Tanya slipped into her nightwear after a nightly routine before she jumped onto her bed in a failed attempt to sleep.
Her mind wandered back to a couple of hours prior. The family reunion was a total disaster, if she were to judge it based on her assessment. They went from drilling and interrogating her to fighting with themselves, from pointing out their flaws to tackling each other to even yanking out their hair. It was mostly the twins and Bertha though.
It was a mess. But unlike most messes that usually either led to a loss or one that cost her dearly in the end, this one was quite different from all the other ones. It was a mess that made her smile and made her insides churn like butter. It was beautiful.
Tanya smiled, satisfied, and was about to leave when a growl rose in the air and filled the sitting room with silence. Bertha looked down at the twins she was tackling with a bewildered expression, but they seemed to be as shocked and confused as she was and slowly shook their heads while attempting to scan the room in search of the source of that sound.
Another angry growl filled the air and everyone's head snapped to a place where Tanya stood with their eyes filled with disbelief until another low, whiny growl escaped her stomach, causing everyone to crack up into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, causing Tanya to redden in embarrassment, but she eventually joined them in hearty laughter.
Eventually, the family headed to the dining room, where a feast lay spread out. Soon, everyone was chatting over dinner and ignoring etiquette; the laughter-filled atmosphere filling them up with enough joy to throw caution into the wind and be unwinded without a care.
Everyone asked about everything and it was especially lovely. For the first time in a long while, Tanya had such a delicious meal with relish, and she was going to bed with a full stomach. Her training hadn't allowed her such freedom.
After the meal was over and everyone had a second helping of everything, all while giving their compliments to the chef, Tanya helped her mother clear the dishes and proceeded to do them herself afterward.
"That's weird." She remembered her elder brother's comment, "Since when did our last born become so responsible?"
She could remember how the air became slightly awkward after that comment but she hadn't bothered to answer. Her attention and listening were attuned to her surroundings; that was basic training, but not her mind. Her mind was farther from her right then.
"Nathaniel," her mother called out in a chiding tone, "leave your younger sister alone. She just came back and wants to be a help. That's all."
"But he didn't say anything wrong this time, mother." Bertha reasoned. "And besides, doesn't it fill you with anxiety that in the three years that our youngest had left the house, there has been little to no news about her coming to us from her teachers."
"I'm honestly scared on your behalf, mother." Bertha scoffed.
"Bertha!" Her father bellowed, his beastly muscled body straining and flexing in tune with his mood, "Stand down! Not to your mother."
Bertha bowed in response on her seat to her mother, muttered an apology in remorse, and then cast a glance at her younger sister.
It was a little eerie to Tanya how she could hear and feel every sensation and hear every word being uttered behind her despite her mind being so far away at the moment. What eased her mind was that she had learned to control this in her previous life so it wasn't much of a problem relearning an old talent.
Her thoughts were on the birthday party that Alvise had planned to host the next night. Her parents were going to attend since they had received an official invite. Her sister was attending on behalf of someone and her eldest brother was attending with her as her escort for the night.
She, on the other hand, had a separate invitation as Alvise's date that night but she was thinking of what to say when her parents were to ask her of their relationship. She couldn't say that they were student and teachers. The thought of that made her shudder in reflex without an afterthought to the effect of such a statement.
The thoughts gave her such distress that she could feel a migraine coming on.
She finished with the dishes and headed back to the dining room, where it was oddly silent, with the exception of the occasional tapping of the sole of her feet on the wooden oak floorboards.
One by one, everyone left the dining table with a single traditional thank you till it was just Tanya and her parents. A few heartwarming statements were said to her who was returning home after a long time, and after they were done, they sent her up with a couple of treats and warm hugs.
The thoughts of the birthday dinner that she was invited to plagued her like a disease. She was trying to assimilate her thoughts so that she could come up with a viable solution when she heard a couple of swift and rapt taps on her window.
At first, she ignored it, discarding it as one of the branches of the trees in her back garden hitting against the glass window, causing such a mistaken sound, but soon the knock came again, and a pit-like feeling filled her insides, and her guard was up, along with her senses.
A tree branch could make a knock that rapt. It wasn't a particularly windy night so that was impossible; so, it was either a rodent or… a person.
The knock came again with more urgency snapping her out of thoughts. Reaching a hand under her bed to the side, Tanya whipped out an expandable club and brought it to full length.
A whip would have been more preferable, she thought. She had left her weapon back in a hidden compartment in her hostel room, and the makeshift she had brought was in the luggage she had brought back with her. She wasn't done unpacking her things, so it was snuggly tucked in the box.
The knock came again and Tanya sprung into action. She leaped forward on her toes with the speed, silence, and agility of a hunting beast. She swiftly opened the window and nearly crushed the perpetrator's skull when she stopped, her initial reaction turning from bloodlust to recognition to surprise and confusion.