There was something heavy on Trevor’s chest when he was laying in bed. The pressure woke him up, but he refused to move or open his eyes. Not out of fear, but because he was comfortable.

The house - or rather, his house - had been spacious and well furnished. It seemed like almost every listing he had seen on AirBNB, but there was something cozy about it. There were only three rooms: the living room, the bathroom, and the bedroom.

A large fireplace commanded his attention when Trevor first walked into the house. It was easily twice as wide as any he had seen on his Earth in anyone’s home, and he had already become excited about the prospect of laying on the couch while a fire roared when it started getting colder. The air outside was already cool, so he imagined that it was either going to be really soon or really long until he got that chance.

The furniture was pretty basic, but comfortable. A couch and two plush chairs were situated in front of the fireplace along with a coffee table. On the other side of the room was a long dining room table with six chairs made from the same type of wood. Trevor had, of course, tested each of these spots to see which one was best, but he only concluded that more investigation was required.

Wanting to save the bedroom for last, he checked the bathroom next. Seeing the modern Earth-like style had caused him to pause. It was only a sink, toilet, and bathtub-shower combo, but he hadn’t expected something quite so similar in this world. Though, the more he thought about it the more it made sense. If the Texan, Wayne, had built this place, it wasn’t surprising that it was familiar.

It came with everything he needed in order to be clean, including soap, shampoo, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and more. Testing out his power again, Trevor recalled his shirt into his inventory. He was pleased to see that it disappeared in a flash of light, and when he retrieved it there was the option to pop back in his hand or back in place around him. It seemed as though it didn’t matter where the item was pulled out as long as it was touching his body.

After the fourth time of playing with his inventory and seeing how many ways he could wear his shirt without putting it on, Trevor coughed and got himself cleaned up for bed. The last room was the one he was most excited for, after all, and he was happy to see that it didn’t disappoint.

Sitting against the far wall was a huge bed. It was far larger than anything he would even dream of for his studio apartment back home, and had been covered in fluffy white sheets and pillows both soft and firm. There were dressers that were already full of clothing of different sizes, and nightstands flanked the bed.

One of the tables even had an alarm clock with faintly glowing green numbers despite not having any discernible power source. When he had gone to sleep it said 9 PM, which was fairly early for him. However, Trevor had melted into the bed and the comfortable sheets and was out like a light in seconds. It was a peaceful, dreamless sleep the likes of which he had not seen in many years.

Though, it was still interrupted by that pressure on his chest.

“You know,” Trevor said groggily. “I could have sworn that note said that no one would be able to enter my house without my permission. So, that begs the question, what are you doing here?”

Silence stretched for a few seconds before he got a response.

“Meow,” Mr. Tiggles said before leaning his head forward and rubbing his face on Trevor’s chin.

Trevor allowed this, though shifted so that he could yawn into his hand and not into the cat’s face. Normally, he would have been perturbed to suddenly be woken up by an animal sneaking into his bed, but this wasn’t normal circumstances.

He took a moment to assess his feelings, and decided to tell all the negative ones to sod off. If he was summoned here to take a break, and his Earth body was in the shop anyway, then why not make the best of it? It wasn’t every day someone like him was offered super powers in a new world.

“I’m going to get up, okay?” Trevor asked. Mr. Tiggles immediately moved off of his chest, though he didn’t leave the bed, and began grooming himself.

A quick look marked the time as 6:30 AM. Trevor reluctantly slid out of bed and started looking through the dressers. The room was cold, but not uncomfortable. Figuring the same could be said of the weather outside, he worked to find something warm to wear.

As he found the column of drawers full of clothes in his size, he started setting some aside including a pair of pajamas that looked similar to the one the woman from last night wore.

The fashion was similar to the things he saw people wearing on the streets yesterday. Mostly tunics and thick pants, though there were also jackets and shorts at the very bottom. He was amused to see that the outfit he had worn on the cover of the book Jackson summoned was in here as well, and decided to wear the tank top with a fluffy blue coat. If it got hot later, then he would be comfortable either way.

Taking everything into his inventory, he amused himself by causing them to reappear exactly as they were meant to be. Instantly equipping things hadn’t been on his bingo card when he got saddled with this power, but he would take it.

Mr. Tiggles waited patiently for Trevor, barely paying the young man any mind at all as he went about his business. Looking out through the bedroom door, it didn’t look like the front door had been opened. All of the windows had been shut, as well, which was something that was thoroughly checked last night before bed.

“How did you get in here?”

“Meow.”

“I suppose that’s the only answer I’m going to get, isn’t it?”

“Meow.”

“Alright, I’m just not going to question you about it, then.”

Yawning again, Trevor looked for the kitchen before remembering that it was in the communal space. It seemed odd to him that Wayne would go through all this trouble of making houses and not include a kitchen, there was plenty of room for one, but simply shrugged it off. There was probably a reason for it.

