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Post by Cora Giovanni on Aug 16, 2010 17:56:52 GMT -6
. . . .Cora Rosalie Giovanni did not have much going on in her life right now. It seemed like the drama was finish, though that would probably end soon, and that she’d reached a good place, that all the scattered pieces of her life were just falling into place. She’d handled the rough patches in her past and embraced the new, happy things going on. She was finishing school, ready to become a permanent teacher at Valkyrie Academy for the next school year, she was surrounded by family and friends, and lastly, she had a daughter who kept her world turning. Arietta Giovanni was the shining light in Cora’s life when she’d been lost in a fog that wouldn’t clear. Before she’d given birth to the little girl, she had a hard time thinking of anything left to live for, especially with Matthias gone and never to return. She didn’t realize how much love you could have for a child, and it was like the amount of love she ended up having for Arietta was enough to fill up the hole left in her heart when Matthias died, and then more. Cora loved her daughter, she loved her dearly. If it weren’t for the girl, well, who knows how she would have ended up or what regretful thing she may have done. It was not a pretty picture to imagine, it wasn’t a time in her life Cora had been proud of. She owed Arietta her life, in more ways than one. This caused that weird, guilty feeling that she felt whenever Arietta asked her for something. It wasn’t like she was a bad mother, though at times she believed otherwise. Cora didn’t allow Arietta to do stupid, reckless thing. She didn’t let her have candy just because she wanted it; there was no way her beautiful baby girl was going to end up with rotting teeth. She didn’t buy the child whatever she wanted when she wanted it. Overall, she just didn’t want her daughter to end up a spoiled snob, forgetting her family and running off without so much as a goodbye, or anything along those lines really. Sure, Cora ran off herself for a boy, but she never once turned her back on the Giovanni’s, and she never would have no matter what. That was beside the point though. Basically, Cora was a softy when Arietta asked for things, but she wasn’t a total pushover. The little girl was fairly intelligent for turning two in only a few weeks at the beginning of January. She was forming small sentences, walking quite well on her own, beginning to comprehend things on a higher level than previously. Maybe Cora was just biased; most moms were when it came to their children, right? Arietta was genuine though, as most children often are, and she was a social butterfly. She never really threw tantrums over unnecessary things, but lately she’d become a bit feisty about one thing in particular. It wasn’t a treat or a toy, it wasn’t something on TV. No, Arietta was throwing a fit over somebody she’d met and wanted to see again, which was strange considering she never really got so attached to people she’d only met once. Arietta was throwing tantrums over her new friend, Maggie Corinthos.
. . . .The young mom wasn’t sure if this was going to become a habit, latching on to strangers, for her daughter, and she hoped it wouldn’t be. Maggie was a different case though. This young woman was engaged to Luca, Cora’s cousin. She wasn’t all too informed with the details, but one thing she did know was Luca and Maggie were a damn fine couple. Yeah, she was partial to thinking Luca was handsome, they were related after all and they did share some characteristic family traits. And Maggie, well she was gorgeous. Cora would never say this out loud to either of them, but if the two were to have kids, well they’d be drop dead gorgeous little tykes. Anyway, a while back Cora had needed a babysitter. Normally she would have just asked Violet or her aunt, but they both happened to be unavailable that night, so she’d turned to Luca. And, like a good cousin, he agreed to watch Arietta while Cora went to one of her later classes at the University. That was where Arietta met Maggie. The child was already fond of Luca, as she was with most of Cora’s cousins and her two brothers, but Arietta got to see them often. They were constants in her short life. Maggie, however, was not. Cora didn’t really expect anything out of it, but sure enough when she went to pick Arietta up, the girl was clinging to Maggie, reluctant to leave. She did though, like the good girl she was, but ever since that day those few weeks ago, Cora had been bombarded with ”Aggie! Maggie! Aggie!” It was different every time, sometimes the “m” being included, other times forgotten. Either way, Cora was well aware of what Arietta was throwing a fit over. She wanted Maggie. It truly was surprising that she’d become so attached to this girl after such a short period of time. Cora wasn’t sure why Arietta was so fond of Maggie, or why, but that was how the cards played out. The young mother figured the complaints would ware off after a few days, and while they did become less frequent, she still heard a lot of Maggie during the day. Finally she called up Luca and asked to speak with Maggie, explained the situation, and they decided on a place to meet up and just hang out for a bit. And so the date was set, but still no matter how many consolations Cora offered her daughter, it was obvious she wouldn’t be satisfied until she actually got to see Maggie again.
