Monday, September 13th, 2018

It was ten past eight in the evening, and Tyler Lee was waiting impatiently for a group of Muggles to leave the oddities store where she worked. Usually, the store's traffic died down around seven, and she was able to lock up right at closing time. But tonight, the gaggle of obvious and oblivious tourists were still ooh-ing and eww-ing on the second floor right above Tyler. She was becoming increasingly tempted to pull out her wand and Imperius them into leaving, though she knew she was completely incapable of casting an Unforgivable curse in reality.

Tyler couldn't blame them for lingering in the engrossing room though; the entire floor was filled with perfectly preserved butterflies and insects in wood frames, bleached animal skeletons posed in bell jars, and bizarre taxidermy. Tyler's favorite piece was a baby cow with two heads, even though it was very unnerving to look at. She could tell the Muggles had just sighted it, judging by their sudden shrieks of disgust followed by sympathetic comments for the poor deformed animal.

In a matter of seconds, the group came down the stairs and left right away, without so much of a glance at Tyler. She smirked and locked up instantly. But rather than wasting time walking to the door, Tyler had pulled out her long ebony wand and held it under the counter. She silently drew the shop's curtains, locked the door, then walked into the back room to apparate home.

After a year working at the Muggle shop, Tyler had been promoted to key holder, which meant she was free of her omnipresent manager and trusted to work alone most nights. She felt extremely lucky, as it meant she didn't have to walk all the way to the SoHo alleys just to apparate home, or Merlin forbid, to ride the subway back to Brooklyn with one of her overly friendly Muggle coworkers. The train trip from Manhattan to Brooklyn was forty minutes long with two line transfers, and the walk from the nearest station to Tyler's apartment was nearly half a mile. Being able to pop right from the work to her bedroom felt like an incredible privilege, after almost a year of being a heavily supervised sales associate.

Tyler's apartment building in the Bedstuy neighborhood was a huge warehouse, occupied solely by witches and wizards. Though the warehouse was visible to Muggles, every doorknob was enchanted to stay locked, unless turned by a tenant.

The building had barely been updated for human habitation, but Tyler found the bare brick walls, high ceilings, and rusted fire escapes charming. Plus, it meant the rent was relatively low, affordable enough for her to have scored a large apartment in the burgeoning neighborhood.

Tyler apparated into in her living room and laid down on the couch in front of her fireplace to wait. In just forty five minutes, her cousin Teagan was scheduled to Floo in to move into one of Tyler's extra rooms.

Unlike Tyler, who was Muggle-born, Teagan was a half-blood witch who had grown up with one foot in the wizarding world and the other in Muggle society. Though the girls were technically pretty distant relatives as fifth cousins, Tyler and Teagan had grown up having frequent playdates and sleepovers, and and they had already bonded before starting school. The girls had both been sorted into Thunderbird, where they grew even closer despite being a year apart.

After two years of persistent badgering, Tyler had finally convinced Teagan to ditch LA for NYC. She was half asleep when her cousin finally appeared with a large set of luggage in tow.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," Teagan said as she rolled her luggage out of the fireplace. "My friends forced me to go to one last happy hour, they wouldn't let me get away..."

"Don't worry about it," Tyler said, sitting up and stretching, "I don't work tomorrow." She got to her feet to help Teagan, counting ten suitcases of various sizes as she did so. "Ten pieces, really?" Tyler teased. "How is that even necessary?"

"I couldn't convince my parents to buy me an Extended set," Teagan grumbled, "so I had to charm them myself. I didn't quite manage to get them large enough though..."

"At least they're Lightened," said Tyler. "Come on, I cleared out your room." She pulled out her wand to levitate the luggage above them, and led Teagan to the bedroom furthest down the hallway.

"Okay, I think I'm going to get the furniture out of the trunk first," Teagan said. She paused, looking around the room as she contemplated where to place everything. Then she stuck half her body in the Extended trunk, squinting in the darkness as she located her bed. Teagan Vanished it, then pulled herself back out of the trunk. "Should I put my bed in the corner or center it?" she asked Tyler.

"Definitely put it the corner, then plan everything around it," Tyler said. "The room looks big now, but even the bigger apartments have small bedrooms here. The landlord will hike the rent up a lot if you ask for an Extension, too," she added.

Teagan grumbled something about having brought too much stuff. She pointed her wand to the far corner and brought the bed back into nonbeing. The cousins spent nearly an hour arranging and rearranging furniture until they had mastered the jigsaw puzzle of a room. Finally satisfied, Tyler and Teagan sat on the bed to relax.

"So, when do you start at MACUSA?" Tyler asked. Teagan sighed heavily.

"Ugh, next Monday. They wanted me to come in last week, but I lied and told them I couldn't be here until Sunday," the red headed witch replied.

"Perfect," Tyler said mischievously, "we've got a lot of adventuring to do first. I've already made up an excuse for my Muggle job this week, and I took paid time off at the clothing shop. Plus, I've got a show in the Lower East Side on Thursday night. You're coming, no excuses."

"Duh," Teagan laughed. "What else would I do?" she said, playfully poking Tyler in the ribs. "Is it with Glitterblood or is it your solo set?"

"Glitterblood died a few months ago," Tyler said bitterly. "Not to be a misandrist or anything, but I'm done trying to play with dudes. I'm seriously sick of being talked down to, having them passively aggressively critique my melodies and vocals, and dealing with them constantly trying to change the sound of the songs that I came to them with. Not the other way around." Tyler huffed and crossed her arms indignantly.

"Fair," Teagan said, "That sucks though, I'm sorry. I liked you guys, even though yeah, they were douchebags."

"It's fine. I own 100% of all the copyrights, so they can go fuck themselves, they're mine and they're never going to see a Knut of royalties ever again," Tyler said. "I'm over it, almost. I'm going to get a better backing band and play the Glitterblood songs along with my personal stuff," Tyler smirked.

"Damn right," Teagan said, and the girls both giggled. "Hell, I'll play bass."

"Really?" Tyler said with surprise. "I didn't know you could played any instruments, I thought you just sang."

"I don't play," Teagan said with a wry smile. "But neither did Kim Deal when she joined Pixies, and they're still touring like, thirty years after Surfer Rosa came out."

"Alright, good point," Tyler said. "My new stuff is pretty scrappy anyways, so it doesn't really matter if you suck."

Teagan rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever, bass is like the easiest instrument to learn. I bet if I got one this week, I'd be decent in a month."

"I'll take that bet," Tyler said. "I'll buy you one tomorrow, and if you still suck in December, you have to pay me back, and buy me a new guitar. If you don't, you're in."

"Deal," Teagan said, grinning with a glint in her eyes.

"Hey," Tyler said, pointing directly in Teagan's face. "I know that look. No cheating. No Animation charms. I'm going to cast Finite on the bass every time we practice."

"I wasn't going to cheat," Teagan said with mock offense. "Pinky swear," she said, and Tyler hooked her finger in Teagan's. Tyler yawned, and Teagan said, "Go to bed. I'm still on LA time, I'll be wired for hours. But wake me up when you're ready to take me exploring."

"Will do," Tyler said, yawning again as she stood up. "See you bright and early," she joked. They both knew Tyler never woke up before noon if she didn't have to. After saying goodnight, she headed to her bedroom, flopped down on the bed, and passed out still wearing her work clothes.