Within the walls of a pristine and well built dining hall, a rather odd family was seated down enjoying a pleasant dinner. The table was rectangular, at the head was an old man and at the other end was a young looking middle-aged man with white hair. Meawhile, the middle section had two women sitting across from each other, one had purple hair and a cheery face as she fed two toddlers. The other woman was quite the opposite, her expression exuded mystery, for her eyes never flickered, she only stared into the abyss with cold detached eyes.
Sitting adjacent to the man with white hair was a man whose gaze lingered around the room, searching for something. "No one is alright in this place, not even I", The man wearing a brown suit thought. He wore his attire amidst the unformal atmosphere within the dining room where all the residents sat down eating and chatting.
To the far left of the two women was a girl with red hair and adjacent to her was a navy-blue haired boy. "Hey Lennox, can you please you pass me the cherry pie?", The red-haired girl asked the boy, sitting across her.
The boy with navy-blue hair, Lennox, leaned forward as he pushed the pie towards her, "Thank you", She said as he then returned to his seat. "You're welcome", He replied plainly.
Whilst she ate her pie, her eyes darted around the room, she soon noticed the man wearing a brown suit's more unrelaxed demeanour. "Hey Mr Dutch, can you stop brooding at the dinner table please?", The girl observed.
Her comment caused the old man sitting at the head of the table to lightly chuckle, "Leave him be, there's no getting through his analytical mind", He states with a smile.
She then sighed, "I know grandpa, but it wouldn't hurt for him to loosen up", She said, continuing to eat her pie.
On the right side of the purple haired woman, a girl with white hair that multiple gradients of colours on it, she was sitting next to a toddler whom she was busy feeding the same cherry pie which the red-haired girl was eating. She then has to wipe the boy's face as it gets dirty with pie stains. "Clide, hold still. I'm trying to get the pie crumbs off you", She says as the cute toddler listened to her, letting her clean his face without further complications.
Lennox looked at the old man and remembered something. "Oh yeah that reminds me, hey gramps I'm gonna need my monthly allowance tomorrow, will that be okay?" He requested.
The man with green hair who sat adjacent to the man with white hair turned to Lennox, "What are you going to buy with that money?", He asked.
"It's personal, so I won't say because you'll interfere", Lennox replied.
Suddenly the quiet enigmatic woman spoke, "Mix the prime, that's the appearance. Set the number, that's the cost. A process by hand, increasing the value",She said with an even voice which was almost poeticaly.
Her voice made the atmosphere turns silent as her cryptic message hangs in the air. Mr Dutch, the man in a brown suit, peers over to the woman and his mind races with calculations. "Mix the prime, what is prime and which attributes to appearance? Set the number, that's the cost, sounds like pricing and so does a process by hand..", He muttered.
The old man at the head of the table cleared his throat as he said, "Anyways, I see you are as mysterious as ever Lisette",He noted. He then turns to Lennox, "And Lennox, I'll see to it you receive your allowance by tomorrow, however, I would like to know what you want to purchase, you can tell me tomorrow when I hand you the money", He stated.
Lennox sighed, "Yeah, I'll tell you tomorrow, but I really need it tomorrow", He added.
"Now you got me curious, what could you want so badly?", The red haired girl asked.
"No Charlotte, I'm not sharing, besides you wouldn't be interested", Lennox responded.
The woman with purple hair broke the tension as she said, "I think that's enough questioning, why don't we move to something else? Like Allen, how was your last case?", She queried, changing the topic.
The man with white hair who sat at the end of the table looks up at the woman. He smiled as placed down his utensils and spoke, "It was rather fun to be honest, however, Cynthia, are you sure you would like to know the details?".
The man with green hair who sat across from Mr. Dutch was intrigued by Allen's case. "Tell me more about this fun case", He asked.
"But first, I will warn you that this is not a pleasant thing to speak about within a setting such as this", He advised.
"How bad could it be? Like ran over some dude for revenge or something?", Lennox queried.
"It was a serial murder trial, and the suspect was actually my client, Samuel Henderson. According to the report, he allegedly kidnapped his victims, mostly women of above average beauty, and shredded them alive to use as fertiliser for his sister's flowers, all because he believed that they would keep the flowers beautiful and fresh", Allen shared.
" Umm.. Okay.. I probably shouldn't have asked ", Cynthia reflects.
"Now did the flowers actually stay beautiful? 'Cause it must've been working for him to have killed a lot of people", Charlotte inquired.
