Roommate life pt. 1

It had started off innocuously enough.

The linkpearl crackled to life with Reina's voice. "Ugh. I need more closet space."

Tala set down her flask and touched her fingers to her ear to return the call. "After what you went through yesterday, closet space is your big concern?"

"After what I went through yesterday, I just bought myself several new outfits."

Tala picked up the flask and her tweezers, dropping in a few shards of water crystals and swirling the mixture around lightly. "Oh. Retail therapy, huh..."

"Are you going to judge me or are you going to help me?" Reina was annoyed now.

"Help you what?" Tala looked up over her magnifiers at the messy wardrobe in the corner of her little room. "I mean, I have some space, I guess, if you want to-"

"Nonono. Tala, I'm gonna buy a house. Are you in?"

Tala nearly dropped the flask. "That's... quite an impulse buy..."

"It's not an impulse buy. I've been thinking about it for months. Saving up and everything. And there's a lot I have my eye on. Just have to go over there and make an offer."

"Then why do you need my help?" Tala put on her rubber gloves and picked up the lightning crystal to lower into the mixture.

"Because I'm coming up short."

Tala coughed in an attempt to disguise her laughter, fumbling the lightning crystal and nearly spilling her proto-potion. "That, uh, that so? I didn't notice at all."

"Short on gil." Tala could almost hear Reina rolling her eyes. "So, that's what I'm asking. Do you want to go in on a house with me?"

"Sure. We'd be roommates..." Tala raised her voice to be heard over the arcing of the lightning crystal as it and the water shards and the mixture began reacting. "It'd be fun!"

"Yeah, okay. I'm going to head over there now. Can you get together whatever you've got and come meet me? I don't want us to miss this chance. Not often there's a lot with a nice view open in the Mist."

"I'll let you know when I'm on my way, I just need to raid my savings," Tala said, already abandoning her potion to crawl under her bed.

===

The lot Reina had found really was a gem. A little on the small side, but with a grand view of the sea.

"So, this is it, huh?" Tala asked, coming to a stop next to Reina. "Wow... this is gorgeous."

"Don't know what they were thinking making the walls around the lot this big, I can barely see anything, but it's fine," Reina said. "So? What do you think? Yes? Let's make a decision."

Tala elected not to point out that walls that wouldn't even stop her from falling down to the road below were not so big. "Right now? We have to decide now?"

The real estate agent clasped her hands. "I doubt this land will be for sale much longer. Access this easy to the market boards normally comes at a premium - we know how you adventurer types love your convenience - but we want this off the market as soon as we can, so we'll match the price of the other lots in this area."

"How soon can you get a house in here?" Reina asked.

"For a lot of this size, three months," the agent said.

Reina looked up at Tala expectantly. "Three months and we live in our own home. With that view - whatever you can see of it."

Tala nodded. "I like it."

"We're doing it," Reina said decisively. "Get us the paperwork to sign, and we'll get you your money."

===

The next three months passed slowly and in no time at all. It seemed like every day that Reina brought catalogs and artist's renderings over to Tala's room so the two could pick out furniture and choose wallpaper and flooring.

"My big concern is that there isn't enough moogle merchandise in this proposal," Tala said, a teasing smile on her face. "Reina, why is it that the wallpaper isn't also moogles?"

"Because they don't make moogle wallpaper." Reina smoothed out the paper, pointing. "Now, if you look outside, the lot is big enough that even with the house, I think we have room for a small garden here. While we have the carpenters, we can build a small stable for our chocobos here. I've contacted the aethernet authorities for Limsa Lominsa so we should be approved for a miniature aetheryte to be placed here."

Tala furrowed her brow. Did... Reina not get her joke?

Oh gods, was she serious?!