. . . .It was all a bit strange, Cora would admit that. It didn’t bother her much though, because she’d met Maggie once or twice prior to the time she’d left Arietta with Luca, and even though the meetings had been brief, she genuinely liked the girl. She was saucy and still came off as a sweetheart, somebody Cora could get along with, perhaps one of the few friends she had the potential of possessing that wasn’t related to her… at least not yet. So if her daughter was going to become shockingly attached to somebody, at least it wasn’t somebody Cora disliked. It might be nice to just go out and relax, kind of like a girl’s day. It wasn’t often the young woman went out of her way to go associate with people she barely knew. She was friendly, yet, and she had many acquaintances, but nobody she really hung out with who wasn’t a cousin or something. There was Riley, but he was a family friend either way. And a man. So girl time was definitely something that wasn’t going to be turned down. They’d decided to meet at the country club, mostly on Arietta’s behalf because she loved swimming and horse back riding and she could be content at the country club all day like it was Disneyland. Arietta was practically bouncing off the walls the day of the little meeting. She’d gone to her closet and helped Cora pick out her clothes, a white t-shirt with little jeans, pink boots, and a pink headband. Girly-girl to the max. Cora could only imagine what her teenage years would be like. Cora took her time getting ready as well. She didn’t want to show up at a rich country club with all the wealthy people of the valks looking like a slum. Appearances were important, no matter what people said. They gave people a first impression, and she didn’t want to be looked down upon, especially not if it would affect the way people viewed her family at all. So she got herself all ready, got Arietta in her car, and drove to the country club. It wasn’t a long drive, especially not since she was staying with her aunt at the Giovanni mansion in the valks for the time being, and the country club was already located near the valks. She didn’t come to this place too often, these stuck up people weren’t exactly her cup of tea, but anything to make her daughter happy. It was the greatest feeling to just see Arietta’s eye light up with excitement and that winning smile spread across her little face. It was all Cora really needed to be happy.
. . . .When they were inside, Cora led Arietta to a veranda that overlooked the green golf course where lunch was served. She ordered immediately, figuring Maggie wouldn’t mind considering Arietta was hungry and all. She just ordered her some chicken strips and fries, not getting anything for herself quite yet. Arietta sat across from her at the table, her little legs swinging back and forth since they were no where near long enough to touch the ground from the chair. She had a small package clutched in her chubby hands, wrapped in brightly colored Christmas wrapping paper. December 25th had already passed and New Years Eve was only a couple days away. It was a late Christmas present for Maggie. Arietta had seen the little butterfly anklet in a store and pointed at it and just kept repeated “Aggie!” over and over again, and so Cora finally bought it and wrapped it, holding Arietta’s hand and writing ”To; Maggie, From; Arietta” on the paper. It was silly, but it made the girl happy, and so she did it. Arietta refused to even let Cora touch it, already showing she was going to be one stubborn kid. ”No Mommy, is Aggie’s.” she tell her, doing her best to glare. So Cora stopped trying to hide it away in a safe place so it wouldn’t get lost or ruined. Apparently Arietta took good care of it though, because she had it here now, not even forgetting to bring it. ”Hare is Maggie?” the little girl asked, looking around, her words slurring together slightly. Cora looked at her phone, they’d gotten here early, so it wasn’t like Maggie was late. Arietta was practically shaking with anticipation though. The joys of a two year old. ”Hmm, where is Maggie?”
[/color] she asked herself, looking this way and that, mostly for her daughter’s benefit, ”She’ll be here, sweetheart.”[/color] [/blockquote][/blockquote]
tagged . . . . maggie corinthos !
status . . . . complete !
setting . . . . valkyrie country club, around noon, end of december 2007 !
clothes . . . . here !
notes . . . . hope it’s decent. if anything isn’t right, just let me know and i’ll fix it !
lyrics . . . . man! I feel like a woman!—shania twain !
credit . . . . me !
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Post by Magdelena "Maggie" Corinthos on Aug 17, 2010 10:00:39 GMT -6
 VALKYRIE, CALIFORNIA, VALKYRIE COUNTRY CLUB, DECEMBER 2007[/font][/center] -----with the way she was raised, usually it would be a surprise to other people when they found out maggie adored children. their first thoughts would always be "how could a criminal and probable killer ever love children?" and they would be right to be concerned. maggie wasn't your every day kind of person and she blamed her upbringing to an extent. she'd lived in a world of crime all of her life. so much so that she was pretty much desensitized to the idea of having to take a life for the greater good. did that mean she went around cutting people down around every turn? of course not. maggie was a strategical thinker. she knew that the best method of business was to train yourself some soldiers and keep them around because in simple production terms it was a waste of good time and bad money to train someone for a job and simply kill them. train them for other things, make them smart and individualized thinkers and they'd be capable for any job you ask of them. instead of a one-trick pony you get a steed who's capable of just about anything. sounded like a good deal did it not? maggie liked to think in the same terms. she wasn't a fan of having to kill off someone when they outlasted their usefulness but she would do what she had to when the time came. seeing as how she'd only been in her father's business for five-ish years, she'd yet to see someone really outlive that usefulness. maggie really wasn't sure why it bothered her father so much that she was saving the lives of his workers with the new tactics she used in his business. one would think the man would show a bit of gratitude. the streets of tijuana were rough of course, but no one wanted to sign up for the corinthos organization when it was like signing away your life on a ticking time bomb. people needed incentive. they needed to think they could make a life in this business and make money for their families before their time finally came. with maggie people were beginning to see that. they just didn't know that it was a teenager that was controlling their fate.
