October 8, 1956

“Tea? I’ve got black, chamomile, ceylon, oolong, mate, osmanthus, matcha, pu’er, peppermint, holy shit there’s green tea,” Carlos exclaimed. In classic Carlos fashion he had woken up extra early to catch Antonio before he could run off just to annoy him by offering any random crap he found in his kitchen. His current obsession: a vast array of teas that he apparently had no idea existed within his own home. “OH MY GOD YELLOW TEA EXISTS TOO!”

“Really, I don’t need anything,” Antonio grumbled for the millionth time. Truth be told he was actually extremely tempted by each and every item that Carlos pulled out of his never-ending cabinets. Last night, as thirsty as he may have been, he hadn't returned to the kitchen to take the glass of water he had poured for himself. Even if he had proven himself that there was no need for Carlos to have any malicious intentions towards him, having seen his surname written out like that still weighed heavily in the back of his mind and left him paranoid of even the smallest particle of dust in Carlos’ home. 

“Ah but you live in Las Vegas don’t you? You’ll need to have something in your stomach for such a long drive back,” Carlos kept on pestering. Antonio clenched his fist and glanced around the room, trying to find something to look at other than this damned little stalker. Never had he mentioned that he lived in Las Vegas and moreover, since when had he been so concerned about Antonio’s well-being?

“How do you know where I live,” Antonio asked. Carlos stopped scavenging through the cabinets in order to turn to Antonio and smile. He laughed, not a single hint of any shame or restraint in his voice before going back to the cabinets all without providing a response to Antonio.

“Look at you, showing up at my house yesterday and now asking the questions that should be mine. Anyways, there's been quite a lot of people showing up lately, hasn’t there? Well, of course it's only natural with the elections,” he noted, making it clear he had absolutely no intention to answer Antonio’s question. Meanwhile Antonio began to ponder if the teabags’ strings were long enough to strangle Carlos with. “Speaking of which, who are you planning on voting for? Have you considered… say… McKay?”

“NO! DON’T LISTEN TO A SINGLE THING THIS MAN SAYS! IT'S ALL LIES! LIES! DON’T YOU EVEN DARE THINK THAT MCKAY IS WORTH VOTING FOR!” Antonio jumped at the sudden scream and spun around to see the source of the yell which seemed to be some random guy who had just let himself into Carlos’ home. He was a young man, just a few years younger than Antonio, with dark hair and eyes hidden between a pair of thick sunglasses. While Carlos sneaked over behind Antonio to laugh at the new arrival he leaned against the doorframe, holding up his hand and panting, evidently agitated by his own arrival. “McKay is a… fraud… he’s a good for nothing… don’t waste your vote on… trash like him. Oh god I need a moment to breathe…”

“Take your time,” Carlos laughed. He placed a hand on Antonio’s shoulder and pointed the other towards the young man. “Mr. Lovure this is my good friend Noel, Noel please meet my old buddy Antonio Lovure.”

“I WOULD NEVER BE FRIENDS WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!”

“My life can only go downhill when you’re involved in it.”

“It warms my heart to see how much I mean to you both," Carlos fake-sobbed dramatically as Antonio pushed his hand off his shoulder. 

“Mr. Lovure I plead for you to not let your judgment be clouded by these harpies. McKay can bring nothing good to this country. Instead it's quite the opposite. He is a vile man! VILE,” Noel clamored. As he went on with his tirade he began to let himself into Carlos’ house, heading straight towards Antonio with a more than mildly deranged expression. It didn’t help, of course, that his sunglasses were so dark to the point that Antonio had not a single clue of what Noel’s eyes looked like and could only imagine them as sinister and as crazed as the rest of his face. 

“I’m not voting for or against McKay. I don’t vote.” At this both Carlos and Noel’s expressions seemed to fall. With Carlos finally having dropped his stupid smile, the two stared at each other, seemingly trying to figure out if getting Antonio to vote would be a wise decision. If they could convince him to then he’d have to sway in the favor of one and the other would lose yet if they left him alone then neither would have to lose but at the same time also lose the opportunity of winning. Antonio could only hope they’d just leave him alone.

“Ah I see, you’re a coward,” Noel nodded his head. Meanwhile, Antonio appeared as if having been insulted across every possible language. 

