16032/The Apartment Hunt is Real

The Apartment Hunt is Real
Date of Scene:	07 October 2023
Location:	Bunny's Burrow
Synopsis:	Mark and Bunny check out some questionable apartments. Decide what they need might not be in the city.
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Bunny Macleod

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Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark had woken up earlier and pulled up his apartment search on the phone. After getting dressed and waiting on Bunny, there's a small frown. "Why is it always that every search has to put in bedrooms in someone else's home. I don't think some poor family looking to rent out their apartment wouldn't want to hear us making noise all times of the night."

A pause, and he elaborates. "With your job and our extra-ciriciulars as heroes and such." Not any other reason, nope. He's dressed nicely, a near repeat of meeting Betty the day before with the sweater and jeans. And it's actually cool enough outside to warrant it!

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "They also tend to not allow exotic pets. Also, yeah, weird." Bunny states as she pulls on a chonky yellow sweater with a pink stripe across the middle and a pair of jeans. She's also wearing sneakers, because she has to give her leg a bit of a break before it decides to give her a bit of a break. For her. As in her tibia and fibula.

    "And we have to be prepared to check under sinks and everything -- I'm bringing an extra flash light." Bunny states as she stuffs a small bright pink flashlight into her bag. "And also painted over cockroaches. I saw *three* looking for a place." she states with a small frown.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"And if there are rodents." Especilly human sized ones. Mark smiles at Bunny as she comes out. "You clean up nicely." he teases her with a wink as he waits for her to approach and slips his arms around her for a hug. "I have the checklist from the website. I think we're gonna start in Flatbrush and work our way back here." he suggests.

And after a lingering hug, he draws back and offers his hand. "You okay to walk, or should we hail a taxi?" Or, there's always Mark-express, but he's trying not to actively fly around the apartment out of fear of drawing unwanted attention.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Could say the same thing about you -- I've cleaned you up before." Bunny gives a grin to Mark, and she leans against him in a similar hug.

    "Be good, Beeper. We'll be back for dinner." she states, and she takes Mark's hand, stepping over to the door.

    "I'm all right to walk. Skating m oves different and aggriviates a fresh darn wound now." Bunny grumps, and she pulls her hair into a bun and puts on a yellow beanie. It has little wings on it.

    "So just don't be surprised if people start saying it's so cute to take your kid out."

Mark Grayson has posed:
There's a roll of Mark's eyes at Bunny. And then he cuts to look at her. "Are you saying I am /old/, Bernice Macleod?" he asks her. "I will let you know I am only twenty years young." A huff of breath at Bunny and he lifts his chin. Because like that, he's tall enough she can't see his smirk!

Pulling up the map on his phone, they start to walk the streets towards Flatbrush, his fingers moving to lace with Bunny's as they meander with a purpose. "This is nice." he admits. "Like... a normal afternoon with you, without aliens, robots, mutant animals, what have you."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "I'm telling you people have mistaken me for a tall gradeschooler." Bunny states flatly, and she nineteen-year-old girl gives a bright smile as she reaches over and attempts to tickle at his side through his sweater.

    "It is actually really nice to have an afternoon that isn't like..." she trails off, and then makes an explosion sound, her eyes going wide and crossing, hands splaying out.

    "Just normal people stuff."

Mark Grayson has posed:
There's a little squirm from Mark when Bunny tickles him. "I will happily tell anyone that asks that you are barely a year younger than me and I'm more than happy to be your boyfriend." he points out as he looks at the map. "And yes, we need a little normality now and again."

The phone shows that they are coming near the apartment. It's middle of the road for their rent range, but it was the closest one to Bunny's work. The building is a brownstone from the turn of the century. It looks like it's heyday has passed. The cars parked in front of it are older 90s and early 00s models and even from the street, it is easy to make out windows that have cracks in them. "There's a two bedroom on the top floor." he comments and frowns as he looks up.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Eh, so it's a fourth floor walk-up. We can handle that, right?" Bunny states as she looks up at the building and gives a wince.

    "It probably looks better on the inside, right? Does it have AC?" she questions quietly, "do we call for a tour or just look in the windows?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"I had made an appointment." Mark admits. "I figured since we were out and exploring, we might as well set a few tours?" he asks, leading the way to the stairs and presses the button.

A raspy, smoke-filled voice answers. "What ya want?"

Mark clears his throat. "Ah, yes. Uhm, Grayson. We're here to look at the apartment for rent?"

"Oh right! Be right there!" A couple of minutes later, the door and burgular bars are opened and a heavy-set woman in her late 60s answers the door. "Well get a load of the two of ya! Application fee is $250, I don't allow no drugs, no prostitution and no super-heroing!" she declars.

That last one was not in the ad she posted on line.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny gives a pause a moment as she looks up to Mark, then looks to the lady, and she rubs the back of her head.

    "I don't think those weren't all in the ad. What's your pet policy?" she questions conversationally, as if she wasn't balking completely at two hundred fifty dollars at the CHANCE to be unapproved. What a racket.

