XIII. The issues
"Constance, the whiteboard!" Amanda ordered, in dramatic fashion.
Constance placed a small white box in the center of the room. Within seconds it unfolded itself into a full sized whiteboard, complete with wheels.
"Now that everyone has some grub, we can finally start the meeting." Amanda announced, clearing her throat. "Sucy, how about you start us off?"
Sucy swallowed and held up a clipboard. "Well, the 'agenda' says the following: Urusla and Croix are bae, Diana finally kissed Akko and Andrew got roasted, bye."
"Bye?" Amanda questioned.
"It literally says that." Sucy clarified.
Hannah and Barbara both gave Diana a round of applause. "Yayyy! You did it Diana!"
Akko hugged her as a very red faced Diana accepted the applause.
"Wait what about the other thing?! You know the elephant in the room?" Amanda prodded.
Sucy flipped through her notes and stopped."Oh yeah, 'Diana is 0-1 when it comes to standing up to her Aunt.'
"Yeah, that's it." Amanda said satisfied.
Diana set down her plate and stood up inserting herself into the conversation.
"Wait a moment, there are many things that you just said that need clarification. First of all, my Aunt Diana is not the evil monster that you claim she is." Diana stated, looking around the room.
"You sure about that? Cause she fucked you up pretty bad." Sucy said openly, scribbling on her clipboard.
"I just have a few bruises, nothing that time can't heal." Diana said, mainly reassuring Akko.
"Yeah, but what about all the fucked up stuff she was drilling into your head? If that's been going on for as long as she implied, then that's messed up." Amanda said concerned as Constance and Lotte nodded.
"Well, she cares, she just -" Diana stumbled trying but failing to defend Daryl. Jasminka stopped cutting up a pancake and eyed Diana with disbelief.
"She doesn't. That's the point. " Sucy said plainly.
"Yeah, she said she was going to make you see Doctor Klein. Who the hell is that?" Amanda asked. By this point she was drawing a cartoon picture of Daryl and the doctor both with devil horns and pitchforks.
Diana had learned from the whole suit and ball business that it was better to tell people the truth than hide it away. That still didn't make it any less hard. She wasn't used to letting people into her painful past.
"Fine, Doctor Klien is the therapist I used to see." Diana said shortly.
Sucy narrowed her eyes at Diana, knowing she was going to have to pull it out of her.
"And?" Sucy probed, the rest of the room waiting. Akko looked up with a softened look. She saw Diana rubbing her arms with a sad look in her eyes.
"I saw him because Aunt Daryl thought that he would be able to turn me straight. Both her and Doctor Klein believed it would be possible. I stopped seeing him because I got my Aunt to believe that the therapy worked. I was straight." Diana said with pain in her eyes.
The room was heavy and silent. Amanda lowered her eyes, turning away deflated. This was turning into a more serious meeting, no fun and games anymore. On the other hand, the gears were turning in Amanda's head. She started scribbling on the whiteboard in red.
"There were things that happened to me during that time that were very… painful. I don't wish to revisit them even as memories. I've never told anyone this before." Diana said seriously.
Akko jumped up and hugged Diana tightly, pressing her tears into Diana's chest. Everyone else looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Amanda finally finished her idea on the whiteboard and turned around.
"Alright, I got it. Everyone here's the plan." Amanda said interpreting her flowchart on the flowchart had cartoon stick figure pictures of each step. "My team and Akko's will work on suppressing rumors about Diana's sexuality. Hannah and Barbara, you guys work on supporting Diana and digging up dirt on her Aunt. Meanwhile Diana works on her magic, building her skill and then faces off against Cruella de vil again. This time beating her once and for all! It's foolproof." Amanda said proudly.
"How is all of that supposed to solve anything?" Hannah asked as Barbara was busy taking notes on the plan.
Sucy stepped in. "We'll use the dirt on Daryl to shake her confidence and Diana build up her magical ability so she doesn't get beat up by that trio again."
"So, Diana will have to face her Aunt again?" Akko said worried. Lotte put her hand on Akko's shoulder.
"That's not tasty. " Jasminka commented.
Constance held up a mini whiteboard that said 'probably'.
"Constance is right." Lotte said sadly. "Based on what we've seen, Aunt Daryl won't let Diana go unless she can beat her."
Diana thought over the plan. It seemed straight forward but it wasn't going to be easy. Daryl was very mysterious when it came to her past. She seemed to know everything about Diana, but Diana knew very little when it came to Daryl's weaknesses or her past.
On top of that Diana would need to build up her magic abilities beyond that of Aunt Daryl. How was that going to be possible?
"Well, it doesn't matter. Diana what do you think?" Amanda asked.
"I approve but Aunt Daryl said she'll be keeping a closer eye on me and I'll be going to see Doctor Klein weekly." Diana said weighing all the factors.
"Gross. Well alright then! Everybody pay attention. Operation Defeat Daryl is about to start! Hannah and Barbara you two will be our point of contact with Diana." Amanda assigned.
Both Hannah and Barbara high fived each other.