"Mav, please, this is serious," Master Giovanni had zero defenses against his little brother.

If he wanted to talk about everything and nothing for the next 2 hours, then he would be able to do nothing about it.

​​

Thus is the fate of a big brother. ¯_(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)_/¯

"Fine, fine. I'll zip my mmMm," Mav had already zipped his lips with a movement of his hand, not able to finish the rest of his sentence.

Master Giovanni sighed, even though his little brother was not too much younger than himself, (in Master Giovanni's mind, there's not much of a difference between the ages between 45 to 65, at that age, it's all the same, or so he tells himself) Mav still had such a youthful vitality and spirit.

It was quite admirable and enviable

Master Giovanni was envious, but not jealous. There's a difference.

It wasn't as if he would hate someone just because he was envious of what they had.

"It's like this..."

[Let us all skip the tedious, repetitive, and zealous explanation part. ;)]

[30 minutes later, after the whole story was recounted from beginning to the end (probably missing some parts since the old man filtered through the information)]

"MMmmMMMMmmMMM?" Maverick spoke with his lips still sealed.

Master Giovanni's eye twitched.

He finally realized why he hadn't been interrupted once in the whole duration of his conversation (more like a monologue) despite there being quite a few pieces of information, that in his opinion were rather shocking and needed further explanation.

It was because his little brother had picked up some new ways to entertain himself.

"Yes... you can talk again."

He had already guessed what his brother was trying to say with those hums of his.

Maverick on the other side could be heard releasing a great big breath of air in a silly manner before asking his question.

But his question was not one that his Big Brother could anticipate.

"So, isn't everything solved?" Maverick sounded truly confused and a little indignant.

It was as if he were saying, if things are already solved, then why are you spending (wasting) so much of our precious call time talking about it?

Master Giovanni was both dumbfounded and speechless.

If he didn't tell his little brother... then who else would he tell?

"Well, it's solved, but not really, right?"

Master Giovanni sounded like he was questioning himself more than he was questioning Maverick.

"Dear eldest brother of mine, from your tone, it sounds like you really want me to do something about this matter," Maverick teased.

Mav didn't have to wonder what that kid had told his older brother to make him like this nor what tactics he had used.

After hearing what his brother had to say about his disciples and their assigned mission with 0 progress after 7 months, he was rather clear about the general occurrences.

Especially since he too had used all those tactics before.

But he was neither bothered nor upset after having seen through Elijah.

"Hm, that does seem to be the case, but should we at least know who it is that is looking into my niece?" Master Giovanni rationalized his own words.

"But didn't you just tell me that your disciple-to-be has close connections to this person?"

Maverick was trying to hint at Master Giovanni so that he could get there himself.

This person's intentions were clearly not leaning towards the negative side, in fact, they might even have a rather good impression of his daughter considering everything that happened.

After all, they don't seem to have to rely on his big brother.

As for worrying about people going through his daughter to get to him, he had no such worries.

He was just a rather normal person with a fancy hobby, what did he have to worry about?

Even if things happened, Maverick was normally the type to let it happen and just deal with it after it did.

He wasn't worried about insufficient preparations.

All in all, taking action with Elijah would be normally an unfavorable choice.

At least that would be true if it were anyone else.

Clearly, things were different if it were that boy.

"Won't it still be good to know though? It's not impossible, right?"

Master Giovanni's stubbornness was showing.

Maverick smiled on the other side, but the meaning behind that smile was unknown.

Why was his eldest brother so innocent?

"Big Brother, do you have anything against this M person?"

Maverick questioned once again.

This time Master Giovanni pondered for a while longer.

Though he was stubborn, he knew that his little brother wouldn't be so insistent on asking if there weren't some big issues here.

"I guess…not?"

Master Giovanni suddenly had an inkling of what his little brother was trying to insinuate, but he didn't seem to be able to catch it enough to put it in words or meanings.

"Then do you think there is a need to put yourself in danger to know more about someone that even that Elijah boy has trouble messing with? If you just nurture that disciple of yours, won't you know about what you want to know sooner or later?" Maverick didn't say too much, but just enough to get his Big Brother thinking.

In the end, Mav didn't point out how the only reason why his Big Brother even cared about this dangerous figure was due to the fact that Elijah purposefully gave his disciples a death mission.

Sigh.

He still had to leave the boy some face, even if he didn't want his Big brother to be tricked by him so easily.

At least, next time, Big Bro would put up some more fight, right? Even if the outcome were the same…

"That does sound about right… then Mav, what are you going to do now? Just wait, and see?" Master Giovanni was somewhat, but not totally convinced.

"Of course not!"

Maverick laughed light heartedly

"I'll be calling Elijah! I haven't checked up on him for a while and he seems to be missing me."

Master Giovanni was dumbfounded.

He didn't understand, but since Mav said so, then it must be so.

"Didn't you say that we shouldn't get involved?"

This was Master Giovanni's final attempt at getting some equilibrium in his heart as well as some answers for his mind.

"Well, shouldn't is one thing."

"Of course, the reasonable and logical thing is to stop here and not get involved any further. But humans aren't exactly logical… after survival instincts, one is also very much guided by curiosity."

And it seems that curiosity is what Elijah had bet on.

Maverick's interest in this matter would be the only thing that could lead him to seek Elijah out knowing full well that that was what Elijah wanted.

And to do that, of course, Elijah had to pique the man's interest.

'Ah, I've taught the kid too well,' Mav mused, 'now he's even using me.'

"Alright then," Master Giovanni relented with no more words to say.

He was about to drop the call right thereafter saying his goodbyes, but there was really no way in hell that Maverick would allow that to happen.

The call dragged on for another hour and a half with the support of Mav's conversational skills before Master Giovanni finally used the excuse of wanting to go to sleep early.

Otherwise, he really wouldn't dare drop the call on Mav, or he would probably be slain the next time he called.

As for the call that Maverick was going to make to Elijah, that could wait.

***

Maverick finally dropped the call after conversing about everything and nothing with his big brother.

Even though to others, these interactions may seem insignificant at times, to Mav, these were his most precious memories, especially when their family was always quite separate, with the others only visiting him every once in a while.

As for going to visit the others, Mav didn't want to impose too much.

"Well then, should I call that boy now or should I make him wait a bit longer?" Maverick spoke to no one in particular.

"Well, I do seem to have neglected the child for quite a while."

So much so that even the obedient kid started throwing a tantrum.

A tantrum that involved 7 months of planning…

"I guess it may be an issue if I haven't spoken to him in over 7 months though."

Maverick laughed, realizing that he indeed may have some fault here.

"Then I shouldn't make him wait too much… that would be the right thing to do."

***

"Hello Elijah boy, did you miss me so much that you had to send your Uncle Gio to call me?"

Maverick smiled and asked.

"I don't know what you mean. I too was about to ask you why you had called today. I even went to get the calendar to make sure I hadn't missed any special occasions and dates…" Elijah lifted an eyebrow at the man, which Maverick couldn't see, but he still imagined.

This was one of his ticks.

"…but seeing as it is not any special date, I can only imagine that it is the end of the world soon for you to have found some time to come talk to me like this. Have you checked the satellite yet?" Elijah asked amicably, speaking as if this were truly just small talk.

"My my, knowing that you don't have any cameras, video, or audio feed of my place, I can only say that you have learned well my disciple," Maverick said bemusedly.

"Thank you, Teacher, or should I call you Master?"

Elijah snorted.

***

P.S.

(Elijah and Maverick are not father and son...)