House Hunters (open)

[Deleted]

Amelia had one month left. Before retiring, that was. Retiring from the active service. Then she had all of about one month left before she became a mom. Stressful? Yeah, a bit. What really had her nerves frayed was… she had no home outside her barrack. Felicity had offered up her spare room (an babysitting services, bless her heart), but Amelia didn’t want to be a mooch. Chances were, she would end up there for a little while, but hopefully not too long. She wanted a place for her and Gabriel themselves. And her daughter, of course. All in all, it spelled out the same thing: it was time to settle down. So here she was, at a small, drab office in New Rome, flipping through a book of current listings with the abysmal paper that was her current earnings write-up next to her. Not a lot. She had the money coming in from being a legionnaire, but that wasn’t enough for a home so early, so she’d taken on a second, extremely part time job as a secretary. Not her glorious dream job, but it would have to do. At least it didn’t have her on her achy feet all the time. Gods, did her feet hurt. Carrying around the weight of another human being 24/7 had its toll. Thankfully, her favorite spa – which unfortunately, she could only treat herself to about once every other week now – had a foot bath too. Small miracles.

She’d gotten a decent idea of where to look from her sister-to-be Felicity, thank goodness. And she’d be lying if she said she didn’t want to be near her new family. So she started in the neighborhood where Felicity was now. Not too badly priced really, as long as she looked at the lower end. One- to two-bedroom, one bath, limited square footage. Not a lot to offer, and certainly not her dream home, but that would have to wait. Albeit, her dream home would probably be in like the Bahamas, because come one. But she had real matters to take into account here: both her daughter and future husband were big three, which meant monsters, which meant staying in New Rome. Nothing against New Rome. There were nicer neightborhoods, especially near the aqueducts, so someday. Just not today.

Tag: open
Word Count: 384
Notes:

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“Don't forget the cream.” Tyrnair was told as he left the house. He loved his parents deeply, and was glad that they still forced him to come to family dinner twice a week. He was also under explicit orders to bring Chris, his uncle and one of his best friends, to dinner as well. His mother was making one of her favorite cream soups. It was hearty and good. But before sending him out on an errand his mother had given him a good dose of a lecture. It had gone from “no dating till after you're married” and “don't you even look at girls.” to “I'm not getting any younger”. It was confusing. But then it turned into a whole thing about thinking about life beyond the legion. A life with out the legion scared him. It terrified him. He didn't know what he would do with out the legion. The legion was his home and his family. He picked up some vegetables and cream from the market. But the future was so far off and even further if he decided to stay in the legion. Maybe he'd talk someone into being his roommate. His mom did say to stop off and just to take a look at apartments. What was the harm in just looking? And why suddenly did his mom want to think of the future? He could get killed on a quest or in war or something, the life of a legacy or a demi-god was always short. Why would the future be something to think about. Tyrnair had always know the legion was his home and that's where he would stay. But something other than the legion? Inconceivable.

Tyrnair gently placed everything into his back pack. He didn't want anything to get broken or spilled. But he turned and pulled open the door to the office that had all those little booklet and pamphlets, with all of the nice looking places. He'd have a little money, something from his time in the legion, then his mom and dad said that they would help him get started. Maybe Mika or Chris would have some advice. Maybe he could talk to someone. He didn't even think of going anywhere other than new rome. It wasn't safe. He turned, bumping into someone. “Sorry.” he said as he looked at whomever it was. He recognized her from third cohort. The one girl his grandfather had knocked up. He heard it from Mika. His cousin was a horrible gossip, and to top it off, she had a rather over indulgence for ice cream. But they were training together. Mika wanted to be better and he wanted to help her. “I'm sorry, I really am.” he said, offering her up a smile.

[Deleted]

She was a bit absorbed in comparing the places and what they had and for how much and the long laundry list of things that went into buying a home. Or, you know, renting one. An apartment. Hopefully in the same neighborhood as her soon to be sister-in-law and now also best friend. When she and Felicity had first started talking, they were horrible enemies. Then the whole Gabe thing came into the picture and they started getting along more. Then Jupiter, and everything went south even worse all around. But thankfully, Felicity was no longer one of the many people who looked at her like she was a parasite and actually treated her like they’d been dear sisters for years. She needed Felicity. Amelia had never been good at going at it by herself. She needed friends, which she used not to have at all, and she needed family, which she was getting better at. Before when she had neither, she relied on stupid flings to keep her confidence up. The need to be wanted. That pretty much defined her, and unfortunately, it was showing no signs of actually going away any time soon. Fortunately, it was showing signs of changing. She was learning that there were different ways to be wanted. Gabriel didn’t want her for her body, or at least he wanted her for so much more than that. And she was finding that she wanted him for a thousand reasons too, not all of them as selfish as they might sound. And Felicity. Amelia had never been good with her siblings, except maybe Madison who has as wicked as her but older, and had unfortunately died in the last war (gods rest her soul). Felicity was a different kind of sister. She was a different kind of everything, really, but Amelia was learning to love her for it. Felicity was one of the first to stop blaming Amelia for everything, and she couldn’t be more grateful. When Amelia had been seriously considering giving up and running away from Camp entirely, something she even now would not dare tell Gabriel had ever crossed her mind, Felicity had been there for her. There were just some things one needed girl friends for.

Anyhow, she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice anyone else there really until she got bumped into. She turned, surprised more than anything. Once upon a time, she would have snapped, but she was changing for the better, she liked to think. She smiled at him. “No, no! It’s okay, really!” Yep, there was that look. He knew full well who she was, she would wager. She’d never made herself small around here in horrible ways, and now her reputation was even worse. She avoided the gossip circles she used to live in, for fear of what they were saying about her. She had Gabriel and Felicity and that was all that mattered. The rest of camp could hate her bitterly, but as long as she had those two, she’d be alright. She felt she should try to make some small conversation here, to try to soften the awkwardness that she at least was feeling. “So, um, you’re home shopping too? Seems a good time to be on the market.” Okay, so that did not help lessen the awkwardness at all.

Tag: Tyrnair
Word Count: 558
Notes: