Gaël Prendergast's Story

Jeanne was grinning widely as she drove down the street and parked outside a clean, brick alleyway to a string of midtown shops- an outdoor mall, of sorts. Sliding out of the car, she peered through the window at the young man in the passenger's seat. "Ready?" she asked, teeth flashing.

Gael glared back out the window at her. He couldn't believe his mother was forcing this. "You know, to get -your- cat." He grumbled as he opened the door.

The woman could hardly hold in her laughter. "But we're really calling it mine because you're too embarassed, and not the other way around. That's the story people are going to hear," she chuckled. "Got the knife on you? Not going to fall out and make me lose my job or anything?"

"And then the people will hear that I'm allergic to the damned thing.." He muttered under his breath. He sighed and stepped out of the car. "No, I left it all the way back home after I flushed it down the toilet. What was that inspection you did to make sure it was nearly attached to the bone for if I didn't have it with me?" He rolled his eyes. His mother had made sure that the blade had been secure before leaving for the pet store.

"One that'll fail..." mumbled Jeanne, in her mind adding hopefully.

She lead him down the red brick alleyway and to the right, taking another ten steps before they were at the front of a stone entryway to the pet store. There was a paw print logo right on the shop name, and several animals in cages in the window. Gerbils.

"Funny. This place was a butcher shop quite a few years ago. There's an' old tale the butcher used to lure kids in here and serve 'em up the next day with hardly anyone noticing," Jeanne said as she opened the door. "After you," she grinned.

"I'm not 8 years old." He grumbled, walking through the door and immediately disappearing behind the many shelves in the petstore. He would have nothing to do with picking the cat.

As Jeanne made her way towards the cats, she was met with likely the last person she would have expected to see here. Baron was squatted down next to a row of cages, poking a finger through the bars of one in an attempt to rouse a rather lazy looking tabby from its nap.

Jeanne stopped so abruptly that she had to roll onto her toes. She blinked in complete and utter disbelief.

"Need I ask?" she said to the man in front of her. "Or was I knocked out at the front and I'm hallucinating? Because I can't imagine you're who I think you are."

"Going to arrest me for buying a cat now?" Baron asked with a chuckle. "There's easier ways to see me you know."

"I suppose I could have taken your offer for that drink," laughed Jeanne."I wonder what the boys at the office would have thought of that."

"You don't strike me as the kind of woman who really cares about what her co-workers think," Baron told her as he stood up. "I don't suppose you know anything about cats?"

"Moooooom!" Gael cried. "If you're getting a cat for me, can I get the snake for you-- Oh." Gael blinked as he saw both Baron and his mom together. "Uhm. Seems like I'm interrupting something I'm not suppose to know, or want to know.. I'll be buying the snake when you wanna find me." Gael scooted off.

Jeanne had opened her mouth to respond to Baron, but instead held up a finger so he would grant her a moment. She stormed off toward Gael and gave him a cold glare, hooking her fingers over his collar to drag him back over to the cat cages.

"Sorry about that. This is my son, Gael. Gael, this is Baron. And no, I... probably don't know any more than you do."

Baron raised a brow at the somewhat bizarre spectacle between Jeanne and Gael going on. Not that he could say much about Jeanne's parenting. He hadn't even told his own son that he was his father, and had successfully alienated him into taking off to god only knows where.

"Snakes you say?" Baron asked thoughtfully. "I wonder if they have any big enough to eat rats..."

"Hi." He murmured, waving towards Baron. "And this is my overbearing mother, Jeanne." He muttered. "I guess you're her boyfriend?"

"Nope.. No snakes that large. I looked."

Jeanne made a sound between a gasp and a squeak. "If you want mass extermination, then a wiley lookin' cat might be good for you. Snakes don't eat much..." she grumbled, refusing to look at Gael.

Baron chuckled lightly at Jeanne's response to Gael's remark.

"So, what about that drink?" he asked.

"Excellent idea. Mom needs one. So you two can go together and talk about cats and I can stay home and play video games all night long. Sounds like a plan, I'll cya guys later."

Gael then tried to escape his mother's death grip.

"Aye, good strategy, teaming up on a poor, gentle woman" she chided playfully, fighting the urge to roll her eyes while she kept hergrip on her son's collar. "C'mon, Gael. You've got to choose a kitty cat. C'mon. You too, Baron."

"I don't know, maybe a rottweiler would be better," Baron answered as he looked at the cats somewhat skeptically.

