bitten_notshy | Il Pollo, Saturday Afternoon

So this was what people did in the last few hours they had of being temporarily brought back from the dead: They sat around a white cloth-topped restaurant table with their loved ones and ate pasta and garlic bread and drank too many bottles of red wine. They chatted and mopped marinara sauce off their shirts and fed each other meatballs.

It made as much sense as a way to spend their dwindling hours together as anything would.

The conversation stayed light until they were settled in with coffee, biscotti, tiramisu, and even more red wine. Jack sipped his espresso and glanced across the table to Christian.

"So," he said, "tell me a terrible story about Emma when she was small. She insists she was perfect."

Christian Frost	Christian grinned and leaned back, ignoring the way Emma stomped - hard - on his foot. "She had to have thick corrective glasses for awhile," he offered, "--and liked to wear her hair in braids. It was adorable in a nerdy-way." "Oh, and she played school with her dolls."
Emma Frost	"And to think I missed you," Emma cut in dryly, kicking him under the table some more. "Such a loving brother."
Christian Frost	"Oh, and I had to teach her how to use make-up and do her hair, because Ems was hopeless in high school," Christian added cheerfully, kicking her back under the table. "You'd think with a brother as stylish as myself, she'd have picked up a few tips, but nothing."
Jack Priest	"She looked fine by the time I met her," Jack offered, grinning at the sibling interplay. "So you must have had someinfluence, since God knows it can't have been Hank."
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"Who is Hank?" Irina asked, fork posed over an enormous slice of cheesecake. "Sorry, I feel like there's so much I need to ask."
Emma Frost	"Hank's a mutant, like me but not quite," Emma said, taking away Christian's bellini to drink it herself. "He's brilliant, leagues ahead of any scientist in this world, but he hides away because he's... he doesn't look like most people." She took a sip of (now her) drink before continuing. "...more like what people think a werewolf would look like, full-time." Sorry, Jack. "Dark black fur, yellow eyes, pointed ears, and long hair he usually wears in a ponytail."
Christian Frost	"My little sister's Crazy Guardian Monster," Christian offered sourly, taking back his drink. "He alternates between keeping her from doing incredibly stupid things, and enabling her in doing even more incredibly stupid things."
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"Ah, like Jack's Sebastien with fur," Irina nodded serenely. "I loved him too. But he was not a father."
Jack Priest	Jack snorted. "From everything I've heard I think I'm better off not having had a proper father. Thankfully."
Christian Frost	Christian rolled his eyes. "You aren't missing much. The ridiculous thing is Winston loved Emma best out of all our brood, and he still couldn't manage to be a father instead of a control-freak."
Emma Frost	"Hank's like an over-sized puppy, not a substitute father-figure," Emma retorted, going for her own cheesecake. "You know, I keep him out of trouble!" Mostly. She winked at Irina. "Exactly> like Sebastien in that regard, actually. Fond, and occasionally going 'No down, BAD PLAN'"
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"Vampires are like that," Irina said. "They live so long that I think they forget not to take stupid chances. Luckily I love taking stupid chances." She was, after all, both a Bohemian and an artist.
Jack Priest	"And I like making stupid chances less stupid," Jack stated amiably, allowing the girls to pick at Sebastien as they chose. "Funny, Emma. Never took you for a daddy's girl, but given how that worked out for you I see why you'd be over it."
Christian Frost	"Are you kidding? Right up to the point she walked out, Emma would have done almost anything to for Winston to show her some affection," Christian shared, with a bit of a brittle smile on his lips. "But your Sebastien...I want to hear more about him; he sounds more my type of topic. Tall, dark, and handsome."
Jack Priest	"Kind," Jack said, without hesitation. "Sometimes too much so, in a way that reminded one you weren't likely to live a tenth as long as he had and so anything you did was ultimately insignificant. And incredibly observant -- he put it down to his long life, but I swear he was the best natural detective the world's ever seen. He'd barely been out of his village when he was -- turned -- and he was never bored with the world of humans, as much as he liked to play the part." He glanced to Irina. "Should I add anything?"
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"Not unless you want to talk about how skilled he was with his fangs," Irina said. "Starkad was also kind, but he gave me less pleasure than your Sebastien did." She said it blandly, as if she was unaware that comment might be considered embarrassingly blunt -- but a sparkle in her eyes revealed she was enjoying whatever reaction she might get.
Emma Frost	"Stop encouraging him," Emma told Irina, making a face. "The last thing I need is for him to go chasing off after boys, let alone vampires, while he's here."
