Chapter 157: WF570633
Urayoán's POV
Alexandra died peacefully in her rocking chair on the upstairs balcony watching Maco, Nina and Bayo playing in the yard while Marushka was rocking Umbros next to her and Mom cooing me while she was lying on the hammock... her prisoner number still on display on her forearm: WF570633. They offered to remove it, but she refused saying it was a part of her history and she had accepted it. Babka's own grief took her when Izzy was sent to Avalon. In her diaries she states that she prayed for death since Abuelo died, but didn't want to abandon her and her sister's child, so she held on as long as she could. In her last entries she was Angry at Dad for allowing Izzy be taken to what she thought was a concentration camp. They're ALL now resting together downstairs.
After Dad died, Bayoán reassured Alex that we'll make sure his parents bones would continue to be kept safe until he decides to retrieve them or leave them were they are, it would always be up to him. He has access to a certain degree to the house since he is also under Adelola's protection. He grew up in this house, so to a certain degree this is his ancestral family home too. It's kinda like us and the Oller house and vice versa... we usually don't knock on the door to visit, we simply walk in and help ourselves and none of us feel awkward about it, it's not like we've been doing it for centuries!
We don't call Alex Tío, even though he is in a way, but we still stick to the old ways so we refer to him and his family as cousins, like with the Ollers and Spogels. Him and his kids come every so often through the side gate to go down to the catacombs to the family burial chamber with a falcon feather symbolizing his Russian family name and red and white roses for his mother, aunt and grandmother, he had a special prayer for Abuelo who got him out. There's a small wood bench down there and he usually brings a bottle of rum for the old bootlegger, and stays down there for a good while to then come back up a bit drunk.
He never wanted to go back to Poland and would usually leave the room if Izz, I or Lola talked about a mission because we would mostly go there. He DOES speak both Russian and Polish around us a lot, it was a reflex at this point. I mean, he grew up with his Babushka who never spoke Spanish! Dad would say she would ignore you if you talked to her in Spanish or any other language. Mom was pissed for a time because her mates dear Babushka was a stubborn cunt! Mom eventually would come to learn and even correct Alexandra's Russian saying that she talked like if she were a country peasant! Alexandra started liking Mom then!
Either way the Blood Ruby is on display at the museum. It's in the exhibit with the collection of all the documents, pictures and videos recorded. We still have a bunch of Jörg's shit in the vault including his SS uniform, his diary, his pistol, among a lot of other NAZI memorabilia I find distasteful to keep HERE.
"As you say brother, still, there will be founds leftover. I'm definitely not cutting corners but I do know how much will go into all this." Plus Nina has a lot of connections and knows who to trust to do the best work.
"I agree with Nina, we should get rid of the ostentatious extras. Why do we want a carriage?! Also I really want all Jörg's shit out of here, even if we can't sell it, I say we DONATE it, I get they're trophies, but seriously? It's disgusting!" Thank you Lola!
"I second that motion!" I say rapidly.
"Is there anyone AGAINST the idea of getting rid of all that crap?" Umbros just cuts to the chance. We all look at each other.
"I definitely want to get rid of MOST of all that crap and yeah, I want all that nasty NAZI shit out of here, I still don't know why Dad kept it and I'm totally fine with GIVING it away if it comes to that! I personally would like it if we kept Adelola's and Iabalaba's Main Priestess robes and cloaks, the mantillas Guanina and Asenath used for their wedding as well as Yacahüey's captain hat and his leather justacorp. I mostly care for the cleaning, restoration and cataloguing all the weapons! Still I would REALLY like to go through Asenath's stuff carefully, I mean, she DID have the longest life out of all our ancestors and she's got fashion from EVERY era from the 17th century up to the early Edwardian period. I LOVE her white and black male late 17th century get up as well as her black and white striped dress of the same era I wore for that masquerade that we had last year! It was really fun! I want to make it a permanent yearly event, what do you guys think?!" Izzy adds with her exited voice. That WAS a fun party! Almost everyone in the pack dressed up in European get up from that time period and I got to wear Yacahüey's off island get up with the items Izz just mentioned!
We tend to celebrate our Taíno and African heritage a lot and even though our architecture and even our language reflects the European part of our heritage, there were no EVENTS to acknowledge it, Isla arranged the whole event in the museum's huge ballroom. Man Umbros, Paco, Pepe and I got MASSIVELY wasted that night! We woke up on top of The Citadel's 25 foot thick wall behind the Oller house, Pepe almost rolled off the cliff! It wouldn't have been pretty, it's a good 180 foot drop to rocks and ocean bellow!
And my sisters and cousins looked GORGEOUS! I didn't know we had so many tiaras and bling in the vault! Now I got more excited for Nyma playing dress up and sparring with her cousins and everything Frey and I want for the future of our little Gamma! And hell yeah I'm always on board on keeping a yearly party like THAT one! I already feel Frey looking through the dresses I know of, picking and choosing! Also Izzy's asking for very specific heirlooms that are staples for explaining our family history to the newer generations. Besides what Nina asked to keep, Izzy added some extras and of course the weapons are in her priorities.
"Hey I want to keep the powder blue dress I used, that was Casicana's! And we're not selling Asenath's signature emo black dress right?!" Suania loves ALL those dresses, unfortunately she doesn't have the skill to keep them looking NEW. And yeah, Asenath had a fetish of wearing only black and white until the mid Georgian era entering the Regency era with a more colorful aesthetic being not just a powerful Beta, but as a fashion icon because of her signature look.
