Gunny and the New 'Roommate Agreement'

[Gunnar Ottesen]

“Well, I’ve some news, Ma. Simera’s moving out.”

“Moving out? Well, that’s a shame, sweetie. She’s such a nice…” The voice on the other end of the phone paused for a second, as if not quite certain how to finish that sentence. “…nice girl. Any reason? Oh, honey, it’s not you, is it? ‘Cause if it is…”

“No, Ma. Really. Simy was cool with it from the start.” Gunnar pulled the phone away from his ear for a second or two to roll his head around and crick his neck. “Anyway, she got a place with her girlfriend.”

“Oh, I see.” A vaguely sad, perhaps a little disappointed voice came now from Ma Ottesen. “She’s happy, I hope?”

“Never seen her happier, Ma. Not in the nearly three years I’ve been here. Simy’s girlfriend’s great.”

“Oh, well. That’s very good to hear, then. So, I take it from this news that you’ll be finding a new roommate? I know you don’t like keeping a home all by yourself. I understand that. Understand that very well.”

“That’s the idea. I already put out an ad, hoping to find someone by the first. Already got a few applicants that've viewed the room.”

“Good, good. Maybe you’ll luck out and find someone with similar interests. Maybe another…”

The call waiting pinged in his ear and he pulled the phone away from his ear to check the number (it was a number he didn’t recognize), which caused him to interrupt. Not something he liked to do. “Ma?”

“…oh, yes?”

“Somebody calling on the other line. I think it might be another applicant.”

“Alright. I’ll let you go, then. Have a good week, sweetie.”

“I will, Ma. Bye.”

Gunnar pulled the phone from his ear yet again and quickly mashed the button to switch to the new call before it went to voicemail and just as quickly returned the phone to his ear.

“Hello? This is Gunnar.”

[Tiana Norwich]

A girl could pack a lot of living into four months.

Of course, when you lived a ridiculously sheltered life and were then stuck living in a zoo for a year and a half, freedom was a heady thing. Tiana purred softly, stretching out like a domestic cat who discovered a sunbeam meant just for them. Only she was sitting outside on the Starbuck's patio two blocks from the UCLA campus.

She smiled at the woman one table over, and took a sip from her cappuccino (good god, that was the single greatest thing she'd discovered thus far - next to these things called malls, of course). The woman looked at her askance and shifted in her seat to face away. Ti shrugged and picked up the copy of the Daily Bruin, looking at the classifieds she'd circled only a few minutes before.

What she needed was an apartment, she mused. Close to campus and a transit stop, so she could move around easily. Another sip, another rolling purr of delight, and she set her cup down in favor of plucking her brand new cell phone out of her bag. For a moment, Ti watched the pearlescent pink glimmer in the sun before carefully flipping it open.

A fingertip carefully tapped out the number listed in the first ad she had circled, waiting patiently as it rang.

“Hello? This is Gunnar.”

"Hi Gunnar...my name is Tiana and I'm calling about the apartment you listed in the Daily Bruin. Is it still available?" she said, her voice warm with a little bit of extra roll in her r's.

[Gunnar Ottesen]

The voice on the other end of the line snuck into his ear, and rolled lazily along the canal into his brain and curled up, laying a paving of warmth in its wake. An opposite, cool stream of reaction ran down his spine, a feeling that was distinctly strange compared to the usual cold chill that went in the opposite direction, typically.

That was new. He realized, shimmying from shoulders to asscheeks to attempt to shake the last of the chill from where it had ended its trek: his rear. It was a feeling he would be happy to never fully appreciate.

"G'mornin', Tiana. Yep, sure is. I've had a few come through and view already, but I haven't come to a decision yet." He paused, considering something. "I was actually about to head out for a coffee, but my day is open, if you're available to come take a look around today?"

[Tiana Norwich]

It was hard to keep the purr of pleasure out of her tone at the sound of Gunnar's voice. The world was just chock full of auditory pleasures, wasn't it? Ti wondered absently if he looked as good as he sounded, and the thought made her smile brightly. Her free hand uncapped her bright red pen as she spoke.

"I'd love to come see it! I'm actually at the Starbucks two blocks away from campus. I could bring you a coffee in trade for your time, if you're free right now?" Ti replied, polishing off her cappuccino with a sigh of pleasure. She chanced a nibble of her creme-filled croissant as she waited for Gunnar's reply.