"See, I agree. But she keeps thrusting her cat idea. And then is going to blame it on me. Perhaps you can help a guy out and talk her out of it for me?" Gael grinned at Baron. "Perhaps take her out to dinner, smooth things over with her? Because she's smothering me, I tell you."

Jeanne rose her hand and clapped it over Gael's mouth. "That's enough out of you, son." She looked up at Baron with pleading eyes that asked him not to roll with that joke. Well, she hoped it had been a joke.

"How about that nasty lookin' bugger over there?" said Jeanne to Baron, pointing to a rough, one-eyed black cat staring at them. He had a white patch right in the middle of his chest, and had a hole in his ear. "Looks like a -"

"You want to eat the cat for dinner?" Baron asked with an arch of his brow. "I'm not that kind of dog."

"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.

Gael was a long way from home once again and sat in one of the allies in Vargeras. He held the little baggy of white powder up to his eyes to look at it. Easy way to lose money, buying drugs. But still, he had gotten into it a while ago. That was part of why his father and him were always arguing.

The boy sighed and stuffed the white baggy into the pocket of his hoodie and leaned against the building. There had to be a way to hide from his mother. She was a friggin blood hound, he discovered.

And now she was courting a werewolf. So literally a man that could track him down. "Almost time to move on out of Vargeras I suppose.." Gael muttered to himself.

"And get your ass back home, perhaps," Iago called from down the street. He glared at Gael darkly, hands in the pockets of his long coat. He looked some kind of menacing under one of the streetlights, like a man who wanted to start something. His hands were tightened to fists inside those pockets.

He had a feeling that Gael was going to start running when he began to walk towards him, so he made sure there was a spring in his step to get ready for it.

Gael casually looked over at Iago, the boy glaring back at Iago. He slowly stood up, bouncing on his toes for a moment to get the feeling back in his legs. "Well, it seems mother dear was able to pass off more of her more dominate traits to someone else, hound. Didn't think I left any trace that time." The boy stated.

But Iago's assumption was correct. "Look, I'd like to stay and chat, but I just remembered that I needed to get bitten by a werewolf or something. So.." Before he could finish, the boy was darting down the ally, away from Iago.

And Iago was already after him, bursting into a full sprint after Gael. Iago wasn't even his mother, but he could already feel the annoyance from having to babysit him.

It was questionable as to why he had to look over a sixteen year old boy, but the fact that he was running all over Lutetia City when there were murderers running around was a sign.

Iago was a born runner. There was more than one reason Jeanne called him the terrier, as she was the bloodhound. When he had his sights on something, he didn't stop. He was obsessive over objectives.

And today, Gael was the absolute objective.

Gael pushed himself as fast as he possibly could go, possibly even faster than when he had run from his mother. This was more than a mother running after her son.

No, this was a challenge against men.

Still, it would seem Gael would be no match for Iago, just as he was no match for his mother. As Iago would begin to gain ground on him, Gael rounded the corner suddenly and sharply, trying his damnedest to throw the man off his trail. "She's taught you well, pup!" Gael shouted behind him.

"This isn't your mother's training!" Iago called after him. "But you could do well to learn!"

He skidded across the ground as Gael rounded the corner, gaining speed again as he sped toward him. His eye was narrowed, his legs blurred in motion, fists pumping at his sides. He wasn't as into the small talk as Jeanne was. Wasn't going to try and convince him much with words. He had other methods.

As he passed a group of transcans, he plopped the lid off of one of them, and while he ran, aimed, and tossed it at the back of Gael's knees.

The boy was hit, and he stumbled, catching himself with one arm to stop from falling flat on his face. But it was enough to slow him down a great deal. "Owww fuck.." He muttered, trying to regain his balance to continue running.

He knew it was futile once again, so he did something he normally wouldn't do. He turned to face Iago, aiming for a sucker punch in the rib cage.

It was unexpected, the sudden turn-around, but Iago had just enough time to react. He skidded on his feet again, but managed to turn to the side to avoid the punch, in the same motion, reaching for Gael's wrist to pull over his shoulder and try to throw him over onto the ground.

Iago grabbed on to Gael's wrist, and the first thoughts that ran through his head was, 'well.. Shit.'

It was second's later that Gael was staring up at the sky, dazed and confused on how he got there. The wind was knocked out of him and after that sprint, his lungs were begging for air. He gulped in huge lungfuls, coughing and sputtering at the same time.

"The 'ell..?!" He choked.