Casicaná was a Gamma and during that time she wore a lot of light blue to compliment the light blue of her eyes. Of all of Imotonex's offspring, only she and her baby brother Pablo (named after OUR also great-great grandfather Pablo Oller de la Cuenca) shared the eyes of Anani's mother, the Luna, Doña Aymé Soledad Allende Ruíz de la Casa de los Condes de Carvajal, whom she in turn inherited them from her father, along with his title and estate in Granada, we still stay in that house when we go to there. If you think our names are long now, back in the day in Spain your name was an entire sentence!
Her father, Conde Don Adrián José Allende Fernández, a human, who WAS indeed a Count from Granada, Spain, ended up being True Mate to her mother, the first Loiza of our family, who was a mighty Beta Warrior, who would go island hopping with a team to verify if there was any wolf left who was on the run. It took Adrián a while to understand, but he allowed the Bond to guide him and as a wedding present, he freed his almost 200 slaves, asking for forgiveness and offering to return them to Africa. Most took his offer hopping to reunite with their families while a very few saw Loiza's strength and since she was a native they asked her if they could go with them. The Cacique Habaguanex granted her request. He's the Cacique who united us, and it's because of HIM we are Osupa. Freya KNOWS ALL of this history, being my Twin Soul and all... She helped Amelia be as ready as she could for today and promised to keep at it with her to make her a better Matriarch.
"Nía, we'll go through EVERYTHING I promise! It's just that it's impossible for me ALONE to give them maintenance! Honey I would LOVE to keep them ALL, but either way they're SOOOOO MANY that we can pick and choose and if we are going to have a yearly masquerade, which Izzy I'm TOTALLY on board! We can make an inventory, I definitely also want to keep Adelola's canary yellow dress with that bitching bust I wore! Remind me to arrange an Album for that night, we ALL looked so posh! Ha! And Mami's birthday was the next day! That was a fun weekend! Anyway, Nía this is just to establish that we ARE willing to let go of the things we DON'T use and take up space and time, money and effort to keep looking as the day they were made. Do you want our house looking like the Ollers? As Kappas they should also be watching over the aesthetic beauty of the architecture of their home. Either way hun, we really don't NEED ALL of them and whatever piece we sell to the Historical Society, we still could use them on LOAN as original owners, sure we would have to pay a deposit as collateral, but it's better than them rotting away because I don't have the time to restore them. How about this? Since I'm going to make a storage out of the rest of the dungeons, I can allocate a pretty big wardrobe to house the dresses of different eras we decide to keep. I've checked the blueprints of the house and we can actually make that space bigger by just adding support arches to the entrance of each cell, allowing my team to open up the space more. I'm sure Amelia, Morgana and Frey would want to pick and choose too, I already know Morgana wants Cacicaná's silk green dress she wore with her great grandmother's Celtic Trinity Knot emerald diadem. Bitch stole the spotlight that night! She looked like she would have taken Catherine the Great DOWN! Is that the night you knocked her up Bayo?" Bayoán smiled, we can feel how he remembers seeing Morgana in the gown. I can smell his pheromones, just the thought of it is getting him aroused.
"You know what? I'll have to run the numbers, but that DOES sounds about right! I'm going to have to talk with Papo to commission to have her portrait dressed like that! That was very polite Nina, thank you, she did look like a queen herself that night! Frankly you ALL did! It was an honor to escort you ladies, we looked ok, but YOU guys looked AMAZING! Oh yeah, I'm on board with this plan Izz!" Civil conversation between these two? Well Izzy did tell her to try.
"Bayo, Dad's dead. I have my own Daddy issues to work out ok? I'm going to do my best to put OUR bullshit to an end and want to apologize for any shit I gave you that you DIDN'T deserve, it was childish. And no I'm NOT going to apologize for the shit I gave you when you DID deserve it! But I AM aware that it was mostly me, I just don't want to be angry at you or anyone else from our family for that matter. What do you say little brother? Do you forgive me? Can we have a truce?" It was as if time stopped. Bayo was very silent and thoughtful for a bit as he put down his cutlery and wiped his mouth with the napkin.
"I was wrong to not stand up for you when Dad clipped your wings. I was against it but didn't say shit. If I would have put the effort, I KNOW I could have convinced Dad to drop it. Tía, you were right, he totally miscalculated the situation and it took Izzy destroying us in mere minutes to prove Tía right. I remember how it was back then when it was just us three. Hell! I still remember Babushka giving us shit for toppling over that old Polish Hussar Knight Armor downstairs that belonged to I don't even know who now, that Babka brought with her before World War II. Awe man she was scary as fuck when she would give that deadly glare with her one blue eye before going off in Russian!" They, Maco and Tía found it hysterical.
"KAKOGO KHRENA VY, DVOYE PARNEY, DELAYETE?! (What the fuck are you brats doing?!) JAJAJAJA! Dude, she would confuse me sometimes and call me by Verushka's name! Now THAT was creepy! For a time I actually thought Verushka WAS my name! Thank the Goddess for Babka calming her down!" We ALL found this funny... It's EXACTLY what Babka would tell US in either Russian or Polish whenever we would cause trouble!
"Bayo I really appreciate you admitting to that, I was already angry at you anyway for no particular legit reason, but your hands off bullshit REALLY pissed me off! I accept your apology and hope that I don't have to think about it again... Savvy? We can go ahead and topple that armor now and no one can give us shit about it! Truce?" HEY! I LOVE that armor! It's badass! I want to find the wings that go with it! Bayo stands up from his chair and goes to her as she starts standing too and they actually hug each other! Nina was already in the verge of tears before, but the flood gate opened.
"Truce big sister, let there be no more ugliness between us ok, I never stopped loving you. I'm sorry sweetheart." He tells her kissing her forehead.
"I'm sorry too..." Hopefully for good!