In the heart of mount cook

[Chyou Jin Howard]

Deep in the heart of mount cook lies the lair of the devils. Devlin and Chyou had decided to host the family gathering for the first time in years. It had always been Donavon who held it since he was the most fatherly of all. As for Jin Howard, they have always been the most quiet of the family and who don't get into each others welfare. But only this time, Chyou decided to agree with Donavon to have the Howard in her place. There were many obstacles to reach the Jin Howard's cave home, a wand will be needed since they have to tap on the soil to open a path that would lead to the entrance of the house. Floo powder is limited, only registered ones could get in with floo network. The kids of course are able to get in through floo network but other than them or their parents, it's restricted. It's also inaccessible to muggles or those who have no information of the existence of the house. The path was too winding and it changed every time just like the maze in tri-wizard. The Jin Howard liked it that way, it prevented any unwelcome guest from coming. Remembering that the family would come in any minute, Chyou tapped on the door, unlocking all the obstacles of nature that blocked anyone's way toward the house. "Augustus, Lycus, and Sybil, you children are in charge of welcoming the guest. I do not tolerate any act that may cause any of your blood to be spilled or you will have to scrub the carpet with your bare hands. Sybil I do not wish to remind you twice, do you understand?" Chyou said coldly and called for Lila the house elf to inform Devlin that he should come down.

 

[Augustus Jin Howard]

Augustus loved it when he spent time with his family, it was how he liked it and he didn't have to pretend to be nice to anyone - oh who was he kidding, he was never nice to anyone. He didn't even care about other people's egos and feelings, for all he cared they could be used for Gus' own twisted enjoyment. At least, at home he was able to be with people who were like him. Augustus never dared to do anything to his family members, although he wouldn't ever admit it, he cared for them and he'd do anything for them, no matter the consequences. Also, they'd probably kill him if he either humiliated them or even joked about serious matters. Upon being called by Chyou, the boy listened to her instructions and nodded briefly, just once, his usual cold expression showing no obvious emotion. He cast a sidewards glance to Sybil, meeting her gaze to see whether she was paying attention to the older, wise woman's words. Gus waited for the guest with his siblings, hoping they were on their way so that the Howards were able to get on with the day.

 

[Sybil Jin Howard]

The cave house had always been cold and unfriendly, this reflected Chyou's children's characteristic. Sybil made her way toward her younger sister Juno and hit the young girl with the broken fake plastic wand that Sybil usually use to train how to cast spells without the actual magic with her father. By the look of it, it seemed like Juno snapped it out of anger and Sybil hated having her possession touched by other people. At once her mother called and Sybil quickly walked toward the twins who were looking up to the black haired woman standing with pride. She warned Sybil and the twins to behave, no wonder... Earlier in the morning, Sybil got into a huge fight with Lycus and broke her arm from falling off the stair because her brother had pushed her too hard. Her father wasn't pleased and healed her with the most unpleasant spells a person can cast. She nodded and glared at Lycus, digging her nails into his back and snatched it away before she made him bleed. She then noticed the other twin, Augustus glancing at the young girl. "Have you got nothing else to see? Do you need me to confirm mama's instruction or are you just plain stupid?" it had nothing to do with glancing really. Sybil wasn't in a good mood, that's all. Hopefully Lycus and Gus would stop her from flaring the wrath of their parents.

 

[Lycus Jin Howard]

Being the eldest wasn't easy and living up to Devlin's dream wasn't always the most comfortable thing to do. Lycus wiped Sybil's blood off his hand and watched his father healed the young girl. None of Lycus' parents scolded him for doing such thing because they believed that no one should show any mercy to others. But his parents were outraged because Lycus and Sybil woke them up from their peaceful sleep from all the noises that they made. At once Lycus ordered Lila to clean up the mess and changed his clothes. When noon came, Lycus seek for Sybil to see how she was doing. He won't admit that he cared for her but his action obviously showed that his sister was the love of his life. Augustus then joined them and Chyou instructed the kids to show no violence when the rest of the family came. Lycus showed a bit of nod and slapped Sybil's finger as helistened to her who was about to cause another trouble. "For once in your life will you just stop wasting your time with your foolish talks?" Lycus wasn't happy, he walked toward the young girl and grabbed her by the hair. "Be quiet Sybil, you do not want to mess with Augustus or me. Together we can kill you with our bare hands. And let me tell you one more time, be quiet" the young boy then let go off her hair as he tapped Gus by the shoulder, signing him to come with Lycus.

