Name: shadowsong26
Story: Ground Rules
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Red #20. red tape, Iceberg #13. hot chocolate, Ivory #23. Ever since this gig began, my baby grand's been good to me.
Supplies and Materials: eraser (Urban Fantasy AU), oils, fabric, modeling clay, pastels (my current gen + romance card I3 "keeping warm"), chalk, novelty beads
Word Count: 791
Rating: PG
Characters: Riluke, Mel
Warnings: Brief reference to past abuse
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. This takes place a day or two after Chance Encounter. Mel is apparently super picky about hot chocolate. The random things I learn about my characters...


Mel was reading on the couch when Riluke got home.

"Good news," she called from the entryway.

He marked his place and got up to join her, where she was peeling off her shoes. "Yeah?"

"I talked to my dad, and he said to go ahead and line up contractors for a containment room."

Mel thought he'd outright fall over from relief. Whatever she'd said when she found him the other day, he'd been more or less positive her father wouldn't want a werewolf living in a house he owned. Not very many people did. "That's amazing," he said.

"So, we need to clarify some stuff," she said.

That didn't sound very good. But it was what normal roommates did, Mel figured, so it probably wasn't going to be too bad, either. "Okay."

She'd finally yanked off the other boot. "I'm gonna make hot chocolate, do you want any?"

A little nonplussed by the sudden change of subject, he shook his head. "No, I'm okay."

She had a kettle she used for hot chocolate as well as tea, and she got water boiling and set up a mug and the powder mix--another reason he didn't want any--without doing it the hard way and paying close attention to milk boiled on the stove and using actual chocolate, not the Swiss Miss powdery kind...

But that was just him.

Once she had everything set up, she perched on the counter. "Okay. So. Ground rules."

He nodded. "Right."

She smiled. "Relax. They're not gonna be awful, and you can make some, too."

"Okay."

"First," she said, holding up a finger, "if you're going to invite someone over, I want at least a full day's notice. Overnight guests are cool, but the same rule applies, and I want to meet them first."

That was perfectly reasonable. "Makes sense."

"I'll do the same, with two exceptions. My dad, obviously, since he owns the place, and my cousin Nolani." Riluke shrugged. "She comes by after school a lot, so there can be just a standard notice that she might drop by around three or four on weekday afternoons. She's really nice, don't worry."

"Okay," Mel said again.

"We can talk about adding people to the 'okay without notice' list as they come up."

"Seems fair," he agreed.

Riluke stopped when the kettle whistled, and rejoined him, stirring her hot chocolate thoughtfully. "Rule two, garbage day is Thursday. Whoever goes to bed last on Wednesday night will take the bin out, but you're responsible for getting whatever trash you make into the big bin in the kitchen by then."

"Okay." He hesitated. "What about other cleaning stuff, and cooking? How do we want to divide that?"

"For food, I want to eat dinner together at least once a week, and we'll take turns cooking," Riluke said. "Other than that, label anything that's exclusively yours. I'll do the same."

So far, pretty basic stuff. "Okay."

"Cleaning...we'll alternate, I guess. Mopping the kitchen and other tile places, and the basic counter-washing and stuff that goes with them, and vacuuming the living room and dusting or whatever everywhere else. Whoever fills the dishwasher runs it, responsible for our own laundry and dishes, and clean up any mess you make in the kitchen as you make it. That seem fair?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Anything you want to add?"

Mel thought for a minute. "If there's an issue, we either bring it up at weekly dinner, or leave a note if it needs fixed before then?"

Riluke nodded. "Good point. Yeah, that's a good idea. Anything else?"

He shook his head. "Not that I can think of off the top of my head."

"Okay. So that's the basic roommate stuff."

He winced internally. Here it comes...

"Do you go to a support group?"

He blinked. "You...you want me to?"

She nodded. "There's only so much I can do. I've read it helps deal with access to medical and legal aid when necessary, and just general processing stuff. So I think you should."

Mel bit his lip. "My...I wasn't supposed to, before. I snuck out sometimes, but I didn't go regular."

Riluke shot him a look at that, but thankfully didn't press the issue. "So, start going regular. I mean, if you're comfortable with it. If not, we'll find something else that'll help. Okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"One other thing," she said.

"Yeah?"

"I want you home at least an hour before sunset on full moon nights, okay?"

He relaxed. That was easy, he more or less did that out of habit anyway. "Sure."

"Anything else comes up, we have a system, right?"

"Right."

She grinned at him, and set her cup down. "Okay. So, let's go over the plans I have for your containment room..."