Quien es esa nina, who's that girl (Edith)

Cherbourg had been getting boring. The fashion season in France had been dying down and now Lea had no events to attend to, other than the odd pureblood meet-up that one of her old clique members invited her to. In any case, her next party wasn't until the next week and it was in Italy. The German had supposed she could just throw a party herself, but she'd just bought that new diamond bracelet so that probably wasn't a good idea. She had needed something to distract herself from that half-finished set of robes that was sitting back in her room collecting dust, and the added bonus of a distraction would give her an excuse to avoid Maja. Lea wasn't in the mood to deal with her sister that day. And then it had hit her. She hadn't seen Elias in a while, not since the year before. The Dörfler missed him a lot, so she had decided to surprise him and go say hello. Perhaps, she thought, he would even buy her dinner and save her poor (almost empty) purse the trouble of feeding her.

Apparating straight into her room, Lea got back from France late at night, and as soon as she woke at nine that morning she had started getting ready for her trip to England. It was now two in the afternoon and the fashion designer's room looked like someone had conjured a tornado in it. Her clothes lay in various states across the room, her jewellery haphazardly hanging off her bed, ready to slip off. She had only just decided on a pair of robes to wear, and now couldn't find any shoes to match with it for the life of her. Temporarily giving up, the German turned her attention to her hair, brushing through it whilst browsing her collection of jewellery. Her royal blue robes already had plenty of jewels decorating the neckline, so there was no need for a necklace, and as she placed her brush back down, she used her wand to summon the matching sapphire earrings to go with the robes as well as that new diamond bracelet from Cherbourg. Looking at her reflection in the mirror as she attached them to her ears and wrist, Lea nodded in satisfaction at herself, allowing a small smile. Quickly using a beautification charm, Lea checked under her bed for some more shoes. Grinning like a cat who had got the cream as she spotted the perfect pair of heels, Lea slipped them on her feet, before apparating to the nearest place she knew was connected to the floo network, before grabbing the powder and stating, "Diagon Alley, England."

From there, Lea decided to apparate straight to outside her elder brother's place, eager to see Elias even more so than she was curious to look around the English street. If she asked him nicely, perhaps he'd give her a tour later. Once she was sure that she'd found the right place, the Dörfler knocked enthusiastically on the door, impatient for it to open. When it finally opened, however, Lea's charismatic grin soon morphed into a surprised look as a witch around her age stood in front of her, and not her brother like she had planned for. Realising that the woman must be Elias's roommate (something her parents had informed her on), the fashion designer settled on a polite smile. "Oh, hello!" Lea greeted warmly, her German accent stronger than normal. She had not used English in almost a year, and it felt foreign to make her mouth move that way once again. "You are not Elias," she stated bemusedly, "you are... Edith?" The sophisticated witch stuck her hand out for the other witch to shake as she introduced herself. "Forgive me, I am Lea Dörfler." She quickly glanced round her surroundings, whilst smoothing out her robes. The English weather didn't look too good and she didn't want her robes to get damaged by rain. "May I come in?" She asked politely, keeping her warm and friendly smile on. She had been wondering what Elias's roommate was like, and here the gossip queen had been given an excellent opportunity.

There were certain things that Edith usually refused to do with magic: making tea, going to work, sober up. Thankfully, turning records over and moving the needle of the record player weren’t on her list. She could lay on the floor for hours and not have to get up to keep the music going, and that was precisely what she was doing. She was only on the second listen of the album though, so it hadn’t nearly been two hours, but she had no plans to be anywhere anytime soon. She was ‘working’, after all. Her editor hadn’t cared for what she had turned in earlier in the week; it wasn’t enough, apparently. So she was waiting for inspiration to strike, she supposed.

She heard a knocking that she didn’t remember being there on her last listen through the album; it took her longer than she’d care to admit to realize that the knocking was coming from downstairs. Sitting up quickly, Edith blinked a few times as the blood rushed back to her head. Giving herself a quick shake, she turned down the music and slowly got to her feet. She took the stairs two at a time and gave herself a second to rub her eyes with her fingers before answering the door, not bothering to change out of her t-shirt and pajama shorts.

Edith greeted the woman with raised eyebrows, waiting for her to say something; she was the one to knock on her door, anyway. “‘Fraid not,” she stated, missing the other woman’s accent -- until she stated her name, in that perfectly imperfect way that Elias did. The guess that this was the other sister was confirmed as soon as Edith stuck out her hand rather dumbly; “Lea, hi, yeah.” She nodded and dropped her hand. What was it with the Dörfler women and surprise visits? Surely Elias would have warned her -- no, prepared her -- for his sister’s visit, or Edith could have arranged to be out; no matter how curious she was about his family, she wanted to put off the inevitable for as long as humanly possible.