[Gunnar Ottesen]

Though like warm liquid honey in his ear - without all the stickiness, mind you - Tiana’s voice naggled at him for some reason. Were there people who sounded like this in real life, or was this girl just turned on? Gunny shook the thought from his head. No sense goin’ there about someone whom he’d only had the pleasure of enjoying with his auditory senses. It plain well screamed disrespect and Ma n’ Pa had most surely brought him up better than that... though in the back of his mind, there was some construction going on, quietly wondering at what this girl might look like. A futile thing to do, if he was going to find out in very short order - but it couldn't be helped, as this particular curiosity was only very human, very normal. The thought of normalcy almost gave him cause to snort derisively. 'Normal' went out the window a damn long time ago - heck, it fled like the horses when they got good and spooked. He scruffed one hand through his increasingly sun-bleached hair and swallowed down any inappropriateness before he answered.

“Ha, that’s great. You’re so close by, already. Alright, you got yourself a deal, Tiana. I would gladly accept a piping hot cuppa joe for my time.”

He turned a titch to glance at the analog clock on the wall in the kitchen, which he could easily spy from where he was propped against the balcony railing, taking in the morning sun. The apartment was fairly open-concept, making seeing the clock from where he stood possible – something he was certain could not have been possible with dividing walls like most traditional living arrangements had. Idle, ultimately unimportant observations, but ones that still told that he was glad to have snapped up this spacious corner apartment and was content to keep it as long as was necessary.

“Unless there's anything else, I’m assuming you’ve got the address, so I’ll be seeing you shortly?”

[Tiana Norwich]

"Nope! I've got it here. I'll see you soon!" Tiana purred happily as she ended the call, only distantly wondering if he'd heard her or not. Ohh well. If he had, she mused, perhaps he'd ask her about when they met. If not, then she'd have to discreetly gauge how he felt about mutants before revealing that she was one.

That thought took the oomph out of her saunter for a bit as she walked, gift-coffee in one hand, with the folded paper in the other. She needed to be careful, something Riley had impressed upon her during the time she'd spent staying with her. Anti-mutant sentiment was rampant in Los Angeles, though some areas were worse than others. On the whole, Ti decided that she'd prefer to keep her mutation a secret.

But she hoped that if things worked out with Gunnar and his spare room, that he'd be tolerant of it. Even after four months, she had trouble sleeping in her human body, and beyond that, she sometimes retreated to her feline form for comfort.

She stopped and looked up at the building entrance, verifying the number with that in the ad she held. Nodding, she tucked the paper back in her bag and proceeded inside. She sauntered around the clean and well-maintained lobby, smiling brightly as people passed her before making her way upstairs.

Tiana's slender fingers smoothed out her top before running absently through her long hair. Deeming herself ready, she knocked on the door, a smile curling her glossy lips.

[Gunnar Ottesen]

After the rather casual conversation, after the call ended, Gunny was suddenly moving and a damn good clip to pull himself into something more than just boxers before Tiana arrived. It didn't matter who was coming by, he didn't entertain company in his unders - even if it was Collins, who really didn't give two shits either way. It was just as he finally decided on a shirt and ran a comb through his hair that the knock at the door came and he laughed half nervous and half in relief and a grin blossomed on his lightly tanned face.

"Comin'!" He shouted, slipping his feet into thong sandals. "I'll be right there!"

And he was, of course, good as his word as he was there in a jiffy, his step carrying more thump than it normally would, on account of the rush. He stopped himself for a second and leaned into the door to peer through the eye-hole, just to be certain that it wasn't anyone else other than who he'd been expecting. She dangled a Starbucks-logo'd cup in front of the eye hole but that certainly wasn't what grabbed his attention. Nevertheless, he yanked himself from the door and breathed in and out, opening that door fully and gently with one strong hand. The view was certainly better than what the tiny eye-hole offered.

"Hey." He smiled. "Hey there. I'd shake your hand but, uh..."

Gunnar held out a hand to accept whichever coffee she'd brought for him and standing out of the way enough to let her through at the same time, trying not to blatantly check her out head-to-toe, trying his darndest to keep his eyes on her face.

"...here, lemme take that. Come in, please."

[Tiana Norwich]

"Hi! And thank you...this one's yours. I realized I forgot to ask how you took it, so its just black. Unless you want my caramel macchiatto?"

Ti smiled and held up her own coffee cup, fingers brushing against Gunnar's as she handed over the prized vessel of yumminess. Though really, he pulled off yummy rather well all on his own. Soft brown eyes wandered over him for a moment before she remembered that it just wasn't polite to stare.

Even she knew that. Though...being stared at, wasn't so bad.

"Thank you, Gunnar..." she purred as she stepped inside, eyes taking in the details of the apartment. As each of them had a free hand, she offered a delicate handshake and a warm smile. "...its a pleasure to meet you. This place...looks amazing."

