Chapter 15

"Ahh, that felt refreshing…" Tights thought to herself as she switched off the running faucet, emerging from the bathtub with a pink towel wrapped around her dripping wet hair. She felt rested after several hours of sleep but after a soothing bubble bath, she felt better than ever and ready for action. For sure, her family was right when they said she needed to rest before making the arrangements for this big party. The elder sister soon appeared back in her bedroom and changed into some clothes she had picked out before hopping into the shower. She quickly blow-dried her hair and checked herself out in the mirror to be sure she wasn't missing anything and was in a presentable state for her family.

Sitting on top of her mattress, Tights opened up her suitcase to make sure she had taken all her stuff out. All of her outfits, jackets, makeup, and other pieces of clothing had been unpacked as soon as she woke up and put in their necessary drawers. She reached across the bed for her purse, digging though it and pulling out the sheet of paper containing all the information about the party she had written down while still in Omori's Island. It made her relieved that it hadn't fallen out of her purse while she rode on her plane to West City, as all that was crucial for her party planning.

Evening had now arrived and it would be the perfect time to just take a walk around the compound for a piece of mind. Having been absent for years, she felt the need to go out and get some fresh air. But not before lending her sister a helping hand with this huge party. She heard her younger sister and nephew laughing downstairs in the living room and from the sounds of it, they were both having a good time. Wanting to be around her family right now, Tights got up from her bed and left her room after making sure all the lights were turned off.

It hadn't taken long for her to appear in the hallway. After sniffing the air, she could tell that her mother had started cooking dinner already. The only meal she had today was a small lunch provided for her after she boarded her plane flight to West City hours ago, so her stomach felt really empty. Now she would be able to taste her mother's homemade cooking again after years. Shaking her thoughts away, she hurried to the living area where her sister and nephew were having their fun.

They were sitting opposite each other in the living room with a board game of some sorts laying across the coffee table. Two dices, some money, small tokens, a stack of cards and other items laid across the board game. Tights stood close to the entrance and watched them for a bit as they played against each other. From the looks of it, they must have been at it for hours while she was asleep. Both had been so distracted they hadn't even noticed her standing there with folded arms. When Trunks was about to roll a dice, he turned his head around and finally noticed his aunt standing near the entrance with a huge smile.

"Auntie!" Trunks shot up from his seat and ran over to his aunt to embrace her. Tights knelt down and hugged her nephew, using one hand to mess around with his lavender hair.

"What's up?" Tights asked as she released him from the hug, eyes lurking over their complex but fun game.

"Mom and I were just playing several rounds of this cool game." He explained, pointing a finger towards their board game. "We started playing sometime after we left your room and haven't stopped since. This game is really time consuming!"

'Just as I was thinking.' She thought with a smile, happy to see them spending time together as mother and son.

Bulma turned around to face her older sister, arm hanging over the couch she was seated on. "Oh hey sis, you're here! Did you have a good rest?"

"I sure did," Tights said as she stood back up. "I just took a long bath and now I'm feeling pumped up already."

"That's nice," Bulma jerked a thumb towards an empty leather chair. "Come sit with us!"

Tights moved to the chair her sister was pointing at and plopped down on it, putting the armrest to effective use. She stared over at their board game on the coffee table with a small chuckle. "Did you two really spend hours playing this?"

"Yeah… sorta." Bulma laughed heartily. "Both Trunks and I are a challenge for each other with this game. I bought this a while back but I'm not quite sure why we didn't play it until now."

"Do you wanna play with us auntie?" Trunks offered. "We have plenty of room for one more person."

"Sure, why not."

She dragged her chair closer to the table. Both Trunks and Bulma got her set up so she could have a chance at playing the game.

"You ready sis?"

"Sure am."

As time passed by, the Briefs family got into several rounds of this game just having fun. They had all made declarations to win against each other. There were several arguments and disagreements but that didn't take the fun away from it. Eventually, they decided to take a break from the game and find something else to do.

"That's what I call having a good time," Tights laughed as she leaned back in her seat. All the good times she had on Omori's Island were nothing compared to this.

"You're pretty good at this game sis," Bulma praised as she slid the board and the items back inside the box.

"Well, I did used to play similar games like this with mom and dad so many times before I left. You were so little at the time that I'm not sure you even knew what was going on," Tights reminisced on the past. "You sat with us minding your own business. If I recall correctly, you were playing with your toys and bouncy ball while we had the time of our lives."

"You sure remember a lot more than I do, sis."

The elder sister just flashed her a smile before sitting back in silence. Then she turned to her nephew, curious to know how the rest of his day went. "How was your training today, kiddo?"

