Chapter 971: All the Fuel It Needed

In Saint-Étienne, Vincent Baudrillard was pacing around a rooftop garden courtyard. There was a wrought iron outdoor table setting, at which Emi Asano sat. She was eating a large half sandwich while she watched his back-and-forth march. He ran a hand through his increasingly dishevelled hair yet again, which only further set off his rakish good looks. Instead of telling him that, she made a poor attempt at stifling a giggle.

“Stop laughing!” he half begged, but his beleaguered voice only made her laugh harder.

“It’s strange seeing you so nervous,” she said. “I’m going to take my time and savour it.”

She set her sandwich down on a plate, next its enormous other half.

“This isn’t funny,” Vincent told her.

“You say that, yet I find your frazzled state endlessly amusing.”

“I need your uncle to like me.”

“No, you need me to like you.”

“You already like me.”

“And how long is that going to last if you keep making assumptions.”

“Until I go bald, presumably. I know you like my hair.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Emi, as intimidating as I find the prospect of your wrath, his wrath is worse. He’s basically a god.”

“He’s not a god, Vince. Or a dad from an eighties movie. He won’t threaten to kill you if you don’t have me home by nine.”

Vincent stopped his pacing and let out an incoherent grumble before turning to look at Emi.

“I know that to you, he’s Uncle Jason. To me, he’s the guy who created the city we’re standing in with his mind, from another universe. And I’m the guy doing stuff to the niece who was a young teenage girl when he left.”

“Oh, we’re ‘doing stuff.’ My heart is aflutter at the flowery romance of your words.”

“I’m not going to say any more than that. He’s probably listening to us right now.”

“That’s not how it works, Vince. Uncle Jason says that watching over his domains is like having a conversation in a café. You’re not listening to the conversations around you, but you kind of are, without realising it. When someone says something that stands out, like your name, it suddenly draws your attention. You realise that, on some level, you were listening all along. But, in Uncle Jason’s case, the café also has a security system that lets him go back and see what anyone there said or did.”

“None of which precludes him from watching us right now, and I’m confident that mentioning anything more than ‘doing stuff’ will get him paying attention.”

She shook her head and let out a long-suffering sigh before getting to her feet. After moving over to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a gentle kiss.

“You need to relax,” she told him. “I love you, so he’ll love you. Or else.”

His anxiety was not alleviated by her suddenly threatening expression, even if it wasn’t aimed at him.

“Besides,” she said cheerily, letting him go. “It won’t be Uncle Jason keeping an eye on us, will it, Shade?”

“He makes a point of giving you your privacy, Miss Emi.”

Vincent started as the voice came Emi’s shadow.

“What was that? he asked, wide-eyed.

“That’s Shade,” Emi said. “I’m sure I told you about Shade. He used to watch over me when I was young. He’s the best.”

“I appreciate your kindness, Miss Emi.”

“Now, tell Vince he has nothing to worry about.”

“In fairness, Miss Emi, your instincts were rather specifically accurate, in that Mr Asano was torn as to whether he should ‘go full eighties movie dad.’ Fortunately, his better judgement prevailed, but there was talk of an axe pendulum at one stage.”

Vincent turned even more pale.

“Do I want to know what an axe pendulum is?” he asked.

“It’s kind of right there in the name, sweetie. You strap someone down under it and it gets lower and lower, until it cuts them open or they agree to not date your niece, or whatever it is you want them to do.”

“This is not helping me calm down, Emi.”

“Who said I wanted you to calm down? I’m having a great time.”

“You’re the one who told me to relax.”

“No, I said you need to relax. I’m allowed to want things you don’t need.”

She looked at his disbelieving expression and started laughing all over again.

***

Jason floated in the air over his spirit domain. When he had first claimed it, he had reconstructed Saint-Étienne as it has been. During his years away, that had shifted with the needs of the clan and his own subconscious preferences. Then the clan had hidden away inside the astral, leaving it, for a time, to the vampires.

Following the clan’s re-emergence, the city grew further from what it had once been than ever. After taking it back from the vampires, Jason shaped the city more consciously, in consultation with the clan. Ken Asano was in charge of the clan’s urban design, making it a project Jason could, via avatars, spend time with his father.