born_in_flame | (no subject)

Caleb knew roommates were a necessity when you were a college student on a budget, but he also hated change of any kind. Change ran the risk of causing hurt. But Veth had made it clear that the empty rooms needed to be rented and so new roommates were coming.

Caleb sighed, one of the few sounds he would make around others. He had just started getting used to Yasha and Beau and now two new people were joining the craziness those two brought to the quiet wizard's life. He reached out to pet Frumpkin as he studied taking comfort from his familiar. At least he still had his cat...maybe he could get through this without losing his mind.

But he had no idea how much his new roommates would upend his life.

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From:

mayberaven

Fjord still couldn't help but feel out of place here. He wasn't nearly as whip-smart as some of the other students he'd come into contact with in the process of enrolling, but...

This was a chance. If the half-orc was going to escape his situation, he had to take what chances he could. Which meant he was quietly slipping into the house he was... well now living in, bag slung over a shoulder. Aside from that he didn't have much, so the idea of sharing a room wasn't a hardship even if he was uncertain. A tiefling, Veth had informed him. Nice, if a little enthusiastic, but if he was that much, well Fjord could figure it out.

More worried with that and other things, he didn't realize when he'd gone one door too far down the hall, stopping abruptly in the doorway when he realized that this... wasn't the room he'd been shown before. Face flushing near immediately as his gaze fell on the stranger inside before darting away.

"Sorry, I-" A faint huff. "Wrong room."

From:

born_in_flame

Caleb is surprised the half orc is managing to squeeze into Caleb's tiny room. Caleb himself has to duck to get it otherwise he'll hit his head just walking in the door. Then he blushes and ducks his head suddenly realizing how handsome the young orc was. Caleb doesn't do well around other people and handsome other people...well. He was in trouble right off the bat. He raises his head and points down the hall trying to show where the empty rooms were. He prays the new roommate will get the hint and leave...he doesn't really want to have to get one of his landlords to explain why he doesn't talk.

From:

mayberaven

It was a small room- barely big enough for one person, and he felt a little claustrophobic even just in the doorway.

And while the gesture was fairly universal, Fjord... misinterpreted the reason. Missed the blush as the red-headed human seemed to almost curl in on himself, unable to help the faint flash of hurt chased immediately by the half-orc's expression smoothing to something more neutral. Great, just great... not even ten minutes and one of his roommates was afraid of him. Excellent start.

A+ as always, Stone.

"Right. Sorry, I'll just-" He gestured faintly before all but retreating, with an uncertain glance back over his shoulder before he was heading down the hall, trying not to focus on just how much the idea of the human being afraid of him hurt more than usual.

From:

born_in_flame

Caleb pulled his cat into his lap as the half orc left trying to calm down. He was easily spooked these days, worried about his former mentor and trying to keep up with his studies. Now the house, his safe place had new people in it and Caleb was quietly miserable. And he couldn't articulate any of this...speaking was just...hard. The words just wouldn't come no matter what anyone tried. People had tried but words were lost to Caleb.

Down the hall a cheerful voice was coming one of the rooms singing a folk song of some kind, it had a soft lilt to it that traveled up and down the notes like a bird.

From:

mayberaven

Maybe he'd just never seen a half-orc before. Some areas could be pretty insular, and in that case suddenly coming face to face with one would surely be startling. Once he'd gotten used to Fjord, surely the redhead would realize there was nothing to be afraid of.

Fjord hoped at least. He couldn't bear the idea of scaring a housemate with his existence.

Luckily the sound of singing was enough to distract him from that unhappy thought for the moment, and he paused outside the room. Even though the door was hanging open he still gave a light-knuckled knock on the doorframe, not wanting to scare another roommate, peering in with a faint smile.

From:

born_in_flame

The purple tiefling in the room turns and beams at Fjord. He's dressed in loose jeans and a baggy t-shirt His feet are bare and his tail is waving around to the beat of the music he has stopped singing. He grins brightly as waves at the half orc. "Well hello there handsome," he says, his voice cheerful with the same gentle lilt. "You must be the newest member of our merry little band." The tiefling bounces over and holds out a slim hand, his red eyes bright with mischief. "Mollymauk Tealeaf, Molly to my friends and I hope we will be friends."

From:

mayberaven

Already a bit off-kilter from startling the shy student in the small room, he was not quite prepared for the tiefling he'd come in to see in what he was quickly realizing was the room he'd been told he'd be sharing. Fjord flushed a bit as he realized just how attractive the tiefling was, before he shook out of it enough to awkwardly shake the offered hand.

"Yeah I ah... suppose that's the case," He replied, utterly fascinated. It wasn't like he'd never seen a tiefling before but there was something magnetic about this one's smile. "It's good to meet you Molly. I'm Fjord. Looks like we'll be... sharing then?"

From:

born_in_flame

"Yup," comes the cheerful reply as the p is popped with great delight. Molly nods his head at the bed next to his...if there is a bed underneath the pile of clothing and other bits and bobs scattered on top of whatever is on the other side. "Yasha and Beau are just down the hall and they share too. Nice to meet you Fjord, there is a dresser in between the beds, bottom two drawers are yours as is half the closet...hope you don't mind a bit of a mess."

