The Butcher's Apprentice

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"Si, si, that's fine. Caprice is staying with other family tonight," he said distractedly, considering his final move like a chess game. After circling the guy for a minute or so, he crouched down, got a good grip on the head, and twisted it sharply. It didn't work. He tried it again. Still nothing. Frustrated, he stood up and tried stomping his neck. No good, his head kept moving. "Ivan, hold his head still," he said, aiming up for one more, proper blow. He wound up with his foot and delivered a kick that produced a sickening snap to the back of his neck. He stopped and listened. No more rattling lungs. Vanni crouched down and checked for a pulse again. "That's done it." He stood up and sighed, wiping the sweat and hair out of his face with the back of his arm.

"I need a drink."
 
Dimitri nodded. "Da. You two go up and wash your hands in my office. Then tell Crybaby Frankie you both drink for free tonight. For helping. I will deal with the clean-up down here, since I didn't help any with the beating." he chuckled, holding the boy's jackets and ties out to them. "Go on, now."

Ivan nodded and took his things from his brother, climbing the ladder quickly. He moved over and pushed open the door to Dimitri and Pete's respective offices and tossed his clothes down in a chair. He moved over to a wash basin and poured some water into it, starting to wash his hands. "I definitely need a drink...or like...I don't know...seven..."
 
<Si, we'll get good and drunk to celebrate like we planned, and head to my house for the night...> he agreed, slumping down in a chair and abandoning his English as well as his things. He sat and waited for Ivan to finish, mentally going over the past hour in his head. He wondered if Cesare knew how to do that neck snap.

When Ivan was done, Vanni got up and cleaned himself up as well, even pulling a wet comb through his hair to get it out of his face. He redressed in his hat, tie and jacket, albeit a bit more casually than before. He'd had a hard night's work. Ready to hit the bar, he smirked at his friend, his young playfulness finally returning. "Venuto, amico, let's go drown our English at the bottom of a glass! And I suggest shots first." He put his arm around Ivan's shoulders and pushed open the door to the main floor.
 
Ivan had redressed while his friend was cleaning up and gave a nice, happy laugh as he walked out to the floor again. "I like the way you put that!" He walked up to the bar and grinned. "Frankie! My friend and I want to drown our English in the bottom of several shot glasses! And the boss says it's on the house because we worked for it!"

Crybaby Frankie walked over, smirking at the boys. "He did, huh? Shit, you three were gone nearly an hour...Can't say the slime didn't deserve it though." He pulled out two shot glasses and looked between the two of them. "Vodka or something different?"
 
Vanni shook his head. "He deserved every second of it. He'll never lay a finger on anyone again." Especially after they'd stomped his fingers to bloody stumps. He shook his head at all the cleanup Dimitri was going to need to do. They'd really made quite a mess down there. Oh well, it was worth it. Vanni shook his head again to clear it, and focused on much more pleasant things, like getting drunk.

"Vodka for his Russian, Strega for my Italian," he laughed, slapping Ivan on the back.
 
Frankie smirked and poured the drinks, leaving the bottles in front of the boys so they could refill them themselves. "Have fun, boys. No puking on my bar. Take them slow, too." he said, growing serious. "No puking or dying of alcohol poisoning." he turned away then, muttering about all of the people that would kill him if he let the boys die at his bar.

Ivan smiled and took his glass. He lifted it and turned towards his friend. "To...to what? To becoming adults? Is that stupid?"
 
"To becoming men," Vanni clarified, holding up his own glass to his friend before downing it in one. "Who would've thought this morning that the evening would end up like this?" he wondered, refilling his glass. He was tempted to try to analyse the entire experience downstairs, but he resisted. That was talk for another, more sober time. Not for a celebration time. "It's one hell of an initiation, huh?" he smirked, holding up the glass a second time.
 
"Yes! To becoming men!" He downed his shot in one go as well and pulled the bottle over to himself. He refiled his glass and shook his head. "Not me. I thought I'd go over to your house and end up drawing with your sister." He laughed and shook his head. "I like it...our initiation." He smiled. "I feel like a bigger part of the family business. Like I now have something more in common with Dimitri and papa...I botched the first toast. You make this one."
 
