[2.45] Family Style (Part 3/5)

“Ehh-huh?” Angelica unintentionally vocalized her befuddlement when suddenly asked about her love-life. Her mother had never really shown much interest before. The very few conversations they’d had about it had always been brought up by Angelica, which she was always hesitant to do for a variety of reasons.

“No mom, there’s no men,” she stated with certainty. Well, there was kind of one that had at least sparked something, but no way was she going to tell the woman about the hottie from Hell, even if it was just a vague description of his human appearance. Especially because there was absolutely no intention of trying to progress anything there. The amount of dynamics at play would just make the whole thing feel wrong on several levels.

“And besides…” Angelica hid her face behind her sketch pad and mumbled “...you know I prefer girls.” It pained and embarrassed her to have to bring it up again. She had officially come out to her mother in her late high school years. The response had been… tepid, for lack of a better word, and basically wholly ignored afterwards since nothing came of it, no girlfriend brought home.

Awkward wallflower that Angelica was, that mostly persisted through college. But there was one… one she had crushed hard on and was certain going to evolve into something more, and had even confided in her mother about, which took reminding her in that moment of her preferences. However, that bond had fallen flat, so flat on her face that she almost wished the impact had killed her. Basically, Angelica had thought it was headed in a more romantic way, but the other person absolutely never thought that apparently, which led to their relationship crumbling and eventually destroyed entirely. Even thinking about that girl now, it made her mind wince.

“Well, I don’t blame you.” Corticia spouted something that her daughter could never even have conceived of hearing. “Men can be… disappointing. If I ever put myself out there again, perhaps I’d consider being more open myself. Especially after your father, It makes me never want to trust another man for the rest of my life.”

That shook Angelica to her very core, so much in fact that when she glanced back down at her drawing, she’d accidentally made a smudge that she’d need to correct. It wasn’t so much her mother’s musings about possibly dabbling into lesbianism, which was wild enough on its own. What had really thrown her was that the woman had mentioned her ex-husband of her own volition, possibly for the very first time since Angelica had been born.

“Oh, so we can talk about dad now?” She couldn’t stop herself from jumping on it.

Corticia scrunched her lips. “I’d really rather not.”

“Ah, c’mon mom,” Angelica pushed. “It’s been decades and I barely know anything about him. You’ve never even told me his name!” Yes, she didn’t even know the name of her father. Her mother never told her, always referring to him as “your father” or more commonly, “that man”. She had even gone so far as to scrub his name from her birth certificate, which didn’t exactly feel legal in hindsight, but well, now it barely moved the needle on illicit acts she was worried about her mother possibly being involved with.

Sadly, she didn’t have other family to ask, either. Both of Corticia’s parents had died before Angelica was born, and the woman had no siblings. Of course, that could all be a lie as well, and she kept her distance for other reasons, but Angelica never felt the need to dig otherwise. She already had enough drama with one family member, so she wasn’t exactly compelled to extend that. None of her mother’s friends had ever mentioned him either. Maybe they were sworn to secrecy, or maybe she just didn’t keep any friends from that time.

“Because his name is not worth saying!” Corticia genuinely shouted, fueled by fury. Thankfully, they had a private booth at the back of the restaurant, so there were no awkward stares. And they were far away from other patrons, so it was unlikely that their lunch would be disturbed. But there was no way the staff hadn’t heard the commotion, and they thankfully didn’t come to check. When she realized what she’d done, the woman looked genuinely embarrassed and let out a deep breath to calm herself.

“Angelica, your father is a deadbeat who caused us nothing but strife. I don’t know where he went, or if he’s even still alive. And pry all you want, but I will not give you the information to follow up for yourself. Call me selfish if you like, but that is for your own protection. There is nothing good that can come from going down that road. So there, we talked about it.”

“Fine, I’ll drop it,” Angelica relented, but still prodded in a different way. “Y’know, it wasn’t exactly easy for me. In school, there were constantly some other kids, but mostly teachers, gossiping about who my father was. They seemed to come to a general consensus that it was the mayor, not the current guy, but whoever it was when I was born and was there until I was like six or seven. Can’t remember his name. But when one actually directly asked me, I just shrugged and looked away like I was hiding it, since it seemed like the easier option than trying to say it was some stranger I didn’t know.”

“Oh, Firgland?” Corticia raised an eyebrow and then chucked. “Ha, that’s rich. Sure, that works. He was a good guy, and can be your father if anyone asks. Firgland was actually as gay as they come, though, but I could see why they’d spread that rumor since we worked closely together, and he even admitted once that he liked having me around as cover. I do think he’s actually married to his partner now, though. Been a while since we’ve spoken. I should reach out.”

Huh, that actually wasn’t where Angelica expected that to go, but it was interesting nonetheless. And that was when she realized again that she hadn’t been paying attention to her drawing again, having likely made no real progress for some time. Except, when she glanced at the pad again it… was done?

[Passive Skill: Auto-Color Lv.1 unlocked]

[Creativity increased]

[Fabrication Attunement increased]

No scuffing way. The Skill she’d been torturing herself over getting, feeling endless turmoil about having to put it off time and time again, it had unlocked on its own. Of course, she’d tried to unlock it naturally in the past, but no matter what she did when attempting to make it trigger during her previous art sessions, it never decided to reward her. Apparently, getting into heated conversations with her mother was just the distraction needed to fully pull her out of her headspace entirely when drawing which was likely what had caused the unlock.

