#diveronamission

[cleosokolova]

MISSION: Cleopatra has clientele all over the world and is well-known for her cleverness. However, Damiano wants to further push her to her limits - he has assigned her to organize a group of two soldiers and do some reconaissance in one of the Capulet's allies -- the yakuza. He would like to ply them with coin if he could, but even so, just to let the Capulets know that nothing of theirs is sacred or safe is enough for him. Through a self para or thread, explore Calina's decisions in acting.

date: 2 may 2019 - 12 may 2019 location: verona, italy; st. petersburg, russia; sovetskaya-gavan, russia; kurume, fukuoka prefcture, japan

There’s something to be said about being picked by il Capo to swipe Capulet business partners away from them and hoard them for the Montague name. It’s the second time he’s assigned such a mission to her, what with the first having been to steal Queen Mab from the Capulets. Akin to a dragon that hoards gold, Damiano wants the Yakuza in any way he can have them--as business partners, as mere connections, as a dog-whistle used to rile up the Capulets any time they realize they’re not exclusively dealing with the group--and Calina intends to deliver and then some; already, a plan is forming in her mind to not only sway the Yakuza away from the Capulets just because, but to pull them closer to the Montague crown and fortify trading deals between the two entities. 

She reaches out to her Russian contacts. Yerik is the first she calls, what with his loyalty to Faron and herself and his honesty in regards to what he thinks about her business ventures. He acts as a sounding board as she works out her plan, going so far as to offer his own opinions when she seems to get into a rut with herself. By the end of the call, the Russian man is sold on the idea of a drug distribution center on the eastern side of the country so that the Yakuza have an easier time getting things from Montagues rather than Capulets; it benefits Calina, which indirectly benefits him. The Zaitzev’s are the next pair of people she reaches out to and she eventually wins their support, too. She settles that Yerik will accompany her crosscountry and act as her second-in-command and the Zaitzev’s will act as strongholds in Russia while she works to extend Damiano’s kingdom and her own. 

With that matter settled, her attention turns to which soldiers she’ll take with her to Russia. Calina combs through the list of available Montagues, paying close attention to her own weaknesses so that she may find a pair who’ll complement and complete her rather than drag her down. She thinks of Boris and then so ardently decides to not think of him. Calina still can’t trust the man as far as she can throw him, and thus cannot pull him into a plan that is meant to benefit her more than others; he’s too elegantly cunning, too unpredictable, and far too snake-like in his decision-making. Her next thought is of Faron’s рыцарь, Grace, and this sentiment, too, is quickly chased away. Grace’s tenacity and bloodlust are unmatched, but the Sokolova woman knows, perhaps too well, that too-wild things need close supervision, and she cannot afford to waste time and energy watching Grace when there are deals to be made and clients to be stolen. 

In the end (perhaps selfishly), Calina settles on two nearly nondescript soldiers who’ve yet to make a name for themselves. Like Faron plucked her from Madame Kamenev’s brothel, she will do the same for them; she will lift them from obscurity and into recognition, so long as the mission goes as planned. Like chess pieces, she collects those who will vouch for her abilities and competencies within the Montagues. She’ll use these soldiers as a buffer, a shield; she’ll make sure Cleopatra isn’t nearly as easy a target as Fortinbras, whose thin buffer of relationships clearly wasn’t enough to keep him alive. 

It’s Genevieve she goes to on May 1, once the plan is concrete in her labyrinthine mind. “I am a Montague,” the Russian woman says resolutely as she settles in the chair on the other side of Genevieve’s desk, “and as the months pass, sotto capo, I realize there is more that I can offer to the family that’s offered so much to me.” She ignores the bitter tang that lingers in the back of her throat, thoughts of Lawrence and Roman rushing to the forefront of the mind as she speaks honeyed praises of the Veronan family. The boy-king and his obedient servant have nearly stripped Calina bare, having taken the man with whom she was set to cultivate an empire within the city St. Petersburg whilst maintaining connections in Italy and more. The Montagues have taken so much from her, and yet now she deigns to give, to entwine her inherited syndicate in Russia with Damiano’s in Italy.

