Front Porch and Entry Way

A woman in her mid-forties approached the house, fuming mad. Her hair was firey orange and her eyes were steely gray, the spitting image of Sylvia.

"Where the hell is my daughter?!" She spat, "I know she's here, so there's no point in lying!"
 
"Um," Rose replied, a bit startled, "I'm sorry, who is your daughter?" She had an inkling, judging by their similarities, but what was she supposed to say? She took a breath, and putting on her best customer service voice said, "And please calm down, ma'am, I can get the owners, if you'd like, but I'd prefer t'not be yelled at."

Never was Rose so glad she had literally grown up in the service industry, and was no working in a bank, as when she needed to deal with someone who was a bit... heated, if understatements were acceptable this early in the morning.
 
"Her name is Sylvia. I know she's here." She growled, "I can prove it, too." The woman pulled out Sylvia's birth certificate as well as other documents proving such.

Sylvia came out of the kitchen and then outside. Her face paled when she saw her mother. She never expected her mother to know where she was, let alone come and get her. "M-mom?" She stammered, shaking from the stress of the situation.
 
Daniel dropped his plate, flustered at the woman standing before them. "What if Sylvia wants to stay here?" He asked aggressively. "Did you ask her why?" He turned to Sylvia."Do you wanna go with her?"
 
"Ah Jesus, Mary and Joseph, everybody take a breath, please," Rose said, holding her hands up, "Daniel, pet, Sylvia is sixteen, so I don't really think if she wants t'stay she can just do so without getting lawyers involved. Madame, please do not yell at us, we really just want t'make sure she's safe, yeah? So if we could all calm down, then we can talk about it, because yelling and fighting is only going t'get the police called. Perhaps you would like to sit down? Please sit down, and we can talk, calmly, like good rational people."
 
Sylvia looked down at her feet, holding back tears. "I'll go, mother." She said, walking slowly towards the woman.

Sylvia's mother grabbed her arm and dragged her to her car. "Thank you for taking care of her." She hissed. She put Sylvie in the car, where she started crying.
 
Ishade had passed by the entrance, sneakily grabbed a plate of eggs and absconded toward his room and study without a word.

Luckily, Lukais was right behind him. He had to have a word with his brother. However, he stopped when he saw an angry Daniel, a broken plate on the floor, Rose trying her best to keep the peace and a foreign woman dragging Sylvia away by her arm.
Alarmed, he rushed over to the porch.

"What is happening here? M'am? Who are you???" He gave Rose a panicked look and then rushed towards the car, where Sylvia had just been put in possibly against her will??.
 
Daniel tries to comfort Rose. "It's for her own good. We've done all we can." He said softly. "Maybe she's in trouble or something."
 
Once the problem was talked over and the whole ordeal was over, Lukais went back inside. People ended up having lunch here and there, getting some sandwiches from the kitchen, or a quick snack. Dinners were usually big, so it didn't make sense to fill up during lunch.
 
At around 7:05, after a brisk shower, getting dry except for his hair that was still wet, and putting on the clothes he had previously selected Luka walked over to the entrance. He knew Sel and the kids would be here soon.

Outside, Selene Maryam Dunham left her house dressed elegantly in non saturated tones. Her children matched her and each other, and walked in front of her to their dear Uncle Luka's house. It was a Sunday, they were to go to church and their mother wasn't happy. After all she was only taking them because the rest of the family made her, and it was something well known in their household.

Normally they would be driven to church, but sometimes Selene felt merciful. Luka liked to accompany them, the kids liked him and a nice breakfast... Rose usually joined them, and even though Selene, for now, only tolerated her, she wasn't unwelcome. It was a wonder if other tenants would join them. Ishade certainly wouldn't, and she had her suspicions Ikanov would be magically set on fire if he tried to step into a sacred building. The messy haired man that came and went wouldn't come either, or it was highly unlikely.

At 7:10 the doorbell to the boarding house rang, and Lukais welcomed the Dunhams.
 
Rose popped around the corner, now 'properly' dressed in a pretty, spring green dress with a round, fluffy skirt. She always saved her best dresses for Church... or for dancing, and she smiled brightly at the Dunhams as they stood out on the porch, "Good morning, darlings," she stretched, and then tucked the curl which would not stay pinned behind her ear, "It's a good day for drying, isn't it?"

If she was at all honest with herself, she'd admit she wasn't really all that asked about the Catholic church, or any Christian church, really. It was all cultural, for her, for reasons which were fairly obvious if she trusted you enough to let her walls down enough for you to see her interest in Greek poetry didn't reach much further than a certain island. But it was what she did, and it was nice to have a community. And she liked the idea of Jesus, even if she didn't like what most Christians did with him... and she supposed that... sometimes, it hit too deep, and sometimes some of the hate directed towards people who... read that sort of poetry made her wish she preferred different... literature. And it kept her there, because even though she did not logically believed it, sometimes the voice still rang in her head as she reminisced about her favourite verses at night.

"Well, how are you all getting on t'day?"
 
Gabriel and Olivia were already radiating energy. They somehow were more awake than it was sane to be at that hour. You could see the tiredness in Selene and Lukais' features, in contrast with the kids.

They had been busy talking to Luka, but their attention soon deviated to Rose as soon as she was around. She was interesting and nice, and they had so much to tell her about this one colorful jar of bugs Olivia was hiding in their closet. Not even the service had found it yet. Or, a more likely explanation, they hadn't wanted to touch whatever horrid concoction Selene's little menace was brewing.

She had started talking about it when her brother shushed her, because their mother was coming. She had her arm hooked around the senior of the Luseth siblings, and she had been telling him something about a new Arabian mare she had her eye on.

"All is well dear, thank you for asking. How have you been?" She said in perfect politeness, a flawless smile on her face. It didn't reach her eyes, but it rarely did.

"Let's get moving towards the dining room, no time to loose." Said Lukais, leading the way.
 
"Ah," Rose whispered, "well, I would love t'see the jar, but you may also want t'consider releasing them. I bet you wouldn't like to be kept in a jar with a bunch of strangers, while some fleshy giants came around occasionally t'poke at you." As she said this, she poked them both gently, and would have mussed their hair, if Selene wouldn't have yelled at her. It's not like she knew better than anyone how to manage curly hair, or anything. Although she was teasing them, she did still hope the siblings would take her advice to heart and release the insects. She always cared very deeply about the well-being of natural things, and had (on multiple occasions) bemoaned the construction of new homes because where will the deer and opossums go?

But, of course, when Selene approached, she straightened up, smoothed her skirt, and pretended as if she and the children had been speaking about something rather different, "I've been alright. Calla and Lillie are turning 20 in just a few days, and I've got enough money t'make the phone call home. I can afford a whole hour, I can't wait." In contrast to Selene, who never seemed to give a real smile, Rose shone with excitement. Maybe one day Selene would warm up to her, at the very least Rose was open and welcoming towards her. And she did like her, even if she had been yelled at by her on more than one occasion... Although, the older woman did remind Rose of the stories she was told by her parents and grandparents about the wealthy English who moved into Ireland and attempted to 'civilize' them, and who would put drawings of them in cartoons contrasting them with the nice, respectable, English types. But Selene tried to civilize everybody. And at least, when she felt like it, Rose could lie and cite cultural differences.

And, trying to be as polite as possible, Rose stood to the side, allowing the Dunhams to enter first, as that pesky curl fell out of place yet again.
 
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