rarara (![]() ![]() @ 2012-08-25 14:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, clarice ferguson (blink), illyana rasputin (magik), kitty pryde (shadowcat) |
It has to be something special, right?
Who: Clarice, Illyana, and Kitty
What: Meeting Clarice’s parents :D
When: Tuesday Night
Where: Kitty’s Apartment, then a restaurant.
Rating: PG-13 for ‘pass the potatoes I’m gay’
Status: Complete!
Clarice was nervous as hell. And if she was this nervous, she couldn’t imagine how Illyana was feeling. She'd been able to borrow the car, which should help with appearances. No getting wilted from an hour on the bus. She took a deep breath as she parked in front of Illyana's apartment.
She was wearing a fairly conservative green dress, with just enough of a neckline to tease. She also wore her favorite silver earrings. It gave her a glittery quality. She also hoped it underscored how important this was to her. Her parents had suggested a nice dinner, and she'd been compelled to go along with it.
Up in Kitty's apartment - Illyana refused to call it her own - the person Clarice was there to pick up was throwing some sort of adult-level temper tantrum. Or conniption fit. Or at the very least, one could call it nervous flailing.
Illyana wasn't even dressed yet. She wasn't sure what to wear that was appropriate. She wasn't sure how to deal with how utterly nerve-wracked she was. Several dresses were strewn across the bed, along with a few wigs, and her own much shorter hair had been worried up into a spikey mess. She turned to Kitty, who was watching all of this while trying not to be so amused, "I cannot do this. I cannot. I do not even know what to wear. I do not know how to be nice. I am going to vomit all over them or the imps are going to show up and start pestering them and then I will be forced to say untoward things. And normally I am okay with that, but this is Clarice, and it means so much to her, and..."
She worked her hands at her hair again, "I cannot do this, Katya."
Kitty had settled on conniption fit. She watched Illyana flail about, shaking her head, but couldn't bring herself to complain about it. In her shoes, she'd feel the same way. Absolutely fucking terrified.
"Calm down. You'll be fine. Treat them like you do Xi'an." Kitty came over, taking Illyana's fingers out of her hair, "Wear the yellow sun dress. It'll soften you up a bit."
"I am not good at stepping on eggshells around people. Xi'an is an exception, she does not always require the eggshell-stepping. Sometimes she is simply okay with the fact that I generally have no self-edit function." Illyana grumped, while pulling on the yellow dress in question. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.
"This looks too casual. I wish I knew which sort of place we were going to. I do not wish to look inappropriate."
She tugged on the dress, then flopped onto the bed and beat a fist against the bed, "This is too soon!"
"Breathe, snowflake. BREATHE." Kitty pulled out a pair of pumps. "Didn't she say 'nice dinner' or something? If it was you two alone I'd say go sexy. Maybe a nice pair of trousers and a pretty blouse? Or would that be playing up the lesbian thing too much...."
Kitty continued to mumble such things to herself as she pulled out some other clothing options.
"I AM BREATHING!" Illyana shouted, because obviously she was breathing, or she would be dead, yes?
After a moment, she realised that she really wasn't breathing, and took a few moments to ground and center before adding, in a much more plaintive tone, "And do not call me snowflake..."
"I'm sorry..." Kitty hugged her, then pulled out a blue dress. It went down to just below the knees, and was a little flowy and a little elegant.
"How about this?"
That dress was gorgeous. Beautiful, elegant, very girly. Illyana found herself liking it, in spite of herself and her usual style. It would be perfect for this, she thought. She got up off the bed and reached out a hand to test the fabric, then pulled the dress she'd been wearing off.
"That one. Yes. You are not too terribly bad at this, Katya. I do not know what other people are talking about."
Kitty? Decided not to say it was Xi’an who’d helped her buy all those. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders and flushed a bit, “Get dressed so we can do something with your hair!”
"What are we going to do with my hair? Is already a nice wig, da?" Illyana's muffled voice drifted through the fabric of the dress as she pulled it on, then turned to Kitty to zip it up for her. She absolutely wasn't going out with her fuzzball cancer head, if that was what Kitty was suggesting.
When she was zipped up and could turn back around to face Kitty, the look on her face said as much, "I just need to select correct wig. I am already knowing that the blue ones are a bad idea, yes."
