Masterlist
Hello everyone! Just wanted to leave this here and announce that I'm opening my ask box once again and will be accepting the first five people to submit ask! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next time!
~Bim
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‘They should really switch to a different scent’ You think to yourself, trying not to scrunch your nose in disgust as the offending smell of artificial cherry blossoms and some other citrus-like scent invades your senses, laying thickly over every inch of the small space you were currently trapped in. The only reprieve you got was the occasional whiff of fresh air from the cracked window on your fathers side, which he was currently using to blow the smoke from his cigar through. Every few puffs he would make a small comment or throw in his own thoughts, though thy were a minuscule contribution to the conversation as your mother proceeded to talk on and on. At this point you had blocked her out, as much of your meetings with her went, and were instead sulking in your own misery and cursing your misfortune.
Only a few short weeks ago you had been living a happy life going to college, living with your brother and his fiance in their small home in the mountains just outside the edge of an obscure small town that happened to host a small college with a forty minute commute.
Your parents hadn’t been happy when he had run off to be with the girl they deemed ‘below his station’, and had nearly come unglued when you had run off just after your eighteenth birthday to join him. They had given you shelter and support, as well as the much needed love that had been lacking in your younger life. You were expected to do well in school, to be at the top and best of everything you did. Not once had your mother bothered to attend any of the award ceremonies, sending her secretary to get photos that she could later post and boast about her successful child to others. Your father, you doubted, even knew that any had happened in the first place. With your brother, Giyuu, it had been nearly the opposite. Every aced exam and test were met with magnets and the fridge and your favorite dinner cooked. He, along with his wife, Aoi, were there cheering at every swim meet you had, having made it onto the small team your school managed to keep.
For three and a half years you lived in peace with them, only occasionally talking to your parents when the need absolutely called for it. Half-hearted calls on holidays and birthdays that always ended with guilt tripping to come back and work for the family business. The work itself, research into products that helped mutation quirks be more manageable with the multitude of complications they could present, was something you had actually looked forward to when you were younger. But the prospect of working under your parents, allowing them to control your life even more so, had been too much for you to even think about. And so instead you focused your studies on plants, horticulture to be exact. With your water quirk, it made caring for them easy, and there was always a fight to be your lab partner when it came to the tending of difficult species.
But all that was ripped away just a month ago, when Aoi had been laid off from work with no explanation other than budget cuts. Your brother assured her that they would get by, and even managed to convince her as much as you, until he came home the next day, jobless. The call you received from your parents that night shouldn’t have been a surprise, but who can blame you? You thought you had gotten them out of your lives for good, and now? Now they were claiming that Giyuu had to come home and marry the daughter of some associate to get their company a better standing in the market. They had bought the company both your brother and his wife worked for, and so using them as references as they searched for jobs was out of the question. Things grew worse the longer it went on, never even receiving a call back from any application, even hours away. It was as if they had been blacklisted from every place on Earth, even those in close by countries. Yet your parents continued to call every night, urging your brother that all his problems could be solved if he agreed to move back and marry this woman.
After three weeks of this, you had an epiphany as you lay in bed, trying not to shiver in the cold as the electricity had been shut off to the house. They just needed someone to marry, right? It didn’t matter which of their kids, so long as it would give them more connections. That night, after you were sure they had both gone to bed, you called your parents and made a deal. One that would ensure your brother could have his happy end. The next day instead of going to school you had headed right back for Tokyo, leaving nothing but a note your brother would only discover later that night when you neglected to come home. Your parents had met you at the station, with their security of course. As if they were worried you might change your mind last minute and run. Within minutes of getting in the car your mother was on her phone, flipping through a large binder in front of her while your father did nothing but give what you assumed was supposed to be a comforting pat on the shoulder.
One glance told you all that you needed to know, and it was a bit worrisome that your mother had a giant binder of suitors already prepared for you.
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“Honestly, you would think that they would have switched to more seasonal flowers by now.” You sighed, listening to your mother complain as you walked further into the restaurant. An upscale place that you hadn’t been to in years. It was nice in its own way, though the price was a bit steep. More so a symbol of status for the dinners within, you assumed, rather than the food that came out of the kitchen. It wasn’t bad just….okay. In your opinion, it had nothing on the American place that was located just down the road, boasting dinner food with its linoleum checkered floors and mint coloring.
As soon as you had exited the car, a number of greeters had come to help you, taking your coats and bags as the driver went to park the car. Your father was already ordering his first of many drinks of the night as you stumbled behind, trying not to trip on the heels you had been forced to wear. You certainly liked the height they gave you, but your feet were already screaming in protest with just a few steps. Thankfully there was an elevator to the upper floors, which were reserved for more private guests and had individual rooms that looked out over the city. Going up six flights of stairs was not on your checklist tonight, and one of the others may have had to carry you after the first two flights.
As soon as you entered the room, your attention was immediately drawn to the three figures sitting at the table, their bright splashes of hair setting them apart from the otherwise gloomy interior of the space. Two guys and a girl, though one was clearly older then the others. He was the one who stood first, moving to shake your father’s hand as he spoke.
