Infernal Roommates

S

Sir Kaltao

Guest
Original poster
Here's the layout of the apartment, just so we know what kind of space we're working with.

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They were late.
Gary hated it when people were late. Well, now he did. Being late was more or less the reason he was forced to live on this plane for the rest of eternity.
He had taken the day off from his call center job so he could show his lofty apartment to the potential roommate and, hopefully, add them to the lease.
That was part of his punishment. He could never own real estate. He had to go to the end of the world renting a place to live from these lesser beings. And to keep this nice apartment he needed a roommate, so he had posted an ad online. This would be the third reply. The other two had looked interested, but were put off by the infernal aura Gary couldn't stop from broadcasting into the air.
Luckily for him the people at the call center appeared immune to it.

Gary sat in front of his roaring fireplace tapping his foot and listening to "The End" by The Doors emanating from the home theatre set against the opposite wall. The form he would be stuck in was that of a thin man with tanned skin and bushy black hair. The kind dark brown eyes behind the purely decorative glasses were also just for show.

"They're late"
 
Anna scurred up the steps leading out of the subway. "Hurry up Gale! We're so late I cant lose this apartment!" Anna yelled back at her best friend. "I"m coming I'm coming!" Gale yelled back taking her good old time. Gale was coming with Anna to view the apartment. She wanted to make sure her childhood friend wasnt rooming with some perv and not getting swindled out of money. "Hurry!" Anna bounced impatiently at the top of the steps.

Five minutes later Anna and Gale rang the buzzer to apartment fifteen. "Anna and Gale to view apartment twenty-five." Anna said cheerily into the speaker. "I'll let Gary know you're here." A dreary voice responded. There was click, with a mechanical buzz, and the front gate was opened. The two college students hurried inside. They boarded the elevator. "I hope this is works out." Anna said softly. She had been looking for an apartment for a while without luck. Then she saw this add and knew she had to have it. They couldnt get to the third floor fast enough. Once the doors slid open Anna shot out like a bolt of lightening. "H-Hey Anna!" Gale said scurrying after her friend. Anna knocked on the door awaiting Gary to open.
 
"Finally" Gary went to the door and used the mirror next to it to 'get into character' i.e do his best to dispel his aura with a facade of normalcy and glee.
"Showtime" Gary opened the door and saw two young women and was momentarily confused. Did he misread the email? Could he handle living with two? Even one was pushing it.....
"Hi! Glad you could make it!" Gary said extending his hand "Traffic hold you up?" He asked as he let the hand float.

Oh well, play it by ear I guess....
 
Anna took his hand and shook it eagerly. "So sorry! It's my fault I wasn't watching the time." Anna said in a rush. She was nervous she didn't want to screw this up. She let go of Gary's hand and introduced her friend. "This is Gale, she's my friend." Gale eyes Gary harshly. "I came to make sure you're not some kind of freak." Gale grunted out. Anna stared horrified at her friend. "Gale!" Anna looked ready to die. "I-I'm so sorry about that, please forgive her."
 
"No need, I realize rooming with a guy could be scary" Gary bit back a desire to give Gale a hotfoot and smiled wider instead. "But I assure you I'm a saint"

Gary never got tired of jokes like that.

"Anyway as you saw coming in the security is tight so don't have to worry about break-ins" Gary stepped aside and let them in, indicating shoes went into the closet. The carpet was so new you could smell the glue drying if your nose was close enough. And it would stay so long as Gary was here. "And there's a fitness room on the ground floor in case you didn't see it."
 
