A Vulgar Bunch

Upon opening the door, she was greeted by a jet stream of water to the face. For a full minute, she was just standing there with water continuously pelting her face without any signs of stopping. Heck, she was almost drowning by the sheer amount and for how long it kept going.

It just went on and on and on. That one full minute was enough to subject her to insanity. For how long will this last? Will she possibly survive the consequences of this event? Will she come back the same?

For a moment, those questions don't seem to have a definite answer with the water continuing to assault her face.

...

...

...

'WHEN WILL THIS STOP?!'

Erika practically screamed in her head as she continued to wait but there was no end to it. She couldn't just move as that would redirect the water inside of the house and if that were to happen, it would take a while for both inhabitants to recover from the emotional damage of having to clean.

So she stood there, unmoving at the face of endless water practically combo-ing her with its strength.

Just when she was about to start faltering and fail her mother in keeping their house clean, an angel in the form of blue hair and adorable droopy hooded eyes came to her rescue.

"HESUSMARIJOSEP1, CHARLES WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!"

The water stopped. Finally. Erika was free. She closed her eyes as fresh air finally greeted her face instead of liquid. She was free. She succeeded in her mission... kind of.

The floor was incredibly wet.

'I hope Ma won't slip in this.' She thought distantly before turning to face the rude guests by the front door. She remained silent, watching as a boy was getting scolded by the angel that she had seen.

For a moment, Erika was fascinated by the angel. Tall, cute, and extremely attractive. She couldn't believe that her Ma had somehow made a friend with someone so attractive.

Well... Her Mama was attractive even when she leaned more on the handsome side. Maybe the old legends were right in her old life, that attractive people naturally attract people just as pretty as them.

Her musing about the mysterious angel was rudely interrupted when she finally registered the things she was saying.

"Tangina kang bata ka2, what the fuck were you thinking?! Using your fucking quirk to shower someone that's going to stay with us for a day- holy shit, Charles! I-... FUCK!"

'... how graceful.'

Erika noticed a small figure hiding behind the 'graceful' angel.

At the sight of her, Erika felt like her heart was being pierced with a million venomous arrows. The little girl was like a carbon copy of the woman she hid behind, with pale blue hair and droopy hooded eyes. She held a sense of curiosity as she stared back at Erika with some shyness.

The effect she had on Erika was immediate as she suddenly went down on her knees with her hands over her chest. She mumbled, "The cuteness..."

Her brain cells were cheering her on to recover while they died one by one as the image of the little girl repeated in her mind.

"PUTANGINA! CHARLES! LOOK WHAT YOU FUCKING DID!"

"The fuck did I do?"

"Don't you fuck around with that kind of bullshit! What if your quirk fucking hurt her!"

"Nuh-uh."

"THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN NUH-UH, YOU LITTLE BRAT?!"

"I see some things haven't changed one bit in the past years. You even passed it down to your child for heaven's sake." Erika sprung up from her kneeling position and immediately blocked her mother from the doorway, just before she could step onto the slippery floor and humiliate herself.

Erika happily celebrated internally when she succeeded.

Amanda, however, wasn't as amused about the situation. She kneeled in front of her child with a worried look in her eyes, "Why are you all wet?"

Erika pointed toward the boy, "He blasted me with water as soon as I opened the door."

Amanda looked pissed for a moment before it passed when she looked up at the small family outside her house, two of them in the middle of a very loud argument while one looked like she wanted nothing to do with the two other brutes.

The woman sighed turning back to her daughter and moving some strands of hair away from her face.

"How about you three come in and wait for Erika to dry up and change? Outside of the front door, the house is neater."

Her joke was well responded to by her friend as well as the little girl behind her.

They made themselves at home while Erika went back to her room to change. The wet sensation of her clothes was starting to be irritating with the brutal warmth that was already starting to seep into their home so early in the morning. She hoped there would be some air conditioning in the house where she'd be staying, she didn't know if she could survive something like this mentally.

The cruel Philippine heat and the vulgar bunch were a deadly combo for Erika right now.

"Are you sure she's 2?" Amanda's friend, Marianne, asked in a whisper. She was finally finished arguing with her son who was now sulking at the corner of the couch, his sister trying to console him with uninspiring pats on the back. "She's more coherent than these two over here!"

Amanda straightened her back a little, puffing out her chest in pride. "She's kind of a genius. Quite active as a child and was already starting to learn words when just before she was a year old. It's... it's quite overwhelming sometimes."

She laughed about the situation but there was an underlying exhaustion in her actions that didn't miss the observing eyes of Marianne.

"Erika is... empathetic. Excessively so. I adore her curious nature and the need to learn, but as soon as she notices something, she zeroes in on it and will immediately begin to discuss that situation with me." Amanda sighed, "I'm worried she'll worry over me to no end that she won't experience the things that a child should be experiencing. She doesn't deserve that, Mari. She's too good to be deprived of those things."

"Woah woah woah, I'm starting to know where this is going and I am not about to allow you to finish that thought when you're going to be settling a divorce later." Marianne turned to the children by her side and said, "Why don't you two go see if Erika is ready?"

Charles was already making a face as she was addressing them and was about to decline when the little girl smacked him behind the head and dragged him away from the adults. Charles tried to scream but when his sister looked at her with a smile, his head had a foreboding feeling similar to whenever he was underwater.

Marianne stood from the couch and kneeled in front of her, holding her hands that had trembled ever so slightly. "You're doing the best you can for your daughter. I don't know how hard it is to be raising your child alone in this forsaken house but I would be damned if I were in your case. You're stronger than most of us. You're the strongest person I know, even. Quirk or not, married or alone, you still show the best results in all of us."

"Mari..."

"I know." She laughed a little, glancing to the room in case any of the children were listening. "I shouldn't be telling you how awesome you are when the more awesome one is me."

Amanda laughed, smacking her shoulder as she exclaimed, "Mari!"

"Look, bub. You don't need to fret about those sorts of things. Your daughter sounds like she's a great foil to your closed-off nature, and with your guidance, I have no doubt that she'll turn out alright in the future."

"You're right." Amanda sighed, this time the weight of her shoulders relaxed with her, "God, this divorce thing is getting me. I am not used to feeling so... weak."

"We all have our moments. I'm worried though, especially in the settlements. Have you talked to him about who gets who?" Amanda shook her head and Marianne clicked her tongue in disappointment. They were quiet for a while before Marianne took her hands again, "Whatever happens, we have your back. Me, Richard, and the whole gang. Don't hesitate to call us when you need to. You're not as alone as you used to, bubble."

Amanda smiled, the tightness in her chest loosening a little bit as she was reminded of the love she had managed to surround herself in her life of angst. "Thank you, Mari..."

"Ma! I'm good to go, what do you think?"

Erika ran into the living room, dried and a new blue dress on her person. Amanda looked on with so much love, Erika was the light in her life that never stopped giving.

She stood up and grabbed her little princess off the floor and spun her around the room. "My daughter is the cutest!" She showered her cheeks with kisses again, forcing giggles from her daughter.

"Mama stop!" She exclaimed yet still laughed and reciprocated the affection tenfold!

"I didn't know you had this side of you, bub."

Amanda grabbed a nearby Lego with her foot. Her movement was quick as she grabbed it with her hand before throwing it squarely in the space between Marianne's eyebrows.

Marianne grabbed her face painfully, "Oh, you bitch!"

Amanda simply ignored her and started to coo on her daughter after she teasingly said, "Language, Mari."