Guldrin’s Gluttony: Family Bound by Speed & Food

The room seemed to hold its breath as Unohana stepped fully into the cabin. The crackling fire in the hearth painted the scene in warm oranges and reds, but the air was charged with an almost tangible energy. 

Revy leaned back lazily in her chair, her grin splitting her face as she lazily waved a half-empty bottle of rum in the air.

"Well?" Revy's voice was as brash as ever. "Gonna say something, or are you just here to stare us down like some stoic specter?"

Unohana didn't reply immediately. Instead, she moved with a practiced grace to the nearest chair, shrugging off her coat and draping it neatly over the back. Her katana was with her, as always, it never left her side.

She strode toward Revy with deliberate slowness, her hand extending toward the rum bottle without breaking eye contact. Revy's grin faltered, and she tilted her head curiously before relinquishing the bottle. 

Without a word, Unohana tipped it back, draining the contents in a series of measured swallows.

Rindo, standing behind Revy, quirked a brow but said nothing. She merely crossed her arms, her piercing gaze locked on her mother. Her expression was carefully neutral, though a flicker of surprise crossed her face when Unohana finished the bottle without so much as a wince.

Slamming the empty bottle down on the table with a resounding thud, Unohana finally spoke. "Rindo."

Rindo straightened imperceptibly, her guarded expression slipping into one of mild discomfort under her mother's piercing gaze. "Yes?"

"Tell me," Unohana continued, her tone calm but carrying an edge that left no room for argument. "Everything you've learned about Guldrin."

The silence that followed was deafening. Even Revy, who usually thrived in chaos, found herself uncharacteristically subdued as she looked between Rindo and Unohana. The firelight danced off the glass of the now-empty rum bottle, casting flickering shadows across Unohana's face. Her expression was unreadable, her tone almost detached, but the tension in the air was unmistakable.

Rindo shifted uncomfortably before finally uncrossing her arms and stepping forward, clearly measuring each word before she spoke. "What exactly do you want to know, Mother?" she asked cautiously, her voice even but tinged with the wariness of someone expecting a storm.

Unohana's eyes, calm yet razor-sharp, narrowed slightly, her composed façade slipping just enough to reveal the storm brewing beneath. She took a slow, deliberate step forward and uttered a single word that felt more like a command than a question. "Everything."

The room grew heavier, the air seeming to thicken under the sheer weight of her presence. Revy, leaning casually against the counter with a whiskey bottle in hand, let out a low whistle. "Man, you've got a way of making everything sound like an interrogation, don't you?" she quipped, taking a swig from the bottle.

Unohana's gaze didn't shift, not even a flicker, but the unspoken warning in her aura was enough to freeze Revy mid-swig. For once, Revy decided discretion was the better part of valor and wisely shut her mouth, though her smirk lingered.

Rindo, sensing that stalling would only make the inevitable worse, sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Alright," she said, her tone resolute, though there was a flicker of vulnerability in her eyes. She took a deep breath, glancing at Revy for moral support, only to receive an encouraging, if somewhat amused, thumbs-up.

"Well, let's start with the obvious," Rindo began, her voice calm but carrying the unmistakable weight of what she was about to say. "He's alive. Guldrin, my brother, the one we thought we'd lost forever… Is alive."

The room seemed to freeze, the air growing still as the words settled. Unohana's serene mask barely cracked, though there was a flicker of something, relief, perhaps, or disbelief, just behind her piercing gaze. For a moment, it seemed like even the walls held their breath.

Rindo took another step forward, her hands clasped tightly. "Here's where it gets… complicated. I wasn't the one who found him. The government was. Yeah, the same government we avoid like the plague when it comes to family matters. They figured it out first."

Revy, leaning casually against the door frame with a whiskey glass in hand, gave a dry chuckle. "Government, huh? Bet they handled that about as delicately as a bull in a china shop."

Rindo threw her a sharp look but didn't disagree. "Anyway," she pressed on, "They hired me for a cooking contract… But the point is, they knew. And now we do. But that's not even the wildest part."

Her pause drew attention like a magnet, everyone in the room hanging on her next words. Even Revy straightened up slightly, her smirk fading.

"He's been adopted," Rindo said finally, her voice tinged with disbelief at the absurdity of her own statement. "By none other than the Toretto family."

If silence could be deafening, this was it. Unohana's expression remained calm, though the faintest tightening of her jaw betrayed her surprise. Revy, on the other hand, choked mid-sip, sputtering into her glass.

"The Torettos?" Revy managed, her voice an octave higher than usual. "As in those Torettos? The 'we owe them for saving Mother's life' Torettos? Those Torettos?"

"Yes," Rindo replied, her lips quirking into a dry smile. "Specifically, Dom Toretto. The son of the man who saved us when Mother's powers were sealed, and she was… vulnerable due to pregnancy."

