“Well…as you could guess, James…all four of our children are…not actually ours: all adopted. We have found it…easy to tell when a child is an environment not letting them flourish and you and Ray are friends, so…we just want to be good to everyone around us and sense you are her friend and you need help even if you don’t want it, we want to be here for you” Quincey said, resting his arms on the counter across from me. “We did everything we could to allow our children to flourish, put them through any and all schooling they wanted, let them look however they wanted and…just let them be the people they want to be and wish to be. It’s a parents duty to ensure the future of their children, their safety, their happiness and all…you’re parents are doing the absolute worst.”

“Your parents don’t deserve you” Minerva added looking over her shoulder

“But you’ve known me for a handful of hours.”

“And do we need to have known you for longer to be decent people to you?” Quincey added, well…that shut me up.

It was a bit later, my clothing was back in my room so I got dressed again, I sighed softly as I roughed my fingers through my hair again, I actually like my hair being quite long, but I also know how difficult it is to maintain. There was a knock at the door before it cracked open a little.

“Are you decent?” Raven asked

“You’re not already dressed, are you?” I asked

“And if I am?” she asked opening the door fully showing that in fact she was fully dressed.

“How? I’m wearing jeans, a shirt and hoodie…and you’re wearing all of this and you also had time to do your makeup and hair?” I asked, she laughed

“It takes me like five minutes or something to do my makeup and hair” she said with a shrug, her long, impossibly thick looking hair braided in twin braids tight to her head that were twisted into very full and slightly messy space-buns, a pair of sunglasses resting at her hairline with bat wing shaped lenses, her makeup done with dark green lipstick and the usual super smoked out liner and gray shadows around her dark eyes, dressed in a black tank-top under a long, wide sleeved black mesh shirt with this chain harness bra overtop, high waisted black-white vertically striped jeans that flared at her shins over a pair of pointed toe black high, high heeled boots, fingerless gloves on her hands, all sorts of jewelry up her ears, wallet chain over her left hip as usual, a black leather choker around her throat shaped like a bat with a large jump ring in the center, dagger shaped earrings through the lobes of her ears and this huge gold ring/bracelet that covered all of her fingers on her right hand as an overlay of the bones of the hand and she was holding a very wide-floppy brimmed black sunhat as she looked over at me, various other hanging necklaces, bracelets layered up her forearm nearly to the elbow and all the various other jewelry and things she wears.

“Something wrong?” she asked

“Just my hair.” I said with a shrug

“Why, you have nice hair” she said as she walked over, “How do you think I feel, of the four of us, three of us have black hair, you know how much it takes for one of us to dye it?” she asked, I laughed softly as I felt her stand behind me as she let her claw like nails trail through my hair, “So curly too”

“I’ve always gotten bullied for my hair.”

“Well, people are stupid” she said making me laugh, “A lot of people I know would love to have hair like yours.”

“You’re flattering me”

“I am serious though” she said as she moved her hands upwards through my hair as she scrunched up the layers of my hair making the curls look even more intense as she ran her fingers along my scalp, making me have to suppress the gut reaction of rolling my eyes back from the feeling, she pulled a hair-tie off her wrist as she pulled my hair back into a bun on the base of my skull, reaching over my shoulder as she pulled some of my bangs back as she tucked them behind my ear. “Why does it bother you that my family is so kind to you?” she asked

“It’s just…not something I experienced often…so many people here don’t care for me and treat me weirdly: I was constantly in trouble from breaking into places, being in areas I shouldn’t be, stealing and theft…just a lot. So, a lot of people just…kind of gave up on me.” I said as I looked towards my feet. I felt Raven’s arms loop around my shoulders and chest as she rested her chin atop my head.

“Well, they’re stupid for not seeing the good about you.” She whispered, I smiled softly as I reached up and rested my hands over hers.

“You know all of my stuff is probably going to be on the lawn or something” I said

“I’m sure that I’ll be able to talk to them and make them feel absolutely terrible for everything they have ever done to you” she said, I sighed softly. “What?”

“I feel like…there is something I need to do to repay you for what you’ve done”

“James…I’m helping you get out of a toxic house…I didn’t save your life or anything, you don’t have a life-debt or anything to me.” she added as she quickly tightened her arms before letting go, “We should get going.”