"Let me help you straighten your coat," Kali told Ghira as they waited for someone to come to the door.
"I can do it myself dear," Ghira told her. "Every time we come and visit I forget just how long that walk is from the coast to Blake's home." Kali brushed him off.
"I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, you and I both know that you're clothes are all disheveled from panicking on the airship ride over," Kali reminded him.
"I just don't care for heights!" Ghira exclaimed. The door was thrown open and Neela filled the door frame, slowly smiling as she realized who was in front of her.
"Mom! Grandma and Grandpa are here!" Neela called back into the house. She leapt out, throwing her arms around Ghira, embracing him tightly.
"Neela! You've gotten so big since the last time we saw you!" Ghira declared with a hearty laugh. "Blake told us that you were growing up, but we would never have guessed it was this fast! How are your studies going? Win any more awards for your archery recently?"
"And she's filling out too!" Kali announced. Neela blushed, hugging the woman. "A girl with curves like you has to be taken by now, right? Or at least getting all sorts of attention from all of the boys and girls. So, who is the lucky individual who's won your heart?"
"Neela, Blake was wondering if you could help out in the kitchen," Eliana told her stopping in the doorway. She glanced at the two Faunus in front of her, smiling. "Hey, Panther Gramps! Cougar Grams! I haven't seen you guys in ages!" Eliana shook Ghira's hand and Kali gave her a hug. She retreated back to the house. "You coming Neela?"
"In a minute!" Neela called after her. She sighed and looked back at Ghira and Kali who smirked at her. Neela started to blush. "No! No! No!"
"She's always been kind of cute, Neela," Kali told her.
"She has my approval," Ghira agreed. Neela groaned and went back into the house.
"Come on in," Neela told them, leaving them and heading to the kitchen. The Belladonnas entered in and closed the door behind them, finding the interior to be an utter madhouse. Lamar and Blaine each hung off of one of Titus's arms while Shadow sat giggling on top of his head.
"I'm so far up!" Shadow exclaimed. She gasped as she saw Ghira and Kali, reaching out for them. "Grandma! Grandpa!" Titus noted them and slowly approached, handing Shadow over to Ghira and slowly making his way back to the dining room, Blaine slipping off and tumbling to the ground. He leapt back to his feet and latched on again. Amelia watched as Titus trudged by and she folded her arms, huffing. She wanted to play with them, she just didn't want to do what they were doing.
"Let go of him, Blaine! I wanna do something else!" She shouted pouting.
"Like what?" Blaine called back, holding on for dear life.
"We can play pretend! I'll be the princess and you can be my knight!" Amelia told him. Coco and Velvet sat at the table laughing.
"Amelia is definitely your child," Coco told Weiss who was helping Blake in the kitchen with Ruby.
"What's that supposed to mean!" Weiss yelled. Violet covered her mouth and stifled a laugh.
"I think that she meant it in an endearing sort of way," Violet replied trying to ease Weiss's nerves. Velvet chuckled.
"No, she didn't," Velvet replied before leaning across the table to kiss Coco. Yang entered the house through the back door in the kitchen and propped herself against the fridge smiling.
"Did you get enough?" Blake asked. Yang nodded.
"I didn't have to chop down any more trees," Yang told her wife. "I'll check the stove later, but we should have enough firewood in there to last us until it starts to get dark anyway." Neela finally made her way into the kitchen and reached over Blake's shoulder, stealing a slice of cheese and eating it quickly.
"Neela Xiao Long! Get out of the food or I'll use Gambol Shroud's cleaver to take your hand off," Blake threatened her.
"I thought you wanted me to come in here and help," Neela told her.
"I did, but you took too long. Ilia offered to help instead," Blake informed her. Ilia smiled over her shoulder back at Neela.
"I didn't know that you knew how to cook," Neela stated.
"Oh, sure! I may have grown up without a mother, but I still learned a thing or two around the kitchen," Ilia said winking. She turned back to washing vegetables as Weiss mixed the cake batter beside her. Shadow ran through the kitchen and out the door as Lamar chased after her, followed moments later by the other two.
"Stay out of the kitchen and no running in the house!" Blake yelled. "And somebody close the door!" Blaine poked his head back in momentarily.
"Sorry!" He exclaimed. He slammed it shut, causing Blake to cringe and shake her head as Yang chuckled.
"At least he closed the door," Yang offered but Blake rolled her eyes. "Lighten up kitty cat!" Yang and Blake kissed and Neela made a fake gagging noise in response.
