"Yesse! I have someone new!" Robot Grian smiled as he led Cleo down a thin hallway.

"Ugh, what is it now, RG!?" a British voice came from a room down the hall.

"I have someone new! She is quite nice,"

"Bring her in, then."

Cleo stumbled into the room after Robot Grian to a crowd of people. "H-"

"Hello," mumbled a short woman in a blue jacket sitting on a pillow. "Who're you?"

"Uh... I'm Cleo. Cleo... Zaaron," the ginger mumbled. "Who are you guys? Is the... mayor here?"

A man sitting on a couch arm scoffed. "Pff, really? 'Mister Mayor' Scar is nothing compared to me, Mister Times!" he grinned, playing around with his large hat.

"Wait, you're-"

"We call ourselves the OtherHermits," a man in a black cloak grinned. "We just hang around here, people hate us!"

"W-Wow," Cleo beamed. "I didn't think you guys would be so nice, though."

"People assume stuff about us. Shit's happened, I guess," a man in dark silver armor frowned. "Mainly because Yesse-"

"Shut up, bitchboy," the first person snapped, white hair slapping the woman behind them in the face.

"YESSE! My makeup-"

"Who cares about your makeup, Trusie!?"

"Ooh, Mr Inevitable, just you wait until the day I rip your fucking eyes out!"

"Hah-hah."

The room descended into chaos, people bashing each other over the head with chairs,  flower pots, anything they could get a hold of.

"Psst, hey." Cleo turned her head to a shorter man in a blue shirt standing next to her. "Let's get out of here, this happens often and it gets bad." Cleo nodded, following him out into the hallway and into another room.

The room was a bit smaller than the last one, having two twin beds and a small table with two small stools. There was a tall window seat between the beds with some dim light showing through the faded blue curtains. A long bookshelf lined one wall, full of thick books on science to fairy tales to even a series about the history of the entire world. The ceiling was short, only about 6 feet above the stone floor. The room didn't have much light in it, only coming from the window and a few lanterns scattered around.

"Oh, wow," Cleo gawked. "You live here?"

"Yeah," the man smiled. "It's dark, but homey in a sense. This is what I have, yeah, but it's better than a big fat mansion to me."

Cleo thought over that for a second. "So... why do you live here, then? Instead of a regular house? I know you could like it here, but..."

"Oh, I didn't pay my taxes."

"What!?"

"Yeah, I didn't pay my taxes. A long time ago, it was only for shops. I didn't pay for it; so a few months later, it was bulldozed. A few months after that, Scar put it on our houses, farms, and lots of other things."

"...Scar?"

"Oh, the mayor. He was elected a while ago, I don't really remember when." The man sat down on one of the beds, taking a granola bar from under the pillow. "But yeah, I don't use the currency people here use."

"Could you trade in your stuff for their money?"

"Well, we don't want each other's money."

Cleo walked over, sitting on the other bed. "...Why don't you?"

"Oh, just I don't like shiny blue rocks. They don't like gold," he frowned.  "Mainly because of the fact that they have so many ways to get it,  and it isn't the best."

"Gold!?"

"And diamonds."

Cleo's jaw dropped. "Diamonds!? Gold!? What the heck is this!?"

"Hermiton is its own world. Its own town, its own money and time."

"Oh crap!"

"What?"

"I need to call my girlfriend, she's going to worry-"

"It's okay, I can be quiet. I'll make a snack for us," the man grinned, getting up and walking over to the small oven and cabinet making the entire kitchen.

"Thanks. I'll call her now."

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(664 words)

Hiii! Itsa me, writing about a corrupt economy in Spanish class-

Anyways, I just want to thank you for reading! I'm happy someone is reading this- I know the plot is kinda weird, I'm sorry for that-