Yam stepped out of the house, happy to be up and walking again. She’d been out like a light for too many hours and knew for a fact that the other three were still in her house.

“Alright lovelies, time to get out,” Yam called, stalking into the main room. She stopped short when she realised that only Rolf was there, and the Gnome was still sleeping soundly. She was shocked. It couldn’t be. No. Not her greatest wish ever. Aey could not have just left without making a ruckus. It was too good to be true.

Yam sighed and exited the house, glancing to her right to see that ah, nope, the Tiefling was still in her general vicinity. She was sitting down by the river with Ari, apparently trying to teach the Half-Elf how to fish. At least, it looked like that; she had a long stick and was apparently stirring up the water. Yam made her way over to them and stopped behind Aey, her silhouette standing imposingly against the sun behind her.

“Hi, Yam! How are you feeling?” Ari greeted her from the other side of the river. Aey spun around, looking somewhat guilty, but she forced on a smile that was really more of a sheepish grin.

“Hey there, kitty.”

“What are you all doing?” Yam stared at the scene in front of her: both Ari and Aey were evidently soaked and there were a lot of sticks down the bottom of the river that she was fairly sure hadn’t been there before. “Do you… keep… dropping… your sticks…?”

“Yeah,” Aey admitted, setting down the stick she was holding. It slipped down the riverbank and ended up down the bottom with all the other discarded sticks. “Shoot. Ari, we need another new one.”

“Another new one?”

“Yeah. Another new one.”

“Aw, great. I guess it’s stick-collection time again.”

The two quickly scurried around the riverbank, snatching any sticks of decent lengths that they could find on the muddy surface. No words were exchanged except vague nods and hums… and Yam staring daggers at the two. She had never been so perturbed before by people’s actions, maybe once or a few times, but this entire scene was one of the strangest she’d experienced in her lifetime. Ah, maybe this was Aey and Ari’s attempt to distract Yam so they could stay a little while? She could not let them influence her any longer; she quickly stabilised herself with a firm squeeze of her paws. 

“Half-Elf, Tiefling, time to get out now. You and your little stick games will neither catch any fish nor keep you longer in my house.” Yam snarled with a bit more aggression than usual, convinced that the two were trying to trick her.

“Kitty, don’t be so aggressive~ We’re just helping you catch some food for breakfast. Not to mention, it’s not like any of us can actually do any… cooking.  So as well go and gather some ingredients instead of sitting around doing nothing all morning.” Aey shrugged near the end of the sentences, her voice slightly appeasing but more smug than anything.

Nodding along to what Aey said, the Half-Elf answered shyly, “mhm, you’ve been letting us stay at your house for a while now. Just though it’ll be nice to pay you back somehow.” 

“….Fine. Catch some fish and then leave immediately after eating.” Yam turned around and walked back indoors, intending to wake Rolf and Bread up. In her heart, Yam was slightly touched but her pride would never allow her to say it out loud.

==<~~~>==

“Ok, now get out.”

“Kitty, another night?”

Despite wanting to ask for another night at Yam’s place, even Rolf herself knew it would be too much to ask for another extension. The original plan of one night had stretched into three days and the chances of Yam allowing the three to stay any longer were slim. Less than slim. Twiggy.

Aey, however, didn’t seem to get the memo. Or perhaps she just really liked annoying Yam. Which was also rather dumb.

“Shut up and get out. You three shouldn’t even have stayed this long anyway. You’re just lucky all those… things happened.”

“Okay,” Ari agreed, standing up and pushing her chair back in. “Thanks for the stay. The next time we visit, I’ll make sure to bring some gifts as thank-you. You don’t seem to mind having more decorations anyway.” 

Rolf nodded and also pushed her chair in, “Yep yep!! Thank you Yammmmm!!! I’ll also make sure to bring something too!!!” 

Aey sighed at the two and stood up from her chair, however, she didn’t push in her stool. As the three sauntered towards the door (with Gerald between Aey’s horns), Yam stared at their back with a flicker of doubt.