When Trevor opened the door, he was hit by a blast of cold air and immediately felt validated on his choice to wear a coat. Mr. Tiggles escaped outside and ran towards the communal space, but only made it so far before turning around to make sure that the new Summoned was following.

“Oh, you just want food, don’t you?” Trevor asked in amusement.

“Meow!” Mr. Tiggles seemed to confirm.

Despite the incredibly thick, fluffy tail and the fact that Mr. Tiggles had somehow managed to sneak into his locked house, Trevor couldn’t help but feel at ease with the creature. Whether he was or was not a regular animal, it didn’t seem to matter. Its mannerisms were that of a cat, so he saw it as a cat. The fact that it went straight for its food bowl once he used the key to open the communal space reinforced this.

The lights turned on immediately as he entered, illuminating the room in a gentle white glow. There were several chairs and tables in the center of the room, and a couple of them near a line of bookshelves had tomes resting on them. Opposite the shelves was a table that looked suspiciously like it was made for billiards, and as Trevor approached and touched the felt, he noticed that there were, in fact, balls in the pockets already. There were cue sticks in short racks against the wall.

There was a fireplace not unlike the one in his own house, and it was surrounded by a couch, a loveseat, and two recliners. There was wood set up next to it along with a poker, shovel for ash, and anything else you needed. A puzzle bearing the likeness of Mr. Tiggles laid incomplete on a coffee table sitting in the middle of the cozy setup.This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

A long counter took up most of the back wall. There were items not unlike a fridge, microwave, oven, and sink. There were no plugs for electricity, but Trevor had seen enough already to know that the answer was something of a mix between “magic” and “probably the ideas of Summoned, likely Wayne.”

Fruits and vegetables sat in bowls on two freestanding counters not far from one lining the wall. There were several tools from spatulas, knives, and cutting boards, though everything was sparkling clean. The food was all different colors from what he was used to, but the shapes were roughly the same.

“I wonder if some Summoned decades ago looked at the food and decided, hey, this isn’t like the stuff from where I came from and started breeding plants until they got what they wanted,” Trevor muttered to himself. A pickle tasted like a pickle, and both bread and, apparently, tacos kept their flavor, so why not other foods?

Then it occurred to him that perhaps his taste buds had been changed to suit the cuisine of this world. If that were the case then he didn’t think he would mind it. Food from Earth was delicious, but most of the stuff that tasted good was incredibly unhealthy. Now that he had most of a six pack to defend, eating well was a priority.

“Meow!” Mr. Tiggles complained aggressively.

The cat was standing on a table that had a plush bed that appeared to have never been used and several toys. There was a bowl for food and water on a short platform that was tilted so that it was easier for Mr. Tiggles to eat and drink. Even as he stared back at Trevor, he reached towards the ground next to his perch.

“Food, sure,” Trevor said with a smile as he walked around to the cat’s table.

Mr. Tiggles had been pawing the air, trying to indicate a bag that the man opened. The cat tried to jump into the bag, but was quickly caught and held under one arm. His tail twitched and smacked Trevor in the back, but he didn’t struggle, instead opting to stare as his captor filled up the bowl with a scoop of food.

Once the cat was placed back on the table, he shot towards the bowl before stopping to delicately sniff the contents. Trevor sealed the bag and took the water bowl to the sink. The spout was made from stone, and had two knobs on either side, one red and one blue. Reaching for the blue one, water began to emerge as soon as it was turned.

Trevor stuck his hand under the water. It was cool to the touch, but what he really wanted to attempt was bringing it into his inventory. It worked, leaving a shimmer of light on his hand where the liquid continued to flow. In a fit of whimsy, he delicately attempted to make some of the water appear in his mouth. Just a little bit, which nearly dribbled out of his lips when he succeeded.

Wiping the water from his chin, he looked back at the cat. “I don’t think my power was meant to be used this way,” he said to Mr. Tiggles, who had finally begun eating. “But it’s pretty fun to see what works.”

Trevor watched the water for a moment before realizing that he couldn’t hear it draining. A quick look behind the door under the sink revealed that there wasn’t anywhere for the water to go. It simply disappeared. Nodding to himself and accepting the use of magic to make life easier, he filled up Mr. Tiggles’ dish and brought it to the cat who was still trying to decide whether or not he was going to eat his food.

He glanced towards the oven to see that it, too, was made of stone. Trevor saw that it had a clock, and used it to check the time. It claimed that the time was 7:56, but that couldn’t be right. There was no way it had been an hour and a half since he had gotten up. The lady who had told him to be here at 7 sharp hadn’t arrived yet, either.

“Must be just as hard to change an oven clock here as it is on Earth,” Trevor joked to himself.

