Yone, after purchasing a modest-looking bungalow, finally has a place he can call home with satisfaction. Arriving at the home, it... did not live up to the photos. In fact, the photos seemed like they were taken 2 years ago. The outside walls were rampant with bright green moss, and each step he took on the soggy, dark wooden porch made a loud creaking noise. Ignoring this possible safety hazard, as the porch was raised a foot into the air, he took out his new keys and tried to unlock the door, just to realize the door wasn't locked.

This did concern him, but he thought nothing much of it. He opened the door abruptly. Closing his eyes with anticipation to what the inside should look like.

Marble tiles, a large, tan, fabric sofa, A beautiful electric chandelier illuminating the kitchen, dishwasher, everything he saw in the pictures.

Opening his eyes, it was... less than what he expected, and several more people on the other side of the door replied with a similarly shocked stare.

"Oh great, so that makes five of us!"

Is that Gwen?!

Yone blinked twice, as he looked at Jax, Gwen, and Caitlyn sitting on a torn-apart sofa. Briar was also there, but locked inside a dog cage, her body crumpled inside like a stack of newspapers.

Although Gwen seemed pleasantly surprised, Jax was completely silent, and Caitlyn slowly raised her teapot, raising an eyebrow at the same time.

Yone's right eye twitched, and then he rubbed his eyes to confirm what he was seeing. He slowly took a few steps back, outside of the bungalow, to double-check that he had gone to the right address. Sure enough, he had.

Now his body slightly slumped, he went back in, where Caitlyn still had her teapot raised. He nodded and sat down on the sofa.

"So, we all bought this house?" Yone had finished drinking his tea, gently placing the cup on the small coffee table in front of the sofa.

"Yep!" exclaimed Briar, still sitting in the dog cage. "I was the first one to get here, and then Caitlyn showed up. Things got messy, and now I have fabric in my gut."

"I really did not need to know that," Yone continued speaking, trying to avoid imagining the scuffle that had taken place before he got here.

"I somehow managed to de-escalate the situation before she bit off my arm," Caitlyn mumbled the last part of her sentence, slowly turning her head towards the dog cage, keeping Briar in her periphery. She waved innocently.

Jax had stayed pretty silent throughout all of this, but it was about time he broke the silence. "I came in after them and helped Caitlyn here to get Briar inside the cage. Until we can find a way to avoid a repeat situation, she'll be staying there."

"Guys I can control the hemolith—" Briar got hit by an egg. For some reason, Jax had one on hand.

"As I was saying, she'll be staying there until we can figure out a solution."

"And... The vendor?" Yone desperately turned to Gwen, who was watching the conversation, for some answers.

"Never got back to us!" She smiled, showing a call history of... 30 missed calls on her Nokia. A Nokia, today? Yeesh... "And I'm far too... lacking in funds to currently buy another home." Her smile faded away at that last part, unsurprisingly.

Jax turned to the window behind them.

"This was the only home where I could find a sizeable lake right nearby. Haven't been out fishing in a while, so I'm pretty intent on staying."

The group turned to Caitlyn, who shrugged. "Same issue as Gwen. Last house got... raided." Although Yone did implore her to continue, she refused to elaborate any further, citing privacy.

The four of them then turned to Briar, who was still in the dog cage, trying to sharpen her teeth using the bars. She briefly stopped and stared at them blankly. "You really expect me to own another house? I don't even know how I had the money to afford this in the first place!"

"She stole it. During last month, ten cases of theft were reported in the area." Caitlyn sipped her tea, glaring at Briar with one eye.

"... So we're all stuck here then?" Yone stammered, still in denial about the whole situation. The others looked at each other, and then at Yone. They all nodded.

"... Does this place even have enough beds?!" Yone exclaimed, getting off of the sofa and looking at the bedrooms. The others shrugged and followed him. Except for Briar. She'd be locked in there for the night.

"Guys..?"

The home had three levels. The basement and two floors. All together, they counted three bedrooms: two with amenities for one person, and a single one with a bunk bed, and not much else.

"... So if we lock Briar in the basement," Yone mumbled. "Two of us will still have to bunk together." He turned to the group, who were now eyeing each other.

Caitlyn slowly raised her index to her nose. It's nose goes!

Yone quickly raised his finger as well, leaving Gwen and Jax out of the loop.

"What are you—" Gwen blinked twice. "—Oh."

"No hard feelings, right?" Caitlyn butted in, with a partially sincere smile.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds and shrugged. They didn't seem particularly angry about the arrangement. Good for them.

It was now evening, and everyone was unpacking the things they brought with them. Gwen went down in secret and unlocked Briar's cage, imploring her to go into the basement, where she probably wouldn't cause any more fuss for the others. And hopefully, she'd get some sleep there.

After going in, Gwen quickly shut the basement door.

"Augh there are roaches in here! They're flying everywhere!"

Gwen ignored that. And the looming thought that she had placed Briar in a room with zero lighting. She quickly went up to her new room, where she was going to bunk with Jax for a while. Meanwhile, he was unpacking his things, which he didn't really have many of. Somehow though, he had pulled out several foldable chairs. Considering the size of his bag, she wondered if that was the only thing he brought with him.

Gwen unpacked her things, including her knitting kit. Seeing this, Jax raised an eyebrow. Well, an eyebrow behind his mask.

"You do knitting?" Gwen smiled and quickly nodded, which got Jax to continue. "I tried to pick that up before, but... having three fingers makes things a bit more difficult. Especially considering their size." He laughed.

"Oh, I doubt you'd do that bad. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it!"

The two would spend a bit more time talking, which was frustrating for the person who was trying to sleep in the next room. Caitlyn!

Unable to get her beauty sleep, she rolled a few times in her bed, trying to cushion the noise from the other room. Talk about flimsy walls, you can hear everything!

Infuriated, she got out of her rugged mattress and went over to inspect her rifle instead.

Meanwhile, Yone was already sound asleep. He had already laid out his weaponry underneath his bed just in case he needed it and had leaned on the wall opposite his messy mattress, his Morin Khuur. Unfortunately, there weren't any bed sheets, so he slept without anything covering him.

This is something I've been working on for a while, just for some fun, really. Just for some author specifications, this is indeed taking place on Earth, as you can see with Gwen's Nokia. Does that create plot holes in the lore? Most definitely! Best not to think about all that, though.

Hope you enjoyed reading! (I will be continuing this until further notice.)