Project Divinity

Chapter 3: Family Meeting Speedrun

When Elaine was finally finished with her explanation Emily no longer looked like she was about to have a stroke. Of course, Elaine's explanation had been a heavily pared down and censored version but it had gotten the gist across, that the project they were part of required them to forge strong bonds to grow more powerful and in the cases of Alexis, Ophelia, Evelyn and Cassie that strong bond had turned into something more.

Finally, Elaine asked: “So, uh, where's dad and Mike?”

Emily blinked a few times from the sudden change of topic, then smiled: “Your father is teaching Mike and Jason how to shoot.”

“Jason?” Elaine asked but next to her Alexis' eyes were wide.

“Wait, you mean my brother?” the blonde asked.

Emily nodded.

“Hold on, so dad's out with Mike and Alexis' brother?” Elaine asked.

“Yes.”

“I don't believe you,” Elaine said. “Mike was never into any of dad's survival stuff.”

“You'd be surprised,” Emily said. “Learning how to shoot, how to read tracks and how to set up a tent beats being bored at...” She let out a huge sigh and said in a wistful voice as she looked around their apartment before she finished: “... home.”

Elaine took that as an opportunity to look around. The apartment wasn't quite as painfully utilitarian on the inside as the building had looked on the outside but it was still a dreary concrete box filled with just a few choice personal belongings. It was another stark reminder that the people in this camp were surviving but they weren't really living.

And so she supposed it made sense that Mike had gotten into their dad's survival stuff. It allowed at least a modicum of freedom and diversion. But then...

“So, is your brother a big outdoorsy guy?” Elaine asked Alexis.

“N-not really,” Alexis admitted. “Well, he was always interested in that kind of thing but my parents weren't, so...”

“I swear that boy spends more time here than he does with his parents,” Emily admitted, then turned back to Elaine. “Your father has really missed having someone around he could do this stuff with and he was so happy when Jason wanted to learn. He was even happier when Mike decided that spending time with his old man beat sitting around at home.”

Elaine smiled. Her dad was an awesome guy but Mike had never really appreciated it. Not that Mike was prissy or anything but he was more into team sports than into exploring the wilderness. She wondered idly if the camp had a football field. Probably not or Mike wouldn't have had to hang out with their dad to blow off some steam.

“So how is life here, anyway?” Ophelia asked.

“Dreary,” Emily answered immediately. “We're waiting for things to blow over and getting stir-crazy doing it. The food is fine, everyone gets all the entertainment they could want, there's several leisure activities you can take part in, but you can't really call it living.” She paused. “Although unlike you we aren't going out there to risk our lives so I don't think I should be complaining.”

Elaine shook her head. “No, mom. You're right to complain. We're out there fighting so that you, all of you, won't have to live like this for much longer.”

Emily gave Elaine a soft smile. “You got your optimism from your dad, you know?”

Elaine smiled, then looked over at Alexis. “Wanna say hi to your parents?”

Alexis opened her mouth, then looked over at Emily and hesitated.

“Go ahead, I'm sure you've got more stops to make,” Emily said.

“Want to come along?” Elaine asked.

“Downstairs?” Emily asked. “Sure, why not.”

And so Elaine's group took Emily along as they headed downstairs. Before they reached the Bigsbys' door, however, a tall bear of a man entered the building with two young men in tow.

“Well,” he rumbled, “this place has gotten bus— Elaine?”

“Hey dad,” Elaine said, her voice as meek as Alexis had ever heard it.

And she couldn't blame her lover. The man was certainly intimidating. Not scary, mind, but intimidating.

Elaine's dad was easily seven feet tall and build like a stainless steel refrigerator, his arms thicker than Alexis' thighs. And yet despite that, the man wasn't scary at all. She wasn't sure if it was the flannel shirt, the neatly trimmed beard or the broad grin on his face but something about him just put Alexis at ease. And when he rushed forward and hugged Elaine that feeling was only amplified. Elaine, the scary strong sexy lady Alexis had fallen for, looked like a child in this man's arms and he seemed to take great care not to crush her too tightly to himself. Or he tried to until Elaine wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight and soon he grunted at her strength.

“You've gotten stronger,” he said.