"Gross," Neela said with a smirk as she stole another slice of cheese.
"Neela!" Blake yelled. Neela laughed, Blake chasing her away. "Just because you're a hawk Faunus doesn't mean you need to eat like a bird!" Ghira came into the kitchen and followed suit. "Dad!"
"Sorry," he said quickly eating the cheese. "Ah, Weiss! Has young warrior Mattachanna paid you a visit in Atlas yet?" Weiss tilted her head thinking about it before she shook it in disagreement.
"No, I can't say that she has," Weiss replied. Ghira chuckled.
"Perhaps she finally is taking some time to sightsee and relax like I hoped she would," Ghira explained, though mostly addressing himself. Yang left Blake and joined Neela in the other room, sitting next to her on the couch.
"I saw that arena fight that you had last weekend," Yang told her. "You get stronger every day, don't you?" Neela shrugged it off and looked at her hands.
"Actually, something happened that I wanted to talk to you about," Neela told her. Yang nodded.
"Sure, anything," Yang replied.
"During my fight with Lykos, my semblance did something weird," Neela explained to Yang. "It was a little bit like I could see what would happen before it did." Yang chuckled and stretched.
"It's normal actually, but I wouldn't try to over do it too fast," Yang told her. "When I first met Blake, her clones could only take or give a single hit before they disappeared. It took her years of practice to be able to produce multiple clones that can actually interact with others. Same with Ruby. It wasn't until she trained for several years that she discovered she could turn into actual rose petals."
"Okay," Neela replied. "I was only curious." Neela leapt back up and smiled at Yang. "Thanks, mom!" Neela left to find Eliana and Yang stood to return to the kitchen. Is her semblance already evolving? You really are something else, aren't you Neela? Neela stepped outside and moved to the backyard, where the kids had invaded the treehouse, joined by Eliana who had decided to keep an eye on them. She watched the kids scramble around for a moment as she stood beside Eliana.
"Hey Neela, how's it going?" Eliana asked. Neela smiled.
"Great!" Neela replied. "Do you remember when we used to camp out in the treehouse?" Eliana chuckled and looked at it longingly, remembering the fun they used to have.
"Of course! Sometimes it almost seemed like you rather would have slept out here than inside the house," Eliana reminded her. Neela laughed and watched Shadow being chased by Lamar.
"I partially grew up in the woods, sometimes I did prefer sleeping out here," Neela told her. Shadow ran by again. "Hey Shadow, is Lamar your boyfriend?" Shadow stopped and Lamar ran right into her, they both tumbled to the ground and Lamar found his feet first, helping her up. Shadow looked flustered.
"No. Boyfriends and girlfriends kiss each other, and that's gross!" Shadow walked over to the girls and stood in front of them looking up at Neela. "Do you and Eliana kiss each other?" Neela blushed, unable to find the words to reply to her sister, but Eliana slowly knelt down and smiled at the small cat Faunus.
"We don't kiss, Shadow," Eliana told her. "Neela and I are just really good friends, just like you and Lamar." Shadow pulled Eliana closer, whispering in her ear.
"Don't tell Lamar, but I do want to kiss him," Shadow breathed loudly in her ear, giggling and running off to rejoin Lamar. Eliana stood back up and moved back to Neela whose normal color had mostly returned.
"That's my secret," Eliana spoke without context. Neela looked at her in a bout of confusion.
"What?" Neela asked.
"You were White Fang, Titus was hurt, and Ilia lost her mother," Eliana said. "Mine is that I've never kissed anyone." Neela stifled back laughter.
"Oh come on, Elli," Neela urged her. "That's what you're going with? What about your dad's death?" Eliana shrugged.
"That's been a part of me for so long I didn't even think about it," Eliana explained. She laughed. "It's true though you know, I've never been kissed." Neela turned away so Eliana couldn't see her turning red again.
"Is that an invitation?" Neela asked. What am I doing?! That's way too forward Neela! Eliana smiled at her.
"Of course not silly! We're like sisters!" Eliana told her. Neela's spirit crashed violently before Eliana grabbed her arm and drew her in, placing them inches from each other. Eliana gently brushed her braid. "Unless you're into that kind of thing." Neela's mind scrambled. We're not actually sisters though. She placed her hands around Eliana's neck, ready to commit, though she was convinced that Eliana didn't think she'd actually follow through.
