Stone's Throw

[Adonis Naodi]

"He is clearly not seriously ill, and I had thought better of him than to go near that sort of substance," sniffs Adonis. 

[Aveline Vallen]

"It is out of character for him. Had he been acting oddly prior to this? As best you would know," she added, unable to be entirely professional.

[Adonis Naodi]

"No. He has been spending a lot of time with my father, as expected."

[Aveline Vallen]

"...you haven't been spending much time with him yourself then?" Aveline asked, sounding more resigned than anything else.

[Adonis Naodi]

"I have been quite busy."

[Aveline Vallen]

"So am I," Aveline replied coolly, an unspoken 'and yet I still make time for my family' filling the silence afterwards. 

[Adonis Naodi]

Adonis is silent the rest of the walk. 


Having finished his conversation and brief examination of Nyessia, Miki takes a moment before walking into his father's room. He knows Andreas will be there. What Nyessia said... it didn't sound like him, but it did sound like a heat-addled kit who's never been taught what a heat is and how to control himself. A kid who's never had much in the way of attraction to anyone, suddenly overcome by lust. 

Miki didn't inherit the spots and stripes of his father; he's a black-and-white cat, black from his mother and a splash of white from some unknown ancestor. The easy, playful smile is gone now, replaced by his 'keeper-face': a stoic mask, the best he can do to emulate Cadmus's seriousness. He doesn't do well in these situations, he knows. He does better with the little ones, teaching them to be their best selves. He is great in counseling for adults, as well, working through problems logically and with a good deal of empathy. But these punishments? Never his strong suit. 

He walks into the room, finally, smiling a little when he sees his nephew. "Dre," he greets him warmly. "Do you want to talk here or should we find somewhere private?"

[Andreas Amell]

"Huh?"

The word came sharply, accompanied by a matching jerk of the young man's body. He looked miserable, huddled up to himself in Cadmus's easy chair with his ears pressed flat against his skull and his arms wrapped around his knees. He was also sweaty, and the reek of musk still clung to him despite having done his best cast of a basic self-cleaning ritual twice. It was only meant for to freshen one up or perhaps remove a bit of food on one's hands and mouth, not wick away several days of rutting.

Eyes finally focused, Andreas stared at Miki for a few seconds. Then he swallowed, managing to croak out a, "Keeper Mi.." He broke off, the realization that he wasn't actually sure what Miki's full, formal, name was. "Uh. Keeper. Hello?"

[GamesMaster]

A ghost of a teenage boy Andreas' age smirks, but Keeper Miki doesn't comment on the smell. "Mikail. But you can call me Miki, you've known me since you were in diapers. Now, we're going to have to talk about what happened, and I was asking if you wanted Cadmus here or if you wanted to talk in private." He sounds a bit sorry to have to butt in, but firm nonetheless.

[Andreas Amell]

"Oh. Okay. Keeper Miki. Okay. And, umm, yeah. Here is fine, I don't mind grand-- uh, a grand former Keeper here?" Gods Andreas, you need to focus! Unfortunately, lack of sleep was causing his head to pound, his stomach was slowly twisting in on itself, his thoughts would neither clear nor order themselves, and millions of tiny pinpricks were sparking along the inside of his skin.

[GamesMaster]

"Child," he says fondly. "It's alright. I'm not here to hurt you. I just need you to tell me what happened. All of what happened, from the moment your heat began until it ended. Everything you can recall."

[Andreas Amell]

I would love to! Andreas thought in a panic. Or, well, possibly not but-- fuck. Okay. Okay. How should I..? Just relate what happened to me? But what if that conflicts with evidence they have or-- Shit, I need to say something now! "I don't really... it's a huge blur, and... I think it's jumbled up too? Like... I'm not sure what happened when? But, umm, okay. I was over some friends' place. Sculpting. But I couldn't focus. Felt... on edge? And warm."

[GamesMaster]

Miki has a seat, leaning forward, paws clasped, focus intently on Andreas, but with an easy, casual smile. 

[Andreas Amell]

Relaxing, little by little, thanks to the cues he was picking up subconsciously from Miki's body language, Andreas continued. "I remember... One of my friends asked if I was okay. I guess I was pretty distracted and... just off, I guess? Pretty sure I tried telling him I was fine but he didn't buy it. Which, fair."

"Then... I think I remember him offering to brew some medicinal tea," he prevaricated. Tea, devil weed, same thing. Sorta. "Headache and fever probably. After that... I must have gone downstairs, 'cause I ran into Pippi." Close enough I'll remember. "She's a dancer and..." He coughed lightly. "Very flexible? And flirty?"

[GamesMaster]

Miki nods. "I see," he encourages. "That must have been hard."