An awful loud jingle of keys interrupts your thoughts. You were daydreaming...again. You aren't exactly sure what time it is, but you know that the sound of said keys means your roommate is arriving home from their job.

You adjust yourself on the worn leather couch to watch your roommate enter your shared apartment. 

“That better be you…”
*fake_choice
    #Odanna! [i] (By selecting this, your roommate's gender will be female.) [/i]
        *set roommate_name "odanna"
        *set roommate_gender "female"
        *set roommate_he_she "she"
        *set roommate_his_her "her"
        *set roommate_him_her "her"
        *set roommate_his_hers "hers"
        *set roommate_himself_herself "herself"
        “Well, who the hell else would it be?” Odanna asks with a wide smile on her face. “God knows it isn’t a date. You haven’t had one of those in years.”

        “Months,” You quickly correct, taking in the full appearance of your roommate.

        Odanna Baxley is taller than most people, at around 5’11”. Just about everything she wears makes her already long legs seem even longer. She is easily the palest thing in your living room and is typically the palest thing in any room. Odanna's short dark brown hair is a bit out of place, signalling that it was likely a busy day at the coffee shop she works at. Your roommate claims that she likes to keep her dark brown hair short, because it's less maintenance.
        
        Perhaps the most striking thing about Odanna is her cerulean eyes, often the first thing people like to point out about her appearance. Following that, it's usually a compliment or two on her tattoo sleeve on her right arm. 
        
        There’s a tiny star by the crook of her elbow, the letter A closer to her wrist and many more. She gets a tattoo dedicated to each place she’s ever lived. 
        
        If Odanna moves anymore, she’ll have to start a new sleeve on her left arm. 
       
    #Odi! [i] (By selecting this, your roommate's gender will be male.) [/i]
        *set roommate_name "odi"
        *set roommate_gender "male"
        *set roommate_he_she "he"
        *set roommate_his_her "his"
        *set roommate_him_her "him"
        *set roommate_his_hers "his"
        *set roommate_himself_herself "himself"
        “Well, who the hell else would it be?” Odi asks with a smile on his face. “God knows it isn’t a date. You haven’t had one of those in years.”

        “Months,” You quickly correct, taking in the full appearance of your roommate.
    
        Odi Baxley is all legs. He’s 5’11” and a bit on the lanky side, something he won’t let you forget with his constant self-deprecating jokes about his lack of strength. Odi is pale, probably the palest person you’ve ever known. You’d think he would’ve picked up a slight tan from spending time in some of Odessa’s warmer cities, but he hasn't.

        What Odi has picked up are tattoos, one for each place he’s ever lived in Odessa. You're sure he’s about to run out of space soon, but you aren't sure if he’ll start a new sleeve on his left arm, or just stop moving around. He’s brown haired and blue eyed, which helps him stand out amongst the common facial features in the city of Lox.
        
You'll never forget how you met your roommate.
*page_break

*if (background = "guard")
    After you left the Odessan Royal Guard, your life was a bit of a whirlwind. It took a minute for you to get used to civilian life and even longer for you to actually re-train your body to sleeping at normal hours. 
    
    Once things began to calm down both in and out of your personal life, you decided to head to Lox. It was a city that you heard nothing but good things about while you were in the guard. 
    
    You submitted applications to a few places, but nobody had gotten back to you in weeks. You were about to just give up and rethink your termination, when you ran smack dab into $!{roommate_name} outside of a local coffee shop.
    
    Out of instinct, you manage to grab all of ${roommate_his_her} notebooks and cell phone, which surely would've shattered if not for your quick movements. Once the two of you were steady, you apologized to $!{roommate_name}.
    
    Your apology was interrupted by $!{roommate_name}, who demanded to know if you were some sort of super athlete or spy. After mentioning that you used to be in the Odessan Royal Guard, but was currently out of work, $!{roommate_he_she} all but demanded you come inside to apply for an open position. Turns out, you ran into $!{roommate_name} right outside of ${roommate_his_her} place of employment. 
    
    Your five second run in turned into a job offer and a later offer to stay with ${roommate_him_her} in a downtown apartment.
    
    Eventually, you left the coffee shop in favor of another job, but continued to stay with $!{roommate_name} and figured you would for the foreseeable future. 
    *page_break
    *goto_scene chapter1_bet

*if (background = "college")
    $!{roommate_name} was actually your roommate for most of college. You met your roommate in a freshman only literature class. $!{roommate_name} had walked in 10 minutes late and the only open seat left was next to you. 
    
    "That's the last time I play beer pong the night before an 8 a.m. I'm $!{roommate_name}, thanks for letting me sit by you," $!{roommate_name} whispered to you at the time.
    
    You decide not to tell ${roommate_him_her} that the seat beside you was actually the only one left in the entire room and you couldn't have said not to sit there even if you wanted to. 
    