“Yeah, of course, sorry.” Edith nodded quickly, realizing that she hadn’t been using her manners, staring and not inviting her inside until Lea made the request herself. “Come in, please.” She took a step back and held the door open for her, giving a longing look to the street as some sort of telepathic message to Elias to hurry home soon before closing the door behind her. The flat was clean -- it always was -- and Edith had really only ventured out so far today to make tea. She hadn’t been actually writing, so at least she wasn’t in that sort of mood. No, she could do this. She had even washed her hair that morning -- all things in her favor.

Edith took another look at Lea and offered her another smile. She was a lot more sparkly than Maja, yet no less intimidating. Edith was good at this now, though. Much cooler about it all. “Eli’s working late today,” she offered, choosing to call him Eli because calling him Elias felt so much more intimate. “But you can use his owl, I’m sure, if you want to let him know you’re here.” She nodded, realizing she was talking quickly but honestly unable to slow herself down. Nerves? No, of course not.

“Or surprise him,” she shrugged, realizing this might have been the intent in showing up unannounced. Either way… “Do you want some tea?” Edith dropped her gaze, looking down at herself. “Guess I could put some trousers on,” she concluded, mostly to herself.

Lea's smile brightened as the two witches shook hands, bemusedly taking in Edith's more casual appearance in comparison to her own as she lowered her hand back to her side. The German nodded, more to herself than anything else, as she observed the other witch's face and hair. She could work with that. The fashion-minded Dörfler instantly thought of the last finished design she'd made and pictured it on Edith, pleasantly surprised by how well it would suit the British witch. Perhaps, Lea could persuade her to be a model one day. The absent-minded woman was pulled out from her thoughts as she heard her name being repeated, which resulted in a lop-sided grin from Lea. The way Edith was so close and yet not quite right with the pronunciation was rather endearing, and Lea decided she liked the Hogwarts graduate already.

Smiling softly as the British witch apologised, Lea replied with a grateful "thank you," as she swept past her and into the room, taking the opportunity to look around as Edith closed the door behind them. The Dörfler shook her head, amused by how spotless it was, though she expected nothing less. "I see Elias is as neat as always... It used to make me mad." Lea commented, eager to see if Edith was as much a neat-freak as her elder brother was.

Lea had already figured that it was the case, but she appreciated Edith telling her where he was. "Ah, that makes sense. I am not surprised," she chuckled. She was surprised, however,  at how easily Edith suggested using his owl,  and the German couldn't help but think of her screech owl, Fabian, back at home and wonder if she should have brought him. The relaxed witch didn't think it would make much difference though, her brother probably would not be too surprised by her random visits anymore. Even she had to admit that she had a habit for showing up unannounced. "Oh! I don't want to disturb him. It is not..." Lea paused, a frown forming on her face, as she tugged at the earrings in thought. "Was ist das Wort?" The Dörfler muttered to herself, disappointed in herself for not practising the English language enough. She glanced back at Edith, a proud smile on her smile as she triumphantly finished her sentence with "urgent. It is not urgent." The fashion designer was never one to pass up an opportunity such as this. Without Elias butting in, Lea had ample time to get to know Edith one-on-one and make a new friend without a tainted opinion. "Besides," Lea began, adjusting the sleeves on her robes, "this is a great... opportunity to get to know all about you!"

The German raised an eyebrow at Edith as she offered her tea. As far as Lea was concerned, the time for tea was over. Anything past lunchtime called for something different, something stronger. She couldn't help but giggle, British people really did have a strange attachment to tea. In all honesty, Lea believed that wine was acceptable at all hours of the day, but she was not a diplomat like Elias or even Maja and she didn't know if in England it was acceptable. Nonetheless, the confident witch was never one to hide her thoughts or feelings and so she decided to just go for it. What was the worst that could happen? "Oh, thank you. But... I don't suppose you have any wine?" She flashed a toothy grin, a sheepish look about her as she giggled.

She appreciated Edith's offer to become less casual but Lea was never one for standing on ceremony, and she certainly didn't want Edith to be any less comfortable. After all, she had intruded on her home without any warning. "No need," Lea offered warmly, "you are fine as you are." Unable to help herself, the fashion designer, started sketching a new design on Edith in her mind, wondering what would suit the British witch best with the features she'd been given. "Mm-hmm!" Lea hummed in approval of her own mind, as she pictured the jewelled cuffs of the robes and the lower necklace that would work well on Edith. "When I'm finished, you'll be in something much more... shiny anyway." Impulsive as always, Lea had made up her mind. The British witch in front of her was her new project and it was going to be marvellous!

