looking at the mutating skyline [ edith ]

Arawn shifted uncomfortably, a calloused hand absently fiddling with his shirt collar. He was standing on a street corner in muggle London, due to meet someone who had a room available at their flat. He'd seen the advertisement at the Ministry in the lunch room, a piece of parchment pinned to the noticeboard in amongst advertisements for second-hand brooms and a startling request for volunteers to donate blood to vampires. It was scrawled in a slightly untidy hand and there was a requirement for the new flatmate to bring furniture with them so he assumed it must be a guy -- girls were far too organised to go without a sofa.

It had taken him about an hour to find exactly where he was meeting his potential new roomy, and he'd only just arrived. He couldn't just apparate to the street so he'd had to walk around using a map to find the right spot, starting from the visitor's entrance to the Ministry and working back from there. For a man from rural north Wales it was quite an adjustment being in the big smoke, but moving here (at least during the week) was the only way he was going to convince his superiors that he deserved to be sent abroad to see other species both in the wild and on reserves.

It was warm, the sun was beating down on him and he was sorely wishing he had worn his watch - was he too early? Too late? Had he missed them? Muggles were walking past and looking at him curiously, he smiled politely and tried to blend in, hands in his pockets. Now that he thought about it there was no way for him to identify the person he was about to meet - what if they just stood around on opposite corners, not realising the other was there? Or what if he approached a muggle by mistake? He started racking his brains, trying to think of some sort of way to identify himself as a wizard without being too obvious. Arawn had nothing in his pockets, so he resigned himself to just standing there, hoping that he was on time.

@Edith Holthouse

Putting up an advertisement at the Ministry was something of a last resort. She had first attempted to post things at muggle markets around her neighborhood; that was where Edith had first found out about the flat when she had moved to London three years ago so it only made sense to start there. Her roommate, Claudine, had decided on a whim to move to a much warmer locale with her new beau (Gene from bingo) and had also decided on even more of a whim to leave the flat to Edith. At first, it had seemed like a great thing: twice the space and none of the old woman. But then, Claudine had decided to take all of her furniture and leave her with nothing except the full brunt of the rent.

Unfortunately, requesting someone to bring a flat’s worth of furniture was somewhat of a turnoff, not to mention that everyone who had so far expressed any interest was not as great as Claudine, asking too many questions about too many personal things. So, the ad had gone up at the Ministry after one too many weeks of having nowhere to sit while she ate takeout and nowhere to lounge while she watched the nonexistent television. At least for the Ministry ad she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone on the phone, which was convenient considering she didn’t have one anymore. She had placed a protean charm on all the little tear-offs, hoping that would lessen the face-to-face effort she would have to put into things to arrange a showing.

Edith had requested her new potential flatmate meet her at the corner a block from her building. She was a few minutes late, doing some last minute re-cleaning of the kitchen. She was out of breath as she came up on the corner, the stairs and the brisk walk down the sidewalk and the warmth doing nothing to help her. There was only one person loitering on the prescribed corner and her face lit up as she spotted him. “Arawn?” She remembered him from school and vaguely recalled that he worked at the Ministry, but they were more friendly than actual friends. “Are you here for the flat?” She slipped her hands in the back pockets of her jeans as she smiled.

She was getting fairly desperate at this point, not really in a position to pay another month’s rent if she still wanted to be able to eat (and continue her habit of drinking like a fish). “Brilliant. It’s just over here.” She motioned down the street with her chin as she took a step back towards her building.

Just as Arawn was beginning to think he’d missed his appointment and was about to turn to go someone familiar started approaching him. He recognised her immediately. They hadn’t been close friends in school but he had been the quiet observant type, and he’d observed pretty much most of the girls at some point or another. He vaguely remembered that she was more into sports than most of the other girls.

“Hey Edith, how are you?” he greeted her pleasantly. It hadn’t even occurred to him that the person who’d put the advertisement up would be of the fairer sex. His first thought was that she must just be in the rea by some strange coincidence. His eyes widened slightly in shock for a moment when she asked him about the flat. He blinked and recovered himself. “Wha – uh, yeah, yeah I am.” He stuttered slightly, taken aback by this revelation. He hadn’t considered living with a girl, er, woman. He was used to a house full of girls having grown up with two elder sisters, but this was a bit different. He wasn’t averse to the idea of sharing with females in general, he would have just preferred it to be someone he was related to, or at least knew a bit better.

