[crow]

A man and a dragon stood at the gate of an old, run-down farming property, and watched as the door swung on its one still working hinge in the wind.

Are you sure you're sure about this? said the dragon.

The man had no answer for him, but the house certainly did. At that moment, as if it had merely been waiting for an audience to do so, the door hinge finally gave out and the whole thing fell down with a dramatic noise onto the disintegrating front porch.

[crow]

The man gave a sigh. "This wasn't what I thought it would be either," he said. Not that it helped. The deed to the place was theirs now, and he had paid for it, and there was no going back. He didn't have nearly the kind of silver tongue to sell this kind of place onto some other hapless idiot.

I told you that price was too low, you know, said the dragon. I told you something was fishy. And now here they were, the dragon didn't say, but the man was aware of the implication.

[crow]

The man snorted. "Don't toot your own horn," he said.

I'll do what I want. And I did tell you, the dragon pointed out.

The man sighed and raked his fingers through his hair--- red, shaved along the side, and left loose up top to fall into his eyes. There was no point in arguing this. He didn't seem to be able to deny the dragon's assertions either, so he said nothing and merely pushed past the gate to get a better look at what he was dealing with.

If he was going to be dealing with this place, he might as well know what he was working with.

[crow]

The dragon seemed surprised at his choice, though it quickly caught up with him. Being bigger would help that along. Wait, you're really just going to go in? said the dragon. Shouldn't you ask for a refund or something?

"Yeah, and you think the jackass that sold me this place is going to wait around while I look him up? Never mind a refund. That bastard's probably skipped town already. He knew what he was doing," said the man. There was a touch of irritation in his voice, though it was hard to say whether it was for the dragon or for himself.

[crow]

Fortunately, probably because of their long acquaintance, the dragon didn't take it personally. Do you want me to intimidate him a bit? That might help you convince him, at least.

The man gave a surprised bark of laughter. "As if you could intimidate anyone looking like that, you no-good runt," he said, giving the dragon's shoulder a shove. He said that, but to be honest, if they did put the squeeze on the guy...

... No, it was still too much hassle to look for him. It wasn't going to be worth it.

[crow]

Hey, size doesn't mean anything, said the dragon. And I'm still much bigger than you are.

"If you want to go and shake him down, be my guest," said the man. He walked up the steps to the sagging porch, then hurriedly stepped back as one of the floorboards gave beneath his weight. Swearing under his breath, he picked his way around the hole. "You'd better stand back, Avander. If this thing won't hold me, it definitely won't hold your overgrown rump."

Oh, so I was a runt but now I'm overgrown, huh? You'd better make up your mind.

[crow]

Despite Avander's sharp words, Aster could sense his concern. But Aster had squatted in enough derelict old houses in his youth, and he wasn't terribly concerned about navigating this place. It just hadn't been something he'd expected to have to do again now, was all. Making his fortune in the Pits was supposed to have meant he'd never have to do it ever again.

Funny how life never worked out quite how you thought it would. But this was still a far cry from where he had been this time three years ago.

[crow]

At least now he owned the derelict old house, rather than being just an illegal guest--- an infestation, as some of those folks might have seen it. Not that he would have chosen to squat there if he'd had better options at the time.

"I'll be careful," he said to Avander, then headed through the door.

A quick scan of the interior found it to be pretty dire, but not quite as bad as the outside. Weather hadn't been kind to the portions of the house it could get at, but the parts of the house that had been sheltered had held up better.

[crow]

It still wasn't livable, unless your choices were literally this or a night sleeping out on a park bench somewhere, but some of the foundations were intact. But the curtains, the rugs, everything that could be removed was going to have to go. Even the walls would probably need extensive rebuilding.

Aster took his hand off one of the beams in what he assumed must have been the living room, and sighed. It could be fixed, but it would be a lot of work. His head was already hurting just thinking about it.

[crow]

Well? Avander was standing just before the porch when Aster came back out, waiting for his verdict with a look that wasn't quite anxious, but certainly came close.

Aster shook his head. What was he going to do, try to lie about it? "It's trash, but there's enough foundation left that we might be able to build something out of it after we demolish everything that's rotted through," he said. "I guess I should just treat it like I'd bought the land to build my own cabin or something."

[crow]

For that price, it wasn't a steal, but what he paid for the place was still reasonable. So it wasn't a total scam. He just hadn't gotten quite what he wanted out of this, but given the fact that even Avander had managed to smell that something fishy was afoot, he supposed it was as much as he deserved for going through with it anyway.

He could certainly have come out of it worse than this. It was all just a matter of reframing his expectations, that was all.

[crow]

At his words, however, Avander peered at him. Do you know how to build a cabin?

"... Well, no," Aster said. It was true that he didn't have any experience with construction or anything. He knew how to build shelters, mostly through trial and error, and because it was the kind of skill you had to pick up sooner or later when you were on the run and urban areas were no longer an option for you. But that was pretty substantially different from building a permanent home like he was thinking of.

[crow]

But then, he hadn't known how to do a lot of things before. Taming a dragon, for one, much less training it to be a Pit fighter... He'd figured that through trial and error too, and a little bit of reading on the side. This would be no different, except that maybe he would read a little more, and err a little less, hopefully.

"I can pick it up," said Aster. "In the meantime, it's not like we've been evicted or anything. We've got a place to stay until I figure it out."

[crow]

Even being able to say that felt like something of a luxury. It wasn't one he would have had a few years back. In some sense he had grown used to it now, but sometimes moments like that still caught him, and he wondered how he had gone on so long the way he had before.

But when you didn't have much of a choice about it, you just did what you had to. The other choice was always just to die, and then it wasn't much of a choice at all.

[crow]

If you're sure you can do it, said Avander, though he didn't exactly sound confident in Aster's claims. Aster gave him another shove. Couldn't you hire someone? We're rich now, aren't we?

"Money doesn't grow on trees," Aster said. "We don't know when you'll win again."

I always win! Don't I? How could you have so little faith? Besides, I'm the one doing all the work, said Avander. It was really incredible just how much he could look like an affronted middle-aged socialite, given the fact that he wasn't even human.