2024-11-27 - On Moving and Menageries

Moving days can often be a long time coming, but when they come, they are a blur! This one, in particular, feels like it has been a long time in the making, with whoever coordinates employee housing waiting for a suitable apartment to become available and then matching three (seemingly) suitable employees to move in together. It takes more than a bit of luck and organisation for the stars to align! Finally, though, after the departure of a family of sword-swallowing acrobats who have left to go on an extended world tour with a travelling circus, an apartment has become free, and three likely candidates have been lined up to take their place.

The first of the three to arrive, August has not had far to come. He's moving out of his mom's place a few floors up and into his first real 'grown up' apartment all on his own! Exciting! He's been bringing some cardboard boxes down in the elevator and making a neat stack of them in the hallway near the front door while he waits for someone to arrive with the keys to let them in. For the moving day, he's wearing a faded, coral-coloured tanktop and a pair of well-worn cargo shorts along with a pair of high-top sneakers. His long hair is kept out of the way with a tie-dye bandana. There are a couple of hemp bracelets around his right wrist and a pair of sunglasses hanging from the neckline of his tanktop, but overall, it's a pretty practical 'ft for the day ahead.

The lift pings, and out steps Auggie into the hallway, trying not to bump into anyone as he peers around a stack of boxes filled with various bric-a-brac and personal items.

Lucien is the newest arrival, only just joining the cast of the Ice Palace's rotating ice shows. He's been doing orientation and so now that he has his information and his place to live and his roommates, he is here, lugging in boxes from the golf cart outside and into whichever of the three bedrooms has been designated as his -- which he has determined simply by choosing one that has nothing in it already. They're all relatively the same, anyway.

He's in a pair of faded jeans, sneakers, and a plain white t-shirt, a silver nose-ring in his nose, but no other jewelry. He leans against the door as he notices August coming down with a box and holds it open so that he can carry it in. "Hey," he says by way of greeting. "I'm Luc. I took the room over there. There wasn't anything in it."

Sharing an apartment with others is going to be so much cheaper than his arrangement before. Sure, it meant more people in one place, but he's young...this is how people his age are supposed to live in their early 20's, right?

Packing sucks, but at least he hadn't accrued much...yet. It was more the pain of having to move Sammi, who was far more chill about it than Rowan was. Besides, moving furniture from one place to another without the use of a truck or moving van is going to be an interesting challenge. Boxes, however, are easier to move, so he's appropriated a golf cart, loaded his boxes and suitcases full of things, and driven that over, at least.

Wearing black skinny jeans that are torn at the knee (and a few other places), combat boots, a black t-shirt and maroon and grey hoodie, he starts unloading boxes from the golf cart into the elevator...to eventually be unloaded from the elevator into the hallway closer to the new apartment. There's a pause as others seem to already be there, "Whoa, am I the last one? Here I was, thinking I was early. I'm Rowan."

"Hey, man!" August responds to Luc's greeting with one of his eternally sunny smiles. "I'm Auggie, good to meet you!" he beams, stopping in the doorway and shifting the box he's carrying to the crook of one arm (a slightly precarious arrangement) so he can offer a hand towards Lucien for a friendly broshake. "This is gonna be sick," he enthuses, gesturing around with his head to indicate the entire arrangement. Looking back to Luc, he catches sight of the flash of silver in his nose and leans forward to peek at it, bobbing his head approvingly. "Sick," he enthuses once again, apparently pretty easily impressed.

Auggie is definitely one of the easier people to know and run into around the park since his job piloting the guest and staff ferries around the islands means that everyone tends to come up his gangplank (for want of a better term) sooner or later. Besides that, he just seems to talk effortlessly to anyone he runs into, as evidenced here. With the arrival of Rowan coming down the hallway, Auggie peers over his shoulder and offers him another welcoming smile. "Hey Ro!" he calls down the hallway, shortening the name immediately. "I'm Auggie and this is Luc," he gestures from himself to Luc. "C'mon inside and pick out your room!"

There's a moment when Auggie leans in to look at his nose that Luc blinks and instinctively backs up a little, and then he remembers he has a nose ring and laughs. "Thought there was something on my face there for a second," he says and then glances up and over as Rowan comes down the hall, "And by pick he means.. take the only one that's left without stuff in it." He pauses, "Though if you want the one I put a couple boxes in, I'm fine with swapping, really. I'm not super picky."

He then actually gets all the way into the apartment with his box so that there's room for everyone to pile on inside. "So are you guys new, too? Or..?"

"Rowan," is offered again, as he's not so much of a nickname sort. But there's a little smile at the friendly introduction even as he moves to push some of the boxes out into the hallway to free up the elevator. At least, with the boxes pushed closer to the apartment door, he can step in and have a look around.

Luc's offer gets another little smile, "Thanks. I'll probaby be fine with whatever as long as there's a window and space for a bed and dresser." So no sleeping in a walk-in closet, thanks.

Dark eyes look about the common areas before he looks to the bedroom, "So which is the free one?" before answering, "Not really new. About as new as the park? And it's fun here. Weird, but in an interesting way. Mostly."

"True, so I might have overstated the element of choice part of that, but you get best of two," Auggie agrees, before correcting "...or three, even!" when Luc seems amenable to relocating if all else fails. "To be fair, if it's like all the other apartments I've seen here, they're all basically the same anyway," Auggie shrugs, following Luc through the main door and into the apartment properly.

"Huh..." Auggie looks slightly rebuffed before agreeing, "Sure, Rowan," when he gets corrected. Once they're inside, he sets the box he's carrying down by his feet to take a quick look around the apartment. The box, if anyone looks, is mainly filled with a few personal items and electronics. Nothing particularly memorable. He looks back to Luc and in response to the question of whether he's new, he gives a little shake of his head. "Naw, we moved here pretty much as soon as these places got built..." he gestures around, indicating the housing on Crescent Island. "My mom works in the corporate office, so this is my first place of my own here," he explains, before wandering to take a peek in each of the empty bedrooms.

"Lucien," Luc says, "But most people call me Luc. I like both. Call me whatever you like. And right now one of my cast mates from the ice show is watching Salt and Pepper, my two cats. I'll bring them over later after I've got my room set up so I don't have to worry about stepping on them while trying to get everything settled in there. Then they can hang out there a little while everyone gets settled in."

Since no one has yet to oust him from the room he's chosen, he carries the box in his arms in and deposits it on top of the other two already sitting in the middle of the otherwise empty floor.

The rooms are in fact nearly identical.

"I suppose that since moving here, it's been my first time on my own too...but I was living elsewhere before. This is going to be better for my pocketbook..." Rowan starts, but then looks sharply to Lucien when he mentions his cats. "I have a cat too. Sammi. He's back at the old place until things are set up. Uh...I guess we should figure out some slow introductions, huh?"

With that, he'll start to move his own boxes into the third and until-now-unclaimed room.

"Sweet! Are your animal buddies magical too?" Auggie asks, standing in the bedroom doorway he appears to have claimed unless there are any objections. "I got Echo, Bubbles and Muddy, but they don't like being indoors so much, so they do their own stuff a lot of the time and just y'know...visit," he explains with a chipper air, folding his arms over his head and resting his elbows on either side of the door frame as he slumps in place.

"Cats are awsome too though, I bet Echo'll bring fresh fish for them if we ask!" he suggests. "Or, y'know, we can go fish for 'em. Do either of your guys like fishing?" he asks, stepping back out of the room and into the communal space. Auggie is certainly nothing if not easygoing and friendly, apparently, chatting up his two new roomies like he's known them all his life already.

"Oh, yeah," Lucien says to Rowan. "I'll bring them into my room and keep them in there as we let them get used to each other. Don't worry, they're super friendly and love everyone and everything. We'll give them some time to get used to each other."

Then he looks over at August and blinks slowly. "Uh.. what?" When he continues to say that Echo will bring them fish, he continues to stare at August in a bit of confusion and says, "I've never been fishing." That's a question he can answer.

Rowan says, "'Too'?" Rowan also repeats at Auggie's question. "Sammi's...a cat..." isn't that enough? There's a moment where he just blinks before he looks to Lucien, "Oh, Sammi's great too. Super-loving. I know he loves people, I guess we'll find out if he loves other cats, too. Fingers-crossed, right?"

But back to Auggie, "I'm not sure that Sammi would know what to do with a live fish. And I'm not really an outdoorsy type.""