The microwave and fridge were made of the same stone as the sink and oven, and Trevor wondered if the stone was magical or just easy material to use. It didn’t matter, though. His stomach growled and he thought to sneak himself a quick bite before the stern woman made an appearance. From his inventory, he retrieved one of the taco bread balls.

And frowned when it felt that it was no longer warm. A quick check confirmed that the other three were also cold, and he couldn’t help but pout to himself.

“Maybe I should find some kind of heating lamp or, like, a hot stone or something to put into my inventory,” he muttered to himself.

“Morn’n.”

A sleepy voice caused him to turn around, and Trevor hid the taco bread balls behind his back before remembering that he had a pocket dimension to store them in. He quickly pushed them inside his inventory, happy that the flash of lights weren’t powerful enough to illuminate anything, and gave the woman a grin.

She wore the same black pajama pants and button-up shirt she had on last night, though she had come in slippers this time. The woman walked around the tables, rubbing her eyes, and headed for one of the freestanding counters. She squatted down and opened a cabinet, and Trevor winced as he heard a cascade of falling pans before she pulled out the one that she was looking for.

Up close and in the light, Trevor realized that, despite her dangerous aura last night, this woman was incredibly cute.

“Good morning,” Trevor said with a slight bow. He wasn’t sure if it was needed for every greeting or just introductions, but it seemed like a safe bet.

The bow was not returned, but he did get a nod and a yawn for his trouble. She walked around the counter to the oven and placed the cast iron skillet on one of the metal plates. Her eyes scanned the ingredients as she turned, and Trevor watched with amusement.

Yesterday, she had been stern and dangerous. This morning, she was barely functioning but going through the motions. That was a mood that Trevor knew well.

His eyes, however, were drawn to a part of her body he hadn’t noticed before. Out of her back, just about where her spine would end, was a thin, black tail that ended in a triangular spade. Her shirt had been cut so that it would have free access to the outside world, and it lazily swished back and forth.

“Eggs,” she mumbled.

“Please and thank you,” Trevor said, and the woman gave him a curt nod.

She walked over to another cabinet and pulled out a basket of eggs. At first, Trevor was alarmed. In America, eggs were washed and processed before being sold, which required them to be refrigerated. As a city boy, this was all he knew. Her indifference to this fact meant that it was probably fine, and he relaxed slightly.

When she held up two eggs, he noticed that they were shaped exactly like those from a chicken. Trevor couldn’t help but ask, “There’s chickens here?”

“Mmhmm,” she replied, though the Quest Master seemed to think he was talking to it.

[[Chickens are a universal constant. It doesn’t matter where you go, it is more likely than not that this delicious bird will exist. Unless they’ve been hunted to extinction for being so scrumptious.

However, not all chickens are created equal. In some universes, they are dangerous monstrosities that fly in packs, are invincible, and don’t mind tearing a hero or two apart at the slightest provocation.

But you’re fine in this world. Trust me.]]

“Thank you, Quest Master,” Trevor mumbled, not fully reassured.

“How’ya wanem?” the woman asked.

“Over easy?” Trevor asked. She looked at him, eyes half closed from sleep, and he continued. “Sunny side up? Leave the yolks, please.”

That garnered a nod and she cracked the eggs onto the skillet and began cooking.

Trevor watched in fascination as her tail reached for what he assumed was salt and pepper on a nearby spice rack. The appendage wrapped around them, showing amazing dexterity, and added a couple shakes of each before returning them. She yawned again.

It wasn’t so much that Trevor didn’t know how to cook that made this so fascinating to him. He could cook the essentials. Eggs were easy, as was frying most things, but something about how this woman moved despite being half dead to the world intrigued him in a way he wasn't sure had happened before. The juxtaposition between how dangerous she was and her current state was highly amusing.

Before he knew it, the eggs were done. She reached for a plate in one of the cabinets above the counter and pulled it down, moving the food from one to the other, and handed it to Trevor.

“Thank you,” he said. "I really appreciate you waking up for this. You didn't have to."

The woman paused, staring at Trevor for a few seconds as if making a decision. “Y’welcome,” she finally said before grabbing a purple apple and walking away.

He had expected her to move to a table and sit, but instead the horned woman left the communal space all together. As quickly as she came, she left, like some kind of breakfast diner-based cryptid. It took Trevor a few moments to find a fork in the many drawers, but once he did, he dug in.

It was good, and he scarfed it down in no time flat. Being a courteous guest, Trevor took the time to find what he needed and wash his plate and fork before deciding it was time to go.

As he left into the cold air, the first rays of sunlight hitting the trees, Mr. Tiggles jumped back up onto his shoulder. “You want to go on an adventure, little guy?” Trevor asked, petting the cat behind the ears.

“Purr.”

“Me, too, buddy. Let’s get going.”