Mrs. Smith, about a week after Mr. Smith helped Greer fix up Blake’s car, decided to talk to all the boys and invite them to tea. She had no idea who would come. ‘Hello Boys, Greer has spoken well of you and I didn't realize it was still so easy to go from here to there still. If anyone would like to come for tea, I'm making some right now. Don't tell Greer, she'll just make a fuss.` She sent her text to them and went to prepare.
Mrs. Greer made the tea, hoping one of them would come. She pulled out some of her cookies and sweets down as well. She didn't pull out the good china, but it was one of her favorite tea sets. She wasn't sure how these boys would be, but she hoped they'd be open to talking about Greer a bit.
After a brief talk among the male roommates about the text they received, it was decided that Luce and Blake would accept the invite as representatives for all four of them. Sato would be unable to make it due to a last-minute mandatory meeting with his research team, and Dewi said he would probably be busy with a photo shoot for at least the next few hours. Thus, the brothers took the shortcut to Greer's childhood home. "So, should we knock or just go in?"
Blake shrugged. "Why are you asking me? I don't know, knock I guess..."
When Mrs. Smith heard the knocking, she went over to the closet door. "Oh, hello boys, please come in... Ah... Blake? Not Cronos?" She looked uncertain then looked to Luce. "And you are Luce yes? Please please come in... The tea is nice and hot. I have some cookies as well. Next time, please just come in. You both are good people if my daughter trusts you all."
She walked towards the living room and went to put away two of the cups. "Make yourselves at home." She had bright red armchairs and a matching couch, with dark wood accents and coffee table. Again, plenty of pictures and knick knacks all over from various family trips. "You two are... brothers correct?"
"That's correct, Ma'am." Luce pulled Blake into a side hug. "This troublemaker has been with me since birth. Quite the handful and don't let him tell you differently."
"Only because you were always an overprotective mother hen....."
She smiled and started pouring tea. "I'll let you add your cream and sugar." She made sure to leave room before preparing her own cup and sitting down. "So... how is she? I know she came by and got her tools.... and had a black eye. My husband told me."
Luce winced at the mention of the black eye. Of course her mother would want to know about it. "She's..... growing. She has been testing out the extent of her powers, though it seems she decided to do something stupid during one of the tests and got injured. Rest assured, Greer and my boyfriend, Satoshi, have been instructed to take more safety precautions in the future......"
She actually seemed to relax at that. Mrs. Smith offered the cookies to the boys. "Is that all... I was worried... She was getting so angry and got into fights after she broke up with her last boyfriend. I was worried she had started it up again. But her doing something stupid to see if it could be done? That's our girl. One summer she wanted to see how much speed she needed to build up to skip across the lake near here in an inter tube. I could kill her cousins for helping."
Blake just stared in a bit of shock for a moment. "How'd she.... you know what, never mind. That's probably totally something she would try. She does seem to be quite headstrong when she gets an idea in her head."
Mrs. Smith nodded. "It involved doing doughnuts in her cousins truck while she was in the back. I suppose she used her abilities and didn't know. That same summer I had my roof redone... by her and her cousins." She took a sip. "...is she making friends besides you? Or dating at all...? She had given up...." She trailed off, looking down at her tea. "She used to try and make friends before the town 'won'... so to speak. They didn't last but..." She looked out her window, people in the neighborhood passing by. "She said it wasn't worth it any more before she left. That people would always happily blame her for misfortune. When we had her leave to find another shop to work in... we had hoped..." she trailed off.
"I mean she did have that one date...." Luce started.
Blake interrupted. "That didn't turn out so well....."
Luce continued. "But she did end up meeting that cop. Shi-shi said they seemed to be really friendly, even exchanged numbers with him. And he already knows she has powers, even if he doesn't know what they are, so.... At least he doesn't fault her for it like some people would..."
Smith took another sip. "She hasn't called him yet has she?" She looked at them. "You don't need to answer... I know our Tiny Tot.” She sighed. "I imagine by now she's almost got enough saved up to move out as well.. I'm worried she's going to just hide again..." She picked up a picture from the side table, Greer in high school with her learner’s permit. "After the town got the powers proven, most of the people she thought of as being at least basic friends left. They assumed she was being stingy with her abilities... or she was getting back at them. After that she just gave up. She finished her certification and tested out by 17. She could only stay for about a year before we well.... that conversation didn't go well. We didn't phrase things well and she well... you know how well she listens at times."
