There was something near....peaceful in the simplicity of that breakfast. Even with those balloons and decorated table settings to mark that occasion and Herbert's overly exuberant nature so providing a chorus of excited pants as the dog tore around the table, into the living room and back again in a veritable fit of overzealous delight at the sheer notion their home had been graced with a guest. This, Matteo was certain, was how Aiden's life should have been. Each of the Panthers mornings, throughout his youth, should have been started with just such a breakfast as this shared between them before Aiden had headed to school, high school- even college. He had seen those visions dance before his eyes but a million times over, teasing him with the possibilities of what could have been even if the chance was all but fleeting and faded- and not without cost. How nice it might have been to so have their lives filled with something so mundane as talk of school sport or assignments or field trips, of girls and first jobs, of cars and college degrees- of but each one of those things his adoptive son had been denied. How those visions had taunted him once- and still did- if only for how close they had been and out how out of reach all at once. Yet even the pain of those realisations had been nothing compared to so attempting to explain to a young Aiden why those things could not be so. How it pained him, even now, to have been prevented by fate itself from so giving Aiden that very life he had deserved. How bittersweet it made this very moment now- when, after all those years, Aiden so finally sat at the table and in that place that had so long been reserved just for him. The Frenchman determined, in that moment, not to allow but even a shade of such emotion to touch his features. Perhaps in this he was but near exactly the same as his own son- deflection of those emotions a skill they had both long since mastered even if each surely knew they existed all the same.

That food, it seemed, so provided them both with ample distraction. Aiden seemingly content to all but pile his plate with an amount of food even the Frenchman was inclined to admit was impressive. Maria, for her part, all but thrilled at the clear notion someone seemed to delight in her cooking so much. Matteo himself content to select his own pancakes before inquiring after just how far Aiden had so far managed to teleport. The very suggestion that his adoptive son had made it to Japan was impressive, to say the least. Even if that veritable trip had all but rendered the by exhausted. That raw talent, it seemed, was well intact. Aiden merely lacked the knowledge on how to use it. The surprise upon his own features so seeming to prompt that furthered information from the Panther in turn. Aiden speaking of that leap to Japan as if it were akin to a bus ride downtown! Matteo so affording him another near incredulous glance.

"Your pack mate desired a sword so you went to Japan? Mon Dieu! You will not pack your own bag to come here but you will teleport to another country! Twenty years I have known you and still you baffle me. And you say it is I who is ridiculous!"

That amusement within those accented words was surely clear, that easy chuckle humming from within his lips as he so allowed his eyes to roll all the same. Aiden so eternally determined to downplay but near every action he so undertook. Matteo unwilling to allow him to escape so easily from this one as his head simply shook once more. That topic of Aiden's own talents lingering between the men in that moment. Matteo content to offer but some indication he had learned only more of Aiden's powers in the time since they had last seen one another. That, in the least, so seemed to pique the boys attention and yet Matteo was hardly willing to afford him those answers just yet. The Frenchman so decidedly....Fae when the mood should strike him. Matteo long since having mastered coaxing Aiden's interest in one thing or another and so maintaining it for as long as he might be able. That matter of Shadow Jumping, he was sure, could wait until after breakfast. That query he was offered met with a firm nod and little else before another bite off his own meal was taken. That bacon decidedly appealing this morning.

It was only once that meal was finished that Matteo at last rose from his seat with that gesture for his companion to follow. The Frenchman leading the pair well into the depths of that mansion and down several corridors. Aiden, he was assured, had become lost several floors ago within that white marble kingdom that made up his home. Matteo at last paused outside one white door as equally unremarkable as the others they had passed. His silver gaze turned then to meet those near striking emerald eyes of the WereKing. That demand for secrecy of what lay beyond only further seeming to baffle the panther and yet, if Aiden could so keep his own existence hidden from Risque for some twenty years he held little doubt of his adoptive sons ability to keep the contents of the room beyond entirely to himself in turn. That insistence that it so better be 'fucking amazing' prompting but another roll of the Frenchman's gaze before his palm pressed to that scanner. That door opening but a moment later to reveal that sweeping, empty ballroom. One flooded with light in near the same instant to reveal those rows upon rows upon rows of photographs. Aiden, for his part, appearing decidedly unimpressed with what he deemed a hobby for photography! Sacrebleu! His furthered efforts to explain prompting that singular word from his sons lips. A sigh falling heavily from Matteo's own as his arms lowered, one hand lifted to pinch at the bridge off his nose and his head shook and yet- that good-nature simper so hardly faltered.

"Ah, but I give the boy the world and he gives me 'oh.' Do not grow to excited, Mon Amie, you might hurt yourself."

