Our Powerful Family

Meeting the Family

Mercy woke up early. She would like to think she was the first one awake but the chance of that was highly unlikely. Before she would have to do too much, she ran silently to take a shower, washing the sweat off her. She woke up to another nightmare. Even though they scared her to death, she had never woke up screaming, just usually in a cold sweat and panting. She got out of the shower, drying her hair and changing into booty shorts, a green tank top, combat boots, and of course her amulet. The leather of the cord was warm against her soft golden skin. The wood was slightly cooler, laying perfectly on her chest, just badly above the dip into the valley between her breasts. A Coyote. Each amulet was different but hers was a wooden carving of a coyote, the whole thing brown except for the yellow eyes. 

She slid the leather wrap bracelet onto her wrist and let her fingers graze her amulet gently. Mercy looked into the mirror, looking at her dark eyes, only made lighter by the flecks of golden yellow within the irises. Her hair laid over her shoulders perfectly, almost completely black and always straightened. Even now, her hair is straight and reaches her waist. So, she braids it, adding feathers occasionally to the braid to ‘give it more life’, in all honestly she just loves feathers.

Complete. She takes this short moment to appreciate herself, she nods. Then it’s to the chaos. Of course, you never could tell for about ten more minutes so when she made her way down to the kitchen, it was quiet. She had just started to get stuff out to cook a large breakfast, humming to herself. Then she hears it. Every morning. The same thing. Mercy goes outside, searching for the source of the traditional beating of the drums. “Gary?” She asked when she got near, though she already knew it was him. He and Mahto were the only other Native Americans aside from her. Gary is the oldest.

While Mercy was barely 19, Gary was closer to 40. He was her mentor and father figure. Hell, he was everyone’s father figure. He was taller than her, but only by a few inches. He turned to face her when she said his name. He has the faint hairs of a stubble on his chin and a few where his mustache had been just last week. His hair was long, swaying in the slight breeze. It reached halfway down his back and was now in a loose ponytail. He was handsome but his age was apparent in the wrinkles in his face. Gary smiled at her. She sighed, he was wearing the full-on traditional robes again... “Young One,” he says, smiling still. 

“Come in for breakfast. The others will be up soon.” She said, even though breakfast wasn’t even started yet. But she knew she would be completing it fast when they got back inside. He just stood there for a moment, staring at her blankly. It was as if he hadn’t heard her, but she knew he did.

“You are lucky I have finished communing with Wakan Tanka.” That was his response and she raised an eyebrow. Wakan Tanka was a type of higher being Gary was commonly found out here ‘talking to’. She didn’t focus much on their Native American heritage so Mercy don’t know much about that. They didn’t say anything else for now as they got back inside. 

Of course, because of this distraction, the time until chaos had run out. She barely got the chance to turn on the burner before she heard a roar. It was followed by a crash. “Mahto.” She sighed and ran to him. He was standing outside of a bathroom. The first thing she notices about Mahto at this moment is the lack of a shirt. Therefore, she can currently see all his bulging muscles. He’s tall. Definitely the tallest in the house, he has chestnut skin that goes nicely with the wooden bear head amulet around his neck. It’s eyes are black against the dark brown wood. Mahto turns fully to look at Mercy, his dark almost black eyes find hers and he smiles. His long black hair reaches the backs of his knees and he clearly hasn’t done anything to fix it since it is currently free and slightly messy.

She glances at the tribal tattoos covering his right arm, they are hard to explain except that they are black, no bright colors. “What’s going on, Mahto?” She asks, tilting her head to the side. He sighs, shifting from foot to foot like he’s trying to get all his energy out. He’s wearing jeans, likely because he went for a run or something this morning and just got back. He smells like wilderness and sweat, which makes sense since she now notices the thin sheen of sweat coating his chest. 

He sighs, Mahto has always been the silent tough guy. But around the family, he is more of the kind older brother. She loves him though because he can also be such an adorable dork sometimes, a lot different than people assume he will be like when they first see him. I don’t blame them, he’s huge and he can look very scary. The bear really suits him. “Max is doing God knows what in the bathroom and I have to pee!” He almost whines.

