The doorbell rang once more, the sound of jingles echoing through the apartment and into the bedroom. The three girls stared at each other, a trace of annoyance on all of their faces.
Rose stood up from her crotch with a sigh. "I'll go check it out, you two should continue getting ready."
"Mhmm, alright."
"Gotcha."
She reached their apartment's door quickly and opened it, the morning air of the suburban street hitting her face as she blinked her eyes at the individual standing before her, upon the second-floor terrace of stone.
"You are. . .?"
It was a woman with a pale complexion, who looked as if she were in her mid-twenties. She had hazel, short hair in a bob cut and rectangular glasses shielding her green eyes while she wore a white shirt tied at her waist to make it fit her, and brown, jean shorts paired with sandals. Though she looked normal, that was the case only if Rose decided to ignore the white lab-coat on her person, the fingerless black gloves on her hands, and the large goggles on her forehead.
"I'm Sora Casburn," The woman spoke with a grin that created dimples near her freckles, yet was overshadowed by the dark circles around her eyes. She pointed to her right, or Rose's left. "I'm your neighbor. I noticed you guys just moved in recently and thought I should use my break from my research to finally say hello."
She showed off the plastic bag in her hand, shaking it.
"I brought brownies as a welcome gift," She said, then chuckled, "Though I got them from a store, well technically from a drone I guess, so don't expect much."
Rose's eyes glanced over the woman as her thoughts ran.
'Pale complexion, shadows around her eyes, and a body that seems frail. . .well, at least it's safe to say she isn't lying when it comes to having been stuck inside her apartment,' She thought. As well, thanks to her superior senses, she could already smell the brownies from the bag.
Of course, there was reason enough why Rose was wary of strangers. Even now, she didn't know when the next trouble would come knocking from one; and she certainly didn't want it, not after finally having a reprieve in her life. She had been through far too much for that. Though she chased strength, it was only so she could guarantee this freedom.
"Hello?"
"Come in."
Rose held the door wider, and the woman gingerly entered, a yawn leaving her lips as the door closed, locking automatically. There was the sound of a shower in the air.
"Wow, you guy's barely have any decorations, how long have you been in here?" Sora said, sitting down on the only chair in the room, the green couch, and placing her plastic bag on the wooden table in front of it. She stared around, partly sleepy, but curious.
'Barely any' was an overstatement. The only real 'decoration' they had was a clock on the wall of the apartment's door, if the television in-front of the couch didn't count. In a sense, Rose, Elsa, and Lilias were more practical in what they owned than any want for eye-candy. If they had money, they weren't the type to squander it on useless things.
Rose sat beside the woman. She was dressed in only a gray sweater that reached all the way to the middle of her thighs. Something she often wore as home-wear.
"Just a few days," She said, "Do you want anything? Tea? Apple juice? Water?"
"Oh no, nothing." Sora shook her head. "I'm not gonna stay for long."
She reached for the plastic bag and opened it, pulling out a container with already-cut brownies in them and a receipt which she simply crumpled up.
"Here," She said, opening it on the table.
"Thank you."
"Woah who's this? She brought brownies?"
Elsa leaned in from the back of the couch, cutting between Rose and the woman, her eyes staring at the dessert with a smile.
"She's the neighbor to the right of us, she came to welcome us," Rose said.
"Oh?" Elsa grinned. "Thanks for the welcome then."
Sora waved her hand. "No problem, it's nothing really."
"Aye aye."
Elsa picked up a brownie and tossed it into her mouth. Standing back up, she spoke while still chewing.
"Rose, I'll do your hair," She said, gulping.
Rose blinked her eyes, tilting her head.
"You don't need to?" She said.
"I'll do it anyway."
It was already too late, the girl had already begun brushing Rose's hair with a brush she had brought with her from the bathroom. It was simply the way Elsa was. She seemed to enjoy taking care of Rose, even when the homunculus didn't particularly need the hand.
Listening to Elsa's humming coming from behind her, Rose resigned to her fate, picked up a brownie, and ate it. 'Sweet,' She thought, her face brightening. She liked it and found herself picking up another rather quickly.
She turned towards the woman.
"You said you were doing research, right?" Rose asked.
Sora nodded. "Yup, might not look like it, but I'm a Mage of the Armament Branch. I work more on the side of things that go 'boom' though."
