Flatmates Are Hard to Find (Private |*| Dgcakes) [Dead]

[Zazzy]

Sunlight streamed through the windows, a slight breeze following them through the small gap that had been pushed open in the intricately designed framing. The apartment was at it's nicest that day; it was certainly a lot better than the flats in the darker part of Canterlot. The carpeted floor was vacuumed and clean of any dust. The walls had no markings on, aside from the usual pale, banana yellow shade Raven had carefully painted them in. It was a nice enough flat. Hopefully, it was nice enough for some pony to call in and become her flatmate.

Raven clopped her hooves together nervously. Getting a flatmate had been one of her colleague's idea and back then, she had agreed to the thought, showing subtle excitement. But now, a week later, she was regretting the decision. Raven had forgotten about her shyness and her dislike of talking to strangers in all the excitement and hurry, so when she had finally realised what she had done, it was too late. Advertisements had been stuck up on the windows of shops - with their owner's permission, of course - and they had been taped up to various gates and fences in the residential area up with other advertisements. The unicorn knew better than to put up things on the Canterlot streets.

She adjusted her tie nervously. Due to the circumstances she was in, another colleague in the castle was doing her job until all of the flatmate business had been sorted out, so there was no backing out of the idea. Raven looked at the telephone next to her, tentatively wondering if she should change her number, but she shook her head. On the leaflet she had sent out, she had printed her address on as well. The mare inhaled a shaky breath. Hopefully, whoever her flatmate was would be nice. 

Her hoof shaking, Raven lifted her cup of tea to her muzzle with her pale pink telekinesis, sipping it - before gagging and hastily swallowing it down. She set the mug down with a clatter. She sifted through her memories; apparently, she had put in three tea bags in her anxiety. The unicorn worked her tongue around her mouth, trying to get rid of the horrible taste, and pushed the cup of tea away in disgust. 

A loud ring from her telephone jolted her thoughts. Raven flinched and accidentally banged the table, spilling her cup of tea. She quickly pushed her telephone towards her right ear and grabbed a nearby cloth with her telekinesis, trying to wipe away the brown spilled contents. 

"Um, h-hello?" Raven spoke into the receiver quietly, her voice barely audible. Her eyes followed the cloth around until it had wiped all of the liquid away, and she dropped it where it belonged. Her horn glowed and she poured her tea away in to the sink, carefully setting the now empty mug on the sink, "Uh..." Raven paused, not sure what to say. Smooth.

She paced up and down the carpet, tummy twisting in worry. She hoped they whoever was speaking to her wasn't as shy as Raven was and could brush off first appearances easily. 

[Dgcakes]

Well at the very least, she wasn't the only one nervous!

Buttermilk had come to Canterlot first and foremost on leaving her family home, out to seek her fortune in the wide wide world and all of that garble. It was the home of great libraries, of a great castle, of the grandest festival for the Summer Sun Celebration - it was honestly one of those types of places a young pony dreamed of getting to visit one day! And...being that probably made it all the more scary and confusing to be here alone and in need of a lot more than just a hotel for a day or two of touring. This place was so different from Fillydelphia - and Buttermilk had barely even been in Fillydelphia proper! But Canterlot was so...prissy and proper in some ways! To live here? To work here? 

All in all, the young unicorn was starting to be sure she'd made a very bad decision coming out this far in her search for her own home. There were plenty of nice places that were smaller...more out of the way...less posh and fancy. How could anypony survive this kind of social pressure? Well...probably just taking it easy and not caring as much about what was so intimidating and imposing, and more about what other ponies thought of you...but she really couldn't be sure now could she? It was so much effort to figure this out - and that was the really scary part of it. It was a great deal of work for just what goal, exactly? What if Canterlot didn't work out for her and she had to move on somewhere else - that'd mean Buttermilk had wasted her time and she'd never get anywhere that way! But then again...she wouldn't exactly fail till she'd tried.

