KEY
"Normal Speech"
"Sign Language"
'Thought '
- 'Scroll Message'
The house was no different once again. Everything was where she remembered it being. The front gate was large enough to fit a vehicle through with ease, but still quite plain. Once through there and into the front 'garden', if you wanted to call it that, there were a large array of different flower beds and small decorative bushes about. A memory Neo was particularly fond of concerned the third little tree they passed, when she and her brother were running around it chasing one another. It was her turn to be chased and in an attempt to escape him she turned around to run the other way, only for them to collide with each other and lay down clutching their aching heads. It didn't hurt per se, it was much more a shock; and they always laughed about it as they grew up, until Neo couldn't laugh any more. But they still had fond memories.
The sandy gravel path up to the door crunched under foot, small stones shifting at their respective weights. Directly in front of the house was another small flower bed, but this time with much less variation than previous ones. In flower beds they'd passed before, there were plenty of flowers and plants that brought colour and height variety to the border of their small (for Atlas) plot of land. This flower bed lacked that, but that was not a bad thing. In here they were a small bunch of very delicate Buddleia, blooming in a mixture of deep and softer purple. Despite her hair colour, Neo mentioned to Fox how her Mother adored the colour purple. These flowers were hers, she used them as a way of bringing herself peace about her daughter.
The front door was not grand by any stretch of the imagination; it was a very plain door. But that made it stand out amongst a street where ornate decorations were a huge thing. The family itself wasn't very eccentric, and Neo mentioned that her Father constantly had their name to thank for that trait. Neo walked up to it, with Fox having waited a few paces behind, and paused with her hand hovering above the bell to the side. She waited an uncomfortably long time before Fox said anything to her.
"I believe in you Neo." She glanced back and saw the beaming and reassuring smile on his face that made her know he wasn't lying and, on top of that, he meant what he said. With a noticeable breath but still looking at him, she leaned towards the door again and pressed the bell. No turning back now, the deed had been done. Rings could still be heard echoing through the halls as the faintest sound of footsteps were heard in the hallway. The mute woman took a step back from the door and readied herself, calming her nerves with slow and deliberate breaths. There was a rattling of chains on the far side of the door - no one had been outside yet, at least not going out via the front door. When the rattling stopped and the door finally opened, Neo was equal parts shocked, surprised and worried that instead of the expected familiar face of Lang greeting her, it was instead the just-as-familiar but unexpected face of her Dad.
"Hello, how c-" He stopped dead when he saw the person standing at his door, her arms folded behind her back nervously and rocking on her heels, further solidifying that fact. The door edged open slowly as the man comprehended what was in front of him. Neither of them made any attempts to talk to the other, physically or verbally, and Fox remained silent out of politeness - he felt him speaking would ruin the moment. The man shuffled forward, his arm raising up as he got closer to her. His hand floated by her face, scared to touch her in case he was wrong.
"...Orchid?"
By the time he finally spoke, he was too close for Neo to Sign her response, so she instead smiled, fighting back the tears and nodded to him. On cue, his hand finally closed the gap and touched her face. She leaned into the touch and with that everything clicked into place with the man. "My little flower!" He couldn't stop himself, he jumped forward and caught his daughter in a giant hug as he started crying hard onto her shoulder. She followed soon after, her emotions flowing just as hard. A tear fell from Fox's eye at the joyous sight, with more patiently waiting for the opportune moment to make the same journey down his face. "You're home... you're actually home." She forced herself back from his embrace to Sign.
"I've missed you Dad."
"Oh, and I have missed you too Orchid," - "My little pink flower." He hugged her close once again, only noticing Fox when his eyes parted after embracing his daughter for the second time. "I'm sorry! Did you want to see me sir?"
"Actually, I've come with here with your daughter." The student walked up the steps to be on the same level as the other two. He held his own hand out to shake. "Fox Alistair." They shook, Fox felt that his grip was firm yet he still trembled slightly - probably from excitement
"A pleasure to meet you Fox." Without warning, the man caught him in a hug that forced an "Eek!" out of the scarred boy, something that made the petite woman silently giggle. "And thank you, for bringing my little Orchid home to us."
"I..."
'Accept the responsibility. It was your idea for me to be here instead of Cherry.'
"...I am glad I made you happy sir."
"Oh please, none of the formalities. My name is Oakley, and I'd like you to call me that from now on."
"Sure thing."
"Now both of you, come in. I know that there'll be a few other people in here who will be most pleased to see you Orchid." As her Father briskly walked, nearly jogged, back into the house, Neo looked at her boyfriend who was stood there with a great big smile on his face.
