Closed, plotted starter for @the-taboo-king
"Your promptness is appreciated. We'll go to L'Osier, you like French food."
Even for Byakuya Togami, this was a rather curt greeting. Despite being her underclassman, he still spoke to her in same bossy manner he did with everyone else. It made Sonia chuckle, the first smile she wore all day as she finally was free of the demands her phone and laptop required: after an early morning raid on a business that had refused to pay and body count far too difficult for just the capo to cover up, she'd needed to request several favors as the underboss of the Borghese family. And no one refused the daughter of Valentina Borghese, even if she preferred to take her deceased father's surname. Their influence was too vast, infiltrating organized crime in every country in Europe and more recently, Japan, in their vast array of schemes: real estate, construction, gambling, weapons deals, racketeering in nearly anything they could that took advantage of businesses that deserved it, legal sex work...and so forth. Sonia, at eighteen years old and in her final year of high school, was still learning every single bit of dealings her mother orchestrated behind pretty smiles and her collection of bladed weapons. But from high-ranking government officials to the most corrupt of casinos, they all shared the same fear: a beautiful woman with the tattoo of a flower somewhere upon her body there to collect the favor she was owed. It was the largest, most successful business operated by a woman and yet it would never appear in any financial magazine: After all, none of it was legal.
"I'm amused that you're stating this instead of asking my preference," She replied, once her amusement had subsided and her red lips were fixed back into a smug smile. "Considering it's your father, the head of the Togami conglomerate, requesting business with my family, perhaps it might be prudent to at least inquire about it?"
With blue eyes behind large sunglasses, she watched Byakuya sigh with a huff in his immaculately cut suit. They were two of the only students who refused to wear the Hope's Peak uniform, but for good reason. For both of them, business could divert their attention from their studies at any moment and both heirs needed to be properly armored to face it. In her case, her forest green pencil skirt, white blouse, and coordinating green cape blazer would suit anywhere that didn't need black tie or fancier while still somewhat resembling a uniform. Just a luxurious one, with stiletto heels and a leather satchel at her arm, diamonds and emeralds sparkling in her earlobes and around her neck. Even the most talented students at Hope's Peak had people to envy, and more often than not it was one of the privileged three: Byakuya Togami, the Ultimate Heir, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu, the Ultimate Yakuza, and the only female member worthy of the title: Sonia Nevermind, the Ultimate Mafia Boss. While she made it a point to get along, with possible opportunities to demand favors, from as many students as possible, she did sincerely get on with the two boys the Borghese family had business with. Other students had to attend school to hone their talents, but the privileged three were set for life: school was for making connections in the midst of shaping their careers into something different than what they were destined to inherit.
"Why bother with the pleasantries. Even if your intelligence and, to a degree, dignity, don't make me outright despise you, the reservations have been made and it's a...secure location, for you." He adjusted his glasses as he spoke, Sonia watching his eyes dart about the alley behind the main course building. Being seen speaking to her about actual business and not typical teenage conversations would only cause him problems. Sonia knew such dark, dour locations upset him. Byakuya would never admit it of course, but she knew there was a part of him that relished in the glory of being seen as a person of authority. With her, every meeting about things that mattered were conducted quietly, secretly, with a woman who couldn't be impressed by his billions of yen. Not when the Borghese family was also terribly affluent, the more their various ventures were added together.
But she had to smile, something small but sincere, at his words. Even if he couldn't be seen in the main dining room discussing business with Sonia Nevermind, the privacy was enacted more for her sake than his. Every so often for the past two years she'd tried to nudge him into admitting, even reluctantly, that they were friends but it was the nature of what she was and the businesses she ran, even when they meant to help those in need, that seemed to keep him from showing her any real affection. Truly, it was better that way: friendships that got too close or worse, romantic entanglements, made everything difficult in the Family. Family, not friends, not lovers, not anything, came first. "Thank you, Byakuya. You're right: I would very much enjoy that, and not just for the reasons for the dinner itself." It was honest at least, she did quite like the food. But knowing him the topic of conversation would start and end with the deals and contracts they needed to sign, a young man far more content with silence as he ate his filet than filling it with conversation about anyone else. Unless it was for business, Byakuya was as uninterested in people as Sonia was interested. And for that reason, it was going to be a miserable evening.
"Then we should stop wasting time," He sighed, looking over his shoulder to the black town car parked at the side of the street. "Come on, my car's waiting-"
But before he'd even turned on his heel, something from above pelted the Ultimate Heir square in the chest before exploding. "What the H-" Byakuya sputtered as pieces of rubber fell away from the lapels of his jacket, yellow paint seeping into the wool and dribbling down onto the pockets, his trousers, and finally his leather shoes. A second object joined the first, one that Sonia now recognized to be a balloon, seemingly filled with nothing but yellow paint. It hit Byakuya in the right thigh, splattering over both his trousers and the side of her skirt. Finally, a third balloon joined the other two in its target, hitting him in the shoulder and splashing onto her white blouse and blazer, bits of paint landing on the frames and lenses of both his glasses and her sunglasses. "You complete and utter IMBECILE!" Byakuya shouted, his gaze following where the balloons had come from before she looked for herself. But it was hard for even the Ultimate Heir to appear threatening when he resembled a bumblebee. "Some of us have worthwhile talents and futures to see to! If you intend on being a waste of perfectly good space at this school, do it somewhere else!"
Looking down at her own attire, Sonia's outfit was equally beyond repair as she picked at the paint that now settled into her blouse. Unlike Byakuya, however, the incident only seemed to add to her amusement for the day. "I'm sorry, Sonia, but we'll have to postpone. We cannot turn up at L'Osier in such a soiled state. If you can find your way home, that would be preferable."
"No, no...I can manage on my own, I'll just need to phone a car," She sighed. Sonia wanted to laugh at just how furious he was just by a ruined suit, but she thought better of it as she glanced up at the rooftop: the thorn in Byakuya's side seemed to be gone.