    "... and seriously, no super-heroing? Is that such an issue in New York City?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
The landlady frowns and looks down at the little girl. "What are you, twelve? You sneeze too hard and you get some villain trying to blow up your building. MODOK rolling his giant head down the road or Red Skull being all nazi, last thing I need is some hero setting up a secret hero hideout in my building and bringing their whole rogues gallery down upon me!"

"Pets allowed," she continues, "Especially if they can help with... how shall we say? Rodent control. Not that we have rats! Just that they'd help." she explains.

Mark is looking... rather mortified by this concept. "Ah. Uh. Well, I think we might..." He has no idea how to be polite about this!

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Hard pass. MODOK rolling through here even as a whim is bad enough, but your second choice being Red Skull goin' all Nazi on everyone means that this is a neighborhood with a race issue *and* you may actually have rented to Neo-Nazis, let alone that you definitely have a rodent problem 'cause pretty sure I saw a rat run down the hallway. An' a rat, in the middle of the day, in the hallway means that you have at least four nests of mating females within like, forty feet of the hallway. So you've got more issues on your hands than a super villian finding out there's probably a vigilante running from your third floor." Bunny states.

    "Also your iron grates are totally rusted out." she states, pointing up "So we know there's no street level types."

Mark Grayson has posed:
The woman scoffs, looking offended as she stands there in her mumu. "I bet you're just a couple of kids out of high school tryin to make it on McDonald's money! Good luck with that in this city!" comes her answer as she opens the door to go back in. "Brats today, don't know a good deal when they see one!" With that, she slams the door.

Mark covers his mouth so not to burst out in snickers as he gently noogies Bunny. "You destroyed her, babe!" he teases as he starts to punch up the list of apartments for rent. "This one is a bit more pricey, but..." He punches up the listing and shows it to Bunny.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Oh this isn't too bad, it's very... ah... monochrome." Bunny replies as she gives a soft 'hmm', after correcting her beanie. "What am I, twelve?" she asks Mark as she gives a small snerk, nose wrinkling as she takes a breath. "Are we makin' it on McDonald's money? I think I make more than a McDonald's job. Y'know. Heroing and all that." she jokes.

    "There really *was* a rat though."

Mark Grayson has posed:
"She just missed out on the most awesome couple ever moving into her place." Mark says with a lift of his chin and a snort of breath as he takes Bunny's hand in his own again. "I saw it." he agrees. "I hope they're not all like that."

Then he circles back to her opinion on the next apartment. "Very corporate, very bland. I've had a hard time finding something that may feel more unique to us." With the admission is a chuff of breath. "I should have asked you to help, but as busy as you've been lately, I didn't want to burden you." But now, he hands the phone over so she can search.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Heck yeah we're awesome, and we're clean and other than occasionally, pretty quiet." Bunny agrees with Mark with a grin, rubbing the back of her head.

    "And it's fine! Most apartments are gonna be very monochrome and white because they're all rentals. Some places let you paint, others don't. And the ones that aren't plain white are probably super-expensive luxury apartments. Which man I wish I could afford?" Bunny trails off. "Some of them have swimming pools."

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Yeah, I'd need to be a good of a writer as my dad to even think about touching those places. I could live outside of town and just fly back and forth, but I want to make sure you're able to get where you need to, though." Mark admits, not wanting to uproot her life because he can handle things pretty easily.

"Let's go check this out and see how it goes and maybe we can scrub in Craigslist and see if we can find the place that isn't an obvious meth house." A smirk at that.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Oh no if they're not OBVIOUSLY making meth, I don't want it. It has to be blue, too." Bunny gives a small smile, and goes to roll, forgetting she's wearing sneakers, and stumbles a little bit, catches herself, and then pouts.

    "'What am I, Twelve --" she mutters, and scratches at the back of her neck.

    "People suck. D'you just wanna rent a farm house and commute? You can carry me into New York. It'll be fine. I'll get better goggles."

Mark Grayson has posed:
As Bunny trips, that same speed that she caught the first time she met Mark is there as he swoops around to catch her. But unlike the girl that he caught that day on the boardwalk, he pulls Bunny into a warm and comforting hug.

"The worst thing any hero could do would be to underestimate you. But it is also your greatest strength." he points out as he helps her back to her feet.

"We could rent a farm house, if you're good with that. And maybe buy a scooter or small car for the days we need to grocery shop?" he suggests, taking the thought under serious consideration.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny's caught, and then caught up in a hug. She grins, and throwing her arm around him she kisses his cheek. "I know it. You know it. Those Triads who got their kneecaps broken know it too. It's my secret. I'm always smol and adorable." she jokes with a small laugh.

    "Can you see the two of us on scooters with a week's worth of groceries, and Beeper in a backpack?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark still blushes, just a little, at the kiss. But he's a lot more comfortable than when they first started dating. Setting her back down on the ground, there's a peel of laughter when she sets the imagery of them on scooters with Beeper and groceries. "It sounds downright Bohemian!" he comments with a grin. "We'd probably need a small car." he decides.

"We could do this, though. And if you're running late, I can carry you... or just carry you in the car to where you need to go. Be a lot more comfortable than being Princess carried, I bet!"