The light flickered wildly for a good few seconds before finally snapping on and illuminating the large, open, dusty space. Aside from a kitchen in one corner and a sealed off bathroom in the other, the whole room was completely empty and lacking in furniture. Along one wall was a long, thick curtain that kept the rest of the room separated from the world outside.
“So, Kyrii, this is the apartment. Penultimate floor, access to the roof garden and as close to the fire escape as you can get.”
Derinier was a Vrekan rental agent and normally he considered himself very good at his job. Vok would come to him, not knowing what they were looking for and what they needed, he would show them around and, most of the time, they’d agreed to rent the first or second place he’d shown them. But today, he had two very weird beings that he wasn’t really sure what they wanted. And he was currently on the fifth location.
“Do you mind if we have a look around?” the taller of the two beings asked.
With a nod, Dernier stepped back out of the room and let the beings in. One of them was very clearly a middle-aged Skyavok, with rather light grey skin and almost translucent orange armour. The other… Dernier couldn’t tell. They somewhat looked like a Skyavok but they were clearly far too tall and too bulky. They also looked like a Rethavok but seemed a bit too small and lacking in armour.
“What do you think?” the larger one whispered to the smaller one. “It is very spacious. Rather safe. High ceiling as well…”
“I am… I am not sure, Elkay…” the smaller one muttered. “It is really nice… really big… I like how big it is…”
“I sense that there is a but coming along…”
“It seems really dark in here.”
“That is because the curtains are shut and there is only one light source.”
The smaller Skyavok sighed, then wandered over to the large, single curtain, tugging it and pulling it to one side, revealing the view. In Dernier’s opinion, the view wasn’t anything special, it just overlooked the Ksithan farmhouses and fields that flooded the edge of the city, but he could tell that the Skyavok seemed to… like it?
“This is nicer.”
“We could change the curtains. Add some more lamps for during the night. We could do a lot with this.”
It was clear that the large Skyavok thing liked this apartment, far more than the others. Dernier watched as it wandered around, checking each and every corner and every little crevice. The other Skyavok though remained by the window.
“What do you think, Teekay?”
The small Skyavok didn’t answer. The larger one wandered back towards Dernier, an apologetic look on its face. Something about them seemed vaguely familiar, but Dernier couldn’t quite tell what made him feel like that.
“This one has been available for a while.” Dernier smiled. “The price also includes electric and water, which is why it’s a little more expensive. The view is mediocre but it is much larger than most.”
“Why is it not taken then?” the larger Skyavok asked.
“Most vok don’t like the giant window.”
“I like it though…” the smaller Skyavok muttered, before turning back to the rest of the room. “And for the price, we should be able to get it covered by the Skyan universal housing service.”
“You like it?” the larger one blinked.
“Yes, I do. I like it a lot. We just need a lot more lighting in here!”
“So you wish to rent this as our new home?”
“Yes.”
Dernier beamed, clapping his hands together and glad that these two customers had finally made a decision. “Wonderful! We’ll head back to the office and sort out the paperwork and we’ll have you in here and settled by next week!”
The little one smiled, the first time Dernier had seen him smile today. “Yes, wonderful…”