The difference? The difference now is Calina. She’s harbored so much ill will, has bared her teeth at the mention of the heir and her dearest friend’s brother more times than she can count—and what has come of it? Her grief has consumed her, but it has not destroyed her; again, akin to a phoenix, the Sokolova woman rises from the ashes of loss anew and ready to reclaim what’s rightfully hers: the favor of the king, his second-in-command, and the advisor.

But perhaps, at her core, Calina Sokolova resigns to serve the family that killed a part of her own because she wants them to need her, to come to rely on Cleopatra more than they ever thought they would. She’ll shower the Montague name with as many millions of euros as she can and she’ll succeed on the behalf of both Damiano and herself, so long as each victory unwittingly brings the mafia closer and closer to kneeling to the Queen of St. Petersburg out of its own volition rather than being cut at the knees. Let her moniker stand by itself—not Fortinbras and Cleopatra, but Cleopatra alone; let her Italian alias be drenched in Montague gold, so long as the appropriate titles and luxuries follow. 

The plan she lies out for Genevieve espouses her goals: to undermine Capulet dealings with the Yakuza by offering them Ambrosia at lower rates with quicker delivery times by setting up a drug distribution center near Russia’s coast. She explains how she’ll use her own network to connect with and woo the Japanese crime syndicate in the name of the Montagues and their Ambrosia. The distribution center will be run and owned by Montagues and overseen by a handful of trusted people chosen by the Queen of St. Petersburg. Having been the entity to provide the drugs, the Montagues will take the lion’s share in regards to profits; 90% of earnings go to Damiano and his causes, while the remaining 10% is split between Yerik, the Zaitzevs, and others rooted in Russia who work closely with the distribution operation. In total, she intends to spend ten days away from Italy and in Russia and Japan. 

The Underboss mulls over the proposition, Damiano’s wishes weighing heavily in the back of her mind. After their conversation, the Zhang woman gives Calina the green light she needs to begin working.

The Sokolova woman leaves for St. Petersburg the next day. The following ten days are spent as discussed and when she returns to Verona, she does so victoriously. 

IN SUMMARY, Calina has successfully undermined the Capulet dealings with the Yakuza, at least to some extent. Having offered quicker delivery times, lower prices, and easier access, the Sokolova woman manages to convince a handful of the Dojin-kai to stop buying il sangue di fata and il anello di fata from the Capulets at expensive prices and to instead add the cost-effective and addictive Ambrosia to the repertoire of drugs they sell. 

She is away from Verona from 2 May 2019 to 12 May 2019. 

[mentioned: @brutuskovrov + @dalygrace + @gertrudezhang]

[diveronaevents]

CAPULETS, please look below for your missions, sent by Cosimo, Rosaline, and Volumnia. These missions are meant to be threaded on the dash, and we hope they inspire you to think big for your characters and their role in the Capulets! Please feel free to reach out to the admins if you have any questions or concerns.

From Rosaline to EDGAR and LADY MACBETH -- Edgar and Lady Macbeth, due to the developments that have occurred with the Montagues, I think it is best to make sure that we have all the support that we can, both monetarily and in the public’s eyes. Having the partnership with the Dark Lady is crucial to staying afloat, so please ensure that this partnership remains intact. And, if not that, then make sure it thrives. I expect a full account of everything by February 12th. However, the sooner, the better. If you two need any assistance, my lines of communication are always open. 

From Cosimo to TITANIA -- My dear Titania, with all that you have suffered through, I think it is time that we make them suffer in turn. Together. You are a treasured piece of our structure here, and it is because of this a stratagem has been created: Macbeth is quite well-connected within the city and will likely have means of getting through the Montague scouts. BIANCA, though they have been rather useless as of late, should be utilized here as well. I need you to create a knockoff of the Montague drugs. Make it look the same, but impair its effects. Dilute it. Make it represent what the Montagues are: rotten and weak. Then have MACBETH and Bianca distribute it together. We will make them pay for their sins against you. 

From Cosimo to JULIET -- My sweetest principessa, we need to make sure that we have allies within the city and remind them of who is there to watch over them when the Montagues inevitably ruin them. As they’ve ruined the Witches. As they will ruin the city that we love so much. Roman made his soup kitchen to try and bribe the hearts of the people, but you need not do that. You already have them, so make them give theirs to you as well. Go to the women’s shelter in the lower east side of the city and connect with those who are there -- the children in particular. Bring them toys, but be wary. I know how your heart bleeds, which is why I trust you to help the people and make sure they know the Capulets, whether they be Montague-sympathizers or not, will care for this city like the others never have. But take KATHERINE with you to protect you.  Should you run into any trouble, like their scouts, then she will be good to have at your side. 