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Gale pushed foreward taking her shoes off. She was blunt not rude. She proceeded into the hall. She looked into the kitchen and nodded approvingly. Anna followed, leaving her shoes. She was more hesitant than her friend. She walked slowly looking at everything. She walked through the kitchen into the dinning room and then living room. "It's bigger than I thought." She commented to Gale who simply shrugged. Anna took her friends hand and led her out to the patio. "Woah look!" The view from the apartment was a rather good one. Better than Anna ever had. "Not bad." Gale said. You could see the little park a few blocks away, and the road from the room without all of the loud beeps and honks and yelling could be heard. The sun was setting as the two stood on the balcony. "Wow..." They breathed in unison. "Hey this will be great for your art Nan!" Gale said warming up to the apartment. Anna gasped in excitement. "Yes!" The two ran back inside. "I'll take it!" Anna said excited "WAIT!" Gale interrupted. Anna was about to tell her to be quiet but Gale raised a hand to quiet her. "What is the bedroom situation?" Anna stepped away from Gale. She had known that the rooms were right next door and she also knew that Gale would freak out so she hadn't told her.
 
Good, Gale's only here to play mother hen, Gary thought with relief.

He had watched the two take in the apartment with a sense of relief. So far Ann was far more eager than the others and gave no indication she was affected at all by his aura.

Now the burden on him was to keep up appearances.

"Oh silly me" Gary led the pair down the other hall and opened the door to the vacant room. "This would be yours. Unlike some apartments I've shared the walls aren't so thin we could hear each others thoughts" He joked and walked into the middle of it. "So...still gonna take? The bathroom is pretty small compared to the rest of the place but I lived with women all my life so I know how to properly share a bathroom with them"

That statement was partially true. Succubi were hideous in their real forms, but female nonetheless.
 
"How many women exactly?" Gale eyed him warily.
"Gale stop. I like this apartment, okay." Anna said so only Gale could hear her. A small smile formed on her friends face. If Anna told her to shut up about something, she really liked it. Anna smiled and nodded at Gary. "You got a deal!" She shook his hand gratefully. "Thank you so much for this. You have no idea."
 
"Oh no I should be thanking you. This place has really grown on me so I'd hate to lose it." Gary said to Ann, then turned his attention to her friend.
"And it was nice meeting you too Gale"

After the lease was signed with the property management, Ann was given her set of keys. Gary went to and from for the next two days and watched the other room slowly fill up with Ann's belongings.

Great. Now what? Gary thought as he prepared himself dinner. Beef stroganoff with a bottle of white wine waiting in the cupboard. Gary didn't really need to eat, but found it enjoyable.Now that he had a roommate would have to fall into a normal human routine. He listened to the sizzle of the meat and wondered how roommates interacted.

Maybe while he ate he'd turn on the TV and watch one of those sitcoms he'd heard about. He may not get a lot of the humor, but he was certain some pointers as to how he shares a living space with a human would come across.
 
It took Anna about a week to move in and unpack. Her first night there was strange. She spent most of it just staring at the cieling unable to sleep. She hadn't ever roomed with a man before and it made her nervous, but her roomate didn't seem like the type to spy on her so she felt safe.
When the sun rose so did Anna. She walked out onto the balcony, still dressed in her oversized night shirt, pajama shorts, and slippers. She gazed out at the skyline with a smile while it rose.
She didn't return until the sun was fully up and the sky was blue. Maybe I should buy some paints, and a smaller easel. Mine wont fit out here. She looked around sizing the area. Yeah, she would definetely need a smaller easel. Anna saw no sign of Gary in the early morning hours so she left him a note saying she would be at the store.
Anna quickly changed and left.

She returned to smell stroganoff in the air. A smile grew on her face, it smelled just like her grandmothers. Anna walked through the kitchen to take a peak and set her bags on the dining table. "Smells great." She complimented with a smile.
 
"Would you like a helping?" Gary asked. He had seen on TV that roommates offered their food fairly often before. That situation had become unnecessarily complicated, but he doubted such a thing would happen with Anna. She seemed your typical human. Not like the bumbling peons on the TV who made the same assertion.

Gary drained the water from the noodles, then poured the meat and sauce over them. He thought briefly about how his life used to be preparing human souls for consumption, and allowed himself a good laugh.
 
