Part 18: Father MacLaughlin vs. Mild Dementia

Chapter 18: Father MacLaughlin vs. Mild Dementia



Before returning to the Cazaunoux residence, Gabriel stops by his bedroom to pick up his jar of hair gel. As much as he loves his beautiful scruffy hair, he suspects Madame Cazaunoux might not be such a fan.



Gabriel decides to wait until he arrives to change into the priest's shirt. It's best to not get it covered in road grime; he's trying to make it convincing.





Gabriel refuses to let us watch him change, but soon enough, he's garbed in the freshly laundered shirt he freshly stole. His coat is presumably stashed in a bush or something nearby.




He then smears down his wild 'do with his hair gel.



For whatever reason, Gabriel stares off to the right side of the screen after putting on the hair gel and refuses to look at us. Maybe he's too ashamed.



His clever disguise finally prepared, Gabriel knocks on the door.




"Father MacLaughlin" has some of the most hilariously wonderful voice acting I've ever heard. Tim Curry puts on an incredibly over-the-top Irish accent and layers it on top of Gabriel's atrocious Cajun accent, occasionally even slipping entirely into Cajun-mode when Gabriel is talking quietly, creating a voice that absolutely can not be replicated. It is brilliant.





And just like that, Madame Cazaunoux lets Gabriel into her home. She sees "priest" and immediately decides that this man is totally trustworthy.









Cazaunoux's home is pretty much Old Crazy Lady Central. Still, she seems earnest enough to please Father MacLaughlin. Gabriel decides to ask some general priestly questions before delving into the weird stuff.




No, they sure don't. I could see how she has that kind of time though.






Nothing new here. Let's go ahead and ask her about her surely-exciting life.






Yeah, those damn Germans and Irish are ruining everything.



Well, Father MacLaughlin is new to the area; maybe he can learn a little about the place.




All right, geez, you're French, we get it.




Those damn kids these days with their rap music and their New Kids On the Block and their Voodoo murders.



St. John's Eve is coming up awfully soon. Perhaps there's some fine local French tradition that the ignorant German-Irish know nothing about.






Hmm ... okay. She seems willing enough to discuss the seedier side of the local residents. Time to get some juicy gossip.







And the more of those that are sold by that nice fellow Willy Walker, the better!





Unfortunately, she doesn't clarify exactly what she means by "all the time." But what about that other loaded phrase we ran across?







AWESOME. New personal topic: "Human sacrifice" (If you don't already have the translation, she refuses to tell you, thus blocking you out of the vast majority of the important parts of this conversation.)




New personal topic: "Real Voodoo queens"






Holy crap. I guess she has a lot more info in her than she seemed to. New global topic: "Voodoo Hounfour"




...drums? You mean like those street drummers that are in like half of the French quarter?








Cazaunoux pulls out a strange snake-shaped bracelet from the box on her coffee table.





"I've got to get my hands on this thing."






Looks like Gabriel's not going to be able to convince her to just let him keep the bracelet.



Cazaunoux hands it over, awaiting Father MacLaughlin's beautiful blessing.






...what.



Madame Cazaunoux bows her head serenely, buying into Gabriel's terrible blessing, while Gabriel considers the situation. This thing is amazing; he's got to get ahold of it somehow.




Gabriel hands the bracelet back, his mind racing. He's not going to be able to get the bracelet itself; that's for sure. She'd probably fight for it, and he's not up for fighting an old crazy lady. Maybe if he had some sort of impression of it, that would be enough. But to do that, he'd need some ... clay. That's it.




Cazanoux happily shows him out. What a nice and helpful lady, assuming you happen to be a Catholic priest.





Gabriel shuffles back into his usual outfit and tucks away the priest's shirt safely. He's going to need that again soon.

If anything, the past few days have sharply honed one of Gabriel's skills -- finding a good use for things that seem otherwise worthless. He once again returns to the crime scene.



He feels at the clay along the shore, and sure enough it's firm enough to hold shape while still being soft enough that he can make an imprint.




He picks up a lump just large enough to get an impression of the whole bracelet and returns to Cazaunoux's.








Cazaunoux hands over the bracelet and he begins the blessing once again.





While Cazaunoux has her head bowed, Gabriel turns aside and imprints the bracelet on the clay just out of her line of sight.





...




Gabriel hands back the bracelet, somewhat amazed that she actually bought it





And with that settled, she shows kindly Father MacLaughlin out, not noticing that just out of her line of sight, he carries a small lump of clay, clasped delicately in his hands.



That Sam guy from the bar mentioned that he was a jeweler, and he does owe Gabriel a favor. Maybe he can do something with this mold. Gabriel returns to the bar once again.









Yes, I believe you mentioned that.











And so, finally, Gabriel is done with everything he needs to do today. It was tight, and almost ruined by an impromptu nap, but he just barely managed.





Gabriel once again arrives at the shop just as it closes.



Just as Grace leaves for the evening, however, Malia Gedde rounds the corner.






Grace clearly knows who Malia is. This does nothing to temper her resolve to put a stop to this here and now.




Gabriel pokes his head out the front door.



He pulls Malia inside and shuts the door in Grace's face.








They talk in savage whispers, completely lost in their emotions by this point.






Gabriel pulls Malia in for a kiss, bringing Day 3 to a close. We're not shown exactly what happens for the rest of the night, but one thing is for certain -- Gabriel doesn't dream.



Next time:

Gabriel asks the police force the tough questions in Chapter 19: Gabriel Knight vs. Detective Mosely!

Videos!
33. You scruffy embarrassment Irishman (Dailymotion) (Youtube)
34. A lovely blessing, mon père! (Dailymotion) (Youtube)
35. Day 3 ending (Dailymotion) (Youtube)