Reraik stumbled down the house’s carpeted stairs, scratching his head with one hand and scratching his exposed mid-rift with the other. The five-eyed young man was in a pale green tank top, a pair of boxers with an ocean wave print, and a pair of grey no-skid socks. He squinted at the morning light that peaked through the living room’s light beige floral curtains, casting the lower level of the home in a warm glow with little dust particles floating about.

Reraik got to the bottom of the stairs with a soft thud, yawning as he stretched and cracked his back. He glanced around the living room, eyes struggling to stay open as he shuffled through. The trio admittedly hadn’t put the most thought into their furniture matching, rather going for what everyone found comfortable. There was a large cream and pale blue plaid pull-out couch, which was covered with a couple of mismatched throw blankets and ruffled pillows of various shapes nestled in the middle. To the couch’s left, there was a low, yellow and white arm chair in the shape of a paw print with a scratching post on its arms, with a small quilt tossed over its back. To the right, there was a practically unused, sea green shell recliner with a handmade blanket folded neatly over the left arm. Directly in front of the couch was a Victorian styled, beige coffee table with a few toys, notebooks, and controllers scattered atop it. And in front of the table was a 90s-esc entertainment center, decorated with a few stickers on its oak wood and full of consoles, an old tv the group had found at a garage sale, framed pictures, a hefty collection of various DVDs and CDs, and a little boombox.

Reraik perked up upon faintly smelling something from the kitchen, and picked up his shuffling pace a little as he went into the dining room archway. Their dinner table was a gift from Eggie’s grandfather when they had first moved in- a kotatsu table with six matching chairs. It came in handy in the colder months, and in the hot months the group would simply turn off the heating function, remove the blankets, and treat it as a regular low table.

Sat in the chair closest to where the kitchen began was Eggie, eyebrows knitted as she peered at her laptop screen, scrolling with one paw and lifting her “Best Not-Sister Sister” mug up to her mouth. She had a brown robe on, with a grey sleep shirt underneath. She had her favorite yellow and white checkered eye mask pushed up to her forehead, keeping her ears pushed back. The cat glanced up at the five-eyed man as he yawned.

“Morning sunshine.” She said, returning her focus to her laptop, “Doc popped by this morning with breakfast. It’s on the counter.” Eggie motioned to the aforementioned counter with her mug, then took a sip of her drink.

Reraik hummed, rolling his shoulders as he walked past her, looking around with a puzzled look, “Where’s Mark?”

Eggie glanced up at him, “It’s Tuesday? He’s at work?”

The five eyed young man hummed, “Right.” in acknowledgment as he went into the kitchen. Mark was the only one of them who worked outside of Woeridge-  the weekday 9 to 5 in one of the northern towns. Which meant that Eggie and Reraik only got to see him in the evenings, weekends, or on his days off if he didn’t have other plans.

The kitchen was by far one of the coziest rooms in the house. There were dried bundles of  herbs, braids of garlic and onion that hung from the ceiling, and bundles of Woeridgian fire chilies. A few bowls of oranges, star berries and mountain mangoes were scattered along the counter alongside various other things. There was a dish rack over the sink, consisting of mismatching vintage dinnerware, cookware and silverware that the group had scored from a thrift store in one of the other towns. The stove was also vintage, being a cast iron wood stove with an oven and a fish grill (also a gift from Eggie’s grandpa).

Reraik’s eyes drifted to a basket and a large, ceramic baking dish settled on the wood stove. He sniffed a few times, his mouth starting to water.

“Breakfast casserole and honey biscuits?” Reraik asked, more to himself than to Eggie. The cat hummed.

“Casserole has eggs, potatoes, bacon… y’know, the stuff Doc usually puts in it.” Eggie answered, not looking up from her laptop, “Mark made coffee before he left. Something with caramel and chocolate. Good stuff.”

Reraik hummed as he grabbed a plate and started to load it with food, solely focused on the overwhelming urge to devour his food before doing anything else, let alone talking. He grabbed a few oranges as well, alongside a cup of citrus water from the giant dispenser pot next to the sink. The five eyed man quickly made his way over to the table, setting his food down and sitting down in front of Eggie as he began to dig in, looking almost feral as he did so. Eggie glanced up at him, sighing.

“Dude, you’re going to choke if you keep eating that fast. Slow down.” She scolded lightly, her eyes narrowed.

Reraik nearly growled, but slowed his pace a little. He glanced up at her as he swallowed a few mouthfuls.

“What’re you working on?” He asked, taking a bite into one of his oranges.

Eggie took another sip of her coffee, not looking up, “Finishing up writing my order with Beeboh for more supplies for the tower.” She said plainly, “Fire season is coming up, gonna be up there for a couple months.”

Reraik frowned a little as he swallowed, “Right… Work stuff.”

Just as Reraik was about to speak again, the doorbell rang its silly little tune. The five eyed man and cat both perked up, and the former quickly scarfed down the remainder of his breakfast before getting up.

