Cleo was out of prison.
So was Saira.
Somehow.
Sigh.
What had they been reduced to? They used to be some of the most powerful criminals in the world, and now?
Now they were running a flower shop. In Kingston.
A flower shop.
In Kingston.
‘What a cliché.’ Cleo thought, running a hand through her hair.
During her stay at prison, she’d decided to let it grow, and now wore it braided to a side - to add to the cutesy flower shop owner aesthetic, of course.
Saira had opted to keep hers as it was, wild and spiky and unpredictable and beautiful, just like her.
While the terms of parole meant she couldn’t handle “proper scientific equipment” or the like, she had found herself quite happy nursing the plants and figuring out the best ways to make them grow.
It was rather ridiculous at times, really; the way their basement is constantly filled with plants that the ex- mad scientist was trying to make nocturnal. Or whatever the word was for plants that grow in the dark. Botany wasn’t Cleo’s strong suit, so for the most part, Saira had been leading this little business venture, supplying her wife with the knowledge she’d amassed throughout the years.
It was…different to how things used to be, and Cleo did miss the lavish VILE lifestyle dearly, but at least it wasn’t prison. At least they could both stay together and try to pick up their lives from the ashes everything had burned to on that fateful day.
And it was…refreshing. It was nice to be completely out of the prison’s scrutiny, now that they’d been let out. All they needed to do was lay low and keep their heads down.
Cleo smiled to herself, content with what she had for the first time in what felt like ages. During her time at VILE, all the riches only served to amplify her greed, creating a bottomless sinkhole of dissatisfaction, which had finally been filled- well…sort of. She still indulged from time to time, after all, old habits die hard.
Cleo sat at the front desk scrolling through TikTok, looking at the current state of the world. (spoiler alert, it sucks).
“Saira!” She called in dismay. “They made The Orange the president of America!!!”
“No way, that idiot? Seriously?”
The Orange was one of the people in their graduating class back at VILE.
A real fucking dumbass who wore the most horrendous fake tan Cleo had ever seen in her life, which gave him his codename. He was kind of like roundabout, but less cool and effective, and more orange. But somehow, the bastard was good enough to smooth talk the majority of the USA into voting him.
“What the hell is America anymore?” She grumbled to herself, before she noticed the door opening.
“Ah! Welcome to envy, the flower shop which’ll make your ex so jealous they don’t have you anymore, that they’ll throw a fit!”
The name was Cleo’s idea, the tagline…if you could even call it that…was Saira’s. But since Cleo is WHIPPED, she didn’t protest. They both actually looked at the person who entered, and their mouths kinda dropped open a bit in a shocked way.
“Countess Cleo?” Said Carmen in a very disbelieving way, which was ridiculous as it should be Cleo and Saira who are disbelieving!
“Carmen Sandiego!” Saira exclaimed, “What are you doing here? And who’s that…?” she pointed to the kid clutching Carmen’s hand and looking very smol and cute.
Carmen raised an eyebrow cuz shes a baddie, and responded “ Why am I here? At a flowershop? I wonder why I could possibly be at a flowershop?” She spoke super sarcastically, which made Cleo’s eyebrow twitch, “ I’m here for flowers. Duh. And this kid is my kid. Her name’s Isabel.”
“You…Have a kid?” Cleo was skeptical at this, after all she just doesn’t seem the type to settle down.
“Yes. Well, me and Jules adopted her, but still.” Carmen stated.
“Wait, Jules? As in your history nerd codebreaker friend that Cleo kidnapped that one time?” Saira chimed in, not at all helpfully.
“Yep. That Jules.” Carmen said, before sighing and asking “Do ya have any red roses?”
“Of course you’d want them in red.” Cleo muttered.
“Well, yeah. Considering they’re part of my anniversary gift for my wife, yes, they should be red.” Carmen snarked smugly, flaunting her happy marriage like a flag of not being a disaster bisexual.
“You’re still a disaster bisexual, you know.” Saira said, while handing Carmen the roses.
“Well it takes one to know one!” The fedora wearer replied, before throwing them her money in the way shinobu did to buy kanao in demon slayer just to be annoying.
Then she left with her kid.