Trunks jumped in his seat, now scared as hell. He gulped and his body shivered as he replied, "Y-Yeah, about that, well… ummm… dad didn't go easy on me. I'm used to him going hard on me during training sessions but today things were different… he was really mad at me. The moment I entered the gravity room, he went all nuclear on me. He was screaming like crazy while we were sparring." He winced as his body still felt sore from the near-endless hits his father landed on him.

That caught Bulma by surprise. "Wait… what? Your father is upset with you? Why? What happened?"

Trunks had to hold back his laughter as he thought about the reason his father was incredibly pissed at him right now. "Hehe… well… I may or may not have said something to Auntie Tights about dad's fear of worms. He got angry at me while we were in the gravity room and was yelling about how I should be ashamed of myself because I embarrassed him."

"Are you okay?" Tights asked her nephew, seeing that he was in a lot of pain from the sparring.

"It's not as bad as it was hours ago, but you don't have to worry about me," Trunks said in reassurance. "Like I said before, I'm used to this."

Tights didn't know whether to believe that but then she nodded silently before turning to her younger sister. "I'm quite surprised to hear that Vegeta is afraid of worms. Did you really give him an ultimatum, sis?"

Bulma started to chuckle. "Well, my husband's really stubborn and proud almost all the time. So I had to use his 'weakest point' as a last resort to make him go pick you up."

Tights could feel her need to laugh bubbling up to the surface, but she fought her hardest to repress it. "But… But how can a proud warrior be afraid of worms?"

"I like to think that what my dad feels is not fear… it might just be revulsion." Trunks explained.

"You're saying that he's just disgusted by the sight of them?"

Trunks nodded while letting out nervous giggles. "Uh-huh. You should've seen his face when I showed him a box of dirt and worms. He was almost pale just by looking at them."

"Oh… my… god… are you serious!?" Tights managed to ask, no longer being able to hide her laughter.

Trunks also laughed just as hard, despite being on the receiving end of his father's rage. "Yep, he's that disgusted by them…"

Bulma covered her face in her hands, wheezing. "Every time… my husband looks like he's just seen a ghost. It's hilarious!"

"A-Absolutely!" Trunks wheezed out.

"For him, anything is better than dealing with worms. So of course, when I gave him that ultimatum, he chose to pick you up from the airport." Bulma said to her sister, face reddened from laughing so much.

"Woah…" Tights giggled. "…now I feel a little guilty… but at the same time… I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING!"

"I still can't believe it!"

They all spent a fair amount of time laughing over this ridiculousness. Trunks's ears perked up as it picked up on the sound of moving feet in one of the bedrooms. Although this went unheard by the Briefs sisters, he had much sharper hearing than the both of them and knew it was his father up there in his bedroom about to take a shower. If his dad heard any of it, he would be screwed. There was no way on this planet he was getting punished again.

Trunks slowly turned back to the laughing women. "Uhhh… Mom? Aunt Tights? I-I think we should probably keep it down. If dad hears us laughing about it, he's going to be even more mad than he already is."

Bulma slowly calmed herself down. "Yeah, it would be the best." She looked over at her sister, who had also gotten the laughter out of her system.

Tights then asked, "Is he still training?"

"No, we're both done. Now he's taking a shower."

"That's good," Bulma butted in. "because your grandma will be done with dinner soon."

"YAY!"

"In that case, why don't we go to the kitchen?" Tights suggested, stomach begging her for some food. "What I ate during my flight wasn't nearly enough to keep me satisfied."

"Good idea." Bulma said.

They left the living room and Bulma left their packed board game lying on her side of the couch as the family strolled into the spacious kitchen where they found Dr and Mrs. Briefs. This time, the counter was filled with many different foods. Tights's mouth began to salivate at all the food in her sight some of which consisted of roast beef, spaghetti and meatballs, meatloaf, pork chops, baked potatoes, an appetizing chicken and veggie stir fry and so much more she couldn't list them all. Her mother certainly didn't disappoint. She recognized some of her favourite childhood meals along with others that she hadn't tried before.

"Oh hi Tights darling," Panchy turned her head while stirring a vegetable stew boiling on the stove. "Are you well rested?"

"Hey mom," Tights walked over to her mother and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Yeah, I'm well rested." Then her eyes lingered on the delectable foods sitting on the kitchen counter. "This all looks so good."

Mrs. Briefs winked at her as she felt proud of her work. "Thank you honey. I told you I would make your favourites. Oh, and I hope you'll enjoy the new recipes I came up with too."

"I'm pretty sure it's going to be good. Your cooking was the best back then, and I'm sure it'll still be the best now!" Tights said with a grin.

"It's great to see you well rested pumpkin," Dr. Briefs called out from a free spot by the kitchen counter.

