Seeking Roomate

"The listing in the paper for this two bedroom apartment sounds like a good idea, the guy who's renting the second room sounded pretty nice on the phone, too. For once, not some dude with a creepy voice."

"In this town? Think you're going to take it?"

"Probably, the rent here went up /again/ and it's just getting out of my price range. The new place is also closer to work, going to check it out today in about an hour."

"Alright, man, you call me when you finish up, maybe we can cruise around for some chicks tonight."

"Yeah. Right. Catch you later."

Wick lowered the phone from his ear and hit the End button to hang up, stuffing it into his jean's pocket while snatching up his car keys with the other hand off the side table near his couch. He really hoped he could get this place, it'd save him his little stash of savings with summer rolling out. Less reasons to be out on the beach after September, which meant less hours working as a life guard, which also meant less pay. He grimaced as he left his apartment, he'd put those thoughts aside, head down to his car and drive out to meet this guy. What was his name again?

The skunk fished into his wallet as his feet clambered down the stairs, pulling out the slip of paper with the address, phone number and name. Percival V. Riordian. Wonder what the V stands for. Wick brushed some of his ivory locks from his eyes as he made his way down into the parking lot, immediately finding his car. It was hard to miss, admittedly. Most guys you see drive sports cars, the stuff that tries to make up for the masculinity lacking in their pants, but him? Never had a problem with that department, no, his car was a simplistic black Jeep. Nothing too large, but not some dinky compact either. It was more than useful on those spur of the moment camping trips he enjoyed taking once in awhile.
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Weaving through traffic, getting there early thanks to his keen sense of direction, he pulled into a spot along the side of the street. Parallel parking like a pro, he stepped out of the car to get a better look at the area. You could smell the sea off the breeze, it was perfect. The neighborhood was quieter than his, too. Some days he needed that, the quiet after a day working under the sun and on the hot sand, but he loved his job, and he loved the fact he'd spend less gas and less time to get there if all of this worked out.

Outside, the building looked like your common brownstone apartment building, nothing too fantastic about it. He was told on the last phone call to just buzz himself in, so he did, and climbed up two flights of stairs to get to the right apartment. The building inside was clean and quiet, the carpetted hall muffled his steps as he approached. Making sure his hair didn't look funky, since he'd been driving with his windows down, he set his thumb on the doorbell button and pressed it.

"One moment!" Came a voice from the other side of the door, easy to recognize as the same voice on the phone. Wick stood patiently and perked his ears at the sound of the deadbolt unlocking, as well as the chain being slid away. The door opened and revealed a light-colored border collie, his hair was longer than Wick expected, since it was held back into a ponytail. The skunk smiled and offered out his hand to the other male, "Came to see the apartment, it's Wick Berwin."

Percival smiled back and seemingly didn't notice his hand, before opening the door wider and stepping back out of the way. "Hi, you came early! Come on in, take a look around. You caught me making some snacks, I'll be done with them in a minute or two so make yourself comfortable."

Wick slowly lowered his hand and stuck it into his pocket, dipping his head and taking a few steps inside to look around. The apartment looked more like a loft, the living room was huge and spacious, and he eyed the leather couch with a little bit of envy. You could smell it was leather, not the cheap faux stuff, and it had a smaller loveseat to match. Both were set around an expensive-looking wrought iron and glass coffee table, with matching side tables at either end of the couch. A low whistle escaped his lips, looking around a little more, he was certainly impressed.

"You really got a knack for decorating...and you said snacks? You cook?" Cause he sure doesn't!

The collie closed the door and systematically started locking it up before stepping away and toward the kitchen. The long counter was easily seen from where Wick was standing in the living room, there were no walls hiding anything in there. The kitchen also looked big, big enough that it had an island in the middle where he could see (and smell) the snacks that had been mentioned.

"Hobby, more like. I didn't go to school to become a chef or anything like that, if that's what you mean. I did learn from someone who did, however. Do you prefer ranch or mustard?"

Wick grinned, "Mustard is fine. If you have anything spicy, that's even better." He returned to looking around; two floors, the stairs were made out of iron and spiraled around to get up, and from here he could see one of those dressing screens to hide whatever was up there. Must be his bedroom, Wick thought to himself, before his azure eyes came back down to look at what was at ground level. A bathroom, not that big but alot bigger than what he currently had at his place, that's for sure.