Auggie breezes right past the confused looks. "This'll be great! I can't wait to meet 'em all!" he nods enthusiastically at the idea of introducing the cats to one another slowly. "It's cool if they're just normal cats too. I got it pretty full on with the magical animal buddy luck," he explains.

"No fishing, huh?" Auggie nods, looking between Rowan and Lucien when they both seem to confirm they've never been. "Well, I won't bring any live fish back, but there's loads of trout in the lake, salmon too, sometimes!" he gestures towards the nearby window, indicating outdoors. "Anyways, its kind of off-season now its getting colder anyway, but Echo - he's a heron - catches fish out there all year long.

Lucien smiles and reassures Rowan, "I'm sure it'll be okay. We'll do the whole letting them sniff each other through the closed door and gradual thing and see how it goes." He does not anticipate any feline-related issues. But it's the reference to magical buddies that keeps drawing his attention back to Auggie. "What.. magical buddies? Are you high?" It doesn't seem like he's asking it in an insulting sort of way, more of a genuinely confused sort of way. It's his first day and familiars aren't part of orientation.

"I'm willing to try fishing," Luc hazards. "Just never really came up before." He glances toward the windows and the outdoors. "I like the outdoors. Even in the winter. Winter sports are kind of a family thing." Then he pauses again. "You have a pet heron?"

Rowan goes out to grab another couple of boxes to bring into his new bedroom but pauses for a moment before stepping out to lean some against the door jam. "You said you were new, right?" is asked of Lucien. There's another glance to Auggie before he offers, "Weird stuff happens to us here." He's been here long enough to say that, at least. "It's not bad, but...weird. Like Auggie here having magical animals. Although I usually hear more about people turning -into- animals than having magical ones." The next question is directed to Auggie, "Where do they stay when it's cold?"

Auggie blinks and then shakes his head when Lucien asks whether he's high. "No, I mean, like, not right now, at least!" he protests, shaking his head. When he explains more, the penny drops and Auggie finally catches up. "Oh shit, it's like your very first day? Welcome, dude!" he beams towards Luc, before then adding "Yeah, I said wayy too much too soon in that case," he tells himself off, screwing his eyes shut and shaking his head a couple times.

When Rowan explains, Auggie nods along in agreement. "Right, totally," he enthuses. "Once you've been here a while, you'll see all kind of crazy stuff. Me being friends with animals is kind of basic, honestly," he grins, though he doesn't seem to mind. As to the question of where his buddies go when it's cold, he responds "Oh...well last winter Muddy slept in a shoebox in my closet when it got too cold for him - he's a snapping turtle, so they hibernate," Auggie points this all out very matter of factly. "Echo is super independent, so the only one that'd be around very much is Bubbles. He's an otter," Auggie nods, as though this is all normal and to be expected.

Lucien looks between Rowan and August as though trying to determine if they're just hazing the new guy or not. But despite his look of skepticism he nods slowly. "So you have.. a heron.. a turtle.. and an.. otter." He nods again and says, "Alright. Cool. At least it's not a piranha or a wolverine. I can deal with that." It's probably going to take him a minute to actually come to terms with the actually magical nature of this place, but for now he's at least not completely freaking out.

"I'll take your word for it," he decides, offering both of them a bit of an uncertain smile and then says, "Gonna go grab some more boxes.." before he once more disappears out the door and heads out to do just that. Plus, it gives him a moment to kind of process that information.

"Ok, wait though..." Rowan lifts a be-ringed hand in a 'wait' gesture. "Turtle in a closet...first, no one should be stuck in the closet," and he can't help a little twitch of his lips at his own little joke, "But secondly...an otter inside? Not that I'm begrudging him...her...them...a warm place to be in the winter, but how is that also going to work with three cats?"

There's a brief pause before he looks at the doorway to his own room and then briefly at Auggie. He pulls a piece of chalk from his pocket...apparently he carried chalk in his pocket...and crouches down to draw a line defining his doorway from the rest of the apartment. Then, a few runes are quickly drawn before he straightens. "Sorry...I don't want any otters getting into my stuff."

The chalk goes back into his pocket even as he pauses briefly, "So...if we all help each other with our stuff, I bet it'll go faster. If you want."