"Dad!" Tights made her way over to her father, bending down and giving him a hug while he was seated on his stool. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing okay." Dr. Briefs smiled wide at his eldest daughter. "Just been sitting here with your mother while she's getting dinner ready."

"This smells so good, grandma." Trunks complimented as he took a whiff of the heavenly dinner sitting on the counter.

"Thank you honey," Mrs. Briefs said with an appreciative smile as she temporarily took her eyes off the boiling stew to bend down and give her young grandson a hug which he reciprocated.

"You really outdid yourself, mom." Bulma spoke up, impressed.

"Aw, thank you darling." Said Mrs. Briefs as she placed a pot of finished rice on the counter. "Since your sister was here for the first time in years, I had to step up my game, you know?"

It filled Tights's heart with so much joy to know that her mother went to such lengths to prepare a nice family dinner just to celebrate her arrival. "I appreciate that, mom."

Dr. Briefs pointed to some free barstools by the kitchen counter. "Why don't you all have a seat? We have a lot to catch up on now that you're here again, pumpkin."

"You're right about that one, grandpa." Trunks said with an excited smile as he jumped up and down. "There's so much I wanna know about my auntie Tights!"

A part of Tights thought it would take a whole lot of time for him to come to terms with her existence. It was still so surprising how he warmed up to her and was by her side every chance there was.

The rest of the family laughed as they took seats by the kitchen counter away from the food. Bulma, Tights and Trunks sat opposite Dr. Briefs. The black cat rested on his shoulder, its occasional meows making the older sister giggle. Being that he had only just recently discovered that he had an aunt, Trunks decided that he would be the one to get the conversation rolling. There was so much he wanted to know about his aunt, so many questions were popping up in his mind but he needed to get them in order.

"So auntie, tell me something. How was life with my mom and grandparents before you left?" Trunks asked calmly. While he may be excited to learn what he could, he couldn't just shoot the questions at her like rapid fire.

Tights started to smile wide, as it brought back memories. Childhood memories that were so hard to forget. There was so much stuff which made life with her family the best but wondered where exactly to start the story. Then she flashed a quick look at her sis. "I'll start off by talking about my sister. Back then, I kinda thought she was insufferable. She would beg me to do all kinds of stuff with her while I was trying to do my own thing or follow me around the house. But as time passed, I grew attached to her. We'd play together, I'd take her out for walks, read her favorite bedtime stories… that kind of stuff."

Trunks stared at her wide-eyed. "Really? My mom was insufferable?"

"Very," Tights whispered with a sneaky smile, ignoring the glare her little sister was throwing at her. "She'd whine and complain when I didn't want anything to do with her. I'm pretty sure our parents were a handful for her as well. A total menace if you ask me."

Trunks just stared at her quizzically. "Well… I just can't picture my mom acting like that." Then he turned to his fuming mother for confirmation. "Is Auntie Tights telling the truth?"

Bulma looked embarrassed to hear the question. "Hehe, w-well... you see... ummm… I guess she's not wrong…" She then shot another glare at her older sister.

All Tights did was shrug her shoulders, not bothered at all that her sister was mad at her. "What? You were kind of annoying as a kid."

"Well pumpkin, I agree with your sister. You were…" Dr. Briefs tapped his chin in thought, trying to figure out the nicest way to say this. "…a noisy and stubborn kid."

That caused Trunks to accidentally crack up. Then he looked at his mother and tried to regain his composure. "Oops…"

The younger Briefs sister had her fists clenched to her sides. "Grrr… you two are so unbelievable!"

"Hey, don't be so hard on her!" Panchy called out as she was wrapping up with the cooking.

Tights raised a hand to pat her sister on the head like an obedient dog. "Come on sis, we're just joking around. We all love you."

Bulma felt a bit irritated at her sister then growled, "Don't touch me like that!" She then ducked her head after seeing the three of them laugh at her expense. "I can't believe you guys..."

Tights eventually let go with a smile. "You need to calm down a little, sis."

"So then you two started to spend all that time together, just like me and Goten." Trunks said, getting them back on track.

"That sounds about right." Bulma nodded as her slight annoyance started to dissipate.

"I grew attached to her and I spent most of my time with her. We'd play together, go out for walks... that kind of stuff."

Trunks pressed on, "And what happened after that? Why did you leave?"

"I wanted to pursue my career as a science fiction author." Tights explained.

"And you couldn't do it here?"

"I wanted to settle down in a much quieter place. I'm not a 'big city girl' like your mom," Tights said to her nephew. "I travelled all the way to Omori's Island where I decided to start studying to become a writer. I studied science and I ventured across East City, gaining new knowledge. My family visited me sometimes while I was studying, but at the time, we mostly kept in touch through phone calls and text messages. To be honest, I kinda forgot about everyone for a long while until your mother called me while I was sitting at a restaurant."

