The Cleveland Institute was entirely different from any other Alec had ever been in. He remembered it vividly from when he had visited it as a child with his parents, purely from the amount of color the building had. Being a Shadowhunter Institute even as a child Alec knew there would never be any yellows or light blues, but the bright red was certainly a relief from the usual muddy grey of most Institutes, especially in the East. Red brick scattered the inside wall with light brown wood floors that felt almost bucolic underneath Alec's feet, and it almost felt foreign not to hear the clack of steel floors.
The first time Alec had visited the institute, neither Jace nor Izzy was with him. Max had just been born, and as much as Isabelle loved visiting other places, she had been absolutely enthralled with their baby brother for practically the first year of his life. For months, she was unable to leave his side, and any moment not spent training to attending to her studies was spent with baby Max. Alec had to admit if it had not been for his parabatai, he too would have fallen for the chubby cheeks and those baby blues of his baby brother. As for the reason Jace was not with him, that was to be blamed on the Clave, they didn't think he'd be ready to be a backseat to Shadow-politics so he stayed home to look over the other two.
The familiar scent enveloped him before he saw them, the Roseblood siblings. From what he learned from his mother, the Rosebloods were not pure Shadowhunter, over the years many of them engaged in shun worthy romances with the Downworld and even Mundanes. Yet somehow they still manage to reign the most power of the Cleveland Institute, and sometimes most of the Midwest. Charles Roseblood, the current Roseblood patriarch, had never been really all that respect, but even Alec's mother (one who seemed to trust no one and constantly gave everyone a judgemental side eye) was surprised to discover that he lied about the birthright of his eldest child. Adelaide, the current head of the Cleveland Institute, did not share the same birth mother as the rest of her three younger siblings. However, even with the illegitimacy of her birth, she still reigned head because of a prolonged absence of Charles, his current wife, and their third child: a boy a couple years younger than Isabelle with worsening aftermaths of demon possession nearly resulting in his younger brother's death.
Alec hadn't particularly gotten along with Adelaide during his stay, as she was more than a couple years his elder but had only recently seemed to want to act it. As children Alec and Elizabeth, Adelaide's younger sister by more than a decade, had even been more mature at no more than ten and nine years old. And despite not holding the power of her half-sister, Elizabeth was still the shining star of the Cleveland Institute.
As he stepped into the main part of the fond place he had not been in since nearly three quarters of a decade, Alec was greeted with the warm smiles of three of the Roseblood siblings. While the Lightwoods had a certain lightning bolt beauty about them that no one could deny mixed in with sometimes too bold of confidence, the Rosebloods were in every way more subtly interesting. Alec couldn't ignore the blatant genetic hair color he and his sister shared or the bright blue eyes that appear as photocopies from himself to Max, if you didn't look hard enough the Rosebloods would appear to look nothing alike.
The curly end of Adelaide's light brown hair stopped at her chest, where she didn't straighten it to the end, reflected off the paler color of her face. Her dark brown eyes looked emotionless as she stared the Lightwoods down from across the room. She was good looking, not as beautiful as Isabelle of course, but pretty good for Cleveland. Nathaniel, the youngest at only 10, looked so undeniably similar to Max, the resemblance was uncanny. His light blonde hair hung in front forward bangs over his face with striking blue eyes that you could see over a mile away. He stood a little leaned back, compensating for the weight of about ten extra pounds over average.
Elizabeth, however, was usually the one you noticed right away. Without anything distractedly beautiful or bright about her, her confidence created a glow around her that just wanted to suck you in and never spit you back out again. Her dark orange hair was straighter more naturally than her sister's, and it contrasted nicely with her skin tone that was slightly darker than the rest of her siblings. Her eyes, a mix of green and blue, brought out the brown freckles that scattered around her cheeks along with a couple here or there on her forehead.
She had always been the most interesting to him. Adelaide seemed to be just mean at time, Nathaniel could get annoying, and Theodore wasn't around very much to have an opinion on. So of course it only seemed reasonable that as soon as they stepped in the door she would tackle him with a bear hug. Alec reached over to hug her while his mother, two brothers, sister, and Clary and Simon stayed behind him.
"Alec, I am severely mad at you, you big bastard." She said, her white hat bouncing against the top of his head as she hugged him. She never did follow that whole "looking better in black than the widows of our enemies" thing.
"For being better looking than you?" He smiled, genuinely for the first time in a while, and it felt good.
"You know that's not true. No call? Honestly if I didn't love you so much, I wouldn't be talking to you." She said, crossing her arms and faking a pout.
"You wouldn't last." Alec smirked.
"If you say so." Eliza winked. Then there was a cough, well two coughs. One came from behind Alec, probably Jace or Clary. The other came from Adelaide, who was patiently waiting for her sister with Nathaniel standing at her side more like a lapdog than a little brother.
"Alexander, how nice to see you again." Adelaide said, no sincerity in her voice whatsoever.
"Addy, darling sound a bit more enthused. These are the Lightwoods we are talking to, and look they've brought guests." Eliza said, motioning to the group standing behind Alec.
"Isabelle, as they say, your beauty knows no bounds." Eliza reached out, wrapping her arms around the slightly taller woman.
"It's nice to finally meet you. This is Clary Fairchild, and her friend, Simon Lewis." Isabelle turned around to give a wave to the dark haired boy.
"The pleasure is mine, to all of you. Maryse, how well you look, honestly by the Angel if I ever become half as beautiful as you. So, that must make you," She said, bending down and pointing to the smallest Lightwood. "The legendary Jace Wayland."
Max laughed, watching her hand as she continued. "Honestly, I mean it is such a honor sir. You are just one of the best looking Shadowhunter around."
"Actually, I'm Max." The nine year old said with a beaming smile.
"Even better. Hear that Jace guy is a bit of a tosser really. Now Max on the other hand, word around is, that he is the favorite Lightwood child." Eliza's face lit up as she talked, in all of their letters back and forth she talked about wanting to teach the studies for young kids, and Alec always knew she'd be insanely good at it.
"Elizabeth." Adelaide spoke again, her sister's cheeriness clearly getting on her nerves. Elizabeth lowered her head, her smile fading before she stepped backwards into place in between her siblings.
"Lightwoods and company, please follow me, I'll show you to your rooms and we can start talking about your assignment."