'You training to be scaffolding now?' Losing him on that one, he looked at her hoping that there was more to it than that. 'Then what's with the beam?' The grin came back in full force as he realised the joke.
"Not bad, but you may need to see Yang to improve your pun game when we get back." He moved closer, hugging her shoulder. "But I'm smiling because I knew that you being here would make them happy - and they are. I mean, look at your Dad. Speaking of, let's not keep him waiting."
'I mean, he can wait one more minute whilst I do something very important.' She turned her body to fully face him, her eyes staring straight at his lips. With the unspoken message received and understood, Fox leaned down to kiss her as she raised herself on her toes to meet him in the middle. They maintained contact for a fair few seconds, many words, thoughts and feelings being sent through the contact. But even after all that, Neo still felt that there was something left unsaid.
'I love you Fox. For bringing me home.'
"I love you too Neo. And I'm happy you are home. Now, let's go meet the family, shall we?"
The hallway wasn't too special, but at least there was space for a couple of decent sized bags to be kept without worry of getting the way. By the side of the door was an umbrella rack, the same place where - providing they hadn't changed it since she had left home - would be the first place she picked up her soon to be weapon of choice. She placed her current weapon in there like it was second nature for her. There was a mirror on the wall on the left and the stairs to the first floor were on the right of the entrance. Hanging on the wall above a little mantelpiece by the mirror were a group of photos. One showed Neo's Father and her brother as he was graduating from Atlas Academy, another showed a much younger version of him and his wife hugging in the sun - clearly that photo was not taken in Atlas based off their attire, a third showed another man holding hands with a young pink haired child that Fox didn't recognise immediately, but after looking at the final photo he realised that it was Orchid. The final photo was a classic family photo; the five of them were grouped together against a very formal and professional backdrop, Orchid at the front as she was smallest, then her Mother, then Vinnie, her Father and finally the other man - who Fox had deduced was her Uncle Lang.
'I was no older than 13 at the time,' she reminisced, touching the frame and being reminded of the time it was taken. 'My brother was accepted into the Huntsman programme a few days before, so Mom made a decision that we should get a family photo done - it was the last time we ever did.' The sadness could be heard in her inner voice as she brushed the frame once again. 'We weren't a bad family. Bad things just happened to us so frequently it wasn't even funny anymore.'
"Don't be so down on yourselves. Lots of people only remember the amazingly good things and the tiniest bad things. Sometimes you've got to remember the smaller victories as well." He continued to walk down the hall where her Father had gone as she remained where she was for a moment longer, still looking at her own face in the photo. It was younger, obviously, and full of so much more life than she showed a lot of the time. Promising herself that she'd get back to that, she walked further into the house, her old home, to where her Father and Fox had entered.
"This is Fox Alistair," she heard her Dad saying as she approached, "and he has done something marvellous today Yubae." Hearing the name of her Mom being spoken made her even more anxious to enter than she had been outside, however that was possible.
"Please sir, I did nothing. And I don't want to ruin the surprise for you, so I'll let them do the 'talking' from here on out." - 'The stage is yours Neo.' Slowly, she eased her way around the corner and pushed her way into the room. Oakley stood there with a proud grin on his face, saying, "I cannot believe my daughter is home!" with just the expression, though even if asked he would say to them what he hoped would be conveyed on his face.
Yubae, for that was her Mother's name, brought her hand up to her mouth as her eyes shot wide open. She was smaller than her husband, but not by much. Her hair was a much more radiant pink than Neo's, either because of the pink was solely in her genes and not completely so in Neo's. Also, Neo has heterochromia borealis which also affects her hair colour, most likely making it naturally paler all over and even gave her hair a few light-coloured streaks. Yubae's eyes matched her irises. Looking between her and her husband, Fox could clearly see where Neo's distinct colour palette came from.
"Is that... our little Orchid?" the woman managed through growing tears.
"Hi Mom," was all she got out before the older woman got up and threw her arms around the girl she knew was her daughter.
"Oh Orchid, I never thought I was going to see you again. You, as in you you, not Cherry or whatever name you gave-"
"Yubae, I think she understands what you meant."
"Sorry hunny, I just..." she pushed herself back to look at her daughter again, now no longer the teenager she was when she left but a woman in her own right. "I'm so happy to see you again."
"Me too. But I wouldn't have done this without Fox's help." Both Russets looked at the copper haired boy standing near the door, small and curious smiles on their faces.
"And what are you to our daughter Fox, to help her with this?"
"Um..." As friendly as they attempted to sound, the question came off as incredibly to the point and threatening as a result - they're Neo's parents alright.