    From then on, the two of you would study together, go out to eat and hang out in each other's dorm rooms. Naturally, when the next year came, you decided to move in together and lived together in college until $!{roommate_name} graduated a year early. 
    
    You two lost touch after ${roommate_his_her} graduation and you didn't even hit ${roommate_him_her} up again until years later when you came to Lox. You heard that $!{roommate_name} was looking for a new roommate, so you decided to reach out to your once close friend. 
    
    The two of you talked for hours, as if you two had never separated. $!{roommate_name} was over the moon that you were in Lox now and all but demanded that you move in or else. 
    
    You two have been living together ever since.
    *page_break
    *goto_scene chapter1_bet

*if (background = "hometown")
    You had just gotten to Lox when you met $!{roommate_name}. Your car had broken down just a few blocks from the hotel you were planning on staying at until you could find a place.
    
    $!{roommate_name} was on ${roommate_his_her} way to work, when ${roommate_he_she} decided to come over and help you. 
    
    "Hey! Sorry, hopefully this isn't too weird, but I have a good friend that could probably look at your car for you," $!{roommate_name} said, giving you a smile. You allowed ${roommate_him_her} to call said friend, giving ${roommate_him_her} a grateful smile as ${roommate_he_she} did so.
    
    $!{roommate_name} wanted to stay until ${roommate_his_her} friend arrived, but ${roommate_he_she} was going to be late for work if ${roommate_he_she} did so. You gave $!{roommate_name} your number to keep in touch and the two of you did. 
    
    Eventually, $!{roommate_name} stopped by your hotel room, dangling a key in front of your face. You had gotten just about everything else settled in Lox except for a place to stay that wasn't a hotel. 
    
    "Look, either you move in with me, or I'm moving into this hotel room. We're practically roommates anyway," $!{roommate_name} said. 
    
    It was an easy demand to agree to. You had gotten tired of being in the same hotel room anyway.
    
    A few weeks later, you moved into $!{roommate_name}'s apartment and the rest was history.
    
    *page_break
    *goto_scene chapter1_bet
*if (background = "mover")
    You were actually pretty set when you got to Lox. You had your own apartment, a nice paying job…but no friends, to be blunt. Tired of spending evening after evening in your apartment, you hopped online to find something to do that would help you meet at least one new person in town. 
    
    After filtering through meetup after meetup, you finally found something unique: a game night at a local bookstore. It happened to be right down the street from your apartment, so when the day of the meetup came, you got there relatively quickly. 
    
    Everybody was in the middle of a game when you arrived except for $!{roommate_name} who was desperately trying to get somebody to join ${roommate_his_her} in a game of checkers. 
    
    "I can't believe nobody wants to play with me. This blows."
    
    As $!{roommate_name} begins to stand up and pack up the game, you rush over, hoping to stop ${roommate_him_her} in time. 
    
    "Actually, I will," you said, sitting down at the table. 
    
    $!{roommate_he_she} grinned and sat back down across from you. 
    
    "Hope you're ready to lose."
    
    So, that's where your friendship began. Every week you two would meet up at the same bookstore for the same meetup and played checkers. $!{roommate_name} won way more than you did, but soon, meetups became going out to eat and going to the movies together.
    
    Soon enough, you two decided to move in together because it would be cheaper than paying for two separate one bedroom places.
    *page_break
    *goto_scene chapter1_bet
*if (background = "on the run")
    Lox's Lighthouse was actually where you met your roommate. $!{roommate_name} was a regular volunteer there, with ${roommate_his_her} own place in Lox. 
    
    You always thought it was funny that you two came to live together after you used to butt heads about any and everything early on in your friendship. In your early opinion, ${roommate_he_she} was way too peppy and cheerful for your liking. $!{roommate_he_she} was always looking on the bright side of everything, whether it was mopping or even just eating a cookie. In turn, $!{roommate_name} thought you needed to lighten up and relax.
    
    Eventually, the owner of Lox's Lighthouse kicked the two of you out for the day and told the two of you not to come back until you liked each other, or could pretend to do so around them.
    
    That's what the two of you did, at first. You pretended to like each another for weeks, giving faux compliments when cleaning up or volunteering. One day, you realized that the compliments were starting to sound sincere. You were starting to enjoy being around $!{roommate_name}, who could be insanely funny and entertaining when ${roommate_he_she} wanted to be. 
    
    One day, while making the beds, $!{roommate_name} apologized to you.
    
    "Hey, sorry for being so rude to you in the past. I don't know what kind of past you had before coming here and I shouldn't attempt to change somebody overnight. I'm sorry," $!{roommate_name} said.
    
    Much to your surprise, you found yourself apologizing back. After that, you guys were rarely seen apart. Once it was time to leave Lox's Lighthouse, you immediately asked $!{roommate_name} if ${roommate_he_she} knew of anybody who needed a roommate.
    
    "Uh. Me and no, I will not take no for an answer."
    
    Before you knew it, you were signing the lease and moving in. 
    *page_break
    *goto_scene chapter1_bet