"Like a brick wall that's likely to punch you if she doesn't like what is said.” Luce sighed a bit. “Yeah, I might of had to use my powers just to tell her that she had abilities too. I don't like to use them, but she wouldn't have listened otherwise. Power users usually have it pretty tough, though those raised within powered families learn to control our more extreme emotions at a young age since most powers tap into the more primal parts of us, like emotions."
Mrs Smith looked a bit mad herself. "Tsk! they couldn't even be bothered to tell us that much. All that agent said was she'd get help and assistance as needed. If I didn't think it would cause her trouble I'd go up to those officials myself and tell them to fix that and start helping! We literally knew no one with powers. How were we supposed to teach her? Not even a pamphlet. Maybe I should go and tell them to at least make some pamphlets; maybe pull them by the ear to their mothers." Blake chuckled as it was obvious the ‘tiny tot’ didn't fall far from the tree. She looked to Luce. "She didn't say what you could do. Some sort of listening power I suppose? She needed it I'm sure. You won't hear complaints from me."
Luce looked the most nervous he's been this whole time. "Actually, Ma'am, I..... I can control people. I...."
Blake placed a hand on his brother's arm. "As you can imagine, my brother has had some hardships due to his abilities. He spent a lot of time learning to control them so he doesn't hurt anyone again."
Mrs Smith looked to him and nodded offering him another cookie. "Well obviously, or my daughter wouldn't give you so much grief. If you chose to use your powers on her, you must have felt it was in her best interest to try and keep her calm. Dr Holmes sent us a report of her powers. Her luck would be activated if she was upset yes? To make her good luck turn?" After offering the cookies she took one herself. "I know what was going through her head in that moment then. I don't know how long the idea has to be there but I know her." She took a small bite. "She would have rather been dead. Death would have been preferable in that moment." She looked to Luce. "You may have well saved my daughter's life."
Blake and Luce just sat frozen in silence, Blake's cup of tea is still in midair. They knew Greer adjusting to being powered had been hard. More than once after they told her they had caught her crying in her room or muttering on if she really had caused someone trouble. Luce had been talking to her, but Greer had never admitted to anything like that.
She set her cookie down and went over and hugged Luce tightly. Very very softly he could hear "thank you." Blake could see a small tear.She slowly let go. Wiping her eye. "I'm sorry, we are very physical people in our home. I forget to ask first sometimes...." She sat back down in her seat, clearing her throat. "So... what else has my daughter been up to? Probably just her comics and magazines..."
Blake noticed that his brother was still trying to sort out his emotions and took over the conversation for the both of them. "She's been busy making her Mama proud. She's fixing up that unhelpful system that abandoned her while in need and has been putting old stuffy politicians in their place. All without violence, too."
She blinked. "Greer? Our Greer?" She looked shocked, and it quickly turned into a mother's pride. "Well then... Good! She can do that sort of thing when she focuses. It means she'll probably stay there rather than come here..." She stood up and motioned for the boys to follow her. When they did, they saw a room that looked like it could be Greer's. "Help me get things sorted then. We will get them to her apartment when she gets it. We lied when we told her we sold her things. She wouldn't have taken our money otherwise. Meanwhile you can tell me all about what she's doing exactly. I want all the details."
****
Greer came home and dropped her back pack. She was dead. There were 3 emergencies, 4 “emergencies” and then all that paperwork… all with Sato busy. The only upside was she had the next 3 days off. Just 3 days to relax and do nothing.
She slowly made her way to the door she used, and looked at it.
It was Pink.
It was pink and had glitter on it.
It was pink had glitter and “Our Lil’ Princess” painted on it with bows and ribbon and that tutu stuff and… was that … rhinestones?
Greer slowly took a deep breath. She would not slide…. She would not slide… she would not…
She heard them in the room. Dewi. HAD to be Dewi.
“DEWI YOU BETTER NOT BE CHANGING UP MY ROOM OR I SW-“ She burst into the room to see Sato and Blake carrying a box, Luce in the middle of hanging a poster, and Dewi sitting on her bed with her old robo bed spread, trying not to laugh and failing horribly.
And her mother was there, handing them drinks. “Tiny tot you better not be yelling at these boys after they’ve helped all day today.”
Greer looked around stunned. Her real door was over in the corner, by all of her collectibles, models, books. It looked like even her old clothes were being brought in from where? She looked at where her mother was coming from and that was her room. Blake and Sato set down the box. “We thought you might like your things. I mean we decorated and all but it was still pretty bare.”
Dewi smiled. “Yeah sis, don’t you ever buy ANYTHING for yourself?”
Greer looked to her mom. ‘You…. You sold everything I told you to and you-“
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