After bringing their bags and their respective guns into the cabin - and of course loading them - Tobias took a look in the cupboards to make sure there was at least coffee available. There was, but not a lot.
"Yuuki... I suggest you take Lady out for some hunting." Tobias spoke up as he closed the cupboard. "And Sherry, as things currently stand, shark bait may be in order for the three of us."
"Okay, I figured as much... But how the fuck did you find out our secret phrase for that?!" Sherry wasn't ashamed about her regeneration from the G-Virus, and was more than willing to let them feed from her flesh. She was more concerned with how the hell Tobias knew the phrase that she and Yuuki - and Rachael, thanks to her genetic memories from Yuuki's DNA - kept a huge secret.
"Yuuki told me about it when you two first came up with it, years ago. We've just stayed out of making that particular request because, and even now, it's a highly personal matter." Rize explained gently. "If you don't want us to, then by all means, we don't have to."
"No, no, it's cool, I just never realized that she told you." Sherry waved her hand dismissively. "In the meantime, you have five people to feed, hurry the fuck up!" Sherry suddenly turned towards Yuuki, who had been loading a stripper clip for Lucky Lady as they'd spoken.
"There's fishing rods in the front closet, now's a perfect time to go fishing. I don't even know what's around here or in season right now!"
"Bear and moose." Tobias already knew that answer. "Rachael, think you can go for a dip and catch some fish faster than Yuuki gets a beast?"
"I'll take that bet." Rachael grinned, shrugging off her biker jacket and tossing it aside. "What's at stake?"
"Your dinner."
Turns out that Rachael was the faster one, but only by about thirty seconds. Yuuki had her kill, a bear, lugged over her Kakuja's thorax as she returned, cradling Lucky Lady in her arms as Rachael was just laying out her half dozen catches on a plate beside the brightly lit campfire, courtesy of their mother's Pyrokinesis. Valentine had taken his Colt apart, all the pieces were floating around his head as he cleaned the gun vigorously with a rag.
"Ah fuck, and I thought I had you too." Yuuki deposited the bear corpse on the ground with a relieved sigh and a thud of the heavy corpse, then disintegrated her spider body from beneath herself as she sat a few feet away from the fire to prevent herself from becoming dehydrated - which Rachael quickly joined, for the same reason - and put Lucky Lady across her legs.
"There's a bunch of nests for at least eight or nine species around the dock, y'know. As soon as I jumped in, I startled them all, so I had to chase them. You just had to wait and shoot a big dumb bear."
"I highly suggest using my field knife to get the bear's meat so your mother can incinerate it as soon as possible." Tobias commented with a glance at his daughters. "You still remember where it is Yuuki?"
"In the front hall cabinet, right?" Yuuki asked, and he nodded. "Alright, I'll get started on the bear. You grill the fish, Ray." Yuuki nudged her twin with Lucky Lady's stock as she rose to her feet to store the rifle inside and grab the blade.
With obvious ease, the two of them did their tasks without issue; Rachael - having the genetic memories from Yuuki's cooking classes, plus her own actual cooking skills - quickly had the fish fileted and searing on the raised grill over the campfire, whilst Yuuki skinned and gutted the bear using Tobias' massive hunting knife - the blade was easily a foot in length and three times the weight of even Rachael's combat knife, which was nine inches in TOTAL length - then proceeded to cut portions of the remaining meat, which Jake helped her carry into the kitchen and wrap in plastic bags before putting them into the freezer. Once she was done with the skin, unusable organs and the skeleton, Rize's Pyrokinesis destroyed all traces of it, leaving only a small pile of ash that she quickly scooped up and - thanks to her heat immunity - dumped it right into the middle of the fire under the raised grill.
"You three hungry yet? I can chop of my arm with that monster knife if you want." Sherry spoke up as Rize casually dusted her hands off, while Rachael crouched beside her with a set of tongs to flip the fish filets - and then immediately retreat to hers and Yuuki's respectively large water bottles once she'd finished the task.
"How quickly will the new one grow back?" Sheva, unsurprisingly, was the one to ask.
"Oh yeah... You don't know." Sherry gently put her hand onto Sheva's flesh one and gently smiled. "My dad made a prototype variant of the T-Virus - the one that these guys all have - back when Umbrella was still around. But, he accidentally got exposed to it, and it gave him a few physical enhancements, which the main two are his super high IQ and his body's insane regeneration, just like these guys, but faster. I inherited the regen, the IQ and a rather surprising amount of physical strength. Now I'm not as strong as Toby or Rize, but I can hold Yuuki and Rachael back when they try and get into fights. My Virus is safe, and it's called the Genetic Virus... or the G-Virus." Sheva seemed to understand her explanation, so she went to answer her original question. "Now, as for how fast my arm will grow back, I think showing you would be better than explaining."
With that, Sherry took her hand back, removed her watch and handed it to Sheva before accepting Tobias' knife - which Tobias himself was offering to her with his Telekinesis - and holding up her arm away from the fire and swiftly chopped it off.