Edith situated herself on the arm of the sofa, propping herself up with her arms on either side. “It currently makes me mad,” she replied with a small laugh, thanking the heavens they had already found something in common; maybe this would be easier than she had thought. She nodded along as Lea continued, agreeing that it really wasn’t that surprising for Elias to work late. Lea had lived with Elias much longer than Edith had, had gone to school with him — if Edith had been a nightmare workaholic in school, she could only imagine what Elias had been like. Fun for everyone, she was sure.

“Right, of course, right.” Edith decided to focus on the fact that the other woman struggled a bit with English; Elias probably would have stopped speaking rather than struggle with words and let on that his speech was anything less than perfect — frustrating but positively endearing. She should probably stop comparing Lea to other Dörflers lest she give something away she shouldn’t; her mind had a tendency to wander. Edith didn’t want to think about what it might mean if her boyfriend wasn’t made aware of his sister’s arrival: Edith would need to play the hostess, wouldn’t she? As if she could read Edith’s mind, Lea spoke up again, expressing the idea that this would be a perfect time to get to know each other. They’d get to know each other as a roommate and the sister of the roommate, of course. This could work. This would work.

And wow, would it work so much better with wine. “Oh, god do we have wine.” Edith returned the grin as she pushed hersef off the sofa, wanting to waste no time before getting to the small wine rack in the kitchen. She probably wasn’t going to get any work done that day, anyway, so there was no harm, really. Right? Especially not now that she had a surprise guest to entertain, to impress — and Edith was so much more likeable with a bit of alcohol; she’d been told that plenty of times.

“Oh, thanks.” She looked down at herself again as she felt her cheeks warm; the way Lea had said she was fine as she was was just so… nice. She’d only met Edith a few minutes ago. “Finished?” She glanced back up, one eyebrow raised as she pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. Shiny? Did Lea want to… dress her? Fine as you are, minus the glaring mistake that is your wardrobe. Yes, wine was definitely in order. Edith offered her another small smile and a genuine-sounding, “I can’t wait,” before continuing her quest for alcohol. “Is red okay?” The only bottle of white that was left was the sort with the screw off cap, and something about Lea screamed that she was a bit classier than that.

She turned to see that Lea had followed her into the kitchen, which was almost as spotless as ever, minus the kettle she hadn’t put away and the stray teaspoon she hadn’t washed. Edith pulled a bottle from the rack and fished out a corkscrew from a drawer — another one of those things she liked to do without magic — and got to work. “Glasses are over there, if you don’t mind.” She tilted her head toward the correct cabinet before asking another question. “Do you get to visit often?” It was the easiest question to start with, she reckoned.

Laughing in return as Edith replied, Lea couldn't help but sigh a little in relief, grateful to have finally found a kindred spirit in terms of tidiness. With Elias, Maja and Jürgen all being pretty neat people, Lea often felt like the odd one out, even broken or unrelated to them at times too. The German witch kept her warm smile as Edith nodded along, whilst adjusting the bedazzled neckline of her robes. The fashion designer definitely liked Edith, Elias had certainly found a great roommate. It wasn't very difficult to win her favour at all, Lea had a habit of making friends wherever she roamed, but her first impression of the British witch was certainly very favourable.

Taking Edith's push-off from the sofa as a cue to follow the British witch, Lea slowly followed, her eyes taking in everything they possibly could of her surroundings as she did so. She smiled to herself, mainly, glad that she hadn't offended Edith by asking for wine. In fact, if anything, the other witch seemed almost as excited about the prospect as Lea was, and this pleased Lea greatly. Any guilt the German witch might have felt at interrupting whatever Edith was doing (though judging by her attire, it wasn't much at all) instantly vanished, and her pace quickened slightly.

She watched as her words seemed to create added colour in Edith's cheeks, mimicking what the witch would look like with blush on. Lea beamed in satisfaction, getting the feeling that Edith didn't receive compliments very often. It was a shame, in the fashionista's mind, for she found that confident people really were the most stunning of specimens to behold. She curtly nodded once to herself, deciding that before she left, she'd at least compliment the witch once or twice more. Everyone deserved enough compliments in their life, and it didn't take much effort. Edith's questioning glance up as she pushed her glasses back on her face, drew Lea's attention. Those glasses really weren't very fashionable, yet somehow Edith's features were able to overcome it, it was rather fascinating. The German suddenly realised she was staring, and she drew back a little, tugging gently on her earrings. She'd almost forgotten where she was, for the smallest of moments, with her mind truly always focused on fashion. Edith, thankfully, didn't seem too fazed though, and she had even replied that 'she couldn't wait'. Lea hoped that was true, she was always needed new models. The unreliable designer often took so long to finish projects (if indeed, she actually ever finished them) that models often dropped out and left her scrambling to find someone else. "Great!" Lea exclaimed, seeming to think that was the end of that. Edith was now her model.

