he gave her a worried look, voice soft.
"tessa… i'm okay. there's no need for all of that. i already got the work done, i'm okay. but if i stress my lung, i might pop it. i was slightly worried, considering i'm surrounded by extremely dangerous people, but i trust that nothing will happen."
he offered her a hand.
"i swear, there's nothing to worry about. i thought you should know about it, though."
She paused in her pacing to look at him, eyes flicking up and down as if she could find the truth of his words somewhere else besides the lips they spilled from. When she found nothing, she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "…Fine…Fine. No one will hurt you, so long as you don't give them a reason to. No one here goes out of their way to harm someone—with me being the exception for the most part."
"that's reassuring, thank you."
he fell silent as they continued their walk, but piped up after a few minutes.
"i didn't expect you to get so worried, tess." he gave his best attempt at a warm expression. "thank you for being concerned."
She blew out a breath after catching the look on his face. "Yeah, well, I tend to get worried about other people getting hurt, especially as someone all too familiar with it. Let's just say I'd rather be one of the few than one of the many. If I can help it." She loosely folded her arms under her chest, shrugging.
"that's a fair point." he looked ahead as they reached the kitchen, already seeing that there were multiple people milling about. he shook out his hands again. oh boy.
((info dump warning. I promise, you won't have to remember all of these people))
Tessa reached over and lightly grabbed his arm for support as she ducked into the kitchen, dragging Nik along with her. She found an empty spot on a counter and haulted herself up onto it, inviting him to do the same.
Cinthia was the main chef, with her twin brother, Wolf, and Demitri working as assistants. A woman with hair the color of multiple shades of blue hovered over them with curious and seemingly ancient ocean blue eyes, a finger tapping the single ring on her finger. A man stood not too far from her, his brown hair sporting blonde highlights and green eyes keeping a close eye on the commotion.
A girl with large light orange eyes and white hair dyed black at the ends stood against the wall next to an extremely tall man with dark gray hair and a single silver eye, the other a blind milky white and seemingly cracked along the path of the scar going over it.
A dark-skinned, black, fluffy-haired, and brown-eyed man sat on the floor with an even darker-skinned girl with obsidian black curls and amber-colored eyes. She was easily the shortest person there, even with her simply sitting on the floor. Two men stood by the island, chatting away and waving their hands wildly. One had mudbrown hair and multiple piercings and rings, whereas the other was dirty blonde with bright, blueish-purple eyes and extremely light patterns over his face and upper body, though most of the patterns weren't noticeable.
Rae, the eagle-eyed redhead, was perched up onto a high shelf, one leg tucked beneath her with the other dangling off the side. Underneath Rae stood a white-haired, pale, and pale blue-eyed man that silently observed the commotion. Lastly, a light brown-haired and gray-eyed man was messing with the corkboard, which had been littered with random notes and pictures.
nik sucked in a breath, glancing around quickly before hopping up next to her and pulling his legs in, not wanting to trip anyone.
"lot more people than i initially expected. don't tell me i have to memorize all their names?"
"Nah," Tessa said, but she decided to give him them just in case. She pointed to the boy beneath Rae first. "You know my cousin. The guy under her shelf is Tamaki. The one at the corkboard is Jamir, who's dating Wolf, Cinthia's twin brother. The blue-haired girl is Koralia, and the guy hovering over her is her fiancé Magnus, who's also related to the twins. Kiriti is the girl next to Fenris, the tall guy over there. Rhydar is the metal detector nightmare, and the guy he's talking to is Carden. Rhydar is the oldest sibling of the twins. Those two on the floor are Junia and Archer."
"helpful, thank you. anything i should know before introducing myself?" he made an attempt to straighten his shoulders, making him look… definitely bigger, but he's a small kind of guy. malnutrition and all that. it didn't help much.
"Don't be an ass, or you'll be ripped to shreds," Tessa said while picking her nails, doing the opposite as Nik by hunching over and having her head bowed. "Maybe not literally, but everyone here will definitely have their two cents to put in."
"interesting. looks as if the food is done, are we setting a table or just finding spots to eat?" he carefully watched the bustle of people, cinthia turning from her work and a few people looking to her.
