forum Not what you signed up for // Closed // (Mature)

Started November 20, 2019 by @The-Magician group

tune

Cora walked out of the hotel and saw Harrison's car, pulled up right where he said it would be. She could feel her palms start to sweat already. She blew out a breath and walked towards the boot of his car, where she opened it up and put her suitcase in it. She closed it and walked to the passenger side of the car. Here we go. She opened the door and sat down, smiling. "Hi."

When the passenger door opened, the adrenaline in Harrison's veins caused him to jump a little. He slowly turned, and came face to face with Cora. Her appearance had changed slightly since the last time he saw her, but in a good way. She seemed more mature, and beautiful. "Hey." he grinned, waving a little. "Hop in, we've got some catching up to do."

"We do indeed." Cora smiled and sat down in her seat. He looked older, but unchanged at the same time. Same messy brown hair, same blue eyes. "Where's your house again? Is it far from here?" What she really wanted to ask was, "How much time will I get with just you?" Roommates . . . they really did have a lot of catching up to do.

"It's about a half an hour drive." Harrison shrugged, a childlike grin on his face. "Do you know that massive red house by the lake?" He started the engine and slowly pulled away from the wedding reception down the lane leading towards it. He wasn't unfamiliar with that area, but it had been a good few years since he last drove there himself—if they got lost he would totally blame it on his grandfather.

"You live there? That house is ginormous. No wonder you have roommates." Cora couldn't help but smiled. Harrisons grin had always been infectious. "What are they like? Do you think they'll like me? Do you think I'll like them?"

“Woah slow down, too many questions!” Harrison let out a soft laugh while shaking his head. Cora always had been a curious person, some things never changed. “I think most of them will like you, whether or not you like them is another matter.” He went on to explain a little bit about each of them.

“Nas can be a little overwhelming but they mean well. Semele is a wild, strong minded woman who really knows how to try my patience, but again she means well. Aquila likes her space, but I don’t think I have ever known her to say no to meeting new people. Cat..Well she can be a little manipulative, does anything to get her own way, but she’s a softie. Noel is a gentle kid, and while he doesn’t exactly like social interaction he is usually quite friendly. And Lock…” Harrison paused for a moment. There was something about Lock that only he knew, and it was going to be a nasty surprise when Cora found out. “He means well.”

It wasn’t too long before they reached the roads leading in the direction of Harrison’a home. It would still be a while before they arrived, but that was a good opportunity to have some time to talk among themselves before being bombarded by them. “So how have you been? What are you doing with your time now?”

While he knew Harrison was away, Noel was washing the dishes the others left uncleaned. The only thing he knew or heard from the others was that his ‘landlord’ was bringing back a guest so it was best to show tidiness, at least a little bit. He was getting into the habit of being the one to clean most of the things other than Harrison.

He opened the windows in the living room, which was his bedroom, and tied the curtains up neatly. He soon grabbed his phone and texted Harrison.
”Hey, where are you right now?”

A loud ping distracted Harrison from the road, and after pulling his phone from the compartment underneath the ac dial he replied to Noel with a voice message. “Im on the ribbon, be about twenty minutes.”
The ‘ribbon’ was the road heading towards his house, it was just a really long and very smooth road.

Noel quickly read the text and typed back.
”Ah, sweet. If possible can you stop by the coffee shop at the end of the road before the slight curve? You know the one, Iced Americano please” he sent the text before he went back to tidying the room. He was not expecting his ‘housemates’ to be awake at this time so the job fell all on him.

“Yeah that’s fine, see you soon.”
Harrison slipped his phone back into the compartment and smiled apologetically to Cora. “We’re going to make a stop at the coffee shop near mine, if that’s okay?” He was going to do it whether it was okay with a Cora or not, but he didn’t want to seem rude by not letting her know in advance.

"Oh! Is he getting coffee! Can you ask him to get me a black coffee with whipped cream?" Nas asked, having peaked over Noel's shoulder. Usually, not a lot of people were awake, but Nas rarely slept and instead just roamed the forest and scared campers.

Noel nodded and picked up his phone again.
”Nas wants black coffee with whipped cream” he texted as he went back to cleaning the room. It was a bit soon that he began writing something down on his note.
”Nas, can you go check the outdoors for me? Perhaps someone’s outside?”

