It was practically like clockwork when Pepper watched the blue minivan pull into the driveway. He started to make his way outside and by the time he reached the doorway his entire guess of what to expect out of Wilson was flipped upside down.

  “Well, hello there, you must be Pepper.” The woman greeted him with a vibrant southern accent.

  She had already exited the vehicle and was halfway to the door when Pepper noticed her approaching. Her dark brown hair was pulled back and secured by a bright blue bow. Her dress was just a slightly darker shade of blue, but was covered with white polka dots.

  Her figure filled the dress out as she slightly waddled in her stride. She removed the sunglasses she had been wearing and that was when Pepper saw her warm brown eyes. The red lipstick was one of an inviting shade, but the southern hospitality was quickly erased as she practically barged right past Pepper and into the house.

  “Well this is lovely, just lovely with a splash of charm.”

  “Uh, I’m sorry who are you?” Pepper asked. The entire situation left him completely baffled. He could not believe that some random stranger had the audacity to simply barge in and take control over his temporary home.

  The woman ignored him at first while she quickly walked through the house. “Oh, this will do just perfect for Wilson.”

  Pepper was now walking after the woman who continued throughout the house without hesitation. “Excuse me.”

  The woman paused and turned back at him. Her finger pointed through the doorway of the master bedroom. “You don’t mind if Wilson takes this room do you?”

  Pepper’s eyes widened and he felt his head lean backwards. He could have sworn it would have fallen off in shock if it wasn’t for his neck synched tight in frustrated tension. “Yes, I mind. I clearly said that I was already occupying the room. I specifically told Wilson that. And… I might add, you still have not introduced yourself.”

  The woman smiled and started to slowly walk towards him. “I should clarify, that was me you were actually talking to. On Wilson’s behalf of course. The name is Morgan, Morgan Boltan. I am Wilson’s mother.”

  She extended her hand out and Pepper reluctantly met the gesture. He was once against surprised as her grip crushed down upon his and he immediately felt as if she tried to assert herself over him. She narrowed her eyes and smiled at him, but Pepper instinctively knew there was nothing warm and welcoming regarding the poker face.

  She then released her vice grip of a handshake and then turned her attention out the front door. “Right in here gentlemen. Second door on the left will do.”

  “Second door on the left???” He muttered. By the time his gaze caught up he saw a convoy of moving men. They were now walking up the front porch stairs and carrying loads of boxes inside.

  “There we go now; we don’t have all day. Wilson needs to get back to his training and we can’t do that until everything is setup.”

  Pepper stood there frozen in shock and immediately regretted ever considering the deal. His house now being intruded upon by an overly aggressive mother and he could only imagine what her spawn was like. It was then that he heard a male voice call for her from outside.

  “Hun, have salt shaker open the workshop door so we can unload the golem!”

  “Will do darling.” The woman yelled back as if she was calling out across a grass pasture. She then turned to him and gave him another fake smile. “Pepper was it? Could you be a peach and go open up that there workshop in the back?”

  “Wait a minute, Wilson… I mean you, never said anything about needing a workspace. I don’t…”

  The woman turned and ignored Pepper’s protest. “He’ll be there in a minute darling.” She yelled back. She continued down the hallway as the convoy of movers continued shuffling in and out of the house. Her overbearing presence issued out commands with every step she took.

  Pepper could not believe he was actually balling his fists. Who the heck does this woman think she is? Coming into my home and just marching around as if she owns the place. This is absolutely ridiculous! He had turned and forcefully stormed out the back door.

  Amprage was trotting right behind him as they went. “Pepper, she scares me.”

  He arrived to see a man standing at the main door. An old fashioned hair style which was parted down the side. The man had removed his glasses and quickly cleaned the lenses on his button up shirt before placing them back on his face. A slight pot belly which bulged against his shirt.

  The man then smiled and gave Pepper a nod. He shifted his slacks to reseat them and then extended his hand. “Larry Boltan.”

