Peter Pellbrook stood at the doorway of his old home. He was tightly gripping a bouquet of flowers in one hand, a cake in the other. It had been quite the hassle getting here, his old home being a garlic farm. At the very least, the Pellbrooks had the decency to take down all the garlic usually hanging around the house. That would have really made his entrance difficult.
Daisy was next to him. After all, the secondary point of the dinner was to introduce her to the family. She squirmed, hanging onto his arm, a little nervous.
Dr. McNinja was in the back, parking the car in the stables. He would join them soon.
Peter cleared his throat and knocked on the door. There was some shouting from inside, mostly from his mother Ariel. The door swung open. Garrick Pellbrook stared at Peter from behind the doorway. He had a shit-eating grin on his face.
“So I’ve been told,” Garrick said, “that vampires can’t enter houses without express permission.”
Daisy watched Peter nervously, but the Pellbrook boy recognized this as a good sign. Garrick was already messing with him.
“Let me in, shithead,” Peter smirked.
“Mm,” Garrick said, feigning consideration, “I dunno. Is that how you speak to someone who’s deciding whether or not you’re invited-”
“Come in, Peter!” Blythe called from behind Garrick. She had a wide grin, revealing two fangs.
“Agh- Dammit, Blythe!” Garrick cursed as Peter shoved past him. Peter stuck out his tongue at his younger brother as he entered the house.
Peter wasn’t sure what to expect from his family. Fear? Apprehension? Straight-up trying to murder him? He had no idea how his family had fared since his sudden departure. What changes had they gone through?
He surely wasn’t expecting a welcome.
Peter leaned back in surprise. There was an uproar as all the Pellbrook children pretty instantly stopped what they were doing to shout and rush Peter, giving him hugs. Oswin hugged Peter quietly, staying there for a good while. Blythe joined him, taking the other side of the vampire.
“What took you so long, asshole?” Aldrich chuckled with a wide smile, ruffling Peter’s orange hair.
Peter grinned back, nervously happy. “I was busy?”
“Oh, now you’re too busy for your family?” Garrick snapped. He couldn’t hide his joy with his angry tone.
Daisy, meanwhile, was staying outside. She sheepishly watched the whole scene. She knew Peter would be happy to see his family again, but now the truly difficult part: making a good impression.
On cue, the Pellbrook children all turned around and stared at Daisy. They simultaneously turned to Peter.
“Right,” Peter said, clearing his throat, “This is my girlfriend. Daisy.”
There was an utter lack of reaction for a good half a minute. The Pellbrooks boys continued to switch their gazes between Peter and Daisy. Blythe just held her stare with Daisy, who waved sheepishly.
“Nice to meet you,” Daisy finally said, “I’ve heard so much about you guys.”
Garrick’s jaw dropped. “Oh my Arbiters you actually got a girlfriend.”
Aldrich slapped Garrick over the head, then started pulling at his siblings to clear the way. “Uh… hello, Daisy. Sorry about that. Uh…”
He turned to the interior of the house. “Mama! We need an extra place! Peter brought a girlfriend!”
There was a sudden clatter of pots. “Peter brought a WHAT?!”
Daisy squinted at Peter. “You didn’t tell them I was coming?”
Peter paled at the reaction. “Well… I thought…”
“Come in!” Aldrich said, “Come in, come in.”
“Don’t mind if I do!” Dr. McNinja said, entering the building.
The children all yelped in surprise at Doc’s sudden appearance, then all started cheering and whooping. Dr. McNinja had come around a few times before, and he always brought sweets for the children to share. And honestly, even the teenagers weren’t too proud to be begging for chocolates from their doctor. Dr. McNinja accordingly whooped and threw some chocolate bars into the air, leaving the children to scramble for them. Peter retreated to Daisy.
Daisy smirked as she finally entered the house. “They’re… a lot.”
Peter sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “So they are.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell them I was coming.”
“Well, I dunno, I thought it’d be a nice surprise!” Peter said.
“Hm,” Daisy said, slightly annoyed. But she suppressed it. This was Peter’s day.