-----she had to wonder though what would possibly change if they knew maggie was the one calling the shots. her father was the face of the business. that worked fine for her. it meant that maggie could pull the strings as much as she wanted and if anyone was going down for it, it would be juan corinthos sr. of course at the same time it meant that maggie got none of the credit, something that was really beginning to rub her the wrong way. she was the mastermind in mexico. she was the one who was keeping soldiers alive while her father tossed people away like old candy wrappers. one would think that people would want to wok for the real mind behind the madness. and maybe they would. if it ever came to a point where maggie took over, well it would be a lot of work, a lot of power plays for sure, but she was more than one hundred percent sure that she could show people a thing or two. she would demand their trust, threaten if she had to, and so help her she would be the first female to make a decent living in the crime industry. after all it wasn't just for the boys. maggie could do just about anything that any guy could, maybe even better. her only weakness so far...she hated to admit, was luca. it was like something out of a bad screenplay. two people from different worlds brought together under extenuating circumstances and forced to endure one another's company. they come to find out over time that they don't want to leave one another's side and feelings develop and though they fight it with all their might, they can't help but to give in. does that not sound like a cheesy storyline or what? it was like romeo and juliet mobster style. if you asked maggie it was absolutely ridiculous but she was past the point of denying it. she felt something real for luca and that was a problem. they both knew that and yet, no one was really doing anything to stop it.
-----to be honest things had gotten a lot easier after maggie had threatened her father and he'd returned to mexico. with juan gone he had left the string pulling to fausto and fausto really hadn't been as concerned with making the pair miserable as juan was. her father wanted to push all of maggie's buttons. he wanted her to break so he'd have a decent excuse to take out the weak link in his crime chain. he wanted her to slip up just once so he could look her in the eye and pull the trigger himself. but fausto had bigger fish to fry. fausto was a respectable man who put his business before games. he didn't feel the need to swear off his entire legacy just so he could toy with a pair of kids. sticking them together in the first place had been punishment enough. juan on the other hand loved him some games. he would toy with them until they were willing to turn the guns on themselves just to escape the hell he'd stuck them in. fausto was a businessman. honestly it was a lot easier to see which head of which business was worth respecting. maggie loved admitting it out loud but she would pledge loyalty to fausto any day. her father wasn't a man to be respected. honestky she wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to keep up a business before she'd gotten herself involved and without her there would be no business. maggie had all the contacts, maggie had all of the leverage over the right people in mexico, maggie knew all the trade routes like the back of her hand, etc. if the corinthos organization ever went belly under, it would be because of a second generation corinthos. and juan didn't seem to realize just how fucked he would be without his daughter to pull the strings. it was getting to the point where maggie felt the need to do something just to show him who really had the power. because it certainly wasn't the man you would see in the paper, or the face you would automatically assume was in charge. juan at this point was nothing more than a pawn in maggie's business and it was getting to the point where the pawn needed to be ousted.
-----but there would be time for that later. right now she was in her car headed for the country club where she had agreed to meet luca's cousin cora and her daughter to hang out. maggie had met the woman a time or two but it was her daughter who she was a huge fan of. not to say that maggie disliked luca's kin in any way. she couldn't say that. she didn't really know the woman. she'd spent more time with arietta which was why maggie was so fond of the little girl. kids really did seem to flock to her. maggie was always a big staple in the life of her younger siblings, her youngest sister especially, and both rocco and arietta were fans of hers. it was almost as comical as it was absurd. the mobstress with a love for children. but hey, she didn't mind hanging out. she pulled into the country club and valeted the extremely expensive sportster that her father had sent to valkyrie along with herself. just one more blatant statement to the entire world. maggie hated the thing. she'd meant to sell it weeks ago but she'd gotten a little caught up in...well everything. she pocketed her valet ticket as she walked inside, scanning the clubroom for familiar faces. she did see a person or two who had been in attendance at the benefit a few weeks back. those people looked at her and ducked away. ha. smart people. finally she spotted cora and arietta and headed toward them. she heard arietta asking for her and smiled. "someone tells me i was beckoned?" maggie said as she came into view of both cora and arietta. "thanks for the invite." she pulled out her chair and sat, giving cora a thank you smile as she crossed her legs and settled into her chair. "i hope you don't mind that i picked her up a little something for christmas?" maggie asked finally spying the box. looks like she wasn't alone in this. she dug into her bag and pulled out a small gift bag. "it's a little lavish but i just couldn't help myself." she said with a smile as she handed over the gift bag containing the crystal duck. "i saw it in the store and just thought of her."
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status • finished
words • 1740
tagged • mara !
clothes • tah dah !
listening to • -- - --.
notes • --.
