Chapter Text
Hornet jolts awake as the taxi she is in hits a bump in the road. For a couple of seconds, she has no idea where she is. The interior of the cab smells unfamiliar, the light outside is too bright, and her neck aches from having slept at an awkward angle. Then the memory of the trip slides firmly back into place. The paperwork. The phone calls. The endless miles seen from the windows of planes, buses, and cars. The fact that she wasn’t going home anymore. She blinks the sleep out of her eyes and looks out the window to see what progress has been made on the final leg of her journey across the country. All she could see were trees sliding past, nothing to really act as a landmark to where she was. Only tall thin pines and thick oaks, among a thousand other trees. Endless green hills sweeping down towards Lake Superior on one side, and rising up into overgrown cliffs high above on the other. The road was bumpy… and winding. She had to look away from the window after a short time to stop herself from feeling nauseous. Every curve in the road made her stomach roll unpleasantly. She slides down lower in her seat and pulls out her phone to check the time without getting sick. It’s nearly 6:30 in the evening. Past her usual dinner time, and probably ages out from where she was going. Her battery is low, and she didn’t have a new data plan. No texting her moms then. She pushes herself back up so she can talk to the driver.
“It’s an hour still, right?” Hornet asks a little tentatively.
The driver, a middle-aged woman, looks back at her in the rear-view mirror. “Hm? Oh, no! We’re almost there! You can see Cedar Hills right ahead.” Hornet blinks and slides forward to look out the dashboard window. The driver is right, they are just pulling into a small town. The forest thins out into bright grass and pavement. Buildings all huddled together, but still somehow managing to feel bright and open. It looks surprisingly well stocked with shops, Hornet can only really spot one closed building. There are cars parked up and down the street, and all the windows are lit up. That… wasn’t the worst sign at least. “I know it’s a bit of a drive from Houghton, but once you're past Calumet, it’s not far.” The driver says cheerfully, starting to look at the addresses.
“I… suppose that’s good to know.” Hornet mutters, leaning against the window to get a better look at the town she was going to be living in. It looked walkable, if steep. She can spot a few kids playing at a park, so it’s not going to be all older people. At least she had a new place to explore, and it looked pretty interesting. To be honest, interesting was far better than disappointing. She'd spent most of the drive imagining the worst possible destination. A dying old mining town with boarded windows, no sidewalks, and nothing to do besides wait until she was old enough to leave. Cedar Hills wasn't exactly bustling, but at least it felt alive.
“What are your plans up here?” The driver asks cheerfully. “You here to visit Copper Harbor and Fort Wilkins? Maybe Jacob’s Falls?”
“Family.” Hornet mumbles with a shrug. “S’not too interesting…” Saying it out loud felt weird. Family. Technically true, but only technically. These people were utter strangers to her, connected to each other through paperwork and circumstances. She’s quiet for a few moments longer, then she remembers something. “Hey, so… this was a really long drive to get up here. How much am I going to owe you…?”
“Oh, I’ve been paid already, don’t worry about that.” The driver says kindly. “Oh! There’s your stop!” She adds as the car slows down for a turn. Hornet looks up at the hill that the driveway in question is set into. This doesn’t look promising. The driveway seemed determined to climb directly up into the trees. From the road below, she can’t even make out where it ends. The car bumps and rattles its way up the drive and under the forest canopy. Gravel crunches loudly beneath the tires while branches arch overhead into a beautiful latticework roof that turns the fading sunlight into glittering patterns. Finally, Hornet can catch a glimpse of the house. It looks shoddy, and she’d assume it was falling down if it wasn’t clearly just in bad need of hosing. The garden around it is cared for, the garage door is open with a car inside, and the fence, seeming to block off a cliff edge, is pristine. The house itself is a cream color, and about two stories. There’s a deck on one side, but no clear front door.
The driver brings the car to a halt in the gravel drive and looks back at her. “Do you need help taking your things out of the back?” She asks with a smile.
Hornet shakes her head. “No. It’s just my bag… I can carry that.” All her other possessions should have arrived here a week ago. She hopes they did, and no one dug around them. The thought makes her stomach twist. Nearly everything she’d ever owned had been packed into boxes and stuffed into a van. Her entire life had traveled here, and been left for days without her supervision. She gets out of the car and breathes in the smell of the forest. That, at least, wasn’t any different than home. Damp, green, and warm. There was a lot of birdsong here as well, but she didn’t recognize them all. New things to learn. New trails to walk. New animals. The town had really looked nice and wasn’t even a mile walk. She… could do this. Things would work out.
