Post #983266 in DCCLXXVII, a roleplay on RPG

If Brian smelled a bit of electronic smoke, he wouldn't have noticed it. Everyone here seemed to be enjoying some sort of cigar. The young man figured making a crack about how this looked like a painting he had seen at the Art Institute wouldn't be his best bet for making friends.

Fortunately, Uncle Ed had that covered. The man practically leaped to his feet and crossed the kitchen, arms outstretched as though greeting the prodigal son.

"My boy!"

Brian was wrapped up in a hug, a good Italian hug that left his heart hanging out somewhere with his kidneys. When his uncle finally released him, Brian coughed a few times, then made mental note to re-inflate his lungs.

"This is David's son, my favorite nephew!" His only nephew, "he's a good kid and takes care of his father at our namesake restaurant on the West side. Those sons of bitches attacked David's restaurant last night, and that is not acceptable."

The men around the table, the red-faced beefy men all raised their fists or their mugs of beer and gave a rousing sound of agreement. Brian tried not to stare at all the pistols on all the belts he saw, and he tilted his head and whispered in his uncles ear --

" -- I'd like to know a little more about those 'sons of bitches' if you don't mind."

"Of course, of course .. " Uncle Ed murmured back, and then he raised his voice to his friends, saying something short in Italian that the others nodded collectively to. Brian felt his uncle's arm wedge under his own and he was compelled from the room like a checker piece on a checker board -- through a living room, across the hall, and into his uncle's study.

"Sorry," was all Brian could say once the door had swept shut behind them, leaving them both in the mahogany office, "if you were all in the middle of something."

"Nonsense. I was behind anyways," his uncle shrugged, and came to sit in the large chair behind his desk, "honestly, I expected you to drop by sooner. What a week, huh?"

"I'll say .. "

"You fought them, Brian. You fought them off, and you protected us. How can I never thank you?"

"You can start by telling me who they were, and why they were so fast."

Uncle Ed's hand paused on its journey to the scotch glass. The man looked up, black eyes focusing on his nephew.

"Come on, uncle. I stared these things down, and I almost died for it. What's going on?"

"Now -- now Brian. You know I am a God-fearing man -- "

"Yes, uncle."

"-- and, well, and how there are some things .. that .. that not even money can explain away?"

Brian licked his lips almost nervously. He had never seen his uncle so uncomfortable before. "Yes .. "

"They're .. " his uncle fell into his seat, a different man than he had been out there in the kitchen, "well, they're something else. I have to say that."

"Uncle Ed, you're not making any sense."

"I bought property on the lower east side, contracted someone to clear out the building. There was .. there was something living there, in the tunnels of the office. Old, abandoned thing. I thought it could be a new hotel or -- or something. On paper, the property looked perfect. But -- "

Something was living there.

"What was the address?"

"Brian, you're not going down there!"

"Why not?" The young man raised an eyebrow.

Uncle Ed groped in his front pocket for a hankerchief and dabbed at his forehead. "These things .. you escaped them once, but they're deadly. They're fast. Do you realize how foolish I looked the other night, trying to explain this to your father? That there was something coming after our family, something .. something I couldn't even -- "

-- so that's what the meeting was about? Brian leaned forward.

"Uncle. I have friends. We can handle this. Just .. just trust me, alright? I'm more than just your brothers son," what was he saying? "There's a reason I survived the other night."

"God help me if you get killed, what David would say -- well, he'd say nothing, he'd never talk to me again -- "

"I won't get killed." Brian's voice was gentle. "I need that address."

Uncle Ed stared at his favorite (and only!) nephew for about thirty seconds until he reached down with a trembling hand for a pen and a piece of paper.

Snippet #983266

located in New York City, a part of DCCLXXVII, one of the many universes on RPG.

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