[action - open]

[warnotlove]

Who: Orion and Emil | Open
What: Moving in day
When: Before TDM
Where: Their place | Feel free to catch him in the neighborhood or around
Warnings: Probably none. Too many animals, maybe.


Orion didn't think his luck could have gotten any better when he found a willing roommate to avoid staying at the dorms for the semester, but he was wrong. Having found said roommmate, a student who was already established on campus and needed to relocate thanks to a similar fondness for animals, that left them with the task of finding a place they could both afford while attending college. Not to mention some way to pay the bills for said location, once they obtained it.

Somehow, Orion did one better. He managed to find a network for housesitting gigs nearby, complete with paid expenses and free of rent. By the time Orion arrived, they'd had the place since the beginning of the month, so he figured Emil would have been settled in for a few weeks already, but this would be the first time living with someone that wasn't family, so he admittedly didn't know what to expect when he showed up.


(feel free to tag in or hit me up if you want a personalized starter for your character as well!)

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[CLOSED - EMIL]

[warnotlove]

Orion made a point of arriving before the new semester. He wanted plenty of time to get a good look around the place before adding in the chaos of classes and meeting faculty and students alike, and as luck would have it, his roommate wasn't around as everything was unloaded from the moving truck, so introductions could wait until he was properly settled in.

With the moving company gone and the dogs settled in from their first real walk around the neighborhood, Orion got to making some food. Nothing special, but he figured it would make a good first impression to have something prepared, and he was starving, even if he did next to zero heavy lifting, himself.

Animal lover or not, Orion has the sense to keep the dogs locked up until Emil gets in, so the guy isn't swarmed as soon as he walks in the door, but that doesn't stop them from noticing first. The barking alerts Orion to his roommate's return before Emil even reaches the door, but Orion waits until he hears it open to call out from the kitchen. "Hey man, this place is great, isn't it? It's bigger than I expected."

Did the translator even work off campus? He sure hoped or that might have been the least smooth move he's ever made, and considering his track record, that's certainly saying something. Orion stepped out of the kitchen to properly greet his new roommate, sleeves rolled up to his elbows still from working. "Uh, I made some tzatziki dip. It's not anything special, but there's plenty to share."

[incinerating]

Emil has been living in the house already for a couple of weeks, and that's given Kiss enough time to get used to the place (mostly), so she's already pretty relaxed here. Thankfully, she's well-trained and still young so she adapts pretty easily to new situations and such, but Emil's read up on introducing new housepets to each other and taken the necessary steps. She has a safe place in the room he's taken up living in, with a litter box, her food dishes, and plenty of toys and places to lie down or scratch, and that's where he'd left her this morning when he went out to work, because...today is the day.

The day his new roommate who he's never really met in person will be coming to move in. The day to make a first impression that he's going to have to live with for a long time. He'd brought a change of clothes so he wouldn't be coming home in his polo and khakis that smell like stale coffee grounds, and he'd brought dry shampoo so his hair wouldn't smell like stale coffee grounds, and he'd made sure that everything was tidy before he left. Thankfully, he's pretty tidy on a regular basis so it hadn't been much effort at 4:00 in the morning and half asleep.

So, when Orion comes into the house he'll find it neat and tidy, with no unwashed dishes or clutter, the only real sign of a person living here being a cardigan sweater hung over the back of one of the kitchen chairs and some folded laundry in a basket near the couch. And when Emil opens the door and slips inside, he's dressed nicely in some skinny black jeans and a fashionably oversized grey knit sweater with a Scandinavian pattern around the collar and shoulders, his hair neat and tidy, and a smile on his face. He's just opened his mouth to call out when he hears someone shouting from the general vicinity of the kitchen, and what sounds like about 400 dogs barking, which makes him laugh a bit.

"It's certainly better than the dorms!" he answers, his voice lilting with a Swedish accent despite whatever it is that translates between people in this town.

Prying off his boots and dropping his backpack onto the floor in the hallway while he juggles the spoils of his barista shift, he pads into the kitchen on feet clad in very clean socks (he'd changed those too) and looks at his new roommate. Dark hair and dark eyes, tall, smiling and cooking. Impressive. Emil bounces a little on the balls of his feet and leans in a little to look at the dip Orion's made.

"Oh, tzatziki?" It comes out awkward, because it's a word he's never said before, and it's also a food he's never tried, "Thank you. I've never tried it. Oh! I brought drinks home...one hot chocolate and one latté, and um...the hot chocolate is with almond milk, I wasn't sure if you drank dairy or coffee and I like both, so take what you like."

He deposits the tray from the coffee shop onto the counter and gestures vaguely, before leaning his elbows on the counter and exhaling. It comes out a little more shaky and nervous-sounding than he'd like, but otherwise, things seem to be going smoothly. Hopefully.

"Uh, I hope everything went smoothly this morning? Sorry I wasn't here to help, they absolutely would not let me get out of work."

[warnotlove]

Emil has obviously put a lot more thought and effort into first impressions than Orion. He would have come home smelling like coffee in his uniform, and showered after they met if their situations had been reversed. He probably also wouldn't have thought to try to get out of a shift to help the guy, as it was he was still wearing the clothes he'd moved and walked the dogs in. The comment about the dorms makes him pause, but he shrugs it off with a laugh.

Orion watches as Emil inspects the dip, a touch nervous. He didn't normally prepare food for other since his mother passed so he wasn't used to worrying about anyone else's opinion, but now there were tastes and foreign cultures to consider.