It appears Molly likes to talk unlike the other house inhabitant Fjord has already met, his chatter just as bright and cheerful as he appears to be.

From:

mayberaven

Was this guy for real? Fjord's uncertain gaze drifted over the riot of things that had seemed to spill into the entirety of the room.

Well it was a good thing he didn't have much.

"Sounds like a full house if they're planning on renting out the other rooms too, especially with the redhead in the other room." He commented lightly, as he turned his attention to pulling open one of the drawers so he could unpack which...

Well it didn't take long. Clearly Molly wouldn't have to worry about fighting over closet space at this rate.

From:

born_in_flame

"Ah so you met Caleb did you," Molly says with a nod of his head as he flops on his bed and pulls an insanely colorfully coat from somewhere and also manages to produce a sewing kit from under the bed and starts to work. "I've been here a week and I'd forget he's there if his cat didn't make noise. Cute guy, but doesn't say a word and never comes out of his room unless Yasha is helping him with something...she can't even fit in the doorway much less his room itself."

From:

mayberaven

"Accidentally," Fjord admitted as he was carefully clearing Molly's things from his own bed, leaving them on the jumble topping the dresser before shifting to lay out once he'd kicked his boots off. It had been a long day, and honestly being able to just lay down for a bit? Well it sounded amazing. "Opened the wrong door... think I scared him."

From:

born_in_flame

"He's a jittery one," Molly agrees as he works on adding a design to the coat spread across his lap. "I said hi to him when I first got here and he nearly jumped out of his skin. "Yasha is a friend of mine from high school and she said it took her months to get him to even get near her and Beau...he likes Yasha better than Beau because Yasha is as quiet as he is...but if she talks to him all bets are off...he just will get up and bolt."

"Venth, one of our wonderful landlords says he doesn't talk....at least not that she's heard...he might sigh or groan but that's about it....and she's known him since he was a kid." Molly doesn't appear to take a breath as he works and chats.

From:

mayberaven

Some of the tension eased in him when he was informed that it wasn't just him. But plenty remained at the idea that Caleb was so... anxious as a rule. That he seemed unable or unwilling to talk. Just mute perhaps? But something about that didn't ring right.

And he was honestly a little surprised at how easily Molly kept up his train of conversation even as he was working on his stitching, absently watching the design starting to appear under those slim lavender fingers.

"If he's that anxious I honestly don't blame him for not wanting to leave his room," Fjord mused, feeling sympathetic for the handsome human. "But clearly you don't have that problem I'm guessing?"

Call it a hunch.

From:

born_in_flame

"Nope," comes the cheerful reply with another p pop, "but then again when you are a theatre kid with two older brothers you learn to take your moment in the spotlight and then some. Well theatre minor and blood magic for my major...family thing." The tiefling rolls his eyes like his family is a sore spot. "Yasha always says I don't know when to stop talking, but I am just there when I get into trouble so it's not a great sample size."

From:

mayberaven

"Oh. Yeah, I suppose that'd make you want to get your attention where you can." He doesn't know about the family thing, or about brothers, but then it was still easy enough to understand the basic idea even if it was faintly odd to him, the idea of purposefully drawing attention like that if there wasn't a goal behind it.

"I mean, you're also biased in your own favor." The comment was more dry amusement than anything serious or biting.

From:

born_in_flame

Molly snorts. "That's true...I do like standing out...my younger brother Kingsley does too, but in a different way....shadows are just not my thing." He glances at Fjord and grins. "I like you...sass and looks in one package...I lucked out."

From:

mayberaven

"Well you're welcome to the spotlight then." Fjord replied with a soft huff of a laugh, face flushing at the compliment Molly offered. With someone so attention-grabbing around, it would be easy for Fjord to just... exist in the background surely. The idea made some of the tension about the situation ease somewhat, the half-orc lofting a brow playfully.

"You're just sayin' that because you're hopin' you can snake some extra closet space."

From:

born_in_flame

"Maybe," Molly replies flipping over onto his stomach and looking up at Forjd with that wicked grin, "so handsome what's your story?"

From:

mayberaven

"Me? Ah..." He flushed faintly. "Nothing really interesting? No siblings or anything like that."

The half-orc shrugged, mind racing for some bland, safe sort of backstory he could offer up to throw the curious tiefling off of his questions.

From:

born_in_flame

Molly gives the half orc a look with a raised eyebrow. "Nothing interesting at all huh," he replies easily. "I have a feeling that's not completely true, but for now I won't push. Still I wouldn't try that with Beau...she's like a dog with a bone if she thinks someone is bullshiting."

From:

mayberaven

"I didn't think you'd find hauling barrels of fish all that fascinating is all." He protested with a wry huff, though he did mark that warning about Beau.

From:

born_in_flame

"Oh a sailor huh...my younger brother works on a ship too," Molly says, "he's got a bit of wanderlust never really able to settle down and go to school like Luicen and me....he must have been a pirate in another life or something."