Looking For A New Home

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 13, Post Number 303

-Talonia, In a hotel room, 7:05 A.M.-

Dressed in the same black t-shirt and long skirt with pockets she had worn to Solemn Park for her unexpected interaction with Medeia, Lucia had had the skirt repaired by a local tailor with Cloth Make Magic yesterday afternoon, so it looked like it had never been torn. She was now sitting on the edge of her bed in a hotel room she had rented for the next three days. The room itself was a small but comfortable one with enough room for her keyboard, a nightstand next to her bed which had enough space for her iLac and Shining Light to sit on, and a small closet to house her modest wardrobe. There was an old but serviceable television sitting on a dresser positioned on the wall facing her bed.

Lucia had returned to Talonia to stay somewhere familiar while looking for a new place to call home after Luminous Rose had disbanded. She was surprised that the guild she had been a part of for almost two years had disbanded so suddenly, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. Aside from a decent chunk of money Lucia had made a friend in the mysterious Eyir and seemed to be on good terms with Nita Fortune, so material gains were not the only ones she had made during her time in Luminous Rose. She hoped that the two mages were doing all right wherever they were.

Now that the blonde was back in Talonia for at least the next three days she was going to look for a housing situation that was a step up from a hotel room. Maybe she was going to look into sharing an apartment with a roommate or two. If that did not pan out and she was feeling extravagant she might set down roots in Talonia and look for a house to buy. Lucia did not know what she was going to do, but she would figure it out later.

Right now the blonde was going to go to the hotel's breakfast buffet and hope that the coffee was good. If it was not she would go buy some coffee at the local supermarket and make the blend Armina had been forced to give her the recipe to by Medeia. That was a good coffee that she needed to make soon, but she could do that once she had found a more permanent place to live. Lucia doubted that the hotel's other residents would like the smell of strong coffee in the morning, afternoon, or even night. In her opinion any time of day was a good time for her favorite drink.

-Talonia, 7:35 A.M.-

Having had a few cups of the hotel coffee earlier, Lucia had found it to be not quite as strong as the kind she had drank while a "guest" of Medeia's, but it was still strong enough to satisfy her craving for the beverage. Now that she was caffeinated she was out and about looking for apartment complexes that might have openings for new tenants or an affordable home to buy. Lucia was carrying her iLac but had left Shining Light back in her hotel room... she had hidden the pistol in the nightstand and had made sure that the door to her room was securely locked before leaving the hotel premises. She carried the device in case she needed to give a contact number to a potential roommate... or Angela Helton called her with a job opportunity.

Lucia calmly walked through the bustling crowds while looking for what she was after and noted how much busier the town had seemed to have gotten since she was last a Guildless mage. Way back then Talonia's streets had not been nearly as crowded as they were now, but she had learned shortly after being resurrected that change was a constant part of life. The blonde had learned to cope with an unfamiliar world and she could cope with the uncertainty of being a Guildless mage again. At least Lucia was staying on familiar ground, so she had that fact to give her comfort as she began the effort to get back on her feet.

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-Talonia, the hotel room, 8:36 P.M.-

Sitting at the head of the bed, Lucia was eating a late meal consisting of a salad that she had gotten from the hotel's salad bar. It was a bit dry, but it was still good enough to eat. As she ate she lamented her lack of success in finding another place to live... the blonde was hoping to find a more permanent housing arrangement before she had to vacate the room in three days, but so far the only apartment complexes that had openings were ones that were too expensive for her to afford.

For example, there was one named Talonia Heights that was a gated community with apartments that were less than a year old and a host of amenities like tennis courts, a fully equipped exercise facility, and an indoor swimming pool, but the average rent for a "basic" apartment was 6,000 Jewels a month. The high-end private apartments were 36,000 Jewels a month. Lucia could afford to live in the best apartments the facility had to offer if she constantly worked because rent was far from her only expense... she had food, clothing, and other expenses to consider and they all added up fast.

Lucia was not going to give up just because the first day was unsuccessful. She still had two days in which to find somewhere else to live and she would take advantage of that fact to try and find a location that best suited her needs instead of grabbing the first available place and learning the hard way that she had made a poor decision. Perhaps she would have better luck tomorrow.

