Vaguely Fjerdian Furniture Store

The Need (Matthias Helvar)

"It's quite...empty."

Matthias pursed his lips, glancing uneasily around. The six friends stood in the kitchen of their new, 1000 square-foot apartment, which was, as Jesper had pointed out, completely unfurnished. 

"Well, what did you expect?" Kaz retorted. 

"The woman died here, Kaz, I expected her to leave us her grimy old couch!" Jesper shot back. "Where would she have taken it?"

"Her family must have sold her belongings, Jesper, that's what people do when a relative dies," Inej explained kindly.

"As if anybody would have paid for that piece of shit. It must have been ridden with plague...."

"Why in Ghezen's name was Jesper left responsible for house-hunting?" Kaz asked, looking distressedly at the five others, "It seems like a given that the apartment be furnished, we're broke!"

Jesper grimaced sheepishly. 

"Well, what do we do now?"

The friends glanced awkwardly at each other. Kaz slumped against the edge of the counter, fuming.

"Well, considering that we all just moved out of our parents' houses or from the literal streets, we don't have any furniture to move into this place," Kaz said. 

"So..." Matthias furrowed his brow. "we have to buy new furniture for the whole apartment?"

The group shifted uneasily. They had barely pooled enough money to pay for the apartment they shared, under the assumption that it would have mattresses and a table. Buying all that was out of the question.

"What's the best way to approach this situation?" Kaz asked to the group at large.

"We could look for some yard sales," Wylan proposed.

"We could find stuff by the trash," said Nina.

"We could thrift," Inej suggested.

"We could steal," said Jesper.

"That's horrible!" said Matthias.

"All good suggestions, guys," Kaz turned his head. "although I'm not in the mood for any more legal trouble."

"Then what do you propose, Kaz?" asked Jesper.

"Matthias, look up affordable furniture near me," said Kaz, "go get my wallet, would you, Inej?"

Matthias and Inej nodded before setting off on their tasks.

"affordable...furniture...near me." Matthias, muttered, typing into Ghezle's search bar.

Kaz pulled a sticky note from the pad in his pocket, and Inej reappeared beside him with his wallet and a black pen, both of which they exchanged with a nod.

"Ok, here it says Rollins Discount-" Matthias started, scrolling down the list of open stores. 

Kaz cut him off. "Know the owner."

"Red Laurel Appliances-"

"Know the owner," Wylan said. 

"IKEA Home Furnishings?" Matthias said, glancing around to gauge the others' reactions. 

"How many dollar signs?" Kaz asked.

"One."

"How long a drive?"

Matthias squinted, holding his phone away from him. "20 minutes."

"Does the drive go through uptown?" Kaz asked, scribbling intensely on his sticky note.

"Yes, why?" Matthias furrowed his brow. 

"We're going there." Kaz stepped away from the linoleum counter. 

Nobody objected.

The group gathered by the door, pulling on their coats and shoes. It was time to buy some goddamn furniture.