A Brand New Day (Open)

[Eddie]

A soft whining woke Eddie up and she rolled over and reached out. Her hand buried itself in soft, ruffled fur and she pulled Cheesy closer to herself. The dog whined again, but curled up. Eddie knew exactly what he was feeling. She missed Mac too, but the pair of them would have to learn to live without him. She pulled the golden-brown dog closer and cuddled him like a toy. He'd grown up sleeping sandwiched between her husband and her, so he didn't complain at the confined position.

Ten minutes later her small bedroom was filled with the worlds most annoying sound. Cheesy barked at the clock and jumped up, kicking his owner in the stomach roughly. Eddie yapped in annoyance and sat up. She readjusted the straps of her sleeping top and blinked at Cheesy, who was chewing on the still ringing alarm. A soft laugh escaped her lips and she reached down and tugged it from his mouth, turning it off.

"C'mon Cheesy. Let's go get our bladders empty and our tummies full." She swung her legs over the edge and her flannel pants brushed the fake feathers of her hippogriff slippers. The yellow dog with white accents and a slightly darker face followed her. His ears stood halfway up, bending at the ends to flop forward. Similarly his tail was broken in the middle, always crocked to the left. To compensate his listed his tail to the right. He barked at her heels happily as she went to open the door for him. He bounded out and began to sniff around the alley. She closed the door as he trotted for the alley entrance, she knew he wasn't going to get lost.

She headed back for the bathroom at the back of her shop. There she stripped, showered, brushed her teeth, teased her hair out of its bedhead and pulled on a silver, blue, and black sequined blouse over a pair of flare-bottomed, shiny black and silver jeans. She slipped on a pair of matching flats and pulled her blue velvet work robe. It was embroidered with silver, and spelled to repel cut hair as well as hair products. She smiled and went to open the door. Cheesy was sitting there, waiting patiently. He jumped up and trotted in, wagging his tail. She smiled and walked into her kitchen. It didn't take long for her to set a pair of frying pans to cooking, one with bacon and sausages, the other with eggs and cheese. She poured half a can of wet dog food into Cheesy's bolw while she waited and the dog wolfed it down.

"I will never understand why bacon is different when you go to different countries. Do you get it Cheesy?" The dog tilted his head and woofed. She smiled and scratched him behind his ears before checking on her cooking. A flick of her wand and the bacon flipped over. Another flick and a scrambler attended to the eggs, scrambling them with the cheese. She puttered around, heading to the store part of her building and setting up to style hair. She reentered her kitchen just in time to prevent her breakfast from burning. She put most of her cooked meal on a plate for herself, tipping the remains into Cheesy's bowl. The dog wagged his tail and ate happily. She smiled and finished before walking out. Cheesy padded after her and laid down in a basket at the front of the store as his owner opened the front door and stepped out.

"We Are OPEN!" She called, sending a spell into the air. Fireworks shot from her wand, proclaiming the word 'open' above her little shop. A neighbor opened their window and yelled at her to shut up, but she ignored them, sending festive ribbons over her store and making it brightly colored and eye catching. She walked in and started to straighten the place, just waiting for her first customer of the day... although if they didn't show soon there would be no point in showing at all, since Eddie would be out and running down the street.

[Tony Redgrave]

Tony needed a goddamned haircut. He hated doing it magically, because it always fucked with his runes, and sick Tony was pissed Tony. After a stroll, he looked around and suddenly saw sparks fly. His Auror instinct went into Aw shit! mode, and he tore off in that direction, skidding to a stop around a corner before seeing a lady standing in front of a small shop walk back in.
"Festive Business owners.." Tony scoffed and walked by, irritated that he ran all that way for -
What is this?
He looked up at the sign and grinned. A hair stylist...? He wondered if she did things traditionally, with scissors and stuff, and shrugged as he walked in, opening the door with a small jingle.
"Hello? Dude wanting a haircut?" he said, looking around. Then he saw her, straightening the place up. She looked a bit older than him, probably upper 20's, and the first thing he noticed were her hands. Her hands weren't the hands of a hair stylist. They were the hands of a factory worker. They looked rough, callused and strong. Definitely not the hands he would think she would have. He also noticed her left ring finger, void of a ring, but the imprint remained. Divorced or Widowed... but Divorcees usually don't open up shops... she obviously needed a distraction.
After his ten second analysis of this strange person who shot sparks less than ten miles of a school, he crossed his arms and awaited her answer, giving a wry smile.

