Roommate Wanted!

[Riley Grace]

Owner of two bedroom, two bathroom apartment (http://i53.tinypic.com/2e304ld.jpg) is seeking a roommate. Corner unit is on the top floor of a six-story, mutant-friendly building, with a bus stop right outside the front door. Sunny and spacious, with a generous balcony and recently renovated kitchen. Please call for details about rent & fees. Owner is a recent UCLA grad & registered mutant, references available.


There had been eighteen phone calls so far, Riley mused, checking the log she kept on her laptop. Twelve of them had been from anti-mutant protesters and hate groups, and five of them from students who were interested more in the novelty of living with a mutant.

Since Kelsey had moved back east after they'd graduated a few months ago, she'd been living alone with only her owls for company. It was high time to find a roommate to help her pay the mortgage and the building fees. Hence the ad she'd placed both online and in the UCLA student newspaper.

She murmured a soft thank you as the waitress stopped by with another cappuccino, reflexively shifting her wings out of the girl's way. The coffee shop was bustling at this hour of the morning, with people on their way to work rushing and out. Riley was here to meet the only phone call she'd received from a prospective roommate that sounded genuine. An incoming UCLA freshman, whom one of her friends at the student paper had recommended.

If nothing else, Riley mused, it'll at least be nice to meet someone who's interested in the apartment, and not at gawking at me for a change. As she sat and sipped, the rush hour had slowed to a late morning crawl. The door's chimes sounded, and her pale gaze was pulled up from the screen.

[Taya Robbins]

"Okay, what was it again... City Bean?"

"That's it - oh, turn here! Oh my God, I'm meeting my roommate in a coffee shop on Avenue of the Stars, this is so cool!"

"Well, prospective roommate, you're not moving in quite yet, kiddo."

"Mom, show some optimism! She's a mutant, and Kelli said she had a physical mutation, too, it's kismet!"

"Kiss-what?"

"Destiny, mom, I've got a good feeling about this - oh, wait, there it is, mom, stop, stop, stop!"

"Well - Taya, there's no place to park here."

"You don't need to park, just let me out."

"But don't you want me to come in and--"

"I'll be fine, just get over to the sidewalk."

"I just don't know if I want you walking around in a strange city alone."

"Mom, we're in Century City, people see weirder things than me here every day and now we're past it, so we're getting farther away as we speak."

"Okay, okay, let me at least make a U-turn so you don't have to walk across traffic--"

"Mom!"

"All right! All right, I'm getting to the side."

"Thank you."

The hybrid SUV slid precariously into a gap on the rightmost lane of the Avenue, and the passenger-side door opened to vomit an eighteen-year-old girl wearing a blue tanktop, shorts, and a lopsided UCLA ballcap, and belying her protests from a moment ago, people were staring at her almost immediately. Of course, it wasn't so much her clothes as it was her tawny yellow fur, her swaying, striped tail, or the reason why her ballcap was off-balance, which was because it had to be wedged between her tall, triangular, catlike ears.

But Taya Robbins didn't pay any attention to the second, third, and fourth glances she knew she was drawing. She put her large paws on her hips and reveled in the ostentatious glory that was Century City with a big, silly grin on her feline jowls.

"I'll go find a parking spot and be right over, okay?" said Lise Robbins, leaning over from the driver's seat.

"Okay, sure, Mom!" Taya said. "Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

A brisk walk and a frenzied dash across the street brought her to the front door of the City Bean coffee shop. The chime was just a bit harsh on her sensitive ears as she stepped in through the door, and she began scanning the patrons while her eyes adjusted to the lower light.

She really should have gotten some kind of physical description... all she'd said in her email to Riley, other than that she was a mutant, was you'll know me when you see me.

Somehow Taya's eyes slid right past Riley's wings and into the opposite side of the coffee shop. When everyone was staring your way, it was awfully hard to figure out who was looking for you.

[Riley Grace]

Ahh, karma, you're such a bitch.