She sounded proud of that fact, while Rose stared at her lab coat, wondering how it didn't look like she was a mage. Shrugging that off, she gulped down a brownie as the woman continued.
"What about you guys? What do you do?" Sora asked.
"Oh. . .we're dungeoneers."
The woman's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Really."
Before the woman could continue once more, Elsa's hand left Rose's hair.
"Vwalla, a ponytail!" The girl exclaimed.
Rose's hair had been tied by a rubber band before she noticed. She blinked her eyes, stared at the brownies that were now half gone, and then up at a grinning Elsa.
"Thank you," She said.
Elsa chuckled.
"Who is this?"
Lilias Aunbren stared curiously at the girl on their couch, while Sora Casburn stared back at her, slackhawed with a brow raised.
"What the heck. . .did you reincarnate?" Sora blurted out.
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Three sets of eyes stared at her at that moment.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Hmm?"
Sora laughed.
"Nothing, nothing, but I just realized you three remind me of some friends I used to know," She quickly said, grinning.
"Used to?" Elsa asked, "Something happened to em?"
"Umm. . .well. . .let's just say we can't keep in contact anymore," Sora replied, muttering as she fixed her glasses, "I guess you can say I only knew them from. . .a virtual reality game."
To Rose, she sounded overly suspicious, but she wasn't going to pry into a stranger's personal life if they didn't wish to speak.
Sora sighed, then smiled brightly, pointing at Lilias.
"You remind me of Claire Hill," She said.
Then she pointed at Rose.
"You remind me of Alicia Fraught."
Then she pointed at Elsa.
"And you, you remind me of Via Goodwill."
She sighed once more, this time with content.
"Ah, fun times, fun times," She said, nodding to herself and reminiscing about things no one else understood.
Rose, Lilias, and Elsa locked eyes with one another, confusion highlighting their faces. At that moment, they all communicated the same thought to one another through their eyes alone: their neighbor might just be a bit weird in the head.
Unaware of their thoughts, Sora Casburn stood up and stretched.
"Well, I'll be going now, I've got a busy day ahead of me," She said, glancing one final moment at the three of them. "You girls still seem pretty young, feel free to come knocking at my door if you ever need help, alright?"
Elsa nodded.
"Gotcha."
"Thanks for the meal," Rose replied.
Lilias merely watched the woman off.
The door opened, Sora stepped out, and the door closed.
"She was odd," Rose murmured immediately after.
"Definitely."
"Indeed."
They had a thoughtful, but odd neighbor.
Shrugging, Lilias sat beside Rose, crossing her legs as her tail wrapped around her waist. She was dressed casually, shorts and a shirt, the same as Elsa, though her shirt actually covered her stomach. The dragonian picked up a brownie as Elsa plopped down between them, tossing it into her mouth, chewing slowly and reaching for another.
"They will be here in five more minutes or so," Lilias said, checking her pad; the display screen that blinked up from the orb attached to her wrist with a black strap.
"Oh sweet."
"Mhmm."
Elsa blinked her eyes at the brownies that were all but gone.
"Lilias. . .Rose. . .why the heck are you two eating it all?"
". . .hmm, dragonians need a lot of sugar?"
"Bullshit."
"Homunculus need a lot of sugar?"
"Even more fucking bullshit, you don't even need to eat!"
In the end, Rose simply shrugged with a smile and picked up a piece, offering it to the girl.
"Here, open your lips."
"Wha-" Elsa blushed.
"Unless you don't want me to feed it to you?"
"Of course I want!"
Elsa immediately opened her lips in the next instance and took the dessert from Rose's fingers, the homunculus smiling in content.
"How is it?" Lilias asked.
"Tasty? What else is it supposed to be?"
"You know I wasn't referring to the brownie."
"Damn you. . .fine, it felt good, okay?."
As Lilias chuckled, Rose silently raised the last piece of brownie towards the girl.
Right now, the three were simply relaxing as they waited for their delivery of virtual-reality helmets, something they ordered the previous night and needed so that they could shop for new equipment for Elsa. A need as they would be able to test the weapons themselves.
It was one of the reasons they had been annoyed when they first heard the doorbell, as the expected notification of an arriving drone did not pop up on Lilias's pad. Five minutes passed, and the doorbell rang once more. This time, they didn't frown.