Realistic or Modern Making Rent

[weemanv1]

Today was the day. A brief interview in the prior week had made up his mind immediately and now she was moving in today. Jonathon was thankful of course; he needed help to make the rent. Given his family history some might have wondered how a McGoveney was left wanting for cash; he came from a reasonably well-off family. Well, the reason being was that he had no job and could only make it so far on his parents’ charity. It wasn’t that he wasn’t actively looking either; he simply couldn’t find something within his own field.


He was young at only the age of twenty and still had some lingering boyish looks to him. His tan hair was kept short and often messy and he was built lean. Those who knew his police officer brother would see a clear contrast between the two. This also applied to their career choices. His older brothers found jobs in the police force and the military. Jonathon on the other hand was more interested in music. He played the guitar and well at that; his mother was very encouraging and paid for the lessons. One day he knew that he would make it big. He had a secret weapon after all that as far as he knew no other guitar player had: the ability to bend and manipulate metal to his will. Unfortunately this secret weapon was also why he was going nowhere fast. Not only did he need to hide it, but he utilized it in a major time sink that was his career as a super hero. Whenever he caught wind of crime he donned a sleek, metallic armour looking much like a modern day knight and he took upon the guise of Painkiller, inspired by the heavy metal album of the same name.


Despite his otherwise calm and kind demeanour, under the helmet Jonathon was incredibly brusque and brutal. He did not always kill the criminals he encountered, but sometimes he left them wishing he had. The anonymity gave him freedom that he never realized he craved before and sometimes he almost found that he was living with a split personality. Sometimes he felt remorse as Painkiller. Sometimes it was worse without the armour on. He had to play a part so as not to give himself away, but sometimes he pondered which life was the act and which was the reality.


Today he was optimistic though. He had been sure to clean two-bedroom suite so that his new roommate wouldn’t be immediately put off. Not that he was really a slob to begin with, but he felt it was common courtesy. They would both have access to most of the apartment, but would each have their own rooms and would hopefully be able to respect one another’s privacy. Jonathon knew he could at least. It was later in the morning now and he was anticipating that she would arrive at any moment. Being up on the sixth floor he would offer to help her move her things if she hadn’t hired anyone to do so already. To pass the time and wane off some of the anxiety he sat himself down on the couch in front of the television, picked up his guitar off the stand and started to tune it. Thinking about it, maybe he needed to move that to his bedroom now...

 

[Pat]

Ashlyn didn't often mind moving. She'd done it dozens of times before in the last few years when a town or city was getting a little too suspicious for her liking or a tad too poor to keep on funding her nest egg. Something was different about today though. Oakwood was home to only a handful of superheroes and supervillains, but it was sure a hell of a lot more than most other places across the country. This had to be the first time she moved simply because she wanted a change of pace; a fact she tried to justify a thousand ways in her head as a necessary move considering the frequency she was bumping into that hero.

She supposed she was supposed to be flattered that a do-gooder had finally decided she was evil enough to somewhat regularly thwart and foil - God knows she heard of plenty of supers who purposely went out of their way to get attention for that sort of thing - but her's was one of the more serious brooding types that she was ever-so-slightly afraid to be caught by. Painkiller was his alias, something that didn't quite make sense in her mind but she rolled with anyway considering he knew her as Lady Luck and hasn't once questioned her reasoning behind it.

A guy she was interviewed by seemed normal enough and had the room to take her on so long as she could split the rent with him, so she packed up what little she had at the old place and managed to convince one of her old contacts to help transport her bed to the apartment. Money wasn't a concern, but given her situation she would have to more frugal than usual in buying food and the basics, at least for the first few days. New books and furniture would be a pretended priority for now so long as she didn't have an excuse for her frequent nighttime absences. Ashlyn waved goodbye to her business partner after she instructed him to drop her off a block away from she intended to move in. He didn't seem like one to take advantage of his associates, but you never knew.

She was attractive as far as twenty year olds went, with short cut blonde hair and a set of calm dark brown eyes. Fit too, you had to be to make it in the life she led, but not impressively so. By day she was fun and spontaneous, but by night she cultivated a far more sarcastic and self aware persona under her helmet, traits that have earned her as much trouble as they helped get her out of it. After she moved in she would have to go and pick her outfit up. A few run-ins with Painkiller made her realize certain aspects of her costume weren't perfect for fighting someone who could quite literally shape metal with his mind, and she had to go find a guy who was good with costumes and wise enough to know to keep his mouth shut.

Finally reaching the apartments, she angled her bed into the doorway and leaned it against the wall, setting it down inside. It wasn't much, but she liked to move light enough so that it wasn't much of a hassle when she did. Moving up the stairwell, she reached the sixth floor and, after making doubly sure she was at the right door, rapped thrice with her knuckles. Ashlyn chose one of her favorite flannel shirts in anticipation of the meeting, white with squares and lines of dark red and yellow. They hanged loosely over a pair of black jeans selected because they generally went well with everything she wore. Aside from the clothing she had packed into the worn duffle bag hanging on her back, they were close to all she had to put on until she next went shopping.

 

[weemanv1]

The rap on the door was the signal. Setting the guitar back into the cheap stand next to the couch, Jonathon stood and went to greet his new roommate. He opened the door and offered her a friendly smile, though it falters as he examined the hallway. She was there…and she had one bag. While he understood that some people packed and travelled light, but to see her so lacking possessions caused his brow to rise. At the very least he wouldn’t have to do very much to assist.