[Gunnar Ottesen]

With both hands, he carefully accepted the logoed paper cup. Her fingers felt so small and feminine compared to his, from just that one touch in the transaction of accepting the caffiene and allowing her into the apartment.

"No, no... black is great. Perfect. It's about the only way I'll drink the stuff.", he assured her.

Gunny wrapped the fingers of one hand almost entirely around the prized vessel, finally failing to keep his eyes on her face as she slipped by him and into his home. His eyes followed her with muted interest, snapping away when she made to shake his hand. Gladly he accepted and gave her hand a squeeze, his grip just barely lightened enough so as not to crush.

"Oh, pleasure's all mine." He smiled, warm and insistent. "Yeah, I guess I was lucky to snatch up a place like this. Size, location, it's darn well near perfect."

He released her hand and quickly shoved it into the pocket of his khaki shorts. His eyes flicked down the hall, past the two bedrooms on opposite sides into the common area, before he looked at her again. And it was a very nice thing to look at, as darn pretty as she was. It nearly made him feel guilty about Simy leaving on account of the realization that he was happy about it if he could land a girl... er, roommate as easy on the eyes as this. And that purr. It still naggled at him, but oh.

"Please feel free to have a wander. I'll just tail ya and answer any questions ya got, if that's cool."

[Tiana Norwich]

A delicate shake of her arm saw her bag soon settled on the floor near the door, leaving her with only the warm coffee cup clutched in her fingers. "Sounds like a good plan!" Ti replied with a bright smile, wandering down the brightly lit hall.

She peeked into the open bedroom on the right after glancing back at Gunnar. There were packed boxes stacked neatly on one side of the sizable room, while furniture was arranged carefully around the space. Tiana stepped into it to look around and nodded to herself. With an idea about the space, she could more easily choose the right furniture to fit inside. A bed off to one side, a good sized desk, maybe a dresser and a bookcase, and there would still be space for a music area.

"How many bathrooms are there?" she asked, sipping from her coffee as she wandered out of the bedroom and briefly glanced into what was obviously Gunnar's space.

Down the hall was the bright, open living/dining room, and the kitchen. Forgoing the wonderfully inviting balcony, she made a bee-line for the kitchen. It certainly wasn't huge, but sleek appliances and a good layout made it delightful. "Oh this looks great! I tend to do a lot of baking, I hope that will be alright."

Tilting her head, she smiled and sipped from her coffee again, purring faintly without realizing it. "What's the soundproofing like? Can you hear the neighbors from any direction? I should probably mention that I'm a music major. Going into my first year at UCLA as a cellist."

[Gunnar Ottesen]

Bathrooms?

“One and a half.” He informed, following along, observing her as she took in her surroundings in this home of his. Gunny sipped at the black, black coffee and stepped aside to lean against a piece of wall as she poked into the kitchen. He managed to pull his eyes away from her to look from where he stood to the outside, briefly finding himself wondering what the beaches were like today. His eyes travelled on, making their way to the coffee table in the decently-sized livingroom area, where a compound bow was laid with maintenance kit, overshadowed by a fantastic looking wooden bow that hung gently on a nearby wall.

"Oh this looks great! I tend to do a lot of baking, I hope that will be alright."

He tore his eyes from the somewhat archaic form of weaponry and a fond smile crept onto his face. He laid the sidecurve of the top of the left side of his head against the wall to look on her at where she stood in the kitchen.

“Better than alright. I’m afraid I don’t quite have my mother’s knack for baking, so you’d be more than welcome to.” He sipped from his own paper vessel. “But I do a mean bee bee que and I can hold my own with the cookin’.”

"What's the soundproofing like? Can you hear the neighbors from any direction? I should probably mention that I'm a music major. Going into my first year at UCLA as a cellist."

His eyebrows piqued.

“Well, I do turn up the music sometimes and I’ve found the soundproofing to be pretty decent.” His lips curled in the slightest, a bemused smiled, not quite a grin. “So far, it seems that the neighbours either don’t care or they’re all students… in any case, they all seem to like to party and I hear them the most when they windows or balcony door is open and they’re making noise.”

He pushed off of the wall and came to lean on the end of the island counter that was the only sort of separating feature between the kitchen and the remainder of the common area.

“And I’m in Life Sciences myself. Bachelor’s in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics. Going into third year.” Gunnar put his eyes on her again, lifting his cup to his mouth, the entirety of his expression kind, warm and faintly fierce. “Specializing in mutations.”