From Volumnia to TYBALT, DESDEMONA, and CORDELIA -- We have reliable intel that one of the Witches’ properties was the Multisala Rivoli. As of this moment, we don’t know whether or not the Montagues have jumped on it, but regardless I would be prepared. If there are not Montagues, then there might be Montague sympathizers or people just looking to make a by pillaging the place. It would be good to have the theater -- as well as whatever goods the Witches’ might have been hiding there. Take your soldiers. Remind them of the teeth you have. 

From Volumnia to OTHELLO & ORSINO -- My two hellions. With the current happenings of the city, Rosaline has proposed that we play at our strengths and do as we do best -- slip the silent knife between the ribs of our enemies. But we must make sure to not rile the citizens of the city that have already been so traumatized by the plight of the Montagues. Her suggestion is that you both network with the mutual connections that you have with the Montagues -- or the vendors that you know will be essential to the event -- and you set them on one another. The Montagues will rue the day that they undermined us and tore our city apart. In return, we will pay them that kindness ten fold. We will tear them apart. 

From Rosaline to EDMUND and MIRANDA -- I know this is going to be an unorthodox mission but these are rather unorthodox times. The Witches have fallen and the board has been upturned -- which means that there are no rules to this game. I need you two to pose as a young, wealthy couple that are interested in participating in the Montague’s festa dell’amore. I have paperwork drawn up to cement your identities, as well as a ghost account for you two to draw from in case they need proof of what you have to offer. There are two soldiers that are newer that I want you two to target in this mission since they won’t recognize your faces as much. Both of you, for the most part, have flown under the radar so you have a lesser chance of being truly recognized. If you need cosmetic changes because you’re still uncertain, then let me know and I’ll send someone to you both to take care of it. Remember, it’s a highly sensitive reconnaissance mission, so if your cover is blown then you’ve both risked your lives for nothing. 

From Cosimo to VOLUMNIA and LAVINIA -- I am going to be honest, perhaps fallibly so: we are hemorrhaging in all areas of our business. With the Montagues redirecting traffic into their territories, we are losing profits as well as potential clients and soldiers. It is imperative that we try and gather new recruits, but I want them to be of Veronan blood. My recommendation is that we provide a new opportunity for a home and a family -- to show the city that we won’t betray them as the others have. Go to the orphanage on a good will mission and connect with the children there. Look into the teenagers in particular and see if they have any skill sets to offer. I trust you two women to pick engage with them and show them what we are: a family. 

From Cosimo to ROSALINE and REAGAN -- There is a man by the name of Jacopo Marchesi. A trusted Montague client who seems to be moving up in the world. He is meant to have a heavy hand in attracting other clientele and is one of the main sponsors of the festival. He is a family man, soon to be married, with older parents who dote on him. What they don’t seem to know however, is the fact that most of his money has been from bullying low-income families into selling their homes and pushing them onto the streets. Regardless, I would expect you to do this operation anyway: destroy his life. Ruin his family. Rob the Montagues of this pillar of a man.

[catherinedaly]

A voicemail from COSIMO CAPULET: Don’t think I haven’t noticed the grey area of where your loyalties lie, little Cordelia. One sister is a traitor and the other is our own angel of death. And what are you? You only just recently have proven yourself with your first kill, but it was only with great pressure. Rafaella has recommended I stay my hand after all that you have been through, but after that video…all I could think was how you would have done the same as that Montague did. Prove yourself by ruining the efforts of the Montague recruitments in your way. It doesn’t have to be bloody. It just has to be good.

[igagliano]

date: december 9, mid-morning location: café on neutral grounds status: closed to @odessaophelia

[ An email from ANONYMOUS: Make sure that this story gets heard. The little Vernon who has been playing you for a fool will likely be contacting you shortly. ]

Isabella doesn’t know where the email comes from, but she does know she believes in its validity more than she believes in that of Odessa Vernon. Within a week, the anonymous tip has led her to more concrete answers than she’s ever gotten out of the city of Verona. Within a week, the information given by the email surpasses what little knowledge Odessa has shared. Within a week, Isabella’s focus shifts. 

