Embers of pain burned along my side as I gingerly pushed up from the bed, blunt hanging limply from my mouth. Another series of light knocks rapped against the door as I trudged towards it. With a flick of my tail, the TV paused, a twitch shuddering down my spine. It was all I could do to stay standing after the long two days I've managed to fight through. My tail slapped against the floor in frustration as I slid the door open. A man, maybe only a year or two younger than myself, stood, one hand awkwardly against the back of his neck.

  "Hey! Sorry to bother you. Saw you were our new neighbor, and I wanted to come say hello," he said, giving a tight-lipped smile. "We saw that you were looking pretty rough, so the community whipped you up some food. I hope it helps, and welcome to the Hearth, if it means anything. I know The Selector doesn't bring in many people with happy backstories or the like, so..." He trailed off. "My name's Kyn." He held out a hand to shake quickly after a long, awkward silence. I rolled my eyes and chuckled gently, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake.

  "My name's Vidr. It's nice to meet you. Sorry, it's... Fine. It's fine. Long few days. I appreciate the gesture, at the least." I took the plastic bag from him. The thick smell of bone broth and seasoned beef twirled through the air from within.

  "Of course, really, some of us definitely know how that can go. Enjoy. Hopefully, you can get some rest. I didn't really wanna bother you, but Miss Nizbit was insistent." He rolled his eyes heavily, tail flicking against the floor as he shifted his weight to one side and then the other. "Is The Selector keeping you around, or are you just here for a little while?" He asked gently, his eyes trailing from my toes up to my face, carefully weighing my presence. He gave a soft huff before shrugging.

  "Yeah, I'm probably gonna stick around. The Selector has some work he wanted me to do, and I still got some unfinished business in the city." I sighed, tail lashing irritably. "So, for what it's worth, I guess if anyone gets hurt or anything, just let me know. I know a thing or two about fixing people up."

  Kyn gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, for sure, some of the kids can be pretty reckless, so I'm sure their parents would love to hear that. I really should leave you to it. But if you need anything, I live right across the way." His tail flicked at the door on the other side of the pathway, directly across from my own. "That's why they sent me." His own eyes rolled heavily, tail flicking in the air, curling into an almost playfully annoyed S shape.

  "Just give me a couple days to sleep this off." I carefully rested my free hand on the side where my broken scales and bruises had settled into a series of dull throbbing embers that still burned underneath the bandages.

  "Yeah, for sure, take all the time you need, and if you do need to talk to The Selector, he's usually at Zion's kitchen. But if you don't find him there, just find Bella - she'll be able to get you in touch." Kyn's eyes were drawn away, looking back towards the playground at the center of the floor, where giggling children tumbled down one of the many slides landing in a heap.

  "Thank you. I'll do what I can. Anything else I can do for you before I go back to decomposing?" I rumbled, tail giving a final lash against the floor before settling.

  "No, no, no, not at all," Kyn reassured, smiling more genuinely. "Just take the time you need, Mr. Vidr, and give me a holler if you need anything."

  "Yeah, I'll try and do that," I slowly stepped away from the door, closing it as he gave a final wave, turning to go join the parents watching the children. First, I fished through the several drawers within the kitchen, finding a set of plastic cutlery. Grabbing a spoon and fork, I wandered towards my bed.

  I carefully sat down and untied the plastic bag Kyn had given me. Inside was a ceramic bowl with a plastic-wrapped lid carefully wrapped tight over its top. Steam leaked out from underneath it, condensing against the film and heightening the intense scent of freshly made stew. I pulled the blunt from my mouth, setting it down on an ashtray that I had fished from my kit bag earlier. I carefully opened the plastic on the broth. With an itching twitch in my eye, the TV began to play again. The narrator going on about the mating habits of local birds. The stew itself warmed me from the very core with each spoonful I ate. Almost too salty, but warm, earthy, and full of flavor. It tasted of genuine community.