Sheva's eyes never left the stump, amazed to see the rapid regrowth of the limb, which was back to normal within ten seconds flat.
"You each want one?" Sherry flexed her fingers for Sheva with a slight smirk as Tobias passed the levitating limb to his wife.
"Your call." Tobias smirked, having long since been desensitized to all forms of regenerative capability.
So, with the same casualness as the first slice, Sherry chopped the same arm off, let the stump regrow, then did it once more before finally putting the bloodied knife down and took her watch back from Sheva's offering hand.
"Sheva dear, just a little tidbit; Her regeneration is faster than mine and my brother Kaneki's. Our Ghoul type, which is the offensive one, the Rinkaku, has faster regen than the other three types, plus the T-Virus on top of that, and we were both particularly famous for our even faster than usual regeneration speed before we got the Virus. If I did that, my arm would grow back in about thirty seconds, not ten, like she did."
"What type are you, Val?" Sheva asked Valentine, who was finished cleaning his gun - Sherry's severed arm was sitting on his lap, none of the three forearms were dripping blood thanks to the G-Virus - and was sliding the magazine back in as she asked her question.
"Koukaku and Bikaku. Koukaku is the defense type, like dad, and Bikaku is the balanced type, like my sisters and grandmother." Valentine replied as he holstered his gun on his lower back. "The last type is the Ukaku, they're the speed type. My aunt Mishka's an Ukaku. Serenity's like me, a multi-type, but she has all four."
"So Jake... I remember Yuuki mentioning in passing that you can regenerate too..." Sheva began, but the redhead chuckled slightly before explaining.
"My dad, Albert Wesker... he's a manufactured human with a really rare blood type. That blood type has a very rare trait in and of itself to enhance the natural healing factor of the body. He has it, and so do I. Problem is... It's slow. If I cut my arm, not off... just a cut... it'd heal in about a minute. If I even tried to cut my arm off, that shit'd take ages to regenerate. So, to put things into perspective; I regenerate faster than a normal human... but slower than a normal Ghoul. Make sense?"
"I feel so out of place..." Sheva felt oddly uncomfortable suddenly. All of them could regenerate wounds, and here she was, sporting a cybernetic arm.
"You shouldn't. You had an accident, and you survived it. All of us... What was done to us was illegal from the start. In fact, when I was turned into a bioweapon, I was tranquilized beforehand so that I wouldn't fight back." Tobias leaned forward in his ice throne to smile at her. "In my opinion, you should be proud of what you've accomplished."
"Accomplished?" Sheva raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant.
"You survived a shark attack, that alone is an accomplishment. Believe me, I'm well aware of how they attack prey as big as you." Yuuki spoke up as she took over checking on the fish for Rachael - she'd lingered by the fire a bit longer than she should've, so she was chugging her water behind them - with a slight smile on her face. "Ask dad, he was there when I convinced a Great White to eat one of Wesker's thugs in exchange for getting Sherry back to the shore."
"It was messy. I'll leave it at that." Tobias knew better than to trigger any possible PTSD that Sheva may have concerning sharks. He still remembered how long it took him to get over his own for shotguns, all those years ago. Victory was named such for a reason, after all.
After the fish and arm dinner, everyone sort of split apart to relax for the evening; Tobias and Rize went to the nearby town for groceries, Jake and Sherry were still relaxing by the campfire, and the twins were cleaning up the various plates and utensils that had been used for dinner. That left Sheva and Valentine to themselves upstairs in the room they'd be sharing. Of course, they were unpacking their bags, but the short-lived task was replaced by an short, awkward silence as Valentine stored his gun in a safe, but accessible part of his duffle bag.
"You guys are so close, even though you all have these different types and powers..." Sheva spoke quietly, unsure of what was presently going through her mind.
"Well, yeah... We're a family." Valentine looked over to see her staring into her lap. "Are... you close with your family?"
"Well... Yes and no." Sheva admitted, looking up at him. "I mean, yeah, even after the shark attack, we didn't fight or blame anyone. But... My parents are... different than yours. And I mean that in the parenting context, not the Virus." Sheva reassured her train of thought. "They're open, and... and honest, and if something's bad, they say WHY it's bad, not just 'because it is' or 'I say so'. Like, you can all regenerate, so you don't really have to worry about hurting yourself. And they both let you do what you want, not assigning things or..."
"So your parents are strict." Valentine figured it out. Sure, he'd met her parents and introduced himself, but beyond that, Sheva didn't really talk about her family. He knew she was an only child, but that's it. "And the word you were looking for to describe my parents is 'Liberal'. By the undertone of your words, I can tell yours are 'Conservative', on top of being strict."
"Yeah, exactly!" Sheva nodded earnestly. "Everything at home is so rigid and structured, and all about precision and by-the-books... But when I'm with you and your family, it's like... like all I need to worry about is what I take from the fridge and cleaning up after myself when I make a mess."