Riley had to smile, knowing that the feline mutant standing just inside the doorway was the young woman she'd been emailing with just the day before. She wondered, too, just how much Kelli had exaggerated about the girl's exuberance.

But that was neither here nor there.

She needed a roomate, and the philosophical Sylvester versus Tweety debate would have to wait.

Instead of lifting a hand, she extended one of her wings to catch the girl's attention as she called out. "Taya...over here!" Riley said with a smile, standing up and absently smoothing out the soft cotton of her top (http://www.polyvore.com/riley_rw/set?id=29801230) and settling it over her cargo shorts. Sunglasses were pushed up into her mass of auburn curls, doing a credible imitation of the headband she'd forgotten when she'd left the apartment earlier.

"Hi! I'm Riley. Glad you could make it. Have a seat!" she motioned to the two empty chairs opposite hers.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya's ears turned before the rest of her, and when she spun toward the sound only to see an angel, a literal, honest-to-God, straight-off-a-stained-glass-window-except-for-the-fashion-plate-outfit angel...

There was as much gleeful awe and wonder as could fit on her feline face, and her tail coiled reflexively around one furry calf before she struck off on her custom flip-flops toward the winged woman.

"Riley! Hi! It's so good to meet you!"

Taya reached a paw out to Riley as she found her seat - her tail threaded easily through the gap in the back. "Thanks so much for coming out to meet me like this. I was so excited to find out there was another mutant looking for a roommate this summer!"

[Riley Grace]

With a careful grip, Riley shook Taya's paw and took her own seat once more.

"Not a problem at all! I had today off of work and I was thrilled to hear that Kelli had pointed you my way. How about a drink?" she said brightly, waving the waitress over as she passed nearby.

"I've got pictures of the apartment, and the building...did you get the floorplan I emailed you?"

[Taya Robbins]

"Oh, yes I-- oh, excuse me."

Taya twisted in her seat to see the menu board as the waitress approached. "Can I get the Caramel Macchiato with soy milk? Thanks, give me a Grande."

She settled back in her seat, grinning. "Yeah, the apartment looks great. I, uh... really hope you're not allergic to animals."

[Riley Grace]

"Ha! Hardly. I have enough feather fluff of my own to deal with that I never developed any allergies." Riley grinned, lifting her cappuccino and taking a sip. She sighed happily, cradling the delicate cup in her fingers.

"Oh, I should warn you...I'm a total caffeine addict. If its caffeinated, I swear I have it in the apartment. But this is the best place for coffee in LA, in my opinion. Oh god...I'm babbling, I'm sorry."

[Taya Robbins]

"No, no, I need to know these things!" Taya said enthusiastically. "I am a coffee junkie, if I don't get enough I sleep half the day. Except I can't do milk anymore."

Taya's eyes jumped from Riley's face to the big, impressive spans of cream-and-mocha feathers hanging from above her shoulders, and her grin broadened, but it didn't feel right to jump in about those just yet. "So, I was honestly surprised you answered my email. I mean, thrilled, but surprised. I didn't expect a graduate would be willing to consider an incoming freshman."

[Riley Grace]

"Well, I turn 21 on July fourth, so you're really not that much younger than me. I started at UCLA when I was seventeen, since I was home-schooled and finished the high school courses early."

Riley nodded, smiling brightly. It was...going amazingly well. They seemed to be clicking together just fine so far, and that was a relief.

"Besides, I thought it might be nice to share with another mutant and you're the only one that's called, to be honest."

[Taya Robbins]

"Well, there really aren't that many people looking this early," Taya said. "I was figuring on coming down here in August myself before - oh, that's right, I haven't told you yet!"

She shifted in her seat, because this was news that required movement - paws, claws, ears, tail - Taya was an individual rich with expressive possibilities.

"So you know from my email I'm going into the journalism program, right? Well, I was just hoping I might be able to get into Daily Bruin as a fact-checker or a proofreader or something, since I'm only a freshman, but then the student head editor called me and said she wanted me to come out early as a special correspondent for mutant interests in Los Angeles. And she said if she likes my work, she's going to pass it on to her contacts at the Times!"

