Blessed by Night-Chapter 386: Respectability Politics & BBQ Rules

A camera crew filled up the hallway, following one man who had called out to Morgan.

He was a man of average height and build with no real distinguishing features aside from his brightly dyed sandy-blonde hair.

He appeared to be no older than his mid-to-late forties with a shrill, thoughtful smile. He carried himself like a man who already knew the world was his to do whatever he wanted with.

He used his unmatched charisma to its fullest when he stepped in front of Morgan. Holding out his hand and offering him a friendly smile paired with an intelligent twinkle in his blue eyes.

"Morgan Creed. Pretty empty schedule you have these days, isn't it? No wonder you decided not to run in the election."

Morgan found this man's mere voice to be unbearably agitating.

But if a brief tenure in politics had taught him anything, it was how to stomach people he didn't like.

"Chuck Hope." Morgan took the man's outstretched hand. "I hadn't heard you were stopping by for a visit today."

"Oh, you know how unpredictable these campaigns are. Managers get sudden ideas and it throws off the whole rhythm of things. I just go where Georgia tells me to these days." He laughed harmlessly.

Malachi finally descended from his perch atop the ceiling. His face was even less pleasant than Morgan's was.

In recent news, Chuck Hope was seeking presidential election and advocating for a higher crackdown on Evolved living in America, as well as increased regulation on their business ventures.

He had also cited Malachi numerous times in personal attacks and both criticized and questioned his decision to bar the gods from their world.

In his words, he saw it as some sort of takeover. Fueling the belief that if America, but more specifically, he didn't get things under control, then they may soon find themselves with some very disagreeable and powerful overlords.

But above all, Malachi found that his plan to repeal polyamory as a legal institution that really ensured that they weren't going to see eye-to-eye.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Malachi didn't even bother taking off his sunglasses when he saw him.

Chuck, however, stuck out his hand as if he hadn't been slandering Malachi fearlessly across national television. "Mr. Saint. It's nice to finally-"

*Hiss!*

A loose strand of Malachi's hair suddenly came alive and nearly bit through the old man's hand.

Unfortunately, old Chuck somehow managed to draw his hand back in time to avoid being bitten.

Malachi's expression never wavered for even a moment.

He walked past Chuck without sparing him another word. The camera crew as well.

He wasn't sure why he had brought them here of all places, but he figured that whatever the reason was it couldn't have been good.

Without drawing attention to himself, Malachi generated a very small electromagnetic pulse in his hand.

He sent it forth as a pulse imperceptible to the human eye and too weak to cause any lasting damage to the prison.

But somehow, when the lights flickered, everything seemed to start going wrong.

"H-Hey, my camera's out."

"Mine too."

"Mic's dead, boss."

Chuck whirled around to search for Malachi, but when the lights cut back on he was already gone.

- Saturday...

It was midday in the Saint home.

While the family should have been busy in their closets preparing to get dressed for the barbecue, they were instead being called to the living room, where Bianca supposedly had an announcement of vital importance.

"Come on, come on, sit sit sit." Bianca pointed with her clipboard.

Nadine belly-flopped onto the couch while the rest of the girls sat down normally around her.

Shiro and Camille followed Nadine's bad example and flipped onto the sofa haphazardly.

Celeste displayed quite the show of adaptability when she caught little Cami without even looking back."What's this about, hon? You know I need all of the time to get ready that I can get."

Bianca smiled. "That just so happens to be exactly what I needed to talk to you about, darlin'. Since we're going to be around my family today, I thought I should take a moment of our time to go through a couple of tidbits and ground rules before we go around everyone."

Sei: "Tid bits..?"

Anna: "Ground rules..?"

Nadine: "How many is a couple exactly..?"

Bianca proceeded to unfurl a roll of paper that was longer than every one of their future husbands' dreadlocks put together.

The girls unanimously sank into their seats.

"Alright, let's do first things first.." Bianca muttered. "#1: You do not have to know everybody to speak to them, if they say 'Hey baby how you doing' just go on ahead and speak back or else they will think you're acting boujee."

The girls nodded slowly.

"Right, these next two are for Celeste specifically."

"M-Me!?"

"Yes, you, babe. Don't wear NOTHING you care about to this barbecue. We are going to the country, there is nothing out there for you to wear heels for."

Celeste was heartbroken as her entire outfit plan just went soaring out the window.

"Oh yeah, and if my uncle hands you a clear jar with something that looks like water, make sure you are sitting by one of us before you drink and that you already have a place to sit down picked out."

Celeste was becoming increasingly less sure about exactly what kind of event she was even going to.

Bianca went back to browsing over the non-Celseste-specific portions of her list.

"Right... there will be plenty of food out there, but whatever you get, you must finish! Because if you don't, all my aunties are going to feel insulted and you may just get a lecture about there being starving children in Africa somewhere."

Sei slowly pulled out her phone so that she could begin taking notes.

"And they shouldn't ask, but if they want to know if we have a home church, lie and tell them yes." Bianca stared directly into Joanne and Anna's eyes. "Do not under any circumstances tell them your true feelings about organized religion."

Anna and Joanne sank even further into their seats. Both grumbling under their breaths about something that would have to stay an inside thought.

Bianca seemingly reached a more important part of the list because she leaned in with her eyes boiling orange.

"Please... for the love of god... do not sit at the card table if you don't actually know how to play cards. I will not be able to save you!"

Again, the girls nodded slowly. All of them were secretly wondering if it was too late to say they had something else to do this afternoon.

"Nadine, baby, if they ask you what you're mixed with just tell them you don't know because you grew up in foster care."

"Shiro, Cami, I have no idea why they say kids can only get hot dogs and juice pouches, that's been a thing since I was a baby. Go find Grandpa and he'll probably sneak you something."

"Anna, Luna, Celeste, and Sei, they're going to ask you if it's natural. Don't be offended, I promise they aren't being pigs they are just genuinely curious and bewildered."

Bianca had over thirty more clauses and stipulations to dole out.

In that time, Malachi had finally returned from picking up a side dish to take to the event.

He arrived just in time to hear the final clause that was centered around him.

"Don't be fooled by the harmless act of my cousins and aunts, those bitches will be after our man so all of you need to be ready to chin-check a bitch at all times if it comes down to it."

Bianca finally put her clipboard down and smiled as beautifully as a summer day.

"Alright, that's everything! Shall we go get ready now?"