The cafeteria was approximately the same as Arthur remembered it. Most of the furniture was stored elsewhere, but the floor was still its well-scuffed self. One long conglomeration of tables stretched across the center of the room, the familiar speckles scattered across the surfaces he could see. The same old chairs lined up at the long table's sides, although in much more orderly a fashion than what some group of chattering girls in colorful outfits all wanting to sit with their besties used to create.
The lack of a crowd was certainly unusual, but the overhead lights were on. Arthur wondered if Kiku's family was using sparse energy just for the occasion, or if they had enough to do this whenever the sun set. Either way, it was nice to have a place with sufficient light at this hour.
"Yao is still occupied in the kitchen," Kiku started as the trio came to a stop, "but I would still like to introduce you to the rest of my siblings."
"Sure." Belle slipped her thumb under the strap of her rifle scabbard. "I'd better get to thank the chef afterwards, though. If the meal's impressive enough," she added with a flash of a smile.
Kiku dipped his head just as a distant door swung open. Turning, he glanced at the man striding through the room and turned back around.
Belle watched, blinking, as the taller man crossed straight out of the room. "Is he not one of your brothers?"
"Ah..." Kiku looked over his shoulder at the second swinging door. "Yes, but... It may be better for you to avoid Jun Gyeong."
As the door swung shut behind Jun Gyeong, Kiku asked Arthur and Belle to stay put as he slipped through a doorway.
Resting her hand on the back of a chair, Belle looked over the table. Straightened groups of silverware framed empty tabletop at each spot. Plastic cups, a few with shallow cracks, held tinted but odorless water. Apparently there weren't enough plates to spare a few for appearances.
Belle wasn't sure what was in store as far as the food went. An odd, charred but sweet smell diffused through the wide room, as did the savory scent of meat she tried to ignore. Both were too faint for her to be certain about them, but these days, food was food. Of course, something fancier than usual couldn't hurt.
With a light squeak, a door released Kiku and another young man, his hair spiky and his T-shirt loose. Both of them helped hold the door open as a young, serious-faced woman pushed a young man in a wheelchair through. Three others who were visibly younger than the rest followed, and Kiku let the door swing shut.
"He has this many siblings?" Belle asked Arthur under her breath. He just lifted his shoulders in response.
"Everyone," Kiku started once the gang had assembled appreciably close, "this is my old roommate, Arthur. I don't believe you've ever formally met him."
Arthur lifted a hand in a frozen wave of greeting.
"And this is Belle," Kiku continued, gesturing to her. "She's been travelling with him."
Without actually gripping the sides of her capris, she did a little curtsy. "Nice to meet you."
Kiku nodded, clasping his hands together. "My eldest brother is cooking, so I'll have to introduce you to him later."
"But for now!" The man in the wheelchair thrust his hands at the wheel rims, sending the chair flying out of his sister's grip and flashing directly in front of Arthur and Belle. The latter felt the need to take a step back, but wheelchair stopped a bit before it could actually run into her.
"Yong Soo," Kiku's brother announced, holding out a hand. He was fairly muscular, his shoulders broad, but one leg was missing below the knee, and the other foot seemed a bit too short. Neither amputation had any effect on his wide smile.
"Pleased to meet you, Yong Soo," Belle said, making some effort to avoid staring at his legs as she shook hands. Arthur just acknowledged him with a nod.
"I'm the real eldest brother," said Yong Soo, backing up a bit. "Yao just happened to be born a little earlier."
"All right, then," Belle replied, rubbing her hands together. After a second of awkward silence, she added, "I was born second in my family, but Tim's definitely still the eldest."
"So, speaking of middle sisters—" spinning his wheelchair, he gestured with both arms towards the young woman—"my little sister and chauffeur through narrow spaces, Lien!"
Seeming a bit uncomfortable with both Belle's and Arthur's attention, Lien rearranged a torn handle of the wheelchair.
"Hey, Lien," Belle said with a wave.
Lien, her facial expression yet to change, bowed. "Pleased to meet you."
Allowing a short pause after his sister stood straight, Kiku made eye contact with the spiky-haired man.
"This is Kamon."
"Lien's twin brother. Fraternal, of course," Kamon continued, holding out a hand to shake. "Poor Kiku's probably upset he didn't get to introduce the male twin first." Still smiling, he shot a glance back at Yong Soo and raised an eyebrow. The amputee just threw his arms in the air in an exaggerated shrug.
"Nice to meet you in whatever order," Belle laughed, shaking with Kamon, who then managed to coax a handshake out of Arthur as well.
"And my youngest brother is Li," Kiku said quietly, not quite recovered from either the lack of order or from Kamon's comment on it.
A young man with a face as serious as Lien's but much more marred took a step forward and gave a little bow.
Arthur squinted at him. "Leon?"