  I knew an olive branch when I saw, or in this case, tasted one. Some indistinguishable emotion curled in my gut as my tail lashed against the bed unbidden. But I couldn't deny the sense of safety that came from the full belly and the empty bowl of stew. Nor the soft haze of my blunt's smoke eating away at the cogent thoughts in my mind, cutting away the anxiety and fear that threatened to dig their thorns into me. As the next documentary began, deep-sea fish flitted across the screen in streaks of light. Brilliant and incomprehensible. Great leviathans crawling from the depths, latching onto my mind and dragging me down into darkness.

  By the time I realized what was happening, I had already awoken the next day. Empty bowl still in my lap.

  //10-25-2099 - - 14:18//

  The date and time flashed against the ceiling overhead, the TV still rattling on, now ranting about some ancient scheme about aliens and pyramids, utterly unhinged. The embers of my side had all but faded already. Still present, still throbbing, but little more than a twinge of pain now. The greater pain was the burning in my stomach. Hunger and thirst warred for dominance. My thoughts still floated in a smoky haze as I slowly dragged myself to sit up on the edge of the bed. There was no sound of playing children or bustling denizens of the Hearth from outside, just the dull whine of compressors and spinning fans in the humidifier and air conditioning of the room.

  //During Sleep you received (4) new messages! -- Reading most relevant//

  Bella: Hey Vidr, Kyn told me I needed to send you The Selector's comm info. It should be attached to this message. Given the fact no one's heard anything from you in the past several hours, I guess you passed out, so I won't bug you too hard about it. But he'll probably want to hear from you in the near. Cheers. Shoot me a text or anything if you need something. If you need a car, my daddy's looking to sell one, so just let me know!

  [ATTACHMENT: SELECTOR_CONTACT.VCF]

  My eyes rolled heavily as I ran a claw over my side. " I need to eat something before I even think about any of this. I haven't slept like that in ages. Pizza'll do." I yawned. My eyes twitched and flicked across the room as I went through the process of ordering. Finding my address. Finding a local pizza place that sold something real, none of that fake soy shit. Setting up payment.

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  It felt like an eternity dragging out until I finally hit send and knew that it would be on its way. As I did, a small shark—my usual A.I. companion, not unlike Bella's little dragon—flitted into view for the first time in ages. He had been missing ever since I had finally made it into Charon's gate. Since the new software and cyberware had been implanted in my body. "Wow, you look... different." The little shark almost yelped, seeming to stare at me.

  "Yeah, I guess a few years will do that. I forgot I had you." I admitted, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as though it would prove that it was just a hallucination.

  "Wow! That would hurt if I weren't an AI! But I understand. I knew you'd be going to a corporation, so I guess I should have expected it. Anyways! You seem to be all out of sorts, Vidr. Where are you in the company? Have you been doing well?" It chattered incessantly.

  "I uh... just lost that job. It's been a rough few days." There wasn't any harm in telling this machine after all.

  "Oh no! That's awful! Maybe you should call your moth-" I cut it off before it could even finish the sentence.

  "Absolutely not. No, just no. We're not on speaking terms anymore, bud." The little shark buffered midair, stock still as it processed my words, before giving a swish of its tail, pirouetting.

  "Understood! I'm sure that hurts a lot, but I won't press. It's not my place. It looks like you've got some food on the way. It should only be here in about ten minutes, traffic allowing." He chimed with another swish of his tail, swimming to the other side of the room, "Though your biomonitor that you got is saying that you're all out of sorts! You really should try to get some water in you."

  "I know, I was about to when you popped in. Do I even have any cups?" A low hiss left my throat as I pushed to my feet, the little AR Shark giving a small gasp of worry as I trundled towards the kitchen. Rifling through the cupboards, I found that the cutlery I had pulled from the drawer was an old package of plastic forks, knives, and spoons. The rest sat woefully empty. With a heavy sigh, I began to trudge towards the door.

  "Are you hurt? You really shouldn't be up and moving if you are! That might cause more damage! Where are you going?" the little shark asked rapidly. With a quick flick of his tail, he drifted back into view.