Which is why, when the little Vernon texts and suggests a meeting, Isa simply can’t refuse.

A tinkling bell announces her entrance to the café, and Isabella spots the Vernon woman before the bell ceases with its noise; she’s tucked away in a booth in the corner of the café.  The emotions that flare in her chest are visceral, sudden; she’s angry for being made into a fool, she’s angry with the waste of her time--but more pressingly, she’s angry that she can’t trust the doe-eyed daughter as far as she can throw her. For Odessa’s sake, The Gagliano woman lingers for a moment, undoing the first couple of buttons on her jacket before allowing herself to head towards the table with a half-smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. 

“Odessa,” Isabella greets as she sits on the other side of the booth. “I hope you weren’t waiting on me for too long.”

[justtotallystab]

Orders From Above: 001

Boris, you’ve yet another chance to prove yourself. Don’t take this one lightly. Do you know of Salvatore Verro? A government witness and former member from before your time. He had my father, the former boss, imprisoned and ensured he died behind bars. Murdered countless but lives calmly in the country after years of protection and peace. Go to him. Remind him that we do not forget. - Damiano

   The words played over and over in his head as he had prepared for his trip into the country. Seen as any number of his other Emissary missions, with a stack of paperwork, and his trademark smirk, Boris had made sure no one else was aware of his true reasons for leaving. Only a select few, namely Damiano himself, would know where he was going, and what he was really doing, the rest would just think he was off dropping trade agreements. When in actuality, he was going to kill a man.

   It wouldn’t be the first person he’d killed, or even hurt, and it would hardly be the last, but the fact that he was doing it for Damiano still ate at the inner lining of his stomach. The acid was a constant presence since the moment he’d returned within the Montague ranks and prostrate himself before the man he’d once seen to be a father figure. Much more powerful, and in control than his own worthless scrap of flesh he’d once called ‘father’, it wasn’t any wonder that a young Boris had taken one look between the two men and found his own flesh and blood wanting. Boris’s father had wanted what Damiano had, what Damiano was, and been the victim of his own greed. Boris had thought he was better than him, stronger, and in the end, he’d fallen to his own vice of hubris and run from it.

   He thought he could run, find a way to make up for his own failure, hide away the secret of the man’s death, and he’d come to understand that the only reason he didn’t die with the underboss, was because no one had ever tied him to his death. Boris had done what he could to make a name for him, to survive and dig out a niche in a world, or a family, that would take him, but over and over again he’d found them wanting, or been ignored himself. Until eventually, he’d had to return to the place he’d once called home and beg for forgiveness to be allowed to do what he’d once been praised for.

   Boris had left, thinking he could make a new life for himself, and yet, here he was, nearly five years later, still asking how high when Damiano shouted jump. 

   “Now, Signore Verro. I’m sure you don’t know me, but I won’t bother with introductions, since you won’t survive the night.” Boris reached down to the small table he’d set up and surveyed the few tools he’d brought with him to the man’s house in the country, ignoring the muffled cries from right next to him. It’d been entirely too easy for Boris to infiltrate the man’s villa, both Salvatore and his security had become complacent. Too many years, with little to no action against the man’s well-being, and he’d gotten lax. The security team would be fired, that was for certain, to lose their charge in the middle of the night with nary an alarm having gone off. Boris didn’t pity them, they’d find something else to do with their skills, perhaps another paranoid ex-mob member would employ them.

   He’d had enough experience with the underhanded missions of Damiano’s to know that he wouldn’t be pleased without Salvatore suffering immensely. And though Boris’s methods were perhaps...unorthodox, they were what he knew, and what he preferred in the grand scheme of things. He was certain his mother had never intended him to use his knowledge of herbs, and botany, in this manner, but there were so many natural substances in the world that were made for keeping the human population in check. Too many to keep track of, and trace back to any one viable cause of death, without knowing each and every poison that was native to the earth.