A few of the people noticed the finished food and hurried over to the attached room, which housed the large dining table. The others helped with grabbing plates, silverware, and food while Cinthia came up to Nik and Tessa. "Just claim a spot at the table," Tessa said, hopping off the counter and clasping arms with Cinthia. The other girl nodded in agreement and looked up at Nik. "Just follow her lead for the most part, and you should be fine. Just no stabbing anyone or you'll be put into the corner," she added with a half-smile.
"duly noted, thanks cinthia. the corner would be most horrific." he said, tone deadpan but a shine of humor in his smile and eyes.
"are… are you sure i don't need to help with something, though?" he slid off the counter, performing a rather out-of-character stumble as he hit the ground. nik quickly leaned on said counter for support, playing it off like he didn't mean to.
Cinthia flapped her hand dismissively. "I've got fourteen sets of hands, not including mine or yours. There are only so many jobs for people to do. You don't have to worry about anything at the moment." She nodded her head in Tessa's direction. "You can help her clean up afterward if you really want to help with something."
Tessa's eyes were on Nik, gaze narrowed suspiciously.
"ah. yeah, fourteen seems sufficient. i'll help clean up, if that would be helpful." he gently pushed off the counter, offering an arm to tessa.
"time to meet the family, yeah?"
Tessa let out a private sigh and took his arm, shooing off Cinthia. "Go one. I'm sure you have people to yell at. I think I see Rhydar…" She didn't even need to finish before Cinthia turned on her heel and hurried into the dining room to yell at her older brother.
nik shook out his left hand, the arm that wasn't hooked around tessa's.
"are we clear to enter, or does she need a second to yell at uh… rhydar?"
Tessa chuckled and gave Nik's arm a friendly squeeze. "We're clear to go. Most he'll get is a quick tongue lashing and clip to the back of his head. Cinthia's like the mom of the group." She jerked her head towards the doorway, then tugged on Nik's arm as she started towards the dining room. "C'mon."
"well, that's cute. everybody needs a mom friend." he went along with her, letting tessa pull him to the dining room.
"Everything about this place is cute to you, it seems," Tessa teased with a quick smile flashed his way as she weaved through the slightly chaotic dining room and nabbed them some seats.
"well, it has a rather potent rosy shine to it. big ol family who looks after each other, huh. it'd be the plot of a reality show if there wasn't murder involved." nik teased back, staying close as they made their way to the table.
he sat down next to her, untwining his arm from hers and tucking his hands in his lap.
Tessa snorted. "Murder, thievery, jewelry, spying, medical practices after sparing, machines blowing up, some thrown insults—a lot of potential for a very entertaining reality show." She drummed her fingers on the table and poked the person who sat down next to her, which happened to be the dark-skinned and short girl named Junia. The girl didn't miss a beat and jabbed Tessa in the ribs, causing her to hiss in protest.
nik chuckled at their interaction. they really did seem like a family, seeing as the girl's first instinct was to poke tessa in the ribs,
Junia leaned forward so she could see Nik. "So you're the one Tessa brought in? Don't look like much," she observed bluntly, arching a dark brow. Tessa rolled her eyes and leaned back so they could talk to each other easier.
"i assure you, i'm not much. just a reporter who's a little bit too brave." he leaned forward to make eye contact, shrugging as he spoke.
"Hmm. And I'm just a simple jeweler," Junia said, rolling her amber eyes and gesturing to Tessa. "And she's just a messed up foster kid."
he glanced at tessa, smiling.
"that's one way you could put it. you said you're a jeweler?" he looked back over at junia, seeming interested.
"Yes," she said, while Tessa rolled her eyes and shook her head with a small smile on her lips. Junia pretended she didn't see her as she continued. "I can make pretty much anything with the right materials."
"whoa!!" nik leaned on the table, nearly starry-eyed. he was always incredibly impressed with craftsmen, being able to just… make things and not have them look awful.
"anything?? what have you made so far?"
Junia tilted her head and ticked off her fingers as she spoke. "A bunch of rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Rhydar is sporting some of the rings I've made for him. I can also make little figurines if I'm feeling up to it. With detail, if you get me in the right mood. I also like seeing what I can do by mixing metals. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. I made a necklace for this one here," she poked Tessa in the arm, "but she's not wearing it. Rude."