"Oh, right." Kitty laughed, "Here I was thinking we could make it look fancy, but your wigs already are kind of fancy, aren't they!" She zipped Illyana up, after a moment to admire the woman's back, then stepped back to give her a looks over, "Do you have anything in an up do or with braids? Otherwise, I really love the long long blonde one."
"Nyet, nothing in an up-do or with braids, though the wigs can be styled just like hair, they are made of the real thing." Illyana wasn't sure how she felt about braids, but the long blonde flowy one could probably be put up without looking too fake if the bangs were done correctly.
She lifted it up off the bed and held it out to Kitty, "What do you think, Katya?"
Kitty thought it might help soften her look, or alternatively bring out her cheeks, which were a really nice feature of Illyana's. She took the wig and ran her fingers through it, "Peeerfect."
Outside, antsy, Clarice honked the horn once. She didn't want to rush her lover but at the same time she wanted to let her know she was waiting! And nervous, so nervous.
Kitty ignored the honking, "She's early."
"I do not wish to anger her, I am going to have to sit next to her this evening while she tells parents that I am more than just a friend." Illyana fidgeted with her hair a bit, then looked around for her purse, "What else do I need to do to get ready for this?"
Kitty held up those pumps, then kissed Illyana on the cheek, "You know what? Just be yourself. If they can't accept you for who you are, then so be it. What matters is that you care about her enough to go through this."
"That is great, I will be myself and then they will hate me and Clarice will make the cry faces at me." Illyana slipped into her shoes, and kissed Kitty on the cheek.
"I am going to be put in front of firing squad, that is what they say, da? Thank you for the help, Katya, I will probably return home... well I will return here tonight if it does not go well, alone, or perhaps with company or not at all, if it does."
Without a response, Illyana headed out of the house and to Clarice's waiting car. She felt like a million butterflies had settled into her stomach, and frankly, didn't know how to deal with that. When she got into Clarice's car, she looked at her and admitted, "I am going to throw up butterflies."
"This is your home, Illyana. Don't forget that!"
Clarice laughed and kissed her on the cheek, "That's okay, me too. You look so beautiful maybe we should just not go...but I'm borrowing the car and they're waiting on me.."
She exhaled nervously, then started up the car.
“Are you sure that you really want to do this? I know it was coming eventually and they have to be asking themselves all kinds of questions about this person that you end up spending all of your nights with. But I am worried that they think the person is a male and that the only thing they are walking into is 20 questions and throwing condoms at us.” Illyana tucked some hair behind her ear nervously.
Clarice put a hand on Illyana's knee and squeezed. She didn't answer right away, trying to figure out how to collect her thoughts. She ducked her head a little as she pulled up to a red light, "I already told them you were a woman."
Illyana put her hand over Clarice’s and squeezed a bit. She wasn’t sure whether to be more or less worried by this announcement, and supposed that that depended on what else Clarice had told them before picking her up.
“...But do they know that I am a woman you are ...involved with, or just that I am a woman?” Of course it was easy to guess at, anyway. Clarice stayed over her place far too often for them to be just friends and any but the most stubborn of head-buried-in-sand parents would have to have noticed that.
"They still want to meet you," Clarice assured her. "I just couldn't let them be surprised by you having breasts. That's probably really rude."
She smiled at Illyana's worry. It made her feelings for her stronger, even if she still hesitated to tell her she loved her. Their conversation about that still bounced around in her head.
"I told them I sometimes dated women, they just never really believed me until now."
"Oh." Illyana relaxed, visibly. This dinner would perhaps not be so awful as she had originally feared, in that case. Perhaps Kitty was right and all she would really have to do is be herself. Not for the first time, she wondered when she started caring this much about what other people in her life thought.
Maybe it had been the cancer, maybe it was the combined effect of Clarice, and the people Illyana lived with. Or maybe it was none of the above and there was an alien infesting her brain. Regardless, Clarice gave Illyana a fond, grateful look when they finally pulled up to her house. It was show time. Introductions before they piled back into the car and went to dinner.
She turned to look at Illyana, “You didn’t have to do this, you know.”
"I think I have to do this," Illyana said, with a defiant tilt to her chin. She eyed Clarice and smirked a bit, "It is bound to happen eventually, da? We might as well rip bandaid off now. If they hate me, I think maybe then we have more time for damage control."
