Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas

[Lucretzia Largo]

(Set Febuary 20th. Closed to Lucretzia, Luigi and Pavi. Meant as a bonding thread for Lucretizia and her sons.)

Lucretzia stood in the kitchen of the Largo's family quarters, filling a large pot of water(lightly salted) and ten very large tomatoes infront of her. As soon as the water started boiling she would boil the tomatoes and make fresh maranara sauce for super tonight.

This was when she was her happiest, cooking for her babies. It made Lucretzia feel even more like a mother feeding her children and ensuring that they'd be well fed and strong. But she thought what made her food better than any of the foods prepared by various chefs in cook was because it was made with a mothers love.

And Mama Largo adored her children, despite their rather....awful behavior. She knew that Luigi, Pavi, and Amber had done horrible shameful things in the past. But she couldn't hate them or turn away from them,no matter what horrible things they did. They were still her babies. Lucretzia hated herself more than she ever could them.

She felt it was her fault for them turning out as bad as they did, by leaving and causing them to grow up without her influence. If Lucretzia had to do it all over again she'd stay and fight Rotti (possibly even killing him) rather than leave her bambino's without her.

[Luigi Largo]

"Mama?" Luigi asked walking down the hallway and into their large kitchen. Every time he didn't know where his mother was he felt his heart stop and what felt like a large ball of ice form in the pit of his stomach. He had become paranoid that if he let her out of his sight for more than an hour something bad would happen to her and he'd lose her forever. This time for good.

He relaxed a little seeing her standing over the stove chopping up spices on the cutting board. He came over and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Mama, we have servants for that...what if you cut or burn yourself?" He frowned looking around suddenly realizing how many many ways his mother could get hurt in here. He made a mental note to make sure to give his mother her own personal body guard in case of anything bad happening. Preferably one with medical training.

"Here," he said picking up another knife. "You shouldn't wear yourself out doing all the work. Let me cut things up for you, it's the least I could do for you Mama."

[Lucretzia Largo]

Lucretzia smiled warmly at Luigi's offer to help her and moved aside to allow him to cut up mushrooms for her. It made her heart sing to have her children so close by her, especially her eldest son. He was usually such a loner, and didn't talk to anyone much. Except to her.

"That-a would be wonderful, cuoricino dolce della mamma ." She smiled at him giving him a small peck on the cheek before going over and placing all ten tomatoes into the boiling water. "I've-a always wanted to teach my bambino's to cook! Toria knows a little bit, but I would love for all of-a my children to-a know some of the-a family reciipies from-a my side of the family. Did you know, Lucci, that-a I was going to college to become-a chef? That's where-a I met your-a father."
She paused to grate up some onion and season it with white pepper before moving on to dice up several garlic cloves.

"That's how-a we met. We were-a in the same dorm at-a college. I would-a bring home dishes from my cooking classes to eat and analyze, and he would-a smell them down stairs and-a he would-a start craving his-a old favorites from back in-a Italy. Eventually he-a figured out where the-a smells were-a coming from and asked if he could-a join me one night."

[Luigi Largo]

As his mother spoke Luigi began chopping up all the mushrooms up. This type of cutting was unusual for the eldest Largo child, he was more used to hacking and slashing rather than carefully dicing. But if it helped his Mama he'd be willing to do just about anything.

"I didn't know that, Mama." Luigi said moving the diced mushrooms aside and moving onto the un-diced. "Pop didn't talk about you much. Or ever really, I mean after you "died" no one even said your name. Pop even got rid of all your photos."

Which was true, most if not all the family pictures with her in it "disappeared." And Luigi suspected destroyed, at the time Rotti had said it was because looking at her made him to sad but now Luigi new the truth. It was because he hated her and couldn't stand looking at the one person who defied him and got away with it.

"I kept some though, of you and me. I hid them in my closet and I'd look at them when I'd miss you. Oh Dio, mi sei mancata tanto la mamma!"
Luigi couldn't help it he started tearing up, and to cover up the fact he grabbed a small onion and started slicing it up so that it would seem he was tearing up because of the onion vapors. Just in case anyone passed by and saw him crying.

[Pavi Largo]

"Ciao, Mama!"

Suddenly, another face entered the room(or, if you wanted to get technical, two faces), belonging of course to the younger Largo brother of the household. Upon noticing the scent of food being cooked in the hallway, Pavi had made his way to the kitchen, following his nose until he'd found just what it was being cooked - and who was doing the cooking.