Since she’d just gotten the notification now, the Skill itself likely hadn’t been involved during the portrait process. That was all Angelica, her natural artistic talent, able to produce a perfect piece even when not mentally all there. Thankfully, now that she had the Skill, she’d be able to repeat the effect in perpetuity without having to put herself in such anxious situations. She desperately wanted to try it out, but the portrait was done, so it would have to wait, and there was more to the message which demanded her attention.

[Legacy Bonus activated]

[Auto-Color has been boosted to Lv.11]

Err, what? Legacy Bonus? The heck is that?! Fortunately, the DGS decided to actually answer her question instead of calling her stupid for not knowing.

[Legacy Bonus is an auto-adjustment feature of newly acquired Skills based on prior capabilities and experiences related to the Skill before purchase or natural acquisition. They do not, however, come with the Worth and Attunement increases typically included with Skill increases, so some Demons choose to waive the option. Would you like to disable future Legacy Bonuses?]

No, no! It’s fine. She’d much rather get boosts out of the box, and it was nice to have her capabilities as an artist recognized as such to trigger the event. But wait, shouldn’t some of her past Skills also have done that? At the very least Inspiration, and possibly Reprint since she regularly drew characters over and over again in the exact same way for commissions and her comic, just changing the expressions. So she asked about that too.

[Legacy Bonuses are unavailable until you reach Puck because they are based on the experiences of your current and past forms. Imps have no past forms or experiences to draw from without causing possible memory distortion and trauma. They could potentially have them from their current form’s experiences, but it is too unstable to calculate]

Well, wasn’t that kind of inaccurate for her? Auto-Color felt like it had jumped way too much just based on the amount of art she’d done in the past month as an Imp. Either the Skill was just ridiculously easy to level or it was also pulling from her time as a human. And huh, memory distortion, what? Imps shouldn’t have any past memories, right? She was just about to ask about it when sudden noise pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Angelica, Angelica.” Her mother was literally snapping in her face. “You’ve been ignoring me and staring at your drawing for a while now. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yeah, just double checking everything. I guess I get lost in it sometimes.” She tore the piece of paper from her pad and handed it over to her mother, on the edge of her seat, worried about what the feedback would be.

Corticia took it and studied it as well. For a moment, it looked like the edges of her mouth were curling into a smile, but they suddenly frumped down into a frown. “Did you have to be so detailed with my wrinkles? Gah, it makes me feel so old.” Though her words were negative, there was a sort of lighthearted whimsy to her voice, so Angelica took it as a win. If the woman thought it was good enough to critique it on such a level, clearly she’d done a good job. And apparently, there was more unexpected obtuse praise to come.

“Would it be alright if I used this for a campaign poster? Normally, they airbrush the photos they use to hell, but perhaps this raw depiction would be just what we need to show that we have nothing to hide from our constituents.”

Oh the irony in those words, but Angelica the human should have no reason to doubt them. “Uhh, sure, if you want to.”

That actually got her mother’s mouth to crack into the smile she was trying to suppress. “And when they ask about the artist, I can proudly say that it was my daughter.”

Uhk, that made Angelica want to snatch the portrait back and flee from embarrassment, but Corticia had already slipped the drawing away to her side in preparation for the big tray of food that was approaching the table. Her mother dug in immediately, scooping hefty spoonfuls from each dish onto her plate. Apparently the woman was really hungry, a bit odd, since she had never been a big eater either. Maybe that had just changed over time, something new about the woman to learn.

Angelica was actually excited to learn such things, since after that past interaction, it really felt like they’d reached a new level of mutual acceptance. At least, until she found that heaping plate of food plopped down directly in front of her, accompanied by a judgmental scowl from her mother. “We’re not leaving until you clear that whole plate.”

Okay, so she was clearly jumping way too far ahead in her assumptions about the state of their relationship. They were apparently still in the “being petty” stage, which could very well always be a thing, since honestly there had never really been any stepping away from it as far as Angelica could remember. So like her. So damned like her. Acting like her best friend one moment, then a scornful parent the next. Well, she could be petty too.

Since she never knew when her mother would flip the switch like this, there was a way she could at least be prepared, and hopefully see through any acts she was putting on. She genuinely wanted to believe that the praise for her art had been genuine, but now she was doubting even that. With her GP freed up, though, there was no real reason to hesitate. She’d been planning to get this Skill next regardless, but this just motivated her to jump on it immediately.

[Spend 1 GP to unlock Discerning Palate?]

[Active Skill: Discerning Palate Lv.1 unlocked]

[Lucidity increased]

[Gnostic Attunement increased]

That wasn’t the Skill she actually wanted, though would be intrigued to try. But no, she just purchased it to purposefully decrease the cost of the next Skill. Discerning Palate had dropped it down by an additional point, so it was essentially free to purchase.

[Spend 6 GP to unlock Detect Falsehoods?]

[Passive Skill: Detect Falsehoods Lv.1 unlocked]

[Lucidity hugely increased]

[Lucidity has improved from Clear to Heightened]

[Gnostic Attunement hugely increased]

[Gnostic Attunement has improved from Embraced to Intertwined]