afternoon.

We will visit the snake man.

"Yes," Lucanis answered simply as Spite hovered nearby, just out of sight. He found the demon's name for Viago somewhat amusing, even if he knew that the man himself would not feel the same way. Sometimes the demon's directness was refreshing. Viago had snakes, carried a cane with snakes on it, and wielded poison and venom with ease.

It didn't take long to reach Viago's office in the the newly remodeled top of the Cantori Diamond, now featuring more official office spaces for his use than had been available during the occupation. Now that the Antaam had fully departed the city, the rooftops were once again both lively with people, and still redolent with enough shadows and crooked paths to conceal a whole city of Crows.

"Did you bring tongs?" Viago didn't bother to look up from his desk as he finished writing something down in one of the multiple ledgers on his desk. Lucanis took two sets of tongs, one padded and one not, out of the pouch at his side and held them up.

"The padded ones, I think," Viago said as he stood, nodding to the pair in question.

"I feel like at least some explanation is in order, Viago," Lucanis handed him the padded tongs and stowed the other pair. "Not that I minded an invitation to leave some of my paperwork behind."

"Thank you for accepting," Viago said slowly, like he was chewing the words to make them more palatable. "I need assistance retrieving Emil."

"One of your snakes is missing?" Lucanis raised his eyebrows and stilled otherwise, resisting the urge to look around the room. In the back of his mind, he could hear Carina complaining that Emil was a terrible name the death adder, whose male companion she had dubbed 'Hisstopher' at some point. "That is somewhat concerning."

"She's not missing, I know exactly where she is," Viago raised a hand and motioned Lucanis to follow him. "I just cannot retrieve her without some assistance, as she refuses to move on her own. It is not something I would trust most people to help me handle."

"And if she does not want to be moved?"

"I have plenty of antivenom on my person," Viago tapped one of the pouches at his side. Lucanis knew that whatever was in there probably worked well, as all of the Talon's concoctions did. It also probably had a terrible name. What was it with de Rivas and names?

Lucanis could feel the eyes of some of the Crows on them both as they moved through the Diamond and out onto the roof to cross to the other side of the building. Aside from Viago and Teia, few of the Talons were seen together regularly outside of their meeting places and offices, so he knew that by the end of the day even the far-flung Houses would be curious about their mission. Only the most unschooled fledglings were obvious enough to be seen following their progress, and at least one earned one of Viago's famous stares in return before disappearing into a shadow.

Reaching the edge of the roof, they dropped down onto a neatly concealed balcony and slipped into a darkened room that appeared to be currently used for storage. Viago pointed silently to a wardrobe on the other side of the room and Lucanis raised an eyebrow. As far as he knew, the last time Viago encountered this particular adder in a wardrobe it almost killed him. He was rewarded with an intense glower and a roll of the other Talon's eyes before they both moved silently towards the large furniture.

"Mrrrrow?"

Lucanis nearly jumped out of his skin as a large black and white cat brushed up against his leg and sauntered towards the wardrobe without a backwards glance. Even in the low light, he would have recognized Rook's cat anywhere, but the grin on Spite's face at his surprise confirmed it.

"Maker's breath!" Viago exhaled vehemently, and looked back at Lucanis. "Why did you bring the cat?"

"Felicia. Brought herself," Spite answered through him, the flash of his eyes briefly painting the room and Viago's scowling face purple. He shrugged, not disagreeing. Felicia was a large, fuzzy force of nature who went where she pleased. Viago should know this better than anyone. Even Spite left her alone, preferring her disregard to any kind of concentrated attention.

"Well, she has brought herself right into a snake's nest," Viago groused as the cat ignored them both, and pawed open the wardrobe door to slip inside. He sighed, and reached out a hand to open it enough for them to get a look. Both men stood for a moment without speaking, the only noise in the room a low hum.

At the bottom of the wardrobe was an old basket, overflowing with a plain blanket loosely piled inside. As the door opened, Felicia eyed both men as she methodically kneaded one side of the plush fabric and purred, a deep contented rumble rolling gently off of the wood panels. Next to her was curled a large death adder, coiled around herself in a pile, tongue lightly tasting the air as she turned her own eyes towards them.

"Perhaps she was invited?" Lucanis asked after a moment, the snake and cat seemingly content to watch to see what the two men would do. As if in response, a small head poked up from one of the blanket folds, followed by another two, all nosing towards the purring cat. She leaned her face forward and gently sniffed at each before settling into the blanket next to them as they piled together under her fur.

Small. And pointy.

Spite looked at the small group with interest, but didn't move any closer than Lucanis did.

"She is certainly more expected than we are," Viago said ominously as Emil regarded them with an increasingly cold expression.

Lucanis had the stray thought that Rook was right. She really did look more like a Scalizabeth, and repressed the urge to laugh even as Spite turned to him with a solemn nod. Viago slowly started to close the wardrobe, and at no move from any of the inhabitants, swung the door nearly shut to set it back to where it had been when they arrived. By mutual accord, neither spoke as they moved out of the room and back onto the roof to alight on the edge overlooking the city.

"Is there anything we should do?" Lucanis asked, genuinely curious. He had kept snakes himself, but had little experience with the few that gave live birth, and cats were a complication he had never considered. Especially that particular cat.

"I will let Jacobus know to keep anyone away from the room, on pain of their life."

"It will be their life if they don't listen," Lucanis nodded in agreement. House Egrativi was technically under Viago's sway, but both had found that their Crows were uniquely skilled at the difficult task of keeping track of other Crows. "But what do we tell Rook when they get back? That her cat stole your snake?"

"Maker, I will never hear the end of this," Viago groused, smoothing his gloves in irritation with swift, repetitive motions. "The last thing I need is a basket of baby snakes with a cat for a nanny. She's going to be unbearable about this."

"Well, at the very least allow me to be the first," Lucanis shot Viago a grin, the idea of Rook hovering over a basket of baby snakes and picking out terrible names flashing in front of him like a vision of the future. One where Viago complained, Teia laughed, Spite misbehaved, Felicia terrified everyone, and inevitably, Rook got her way.

"The first to do what?" Viago looked at him sharply, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "That's already in your title, Dellamorte."

"The first to congratulate you on the new additions to your House, of course," Lucanis continued smiling as the man's expression turned to a glowering frown. "Rook and I would be honored to be there for their Nameday. I would not miss it for the world."