  Pepper ignored the handshake and walked right past the man and started to punch the door code. “Pepper.”

  “Well Pepper, I must say you, we were sure blessed to get your message. We were starting to worry we wouldn’t find anything for Wilson. Low and behold your message popped up and we couldn’t be more pleased. You’ll love Wilson, really will. He’s…”

  The man continued to ramble on. The entire time Pepper just tuned out everything that was said. A knot started to form in his stomach and all he wanted was to wake up from what he wished was a nightmare.

  Thankfully Larry had now devoted his attention towards directing the delivery driver. It was only a few minutes later that Larry was issuing out orders of how Wilson’s golem should be delivered inside the workshop.

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  “Pepper… Pepper…” He heard Amprage’s voice softly call out to him.

  He looked down to see his familiar began to gently poke his nose into his leg. “Yeah Amp?”

  “Are you okay?” The familiar asked with a calm tone of concern.

  He looked up and glanced over the swarm of activity playing out before him. He slowly lowered his head back down to his familiar. “Honestly? No… I’m not, okay.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  Pepper huffed, “Wake me up when September ends.”

  “Will do… setting reminder for 1 October.”

  The overly serious devotion of his familiar was the only spark of happiness Pepper had in the moment. Though he wished he was able to forget this new predicament had ever happened, he now found himself trudging his way back to the house. “Guess it’s time to go back to what I’m used to.”

  “Hiding?” Amprage asked.

  “Precisely.”

  They reached the backdoor and immediately froze once he stepped inside. There standing in the entry way was a small, thin figure. The guy looked more like a child who was ready for a science laboratory rather than a golem league match.

  Slick brown hair with glasses that looked far too large for his face. A pair of bright red suspenders were draped over the navy-blue button up shirt he wore underneath. The tan pair of slacks he wore were far too short for him and his white socks left Pepper cringing at his appearance.

  “You’re not what I expected.” Pepper said.

  Wilson had two large buck teeth that were sticking partially out from underneath his upper lip. That was the only response Pepper received besides a blank stare. Wilson reached his finger up and pushed his glasses up higher on his nose.

  “Alright, Wilson? Wilson… of there you are.” Morgan called out from down the hallway and then appeared a brief second later. “Okay, your computer is all setup and all the boxes have been placed in your new room for you. Your father is making sure your golem thing is put away in the workshop and I’ve made sure your medications are all set out on your dresser for you.”

  Morgan then turned and looked over to Pepper. “I just sent Wilson’s portion of the rent to your Golem Chat account. If anything, else comes up just shoot me a message. Okay? Okay great.”

  Pepper didn’t even have a chance to say anything. Morgan turned and closed the front door behind her as she left just as fast as she had arrived. The audible beeps of the moving trucks backing up blared outside. It seemed like mere seconds and Pepper was left standing there with a complete stranger.

  There was an awkward silence between the two and Pepper had finally had enough. “I’m Pepper, by the way.” He felt it was the politest thing to do. Seeing how the person he had been talking with up to that point wasn’t even the person standing before him.

  “Wilson.” The young man replied. Pepper was about to invite his new roommate to sit down and chat. But to his surprise, Wilson turned and slowly walked to his room and closed the door behind him.

  Pepper found himself and Amprage staring back at one another. “Well, that’s that, I suppose. I guess today is just filled with surprises.”

  The rest of his day was spent working to decompress from the odd encounter. He filled Andrea in on the details later that night and she couldn’t help but poke fun at him. The light hearted jesting finally helped Pepper to laugh it all off. He and Amprage ended the evening with another run through the neighborhood and Pepper started to mentally work out the routine he could hold himself to.

  It was later in the next day when Marcus arrived. To his relief it was a completely different encounter. The second roommate stepped out of brand new pickup truck. Shaggy dirt blond hair which went down just past his ears. A nice pair of designer sunglasses were tucked into the neck of his Golem League tshirt. Coyote colored shorts matched the flip flops and Marcus gave him a head nod and beaming smile.