So, try she did. She'd seen a slightly-not-imposing advertisement about a flat that needed a flatmate. Buttermilk could maybe make a friend this way! Orrrrrr a horrible enemy. If she found out about her 'predicament' - this pony could turn her into the laughing stock of the city! Or they'd maybe just not suit each other, for whatever reason, and things would go amiably apart, which overall was the most likely option, even if it was boring. 

The filly finally worked up the courage - and energy - to try and call about the flat after a good hour or so of debating it, sitting in a restaurant, blowing now and then or using magic to try and keep her unruly and overly long curly mane out of her face. It wasn't a successful venture, and even less so when the other pony actually picked up. Now was the moment of truth! One couldn't be worrying about magicking their mane at a time like this! She just had to work up the courage, say hello, hope weren't angry, that she'd gotten the right number aaaaand...

She was greeted with a bunch of awkward umming and uhhing. Ok! Well, that was workable, right?

"Hey, so I'm calling about that flat you advertised? Do I have the right number?" No matter how that went, it was much smoother than just saying 'um errrrr hi' right back, right? So always up from there!

[Zazzy]

"Um, yes. Flat block twenty three, right?" Raven asked, feeling a little put out by the other mare's confident manner and non-stutter speech. She shook her mane briskly and sat down at her desk again, trying to be professional. If she tried hard enough, the unicorn could sometimes make her words clear and sound confident, even if she was nervous inside. Raven was very good at those sorts of things and there was no reason why she couldn't do that to her to be flatmate. At any rate, if she needed something to comfort her, the mare who was calling up sounded like an older teenager, and Raven, having only just turned twenty, was thankful of that. She had already worried about the fact that she might have a flatmate who was an elderly pony who couldn't make her own breakfast.

Not that there wasn't anything wrong with not being able to make breakfast. It was just that Raven was far too busy and independent to be making other's breakfasts.

She straightened her tie and dispelled the thoughts of older ponies and breakfasts from her mind. Why was she even thinking of such things, anyway? Before she could over analyse something again, Raven hastily redirected her attention to the mare on the other side, "Uh. Are you still interested in this flat room? I'm free right now, so if you want to come over, that'd be good. They're, um, directions on the advertisement..." She trailed off, realising she hadn't offered her name. Honestly, the unicorn didn't really understand why she hadn't offered it previously in their conversation, because she always told the pony she was speaking to her name. Unless they looked really suspicious or something, and Raven didn't really interact socially with suspicious ponies, "I'm Raven, by the way..." 

Raven lifted her directory book from the kitchen table and placed it gently on the desk, opening it up to one of the pages and tracing her hoof along the neat, tidy writing that had been printed onto the paper. It was her writing, actually, and as humble as the mare was, Raven was quite proud of the way the tips of her words ended with flourishes and how their size always stayed the same. She hummed softly under her breath as her eyes skimmed the paper, double checking that she wasn't busy that particular day. She had vaguely remembered clearing out all her extra appointments and meetings for the week, but it was Raven's nature to double check, so double check she did.

After a few moments, she closed the thick leather book, satisfied. She pushed the phone closer to her ear via magic, and addressed the mare on the other side of the line once again, "Sorry about that, I was just, um, checking that I didn't have anything on tonight," Raven ran her hoof over her beloved directory a little sheepishly, wondering if she had deterred the other pony's choice of apartment to reside in. She shook her head and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, continuing to speak, "If you want, I can stand outside the apartment so you know where to go?" The unicorn suggested hopefully, longing to be outside no matter how anti-social she was. It was a gorgeous, hot day, and although her apartment was accessorised with softly blowing air conditioners to make her guest feel as luxurious as they could, Raven didn't like being stuffed up inside, buttoned up with a tail bobble and tie. Even the bridge of her muzzle was starting to feel a little sweaty, what with her glasses sitting up their for so long.

[Dgcakes]

"Uh, yes I think so. That looks to be the one on the ad anyway." 

