It all began on a crisp autumn morning in Evanston, Illinois, when Austin and Claudia passed each other walking opposite ways along Foster Street. Austin remembered briefly meeting Claudia during a graduate school orientation session, so he said hello and waved in her direction. Claudia returned the nice gesture with an inquisitive, cold glare. A little taken aback, Austin spent the remainder of that day wondering what he could have possibly done to make an enemy in his cohort so quickly. Fortunately, Claudia explained in class the next week that she hadn't been wearing her glasses or contacts that night, so she was just squinting and working really hard to remember Austin's name.

Throughout the following months, Claudia and Austin bonded over common personal interests, professional ambitions, and their love of spending way too much money during a night out in downtown Chicago. They also realized that an alarming number of similarities existed between them; including VERY similar last names (Torres and Terris, really?), identical Myers-Briggs personality types, matching decor in their childhood nurseries, a shared love for musical theatre, and mothers who spend a concerning amount of time birdwatching. Pretty soon, they became inseparable, and their friendship blossomed into something more. It became impossible for them to deny that this was a one-of-a-kind connection, and that they had entered each other's lives at the perfect time.

To complete their graduate program at Northwestern, Claudia and Austin needed to participate in a summer internship with an organization in a creative industry. In an odd and fortunate twist of fate, they were both hired at the exact same organization to work the exact same job! In June of 2022, they packed up, left Chicago behind, and moved to New York to work for the Chautauqua Opera Company. Over a summer that was both extremely rewarding and frequently stressful, their love deepened (and so did their appreciation for living arrangements that included air conditioning).

After graduation, it was time to start sending dozens of job applications out into the void. Austin spent this time growing more gray hairs in Michigan while Claudia was reconnecting with her dogs in Wisconsin. Determined to find employment in the same city, they followed about half a dozen leads before Epic took pity on them and decided to hire them both. Don't worry, they weren't working the exact same job this time (until ten months later when Austin transferred roles to Claudia's division).

Their journey together thus far has included great memories in Chicago, personal and professional triumphs and hardships, a lot of laughs, parenting two lovely cats, and a lot of U-Haul rentals. They've found that they get along together pretty well as long as Claudia roots for Michigan on Saturdays, and Austin cheers for the Packers each Sunday. During a beautiful morning on Castaway Cay, Austin proposed with a ring that had been hidden in their pantry. Shocked because she had been keeping a close eye out for mysterious packages around their apartment, Claudia started to ugly-cry (those are her words) and said yes.