“I have,” she admitted.

“I thought those crystal blades looked familiar.”

Emily blinked. “Wait, the one swinging those crystal swords around, that was you?”

Elaine actually blushed as her parents looked at her in awe.

“I'm so proud of you, babygirl,” her dad said as he swept her up in another hug.

“Da~ad,” Elaine whined, drawing the syllable out.

“What's the matter?” Ophelia asked. “Scared to lose your badass pass?”

Alexis couldn't stop the titter from escaping her lips.

“It's okay if you're not a badass all the time,” Evelyn said. “I still love you.”

Dead silence followed the statement and it took to a count of three before Evelyn realized what she'd just said. Immediately she clapped her hands over her mouth and her face turned as red as her hair.

Elaine extricated herself from her dad, then turned towards the blushing redhead, a shit-eating grin on her face. Slowly and deliberately she stalked towards Evelyn and leaned down, into her personal space.

“Is that so?” she asked.

“I-I-I... I mean...” Evelyn stammered. “I mean we love you. Right. All of us.”

“I see,” Elaine said. “What a shame. I thought you'd just told me something very interesting there.”

“I mean,” Evelyn said, “it's not as if I... don't...” Her mouth twisted into an 'L' shape and Elaine shut her up with a kiss before she could put any more feet in her mouth.

“Let's discuss this later,” she said softly. “Okay, Evie?”

“Y-yeah,” Evelyn said.

“Well,” Elaine's dad began as he saw the two together but before he could say anything else Emily elbowed him in the ribs.

“Shut up, Caldwell.”

“I haven't even said anything!” he protested.

“I said shut up, Caldwell,” Emily said, then asked: “So, where did you leave Mike and Jason?”

“Tied to poles in the sun so they learn to behave themselves,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Alexis' eyes grew wide in horror before Elaine elbowed him in the ribs from the other side. “So, where are they really?”

“Off playing some virtual reality game,” he said. “We used up our allotted ammo for the day.”

“Allotted ammo?” Elaine asked.

“As civilians we only get so much ammo a day,” he explained. “They want to make sure the soldiers don't run dry because we're messing around at the range.”

“That's fair,” Elaine said.

“Normally I'd disagree, but I admit you ladies probably need the ammo more than we do,” he said. “But enough about that. What's this procession about?”

“We were about to visit the Bigsbys before you interrupted us,” Emily said. “And you haven't even introduced yourself to Elaine's friends.”

“Squad mates, mom,” Elaine whined.

Elaine's dad managed not to snort but from the way his face scrunched up it clearly required all of his concentration. “You're right, of course. Where are my manners? I'm Eric and you've all met my little princess.”

“Little princess?” Cassie asked quietly.

“If I want your opinion I'll give it to you,” Elaine hissed back, her face red from embarrassment.

“You're adorable when you're embarrassed,” Ophelia told her.

“So, Alexis,” Emily said, deliberately trying to change the topic, “want to say hi to your parents?”

“Y-yeah,” Alexis said and took a deep breath before she went to knock at the door to the apartment her family was staying at.

**

Elaine breathed a sigh of relief as her mother saved her from even more embarrassment. After Prudence had told her that she felt attracted to her she'd wanted to seem calm and collected in front of the angel but apparently her girls and her parents had had other ideas.

But with the distraction Elaine could finally relax. This was going to be Alexis' show now, not hers.

In response to Alexis' knock a man opened the door and even without having to be told Elaine immediately knew that this man was Alexis' dad. And the woman coming up behind him was just as clearly Alexis' mom.

Alexis was a petite young woman, short and with modest curves, blessed with a gorgeous girl-next-door face and golden blond hair and the most beautiful sparkling blue eyes. She was shy and withdrawn around strangers but when talking about her interests, when locked in fierce combat and, increasingly, when alone with Elaine she was brave, confident and wise beyond her years, a genius at whatever she put her mind to.

And even though Elaine had never met Alexis' parents, one look at them told her everything she needed to know. Neither of them were particularly tall or muscular people. In fact, Elaine couldn't fathom either of them getting along with her bear of a father or her little pixie of a mother. No, Alexis' parents were clearly academics, both of them just as slender as their daughter and wearing glasses. Of course, glasses didn't say anything about one's intelligence but the shelves full of books and the academic journals open on their kitchen table did.

