"Good morning, young Neil," the mayor said, sitting down at his desk, Neil taking a seat across from him. The mayor was an old Testificate, his bulbous noise hanging over his grayed mustache, his purple shirt and brown pants somewhat wrinkled. "Thank you for coming out in such dreary weather." The mayor stroked his mustache a bit, staring out the window. "It looks to be a long one, too. May last for another three days." After a moment, he looked back to Neil, giving the young man a smile. "But enough of that. I'm sure you're curious as to why I called you here."

"Well, it did cross my mind, sir," Neil nodded.

"Mmm…as you are aware, villagers have been moving to other towns and villages, some even to cities, in the last three or so years."

"Of course. Doc was the most recent one who left, right?" Neil asked, a slight frown on his face. Doc, as he was so affectionately referred to by Neil, had found Neil at a young age and had brought him back to the village, helping to raise him. Doc had been the closest thing Neil had ever had to a father.

"Indeed. Well, Neil, the last of us will be leaving by week's end. Now, I'm sure that-"

"What?!" Neil exclaimed, jumping from his seat. The mayor smiled once again, but this one was a sad smile.

"The others have decided that it may be time to move on…I am truly sorry, Neil, but this has been agreed upon rather unanimously," the mayor continued. "I and the farmer are the only ones left of the previous generation and those remaining from the next generation, your generation, feel that there is nothing left for them here. I wanted to let you know, to give you time to prepare in case you wanted to come with us."

"And what about Yaebi?"

This time, the mayor sighed. "I am sorry, Neil, but when I brought him up at the final council meeting, I was met with some rather shocked and even hateful glares. The offer extends only to you, as regretful as that is." The mayor sounded pained by his own statement, shaking his head in disappointment. "But I know you well, Neil."

"Yeah…so, the village will be abandoned then?" Neil asked, sitting back down.

"Not, ah…not exactly. That is the other reason that I asked you to stop by. I have been in correspondence with a traveling group of fellow Testificates. After explaining to them that our own village would be empty, they agreed rather happily to moving in and taking over."

"A traveling group?" Neil asked, rather surprised. While it wasn't uncommon for Testificates to move from village to village, even to towns and cities, to hear of a group traveling together was extremely rare, to the point that it was virtually unheard of. "Not just a family?"

"No. A group. A rather good sized one, too. Large enough that they'll be able to run the village once they arrive." The mayor beckoned Neil to lean in closer. "I suspect," he said, his voice lowered, "that they may be like Yaebi."

"As in…"

"They may look human, but they are most definitely Testificates. The correspondence has been happening through a young woman, about your age in fact, who claimed to be a human raised by a group of Testificates. But you know, better than anyone else, that there are telltale signs and a general…feeling, to differentiate between humans and other creatures. She didn't feel human. And she certainly didn't act it, either."

"Well, maybe that's just how she was raised," Neil pointed out, but the mayor shook his head adamantly.

"No, Neil. Humans are a rarity in our time. It is the duty of Testificates to teach them how other humans act. It helps that we look similar to humans and that they taught us much of their ways. But there are certain things that we do impulsively. The noise you hear us make occasionally, for one." The mayor sat back, waiting for Neil's reaction.

"Oh…" Neil sat back as well, processing the information. "Well…when will they be here?"

"In about two weeks. Perhaps less time. We will be out of the village before they show up, however. So do be a good neighbor and offer them help when you can, my boy."

"Of course, mayor," Neil said with a nod. The mayor stood up, his smile back, and he walked around the desk to escort Neil to the door. As they reached the door, Neil suddenly grabbed the old Testificate in a hug. "Thank you, sir, for everything you've done for me."

"It was a pleasure watching over you and Yaebi," the mayor replied, patting Neil's back. "You know, perhaps in another time, you two very well could have ended up as my grandsons."

"Yeah," Neil smiled, releasing him. "Yeah, that would have been fun."

Andr was currently looking through the books on one of the shelves in what Neil had dubbed the gathering area. She noted that there were quite a few books on building and crafting, assuming that these were what Neil had used to teach himself how to do such things. Cupa was snoring on the couch, while Yaebi was fiddling with a radio he had brought out from his own room, playing with the dial.