Red? She wanted to wear red...? Lea's scrunched face at the sudden change in topic soon lit up as her mouth formed an 'o' in realisation of what Edith actually meant. Thank Merlin she was talking about the wine, the fashion designer didn't think she could bring herself to design a red robe. Especially not that season. It was all about the blue for May. "Oh, yes," Lea quickly spat out, feeling like she'd left too long a gap in between from her delay in understanding. "It's my favourite, thank you." The decadent witch briefly wondered if it was a Bordeaux bottle, but held her tongue, barely. She didn't want to push her luck, especially since Edith had been so hospitable towards her so far.

Standing a few paces behind Edith, not wanting to get in the British witch's way, Lea quickly glanced around the kitchen, noting the kettle with a smile, before the sound of a drawer opening drew her attention as Edith pulled out a... corkscrew? The Dörfler couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in curiosity. She'd seen one before, sure, but the pure-blooded witch had never actually used one, or even seen one in action. Magic was so much easier, after all. Everyone had their quirks though, Lea supposed, and perhaps this was one of Edith's and she was going remain respectful by not calling the other witch out on it. Following the tilt of Edith's head, Lea turned towards the indicated cabinet with a smile. "Not at all," she replied. Naturally sliding her wand out from her robe pockets, Lea barely even paid attention to what she was doing, as she flicked her wand to open the cabinet and smoothly levitate two glasses, one at a time, onto the counter in front of Edith.

A small, sad, smile escaped her as she returned her wand back to her pocket, Edith's question reminding her just how long it had been since she'd seen the majority of her family members. "Not as much as I would like to," Lea began, readjusting the cuffs of her robes as she allowed her mind to catch up with her translation from German to English. "I am often doing the... the travelling for work." Her arms rotated in a small circle as she spoke, knowing somehow that something wasn't quite right with the sentence she'd just produced. Perhaps she would ask Maja to help her a little with her English when she returned home. Then again, perhaps not. Edith was still going to hopefully understand her meaning, however, and so Lea didn't dwell on it. After all, she did travel a lot and parties definitely counted as work, even if they were fun... right? Lea often exaggerated how many events she was attending, mainly to her family, since the actual events (while they still required a fair amount of travelling) were never as frequent as the fashion designer made them out to be in her infrequent letters to home. "The World of fashion is never sleeping, you see." Lea chuckled warmly. "I have not seen Elias for quite a while. I thought, yesterday, when I returned from Cherbourg that I would say hello to him as a surprise tomorrow. And today... here I am!" The German grinned from ear to ear, gesturing to herself with a proud look on her face as she looked towards Edith for her reply.

Edith was already working on uncorking the bottle of wine before Lea had confirmed it was an alright decision. She wasn’t sure if it really was her favorite -- she had only said ‘red’ after all -- or if she was just being nice like it seemed the Dörflers were wont to do. It didn’t matter, either way. She turned and pulled at the cork, unphased as the other woman summoned a couple of glasses. If it had been a different Dörfler, the one she lived with, she would have enjoyed giving him shit about it -- that saved what, five seconds? -- but somehow she managed nothing more than a small smile.

“Thanks,” she said quickly, not bothering to let the bottle breathe (or whatever shit Elias went on about) before she poured each of them about half a glass, maybe a little bit more, but not enough that she could still pretend she wasn’t trying to get drunk as quickly as possible. She wasn’t nervous, not at all.

Edith picked up both glasses, handing the one with slightly more wine in it to Lea; no one could claim she wasn’t being hospitable. She nodded, taking a sip of her own wine as she leaned back against the counter; maybe denying her guest a seat on the sofa made her a little less hospitable. “Right.” She understood work travel, loved work travel and field work but felt so weird thinking about any enjoyable aspect of her old job. She didn’t understand the world of fashion, of course, but she figured that was plainly obvious so she didn’t bother pointing it out. “Sounds interesting, though,” she said, even though it definitely did not.

