Merveilleux

"I hear there is a good restaurant not too far down the road by the vet clinic.." Gael grinned wickedly.

Jeanne pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't. I just." She rolled her head back, that tight smile on her face. "My place or yours?"

"His." Gael butted in. "Just.. Drop me off, okay? I don't want to know what you two do in your alone time.."

"Well if that's settled then, I'll meet you back at The Den," Baron said.

Jeanne blinked. "Wait," she said, holding up a hand, but Baron was already walking away.

"Wait, you're not serious!" she called after him, hand now up in the air.

"Oh he's totally serious.." Gael giggled.

"Gael, you just wingmanned your mother!" Jeanne complained.

"So?" Gael grinned ear from ear. "And now you -have- to. So do you still want a cat or a snake? Cause I think snakes would totally be better for the house. Less hairballs."

Jeanne walked over to a cage in a daze, leaning an arm against it. "I'm going to kill you when we get back home."

"Hey, this was your idea to get the cat."

"Yes, I didn't want a dog out of it, too."

"But I did." Gael chuckled. "And now it looks like I get a cool step dad too."

"No, that's not going to happen! Gael, I arrested that man! He owns The Den!"

"Makes him even cooler in my book." He said. "He obviously didn't do anything -too- terrible, otherwise he'd still be in there.."

The detective extended her hands toward Gael and choked the air between them. "Ohhhhh, God. Gael, you're going to kill your mother! The second I step into The Den I'll be mauled!"

"I doubt it. You're pretty scary when you want to be. And besides, you said he owns it right? Means he probably will protect you since you're his future wife." He yawned, going towards the snakes. "You'll think next time, Detective, when you threaten a cat on me."

Jeanne glowered at her son. "The only thing you're right about there is that I'm scary when I want to be."

"I'm 16. I'm right about everything."

"You tell that to Iago when we get back home. He'll be watching over you tonight."

The boy smirked. Challenge accepted.

Jeanne tapped her foot impatiently. "I can't believe this is happening."

"What, you finally getting laid after all this time?" Gael decided to pick up a cage full of mice and walked over to the snake cages. "Its time to go, isn't it? You need to get ready for your date." He eyed her. "And you need all the time you can get...." He was going to die when he got home.

"Gael Prendergast!" gasped the detective, throwing her hands up in the air. "You dare talk to your mother like that? I'm going to have a stroke before I get out of the pet store!"

"We wouldn't want that, your face will be stuck like that for the rest of your life." He turned and flinched dramatically. He was loving this. He was probably getting into some deep trouble, but every reaction his mother gave was nearly as priceless as the last. "Come on mom, can we go now?"

The woman groaned, figners running through her hair. "The sooner I get to whoop your ass, boy, the better." She moved to get up, but paused.

Something had caught her sleeve.

Looking down, Jeanne noted the claws protruding through her jacket from the cage she'd been leaning on. She leaned over to spot the perpetrator, and found two very large grey eyes staring back at her. The little villain growled, tugging on her sleeve.

"Oh, Gael. Look at this one."

"Looks like every demon from hell.." Gael commented as he leaned over to look into the cat's cage. "But it seems she has taken a liking to your soul. Better house her. Otherwise she'll steal what's left of it and eat it."

The boy sighed. "We shall deem her, the Devil."

Jeanne threw Gael a wry face. "Really, Gael?" She tugged once more on her sleeve, and the kitten fell to the bottom of the cage. She was skinny thing. Barely the size of her hand. Black and orange. Halloween colors. "I guess it's fitting, though."

"Devil it is then. Named her. Now we can leave, right? I really really want to get that quality time with Iago so that you can go and bandage up that thing you call a face before Baron's date.."

"Gael. No more," she ordered, now stern. She waved over the store clerk, who's cat ears twitched beneath her barrett, and opened the cage. "I'm taking this one. I can do the paperwork right now and pay. Everythin'."

Jeanne held the cat carrier in her hand tightly, and had shoved the food, bowls, and papers into Gael's arms as they walked up to the house.