Mercy frowns and knocks on the door. “Mad Max! Open the door!” She says, urgent but not mean. They can hear the sound of their friend cursing and something falling before the door swings open to reveal Max. She is taller than Mercy, most of them are taller than her. Max has soft fair skin, freckled with small black dots on her nose. She is really pretty with her slightly curled shoulder length black hair. Her eyes are a gorgeous ocean blue with hints of gray that any woman would kill for. Then there is her perfect curves, the silver amulet of a wolverine with dark blue eyes drawing attention right to her perfect chest. Mercy would have been jealous of Max if not for the one thing that always scared men away.

“What do you want?” She snapped, glaring at both of them. Mercy took in her appearance. Black tank top, ripped jeans, black boots that look really painful to get kicked with, and a few bandages covering her arms and a bit under her shirt, seen through the various cuts in the tank top. She looks past Max to see the bathroom looking like a murderer killed several people in there. Rags are soaking in the bloody water of the sink and bandages are overflowing out of the trash. Blood is on the floor and in the bathtub, and of course covering the counter. 

“Bathroom.” Mahto says, and Max rolls her eyes. But before she can move out of the way or try to close the door again, Mahto attempts to pick her up to move her. Big mistake. Max doesn’t hesitate before digging her nails into his arms, yowling like a wild beast as she scratches him. Mahto curses and drops her. “Damn! She broke the skin!” Mercy shot forward, grabbing bandages and gauze, and wrapping his arms. 

“It’s okay, It’s okay!” She soothed, even though he clearly already knew it was going to be okay. He stared at her, smiling his small little smile of affection. It usually annoyed the others when she would mother hen them, but he never complained. In fact, he enjoyed her being like this. He couldn’t remember his family so having someone care this much about him really meant a lot. Mercy finished wrapping his arms and stepped out of the bathroom. He shut the door and she let out a breath before jogging out to the kitchen and resuming her cooking once more.

Then she smelled the flesh. She turned to look at Max. “Why are you eating the flesh from under your nails?!” She raised her voice slightly, making a horrified expression. Max is so weird.

“Because I can,” she spoke simply, rolling her eyes as she continues to eat the flesh under her fingernails. Mercy wrinkled her nose, then sighed and was about to turn back to cooking before Markus walked in.

Now Markus is different than the others. A lot different. He had reddish brown hair styled in an badass undercut. His vibrant green eyes are currently hidden behind the sunglasses he wears. He is barely taller than me, so I don’t have to look up as much and that makes me happy. His obsidian stallion amulet rests against his grey teeshirt nicely. The leather jacket on his shoulders is just the right size to barely show off some of his muscles. Of course, it’s nothing compared to him with no shirt or jacket on. He is wearing black jeans that have few holes in them and black converses that fit nicely with his whole ensemble. 

Mahto yelled from the bathroom. “DISGUSTING,” delayed as always. His comment was directed at what Mercy said about Max. But of course she didn’t give a s**t.

“I don’t need input, big guy!” She yelled back at Mahto. It was Markus that spoke next.

“Like hell you don’t!” He growled, looking at Max in disgust. No one could really blame him. The girl is eating Mahto’s flesh out from under her fingernails.

Mercy decided to cut in when Max stuck her tongue out at Markus. “Max, be mature. Everyone stop talking about the disgusting nature of Max’s snack.” She spoke calmly, looking at Markus and Max.

Markus growled again, glaring at Max. “She knows she’s a freak, right?” He says. They had met Markus three years back and he agreed to join their group. However, he’d never been the kindest or the most involved. In fact, it was almost like he didn’t like them at all, yet he never left for good. Mercy never knew why he was so detached from their group, or why he stayed. 

Mercy glares at him. “Be nice!” She hit him on the head with a wooden spoon, causing him to yelp and recoil. But then he shot her an intense glare and stormed out. Mercy frowned, setting the spoon down as Gary took over cooking. She followed Markus outside. “Markus! Please don’t be like this... just come eat with us. Like a family.” She could hear the pleading in her voice and he turned to face her.

Markus scoffed, rolling his eyes as he pointedly avoided looking at her. “This isn’t a family.” His words hurt her. This was her family. Maybe not my blood. But in every other way it was. 

She frowns, furrowing her eyebrows as she tries to reason with him. “It’s the only family you have, Markus.” Her voice was hushed, unsure if he even cared.

