Standing in front of the mirror, in the bedroom he shared with his two sisters, Ricky smoothed down his hair with both hands, tucking a few loose tendrils behind his ears. He stared at his reflection, liking the way the soft light from the setting sun entered through the window and accentuated his eyes, making them glow. Satisfied with the result, he smiled, appreciating his appearance once more before turning around to head out.
Swinging his hands by his sides, Ricky had a second's reprieve as he stepped through the doorway of his room before being all but swallowed into his mother's arms.
"Mom!" He whined as Marianne began to rearrange his hair, licking her thumb and smoothing it out in the way she preferred. A far cry from the way he had fixed it before.
"Hold still." She fussed, picking at his bangs before cupping his face and examining her son. A smile weaved its way across her lips as she basked in his handsomeness. "There. Perfect."
Ricky could only grumble, gaze lowered as his cheeks filled with color, embarrassed at having his mother have the final say about his appearance at this age.
"Alright, go grab your sisters and head out." She gently pushed him forward before glancing out the window. Her arms folded across her chest as she looked on at the setting sun. The sky was painted a beautiful array of reds and oranges while the darkness of night crept in from the edges, promising to swallow the whole heavens.
"Jade already left with the others!" Rin cried out, running into the room at hearing her mother's words. "It's just us four left," She pointed a thumb at May, the third in their litter of triplets. "She always leaves without us because we're the youngest!" She whined, feeling left out. Her rosy cheeks flushed as she stood there in a flowing summer dress, her shoulders bare and showing pale moonlit skin.
In the hall, May rolled her eyes, her lanky form coming into view. "It's because she wanted to see Gillian, not because we're the youngest, stupid."
Rin turned on her sister, "Yah!"
Ricky only grumbled further, his mouth twisting downwards as his mother turned her attention on his sisters. Her usually soft tone of voice going up in decibels and becoming the dreaded shrill as she reprimanded them for speaking negatively about their older sibling. He puffed his cheeks, expelling a breath and causing his bangs to fly upwards. Taking this chance, Ricky quickly rearranged his hair, sniffing before folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the wall. He wondered yet again for the hundredth time why he couldn't be born along with a pair of brothers. Sourly, he watched on as his sisters argued over complete nonsense, his mother vainly trying to keep the peace.
Glum, he bounced his back against the wall. He had eight sisters, for crying out loud! Would it have been so horrible to throw in a brother in there somewhere?
"Ricky!"
He winced. The uncanny ability for his sister to match the shrill tone of his mother was frightening. He feared for their future, hoping against all odds that his sibling wouldn't take to yelling for him across the village center as his mother did. Teeth firmly pressed into his bottom lip, he looked towards her, finding Rin's arm-waving extremely unnecessary as she beckoned him to follow. With a sigh, he pushed himself off the wall and went to join them.
"Your father just got back with the rest of the pack," His mother said as she now worked at pushing her youngest children out of the hall and towards the door. "I have to go help prepare the Pitateu."
May scrunched her nose, "Do we have to eat them? I mean, I know why we have to, but those buns taste gross!"
Ricky shrugged his shoulders casually as they walked. "I like them."
"You know you have to eat them if you don't want to get sick." Marianne sighed, frowning at her daughter, finding her behavior extremely childish. "Your father, along with the rest of the pack, worked very hard to get the sacrifices to make them."
"Still," May whined. "They are gross!"
Ricky hid a snort as Rin rolled her eyes. As most of them called it, the Pitateu, or blood buns, were always part of the festival. In actuality, it was because of them they were even holding the celebration. The Pitateu consisted of ground heart and liver stuffed into sticky rice dough, mixed a little with red bean paste to make them slightly sweet.
Everyone had one bun each year because making the buns was tricky. The hard part was getting the ingredients since the heart and liver had to come from a human and was supposed to be fresh. It was a necessity that they couldn't live without as it prevented anyone in the pack from getting sick.
Every year, the Alpha and some of the men, usually the first ranking Lycans from the pack, would bring ten humans from the country. They were always people who had done something truly despicable. The Alpha made sure of it, so no one felt too bad about eating the buns. It was the sole reason why most of the pack worked as police officers once they finished school.
Ricky tilted his head upwards to look up at the painted sky as he and his sisters reached the border to the village center. He surmised that he too would become a police officer once he finished high school, joining the first rank and helping his dad find people for the yearly festival.
"Ricky!"
The ebony-haired teen turned his attention away from the sky and its mysteries, wide grin growing more defined as he spotted Matt in the village center, waving his arm almost manically to grab his attention. Without another thought, he bounded towards him, jumping into the other boy by adding all his weight.
"Ooomphf!" Matt stumbled back a few steps, his arms coming around Ricky to pry him off.
"Oh!" Ricky pulled back, eyes shining as he reached over to clasp the necklace around Matt's throat, feeling the smooth texture of the leather as he marveled at it. "You got it! Woah!"
Matt puffed his chest proudly, looking down at the fang threaded through the leather string. "Mhm. My dad gave it to me when he got back." He said, watching as Ricky lifted the fang and stared at it, brushing his fingers over the golden encasing.
"Hard to believe this was your first fang," Ricky smirked, eyes glowing impishly. "It's just the size of my thumb." He held his finger up for comparison.
Matt frowned, nostrils flaring as he stared at his best friend. "Yah, let's see how big yours is when you get it. I bet it's not even half as big as mine."
Ricky laughed, eyes crinkling as he let go of the necklace. With a toss of his head, he threw one arm over Matt's shoulder and pushed him towards the sound of the beating drums, eager to join the dancing festivities. Sighing, Matt let his annoyance evaporate as he, too, threw an arm over Ricky's shoulder, letting the festive mood wash over him once again.
"Matt! Ricky!"
The two boys looked up to see Derek with his hands cupped around his mouth, a majority of their friends standing beside him already dancing. Eagerly they both rushed towards them, hands clasping as their bodies began to move with the beat.