Kit found Snowball rolling on the ground in front of his mud hut waiting for him. “Snowball, I have a surprise for you.”

Snowball tail wagged happily at Kit’s voice. Kit bent down to run his hands through Snowballs soft fur. A smile bloomed on his face. Patting his companion always made him happy.

Kit went into his mud hut to collect his few meagre belongings. Snowball was waiting on his bed practically bouncing on the spot, Kit laughed at the sight. He quickly fed him some food he had brought from the restaurant.

The food vanished quickly. Snowball gave a contented yip then went to settle on the bed.

“You can’t sleep yet Snowball. The food was not the surprise. Come on, follow me.”

Snowball trotted after Kit back to the boarding house. When Kit opened the front doors, he could hear gentle sounds of movement in the large building. He brought his finger up to his lips and made a quiet signal towards Snowball.

Kit walked towards his new room with Snowball following close behind. He opened the door and motioned Snowball inside.

“Well, what do you think? This is our new home. We will live with a lot of people from now on. So make sure to play nice with them.”

Snowball tilted his head to the side and gave a soft yip. Kit picked him up and placed him on the bed. “We should be very happy here, we are going to be one big family.”

Besides the relaxed and comfortable feel the boarding house gave, Kit had another reason to stay here. There was only Kat and him at home and she was out most of the time because of her job. It made him feel lonely, there was no one to talk or play with.

Since he started playing CAL things had changed for him. He had Mars, Snowball and then Twix. Now he wanted to grow his group wider. Living with so many other people would make him feel like he was part of a big family. He couldn’t wait to get to know everyone.

He didn’t want to return to the closed off person he had been prior to playing CAL. He wanted to be able to make friends without having a bunch of anxiety well up. This was a great place to practice working on gaining confidence interacting with people once again.

He even wished that Snickers would move in, but then he would have to live with Leonard. He was still too wary of the large man to contemplate living with him. Plus, he didn’t think Leonard would be a fan of Snickers living with so many people. It would eat into the time he could monopolise her.

Snowball grabbed his attention from his wandering thoughts by tucking himself in a ball on the bed.

“Snowball before you sleep, I need to tell you something else.” The small dog raised its head.

“We are going out with Snickers tomorrow. She wants to introduce you to Little Moo. Make sure you hit him with your cuteness overload okay.”

Snowball snorted then tucked his head back under his tail.

Kit quickly put his few belongings away. Then climbed into bed himself. He needed a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.

Kit woke the next day to laughter drifting into his room. He lifted his head to see that his door was slightly open. He was sure he closed the door last night. He then glanced down to the end of his bed to see that Snowball was missing.

“OMG it’s so cuteeeee! Where did it come from?”

Kit got up and followed the noise into the kitchen. Cupcake was cooking breakfast as he entered.

“Boss.” Cupcake smiled brightly at Kit.

“Morning Cupcake.”

Kit looked around for his little troublemaker. He found Snowball happily getting pats off Camomile and Charlette.

“I see you both found Snowball.” Kit smiled at the ladies.

“He is yours Kit?” Camomile had a look of surprise on her face.

“Yes, this little fluff ball is my companion. He will be living here too.”

“Ohh what a bonus to living here. I can get cuddles every day.” Charlette had a smitten look on her face. Snowball had enchanted another admirer.

Kit sat down at the dining table with the girls. Soon the table was full as the others came out of their room and took a seat. Cupcake brought breakfast over to the table. Kit looked at the fluffy eggs and the crisp bacon with delight.

Would he wake up to this each morning from now on? If so, he would be ecstatic. Kit glanced around the table at all the happy faces and had a feeling of content. This is what he had hoped to get out of living with so many people. Happy chatter and friendly smiles.

Kit felt like his chest was filling with a warm light. The happy chatter continued as they all started to eat. Halfway through the first meal together of the inhabitants of the boarding house, Snickers came in.

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“Kit are you ready?” He looked down at his half eaten meal. He then shovelled the rest into his mouth in case Snickers wanted to take him now before he could finish.

“What are you doing so early today, Kit?” Mars inquired.

“I’m taking Kit to get ingredients for rum today.” Snickers answered for him. She could see he had no way to talk right away because his mouth was bulging with food.

“Can I come? I haven’t got much on today.” Mars looked at Snickers with pleading eyes.

“No problem, more hands to collect ingredients the better. Grandpa is coming too.”

Twix lifted his head at Snickers words. “I want to come too please.”

Snickers tinkling laughter filled the room. “Sure, I didn’t know it would be so popular to get ingredients. Quickly finish your breakfast then we can go.”

As Kit hastened to shovel his food, he listened to Snickers instruct the staff about opening the restaurant. Kit could tell from the way that they all reacted to her that they respected her and took her words seriously.

Kit hoped the morning would go smoothly for them all. He was still hesitant to leave them alone for so long when they had all just started. He hoped they coped without him and Snickers until they returned.

Kit finished his breakfast and washed his plate. Mars and Twix weren’t far behind him. They left with Snickers to collect Grandpa on the way.

Snowball was happily bouncing around Kit’s feet as they walked. “Are you that happy to be coming along.”