August watches as Lucen heads out to collect more boxes from his golf cart. Auggie's moving within the same building, so he's just been stacking them up in the hallway, where he heads now to collect a couple more, peering after Lucien with a vaguely watchful air as he disappears around a corner. "That was probably like...too much, too soon, right?" he ponders aloud, grabbing a couple more boxes and stepping back through the door.

He's just in time to catch the tail end of Rowan's Turtle joke, which gets a broad grin. "You said it man," he nods, only to frown slightly when Rowan is suddenly off into his anti-otter spiel. "Dude, bubbles is a friend to all living creatures!" Auggie protests. "Well, apart from maybe clams. He really likes clams. But he'd love a cat cuddle buddy or three..." he assures before moving through to deposit the latest batch of boxes in his newly claimed room.

It's only as he's coming back out to lean in the doorway, possibly to continue his spirited defence of Otter's rights, that he spots Rowan drawing his runes along the threshold. It's not a power he has, but Auggie's pretty tuned in, and besides, he's watched enough Buffy reruns to know a keepy-outty spell when he sees one. "Man, that's pretty uncool, you know? That's...like, actually prejudice. Otter prejudice." Auggie points out with a small, but deepening frown.

Lucien is off outside, unloading his cart full of boxes and dragging them inside the building. The pieces to his bed are still out there, but he'll bring them in last once he gets the boxes all shoved to one side. There's also a small chest of drawers or two that will go up against the wall once he manages to get those in place. He misses most of the conversation about otters and the drawing of runes on the floor. Instead, he comes back toward the end while August is standing near the door and dodges around him.

"Otter prejudice?" he asks as he's making his way to his room with another load of boxes. But he's only half waiting for the answer as he's back on his way out the door again. There's a glance back over his shoulder toward the pair, and then it's out and in, out and in, boxes, bed rails, headboard, footboard, one chest of drawers, a second chest of drawers, until eventually he's got most things inside.

Rowan was about ready to go retrieve some more of his own boxes when Auggie returns and talks about Otter prejudice. "Not really. I'll probably do the same for Luc's cats as well until we know everyone can get along. It's protection for me and Sammi. I had to do the same thing at my last place because my former-roommate kept on helping herself to my stuff. I already know that neither of you two are going to do that." He gives a pause, "I don't know your otter. Your otter doesn't know me. So until we trust each other, it's protection. For both of us. I also wouldn't want the otter to get into something that could hurt him."

"Besides," is offered with a little sigh, "It won't last very long right now. You want me to do the same for your room so my cat can't get in? I'm fine with that." There's a glance over to Lucien as he returns and starts moving things back in and out, "Want any help? I still have my stuff downstairs, but it'll go faster this way..."

August steps out of the way of the door to let Lucien and his load of boxes get past him on his mission back and forth with his steady parade of items. "Yeah, Otter Prejudice!" Auggie echoes, apparently not hearing the question mark in Luc's statement and taking it for a cry of agreement. He lets Luc step past him one more time and then looks back to Rowan, listening as he explains what he's up to.

"He's called bubbles and he's way smart," Auggie explains of his otter when Rowan still seems a little uncertain. He still doesn't seem entirely convinced by the explanation and shakes his head when Rowan offers to block the cats out of his room too. "Nah, it's cool. I mean, you do you if that's what you think you gotta do, man. But I don't live that way," he shrugs. When Rowan calls after Luc and offers to help, Auggie nods and then steps towards the door. "C'mon, et's help him empty out his cart so he can return it," Auggie agrees. As long as Rowan does come along, August will give him a friendly shoulder bump as they go, suggesting he doesn't hold the otter prejudice against him too hard.

Lucien nods when Rowan offers help and says, "Sure. If you want to help me carry mine in, we can do yours next, and then finish up whatever Auggie has from upstairs?" He glances between the two of them and then does indeed head out back to the cart. It doesn't take too long to get the rest of his stuff in. Just a few more loads. Then the cart gets returned right in the garage below the building. Convenient!

When he returns, he says, "I don't know what Salt and Pepper will do with an otter. Probably try to befriend it. That's kind of what they do with everything. They're pretty young and they pretty much just want to play all the time, with everything." He gives a grateful smile to both Auggie and Rowan when they come to help bring things in. "Guess we'll need to figure out some living room furniture stuff too, unless you have some?" He glances between the two of them. He does not.