She was pretty sure Clarice's parents were going to hate her.
"They won't hate you!" Clarice shook her head. She knew her protest would fall on deaf ears, but she had to protest none the less. Slipping out of the car, she waited for Illyana, then took her hand and walked her up to the house. She took a breath, then before either of them could think too long on it, she opened the door.
Her parents were waiting in the living room, and she could see surprise registered on their faces, as if they'd ignored her warning. To their credit, the surprise faded. Her mother got up, and took Illyana's hand, kissing her cheek, "It's nice to meet you. Illyana was it?"
Clarice's father was a little more hesitant, but he studied Illyana closely, then held out his hand. At least his daughter had good taste.
"Illyana, da." The Russian wasn't certain what she was supposed to do here. Was she supposed to kiss Clarice's mother on the cheek in return? She thought that would be horrifically awkward, and decided against it.
Her hand was still in the hand of Mrs. Ferguson when Mr. Ferguson held out his own. She gave Mrs. Ferguson's hand a little squeeze, then dropped it with a sheepish smile and took Mr. Ferguson's hand, shaking it.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both, as well. Forgive me if I am also slightly nervous. I have never met anyone's parents before."
Clarice looked relieved. So far it had gone well! Her parents weren't fainting. She thought that was a good sign.
Her father nodded approvingly. She had a strong grip, and didn't seem to be one of those butch girls on the intertubes. That was good enough.
Mrs. Ferguson laughed, "Everyone is nervous when they meet the parents."
She glanced at her daughter, giving her an odd look. Clarice shrugged it off and hugged her dad. Her dad patted her back, and then said, “All right, who’s hungry?”
"I am starving," Illyana admitted, with another sheepish smile. She was trying very hard to be on her best behaviour while still act like herself.
The truth was that she wasn't hungry at all, but getting to the next phase of this - where there was food to distract everyone and a public setting so nothing could be thrown at anyone - was definitely something she wanted happening sooner rather than later.
Just because they were in public didn't mean that something might not get thrown around. Clarice took her hand and gave it a little squeeze, as much to reassure herself as it was to reassure Illyana. The truth was she still wasn't sure how this night would go, but at least first impressions were out of the way, and everyone was trying. Which was better than a lot of other families have gone through.
She was profoundly grateful that her parents weren't making a scene.
Dad ushered them out to the car, and Clarice found herself in the back seat with Illyana. Her hand clenched even tighter.
Her parents kept up some small talk until they reached the restaurant. Clarice frowned, "You guys didn't have to go to this expense..."
"Oh don't worry about it." Her mom glanced in the rear view mirror, saying to Illyana, "You're the first one she's actually brought to meet us, instead of just brought home. And you spend so much time together. It has to be something special, right?"
It was like she was seeking validation, that her daughter was with a woman but that's okay if it was worth it, right? Was it worth it? Were you worth it?
The gaze Clarice's mother got in return, via the rear-view mirror, was one of absolute certainty. It was the kind of look Illyana often had, the one that brooked no argument and was meant to be taken as seriously as it was meant. Because she understood exactly where her mother was going with this, and wanted her intent to be clear.
"Clarice is the most important thing in the world to me. If it was not so, I would not be here. Meeting you both is very important to the both of us, and so is your approval. I appreciate the time you have taken to do this, and am grateful for the measures you have already taken to make this evening pleasant for us all."
Who knew she could be this polite? If you could call this polite. Illyana didn't see it as being polite so much as telling the bold-faced truth, as bluntly as she could without going into things like 'the sex we have is life affirming which is good because I may be dying all over again', or 'I would love her even if she turned completely pink and teleported me to Siberia accidentally'.
By this point, Clarice was threatening to cut off the circulation to Illyana's hand. That's how tight she was squeezing and how desperate she felt. IF she could somehow love Illyana more, she did in this moment.
Her mother smiled, and nodded her head, "Thank you. Call me Candice."
At that, Clarice let out a relieved breath. She gave Illyana a stage whisper, "That's a very good sign."
It made her father laugh.
In a similar stage whisper, Illyana replied, "That is good, do you think you could stop squeezing sometime before I lose the ability to feel my fingers again?"