'Not yet pretty boy, we've got to meet the others first.' - "Where's Vinnie and Uncle Lang? I want Fox to meet them first before we spill the life story." A pair of pink and a pair of brown eyes widened at the question; they knew it was coming but they still weren't prepared for it.
"They're otherwise occupied. Your brother Vinnie was on a mission with the Academy and Lang is heading out to get him."
"Hmm... 8/10, very convincing. But all the Academies are off on a break at the moment and the car is still on the driveway. Plus, Fox here is a Huntsman-in-Training."
"That's nice and all, but why are you-"
"His semblance allows him to see the Aura of people around him, even through walls and ceilings and the like."
'Neo, it can't do that.'
'Shut up and roll with me on this one.' - "So, if I asked, he could check and see whether or not their Auras were floating around here."
"Young lady," her Father spoke, slipping right back into the role of parent to a daughter with ease "you have just arrived in this house, I do not expect you to be threatening us like this."
"It's not a threat, Dad. I'm just saying that I can get Fox to check if you're lying about them being here or not." The confident façade Oakley had put on with his last sentence was already gone. That worried Neo more than anything else before, her Father was a strong man who wouldn't back down so easily. Even when he felt responsible for her loss of voice he stood up and essentially declared his guilt rather than run away and pretend he had nothing to do with it. 'That's not like him. Fox, say something. Anything that'll help.'
"Oakley, there must be something the matter. Neo told me you before today and she said that you were always so sure of everything you said and did. That honestly didn't look sure. Believe me, I've seen that before; one of my teammates was so shy when we first met her but over time she grew and became as comfortable with us as she did her own family. However, when that shyness rears its head again we know something is off before words even leave her mouth. So please Oakley, or Yubae; tell us. Ne- Orchid is your daughter, she ought to know. We're here to help if you need." The adults looked at each other. They held each other's hands, gave each other an approving look then turned to their daughter and her friend.
"Vinnie's home." Yubae found it hard to talk about it, her words feeling very forced in her throat. "As is Lang. That said, he's... feeling very low. We've kept him in bed against his near pleas to be up and about helping but we have refused. That doesn't mean it is great, it simply means it's not terrible. They're upstairs, I'm sure your friend will be able to tell you where they are." Said friend's dark copper eyes shot the mute a look that she simply shrugged at.
"Thank you," he said, turning to leave with Neo. She wasted no time, grabbing him by the hand and essentially dragging him up the stairs to find them, a gesture he's sure he heard her parents discussing as they left earshot. A few coughs from behind the closed door of one of the rooms gave the petite woman a pretty solid idea of where they were without needing to ask her boyfriend to look for them. She knocked a couple of times to get the attention of the two in there.
"Come in, it's open." The voice behind the door was strong and confident, it was the voice of an Atlas student for sure. The couple walked into the room to see Vinnie sitting in an armchair by a bedside whilst Lang lay in bed resting. When his eyes saw his sister for the first time in nearly 9 years he had a hard time processing what he saw. Eventually he could form words once again to express his feelings. "Well I'll be damned, you're home. Actually you this time." He looked at Fox, greeting him properly. "Vinnie, Orchid's sister. And you are?"
"Fox Alistair, Orchid's friend from Vale."
"Vale; so that's where you've been all this time. I was unsure if you were there or if you'd returned to Mistral like 'your close friend Cherry' said you might do." Neo's head cocked slightly to the left.
"Wait, so none of you know anything about what happened in and around Vale over the past months?"
"...Should we have listened? Is something coming?" he questioned, his hands growing damper as they started to sweat.
"Nothing we don't know of, so you're all fine It just means that Fox and I have a lot of storytelling to do when everyone's together." Her attention hopped from her brother to the figure in the bed. "Speaking of which..." She walked over to the bed to get a better look at the occupant of it. There in the bed lay Lang, the family butler that was treated so normally that he acted, and essentially was, another member of the family. His hair, once luscious and raven in colour, started greying and thinning down by the time she had left back then. Now, having not seen him for such a long time, she realised just how grey and rundown he had become in her absence. There was barely any way to recognise his former hair colour without prior knowledge of it and his face now sported a messy and unkempt beard, yet even through the facial hair she could tell his face was much thinner, like he hadn't been eating. She rested her small hand on his shoulder in an attempt to start shaking him slightly to gain his attention, but his hand shot there the second hers made contact shocking the young woman.
"Is that my little flower Orchid?" He spoke with quite a hushed but hoarse voice, like he hadn't used it in a while and speaking was a struggle, but the genuine curiosity and excitement could be heard anyway. Nodding, she pried her hand from under his to talk to him.