He was still getting used to their mother working in the kitchen so often, but he enjoyed that fact nonetheless. What he was surprised to see, however, was the fact that she was not alone, and the fact that Luigi, whom he'd never even seen turn on a stove, was helping her. What was even more surprising was the fact that he appeared to be crying while doing so. Luigi...crying? Something really didn't add up.

"What are you....Luigi?" Pavi stopped mid-sentence, raising an eyebrow in more confusion than concern. "Are-a you alright?" He turned to face their mother now, more concern filling his tone as he spoke again. "Is everything alright-a, Mama?"

[Luigi Largo]

"I'm not crying, shit for brains!" Luigi snapped looking up and wiping his eyes on the back of his shirt sleeves. "I'm cutting onions for Mama!" He held up the half cut onions and blinking back tears from the juice. "Why else would I be in the kitchen crying?"

That was a close one, if Pavi had come in just a few minutes more there would've been some awkward explaining to do about why he was crying. And of course Pavi would never stop mocking Luigi for crying like a baby every time he talked to Mama.

"Why wouldn't everything be alright. I'm helping Mama with dinner!" He said somewhat proudly as he was the only child thus far who ever gave his mother a helping hand in the kitchen. "She works hard enough as is I figured I should help her and give her a bit of a break. Just like a good son should."

He put extra emphasis on the last words giving Pavi an arrogant look that said "I'm the better son and Mama loves me more so HA!"

[Lucretzia Largo]

"Of course everythings alright, bello." Lucretzia said turning back to the pot with the slowly stewing tomatoes and giving it a long slow stir. She reached over and took most of the onion that Luigi had just cut up placing it in a small sauce pan and drizzled olive oil all over it and setting it on a back burner on low.

"We're making the marinara sauce for tonights dinner, it's-a so much better made fresh from-a scratch." Lucertzia walked over and hooked her arm in Pavi's leading him over to the oven. "You can-a help as well. It's-a easy, I'll show you." She took the spoon and stirred the tomatoes slowly.

"Every couple of minutes stir the tomatoes slowly and-a gently until they are boiling, then you turn the-a oven down till it's-a simmering slightly." She took the spoon and handed it to Pavi. "Here, now you try angelo."

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi gave a small start at Luigi's blunt insistence that everything was just fine, and narrowed his eyes irritably. Pavi wasn't exactly a genius, but he wasn't stupid either. There was obviously something bothering the other, and it wasn't just the onions. Luigi had gotten far too defensive for that to be the case.

At the mention of the fact that he'd been willing to help Mama, while Pavi hadn't, the younger Largo's skin burned with both irritation and shame as he begrudingly admitted to himself that Luigi had a point. But not for long. After all, two could play at this game.

"Si, Mama," Pavi nodded with a smile, taking the spoon and stirring the way she'd demonstrated. Honestly, Pavi knew his way around the kitchen like a fish knew its way around on land...but he didn't dare admit this out loud. It couldn't be too difficult, could it?

Though his movements were a bit sloppy at first, he at last got the hand of stirring and changing the oven's temperature, and smirked, turning to face Luigi when their mother's back was turned. Before the woman could see him, he quickly stuck out his tongue at the older one like a mischievous child, before turning back to the stove as though he'd been watching it attentively the whole time.

[Luigi Largo]

Making sure that their mother wasn't watching him, Luigi picked up a wooden spoon that was laying on the counter and smacked his brother on the back of the head with it. Not hard enough to make a loud noise but just enough to give Pavi a sting.

"I'm Mama's favorite, back off!" Luigi hissed at Pavi (quietly so that their mother couldn't hear) holding up the spoon threatingly again. Goddamn why did Pavi have to fucking show up?! It was just going to be Luigi and his Mama cooking together just like when he was a little boy.

To get his point across he once again smacked Pavi with the wooden spoon, this time on the back of his neck.

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi winced, straightening up suddenly at the slap of the spoon against his head, then against his neck. Inwardly, Pavi fumed, but as usual, he didn't let it show...much. Continuing to stir the pot as his mother had instructed, Pavi glared at Luigi from the corner of his eye.

"Says you," he hissed back, momentarily taking the spoon from the pot. He made sure not to sill any of the sauce, before flicking a small portion onto Luigi's face. He made sure not to sling too much, as it was still rather hot, but just enough to annoy the other and give him a sting of his own. Putting the spoon back into the pot, he smirked, returning to his appointed task smugly.

