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Ignacio didn't really like the wording of urgent. What would be urgent that she wouldn't use any actual descriptors for? She could explain what the situation was. Give him a heads up on what to expect, maybe? Warn him? Let him do a few warm-ups so he knew what he was walking into?



So he had a half an hour? Why was she giving him prep time without telling him what was up?

His anxiety was generally through the roof as he emerged from his room of mirrors across the hall for Sadie's room and–

“... Michel?”

“Oh, hey Ig.” Why did he look so calm?

Ignacio's hug was a tight friendly one, as per his usual, and Michelangelo's was a swinging tighter one around her middle with a laugh. “Sadie!” chirped he, first, followed up with Ignacio's,

“Who's this–”

Of course, Minnie, or Minerva, introduced herself in short order. Ignacio offered a playful salute, and Michelangelo offered a gallant bow, glancing up when Sadie mentioned the real reason for the urgency. He didn't notice Ignacio's shift, unphased by the new information.

“What's your name there? That they gave you?” Even if it was an incorrect name, technically– “I've been working with a couple people recently.” Well, mostly just one, but it was better to keep things vague when he was dealing with stuff that could still be traced back to a source. “Might be nice to know if you're one of the ones I've been working with.”

How was he so casual about this? Ignacio did his best to not give Michelangelo a conflicted glance and did succeed in that one, but it didn’t stop him from looking over to him. There was a member of the Negaverse. In their house. Well. Not his house, he guessed. Michelangelo could go anywhere else if he really wanted, but a lot of people he knew spent a lot of time there–

Which included Sadie! Who was in front of them!

The person who called this urgent!

They guessed they understood why Sadie was being nonspecific now, but Ignacio couldn't quite wrap their mind around the reaction even if the easy smile hadn't quite left their face. “Guess his question’s as good of a place to start as any!”

Michelangelo offered a sidelong glance at Ignacio but didn't say anything specific, following up with, “So you're Sadie’s sister then?”

Minnie, Minnie, convenient for her to have a nickname that could cross both forms without causing an identity leak! Though he supposed the sooner he got her away from that other name–Minyulite–the better. Sadie had brought her to the right place, he supposed. And… sounded like he was in the process of doing so, too. He couldn't quite help the way the edge of his lip curved into a smirk.

“Well, horn players do have nimble fingers,” he idly admired his own fingers as his voice dropped, for a moment. He let that sit for a second before he glanced back up to her with a wink. “I have several saxophones, including one I gain when I'm a knight, actually! Think I am the squire you're looking for. Do I look familiar now that I've said that?”

She was looking familiar too now, actually.

Sadie's sister! Of all people he could have located! … Definitely ******** mission accomplished in convincing her to start leaving the Negaverse then, damn. He couldn't help glancing back toward Sadie as Sadie moved back toward Ignacio.

Ignacio was doing his best at being called out for being on television. In all honesty, he tended to roll with it! He wasn't necessarily used to being called out for it by current Negaverse agents, but what else could he do? Sadie's thumb on his knuckles was helping a bit– “Oh, yeah. I've done a few interviews recently. Late night shows. Partially connected with the movie that came out recently?” He shot her a grin.

“That and I used to be a telenovela actor–”

Oh.

Oh no no no–

It was honestly good that Sadie got in front of Minnie transforming, or Ignacio would have probably lost some of the charisma and masking he had slipped into rapidly. This was definitely not a wise place for her to henshin. Viatrix had an emergency thing somewhere but he had no idea where and he didn't think he could get it quickly enough to not compromise–

“We believe you– sounds like both Sadie and Michel back you up anyway,” and then she wouldn't compromise the house.

Right. Easy.

He might have been holding onto Sadie's hand instead of letting her rub it now, though. Michelangelo did glance back toward him for a moment, but said nothing other than, “Yeah, she's honestly looking familiar now that she said saxophone. Think I have an easy calling device, what can I say?”

Michelangelo's suave grin when she chuckled at him was definitely hard to miss, but he seemed to slide into his easy charisma when she admitted to recognizing him too. “Glamour. Someone you know as both forms won't even register until they reveal themselves. Like now. Neptune Saxophone me is Abzu.”

He was, of course, specific with the Neptune. The relationship with saxophones didn't end when he wasn't a knight anymore…

“Oh, thanks!” rolled not quite as easily into Minnie’s next question of if he was dating Sadie, and while Sadie eventually said not quite like that, Ignacio found himself a bit like a deer in the headlights. He was used to getting asked about his husband, or if he was single, not about another partner and especially not about Sadie–

Michelangelo, though, gave an outright affectionate laugh when she pushed further to ask if they were friends with benefits, clearly messing with her sibling but also– “I mean, I have friends with benefits too-”

“I'm married,” Ignacio eventually defended himself, clearing his throat.

“I mean, one of my friends with benefits is married too,” Michelangelo paused, adding, “consensual, of course,” to Minnie, as Ignacio interrupted again with,

“and monogamous-- our relationship is a bit different.”