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Post by Cora Giovanni on Aug 20, 2010 1:24:38 GMT -6
. . . .Cora was well aware of the Giovanni family profession. It wasn’t like she was in the dark or oblivious to the inner workings of her family’s well known wealth. She didn’t disapprove of their occupational choice, and she wasn’t against the dirty work that was involved in getting the job done. None of it really bothered her at all, even after she’d been in love with a man who would have been completely against the entire ordeal. He never knew about it though, so maybe it was better that he was gone before he found out. Anyway, while Cora was well aware of what her family did for a living, she herself was not entirely a part of the mafia business, at least not in any official way. She was a good niece, cousin, and daughter; standing on the side lines, looking pretty, and making sure she was defending her family through and through. She wasn’t involved much, and honestly didn’t have much of an interest being hands on anyway. Cora Giovanni was a single mother, after all, putting herself in harm’s way and thinking of Arietta alone without any sort of parent any longer was an unbearable alternate reality to imagine. Cora was, however, entirely and fiercely loyal to her family. If Fausto, or any of them, ever asked her to do anything for them, she would most likely do it unless it put Arietta in harm’s way. Her daughter came first, and then the rest. She wouldn’t mind being one of the Giovanni soldiers, or whatever the proper term was for her mafia men cousins. It was an old fashioned organization though, a family oriented one. Women were not intended to be put in harm’s way, and so they weren’t. Cora didn’t mind it, though when she was younger it may have bothered her a bit, but now she was actually very grateful for it. Raising a little girl with a gun strapped to your hip, well it all seemed to spy oriented. Arietta already lost her father before she’d ever even met him, so there was no way Cora would ever consider herself to be put in a position where it would leave Arietta in the hands of another person. It would be a difficult decision to make, if she had to choose between her life for her family, or saving her life for Arietta. She knew the girl would be well taken care of. She had all of Cora’s cousins, Violetta especially, and her godmother Josie. And then there was always Maggie to throw into the mix. In a way, it was like the girl had multiple parents, instead of just the average two, or the technical single one. She would grow up fine without Cora, so it was mainly selfish desire to keep herself safe. Maybe Arietta could lead a good life without Cora there, but did any mother really want to watch their child grow up from heaven instead of being right along side of them?
. . . .The fiery Italian had never really seen her mother, at least not at this young of an age or under these circumstances. Then again, she’d never imagined Matthias dying. The thought simply never occurred to her, or clicked in her brain. It had always been a prominent possibility though, so perhaps she’d been in denial. He had been fighting in Iraq after all; it wasn’t like he was behind the scenes or an accountant. He was a soldier. There had always been the possibility of death, but for some reason it always just shifted under her radar. It was most likely the reason she’d taken his death so hard, because it had been so ridiculously unexpected. That may have been why she’d fell into her personal abyss. She got out though, when Arietta was born. An infant had literally saved her life, made her brain start functioning properly again. She realized then how much she missed her family, and how much she loved them. Those months in her life would have been so much more bearable if she hadn’t turned her back on them. It was a mistake she didn’t plan on making again. It was also why she moved to Valkyrie, so she would never forget exactly how important they were to her, and so Arietta would always realize how important they were to her as well. She wanted her daughter to be family oriented, to love them all. Was it so much to ask? Sometimes Cora wondered if she was being a good parent. What if she was doing it all wrong? What if she was being selfish? But that was when she always remembered the other parents in Arietta’s life… that even if she was lacking experience in one area, somebody else in her baby girl’s life would maybe be able to make up for it. Perhaps they would be able to patch up the holes in Cora’s mothering. That was what family was for, wasn’t it? Helping out somebody else when they needed it most? Well Cora needed it now, for her daughter.
. . . .Maggie was a lovely girl, both physically and personality wise, as far as Cora could tell, at least. She’d never really gotten around to asking Luca what she was like, but never really had gotten around to it. Most of the time when she dropped by for a visit, Maggie had been there as well. Cora had never really stuck around long enough to really get in more than a few words to the girl, since she’d basically just check in with Luca and be on her way, but from what she’d decided between the few exchanged words they’d had, she liked Maggie as much as you could like a complete stranger. Not to mention, Arietta adored the young woman, so she was already on Cora’s good list because of it. Anybody who makes her little girl happy is alright in her book, such a typical mother thing to say. From what she’d heard though, mainly from Violetta, Maggie was also a hit with Rocco too. She obviously had some sort of gift or soft spot with kids, which was surprising because something about Maggie made her seem edgy and independent, passionate and fiery. There was just something about her than wouldn’t make Cora think she’d be a two year olds best friend. It was obviously a talent of some sort. If she wasn’t involved with a business like the one her family was a part of, being something involving kids was definitely Maggie’s calling, or at least that was the conclusion Cora had come to. She didn’t exactly know the woman, so she shouldn’t really be calling shots about her possibly alternative future. It was just a vibe though, the first few impressions she’d gotten from Magdelena Corinthos.