"No man, don't apologize, everything went great. Moving with five dogs is a lot of chaos though... Probably better you weren't here." He takes a moment before looking at the drinks Emil had indicated, grabbing the hot chocolate with a little chuckle. "You'll find I'm not very picky, but I like my caffeine in the morning usually. Almond milk, huh? Is that like- a local thing?"

Orion's never put much more thought into coffee than the basics, cream, sugar, size of cup and how much that was going to cost him at the local coffee shop because he certainly didn't make it at home. He's far more interested in Emil than the drinks anyway, being quick to turn the conversation back to his partner was second nature to him at this point, and he didn't exactly get out enough to meet people from a lot of different places like this.

"Swedish?" He's guessing, based on the accent, wondering briefly if it might make sense to switch to English despite the translator, that was a common enough language, wasn't it? "I hope getting moved in alone went all right," He kind of figured he'd have heard if anything happened and assumed there weren't any issues when he wasn't contacted about Emil's move-in, "I've never really stayed in dorms, are they as small as everyone makes them out to be?" He's had visions of people living in closets, but so far been luckily enough not to avoid them.

Orion likes to talk about other people, keep the focus on them and off himself, plus he's the curious sort like that, everyone is so interesting and unique, but Emil asked about the dip and he also doesn't want his new roommate to think he's ignoring that either. Still, he'd rambled enough for the moment, let the guy get a word in before veering off onto a completely different topic.

[incinerating]

The unfortunate truth is that Emil usually expects people to be judging him based on first impressions, and tries to make the best one possible at all times. Part of him is always convinced that if he makes a bad impression, that person will hate him, that there's no reversing that kind of thing. At least this one seems to be going well enough.

"Moving with one cat is enough of a hassle, I can't imagine it with five dogs." he says, smiling brightly at Orion, "Then again, Kiss was already stressed from all the drama at the dorms. I really don't know what the big deal about one little cat is, she's perfectly well behaved."

Lifting his chin, he makes a little irritated snort and flicks his hair dismissively, "Ridiculous, honestly."

It's more than gratifying when Orion takes one of the drinks and Emil reaches comfortably for the other, taking a sip and releasing a contented sigh. He certainly likes his caffeine at any time of day.

"Oh, well, stop by the coffee shop anytime in the morning, I'll get you one for free. And um, it's just an alternative to dairy for people who are vegan or lactose intolerant. It's certainly cheaper here than it is in Sweden...ah, yes, I'm Swedish, to answer that...and more readily available. I'm thinking of switching over, but I really do like the taste of milk..."

A little shrug, and lights up at that last question, "Oh, yes, it was perfectly fine. I didn't bring a lot of things with me, and most of it was clothing, so it was a quick trip or two. I used a...an...Uber? I think that was it."

Unfortunately for Orion, Emil does tend to talk about himself a lot, without even thinking, so he hasn't even really registered that the question about the dip hasn't been answered yet. He's already off on a tangent about how terrible the dorms were.

"They're tiny! It's really ridiculous, honestly, and the mattresses they have on the beds there are awful. And probably filthy, I had to put a plastic sheet over mine to even consider actually sleeping on it, which was a whole problem in itself...oh! Sorry, here I am rambling on..."

[warnotlove]

That sort of worry is a whole new level even by Orion's standards. Of course, Orion is more the type to figure that someone could turn around and realize he's a loser at any moment - so he tries to maintain whatever impression they get first, which is much easier to pull off if he doesn't put too much thought or effort into that first impression. It's fine, he over-thinks everything, they're off to a great start with that in common.

"The great thing about dogs is you don't have to carry them or litter boxes- you know, it's mostly not bulky stuff. I can fit everything in a bag, really." Usually, not when he's moving from a different country, which is exactly what Emil was referring to but details.

Oh, right. The dorms. "Hey man, I'm sure it's nothing personal. It's just like well okay we let one well-behaved cat in, what happens when the next one isn't so well behaved? What about the kids with allergies? This is better anyway, look at all this free room we have!" Honestly, this was the biggest place Orion's ever stayed, his last place was a little two bedroom that just wasn't enough space to share with someone in his opinion. Especially not with more than five dogs coming and going all the time.

"Well, hey it's a good thing you're not either of those." He hadn't thought about that and most of his default dishes included dairy. Cheese and yogurt were big ingredients in Greece, kind of a staple that was hard to work around. "The dip's got yogurt in it, I'd sure feel like an idiot if I made you something you couldn't even eat."

Orion's not actually familiar with uber since they don't exist where he's from, but he'll take Emil's word for it. That certainly was an interesting word, he'll assume it's foreign.

When Emil notices that he's gone off on a bit of a tangent, Orion waves an arm dismissively. "No, no. I'm actually listening. You are making me very relieved that I've never been in a dorm and I'm not planning on changing that any time soon. The people that own this place have plenty of money so I would guess the furniture is very comfortable, hopefully I'm not wrong there.

The oven goes off and he turns to grab a potholder and pull out the pita chips he'd had baking, setting them to cool on the stove. He can't exactly take credit for those, he just bought pita bread and set them to eat until they got crispy. "So the dip is uh yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, garlic some herbs, a little lemon juice, and salt. Hopefully, those are all good with you, no allergies or anything?" Please let him have not messed this up on day one.