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 Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:32 pm
For rent by owner, 6-bedroom 3 bath house. (Durem outskirts/countryside)
First things first, there is an age requirement and cap: 16-25. If you're in that range, read on.
The house is 6 bedrooms (one of which is occupied by me) and 3 baths. This includes a master bedroom and bath. There is a full kitchen, a driveway, and a garage.
Pets are allowed, but must be housebroken and well behaved.
No smoking in the house.
Rent includes internet, cable, electric, and water.
It is mandatory to meet in person off property before I show the property itself.
Please contact through Craigslist first with interest and any questions.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:35 pm
Kendall shouldered open the front door, hooking it shut behind him with one foot as he tossed his bag on the living room chair and began to rifle through the handful of mail that he'd picked up from the box downstairs on his way up.
Junk...junk....bill....bill....
He paused at an envelope that was an ominous rosy pink and flattened his ears as he opened it to read the latest nastygram from the power company, informing whoever it may concern that if they didn't receive their payment by the end of the week, he and Raven would be eating ramen in the dark til they got their act together.
He'd THOUGHT Raven was supposed to be getting the power this time around....not that it really mattered.
His mom had warned him that living in or even near to Durem was a bad idea since everything was so expensive, but at the time, they'd been positive they could make it work. Anymore, he wasn't so sure. It was hard to plan a shoestring budget around unforeseen things like the car breaking down or having to repair a busted dishwasher.
Tossing the form letter to the kitchen table with the rest of the mail, he retreated into his room to flop into his computer chair, exhausted. The oncoming holidays had already brought out an early string of idiots from the woodwork trying to get a jump on their Christmas shopping and he'd not been spared them.
Now this.
Shaking his head, he flicked his computer monitor on to retreat into a world that was familiar to him where he, at least, had a bit of control over things. As he went about his usual ritual of checking his mail and logging into his various messengers, the pink envelope in the other room kept coming back to haunt him and bugging him.
He and Ray couldn't keep doing this, just barely making it. The easiest solution, aside from one of them magically getting a better-paying job, was to take on a roommate, but the small two-bedroom they were renting didn't exactly offer much in the way of space and anybody who'd be content to camp on a couch wasn't exactly someone he wanted to live with.
So those pushed aside, that left only one alternative.
Opening a browser window, he typed in a URL and waited for the page to load. Couldn't hurt to check...
As he browsed the litany of ads on Craigslist in the "Looking For Roommate" section, he quickly remembered why it was he didn't look for anything on it. If they didn't look like they'd been written by someone using their clenched fist to type, they all had catches of some sort.
...and he was not interested in being some 80-year-old man's "fantasy busboy" in exchange for free rent.
No pets, out. No internet, out.
His cursor paused on one heading in particular. "For rent by owner, 6-bedroom 3 bath house. (Durem outskirts/countryside)"
"Six bedrooms..." he muttered, shaking his head. "Bet they want a fortune for rent." Deciding to confirm whether he was right or not, he clicked it and silently read its contents. Aside from the fact he doubted he'd, ever in a million years, be able to afford to live in such a place, it sounded....reasonable.
His eyes lingered on the email link and he found himself curious. He and Raven paid upward of fifty thousand gold a month for this fleabox, and he honestly was intrigued to know how much a place that big would cost in comparison.
....hell with it, worst they could do was tell him to get lost.
Clicking the link, he tapped out a brief note.
Hi there,
I just read your ad on CL and my sister and I may be looking for a new place to live soon. We are both nineteen (fraternal twins) and employed in Durem currently. We have one small pet between us, but she's quiet and lets herself in and out.
I am curious as to how much monthly rent would be in the house you've described.
Thanks for your time,
Kendall
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:00 pm
Though she wasn't much of an internet junkie herself, Tourma had decided the best way to go about finding roommates would be via the same website in which she sometimes sold repaired appliances. After reading through some of the ads posted to get an idea about what information to post, she scrapped her own ad together and posted it.
And then, became utterly amazed at the sorts of emails she received.
