No Escape, Now (Shayne)

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

Talon looked around at Diagon Alley with minimal interests. She already missed the streets of her home. Even the street-vendors looked unfriendly...Italy was so much nicer. She couldn't wait to get this over with already. She'd been promised a fight, though; that was an exciting thought. She'd been young during the last Civil War and unable to fight. She wanted to prove herself, now.

"One moment," she mumbled to Shayne.

She waved her wand in the sky's general direction lazily. The Brits, unused to seeing the Crest of Rome, watched in wide-eyed amazement as it came into being. Her father had taught her the spell without telling her what it did. She liked the effect, she decided.

"We should be getting to the Salla, sir," she pointed out softly. "Lady Cassiopeia will be expecting us."

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

Ah Diagon Alley. It was nothing special; if one really wanted to see something special, they should see Italy. However, Curia might be threatened and no matter how much he wanted to go back home, his first duty was to Curia. Voldemort and these transfers were quite worrying. He wondered why so many of these transfers just appeared out of the blue, but he didn't worry too much about it, for now. If any of these tranfers tried anything they would have hell to pay.

The crest of Rome, well it was quite funny the Britains' reaction to it being conjured. Perhaps because it was like the Dark Mark, only it didn't look a thing like it. Well at least they would prove useful allies if Voldemort and the transfers were a threat.

"I suppose we should," Shayne replied, a bit preoccupied with his thoughts. Voldemort was troublesome, as were the trnsfers. Shayne just wished that the blood of those of Curia wouldn't be shed, at least not much blood. Some lives may be lost, but if it was for the betterment of Curia, then good. As long as it wasn't those he was closest to.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

She watched the witches and wizards in Knockturn Alley shrinking into the shadows at he sight of the Crest. It was amusing, she had to admit. More than half of a century had passed since the London Blitz, when the Curia had sent the Cavaliere to burn Wizarding London, and they still feared it happening again? It was a rational fear, admittedly. Diplomatic relations between he Ministry and the Council had sufferred in those years. They were much better through the work of Ladies Cassiopeia and Riley and Lord Shayne, though.

She glanced at Shayne out of the corner of her eye and frowned. He was worrying...again. When would he just accept that worrying was her job? She'd only been explaining it to him since she was five.

"You are worrying unnecessarily again," she pointed out softly. "Please, stop that. We Cavaliere are strong. We survived the Civil Wars mostly intact; we'll survive this, and if you keep frowning, your mama will realize something is wrong and interrogate you again."

Cassiopeia di'Angelo was a generally reserved person, but she knew her son well. She would recognize Shayne's worrying over he war that they had foreseen when they first heard of Voldemort's return, and nobody was quite comfortable when being questioned by the woman.

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

It was too bad their relations with the Britains were so bad, especially after the London Blitz. Riley had done a good jib so far in helping their relations, though admitedly at first he knew it must have been really hard. Well, he did olay a big role in helping with relations just like his mother. However, while he was arrogant and overconfident, he wasn't cocky and awarded praise and credit when it was earned.

He couldn't help but worry. His people could be in grave danger. He was confident in the Cavaliere's abilities and battle smarts. If things got too much worse, Talon, Mariella, and the others he cared about could be in trouble. He would make sure to protect them, even if Talon didn't like it too much. As long as he could try to fight, he wouldn't mind Talon doing her job as long as she didn't get hurt. There was no way he couldn't worry.

"Well then I shouldn't frown then, should I?" Shayne said with a small smile, though he was still preoccupied, "I would not like to go through one of her interrogations again." He loveed his mother and his father, but then again, his mother's family lived here and something between her and her family may arise. Just as well, her questionings were very uncomfortable and he didn't fancy being interrogated again.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

She made a face at him as they continued walking. A number of the passer-bys noticed Talon's odd hair and stared at her openly. It was irritating, she had to admit. She didn't get stared at nearly as much back in Italy (which was partially because her family's oddness was well-known, so people just accepted it). The whispers that she heard as she walked towards the Salla and (God willing) a nap seemed to imply that the elders had recognized her eyes and were fearfully whispering to their children and grandchildren. So, even in London, the Cavaliere family's unique blue eyes were infamous...

She chalked it up to her aunt's individual infamy. She wasn't called a demon because she was friendly and welcoming.

"I understand that you think that it's your job to protect everyone, but you should be more concerned for youself," she scolded. "There's no love lost between us and the Ministry."

She smiled at him ruefully when he made the comment about not wanting to be interrogated and decided that a subject-change was in order.

"I wonder if Lady Lianna has demoted my poor cousin to a housekeeper again," she thought out loud.

