Perfect Strangers

[UnusuallyTallJawa]

Shaima had been in Japan for some months now, but things had been rough for her so far. Yes, she had managed to score a contract working for the LAW federation after some hard work, but for all that time she had been drifting from one place to another. She had to settle for some guesthouses for all this time, and sometimes when she couldn’t find any free room she would just have to go and sleep in some library or 24h chat café. Up to that moment life had been rough and she was feeling exhausted and a little bit desperate, but she had nowhere to turn back to.

Luckily for Dehya now that she was part of LAW she could use some more platforms to try and find some flat or room. Inside LAW’s gym there was some notice board full of different ads and posters that could definitely point the woman in the right direction. Up to that point her search bore no fruits, but that was just about to change. In the middle of the notice board Shaima could notice some good ad for an interesting place: it promised some good space and fully-equipped kitchen and some other basic commodities, all close to her working place in LAW.

Shaima was ready to take the notice when she noticed the price listed on the ad. How could be living in Japan so expensive? She was feeling frustrated. Someone with a job like hers shouldn’t have to suffer so much to find a place to live? Now she was really frustrated, so ready to tear the ad into pieces and go find somewhere to sleep that night, and she was just about to do so as she got the poster from the notice board with a sudden move.

[HotWheels]

Esther Gates packed her bags after she left the shower, but she wished she could be packing them to head home.

Her family's name had some sway, and honestly, she felt grateful to LAW that they had offered her a space just outside of the facilities for her to settle as she got her feet beneath her. But going out of the LAW facility at the end of her training day, only to cross the grounds and step back into a place that was essentially another LAW facility but with a nicer toilet and a cot did not feel much like "going home after a hard day at work." Back in the States, she had always valued the chance to head back to her parents' place after one of her many life activities, or, once she had entered college, to head back to her dorm where she had managed to create a home-y feel thanks to her roommate's being easy to get along with...for the most part. As she grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder, she realized she had a small longing for that personal touch. Homesickness? Maybe a little.

Spoiler

She trotted back through the gym from the locker room and then into the lobby, a little guilty for feeling sorry for herself. Surely, she would find a way to get set up in a place of her own soon. Despite her attempts to convince them otherwise and let her live by the sweat of her own back, Esther's parents had pushed for her to take a small advance from them to put a down payment on an apartment. But damn, apartments in this city were expensive. Esther had always heard a little about the space issues in Japan, but she supposed she was naive to think they had not driven costs through the roof. If she wanted a place before the LAW money started filling her pockets, she would need a roommate.

As she trudged through the lobby, her eyes wandered aimlessly to the notice board. Absent-mindedly, she canned it, finding nothing that she cared to stop and look at until her lavender eyes settled on what looked like pictures of an apartment. Esther walked past a woman at the board, and when she did, she squinted a little harder at the apartment advertisement. Her Japanese was crappy, so she finally stopped and turned to look a little closer at the English written in smaller font, trying to determine what it said about price.

As she stepped forward, the other woman promptly dove in, sticking an arm out in front of her, and snatched the exact ad that Esther wanted to inspect. And she...looked a little pissed. Esther leaned back again, regarding the woman with blinking eyes. "Did, uh, did you have dibs on that?"

[UnusuallyTallJawa]

Shaima just couldn’t believe how frustrated she was feeling. For some time now, the housing situation had been an issue directly affecting her and being a not small source of stress for the woman. How could find somewhere to live coming from abroad be that difficult? She even got a pretty decent job with some pay most inmigrants in the country could only dream of, but that didn’t change how difficult it was for her to just find a place to live. The situation was getting out of hand: she was really tired of living in different pensions. That wasn’t all since given her line of career in which she needed to maintain her body she was starting to urgently need a proper place to come back so she can start getting rid of her stress or her health could surely suffer because of all this dire situation.

The tension building up on Shaima got her to a place in which she grabbed that ad for a rental flat and almost rip it to shreds! In fact, she would have done that if only she hadn’t been stopped by someone speaking at her. Shaima looked above to find the eyes of a curious-looking woman. She was bigger in frame as Shaima and was looking with an air of doubt, not sure about what to think, leaning back while politely asking for an explanation. Shaima wasn’t particularly receptive at the moment, but it would be a clear oversight not to mention that this woman was pretty cute, with a curvy body and a beautiful freckled face.

Shaima found herself frozen in place. “Wh-what? Dibs? N-no!” She waved the hand holding the ad in front of her before even realizing that she still had it. Her palms were a little sweaty now and her fist clenched the ad. “H-here, have it. Whatever, it’s not like I can afford anything...” She was talking more to herself than to the woman when she gave the newcomer the ad which was a little ruined, before turning around and starting to walk away, frustrated and also a little embarrassed by the situation.

[HotWheels]

Oh, wow. Cute woman. Exotic woman, at that. It was a bit hard to tell with all the anger showing in that smaller body, but the woman could have passed for those Miss Universe pageants with all those gorgeous dusky women that made Esther, with her farmer's tan, infinitely jealous. Esther tried to flash her a quick, disarming smile to diffuse whatever frustration she was feeling (especially if it was at Esther for daring to reach for the same ad that she was interested in), but she did not get an immediate response. Darn, that smile usually worked.

Actually, given the way the smaller woman held the ad, Esther thought she might want to rip it apart. She grimaced, waiting for it to happen, but maybe her smile or her presence in general seemed to dissuade the stranger. After that, the situation...devolved, Esther supposed. Apparently, the woman was not interested in the ad, and she wildly waved it at Esther to prove that. The southerner watched with her lavender eyes large in her confusion, having no idea what any of this must have meant. There must have been a story here she didn't know anything about.

Oh. She got her explanation as the woman pushed the ad to her and walked away muttering. She couldn't afford it. Esther twisted her mouth with the kind of pity most people didn't want when the woman started to walk away. Though the ad was in no great shape, she could read enough to still pick up on the amount in Japanese yen. It was not as cheap as Esther's glance would have told her. In fact, though the southerner could have likely fronted the cost to have a place of her own with what her parents had provided as an advance, she wouldn't have much wiggle room.

She peered over the top of the ad at the woman, then back at the ad, then back at the woman. A roommate had not been on her mind since she liked to keep things pretty independent, especially as an adult, but Esther had enjoyed her time with a roommate in college...though that had been a girl she had known for years and years.

Ah, screw it. "Could you afford to split it?", she blurted after the woman.