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It was 9 in the morning, and Jada was cursing her late night out. She'd helped put the babies to bed, then packed the supplies she had picked up for Caedus and slipped out. That was 8:30, at the latest. And now, 12 hours later, she was wondering if the crystal that the stranger had passed out could cause mass hallucination.

Her first clue had been when two children came running screaming into her room. "Seaw en a poo!" Aidan had roared, and then she'd taken a Giulia to the gut. Eyes had opened wide, Castor had shrieked and pelted out of the room as only a cat could, and the Nanny had flung herself into the room, apologizing profusely. Jada wished she could roll over and go back to sleep, but the Seaw en a poo! still echoed in her ears.

Pulling on a pair of jeans and slipping her feet into boots, she wrapped in her coat and pushed out her balcony door and down the steps towards the pool. It was cold, but not too bad with her coat on, and the snow crunched pleasantly underfoot. Coming to a stop in front of the 'poo' she eyed the scene before her.

Yep. That was a seal in the pool.

She could hear crunching behind her, and then a tremulous voice asked "Should I call animal control?" Jada almost said yes, but she shook her head instead.

"I'll do that. It's already time for the twins to be taken to town for Sunday school." Something Giulia wanted to do to spend time with her friends. Aidan got dragged along by default.

She waited by the pool for twenty minutes after they left, staring at the pool invader, until the seal stirred. It looked vaguely familiar, and she remembered meeting a seal once before at a park. Vaguely. It might be suspicious, but she wasn't ALWAYS stupid. "There aren't many stories about a rogue seal, and you're pretty far from the zoo this time."

It wasn't that she was wondering if the seal was a youma, but this would be like.... the least frightening enemy ever. And so adorable.

Sliding gracelessly off of the alligator and into the freezing water, Jada watched the creature move, contemplating the odds of meeting a wild seal in Destiny City. Or any seal, even a domesticated seal, outside of a zoo. Then adding in the odds of finding a seal in her swimming pool.... She should have bought those Powerball tickets. Obviously, the odds were in her favor.

"I don't know if I should call animal control or the zoo," she told the seal as it surfaced in the pool. "People usually don't just lose a seal. I would probably be a lot more freaked out right now if there hadn't just been videos of some wild seal just coming up and chilling on a dude's boat. But you're a bit far inland. I'm inclined to think someone is playing a prank."

Or it was an evil seal. To Be Determined.

Big black eyes stared up at her, genuine and innocent and sealey, and Jada made a desperate, sad little noise. ItWasSoCute. So Cute she just wanted to- ah!

It was a classic case of cute aggression, as she stared at it, and it ORK'd, and all she wanted to do was grab it and squish it and bite it.

If the seal was trying to kill her with adorableness, it was succeeding. Jada could feel herself turning into an aggressive puddle as she pulled out her cell phone and went to paws.org - What To Do If You Find a Seal Pup or Other Marine Mammal. Skimming the page, not a single thing told her how to deal with a seal in her pool. "If you believe a Harbor Seal pup or other marine mammal has been unattended by his mom for more than 48 hours, or is clearly in distress or injured... Well, gauging where you are, it may have been 48 hours since you ate. As for distress, I think you're the relaxed one right now."

Skimming, she kept an eye on the thing, just in case it turned into a soul-sucking demon. "Well, I have no idea if I should be feeding you, or who to contact. Animal control wouldn't take you, and no one else would believe me. But it would be highly illegal to keep you as a pet. I want to cuddle you like you don't even know right now though." It chirped, and she had to take a seat on one of the pool chairs. "I may need to re-eveluate how illegal it would be to keep you."

Unfortunately, her cell phone maintained that 'No, Jada, you may not have a pet seal.' But oh, how she wanted a pet seal. The twins and Hope would love the pet seal. Her cat would love the pet seal. "I would feed you all the fish you wanted." she told it. "Unfortunately, I think all I have are sardines. I also don't think I can bring you in the house. I suppose you could slip and slide on the marble, but the carpet would be a bit much. I knew I should have gotten an indoor pool."

She was talking to a SEAL. Oh, Jada.

You need to get a life.

