Isn't it great to know that it's already Thanksgiving in story, but in the real world we've only just finished the first week in October? All you fall fanatics must be loving these chapters. Haha!
Thank you for reading!
It was right in the middle of history class when Anora got a text from Brain.
'Are u doing anything tonight? Wanna meet me by the gates for a Thanksgiving feast off campus? I know a real quiet place by the lighthouse. Wear your jogging pants- I'm not going to let you leave until you gain three pounds.'
Anora only wished that she could have seen her face after reading it. The young woman looked up at her teacher before carefully typing her response. Thank goodness that the keyboard on her slider phone was a quiet one. Too bad that she was generally a pretty slow typist.
'what if i'm not hungry?'
After sending the text off, Anora set her phone in her lap and tried to write some notes down. Brain must have been in the middle of class too- his text came back to her roughly ten minutes after.
'Ur nothing but skin and bones, madam. If I don't stuff you up, my uncle will.'
Anora almost had to force herself from questioning why Brain had an uncle. But, still. If this was going to be a Thanksgiving feast, would more of Brian's family be coming along? A small spike of fear hit Anora's head when she asked him just as much.
'Don't worry pretty girl. It'll just be you, me, and uncle E. Like I said, the buffet is a quiet place even on its worse days. It's got separate rooms like a karaoke bar. It's pretty cool.'
'i don't do karaoke'
'It's not an -actual- karaoke bar. Just trust me. Or don't. You don't have to come if you don't want to. I'm kinda just throwing it at you anyway.'
Anora lightly nibbled at her lip as she thought it over. It wouldn't hurt her to get off campus for a bit. She wasn't really expected to join in on anyone else's Thanksgiving dinner. Brain had also appealed to her social avoidance side too- there would be a lot more people in the cafeteria tonight. Some family members joining their kids on a free meal provided by the school. She knew for a fact that Mog's family would be coming- and that included both parents, a brother, a handful of cousins, and a persnickety aunt or two for good measure.
Come to think of it, she probably wouldn't have had dinner at the cafeteria tonight anyway. Still making sure that the history teacher wasn't going to notice her texting, Anora carefully typed her reply back to Brain.
'do i have to wear a dress?'
The bell that signaled for class end went off before Anora got a reply. She didn't even look at her phone until she got to the next class.
'Of course not. Wear what you've got. E's not picky and I literally just mentioned jogging pants. I'll wait until 6:30 for you at the gates.'
After reading through the message, Anora gave a little nod to herself and tried to focus on the rest of class. If there was one difference between Ephemer and Brain, it was that Anora didn't particularly feel like she needed to impress the latter. Hypocritical as it sounded- considering she was the one that told Ephemer he didn't need to impress her to keep her love for him. Most of her dresses were better suited for the summer anyway.
But she should still dress, nicer, though. Meeting with your significant other's (rebound or not) family was a big deal. She didn't want to give Brain's uncle the wrong first impression. Not that she'd be able to talk enough to form a good impression to begin with…
After classes were over, Anora went up to her dorm and started to go through her winter coats. The one she usually wore, a very warm double down jacket, was a bit ratted from years of use. She had to dig real deep in her stored away clothes for the fancy things. The young woman let out a happy noise of discovery when she found her maroon colored peacoat. It would match well with what she was already wearing; a long sleeved, light brown colored tunic shirt and dark washed jeans. It was respectable, but not too dressy.
She didn't waste any time in meeting Brain at the front gates. He was casually leaning on the brick archway before noticing her. When he did, he stood up and adjusted his hat a bit.
"So all your girl clothes are hiding in winter wear." Brain mused as he looked her over. "Sounds like the opposite of every other girl I know, but it sounds about right for you."
Anora suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. "Is it bad?"
Brain shook his head. He took a step or two closer to so he could take her hand and gently kiss her knuckles. "Not at all." he gently purred. "You're just more unique."
The blush on Anora's face came quickly and without restraint. Brain chuckled a bit at her before calling up a taxi. As the taxi headed on down to the lighthouse located outside of town, Brain tried to make a bit of light conversation with Anora.