Buttermilk smiled warmly, though she belatedly realized that Raven could not see her or tell she was smiling, and it wouldn't really do much to reassure her over the phone. This pony seemed exceedingly nervous in some ways and she wasn't yet sure how she felt about that. The filly was generally easy to get along with and liked company, but there was a point where a nervous pony just didn't match up very well with someone who was usually as enthusiastic as Buttermilk could be. Besides, she wasn't even yet sure about Canterlot as a place to live or work anyway...

"Ah well I mean, I'm definitely interested in meeting to see it, but I should probably warn you that I've only just come to the area and started looking for somewhere to live, and I haven't fully decided that Canterlot is quite me or not or if I can find work that suits me here, so if you need somepony more assured about living in the area, I totally understand." she tried not to ramble before shaking her mane out of her face a bit and taking a small deep breathe - could Raven hear that? Tell she was trying to compose herself? Oh wells - "Oh, and I'm Buttermilk." Duh. Introduce yourself back, silly filly.

Raven spacing out, apparently leafing through something at one point gave Buttermilk time to look over the directions. She was usually ok with following what ponies suggested like that, but she also could get lost easily due to spacing out. She'd been about to ask if there was any way Raven could help her clarify some of the directions when the other pony returned to speaking and made her offer.

"Oh, yes please. Thank you, I'm sorry, I was about to ask about that. I sometimes get lost a little easy and Canterlot...that's a lot easier than usual. I'll be up that way soon then." And well...off she went. Probably a little abrupt but she was sure Raven would probably handle her better in person - and Buttermilk could easily gauge what'd make her more comfortable.

[Zazzy]

Raven didn't mind the rambling. She herself didn't ramble that often, what with her quietness and dislike for talking and preference for listening, but she didn't mind it. Rambling was a sign that showed nervousness, and as she too was nervous, she felt sympathetic for the pony, Buttermilk, on the other end of the line. After all, it must be nerve wracking to move in with some pony you barely know, let alone stay somewhere unfamiliar. If Raven ever had to move out, she'd never look for a flatmate. She'd stay with her parents temporarily and work hard for a house, or a flat, at the least.

"Um. That's fine," Raven answered peaceably to Buttermilk's ramblings. After all, she was informally the 'host' of this whole thing, her being the one who had put up the advertisement. Besides, what sort of pony would you be if you decided where other ponies lived? You'd be understandably a little upset, but nothing that ran too deep, "If you, uh, need to think anything over, you can have as much time as you like, um, Miss Buttermilk, as well." Raven clapped her hooves together nervously, continuously pushing up her glasses. She had mixed feelings about meeting this pony.

What would this Buttermilk be like? She was obviously a pony, which had her a little relieved. Not that there was nothing wrong with being a different species rather than a pony, it was just that Raven had adjusted her lifestyle to suit other ponies. She had no idea what goats, or cows, or who knows what ate, she didn't know what they liked to sleep in... Raven's thoughts were cut off as she heard Buttermilk speak again, confirming her appearance near the flat. She could feel her stomach curling with both fear and anxiety, and closed her eyes, before putting the phone back in it's place holder and getting up. The unicorn pushed her chair in neatly. The whole room was immaculate and made to it's owner's liking, which was simple, refined, and tidy.

That was another thing, being tidy. Tidiness was Raven's biggest worry, and although it didn't seem like much, she was deeply afraid that this pony might accidentally mess up her daily routine or brilliantly organised room. Hopefully, Buttermilk was the exact opposite of that, but she couldn't just assume, right? She had to actually see what the other mare was actually like.

Raven opened her front door and let the gentle breeze come inside her apartment to cool it down a bit, before closing it and locking it. Despite her only being gone for a minute or two, she wanted to be careful, as there were extremely important and expensive objects inside her apartment. Canterlot had plenty of thieves, and Raven definitely wasn't the type of pony who liked fighting burglars.