 

[Danielle Raven]

Family wasn't Danielle Raven's favourite topic. In the case of Gabrian, things were different; she'd chosen to become his family. The Howards, however, were an entirely separate matter. Danton was just about the only one she could stomach. Still, appearances had to be kept, and she would spend time with them when she needed to. Professionally, they were all in each other's pockets, and there wasn't a sign of that changing at any time. Things were going well business-wise. She and Gabrian monitored the African output, which allowed for plenty of time by the sea. Gabrian was great with the legal side of things. Tonight wouldn't exactly be enjoyable, but it was necessary, and Dani always did what was necessary. Chyou and Devlin had always been an odd couple; Danielle's elder brother was never particularly similar to the rest of the family. He had no sense of propriety, rather like Dakota. Thankfully getting to the house wasn't too difficult; they'd disabled their ridiculous traps. The idiots seemed to think they were constantly at risk of attack. They might be right, but Danielle felt it was a tad ridiculous. She only hoped as she waited to be granted entry that she wouldn't be forced to endure their odious children. They were like little ghouls, silent, but violent and somewhat disconcerting. She hoped no child of hers would ever turn out that way. Danton's brats were a little more tolerable, in his case it was the wife that was odious. When she was at last allowed in, and led to the family, she was immediately confronted with the children. Well, three of them. "Niece. Nephews. How are we today?" she raised an eyebrow at the almost-strangers.

 

[Cassander Howard]

Since his parents were in charge of the North and South American branches of the family business, Cassander didn't often visit his family. Danton and Kay kept to themselves and mostly interacted with the family for business matters, so it was surprising to be at Chyou and Devlin's home now for leisure. He was curious as to what his cousins would be up to. Cass took a pinch of floo powder and said the private name to the Howard's hidden home into the green flames and stepped in. The next thing he knew he was stepping out of the fireplace into Chyou and Devlin's immaculate living room. His parents would soon be following after him in the fireplace so he stepped aside to leave the entrance open for them.

Cass smirked as he heard Chyou scolding her children before she exited. "Lycus, Sybil, Gus," he greeted. "Still getting scolded by your mom?" He tsked in disapproval, laughing at them. Cass never got in trouble because he had his parents wrapped around his finger and he and his sister played the perfect children. His cousins played the game all wrong. Just then he saw his aunt come in. Out of all his aunts Danielle was the one who kept in touch with his father the most. "Hello aunt Danielle," he greeted politely, keeping his smirk to a minimum. She had no children yet which made her appearance just a little less fun, but she was tolerable nonetheless. ​

 

[Sybil Jin Howard]

Sybil hated having people coming to the lair of the family. She didn't like the idea of having to see crowds disturbing her quiet home by making silly noises such as laughter or even people shouting. The famous aunt Danielle then came, uncle Danton could never stop mentioning about his twin whenever they talked about the family. She looked at her coldly and answered "I'd describe it as not too pleasant", well she broke her arms and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. The family members rarely meet unless it was for the business meeting hence Sybil never get the chance to know much about them. But why would she? None of the Jin Howard would admit that they would protect one another including to their extended family. But in the end, they were all Howards and Howards have each others back even though they would never admit nor express it to one another. Next the eldest of the Howard siblings uncle Donavon and aunt Annabelle along with her kids came. Cassander greeted the three and said something that insulted Sybil. She grabbed her cousin by the neck and dig her fingers into it, pulling his neck skin toward her. "Well hello Cassander Howard" her haunting, ominous smile appeared and dig her nails even deeper before letting him go. Sybil's smile was still plastered on her face and disappeared once she took a step back.