Michelangelo glanced to Ignacio, his lip twitching upwards in amusement. “I mean, benefits can be defined in a lot of ways. But Sadie and I are close, yes, just not like that. They're close to Ig too.”

Michelangelo didn't even bat an eye at having his promiscuity commented on. He might have, instead, lifted a finger to give her a playful, entirely unserious finger gun. Ignacio couldn't quite resist rolling his eyes. “Oh please, it doesn't bother you that much-”

“Just don't remind me of your relationship with my father-in-law and we're good.”

Michelangelo quirked a brow.

“... I just did it to myself, didn't I-?”

Happy to accidentally pry Ignacio's brain away from the actual problem and the actual reason why he seemed to be gripping Sadie's hand like a vise, Michelangelo turned his attention to Minnie. “Yeah, the memory loss thing. Absolutely sucks. Listen though, you're in the right place. Even better that you're Sadie’s sister. She already lives in the place that I'd be recommending you get hooked up with.”

Ignacio cleared his throat. “Right.” They were supposed to be… not panicking. Probably. There was an agent *in the house*. “My husband made it a whole thing to help people out in this – part of why this house got set up the way it did. And I have a Mauvian. She's probably somewhere around here.”

If she wouldn't just appear.

Viatrix had a way of doing that–

“Even helped a priest get his credentials back once he purified. She's pretty proud of that one.”

“Oh, Teegan right?” Michelangelo grinned. “Love him.”

Michelangelo, for fun, turned those finger guns toward Sadie too. He, of course, wasn't actually flirting with her, but he was snickering afterwards. A snicker that led to him pausing, blinking, and then asking, “Wait, how old am I– dammit where's Zee when I need them? Ig do you know?”

Ignacio reeled before letting out a surprised half-laugh. “How am I supposed to know?”

Michelangelo thought about it for another few moments, before offering, “38?” Then after another moment, he said, “No, no. 37. I think.” Maybe. “I don't know, I'm a millennial. Millennial born in the late 80s.”

Ignacio couldn't help a snort. Somehow, Michelangelo's charismatic half-flirtations with Minnie were offering a decent distraction. Sadie’s hand in his was doing a lion’s share of work, though, and even though he was starting to shift a bit in place it could be easy to blame that on his own ADHD versus anything else.

“If you think it would help you, I've actually seen some people record videos of themselves, or write journals of themselves, talking about what their memories are in both versions of themselves. They help solidify things.” Ignacio swallowed, keeping the strength despite the fact that his mind was screaming that at any moment this agent could power up and decide that Abzu's swagger was not enough to save him from death. “If there's something in your life that you found important, that you earned, you should pull that to the side and let us know about it so we can see if we can mimic it on our side.”

Michelangelo cleared his throat.

“Ah, don't worry too much about money. We have a place for you to land, and also we have a way for you to support yourself until you can get back on your feet. That being said, anything you do have, definitely just go ahead and pull out or go through. It's just going to otherwise become inaccessible for you.”

She may eventually get access back to it, because she had access to her family, who would eventually get access to her assets, but that might take years. Better to just not have to worry about it up front.

“Definitely will never protest a drink though.”

“Did you have anything you were working on, or businesses, projects?” asked Ignacio, cautiously.

“Yeah, you actually have an advantage that quite a few people don't have when they purify! You got your whole sibling here with you!” Michelangelo shot Sadie a grin as he decided he was just going to plop himself down on the edge of her bed. He didn't lay on it–he knew that would be a mistake, he'd be out like a light–but nevertheless. “So you have someone who you can rely on to tell you the truth of who you were.”

Or maybe she'd get lucky like Teegan had and remember primarily the civilian portion. Seemed like that was the ideal result, considering.

How much time had she even spent as an agent?

Seeing Minnie step into Sadie's room somehow made Ignacio more nervous, not less, but what the hell was he supposed to do? This was Sadie's sister. She wasn't doing anything. She was just talking about being a personal trainer and her motorcycle and asking Michelangelo and Sadie questions. Powering up to kick her out of the house at the very least would have been uncalled for. Probably?

Her even being there was against house rules to some degree but they weren't sure how to handle it other than just responding with a, “Oh, we can get those certs back for you easy. Honestly, Sadie's right. After the Vatican this is probably nothing.”

Probably. They weren't Mauvian. The hell did they know–

The motorcycle was a bigger issue, though. Car? “I mean, we could just buy you a new car. Same model even, if you want.” For the amount that Michelangelo had just tried to hide how much money he had, he certainly didn't try to hide it now. Ignacio quirked a brow at him, but didn't say anything. “I know bikes tend to have a lot of personal meeting wrapped up in them though.”

“Do you?”

“I mean, I've been with biker boys before.” Michelangelo snickered. Why was Ignacio even surprised-. “They do love their rides. I mean, we can look at getting the title transferred?”

“Couldn't be direct though. That would tell the Negaverse where she was immediately.”

“Of course not! Maybe Vi has some ideas.”