"Bubbles," Rowan concedes. "Just give us all a little time to get settled, ok?" He goes to help Lucien bring his boxes in. The shoulder-bump gets a glance and he gives an incline of his head, as if recognizing what the bump means.

"I have a couple pieces from the old apartment if we can get them moved. How...do we get living room furniture here if there are no cars allowed? I mean, is it all going to have to be assembled?"

Auggie is happy to help and diligently throws himself into the task of helping unload Lucien's golf cart, traipsing back and forth with the other two until there is a neat stack of boxes in the centre of Lucien's newly claimed room. He smiles brightly when Luc mentions that Salt and Pepper will probably just try to be besties with Bubbles and nods enthusiastically. "Seriously, dude, Bubbles is the best. He'll totally get on with your cats..." and then glances over last Rowan to add, "...yours too! Scouts honor!" he affirms, holding up three fingers in a barely remembered salute from some point in his childhood.

Peering into the living room, it does look a little Spartan currently, and Auggie chews thoughtfully on his lower lip. "If Rowan's got a few things, we can put 'em on the back of a golf cart, right? Then maybe we can take a trip to Ruby's and pick up anything else we need for cheap second hand?" he suggests, looking between the new roomies with a curious lift of his eyebrows.

Lucien looks around the living room and then nods to Rowan and says, "Unless they're huge, we can bring them over one by one tied to the back of the golf car on the flat bed. If they're huge, maybe the superstore has some sort of delivery cart that we can borrow. They must if they sell big TVs and things, right?" August's suggestion of going to Ruby's for secondhand things also gets a nod, "Can do that too, for whatever else we need."

He then nods toward Rowan's things and moves to help, as promised, to finish bringing those in.

Rowan has boxes, crates, his bed, a couple plants, and a cat tree in addition to some suitcases full of clothes. With three helping, it won't take long to have things moved into the new bedroom.

"Back at the other place," Rowan thinks a moment, "I have a futon, a couple more bookshelves, and a square table with two chairs. We might need to get a third chair somewhere...I'm not sure I can take anything else, but those were what I brought in." He looks to Lucien, "We will definitely need the flatbed for those."

Auggie is pretty fit - he gets a lot of exercise in even if his build does trend towards the slender - and throws himself into getting the rest of Rowan's things brought on in until they have a second neat stack of boxes in the middle of his bedroom. Standing back up from setting down his final box, Auggie looks around with a satisfied nod and lifts a hand to push a stray strand of curly blond hair back into his bandana. "Swe-eeet!" Auggies exclaims, before looking back to Rowan when he explains his furniture is still back at his old place. "Huh..." August remarks, and then looks back to Rowan, adding "I thought you didn't have that much stuff dude!" with a happy laugh. "We should go and get it, right?" he asks, looking between the other two. "You want to order tacos when we're done? Or poke bowls or something?" he asks - apparently moving day works up an appetite.

Lucien carries whatever he's directed to, seeming content to haul boxes and suitcases or even grab an end of the cat-tree if that's what's needed to bring Rowan's things in and get them settled where he'd like them. He nods to Rowan and says, "We can get the flatbed. I got information on who to contact for whatever move-in stuff is needed in my packet." That thick envelope of information that he first carried in with him.

"Let's get your stuff first," he says to August. "Then we can figure out the flatbed.. and tacos." He glances at Rowan, "Or poke bowls. Either or. I'll eat whatever." He doesn't seem too picky. "Getting back on my training diet will be for after move-in."

"I don't, really. But I paid for most of those pieces of furniture, so I figure that they're more mine than her's..." Rowan answers Auggie. "And I've been here since the park opened..." and stuff got accumulated. "Thank you, by the way. Both of you, for helping."

He nods to Lucien, his own curly hair bobbing some, "Poke bowls sound nice, actually." A hand lifts to scratch some at his ear, "I don't mean to be aloof. I'm not, really. Just...guarded." Careful. Used to being the weird one that people whisper about. "My stage persona is a lot more extroverted." Lest they think he's some sort of ass.

"Training diet? What's that like?"

Something Rowan says causes Auggie to stop in his tracks, his expression going briefly blank as he looks terribly, terribly confused for a few moments. "Don't really?" he murmurs to himself in pure bafflement until, eventually, the penny drops, and he shakes his head. "Aww man, sorry dude, I'm dumb sometimes..." he offers with a helpless lift of his shoulders.