The inside of the Pellbrook home was about as Daisy expected. It was the largest shack she had ever seen. The wood was rotting and gray, but the light from the rickety chandelier was orange and warm. There were numerous cupboards and dressers lining the walls, all ancient and falling apart. At the center of the room, there was a carpet, on top of which lay a ten-foot-long wooden table. It looked to be made of scrapwood rather than actual carpentry materials. There was the unavoidable feeling of living inside a giant rotting tree, one with many hallways leading up to various rooms.
Then it was the moment of truth. Ariel Pellbrook emerged from the kitchen, rubbing her hands on her apron. She gave a polite grin to Doc, then turned to Peter. Her expression was complicated as she studied his face. Peter swallowed hard as the other children went silent (Aldrich slapping all of them to do so). He waved.
“Hi, Mama,” Peter finally said, “I’m home.”
Ariel pursed her lips for a bit, then nodded quietly. She turned to Daisy.
“My, what a pretty young thing you are,” Ariel said, approaching her and shaking her hand, “It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Ariel Pellbrook. Sorry for the mess.”
“Oh, not at all,” Daisy said politely, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Pellbrook. I’m Daisy Sarasa.”
Ariel gave her another warm smile, before turning to Peter. She wordlessly gripped Peter’s shoulders, rubbing them slightly with her thumbs. She then met Peter’s eyes, staring into them. Perhaps she was now noticing how different they looked.
“Well,” Ariel finally said, “Let’s eat.”
Everyone released the breaths they were holding. The children started making noise again, Oswin in particular whining that Garrick had taken much more chocolate than him. Ariel scolded the children for thinking about chocolate before dinner as the children all stashed their sweets in their various dressers.
“I said bring out the food!” Ariel shouted. The Pellbrooks all scattered into the kitchen, bringing out various plates of steaming food.
Ariel had really gone all out - this was a remarkable feast. There was a large platter with braised turkey, each still sizzling with grease. There were two colossal bowls overflowing with spaghetti and meatballs, and two large bowls full of salads with tomatoes. While the food wasn’t particularly appealing in any sense, the sheer amount of it could not be overstated. Ariel nodded, clearly proud of the display. After all, this was more than she could probably afford.
“Well, everyone take a seat,” she said. She waved her hand, and a pitcher of water flew out of nowhere and into her hand. She set it down in the middle, waving her hand again to summon another pitcher, this one full of lemonade.
The children all took their usual seats. Doc sat shortly afterwards. Peter stared at his chair, where he used to always sit, at the end of the table - it had been left there, even though he was gone. Peter swallowed hard and sat down. Daisy followed suit. The boys started serving themselves, levitating lemonade from the pitchers into their cups.
“So how’re things?” Doc asked Ariel, serving himself some turkey.
Ariel shrugged. “Same old. Bad season this year. And bandits keep attacking us.”
“Aldrich bet Garrick five gold he couldn’t spear three bandits at once,” Blythe reported.
“And I used that five gold to buy me a nice watch,” Garrick announced, showing off his brand new digital watch. It was an old, old model, and out of battery.
“It’s out of battery,” Peter noted.
“Yeah? So?”
Blythe grinned again. “Oh, and Oswin took me snow-sledding on the hill by the creek!”
“Snow? In this time of fall?” Daisy asked, mostly to herself.
Oswin cleared his throat. It was easy to miss before, but he was clearly having a hard time meeting the gaze of the pretty girl.
“I have… ice powers?” Oswin finally managed to say, his voice cracking a little.
Garrick snickered. “Oswin, are you scared of the giiiirl?”
“Sh-Shut up!”
Aldrich jammed his fork into his spaghetti. “Yeah, shut up, Garrick. Where’s your girlfriend?”
Garrick threw a meatball at Aldrich with magic, who caught it out of the air with a wave of his fingers. Tomato sauce dripped everywhere. Daisy recoiled, but Peter managed to catch the droplets out of the air before it landed on her. Doc, somehow, was entirely unaffected.
“I thought they had water magic?” Daisy muttered to Peter.
“There’s water in meatballs,” Peter whispered back.
“Can you eat food, actually?” Oswin asked Peter.
“Oh yeah,” Peter nodded, “I just need blood to survive, but I can eat all I like. As long as there’s no garlic.”
“I didn’t put garlic in anything,” Ariel said.
Peter nodded. “Uh, thanks.”