[Lucretzia Largo]

Lucretzia was blissfully unaware of her sons fighting as she was in the pantry looking for the right noddles for dinner. She spotted a package of linguine noodles and settled on those. That was the nice thing about pasta was that it was very interchangeable with just about every dish.

"Now for the-a meat..." Luceretzia muttered stepping out of the pantry noodles in hand. She stepped out a few minutes after Pavi splashed some sauce onto Luigi's face, so to her all she saw were her sons cooking together.

She paused and picked up a napkin, and wiped it off Luigi's cheek, thinking he had gotten some on himself by helping Pavi with something.

"Very good Pavi." She said looking at the sauce. "Now we add the onion. She dumped the now sauteed onion in. "Some basil, and-a some parsley. And just a little bit of-a oregeno. You can-a add more if-a you want spicier."
As she spoke the woman tossed in the ingredients in and sttiring them.

"Luigi, angelo, could you start the water boiling for Mama? Also there-a should be some-a white cooking wine somewhere around here as-a well. We'll-a need that too."

[Luigi Largo]

Luigi was about to haul of and punch his brother in the face for daring to flick hot marinara sauce in his face till their mother stepped out. Then Luigi controlled himself, barely. He gave his brother a smug smile as Lucretzia began to wipe the sauce off of his face. Revealing in her attention and touch.

He frowned a little behind her back though as she gave Pavi praise for doing a simple task like stirring. A child could stir, and less sloppily too, couldn't she see how weak and pathetic Pavi was compared to himself? However at the sound of his name he was at her side instantly.
"Sure thing Mama." Luigi said leaning over and giving Lucertzia a kiss on the cheek and a hug from behind. When he pulled away he gave Pavi a smug look. He knew where the wine was, he knew where ever drop of alcohol in this house hold could be found. Instantly he found it, on the top shelf behind a collection of soy sauces and other sauces he didn't what they were called.
"Here it is Mama. I'll get started on that hot water for you now." He said innocently acting like the dutiful and loving son he hoped she saw him as.

[Lucretzia Largo]

"Thank you, angelo." Lucretzia said as her eldest son stepped away after hugging and kissing her. She reached over and pulled Pavi's hair away from his face, he had had such a nice face and it broke her heart that it had gotten sccared up and now he had to wear those awful masks. But at least he still had the same eyes and smile, she was grateful that that would never change. (She hoped.)

When Luigi came back with the wine Lucretzia took poured in a whole cup of it into the sauce and set it back on low.
"Now we-a let it simmer on-a low for about fifteen minutes. That-a way the wine will be-a sure to-a seep into the-a sauce. Now onto the-a pasta."
She stepped over to the pot of water that Luigi had just put on the stove, the elder woman adjusted the temperature to high.
"I hope that-a you both know that-a pasta needs nine or more minutes to-a boil. You can add salt, butter, or-a olive oil to flavor it. But-a since we're eating it with-a strong sauce we won't be-a doing that-a tonight."

[Luigi Largo]

"Yes Mama." Luigi said in an innocent tone, looking over her shoulder to what she was doing. "And we also add the salt and butter before the water boils to get more flavor in the pasta. See? I remembered that from watching you cook when I was a little boy."

He shot a look at Pavi that said "Unlike you." Before going back to watch his mother once again. This would be so much more enjoyable to help his mother cooking.
Secretly Luigi enjoyed cooking, mostly because the textures and smells reminded Luigi of their mother. Luigi didn't cook because, like most things about him, Rotti didn't approve at all. He considered cooking to be a feminie thing and frowned deeply at Luigi the few times he had casualy mentioned taking a cooking class.

[Pavi Largo]

Pavi smiled at their mother, nodding as though he'd of course known exactly what she was talking about. Not like it had all just gone completely over his head, as most things that sounded even the least bit technical seemed to do. Cooking had never really interested him. Or food, for that matter. After their mother had gone, the food that had been prepared for them by the cooks had never tasted quite as good, so he'd lost most interest in it other than eating it as a necessity.

At Luigi's remark, however, Pavi shot his brother another glare. "Yes, well....I suppose-a the cooking gene never passed on-a to me, Mama," Pavi laughed, though his eyes held a more irritated look than humble. Glancing directly at Luigi, he added, "But I don't-a think that anyone would-a ever be as magnifico a cook as-a you, Mama. Though I'm sure Luigi tries."