Despite the age limit, which honestly was put in place for her own safety as well as general comfort, there were several emails from illiterate people twice her age.
Requirement #1: Know how to type.
That easily weeded out all but a handful, and just when she thought that she'd lose hope, she opened one last email before going downstairs to make dinner.
Hey Kendall,
As this is the first time I've ever rented, but I was thinking something within the range of 70k to 85k a month with utilities included.
The house itself has a main unit which is quite small with the kitchen, garage, living room, and master bed/bath (which will be my room, I'm thinking). Then it has a second floor walkway/hallway over the garage which connects to the rest of the bedrooms and baths. It's an odd construction, but worked well with a family and I hope it will with roommates.
If you're still interested, I'd like to meet and see if we're compatible, and of course to check to see if you all are crazy people.
How about meeting at Durem Coffee Nook for coffee and a chat?
Thanks for your response,
Tourmaline
P.S. I myself am 18. Just thought I should mention that.
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:32 pm
He'd not expected a reply so quickly and had left after finishing his note to see about fixing dinner for himself. Finding the fridge devoid of life (again) save a half-empty juice jug and whatever new-age grain crap it was Raven ate for breakfast that she insisted on keeping in the fridge for some reason, he rifled through the freezer, coming up with a lone hot pocket in a rumpled box near the back.
Returning a few minutes later with it freshly-microwaved on a paper towel, he was mildly surprised to see the mail icon flashing in his tray and clicked it, only to blink at the subject heading.
....wow, she'd already gotten back with him. Either she was quick to tell him to get lost, or he'd caught her shortly after writing the initial ad. Either way, he opened it and quietly read it over.
At the price she'd quoted, he did a double-take. "You're shitting me..." he muttered aloud to no one, chewing the corner off of his hot pocket. The fifty-thousand in rent he and Raven paid did not include utilities...they were decided every month separately, which sometimes came to a grand total of upward of ninety-thousand. Those were the months they usually ended up eating at Mom's house when possible.
At the mention of wanting to make sure he and Raven weren't crazy, he gave a snerk. It sounded, at the very least, like whoever Tourmaline was, she had similar reservations about this sort of thing as he did....but that was good. The people who seemed a little too eager to meet people from the internet were the ones that were usually worth avoiding.
Still....seventy to eighty-five thousand to live in a house. That was worth giving Ray a call at work over.
In the meantime, he hit "reply".
Hello again, Tourmaline,
The rent ballpark sounds like something we could easily manage between us. I'd still need to discuss it with my sister, of course, but I don't think she'll be opposed. We currently pay that and a little more for the apartment we rent together.
A creak near the window drew his eye to where he'd attempted to fix the decaying frame with some duct tape which had not gone over terribly well as it looked like it was, again, fraying loose. "Repairs not included..." he muttered with chagrin. Getting the front office to fix ANYTHING in this place was like pulling teeth. If you called them on Monday to tell them there was a corpse hanging outside your window, you'd be lucky to see it gone by the following Friday.
My sister's still at work for another four or so hours, but I wouldn't mind meeting for coffee tonight if you want, and she can catch up with you afterward. If not, I understand your wanting to meet us both at the same time and I'll see what her schedule looks like and get back with you.
Thanks for the quick response,
--Kendall
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Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:54 pm
She too had left her computer in search of dinner, but when she returned to her clothing encrusted room to sift through more replies, she had a colorful salad instead of freezer food. Crossing her legs under her as she sat down onto her bed with her laptop, Tourma stuffed a forkful of leafy greens in her mouth before opening her mail up once more.
Jesus, everyone apparently wanted to get out of the city.
Raising her eyebrow at the quick response of Kendall, she clicked on it curiously. Could it really have been this easy?
"One at a time definitely sounds better," she murmured to no one in particular while clicking the reply button, sticking the fork in her mouth so she could type properly.
Kendall,
This seems promising. I don't mind meeting with you two separately, as it would give me a chance to get out of the house before it gets too cold. Besides, I understand working around schedules.
Tonight would be just fine. How does 7:30 sound?