She smiled sadly when she mentioned not seeing Elias for a while. She understood that, at least, though the last time she had gone a major amount of time without seeing him had been her own decision and not one she could foresee herself making again, but it probably wasn’t something they should bond over.  ‘Oh yeah, this one time I gave him the silent treatment because I was in love with him but he was still engaged, you know how it is’ didn’t have a very good ring to it.

“Here you are!” She tried to match Lea’s enthusiasm but she might have overdone it. She took another (larger) sip of wine instead of dwelling on it. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled you’re here.” She motioned towards Lea’s glass as she took another sip of her own before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Maybe less thrilled if we drink all the wine,” she considered after a moment. “His fault for going to work, I suppose.”

Lea frowned to herself a little as she noticed that Edith didn't let the bottle breathe before pouring it into the glasses. It was too late to say anything now, unless Edith somehow had a time-turner on her (which Lea severely doubted) and besides, it was rude to do so. Though, Lea thought that surely her brother would have corrected his roommate by now? The German witch never remembered Elias allowing such a mistake before. No matter, she supposed, at least she got to the wine quicker this way.

Taking the glass from Edith's outstretched hand, the Dörfler witch smiled brightly as she was greatly pleased at the amount being offered to her. "Danke," she offered gratefully, enjoying how generous her unexpected host was being. Lea could certainly hold her drink well, but dealing with any member of her family (especially Maja, whom she'd have to go home to after this visit) was much easier when she wasn't entirely sober. The fashion designer mirrored the British witch, leaning against the counter as she took a small sip. "Oh, it is!" Lea exclaimed, happy that someone was finally taking an interest in her work. She always thought her work was fairly exciting but the rest of her family didn't seem to think so, unfortunately.

Lea beamed at the enthusiasm Edith was providing and joined in on the wine sipping, though Lea's sips were significantly smaller than her counterpart's. Merlin, she liked this witch a lot.

She thought Elias would be thrilled? Oh, she hoped so. Shocked and unprepared was much more likely though, but she did hope it provided her brother with some joy to see her again, alive and well. "I have missed him," Lea offered quietly, "though I'd never admit that in front of him." She laughed bitterly, deciding to follow Edith's example and took a much larger gulp of wine. Her spare hand waved nonchalantly around as if wafting a fly. "Ah, it is only wine. There is always more where that comes from." She replied slyly, giggling a little at Edith's next comment.

"Exactly! He works too much." She winked, taking another sip of wine. "This can teach him a lesson." In fact, whilst they were on the topic of work... Lea realised she knew next to nothing about Edith. Partially her own fault for asking about her from Elias, but still.  "Speaking of work..." Lea began hesitantly, "would I rude if asked what you do for work? I do not think Elias has told me. It must be very interesting!"

She should slow down, probably, match how slowly Lea was drinking. That would be fun for no one, though, so Edith kept up her own pace, sipping as she damn well pleased. She pushed her slipping glasses back up the bridge of her nose as she nodded, as much agreement she could offer that yes, Lea’s work did sound interesting. She had another swallow of wine, getting perilously close to draining her glass.

“I won’t tell him,” Edith offered with a grin, wondering if her teeth had that red wine-induced purple-y tint yet. Throwing any sort of feelings at Elias was always sort of risky; she was almost glad she wasn’t the only woman having this issue with him. “Sure there is, just…” she glanced at the lone bottle left on the wine rack. “Not a lot.” She wasn’t implying that they would work through two bottles of wine before Elias got home, of course not.

She nodded again after taking another sip. “Yeah, serves him right,” she agreed with Lea’s agreement, setting her glass down on the counter for a minute to try and slow herself down; at the mention of work, Edith picked her glass up again, almost immediately. “Well,” she started, doing her best not to grimace or look puzzled or really anything out of the ordinary. “I’m kind of between jobs at the moment.” She looked to Lea with a half-smile and a shrug, like it was no big deal. “I was working at the Ministry but it--” ended up conflicting with too many of my world views-- “wasn’t what I really wanted to do, so.” She shrugged again. “Still figuring things out for the time being.”

Now didn’t seem like the time to tell Lea about her secret job at The Prophet, writing anonymously about the war and muggleborns and other people affected by everything, still dealing with things now. It was a hard enough topic to broach with Elias, never mind this Dörfler she knew nothing about. “I do get to dogsit from time to time,” she added belatedly before finishing her glass and reaching for the bottle to pour herself a bit more.

“You said you were in Cherbourg earlier?” She changed the topic -- smoothly, she thought -- with another smile. “I had a holiday there once.” If fleeing the UK to the French coast counted as a holiday, that is. “Was that for work?” She glanced down at the other woman’s glass to check on her wine status -- she’d be good for another few minutes, she supposed.