The crowd around An was a sea, and she parted them and walked towards Roy when he called out to her. Many of them held sullen faces, unable to personally greet her, but not one complained. “An, these guys will be helping us with getting the house and café set up,” Roy said, pointing at the group with his hand. He then singled them one by one and introduced them, telling An their names. He wanted to repeat their names as much as possible so that he doesn’t end up forgetting any of them down the line. A little work now could go long ways in preventing future embarrassment.

An studied each of the during the introduction. She then nodded her head and said, “Hello.”

They all murmured anxious greetings, their gaze floating about. More enthusiasm than the elders, Roy noted, but certainly not as energetic like those little kids.

“Let’s stop by Mr. Horin’s house first,” Roy said. “He said he would need to check out my house before we get anything.”

Snapping out of her daze, Liz replied, “Of course.” She led the way out of the warehouse and the dying party. Liz and Roy took point while everyone else lagged few paces behind. An was even a few paces more behind the twins, Amy, and Sarah.

“Liz, mind if I asked you a question about An?” Roy asked.

“Sure,” she said, without a moment’s thought.

“Why does everyone meet An with such hesitance?” He thought people would generally be more excited to meet her, like Horin’s young kids; meeting the first Vampire struck him as something like meeting a super celebrity.

“Well…” Liz scrunched up her face, pondering the question heavily. “I don’t know how to explain it,” she finally said, “But it feels like the natural way to act. It’s respect for sure – the older crowd talks about that all the time – but I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“I see.” An interesting answer, but one that did not sate his curiosity. Another person came to mind, someone who he could ask. Doromun Salazar also acted differently than the majority; he greeted An casually, like someone who was meeting a dear old friend. Roy would ask him next time they crossed paths. They were still some ways to Mr. Horin’s house, so he asked, “What are you guys normally up to?”

“Most of us are wrapping up our last year in school,” Liz responded, eyeing Michael and Icarus. “Me, Sarah, and Amy show up, but betting on those two stooges to come in is like betting that a bunch of three-year-olds with color pencils to not screw up everything in sight.”

“Hey!” Icarus shouted. “Come on, we all know going to class is a waste of time.”

“There are better things to do,” Michael shrugged.

“Wrapping up secondary school still?” Roy rhetorically asked. He continued, “So are you all like 18 then?”

Liz nodded her head, “Yeah, all of us but Sarah – she’s 17.”

“Cool,” he replied, “I graduated last year - I’m 19 now. If I didn’t end up doing this, opening up a shop here, I would have probably gone to a university somewhere.”

Icarus scoffed, “University? Really?”

“What’s wrong with going to university?”

“Nothing, of course!” Amy exuberantly replied, “But it’s not for all of us.”

“I think only Sarah wanted to go to more school after we graduated,” Liz said.

Sarah nodded her head, “I would like to, but my family can’t afford it anyways.”

“Why would you wanna go in the first place,” Michael chimed in. “Plenty of good jobs out there without wasting away more time in classrooms. Factory work makes good money these days and there are plenty of other jobs out there.”

“Then what were you all planning to do after? Are you all going to do factory work, or something like that?” Roy asked.

Liz started first, “I still haven’t decided, but I would like to travel, though! Maybe I’ll just work and save up money for that.”

“Ugh,” Amy responded, her face twisted in disgust. “Travelling once in a while sounds nice, but why would you want to do that all the time? It sounds dirty, lonely, and stressful. Just find a comfy job, or a sweet man, and settle down somewhere cozy – would save you a lot of trouble.”

Liz laughed, “Come on, Amy! There’s no fun in that.”

“Oh, Whatever,” Icarus said, stretching out his arms. “You can go on whatever adventures you want, Me and Michael are going to get to work, get paid, and live it good.”

“Have fun working in a factory,” Sarah sardonically replied.

Michael reacted defensively, “Oh, yeah? Do you have any better ideas Miss-I-Wanna-Go-To-University-And-Waste-More-Time-And-Money?”

“Of course,” she matter-of-factly said. “You can get better jobs with a better education. I might not be able to afford it now, but if I work hard and save up, I can go one day. Better that than working in the filthy factories around here.”

Roy listened, not saying a word. Not going to university struck him as an odd decision; out of his entire social group back home, he was the only one that planned foregoing his continued education to open up his café. He was the odd one out back home – here he fit right in, and that felt strange.

“Let me go get my dad,” Sarah said. They reached Mr. Horin’s house without Roy realizing it. She went up to her home and opened the front door with a key. “Dad!” She yelled.

Mr. Horin lumbered into view, wiping his hands with a cloth. “Welcome home, Sarah. You’re back a little earlier than I thought you would be.”

“Yeah, my friends and I are helping Roy set up his house. You’re also helping.”

