My contribution to Mayuri-ako's idea to post Noblesse things around Halloween on tumblr.

Takeo smiled as he shifted his aim.

"Look at him go!" Tao cheered as the white cat pounced on the red dot from Takeo's laser sight (removed from his rifle and shifted into unmodified-human-visible range by Intimidation Mode).

Takeo moved the tip of it in small circles as the animal determinedly chased it all over the floor, careful to avoid the furniture after M-21's warning about the houseowner's reaction to damaged property. He wouldn't want to get the animal in trouble.

"He loves that kind of thing," M-21 said with a little smirk as the cat scrabbled to rotate 160 degrees.

Cream's head had perked up the instant the dot appeared on the floor and he'd gone leaping after it as soon as Takeo wriggled it a little. Orange had pushed himself up a little to see where Cream was going, but stretched and lay back down in the sunny spot, glancing over every so often but pretending to ignore the other cat's foolishness.

"What about you?" Tao asked, crouching down next to the striped cat. "Shouldn't you be named Orange Cream and that cat be called Milk? Maybe even Skim Milk," he rambled on. "Or Peaches and Cream! Should I call you Peaches?"

From the way the cat rolled over and presented his belly (meaning all his pointy bits) to Tao, Takeo guessed that was a definite no.

"Aww, he likes me!" Tao crowed, reaching down.

Takeo's eyes widened in alarm but M-21 was the first to say, "Watch out! He doesn't like strangers petting him."

"But he's…" Tao started to argue then looked down at the cat. "…He's got all his weapons pointed at me." He chuckled. "Right. Got it! If you don't like to be touched, how about some treats?"

Takeo was a little surprised Tao backed down that easily instead of wanting to figure out how to make the cat let Tao pet him, but maybe the treats were that strategy. Or maybe Takeo wasn't the only one who sympathized with animals who didn't want humans to manhandle them. The Union always did human testing, but cats were put in cages and experimented on by others.

That was why it was such a surprise when they'd volunteered for the same experiment as M-21 and followed Frankenstein to the Animal Testing Room to find it full of slight variations on toys and refrigerated portions of sashimi and beef jerky. The modified humans were left to taste-test the treats while Frankenstein tracked down the younger two pets – the half-grown cat and the puppy were a lot more cooperative than Orange – so they could test out playing with them with the different toys.

Takeo's enhanced hearing detected thumping on the stairs – the puppy must have heard all the roughhousing. With a happy bark, Coco joined Cream in chasing the red dot.

"I wonder why they didn't take the dog with them on their walk?" Tao mused, holding a piece of fish up to Orange's mouth.

"Sometimes they walk, sometimes they jump over rooftops," M-21 said. "Coco's not used to that yet. If Frankenstein tells us to take the pets for a walk he means Cream and Coco, not Orange. Someone might try to pet him and then he'd take a swipe at them."

Tao and Takeo nodded. "Did Raizel find him in an alley like Coco?"

M-21 shrugged. "They had the cats before I got here, but there's no way Orange is some pampered pureblood."

Not like Cream. They were both well-groomed, but while Cream was lithe, delicate and as willing to play with the humans as the puppy, Orange was built more solidly and the stripes of paler fur gave him the appearance of an old-battle-scarred warrior.

That aside, "…I think you mean purebred."

"Like Regis?" Tao grinned, then pouted. "I want to pet Orange but I don't want him to be mad at me!"

"Sit down in a sunny spot, get Cream to come sit in your lap and Orange might wander over and join him," M-21 told him. "That's how I got to do it. You'll have to sit still, though."

"I can do that… If I've got a computer in front of me," Tao admitted after Takeo and M-21 both gave him a look. He popped one of the pieces of fish in his mouth.

It said something that the food Frankenstein gave his pets was better than anything they had ever gotten at the Union. Tao wasn't as bad as Raizel, but Takeo had noticed that Tao seemed to crave the fatty fish – 'brain food,' when Tao's brain was heavily modified and modified bodies… tended not to last long. If those fats were used to protect and repair the brain, then Takeo wasn't going to comment on Tao eating the cat treats.

