Hello, my name is Matthew Dorian and I have a little 6-year-old girl named Gabrielle. My wife died of cancer when little Gabby was only 2. It's Christmas day and I had heard we had new neighbours so we made cookies and went over to them. I knocked. Several crashes and bangs later, a 13-year-old male with jet black hair and one electric-blue eye flung open the door. " What?" he asked rather rudely. I bristled, but Gabby looked at me with puppy eyes. I sighed. "I'm your new neighbour" The teen gestured us in. "Sorry for the rudeness, but my school and last house was the subject of terrorism" I nodded, following him, Gabby trailed behind. The area was sparse, with little furniture. In the middle of the living room was a circle of sofas. I was shocked to see that they didn't have a T.V. What did they do in their free time? As I got closer I started to cough and I covered Gabby's mouth. He looked at me apollogicly (Pun, pun, pun, pun) " Mom's a bit of a smoker, sorry" I managed to nod again without coughing. I wondered how this family managed to survive. Waving off the smoke with a handmade fan that the teen had pulled out of his pocket, he led us to what I assumed was the middle of the room. I then found out how they spent their free time. There was a punk woman lounging on a couch with a cigar in her hand. On her lap was a young girl dressed exactly like her, except she had no cigar and there was a chain hanging on her pocket. She looked excited, and the woman looked like she was jabbering away, looking like she's seen battles. On the floor were 2 identical boys wrestling. Beside them, half watching over them and half paying attention to the card game she was playing with another 8-year-old girl was an all-purple woman. The teen cleared his throat. The 2 boys paused and looked up, the little girl fell off of the woman's lap, and everyone else swivelled their head to look at him. The teen turned towards us. "I'm Jason jr, those two twins are Carter and Yew, that's Zoë and Phoebe, and then our adoptive mothers Thalia and Reyna Rameriz-Arellano-Grace," Said people all waved at us. Gabby waved back. Then Reyna stood up and said "Alright, I don't want anyone trampling each other, especially when getting the cookies. So Phoebe and Zoë, go wash your hands first. Then Carter and Yew, and Jason, watch over your siblings to make sure they don't kill each other. And single line when getting the sugar, got it?" everyone nodded. She glanced at us "Take a seat!" she said to us, gesturing to one of the many couches. I nodded, and still covering Gabby's mouth, steered her to a couch in the far corner and put the cookies down. "So, what's your story?" I asked, trying to make conversation. Thalia's eyes darkened. "Well, we both serve in the army, it's usually Nico who takes care of them. On the rare occasion he can't, my older brother, Jason Sr, who runs Olympian Airlines, comes, but he's busier than a bee these days" she took a drag from her cigar before speaking again " Maria, Nico's oldest kid, is Coxin of NYPD cadets. Our niece, Lee is also in that. Most of everyone serves in the army, save for Jason Sr, Nico, Will Piper, Hazel, and Annabeth" she paused. Then Reyna took over "We're going to have relatives over in a couple of mins, so you might want to keep the cookies in your lap. Our kids have ADHD" Gabby picked it up and handed it to me. At that exact moment, Carter and Yew ran out the hallway, closely followed by Zoë and Phoebe, and behind them, Jason jr. Just before the twins reached us and I would've became a pancake, Zoë and Phoebe, showing incredible speed, strength, and agility, leaped forward, did a summersault, and landed in front of me, stopping the twins. Gabby's mouth hung open. "How'd you do that?" she asked. Jason came up and dragged the twins away. "Karate" he called over his shoulder. And that is how I met an incredible family.