"I'm back!" came a call from outside, signaling Neil's arrival back home. Soon enough, he came walking through the front door, dripping wet. "And I am soaked. And cold. I'll be in the shower if anyone needs me." He walked down the hall, leaving a trail of water behind him. The sound of running water soon came from down the hall and steam was escaping from under the door minutes later. "GAH!" came a yell just a few seconds later, followed by squeaking.

"Guess I should have warned him the rat came up earlier," Yaebi mentioned in thought. "Ah, here we are!" He had stopped spinning the dial back and forth, some calming music now playing from it. Andr had wandered over at some point, staring at the radio in fascination.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's a radio. You can use it to listen to music and whatnot," Yaebi explained, walking over to one of the recliners and taking a seat. "The song playing right now is called 'Far'. It just kind of showed up out of nowhere one day." He let the melody wash over him, smiling gently. "It's by far my favorite song to listen to on a rainy day."

Andr looked at him, letting a smile slip as she shook her head. "That was a bad pun," she chuckled. She joined Cupa on the couch, letting herself lean into the couch, her eyes slowly closing as the song continued on.

She woke up later to see that the rain had finally cleared. Looking around the room, she saw Neil in the second recliner, out like a light, same for Yaebi. Cupa had moved around at some time and was now leaning up against Andr. She gently moved Cupa up a bit, just enough for her stand up. She walked over to the door, stepping out onto the porch. She sat down on the swing, staring up at the now cloudless sky, the full moon lighting up the house and its surrounding area. She swung gently back and forth, appreciating the serenity of the night. Perhaps staying with Neil and Yaebi wouldn't end horribly. So she hoped. She was hesitant to really think that things could be peaceful for long. "But for the time being," she whispered to herself, "maybe I can relax."

"Alright, ladies, today, we're going to figure out where to put you!" Neil said, standing on the porch as he breathed in the fresh air, feeling invigorated. "Now that the rain has completely passed and it's been a couple days of sunshine, the ground should be more than dry enough." The rain had come in spurts over the course of the last week, finally ending just two days ago. Now that the time had passed, Neil had decided today would be the day that they would get a house built for Andr and Cupa. "Time for some land hunting!"

"Whoo!" Cupa cheered with him, Neil's cheerful mood apparently contagious. Andr just smiled, following Neil and Cupa off of the porch, Yaebi following with a yawn.

The morning was spent looking at possible locations near and around Neil and Yaebi's house. At some point, Cupa had ended up on Neil's shoulders, her left hand shadowing her eyes as she looked around from her perch. She pouted, not seeing any spot that looked good to her. "Man," she whined, hanging her head dejectedly. "There just doesn't seem to be any good spots."

Neil looked up at her. "Well, there's still plenty of spaces to look. And besides, there may be a few houses left in the village after the new group moves in," he said to her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry too much about it, 'kay?"

Cupa smiled back, nodding. "Got it!"

"Hey, speaking of, should we go see if there's anyone there yet?" Yaebi asked. "The village isn't too far a walk from here."

"Good idea," Neil replied. "The mayor did seem like he wanted us to check in on them from time to time." He looked at Andr. "Are you okay with that, Andr?"

Andr nodded. "That's fine," she smiled. "Cupa was pretty excited when she learned there was a village near here. She loves seeing them."

"Let's go, let's go!" Cupa cheered from Neil's shoulders, pointing forwards, prompting a laugh from Neil as they all made their way to the village.

As the village came into view, they could make out some activity happening. It appeared to be primarily females moving around the village, what looked to be human females at that. Neil moved Cupa off his shoulders, the creeper running a little bit ahead in her excitement. As they reached the entrance, a tall, silvery grey woman was blocking the entrance. Her silver hair was cut short, framing her face, a blockish hat on her head. Her clothes were a dull gray, showing her midriff, her skirt appearing to be slit on her left side, revealing a lighter pair of very short shorts underneath it.

"Is that…an iron golem?" Yaebi pondered as they stopped just a few feet from her. Indeed, her joints appeared to be almost mechanically emphasized.

Neil walked forward to get a closer look. "I don't know…kinda seems like it," he said, moving a hand to touch the golem's shoulder. "Whoa, hey, wait!" The golem had suddenly grabbed Neil, holding him aloft. She then threw him straight up into the air, her eyes glowing red as she regarded the humanlike mobs now standing in front of her.