“You’re… Not going to get lost again this time, will you?” Yam inquired, dubious of the three’s navigational skills.

Aey snickered, “You worrying about us, kitty?”

“Hold your tongue, Tiefling. And don’t call me ‘Kitty’.” Yam sheaths her sickles, the blades glinting with a dangerous light under the overhead chandelier. “If I do not see you leave in a minute, things will get... messy. Best go right now or you will find out what it feels like to have your head chopped off your body.”

“Ah, it does indeed sound interesting to me, to think you would want my head that badly~! I sure am too popular for this world~” Aey flirted.

Yam frowned at the Tiefling’s words, her furs spiking up with disgust. In response, she started counting, “....60… 59… 58… 57… 56… 55… 54…” 

Ari and Rolf huddled close together, arms shaking and face paling at a speed visible to the naked eye. The two sneakily exits the house while trying to scrunch their body as small as possible. Meanwhile, Aey maintained eye contact with the enraged Tabaxi. Her hands were in her pocket and she wore her usual smug grin – a direct provocation of Yam’s authorities. With smooth movements, she inches backwards ever so slightly so that her feet are touching the door but still inside. 

“....3…. 2….. 1.”

The moment Yam counted to 1, Aey hopped backwards through the door frame, narrowly avoiding Yam’s pair of sickles flying towards her neck. One sickle impaled itself between the door frames and the other flew dangerously close to Aey’s face, nicking her cheek slightly. If Aey were to hesitate for even a split second, her head would’ve been chopped off cleanly. Aey touched her cheek, now damp from the blood pooling from her wound, and smirked a dangerously wicked grin. 

“Ah… You’ve done it…..kukuKuKUKUKUKUKUKUKKUKM.” Aey guffawed, smoothing her hair backwards between her horns. With a smooth flick of her hand, several hair ties popped out of the air and magically worked their way through Aey’s frizzy scalp, forming a tight and high ponytail on Aey’s head. Black magical energy was pooling out from Aey’s back, merging with her dark hair and masking when her hair began and when it ended. The only thing that could be seen out of the darkness was Aey’s blood-red orbs and fragments of Aey’s horns. 

From the side, Ari and Rolf watched the two’s face off, face smeared with sweat. It was comparable to a group of children watching their parents fight from the shadows, too helpless to do anything, too scared. Suddenly, Ari reached backwards and pulled out a frying pan from god-knows-where. The two exchanged a gaze of mutual understanding and Rolf quickly followed suit, pulling her own frying pan from her pants pocket. While Ari’s pan was a common black pan with a grey plastic handle, Rolf’s pan was a bright blue one shaped like a flower and decorated with all kinds of ribbons and plastic gems. It was dubious whether Rolf’s pan would even function properly as a pan. 

The Half-Elf and the Gnome snuck behind Aey, and with one smooth motion, struck Ary on both sides of her head. Aey let out a breathless gasp before collapsing down onto the ground. On the positive side, Aey and Yam are no longer fighting.

“Ah- ow, the fu-?” Aey grumbled, trying to sit up and rub her head, but Ari took one of her arms and Rolf grabbed the other before she could scramble to her feet.

“Hm, no, I don’t think so,” Rolf chirped, bright as ever. With the help of Ari, the Gnome dragged Aey backwards and towards the river. Yam didn’t stop them. She quite enjoyed the loud splash that followed a few seconds later, as well as Aey’s outraged screech as she was dragged into the river.

“Sorry Yam! See you later!” Ari called as she took Aey’s ankles and hoisted the Tiefling out of the water. Rolf, considerably shorter than Ari, had a bit of trouble getting Aey onto dry land but as soon as she found her footing the two were off and running, Aey’s loud swearing fading as they got further and further away.

Yam snarled slightly as she turned back to her house and slammed the door shut behind her. She hoped she never saw any of the three again, later or otherwise.