Essere Orgoglioso

It was really fucking hard not to notice the fact that his father took off a shoe, sat on it, and all of a sudden the car sprung up as if it had suddenly lost a ton of weight. He knew his dad weighed a lot, but but that was...

"Are your shoes enchanted?" Jude muttered under his breath. "Were they always like that?" Had he just somehow failed to notice that very important fact?

"Oh no," Angelo said with a small laugh under his breath. "Not at all. It's still a Family, if you catch my drift. That said, they're not a thing on Manta Carlos. As far as I know I'm the only Genovese, and I haven't done anything like that here. The Genovese Crime Family is located in New York City, but they're not even headed by someone with that surname, so the assumption isn't there by default."

"New York City is... sort of like Halcyon City in this universe," Jude said. "Most of the cities are different."

Jude was, in so many ways, on cloud nine. He was ascended. Flying high. His dad was there, and he was alive, and he apparently even had Adraxis under his heel. The fact that Jude was down almost an entire arm did absolutely nothing to damper his excited explanation.

"It is, yeah. I haven't been, but Officer Genovese says it's not too different from here, except no magic or powers or anything like that. They have stories about them, but everyone thinks they aren't real. So, the same way things like demons and angels and werewolves and all that are in our world."

He paused for a moment to consider, and then opted to clarify.

"Manta Carlos is a lot like home. It's smaller. A lot more diverse--there's people from all over. Other dimensions, other planets, alternate realities... Everything's kind of weird here, but it's nice. Sort of idyllic."

A lot of Jude's perceptions of the city were based so heavily on the fact that, back in Halcyon City, he'd effectively been on lockdown for several months before he'd finally made it to Manta Carlos. Being unable to go anywhere without accompaniment had colored his view of the city, whether he was aware of it or not.

"The island said they'd help with that," Jude said. He'd actually already asked that, and he'd experienced it to a certain degree with himself--although that was a high school education. Not quite the same thing.

"You're welcome to stay with me while you get settled," Angelo said. "To make a long story very short, the house has like a dozen extra bedrooms, so it's not like there's not room. I already warned Roa--my other ward--that people might be staying with us, and he's fine with it."

"Roa's going to be angry," Jude said, "but that's not because of you. He's just always angry. That's just... who he is."

He wasn't going to drop he's literally the son of Satan on his dad right then.

The house was set up on a hill, but had a lot of security features that Basilio likely would have caught. There were trees, but not close enough to the house that they could be used to climb on. There were cameras, but only if you were really looking. The house was two stories, fairly well lit, and even though the sun was good and down by the time they got there, it was obvious the lights had been left on.

"Roa's probably already in bed," Angelo said as he parked. "You can meet him in the morning. "I assume you still sleep?"

"I don't," Jude admitted. Probably better to get that out of the way and avoid any future awkwardness. He could sleep, but he didn't, and he'd put off other work to help with the evacuation. He'd probably be up all night working on it, helping get things organized.

"I had a lot of... ah, changes over the last few months. I think from exposure to so many different types of people, so Giltenn adjusted."

Not that it mattered. Giltenn was gone, and Jude glanced down at his arm awkwardly.

Okay, it was a little bit weird. It didn't hurt, but it was weird. He was going to have to get used to it. Maybe wear some jackets or something.

Angelo waved them both in, heading immediately for the kitchen and grabbing some glasses of water.

"You want to eat, or right to bed? I assume you want to catch up."

"Oh no, I'm fine," Jude said. "I don't get tired at all. And I don't get sick either."

Which was something he was pretty sure his dad was going to be happy about. Who wouldn't want their kid to never get so much as a cold?

"I can order in, or..." Angelo trailed off, rifling through the cupboards. "I've got some leftovers I can reheat." His instinct was that Basilio was probably a bit too dignified for either, but it was late and he was rolling with what he could get. "Or I can make pasta. I can do that pretty well."

Angelo was definitely not a chef, but his none-existent Italian ancestors would be rolling in their graves if he couldn't manage that much.

"I can help," Jude volunteered. "Home ec and all that."

"We'll cook then," Angelo confirmed. "Do you want to get something started, and I'll go grab some supplies? I think I can dig out a toothbrush and some stuff like that."