Li tilted his face so that he was at least approximately looking Arthur in the eye. "That's my other name, don't wear it out."
"Been a while," Arthur said, making no effort to avoid staring at the slashes across the face in front of him.
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm pleased to meet you for the first time," Belle said, foregoing the handshake since she wasn't sure Li would be able to tell if her hand was extended.
"How come I have to meet them last?" started the youngest girl, pouting at Kiku.
"Well—"
"My name's Mei," she continued, stepping in front of her brother to hold out a hand. Everyone calls me Mei-Mei, though."
"Nice to meet you, Mei-Mei." Belle shook her hand. "I've been called Bel-Bel on occasion, but definitely not by my brothers." She laughed.
"And then I'm the Portuguese cousin," the last man started, holding out a hand. "Marcos."
"Pleased to mee—"
With a crash, the doors to the kitchen swung open, a dish-laden metal tray rolling through.
"Food's ready," hollered the man pushing it as he stopped next to the table.
As Belle quickly shook Marcos's hand, some of the siblings left their chairs and drifted towards the tray.
Among them was Kiku. "Please choose any seat you like," he said, carefully picking up a dish.
"All right." Belle looked over the chairs. Everything was set; no one place looked better than any other. She glanced at Arthur. "Any preferences?"
"What? Ah, no." He scratched his head.
She took a few strides. "To the middle, then. Easier to talk to everyone."
"Um, right." He followed, sitting at her left and crossing his legs.
Two thumps on the table later, both visitors had plates, courtesy of Marcos and Mei-Mei. Small pieces of fried meat were mixed with strips of eggplant and several different green things, most of which Belle could not identify. That didn't put much of a damper on the smell, though, and it took a significant amount of willpower for her to wait as the rest of the group received their plates.
Arthur was twisting the butt of his fork in the tablecloth when the chef sat down a seat away from him.
"Arthur and Belle, right?" he started, wiping off his forehead with one hand and extending the other. "I'm Yao, the eldest."
"Nice to meet you," Belle called from where she sat. Muttering the same, Arthur shook Yao's hand out of necessity.
"Hope you like the meal," Yao finished, turning to his own.
"Me, too," Belle hummed, forking a piece once the cook took a bite. After a brief examination, she bit down on the piece. Snow pea. A little rubbery, but covered in a tangy sauce and characteristically crisp nonetheless.
"Well? Any good?"
Shoulders hunched under the blanket, she continued chewing. "Yeah."
Honestly, she was more concerned with the weak but warm fire in front of her. The bowl of food may have warmed her hands, but she needed to keep her face closer to the flames. Between the nearness of the flicker and the dimness of the room—certainly no windows down here—she could only see a sliver of her brother's side as he exhaled.
"Good." He nudged her backward a bit and gave the food one last good stir over the fire. "I didn't think it had thawed out too much."
She made a noncommittal sound and thrust her fork blindly into the pan. She ended up with one of those miniature corn things. Usually she thought these were cute. This one disappeared down her gullet a bit too quickly for that.
A scrape as Tim took his first piece of the freezer stir-fry. An extra patch of warmth as he put his gloved hand on her shoulder.
"Feeling all right?"
She looked up at the ceiling. As if in response, some other creature clanged on the cellar door.
With a sigh, Tim stayed silent, giving Belle's shoulder a squeeze before snagging another mouthful for himself.
She chewed slowly on a piece of chicken that had obviously been freezer-burnt. It was still a lot better than more crackers and canned tuna. She should have been celebrating. But the fire was dying, Tim would have to go outside for more wood, and he wouldn't let her cover him even though there were multiple perfectly-good guns down here to use. So she'd just have to huddle up and pray the only family she had left wasn't going to get himself killed.
No—Claus could have made it this far without them. Their parents could still be out there somewhere. It had been months, but... Maybe, somehow...
But those were empty words.
With a shuddering sigh, she jabbed her fork in the pan again.
Even now, a shiver went down Belle's arm. But she took a deep breath, and the scent of this sauce was fresher and more orangey. Slipping back into the present, she got a swig of water before resuming her meal.
How was Tim doing? He knew how to take care of himself, and the village was a lot safer now, but that didn't mean accidents never happened. Worrying wouldn't help anything, though. If he finally trusted her enough to let her go out, she could trust him enough to let him stay.
"Belle?"
Swallowing, she looked up at Arthur. His eyes betrayed concern, but something a bit lower on his face made her almost spit out her food giggling.
"Wh-what?"
Coughing, she took a drink. "You got a little something..." she scratched at her left cheek.
Arthur reddened just enough the smear of sauce blended in. "Oh, gosh." Roughly he wiped off the mess with his hand before seeing the napkin at his place and pausing.
Belle tried not to laugh too hard as she took another bite, waiting for a good place in the family's conversation to jump in.