“Hey, Ashlyn, right?” he greeted to be certain. “Come on in and get yourself set up. I uh…was going to offer to give you a hand with your things, but I don’t think there’s a whole lot to help with,” he observed with a light laugh. He stepped back to allow her entry and then quickly added as the thought crossed his mind, “Unless you need me to activate the elevator for your things?” This also reminded him that he had her key and fob sitting on the kitchen counter. Holding up a finger to prompt her to wait there he disappeared around the corner to retrieve that, returning and promptly holding it out to her by the ring. “Your key for the door and the fob for the elevator. I think that’s about everything I have for you. If you want a lock for your bedroom you’ll have to get that yourself.” That was all discussed during the original interview of course.

 

[Pat]

Ashlyn put her duffle bag on the kitchen counter while she listened, grabbing the key and fob from Jonathon when he finished talking and offered them to her. "I'm going to ride the elevator downstairs and grab a bed I've brought that you can help with if you want when I come back up, but aside from that I didn't pack much for my move, thought I'd buy whatever I need and want tonight and work on furniture whenever I hear of an opportunity," she intoned, unable to hold back a small grin of her own in return for his hospitality.

It wasn't entirely true, but it was close enough. Her costume needed checking up on sometime in the near future. Jonathon appeared warm and nice, but she couldn't entirely trust him. Not yet anyway. She went back the way she came but thankfully had the elevator at her disposal this time. Coming up six flights was a little tiring already, she wouldn't want to exhaust herself lugging a mattress and frame to the apartment, even if she enlisted Jonathon's help in doing so. She worked the buttons and found herself in no time at all next to the bed she propped up against the entrance way wall. Getting it into the elevator was easy enough but seemed to make the invention of convenience more cramped and uncomfortable. Hitting the button for the sixth floor, it wasn't too long until she was greeted by Jonathon again.

 

[weemanv1]

A bed was expected, but Jonathon still found it odd that she had nothing else to bring to the apartment. Not even a dresser or maybe something like a game console or television or computer. Admittedly he hadn't brought along too many possessions, but even in the short time he had been on his own for the past two years he had acquired more. He wouldn't judge though. "Well, whatever you need to get I'll be willing to lend a hand if I'm around," he offered. "...Which is likely. I don't make many plans." And when he dis he couldn't tell her exactly what was going on anyway. He just hopes that she wouldn't find it odd when he suddenly had to run out for an unspecified reason.

"Uh...everyrhing in the living room and kitchen we can share," he pointed put before she could disappear just in case it was relevant. "In fact the couch came with the place so that's not even mine to begin with." He did understand that she probably only meant to furnish her own room though so he left it there and let her go. While she had vanished he quickly scanned the hallway to be sure that it was clear and before long he was greeting her at the door again. Her bed actually wasn't that big even if they had to maneuver it around a smaller space.

It was the short hallway of the suite where they would struggle most. Jonathon never had this issue since his bedframe had been made of metal and he had been on his own, but since he had to hide his powers in his own home they had to do this the old-fashioned way. "Okay uh...just tip it upright I guess and we should be able to slide it in. Hopefully without scratching up the floor too much..." Maybe it was time to invest in carpeting.

 

[Pat]

Nodding along to everything Jonathon said, Ashlyn managed to turn the bed so it was upright and helped slide it into her new bedroom without too much trouble. Positioning it against the wall, she went to grab the much lighter and maneuverable mattress from the elevator, coming back and fixing it into place within the lesser half of a minute's absence. "Thanks for the help Jonathon," she mocked a playful courtesy with the loose hem of the flannel she wore, slightly lowering her head and bending her knees to complete the silly gesture.

The apartment was comfortably sized from what she saw of it so far, and recently cleaned, although it was hard to tell from first glance whether or not the neatly ordered suite was normally this uncluttered and sanitary. Ashlyn herself never cared much for cleanliness - but only when she had the privacy and luxury to get away with doing so. That said, she also wasn't one to tidy up for anyone coming over, and held a small personal disdain for those that did. Worrying about what people think about you and putting a show on for strangers wasn't an especially good sign for her. Nonetheless, Jonathon continued to be kind and she would reserve her judgement until proven otherwise. Something about him was intriguing though; his words seemed to portray him as shy and unsure of every syllable rolling off his tongue. Even as she thought of that assessment however she knew it to be harsh and false. He was present and interacting with her, yes, yet it seemed like he was distracted by something wonderful and not quite entirely in the same apartment as her.

The guitar leaning against the stand next to the couch put some of her questions to rest. He must be a musician she thought, as she made light conversation with him about his family while rifling through her duffle bag in the kitchen. She learned that he came from a family with a few police officers and a service record in the military, which surprised her giving his demeanor so far. In between her poised questions and his responses she carefully recollected and modified her own history and stories. Preparing for anything and everything he might decide to ask her in his curiosity.

 

[weemanv1]

A small if awkward smile crossed his lips when he received Ashlyn’s thanks. Eccentric was probably the best way to describe her, though it was all harmless fun. “Yeah. No problem,” he assured her and quickly followed up with, “Uh…you can call me Johnny if you like. Most other people do.” He personally preferred the less formal name, a habit that he shared with his oldest brother in fact.

With little else to do for the day but make sure that his roommate was settled and knew where everything in the apartment was situated he saw no harm in standing back and making light conversation to pass the time between explaining where he kept the pots and what day the trash was collected. He shared about how he was the second youngest in a family with four children and that his oldest brother was a police officer and second oldest was a military man. His father was a veterinarian surgeon which was where most of their money came from and why he was able to survive his first year alone without a roommate. He mentioned his mother and younger sister, but only in passing almost as if specifically trying to stay vague about them.

With most of the basics of his life story laid out, now he was growing curious about Ashlyn. Already he had found it odd that she had come in with so little so he had to ask if she had just moved out and wasn’t exactly prepared for what was to come. Since they had been on the topic of his family though, he also became curious about hers. “What about you; what’s your family like?”