Revy let out a short laugh, shaking her head like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Well, ain't that poetic. The father saves our lives, and now his son ends up adopting our long-lost little brother. You couldn't make this stuff up."

Unohana finally moved, her posture shifting slightly as she clasped her hands together. Her voice, as always, was calm and measured, but there was no mistaking the steel beneath her words. "Does he remember anything?" she asked softly. "Who he is? Who took him? And why he disappeared? Or who took him, or Who. Took. Him?"

Rindo hesitated, her composure faltering. "That's the thing, Mother," she admitted, her voice quieter now. "He doesn't remember anything from before he was ten. It's like someone hit the reset button on his life. He doesn't even know who he is, or was."

The air in the room seemed to grow colder. Unohana's eyes narrowed slightly, her calm exterior cracking just enough to reveal the storm beneath. "Amnesia?" she asked, though her tone suggested she didn't entirely believe it. 'We are not human, we don't get amnesia… hmmm.' She thought to herself but didn't say it aloud. 

"Maybe," Rindo replied, shrugging helplessly. "I mean, it's possible. Or it could be something else. I don't know. I was hoping…" She trailed off, looking at her mother uncertainly. "I was hoping you might be able to help. You know, with your… abilities. I tried to learn your healing, but for the life of me, I can't…"

Unohana tilted her head, considering this. She was known as both a healer and a force of destruction, her dual nature a source of both fear and reverence. If anyone could uncover the truth hidden in Guldrin's fragmented memories, it was her.

"Does he seem… happy?" Unohana asked suddenly, her voice softer now.

Rindo blinked, caught off guard by the question. "Happy? Yeah, I think so. The Torettos treat him like family, better than some blood relatives would, if I'm being honest. According to my investigations, Guldrin seems… at home with them."

Revy snorted. "Leave it to the Torettos to adopt a kid with no past and treat him like royalty. Bet they're feeding him barbecue and teaching him how to tune engines."

Rindo couldn't help but laugh at that, a short, sharp sound that eased some of the tension in the room. "Yeah, something like that. 

Unohana's gaze softened ever so slightly, the edges of her lips curving into the faintest hint of a smile. "Perhaps fate brought him to them for a reason," she murmured. "But it doesn't explain everything."

"Not even close," Rindo agreed. "But it's a start. And at least now we know he's safe."

Revy took another sip of her drink, her smirk returning. "Safe with the Torettos? That's a laugh. Those guys are magnets for chaos. Remember what Jack said? We live, and we die, what happens in between is the fun part."

Rindo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, chaos or not, they've done more for him in five years than some people do in a lifetime."

Revy raised her glass in mock salute. "To the Torettos, then. Thanks for saving my brat of a brother!"

"Drinking, again," Rindo muttered, though her lips twitched in amusement.

Unohana's gaze lingered on Rindo, her expression unreadable. "You've done well to bring this to me," she said finally. "I will see what I can do. But know this, if someone took him, if someone wiped his memories…" Her voice trailed off, the unspoken promise of retribution hanging heavy in the air.

Rindo nodded, her relief palpable. "Thank you, Mother."

Revy stretched lazily, setting her glass down with a thud. "Well, this has been a real heartwarming family moment, but I think I'm gonna need more whiskey before I process all this."

Rindo smirked. "Try not to drink the whole bottle."

"No promises," Revy shot back, already reaching for multiple bottles of liquor.

As the conversation wound down, the tension in the room began to ease. For the first time in what felt like forever, there was a sense of hope, fragile, but real. 

Guldrin was alive. Those words held a weight almost too profound to process, yet they carried an undercurrent of hope strong enough to bridge years of heartache and mystery. 

The revelation was life-altering. 

Unohana sat quietly, her expression a mask of serenity, though her mind churned like a storm-tossed sea. Her son, the boy she had thought lost to the cruel winds of fate, was alive and thriving, albeit in a different family's embrace. It was a bittersweet truth, but one that came with a glimmer of possibility. 

She wasn't ready to let go of him again, not now, not ever.

As much as her calm demeanor suggested patience, her resolve was anything but passive. Whoever was responsible for taking him, for wiping his memories, would soon find themselves at the mercy of a mother's wrath. And there were few forces in the world as formidable as that.

—

–

-

Meanwhile, across town, Guldrin and Shiro were blissfully unaware of the emotional storm brewing in their wake. They were elbows deep in wires, screens, and gadgets, helping Skye outfit her home with technology that would make most tech geeks weep with envy. 

The air buzzed with the smell of solder and the faint hum of machinery, punctuated occasionally by Shiro's amused laughter or Guldrin's exasperated groans.