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t you have any family? Any concern for future generations? Well it certainly seems like you don’t. After all, if you did you’d want any at least mildly competent government in charge that can set out a good future, if not for yourself then at least for them,” Noel scoffed. Was that what Noel tried so hard to hide behind his sunglasses? That deep sense of self-righteousness, a sentiment that only he could see while others were blind, that seemed to infect every word spoken from his mouth and lashed out at those on the receiving end. All the concern he had faked before now melting away to show his last resorts.

“Aha! Now that is exactly why you have to vote for McKay! After all, he’s the only one who’s capable of leading the nation towards a bright future!”

“Oh please, don’t start spouting that old party line. We both know that that man has absolutely no concern for this nation. All he wants to do is feed his wallet and ego. You’d be stupid to actually believe any crap that comes out of his mouth.”

“Now now, why are you making McKay sound so evil? Say, haven’t you noticed the pattern between good guys and bad guys? Good guys are always the most good looking in the story so it's only natural for McKay to be the good guy here. Meanwhile bad guys are ugly and disfigured. That’s not McKay now is it,” Carlos asked. With every second that these two continued to argue Antonio could feel his sanity draining out of his body. At this point it was hard to tell which one of the two he wanted to dropkick first. There was Noel trying to get on his nerves on one side and Carlos spouting complete bullshit on the other. Neither made sense and both were wasting his precious time. To think that if it wasn’t for Alessio he could have been spending this time with his family. Watching a movie, going out to the park, hell even just watching them sleep, these moments were much too valuable to lose especially to listening to these two argue about their nonsense politics.

“Oh so you finally admit that you’re the villain here?”

“Rather straightforward now aren’t we? Ah how I miss my shy little underclassman…”

“Since our business has been taken care of I’ll take my leave now,” Antonio decided. After all, if he waited any longer, who knew what kind of cult they'd force him into. Finding no need to stop and give them warm farewells he hurried out of the house with the single hope they’d at least let him get into his car in peace.

“Mr. Lovure surely you understand who’s right here,” Noel called after him. It really seemed that hoping for just a few seconds of peace really was too much. Antonio simply picked up his pace, fumbling with his car keys and avoiding looking in Noel’s direction as if that would make him stop shouting in his ears. “My full name is Noel Tiryani. I am a lawyer, graduated at the top of my class. Trust me, I know what I’m saying much better than Carlos. McKay, on the other hand, is an absolute idiot.He can’t manage his own life, let alone a whole nation. Is this the future you want for the children of this nation?”

Antonio finally managed to get his car open and jumped inside it. He reached out for the door, sure that if he laid eyes on Noel for even a second he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from snapping the man’s neck. Sure enough, though, Noel seemed to have a death wish and held back Antonio’s car door before he could close it. Antonio stared at the road ahead. This was fine. This was manageable. All this, just a minor setback.

“WAIT! This is my business card! Call me if you need a lawyer or-,” Noel stopped yelling. Anronio had given up on gritting through Noel’s nonsense and reached out to the hands that stopped his door from closing. All the while maintaining his sight focused on the road he pressed down on Noel’s hands, almost threatening to break his bones. 

“I’m heading back home now,” Antonio stated. Noel tried to jump back, only to realize he didn’t have the strength to pull away from Antonio’s grasp. For a few seconds he panicked, realizing he had no one nearby, rather he was just outside one of his enemies’ homes. Then Antonio let go, his message was sent and it was far past time to head home. Noel stumbled back, crashing to the floor just as he watched Antonio drive off. Suddenly it seemed as if he couldn’t help but take a page out of Carlos’ book and began to laugh wildly.

“So what’d I miss,” Carlos asked casually to the sight of Noel laughing cross-legged in the middle of the street. In his hands he held a cup of steaming tea and on his face an already knowing smile. 

“Who really is that guy?”

“I told you. It's Antonio Lovure,” he chuckled and took a sip of the tea. “But if you really must know then I’d say he’s a gamble. He doesn’t come around often. He’s the type that's difficult to manage but can be a real thorn in your enemies side if you can find a way to keep him under control. That would explain why Alessio was so desperate to keep him. Maybe because I’ve never seen a parent selflessly love their child I doubt that Alessio would do this out of family bonds. He can only be useful if you can figure out what he cares about and even then you’d be playing a major risk. To involve him would be making a game of the Odyssey, in which case allow me to be Hermes.”

“Tempting…”