Still With the Long Overdue Things...

[vesper_verde]

Things post-wedding had been going well. Husband and wife had no left the mansion for a few days after the wedding. By the time they were willing to visit around São Paulo, Marcelo kept their days busy. But not so busy their nights at home weren't busy either.

After sending off information to Brooke about the Symkarian group to hire as security for the New York reception, Marcelo went looking for his casual, not extremely well-tailored clothing. He needed to take Stephanie to visit his aunt. While she had been briefly at the Brazilian wedding reception to congratulate the couple, he knew she expected a visit.

The chauffeur would arrive soon to drive them to outside of the favela his aunt lived in. They would have to walk in to the slum. A standard precaution Marcelo had taken.

Now, he just needed to find his pants...

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[ngm_adults]

She frowned slightly. The hem was uneven in the back.

"Backside," she said as she grabbed some pins.

"Tchelo," she called through the screen. "Clean ones are on the upper left."

She shook her head and grinned as her nephew made sounds of discovery. "Sometimes, I wonder about that boy. Particularly in a kitchen."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie couldn't help but laugh at that. She wasn't sure if it was proper to point out that, honestly, the poor boy didn't get much kitchen practice at home. Neither did she. She turned around as commanded, with less fear about the pins than a lot of people might have had. She didn't doubt Emanuela's skill, but she had additional advantages.

"He's rather handy at home, actually." Which was true, in a way. Marcelo had a lot of skills. It just so happened they didn't involve the kitchen so much.

[ngm_adults]

"Good at moving furniture, is he?" Emanuela chuckled softly at the dismissive noise that came from her kitchen.

She crouched down to adjust the pins on the hem. Her fingers moved quickly.

"So, what do you do, Stephanie?" The question qas purposefully wide open. There was some calculation there to see exactly how it would be answered.

[pyroprincess]

"Very." Though of course, she was actually better at it than he was. Much better. But that was a revelation that could do without necessarily being dropped right now. "He's a very strong man."

"I'm going to school, business, at Columbia University. Right now I'm, in a manner of speaking, between jobs, on the business side of things." She wasn't going to give any more detail about that, because it was painful and awkward. "I fund and manage a homeless shelter in the city, and I'm getting contracts lined up to expand it into a community centre. I own a restaurant with a friend of mine. We're hoping to get it to Michelin-starred status by the end of next year.

I don't do well with peace and quiet." She laughed. "I need to keep busy."

[ngm_miscellaneous]

Just as the seamstress was finishing up with the hem, the shop door flew open. The bell above it rang hard once when it opened and again when it slammed shut. Leaning on against the wooden door was a pregnant woman quivering in fear. Her face was bloodied and bruised.

"Ms. Alencar! Ms. Alencar, I-help. Please? Beto... he's... he's angry and high."

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo reappeared from behind the room-dividing screens with an armload of tepid drinks. He glanced at the woman at the door and looked to his aunt.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie heard the commotion as the hem was finishing up and frowned slightly, immediately tensing up in a way suggesting that her natural response was fight rather than flight, though she didn't charge in. That would've raised questions that didn't necessarily need to be raised, and besides, there was a lovely dress that might be ruined.

She looked over to Marcelo and to his aunt. They'd know better what to do, most likely.

[ngm_adults]

Emanuela grunted a bit as she got up from her crouch. Her knees were feeling old today. She put her hands on Stephanie's upper arms to steer her to the side for a moment.

"It's alright, Nina. It's just my nephew and his wife." She set the pin cushion on her work table. She made her way over the woman and put a protective arm around her shoulders. "Come away from the door. Let's get you a nice soft place to sit. Beto won't come in here. Marcelo, set the drinks down and step outside. Keep an eye on things."

She steered Nina through the shop. She glanced at Stephanie. "Even if Beto manages to get past Marcelo, he'll have to face someone even stronger."

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo moved out of the opening between the two parts of the apartment. He stepped toward Stephanie. The glasses held against his body by his arm clinked. "Take one so I don't drop them all."

While Marcelo wasn't particularly tall, he was pretty muscular. He could stand outside the door and look tough to keep people away. Though his intimidation could also cut the other way and scare away the woman who obviously needed help.

[pyroprincess]

There would be no getting through Marcelo. If this man hurt her husband even the tiniest bit, she would beat him within an inch of his life. He'd be lucky if she didn't set him on fire.

But for the moment, she stepped up to take the drinks and put them somewhere else.

"Be careful, mi amor." She believed he could handle the situation, but all the same, she'd prefer he didn't do anything foolish.

[ngm_adults]

Marcelo's aunt got the shaken woman behind the screens. There was a low, barely audible conversation between the two out-of-sight women.

