2019-12-25 - New Roomie

(TXT to Autumn) Cassidy : Hey! I saw your ad for a roomie. I have a place on Oak Avenue and it's a little big for just me - plus I could TOTALLY use the help on rent. It has a couple extra bedrooms, actually. My name's Cassidy and I work in the District Attorney's Office, so as long as you pass a background check.. lol

(TXT to Cassidy) Autumn : Hi! I've had a couple of speeding tickets but that's okay right? Your place sounds perfect, should we meet up?

(TXT to Autumn) Cassidy : Sure! This better not be a catfish tho... lol When and where is good 4 u?

(TXT to Cassidy) Autumn : Ugh no I'm just tired a of living in a motel. Can I come see the room? And is daytime ok? I'm on night shifts at the hospital 'cause I'm the new kid

(TXT to Autumn) Cassidy : 12 Oak Ave. Stop by whenever.

Autumn does stop by whenever, unannounced aside from a responding text of 'See you soon!'. But she looks like a normal sort of person, or at least who she says she is because the dinosaur scrubs she's decked in under her winter coat may not fit some definitions of 'normal' but do at least indicate 'medical personnel of some type'. She clutches a large zip-loc baggie of cookies in one hand and knocks briskly on the door of 12 Oak Avenue.

"Coming!!" comes a sing-song voice from the other side of the door. The delay is likely from the occupant taking a peek at the feed from that security camera on the front stoop.

Apparently Autumn passes the 'not here to rob me' test as a few moments later the short blonde opens the door. She's decked out in a fully pink full sweat suit and her hair is up in a low pony.

"Hi. You must be Autumn. I'm Cassidy."

"Hi! Yeah!" Autumn offers her free hand immediately in greeting. "Nice to meet you, Cassidy. I brought cookies." Here the other hand is lifted, with the baggie. The cookies inside are plain, but cut into holiday shapes. "I hope sugar cookies are okay, I didn't have time to make anything new today."

Cassidy shakes Autumn's hand and motions for her to step inside. "Sorry it's such a mess. I'm like a total slob."

The house is rather clean, actually, save a box of pizza delivered much earlier that has seen slices slowly disappearing throughout the day, and the dishes are not yet done.

A silent snatch away shows Cassidy approves of sugar cookies.

"So it's a three bedroom and it's just me here. A little big for only one but I wanted to be in this neighborhood. We live next door to one of the homicide detectives, also, so, like, super safe."

The house is rather plain with few personal touches. There are some pictures of Cassidy with her family (a brother and her parents). A degree from Harvard Law school (summa cum Laude!) is hung in the dining room where Cassidy also has her laptop stationed (make-shift office).

"Oh, it's not." A mess. At least Autumn doesn't think so. As the cookies are taken, she rubs her hands together as though to warm them and openly looks around the place, taking in the details. This includes a peep out a window. "It seems like a really nice neighborhood. I'm pretty sure I've watched a few drug deals go down in the parking lot of the motel I'm currently staying in so..." She trails off with a crinkle of her nose. "Homicide detective. Cool." While Autumn isn't exactly poking into everything, she is prowling the perimeter and taking mental notes. "Harvard, huh?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah."

Cassidy has made her way into the kitchen where she's grabbed a plate to arrange the cookies on. "I was meant to go to DC after graduating, but..." she shrugs.

The blonde brushes her hands off and then grabs two wine glasses. "Some things came up and then some things fell through so I moved back to Seattle and took a public defender job. HATED that."

She pours two glasses of red wine and sets the cookie plate between them. Sugar cookies and red wine. Breakfast of champions.

"Then the DA office had a position here and so!"

Autumn has absolutely no objection whatsoever to red wine and cookies for breakfast, tucking herself into a convenient place to dig in to both, though she's polite enough not to talk with her mouth full. "Thanks. You're from Seattle? I'm from Tacoma. Well, near Tacoma. " She chortles a little and nods. "Sort of the same thing here. They were hiring EMTs and I needed a job and to live somewhere else and voila." She gestures around herself vaguely with a cookie with a bite taken out, here she is. "How long have you been here?"

"Well, I'm originally from Spokane." Cassidy says with a smile before lifting her glass of red to her lips.

"I've only been here for a few months, really. Long enough to work one case with the PD." She laughs. "And I'm not at all sure how much policing got done before I showed up."

