Greenic was soaking wet from the storm. The only clothes she had on was a tank-top, a pair of gym shorts, and a raincoat, but the raincoat was too small for her. She was carrying a small backpack. The rain went right through the backpack, soaking the contents inside. Greenic really looked pathetic.
Neo opened up the door, but before he could greet her, she bolted inside into the living room and jumped on the couch, tossing her soaked belongings on the floor.
"Thanks for letting me crash at your place, Nee. You're such a good friend."
"Woah, hold on now," Neo exclaimed, "you're not just gonna be 'crashing' here. There are gonna be some house rules, you got it?"
Greenic sighed. She could already predict the house rules.
"Rule one: No harassing my friends and house guests.
Rule two: If you're going to be naked in the house, tell me first so I can put plastic on the furniture.
Rule three: Clean up after yourself. And be sure to put trash in the proper receptacle.
Rule four: None of your 'friends' are allowed to stay over when I'm not home.
And also you're gonna split all the bills with me."
"B-but..."
"No buts" Neo said.
Greenic started pouting.
"Your pouting technique may be strong, but it is no match for my apathy."
Greenic got down on her hands and knees. She opened up her soaked backpack. All she had was a single set of clothing, a cellphone, and a wad of cash. $300 was all the money she could get from selling everything she owned. Ironically, that was enough to pay the rent in her apartment.
"It.. it's all I've got. I'm sorry. I hope this is enough." Her eyes were watering up.
"Yes, this is more than enough. Now stop your crying. Arshes is here and I consider crying in your underwear to be harassing the guests."
"What about underwear?" Arshes came out of the other room, carrying his Labyrinthia paraphernalia up from the basement. Greenic took slight notice of the box and her mood changed completely. She sprang up and her teary frown grew into a large grin.
"Ooh! Labyrinthia? I love Labyrinthia! C'mon, Arshes, let's go play!"
"I-er.. No. Me and Neo were playing Labyrinthia, not you." Greenic scowled at Arshes and he scowled right back.
"Neo, your house guest is being rude."
"Neo, your roommate is harassing me."
Neo knew settling their squabble would be a lose/lose situation, but Arshes's scorn couldn't be as bad as Greenic's, so he took her side.
Calmly, Neo said, "Look, Arshes, just let her play. I already told you I don't wanna play that game."
Greenic's grin came back. "Thank you Neo. You're such an awesome guy." Then she rushed Arshes back into the basement. Neo decided to be nice and put Greenic's clothes in the dryer. He could hear their banter even from upstairs. Arshes was complaining that Greenic got further than Neo. It seemed that all Arshes wanted to argue about eventually had something to do with Neo. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
After a few minutes drying and folding Greenic's clothes, Neo was finally able to get some time for himself. To build atmosphere, he turned off all lights, but one small lamp near the TV. He powered up his PlayStation and popped in his favorite video game: Labyrinthia. But before he could load up a recent save file, a loud clap of thunder scared him out of his seat. Right as he calmed down there was a flash of lightning that lit up the sky like daytime. The flash cut off the power. At first Neo tried to wait it out, but a loud squeal came from the basement. Using the light from Greenic's cellphone, he stumbled across the house into the basement to check on the arguing duo. Greenic was fine, but Arshes was shaking like a leaf.
"Arshes, calm down. It's just a blackout." said Greenic, "They happen all the time. We can just wait it out. C'mon. Let's continue our game."
"No..." Arshes quivered, "This has got to be the doing of the Shadowlurker."
"The Shadowlurker!?"