The guy with blond hair who sat to the woman with purple satinterrupted, "Never mind that, what happened to this Samuel guy? He was your client, but I'm guessing you made it worse for him", He stated.
Allen smiled, "I only did what was necessary, besides, I only care about the truth, nothing more. So I went against him and won, he was sentenced to life without parole, however I requested the death penalty and now he is on death row and will receive the injection in--", He continues until he was stopped by Cynthia.
" I think that's enough, you can't be saying such things with kids around specifically the little ones, since the teenagers are pretty much a lost cause ", She said smiling.
" Hey", Said Lennox.
"She's right though, you and me are too far gone my brother", Charlotte comments.
The girl who was feeding the toddler, Clide, spoke up, her voice low but audible. "Umm.. Am I also a lost cause?".
"Depends on how you define "lost cause", but I'd say you're alright, compared to Lennox and Charlotte, you're not that bad", The green haired men stated.
Everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to Mr. Dutch, who was muttering something. "Mix the prime, that's the appearance, it means prime colours, meaning brown. The rest to pricing and amount, but what it means is that it's expensive". "Lennox, the product you want to buy is a food item isn't it?", Mr Dutch spoke up.
Lennox remained calm though he knew his plans revealed, "Really Lisette? Why, plus how?", He stated.
The old man cleared his throat, "Lennox, whatever your purchase may be, I just hope it's not elicit. Now, Felix, how about we discuss your little, incident?", He suggested.
The guy with green hair, Felix smirks, "Uh, gramps, do we gotta do that? I mean I'm alive aren't I?".
"One of these days you'll end up in a body bag", The blond guy states.
"And one day you'll lose more than you enticipated. So you're not so different", Felix remarks.
The man who sat at the right side of the blond-haired guy, has an expression which spoke volumes of stoic and annoyance. He then spoke up, his tone serious and matter-of-fact, "Enough, to much useless chatter and it lacks logic"
"Victor, would you mind telling me who that woman was? She seemed really attached to you", Cynthia probed.
"A woman?", Charlotte asked as she instantly turned to face Victor's direction.
All eyes, except Lisette's fell on Victor, but his face remained stoic and unphased. "A colleague, she recently started working at our hospital", He responded with a serious tone.
"Are you talking about Vanessa?", Allen asked.
Charlotte swiftly turned to Allen, "You know her?".
"Seriously Charlotte, you're too nosey for your own good", Lennox remarks.
"And your too-", She responded before being cut off by Cynthia who cleared her throat.
"Back to you Allen", She addressed.
"Of course, Vanessa, like Victor said, is a colleague of his. She's a nurse who started working at his hospital about a two months ago. As for their relationship, it's quite amusing I must say, however I cannot divulge any further, so I will let Victor decide to tell you the rest",Allen smiled as he brought everyone's attention back to Victor.
Victor just looked at the others with cold narrowed eyes. "You all do not require such information, I see no need for you to obtain it", He denounced.
The old man spoke up before anyone could push for further details. "I understand you are all curious, however it is still--", He said as Lisette suddenly spoke.
"Salt without taste. Nonetheless, results remain the same", She stated, her tone neutral and poetic.
"Another riddle, jeez all she does is play Shakespeare in this house, could you quit the whole mysterious lady fiasco", The blond guy notes with a snarky tone.
But he soon came to regret that comment when a small carrot came fast towards him with a tremendous amount of speed, luckily he dodged it. He realised it was Clide who had thrown it at him. "No one say bad to auntie Lisette", Clide growled.
As the carrot hits the wall it peirced through it. "Sheesh, keep that baby on a leash or something", He retorts.
Clide grabbed another one of his brussels sprouts, clenching his tiny fist as his face turned red. Leah scooped him off his chair and placed him on her lap. "Please calm down Clide", She whispered to the toddler, who sighed and let go of the vegetable, but crossed his arms as he was still upset.
Charlotte sighed heavily, "I'm exasperated by you Travis, your pride is stronger than your sense of reason", She remarks, turning her attention to Clide, "And you Clide, I know you weren't going to eat those veggies", She highlights, however he looks away pretending not to know what she is saying.
The blond man, Travis however was not moved in the slightest, his face became even more smug, "I said what I meant and I won't take it back", He responded.
The twins beside Cynthia turned to Travis. "Uncle Travis is mean", They said in unison.
Felix couldn't contain his laughter, "Seems like you lost this bet dude, now the kids are after you".
As chaos ensued in the dining hall, Lennox shook his head, "Man this family's a mess", He breathed.
The atmosphere is soon calmed down by the old man as they resume eating like a normal family though being far from it.