Christian Frost	Christian fluttered his lashes at his sister before swinging around to stretch across their bench in the booth and put his head in his sister's lap. "Emsssssssssss," he whined, "Do you know how long it's been since I've had a date? Don't be a killjoy." Edited at 2013-01-30 12:03 pm (local)
Jack Priest	Jack considered the thought as he chewed slowly on a bit of biscotti. "It's not as if I can object to postmortem relationships in theory," he finally said, grinning at Christian. "Though I think your sister might kill me if I helped you."
Emma Frost	"Then you'd be dead, and I'd have to go back in time and carry on a torrid affair with Irina since I don't do postmortem relationships," Emma quipped, tweaking Christian's nose as she teased Jack. "Which would be grand, but possibly cause a time-paradox of some sort."
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	Irina laughed. "I would not object, but I do not think you want to visit Moscow in January again. We will have to only imagine the affair."
Jack Priest	Jack choked, coughing espresso into his napkin. "You're both horrible women," he said. "A plague." Funny how he didn't sound upset.
Christian Frost	"So my baby sister has excellent taste in boys and the occasional sapphic tendency?" Christian asked, picking up his head slightly to glance at their companions. "I am totally taking credit for this. I am a fabulous influence."
Emma Frost	Emma just shoved him out of her lap, ignoring his laughter as he sat back up. "First of all, if we were having a properly torrid affair in Moscow, I wouldn't be leaving the apartment," she pointed out to Irina. "That would rather defeat the point." "Second...shut up, Christian."
Jack Priest	Jack laughed into his fist until his face went quite bright pink. "No, no," he said. "I want to hear Christian praise his sister's taste in boys some more. I like being flattered."
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"We all know that," Irina said, equally cheery. "Both of you boys are horribly vain, da?"
Christian Frost	"I was tragically cut down in my prime," Christian said, throwing his arms wide. "Of course I'm vain, I'm an utter peacock."
Emma Frost	"You're an utter idiot," Emma retorted, rolling her eyes. "Are you sure we're related?"
Jack Priest	"You're his mirror," Jack said firmly. "I could tell you were related blindfolded. If you were here as a boy you'd pass for twins." He was teasing, but he felt a pang that he hadn't gotten a sibling as a guest. It was amazing to see Irina again, but -- He cut off that train of thought with a sharp reminder to himself about gift horses and teeth.
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"I had tuberculosis," Irina volunteered, wrinkling her nose. She was ignoring Jack's fit of self-pity. "So stupid. I was a sniper in the middle of a war and I died of something medicine or sorcery could have cured."
Christian Frost	"I killed myself," Christian said bluntly, ignoring how pale Emma went. "Or I think I did. I was on so many drugs at the time - mine and theirs - that I couldn't tell rightside-up from upside-down." His crooked-grin was self-deprecating, and he flicked open the top few buttons of his shirt to reveal the scar around his throat. "I could be getting the attempts mixed up, though."
Emma Frost	"We're at dinner, put your scars away," Emma said, reaching over to fix his collar. "Honestly, Christian, you'll do anything to get a rise out of people."
Jack Priest	"It's all right," Jack said, eyes dark and voice gentle. "We all have scars, here." His own -- wrist, thigh, neck, shoulder -- throbbed gently, as if in sympathy.
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	Irina pursed her lips. "Can we talk about something else?" she suggested. "I don't want to be sad before I have to be."
Emma Frost	"He's just being an ass, his idea of fun has always been making people uncomfortable," Emma apologized. "His mastery of the social graces has always been non-existent."
Christian Frost	Christian actually had the grace to look abashed. "I mastered them, I just ignore them," he protested, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, Irina, sometimes my mouth gets carried away from my brain." "I know! We can make up a list of things we should do to embarrass our darlings before the end of the weekend!"
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	Irina smiled across the table at him. "It is not embarrassing," she said, "but I want to see your technology. People carry around so many more things to beep at them than I have ever seen."
Jack Priest	"Our phones," Jack realized after a moment, and promptly passed his to Irina. "You have them in Moscow, don't you? I remember one at the police station."
Irina Stephanova Belotserkovskaya	"Not for starving artists," Irina pouted playfully as she jabbed at buttons. "What is that game you were playing?"
Christian Frost	"Oh my god, let me see." Christian ignored his sister's squawk of indignation as he tried to lean over the table and almost knocked over his drink. "I've been dead over a decade at this point in time, these are amazing."