She winked at Clarice and then gave Candice a smile, "Thank you."
That got a hearty laugh out of Clarice's dad, "Call me dad." He was a lot less formal than his wife, or his daughter. It was a celebration type thing, so he valet parked, and the car was whisked off as they walked into the restaurant.
Clarice felt like she didn't belong in a place like this, and half-wished she'd worn something a bit more flamboyant. She felt a little too conservative. But she was dressed more like her mom, so that was probably a good thing.
Their table had a view of the sea, and Dad ordered them all some wine.
It was a nicer restaurant than Illyana had been in, in her entire life. A farm girl before she'd moved here, then trapped in a cancer treatment center, she was still a bit shell shocked by most of modern society.
She tried not to look around with her mouth hanging open like some kind of gutter child as they took a seat at the table, and definitely didn't want to look at the prices on the menu.
More than one extremely uncertain look was sent in Clarice's direction while her parents weren't looking. Why did there need to be this many plates, forks, and glasses?
The view of the sea was safest, and she took that in with her eyes, while one hand found Clarice's and held it.
It's okay. Clarice was looking around, even if her mouth wasn't hanging open. Then she turned and gave her parents a suspicious look. Her fingers laced with Illyana's as she asked, "Okay, what, did you get a promotion or something?"
Candice laughed. She resembled Clarice so much when she laughed, that it could be startling, "You could say that."
Her dad nodded his head, "Manager! The timing worked out so well that when you told us you wanted us to meet your girlfriend, we thought it would be a good outing for the four of us, instead of just your mother and me."
"This is good news! But I am not sure that we are not interrupting a special day for the two of you now," Illyana turned her attention to 'Dad' and Candice, smiling genuinely.
"Though I am of course not complaining, either. This place is extremely nice. It is my first time enjoying an outing like this. Today is a day to celebrate many new things, it would seem."
"You aren't," Candice assured her. Her smile was warm, even if she hadn't warmed up as much as her husband had. She rather wasn't sure how she felt, just yet. They'd discussed it, of course. Wanted to respect Clarice's wishes, but the girl had told her she was bi, and they'd well...hoped.
Too late for that now, and before the air could get chilly, she nudged the menus, "Order whatever you want."
Clarice picked up the menu. There weren't prices. That worried her.
It worried Illyana, too. She didn't know what to get, and didn't want to look like she was taking advantage of their hospitality.
Her eyes scanned the menu, while one hand was still holding Clarice's under the table. It squeezed so hard that at one point her knuckles were almost white. She probably couldn't go wrong with some kind of pasta or dinner salad... steak or lobster or anything like that would be incredibly expensive in a place like this.
The wine arrived, and she was grateful for a chance to put the menu down and busy her hand with the action of taking a sip of it. Alcohol was something she didn't indulge in that often, however, and she would have to nurse it.
"This view is stunning. You can almost hear the roll of the ocean from here," She mumbled, absently. It felt like a good point to say something, even if generally small talk was not her thing.
They hadn't even carded them, Clarice thought lazily. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not, but she recalled Illyana wasn’t old enough to drink. Oh lord, she hoped Illyana’s age didn’t come into it. The view WAS stunning, but it wasn't the ocean she was looking at. It was Illyana, and it was a look her parents couldn't miss. She didn't even really care. Illyana had run into her life and she never wanted to know what it had been like without her, again.
Her mother certainly caught the way she was looking at Illyana, and regarded the blonde girl. She wondered how old she was.
Illyana had taken the sips of wine without even thinking. She was 21 in a few months as it was, but she wasn’t quite legal yet. If someone confronted her on it, she’d probably push the glass over to someone who was drinking age. The evening had simply made her more than a little jittery, and her mind wasn’t really thinking straight.
Illyana finally turned her attention away from the window and back to Clarice and her parents, offering them a smile, “Have you been here before? If you have, perhaps you can recommend something that you have enjoyed eating.”
Still, Clarice was sleeping with someone who was effectively barely legal, and that was something that wouldn't be lost on her parents. She'd counter that she was only 23 and so it shouldn't really matter.
Dad nodded his head, "If you like red meat, the steaks are mind-blowing."
That made Clarice blink. Except for coffee and whatever Kitty or Xi'an had been serving they hadn't actually really eaten together. She had no idea if the woman was a vegetarian or what.