For that matter it was a good idea, just in case – animals were less resilient than modified humans, and Frankenstein wouldn't risk poisoning or adulterating the pet food in case anything happened to them. His Master would be upset. It was hard to imagine a scientist caring about another living thing, but even though Frankenstein had fainted when Raizel brought Coco home not yet housebroken and had to be revived after Seira made the… substance vanish from his floor (which begged the question of why Regis picked up after the children instead of doing that, but Takeo knew about hiding enhanced abilities from regular humans), he hadn't tried to get rid of the puppy.

Tao and Takeo had thought he was kidding when he conscripted M-21 to 'translate' by repeating what Frankenstein said to the puppy, but Coco really did seem to understand what M-21 said, wagging his tail at them and barking happily as Frankenstein explained about wiping his mouth off on the towel after using his water or food bowls, going out into the garden around the house and how to behave while on walks.

Coco's tongue was already starting to hang out of his mouth, but finally he plopped down, tired. Takeo picked him up, smiling down at him apologetically even though the puppy didn't seem unhappy to be tired out. He folded an arm and rested Coco there, twirling the scope in his other hand until he saw that Cream was circling Takeo's feet instead of chasing the dot. "There you go," Takeo said, walking into the kitchen and setting Coco down by his water bowl – water fountain with built-in filters and cleaning system, really.

The pets here got higher-quality and better tasting water than they had at the Union, too.

Coco lapped it up as quickly as he could, tail wagging hard enough to shake his entire little body. Cream rubbed up against him companionably.

"He'll be bigger than you soon," Takeo told the cat, smoothing his fur into place to spare Cream the effort of doing it himself. When Coco saw Cream grooming himself he tried to 'help,' with… very cute results, true, but Cream must also be tired after running around like that.

"One for you, and one for me, and one for you, and one for M-21!"

Takeo whirled to see M-21 snatching the piece of white fish out of the air, glaring at Tao for trying to surprise him like that while chewing. What if the food had landed on the floor? The cats were too finicky to eat food off the floor and the dog wasn't allowed to eat raw fish. They weren't allowed to eat anything 'dirty' either – Frankenstein forbade it. If M-21 hadn't caught it when Tao threw it at him the food would have gone to waste!

Orange got up and walked away from Tao, not impressed with his shenanigans either. He sat on top of M-21's slippers.

"I ate the fish," M-21 told him, guessing that was what Orange wanted.

Done drinking, the puppy enthusiastically nuzzled the soft fluffy towel around his bowl, tail still wagging, then looked up at Takeo hopefully. Takeo crouched down to pick him up again, still careful not to make any sudden movements. He'd interacted with stray animals before, so even though Coco had a home now and seemed confident that none of them would hurt him, Takeo didn't want to scare the puppy.

Cream looked at Takeo and crouched, wriggling, so Takeo wasn't surprised either when Cream jumped up onto his right shoulder. The cat waited until Takeo stood up to walk over to his left shoulder, then his right again before settling on his left as Takeo returned to the living room. Once Takeo sat down, Cream walked onto the back of the couch and jumped down onto the seat before joining Coco on Takeo's lap.

M-21 sat down next to Takeo, watching Tao suspiciously. Or was that 'took refuge behind Takeo?' Takeo smiled a little as Coco licked at his fingers.

As soon as M-21 sat down, Orange practically materialized in his lap, then stepped across the gap, putting one foot on Takeo's lap with his hind legs still on M-21's lap to rub his cheek against Cream's. Coco immediately wriggled over to start sniffing at Orange's neck. The cat looked miffed but allowed the liberty.

Coco let out the cutest little yawn and stood up to scramble around Takeo's lap, climbing on top of Cream and down his other side before snuggling against Takeo's stomach half on top of Cream and closing his little eyes. Cream gazed out into the room, ignoring the fact he was being used as a mattress. Orange looked even more annoyed, withdrawing himself to M-21's lap and sitting up. When M-21 took that as his cue to stroke the cat Orange regally ignored it, wrapping his tail around his legs.

