Cold Heart (Finn)

[Deleted]

March 24, 2027

After a few trips back and forth between London and the United States to keep from overstaying in the United Kingdom illegally, Muffy was back in London again and back at her usual work for the New Salem Philanthropic Society—and not having very much luck at it on a Wednesday afternoon. Realizing that it was around lunchtime, she decided that she would go and grab something to eat—and check out if anything seemed amiss closer to Charing Cross Road. In her experience so far, that vicinity seemed to be the hot ticket.

As she was walking, she came across a young woman walking in the opposite direction carrying a pizza box that looked incredibly familiar to her. It must have been about a year ago that she had last seen it, but she didn't forget a pizza box like that; she'd had one dropped rather unceremoniously into her hands. It was the same pizza box as the one on which that little character Jimbo, whoever he was, had winked at her.

"Excuse me," Muffy called to the young woman quickly, hoping it would be enough to get her to stop. "Where did you get that pizza?"

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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Work was boring. That should have been a good thing, and quite frankly it was, but Finn desired action. Not to the level of what had happened at Hogwarts last year though, that had been a bit too much even for her. Somewhere in between the Azkaban breakout and the school burning down would have been perfect. Where people weren't in harms way but a general threat was present and she became a useful tool. She had started to question why she even stayed in London anymore, as there really wasn't much of a point. Almost all of the MACUSA aurors had returned to their home offices by now, adding protection to the new influx of students back at Ilvermorny, and helping with Interpol was starting to become more about bureaucracy and policy than action. Or maybe it had always been like that and she just chose to ignore it. Regardless, she had been getting the same feeling she'd had years earlier in New York, when she retired the first time from being an auror. The stagnation and repetition of the job with very little driving force on her end meant she was bored.

She could only battle that feeling with pizza so many days of the week. Blishwick's knew her by name. Hell, they usually had her order ready for her when she got there, because she came in at the exact same time every evening. After returning home with that, she ended up following the same exact routine: walk the dog one last time around the neighborhood and the crash on the couch with whatever the movie of the day was. Wake up at six, go to work, repeat. The monotony was horrible, and unless something changed soon, she was going to be back doing her own thing instead of running around with her fancy MACUSA badge and jacket. And she really enjoyed the jacket.

Tonight was just like every other night. Pizza purchased - pepperoni, peppers, prosciutto (because she was weird and loved the crispness of it) - and heading home. Finn decided to walk a bit of the way, as there was no rush and a cold pizza was easily fixed with the simplest of charms. Or she'd just eat it cold, because that was totally normal for her too. She was used to speed walking, though a woman calling out to her asking where she had gotten her pizza made her stop. What a curious question that was. And by the sound of her accent, she was American too. Finn stopped to face the woman as her brain started to run through scenarios. Anyone that lived in the magical communities of London knew who Jimbo Blishwick was. If the mug on the box didn't give it away, his face did, especially this close to Diagon Alley. An American witch new to the area maybe wouldn't know though. A no-maj, definitely not. The easiest solution? Lie. "Oh umm...I think it was a couple blocks back that way?" Finn stated, making her voice sound like she was unsure of what she was saying.

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[Deleted]

March 24, 2027

The younger woman with the pizza box didn't sound very sure as to where she had gotten the pizza from, but she did sound American. Alarm bells immediately went off inside Muffy's head. There was something suspicious about this pizza, if it was actually even pizza. She narrowed her eyes at the caricature on the box, that Jimbo, to see if she might be able to catch him winking again. He didn't, and Muffy knew that she had to maintain her composure. It was uncomfortable, but someone had to get to the bottom of it.

Hearing that the pizza place was a couple blocks away, however, Muffy nodded her head. She really couldn't have cared less about pizza; it was greasy and something that her mother had always frowned upon in favor of something more wholesome, like meatloaf. This pizza was different. It had to be. Not wanting to seem out of place for being an American woman in London who didn't care for pizza—even though Muffy knew that pizza hadn't been an American invention—she smiled politely. If the woman with the pizza box was American, then she could use that to her advantage.

"I've seen a few other people carrying those boxes around," Muffy explained. It had been a long time since she'd last seen one, but the stranger to whom she was speaking didn't need to know that. "Is it a chain around here? 'Bushwick'?"

finn kylie nottingham

[finn kylie nottingham]

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She didn’t like the way this conversation was going at all. There were too many questions being asked specifically about the box, which did stupidly show the owner’s face and name across the top in giant letters. The fact that this woman had made note of others carrying the same ones was worse. No one ever cared about what was on the damn box. Ever. Finn liked to think she knew best because she was a New Yorker. She didn’t necessarily want to turn on the hostilities this fast but it was definitely starting to get to that point. Everything about this rubbed her the wrong way. “I guess its popular then,” she said flatly to the comment about others having the same box. Someone was going to have to tell Blishwick that he needed to charm the boxes too. The winking thankfully stopped once you left magical zones.

Finn shrugged at the question about it being a chain. As far as she knew, there was only one Happily Ever After Pizza Emporium starring Jimbo Blishwick. Why couldn’t the lady have fixated on other aspects of the box, like how it was jumbo sized? Finn would have killed for boxes this large back home. But not all Americans were the same, and this woman definitely wasn’t like her. She was going to have to contact the Obliviators or Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee about this. Which meant her poor pizza was going to get cold. “I mean, if you’re standing right here and seeing people with the same pizza box from the place a couple blocks that way-” Finn waved her free arm in the random direction she’d chosen, “-then yeah, I guess it might look like it’s a chain. It’s honestly not that good. Just on my way home from work.” Merlin that lie killed her. It was so much better than anything the no-maj over here could do. So much better.

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