   “All you need know, is I have been asked by Damiano Montague personally to give you a message.” The faintest of smiles curled on his lips as he selected a syringe and turned back towards the man trussed up like a prized pig in the center of his study. His arms and legs were wrapped together by lengths of fabric to the chair he sat in, his angry ramblings muffled by another strip wrapped around his mouth. Boris surveyed the man for a moment, head shifting to the side as he wondered just how this man had once been powerful enough to put a mob boss behind bars. Maybe, once upon a time, he might’ve asked the man for tips before ending his life, but Boris wouldn’t be content with Damiano behind bars. He wanted the Montagues and the Capulets to shatter. He wouldn’t be happy until they both fell apart beneath the strain of their own vices,  and there was nothing this coward could tell him that he didn’t already know.

   “I’m supposed to remind you not to fuck with the Montagues, of course. Damiano was very hurt you put his father in jail, saddened that he died there, and not by his own hand, I suppose...” He shrugged and crossed close, holding out the syringe for the man to see more clearly. The moment Boris saw his eyes widen in recognition, he pressed it to the skin of his neck, and injected him with the first, of many surprises that night. “But I think I’d rather use you to test a few of my own concoctions. Much easier to do with a man who wasn’t going to survive the night, regardless.” Pulling the needle from his skin he raised a brow, “I would make peace with whatever god you believe will listen now You won’t have much time later.”

   In a matter of moments the man started to seize, his eyes rolling back in his head as his body shook within its restraints, while Boris watched, and catalogued his reactions. He had a number of different formulas that he intended to test out that evening, and he’d designed the entire night around testing each and every one of them. By the end of it, Signore Verro will have appeared to have died of natural causes in the middle of the night in his bed, while his security team would wonder how they’d lost a whole night worth of memory. No one will have seen hide, nor hair, of Boris, and the only evidence of him ever having been there, was a simple red rose in a vase on Salvatore’s bed side that no one can remember him receiving the day before.

   On the crack of dawn Damiano received a picture message from an unknown number, of Salvatore tied up and bloody, with the simply message ‘It’s done.’ The leader of the Montagues wouldn’t find out, most likely, until much later that the man hadn’t simply been tortured, in a way, but that he was dead. Whether that was what Damiano wanted to happen, Boris didn’t care. He’d helped Boris conduct some very necessary experiments, and gotten the job done for Damiano. In his eyes, it was a win-win.

[ofcastora]

A text from ROMAN MONTAGUE: Now more than ever it’s important that you prove to me that you’re here for the Montagues, Celia. You’ve been steadfast thus far, but I need the people who back me to be independent and leaders in their own right. And I know that you are capable of it. I need you to scope out people in the Capulets whose loyalties are a little more…lenient than others. I don’t have any sources to prove this, but the one known as Odin seems more faulty. If you manage to get him to be a reliable source for us, I think that I could talk to my father about adding more soldiers to your ranks.

[falcolucrezia-blog]

A text from COSIMO CAPULET: You have flourished in our ranks, Lady Macbeth, but I think there are certain things that you could do to establish yourself as a power not to be trifled with. One of the Montague soldiers that goes by the name Brielle seems like a fallible little creature and I want you to try and take care of her with your husband. While your mind is brilliant, I want to make sure that you’re able to do what your husband doesn’t seem capable of -- get your hands dirty.

[igagliano]

An email from ANONYMOUS: There is some interesting information floating around about the death of Faron Vasiliev. Don’t think they want it to get out because it makes the Vernons look a lot less invulnerable than they would have you think. Heard that Lawrence himself killed Faron Vasiliev. Might even have audio from it from the cellphone that was in Roman Montague’s pocket at the time. But I’ll only give it to you if you do something for me. Make sure that this story gets heard. The little Vernon who has been playing you for a fool will likely be contacting you shortly. - X

[ofcastora]

A text from ROMAN MONTAGUE: You’ve been flying under the radar for the most part, Celia, and I think it’s time for you to prove your worth. I want all who stand by me to be people that I know I can depend on and I’m still not entirely sure about you. What are your motivations? Where are your loyalties? Would you take a bullet for the other soldati? I want you to move up in the Montagues, I do, but I want you to show your devotion to the cause by doing something bold. Tiberius Capulet is weak right now, so we need to hit him where it hurts: we need to make him look even weaker than he already is. Do that and I’ll know that we can rely on you for years to come.