"Hey, Neela!" Blake called out from the house. "Uncle Qrow and Grandpa Tai are here!" Neela gritted her teeth as Eliana moved away.
"Come on! Let's go say hi!" Eliana exclaimed. As Eliana dragged her into the house they nearly ran into Pyrrha and Jaune who were on their way out to check on Blaine. Jaune stumbled into Pyrrha who caught him and waved at the girls as they ran by.
"Sorry!" Pyrrha called back. Jaune brushed himself off and stood up.
"I'm the one who should have apologized," Jaune told her. "I wasn't watching where I was going." They left the house, Pyrrha stopping and looking back at the cabin.
"Jaune, do you think we'll ever move to the country?" Pyrrha asked him. Jaune stopped and looked back at her, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck.
"Maybe someday," he told her. "We have a nice house in the city though."
"I know," she agreed. "But look at how cute this cabin is." He smiled at her and continued for the treehouse. "It was just a thought." Back inside Neela and Eliana met up with Titus and Ilia.
"So, you guys enjoying yourselves?" Neela asked.
"It's a bit hectic," Titus told her.
"I'm having a lot of fun!" Ilia proclaimed. They shot her a look for a moment and she took a step back. "What? I never had birthday parties as a kid, okay? Plus your moms seem really great outside of the classroom." Yang walked by at that moment.
"Are you saying we're not great in the classroom?" Yang asked teasing her. "Guess I'll have to go a little harder on you next time we have one-on-one training." Weiss brushed by Yang as she left the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron and joining Team NITE.
"I don't think that I've been properly or formally introduced to the two of you, though I do recognize Mr. Prasinos here," Weiss told them. She turned to Ilia. "I'm Weiss Schnee, head of the SDC and Neela's aunt. Who might you be?"
"We all know who you are Ms. Schnee. My name is Ilia Cherny, and I'm guessing you already know that I am one of Neela's teammates," Ilia replied. Weiss nodded.
"Indeed, and how are you doing, Eliana?" Weiss inquired turning to her. "How are you enjoying the pistols?" Eliana's eyes lit up.
"I almost forgot that I needed to thank you for designing them!" Eliana inquired. Weiss gave another nod and Eliana squealed. "They're amazing! They look and function just like my father's! I don't know how I can ever thank you enough! There has to be something I can do!" Weiss chuckled.
"Neela has already done far more than enough already to pay them off, but if you still feel like you need to do more, I have an idea that will be able to benefit both of us," Weiss told her. Eliana's eyes lit up, looking at Weiss wide-eyed. "I have some ammunition with me today that was made for a weapon of your caliber. New rounds that have never been used before, our highest concentration of Dust in a bullet yet, only to be used with the intent to kill. I do need someone to test it out for me, and we decided that maybe you'd be the best choice." Eliana leapt up and down.
"Yes! I'd love to!" Eliana responded in a high pitch scream. "Thank you." Weiss laughed with the rest of the team.
"No Eliana, thank you," Weiss told her.
"Pardon me ma'am, but how do you know me and why did you choose me for Beacon?" Titus asked Weiss.
"I was impressed with what I saw when I sat in on your final assessment, and Winter and I both decided that it would be for the best if you got out and spread your wings a bit. Not everything is about strict rules and balance. Sometimes there will be chaos and uncertainty in life and the best way for you to experience before it got the better of you in the heat of battle was for you to be sent to Beacon as I was," Weiss informed him. "That semblance of yours is quite impressive. I can't wait to see it again once you've mastered it a bit more." He bowed slightly to her and she left them, the three girls looking at him.
"What?" He asked.
"What semblance?" Neela asked him. "We've all been a team now for a couple of months, and no one's seen your ability once. Is it passive or something like that?" Titus chuckled as he stepped away.
"You could say that," he told her. Several clones of Blake passed by and the girls watched them for a long moment before they were approached by one.
"Dinner will be ready in about five minutes," she told them. "Have the three of you seen Tai and Qrow?" Neela pointed to the front door.
"Eliana and I went out to greet them earlier, and then they got into an argument per usual," Neela explained. Blake shook her head and sighed.
"Alright. Thank you Neela," Blake replied before disappearing in a cloud of red Dust.
"Of course."
Sorry for the short chapter, but I promise that next week won't disappoint! Next week, Qrow and Tai catch up with the Xiao Longs in Chapter 37 - Family Reunion!
A big thank you to Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!