  “Yo, are you Pepper?” He asked in an easy going tone.

  Pepper returned the smile and head nod. “Yeah, Marcus is it?”

  “Straight up my dude.” The carefree spirit continued as Marcus reached his hand out and brought Pepper in a half hug embrace. “My man, I gotta say. I really appreciate you reaching out and offering me a spot at your place here.”

  A large wave of relief came over Pepper and he immediately felt better about everything. He immediately felt comfortable with Marcus’s arrival and sense they would get along well. “I figured I might as well reach out to the few others in a similar position to me.”

  “Oh, for sure man. I totally get it. It ain’t easy just packing up life and starting all over, am I right?” Marcus smiled and gave him a slight pat on the shoulder. His new roommate looked down at Amprage and his eyes lit up. “Yo, did you make your familiar yourself?”

  The compliment sparked some excitement. “Sure did. I had built him as a…”

  “An exact replica of Amprage from the old school Battle Beast franchise.”

  Amprage comically sounded as if he cleared his throat. “I beg your pardon but I am one of a kind.”

  Marcus audibly laughed. “Hey, no offense there big dog. I’m just complimenting your bonded on his expert craftsmanship. I have a familiar just like you.”

  Pepper smiled and caught a glance of Amprage who seemed to react positively to the response. He was now curious on what exactly his new roommate had chosen for a familiar. “Did you bring your familiar with you?”

  “Of course, no way I am going all the way across the country and not bringing my guy with me.” Marcus turned around and whistled towards his truck. “Rattler, come here. Don’t be shy, come say hi to our new roommates.”

  Pepper watched intently as the distinct shape of a snakes head slowly rose upward from the trucks bed area. He immediately saw the metallic shine which reflected off the snakes head.

  “Hold on a second.” Marcus said and then jogged over to the truck bed. He reached in and turned around to showcase the large snake which was now wrapping itself around his bonded companion. Pepper focused in on the metal rattle tail of the serpent. He immediately recognized the distinct appearance of the familiar which was also fashioned after the games beast known as the Cursed Rattlesnake.

  “Pepper, Amprage, this is my familiar, his name is Rattler.” The metal tail of the serpent began to rattle. The distinct sound matched perfectly to the real-life snake it was modeled after. “Hey, don’t be mean like that. They gave us a place to live, now be nice and go say hi.” Marcus lowered the snake down to the ground and the familiar began to slither over.

  Pepper couldn’t help but notice the lifelike movements it made as it drew closer. Amprage lowered his body down and began to growl, mostly in a playful tone, but still one which Pepper didn’t approve of. “Hey, you be nice also.” He warned.

  It was only a moment later and the two gladiators watched as their familiars start to play wrestle one another in the front yard. Marcus then nodded to the two of them. “Looks like they’re two pee’s in a pod.”

  Pepper chuckled, “I was kinda thinking the same thing. The last familiar Amp knew was a duck that tried to stab everyone with a spear. It’s kinda nice seeing him play with a familiar closer in personality to him.”

  “Right? Man, it’s been crazy seeing how life like the familiar runes are. It’s like, they grow more and more real every day.”

  Any doubt that Pepper now had in regards to his living situation was quickly evaporating. He glanced back to the truck and motioned over towards it. “Well, you need some help unloading your stuff?”

  Marcus seemed surprised by the gesture. “I mean, I would be pretty dumb to turn down the offer. Let’s do this.” It didn’t take long for two to unload the boxes and they both wound up standing in the kitchen once they were done. “You were planning to watch the Pantheon Season 11 opening match later today right?”

  “Of course! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Well, how about I order us some grub and we watch it out here. See what competition we’ll be facing off against in the next year or so.”

  Pepper smiled and gave a firm head nod. He certainly admired the confidence and optimism his new roommate carried with him. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Sweet.”