“Well,” Mr. Horin scratched his bald head, “I was already going to help, but okay. Wait out front and I’ll bring the wagon around.”

Sarah closed the door and announced to everyone, “Dad is bringing the wagon out front.” Moments later, a horse clopped out from an alleyway pulling a sturdy wagon. Sarah immediately climbed into the back and said, “let’s go.” Everyone loaded into the wagon one by one. Roy gave directions to Mr. Horin who ushered the horse forward. Admittedly, the journey from Mr. Horin’s house to Roy’s was a short one (only a few streets separated the two homes). Walking would have been no issue, but the wagon sure was convenient.

“That’s my house,” Roy pointed out the quaint property nestled in the middle of Ihlfam’s Refuge. Mr. Horin parked the cart in front, securing the horse, and everyone filed out of the wagon. Roy walked to the front and opened the door, “It’s bigger than it looks, so I’d rather focus on the essentials for now: bedroom furnishings and the café setup.”

Liz came in first behind Roy and exclaimed, “Wow, you weren’t lying.” She looked up and down from the entrance, “This is a lot bigger than it looks.”

“I love surprises like that,” Amy said, entering with everyone else. “There really is nothing in here,” she noted. “How big is this place? Can you even afford to fill it?”

Roy scratched the back of his neck, “There are three floors, not counting the attic. I can afford whatever furniture I need just fine.” As much as he wanted to avoid the responsibilities of being from a noble family, he had no problems abusing the benefits of it. From his home, he brought a bulging coin purse, full of gold coins. A small amount of guilt sat in his stomach; tapping into the substantial wealth of the Gieryoum family felt like cheating, but the money wasn’t going to be used for anything anyways. Roy wasn’t planning to make his life hard for no reason other than to be stubborn with starting his new life out in the city. He would consider cutting his reliance on his family’s money when his café started making money. Jim Horin walked in last and came up to Roy’s side. Roy asked him, “What do you think? Any ideas?”

Mr. Horin laughed. “Look, Roy, I’m a carpenter, not an interior designer.”

“Don’t worry,” Amy said, crossing her arms and pushing her glasses up by the bridge, “I’m the divine designer around here.” Her voice held a scheming, sinister vibe to it, but her mind began to move and detailed out a vision for the café. Roy gave his input, and Amy adjusted her ideas. Mr. Horin jotted everything down on a notepad.

A counter curving out a few feet from the front door was the first idea. It would run parallel to the right side wall, having seats for patrons to drink, glass shelves to hold treats, and other amenities for Roy and customers alike. Around the hexagonal window bulge at the front, Roy decided he wanted a slightly raised platform with cushioned seats accompanied with a low lying table – sort of like a lounging area. Along the left wall, the consensus was to install booths. While tables would fill up the empty space in the middle, Roy wanted the back wall kept empty. On the right was the staircase going upstairs, which would be blocked by the long counter, and on the left was a small hallway that ended in a bathroom, with a door to an additional room. There were several ideas on how to furnish the extra room: a lounge, a library, a storeroom, a bedroom. Roy ultimately decided to hold off on doing anything with the room until the rest of the café was settled in. The other room in the downstairs, behind the door right underneath the staircase, was the perfect area to install all of his equipment and keep all of his goods. Some counters and cabinets had to be installed, but the room would be straightforward to fill.

Moving on to the other floors, the group continued to be amazed by how spacious the building felt. They threw all sorts of ideas on how to design the living room on the second floor, but Roy rejected them all. It’s not that they were bad ideas, it’s just that he wanted to prioritize on more important things, like making sure he didn’t have to sleep on the hard wooden floor again. The master bedroom overlooking the street he took for himself. An had to pick out a room as well, but she didn’t seem to care one way or another, so she was assigned one of the two remaining rooms on the third floor.

On a final look over, Roy was satisfied with his vision of the café and home. Amy was the biggest help; she zealously spouted ideas to the point where Icarus and Michael gave up helping together, commentating they were better suited for labor anyways. Liz and Sarah got a word or two in every so often, but most things were left in Amy’s hands.

With the plan laid out, all that was left was to get the materials and start putting everything together – which was still a substantial amount of work. With only one wagon and three lists of items to get (one for the café furniture, one for the bedroom furnishing, and one for the kitchen equipment), many trips and deliveries had to be made. On the promise of being treated to Roy’s menu when they were done, everyone eagerly set out, ready to work.

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Five chapters in, I feel good with how everything is progressing so far. Maybe we got here a little slower than I would have liked, but I'm looking forward bringing out what I have in store and planned. Unfortunately, the new semester starts next week, so between classes and work I'll probably have a lot less time in writing/planning, but I'll aim to at least get something out once a week and see how that goes. At any rate, I'll still be hanging around, so if you have any comments or questions, I'd be down to converse or answer them. As always, if you have critiques or reviews, I'm open to feedback.