The seal paused being cute at the sound of her voice, as if it were listening to her speak. Or gauging her human threat level. Jada wasn't quite certain that she would be much of a threat when she wadnt henshined. Not to a seal. Even a potentially evil seal.

Though honestly, could anything so adorable be evil? Could it? An enemy that turned into a sweet little seal... Maybe if it were an elephant seal it could be evil? They were big and intimidating and killed polar bears and s**t. But this seal was a precious little button.

A button that had found its way to The stairs that led into her house. There were a lot of stairs that led to her house from the pool. Steps to the ballroom, steps to the garden, two large staircases to the second floor, one leading to her bedroom.

The noise that Jada made low in her throat watching that adorable little beast wiggle and jiggle its way up the stairs and squeak and struggle and... It was too much. It was too cute. This was how it killed its enemies.

"If I wasn't afraid you would bite me and scream I would probably cuddle you like you don't even know."

A flipper rubbed at the French doors on her balcony leading to her second floor bedroom, whining piteously and peering at her. The poor thing must have picked that stairwell because it was a sucker for punishment, or had seen her come down those stairs.

"If you had chosen the shorter steps your life would have been much easier. That is my bedroom. Hardwood floors and expensive carpet, and you are a wet wild animal. So no."

The adorable interloper pressed its glaring nostrils against the cut glass of her bedroom window, and Jada was glad she had her phone out as she pressed record.It claimed against her bedroom for a moment, then turned and huffed, and started sliding down the stairs it had made wet. It was prime YouTube material here.

The seal slid across the back of her house, crashing with some intent into the doors that led to the ballroom. It was very dramatic. And then it began to throw a hissyfit.

Jada kept filming.

Jada was glad everything went to the cloud so this would never be deleted.

Jada filmed some more.

This whole thing was glorious.

Later, Jada would regret everything. Hindsight was 20/20, after all. The seal was just being so precious, and small, and angry, and obviously a wild animal so no way was it getting inside. And she was far enough away that it wasn't like it was being a bother, and yes, she should call animal control.

But then it was turning to her, angry, beady little black eyes gleaming.

Little fins flapped, and the viewers would be able to hear her intake of breath. "Oh no you won't. You wouldn't dare."

Oh, it wouldn't?

A snow-colored cannonball flapped across the poolside, propelled by the slick it had left behind on its way up the stairs, and the downward angle. Viewers would be able to see the beast take air, and then hear Jada expel her own as it hit her in the gut.

The phone fell. The phone shattered.

YouTube was suddenly bereft.

And Jada fell backwards into the pool, icy water hitting her in the back and knocking what was left of the air out of her as she sank. Instinct had her inhale, and cold water filled her mouth, and her eyes went wide. Around her, the vibration of the little sonofa-

She reached out, grabbing at the monster, using it to drag her up. It was an aquatic ball of lard, after all. The water was heavy on her chest, and as she surfaced, choking and spluttering and using the stupid little thing as a life raft, she was quite worried icicles were already forming in her hair. Most importantly, she was choking up water as 500 pounds of butterball chirped and squeaked.

"Hate seals."

"Don't you kiss at me." The words took far too long to splutter out as the con-artist Seal let her use it as a buoy. As it should, after its murder attempt. By the time they got to the edge, she was starting to hyperventilate, even with her focus on breathing, and she practically scrambled from the water that suddenly felt so much warmer than the outside of the pool. "Gonna fence this pool in and get a new heater." Her winter coat was soggy, her pants were soggy, her boots were soggy, her hair was dripping loose down her back, heavy and almost straight from the weight of the water.

Hate Seals.

It rolled over, staring at her adorably, and she wondered if maybe it was mentally deficient. Or, you know, a seal, that wasn't bothered by the snow at all. "You won't sucker me," she told it, and started the long, slow trek towards her house. Torn between a quick change of clothes, or spending more time outside, she stared at the stairs leading towards her house.

"Gonna call animal control on you as soon as I can buy a new phone." She moved for the doors to the ballroom, and pushed one open with shaking hands. Now she knew how certain Negaverse officers had felt when she'd been forced to chuck them in the river in the middle of winter.