In Need {204}

[forstner]

There'd been a few responses, but not many that had been appealing. She met with a number of people and none suited the young woman, all had been meetings in various areas of Diagon, but none of the people she conversed with had been to her taste. One man had been so old she really thought he just needed his family, one had been so disgusting she wouldn't even grace this thought with some of things he'd done, a woman with short punk hair had seemed nice enough until she told Rael she couldn't be reliable as she was trying to get a tour going with her band, and another woman had child in tow but there was just not enough room in a two-person flat for a child and two adults who didn't know each other. Most responses lately she hadn't bothered with. Too many things to do with getting things ready down at the bookstore for the incoming students with their new letters and need to be purchased books. However, one morning there'd been a response she didn't throw away. For one, it was clean and not spattered in coffee or tears, it didn't smell like perfume, and the writing was legible. What more could she really ask for these days? Rael didn't think much.

In a rush to clean up here and there, she'd sent a return letter explaining the only available time she had would be that mid-morning at ten-thirty, and it would have to be at her apartment itself. While she wasn't fond of inviting a stranger into her home, she felt she had no other choice as she was in a bit of a rush and couldn't make time to meet other places. Well, she could have but there was something about the signed name that looked all too familiar, though the dark-haired girl couldn't place it.

Cleaning the place up, though the only thing there was to do was dust and sweep a bit, she made sure Morpheus was tucked away in her room so as the visitor couldn't scare him, and Rael waited, somewhat impatiently, for the applicant to show.

The place was nearly bare with a minimum of furniture she'd managed to secure for good prices. A royal blue sofa with matching love-seat; a seashell colored Flokati area rug; an oak-finished coffee table; not to mention the dining set she owned. While she considered it all to be thin in nature, she was also used to having numerous pieces of expensive furniture, and though none of what she had came at an extremely cheap price, it wasn't to the standards she was used to.

Head tilted back, staring up at the standard white ceiling, she wondered momentarily if it needed a new coating, her magnolia walls had just been finished. Rael figured she should be able to offer some sort of welcoming look to who she managed to snag.

{closed}

[Corey Faulkland]

Two weeks. It had only been two weeks and already he felt like tossing himself into the Channel because in that two weeks he'd done everything. He'd done the goodbye thing, done the graduatiing thing, the getting a job thing, the 'I-have-no-money-shite' thing, everything. Well, everything except of course find a place to drop his bags and his rear that wasn't costing him so many sickles a night... Oh it wasn't that he hadn't looked, he'd done that, it was just that his options seemed slim right now. He could pay sickles a night, try and not kill a muggle, live on the street like an urchin, or shack up with a stranger and hope he didn't end up dead. So far, paying until he was broke definitely seemed like the best option of the list...and yet he had kept looking anyway, kept looking, kept replying, and kept snickering after realizing his last mailing had actually been owled to a muggle...oh that would go over just royally well. He could even picture it.

But what he hadn't pictured was actually getting a meeting out of one of his replies. You see he'd been rather vague, rather bland and just downright horridly generic with his mailings. He'd avoided his name, simply because he didn't know who he was talking and said nothing more than he was a recent Hogwarts graduate looking for a place to more or less share. Owner had first dibs, drew all the lines, he would even be satisfied to having a corner as long as it had a roof over his head and he'd signed it with nothing more than his initials. But he had gotten something sent back to him with a date and a time which happened to be today and in the next few seconds...

It had taken him forever to find the ad again but that was mostly to it being about as vague as his reply. The owner was a young woman, he'd have his own room, and everything else that went with renting an apartment pretty much went unsaid or so he figured. Did he want a place to live, yes, was he hopeful, no, he was honestly expecting to be turned away at the door - or just not have the door open and have this all been a sham. No, his opes weren't all that high but he was there, he was on time...and now he was knocking...

and here went the last of everything all over again....

[forstner]

Holding her breath, Rael waited. And waited. And waited. The person wasn't late, but she did have things that needed to be done, so wouldn't it only be proper to be early? Just like a job interview, it was best to be a few minutes early than right on time, and definitely better than being late. In essence was this not a job interview? It was where she would be interviewing this person to live with her, and she had to be able to trust this person more than being able to trust just any old employee. This person would be near Morpheus, be able to make off with her things, would have access to her. It was a frightening thought now that the thoughts were running through her mind and she had half a mind not to bother answering the door or pretend she wasn't looking for a roommate and had no idea what the person was speaking of.

