First help Craig, THEN head inside.

As the prison wagons gets smaller in the distance, you turn towards the small goblin, Craig.

You extend your hand to shake his. "Jess." you greet.

"Craig." he growls as he shakes your hand.

"How long are you gonna stay here?" you ask.

"Until the other police wagon gets here." is the answer.

"You don't talk much, huh?" you quip. He answers by just giving you a slightly annoyed but otherwise vacant stare. Not even a curt "no", just silence. What an absolute sign of disrespect, you like this guy already.

You help Craig packing out his wares. It takes you well into the afternoon to do so, and all the while not speaking a single word to each other. You wonder if Aayesha can keep herself awake, but you seriously doubt that Trisha could escape, and even if she did, you're unsure if she would actually make a ruckus. Still, there's a chance she would try to take Farah with her. You grab a handful of newspapers from his wagon, as you make your way back home. Well, Claire's home. Is it your home now as well? It will do for now at least.

"Hey Jess!" Emily greets you as you enter the living room. You plop yourself down on the couch.

"Long day?" she asks.

"I helped that Craig fellow load off his wares. Took some time."

"Aww... poor baby." Emily snickered, as she gets up from the armchair, and walks towards you. She leans her head down and plants a kiss on your lips. Her eyes are closed but they soon widen in surprise as you grab her torso and heave her down on you. She giggles as she falls onto you, and as you start to make out on the couch. You can feel her breasts move against your own and you can't help but feel her firm buttock in your hand.

After a bit, Emily comes up for air.

"Jess, you are an animal! An absolute brute." she laughs.

"Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?" you continue the play.

"Hmm... what to do indeed? I wonder how I could tame a savage like you." she pretends to ponder.

"I can think of a couple of ways you could do that." you smirk.

"I'm fairly sure that if we're doing what you're thinking of doing, we would just end up with you taming me." she laughs before resting her head right under your chin: "Though that doesn't sound too bad either."

You run your finger through her auburn hair, ending up holding the back of her head. She squeezes into you tighter; her fuzzy raccoon ears tickle your throat. You move your hand from her butt, grazing her tail in the process and starts to caress her back.

Emily hums in contentedness, as she keeps nuzzling into your body.

"I have been wondering how a tough gal like you, has turned out to be such a caring, gentle lover." Emily ponders out loud in the way that indicates that she actually expects an answer.

"It's all because of Gwen." you reveal.

"Gwen? Who's Gwen?" Emily asks.

"Just an old wound." you deflect.

"Okay." Emily relents: "I won't **** you to talk about her. Although I hope you will someday."

"I will. I promise." you say as you hold your girl a little tighter.

Emily moves her head a bit and starts kissing your neck. How can someone this adorable also be this sultry? You ponder that as you move your left leg to the side, off the edge, so Emily's body falls in between your thighs. You move your leg back again to stop her from gliding off the couch. As she makes out with your neck Emily starts to thrust herself into you, making your tits rub together and your groins grinding on each other’s legs. Albeit both clothed, the rubbing sets off your engines and you both start to get really into it, as you moan and pant due to your heavy petting session.

"Hmm... Jess. I love you." she moans. You stop. For two reasons really. The first being that this is the first time any of you has brought that word into this. Love. Is this too soon? You have been through a lot together in a short time, it's not unlikely that you could have grown this fond of each other this shortly, but still... maybe this will fade, as you get into more mundane routines. It's only been what... a week or something? Honestly, you've been passed out for what feels like half of it, you're not even entirely sure how many days it's been. Maybe you misheard her. Maybe she said: "I love this." It is kind of hard to hear her clearly with her face mushed into your neck.

The second reason is a lot more immediate. As you open your eyes you see a shocked young woman standing in the doorway looking at you, not knowing what to do.

"Emily... stop." you say, and Emily halts. You can hear her whimper slightly as she looks up at you, tears starting to form in the corner of her eyes.

"Jess, I'm sorry. I know it's early in our new relationship, I don't why I sai-" she starts to apologize before you interrupt her.

"No, Em, look behind you." you say trying to suppress another dilemma that can be handled a little later. Emily turns around and sees Claire standing, slightly shaking. You both start to get up from the couch before Claire turns her head, yells: "I-I-I-I'm sorry!" and tries to run away.

You rush after her and manage to grab her arm. "Claire, wait." you say as you look upon her flustered face. You pull her into a hug. You're still not entirely comfortable or confident in being all touchy-feely, but it's the only thing you know helps Claire calm down. "When you held me, I felt protected. Like nothing could hurt me" you remember she said when you comforted her in the kitchen. It takes a little while, but Claire starts to relax in your embrace.

"No one is mad, Claire." you reassure her.

"It's not like this is a secret." Emily continues having caught up to you: "Well, I don't think it is a secret. Is it, Jess?"

You shake your head: "Farah knows."

"So THAT'S why she has been all giggly and teasingly around me today." Emily laughs as she turns the hug into a group hug: "I thought I was walking around with something on my face the entire day."

"I d-didn't think you would be... m-m-making love on the couch..." Claire stutters.

"Well, it wasn't really making love per se." Emily blushes as she talks: "But we definitely shouldn't have done that in the living room."

You grunt in affirmation.

"It's okay, I d-don't really mind." Claire says: "This is your home too."

Your heart skips a beat, and judging by her face, Emily's does too. Claire thinks that you live here. Claire WANTS you to live here.

"In that case then, welcome home Claire." Emily says teary-eyed: "Are you hungry?"

"Not right now." she murmurs.

"Then let's go back to the living room for a little while before we make dinner." she muses as she untangles herself and moves back towards the living room. Both you and Claire follow suit.

Freeform Lore Mode!

Authors note: Yo! This is supposed to be, like, interactive fiction or somethin', and I think I've found a way to have at least a bit of interactivity in the story. While the main story is going to be mainly railroaded, there will be some more chill chapters like this one that sets up a quiet afternoon/evening. You see, I realized that a world like this could have a lot of lore, and a lot of characters could have a lot of backstories, but not all of it is related to what is going to be the main storyline. So, for these chill chapters the characters will have a chance to read or talk a bit about the world around them. They might bring a bit of foreshadowing of future events, but they are entirely optional and not required to understand the main storyline. "Canonically" all of these talks happened, you just don't get to see them if you skip over them. Tell me if you think this concept works or not.