Not Unlike You
Chapter 5
Sitting opposite of the residents of the house was a new girl. Hair and scales as red as rubies, her tail took up at least 7 meters of floor space. She wore a black tank top, accented by a light pink jacket and a forest green skirt. Her eyes kept shifting nervously around the room, occasionally glancing between Adam, Yukino, and Centorea. "Hello Mr. Belmont. I'm Miia, and I hope we can get along well." Quiet was one word to describe this girl, most definitely.
At first, Adam said nothing. His hair blocked Miia from making direct eye contact. Without warning Adam clapped his hands and gave a sharp whistle, summoning Gregory to his side. Picking the dog up, Adam carried him up to Miia, letting Gregory sniff her face before giving a long lick from her chin to her forehead. "Congratulations are in order Miia. You have officially passed the "Gregory Test"."
Yukino smacked a palm to her face at such randomness, while Centorea rose an eyebrow in curiosity. "Pray tell, Master. Why did I not go through a similar test when I joined your household?"
"Because I rode you into battle, remember? You pretty much became my best friend, second to Gregory. Or was that not a good substitute, my good knight?"
Remembering the events all too well, Centorea had a tinge of pink in her cheeks as she glanced to the side, too embarrassed to meet Adam's gaze. Yukino clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright! I already gave her the grand tour, so now I need you to get out of here and show her around town. And don't give me any sass about just getting back! Cerea, help me for a bit will ya?"
Unceremoniously, Adam and Miia were shown the door, and the two found themselves out and about in the late afternoon. Not feeling up for another grand outing, Adam decided a quick jaunt to the local park would probably be a good start to Miia's stay. That, and the poor girl looked like a nervous wreck, wringing her hands and constantly looking to the ground.
The park was quiet. The only sounds heard were the shallow footsteps of passersby, crickets coming out to play their natural orchestra, and the low hum of the nearby lamps that began to illuminate the surrounding area. Miia and Adam sat side by side in what some would call an uncomfortable silence. A few people glanced their way, making both of them a little self-conscious, but nevertheless, Adam thought making some small talk could ease the tension between them. Too bad he sucked at talking about regular topics.
"Hey Miia. Do you know why the sun sets red?" He asked, causing the girl to look up at him in curiosity.
"Out of all the colors in the spectrum, red travels the farthest. That was the first thing I thought of when I saw you. Your hair and scales are like the moment the sun hits that point where everything is shaded in a fiery, mellow, but passionate color. To note, your eyes compliment this idea as well, as the shade of amber reflects the outlying colors you see at sunset." While he was saying all this, Miia's cheeks were colored pink, ever so slightly, but unnoticed in the light of the time of day.
Not wanting to hog the conversation, Adam asked if there was anything she wanted to talk about.
Miia tried to meet his eyes, but they were still hidden slightly by a messy curtain of black hair. That was when she thought of a topic to work off of. "What color are your eyes? I can't really tell because of your hair." Without missing a beat, Adam lifted his bangs away from his face, causing Miia to stare directly into twin orbs of what she thought was a living storm cloud. Dark gray against a ghostly white face. Miia was both fascinated and entranced by this sight, not realizing she had scooted closer to him on the bench they perched themselves on.
Nearby, Ms. Smith hid herself behind a tree, watching the two with no attempt to hide her suspicion. For a while, they just sat there and talked, she couldn't hear what about though. After a while, they had both gotten up and proceeded to head home. Following them, she failed to notice when, but at some point, Adam and Miia were holding hands the rest of their walk until reaching the house.
Further away, atop the roof of a building adjacent to the park, three individuals were spying on Adam as well with two pairs of binoculars and one telescope. "Ms. Smith is following at a respectable distance, but were we necessary up here? I feel like we're just fueling her ego-driven paranoia with this young man." The shortest of the three put in her two cents, glancing back and forth between their target of interest and her compatriots.
Having seen the moment where Adam revealed his eyes to Miia, the tallest of the three couldn't help but giggle. "Well I think she's just looking out for him because he's too cute for his own good. He reminds me of when Smith was that young. Remember those photo albums Bina-chan found? They could pass for twins if you put them side by side in the photo. Right, Uncle Eddy?"
With a pith helmet replacing his usual bowler, the mustached orcish fellow chuckled. "With notable differences in body aside, I'd have to agree. Though, if I'm to remain an honest gentleman, I'd say he has more of his Grandmother in him than anything else, if his eyes are any indication, on top of his behavior earlier today."
As they got close to home, Adam and Miia heard multiple different barks coming from the front yard. Adam was quite used to this, but Miia was curious, as Gregory seemed to be the only dog at her new place of residence. Slithering ahead, Miia was surprised to find Gregory running around and playing with an Irish Wolfhound, Scottish Terrier, and twin Golden Labrador Retrievers. Sensing their approach, Gregory waltzed up to where Miia was spying on him and sat down, the other dogs following suit. Adam rounded the corner and pulled Miia along, petting each dog on the head as he passed before entering into the house. "Gregory is like the head of the neighborhood watch, but with dogs instead of people, so it's much more efficient."
Yukino popped her head out of the kitchen doorway. "Is Gregory holding another meeting? I heard barking." With a nod from her brother, Yukino shrugged and went back to what she was doing beforehand.
Soon, dinner was ready, and the spread was nothing to sneeze at. Salad skewers with blue cheese dressing, scalloped potatoes with melted mozzarella, pork tenderloin, and a small side of garlic bread and freshly cleaned celery.
After dinner, Adam excused himself and pulled Centorea along to the backyard. Miia stayed behind to help clean the dishes with Yukino. It was quiet for all but a few seconds before Yukino decided to gently grill Miia about her first impressions of everything. "So how are you settling in?"