"It is Uncle Lang. I'm home for now. I came to see you all again." The man sat up in bed and smiled at her, holding his hand out for her to take which she did.
"I am so happy to see you again Orchid. I have missed you so, more than I dare to admit sometimes. But you are home now and I couldn't ask for more." The pleasant atmosphere was broken by the butler's sudden bout of coughing. Both Fox and Neo looked at him with a twinge of panic, that didn't sound remotely healthy.
"Rest Lang, just rest. Orchid will be back soon, you need to rest." Vinnie jumped in to stop the pair expressing their concerns at this moment.
"But Orchid is here Vinnie, I would like to speak with her."
"She will be speaking to you later, do not fear. For now, have some medicine and rest; she will speak to you again." The grey-haired man looked at the girl in front of him.
"Do you promise me Orchid, that you will definitely come to speak to me?"
"Of course Lang. I have a lot to talk to you about and, whilst I'd prefer to tell everybody at once, if I get some time to spend with you then I don't mind telling it a second time." Her grin was punctuated by a single tear falling from her brown eye. Lang reached out and wiped the tear away.
"Now, now. No tears my little flower. Today is a happy day. It-" another coughing fit cut the happy moment with a knife. Neo lowered Lang back down to laying position to give him some time to rest.
"Later Uncle Lang. I promise." She kissed the tips of her fingers and placed them on his forehead, wincing ever so slightly at how warm he felt, then left the room with Fox and Vinnie. Shutting the door once they'd passed through, she quickly asked her brother about his condition.
"He's been very steadily been getting better, and I mean very steadily. He's had this for nearly a month now with very little signs of fast improvement. It's just... it's shit, I know. But Mom has told me plenty of times that Lang is a strong person even after you left, he didn't let it get him down. This is a cough, he is going to make it through this." With a smile of understanding, the trio walked back downstairs to the kitchen where Yubae and Oakley still waited.
"How's Lang fairing Vin?" his Mother asked. With a small sigh, he answered.
"Not great Mom. He's making minute progress, but I can't give it any more than that."
"That's okay sweetie, we'll push on through. Lang is part of the family, we treat him as such and so we shall look after him like he is part of the family." It was clear to all that she wasn't 100% convinced about her own words, but she said them with conviction regardless.
"Now," Oakley said breaking the silence that began to fall on the room, "I don't believe Orchid came here to stand around looking miserable. She and Fox must have quite a few stories to tell. This is the first time she has brought someone home to see us."
"Dad!" she signed, her embarrassment coming through in how she glared at him. The man simply laughed, then gestured towards an adjacent room.
"Come, let's sit and talk. Would either of you two like a drink of any kind?"
"No thank you."
"I'm fine Dad."
"Suit yourselves. Get seated, I'll make some drinks for the rest of us." He went to the kettle to boil the water whilst the remaining four people wondered into the living room. Fox looked around upon entering and saw that it kept a very similar style to the rest of the house he'd seen - very plain in design with muted but still fairly strong colours ever present. In the room, there was a triple seat sofa and two single seat chairs as well, along with a few coffee tables around as well. They were made of leather, but not the white leather he hadn't realised he'd been expecting to see. Instead they were a nice healthy brown colour, mixing in with the complete contrast of this family's break from the stereotype that is an Atlas family. Yubae and Vinnie sat on either ends of the triple seat whilst Neo sat in one of the chairs and Fox stood behind it. After a couple of minutes, Oakley joined them carrying three cups of warm drink on a tray.
"You look so much like a typical butler Dad."
"Well Orchid, with Lang out of commission the way he is we each picked up a large portion of what he used to do. I've become quite good with balancing lots of things on a tray like this." He smiled at his daughter, knowing that she always looked up to their butler as an Uncle, seeing him and being with him more than she was with either him or his wife because of their jobs and other commitments when she was still at home. "But enough about me, tell us about you Orchid. There must be some fairly exciting news if you- if your friend Cherry - hadn't contacted us in over two months." Setting the tray down on the floor as he took his seat, Oakley held his own warm cup in his hands looking at his daughter in anticipation of her stories.
"Well... there are a fair few since the last time Cherry came here. Not all of which are great... Interesting, sure. But not great."
"If they are interesting, then I look forward to hearing about them" Vinnie commented.
"Where would you like to start Orchid?"
As nice as I know Neo would want to be with her family (it'd been 9 years almost since she disappeared as Orchid), I still thought that in these moments she'd let a bit of her life as Neo slip in in order to get what she wanted. I'm pretty sure she knows not to abuse that sort of anonymity with Fox against her family, because sooner or later they won't be strangers anymore (spoilers, I guess?)
As always, feedback - good or bad - is most appreciated