"Sure thing!" Nas hummed, slipping back outside and squinting their eyes. "Nothing!" They called back inside, growling at a bunny that made its way into the yard. It ran right back out with a squeak and Nas smiled victoriously.

Semele stalked out of her bedroom, for once properly dressed, and headed into the living room to check on her numerous plants. She was pleased to find that the open space looked more like an indoor vineyard than a living room. Sensing that Noel was in the next room over, Semele plucked a ripe grape and moved into the room where Noel was quietly cleaning. Grinning, she appeared before him. "Good morning." She murmured, popping the grape into Noel's mouth, which had dropped open in shock.

"Yeah, that's fine." Cora didn't mind. Plus, that was more alone time with Harrison. "I'm studying journalism right now. It's really interesting. I'm on the school paper, and I might have a job set up for when I graduate. Let's see . . . my dad is pretty sick, but he's been sick for a while, so I'm not really worried."

(I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea how college or university works in england, so I'm winging it. Also sorry that this is so short)

Cat walked downstairs stretching even though she'd been awake since at least 5 am. She sat down on the couch slightly pouting. She knew that once Harrison's friend came over she would have to stay in her human form until she left.

Aquila frowned as she went through her clothes. She would have loved to wear her formal floor length black gown but assumed that Harrison's friend would either find it odd or scary. Biting her lip in thought, she ended up choosing a navy blue top with a pair of shorts and sneakers. Not something she usually loved to wear but its was as 'normal' as she wanted to go today. She came out of her room and went up the next floor to make sure her work room was organised and locked before coming down the two flights of stairs to where most of the others were.

(It's okay Moxie, also how did you know it was England? XD)

After receiving another text message, Harrison let out a sigh, of course Nas would be awake. No way in hell would she sleep in on a day like this. He turned to Cora with a gentle smile. "I can see you as a journalist, you always were a great writer. It sucks about your dad though, give him my best wishes when you next see him."
The coffee shop could just be seen in the distance, which meant home was only 5 minutes away, and the nerves started building themselves up inside Harrison's core as he parked the car outside.

(Because you said his house is in Kingston upon Thames, which is the most british sounding thing ever. Was I wrong?)

"Thank you." She looked over at Harrison as he turned the car off. "Your hands are shaking. Is the coffee shop really that scary?" Cora smiled. She missed poking fun at him and figured she should do it all while it was still just them before she clammed up. She was becoming aware that she did that, but that didn't change the fact that she did it.

It wasn't the coffee shop that frightened him, it was how close they were now from his home. From them.
Harrison turned to Cora with a feigned hurt expression. "I didn't know you thought so low of me that I would be scared to go to a coffee shop" he crossed his arms over his chest, but a slight smile appeared in the corners of his lips. With a slight shake of his head, he moved to open the door and pulled himself put of the car. "Come on, the coffee here is the best!"

Noel, after Semele’s abrupt entrance, was a bit worried about Harrison, it was a while since he last contacted… by a while he meant about five minutes. Without a second thought, he picked up his phone and texted Harrison himself.
”Hey, where are you now?” he was a nervous little wreck.

Harrison pulled his phone from his pocket when it buzzed again. Noel again…I wonder if everything is okay at home.
He texted back saying that they were at the coffee shop, then thought to ask if everything was okay. Harrison knew that Noel was always anxious, but he didn't think the swan would be low-key panicking now.

Upon seeing Harrison’s reply, the swan soundlessly sighed. It wasn’t any crucial, he was just not ready to meet whoever his ‘landlord’ was bringing home.
Social interaction… Social interaction . . . he started to panic on his own, walking around the house nervously.
Compared to his housemates, his clothes were probably the worst; just a plain polo with ripped jeans and comfy pink slippers of all things. He needed to get some fresh air, and the backyard wasn’t going to help. He wrote a small sticky note and placed it on the kitchen counter where he was then went outside through the front door, of course, with his phone, notebook, and pen.
The note read the following:
”If anyone needs me, I’m at the park, I’ll be back in five minutes”

Semele frowned, watching Noel from her comfortable perch on the couch. She tried and tried to get him to relax, thinking that wild creatures would flock together, but no luck. The maenad sighed, dropping her head onto the back of the couch. "When is Harrison coming home?" She asked the ceiling. "There's no one fun to play with when he's not here."