Anna's eyes brightened with a smile. "Really?!" She walked over to Gary's side to see all that he made. "It even looks just like Nanna's." She whispered to herself with a reserved smile. She grabbed two bowls from the cabinets along with two glasses, setting them on the counter. "I would love some. Need anything to drink?" Anna stood by the fridge awaiting his reply.
 
"I have a bottle of white wine in the cupboard here, but help yourself to anything" Gary took in a deep breath of the finished stroganoff and hummed with satisfaction then filled both bowls with plenty left over. He set the stove to low so that it could stay warm. He filled one glass halfway with the other, then noted a hole in the situation.

"Do you?" He asked, indicating the bottle of wine in hand and her glass. You could never tell the vices humans had from appearance.
 
"Huh? Oh, wine isn't really my thing." Anna replied with a shrug. She pulled out a jug of fruit punch and poured herself a glass, returning it to the fridge. "Here, let me help." Anna took both their bowls and cups to the table. She was an experienced waitress and had no problem. "There we go!" She said proudly placing the dinner on the table. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here and cooking dinner. You have no idea how much you've helped me out." Anna took her seat with a smile.
 
"No need to thank me, this is all mutual" Gary sat down, had the first forkful, and once again hummed with delight. He had to admit there was a tinge of genuine gratitude for this young mortal deep in his being.

"So...," Gary said, was at a loss for the rest of the sentence, and instead sipped his wine before it came back to him. Remaining in human form was starting to take its toll on him. "...where are you from?" He asked finally then added quickly "I'm from Wisconsin"

He had spend a few days developing an elaborate backstory for his form. Gary Welker. 28, average student all his life, had a tendency to drift in and out of people's lives without much notice. Though he doubted humans took that much of an interest in a roommate, he thought it best to be prepared.
 
"Oh, well..." Anna muttered softly, "I'm not really from anywhere." She realized that her response didn't make much sense so she elaborated. "I....moved around a lot." She explained hoping that would be the end of that. She was taken into foster care when she was ten. Her father had left before she was born and her mother got arrested for drugs when she was taken. Ever since she was in and out of foster care.
She wasnt ashamed of her past, she just rather not talk about it. She didn't like the pity most people gave her.

"What's Wisconson like?" She asked taking a bite of the food. "Wow this is good!" She smiled taking another bite.
 
"Thank you" Gary pretended to become engrossed in memories of Wisconsin that didn't exist. "It's a nice place. But I got tired of the extreme cold and extreme heat"

Gary had spent his life reading humans. He knew when there were secrets in the soul. What he felt from Anna was of the painful variety he often would manipulate into a deal. Usually with these painful secrets, it involved turning back the clock or bringing back the dead. But Gary gave an internal sigh. Those days were over. Plus it wouldn't be good form to condemn your roommate. He at least knew that much.

"I know a little about being a nomad" Gary had another bite before continuing "I was a travelling salesmen after college didn't work. Went door to door selling....lies mostly" Gary said with a laugh and another sip of wine.
 
"Oh, so you're THAT guy." Anna teased glad he didn't press further. She gave a humored laugh before continuing to eat. "So what kind of "lies" did you sell?" She questioned with a playful smile. She enjoyed his company. Anna was glad she found this house. It felt like it could become home one day.
 
"Nothing to be proud of, really" Gary pondered how to spin the deals he had made.

"Mostly lies about how you could get thin and stay thin.....a lot of placebos and guides I knew were scams but," He had another sip of wine "had to pay my bills somehow ya know? The last straw, though, came when a guy threatened me with a shotgun to stay away from his porch"

Gary remembered that day quite fondly. He'd given the man a double hotfoot and ran away. Oh good times.
 
Anna's eyes widened in half wonder, half fear. "Wow, you had to deal with things like that?" She shook her head lightly, taking her last bite of food. "I would never be able to do that." She said truthfully. Anna was a quieter person. She stayed to herself mostly.
 
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