"Are we going to toast all of them?" Vanni laughed. "We should! You said it right, to our initiation!" he toasted, slugging it back and quickly refilling it. "And to the Business...whoa..." The sudden influx of alcohol and the quick movement threw him off balance a little. "And then I think we should slow down for a bit. We don't want to go home just yet..." he said, still holding the third drink in his paw. "Maybe switch to something not so strong, now that we've got the first burst out of the way..." He was starting to ramble, it was definitely time to slow down a bit.
 
Ivan threw back his second shot and laughed. "Yes!" He poured his third and lifted it up. "To...to...prohibition!" He laughed. "Without it, the both of us would probably be nowhere near what we became tonight!" He slammed back the third drink and sighed happily. "I think its time for beer now though...you're right." He set his glass down and made eye contact with Frankie.

Frankie walked over and smiled at the boys as he took their bottles away. "What'll it be now?"
 
"How about something to last us?" Vanni asked, smirking crookedly. "Like mead or something..." He nudged his friend. "We should try and play pool drunk. Are you any good? Not drunk, but you know, sober?" That sounded like good fun, and they wouldn't have to deal with trying to gamble. He put his arm around Ivan again and pulled him off the stool towards the tables. "Send them over to us, Frankie, and keep 'em comin'!" he called to the bartender over his shoulder.
 
Frankie laughed and shook his head. He grabbed a bottle of mead and had it sent after the boys, but told the girl to take her time.

Ivan laughed as he followed his friend. "I'm alright at it. Dimitri says I see the angles an' shit better than him." He grabbed a pool cue and laughed a little. "I feel bad for breaking the two we did...oh well! Rack 'em up!"
 
"Knowing this place, he made more than enough to replace them by the time we were finished breaking them!" he laughed. He accepted the triangle and balls from the girl attending the table and set to work racking them up. "You know this is going to be the best we are at this game all night? It's only going to go downhill from here. Hilariously downhill." He handed the triangle back and picked up his own stick, waiting for his friend to break.
 
"Oh, absolutely." he said, lining up his shot and breaking. It wasn't a great break, but it wasn't a terrible one either. He sighed and sat back, leaning against his stick. "So long as we don't hit anyone with flying balls, I think we'll be fine though!"
 
Vanni smirked, taking his shot as well. He managed to sink the cue ball. "Yeah, but this isn't even starting out well!" he laughed as he retrieved the ball and set it back on the table for his friend. When their mead came, Vanni relieved the waitress of the bottles with thanks and held one out to his friend, not waiting before taking a sip of his own. "What should we toast with these? The pool sticks?" he laughed.
 
Ivan lined up a pretty good shot and still missed. He laughed and took his bottle of mead and took a drink, shaking his hand. "No, the damn things aren't doing us any good!" he laughed and looked at the table, circling it idly while he waited for his friend to take his shot.
 
Vanni laughed at that and set his bottle down on the bumper, carefully taking his shot. He finally managed to sink one. "Solids," he announced triumphantly, picking up his bottle again and taking a good gulp of it. "What d'you think your papa will say to you, when you go home? He must know by now..." Vanni paused in lining up his next shot to let his friend answer. "I wonder if Cesare will get me some gloves like his. Now I know why he wears them..." His own knuckles were still pretty red, and even a little swollen and cut up from use.
 
"I don't know...I think he'd given up on me wanting to be part of the business...I told you how I showed them my skill with art." he shrugged, sitting back on a stool and watching his friend shoot. "And I don't want to lose my apprenticeship with Pyotr. I really like working there...I really have no idea..."
 
"Well, maybe you'll take over for Pyotr one day? You'd have time to art and do that as well..." he suggested. He closed one eye, trying to see straight, and still missed. "I mean, I still love to do, science, you know? But I wouldn't mind doing a little bit of stuff. I kind of like it. But I don't want to give up science. But you know Rosa paints. Sells some of her stuff too. She's really good..." Vanni leaned on his stick as he talked, forgetting to move from the table as he sipped more of his beer.
 
Ivan put his mead down and just moved Giovanni out of his way while he lined up a shot. "Does she?" he asked, taking his shot and grinning when he sank one of his balls. "Yes! Finally!" he laughed and moved around the table to make another shot. "Is it, like...bad...that I've learned most of my technique from Alexa?"
 
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