Miia was still a little apprehensive, but she felt she could be honest with her hostess. "It's...a lot to take in, but I think I'll like it. Adam seems fun, if a little spacey when it comes to small talk. He said my hair and scales remind him of a sunset." She blushed a little remembering their little moment in the park earlier.
Yukino groaned. "Jeez. Well don't get too enamored, because he won't understand or react to flirting. He may wear his heart on his sleeves, but that doesn't mean he'll get why he feels at all. Just try to be his friend, okay? That's something me and a few others can agree that he needs."
As Yukino gave Miia the rundown on Adam's personality and quirks, the boy in question was digging through an old shed that sat in the backyard, Centorea helping him to organize the contents.
"Master, why are we rummaging through this assortment of materials?"
Not looking back, Adam just responded while digging further into the shed.
"I had a thought while eating. We don't really have a home gym or loose weights lying around, and considering our differences in body types, I doubt my Tai Chi practices would translate well."
That last comment made Centorea look at her hindquarters and blush.
"So it occurred to me that I haven't paid attention to some of the left over materials from abandoned projects of the past, and that if stripped down and re-purposed, we could construct a practice area with which to keep ourselves in shape. That, and I can finally make room in here to resume some overdue ideas that have been sitting on the metaphorical back-burner for a while."
Not even a full week past her arrival, and he just kept the surprise train rolling. The fact that he wanted to pay attention to not just his, but her physical fitness and well-being, cemented in her that she had made the right choice in picking Adam as her Noble Master. But as much as she admired his generous nature, a small question still nitpicked at her. It wasn't anything related to the current situation, so without a proper segue, she thought it might be awkward to bring it up. Then she spied the perfect way to bring it up. A flowerbed sitting close to the house.
"Pray tell, are those flowers your doing, Master?"
Looking back to see what she was talking about, Adam saw Centorea staring at the flowers that he helped to keep up. "Not exactly. The flowers are my sister's doing, but the bed was Mom's. After she died, Yukino kept tending to those plants, occasionally having to replace ones that didn't make it, except for the lavender, off all things. No matter the weather, those same flowers have persevered, and I honestly don't know how."
Now with the story in hand, Centorea found her opportunity. "Do you think you could have some sort of connection to them? After all, you share their name." In her head, she berated herself for sounding so base. Being connected to a plant, just because it was also his middle name? Preposterous.
"Maybe." One word is all it took to catch her off-guard. "Both Dad and Yukino once told me that she wanted at least one part of my name to be unique and full of life. It's an interesting thought."
Centorea sighed in relief. Her embarrassment slowly making way for a sense of satisfaction. With her curiosity sated, they began to work on making equipment for their impromptu training yard. Though this was interrupted after two hours when Miia came outside, complaining about being bored. Thinking that they had made enough progress for one day, Adam ushered everyone inside, knowing just the thing to cure Miia's boredom, and to test a theory he had.
One hour of blood, yelps of fear, and a controller being passed around had been quite the experience. After introducing Miia to Bloodborne, Adam learned three things: Gothic horror was not in this girl's wheelhouse, her reaction speed was nothing like an actual snake, and she persisted in the face of defeat, even if she made certain mistakes repeatedly without realizing it.
Her determination had brought a smile to Adam's stoic face, especially after he had given Miia some pointers on how to beat Father Gascoigne on her own. After winning against the madman, Gregory belly-flopped on her lap and Adam gave her a well deserved high five. Somehow, Yukino had gotten involved in the game as well, and considering how poorly Miia started off, everyone else had to stifle their laughter at how abysmal Adam's dear sister was at this game. To elaborate in as few words as possible: Yukino somehow always ended up dying by falling from absurd heights, even though she knew they were around.
One hour turned into multiple as each player tried to outdo the others, but sooner than they realized, midnight had fast approached, and they all went their separate ways to bed.
After brushing her teeth, Miia slithered to her room, but decided to stop by Adam's room first, hoping to thank him for an eventful first day, keeping in mind not to get too close, as warned by Yukino. Lightly knocking on his door, Miia felt something hit her tail, below the edge of her skirt. Looking down, she saw what seemed to be a dog door trying to open, but her body was blocking the way. Backing up a bit, both Gregory and Adam poked their heads through the door and up at her face.
"Good evening Miia. Did you need some help with anything before heading to bed?"
She shook her head. "No. I just wanted to say thank you for everything today. When I first arrived, I was a little scared that you and your sister wouldn't like me, but after less than a day, I feel silly for thinking that at all. You and Yukino are funny, and Centorea is a little stiff, but I can tell she enjoys living here too. From here on out, I'm gonna try and stay positive! So, again, thank you for making my first day a fun one."
Adam smiled up at her, thinking about how much he had actually been smiling since his time as a host first started. "No thanks are necessary Miia. Though I can't promise it'll be as fun all the time, I'll try to make sure you and Centorea are not bored, as is my responsibility. Pleasant dreams, I'll see you in the morning." After wishing her a good night, he and Gregory withdrew their heads from the dog door, presumably to hit the proverbial hay.
"Good night." Miia said to them through the door.
Finding her bedroom as cozy as her room back home, she laid down for a good nights rest. Her dreams that night consisted of a Lamia princess and a wayward knight with stormy eyes.
Author's Note
If Ya'll are wondering: no I'm not dead. I've just been lacking inspiration, and management where I work has been difficult to deal with, so ideas for this story have been hard to concentrate on or come by. I can't promise that another chapter will be out before the year ends, but I'm gonna try my hardest to keep this going, because I've got plans for this story that are heading for strange places, if I can keep the brain train on the tracks. Also, please leave me some reviews that actually say more than "Keep it up" or "Another great chapter". I need me some feedback to keep my brain from dying!