Meet all your friends

The Mansion is not far from a bus station. You just have a short way down the street and then up a stair to the entrance. You feel not bad and your doctors said you are perfectly fit. But still, Allie insists to support you while walking. According to David he had to talk with her for about half an hour to not get you a wheelchair. He also told you that your wounds looked terrible right after the beating and there was a lot of blood. Allie cried for a whole day after the ambulance carried you away.

Since you were ****, you got surprised when your friends told you about the events of the last few days. That you now own a huge mansion without ever doing anything for it was likely the biggest surprise. When your new home comes into sight you must admit it look impressive. You were here before for demonstrations and research, but looking at a house worth about two or three million that now is your property is just amazing.

From the outside you must say the house looks huge but very old. Very nice carved shutters and two statues of Greek woman decorate the front. The architecture is nice too. It looks both practically and decorative. However, the house still has some problems. The rood is broken on several places, some windows are broken too and you assume all water pipes and heating elements are rusted. The isolation and power supply could use a renovation too. And all this would need money you don’t have right now.

Lost in thoughts you hardly recognize David opens the front door and you almost get a heart attack when you are greeted by a crowd of people applauding and cheering when you enter.

All your friends from the activist group are here. Your leader Jenny, as always dressed in second hand clothes stands at the front. She wears a green cap with the logo of the activist group. It was a present for her last birthday. Behind her are Lilly, the groups muscles and Connor your groups financial manager. Lilly towers all other people by at least half a head and mostly has her hair tied to a ponytail and wears either short sportwear or a jeans jacked that shows her impressive muscles. Today it is the latter. Connor wears a plain shirt and a tie. He always looks like he is on some kind of high society event.

At the side you see Gina, your botanic expert, as usually with her clothes full of earth. She wears her gardening gloves, tank top, jeans and a headscarf against the sun. Next to her smiles Alima, an ebony, pretty short beauty. She is kind of a little sister to everyone and goes with a dark blue t-shirt and a black skirt. And at the other side you see the Zeta-twins. Mason and Maddison are also members of the group but usually you don’t talk much with them.

These are the core members of the group. You also see some allies and regular supporters, but you don’t know their names. But everyone applauds and seems happy that you are back.

“Our hero is back,” Jenny announces proud and hugs you.

“I’m so glad you are fine,” Alima says and hugs you much longer.

“Next time I expect you to beat the shit out of this bastard,” Lilly mumbles and gently punches you, “but I guess taking his house is a good solution too.”

“Don’t drag my brother in your **** plans,” Allie immediately interrupts and hugs you from behind, “he got terrible injured. I will not lose him.”

“Come on, guys, let him breath a little,” Connor says and come to you with some bottles, “we want to celebrate with you. What you did … what you took, was amazing. We have beer, soda, snacks and a lot to talk about.”

All people who hug you let you go and Gina passes you a drink. One person, you assume Allie, made a cake and there are balls with salty and sweet snacks. There also are two plates with fruit. In the next two hours your friends tell you what happened in the last few days. The good news is, Jenny, David and Connor took a look at the house while you are gone. They have noted everything that still works and most of the damages. However, most of the attic and basement have not seen a human soul since the previous owner died. You also learn everything about the deal David negotiated with the real estate shark and the reaction of the media and other activist groups.

The bad news is however, that as an act of **** Jennies and Gina’s landlords refused to renew their rent contract. Obviously, they were on very good terms with the real estate shark who lost a fortune because of you and the group. And since Alima lived on Gina’s couch since the lawsuit against her previous employers, she is now homeless too. They decided to use a few of the bedrooms in the house. And there are a lot. All a little dusty but big, dry and in perfect condition. David also has some stress wit his landlord, but this has another reason. Worst is, that the police, who already hated you, used the whole incident to organize a raid in your old headquarter. None of you was arrested for longer than a few hours, but they confiscated most of your material and David is on the case but since the old headquarter was public property, the police can block it for months. So, the new headquarter is in a spare room of your home for now. And they all hope you will neither kick out your guest nor refuse to have the activists headquarter in your home.

