Private Tales Meeting Mother

[Charity Briarthorne]

Rocking back and forth on her heels, Charity stood outside of the Brass Bee, hands in her pockets, as she waited for her girlfriend to make an appearance. "Honey!" she cried joyously as the young woman rounded the corner. Charity looked around to make sure nobody was watching them, before she pulled Honey in for a quick kiss. "C'mon! We have to go! My mother will kill us if we're late."

They walked the short distances to Gwendolyn's archives. Standing outside the door, Charity took a deep breath and released it. Glancing over at Honey with a nervous smile, Charity pushed open the archive door and entered.

Cleo greeted them with a smile, but her eyes burned with annoyance. "Oh... Hello Miss Briarthorne. Its so very nice to see you again but I'm sure you know how busy your mother is. Allow me to remind you once again that if you want to see Miss Vollmund during business hours, you'll need an appointment." the demon said coldly. Charity looked at Cleo uncertainly. "Umm.. Ya might want to check your appointment book again. My... Uh... Friend and I do have a meeting with Mother."

Cleo's gaze darted to Honey as if she was noticing the young woman for the first time. Her eyes narrowed as she studied Honey's face, before she dragged her gaze to her scheduling book. "Let's see... Ah! Here it is. You and your friend certainly do have an appointment. My apologies Miss Briarthorne. Please have a seat and Miss Vollmund will be with you in a moment." Cleo disappeared to inform Gwen of their arrival.

After a brief moment Cleo reappeared next to them. "Miss Vollmund will see you now. Please follow me." Charity softly took Honey's hand, now so nervous that she felt like vomiting, as they followed Cleo into Gwendolyn's office.

Honey
Gwendolyn Vollmund

 

[Gwendolyn Vollmund]

Gwen sat at her desk. “Cleo. Theyll be here soon make sure to....oh..” She said with a slight smile looking up from her work to see the two standing before her.

She looked..

Perfect..

Too perfect...

“I assumed you’d be late..I um..I usually only meet clients with this..” She said with a tired chuckle. Her form flickering into nothing as a door simply appeared and opened. A dark stair case spiraled out of view.

“Don’t send me to him! Please! I’ll do anything!” A scream from the darkness would echo into the office.

A form walked from that darkness Revealing a very imperfect Gwen. Her hair was pulled back into a messy pony tail.

She wore simple, form fitting pants and a plain shirt under a black leather chest plate. She was wrapping up her arm as she entered. “Hello dear..” She said with a tired sigh, but a genuinely warm smile.

“Just finishing some work.” She knelt and gave her daughters forehead a peck before turning her attention on Honey.

Her hazy grey eyes gazed into hers intently. It was not intense but there was a searching held in them. Like she already saw every secret.

Every flaw. But also..Every good deed. Every helping hand. Every tragic justification.

Everything weighed fairly. No malice or bias. And her opinion was formed. The first impression made with nary a word.

And yet Gwen still seemed to be debating as she offered her hand after a moment.

“Gwendolyn Vollmund. At your service.” She would say casually.

 

[Honey]

"Honey!" she cried joyously as the young woman rounded the corner. Charity looked around to make sure nobody was watching them, before she pulled Honey in for a quick kiss. "C'mon! We have to go! My mother will kill us if we're late."

Honey returned the kiss but only quickly before pulling away and looking around in every direction to make sure nobody had seen them. "Charity, what did I tell you?" she whispered anxiously. "Not in public, or we're going to get caught!" But while Honey was genuinely worried about Zilvra finding out, her tone was not scolding. If anything, it was the opposite. Honey was blushing, with a huge smile on her face, like the two of them were misbehaving teenagers sneaking around in dark alleys for stolen kisses, terrified that their parents would find out and separate them.

... Of course, that wasn't a very accurate comparison, since their parents were about to find out. Charity's anyway. At least her mother. And of course, Honey would be lying if she said she wasn't terrified. Why couldn't she be meeting Charity's father instead? Father's loved her. In fact some of her former client's had like her so much they'd gone out of their way to steal them from under their son's noses. But mothers, on the other hand... Mothers absolutely despised her. And Honey highly doubted that Gwendolyn would be any different.

"Let's see... Ah! Here it is. You and your friend certainly do have an appointment. My apologies Miss Briarthorne. Please have a seat and Miss Vollmund will be with you in a moment." Cleo disappeared to inform Gwen of their arrival.