Hornet walks around the car, and the driver opens the trunk for her. She pulls out her suitcase and backpack, the latter of which she swings onto her shoulder. She tugs the suitcase, which was incredibly heavy, across the gravel closer to the house and waves at the driver.
“Thank you!” She calls to her. The driver waves back before turning the car and starting the careful descent from the hill. Hornet makes her way across the last bit of gravel to the house. She leaves her suitcase on the small edge of pavement by the garage for a moment as she takes a peek around for the front door. The only doors she’s able to spot are the one that leads in from the deck, and the one in the garage. She decides that the garage door looks more promising, and lugs her case inside and up a small flight of stairs. Hornet stops at the door. She should knock. Get things over with, but… Her hand hovers uncertainly. Once she knocks, everything becomes real. No more hours of traveling. No more flight delays. No more dreaming this arrangement might somehow fall through at the last minute. She takes a very deep breath. Here goes her last bit of freedom then… She opens the screen door and knocks on the heavier inner door. Her hand is heavy. She doesn’t want to knock more than a few times.
It takes a few moments for there to be any response, but soon Hornet can hear someone moving inside. The inner door opens, and a man looks down at her. Alright. So… there’s one tick off her list. At least he looked normal. Friendly, even. Not drunk, not angry, not annoyed to see her standing there. Here goes… “Hello. My name is Hornet. I… sincerely hope you’ve been expecting me.”
The man seems to brighten. “Hello! We have definitely been expecting you. I’m so glad you made it here safely!” His attitude seemed hopeful. A far cry from what she’d expected. It catches her off guard. She'd prepared herself for politeness. Tolerance. Obligation. Actual enthusiasm hadn't made the list.
Hornet breathes deep and composes her nervousness. “You’re my step-sibling, right? Um… they didn’t tell me your name…”
The man blinks. “Hm? Oh, no! Not at all! My name is Quirrel. I would be… your future brother-in-law, I believe. Your sibling is waiting to meet you inside. I’ll let them introduce themselves, though, since they asked me to. Do you need any help?” He’s bright. Practically shining. Hornet feels a bit of whiplash, honestly. She’d expected to be met by some boring middle-aged person, possibly even a creepy one. Either way, not too thrilled to see her. Maybe… she’d at least have a cheery presence here. The realization that her actual guardian wasn't even the first person greeting her somehow makes her feel… less charitable than she’d originally intended to be.
Hornet nods “Yes… please. It’s… kinda heavy after three flights.”
“I would assume so!” Quirrel says, lifting the suitcase over the threshold and holding the door open until she’s stepped inside. Hornet looks around the room she’s entered. It’s just a dining room with doors opening out onto the deck. The room smells faintly of coffee, wood polish, and something recently baked. It doesn't feel staged for an inspection or overly cleaned in an attempt to trick her into a false sense of security. It feels homey. It feels lived in. “You're staying upstairs. I’ll get this up there for you while you meet your sibling. That sound good?” Hornet nods silently. Alright… here it goes. Time to meet her new legal guardian. Joy.
Quirrel leads her past a cozy-looking kitchen and into a very large room with its walls covered in everything from embroidery and plastic flowers to hunting paraphernalia and real animal heads. There are couches and armchairs of many different sizes and colors placed around it, and a large, cluttered coffee table by the largest couch. There’s also a large TV propped up on a cabinet, surrounded by DVD cases and video games. It somehow doesn’t feel overly full or too stifling. It has a warm, open feeling to it, despite the mess, that one wouldn’t quite expect.
Hornet walks in nervously as Quirrel opens a door that leads to a flight of stairs, and starts to climb them. Across the room, there is a person somewhere in their late 20s. She can't really gauge whether they are a man or a woman. She can't spot any clues as to the answer. Their hair is long and tied back, and they are wearing loose-fitting clothing. They immediately smile when she enters the room, and slowly stand to greet her. Their movements feel far less steady than they should. Hornet’s mind tries to fit them into one of the assumptions she’d built over the journey, but it can’t seem to find one that matches.
“Hello.” Their voice is soft and husky. “It’s lovely to meet you.” They don’t move too far from the chair, and at first Hornet feels like she has definitely been right about them not being thrilled about her presence… till she spots the cane leaning on the chair, and that they only have one arm. The realization hits hard enough that she immediately feels guilty for all her negativity towards their disability on the way over.
She hurries forward to take their single offered hand, feeling a little shitty. “Y-yes! It’s nice to meet you, too! My name is Hornet. I’m… sorry. They didn’t tell me yours.”
