Scene #2956: Obsidian Jingle Intensifies

Owner	Pose
Adrien Agreste	It wasn't terribly hard to ignore Gabriel if one tried. It was usually hard to GET his attention in the first place--Which meant that Adrien knew his schedule rather well from all the times he had tried just that. The knowledge was perfect for avoiding him now that he'd been told the truth abou his mother. Good news, certainly, but news that should not have been hidden from him for over three years. Today he was not trying to avoid him. With a nervous determination about him, and spurred on by Plagg's earlier encouragement (and warning to be careful), he was trying to catch Gabriel before he could run off. So he was sitting at the table in the penthouse with a cup of coffee set nearby, and his tablet to work on things while waiting. Worst ambush ever.
Gabriel Agreste	It's certainly not difficult to avoid Gabriel - he's a busy man, and he hardly looks in on his son to begin with, trusting bodyguards and minders to manage the day to day. Less of that, now, with Adrien being seventeen, and with their last conversation - Well, he wasn't upset with the distance, after that conversation. To think the boy would ''give his mother up for dead'' - So, when Adrien encounters Gabriel entering the kitchen, dressed for another day at the office in a formal, fashionable, suit and scarf at 7am, he pauses, assessing - a flash of temper rises, but not the frothing anger of their last encounter, and he stops. "So you've chosen to face me, instead of continuing your avoidance, have you?"'
Adrien Agreste	Deep breaths, Adrien. You had practiced for hours last night with Plagg about how this conversation may go. He always felt intimidated by his father. Knowing he was magic now as well was... Different. He saw him in a different light. More than he had in quite awhile even after New Years Day. Calmly he reaches for his coffee cup to take a sip, before resting it back on the table with his hand lingering on the handle. "I needed some time to process everything. I know it has been awhile, Father, but I didn't want to avoid you for too long." Should he? DARE he? His geren eyes flash as he tenses ever muscle in his shoulders. Years of knowing how to appear in spite of his emotions is brought to bear. He was tight and tense and he would look cool, calm and composed. "I might beat your record on avoiding people, otherwise."
Gabriel Agreste	"I suppose if I had given up hope and assumed she was dead, I too would need time to adjust to the realities of the situation," Gabriel says, frostily. He usually tried to maintain a sense of decorum, a sense of control, when engaging with his son, but given the topic, and given Adrien's attitude, it only seems ''proper'' to return as is given. "And you'll have far to go if you hope to beat my record at avoidance." His voice is sharp, annoyed. It's early in the morning, before a work day. "I could understand some temper, but ''genuinely'', Adrien, what were you thinking? Thinking your mother was ''gone'' from this world?!"
Adrien Agreste	Adrien Agreste squeezes his grip on the offee mug. Not hard enough to shatter, he wasn't dramatic like that, but he needed something solid to hold onto. It felt rather good to dig the band of his Miraculous ring into his hand. It was of course silver right now and not quite so obviously a Miraculous. Ah, the veil did certainly help quite a lot. "From my perspective, she had. You refused to let any of her movies be played, refused to talk about her, and you were withdrawn and stuck in your office. I spoke to you though your tablet more than face-to-face." In spite of the anger and attitude, he wasn't used to being this way with his father. His words soften a bit when he looks back with a similarily hurt, pleading expression, that he had worn so often when trying to get his father's attention over the years. "... Would it have been so hard to tell me the situation in the first place?" He likely wouldn't get anywhere arguing with his father. He never did. The tired sigh that comes from him is genuine. "I want to see her."
Gabriel Agreste	Gabriel sees that clenching fist, and directly is irked but indirectly - well, at least there's some fight in him, some ''passion'' for Emilie. And then he spits out his words, his anger and hurt, and it's.... it's almost reasonable, really, when looked at from the utterly alien view of Emilie's death being even ''slightly'' acceptable. "Your mother is sick, Adrien," Gabriel says finally, and his voice is tired. "You know that. She's been sick for your entire life. She was in a wheelchair, by the time you started college. Of course I didn't want to see her films, to see her beautiful and healthy, when it was - when ''that'' was how things were. She was getting worse, and once we realized that her time was running short, and that more extreme measures were going to be needed, she didn't want you to continue to see her waste away." His Emilie had always been in love with life, with beauty. She had hated to grow sick, to wither, and she had hated for their son to see it, to experience her faltering health, or growing weakness. "We were hoping to find a cure sooner, to make it a brief disruption in your life - a year, at most, and then she would return to the world in stunning fashion, and all would be well." Gabriel's mouth twists bitterly. "That hasn't been the case. If I had known you'd think that..." Well, he probably wouldn't have gone against Emilie's wishes too soon, but, perhaps. The request is surprising - startling. Gabriel stares for a moment, clenching his jaw, and then, running the calculations through his mind, says shortly, "She's in the medical wing at Obsidian Tower. They have extremely advanced facilities, there."
