Stronger Together chapter 189

The next week flew by. I spent it relaxing with my girls, spending  some more time with Cinder, having a few nights in with Barb and some  cuddles with Raven. Dating three women was exhausting, I was just glad  they were all dating each other too, or it would have defeated the  entire purpose of my relaxing week off. But time flies when you're  having fun, and now we had to get ready for this stupid induction  ceremony.

Luckily  we had Inari here. Despite not being aware of her family's vampirism  for most of her life she'd been Lara's assistant in many capacities for  years. She was the perfect person to ask about this kind of thing since  Lara was still a bit sore at us over killing her dad. Personally I  thought it had been entirely justified, but he hadn't been MY dad so I  recognized the fact that my vote didn't really count. Inari had gotten  past it much more easily, but being blissfully in love with my roommate  had probably helped.

She'd  even called to ask about the conclave and ceremony despite not going,  which I thought was sweet of her since she was already so busy trying to  placate her extremely sulky girlfriend, who was still pouting about  being left out. SHe matched around in circles, eyeing Cinder and Raven  who were standing in the middle of the room. This was the fourth time  she'd done that. I cleared my throat "Are we giving their specs to a  tailor or are you going to manifest the dresses onto their bodies with  the power of your mind?"

She  turned and glared at me. "You have no place in this. Men are worthless  at formal occasions, all you have to do is get a suit that fits and  you're good to go. That's not even counting your annoying supernatural  handsomeness. You don't have to worry about matching your skin tone or  clashing with your hair color which cut of dress gives the right  impression, so you can just shut up!" I glared back, outraged she would  talk to me like that in my own house, but she was kind of scaring me so I  shut up and kept my head down.

She  turned to glare at Raven next. "And you! You knew you got lucky with  that costume last time. You had a week to call a tailor and chose to  wait to the last minute. You know your body type isn't exactly typical.  You're built like a damn porn star, now we have a day until the ceremony  and we have to get something fitted quick, so expect it to be tight  because it's better than the alternative." She turned to Cinder. "You we  can work with, your tit's are pretty big but Ds are manageable, not  like little miss double Fs over here."

Kara  stepped forward tentatively, her sulking disrupted by seeing her  girlfriend freak out. She seemed hesitant to even get involved, but the  power of friendship won out. She reached out to touch Inari's arm  "Honey. Breathe. I know Lara was a bit of a stickler about this stuff  but we just want you to do your best. There's no need to get worked up,  we aren't even going to be there so the way they dress won't reflect you  or House Raith. Now why don't you take Cinder to get her dress and I'll  see what I can do about learning to sew. Super speed should fix this  right up."

I  hadn't even considered that actually, Kara's super brain could hold  information incredibly well and her hand eye coordination was perfect.  She would be able to learn to sew just from watching youtube videos for  an hour or two, then pick up anything she might need faster than you  could say pincushion. Inari paused, clearly also taken off guard, before  nodding grudgingly. "That might work. Go ahead, but come find me and  get my approval on a design before you start. I know you learn fast but  you don't know what's in fashion for these kinds of things."

Kara  nodded emphatically, grabbing Raven's hand and pulling her out of the  room, clearly happy to be free of the tyrant her girlfriend turned into  when she was in assistant mode. I made a break for it, following them,  out and shooting a panicked looking Cinder and apologetic look. Instead  of the computer like I expected we headed down the street to the  Carpenter house. Thinking about it though it made sense that Kara would  ask Charity to teach her to sew. The woman made all of Michael's armor,  and not just the metal stuff either.

I  jogged ahead to catch up with the girls. "So, for future reference, we  should never ask Inari to be in charge of anything ever again. Pol Pot  could have taken lessons from that girl. I was afraid for my life, and  I've fought actual gods." Raven snickered a bit but Kara seemed  unamused. She just ignored me and stalked ahead of us to get to the  Carpenter house. I sidled up next to my girlfriend, throwing an arm over  Raven's shoulder. "So, you excited to be Kara's instructional  pincushion while she learns to sew?"

Raven  just shrugged "I can heal myself if she sticks me and I doubt it'll  happen more than once or twice if at all. Kryptonians can memorize  physics textbooks with a single flip through, I doubt learning to sew  will pose much of a challenge. Especially with someone as experience as  Charity to teach her. Besides, it'll be nice to have a nice dress that  fits me for any formal occasions we happen to attend." She shot me a  teasing smirk "That is if my boyfriend ever decides to take me out for a  nice dinner again. I'm starting to worry you're ashamed of me."