  "I'm fine, I'm healing. Just got into a bit of an... accident." I said after a moment's pause. "I'm gonna see if my neighbor can lend me some cups. He said to bother him if I needed anything." I stated with an irritable flick of my tail. The door slid open easily, showing that only a handful of the saurids within the hearth on this floor were lounging under giant sunlamps on comfortable-looking rocks and benches dotted throughout the open floor.

  With a slow yawn, I trudged across the pathway to the door opposite mine. I gave three heavy knocks. One clawed hand rested over the bandages on my side, the other shoved into a pocket carelessly as I waited. It took only a couple of minutes for the door to slide open. A younger saurid girl leaned out, one hand on her hip as she tilted her head, looking up at me. "Who are you, mister? Whatcha need?"

  I blinked a half-dozen times before opening my mouth. "I'm Vidr. I was looking for Kyn. Is he in?"

  The teenager laughed, tail flicking in amusement. "Yeah, he's in. Let me go get him for ya. My brother's always stuck on his computer." She rolled her eyes with the click of her tongue, vanishing into the warm-looking home. It was larger than my own, even managing to have more than one room aside from the bathroom. After some incoherent chattering from deeper inside, Kyn wandered out, a set of headphones hanging from his neck, hands in his pockets as he tilted his head to look at me.

  "Hey Vidr! What do you need? Sister said you came looking for me." He offered a warm smile.

  "Do you have any cups and plates I might be able to borrow for the moment? I just need some water," I sighed blearily, rubbing at my eyes again. Kyn took a breath and then nodded.

  "Yeah, for sure. I can lend you a couple of mine till you get some of your own. I'm sure, um, well, I've heard The Selector likes to forget things like that on occasion. He won't swim for you, after all. From what I've heard, anyhow." He turned and ducked into the open kitchen, idly fetching a couple of bowls, plates, and cups. Stacking them carefully, "Let me carry it back for you. Looks like your side is still bugging you after all. Ain't no trouble," he insisted.

  It took no time at all for us to walk the short distance back to my new home. Kyn busied himself putting away the various dishes that he'd brought in, placing them in easy-to-reach locations. He even went so far as to fill one of the glasses for me with water and holding it out.

  I gave a soft chuff, taking it from him. "I'm not an invalid, you know." I stated with a roll of my eyes.

  "Yeah, I know. I'm just- I can be a little too helpful for my own good, I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, giving another tight smile.

  "It's fine," I reassured. The AR shark flitted into my view, popping up just over Kyn's head, holding up a small map showing the GPS location of my food in its fins, only a few minutes away. The cold water soothed the burning in my throat as I sipped it, my tail curling in satisfaction as it eased the gnawing pain in my stomach. "I needed that. Sorry, I can be a bit of an ass."

  "It's fine, really. It's just you didn't... look too great when you came in. I mean, you've certainly cleaned it all up. I wouldn't be able to tell if it wasn't for the hitch in your side." He stammered nervously, tail flicking back and forth.

  I waved a hand, shaking my head. "Don't worry about it. The concern is touching." I lied. The immaterial emotion from the previous night curled tighter around my gut, revealing its nature as suspicion. Kyn joined me as I chuckled. "Do you know if there's any gas stations or anything within walking distance? Convenience stores, anything? I'm gonna have to pick a few things up, that and maybe a tobacco store." I fished the plastic box from my pocket, flicking it open to reveal that both sides were nearly empty, with only one lonely blunt remaining.

  "There's a convenience store just down the corner, head out the main door, down to your left. It'll be right at the intersection. Don't smoke, though, sorry. I don't know about any tobacco stores or anything. I'd probably shoot Bella a text on that one." He gave another smile.

  "Thanks. I'll get out of your feathers then." I gestured at the dishes that he had laid out, tail flicking again.

  Kyn nodded. He took a moment to survey the room before nodding to himself again. "Alright. Looks like you could use a few things, so I'll ask around and see if anyone's got spares to offer,"

  Before I could even protest, he marched his way out the door and let it slide shut behind him. "Well, he seemed nice." The little shark chimed, setting the GPS map in the corner of my view. I took a deep breath, tail lashing against the floor.

  Without another word, I finished the water, turning and settling on my bed to wait.