He blinked, "Whoa...and you mom? Did you ever think about Auntie Tights all these years?"

"I did think about her for a short while, but then I got carried away with all my inventions." Bulma admitted in shame.

"Yeah, you're always inventing new stuff." Trunks said in understanding.

Tights added, "We never had any kind of fight. Life just took us down separate paths."

"Well, the good thing is that you're here now." Trunks said to his aunt, then his face became hyped up. "And it's great to know that I have an auntie!"

"And it's great to know that I have a nephew!" Tights said, messing around with his hair a little bit.

It went on for a while until finally, the elder sister was ready to get right down to business. She removed her nephew's hand from his hair and waved the piece of paper in her sister's face. "Alright sis, you needed my help with planning this party, remember? I think now's a good time to start discussing preparations."

"Yes, exactly." Bulma noticed the paper in her sister's hands. "I'm assuming that's the stuff you wrote down?"

"It sure is," Tights confirmed. "We agreed on a hiring a DJ, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did. And the venue is on the yards of Capsule Corp."

"Just like we agreed on before," Tights said as she looked through the paper.

"Alright, we already have the location and the music. Hmmm… what else…" Bulma racked her brain for other stuff she might be missing. "Oh, I believe you said before there was this catering company you worked with every time you wanted to set up a public event. Isn't that right?"

"That's right. I'll get a hold of them right now." Tights was already scrolling through her cellphone for the number of the catering company. Then she looked back at her sister as she had forgotten something important. "What time is the party?"

"At night. Maybe 9 or 10 pm." She said proudly.

Tights just stared at her sister in wide eyed shock. "What? Are you crazy, sis!? That late at night?"

Realizing the stupidity in her words, Bulma just looked away in embarrassment and chuckled to herself. "Oh… right… sorry… well… maybe it can start in the afternoon?"

Tights nodded in agreement. "That's much better. Maybe it can start in the afternoon and end in the evening. How does that sound?"

"Yeah, I think that it would be better that way."

"Nice! What time in the afternoon does the party start?"

"Umm...maybe at...1pm? Lunch time. The party starts in broad daylight and ends at night."

"Sounds great. What party decorations do you want?"

Bulma took the time to think about that. "Well...the party is a reunion one. What do you have in mind?"

"The usual kind of stuff you'd find at a party."

"You mean like garlands, ornaments and stuff?"

"Yeah. That kind of stuff."

"Alright then. I know that you'll choose the right stuff."

"Oh, I'll also need to order some tables and chairs for the guests."

Bulma grasped her son by the shoulders. "Both me and Trunks will help set them up."

"Yeah mom, we'll do what it takes to get this done!"

"Don't forget about us Bulma darling," Panchy said as she whipped her head towards her daughter. "Your father and I will do what we can to help."

"Just as your mom says."

"Oh, right! You're right, mother! We're all in this together!"

Tights starts tapping some numbers on her phone screen. "I'm going to start making some phone calls and get everything set up. In the meantime sis, you might want to start sending invitations to your friends or whoever is invited to this party."

Bulma had her cell-phone out in just a second. "Alright. I'll send them a text message telling them the date and time of the party."

She dialed the number and waited for a response. "Great! I'll see to it that the party decorations are delivered right here to Capsule Corp tomorrow morning. Same with the tables and chairs. When those arrive, we have to set them up as soon as possible before the guests show up. I'll see if I can arrange for the food, drinks, dessert, and candy to arrive early tomorrow."

Bulma started clapping her hands together like a giddy child. "That's great, sis! You better get ready though because my husband, my son and a childhood friend of mine are really food addicts!"

Tights laughed at that. "Oh come on, it can't be that bad sis."

"Well, you better believe it. They reeeeeeeally love the food."

She just chuckled. "If you say so. I'll make sure to order lots of it. This catering company makes really scrumptious food. It won't disappoint!"

"That's great, sis! I don't know how to thank you; you really are a lifesaver!"

Tights draped an arm around her sister. "Don't thank me. This will be a great party."

"Absolutely! And we'll have a great time!"

"Hey kiddo, what do you think about helping your mom and grandparents with setting up the decorations in the yard?"

Trunks held up a fist in determination. "Sounds like a plan auntie!"

"Hold on-" Tights held up a hand to stop him from saying anything else as someone finally picked up the phone. "Hello? Yes, I'd like to order some…"

She wandered off into a corner of the kitchen as she began talking on her phone to make the necessary negotiations without any interruptions. As this was taking place, Panchy turned off the stove as she finally finished cooking dinner. The rest of the Briefs family started moving all the food from the counters and into the dining room. Plates, forks, napkins, spoons, and glasses were removed from cabinets and quickly arranged on the dining table as they prepared for a nice meal together.