"I meant..." he pauses and then clarifies, "I thought it didn't seem like much stuff when we were bringing it in. I didn't know you had a load more to get." he laughs happily. When Luc suggests getting the rest of Auggie's stuff first, he nods along and gestures toward the front door with his thumb. "I piled most of it up in the hallway. My mom's gonna keep most of my furniture and write me a check to buy new stuff at Ruby's..." he trails off, then explains, "new old stuff...at Ruby's..." with a nod.

"The stuff in my room is all fancy solid wood stuff we brought from Carmel," he clarifies to hear any questions off at the pass. "So it's just those boxes and then like...a mattress." he beams, before looking to Luc with equal interest when Rowan asks about his diet. "Training to diet for what?" he chimes in.

Lucien nods as both talk about furniture, a thing he definitely does not have. "I can help buy stuff at Ruby's for the stuff we don't have, too. I have a bit of money for that." When Rowan mentions poke bowls being good he smiles and says, "Poke bowls it is, then," seeming happy enough with that selection.

He studies Rowan for a moment though when he mentions being aloof and shrugs his shoulders, "It's fine. I mean, we're complete strangers who've known each other for like.. an hour worth of moving? Don't sweat it." Then, with a self-aware little smirk he says, "I have my moments. And I am an ass. So.. there's that."

"I'm a skater in the ice show," he says. "It's not anything super weird or fancy. Just a lot of hydration, carbs for energy, high protein for muscle repair, good fats, that sort of thing. I'll be training and practicing a lot."

"Well, I still have to get Sammi, but I wanted to wait until things were a little more settled," like his bed put back together. Rowan gives an almost-sheeping shrug, "I just wanted to get out of there, to be honest, so I was willing to leave some of the common furniture. But I'm ok with going back to get it," especially if there's backup!

"I do have some plates and silverware and mugs and a tea kettle..." it's in one of the boxes now in his new room. Dark brown eyes watch Lucien for a moment when he reminds him that they -are-, indeed, complete strangers who have just met. Although, the admission that he -is- an ass gets an actual grin, "Well, I'm glad we know that up front."

Something got him to smile? It's a Not-Christmas miracle! "Hydration is important. So basically, you're going to be bringing in healthy food and exercising. I see nothing wrong with that. I have to maintain too, for my show."

"Sweet!" Auggie enthuses when Luc gets on board with the idea of a shopping spree at Ruby's. "One of the guys there has this thing where if he touches stuff, he can see what happened with it before. So, we can totally buy the furniture that is gonna pass the vibe check," he chatters, finding a spare patch of wall to briefly lean up against in between bringing all of their various boxes on through. When Rowan adds about having plates and silverware, he adds a quick "Nice!" along with a happy grin.

The agreement to poke bowls get an even bigger grin, along with a slight fist pump, and Auggie bobbles his head enthusiastically, causing a curl to fall loose from his bandana as he explains, "I'm pretty sure I read poke bowls have like some like, gamma particles, or something..." he trails off, looking slightly gormless for a moment, before finding the thread. "Yeah, they got loads of those healthy fats dude. You can eat as many poke bowls as you want," he offers his sage wisdom.

Auggie looks from Luc to Rowan, and his eyes light up with a mischievous twinkle when Rowan mentions hitting the gym to work on his arms. "Dudes..." Auggie smiles dopily, teeth on full display. "I know I can be pretty intimidating and all, but seriously, if we're gonna be bros you don't need to compete, I can let you all in on the secrets of the Auggie beach body lifestyle, free of charge!" he beams, lifting three fingers on his right hand and adding a quick "Scout's honor!" along with a quick poke of his tongue.

"Yeah, same. I'll get S&P later on. They're fine over at my friend's place for right now until things settle down a little," he says. And he gets his own bed assembled and things out of the center of the room. "But yeah, happy to go with you to pick up whatever you want to get from the other place and we can bring it back here."

He gives Rowan a little salute and a genuine smile of his own in return. "Forewarned is forearmed. Or something like that. But yeah, pretty much." Then he laughs at Auggies display and offer of advice for a truly beach-ready bod. "Yeah? Cool. Sounds like we're all on board the same general train."

So without further ado, he heads toward the door and says, "Come on. Let's get the rest of this stuff hauled so we can get some poke bowls."