“I don’t need a family.” He stated, glaring at Mercy. She stepped towards him and touched his arm to try and convince him. Her touch was gentle and caring. She opened her mouth to speak but he brushed her arm off and stepped away, scowling. She thought she say something flash in his eyes briefly since she was close enough to see his eyes through the shades. But she didn’t know what she saw. He didn’t say anything else, just turned, shifted into his Black Stallion form and ran.

She watched him leave, frowning. It always made her hurt feel heavier to have to watch him run. She just wanted to help and he was so stubborn. Mercy went back inside after a few moments to find Gary had finished cooking breakfast and was setting the table. Then she heard Eva come down. More like... smelled her. Eva always smelled strongly of Lavender. Mercy never knew why, maybe it was just her natural scent?

Mercy looked at to see Eva descending the stairs. As always, she looked elegant. Her silver hair resting just below her shoulders, matching her cool blue eyes nicely. The white of her simple dress goes nicely with her pale skin. There is pure white fur draped over her shoulders elegantly and it is positioned perfectly so her white gold amulet is framed on her chest. It’s a bit higher than Max and Mercy, resting just below the small dip of her neck. The amulet depicts the head of an Arctic Fox, the eyes a bright blue. She barely made any noise with her white flats as she walked to the dining room and sat in her seat.

Kelsey was down next, she darted to her seat across from Eva. She was a small girl, even smaller than Mercy. Most people assumed Kelsey was only thirteen, if not younger. She had long curly fiery red hair that matched her light brown eyes nicely. She had pale skin and her nose was freckles with small red dots. She was wearing a black tank top and a red and brown flannel, and flip flops. Only god can tell anyone why she was wearing flip flops, maybe she assumed they were the only thing that looked good with her jean booty shorts. The redwood amulet was resting above the top of her tank top, but it didn’t draw attention to her chest the same way Max’s and Mercy’s did. 

Mercy started to serve them food as Mahto, Gary, and Max made their way in and to their seats. She looked to the door when she heard Leo walk in. She rolled her eyes, he was only wearing shorts. Work out shorts that allowed everyone a perfect view of his abs and biceps. He has slightly tanned skin, fiery messy red hair, and faint freckles that cover his chest, hands, and face. His deep chocolate brown eyes instantly find Eva. The amulet around his neck, a redwood carving of a Fox with green eyes, rested right above where his abs really became gorgeous. He’s the jokester, funny and well loved by the ladies. Leo makes his way to Eva instantly and Mercy looks away when they start having their casual ‘flirting but we totally dont like each other’ bullshit. 

Almost everyone was here. Of course, Markus hadn’t come back yet, it hadn’t been long at all but she still missed him. And now... the last part of the almost complete family... Jorden walked over and sat down in his seat beside Mercy’s. She had to stop herself from swooning. Since she met him, she’d had a huge crush on him. He was kind and always helping her around the house. His wet dark hair was slicked back. It’s not like he tried, he just happened to have just gotten out of the shower looking hot. A strand of hair falls into his face, right over his beautiful silver eyes. His skin is slightly more tanned then Leo, and his white snow leopard amulet looked slightly out of place. His amulet was special. Rather than just the eyes being a different color, the white was also marked with the black spots of a normal leopard. 

He was wearing a normal light gray tee and jeans, completing the look with black boots. He looked at Mercy, smiling slightly. Him and Mahto both had those small smiles. Only they were different. She understood Mahto’s. She could never figure out what Jorden’s smiles meant. “Hungry?” She asked, even though it was quite obvious they were all really hungry. Jorden seemed to be able to almost sense just how stressed she was. He stood once more and resumed her process of serving everyone an even portion of food... well, some had more than others. Like, Mahto and I eat a ton so we get more. But Kelsey literally eats as much as a bird so she doesn’t get as much. 

Mercy was going to go back into mother henning when Gary and Mahto looked at her. It was Gary who spoke. “Sit child.” She opened her mouth to object but he gave her a look and she plopped into her chair. She droops, bags under her eyes. The stress of the past few days is getting to her. “When was the last time you actually ate?” Gary asked and she shook her head. She didn’t know. Him and Mahto exchanged a glance before they served her a heaping plateful of food. Once more, she was about to protest before the scent of the food hit her.