After living nearly three years with Misha in a studio apartment, Briar didn’t know how she would be cope with having her own room again. Luck had been on the young Pureblood’s side when she’d flung herself into the muggle world. Fresh off the bus, she had been approached by a modeling agent. He bought her story of being an illegal immigrant from Russia and her tall blond looks supported the theory. It helped that she knew enough of the language to fake the appropriate accent. But, it also gave her cover, she had no papers in this strange new world, and pretending to be from a foreign land had given her an out for any strange behavior she displayed before learning how to be a muggle.

Michael had seen a stunningly beautiful young girl and knew she would be perfect for modeling, so he’d offered her a job, and a place to stay. Meeting Misha for the first time had been something of a shock, and had her situation been less precarious Briar would have given in to the urge to turn her nose up at the offer of sharing a living space with someone like that. The very effeminate male with long ebony hair down to his rump who wore makeup and skin tight clothes had been a deep culture shock to the Pureblood. Her Slytherin instincts had kicked in, and somehow Briar had been able to keep her shock and disgust to herself. Over the next month she pretended to like Misha, never giving any indication of how she truly felt, and somehow as the days became weeks the mask…had become real.

For one thing, Misha was truly gifted. The man could put house elves to shame with his cooking and Briar had quickly become addicted to his amazing meals. It became rather difficult to be disgusted by someone when they offered such fabulous food without reservation. And secondly, Misha did not judge her, he never had even when he clearly saw judgment in her eyes. Instead he taught her though word and deed how to play muggle, how to do all the things that witches and wizards used magic for the mundane muggle way. Not once did he ask why she didn’t know how to do something, how to open a can of soda, what a curling iron was, or how to wash clothes. The unquestioning acceptance of her slowly eroded her own irrational prejudices and long after she made enough to move out Briar found that she preferred living in the studio apartment. The idea of striking out on her own, and being forced to eat her own cooking (the mere thought made her shutter) had kept her there.

Leaving Misha hadn’t been as hard as it could have been, seems his lover had moved in two months before. She’d long gotten over her aversion to Misha’s lifestyle, but David had issues with a female sharing their living space. Part of the reason Briar decided to move on her half baked plan had been to escape the tension. Memories of how Misha had taught her how to dye her hair using muggle products so well that it looked real, how he taught her to put in contacts and told her glasses as well would help subtly alter the lines of her face flooded her as she unpacked. In this, as in everything else Misha asked no questions. He had always known there was something different about Briar, so when she asked him to teach her to mask her true appearance, he did so without demanding any form of explanation.

A room of her own made things so much easier to hide. Things like the large jewelry box with a false bottom that held all the tools she needed to maintain her new appearance. She wouldn’t have to skulk around and try to keep her secrets with other girls sharing her living space. That was a relief, it wouldn’t do for them to see her true eyes after all, or when her roots began to show before she could correct it. She had just placed the jewelry box on the night stand when a soft ruffling sound caused her to turn swiftly, wand in hand. Brown eyes narrowed at the sight of grey hind quarters sticking out of her open suitcase. The curse which had been on the tip of her tongue almost flew at the sight of the little beast, but she held it back. Cursing a fellow student’s pet wouldn’t due for her new image. Must not harm the wretched beast.

All thoughts of niceness flew out the window when the cat jumped out of her suite case with a pair of her panties in its teeth. “Hey!” The streak of grey was gone before she could even think to curse it and Briar growled under her breath. While her outer wear all had the look of ‘poor muggle’ her under things were another story. Misha had introduced her to muggle lingerie and Briar found that small black satin under garments with a hint of lace were quite comfortable. The fact that her underclothes showed just how wealthy she had at one point been did not concern Briar much, seems no one would see them.

Or so she thought. “Evil little beast!” She hissed, much like an angry cat herself as she darted out of the room, intent on finding the flee bitten creature before it got away. Instead someone she had yet to meet stood holding the satin underwear. Instantly the look of fury vanished, the blush of temper could easily be mistaken for embarrassment as Briar carefully kept her anger in check. “Um, yeah I think those are mine.” She said, cheeks still flushed.