A couple of days, a stream of customers, two lonely evenings, one Sean Connery James Bond movie and a dozen episodes of the TV show later, Giselle and Ian went downstairs to visit Rachel and Kamal. She held a small bouquet of summer flowers that she picked up on her way home and Ian carried a carefully wrapped gift. A special edition smoked salt and a small bottle of expensive olive oil.
They rang the door and seconds later Kamal opened it wide, a grin on his face. "Welcome, guests! Please step inside our new home!", he welcomed them both inside. Giselle eyed him up and down. He wore a white tee and dark, blue jeans. Then she looked over to her husband, who somehow had agreed immediately when she had asked whether he wanted to tag along to the invitation. Ian also wore a white tee and dark, blue jeans. The print largely differed. The dark-skinned man had a logo of the Lions on it. Blackwater's own baseball team. Ian's shirt said in a black print "FAIL", underneath that was a crying Dilbert in front of a monitor.
The major difference between the two men was their level of training. The weight Ian carried around his waist, Kamal had distributed on his chest and upper arms.
"Hi, thanks for having us. This is Ian!", Giselle said after assessing the men and stepping into their living space. Ian looked fairly serious, but his voice was soft when he greeted their host. As they got out of the shoes, Rachel came out of the kitchen. A smell of roasted chicken followed her. "Hi! Hi! You must be Ian! Welcome! I'm so happy you accepted the invitation!", she beamed at the two guests. Giselle smiled at her, ignoring the apron that showed a zombie-like bloodbath of her body. Ian chuckled at it. Kamal joined in immediately as he noticed what Ian was amused about and grinned at his girlfriend, "See? That apron is golden!". A thumbs up followed from Ian and Kamal, at nearly the same time. Giselle facepalmed and noticed that they brought gifts.
"We brought something for the housewarming", the brunette announced happily. Her husband held up a hand with the wrapped package and she handed over the bouquet. Rachel directed her partner to put it on the table in a vase and took the guests in tow into the main room, placing the gift on a cabinet along the wall.
While the layout of the apartment was exactly the same as Giselle's, it looked so different, she wouldn't have recognized it. The wooden floor was the same and the entrance area looked quite similar, but the whole place was a modern masterpiece. Minimalist, white furniture with chromium handles, a chestnut dining table with fitting chairs that had a tall backrest and quite a few cabinets with vases and plates made of clay, none of them painted. The walls were a bit odd, since two had a colourful, abstract painting and one had a medieval helmet, a set of sexy armour and two large swords.
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"Oh, no TV?", Ian noticed as he looked around, too. Rachel explained over her shoulder, "We never liked the same shows, so we both have tablets with a large screen! And before you ask where the couch is, we don't exactly have one. Our bed is a lounge area that we use as both!". Kamal nodded in approval and pointed at the open door to the bedroom as he placed the bouquet on the table.
Both visitors stole glances into the bedroom. It was a different realm. Two walls were hung off with semi-transparent curtains, behind them were some wallboards, possibly to store clothes. The remainder of the room was a multi-coloured mess of blankets and cushions, at the center of it a small table everything was built around. The room smelled of fruits and smoke, similar to the bars to smoke water pipes in. Giselle was speechless. She wouldn't want to live here, no, but it was a sight to behold.
"Your place is quite something!", she finally praised the two hosts. Rachel came just back from the kitchen, carrying four glasses and a bottle of sparkling wine. "Why, thank you! We like it, too!", her smile was genuine and the glance she threw at Kamal was a happy, loving one. In seconds, the glasses were filled and all held one in hand. "I hope we'll be good neighbors", Ian chimed in, his spirits seemed to be quite high despite all the mess they were in. And so Giselle agreed, "To good neighbors". The hosts nodded and smiled as their glassed clinked together and they sipped, or drank, depending on who one was looking at.
To begin conversation, Giselle pointed at the swords, "So what's the story to sword and armour?". Kamal rumbled a laugh, "It's Rachel's hobby. She plays a game like that". He was very surprised when Giselle shot back, "Rachel, you LARP?". The redhead beamed back at her, "Yes I do! All of this, except the metalwork itself, is self-made. Even the leather and cloth in there! Let me show you". Giselle followed with interest. It's not like she knew a lot about LARPing, except that it existed and that you played a character role like in theater-like setting, but Rachel seemed to love talking about it already. With one ear turned to her husband, she heard Kamal ask, "So, do you like baseball? Or some other sports?". Ian said, "No, not really, I'm more into James Bond and games". Kamal sighed in response, but then she stopped listening. Rachel had pulled a wizard's outfit from the cabinet underneath the armour on the wall and started to explain about Erima, the Wise and their small adventures.