Percival came up just then with a tray, a smile on his muzzle, "Want to sit and talk or you just want to look at the room you're renting?"

Wick looked at the tray, his stomach making a growling noise, he hadn't eaten all day and that sudden realization came to him as he was looking at the food. "Chatting is fine, I got all day."

They talked for what seemed like a few minutes, but in reality two hours had passed by. Wick found his potential roommate to be pretty knowledgable about alot of things, while he shared his love for working out and his job as a life guard. Looking at the collie Wick noticed he didn't look too bad, but he had leaner muscle, which seemed to fit with Percival's calm demeanor. The snacks had long since disappeared and a pair of empty glasses now sat on coasters on the coffee table as well.

"I don't mean to be abrupt, but I'm fairly certain I'd love to live here. You think...I could see the room now?" Wick was a little hesitant, somehow he got the feeling Percival didn't get to talk to people that often, but didn't seem to be offending him when the collie returned a big smile.

"Oh! Sure, wow, the time's just kinda gotten away from us, huh? Yeah, it's over here. I fixed it up as best as I could. I was using it as storage for boxes and things like that."

The collie stood from his seat on the other, smaller sofa, before moving around and Wick noticed he seemed to walk on some sort of invisible line. He tilted his head, but followed, then peeked into the open bedroom door. The room was a good size, his full bed could fit in here easily, there were still a few cardboard boxes stacked in a corner, but he was quite happy with it overall.

"Well," Wick started, "If you got anyone else looking into this place, call 'em off, it's mine."

Percival gave a quiet laugh before nodding, "Alright, I'm glad! I'd have to say I was going to ask you to stay, you're not some creepy person, like a few I've had to interview...and then block on my phone." He cleared his throat, which made Wick in turn laugh.

"Yeah, I hear ya. So, moving my stuff in shouldn't be a problem, I can sell off my couch and some other stuff so there's no hassle. Think I could get moving in tomorrow? Lease is up in two days and I didn't bother renewing, too expensive."

Percival nodded again, smiling, "Sure, no problem. I don't get out much, will be here all day to help you get settled."

Wick noticed then that the collie wasn't looking straight at him, he'd had problems like that before, he attributed it to some weird dominance thing. Alot of people, minus his boss or those with senority at work, never looked him right in the eyes. This one was different though, Percival was looking at him, but wasn't giving him eye contact. Then he noticed the collie's eyes and it made him pause, leaving an awkward silence for a few seconds.

Percival smiled a little wider, one of his ears flicking at the quiet all of a sudden. "I'm blind Wick, is that a problem?"

The skunk's own eyes quickly averted, stammering a moment out of embarassment. "Uh, no. I mean. Sorry, I just hadn't noticed before.." He looked back at the kitchen, furrowing his brows.

As if sensing this, Percival chuckled, "I was really young when I lost my eyesight, it was an accident with a firecracker. I've had alot of practice doing things for myself, just so I'm not a burden on other people. You don't have to worry about anything, like cleaning up after me, I know this place pretty well. I could tell you how many steps it is from here to the front door, and from here to the living room."

Wick was impressed, and still very embarassed about his reaction. Percival reached over, hesitantly, but managed to find the skunk's shoulder on the first try, giving it a pat before turning to walk back toward the living room.

"Just try not to leave anything on the floor, I can very easily trip just because I don't know it's there. In my head I have everything laid out, so something new will get me nine times out of ten."

Wick followed the collie, quickly, "Right! I understand, totally. Thanks for uh.."

Percival waved his hand a bit, as if to try to wave off anything his new roommate was trying to say. "Tomorrow, right?"

The skunk paused, momentarily confused, before smiling, "Right. I'm used to getting up at the crack of dawn, so I hope that's alright to get going as soon as possible."

"Sure is, Wick." Percival stopped near the door, holding out his hand with a big smile on his muzzle. "Drive safe on your way back, looking forward to tomorrow."

"Yeah! Yeah, thanks alot, Percival." Wick took that hand in his and gave it a firm shake, before he waited for the door to get unlocked to let him out.