- Day 2, Talonia, outside of Talonia Coffee, 3:06 P.M.-

Wearing the same outfit she had worn yesterday and clutching a to-go cup of coffee from Talonia Coffee, Lucia was on her second day of searching for an affordable apartment complex and had not come up with anything yet. She had checked out another gated community named Olympian Fields and it lived up to its name. The housing was all high-end and there were plenty of amenities available to residents including meals in a dining hall that were prepared by a kitchen staff headed by a professional chef, but the rent was exorbitant because the least expensive apartment was 30,000 Jewels a month and the most expensive was 250,000 Jewels a month. It went without saying that the blonde was not going to live there.

At first Lucia was trying to find a place where she could live by herself and had already found two places where she could do that, but the options at Talonia Heights and Olympian Fields were a bit too expensive for living alone to be feasible. Perhaps she would need to aim a little lower and try to find somewhere more affordable, then either find a roommate or become someone else's roommate. That was likely her best bet, but the challenge was finding a decent apartment complex to begin with. Her idea of "decent" was a complex located in a relatively safe part of town and rent that was affordable without having to work all the time... details like amenities and aesthetics were negotiable, but she was less willing to budge on the first two points.

Having decided to lower her expectations a bit, the blonde resumed her search with a cup of coffee in hand.

-Talonia, the hotel room, 9:32 P.M.-

The second day of Lucia's search had been a little more successful than the first day in the sense that she had obtained a brochure for a location that had caught her eye. As luck would have it an apartment complex named Talonia Terraces was advertising openings for new tenants and the blonde was going to check it out. She had missed her chance for today because the tours ended at 6:00 P.M., but she would head there first thing in the morning... or early afternoon, depending on when she woke up, got dressed, and went for coffee.

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-Day 3, Talonia Terraces, 10:35 A.M.-

Dressed in her older outfit of gray long-sleeved shirt and long pleated white skirt with brown boots, Lucia had woken up at 5:30 A.M. to get ready to visit Talonia Terraces in the hopes of getting a chance to tour the apartment complex and see if there were any openings for new tenants. If she failed to find a new home today she would have to rent her hotel room for awhile longer, something which was hardly a punishment but something she wanted to avoid doing if she could. The blonde had already tired of living out of a suitcase and wanted to set down roots somewhere more permanent.

Today luck had been on Lucia's side because she had managed to travel there in time for the first tour of the complex, had been able to see the inside of an apartment, and had even been able to learn about how much it would cost to rent a room. The cost would be 1,200 Jewels a month, but she would be living with a roommate, so that would defray expenses a bit. Lucia had even been lucky enough to meet her roommate, a young woman named Francine Larson.

Lucia had found the apartment complex to meet her primary criteria of the rooms being affordable  and the complex being located in a reasonably safe part of town. It had also managed to meet the secondary criterion of having a reasonable amount of amenities, amenities which included a tennis court, a public swimming pool, and well-maintained apartments. There was also the bonus of it being populated by people around her age, so life was definitely not going to be boring.

After reading the terms of the lease and signing the paperwork Lucia was permitted to move into the apartment right away, something she was going to do today in order to avoid having to rent her hotel room for another night.

-Talonia Terraces, Apartment 421, 2:47 P.M.-

Lucia had hired a moving service to assist her in moving her belongings to the new place and the price for their help was 2,000 Jewels, but it had been well worth it because her keyboard and clothing had arrived safely. So had Shining Light and her iLac along with its charging cord. Now the blonde was in her new room, which was a fairly small one with a small but serviceable en suite bathroom of her own and a small walk-in closet in which to store her clothing.

The carpet was beige and showed signs of having been used well before her arrival, but that did not bother the blonde at all. What did bother the blonde was not having any furniture of her own. She would have to remedy that very soon, but for now she was content to just have a place that was more permanent than a hotel room. Lucia was admiring the new space when she heard footsteps and turned to face the source.

"Hey Lucia!" Francine greeted her. Francine was a young woman who was a few inches taller than Lucia. She also had long brown hair of a shade that looked to be auburn with part of it held aside by an unusual choice of hair scrunchie, but her most striking feature was her blue eyes, which seemed to reflect light. Francine was dressed in a simple and tasteful outfit of a white short-sleeved blouse, black skirt, and black dress shoes with a red neckerchief. She also had a magic signature that was considerably weaker than the blonde's.

"Hello Francine." Lucia greeted the brunette. The latter walked into Lucia's room and looked at the empty space.

"I don't know what your budget is, but if you want to get some furniture today I know a good place that can sell you some that won't cost an arm and a leg. It's in downtown Talonia and the prices aren't too bad. I can take you there in a bit if you'd like." Francine offered to aid Lucia in locating furniture for her room. The blonde needed furniture since she really did not want to sleep on the floor if she could avoid it.