“Coming!” He shouted, quickly making his way to the door, nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. Reraik took a brief moment to smooth out his shirt before unlocking and opening the door.

Standing outside was a Teshalu- Beeboh’s cousin and the owner of the Woeridge Diner-  dressed in a sleeveless purple turtleneck with a wobbly smiley face in the center that rode up slightly, a blue leather belt with a white star buckle that had two white ball pit chains on either hip, baggy wide leg jeans that had lime green and hot pink patches on the sides, and a pair of blue sneakers. They had a light brown afro that was styled similarly to a jester hat- with hair gel creating at least twelve different spiked peaks that had white bells at the end. Their face was similar to Beeboh’s, having no mouth, and a large clown nose, though theirs was white rather than black. Their eyes were just the same- white with faint pupils- though they had a pair of white eyelashes. Much like Beeboh, they had a pair of disembodied hands and a lack of arms, though theirs were more proportional to their much more human-ish body.

Teshalu’s eyes lit up upon seeing Reraik open the door, though upon seeing the latter’s attire, they quirked a brow.

“You lack pants.” They stated plainly. Reraik flushed, clearing his throat.

“I- uh-” The five eyed man shifted a bit, “These are my… sleep shorts?”

Teshalu nodded slowly, their eyes not leaving Reraik’s legs, “Anyways.. I wanted to ask if you could help me out at the diner today, but given how… under dressed you are, I ask that you put something on while I bother Eggie for a while.”

Reraik nodded dumbly, his body working on autopilot as he moved to let Teshalu in, tripping over his feet a bit as he did so. The latter strode inside, stretching as they did so. The former simply stared at the other, his mind wandering as he began to shut the door, then quickly paused as he heard a tiny meow. The five eyed man yelped, then looked down to see a scruffy grey cat with a lavender and white jester collar on rubbing against his leg.

“Oh- sorry Rosemary- didn’t mean to shut the door on you.” Reraik said quietly, earning a simple ‘mrrp’ in response. 

Half an hour later, Reraik stumbled down the stairs, having hastily thrown on a dark olive sweater tucked into a pair of tan cargo pants along with his boots. The five eyed man took a moment to tie back his dreads as he walked back into the dining room, yawning. Teshalu was at the table with Eggie, the latter giving Rosemary a look as the kitten stayed curled in the jester’s lap.

“Being a cat-like species that coexists with actual cats feels wrong.” Eggie said, petting the kitten, “Like, what do you mean you keep a smaller animal version of what’s practically  me as a pet? It’s like the whole Goofy and Pluto thing- one’s treated like a human and the other’s just an animal.”

Teshalu let out a snort, “Didn’t expect for you to get all philosophical and shit on me within the first 20 minutes of hanging out.”

Eggie rolled her eyes, scratching Rosemary’s chin affectionately. “Yeah, well, uhh… shut up.”

Teshalu grinned, their eyes crinkling as a rare flash of their glowing mouth appeared. Reraik paused in the doorway, his eyes widening as he took in the scene, his hands slowly falling from his head as the world around him seemed to fade, his focus solely on the jester. It was as if the moon was shining in front of him, with the soft ringing of bells and the laughter of something ethereal. Reraik’s eyes softened, becoming lidded as he found himself continuing to gaze at Teshalu.

“…. Earth to lover boy- Earth to lover boy-”

Reraik’s quickly snapped back to reality upon hearing Eggie and Teshalu’s voices, his eyes widening.

“Yeah- Yeah?” Reraik stammered, his voice cracking as he realized he had probably been staring for too long. 

Eggie and Teshalu exchanged a look, a mischievous look on the two’s faces. Hell, even Rosemary looked amused. They looked back to the five eyed man, Teshalu leaning back in their chair.

“There he is- haphazardly dressed and looking like he just got done with-” Eggie started. Reraik tensed.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” He snapped. Eggie chuckled, tutting.

“Geez, someone’s cranky today.” The cat mumbled. Teshalu simply hummed, seemingly just as amused as the cat as they put Rosemary on their shoulder.

“I hope you don’t plan on staying cranky today, orange boy.” They said, striding over to Reraik. The jester paused, their hands twitching a little before they started to smooth out and readjust Reraik’s clothes. 

Reraik froze, his words catching in his throat as Teshalu fiddled with his clothes, staying still and letting his limbs and body be manipulated so he looked presentable. The five eyed man swallowed thickly, shifting ever so slightly.

“I…” He started just as Teshalu pulled away, clearing his throat, “I won’t.”

Teshalu hummed in approval, “Good. So that means you’ll help me at the diner today?”

Reraik nodded, and in turn earned another hum from the jester.

“Great, lets go.” Teshalu said, walking past the five eyed man and towards the front door. 

Reraik didn’t move, his feet rooted to the spot. Eggie gave him a grin and a thumbs up, leading to her getting a look that clearly stated “shut the hell up”. But before Reraik could actually speak, one of Teshalu’s disembodied hands grabbed Reraik’s ponytail, yanking it and dragging the man to the front door as he yelped.