Kit received loud yips in reply. He thought about the past week and realised he hadn’t had much time for Snowball. He started to feel guilty.

“Sorry for not spending much time with you this week Snowball. Things should calm down a lot for me now that I have staff in the restaurant. If today goes well, I’ll be going out each morning before going to the restaurant. Do you want to come along each morning?”

Kit thought he would get an excited response from the little fluff ball to his surprise Snowball bowed his head.

“You don’t want to come? It’s ok if you don’t.” Kit wondered what it was Snowball wanted to do each day. Then he remembered the pile of treasure Snowball had devoured. Kit started to laugh.

“Snowball, do you want to continue to collect treasure each day?” Snowball let out a cluster of happy yips.

“Ok you continue to do that. Just make sure you’re home at the usual time okay.”

Kit was ditched for treasure. He could only shake his head at the greedy little thief. At least the fluff ball would be home every night for cuddles.

They picked up Grandpa and headed out of the village. Snickers lead them east into the forest behind Spartan fire. Snickers released Little Moo after they had walked for 30 minutes. As soon as the large wolf emerged from the fog Snowball started yipping excitedly.

Kit held his breath waiting to see what the large wolf would do. To Kit’s delight Little Moo sat down with his tongue hanging out and let Snowball pounce all over him. Snickers walked over to the large wolf and swatted his head in disgust.

“Really, you just got defeated by a tiny dog.”

Laughter filled the air at Snickers actions. She snorted then continued leading them towards the ingredients she had found for rum. They soon stopped at a large rock carved with strange symbols.

“Ok we are here.”

Kit looked around. They were standing in the forest with only trees surrounding them. “Umm Snickers where are the ingredients?”

“In there.” Snickers pointed to the large rock with the symbols carved into it.

Snickers looked at the blank look on his face and laughed. “Come here and place your hand on the rock.”

Kit walked over and placed his palm onto the rock. He could feel the indents from the carvings under his hand.

“Ok now say rum, rum precious rum.” Kit gave Snickers a sceptical look. Was she playing a trick on him? When she waited patiently for him to say the words, he repeated the phrase out loud.

Kit felt a sucking motion. He felt himself being pulled inside the rock. Then he was spat out once again. Kit rolled across soft grass and came to a stop flat on his back. He stared up at the blue sky in a daze. What just happened?

He lifted himself up and glanced back at where he had rolled from. The same rock he had just touched was standing not far away from where he was sitting. Kit blinked in confusion. He didn’t have time to figure out what was going on.

Kit had to roll out of the way as Mars was spit from the rock and thrown directly at him. Kit heard a grunt from Mars then watched as Mars turned around in a daze just like he had moments before.

“What the hell?”

Mars looked back at the rock, then his eyes widened. Mars had to roll out of the way this time. Twix was hurtling out of the rock towards Mars. Kit started to laugh heartily. Then watched in amusement as Grandpa came flying out next.

Kit was having a great time watching the rock spit people out. Kit had to hold his sides he was laughing so much. He was glad he was the first one out and got to see the amusing actions of the others.

The next candidate that came through was Snowball. Kit’s eyes went wide as Snowball was launched high in the air. Kit quickly scrambled to catch the small dog.

Snowball landed in Kits arms with a small thud. “Snowball, are you alright?”

The little black fluff ball waged an excited tail. “Well, it looks like you enjoyed being airborne.”

Kit patted his cute companion then placed him on the ground. A flying grey wolf flew out of the rock next. Kit watched the large wolf roll several times before it came to a stop. Snowball leapt over to wolf and started to harass him.

“Well, it looks like you two are fast friends.”

Kit turned back to the rock in anticipation of Snickers being thrown out of the rock next.

To Kit’s disappointment she only rolled once then stood up gracefully. Of course, she didn’t make a sceptical of herself. Kit could only sigh in disappointment. He had been looking forwards to seeing her flustered.

Snickers walked over to him. “Well how was your first time teleporting through a rock?” Kit could see a happy gleam in her eyes at the question. He guessed she didn’t tell him what would happen on purpose.

“It was eventful.” Snickers snorted at him and flickered her hair. Kit laughed once again. He could tell he didn’t give her the response she was after.

Now that they had all arrived Kit had time to gaze at his new surroundings. The first thing he noticed was a giant field of tall canes not far from where he was standing. The canes were about 6 meters tall with narrow stalks and leaves at the top arching away from the cane.

Kit felt a thrill run through his body at the recognition of the plants. “Snickers are these sugar canes!”

Snickers tinkling laughter filled the air. “Yes Kit. I thought you would be happy with these.”

Kit was so excited he went and hugged the small elf. “Damn Snickers this is fantastic! Not only can I make rum I can also make pure sugar. I will make you a whole barrel of rum for yourself.”

Kit was so pleased with this find. Although he already had the White sticky sweet flower as a substitute for sugar. It wasn’t the same as the real thing! Kit couldn’t wait to harvest some of the canes.

“Thank you Kit I will look forward to it.” Snickers smacked her lips in delight. Kit watched as her eyes glazed over. When he looked at her small frame he had the thought of leading her astray in indulging in alcohol. Then he remembered her age and the thoughts went up in smoke.

He left her to think about her rum and happily headed over to the tall stalks.