“Ok, let me process all of this first,” you reply after a while, “you say that three of you live here for the last two weeks and David hopes to live here too after his contract ends by the beginning of the next month. Also, you took everything you could save in a separate room of the house and hope to use it as a headquarter.”

“Well it is a huge house and place for living is rare,” Jenny mumbles a little embarrassed, “and thanks to the bus station it is very easy to get to university and city center. And all CO2 neutral. I know, we should have asked you when we have visited you, but we thought this is a perfect solution for now and you were still injured, so we haven’t wanted you to worry.”

“I’m sure this is the only reason,” you reply sarcastic, “and clearly not something like that it would hurt your pride to ask for help. Don’t worry, of course you can stay. To be honest, I still have no idea what I should do with the whole house. It is so huge.”

“Well for now it would be an option that we turn it into our headquarter,” Lilly suggests, “and you could live in it. You and Allie still live with your parents. It can be an … advantage. Especially when you pick up girls.”

“Well, I guess I can stay a night,” you agree, “I call my parents and tell them. Afterwards you could show me around.”

“Do you mind if I stay too?” Allie asks, “I like this house.”

“Sure sis, I assume there are enough rooms for all,” you answer, “what about the rest? Do you stay overnight?”

“I would take the offer,” Lilly answers, “It is easy to get to the gym from here.”

“Thanks for the offer, but we refuse,” Mason tells you, “I have an appointment tomorrow morning and my sister meets with a friend for some private project.”

“I would stay too, if you don’t mind,” Connor adds, “it is very quiet here and I like studying in a quiet place.”

“No problem, Connor,” you say and stand up, “feel free to come over whenever you want. Well, I don’t know how you see it, but it is getting late. We should start the tour if I want to see everything before going to bed.”

“Well, then follow us,” Gina says and gently takes your hand.

Your friends lead you around while the guests slowly leave the party. Sadly, the house is much better. Water spots from broken pipes are in several rooms, some walls are partly pale by age and the urban farm you wanted to safe is in terrible condition. Backyard is huge, but full of weeds, thorn bushes and much to high grass spreads over the whole backyard. And the farm is little more than a few sheets for vegetables and even they will soon be overgrown. When the previous owner got older, the whole old house slowly began to fall apart. He only took care about the rooms he regularly uses and since his **** the homeless garden workers couldn’t take care about the sheets anymore. It will be a lot of work to get this house back to its former glory. And it will cost a fortune. No wonder the real estate shark wanted to tear it down and build something new.

The tour ends in front of the master bedroom. The biggest bedroom in the mansion. The previous owner used it before he died. But Jenny immediately promised you, that she took care of the bedsheets and matrass. They are all new. The room itself is in good conditions. No damaged parts and no broken pipes. Still the furniture is quite antique. You prefer modern furniture. But this is something you can take care later. For now you are impressed by the huge double bed.

“Great,” you mumble and lay down, “so big and soft. Too big for one person. Hey girls, anyone interested in spending the night with the host?”

“In your dreams, perv,” Lilly replies and crosses her arms.

“I want” Allie says and lays next to you, “I want to cuddle.”

“You ruin my chances with the ladies,” you complain and playfully push Allie away, “still it’s a nice room. I can use it.”

“Great,” Jenny says smiling, “and … I know the rest looks not so good, but we will work something out, I promise. For now, we can enjoy our victory over this capitalistic asshole. We will let you alone now. Get comfy with your new room. Allie, you can’t stay here, move your ass! Your room is not far.”

You smile when your sister grumpy stands up and leaves with the rest. You take a moment to enjoy the feeling. From one day to another you own a huge house and already have some tenants, who not pay a penny. You could think of worse people to live with. To be honest, you had a crush on Jenny when you first met her. But the closer you got the more you considered her more like a friend and mentor. And Alima is so cute, you had some dreams with her. You like her and you are sure she likes you too. You had a very important role in preventing her deportation. But you are not sure if she likes you in this way.

All the others are great people too. Maybe this house is your chance to finally improve your relationship with one person in the group up to something deeper. A real girlfriend. Or boyfriend, if you prefer the same sex. So many thoughts and hopes make you very tired. Soon you close your eyes and slowly fall asleep.