From the way Sheva was talking with her hands, the chopping and abrupt gestures, he could tell it was a strain on her. She was like a caged bird, longing for freedom. He slowly sat down beside her on the bed, gently holding her organic hand in his own.
"I'm right here, you don't need to worry about your family right now. We're in a different country, far out of their influence. Nothing you say or do here will every come back to them. You're free to do what you want."
"Whatever I want?" Sheva repeated his last sentence, nervously staring into his beautiful blue eyes. "Like, I could shoot one of the guns you guys brought with you?"
"You have eight to choose from." Valentine nodded with a small smile.
"I could walk around in my bikini if I wanted to?" Sheva asked, and once again, Valentine nodded.
"I'm surprised my sisters haven't done that yet, to be honest."
"I..." Sheva began another suggestion, but completely stopped herself, looking away for a moment.
"What? Something embarrassing?" Valentine smiled as Sheva shook her head.
"You're absolutely sure my parents will never find out?" Sheva asked, and of course, with complete confidence, Valentine nodded in agreement.
"They're over three thousand miles away, Sheva, what's the matter?" He was starting to grow concerned, not realizing until it was too late when Sheva suddenly grabbed both sides of his head and pulled him into a fiery kiss.
Sheva knew the risks, and she knew the possible consequences too, but she had her golden opportunity and she wasn't going to let it slip between her fingers. She wanted to further their relationship, and without her parents breathing down her neck, not-so-subtly leaving BSAA related news articles or T-Virus Google printouts out for her to find, making jabs at Valentine's appearance and style of dress, talking behind her back about having a relationship so young... She'd had enough. She was in Canada, with Valentine, for a whole week. Her parents had their input on the matter, but now it was her call. Her body. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of their misplaced immaturity.
"You do realize I'm wearing metal armour, right?" Valentine pressed his forehead against hers to pull her mouth away from his to speak. "And, to be honest, I'm not like my sisters at all..."
"I know that." Sheva peered over her glasses, deep into his eyes. "And I'm okay with that, you're not the only one. My mom thinks of herself as a nun, and my dad's the most polar opposite to yours, ever. I mean, if you don't want to... I can wait."
Valentine took a small, steadying breath before he shook his head. With parents like hers, she'd understand all the risks and obviously been dealt the 'no sex until marriage' religious line for years. He was glad she was taking steps towards her own freedom, albeit in an unexpected fashion, of course.
"I'm okay with this." He spoke quietly as Sheva let go of his head and hesitantly reached for the hem of his sweater. This was something she'd done before, but now, under more intimate context, the thought of him baring himself like that was making her pleasantly nervous, now that she was seeing him in an entirely new light.
With slow, careful movements, she pulled his signature white sweater over his head and tossed it aside, and only after a momentary nod, Valentine removed the sleeveless shirt that he wore underneath, revealing the armoured corset that laid beneath, including his three telescopic staves on the chestplate.
"How do you... take this off?" Sheva only saw metal plates, not a single clasp or means of opening the metal.
"There's a zipper on the back, like the one on my sister's corsets." Valentine easily reached behind his back and hummed the zipper down, which connected the two ends of the inner fabric layer against his flesh. Once it was freed, the whole corset seemed to slightly relax, and after a nod from Valentine, Sheva slowly pulled it off of him, now face to face with Valentine's bare chest for the first time.
Up close like this, even armed with her knowledge of his gender, she still thought he looked like a girl. Completely flat chested, for sure, but a girl regardless.
"I... I know you're a boy and all, but it feels so strange, seeing you like this... You still look like a girl, even without a shirt on." Sheva bit her lip slightly, admittedly aroused by the noticeable amount of muscle tone that Valentine did have.
"Gender fluid, remember?" Valentine teased her slightly as he slowly did the same for her tank top, and cute little blue bra, baring her perky but modest chest like his own.
"I love you, Val..." Sheva didn't pounce on him this time, instead she gave him a gentle, chaste kiss on the lips, taking one of his heavily ring and bracelet adorned hands by the wrist and placing it on her bare hip while her other reached under Valentine's other arm and caressed his upper back, right at the top of his largest tattoo, a White Bengal Tiger that had one paw reaching over his back to the side of his neck towards his Lotus tattoo, and the other went around his ribs to protectively embrace around his side, while the rear legs and tail sank below his beltline and down the side of his leg.
"I love you too, Sheva." Valentine was rightfully nervous, and didn't doubt for a second that she wasn't as well. This was their mutual first time, and he wasn't sure what do to. There was no instruction manual or step by step guide when it came to a relationship, let alone being intimate with a person. This wasn't his area of expertise, but fuck was he going to make sure not to screw up. He loved her, and even in his robotics and mechanics centered mind, he knew that a first sexual experience was precious. He wasn't wrong in taking his time to learn and guage the reactions for his actions.
'For every Action, there is an equal and opposite Reaction.' Valentine suddenly thought to himself. 'Newton's Third Law. Huh, go figure.'