The little information she'd provided in her advertisement was not enough to be able know who she was. Female, looking for roommate, extra room at a good size, nearly fully furnished, looking for someone to pay half the rent. Rael would even be willing to buy all the food provided the person didn't eat too much. She had left out that the person had to tolerate animals merely because the woman at the paper had told her those ads didn't gain as much attention as those without that little tag. And they could speak about it during the interview anyway. Hopefully the person meeting with her wasn't allergic to cats.

Remain calm, she told herself. It was best to be calm, if she was nervous, she'd make the other person nervous, and she'd mess up her own professional little interview. Besides, the person she wrote back to had said he was a Hogwarts graduate. The gender of the person? Rael didn't know. The name? Nothing, just initials, C.F. Who had those initials? No one the blue eyed girl could think of off the top of her head. Then again, she hadn't been very close to many people in Hogwarts, she'd preferred keeping to herself for safety measures.

But finally, there was knock!

Turning on her heal, Rael nearly ran to the door then forced herself to breathe and smooth the outfit she wore out. It wasn't anything fancy, just a beige cotton skirt and sand button-down, three-quarter sleeve. Classy, almost too classy for the building, but not really.

Pulling the door, open Rael had a most nervous smile plastered on her face, until she saw who stood on the other side. It was him! The boy from the wedding. C-- Co--Colin? Connor? Corky? Co--Corey? Corey!

"H--Hello..." she greeted, a confused look on her face. It couldn't be. The Gryffindor Prefect from Hogwarts was standing outside her apartment? There was no way he was the applicant. Was there?

[Corey Faulkland]

During the seconds between his knock and the moment the door opened it was almost as though time itself had frozen solid while leaving him with his own personal spring thaw. He stared at his feet, toed at the floor, scratched the back of his head and in his mind he did still another dozen or so more small actions before the door was opened. It would be closed -rather, slammed - in seconds no doubt. A couple of the others had been for the same reason, it was what he got for leaving his gender out of his response. Another moment of eternity, a moment completely void of a slamming door and then...

"H--Hello..."

He was still staring at his shoes but it didn't last for long, he recognized that voice, vaguely, almost not enough to care but he recognized it and of course now he had to look up. Brown eyes met blue and that only made things worse. He hadn't recognized the voice after the time it had been but the face he was looking at now? That he recognized completely. He had been right back in March, well partially at least. The girl from the wedding was indeed someone he'd known - he just didn't know it for certain until now. And now she had a face, a voice and most importantly a name he remembered.

Her face was confused, quite possibly about as confused as his own was stunned but it couldn't possibly top the certainty that he had which was telling him he'd knocked on the complete wrong door. The graduate glanced at the number presently just over her left shoulder, twice, and found he was indeed knocking on Room 204. But that meant that he...and she...why wasn't that door slammed yet, and more importantly, why hadn't he said anything? He could still back out...and since it was about the only card available in his hand, back out he would certainly try.

"Er...'ey...I er...mus' 'ave the wrong room. Sorry." He knew he didn't, his voice pretty much said he didn't and it opened to the door to so many inquisitions that would inevitably prove he didn't. But his brain wasn't exactly in the mood toc ommitting to overtime today, in fact it felt like doing a glass-half-empty job.

His problem, and one without a soultion.

[forstner]

It was him. Those brown eyes were easy to remember, they were soft and nice, and the face was memorable as well. It was as soft as the eyes that belonged to it. How could it be? An actual Hogwarts graduate was knocking on her door? Had been the one to send in the application? But what if it was a mistake? What if he had meant to knock on another door and it was just her luck he was meeting another at the exact time her appointment was for? But how could fate be so cruel? The fact she could barely remember his name, though his face and some of his stats were memorable, combined with the fact he had to have recently graduated and likely was looking for a place to stay. Possibly?

Perhaps he was as shocked as she? The boy had yet to say something. Or maybe he hadn't realized in her ad that she was a she. Or what if he was just randomly there? Maybe he was a stalker!