"I'm so nervous," Honey admitted in a whisper, squeezing Charity's hand as she awaited Cleo's return. "This is all so formal. Do you really need an appointment to see your own mother?" This Gwendolyn must be a very important person to have her schedule so fully booked that her own daughter needed an appointment to see her. That only made Honey more nervous. Important people were scary. Probably because they could tell by Honey's casual attitude that she was most definitely not important. "I don't know, I guess I just expected she'd be more... You know... Like you." Charity was such a carefree spirit, Honey didn't think she could cope with a life filled with strictly scheduled appointments. She'd probably get bored after half an hour and sneak off to play cards.

Honey didn't have much time to express her concerns though, as Cleo soon returned to usher the pair of them into Gwen's office. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Honey was sure to have a big smile on her face as she entered the room. She was getting herself all worried over nothing, This would be fine. She would be charming. Charity's mother would love her.

... And all that confidence went out of the window when Gwendolyn suddenly disappeared before her eyes... And then a scream begging for mercy came from the darkness before a far more dishevelled Gwendolyn reappeared. What the actual fuck was going on?

And then she stared into her eyes. But it was more than that. More like she was staring into her soul. She looked right through her and Honey did not even try to mask the fear in her eyes. What did this woman see when she looked into her eyes? One thing was for sure, Honey definitely wasn't good enough for Gwen's little girl.

“Gwendolyn Vollmund. At your service.” She would say casually.

"Oh," Honey replied, a little shocked, as if suddenly awakening from a trance. Then, remembering her manners, she took Gwen's hand and gave her a firm handshake. "I'm Honey," she introduced herself. No last name. She didn't have a last name. Not one to go with Honey anyway. Her old name had been left behind years ago. Zilvra's orders. And she hadn't shared it with a soul. Not even Charity. "I'm so pleased to meet you. Charity's told me so much about you!" A lie. Charity had actually been rather vague about her family. But that was just the polite thing to say, wasn't it? "She's an angel, Charity. An absolute credit to you. You must be so proud." That, hopefully, was something that the pair of them could agree on.

 

[Charity Briarthorne]

I'm so nervous," Honey admitted in a whisper, squeezing Charity's hand as she awaited Cleo's return. "This is all so formal. Do you really need an appointment to see your own mother?"

"Don't worry! My mother looks scary but I'm sure she'll love you!" Charity lied. "Just wait until you meet my father. THEN you'll have good reason to be nervous!" she squeezed Honey's hand reassuringly.

A small sigh escaped Charity as they waited for Cleo to return. There was no way in hell that Gwen would even consider approving of this relationship. Especially once she found out what Honey did for a living. No mother in their right mind would be happy that their child was in love with a prostitute.

Charity had known deep down for years that Gwendolyn had intended all along to find somebody FOR her and that she would just be expected to accept whoever was chosen for her. Whether choosing Honey herself before Gwen could find somebody was a good thing, Charity didn't know. Gwendolyn likely realized years ago that Charity wasn't going to sit idly by and let somebody tell her who she was going to love. With her luck she'd end up with some scummy criminal who would've just used her to further his own career. But at the same time she knew she could have trusted Gwendolyn to pick out somebody who was actually good for her.

"Yeah... That's just how it goes with my mother. If I want to see her during business hours, I have to make an appointment. Usually I'd just wait until after the archives are closed, but I thought meeting you was important enough to make an appointment for."

"I don't know, I guess I just expected she'd be more... You know... Like you."

"No she's quite the opposite actually. She's all work and no play. While I'm off getting drunk off my ass and gambling, Mother is always engaged in business meetings, or buying and selling information."

As they followed Cleo into the archives, Charity noticed Gwen sitting behind her desk. She looked too neat and perfect. Gwen knew they were coming so why did she keep the illusion up? At the mention of Gwen expecting her to be late, Charity scowled. "What? It's not beyond me to be on time for something important you know! Usually I just can't be bothered!" she pouted.

“Hello dear..” She said with a tired sigh, but a genuinely warm smile.

“Just finishing some work.” She knelt and gave her daughters forehead a peck before turning her attention on Honey.