. . . .Cora’s head turned towards the semi familiar voice, ”Someone tells me I was beckoned?” Maggie announced upon arrival, ”Thanks for the invite.” she continued, giving Cora a gracious looking smile. The young mother grinned mouthing a ”Thank you,” herself for Maggie. She noticed Maggie had something with her, a gift bag that looked Christmas-y, as most did when it was around this time of a year. ”I hope you don’t mind that I picked her up a little something for Christmas?” Cora smiled with sincerity, ”Oh, not at all. She chose something out for you, too,”
[/color] Arietta had been sitting quietly, clutching to the messily wrapped box and staring at Maggie with wide eyes like she hadn’t expected her to show up. ”It’s a little lavish, but I just couldn’t help myself,” Cora rolled her eyes, ”It was very thoughtful of you, no matter what it’s cost. Ari picked out her gift for you all by herself,” the young mother had directed her gaze towards her daughter, jerking her head softly in Maggie’s direction, ”Would you like to give Maggie your present now?” ”I saw it in the store and just thought of her,” the girl said again. Arietta watched as the gift bag was placed in front of her on the table. The little girl slowly pushed her little box that contained the sapphire butterfly charm anklet one a white gold chain inside. She hesitantly grabbed the gift bag and opened it with delicate fingers, and then she broke into a huge grin, ”Duckie! I ove duckies!”[/color] she squealed happily, holding out the beautiful crystal duck for Cora to inspect. Cora took the pretty little thing from her daughter, admiring it herself, ”Tell Aunt Maggie thank you,” she half mumbled, interested in the little duck. Arietta jumped out of her chair though and went to Maggie, jumping on her with her arms wrapping around her neck, ”Sank you Maggie! Sank you!” she shrieked happily, giving her friend a kiss on the cheek before climbing back into her seat and demanding the duck back from her mother, holding it close to her chest, ”Maggie’s pesent. Open, open,” Arietta pushed the wrapped bosh closed to Maggie, waiting for her to peer inside with shining eyes. [/blockquote][/blockquote]
tagged . . . . maggie corinthos !
status . . . . complete !
setting . . . . valkyrie country club, around noon, end of december 2007 !
clothes . . . . here !
notes . . . . woo !
lyrics . . . . man! I feel like a woman!—shania twain !
credit . . . . me !
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Post by Magdelena "Maggie" Corinthos on Aug 22, 2010 7:37:28 GMT -6
VALKYRIE, CALIFORNIA, VALKYRIE COUNTRY CLUB, DECEMBER 2007 [/font][/center] -----since her partnering with luca, it had taken maggie very little time to realize that she really didn't like the way her father did things. he treated his own people like shit and as such had made them expendable in his eyes, something maggie didn't like and really sought to change. it wasn't because she valued life. someone who was stupid enough to work for a crime syndicate as a lowly soldier was just begging for an untimely death, but at the same time maggie had found it unsettling just how useless her father thought the people underneath him were. did he not understand that it was because of these people that his own organization even existed? but no she didn't necessarily value the life of every person that passed through her father's doors. what bothered her the most was the fact that he'd thought it was his right to be able to throw away their lives as if it were nothing. if he thought a soldier was ast his prime, out you went on an assignment that would leave no one alive. if you'd seen something you shouldn't have you didn't even get the opportunity to go out fighting, you were just shot when it was convenient. but only those closest to him knew how he worked. only those on the inner circle, and family, knew about his body count, and boy was it stacked. maggie didn't believe much in an afterlife but damn if there was one then her father would be having a lot to face once he was dead. maggie herself would inevitably have some demons to face. since she'd pretty much taken over for her father's business the body count had lessened dramatically, but there was someone in just about every job who felt the need to be stupid and would get themselves shot. maggie could deal with that, she'd dealt with those kind of things to the point where she'd been desensitized to it as a child. death didn't bother her, only her own death seemed to really rattle her and that was because it was unjustified.
-----if maggie corinthos was going to die, it was going to be for a damn good reason at least. to die at her father's hand in such a way that he could go back to her mother and say it was just an accident, yeah that didn't really thrill her. maggie had done nothing that was worth dying over with the exception of making herself invaluable to her father. her way of thinking, her manipulative nature, and the way she could get things done the easy way had changed his business completely. true it was for the better and juan corinthos would really be screwed without her, but that didn't seem to matter to him. he seemed to think that because maggie had laid the groundwork for a better business that he could dispose of her like it was nothing and things would keep on progressing the way it was doing so now. what juan didn't seem to realize was that his daughter was in control of everything. she knew the leverage she had over everyone involved in a job, she knew exactly what contacts needed to be involved, when, where, and how much they would ask for in return. she knew all of the soldiers under her father's command and which approach was always the best to take. she knew that the bigger, rougher looking guys were sometimes a little much for the jittery customers, clients, or contacts and that the more sociable guys should go on those jobs. the kind of thing that juan should really know about but didn't care to know. all he knew at this point was that his finances had increased at an incredible rate since his daughter had silently taken the reins and he figured that he would be able to keep that up not knowing the things that maggie knew like the back of her hand. if this was the reason for her death it wasn't like she was going to write her father a road map to how to work his business. hell no. if she was going to die because of him, his business could at least go down the tubes.
-----she wasn't bitter. she just tended not to like people who wanted her dead for no reason. hell the only reason why she had even worked for her father in the first place was because no one else would dare take her. she had been surrounded by the business and absorbed in that business because it was the only one she knew. had she known about others, and depending on how they'd been run, maggie would have easily switched sides and become her father's enemy. it was only because the corinthos organization had been a part of her life that she hadn't gone looking elsewhere. she would remember stopping these big soldiers who actually feared her because of who she was. she would have these huge two hundred plus men in the palm of her hand, telling her everything that they would have to do in their assigned job. then she'd tell them what they should do instead. when they started realizing that if they obeyed her, they wouldn't die, the men started coming to her more and more for strategies on jobs to the point where her father had become nothing more than a dispatcher. maggie had become the mastermind and everyone in that business knew that. she was almost one hundred percent sure that if she ever left her father's business and asked who wanted to come with her that a majority of the men under her father's thumb would turn on him and walk out the door with a younger corinthos. it was almost sad that they would turn their backs on juan for an eighteen year old girl still in high school, but they knew just as she did that maggie was the one in charge as of a few years ago. she would always be the one to go to, always be the one who had the ideas or the know how for a job. she would always be the one who would keep them alive long enough to make them rich. it was likely they wouldn't live long enough to enjoy that money, but at least their family would get it. at least that was what maggie told herself.