It showed Elaine how Alexis had turned out the way she had although it still made her wonder if Alexis' newfound martial prowess was a result of her being able to indulge in something besides academic pursuits for the first time in her life.

The three of them spent a while catching up but finally Elaine was pulled out of her thoughts when Alexis said:

“Mom, dad, this is Elaine, my... girlfriend.”

This was an important moment. Elaine had never really talked to Alexis about whether her parents approved or even knew of her preferences. Being intellectuals didn't preclude them from being bigots, after all. And even if they had no issue with their daughter being interested in women, it wouldn't be the first time parents had disliked Elaine for seeming like a big, strong bad influence on their sweet, pure daughter.

It was ridiculous but several times she'd met parents who had thought that their daughter being a lesbian meant that she would bring home a sweet, petite, blushing maiden and not a woman more muscular than most boyfriends their daughter could have ended up with instead.

So Elaine tried for a neutral but friendly expression as she went to shake their hands.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, hoping she sounded less awkward than she felt.

“Nice to meet you, Elaine,” Alexis' mom said, giving Elaine the look she knew as the 'boyfriend once-over' as she shook her hand.

Apparently Elaine passed muster because a small smile came over the woman's lips when Elaine didn't try to crush her hand during the shake. In truth, Elaine had to try her damnedest not to hurt these frail humans, so powerful was she now. She might need to get some pointers from Ophelia on how to handle her preternatural strength.

“Nice to meet you,” Alexis' dad said, sounding a bit more uncertain. He seemed more fragile even than his wife and Elaine made sure to shake his hand a little more gingerly without making it look like she was treating him like fine china. He seemed to appreciate it and said: “You'll make my little girl happy, won't you?”

“Of course, sir,” Elaine said.

**

And so the day went. After letting Alexis catch up with her parents, they made for Cassie's and Evelyn's families next. Despite what Cassie had said about his dad he actually got along surprisingly well with his parents and they seemed fine with Cassie's lifestyle choices. From Cassie's stories Elaine had been curious to find out what his parents looked like and meeting them was eye-opening.

Cassie was beautiful, there was no other way to put it. Long, golden blond hair framed a gorgeous face and while his build seemed slight she knew his abs had some subtle definition, which did wonders in combination with the tiniest little mounds his chest had. The uniform the cadets wore wasn't particularly feminine but even in these barely feminine clothes Cassie still looked distinctly effeminate, to the point where the only true indication of Cassie's true gender was the Adam's apple on his throat.

Cassie's dad, by stark contrast, was a man's man. Not the kind of bear Elaine's dad was but instead Cassie's dad looked like a movie star, all chiseled jaw and expertly groomed stubble, broody and handsome and in great physical shape. He was the kind of man Elaine might have found unreasonably attractive if her life had taken different turns. These days he didn't really do it for her, however. She could appreciate his looks but she vastly preferred Cassie over him. Cassie's mom, likewise, looked like a model and Elaine saw a lot of her in him. She had a similarly pretty face and her hair, a touch lighter than his, looked fluffy and luxurious.

Both of them seemed slightly perplexed when they met Elaine. Not put off, exactly, but it seemed as though neither of them had expected Cassie to date someone like her. Was it because he only rarely dated girls or did he usually go for partners that weren't as muscular? She resolved to ask about it later.

Once they were done checking up on Cassie's family they headed to Evelyn's parents, who seemed absolutely baffled when Evelyn introduced Elaine as her girlfriend. From what Evelyn had told her she'd considered herself straight up until she'd started crushing on her and so of course their daughter dating a woman would have come as quite a shock. But despite that they both warmed up to her rather quickly. From what she managed to gather Evelyn truly was – or had been – a brat and her parents seemed happy that she'd found someone she liked but who wouldn't take her bullshit lying down. She wondered idly how well it would go over if she told them that she'd spanked Evelyn before.

Finally, after they left Evelyn's parents, Ophelia turned to Alexis, Elaine and Cassie and asked:

“So I guess we're done, right? Wanna go to bed and have some fun?”