Skye, however, was nowhere to be seen, not in person, anyway. The last excuse she'd offered for her absence was laughable at best: 'I left my phone in the park bathroom.' Guldrin had rolled his eyes so hard he swore he'd seen the inside of his skull. 

She hadn't left her house all day, and they both knew it. Her excuses were about as convincing as a cat pretending not to want attention.

Shiro found the whole situation endlessly entertaining. "She's definitely hiding," she whispered to Guldrin with a mischievous grin as she connected a particularly stubborn cable. "Probably terrified to meet you face-to-face. Too bad you're so devastatingly charming."

"Charming, my foot," Guldrin muttered, glaring at a stubborn monitor that refused to boot up. His fingers worked a screwdriver with the precision of someone who clearly knew their way around tech, though his irritation was palpable. "Who asks for help and then hides like this? It's absurd."

Shiro, sitting casually on the armrest of a nearby couch, tilted her head with a grin that spelled mischief. "Oh, it's not absurd," she said, her voice tinged with amusement. "It's classic crush behavior. She's probably hiding somewhere, peeking at you from a corner, trying to work up the nerve to come out and say hi."

Guldrin froze mid-turn, the screwdriver slipping slightly in his grasp. His brow furrowed as he glanced at Shiro. "Crush?" he echoed, his tone an incredulous mix of confusion and mild panic. "You can't be serious. What are you talking about?"

Shiro's grin widened, the kind of grin that spelled doom for Guldrin's already fraying patience. "You're so hopeless. Of course, she has a crush on you! She's got it bad, but she'd probably rather hack the Pentagon than admit it to your face."

Unbeknownst to Guldrin, Shiro wasn't far from the truth. In her room, Skye was crouched behind her door, peeking through a crack just wide enough to see the chaos in her living room. Her heart was hammering in her chest like it was auditioning for a drum solo.

He's right there, she thought, her palms sweaty as her eyes locked onto Guldrin. Her gaze lingered on the confident way he worked, fixing her jumbled mess of tech with ease. 

He made it look effortless, and somehow, that only made it worse.

Her stomach did a nervous flip, and she buried her face in her hands. Why am I like this? she groaned internally. Skye had faced her fair share of challenges, life wasn't exactly a cakewalk. but this? 

Meeting Guldrin in person? It felt like trying to disarm a bomb blindfolded. Every time she psyched herself up to walk out there, her nerves staged a coup, keeping her firmly rooted behind the safety of her door.

It wasn't just that he was good-looking. Okay, fine, ridiculously good-looking. Hot, hot. Movie-star hot. But it was more than that. He was kind in a way that felt rare, quiet, steady, and genuine. And his ingenuity? The way he tackled problems without hesitation? It was as intimidating as it was inspiring.

Meanwhile, back in the living room, Guldrin's face was a mix of exasperation and utter confusion. "I don't buy it," he muttered, returning to the tangle of wires in front of him. "Why would she have a crush on me? We have known each other for years, and she has only once spoken to me through video call. That's ridiculous. I'm just here to fix her tech, not to… whatever this is."

"Exactly!" Shiro said, her tone far too gleeful. "You're helpful, smart, and completely oblivious, all wrapped up in a package that's, let's face it, unfairly attractive. You're like a romance novel hero who wandered into the wrong story."

Guldrin groaned audibly, but before he could argue, Skye's voice crackled to life over the newly installed intercom system. "Uh… how's it going out there?" she asked, her voice tinged with nervous energy.

"It's going," Guldrin replied, leaning toward the nearest speaker. "But it'd go a lot faster if you'd actually come out here instead of hiding in your room. I assume you found your phone?"

There was a long, pregnant pause, the kind of silence that made Shiro's grin grow even more wicked. Finally, Skye's hesitant voice filtered through the system. "My phone? What… Oh yeah, I found it… I'm… I'm just supervising from here."

Guldrin sighed heavily, rubbing his temples as though he could will the situation into making sense. "You're impossible, you know that?"

Shiro, never one to miss an opportunity, leaned closer to the intercom. Her tone was honey-sweet, but her words were pure chaos. "Don't mind him, Skye. He's just grumpy because he misses your face."

"Shiro!" Guldrin's voice erupted, his protest loud enough to rattle the freshly installed intercom. His face turned an unmistakable crimson, the kind of red that suggested he wanted nothing more than to sink through the floor and disappear.

From her sanctuary behind the door, Skye let out a sound that was equal parts squeak and gasp, slapping the intercom button in sheer panic. The abrupt click that followed left the room in a tense, almost comedic silence. Somewhere in the distance, a clock ticked.

And then Shiro exploded into laughter.

"Your face!" she gasped, clutching her sides as tears of mirth gathered at the corners of her eyes. She was doubled over on the couch, everything else forgotten, as she basked in Guldrin's embarrassment. "Absolutely priceless. You're like a human tomato!"