Anyway, back to business. The unicorn peered over the railing. She couldn't see anypony coming at that moment, but she honestly hadn't expected Buttermilk to come right away, unless she was waiting right outside the apartment or was just generally fast or overly eager. Raven decided that peering over the railing was a better choice over just standing self consciously at the front of the apartment, waiting for Buttermilk. She didn't like it when ponies stared at her as they walked past. It made her feel awkward. Plus, Buttermilk might accidentally walk past her, mistaking her for just any other pony, and she really didn't want that to happen.

[Dgcakes]

Buttermilk came along in pretty good time. She hadn't been supremely close by, or rushing really, but walking at a brisk pace so she didn't leave Raven waiting long. It'd probably be extremely inconvenient for the other pony to be outside for a long while just waiting for her to show up. Whether or not she took the room at the flat, being inconsiderate was not a good way to make a first impression on a new pony, or anyone really. That sort of thing tended to make everyone irritable with each other.

The young unicorn found herself glancing at the different apartments as she neared the area. Mostly looking at the numbers on them and where everything was located. However, it was pretty easy to pick out the unicorn pushing her glasses up and sort of shrinking away from others looking at her, up close by the right numbered apartment. Buttermilk stopped beneath her and waved a hoof.

"Hey. Are you Raven?" she called, cocking her head so her curly mane shifted away from her face decently. The filly had stopped along the way to try and straighten her mane and coat to the best of her ability - did't want to look like a total mess in front of the already nervous Raven! That could just end badly. "I'm Buttermilk, I'm looking for flat twenty-three?" She held the ad with her horn magic, sort of just letting it hover by her face. As long as it was visible, right? That should be enough confirmation for the nervous mare.

[Zazzy]

Hearing her name being called, Raven flickered her ears about, trying to find the source of the calling, until she realised it was coming from directly below her. She put a hoof on the railing and looked down, holding her glasses on her muzzle with her pale pink telekinesis as she peered down below, seeing a mare with curly, disheveled hair talking to her. Raven immediately presumed this mare to be the mysterious Buttermilk that she had just been talking to - her assumption was then answered only a few seconds after. 

Buttermilk looked to be younger than her, although not immensely, but she was still younger and similarly looked a little apprehensive - well, at least she did in Raven's eyes, but then, maybe that was just her nervousness playing tricks on her. It wasn't the first time this had happened. But anyway, back to business. Raven shook all thoughts out of her head that didn't concern the present and only the present and called down, anxiety lending her strength and strength pushing her confidence up, "Yes, I'm Raven, and this is flat block twenty three. It's nice to meet you, Miss Buttermilk, at last," Raven offered a demure smile to half comfort Buttermilk and half comfort herself, "Would you like to come up?" 

As she waited for the curly maned mare to come upstairs, she silently hoped that things would go well and that her speech would be as stutter free as they had just been right then. When Raven's speech was free of stammering, however, it did have a rather quiet touch to it, so she hoped that this Buttermilk did have good hearing and would be able to make out what she said - not many a pony could, so she always used not talking much as an alternative. But now, as a house host, how could the unicorn not talk that much?

Trying not to show Buttermilk her panicking expression, Raven turned around to open the door whilst she waited; after all, her house was quite high up in the block and it took a lot of energy for one to get up. So, if Buttermilk was at all interested in working out and becoming fit, there was at least a nearby place for her to exercise, right?

Raven let herself enjoy the small humour in her joke, before unlocking the door completely and opening it wide for Buttermilk to come inside, "Before you come in," Raven hesitantly said, "Would you mind, um, wiping your hooves off on the ground? I hate getting this apartment dirty, it's one of the few clean ones, so..." She smiled hopefully, a little self conscious and afraid that Buttermilk would think worse of her with this rather finicky behaviour. But then, if some pony were to dislike her just because of her dislike of messiness, then they wouldn't be worth wasting her time with, for being finicky was purely in her nature. 

The unicorn shook her head, inwardly berating herself for not paying attention, and waited for Buttermilk to join her.