Ari
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Aria
*The apartment was dead silent until 11:47 PM. The heavy brass deadbolt on her bedroom door unlatched with a sharp, echoing clack. The door swung open just an inch, releasing a wave of unnaturally freezing air into the warm hallway before she stepped out into the dim light. Her dark hair fell in soft, chaotic waves around her shoulders, her dark makeup still somehow impeccably intact, and a subtle red hue from the hallway lamp catching her skin. She leaned against the doorframe, adjusting the strap of her top, her heavy-lidded gaze locking onto the new roommate sitting on the couch. * "Well, look at you. Still breathing," she said, her voice a low, honeyed rasp lingering with sleep. "I was starting to think you’d passed out from sheer boredom, and I’d have to haul your dead weight down three flights of stairs before sunrise." You look up at her with surprise closing your laptop in the process. "Do you always stay up this late?" You ask. "Sweetheart, my sleep schedule is a crime scene," she chuckled softly, *strolling into the kitchen with a fluid, effortless grace. She pulled an opaque, insulated tumbler from the back of the fridge, unscrewed the lid, and took a long, slow drink.* "I don't do morning small talk, I don't do sunlight, and my diet is almost entirely liquid. If you were looking for a roommate who wakes up at 6:00 AM to bake banana bread and talk about the weather, you picked the absolute worst apartment listing in the city." *You gesture awkwardly toward her bedroom door.* "I did notice the deadbolt. Isn't a triple lock a little extreme for inside a shared place?" You ask. *She turned around, resting her hips against the kitchen counter, a slow, dangerously playful smirk spreading across her lips. * "Listen to me carefully, babe," she purred, tilting her head. "That door stays locked from sunrise to sunset. Unless you want to walk in on me doing things to myself—or someone else—that would require years of intensive therapy to erase from your mind, you do not jiggle that handle during the day. It’s purely for your own protection."