KNOCK KNOCK
"Come in!" Said Tilda without looking up from her newspaper.
"Hey, Tilda!" Said Mairey as she walked into her friend's room.
"So," the pale, black-haired woman finally looked up at her, "How was your date?"
"It was wonderful!" The brown, elvish woman smiled, "He is so kind and is a great conversationalist."
"Oh yeah?" She raised an eyebrow, "Did he make any advances towards you?"
Mairey shook her head as she sat down on the navy blue couch, "Of course not! He's a gentleman. Griff even paid the bill and everything."
"Paid the bill and didn't expect anything back in return?" Tilda asked, seeming a bit confused.
Mairey shook her head again, "Nope! Like I said, he's a gentleman."
"Hmm," Tilda pursed her lips inward, "For now… I mean, you've only been on one date with this man. Things might change later down the line."
The pink-haired girl just rolled her eyes. As an attempt to change the subject matter, she pointed to the newspaper in Tilda's hands, "What are you looking at?"
"Apartments," said the woman as she took a sip of her hot coffee, "Daphne and I are looking for places to live after we graduate in a few months."
"Oh really?" Mairey raised an eyebrow, "Found any places you like yet?"
Tilda shook her head, "Unfortunately, no. All the nice places that are close to our workplace are expensive while all the cheap ones are in bad neighborhoods."
"Oh dear," she put her hand on her heart, "I'm terribly sorry, lass."
Tilda shook her head, "It's alright," she looked down at her paper and scratched her head for a moment, "Unless…" She then looked back up at Mairey, "Have you found a place to stay yet?"
The elvish woman shook her head and sighed, "No, sadly I haven't."
Tilda smiled a bit in excitement, "If you want, you can join Daphne and I. If we have more people paying rent, we'll be able to afford better apartments."
Mairey gasped softly as she covered her mouth with her hand, "That's a great idea!"
Tilda got up and sat next to Mairey on the couch. She showed her the paper and the different sections she circled with her pen.
"I really like Burgington Avenue since it's the closest to my workplace but Daphne likes Gillin Drive better since the apartments there are nicer." Said Tilda, excitedly, as her friend held onto one edge of the paper.
Mairey read the descriptions of the two different locations as well as the pricing. With her free hand, she scratched her head as she thought about the two for a moment. She then pointed to a completely different address.
"What about this one?" Asked the elvish woman, "This one is both affordable and close to your workplace. It's also near Old Town Pub, where I work, so we don't have to go far for a girl's night out."
"Trevor Lane?" Tilda looked at the address, "I'd rather not live there."
"Oh? How come?" Mairey raised an eyebrow.
"Well, there are some very unsavory people who live in that neighborhood."
"Unsavory? I've been there plenty of times and the neighborhood seems alright." Said Mairey.
"I guess," Tilda narrowed her eyes while looking at the paper, "However, I'd rather not take any chances. These types of neighborhoods are known for being dangerous, especially now since more cave dwellers are moving in there."
"Excuse me?" Said Mairey, feeling a bit uneasy, "Cave dwellers?"
"You know," the human woman faced her, "Cave dwellers, or green creatures, like orcs and goblins."
"So you don't wanna live there simply because you don't like green people?" Asked Mairey in a placid tone while narrowing her eyes and looking at Tilda in extreme judgement.
Tilda's eyes widened in shock, "No, no! Of course I don't hate them," the human woman shook her head as she lifted her hand up in surrender, "I don't hate any group of creatures simply because of their appearance. In fact, I like all creatures, both human and non-human."
"I wasn't accusing you of anything, Tilda," said Mairey, calmly, "I was just asking you a-"
"Besides," Tilda cut her off, "I can't be hateful towards any of those creatures since I have a friend who's a goblin."
Mairey raised an eyebrow again, "You do?"
"Of course I do!" The human woman scoffed, "You remember Suzie, don't you?"
"Suzie who?"
Tilda paused for a moment as she tried to remember her full name. "Suzie… Dillion."
"From Necromancy 101?" Asked Mairey, "The Suzie who dropped out sophomore year during the second semester?"
"Yes, her!" The woman smiled and nodded confidently.
*Sure.* Thought Mairey, not believing her at all.
"Anyways," the elvish woman changed the topic, "Is there anyone else we should ask who would want to live with us?"
Tilda shook her head without a second thought, "No, not really."
"Hmm," Mairey thought for a moment, "What about Megan?"
"I'd rather not share a space with her." Said Tilda.
"Did something happen between you two?"
"Not really. While you were visiting your friend last week, Megan got kicked out of Heishter."
"What?" Mairey raised her eyebrows in shock, "What happened?"
"Apparently," Tilda began, "Megan brought another woman back to her dorm and her roommate reported her."
"Reported her for bringing someone over?"
Tilda shook her head, "She wasn't just any ordinary person, Mairey," she leaned in and spoke to her softly, "They were having inappropriate relations." She seemed very uncomfortable while she mentioned it.
"So Megan was kicked out because she brought her girlfriend into her dorm?" Asked Mairey, trying to clarify, "That's very unreasonable!"
"Actually," Tilda said in an irreverent manner, "I think the college was being perfectly reasonable when they expelled her. This place is supposed to be a safe learning environment for women. In order to keep this place safe for us, men are forbidden from attending or even stepping foot in here past the first floor. Homosexual women, such as Megan, are no different from them. Who knows how many innocent girls and women Megan has assaulted in her lifetime. Therefore, what the school board did was for our own protection."
Mairey gripped the side of the couch tightly while Tilda explained this to her.
*Why would she believe something so nonsensical like that?* She wondered while feeling shocked. To Mairey, this was such odd behavior coming from someone who claimed that women had to put their differences aside in order to achieve gender equality.
Tilda noticed that Mairey looked like she was feeling uneasy.
"What's wrong?" Asked the pale woman.
"I-" Mairey paused for a moment to look at her watch, "I need to go see Dr. Leyo about my thesis."
"But he doesn't have any office hours on Saturdays."
"I scheduled an appointment with him to help me with my thesis and he agreed to Saturday." Explained Mairey, trying really hard to be deceptive.
"He did?" Tilda asked in confusion as she scratched her head. Mairey got up and began to walk out of the room.
"I need to leave. I'll talk to you later!" She said as she left Tilda's room.
"Huh," Tilda watched Mairey walk away from her door, "So odd."