She turned a lighter shade of pink. How could she be so utterly enamoured with a girl she barely knew?
The question had actually been framed more to see what kind of budget they were working with here. Illyana had thought that if they mentioned a certain kind of food, she’d know what was safe to order. Now she was just thinking of delicious steak.
She already knew that was likely the most expensive thing on the menu. But she grinned, and nodded, “I love red meat. I know it is unhealthy for you, and I tend to avoid eating it, but this is a special occasion, and I may have to take your recommendation. Thank you!”
Delicious steak that Clarice's dad was already ordering for himself. Clarice let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. That was another point with dad, and with Candice too.
"What's the point if not to indulge on special occasions," She pointed out, smiling at both Illyana and Clarice.
Clarice nodded her head, "Well, that does sound good but I really want to try this lemon chicken."
Dad rolled his eyes.
"Nyet, what are you doing?" Illyana laughed, and pointed at the description of one such delicious steak on Clarice's menu, then looked up at Clarice and read the description to her, "Does that not sound delicious? You can have lemon chicken any time. I will even make you some. Eat steak with us, this is a special night, da?"
Clarice stared at Illyana, enraptured by the sound of that delicious steak rolling off of the woman's Russian tongue. It actually made her salivate.
"Da...steak sounds good.."
Candice snickered, and it was dad that kicked her under the table.
"There, it is settled. We are both enjoying delicious steak."
Which was precisely what Illyana ordered, medium. Because it was just enough pink to feel like you were still eating the meat slightly raw.
Clarice, who'd dreamed so much about blood and death, got hers medium well. Which got her a dirty look from dad, but she decided that trying to explain the horror that was half her dream life would go over like a lead balloon. There had been wonderful things though. Like her friends.
She wondered if any of them were around, and if they remembered her.
Deciding to not be a grump, she got herself another glass of wine, "My play starts soon. You remember right?"
"We do," Candice replied, reassuringly. "I'm not sure how I feel about you being nude though."
"I'm not nude! Just everyone else is."
"That red head got a part?" Dad asked.
Clarice nodded her head.
"I'm in." He got elbowed by his wife for his joke.
"I am looking forward to this play," Illyana stated. Then, because she felt the need to clarify, "... Mainly because she has worked so hard to write it. It will be exciting to see the culmination of these efforts."
This time Dad snickered and got kicked.
“Dad!”
Illyana looked from Candice to Dad, "What? Did I say something funny?"
“You were a little too eager, dear,” Candice replied.
"Oh... well..." Illyana reached a hand behind her head and rubbed a bit, "It is just that I did not want you to think that I was looking forward to it simply because of any naked women. It would not do at all for you to have the impression that my eyes would be anywhere but on Clarice, so I wished to clarify that."
At that the two parents shared a look. It was the 'aww' look. Fortunately for Clarice and Illyana, the appetizer came then. It was a glorious sampler of fine delicacies. There might even be some caviar on that plate.
Clarice stared at it nervously, but dug in once her parents started to.
Illyana tried a little bit of everything. She’d never seen such delicacies! Not in person, anyway. Especially caviar. It was interesting, but not for her, she decided.
Clarice actually picked up a finger full of caviar and leaned in, whispering in Illyana's ear, "Just have a taste. Just one."
Even though they were in front of her parents, she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to change how she acted around Illyana. Even if they did need to talk and go on a real date some time, obviously. Maybe they could go a week without ending up in bed together.
Nah.
But a real date, that idea appealed to her. And at least her parents seemed to like Illyana, so that was a little victory.
Illyana wasn't sure if the parents liked her so much as were simply trying not to make any sudden movements while their daughter decided to be a lesbian, but she liked them.
Which is why she gave them a mildly apologetic look before eagerly licking that caviar off of Clarice's finger. It was disingenuous, because she was not really all that sorry, but she wanted them to know that she was aware this was not behaviour one usually exhibited in front of one's parents.
Still, there had been no harsh words, no anger, or throwing of things, and Illyana thought that was as big a victory as they were likely to get for the time being. She set out to enjoy the rest of her meal in relative comfort, casting off the nervousness she'd felt before.
It was a good evening! And she intended to savour it.