Alexis started blushing at the suggestion and Cassie bit his lip but Elaine crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“We still have one stop left, don't we?”

And they did. They'd yet to visit Ophelia's parents, something that, judging by the guilty look the vampire gave her in response, Ophelia knew very well.

Ophelia was gorgeous. She was pale, with long black hair and full, blood-red lips, beautiful and shapely, and right now she was carrying a lacy parasol to hide away from the sun. While sunlight didn't actually burn vampires, direct skin contact with it did shut off their preternatural abilities and the vampire instincts inside them went mad with terror when exposed to it, so even though she could survive sunlight with no problem she still did her best not to expose herself to it. And right now she was looking around nervously, refusing to meet Elaine's eyes.

Finally Elaine rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Look, if you really don't want your parents to meet us, then I won't force you.”

“What?” Ophelia asked. She sounded almost outraged. “No, that's not it at all.”

Elaine just regarded her.

Ophelia took a deep breath and finally said: “It's not that I'm embarrassed about you. It's that I'm embarrassed about them. My parents... aren't the most accepting people. If I introduce you as my girlfriend I'm pretty sure they'll freak out. But if I don't introduce you as my girlfriend then you might take it the wrong way. So I would have preferred not to visit them at all, to save myself the trouble.”

Elaine looked at her a moment longer, then nodded. “I stand by what I said before. I'm not going to force you to visit your parents, with or without us. But this is the first chance we've all gotten in like seven months.”

Ophelia twirled the parasol around as she thought. Finally she took a deep breath and said: “Alright then. You guys go on ahead. I won't be long, so don't start too much of the fun without me.” She said the last one with a saucy wink but Elaine could tell her heart wasn't quite in it.

**

“Are you sure you're alright with leaving her like this?” Abigail asked, surprising Elaine. Abigail had been rather quiet throughout these visits, which was understandable. Of all her team members, Abigail was the only one whose parents weren't at this camp and so there was very little here for her to do other than to meet strangers she would likely never meet again.

“I've dealt with bigot parents before,” Elaine finally said. “If Ophelia thinks it'll cause trouble I won't butt in. I like her too much to force that kind of discussion on her.”

“And you're not upset?”

Elaine huffed. “I'm not completely clueless. I've picked up on how Ophelia talks about her parents. They don't get along all that well already. If she thinks me, or us, being there will make it worse then we'll stay out of it. If she doesn't want us to see how her parents treat her then I'll respect her wishes. More importantly, how are you holding up?”

“What do you mean?”, Abigail asked.

“All of us are getting to visit our parents but your mom is staying at a different camp, right?”

“Ah, that. I guess I would like to see my mom in person but we're having video calls every few days. She's doing fine.”

“Are you sure that's enough for you?” Elaine asked. “I'm sure we could visit her if we borrow a gospel.”

Abigail smiled. “That's sweet of you but no. I'm not really a touchy-feely person. Seeing her, talking to her, hearing her voice, that's more than enough for me. But thank you for being so considerate.”

“I told you,” Elaine said. “You're part of our team. And even beyond that, I consider you a friend. I care about you.”

Abigail looked away but not before Elaine saw the deep red blush covering her cheeks. The notification that Abigail had just reached Bond Level 8 made her smile.

“About Ophelia,” Prudence said when it became clear that Abigail was too embarrassed to keep up a conversation.

“Yeah?” Elaine asked.

“What will you do if she comes back with bruises?” the angel asked, her voice deadly serious.

“Are you speaking from experience?” Elaine asked, then almost kicked herself for how rude of a question it was.

“I do,” the angel said. “I admit the 1930s were a different time than today but people like that still exist.”

Elaine nodded. “I'm not going to hurt them if that's what you're asking. Even if Ophelia couldn't defend herself, hurting her parents would only upset her. I am pretty sure no matter what happens, the evening's going to involve a lot of hugging and shushing, though.”

“So no sexy time then,” Cassie muttered.

Elaine chuckled. “Don't worry, I've got something naughty planned for all of you.”

“Yeah?” Evelyn and Cassie asked simultaneously.

“Yeah,” Elaine said. “Those EXP won't spend themselves.”