Adrien Agreste	Adrien Agreste does listen to the explanations and the reminders about his mother. A soft, sad expression at the mention of her always being sick. She was. That was true. "I know she was always sick, Father. That's also why I thought she'd passed on after being gone so long without any update. I had thought," he repeats something along the lines of their first conversation. "That you were trying to protect me from that." He stares now at a spot on the table as he murmers, "Even if she didn't want to see me watch her become sicker, I could have written her letters or sent her videos to keep her spirits up." Something. Something to show he cared for her because he DID it was his mother! He might have said more. Certainly the thoughts were there flitting through his mind as he shifts to drag a hand up through his blonde hair. It wasn't in his face so much as he just needed to get a bit of frustration out by moving. Holding still seemed so wrong. It's the explanation of WHERE his mother is that has his attention jerk back toward his father with a whole set of new thoughts. Danger! His father was a Director which meant he had magic which meant--But perhaps his father had joined Obsidian to help his mother if their medical was so good? Wait, wasn't one of Usagi's senshi also formerly from... He didn't know as much about that but he had listened to Naru speak of details here and there. "At Obsidian?" His voice is quiet as he looks stricken, pained. Words seem to fail him. Too much was going on in his mind, and he just ends up muttering, "So close." So close to being in DANGER.
Gabriel Agreste	"There is no world where your mother is gone that I am not upending the planet to bring her back to us," Gabriel says, shortly. "Which, I suppose, is... why you must have assumed her dead. If she were truly missing..." He would have done anything to find her, to bring her back to his side. So perhaps, ''perhaps'', his son is, slightly, understandable. "She's in a coma, Adrien," he says, soft now, thinking of Emilie as he had last seen her. "She's been on life support since shortly after she went... ''missing''. Her condition worsened, and well - Obsidian has exceptional advances. I would never have moved us halfway cross the world for anything less than her well-being. Having access to proprietary technologies from Tomoe LifeSciences alone has been very helpful in slowing her decline." This is true, though he knows none of Obsidian's technology, or magic, will cure Emilie. No, he needs a Wish, be it from the Miraculous, or from this partnership with Kyubey. Adrien's quiet voice reads correctly as surprise, shock. "...Yes. She's right here in Mitakihara."
Adrien Agreste	The fact that the explanation does actually explain almost everything Gabriel had done for so long sits like a brick in Adrien's stomach. "That explains us moving to Tokyo. I never understood why you would have merged the company with another, but if it was to get access to their medical network--" It made sense. It did. The fact he was starting to understand his father just a bit was unsettling. "... People do wake from comas. All the time." It's said with as much confidence and reassurance as he can muster. It was partially for his father, but mostly for himself as there was still hope that she might come out of it. He'd have his mother again. If only she weren't being kept in the worst place in the city he might even be able to ask Mamoru to help heal her. "I see."
Gabriel Agreste	"Yes. Given that Tokyo has excellent schooling and other opportunities, I doubted you would mind a transition away from some of your fans. And your mother didn't want you to know. It was her wish, and you know I've always hated to refuse her." It was a fact well known in their household, that at the end of the day, what Emilie wanted, she would get, and her husband would move mountains to ensure it. Gabriel softens, the cut of his jaw loosening as he awkwardly shifts and moves, reaching out, and - Lightly gripping Adrien's shoulder. "Yes. People ''do'' wake from comas, and your mother will be one. She is ''not'' leaving us, Adrien. This... one day, you'll look back, and see what a short time this has been, compared to the years you'll have with her." Then he releases Adrien, adjusting his clothing, awkward in having expressed his paternal attention - "I suppose I can take you to her, today, if you would like. Or we can arrange a time to visit. Now that you know, there's... little reason to keep you entirely separated."
Adrien Agreste	Adrien Agreste glances up at his father when he actually reaches out to touch his shoulder in reassurance. It was so rare, so very rare, that he can't help but smile that winning smile that came so readily to him. In spite of everything the child deep inside him was springing up gleefully at the small gesture of affection. "I hope so." There's no doubt he genuinely hopes that his mother does come out of it. Obsidian though. Into the lions den. He--and Chat Noir--had done quite a few dangerous things in the past but this was top tier should not mess with situation. He could not go in there with his Miraculous. What if they ran into Hawkmoth? Then again. "I'd really like to see her," he manages to get out in a voice tight with emotion. "After school?" That would give him some time to come up with a plan.
Gabriel Agreste	"Very well, Adrien. I'll open my schedule, and pick you up from the Academy. It would be... good, I think. Everything I've done, it's to make us a family again." And hopefully, Adrien will understand that. Surely, given his love for his mother, he'll come to understand that. "While this ordeal has been unpleasant... I'm glad you stopped avoiding me, and that... you can come to understand something of this." He'll be happier to have time away. After school is better - it will give him time to prepare, and to... negotiate, with his colleagues.
Adrien Agreste	Adrien Agreste smiles with relief at the agreement to meet later. He would get picked up so he imagines it'll just be Natale and the Gorilla as usual so he could at least be ready for that. "Of course, father. I look forward to it." He was going to have a LOT of explaining to do.