Yaebi moved in front of Andr and Cupa, gulping. "Of all the times to not bring some kind of defensive weapon," he muttered under his breath.

"Fera, wait!" came a voice from behind the golem. The golem turned to regard a woman in a white robe running up to them, the glow of her eyes dimming, her irises becoming a light shade of fuchsia. The woman's light brown hair was braided into two side tails that were bound together a bit under her chin. "I'm terribly sorry about that," the woman said, catching her breath first, her glasses almost falling off her nose. "Fera is rather protective of us. I hope she hasn't caused any harm!"

"Uh…well," Yaebi pointed up as Neil began to fall. Fera extended her arms, catching Neil easily, Neil looking around.

"Oh my, are you okay?" the woman asked, walking around Fera to look over Neil.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine," Yaebi said with a roll of his eyes.

"That was awesome!" Neil finally spoke, startling the woman.

Fera set him on his feet, looking down at him. The woman gave Fera a nudge, giving the golem a stern stare. Fera looked down at her feet and bent down, picking up a rose, offering it to Neil. The woman smiled, adjusting her glasses. "That's Fera's way of saying she's sorry," the woman explained as Neil took the rose, avoiding the thorns on the stem.

"Nah, no harm done," Neil said, looking at the rose. He tucked it into his belt for the time being, once he stripped the thorns off of the stem, just to be safe. He stuck his hand out to Fera, the golem looking at it before gingerly taking it, Neil shaking her arm up and down a bit. "I'm Neil. One of your neighbors, as it were." He let go of Fera's hand and offered it to the woman with glasses, shaking her hand as well.

"Ah, yes, the previous mayor mentioned you!" the woman replied, nodding. "I am Hanna, the head scholar of our little group." She gestured to Fera. "And this is Fera, though you've already met."

"This is my roommate, Yaebi," Neil gestured to Yaebi, who gave a wave and a smile, "and these two are Cupa, and Andr." He pointed at Cupa and Andr respectively, Cupa beaming, while Andr gave a shy wave.

Hanna looked at the two females, leaning in, her left hand raising to hold her glasses in place. "Hmmm." She regarded the two for a bit, before giving a knowing smile. "You two are mobs, right?" She crossed her arms, before raising her right one to rest her cheek on. "A creeper and an enderman?"

The two instantly paled, Yaebi once more moving to stand in front of them, regarding the scholar with a calm smile. "That won't be too much of a problem, will it?"

Hanna merely smiled at him before turning around, gesturing for them to follow. "Fera, would you mind helping Jen? She needs help moving her blacksmithing supplies." Fera nodded and walked off, heading to a stone building, a woman wearing a thick leather apron standing in front of it, waving at Fera. "If you four would be so kind as to follow me."

"Neil," Yaebi whispered, nudging his roommate. "I'm not sure how I feel about her reaction to Cupa and Andr."

"It's probably fine," Neil replied, moving to follow Hanna. "If she was going to do something, I'd like to think she would have done it when Fera was present."

As they followed Hanna through the village, Neil took the time to point out some of the buildings to his two unofficial roommates, though Hanna would occasionally put in a mention that they were changing the use of some of the buildings. After a time, Hanna scratched her head, looking exasperated. "Where are those girls at?" she mumbled to herself. Cupping her hands, she called out, "Beina! Seda!" After a few seconds with no answer, she sighed. "Honestly, those two…"

"Um…who are Beina and Seda?" Cupa asked.

"Well, your friend, Yaebi, asked if you two being mobs would be a problem. The two girls I'm trying to find would be a far louder answer than me simply saying 'no'," Hanna explained, giving Neil and the group an apologetic smile. "I'm terribly sorry for dragging you around the village."

"It's fine," Andr quietly said, a small smile on her face. "It was actually really fun, getting to be in a village without being driven out or yelled at. Thank you for showing us around."

"Perhaps you'd like to stay for dinner? It is getting into the evening time and I'm sure everyone else would love to meet our new neighbors!"

Yaebi looked at Neil, who gave a shrug and a smile, before looking at Cupa and Andr, the former holding her stomach. "I think we'll all take you up on that offer," Yaebi answered for the group.

