November 19, 1999
After her flyball game against Columbia, Coralis flew to Victoria's dorm window. Victoria studied to become an optometrist. Her dad's family was humans and she wanted to help them see better the world around them. It didn't matter to her how gloomy the world seemed to be some days; it was still beautiful to see. Victoria wanted them to see the world for what it was: colourful, vibrant, and full of beauty.
As she approached the window's ledge, Coralis jumped off her flying stick, turned her stick into a keychain as she did so, and slid it into her cloak before transforming into her black cat form in mid-air. She landed on the window's ledge and scratched the window.
"Hey Cheetah, did we win?" said Victoria as Coralis shifted back to her mage form.
"Yes! Columbia's team is better than it was last season but they're still lacking in cohesiveness. You missed the game?"
"I just got back, university is no joke. Cegep was easy, but this is something else."
"Do you like it or want to try a different program? Are you still interested in pharmacology?" said Coralis.
"I still like it. I'm still considering pharmacology, to be honest, but I think I'm going to stick to optometry. What I don't like, is this dorm."
"I can imagine. Are you sure it's fine if I crash here for the night?"
"Yes, it's fine. Don't worry, I soundproofed the walls as soon as I moved in. Honestly, I think I just want to find an apartment off-campus. The dorm I had for the past 2 years was fine, but this one… nah, it's not for me. I want to find something else, but I would have to spend more on rent."
"Is housing here more expensive than in London?" said Coralis as Victoria handed her a beer. "Oh, yes please!"
"I don't think it is, but you tell me!"
"Gus pays the rent to his aunt and all the bills. Once every few months, he tells me and the twins how much we owe him, but I never asked for receipts... I'm clueless about the London housing market."
"I was thinking, instead of crashing at different places whenever you're in town, why don't you move in with me?" said Victoria after taking a sip of her beer. "We could split the cost like you do with the guys in London, and it would give you a place to stay when you're in town."
"If you want to move out of here, I'm interested, just make sure I have a safe landing space, ideally a rooftop. I don't mind using the front door when coming home from the flyball field, but I still need to land somewhere. If I get here straight from an EBEE mission, well, I don't want to scare off the neighbours if I happen to have random blood all over me."
"Are you still deep in vampire wars? And don't worry, if you're down for it, I'll look for a top-floor apartment so you would have a rooftop at your disposal."
"Not so much at the moment, lately I'm mostly sent to Eastern Russia to check into what the trolls there have been up to. I'm supposed to go to a meeting at the CMMA Headquarters next week, I think they want to start sending me on missions here when I'm in town."
January 13, 2000
Maribel was in town and visited Victoria at her dorm. Victoria looked at the time and knew Coralis was on her way to her dorm. Looking at her human friends with them, Victoria pretended to need to get more beers as an excuse to walk outside to call Coralis on her hologram. She considered paging her, but wasn't sure if she'd see the message on time.
Victoria needed to warn her to get in through the dorm front door this time because she currently had some human friends over: she couldn't explain Cheetah showing up by her 5th-floor dorm window when there was no staircase leading up to it, and transforming into a person.
She walked to a dark alleyway and made sure no one could watch from a window. She stepped behind a bush, crouched and pulled her hologram to call her friend. After ending the call, she went to the store to get beers.
Coralis arrived 20 minutes later. She landed on the same spot Victoria called her from, pulled a cherry-shaped keychain out of her cloak and turned it into a winter jacket. Before removing her invisibility glamour, she took off her cloak and turned it into a banana-shaped keychain.
With her jacket on, she turned her flying stick into a toy-troll-shaped keychain, attached it to the banana one and shoved them both into one of her coat pockets. She grabbed her eyeglasses from that pocket and put them on. Her wand was in her cloak, which was now a banana keychain.
Once she was satisfied she didn't have any elemental paraphernalia on her, she walked out of the bushes. She wasn't covered in blood or other type of fluid, so she felt comfortable walking through Victoria's dorm.
"Here you are, finally!" said Victoria when Coralis arrived.
"Right on time B-Coralis," said Maribel, hoping Victoria's human friends wouldn't notice she was about to call her by a different name. "These guys were arguing that all girls love bad boys, what do you think of that?"
"Are you kidding me?" said Coralis, grabbing the beer that Victoria was handing her. "I deal with enough assholes at work, the last thing I want when I get home, is to deal with another asshole. No, thank you, if I ever find the time to date, I'll pass on bad boys."
Coralis wasn't expecting Maribel to be there but was happy to see her. She unzipped her jacket and looked around.
"Are you sure it's fine if I crash here tonight?" continued Coralis, looking at Victoria. "I can't stay here long right now, work called before I got here. I have to go downtown for an emergency, but I should be back in about 2 hours."
"Aww seriously?! I haven't seen you in so long!" said Maribel.
"Yes, don't worry about them, these guys won't rat me out. Do you have to leave right now? You just got here!" said Victoria.
"You know how it goes, if one of the bosses calls, there is so much I can do. He said they had a situation downtown and he knew my other shift was over, so I couldn't pretend I was still busy there. I'll take the time to finish my beer and I'll be on my merry way out."
"These guys are overworking you," said Victoria, turning toward her human friends in the room. "Guys, this is Coralis, a close friend from high school and future roommate. Coralis, these are friends from university, they live a floor above me."
"I'm Mark," said the man sitting beside Maribel. He got up to shake her hand, "and this is Frank," he continued, pointing at the man sitting on a chair beside the couch.
Frank got up to shake her hand, then the man who was leaning on the kitchen counter walked up to her to do the same.
"I'm Carlos."
"Tell me then, why whenever we get close to good girls we like, they either friendzone us or dump us to guys who treat them like crap," said Frank.
"I will not pretend that I am a good girl and I don't know what you are looking for in a girl. All I can tell you is that none of us are seeking the same thing. If they don't want you, someone else will and I don't think it's worth it to change who you are for the sake of a pretty girl liking you. Sooner or later, the truth always comes out, best to stay yourself. I will never understand why someone would want to willingly come home to an asshole, but to each their own, I guess."
She chugged the rest of her beer and turned around to grab the door handle.
"It was nice to meet you all, but I need to take off. Maribel, for how long are you in town?"
"Until Monday."
"Coffee on Sunday morning if I don't get called in to work?"
"Gladly!" said Maribel.
Coralis left and Frank stared at the door for a minute, thinking about what she said.
"Did you say that she was a friend from High School?" asked Mark, who was also baffled by Coralis' answer. "She looked no older than 15."
"Yup, she's 19 like us," said Victoria.
"Is she staying here for the weekend?" said Frank, intrigued by her.