Chris walks from the stairs with several black bags and leaves them by the entrance door to outside before sitting on the piano bench across from the couch. He looks at the downcast young woman twiddling her thumbs and sighs. “So, can you tell me your name,” questioned Chris.

“Yes. My name is Jessie Nemo,” said Jessie. She flinched a little before her upturned eyes met Chris’s.

“Not to be offensive, but your parents had a strange naming sense. Calling you a gift of hope, but also nobody. Not that I am one to talk. So, Miss Nemo, do you prefer Jessie, or do you not have a preference?”

“Either is fine. So what are we going to do?”

“What do you mean? Oh, right, the hole in the house, right? We can get the insurance company to deal with that after I fill out a claim. I need to fill out a form with some photos and your id, which should take care of that.”

“I don’t have this identification thing. What is it?”

Chris messaged the temples of his head to help relieve the building stress before saying, “Right, you fell in from the sky and are probably prone to migratory cycles. That slows things down, but it could be manageable. Can you tell me where you’re from? We can put it in the report along with your picture and the claim.”

“Uh, I am from the Curcies village, Fiend Kingdom Serpent Continent.”

“Hmm, those don’t sound familiar, but I can just do a search,” said Chris. He pulled out his phone to check the internet but only found smoothy shops or bookstores with similar titles. “Um, Miss Nemo, I can’t find anything on the location you have given me. Is it a newly independent nation, perhaps?”

“No, it has thousands of years to its history until recently,” said Jessie with a dark shadow running across her face.

“You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready. I will include the information and leave it at that,” said Chris as he fiddled with his phone filling out the claims form.

Jessie looks at Chris in confusion while thinking about what steps she needs to take from here. Thinking about information gathering, she looks at Chris’s strange tablet and asks, “Is that some kind of communication mirror to an informant?”

“What? No, this is my cellphone, but I guess you could use it as a mirror with the camera. Wait, this is new to you?”

“You know, that doesn’t matter. There is a lot I need to know, but do you know a place that I could stay?”

“Well, while we figure things out and get you accustomed,” said Chris as he started to lose focus and held his hand to his chin in deep thought. “No, but.” The image of that white lump of flesh in the bag by the door flashed through his mind. He decided to push it aside. “I have a room downstairs for renters and was looking for a new tenant.”

Although she didn’t understand most of what he was saying, she understood what he wanted, and the unease he was slightly showing his fear and anxiety. “Thank you for the offer. I will kindly accept,” said Jessie with a little stuttering in her voice. If he is to be the one, I need to either figure out how to know him or use him as a slave, which would lower the results of future needs and desires or cause the risk of knights or guards swarming like flys to dung. They will come out of nowhere and endlessly. It is better to have a peaceful base and figure things out later.

“I know I offered you a room, but would you have a means of pay or trade?”

“What would you want? I don’t think my currency would be taken.”

“Well, they have an exchange rate of about .865% at the bank with foreign currency; I know it isn’t the best at the moment, but it could be worse. Even if there are problems with the currency, you could exchange other valuables or be my research assistant for a limited time. The rent would be taken out of the pay, of course.”

“Well, I guess precious metals would be of use for selling. What metals would you prefer to have?”

“If we want to convert to cash quickly, gold or silver would be the best since precious metals have more speculative prices on the market.”

Jessie looks at her hands and thinks about the vague knowledge she recently obtained while sticking her hands into her pockets, giving them a shake. Within, she opens up a small pocket dimension storage space and pulls out a small nugget of gold the size of a marble. She grabs Chris’ hand and puts it into his palm. She asks, “How much will this give me?

Chris’ eyes widen before pulling himself together. “It could be anywhere from one month to six months of rent, but that doesn’t include food and daily necessities. Though we can have that taken care of in the morning, as it is after 5 pm, most places will be closed by the time we get to them in town,” said Chris. He puts the nugget back into her hand before slowly dragging his hand away.

“Then what will I do about tonight? Sleep on the streets?”

“No, of course not. The amount of time you can say here for free was going to be between a day or four until we had you on your feet.”

“Oh, thank you in advance.”

“The only problem would be my neighbors or the old couple that might call the cops after that crash.”

A loud knock came from the door, along with a frantic ringing of the doorbell. Chris gives a tired smile while getting up. “Speak of the devil; at least they care, I guess.”

As he unlocked the door, the knob was pulled from his grip, revealing a tall woman with a tattered suit and disheveled brown hair. Her serpent eyes race around the sight of the house before the slits thinned and returned to normal pupils as her aura returned to a calm business manner.

She holds her hand to her chest and sighs in relief before looking Chis in the eyes. “Well, it looks like everything is alright here,” said the woman with a sarcastic tone,” said the woman in a sarcastic tone.

She smiles before having a serious, strict face and pokes him in the chest with a clawed, sandy, scaled hand. “If you bring over guests to have a fling of passion, let the Tampons know beforehand so they don’t call the police or me. More importantly, I just sat down with Judy for dinner,” berated the woman.

Chris gently pushes her hand away before looking her in the eyes and says, “I am sorry that the Thompson ruined your meal, Samantha. Though the young woman behind me is.” He stops briefly while blushing a little. “she is not some call girl but someone that cashed into my house while losing balance from sudden turbulence from flying throughout the night and today.”

Samantha’s eyes widen as she is in shock. “Well, why don’t I see an ambulance parked out front and only trash bags at the front door? Are you so cheap to only care about the house over a girl’s life?”

“Look, she is fine. She even says so—no need to go, mama bear, on me. Because we just finished talking about having her stay as my new tenant in the downstairs apartment until she gets herself accustomed or decides to leave.”

Samantha gives Chris a questioning look before looking at the young woman in the shredded clothes and back at Chris again. She scowled a little as she saw Chris’ smile forming on his scheming face.

“Know what, this is perfect.”

“What is?”

“We can have you help wash Jessie up and get her to use some of your old clothes for the night, and I can watch over Judy.”

“Why should I?”

“She could be still shaken up, and I am a scholar, not a nurse.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“You are a mother with a heart, and Judy will be fine eating next to me while I organize my notes.”

“Fine, don’t let her fluster you with questions. She is asking a lot of strange ones lately,” said Samantha with a slight blush and scratching of her cheek while looking off into some distant place.

“Okay then. I will see you and little Judy in a moment,” said Chris. Chris’ smile widens while Samantha walks down to the gate, and he waves to the shadowy figure at the house’s window across the street. “Probably Mrs. Thompson,” he mutters to himself.

Chris leaves the door open and sits on the bench before extending his hand to Jessie. With a large smile, he grabs her nervous hand firmly and says, “Welcome to your new home.”