But that didn't sound right.

"Don't be sorry." Looking at him, she could hardly believe it, it was the same voice, perhaps a little deeper, but still the same. Soft, quiet, and so apologetic. They'd only spoken a few times, but there he was. A Gryffindor on her doorstep, kind of, and sorry for having the wrong room. He was looking for a friend and not her. Stomach having plummeted through the floor, she nodded hestitantly. Maybe her interviewee wasn't showing today.

"You're Corey, right? From Hogwarts?" Please let me have the correct name, she thought to herself. How embarrassing would it be to have the wrong name for a boy she remembered, but had hardly known. "Gryffindor?" Or what if he was just a look-a-like, and a damn good one too. Maybe she wasn't recognizable either, what if she now looked like the stalker?

[Corey Faulkland]

Well now he'd really done it, hadn't he? He'd spun his little lie to get himself off and away from this unexpected hook, only to ignore his window where he was supposed to actually do the going away. So now he'd been told not to be sorry, and had assumptions - truthful ones mind you - about who he was made of him. His window to flee was closed and now he was stuck making smalltalk, really he normally wouldn't mind it but when a situation started off with a shock there were rather slim chances of it calming anytime soon. Really, what could possibly go wrong now? Small conversation with a pretty old friend and housemate who happened to also be a rather striking girl at the same..oh...wait...there it was...

In actuality, all of his chances of being on his merry way (back to room hunting) went out the window when their eyes met. It wasn't a love thing (or at least he didn't think it was) but once one makes eye contact in a conversation one can't just walk away now can they? Plus, they were captivating...alright so maybe it was, slightly, a little...alot...always had been.

Bugger.

"Aye to all o' it, Forstner, no?" He paused sensing something right but equally wrong with his concurrance. It hit him a moment later but only made him blame Hogwarts living as opposed to himself. They were out of school not, last name basis wasn't needed. Hogwarts had turned him into a creature of habit, habits, were bad. The former gryffindor chuckled quietly for a portion of a second. "Sorry. Rael, righ'?" Another pause. "I'm no' er...interrupting am I?" Alright, so it was going to be a long day, he had become used to those. He just wasn't used to them starting off particulary like i]this[/i]. Starbreeze gimmicks, yes, this, this was a whole new game with a completely new playing field and entirely new rules.

He hated new games...

[forstner]

“Forstner?” she asked. It'd been a long time since anyone referred to her by her last name, other than at work. But he remembered, more than she could right at that moment. What in the name of Merlin was his last name? And while she hadn't heard her last name used outside of work since Hogwarts, it was like a nice welcoming back to the world of reality. Or, rather what reality was considered to be, true reality would be a smack in the face she wasn't ready for, and she knew it. “Yeah, it's Rael, or Forstner. And you've still no reason to apologize.”

Shrugging, the smile that played grew little by little. How could he remember after all those years? So, there weren't really all that many, but it'd been enough to wipe her memory clear a bit. Corey though, Gryffindor Prefect and Quidditch player. Keeper if she remembered correctly on that bit. They'd actually spoken once on the pitch, she remembered that. The conversation? No idea. But if he wanted to call her Forstner, who was she to stop him? That was what he called her in Hogwarts, wasn't it? So it was just lodged in his brain, her last name, but her first, probably also just lodged.

“Uh, no. You're not interrupting anything. Actually, I was waiting for someone,” she felt the need to explain to the boy...or rather man, now. “But, I don't think they're showing or else they would've been here by now.”

At least, with proper manners they would've shown by now. It had yet to occur why Corey would be knocking on her door at the same time she was expecting, it was a fluke, had to be. Why would Corey be looking for an apartment? Well, her brain began to reason with her, he was out of school now. He was likely looking for a place, a job, a pillow to rest his head on. But Corey? There was no way he was the one to answer her ad. Though, with as little information as she gave, and what she had in response from the person...no, it couldn't be. Though, he was a bit of a loner if she remembered correctly, but still...

“So how've you been? You're done with Hogwarts now, aren't you?” It was amazing to see someone she knew, however vaguely it had been in the day. The girl had yet to run into a number of others she remembered, Beni being an important one, but she'd gone to the wedding, and she'd seen Corey there as well.