“So what’s that like?” Oswin asked, his eyes wide, “Drinking blood?”
“Uh, you know? Freaky at first. It goes in through my cheeks too, so it’s weird. But you get used to it. It’s like drinking a salty soup at this point.”
Aldrich piped up, “And you’re sticking to the ‘vegetarian’ diet? No people?”
Peter nodded. “Good thing about working at a medical clinic, Doc gets access to charity organizations. So only donated blood for me.”
“Good,” Aldrich said, “It’d be a pity to kill you when you finally deign to visit us.”
The table laughed. Daisy chuckled nervously along with them.
“So, Daisy,” Ariel said, her eyes piercing, “How’d you and Peter meet?”
Doc watched them, a little worried. The Pellbrook children all stared at Daisy eagerly. Peter apologetically pursed his lips and looked at her as well.
“Well,” Daisy started, “It was… on an adventure.”
“Ooh, you go on adventures?” Blythe chanted.
Ariel gave Doc an inquisitive look. Doc shrugged. “Yeah, they’ve been happening more than we’d like, actually.”
“But not so much that it’s bad for us!” Peter added.
Doc nodded. “Yeah. Not that much.”
“Well, what kind of adventure was it?” Aldrich asked.
Daisy jammed her tongue into her cheek, looking at Peter nervously. Peter nodded encouragingly. Daisy inhaled deeply and nodded.
“Well, we met a couple times while following some leads on a dangerous vigilante called the Punisher,” Daisy said, “He was hunting a criminal organization called the Lollipop Guild. And uh… we kinda just… got along?”
“And you got the Punisher?” Garrick asked.
“He’s still out there,” Peter said grimly, “We’re… still working on the case.”
Ariel, this whole time, was just watching Peter, even as she ate. She finally spoke up.
“So these are dangerous adventures you go on, eh, Doctor?”
Doc stopped mid-chew and swallowed hard. “Uh… sometimes!”
“And you think that’s fine?”
Doc leaned in. “I try to keep Peter away from the adventures. His job is to help me run the clinic, after all, not get into fights.”
“And he can do that?”
“He can,” Doc said, “Both, that is. I’d never want anyone else watching my back.”
Ariel nodded. If she had any real complaints about endangering children, she’d be a hypocrite. So she turned back to Daisy.
“And what do you do, Daisy?”
“I’m a student at the AU - that is, the University of Arcadia,” Daisy replied, “I’m studying xenobotany?”
“And what’s that?”
“It’s the study of plants from other worlds,” Daisy explained, “Basically, weird botany.”
“And that leads to good careers?”
“Well,” Daisy said, “Um… I’m actually not that focused on my career right now.”
“Daisy helps around the clinic as well,” Doc helpfully added, “She can make bioweapons that power you up.”
Ariel tipped her head. “You don’t say?”
Daisy nodded. “I… could show you some samples later. After dinner.”
Daisy didn’t know it, but offering Ariel further powers to assist in self-defense was actually the way to go. Ariel nodded approvingly. For the first time, she looked down at her food and focused on eating.
“How long you been dating?” Aldrich picked up the conversation.
“Give or take a year,” Peter answered. Daisy nodded.
“And when you getting married?”
Daisy choked on her food as she watched for Peter’s response. Peter, however, was expecting it.
“We haven’t really talked about it,” Peter said, “It’s a little different in Arcadia. You date for a while before you even consider getting married.”
Peter turned to Daisy. “They’re used to getting married right away out here. In arranged marriages.”
Daisy tilted her head up in understanding. “I see.”
“They,” Ariel noted.
“Hm?”
“You said they.”
Peter shrugged. “I guess I did.”
“So you ain’t one of us anymore?”
Peter shuffled uncomfortably. “I was just explaining-”
“Hmph,” Ariel grunted, returning to her food.
The table was silent for a minute. The silence hung heavy in the air, like a weight pressing on your shoulders.
Peter finally broke the silence. “This is good pasta, Mama.”
Everyone grunted affirmatively. Daisy elbowed Peter subtly, gesturing at the cake.
“Oh yeah, and uh, we brought cake for dessert,” Peter followed up.
Ariel’s eyes twinkled a little. “Cake?”