Sip.

"Do you play any other instruments?"

[Tiana Norwich]

Her smile was soft as she took a sip from her cup and gazed at him over the top of it. Gunnar was a very pleasant place to rest her eyes, and also very personable. This was quite promising, she mused, taking another sip.

Dark eyes grew wide with a measure of surprise, both at his expression and his specialization.

But he paused, sipped, and continued on before she could gather a coherent thought. "Instruments?" Ti blinked and shook her head, hoping it would grant some measure of clarity to her. "Oh, yes...sorry. I do play piano as well."

She caught her lower lip between her teeth, eying him carefully. "Did you say....mutations? Do you...know any mutants?" Tiana asked very softly, still wide-eyed, though this time with hope written in her gaze.

[Gunnar Ottesen]

His grin widened.

“You betcha. I want to know what causes certain mutations and not others, why some of us simply manifest a physical mutation that affects appearance and that’s the end of it and why some of us seem to have power, gift or… curse, if you will, that comes across as more of a mentalist’s fare. Also…”

Gunnar stopped, realizing her other question and the words he had been using.

“…yes.”

He looked down at the plastic white cap of the paper vessel, then back up her, right into her eyes. It occurred to him then as it had several times since his own powers had become clearly existent that he was not overly open with the subject, nor had he made much effort to connect with others of, well, his kind.

My kind. No, I'm still human, just a bit different.

“Us. Mutants. I know some mutants. Well, a mutant. Me, I mean.”

He straightened up and away from the counter and took a long draw from the coffee cup, all the while keeping his eyes on her, honest and frank.

“I hope that’s not too much of a problem for you?”

[Tiana Norwich]

Did he really just say-

-no, he couldn't have-

-but...he did, and-

For several seconds after Gunnar had posed his question, Tiana remained silent. Her skin flushed with warmth as her eyes widened, unable to believe her sheer luck. Gunnar was a mutant.

He was different. Like she was. Whatever his particular abilities, it didn't matter.

She let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and sipped from her coffee, her hands shaking slightly. "I'm sorry...I...you said..." she cussed under her breath and freed one hand to pinch at the bridge of her nose.

"Normally I'm more articulate, I swear. I just didn't expect to find a fellow mutant in the middle of my apartment search. Riley said there was a fair amount in LA, I just didn't believe her." Tiana said quietly, holding his gaze over her cup, in spite of the flush in her cheeks.

"I...I can turn myself into a snow panther..." her voice emerged even softer than it had before as she concentrated on watching the steam rise from her cup, instead of his reaction.

[Gunnar Ottesen]

He could tell that her mutation wasn't something she so readily admitted to just anybody. The fact that he'd outright admitted his own surprised even him and for several moments, the silence was such to be needing cutting with a knife.

"Well, ahm..." Gunny began, then becoming momentarily very interested in what remained of his cuppa joe. "...I can make you turn into a snow panther."

One, two.

"Uh, what I mean by that is, I can call out your power, or I can make it stronger, temporarily, too. That's just a few little things, but..."

One hand went to the back of his neck and he rubbed there, scruffing up through the nape into the start of his hair.

"...well, hell, that ain't even the half of it." He laughed, albeit a titch nervously. "Ain't this just the funniest thing. You... you an' me and I'm all lookin' for a..."

A sheepish look came over his face and his thumb rubbed back and forth on the side of the paper coffee vessel. A certain brightness filled in his eyes and a confident smile flashed up like friday night lights above the strong curve of his chin.

"....heck, you want it?" He asked suddenly, flourishing an arm out to wave over the common area. "'Cause it's yours if you like."

[Tiana Norwich]

Tiana grew wide-eyed with surprise at his admission, her expression quickly turning fascinated with the tidbits of information he offered. Her hands were shaking so much that she put her cup of coffee carefully on the counter beside her, though her eyes never left Gunnar.

"I think its called fate..." Ti began, a smile blossoming across her shimmering lips, even as her voice trailed off.

That smile...she'd wager money that that smile got plenty of girls into lots of trouble.

Blinking, she followed his gesture and glanced out at the living room before his works actually sunk in.

"Really?! You mean it?! I'd love to!" Tiana squealed and threw caution to the wind, darting forward to wrap Gunnar up in a warm hug.