[vesper_verde]

Marcelo leaned over to kiss Stephanie's cheek. "You know me. Just don't rush out and ruin the dress. It looks good on you."

He gave her a cheeky little grin as he unbuttoned his shirt. He slipped it off to show the thin, tight undershirt beneath. He hung his button down shirt on the side of a rack before heading toward the door.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie hated waiting, not so much because she was worried about Marcelo- she wasn't, particularly, unless something changed, but because she was a woman of action. But there was nothing to be done about it. She didn't want to intrude on Emanuela's conversation with the distraught woman, so she remained where she was.

If either Marcelo or Emanuela had practical need for her, she'd be there.

[ngm_adults]

The conversation between the two women was short. Emanuela reappeared in the shop portion of the apartment. There was a creaking from behind the screen as Nina settled on the bed.

"Now, back to working on the dress." She made her way over to grab her pin cushion. "She wants some time to pull herself together. Sounds of shop talk should be a good cover."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie nodded crispy and got herself back into proper position to continue working.

She was a little curious about how often this happened, and how Emanuela would have handled it without Marcelo around, but she had the feeling this wasn't the time.

She couldn't help but look out to where Marcelo was going, though. Maybe she was a little worried. Most likely, it was just instinct.

They'd both been through so much worse.

[ngm_adults]

Emanuela crouched down and began adjusting the dress and pinning it to fit Stephanie perfectly. She glanced up at her living dress form.

"He'll be fine. Even if Beto has read American tabloids and thinks he can take Tchelo."

[pyroprincess]

"I know. But he's my husband." Stephanie actually smiled a little bit. "I'm allowed to worry. We've been through a lot lately."

The attack on Veridian was well-known news, even if a lot of the rest of it wasn't. "It's a lot easier to go rushing into danger than to have someone you care about do it." Especially when she was bulletproof and he wasn't.

But even if he had been invulnerable, she'd still worry about things.

[ngm_adults]

"You're going to have a lot of worry then. Tchelo rushes in to help a lot. Always like he has to prove himself." She finished pinning and stood up with a slight creak. She gave a small wince before stepping back to eye her handiwork.

"Slowly turn."

[pyroprincess]

"He does. I wish he wouldn't feel like he had to quite so much sometimes, but ... then again, I also admire that drive." Stephanie replied honestly. She frowned slightly when she saw Emanuela wince.

"Are you all right?" She did as she was told, though, turning around slowly.

[ngm_adults]

"It was a drive that instilled that in him. And now..." She trailed off as she put a critical eye on her handiwork.

"I'm old and have worked hard most of my years. It's nothing." She nodded to herself. She stepped over to help lift the dress off Stephanie.

"If you're willing to wait, you can take it with you."

[pyroprincess]

"I can wait. Most certainly for a dress so beautiful." Stephanie replied with a smile. She wondered, vaguely, if she'd feel the same when she was older too.

"And now?" Stephanie picked up on the trailing off.

[ngm_adults]

She nodded and moved over to an old sew machine. It still worked like it was new. She slowly settled into the small chair in front of it. There were some parts with hand stitching, but she could do a majority of the work at her century old Singer.

"And now, he's a man from a very masculine culture and rich society who has to learn to play second. And learn new ways to think. We get the 'news' from America. The pictures of you carrying him like a baby from his business was splashed on front pages here. While I am thankful for you saving his life, I worry about him. He has his pride if he's anything like me."

The sewing machine started to hum and fabric moved under her deft hands.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie nodded. "I know. He's never had an easy time dealing with my ..." There was no point in beating around the bush, she was sure she knew or suspected. "My being a mutant. He's as strong and fast as a man could reasonably expect to be." But she was stronger than that- how much stronger? Five? Ten times? And faster. And vastly more resistant to harm.

"He's got so much to be proud of. He's accomplished so much in his life, and he'll go so much further." Stephanie sighed slightly. "He has strength in so many ways more important than muscles. I wish he would see that sometimes."

[ngm_adults]

Emanuela chuckled softly. "He's a man. He's doesn't see those markers. He sees the ones he's had all his life. And getting him to talk about it is a major feat."

She loved her nephew dearly. Even if he was a rich, privileged man who had less struggles to live than Emanuela's next door neighbor.

[pyroprincess]

"Tell me about it." Stephanie smirked faintly. "Though I can kind of identify. I'm not entirely unlike that myself sometimes."

Marcelo was extremely privileged in many ways, just as she was. But they'd both found themselves in a lifestyle easily as dangerous as anyone in the favela. Though they could always face danger while dressed fashionably and with stomachs full of whatever fine dining they wanted.

It helped, it really did.