That singular quirk upon the Fae's lips so gave away the humour once more and yet, Matteo so merely gestured to those pictures, affording Aiden the chance to wander towards the nearest one- a place within Italy no less. The near ancient Fae content to remain silent for several moments if only to afford his companion that chance to consider just what he had been offered. That veritable silence from Aiden in turn so often meaning but one thing alone. Insecurity. Matteo long since having mastered that ability to read the stoic man and those thoughts he kept nestled so safely and tightly behind the shields of that otherwise emotionless facade. He so hardly needed to pry at the boys mind to known just what he surely considered in that moment. Matteo himself having considered it in turn. With that gift of teleportation came a......freedom unlike anything Aiden had so every experienced. His world so suddenly expanded not by mere feet but my country and continents. Matteo not nearly fool enough to believe that some part of his son did not.....fear what so many things might mean. Nor did either of them know, truly, how far that woman's power could reach. Not so far as another country, he suspected and yet he uttered not a word of it now. Rather, he so allowed Aiden himself to dictate where that conversation might go. That veritable deflection not unanticipated and yet for now Matteo so permitted it in turn. With Aiden, after all, it was better to chip at that shield rather then break oneself against it. Matteo wandering easily to his companions side then to eye that photograph in turn.

"I employ a team of people from around the world whom monitor my sites for me- constantly. It is this we must discuss too, for as your collection of sites grows so to does its risk. No true harm would come to you were you to teleport into a room and land upon a bed or a sofa someone had moved while you were away, at best you would stumble or trip- but if you have not visited a site in months, even years, it may have been renovated or even demolished. The place you land may now be the inside of a wall. You will be killed instantly if this happens, Mon Amie. This is no game. There are those to, whom exist in this world, who may wish to bring you harm and may seek to make several of your sites....unsafe. It is why I allow no one to know where my own are. There have been times in the past where....attempts upon my life have been made."
He paused then, affording Aiden that chance to consider those words and just what they meant. That power of teleportation, after all, was a truly grand one and yet not one that came without its own risks and considerations. If Aiden was to master that power- then he was so required to understand it first. As well as how to safely command it.

"That photo you are holding is a place in the gardens of Caserta. My sons palace. National parks, heritage sites and remote places are good locations to choose- because they are rarely given to change. Though they are not always practical. For locations in cities and towns, if you cannot choose a place you own then you must be intelligent about your choice. Churches are good- because they are almost never knocked down or moved and because they are often in the center of any town and city- and almost every church has a roof or bell tower you can land safely within. When it comes to taking your photograph do not allow any identifying features to be within that photograph- if others are cunning if they will find your location through that. Choose the corner of a room, an open field, a place none can guess at."

How long it had taken him to learn these things for himself! How he had paid for those mistakes he had made in turn and yet- he was but determined to keep Aiden from such folly if the boy hd a mind to listen. The WereKing, he was sure, was not near fool enough to ignore such advice. Matteo, for today, content to refrain from any mention of just what other freedoms those pictures might offer his companion. Today, after all, was a day for Aiden alone. Was that not the point of the birthday?

"You can choose any photographs you like, from anywhere you like and I shall make copies for you to keep for yourself. For now though, I think it is time we trained a little, oui? Come, over here will do."

Matteo shifted easily from that spot then to cross to the far side of the ballroom, this side far more open and less crowded with those photographs and free of the walls that held them. The Frenchman allowing his silver gaze to consider that space a moment, his shoulders rolling in as if to loosen them preparation for some measure of work. Matteo waiting for Aiden to come to his side once more before pointing to the far end of the room.

"It is easy, yes, for you to teleport from one space to another? From here- to here?"

The Fae so allowed his own teleportation to embrace him then, teleporting for Aiden's left side, to appear on his right. Aiden too, he knew, having mastered those basics. Matteo wholly content to expand upon that concept with something of a more advanced skill and yet one the Panther would surely need in the years to come.

"You are teleporting only once, from one space to another. It is simple. It is easy. We will try for harder. Have you learned yet to teleport in, how you say, a series?"

He had near anticipated that curious look of sorts he was so presented with. Matteo gesturing then to the far side of the room and back towards the door they had come in. The Fae abruptly disappearing only to reappear above that door at the other end of the room, the Frenchman appearing in mid-air only to teleport near instantly once more. Matteo, this time, appearing halfway down that room and still within the air before so flickering from view a final time to appear behind Aiden now. His feet so having failed to touch the ground until that very moment. The Fae having completed each of those teleportations mid-air and without the support of the ground itself.

"It is a matter of summoning your affinity faster than gravity takes you down, become fast enough and I suspect you can very near fly. Our teleportations are not quite the same in the way that transport us, but they are brothers to one another, different sides of the same coin- they are family. If I can do it, you can do it too. Let us see you try."


m a t t e o
it's tough to be a god