-----speaking of family, maggie wasn't sure if she should start considering these people family, seeing as how there was a marriage in her future that she was trying to get out of. she really wasn't sure if she should start getting attached to these people. lord knows what they hell will happen when she and luca finally manage to break up this sham of a wedding, but what would become of her after that? would her father stop pretending and just gun her down? would she even still be associating with the giovannis? maggie didn't like the thought of not being able to still see them. she'd grown attached to them. rocco, arietta, luca, even some of the older giovanni children (ha, take that luca). she didn't like the idea of never being able to spend time with them again once this thing was all over. she was surprised that arietta had picked her out something for christmas. it had been a little unexpected seeing as how they really hadn't known each other long. still maggie had picked out something for her so what did that say? she watched as arietta opened up her gift, glad that she liked it. it was rather large and filled up the young girl's hand. maggie was afraid it had been too much but cora didn't seem to mind it so maggie wasn't concerned. maggie took a hold of the little box and sat it in front of her, waiting until arietta was able to see her open it. she laughed as arietta lunged from her chair to hug her. maggie simply hugged her back and helped her to the floor safely. once the child had quieted and gotten back into her seat, maggie opened her box. "oh i love this." she said with a smile as she pulled out the anklet. "thank you arietta." she tucked the anklet safely into it's box, slipping it into her purse just as a waiter stopped by the table with a plate of chicken fingers. "would you ladies like to order now?" the scrawny, acne ridden teenage boy asked with shaking hands. maggie looked over at cora, "you hungry?"
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status • finished
words • 1648
tagged • mara !
clothes • tah dah !
listening to • -- - --.
notes • --.
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Post by Cora Giovanni on Sept 12, 2010 15:48:22 GMT -6
. . . .Cora was very family oriented. She really always had been, though some of them may have thought otherwise when she chose to marry a soldier of the United States army and left behind her immediate family in Italy to marry him, but she still loved him, she still would give up anything for them. They were her world, and what kept her sane, living through the darker hours, months even, of her life. They made her a better mother, they were Arietta’s second parents, they made up for her lack of a father. She’d always loved them, all of them, though she had been more close to some than others. She was the one who was friendly with everybody, even the ones who didn’t really connect or get on with the rest. Prim example: Tony. Cora had also always been very open to welcoming people into her family, including those unrelated to her by blood. Josie Hayes, a cousin of her late fiancée, was one of those examples. Cora loved Josie as much as anybody else in her family, she’d even chosen her to be Arietta’s godmother when the child was born. And then there were her dear friends whom she also considered family, the ones she treated with just as much love and loyalty as everybody else who’s DNA she happened to share. The way Cora figured it was the more the merrier. She loved having tons of people to go to for anything she needed, plenty of people who all loved her and her daughter. How could anybody prefer a life alone over this? Sure, her family may be partially made up of killers, but they weren’t bad people. No. They were Giovanni’s. Cora loved them. And from what it seemed, she was about to welcome somebody new into her family, whether it be official or not. She didn’t know much about the deal with Maggie and Luca. She knew it was all business at first but sometimes it just seemed like a bit more than that, a bit more… emotional, per se. It wasn’t that they were goo goo eyes and drooling at each other like a couple of lovesick teenagers, but sometimes it just seemed like they liked each other. It was just a vibe Cora got, something she decided for herself, though it may have been completely off. It wasn’t like she was going to go bother Luca about it either. She figured she’d find out eventually if this wedding they were supposedly committed to having because of the weight on their ring fingers would happen. And if it didn’t, well, then that was her answer. If it did, good. Luca could use a girl, yes? Not to mention they’d have beautiful little children for Arietta to play with, not that Cora would ever even think of saying that out loud.
. . . .There was primarily one, and one alone, reason why Cora sat here at this country club she disliked with a woman she barely new. Arietta. It wasn’t that Cora disliked Maggie, that wasn’t the case at all, but she’d never really had a chance to get to know her, and the girl always seemed busy with Luca, so it wasn’t like she felt it necessary to interrupt them at any time. She wouldn’t have opposed to getting to know her cousin’s fiancée better, but it wasn’t something that seemed like either of them would ever had time for, so the thought of pursuing the friendship wouldn’t have crossed her mind. Arietta, however, came to adore Maggie. She threw her tantrums, something the sweet dispositioned two year old rarely did, to see Maggie again. It go to the point where Cora was ready to just barge into Luca’s loft and demand a visitation because the girl never went a day without going through one of her Maggie fits. It was so weird. Cora had never witnessed her daughter acting that way before, not for somebody she’d only met a couple of times for a few hours at a time. This Maggie must have been an angel in disguise or something to provoke such a strong reaction. So Cora had finally gotten a hold of the girl, scheduled a meeting, and here they were, much to Arietta’s pleasure. Cora could have never though of denying her daughter the strange craving she’d had to see Maggie again. She really wouldn’t have been able to deny her anything. Arietta was everything to her.