"I'd appreciate that, thanks." Lucia gratefully accepted the offer. Francine smiled.

"Great! We'll go there in an hour or so. I just need to get a shower and change into some casual clothes before we go downtown!" She said. Francine took her leave to get ready and Lucia turned back to look at her room. Even though it was currently empty she would soon have a bed and a desk to place in her new room.

Francine Larson:

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-Talonia Terraces, Apartment 421, 7:06 P.M.-

Two hours ago Francine and Lucia had returned from their trip with a single wooden bedframe, a single mattress, pillows, a white bedsheet and pillowcases, a light brown wooden desk, and a matching chair. Lucia had paid a moving company to deliver the bedframe, mattress, desk, and chair to her apartment and had paid extra for same-day delivery. Now they were standing in Lucia's room admiring the furniture, which was a bit chipped in places due to being previously owned. For example, the desk had chipped legs and the bottoms of the legs were a bit worn, possibly from being moved around so much.

"I like the look of this room already." Francine told Lucia.

"Me too." Lucia replied.

"It's not the best furniture money can buy, but it's a good starter set until you can afford what you want." Francine opined.

"I'm not complaining at all, Francine. I got all of this at a reasonable price plus I got it delivered and hauled into the apartment, so all we had to do was arrange it how I wanted." Lucia told her roommate that she was pleased with her purchases. This was indeed a good starter set for the blonde mage, who had been surprised by the disbanding of Luminous Rose and needed to find a new home on short notice. Lucia had lucked out by finding a reasonably priced apartment and a friendly roommate who was kind enough to help her get furniture that would do the job until she could get the money to buy what she wanted.

"I'm glad I could help." The brunette said. Lucia had known her for less than a day and Francine had already been a big help. After a brief silence the brunette spoke again.

"Did you want to go to Solemn Park in a few minutes?" Francine asked Lucia out of the blue. The blonde paused when she heard that name.

That place was where she had met Medeia not too long ago.

"Certainly." Lucia replied calmly despite her misgivings because she did not want to upset her roommate. She hoped that the pair would not run into the Warlord tonight because Lucia did not want to meet the Dark mage again any time soon. Maybe luck would be with the blonde and she would be able to walk in the park without incident.

"Great!" Francine exclaimed.

-Solemn Park, 7:48 P.M.-

The pair had walked through the fairly busy streets of Talonia to reach the park and it had more visitors than Lucia had anticipated. That did not bother her, though. The park now had two more visitors. Francine and Lucia started walking along the path and as they walked the brunette started speaking.

"You're a pretty strong mage, Lucia. Stronger than any I've met before." Francine commented on Lucia's strength.

"It took awhile for me to get to this point. It took time and a lot of encounters with the undead." Lucia explained that she was not a prodigy who had went from novice to magical powerhouse in a short timespan. It had taken her a couple of years to get to this point and it would have taken her even longer had she not been a part of Luminous Rose. Working to pull her weight in the guild had given Lucia a reason to become more powerful and she had done so thanks to frequent battles against the undead and frequent rescues of people who were in bad situations.

"The undead?" Francine asked.

"Yes. Zombies, ghosts, poltergeists, and even a necromancer." Lucia listed the enemies she had fought to become as powerful as she was. She had not fought against any world-shaking threats, but she did not have to participate in anything worthy of heroic stories that would be told for generations to come to feel like she was doing something worthwhile. Just pushing back the darkness whenever she could was enough for Lucia.

"Really?" The brunette asked again.

"Really." Lucia answered without getting angry.

"How can you face those sorts of enemies by yourself without turning running in the opposite direction?" Francine inquired.

"I've gotta pay the bills somehow." Lucia made another calm and factual reply. Even though it sounded sarcastic that was not her intent. Even a mage who was on the legal side of the alignment spectrum had bills to pay and the best way to get a decent amount of money was to take dangerous jobs. Fortunately for her Francine simply laughed at the response.

"I hear that." Francine replied with a smile. Lucia was relieved that she had not alienated her roommate on the same day they had met, but she had better watch herself in the future. Feeling that she owed Francine a bit more of an explanation than the one she had given, Lucia threw in another bit of information.

"I also have Holy magic and the kind I use is especially powerful against the undead, so that makes it a lot easier for me to fight them." Lucia added.

"You have Holy magic?" Francine asked in amazement.

"Yes." Lucia replied calmly.

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