If things go well, then we can discuss the details of everything.
Look forward to tonight,
Tourmaline
P.S. Here's my cell number if you get lost, or can't find me. However, I'm pretty sure you won't miss me. See you later.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:21 pm
Reading over the latest letter, Ken shot a look at the time, finding it 5:21 at the moment. It would give him plenty of time to shower, change out of his work scrubs, and generally get himself looking as much not like an internet crazy as possible.
Fishing his cel out of his pocket, he tapped buttons until he'd accessed his number library, entering in the number Tourma had provided....writing it down was just an invitation to lose it and make himself look like an idiot. Hearing the accepting beep as his phone digested it and committed it to its tiny metal brain, he repocketed it and went about replying.
Sounds good,
I'll see you at 7:30. Hopefully traffic will have let up by then.
Here's my number as well. I don't see myself being late barring the car not starting but just in case...
Take care,
Kendall
It was short, to-the-point, and he didn't see any reason to make it longer. As soon as the Email had vanished from his screen, on its way to wherever Tourma currently sat, he thought a moment and then whipped out his cel phone again, quickly tapping out a number and waiting.
"You have reached this Gaiamobile customer's automated voice messenging service!" the cheery pre-recorded voice told him in a tone as if to say You lucky b*****d! "At the tone, please record your message"
Either Raven had forgotten her cel in the break room again or the customer traffic was no better on her than it had been on him earlier as he waited for the beep and began speaking.
"Ray! Gimme a call later, we gotta talk about something." pause, and then "And, swear to god, it had better not have been your turn to pay the power bill." That said, he turned off his phone and reached out to finish his hot pocket.
Maybe things would be looking up after all...
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:12 pm
With the general speed of the emailing, Tourma finished her salad at the computer while deleting emails and watching the latest Dancing with the Stars videos on YouTube. When Ken's reply appeared she skimmed it and after throwing a bit of clothes around to reveal her sleek, expensive looking phone lounging in a pink shoe.
Snatching it up, she likewise plugged in his number just in case, and after a moment of thought, she replied a short confirmation.
Thanks. I'll see you then.
-T
A glare was sent to her clock as she slid her empty dish onto her dresser top, relocating a few bracelets onto the floor. With barely enough time to shower and dress, Tourma had to get a move on.
----
Rumbling nimbly into a parking spot before a large truck sporting a Southern flag could, the Skullmonkey waved in response to the angry honking as she kicked out the stand and turned her bike off. With a practiced grace she dismounted and made her way towards the front of the cafe.
The teen entered the coffee shop to the jingle of bells and with her helmet nestled in the crook of her arm. While her helmet was a simple black, the rest of her could appear very much as Rainbow Brite, only with much more style. Due to the autumn crisp that had begun to take its toll, Tourmaline was wearing a layer of magenta and green argyle tights, a shorter jean skirt, and several layers of solid colored shirts of various cuts, fabrics, and fitting. Her mid-thigh length, lime green peacoat topped off the color explosion. As if by magic, her accessories managed to tie everything together so that it were simply on the edge of disaster.
Her hair was tied back in two simple french braid pigtails. There was no way Ken could miss her.
Absently she scanned the seating before moving to the counter to order a simple (relatively) mocha latte. If he were going to run away screaming, she might as well have a warm cup of coffee before the ride back home.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:49 pm
The poor Dodge was on its last legs as, about ten minutes after Tourma had made herself comfortable, Kendall pulled into the coffee shop lot. The engine gave a heaving cough as he pulled it into a parking spot before, with what seemed a great effort, began to run smoothly again.
"Oh, you're fine..." Ken sighed at it, knowing it wouldn't be for much longer. They'd lucked out finding this one for so cheap in the papers. Putting it in park, and killing the engine, he leaned forward, his brow thunking lightly against the top curve of the steering wheel.
Please....let this work out. Please let Raven not spontaneously decide she was attached to the apartment, and please, above all, let this Tourmaline person not be a freak or a scam artist. He did not WANT to be one of those losers that lived at home til they were thirty because they couldn't get it together.
That said, he stepped out of the car into the brisk autumn air. For his part, he'd dressed casually, though not casually enough to look like he'd rolled out from under a bridge. He wore a pair of bluejeans with a slightly-baggy gray T-shirt sporting a blue-and-gold lion's head on a shield, and a black jacket over it all.
Stepping into the coffee shop, he found it mostly empty....odd for this time of day. Not that he went to them often as he wasn't a coffee fan, but he'd expected it to be packed with tired soccer moms and annoyed businessmen wanting to let everybody know just how important they were, even when they weren't at work.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a cacophony of colors and turned his head quickly in its direction to assure himself his brain wasn't playing tricks on him. No....no tricks there, just a very colorful someone sitting back with a coffee.
A colorful someone who looked about eighteen years old and like her parents might call her Tourmaline.
He brought his wrist up to check the time, finding it was about three minutes from when they'd agreed to meet, and returned his eyes to the nearby girl. She wasn't at all what he was expecting, but then...she wasn't many of the things he HAD been expecting either, which was definitely in her favor.
Drawing nearer to the table, he cleared his throat to draw attention to his presence so he wasn't creeping up on her. "Tourmaline...?" he asked with mild hesitation in case he ended up being entirely wrong.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:05 pm
The truth was, Tourmaline had been stealing covert looks to the door ever since her settling in ten minutes before they were supposed to meet. Even the comfy plush chair she had chosen had the perfect placement for spying on everyone in the coffee shop. It was just how she liked it, the perfect people watching seat.
That being said, the teen noticed Ken as he walked in, but didn't connect the name to person until he had begun to make his way over. The connection solidified when he cleared his throat and spoke.
She had envisioned appearing cool, calm, and collected like the big executives always acted in the movies. Unfortunately, this was not the movies.
"That's me," Tourma replied with a half-smile as she stared at him. "Well, I'd assume that you're Kendall then?" She felt awkward, not knowing whether to stand or to motion for him to sit. In compromise, she sort of half-stood while offering her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:13 pm
He'd promised himself all the way over that he was going to play this off to the best of his abilities. Unfortunately, like her, the years of being a shut-in MMO addict crept through as he gave her an awkward grin, accepting the offered hand to give it a firm shake.
"Nice being met." he told her. "Good to meet you too."
.....so now what? Did he sit? Did he stand and wait for her to offer? He lingered on his feet for a moment until the first twinges of awkwardness set in, and then pulled out the chair across from her and seated himself in it, saving them both the bother.
"Sorry if I'm late. Little more traffic than I was expecting..."
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:23 pm
She chuckled softly and blushed somewhat when she realized that she had forgotten to offer him a seat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to forget my manners." Glancing at him, she picked up her cup of coffee so that she wouldn't fidget too much.
Ah, traffic. A smile was offered to Ken. "Durem's often like that. It's smelly and dirty in some places, like most cities of this type I guess, but it's nice once you're not living directly in the pot."
Pausing when she realized that she was rambling, Tourma took a sip of her coffee while setting her own bi-colored eyes on his. "What do you do in your free time, if you don't mind me asking? I can't say I'd be thrilled if you were a die hard tuba player or something, no offense. What about a job?"
Though she didn't say it, the teen would answer any reasonable question that he threw at her, and she wouldn't ask a question that she wouldn't answer herself.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:33 pm
He gave a chuckle at the tuba remark. Well, she had a sense of humor....that was good. That was REALLY good, actually, because he wasn't sure he could keep his sanity dealing with two Ravens under the same roof.
"No tubas." he assured her. "I....mostly do computer-related stuff in my free time. Ray and I play a lot of games together on our days off and we both kinda off-and-on keep a website for one of our guilds. Nothing too exciting, I'm afraid."
Nothing too exciting except on the nights raids went wrong. Then a lot of accusations, blame, and in-game duel challenges were thrown around. But even that was kept to mostly the capslock key and liberal abuse of the exclamation point, so he didn't think it was worth mentioning.