. . . .Arietta was like a beam of white light into Cora’s life, the light that lit up her world when it was cast into darkness. It sounded so biblical and fantastical to put it that way, but it was the best comparison she could think of. Everything had seemed unimportant. She thought she could never love anything or anybody as much as she’d loved her late fiancée. Her world was destined to crumble without him. And then when she first held the tiny girl in her arms, well, it was an experience she can’t even find words to describe. There was so much love there, for that girl, more love than she felt for anything and anyone. She could never have imagined, loving something so much. There was something else too, some other emotion that came from the birth of her baby girl—hope. Loving that girl so much gave her so much hope. Hope to reenter the lives of her family. Hope to finish college. Hope to love again, someday. Arietta was her hope, the shining beacon in which it sat. Lord, it all sounded so ridiculous and over dramatic, but it was a hundred percent true. If her daughter had never been born, who knows where she would be right now, or who she would be, even. She might be completely cut off from her family, living on welfare, dropped out of school, possibly dead. Who knew. It was the hope and love Arietta brought into her life that save her. So she would do anything for her daughter, absolutely anything. Nothing outrageous, or bad, but she would take a bullet, easily, for Arietta Giovanni.
. . . .Maggie was already on Cora’s good list. She was so good with Arietta that Cora couldn’t help but like her. Anybody, really, who was that big of a hit with her daughter would have made her list. She decided that if Maggie really did marry Luca, she wouldn’t mind welcoming her into the family a bit. And even if she didn’t, Cora could see them becoming friends eventually. When Arietta replaced the duck back into the bag, Cora took it and stored it in her own purse for safe keeping. She gave a small smile when Maggie admired the gift Arietta picked out for her, ”She was hell bent, oh whoops, I mean completely obsessed with getting that for you,” Cora had been trying not to use derogatory terms in front of Arietta, and she’d been doing pretty well. Hell and crap were the only words she slipped up with sometimes. Cora gestured to her daughter when the waiter inquired who the chicken fingers were for. Arietta gave a toothy grin when it was set down in front of her delicately and began to nibble on her food and sip the orange soda she had. Cora raised her eyebrows at the boy who seemed traumatized to be serving them. He seemed to be a teenager, probably with self esteem issues. She didn’t recognize him, so he couldn’t be in one of her classes, but maybe he recognized her and Maggie. Cora was aware that she was considered a “hot teacher” at school, and Maggie was a queen bee beauty, even if she wasn’t at the absolutely highest point in high school hierarchy. It was probably intimidating for the poor kid. Cora gave Maggie a crooked smile, ”Mmm, maybe a little. I’ll just had a chocolate shake and some fries, thank you,” she announced, directing it towards the waiter. Then she glanced at Maggie, waiting for her to order.
tagged . . . . maggie corinthos !
status . . . . complete !
setting . . . . valkyrie country club, around noon, end of december 2007 !
clothes . . . . here !
notes . . . . rambley post. and late !
lyrics . . . . man! I feel like a woman!—shania twain !
credit . . . . me !
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Post by Magdelena "Maggie" Corinthos on Sept 13, 2010 7:26:09 GMT -6
VALKYRIE, CALIFORNIA, VALKYRIE COUNTRY CLUB, DECEMBER 2007 [/font][/center] -----just by looking at her, one may not consider maggie to be a family oriented person. in fact one would have assumed that her father had really ruined all sense of family to her. a man who tried time and time again to kill you wasn't necessarily someone you wanted to attach yourself to in any way, and maggie didn't. she didn't want anything to do with her father, but that didn't mean that everyone else in her family was lumped into that same group. aside from her brute of a father and her shopping, manicure getting, shallow mother everyone else in her ramshackle family was fine as far as she was concerned. maggie did love the rest of her family. her stepmother, the only one she'd ever met, wasn't as bad as the other adults in her life. maria montenegro was not that bad of a woman to model yourself after. she was more quiet, more reserved, and yet the woman had a backbone. she was courteous about everything she did and she did so with a refinement not found in the other adults in maggie's life. honestly she had to wonder why maria would even find her father to be a suitable man for her life. he was not father material, maggie would know first hand, he didn't care about the people in his life if they'd outlived their use. honestly unless he loved you there was no use for you. it was why maggie's mother and father always argued. juan had married sophia mitchell simply because she'd been pregnant with his child. he'd done everything he could to keep her in mexico after maggie had been born and had basically married the woman because it was right to do so with the woman who was bearing your child. he'd been miserable, but no where near miserable enough to not make another child with the woman. still even after bella was born things went downhill.