Something about her bugged him, and made his 'spider sense' tingle.

[Eddie]

Cheesy lifted his head at the soft jingle and hopped up, sniffing the newcomer. He didn't smell food and his master was right there, so he simply padded back to his basket by the door and laid down again. Eddie had turned around at the words and gave the person a quick once over. He certainly needed a haircut. Her eyes roved quickly. Fairly well muscled, clearly a strong fellow when he needed to be. He was wearing long sleeves in the summer, although she saw no weapons. Most likely he was hiding scars or identification markers of some sort. His eyes though... they were easily familiar. Like her he was a fighter. Most likely a government one.

"Hey. How many hearts have you stopped?" A roundabout way of saying 'how many people have you killed?' She swung the chair to face him, letting him know she was accepting. A flick of her wand and a magazine of popular mens hair styles separated itself from the rack and floated over to him.

"Muggle or Magical?" She was right to business, not asking anything else. It was how Eddie worked. No need to chit-chat, especially not with another fighter. Cheesy wagged his tail from the basket. He made sure that nobody snuck up on Eddie while she worked, although the bell also served that purpose, but it was quiet enough that if she played music, or was in the back for something, she wouldn't hear it. She honestly didn't care if she used scissors or her wand though. It was equally easy for her. Then again, compared to giving ones own person a good haircut anything was easy.

[Tony Redgrave]

Not much surprises Tony. But this did.
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuggle." he said, his brain shutting down for a split second as he processed what she asked. Was she mental?
He then took notice at the set up of the shop as he took the magazine from the air. There had to be traps. There had to be.
Yet, he felt as though she wasn't going to hurt him. Yet.
"I haven't counted, to be honest.." he said, eyeing her. She was borderline Assassin, except the vibe he got, this weird, nostalgic vibe, came from another Assassin he ran into earlier in his career. What was his name? McMally? McTool? It was a Mc-something-or-other... shit.
He looked in magazine and pointed at a picture on the third page. "This works." he said, handing the magazine back to her.
"Since I'm curious, and off duty, I can ask this without a warrant of any kind... how many candles have you put out?"
The Assassin he met, just briefly, asked Tony this. Funny, Tony, a pacifist in every right, kept getting pegged as a killer... Tony held on to this question all his years, and thought, just for style's sakes, he should ask her this.

[Eddie]

“Muggle it is!” Eddie bounced over and grabbed a set of scissors and some combs, and a brush. She set them on a tray and waited.

“Oh I hear you. It’s so hard to keep track when you’ve got so many to do. Aaaaaaaaaand there goes my wand.” She scurried after the piece of wood that had gone flying out of her sleeve. She bounced back and glanced at the cut he’d chosen. Easy enough. Then again most men’s cuts were easy, especially compared to these school girls who thought they needed to look like actresses. She froze when she heard him repeat a familiar line. She’d heard that question every day for three years, and several times a week for a few years prior to that. The scissors clattered out of her hand and to the floor.

“Oh… God… You knew Mac...” She struggled with her composure. She was fighting herself to not cry, but not wanting to appear cold to someone who had, potentially, known her husband. She took several deep, shuddering breaths and then turned around, looking at him.

“Mac… died… in the spring.”

[Tony Redgrave]

His eyes widened. Mac. Sonofabitch.

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed loudly. What in God's- "Died? Wait, wait, no.."

Mac was invincible, it seemed. Tony's very first, and he means VERY first assignment was to assist another Auror in hunting Mac down. It seemed like Mac was just someone they wanted to get rid of before he got too dangerous.

He remembered the day, rainy, cold, and dismal. They staked out, watching a warehouse of some sort, before Mac walked out. They tailed him for three blocks, and suddenly he vanished. After a moment of investigation, Mac had dropped from above, using a wrist blade to punch through Tony's partner's shoulder, then kicking him to knock him out.

"He won't die." Mac had told him. "No one has paid me to kill you, so consider my lack of funds your bulletproof vest."
Tony immediately pointed his wand. "We were s-sent to k-kill you..."
Mac chuckled. "It seems no one likes me." he said, placing his hands in his pockets. Tony noticed a gold shimmer on his left hand. Married Tony thought to himself. His eyes then shot back to Mac.
They stood there for a second, exchanging mental blows, actually engaged in the fight of their lives without moving. They locked eyes, and Tony dropped his wand, falling to his knees.
"How many Candles have you put out, young one?"
"None..."
"Let's hope it stays that way. The blood of others on your hands weighs a ton per drop."
Mac then walked away. Tony would hear of his work, even actually run into him a couple of times throughout the next three years, but never for more than a second.