[Gunnar Ottesen]

Surprised. He was surprised… well, perhaps surprised isn’t quite the right word. Gunnar was stunned, utterly stunned at her reaction to his sudden decision to offer. What he was surprised at was that he so readily offered in the first place. Typically, he was very considerate and patient, taking time to mull decisions over – but there were times, oh there were times, and this was one of them that quick thinking and solid decisiveness came into play. The decision, then and there, may have been mostly a whim… but it took mere moments afterward as she nearly bowled him over to be certain that this decision was certainly the right one. The whole action however, still had made him physically tense. The last time someone had come at him so suddenly, it hadn’t been nearly as pleasant (but still, enjoyable. Football was football, after all).

Besides, how often was it that luck gave you somethin’ pretty that fulfilled a requirement you had put more stock in than you thought? She was a mutant and he had never been so happy about the fact.

“Well, sure… yeah!” He laughed out, finally bringing his arms down from their alarmed and surprised stance to envelop her and return the hug. “It’ll be good.”

It was then that he smelled her, without really intending to, and calling himself on it, he resisted the urge to really draw in the scent of her shampoo, and her own scent underneath. Gunnar released her from his hold and took a step back, peeling her away before it all took even more of an unintended turn.

Oh, heck, she don’t just look pretty.. he mused inwardly, cracking another nervous smile, then covering it up with an outrageous laugh, before starting to finally calm and assure himself back into confidence.

“Alright, alright. Why don’t I pull up my rooming agreement and…” He pulled himself out of the space between her and the section of wall. In that moment, his stomach grumbled so intensely, it was a lurch. He grimaced, right then and there and looked back at Tiana.. “…you hungry? I feel like I could eat a… well, I don’t think I can say horse. Elephant, maybe? I'm thinkin' we could go suss out some food and do out all the documents over a bite to eat. That cool?”

[Tiana Norwich]

She practically squeaked in all of her enthusiasm, pleased as punch when he got over his shock and actually returned the hug. It was quite comfortable, she discovered, even being as petite as she was beside his lofty height.

Tiana's feline senses kicked on after a moment, and she felt the purr slip out of her before she could stop it. It was soft, though, and she didn't think he'd heard it as he laughed when he pulled back.

Her head tilted as she smiled, stepping back slightly to retrieve what remained of her coffee. She sipped and arched a brow as she heard his stomach growl audibly, his expression eliciting a bit of a giggle. "Food sounds amazing. I'm fueled by pastry and coffee today, which is going to wear off soon."

Ti drained the last of her coffee and moved over to rinse out the cup before dropping it in the trash. "Well, its good that you can't say horse. I might take exception to it, seeing as I own one. Lucifer isn't overly fond of me though...I think its because he senses me as a predator."

[Gunnar Ottesen]

“You have a horse? Awesome.”

The mention of a horse bought a touch of glee to his eyes and the name of the horse made him chuckle. He proceeded to make his way back to his bedroom where his desk was kept against the wall directly across from the door and leaning forward over the desk, as the desk chair was not in the way, queued the agreement up on his laptop to print and the printer began to make its usual low volume of noise as it printed the document from its place in a corner of the common area that also housed the wireless network equipment.

“I grew up around horses and cattle and chickens and… well, you probably got the idea by now.”

He headed from his room and back out to the common area to fetch the document and staple it together at the top left corner. After, he turned to face Tiana and moved over to a spare bit of counter on the opposite side of the kitchen from her to fetch his wallet, cellphone and keys.

“Alright, now I’m feeling a deep, deep desire for some form of dead animal. Let’s go get some grub.”

[Tiana Norwich]

"I've got pictures of Lucifer in my bag...I'll show you over lunch."

Ti grinned brightly, watching him as he moved out of the kitchen for a brief moment. As he did, she took the opportunity to check out the kitchen, taking a peek at the oven and the storage, while mentally planning a delightfully long shopping spree at Williams-Sonoma for baking hardware.

"You grew up on a ranch? Oh gosh, that must have been amazing. I grew up in...a city. Was really busy, and really, really loud. Like Los Angeles, only, not so much smog. Although, I'd take city over a zoo exhibit any day."

She smiled brightly as she very much glossed over where she was actually from. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell him, it was just one of those salient details that she hadn't managed to remember yet. Being stuck in your animal form for over a year meant you started losing your human self. Details like where you're from don't mean much to a leopard.

Tiana nodded and walked out into the hallway, back towards the front door after one final glance into her soon-to-be room. She couldn't be more excited about having found such a great place with such an amiable roommate. There was very nearly a bounce in her step as she reached her bag and leaned over to pick it up, settling the handles in the crook of her arm. Slender fingers plucked out her sunglasses and set them on her face before she glanced over her shoulder.

"Where should we go? I've not been in the city long enough to know where things are." Ti asked before sauntering out of the door as he approached and then turned to lock it.