Cassidy breaks off a piece of cookie and tastes it. "Mmm. Are these Safeway cookies?" Apparently Safeway cookies are the bomb as far as Cass is concerned.

"Does 650 a month work for you? That's a third of the lease." 3 bedrooms and all...

"It sounds exciting," Autumn notes over the rim of her wine glass. "Is there a lot of crime around here? I haven't been sent out to more than a couple of altercations or overdoses so far but I've only been working a few days." She nibbles around the edge of her cookie thoughtfully, doing some mental math in response to Cassidy's number, and then nods. "Yeah. I can do $650. Are utilities separate?" She laughs. "No, I made the cookies. I like baking when I have down time."

"More crime than there should be," Cassidy mutters - but it's very possible she'd say that no matter where she lived.

"Oh. I didn't think about utilities." she shrugs. "Whatever. Let's just say 650 even for now."

Cassidy lifts her glass in a motion to the ceiling, "All the bedrooms are upstairs. There is a half bathroom down here, a full bath connected to my room and one in the hall on the second floor."

The DA finishes the rest of her wine in one swallow and leaves the glass near the plate. "I'll show you. You can pick whichever one you want. They have boxes in them but I'll move those out."

Autumn sets her wineglass down as well and pops the last bite of cookie into her mouth in preparation to go see the rooms. Her eyebrow perks a little when she hears Cassidy's mutter, but there's no comment on it. "If it turns out $650 won't cover everything just let me know and I can kick in the rest. I don't have a whole lot of stuff so I'm sure either room would be fine."

Cass leads Autumn through the dining and living rooms and points out the usual amenities: large screen tv, couches and plush chairs. High-speed internet.

She shows Autumn the storage space and closet beneath the stairs and the downstairs half bath.

After ascending the stairs Cassidy points out the full bathroom in the hallway adjacent to a modest sized room with some boxes in it and otherwise empty. This one has a walk-in closet.

Also in the upstairs hall is a closet inside which reside the washer and dryer.

The other free bedroom she shows is also empty. It has a sliding door closet but has a balcony.

"You can take either one."

All the necessities of life and more! The TV especially is noted with interest, and once upstairs Autumn spends almost no time at all making her decision. "This one," she says, standing in the room with the balcony. Her collection of scrubs will not suffer in the smaller closet space. "I like this one."

"It's yours," Cassidy says with a majestic wave of her hand. "Let me get these boxes out of your way. You can move in immediately, just have the first rent check by Friday, okay?"

Cassidy crouches down and hefts up a box and carries it to the other empty room.

"You sure? Because I really really want to get out of the motel as soon as possible," Autumn replies, looking very much like she's hatching plans to be totally moved in within the next couple of hours. And she'll help clear the boxes out too. "Friday, sure. No problem."

The boxes are rather light. There are about 4. Three are just stuffed animals and assorted bedding. The one Cassidy just took had some old yearbooks.

"Yeah - sure. Move in tonight. I don't have any plans. Might put a face mask on later. That's about it."

Autumn dusts off her hands as she puts down the last box, not that she had to put a whole lot of time or effort into the task. "Awesome. I'll just go load up my car and check out and everything. Want me to pick up some takeout while I'm out? Or are you still working on the pizza?"

Cassidy Ohs! "Do you like Sweet and Sour Chicken?" Chinese food.

She's leaning heavily toward take out.

"Yeah! Ooh, that sounds really good." Autumn digs in the pocket of her scrub pans for her phone. "Do you have a go-to Chinese place here yet or should I just take my chances? There's a place near the motel that looks pretty sketchy but sometimes that's where the best food comes from." A little frown briefly wrinkles her forehead. "Or food poisoning."

"Oh I have no idea! Just Yelp it?" Cassidy laughs. "I'll get another bottle of wine ready." And she heads off down the stairs.

Because red wine pairs with Chinese food. The perfect new roommate party.

Roommate party! Autumn gets right on the Yelping, phone balanced in one hand as she scampers down the stairs in Cassidy's wake. "Awesome. I'll be back in an hour or so, okay?" And while Cassidy goes to procure the wine, Autumn nearly bounces out the door and to her car, a girl on a mission.

While Autumn is out, the hour or so is easily killed. Cassidy tidies up the kitchen and puts the pizza box in the outside trash. Then she paints her nails while checking up on e-mail and whatever else the office may have sent her to review.