[Riley Grace]

It was phenomenally hard to not be caught up in Taya's enthusiasm, as she found herself putting her cappuccino down to clap with delight. Riley mused distantly that it might likely be overwhelming at times, but at least it would never be boring.

"That's fabulous news! No wonder Kelli was so excited when she called me the other day! She's tough to impress...whatever you submitted must have really caught her eye. My roommate Kelsey, she just moved back east to take a job with the National Geographic magazine - she was a photojournalism major and also worked at the Daily Bruin. Its one of the best training grounds in collegiate media...or so everyone keeps telling me." Riley said with a smile, wings fluttering slightly as she remembered to get back to the topic at hand.

Pulling a small green file from her bag on the floor, she spread a few pictures out on the table. "So this is what the place actually looks like...that's my bedroom over there...this would be yours, its the second one and just a little smaller than mine...kitchen is renovated...the view from the balcony is amazing. Oh, and in case your folks are concerned, the building is really safe. There's a security desk in the lobby, and you can't get into the building without a special keycard, and there's two locks on the door of the apartment. Another thing I should warn you about...I have two pet owls, they live out here on the balcony so they can come and go freely. Plus, I occasionally bring home animals from the zoo if they need round the clock care."

[Taya Robbins]

"Owls, are you serious?" Taya said, giggling. "Oh, man, my mom is terrified of birds flying at her. But, yeah, animals are fine. Just... well, cats tend not to like me much? I think they're being territorial."

She pawed through the pictures, and her tail lashed at the legs of her chair. "This looks great. I can't wait to see it in person." She just hoped her stipend from the Bruin would be enough to cover her part of the rent.

Riley's wings shifted, and every rippling feather was like a magnet on Taya's attention, pulling her eyes up from the pictures no matter how many times she forced them back. "Okay," she said, "I just can't stand it anymore. Your wings are so amazing, they're gorgeous! Do they work? Like, flying?"

[Riley Grace]

"You know, I could introduce her to my little ones and help her with that...my mom had the same fear until I was old enough to talk to them and help her get over it." Riley said brightly, tilting her head as she watched Taya flick through the pictures.

"We can head over there now, if you like, its only two blocks away. But your email said your mom was coming with you...and I'm sure she'd like to see it. If she's like mine, she'll want to inspect it, the building, and probably me, too." She grinned, finally noting that Taya's eyes would stray to her wings every so often and linger there. She flicked them back and forth just a little more than usual, before shifting them slightly smaller to allow the waitress to pass behind her with ease.

Riley almost choked on her cappuccino as she laughed, Taya's words coming in an abrupt rush, much like the rest of her enthusiasm. "Thanks for the compliment! And yes, they work. I can fly and even carry people when I do it."

[Taya Robbins]

That got her tail swinging even more. Taya knew that Banner was strong enough to carry people, but she'd never worked up the nerve to ask for a spin. Maybe...

Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. A waitress came by with a big, frothy mug topped with a caramel sauce lattice, a concoction that looked more like a dessert than a morning pick-me-up. Taya moved her muzzle forward into the steam and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes with a deeply satisfied, "Mmmmmm.

"Don't worry, my mom'll be along," she said. "She had to find a parking spot for the car. Anyway, that is really incredible. I know I'm biased, but I just love meeting people with physical mutations."

That was when her brain caught up with her mouth and reminded it that she still had no idea about Riley's past. "Even though I know they're... not always the easiest to live with."

[Riley Grace]

"There were...good points and bad points, as usual. But my parents are awesome, and my older brothers are the best. I think it helped that by the time they had me, they had experience with my brothers who are both mutants too. They've got mental gifts though, not physical mutations. Caleb can create physical force fields that almost nothing can penetrate, and Michael has infra-red vision he can turn on and off. Naturally, both of them enlisted in the Marines...which made my dad fit to burst with pride since he served."

