Empire State of Mind

[Madotsuki]

"What do you mean we're low on money?" Rush cried out.

"I mean we're low on money," Svia reiterated, shuffling the dollar bills in her hand. "Those weapons didn't pay out as much as we estimated."

Rush sighed and rested his head on the table. Madeline had put a hand on her shoulder, but didn't say anything. Instead, she glanced back at the blond. "Do we have enough money for the month?"

Svia shook her head. "Sadly, no. But I have a few friends who were willing to pay if we rent the place out."

"Rent out?" Rush objected, thrusting his hands in the air. "But this was our home ever since--" He tensed up, glancing at Madotsuki. She had been so quiet the entire time that he almost forgot she was there. It was apparently a sensitive subject for someone outside the "circle" these three had formed, since the raven-haired boy blushed and cleared his throat. "There's no way I'm going through with this!"

And that was how The Night Terrors wound up outside, all carrying their suitcases and traveling on their own paths in a search for a new place to live. "I can't believe I'm going through with this" was the last sentence the dreamer heard from Rush until he disappeared from view. Madotsuki hadn't been expected to be kicked out so soon, much less with the rest of the group, but that was life.

With a moment of focus, she summoned the Mobile Dataverse Device she had formed a few days ago and began browsing through the wanted ads. Nothing really caught her interest (except an ad for some sort of team F-Zero race, which she kept in mind for later) until she came across a "roomate wanted" ad. She watched the video, pausing as she discovered that the man lived in Tier 2. Considering what Tier 1 was like, she was less than enthused. But she had no other choice, since there was no way she was sleeping on the streets.

Somewhat hesitantly, she lugged her suitcase along until she found another tunnel. She still didn't feel that she hadn't been lying low enough for the Stormtroopers to pay her any heed, and now it was coming back to bite her.

After about an hour of struggling to bring up the suitcase, asking for directions and hiding from the cameras without being conspicuous, she finally arrived at the address given and collapsed next to the door. She rested there for a few minutes, then knocked on the door. No response. Great, she had to wait.