"Why are you like this?" Guldrin groaned, dragging his hands down his face in a futile attempt to wipe away the lingering redness. He glanced at the intercom, half-expecting it to come back to life with another panicked squeak from Skye, but all he got was more silence.

"Because someone has to be," Shiro retorted, her grin wicked and unrepentant. "You're too oblivious to figure this out on your own, so I'm stepping in. Call me your emotional support agent chaos. As I said, if you are forming a harem, I will judge it, and she will join, it is only a matter of time."

"More like emotional saboteur; why do I always get bullied by my girlfriend?" Guldrin muttered, picking up a stray screwdriver and trying to focus on the partially disassembled device in front of him.

Meanwhile, in her room, Skye was a whirlwind of nerves. Her heart was pounding so loudly she was convinced they could hear it through the walls. She had retreated to the relative safety of her bed, where she sat hugging a pillow, her mind racing in a loop of self-doubt and internal pep talks.

"Get a grip, Skye," she whispered, as if saying it out loud would somehow make it true. "He's just a guy. A ridiculously good-looking, talented, and kind guy who's currently fixing your tech without breaking a sweat… Nope, that's not helping."

She peeked out of her cracked door again, just in time to see Guldrin holding a circuit board up to the light. He looked effortlessly competent, his brow furrowed in concentration, and Skye felt her stomach do an Olympic-level somersault. 

She ducked back into her room so quickly that she almost tripped over a stray power cord.

In the living room, Guldrin tried to refocus on the task at hand, but Shiro's persistent smirk made it impossible. "You're really not helping, you know," he said, glaring at her.

"Oh, I am definitely helping," Shiro replied, leaning back and stretching her arms over her head. "This is tough love, Hubby-San. You've got the emotional awareness of a potato, and that poor girl is practically vibrating with nerves. Someone's got to give her a nudge."

"Why are you doing this? How are you sure she even feels that way?" Guldrin shot back, though his voice lacked its usual sharpness. There was a softness there, a genuine concern that made Shiro's grin soften, just a little.

"She likes you, you know, just trust me on that," Shiro said, her tone teasing but with a hint of sincerity. "And honestly? You like her too, we have talked about this before, you both just need a push."

Guldrin opened his mouth to argue, but the words didn't come. Instead, he busied himself with a tangled mess of cables, his mind racing. Did he like her? Sure, Skye was brilliant and funny in her own way, and there was something undeniably endearing about her nervous energy. But crushes weren't exactly something he was equipped to handle, especially not now. One Shiro was hard enough to handle, how could he survive a Skye as well?

"You're incorrigible," Guldrin said, shaking his head.

"And you're fun to mess with," Shiro replied sweetly, swinging her legs off the edge of the couch.

They worked in relative silence after that, the occasional hum of power tools and the soft clinking of metal the only sounds in the room. Despite the earlier chaos, Guldrin found himself settling into a rhythm, his focus returning as he repaired one device after another. Every now and then, he'd glance toward the hallway, half-expecting Skye to appear. She never did.

When the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting warm golden light across the room, Guldrin leaned back and stretched. "That's it for today," he announced, wiping his hands on a rag. "We've done as much as we can with what we've got."

Shiro stood and stretched dramatically, her grin returning. "Not bad for a day's work. And you didn't even blow up anything!"

Guldrin rolled his eyes, but he couldn't hide the small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Let her know we'll come back when she gets more gear," he said, nodding toward the intercom. "Assuming she doesn't decide to supervise from another city next time."

Shiro laughed, giving him a mock salute. "Will do, boss."

As they packed up their tools, Skye watched from her hiding spot, her heart heavy with a mix of relief and regret. She wanted to say something, anything, but the words caught in her throat. Maybe next time, she thought, as she listened to their voices fade. Maybe then I'll be brave enough.

When the door finally closed behind them, Skye let out a long, shaky breath. She leaned against the wall, staring at the now-empty living room. It felt a little quieter without them there, a little emptier. But the thought of seeing them again, seeing him again, filled her with a nervous kind of feeling. Pulling out her phone, she enjoyed her favorite video of Guldrin working out, 

"Hehehe" She giggled perversely to herself as she was absorbed in her fantasy.

Outside the apartment, Shiro grinned. "Admit it, you liked it. You enjoyed the day, even if Skye was too shy to show herself."

Guldrin didn't answer, but the faint smile on his face said enough.

[If you have worlds you wish to see him travel to next, comment them here, and I will add them to the list, as of now they should be level 1-2 worlds, so nothing stupidly over the top. Enjoy and interact, Thank you.]

{Question: Should I include the possibility of gender-bent worlds? Thoughts?}

(Give me your POWER, Please, and Thank You! Leave reviews and comments, they motivate me to continue.)