[Given the situation they're in, and the ruined state of the city streets they make their way down, Liem certainly wasn't expecting her to produce a gift regardless of how comfortably he was able to receive her. He always takes pleasure in hosting guests at his home, but present circumstances make his house less of a place to host at and more of a safe place for him and allies to rest between excursions. Typical rules of hospitality need not apply.

Nonetheless, just as he'd felt the need to at least offer some semblance of a proper welcome, he's still pleased by the thoughtfulness involved in considering a gift for hospitality. Whenever they next have time, he'd certainly love to invite Quetzalcoatl over and serve her tea and snacks on his fancy china.]

Well, let us just hope it's where I'm expecting it to be. I'd be rather embarrassed if we arrived at the address to find it had been replaced with a tenement house.

[Given the rate at which property gets bought and redeveloped in Springstar, he wouldn't be surprised if this were the case — especially since it's not clear to him how this version of Springstar came to be this way. They walk for a while, making their way past cramped townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings jostling for space.

But when they arrive at the lot where Liem's home belongs, the elegant townhouse is right there to greet them, albeit in rather decrepit condition, all peeling paint and dirty windows. Liem tuts quietly in disapproval, though it's only to be expected. The house's neighbours are no better off.]

This is it, [he proclaims. Removing a shiny brass key from a pocket, he fits it into the front door's lock — and, with a grunt as he forces the disused mechanism to turn, he succeeds in pushing it open, revealing a gloomy, still and silent interior.] Welcome to my temporary home — or what remains of it.