-----the same wasn't necessarily said for maria. maria was a whole lot stronger than sophia had been. she'd met juan while he was married to his other wife, yes, she'd gotten pregnant and caused maggie's parents to get a divorce, sure, but the woman hadn't known about the man's relationship. had she, maggie was pretty sure she wouldn't have gotten involved. either way, she still had, but the relationship that juan had with his third wife was completely different from the one he had with maria. instead of absolutely hating her, instead of lashing out at her children (or in sophia's case child) juan accepted her and probably grew to love her. from what maggie had seen that was the way it looked. juan had hated sophia, and thus maggie, because he'd always thought that maggie had been a way to trap him, to get under his skin, marry him, and suck him of the many millions he made. maria on the other hand was a woman one would stay married to, and a woman one could admire. she was strong willed, silent but with a kind of power and authority to her that just made you listen when she spoke. and unlike how it had been with sophia, juan had stayed with this woman. maggie was pretty sure he loved her as it had been about fourteen years that they'd been together. she had to be a saint as well. any woman who could handle juan corinthos for more than a few hours at a time was sane, she'd been married to him plenty longer so there had to be something there that just made them work. maria was like the mother maggie wanted and she definitely did love the woman, something that seemed completely out of the question for a girl who liked dangerous situations for a living.
-----that didn't mean she couldn't love the people around her. j.r., bella, dominic and hannah, hell maggie even cared about raoul to an extent, even if half of that was pity for the boy who was so much like herself it was scary. one would think that kindred spirits would be able to find one another. raoul and maggie should have been just that. they were both the unwanted children, the ones who were shoved away and treated like nothing, the ones who were looked down upon because of who they were or who they were mentally associated with. for raoul, it was because he was the last child born by the love of his life. paulina hadn't even died in child birth. she'd died because juan was stupid with his retaliations and had gotten her killed. but j.r. was the golden child and so that left the blame to rest on the shoulders of a little boy who deserved better. raoul got the backlash from his mother's death, maggie got the backlash from her own birth, they should have been like two peas in a pod. but even alike people didn't necessarily find their way to one another. instead of uniting like they probably should have, they hated one another. then again raoul tended to hate everyone in that house. maggie had been shunned the same as him but at least she'd embraced the people who had embraced her. raoul didn't have a care in the world for anyone with the last name corinthos. she could understand to an extent, but even maggie had her limits. people like bella, dominic, hannah, and maria didn't deserve the kind of hate maggie had reserved for her mother and father. they were better people than that.
-----before it used to be that maggie had only had the people in her family. she hadn't had much else aside from a few childhood romances with people involved with her father's business and whatnot. still it had never been the way it was here in valkyrie. she didn't want to say it aloud but maggie almost felt like a part of the giovanni family now. there was something there with luca that maggie still hadn't really put a name to, there was her complete adoration for the mini-giovannis like rocco and arietta, and she just couldn't help but to think that this place felt so much like the home she'd always wanted. a little inclusion was all it had taken for maggie to switch teams. team corinthos was practically out, team giovanni was working it's way in. granted she still cared about a majority of her family, but when a group of strangers let her get this involved when in a sense they hardly even knew her? had this not been an arranged thing maggie would have thought these people insane. but they'd taken in a girl in a situation put in by her father and turned it around for their benefit. and the giovannis were benefiting alright. maggie had put her heart and soul into proving herself to these people in the hopes that they wouldn't be the ones to put her six feet under. if she could prove herself enough to them, that would be one less thing on her plate of shit to deal with.
-----days like these where she could just sit around and relax were few and far between and maggie wasn't about to just let it slip through her fingers. this was another instance where she nearly flet like a member of the giovanni clan. here she was with one of the family having lunch and hanging out with her child. it was cute to say the least and a nice change from being shot at, threatened, or worrying about her life. needless to say it wasn't something she'd want to revert back to. maggie enjoyed her life more than words could describe, but like any housewife who just needs a few hours break from the kids to go out for some "me time" maggie liked taking a step back from her life to go back to those normal "roots" so to speak. she smiled as arietta tucked the duck away and handed it to her mother for safe keeping. really she was just happy that cora hadn't thought it was too much for the young child and had given it back to her. for a giovanni or a corinthos, it really wouldn't have set them back more than a few bills of pocket change. for some regular joe shmoe though it would have cost a pretty penny. she looked over at the poor little waiter boy. he was terrified and it was adorable. had there not been a small child around maggie probably would have screwed with him giving him some complex order and threatening him not to get it wrong. but today was rated PG, and would be until she got back to luca's loft (which had aptly become maggie's new home after her siblings had taken over her apartment). "i'll have the cedar smoked salmon with an iced tea." maggie said as she briskly closed her menu and held it out for the poor lad. terror was so cute in the eyes of a corinthos.
-----"so." she said once the spindly little weasel had taken off to probably put in their order and throw up, "i appreciate the invite. i really like hanging out with arietta when luca's babysitting." she looked over at the young girl and smiled. "in fact we've had a lot of fun making cookies and stuff because luca doesn't know how to cook anything that doesn't already coming in a box with the directions 'just add milk''" it was sad but true. the man seemed to only be able to make cereal. maggie would forgive him for that some time later though.
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status • finished
words • 1860
tagged • mara !
clothes • tah dah !
listening to • -- - --.
notes • --.
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