"Iago should be inside," said the detective, looking at her phone. "I'm sure you two will get along just fine. Like brothers, really."

"Oh I'm sure it will be loads of fun. Just like a real brother that I have back with Dad!" Gael mocked excitement. His mood seemed to have turned foul over the ride home. His hand was pretty scratched up and bleeding.

"... older brother," sighed Jeanne. "And keep that lip up. Iago's going to have a field day with that, he will." She opened up the door, let Gael in, and opened up the cat cage.

Devil sprinted out and bumped right into the feet of a well-dressed ginger. He smiled brightly at them and bent over to pick the cat up. "Well, well, well. I expected one animal, not two. I can't believe you took my advice, Jeanne," he said perking a brow. He flinched his hand back before the kitten could take a swipe.

The woman huffed. "Iago, this is my son. Gael. And this is Iago."

Iago's one eye- the other was concealed by a patch- grew wide. "Gael! The one you always talk about? Goodness, I had no idea!" He walked straight up to the other young man, holding out a hand. "It's nice to meet you at last, man! I almost mistook you for your mom when you came in."

Gael looked Iago up and down, visiably flinching when he made mention that he looked like his mother. "Perhaps you should get the other eye checked as well. You may need another patch. It's nice to finally meet you. I've only heard about you 30 minutes ago." He said, taking the young man's hand and shaking it in mock enthusiam.

"Well, I guess you two have animals to discuss, I honestly thought you called me the first animal and.. I would be careful of the pussy.. She's a bit touchy right now... Oh, and the cat too."

The boy ran upstairs.

Jeanne and Iago exchanged short, blown away glances before Iago sprinted after the young man. "Uh-uh, you didn't just say that, man. C'mon!"

Gael spun around as he got to his room and holding a hand up to Iago."Hey look, seriously.. I like you and all, but I need to have some space in this relationship so that it can work, 'kay?" Gael said.

Iago slid his boot in the doorway just in case Gael decided to slam the door on him. "Oh, yes. The second I get you downstairs to apologise to your mother, you can have all the space you need, kid. C'mon." He held up a hand and waved him over. "Let's go."

Gael narrowed his eyes at Iago and gave him a similar look that his mother had always given him as a kid. It was very obvious now that Gael was Jeanne's son, at least by looks. "Look. She may have given birth to me, but you know where she's been the last 8 years of my life? Here. In this city instead of with me and my brother. And you know what that's like? Being second choice to someone who you thought would be there for you forever? Pretty shitty. Oh, and try explaining it to a little boy who hardly knows that the characters on the TV aren't real. So excuse me if I don't feel inclined to agree with you." He growled. He then tried to shove Iago's foot from the door.

Iago persisted, moving forward, toward Gale, with a hand grasping onto the door frame. "I'm not the one who's supposed to explain to you why your mother did what she did," he began, his expression deadly serious. "But what I do know is that she's been in Lutetia City being a hero that it needs. I owe her an eye. A lot of other people owe her their lives. Stop acting like your mother never cared."

"I never wanted a hero. I wanted a mother." Gael gave up on the door and stormed over to his bed, flopping on it with a sigh. "She could have told my dad no. She could have kept us with her. But no." He waved Iago away. "She needs help with her face with her date with that guy. You might be able to help her out with that. You seem pretty enough."

The ginger stared after Gael furiously for a few moments, but he sombered. "You talk to your mother about that. I'm sure she has her reasons," he said, closing Gael's door with a faint fwip.

Gael listen for the confirmation that Iago was down stairs before making haste to his backpack. He grabbed the rope within it and quietly went to the window, attempting to open the window as silently as he could. It had been a few years since it was last opened, so the frame had to take some coaxing. Once he opened it, he listened for any indication that someone was coming back up stairs. If there was none, he tied the rope to his bed firmly before throwing the rest out the window. 'Time to make my escape..' He thought to himself.

Giovanni Bistreo has arrived, coming from Saint Lemeux.

Giovanni Bistreo has left the area, heading south towards Vargeras.