“Great.” He said quietly, resigned to the fact that he at least had to view the place. It was the only thing that had really come up in his price range, even with the need to bring furniture. Plus he could hardly turn around and say he’d already found somewhere to avoid the awkwardness, because she’d undoubtedly ask him where. “So, um, what are you doing these days?” He asked politely, trying to fill the dead air as they walked in the direction she’d indicated

“Great,” she repeated, staring decidedly forward as they stepped down the sidewalk. She shrugged, not taking her hands out of her pockets. “Just work, mostly.” She paused, adding a quick, “Obliviating.” She wasn’t quite at the point where she wanted to discuss with people, especially people she hadn’t seen in recent memory, what she was currently doing with her free time. Besides football and drinking, she was spending all of her time with Elias, often combining the activities. Of course, she was realizing now a little too late, that whoever moved into her flat would probably realize things without having to be told. She’d just have to worry about that if he actually did move in.

Edith offered the polite return question. “And you?” But thankfully, the walk back to the flat took about a minute. The building, like the neighborhood, was nothing special, and the flat itself wasn’t any more remarkable. The flat was on the first floor, just up the stairs, and she unlocked the door without any ceremony, ushering Arawn inside and following him in. It was small, though it did look a lot bigger now that it was missing all the furniture. She had cleaned, which simply meant that she dragged all the pillows and books that she had left strewn across the living room back into her bedroom.

“So this is it.” Edith waved an arm about dramatically, hoping to bring the slightest bit of flair to the empty room. The living room was attached to a rather small kitchenette, which had a two-burner stove, a small oven, a refrigerator, a kettle, and two tea cups (as well as numerous varieties of tea). The fridge only contained beer and leftovers, though Edith certainly wasn’t complaining about that situation. “My last roommate took all the furniture,” she said rather unnecessarily, taking another few steps into the room. It was a remarkably muggle flat and Edith hadn’t done anything to change that since losing her muggle roommate.

She pointed an arm to the left as she walked into the short hallway, “Toilet.” She pointed straight, “My room,” and one final point right, “And the available room.” The rooms were the same size, though the empty one still had a lingering and very distinct smell of strong perfume that only a grandmother could wear, but it was nothing a wizard skilled with cleaning spells wouldn’t be able to get out. “It’s really quite exciting, I know.” She shrugged as she grinned, not the least bit embarrassed by the lack of amenities she was offering.

 “Oh, cool. I thought I’d seen you around at the Ministry.” Did that sound creepy? It sounded creepy. Merlin, why was he so awkward? No wonder he couldn’t get a girlfriend, he couldn’t even talk to girls platonically without getting flustered. His collar felt like it was constricting around his neck like a boa. Small talk was not Arawn’s strong point. Thankfully Edith kept the conversation alive long enough for them to get to where they were going. “Yeah, same, work... super busy.” He let himself trail off, unlike Edith however, Arawn was not hiding a relationship. He was hiding the lack of one. He wasn’t sure how well she’d take to him talking about still living with his parents.

Arawn followed Edith up the stairwell, taking care to walk an extra half a step behind and leave enough space to be polite, hanging back as she unlocked the door. With a slight startle he hurried in before her, his light eyes adjusting to the brighter light of the space compared to the dingy hallway. It didn’t take him long to take in his surroundings, there wasn’t much to take in. It was very bare, and small. “That’s alright, I could bring some stuff – uh, if I get the room, I mean.”

He followed her to the hall and his head followed her hand to each room in turn. The room that was empty was not exactly spacious, but it looked dry – if not a little musky. It was a far cry from what he was used to, but he’d also never lived anywhere but at home or at Hogwarts, so it was unfair to judge it that way.

He moved back into the living space, taking one more look around the room; the only things of interest, due to the lack of furniture, were the kitchen appliances. A small gasp of excitement escaped his lips before he could stop himself, his face lighting up at the realisation, “Is this- there’s no magic?” he almost-whispered, worried someone might overhear them through what looked like paper-thin walls.