"Anyway, uhm...." he faltered, getting the conversation back on-track to properly answer her question. "I work at the video game store near the salon and Raven, that's my sister, works at the New Age shop in the mall. Does tarot readings, collects crystals, all that....stuff." he said, fishing for the last word and then waving a hand at it as if to shoo it away once it left his mouth.
He found himself tempted to ask Tourma what it was SHE did, his eyes wandering to the black helmet. But he didn't want to seem rude....he wasn't the one interviewing HER, after all...
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:55 pm
"Ahhh." She nodded as if great understanding had been bestowed upon her. "I know a few computer geeks, and my aunt works for some governmental computer tech department that she's not allowed to really talk about." A thoughtful look came over her features before shaking her face back to neutral, almost like an etch-a-sketch, while she listened to him speak.
Good. They had jobs. Jobs meant she wouldn't have to get nasty with rent, or run the risk of having to pull out a wrench to threaten them like they do in the movies. Unless his sister was a body builder, Tourma had a feeling she could take them, if only because she had that whole metal innards thing going on.
His dismissal of his sister's New Age interests did not go unnoticed, but she only made a note. It wasn't exactly a deal breaker not to like hippies.
As his eyes wandered to her helmet, she grinned. "I ride a motorcycle as long as it's not too cold. Built her myself." If possible, her grin widened. Clearly, she had a passion for her bike, just like her father does his. "I used to teach dance classes, personally... But now I just repair things and sell them on either Ebay or Craigslist. I guess you could say that I'm a mechanic of sorts." A dismissive shrug was added afterward.
"Why are you looking to move?" There, simple and obvious question.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:07 pm
Brown vulpine ears pricked in interest as she briefly spoke about her bike and repairing things. It sounded much more exciting than what he did....but then again, he'd resigned himself early-on to the fact that being a video game junkie wasn't exactly something you wore on your sleeve proudly.
....his mind turned to the Alliance emblem on his shirt and he felt a brief heat creep to his cheeks. Okay, well something MOST people didn't wear on their sleeve proudly.
"Heh...wish I'd learned to fix things." he told her when she'd finished talking. "Probably could save us a lot of headaches at the rate things like to break at our place..."
He drew in a breath and let it out in a sigh "....which probably brings me to why we're looking to move. Me an' Ray are living in an apartment right now and we're just kind of having a hard time keeping up. The rent isn't really a problem, but the manager keeps jacking up the price of utilities, and you're more likely to find a friggin' unicorn in that building than a maintenance guy. Anything that breaks we end up having to call in somebody else to fix which gets really expensive..."
He stopped before he went off on a tirade about the intricacies of just WHY he hated the damn place before he ventured out of the realm of validated concerns and into the land of petty grievances. Maybe he'd tell her later, assuming things went well.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:25 am
"Well it'd be hard not to raise prices with the cost of natural gas nowadays," she said softly, frowning. "It's just logistics, if the total price of heating goes up, then so will the utilities." Tourma shrugged, feeling bad that she might have to do what their landlord currently did because while she understood the possibility for raising price, she didn't understand why he had to jerk up the prices so high without discussing the reasons with Ken and his sister.
His blush was noticed, but the teen attempted to hide the confusion. His t-shirt had no meaning other than maybe a band logo or something of the sort to her, as she had no experiences in MMOs, or whatever he did.
"Anyways," she said while setting down her coffee cup, "Fixing things is just a knack I have, and I have the luck for it to pay my bills. I'm sure you have your own natural talents." It was meant to be encouraging, but she wasn't so sure it came out that way.
Curling her tail into her lap while the teen continued to watch his reactions, or rather pay attention to him while conversing, Tourma tried her best not to look awkward and silly. "Do you or your sister have significant others?" It was a sort of private question, but she'd be damned if they didn't try and sneak in an extra person outside of the lease. "Oh and what is your policy on drinking, partying, dancing, and music."
Hopefully, he didn't think her questions too nosy. She made sure to offer him a smile to encourage his honest answers.
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