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

Shayne wanted to stop the onlookers from staring at Talon so openly. The disrespect shown towards his friend was just terrible, but then again, they weren't in Italy and this wasn't their country. Shayne ignored the onlookers, or at least tried.

"I don't care about these people, but I care more about our people, and if it means teaming up with them, then so be it," Shayne said shaking his head, "I care more about my people then myself. My people come first, me second, and then everyone else last." He didn't care almost at all for any of these Brits. They could be used to help them, but that was all there was between him and these people.

"It sounds like something she would do. She's never liked protection," Shayne stated with a smile, thinking about Lianna, even though they never got along very well. They probably wouldn't like each other if they hadn't had to work together.

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

She finally got fed up with the peanut gallery and glowered darkly at a group of them. They shrunk back towards the wall under her glare. Good. Rudeness wasn't an attractive quality; maybe she'd scare that out of them. If she didn't, maybe they would at least learn a healthy fear of foreigners. To be perfectly honest, she'd seen scarier hampsters in the East and Mediterranean regions when compared to the people of England. They seemed...complacent. That wasn't good.

"Take a picture," she snapped at them. "It lasts longer."

She crossed her arms and turned away in a huff, mumbling about "fucking rude Limeys" under her breath. She rarely lost her temper around any of the Council members, but that had just been too much for her. She hated being stared at.

Her foul mood lessened at the thought of her little cousin Pyre, a close friend of hers besides being family, and she even cracked a little smile. She really enjoyed her missions with Pyre. She liked how high-energy the younger girl was.

"She's an independent one, Lady Lianna," she agreed. "We draw lots on who will accompany her on missions like this."

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"Temper, Temper," Shayne said throwing on a huge smile, taking amuse from the crowd's reaction. They really didn't get to not stare just because someone was different. These stupid English, well at least some were ok, especially since he was part English and his mother used to be a part of a powerful family here. There were some redeemable English, but there didn't seem very many. It was all their fault. They taught Voldemort what he knows and haven't been able to stop that man. And now they were here to make sure that man and all these new people don't cause problems for them.

These English didn't know a real war. Sure there was the war years ago when this Voldemort was rising, but really, that wasn't a war compared to what they had gone through. The civil wars mainly. They really needed to step up a notch in order to impress him.

"Let's just hope Pyre can keep up with her," Shayne said, before adding, "Not saying she's not capable, just that Lianna can be a handful."

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"Si, si, I know," Talon replied almost dismissively, focusing her grumpy stare on he ground. Back at her original school, it was speculated that her glares could crack walls. The street under her feet was proving that theory untrue...damn. She'd hoped that it was correct; that would be cool. "It's annoying, though."

She'd read about the English's "First Wizarding War" (What a presumptuous name! Like they were the only witches and wizards in the world!) in the library at the Forum before they left. She hadn't been impressed. The last Civil War back in Italy alone had been worse. At least four of their major cities (and three of the Soviets' and two of the Turks'...) hadn't been burnt down.

"My cousin's an endless ball of energy. I'm sure she'll keep up," she stated confidently.

[Shayne Tomas di'Angelo]

"If you keep glaring at the ground it might crack," Shayne noted. It was actually quite funny the rumors, especially since he knew that they weren't true. If they were he might be split apart a few times when he had run off because he wanted to save someone in trouble, mostly the damsels in distress. What would be cool is if he could glare at someone and then whatever he is glaring at bursts into flames. That would be amazingly cool.

Shayne really didn't feel for these English, or for several other countries, when they complained about their 'wars'. Sure there were several who did go through a lot, but England was just full of wimps who didn't get real war. True, Shayne wanted a better relation with the English, so he wouldn't say it to their faces, but really, he wanted peace so the English wouldn't try to attack them and perhaps might help slightly with their current problems. As long as they weren't a hindrance. Shayne didn't think the English were a big threat, just this Voldemort guy, who seemed to come back from the dead.

"Well, I hope," Shayne said with a smile, knowing how Talon stuck up for her friends, "but I'm sure if you are confident in her, then she'll do just fine."

[Lorelai Christine Cavaliere]

"Good. They'd have to repave the streets if I made a long enough crack," she mumbled. "They're ugly, anyway."

If she could actually destroy things by glaring at them, Shayne would have died years ago. With his stupid hero complex...made her want to punch him. As she was thinking about it, she realized that she actually had punched him in the face several times. He'd complained about his face being bruised for weeks afterward.

If there was one country that she really pitied as a direct result of the Italian Civil Wars, it was Greece. Sure, she carried the family blood-guilt over the burning of Wizarding London, but the spill-over from Italy's wars had resulted in Athens being set on fire...multiple times. Thus, she pitied the Greeks.

"She's too hyper to escape," she admitted with a laugh.