Charity's face quickly cleared, as a door opened and the real Gwen appeared. She could hear someone screaming from behind the door and winced. "Hello Mother!" she said brightly. "I see you sent Daddy another visitor!" Serves them right! she thought. Anybody who thought they could outsmart, or trick Gwen, deserved the fate that she sent them to.

The sickening nervousness returned as Charity watched her mother scrutinize Honey. This was not good... She had hoped that Gwen would just be accepting of Honey, but instead Gwen had found it necessary to gather and analyze every little tidbit of information she could from Honey. All Charity could do now was hope that Honey's sweetness and charisma would be enough to win her mother over.

 

[Gwendolyn Vollmund]

"What? It's not beyond me to be on time for something important you know! Usually I just can't be bothered!"

“Not beyond you darling. Nothing is beyond you. I just didn’t think you could be bothered.” Gwen said with a slight sigh.

"Hello Mother!" she said brightly. "I see you sent Daddy another visitor!"

“He was a particularly important spy. I’m hoping his disappearance that whomever is holding his leash will make themselves plain.” Gwen responded.

Once her hand held Honeys she kept the grip on her hand. The young woman was enchanting.

To normal eyes.

Gwendolyn saw more.

She was one of Zilvra’s girls. A parasite hiding in the wolf hidden in the sheep’s clothing. Ready to spread when the clever, power wolf had its fill...

to others..

Her feelings for Charity were different.

They were quite plain. Which for a woman who undoubtedly earned her living faking such emotions when paid was a very good sign. And she wasn’t marked either...Which meant she wasn’t directly enslaved and participated willingly...Good? She was not getting cut down. Bad..No one was twisting her arm to work particularly. Gwen looked to Charity.

Her grip which had slowly become almost vice like was suddenly released. Warmth returned to her gaze as it fell on her daughter.

“Charity darling. Cleo needs you in the kitchen. I had her make a surprise for you both. It will give your new friend and I a chance to get to know each other.” Gwen said calmly.

Gwen never lied.

There was information she omitted. For what she felt was others protection.

Should Charity leave the room would grow dark as pitch. Shadows moving from the walls and expanding past thier borders. Gwens eyes would darken into twin black pits. She would pull the woman close.

Their faces merely an inch apart.

If it wasn’t for the shadows crawling up her legs like creeping vines and the cold chill coming from her eye it would almost be romantic.

“Your one of Zilvra’s girls. She has been a thorn in my side more than a couple of times. You care for my daughter. That much is keeping you from getting cut up into tiny pieces and erased right now.” Gwen hissed.

“But if you spy. If any word of my actions get back to that bitch. We will have another chat. Not so friendly, but just as brief. Understand?” She asked waiting for a response before a chilling smile that could make a snakes skin crawl. A single gentle kiss on her cheek.

“Welcome to the family dear.” She whispered before she released her like a discarded tankard. Light and warmth returning to the room as the shadows shrank back. Like nothing had happened..it was an unspoken warning.

More chilling than any spoken threat. She could be erased in a moment, and it would be like nothing had ever happened.

A shadow would push her up right and once more into Gwens arms as Charity and Cleo would return with cake. A beautifully baked Black Forest cake dripping with icing and candied strawberries. Cleo was an exceptional chef.

“I’d say she’s..acceptable.” Gwen would say with a weak smile giving Honey a squeeze. Finally releasing her and moving to Charity.

“I do wish you would have considered Kangi. She was sweet and her father has..” Gwen stopped at the eye her daughter gave her. “She’s nice.” Gwen finally relented like the compliment was a tooth being pulled out of her mouth rather than harmless words. She turned to face them all.

“Lunch will be served in a few moments. I suppose you’ll both enjoy some tea with the cake Cleo has made.” Gwen said gesturing to Cleo who was simply beaming at the praise. The demon turned to Honey.

“Hello miss. I’m Cleo. We met before but I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.” She said with a grin. Balancing the cake on her one hand and offering the other to the woman.

“I’m miss Vollmunds assistant.” She said brightly. Grinning with a smile that did not reach her eyes to reveal a nightmarish maw of teeth.

“Oh shoot.” She cursed covering her mouth. Moving her hand to reveal a quite normal mouth with quite normal teeth. It still didn’t meet her eyes.

But unlike Gwen it felt almost inhuman in a way.

The smile was real. It COULDNT reach her eyes. Like she was a monster dressing up like a human. Which she was..In a way..