Kada was one of the last to stumble her way topside, taking too long. There was no way her father would actually visit, right? He definitely would have thought any contact from Chorus was a scam of some kind. So she was surely safe, wasn’t she?
To keep her mind off the idea, she decided to wander around and mingle with the other families. “Hey Kada, come meet my clan!” Itsy called over to her when she likely noticed the depressed girl meandering around with no real purpose or direction.
“This here’s my Ma!” Itsy pushed the miniscule-in-comparison woman out to the front of the pack since she’d been hidden by the rest until then. “We do it all for her,” the giant daughter proudly declared while putting her hands gently on her mother’s shoulders. She seemed like a kind older woman who would do anything for her kids, so Kada could see why they worked so hard to return the favor.
“And these are all my siblings,” Itsy introduced them one at a time. “This is Hairy, Smooth, Chonka, Slim, and Biggun.”
What the hell is this?! Was Kada being pranked? No, she wasn’t the one that was the butt of a massive joke by fate itself. Either whoever named them had precognition powers but in the exact wrong direction, or Cosmos themself wanted to make a mockery of this family.
Hairy was bald. Smooth was covered in so much hair that Kada wasn’t sure she could see her actual skin anywhere. Chonka was basically skin and bones. Slim was by far the most rotund of the group. And Biggun only came up to just above Kada’s waist.
“I’m surprised all y'all came!” Itsy turned her attention back to her family. “Bet it was real expensive. Let me pay for it.”
“Actually, that Chorus fella told us the cost was covered,” Hairy explained. “In fact, they flew all of us and some of the other families over on one of those fancy skycrafts. Told us it was a test flight for the new skydocks opening up.”
“Yes, it was quite the experience,” the mama added, who Kada still didn’t know the name of. “Didn’t think I’d ever get to fly on one in my life. Hope this means we can come visit you more often, Itsy.”
“Nah, I’ll come visit you all next time,” Itsy insisted. “Was meaning to come sooner, just got real busy like. Got something of a flying machine of my own. Will take yall for a spin in it later.”
Kada cut out at this point, letting the family have their nice moment. They seemed to be one of the only ones that were. She had started walking in Tize’s direction, but quickly diverted. He was meeting with his father, who was dressed in a full veteran uniform and giving Tize a proper scolding about joining a criminal organization.
At least it was seeming more likely that it was something she’d get to avoid. There was no way her father would trust fancy future tech like a skycraft. With that weight off her shoulders, she felt much more relaxed and resumed her saunter around the compound.
The next immediate divert was Xard and his parents. At least they weren’t yelling at each other, but Kada could feel the awkwardness from several feet away, so she headed elsewhere.
A surprisingly delightful reunion was Kaizu and her family, and it was even more surprising to see Kaizu back in proper clothes. She hadn’t been dressed that way at the meeting, so she must have rushed to her room to change before meeting her parents—now back in a similar suit to the one she interviewed in when she first arrived.
“These your folks, Kaizu?” Kada asked the obvious when she got close. Kaizu’s eyes jumped to her, actually looking delighted to see her for once—maybe the first time she’d actually been seen as a person in Kaizu’s eyes.
“Yes, they are,” Kaizu walked over and grabbed Kada by the arm, dragging her closer to her parents. “This is Ms. Susten, one of my bosses. I was just telling my parents all about the accounting and marketing work I’ve been doing for the group—stuck behind a desk while you all go out and do the hard work.”
“Huh…?” Kada couldn’t believe what she was hearing, only finally grasping that she should play along. “Oh yeah, Ms. Izuzu does great work for us. Always taking care of everything behind the scenes so we can get things done efficiently.” After a few more platitudes to help the serial-killer appease her parents, Kada found an excuse to leave.
“Mom, we’ve been over this, he tried to scam you guys!” It seemed everything was going well with Niloy’s parent visit.
“So you’ve said, deary, but you didn’t have to kill him…” her mother tried to argue.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Yes, it’s just so hard to believe he was a bad person,” her father added. “He was nothing but the perfect gentleman around us.”
“Mom, dad, I literally turned into a Fiend from killing him!” Niloy frantically pointed to her hair. “That’s the world proving that he was a mawhging piece of zjik behind our backs and had all of us fooled!”
“Language, young lady!” As if that was what was important about the situation, and Kada decided not to engage.