"Yeah... I knew him." he looked down. "I'm sorry to hear that... you were his wife, weren't you?" he asked.

[Eddie]

“Yeah… We… were both assassins. Someone… decided to attack us. Mac was killed. I was injured. And well… the government decided to shift me across an ocean. Fun life eh? So… On to that cut, if you’ll sit.” She was shaking off the pain still, but it wasn’t a huge issue for her. She killed people for a living. If you did that you had to bounce back from death.

Cheesy woofed from his basket and then yapped out something that sounded very similar to ‘I love you mama’. Eddie laughed.

“Guess introductions are in order then. I’m Eddie Malworth. The amazing talking hairball in the basket is Cheesy; his name is appropriate on many levels. … You are… Tony, right? There’s a girl who comes here a lot who won’t shut up about you. Always trying to get her hair right, but it never seems to fit for her. Ah, the indecision of youth!” She laughed. She was waiting still, scissors and comb at the ready.

[Tony Redgrave]

Tony listened to her brief story, frowning slightly. It must have been hard... he sat down in the Barber's chair, turning so she could get to work. Much to Rhy's satisfaction, Tony's scalp was sensitive to touch, which always led to nights with her playing with his hair. It had been a while before that, before Rhy, that anyone even touched his hair. He had let it grow for close to two years, and now felt it was time for something new.

Before, it was closer to his shoulders all around. He loved having his hair long, and had even at one time had it past his shoulders, but that was back then. Back when he met Alexia..

That was the past though. He needed to move on. He had to.
He then heard Cheesy bark "I WUV YEW MAWMAW!!" and couldn't help but grin. "I got a cat named Dj, and me and Rhy, the girl you were talking about, just got a bird not to long ago... a Rainbow Macaw named Gaubert." he smiled. "It's because... well... she's pregnant. We wanted to try and sort of practice before the baby got here... so we'd be ready."

[Eddie]

"Animals are always a nice touch. Although I'm rather surprised you have so many. If I recall my conversations with her correctly Miss Mudd was NOT a fan of animals. I lock Cheesy in the back when she's scheduled because she's very uneasy around him. But then again, a woman's mindset is prone to change when she's pregnant." Eddie shrugged and began to clip his hair easily. Combing a small section and then neatly clipping off the ends, working in a pattern all across his skull. Each clip took about half an inch off, and soon the floor was littered with small pieces of dark hair. Cheesy had fallen asleep in his basket while his master worked and Eddie was quiet and efficient. Clipping accomplished she dampened the comb, dipping it in a bowl of water clouded with holding product, and combed the hair into the exact style from the picture he'd chosen.

"There we go. Satisfactory?" She held a mirror up for him to look.

[Tony Redgrave]

Tony looked, satisfied with the work, but had a rather neutral look on his face. He stood slowly and turned to Eddie.

"So.. if I may ask... Why Hogsmeade? Why did that Government send you here?" He knew Hogsmeade wasn't exactly the place for Assassins. Unless, of course, you were part of some hidden Fraternity, but we won't go into that now.

"The only reason I'm asking is... well... Are you on an Assignment?"

He knew it was a rather forward question, but he needed to know, Auror or not. He was still afflicted with his illness at this time, so any ability to defend himself was.. rather weak. He looked at her quietly, awaiting an answer.

[Eddie]

“Eh? Nah… They shuffled me to the British Ministry, and they don’t really got ‘assassins’ since they have their Aurors and the like. So they threw me here to help keep an eye open for trouble. Dunno why. I mean, it’s a small place with a school… Not much here to scream trouble eh? So… I’m pretty much just shoved into a corner and forgotten… I don’t really mind though… I’d quit, but it’s the only job I’ve ever had, only job I’m really qualified for… and Hair styling doesn’t pay a load.” She shrugged, flicking her wand and cleaning the floor. Cheesy sat up, woofing happily and bringing his ball over to Tony, Eddie smiled at her dog.

“So, why’s an Auror here? Even one not at peak?” If he was going to poke into her private life she’d poke right back into his. She washed her hands and looked at her schedule, still empty, too bad.