"I wonder if Boss bought them because they're like him and him?" Tao wondered, sitting next to Takeo and leaning over all of them.

M-21 snorted, like that was obvious.

"Then he brought home Coco for M-21… I wonder if they'll get us-pets, now that we're staying?"

Takeo felt himself sit up a little more. He had noticed the personalities of the animals, how Raizel took in a 'worthless mutt' and showered Coco with affection… Well, pet the puppy while seeming to regally ignore it, but that seemed very demonstrative for nobles.

"I'm a cat, but Takeo could go either way. What about Seira and Regis, though?"

"Maybe that's why they haven't adopted animals for us," Takeo said quickly, trying to keep Tao from feeling hurt or disappointed.

"Well, adding four pets all at once, when they have to be sure they all get along with each other? Oh, but Coco and Regis-pet would have to like playfighting with each other, too! They might run all over the house and knock into the furniture even more than Cream and Coco do when they're playing! Maybe that's why he hasn't brought home more animals, Boss might not like it."

"He didn't like it when Raizel had me come here with them," M-21 said, automatically petting the cat in his lap.

"I think Orange is a former stray too, like Coco," Takeo said, looking at M-21's hand knowing the mark on the inside of his wrist. "I wonder if that means anything."

"About Boss? And Cream is all sweet and elegant, oh yes you are," Tao said, tickling the cat under the chin. "I bet Boss picked Cream out so he had a pet. Maybe he found Orange so Cream wouldn't be stuck at home alone all day while they're at the school?"

Cream ignored Tao, staring off into space and shifting a little in Takeo's lap, as though he was about to pounce out from under Coco and go chasing off after something.

…and there he went, leaping up the stairs, Orange chasing after him.

Woken by the thump into Takeo's lap as Cream disappeared from under him, Coco levered himself up on his front legs before plopping down again. Takeo scratched him consolingly so he didn't feel abandoned.

Smiling brilliantly, Frankenstein dealt with the animal shelter employees and volunteers, keeping them clustered around him. It took a great deal of work to keep them from being drawn towards Master, no matter how large a check Frankenstein was waving. Especially when Raizel was walking up and down the rows, letting out all the animals before sitting down on a chair and letting the first candidate run up to him eagerly.

"Why don't we adjourn to your office," Frankenstein said, dialing up the wattage as Raizel began a serious discussion with the animals about the job openings and the duties the new household members would need to fulfill, such as lying on Tao's keyboard and receiving pets when Tao had been on the computers too long and needed a break, or not picking up Takeo's guns and playing keep-away in hopes of starting a game of fetch.

Frankenstein used turning into animals as a means of avoiding Union pursuit – and he'd encouraged Master to learn the techniques trying to get him to do something, anything but stand there in front of that window. It was Raizel's idea to use his animal form to give M-21 comfort and sympathy he'd been too scared to accept from a powerful being, even one that wasn't human (when it was humans who had hurt M-21, one of their own kind…).

Now, Frankenstein had to act fast to improve local shelter conditions and adoption programs so that he could assure Raizel that these animals would have good homes soon before Raizel could turn that expression on Frankenstein. Thinking these animals had nowhere to call home would make Raizel sad, and Frankenstein truly couldn't handle a sad Master.

The torments of Dark Spear, the trials of centuries of solo warfare were endurable, but even Frankenstein had his limits.

I've had scenes in this 'verse in my head for awhile. Raizel doesn't sit in the main room hoping someone will talk to him/observing the others at play so much, because he has another way to actively participate – with his classmates disguised as a normal high school student, with the children disguised as harmless in another way.

Despite being aware he gets his ass kicked at Counterstrike, the household can't imagine Rai chasing after a laser pointer, so while they've noticed some similarities the idea that Cream is Rai is hahahano.

In an ideal world I'd like to do at least four more bits of this 'verse, but that's dependent on my energy level, which is a jerk.