“Hope.” They offer, still smiling. They're tall. Definitely in the 6-foot range. Close up, Hornet can spot that they have a lazy eye, and the cheek on that same side is pulled tighter than the other with scar tissue. Their hand is rough, but their grip is steady despite everything else about them. “I… ‘M glad that you arrived… safely.” They are speaking haltingly, and it’s slowly occurring to Hornet that perhaps she’d assumed too much. Hearing that she was going to live with her disabled older step-sibling had conjured images of someone at least triple her age who had taken the opportunity of her being without a guardian to make her their free caretaker or maybe housemaid. This… was clearly not the case. Her step-sibling didn’t look above thirty, and clearly had a partner that already cared for them… Not only that, but they seemed genuinely happy to see her. She wasn’t sure what to do with that.
“I… am too. Thank you.” Hornet resists the urge to ask if they are alright and just smiles awkwardly. She… felt really rude and uncomfortable. Not because she was talking to someone who was disabled, but mainly because she didn’t know… in what way… or how to be respectful. She was going to say something shitty… she just knew it. Or think something shitty! Hell, she might’ve already!
Her step-sibling, Hope, sits down carefully and offers her a seat too by gesturing. Hornet sits quietly, setting her backpack down carefully on the floor. She looks up at them, hoping she can think of any words. She doesn’t need to. “Do you understand?” They sign to her.
“I understand.” She signs back, offering a weak smile. Were they deaf? Had they heard her before? Should she have noticed-?
“That’s wonderful.” They sign, “I find words difficult at times. You do not need to sign to me.” Ah… ok. Wait. Shit. How does she respond to that? She can’t think of anything not patronizing, and that makes her a little ill. Fortunately, they continue before it gets too awkward. “Quirrel is probably setting up your room right now. I’m going to assume you are tired, yes? You may meet the house when they return tonight, or wait till morning. Either way is perfectly acceptable.”
“The… house?” Hornet asks. More people lived here…?
Hope nods “Yes. 5 of us. Sometimes more. College house.” Ohhh… suddenly all the little oddities made sense. This was a shared house. That explained the decorations and the general size.
“Are… they family?” She asks, feeling a little awkward.
"Of course. Blood is only a liquid.” Hope signs leaning back. They look tired. Hornet… feels tired. She wasn’t 100% sure what they’d meant, their answer settling weirdly in her mind. Strange wording, but not entirely unpleasant.
“I’ll… meet them at breakfast.” Hornet decides. “Three flights is kind of a lot. Um… I just go upstairs? Quirrel will be in my room, right?” Hope just makes the yes sign and looks oddly relieved. They probably needed to lie down. Made sense she supposed.
Hornet stands up and picks up her backpack. She walks to the door where the stairs are and waves to her newly met sibling awkwardly. They wave back at her, an expression on their face that indicates they recognize the awkwardness and find it a little humorous. That… was good at least. She still scurries up the stairs once through the door, however. Each stair creaks and cracks. So much for the possibility of sneaking out… She reaches the top and looks around. There are several doors to rooms, all mainly closed. She… should have asked which… just then Quirrel backs out of one, looking satisfied. He notices her and waves.
“There you are! Is Hope getting tired?” Oh… ok. So it wasn’t anything weird. Good to know.
“Yes, I think so. They… they’re nice, I think. Should I be… doing anything? Do I have a bed?” Hornet honestly doesn’t trust anyone here yet. They didn’t seem bad, but… they were new. And… weird. No, weird wasn’t the right word. Different was better.
“What? Of course!” He honestly looks a little offended. Great going, Hornet. “You take a look at your room, and do whatever you’d like. I’ll head down to help Hope get to bed. Did you need anything?”
Hornet nods. “I will. Thank you. Also, I’m alright. I’ll figure anything I need out later. I’m… quite tired.”
“Alright then. Holler if you need anything. Don’t be shy.” Quirrel heads back down the hall and the stairs. Hornet takes a deep breath and enters her new room. It… was exactly like her old room, and set up as closely as possible. Even the pictures and posters on the walls! She did a little turn around in shock. Her brain was not quite able to reconcile this room, and her old one, hundreds of miles away. Then it hits her. It had to be her moms! They’d… they’d called or something. Or maybe the people here called them instead to ask how to make her feel at home. She crosses the room and sits down heavily on the bed. Her favorite blankets are on it. Her favorite pillow is on top of the pile. On the dresser is what looks like a welcome basket. She can spot from here that it’s filled with all her favorite foods… Snacks she hadn’t had to mention liking in years. Things someone would have had to go out of their way to find. That thought forms a small lump in her throat. Alright. With the clear effort put into making her feel welcome here… maybe she could try and deal with this.