The basement door at the top of the stairs thuds shut behind Vicky, and the apartment feels smaller for it. Joey and Mickey stand alone in the stale, blue flicker of a dying bulb, with spilled soda shining across the concrete floor.
Joey heads into the attached kitchenette, where the air smells like old coffee, dust, and warm electronics. The busted router blinks uselessly on the counter.
Mickey drifts after him, rubbing at his face with both hands. He looks like he wants to vanish into the clutter more than he wants to talk.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
Alright... brother to brother. What exactly did you mean about Toni?
Joseph "Joey" Capozzi
She’s hiding out at Dad’s place. Or she was. Vicky thinks Toni knows something about the keys.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
That does sound like Toni. Trouble first, explanation later.
Mickey leans back against the counter, eyes dropping to the dead phone in the soda puddle. A fresh text notification lights the cracked screen for a second, then fades.
✓ Quest Accepted
Solidify the brothers' pact of silence
“Look, i know Toni's innocent. We sll are. Vicky must've got fed false information and now she's trying to figure out what's actually going on. We just need to lay low for a couple days until she calms down, then she'll apologize, pay for the damages and we'll all live happily ever after. It happens once every few months, remember her mental breakdown at Halloween last year?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Mickey lets out a long breath, and the joke drains out of his face. The phone keeps glowing in the soda puddle like it has bad news to share.
Joseph "Joey" Capozzi
Look, I know Toni’s innocent. We all are. Vicky got fed bad information.
Mickey’s shoulders loosen a fraction. He glances up at Joey, then back to the screen, thinking it over instead of snapping back.
Joseph "Joey" Capozzi
We lay low for a couple days, let her cool off, and this blows over.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
...Yeah. That sounds like Vicky when she gets spun up. Halloween last year was a mess.
The corner of Mickey’s mouth twitches, not quite a smile. He nudges the dead phone aside with one finger, making room on the counter between them.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
Fine. We keep our mouths shut, same as always. Then maybe she comes back acting civilized.
Quest Complete
Solidify the brothers' pact of silence
“Yeah . . . Hey but aren't you stringer than her? Were you really just too damn lazy to stop her from trashing the place?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +3)
Joseph "Joey" Capozzi
Yeah... hey, aren’t you stronger than her? Were you really just too damn lazy to stop her from trashing the place?
Mickey stiffens, then laughs once through his nose. It is small, but it lands. The counter looks suddenly less like cover and more like a witness stand.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
Too damn lazy, yeah? Joey, I was eating chips when she came in like a storm front. She had the look, the kind that says no one’s getting a vote.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
And for the record, stronger does not mean smarter. Vicky grabs first and talks second.
He scratches the back of his neck, embarrassed despite himself, then reaches under the counter and pulls out a folded paper towel with a greasy scribble on it.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
I did stop something, though. She left this behind when she tore through here. I did not open it.
The note sits between them, damp at one corner, with an address and a time written in a hurried hand. Mickey studies Joey instead of the paper, waiting to see if he has made things worse or helped.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Mickey from revealing the missing keys
“Keep it and give it to her when she comes back.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Mickey takes the note back with two fingers, then slides it toward Joey instead of pocketing it. The choice lands like a quiet admission.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
Keep it. If Vicky asks, I never looked at it.
Joseph "Joey" Capozzi
You didn’t. You just handed it over.
Mickey gives a tight, grateful nod and folds his hands on the counter, leaving the greasy paper alone between them.
Michael "Mickey" Capozzi
Right. And when she comes back, I give her the same story, clean and simple.
The handwritten address sits in plain view now, no longer a secret between brothers, just a problem waiting on a later knock.
Mickey watches Joey for the next move, his face open but cautious, as if one wrong word could still bend the pact.
Quest Complete
Keep Mickey from revealing the missing keys