Hanna clapped her hands, beaming. "Oh, wonderful!" she exclaimed. "It won't be much, as we're still finishing the move, but we'll have a vegetable stew and some fresh bread. Our baker should have enough ingredients for a pastry surprise or two, as well!"

Later, they were sitting in what used to be a barn, but was now converted into something of a town hall by the new occupants of the village. The four roomies had been introduced to everyone currently in the village, save for the mayor, Beina, and Seda. There was the blacksmith, Jen, who they had seen earlier in the afternoon, as well as the village doctor, a female by the name of Quinn. The baker, a male testificate going by the name of Ben, had vigorously shaken hands with the four neighbors, welcoming them to the village. There were two farmers, a wed couple in fact, Lis and Jim, who had been setting up the large table. Yaebi asked Hanna if their entire group were humanlike and she had responded in the affirmative. The ones they had been introduced to were simply the forward group, setting up what they considered to be the more important pieces for running the village.

"Ah, Mayor, you're here!" Lis suddenly sang, moving the attention of Neil and his friends to the barn's entrance.

In walked a red headed woman wearing a purple dress, her green eyes taking in Neil, Yaebi, Andr, and Cupa. She walked over to them, giving a slight curtsy. "Welcome," she gently intoned, smiling at them. "Thank you for joining us for dinner. I am Ada, the appointed mayor of this group."

"Hi, Mayor Ada!" Neil boisterously greeted. "I'm-"

"Neil," Ada interrupted. "And your roommate is Yaebi, a zombie, yes?" She giggled softly at Yaebi's shocked expression. "Don't be so surprised, dears. The previous mayor made mention of both of you multiple times in our correspondences." She looked to the two females this time. "And you two must be Cupa and Andr. Fera told me that there were four visitors today."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Andr said, bowing nervously towards Ada, who merely gave a soft laugh.

"A pleasure to you as well, young Andr," Ada replied in kind, bowing her head to the enderwoman. She looked around the barn, frowning in confusion a moment later. "That's strange. Jim, are Beina and Seda not here yet?"

"No, Mayor. Haven't seen 'em all day," Jim replied, putting down the last chair as he passed by.

"Hmm…I would have thought Seda at least would have introduced herself. She was so looking forward to meeting Neil and Yaebi." She tapped at her chin in thought. "Where could those two possibly be?"

"SURPRISE!" came a loud voice from above the clumped group of five. A weight suddenly landed on Neil, nearly knocking him flat on his face. He managed to catch himself, noting that there were now two arms wrapped around his neck. "Wow, you're stronger than you look! Guess it's a good thing I missed the zombie!"

"Hey!" Yaebi barked, indignant.

"Seda!" Neil and company turned to see a gray haired woman at the barn entrance, bent over, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She stood up, adjusting the hat on her head, her twin pigtails swaying behind her as she walked over. The gray jacket she wore was zipped, but it seemed short, revealing her midriff, while her shorts stopped at just below her upper thighs. Her knee high socks appeared to be a bit dirty, mud trailing off of her silver boots. "Honestly, you should know better than to just jump on a guest like that! Not to mention, forcing me to have to chase you down!"

The weight disappeared off of Neil's back as a girl shorter than him walked over to the gray haired woman. This girl was presumably Seda. Her purpled hair was tied up in a ponytail, a black headband with four red, round jewels on it, two on either side. Her longsleeved jacket was zipped up fully, her black short shorts puffy, covering the top of the gray and black horizontally striped stockings she wore. She smirked at the presumably older woman, shrugging. "You didn't have to run through that mud hole, you know," Seda smoothly replied. "Could have just walked around it." She turned to look at Neil's group now, smiling. "Besides, I was just so excited! I couldn't wait to get back to meet Neil and Yaebi! And they have two friends with them!"

"These two are Seda and Beina," Ada said, walking around to stand to the side of the two. Beina bowed, while Seda smiled and held up two fingers in a 'V'. "A spider and skeleton, respectively."

Well…not really sure how to proceed from this point with this chapter. I hit my goal, somewhat. Anyways, here's a super rare, slightly longer than usual update for this fic. Hope you all enjoyed!