I  rolled my eyes "No you aren't because you're empathic, and also not  insane. You know I love going out with you, I just get so annoyed seeing  other men ogle you. Which they literally always do." That was true. The  last time we'd gone out to a high end restaurant was about six months  ago, Raven had worn a skirt and top and the waiter had spent so much  time staring at her he almost poured ice water in both of our laps. I'd  wanted to punch the asshole, but Raven had headed it off because I  probably would have exploded his head like a ripe watermelon.

When  we got to the door Charity was just opening it up, and upon seeing Kara  she smiled broadly and swept the girl into  a hug "Kara, we weren't  expecting you today! Come in, all three of you, please." She stepped  back and ushered us in, it was always jarring to see how cheerful and  happy Charity was in comparison to how she treated Harry in the books.  Even after they got past their issues she saw him as a friend, but  Charity was only really relaxed around family. Since Kara was family and  we lived with her we got included in the package.

Kara  squeezed tightly "hey mama, sorry to drop in unannounced." Charity had  long since insisted Kara call her mom, and since she'd done the same  thing with Ma Kent she got used to it quick. She only did it around them  though, I think she just liked seeing how happy it made them. Seeing  the girl with her surrogate parents always made me smile. She pulled  back after her hug with a smile "I actually came to ask for some help. I  know you make daddy's armor. Raven has this big event to go to and  doesn't have a dress. She has trouble finding things that fit so I  thought I could use my super speed to make her something. Can you teach  me how to sew?"

Charity  laughed and led us into the kitchen, only stopping to have us drop our  coats off. "I think I can work something out. Normally I'd say a day  isn't enough time but since you learn so quickly and since needles can't  actually penetrate your skin I'm pretty confident we can go at a bit of  an accelerated pace." She dropped a plate in front of me as I sat down.  "Your timing is excellent by the way, I just finished make quesadillas  for the kids. You know I always have extras." I grinned and thanked her  as I started wolfing mine down.

She  passed one to Raven but before my girlfriend could eat a blonde missile  came sailing out from behind a door squealing "Rae!" Molly had been  learning magic under Raven after Kara had a long talk with her parents.  She idolized the older girl and I was told they had bonded over the last  few months since the family dinner where I'd floated the idea. She  turned to give me a smile "Hey Cam, what's up? Haven't seen you in a  while, you still half robot?" I rolled my eyes and reached up to ruffle  her hair, which got a squawk of dismay and a glare.

Kara  meanwhile looked insulted "What am I chopped liver? Can't even spare a  hello for your own sister?" She grabbed one of the quesadillas from the  plate and started munching on it while holding it in her bare hands, but  Charity looked pretty annoyed so she broke down and grabbed a plate. As  she ate though she got a mischievous look on her face "So Mols, I was  just about to ask mama to teach me to sew, you should totally learn with  us." She shot an innocent smile at Charity.

Molly,  being a fairly clumsy person and almost sure to stab herself with a  sewing needle at least three times, went pale and glared at her foster  sister. "I don't need to say hello, you basically live here, and I don't  want to learn to sew, that's boring. Rae can teach me more magic while  you and mom work on your embroidery." She sneered the last word like she  was saying "toxic sludge" and Charity rolled her eyes at their  bickering. Despite not living her Kara spent most every day in the house  and she and Molly were close as blood sisters even if they bickered.

Charity,  being completely used to this, managed to head off any actual  arguments. "Kara, come with me, we can work in the sewing room. I'll  teach you to hand stitch since it'll end up being faster for you than  using a machine in any case. Raven and Molly you can do a lesson if  you'd like, Molly make sure to let Raven finish eating before you drag  her outside and pepper her with questions." She leaned down to peck  Molly on the cheek and dragged Kara away to learn the fine art of hand  sewing.

Raven  gave me the same treatment, cheek kiss followed by dragging the girl  away to work on her empathy. Raven knew enough about the fundamentals of  magic here to teach Molly the basics, and helping her fine tune and  learn to deal with her empathy was something Raven was much more suited  for than Harry ever had been. I'd even caught her studying some of  Harry's books to learn more about the way illusions worked in this world  so she could teach the younger girl better and it made me smile knowing  she was so excited to be a teacher.

As  I turned my attention back to my food I considered the ceremony we  would be going to tomorrow. Some of the biggest and scariest bastards in  the world would be there, and even if I was pretty sure we could hold  our own there was still so much that could go wrong. I wished we could  bring Harry, but both my spots were filled and bringing him as a servant  would be asking for trouble. All I could do was keep my eyes open and  watch out for my girls. So more of the same really. Well, at least I  knew how to do that much.