Riley responded animatedly, with pride evident in her voice and her features. They might have been her big brothers, but Riley couldn't be prouder of them for what they did every day.

"I'm hoping they can get leave and come visit this summer, since I haven't seen them in nearly a year. They're both in Iraq right now."

She sipped the last of her cappuccino and mock-pouted at it as she set it aside. The waitress would hopefully be back by with a fresh one soon. "What about you, Taya? What's your family like? Any brothers and sisters?"

[Taya Robbins]

Taya sipped deeply from her macchiato and had a mustache of white foam when she set the drink down again. A round, pink tongue wiped her muzzle clean before she answered.

"No, I'm an only child," she said. "My dad's an orthodontist, my mom's a physical therapist. I'm sort of a medical curiosity for both of them. But, yeah, they're awesome, too. I don't think I'd have made it without them..."

It was an oddly personal thing to be talking about with someone she'd met minutes ago, but then, they already shared something personal that was rare even among mutants.

The front door chimed, and in walked a petite middle-aged woman with short, sandy blonde hair and bright summer clothes. She took off her sunglasses and squinted in the dimness of the cafe.

"Speak of the devil," Taya said, and she waved. "Mom! Over here!"

Lise Robbins caught her daughter's eye and, a moment later, saw Riley. There was only the briefest hint of a double-take before she crossed toward their table.

"Hi, you must be Riley," she said, extending a hand. "I'm Lise, it's so good to meet you. You two hitting it off so far?"

[Riley Grace]

She rose instantly, feathers fluttering behind her as she shook the woman's hand. "Yes, ma'am. So far so good! Can we get you a cup of something?"

The three of them chatted amiably for a good fifteen minutes as Riley gave Lise all the details about the apartment that Taya had gotten earlier. Pictures were pored over, details questioned, and the young feathered mutant smiled at the subtle inquisition she was undergoing.

She didn't mind in the least, of course. Lise reminded her a great deal of her own mother, both in mannerisms and enthusiasm. Taya might have brought the enthusiasm to a whole new level, but she definitely got it from her mother.

"Absolutely!" Riley piped up in response to Lise asking about seeing the apartment. "We can head over there right now. Its only a couple of blocks away."

----------

Four days later...

"I'm so excited that you're here, Taya! In case I haven't said that enough today." Riley all but bounced as the two new roommates carried the last of many boxes from the elevator down the hall to the apartment. Once inside, she set the box down near Taya's bedroom door and padded back into the kitchen, kicking her shoes off as she went.

Standing in front of the fridge, she tapped a fingertip on her lips and called out, "Do you want to grab lunch while we're out shopping, or would you rather eat here?" Riley grabbed two bottles of water and wandered into Taya's room, tossing one to her in the process.

[Taya Robbins]

Taya lifted her head out of the box of books and T-shirts lying open on her bed in time to snag the water bottle out of the air. Her new bedroom was an exercise in barely controlled chaos - clothes were piled on the edge of the bed awaiting their proper organization in the dresser and the closet, books and CDs were in several uneven stacks on the desk while the bookshelf was cluttered with knickknacks that hadn't yet found a home, including a plush red dragon with flight goggles and, next to it, what could only be described as a fuzzy black demon with one fang poking up out of its adorable grin. At least Taya had the foresight to start a trash bag to collect packing paper and scraps of tape, or else the floor would already be a minefield of debris.

"Oh, thanks," Taya said, twisting the cap off the water bottle. "Umm... if it's not too cluttered, let's just eat in. Mom and Dad sort of flooded us with groceries."

There was something about sitting down to your first homemade meal in a new home - even if it was just a tuna salad sandwich and a glass of store-bought strawberry lemonade, which was about the outer limit of Taya's cooking skills. She took a grinning look around the apartment. It certainly had Riley stamped all over it, minus the blank spots her erstwhile roommate had left. Taya was certain she could fill the empty spaces in no time. She hadn't even unpacked the framed paintings yet.

"So," she said, licking beads of pink lemonade off her fuzzy chops, "two older brothers. What was that like?"