The next group she came across was Ahvra and her fathers. She was sitting on one of their laps looking like a blissful puppy being spoiled rotten. Deborah and Andi were grouped up, meeting with their parents together, and both seemed to be tolerating it and nothing more. For the most part, this group really did have a bunch of dysfunctional families, but it was to be expected given their nature.
“Well you all look like a sad bunch, no one coming for you guys?” Kada had found a group of four lonely-looking men sitting around and watching the chaos like she was.
“No, my parents disowned me when I became a doctor instead of joining the family taxidermy business,” Farian explained and took a swig from one of the drinks they were enjoying.
“If I play my cards right, the Personson name will be dying with me,” Roque joined him for a toast.
“My parents actually sent me a letter explaining why they wouldn’t be coming,” Nathym seemed more chipper than the others. “You have no idea how much progress that is. Maybe I’ll actually get a crappy gift for Boon Day this year instead of silence.”
“Sadly, my father is too busy running the country to visit,” Kada often forgot that Feyj was genuine royalty. “Plus with the whole assassin business we haven’t stopped yet, it’d be too risky for him to travel.”
“Well, don’t sulk for too long, but next round’s on me, boys.” Kada grabbed one of the drinks, chugged it, and then went on her merry way. Even though no one would be coming for her, she wasn’t going to sit around and mope about it like them.
She passed by Crucion meeting with the elder from his village, and Victori’s old servants had come to visit along with her brother who was playing up his injury by being pushed around in a wheelchair for sympathy.
“This looks like an interesting group,” Kada found Rezin standing awkwardly next to a few people, none of which looked like they could be of any relation to him. Three of them were guys—one quite old, about to reach retirement age, one probably in his late twenties, and one kid who looked no older than his early teens. The other three were women who all looked in their early twenties, and were all quite pretty and dolled up.
“Um, hey Kada,” Rezin’s voice was quieter than usual. “These are actually my gaming friends. We’ve been pretty close for years… but, uh… never actually met up before.”
“Yeah, who knew Crusher was such a shrimp,” the not-too-old, not-too-young guy came over and slapped Rezin on the shoulder with a laugh.
“That’s uhh, my online name,” Rezin tried to explain, which Kada understood at least that much.
“Indeed, I think none of us are quite what everyone else expected,” the older man added. “But that’s alright. What we look like doesn’t really matter. We’ll always be best friends until the end of our group!” He was quite passionate.
“I’m just amazed that MegaJuggz is actually a girl,” the younger boy stared over at the flashiest looking girl.
“Wuh?!” the girl took offense. “Of course I am! I sent you guys so many pictures.”
“Sorry, Juggz, we thought you were trying to trick us the whole time,” one of the other girls spoke up. “Never thought a girl would actually have that username.”
“Yes, unfortunately your talent with photography is a bit lacking too. The photos always looked fake,” the third girl agreed. “What was bothering us most, though, was how much Crusher has been missing lately.”
“Yeah mean, not cool,” the guy still holding onto Rezin shook his head. “Our damage output in raids have been so low with you gone.”
“I’ve even had to reevaluate our whole rotation,” the older man pulled out a spreadsheet and showed it to him.
“Sorry guys, sorry, I’ve just been so busy with IRL stuff lately,” Rezin tried to apologize.
“To think Crushy would actually go and get a job,” Juggz shook her head. “You used to tell us that you’d stay unemployed forever!”
“Well even if he’s busy, it’s no excuse to ignore our messages for so long,” one of the other girls stepped forward and pouted.
“Yeah, he hasn’t even been liking the images we’ve been sending!” the other stepped forward in complaint too.
“How are you going to make it up to us, huh, Rezin?!” Juggz said his real name with venom, for what looked like the first time ever given Rezin’s panic.
“Uhh, sorry everyone, I’ll—” Kada bolted out of there as fast as she could since it was obvious things were about to get heated. Who knew Rezin had so much game, though? It was probably best for her to keep that a secret, because she knew a few others at the compound who might not take kindly to that information.
It was an entertaining end to the event at least. Kada had made a full lap of the compound now, which had taken a while with all the interactions. Most of the members had either said farewell to their families already or had left with them to go spend the rest of the day together. Either way, at this point, there really shouldn’t be anyone else arriving.
That was when Kada saw an eerily familiar car making its way up the main drive.