Edith nodded eagerly as Arawn mentioned bringing stuff; she assumed this meant he could bring stuff for the both of them to use, like places to sit and something to eat off of, but she didn’t want to seem so eager so soon by pressing him for information. She slowed down her nodding, wanting to seem a little more nonchalant about the whole thing, not let on just how desperate she was to find someone to split the rent.

“No magic?” The question almost caught Edith off guard. She was so used to just flipping the switch from witch to muggle as she crossed the threshold that she was certainly just taking it for granted. But Arawn had spoken quietly and the low but consistent mechanical hum of the refrigerator was suddenly very audible. She raised her eyebrows as she took in the expression on his face, trying to distinguish what sort of opinions his features were showing. He had never been one to make a big deal about her blood status, at least not to her face or loud enough behind her back for her to hear it, and that was enough explanation for her.

She started again quickly, not bothering to lower her voice like Arawn had. “Yeah, I mean, there isn’t any magic now, I have electricity and stuff.” She shrugged, her gaze darting around the room to the few electrical outlets, the phone jack, the cable connection, the things she had really enjoyed having while having a muggle roommate who paid for all those things. “My last roommate was a muggle, so…” She trailed off again, taking the few necessary steps to get to the kitchen.

“That could change now though, if you want the room.” Crossing her arms across her chest, the woman leaned back against the cabinets. “I mean, it’s yours if you want it.” She tried to sound casual and added a small nod. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be that hard to change things over.” She had never really thought of it, magic for the freezer and whatnot, but she could figure it out. Or just ask Elias about it. It suddenly occurred to her that having a coworker for a flatmate might complicate her and Elias’s ‘don’t talk about this to other people’ thing, but it was probably too late to take back her offer now.

“Oh and my dad said I can borrow his car to help move things. I haven’t moved with magic so I don’t know the logistics on that, but just in case you needed some extra incentive.”

"Really?" Arawn's features lit up. He'd never lived anywhere with electricity before, and the prospect almost sealed the deal for him right then and there. He fought the intense desire to run for the lightswitches and start flicking them to see the lightbulbs (he knew what they were thanks to Muggle Studies classes) turn on and off. “Amazing.”

Was she offering him the room officially? Yes, she was. “Well,” he paused, biting his lip as he gave the living area one more cursory glance – it really wasn’t any worse than any of the other rooms he’d been to see. If anything, it was much cleaner, and he anticipated that living with a girl, woman, female... would continue to be cleaner than some of the male-dominated flats he’d already visited. “Yeah, I’d love the room. I don’t really mind about the magic – I can live with electricity, it’ll be exciting, won’t it?” He faltered at her expression, “Oh, I mean, for me – obviously you’re used to it.”

“Your dad has a car?” The offer really was tempted to accept, but a small part of his brain kicked into gear and recognised the logistics of moving anything from rural North Wales to London was not going to be an easy feat. It would be much easier for everyone involved if he just moved using magic – and he really didn’t want to upset his new flatmate. Hm, that felt strange. Flatmate. He’d had his family, and his dormmates, but having a flatmate was new. A little bubble of excitement fizzled up in his chest.

“I.. would love to use your dad’s car but, I don’t think I could inconvenience you that much – all my stuff is back home still, in Wales. And I’ve never even been in a car, let alone driven one.” Not that he didn’t want to learn. “I don’t have a lot of furniture though so I might need to buy some stuff, we could get that from somewhere in London? I mean, if you don’t mind helping.”

Arawn was clearly as excited about the idea of living here as Edith was about the idea of not having to pay the entire rent by herself anymore, but she was already too far into her ‘act cool’ thing that she tried to hold it in as best she could. Still she grinned and nodded enthusiastically, “I’m used to it but it’s still exciting,” she assured him with a shrug. She didn’t need to fill him in now on just how much football she watched; he would find all that out in due time. Overall, she wasn’t a terrible roommate, or at least she thought. Sure, she had come to somewhat rely on Claudine for food and took her furniture for granted, but they could probably figure that out.

