About 2 weeks later, it was getting cooler, and Greer was borrowing some of Dewi's things since she didn't pack her winter weather clothes. She'd been talking calmly to her parents when possible, mostly by text. At this time, Greer was on the phone with them. "Ma... MA don't you dare come up there are a million tests right now. MA. I am NOT hiding anything. Ma... ....yes... No I didn' ask them they might be busy! Ma ..." she sighed and walked over to Dewi's room, knocking. "I'm asking now! God...DEE... can I see you a minute?"
Dewi opens the door. "Yes, Princess? What can I do for you?"
"Ma is threatening to come up randomly. YES YOU ARE MA. Anyway she wants to know if you and Blake are available at all during thanksgiving break to visit." She sighed. "And she says to tell you Dad is making his brisket."
"Well, my parents are probably going to still be out of country then, so I don't have any plans. Blake's family is really big on the family based holidays, but he can usually get out of either Thanksgiving or Christmas as long as he participates in the other one..."
"Ma we don't know about Blake. I'll call... yes I'll call back! .... NO you don't need to come up with my clothes. MA I have a test to study for! Ok Bye." She hung up and groaned. "I never shoulda told them during the switch.... I'm not ready for you guys to meet Ma and Dad... or the rest of the family. The rest of the family is gonna send Blake off to the future in no time." She sighed.
"Do you want us to make the proper excuses to not go this time? I'd hate for you to be stressing out about this too much, especially since we already have exams coming up soon..."
"...if we make an excuse Ma will do a surprise visit."
She looked and saw Sato. "Sato, how many times has Ma told your Ma's coworkers she wanted to schedule a time, they said they couldn't, so she just surprised them in the last 2 years?"
"Don't know. I think most of them learned their lesson after the first few times..."
"My point. Ma WILL meet you by the end of the break... she will make sure of it. I wouldn't be surprised if the car is half packed in case I say no you guys can't come at all..."
"Well... would that be better for you than us going there? Just your parents instead of maybe the whole family..."
"I dunno... maybe we should talk to Blake first. Honestly I wish I could put this off till Spring.... or until we're married so you guys can't change your mind."
"There is another option, if you want, and I'm sure Blake will be up for it... If I remember where you said your hometown is correctly, my parent's spa is a lot closer to it than the college is. I have a talisman to my closet set up in my room at my parent's place so the travel time is only however long it takes to walk through the two doors. Maybe it would be best if the plan is for your parents to come to us... Or more accurately, meet midway. They meet us at the Spa. That way we appease the parents, avoiding the surprise visit, but eliminate some of the crazy you're worried about if we go to your home town... I understand that you're worried about us meeting your parents, but at least this way it's sort of on your terms..."
Greer nodded. "Ok... I can handle that. I'll need to get a swimsuit..." She saw a little gleam in Dewi's eyes and smiled a tiny bit. "I suppose I'll need a big strong boyfriend to help me pick one out."
"Only if it's what my Princess desires..."
She lightly tapped his shoulder with her fist. "Lemme spoil you, dork."
"As you wish, Princess. So were you thinking store or closet?"
“Store is fine. I have some money. Besides, borrowing swimsuits is weird to me. Like borrowing underwear. You know it’s clean but...”
"It's better to have your own...?"
"Yeah." She smiled a bit. "Maybe an early Christmas gift for both of you. you can watch me try on a bunch this weekend."
"I'm sure we'd like that...."
She hugged him and smiled a bit more. "Great, once Blake is on board it's a date. And I promise I'll let you take me someplace, not Walmart for clothes."
Greer was laying in her bed that night thinking. Part of her was feeling better about not wearing gloves all the time in the apartment but out in public well… a few times she had some… issues. She needed powers to stay stable but… this was a spa run by powered. A spa that was frequented by powered. And at spas you are expected to be down to swimsuit level at least… sometimes less for massages.
She slowly got up. She’d never run her abilities to their limits before. There was never the chance. Was there a limit? Side effects? What bout if she had kids with them?
There was a lot to consider… luckily she was getting study help from Sato anyway… it wouldn’t hurt to ask. Worst he’d do is say no right?
THe next day she came in and did her study time with Sato before bringing it up. "Hey Sato...? I was wondering if I could ask another favor."
"What is it, Greer? I'm sure I'll be happy to help if I can."
"Well I mean.... and I may be dumb for only thinking of this NOW but the more I live here the more I realize I'm gonna run into more and more powered. And I mean... if I marry the guys I'll have their kids and they'll probably be powered and... I mean... I have no clue what my limits are. Can it only change so many times a day? Are there other side effects? If I live outside the town am I gonna have to be covered all the time or risk issues?" She was playing with Bee's ear a bit, rubbing it. "So... I was wondering. You work with a bunch of powered. Maybe... I could do an experiment? See how I do with switching?"
"Of course. I can probably get everything set up and organized within a week... That is, if you're okay with the findings being official records. If the findings are allowed to be accessible to any researcher that might need that kind of information, I can go through official channels to find us volunteers for this whole thing."
"Ok cool... I didn't want to make a big deal to the guys... We're going to meet my parents at Dewi's family spa and I remembered him saying it caters to powered and stuff and .. well.. dress code expected for spas.. I... don't want to embarrass or worry anyone. You know?"
"I understand.... There is one other matter we should probably talk about before you come to my work, though..."
"Oh, right. I need to not embarrass you with your co workers or anything right? I know I joke around but I promise I can be serious if I gotta. I won't say anything that can cause issues."
"It's not that... It's a powered thing. Did anyone ever explain to you and your Ma what was with the insistence that things will work themselves out even though you're the only one in your family with powers?"
"Maybe to Ma. But she just yelled at them about the 75 mile radius thing. Asking how was I supposed to get help when I was a kid and it mattered if we waited. I was probably told but I kinda tuned that stuff out sometimes."
"In the general powered community there is a strong belief in a sort of fated connection where it might take time, but you will meet other powered that will be mutual support. There is a 'soulmate' which isn't the romantic crap that the media depicts but more a single person that you have a stronger connection with than anyone else. A life long best friend that sometimes becomes romantic but not always. That kind of connection is rare, but there's a similar, more common variant that isn't so focused, a family connection. It doesn't refer to one's biological family or the ones that raised you, but a secondary family one has in addition that supports a person beyond what their main family might. Commonly, those that one has this kind of connection with is found during one's transition to adulthood as that's when one is becoming more independent of their family. It's unthinkable to many that a powered wouldn't have 'family' connections. The government even has procedures in place so that the group of people you have this kind of connection with can be legally recognized as family members."
Greer nodded, understanding but confused. Bee was over lightly trying to pat Sato's head. "Ok so... that's cool. And I can see why Ma would think me waiting till I'm grown up was stupid as hell.... but.... I'm missing the connection here. Do I need to make sure not to insult someone's family? You got a powered sister or something?"
"You're dating two of my powered family. To my knowledge, no one has brought up to you if that is the only connection you have to this family... Luce and I both see you as a sister, but you also have a say in if that's the kind of relationship we have here. If it is, then no matter what happens in the future, you will always be family."
Greer looked at him a moment, processing all of this. After a little bit she suddenly hugged him tight, switching powers but she didn't care right now. For a moment he felt her shaking before calming down again.
"I am to assume, then, that I will be introducing you as my sister when you come to work with me...?"
She nodded a bit, giving a little squeeze before letting go. "Yeah.. that... that'd be cool."
"Welcome to the family, Sis."
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