"I'm not trying to scare you, but you should know what kind of guy my uncle is."
Anora turned to him and raised an interested, but wary, eyebrow at him. Brain laughed at it for a moment before going on to explain himself.
"He's the principal at one of the main Departure County public schools. The same one that Ven came from."
"Oh." came the rather small answer. A snort escaped Brain's lips in return.
"Don't worry," he assured her, gently taking her hand to rub her thumb over it, "I'm just teasing. He'll love you."
Still giving Brain a wary glance, Anora carefully nodded her head and said nothing further. The drive to the lighthouse was spent in a still silence. When they were close enough, Anora could see a man that, at a distance, looked a lot like Brain. As Brain helped Anora out of the taxi, she continued to study the man. She must have stared for two long because he looked right at them. But he didn't call them out. Instead, Brain politely guided Anora by the elbow to the man and even tipped his fedora at him.
"Long time no see Uncle Eraqus!" he happily greeted the old man.
The man gave a nod of his own. "It's been a long time since we've met..."
"Brain." Brain finished for his uncle.
"Brain..." Eraqus repeated with unease. "So it's official now?"
"Yep." the young man boasted, grinning at his uncle with a cheeky certainty. "Well, no. A lot of the school paperwork still say I'm 'Blaine', but as far as anyone else knows, I'm the one and only Brain Renzhen."
"Certainly is a unique name." his uncle warily agreed. With this out of the way, Eraqus turned his attention to Anora.
"I don't believe we've met before." Eraqus politely said to Anora. "My name is Eraqus, young lady. I am the brother of Brain's mother."
Anora shrunk a bit, but offered him a smile and nod of acknowledgment.
"She's not much of a talker." Brain laughed. "It takes a bit of getting used to for this little bird to sing."
"Well, if that's the case," Eraqus offered, "The let's go secure a private room for just us three. I'm sure it would be a lot better to the more socially anxious."
Anora gave him a small smile in thanks, and with that the three of them entered the buffet. It was a rather cozy place, with amber lighting and the smell of freshly baked bread faintly hinted in the air. The individual rooms were separated with a sliding divider. Anora still sat a bit closer to Brain as the relatives started to talk to each other. The two seemed to have a rather amicable relationship. But the hardest part Anora had to wrap her head around was that Brain hardly referred to his uncle as uncle. Instead he called Eraqus by his first name only. It took time for her to realize that he was doing the same for his aunts as well. From what she could gather, he had two; one older than Eraqus, and one younger than both Eraqus and Brain's mother.
"Do you have any plans for winter break?" Eraqus asked Brain at some point.
"Not really." the young man mused as he reached for his water glass. "I know Mom wants me to come home. But that means Beli and Chika are going to be there too with their small armies." Brain took a sip of water before adding, "Thanks for not adding to the gaggle of cousins, by the way."
Eraqus gave a rather bemused chuckle. "Not yet, anyway." he teased. "There's one young man that I've been keeping my eye on. He's not much older than you two, but he could benefit from a more kinder household."
"Are you going to take him to Christmas or New Year's dinner with you?"
"I might." Eraqus agreed with a sigh. He then turned to Anora and said, "What about you, Anora? Do you have any plans for the break?"
Anora jumped a little, surprised to be a part of the conversation, before carefully shaking her head.
"Daybreak is one of the better campuses to be on during breaks." Eraqus told her with a nod. "It's a shame that it can't provide housing for its recently graduated students. Assuming that a Tenth Year didn't buy an apartment in town already. Has the food quality improved any since we last had an all state school conference? Urd still swears she got food poisoning from the meatloaf they served."
"Doesn't Miss Urd get sick off of anything that wasn't served on a gold plate?" Brain lightly snickered. Eraqus gave a small snort of amusement.
As Brain and Eraqus then went into a conversation that slightly mocked whoever this Urd lady was, Anora found herself lost in her own thoughts. What was she going to do for winter break?