Edith nodded again at the inquiry about her dad’s car. “Yeah,” she said, not bothering to give him the details that it was actually just a barely running VW Bus that might not make it to London and back without a little bit of magical help. “That’s fine, too, though, might as well use magic since we’ve got it.” Even though the idea of some sort of road trip to Wales with a haven’t-seen-them-in-so-long-they-might-as-well-be-a-stranger person seemed like it could be fun, she had to agree.

“I can help with finding stuff, I guess. It can’t be that hard, right?” She had never been furniture shopping in her life, inheriting the things in her bedroom from Claudine’s previous tenant. It was the ‘buying’ aspect of furniture shopping she probably couldn’t help with too much if they wanted anything higher quality than milk crates to sit on. “We’ll figure it out.” She shrugged again as she straightened up. “That’s pretty much it, unless you have more questions?”

Edith looked around the room, trying to anticipate anything he might be curious about but came up empty, instead trying to figure out the most polite way to request he move in as soon as possible so he could start paying rent immediately.

Arawn put his hands in his pockets to stop himself from fidgeting. “Yeah, well – you might have to show me how some of the stuff works, but.. I’ll pick it up quickly I’m sure.” He had a theoretical knowledge of how most common electrical appliances worked, and although he’d never used a muggle kettle or toaster before he was sure they’d be simple enough – the oven would be a different beast entirely, but he was sure Edith knew how to cook. Not that he expected her to make his meals, but she could at least show him the ropes and then perhaps he could have a turn. He wasn’t bad at magical food preparation – how much harder could it be using muggle technology?

“Yeah – don’t get me wrong I’d love to... I’ve never been in a car. I just... think it’d be a lot of hassle for you. I don’t even know how we’d get to my house by car...” his mind wandered momentarily, the image of a sedan getting stuck in a field somewhere in North Wales front and centre of his imagination. He shook his head lightly, “We’ve only ever floo’d or apparated.”

The former Hufflepuff nodded, “Yeah, I’ve got some money put aside for it. I can always convert it to muggle money if they have better furniture? I’ve never really compared...” He’d seen a lot of advertisements for furniture shops whilst on his travels around London, amongst other things, so he assumed they at least had a lot more options. He couldn’t remember the last time his parents had bought something new for the house, his Dad was handy with carpentry so could make wooden furniture, and everything else had been in the home for as long as Arawn could remember – including the ghoul that occasionally bumped around in the attic when it was bored of the barn.  He supposed it helped when you could just... magically fix anything that got broken.

“Er, no.” The question had caught him off guard. He furrowed his brow for a second in tought, “Oh, um, I guess – when did you want me to move in?” As soon as he asked it he realised it was a stupid question, he’d already seen the room was empty. But it seemed polite, just in case she wanted some time alone before he invaded her space.

So many things about this were promising to be enjoyable. She loved getting to play the muggle, especially when it came to things that were just so second nature to her and her knowledge made her look like an expert, like it took some great skill to make a phone call. “Don’t apologize, really.” Edith had really only offered to drive in some sort of effort to encourage Arawn to move in -- it had been a rather high selling point for the muggles that had looked at the place -- but now she was realizing just how out of place the offer really was.

She shrugged, honestly having no idea the finer points of buying furniture. “I dunno,” she said quickly, trying to think of any place fancier than Ikea to shop at. “We can figure it out.” They were adults, or something like that, and surely they could figure out where to buy a sofa.

“As soon as you want, really.” Edith nodded with a casual shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t usually go too far so any time any day should work, I think.” The farthest place she would ever be going is Lunt, but she had no trips planned any time soon if they wouldn’t be needing the use of her father’s vehicle. The rest of her outings were mostly limited to three venues: work, a pub, or Elias’s apartment, and they were all relatively close. Not that any of this information was relevant to the question at hand.

With no more questions to answer, Edith made a motion to the door before straightening up, walking over to it, and pulling it open. “Think it over and we can talk specifics over drinks later.” She was half telling him and half asking, but fully hoping he was fine with it. This whole thing had turned out to be a lot less complicated than she had bargained for. Once they were downstairs and back out on the street, Edith pointed towards her left. “There’s a good spot to apparate just round that corner.”