Sorry I'm gonna start jumping from a character to another and godmode my characters, please feel free to do so and please feel free to do so

 

[Annabelle Howard]

Due to the traumatizing event in the past, Annabelle had never been the mother figure of anyone. But Donavon was so fatherly and she too began to adopt that quality of his. The Howard siblings have never gotten any parents figure and being the eldest, Donavon was forced and volunteered to take care of the family and played the father role. After having her own children, Annabelle decided to play along with Donavon's plan of the family not to his siblings though, to the little ones. These things in mind had been stressing the woman out, she hated meeting the whole family mainly because they were all so much alike; violent, vicious, hot tempered, cold. None complimented each other when it came to personality. She took her kids to apparate to mount cook and made her way to the cave house. Why the h3ll would anyone isolate themselves from the society? She could never get why Devlin and Chyou who clearly weren't suffering from Anthropophobia decided to do so. They have their own thinking and world that no one could relate to. Annabelle had reminded her children not to cause any trouble at Devlin's house, especially irritating one of Devlin's kids. She didn't want any of her little ones to be injured and they should be smart enough to keep themselves from the insecure, reckless, blood thirsty, stupid kids who have no self control. "Danielle" she took her coat off and walked toward her sister in law. "I assume that Gabrian is being wise by not attending this good for nothing so called reunion" she whispered making sure that Devlin and Chyou couldn't listen to what she had to say. "But just like what Donavon have always said or at least have been trying to brainwash us; Howards ought to take care of each other" she mocked her husband though she had secretly agreed with him.

 

[Henrietta Howard]

Henrietta hated having to be doted on by her parents and they wouldn't let her travel to the Howard place on her own but in the end Henrietta managed to convince them that she would be fine traveling on her own. So the ten year old emerged from the green flames just as she saw her cousin digging her nails deep into Cassander's neck. Henrietta walked forward after Sybil had let go and grabbed her harshly by the wrist. "Touch my brother again and I'll break your arms again myself," she said through gritted teeth. Just because they never visited their extended family didn't mean they didn't hear everything that happened between them. Henrietta let go and stepped back just as the older family members entered, always knowing when to act stoic around them. ​

 

[Sybil Jin Howard]

Sybil felt her wrist being snatched away from Cassander's neck, she automatically grabbed the hand of whoever was messing with her and dig her nails into it. She turned around and saw another aunt Anna's kid. "What do we have here? If it isn't Hanrietta Howard" she finally let her hands go and smiled at her hauntingly. She glanced to her side and saw Augustus and Lycus glaring at Sybil, observing what she was going to do. She knew that none of her siblings would stop her from harming other people. They actually enjoyed seeing her fighting. "You and your empty threats doesn't work on me." the young girl insulted and looked at her cousin sharply. It's not that Sybil doesn't love her family, it's just that she doesn't know how to express nor be kind to them. Being brought up in a family who trusted no one but the family and believed in giving no mercy to others made these whole lovey dovey, kind acts thing hard to be understood by all the J Howard siblings. "You've got yourself a guard dog, Cassander" Sybil mocked. Of course she would defend any of her fellow Howard, it's just that she could never say such thing. Her love toward her family could never be explicitly shown.

 

[Juno Jin Howard]

Thanks to Sybil, Juno had a huge bruise on her forehead. She had just gotten into an argument and Sybil ended up hurting the little girl. Her father picked her up and took her downstairs to meet the rest of her siblings. Once she got to the first floor, Juno immediately requested to stand on her two feet. Her unwashed rag doll, Gina was with her at all time. She would be so anxious without her only friend, Gina. Voices started filling the room as Juno saw her siblings fighting with their cousins. "Stop it Sybie" the little girl attempted to grab her sister's arm by forced and bit her. She knew that she would be in trouble but she didn't care, she had Augustus and Vladimir who would be on her side. Juno went to the side and took a jar of an elk's liver and brought it to Cassander. She actually liked Donavon and Annabelle's children. "Look Cass, this liver has been preserved for about half year now" she took her cousin's arm and dragged him to see her collection.

 

[Danielle Raven]

Observing the children's antics, Danielle had to force herself not to roll her eyes. No child of hers and Gabrian's would ever behave so abhorrently. Donavon's children, she did not feel particularly close to, but Danton's children she knew better. As she observed Sybil and Cassander's reaction, she was about to intervene when Henrietta did the job for her. A very pretty girl, Henrietta reminded Danielle of her twin. Vicious, but with decorum. Danielle had always been the angrier child. She was fire while Danton was ice. She hid a smirk as she watched the interaction. "Mind now Henrietta, and you too Sybil; you wouldn't want Mothers and Fathers seeing this kind of play." She secretly approved of Henrietta's reaction, but it wouldn't do to play favourites. As Devlin entered, her face turned to stone. "Hello brother dear." Devlin had never been a sibling she was particularly close to, and she would never understand that Chyou woman he had married.