[TTD - Arnstein] Call me irresponsible (Maja)

Lea had a feeling in her bones that the day wasn’t going to be a very good one. She laid on her bed, staring blankly at the half-finished sketch of a catsuit and having half a mind to rip it up and start all over again. The fashion designer was fed up with work, though she’d only started a mere hour prior. She had so many designs to finish and no motivation to complete any of them, and the black and white lines of all the incomplete sketches were making her eyes hurt.

So when her younger sister burst into her room, telling her something or another about that they had to go meet their parents somewhere, Lea didn’t know whether to be annoyed at Maja or grateful. Having to go anyway with Maja would, no doubt, be annoying and frustrating but it would certainly be a welcome break. Lea dropped her sketch down but remained in her reclined position on her bed, debating whether to go or refuse to move. Her parents were a lot like her younger sister, and Lea hated feeling like the black sheep of the family, with them constantly cramping her style. Family events were always awkward to her, and she wondered if perhaps it would be better if she just stayed home all day.

“Ugh, fine.” Lea eventually agreed, rolling off the bed and stuffing her bag with ridiculous amounts of objects that she would definitely not need. It took her another twenty minutes to be what she considered as presentable, and eventually walked out of her room and headed with her little sister to the nearest place connected to the floo network.

Grabbing the powder, Lea stepped into the fireplace but as she said the name of the town, “Arnstein, aah, aah-choo!” The floo powder got straight up her nose, as she accidentally let go of the powder to catch the sneeze before she got the chance to specify exactly which Arnstein she meant. Lea figured it would be fine though, it wasn’t like it was a big deal, right?

She stepped out of the fireplace and immediately felt that something didn’t look right. “Uh… Maja?” She beckoned her sister over, as she looked out the window to see a strange, futuristic looking muggle building with a spinning symbol outside of it. This couldn’t possibly be the place their parents wanted to meet, could it?

@Maja Dörfler

“Ugh, fine.”

Rolling her eyes, Maja slipped back out of her sister’s room and padded down the hall to her own to get changed.

Both Dörfler girls had come home to their parents’ in Hanover for a few days to spend some time as a family before Jürgen left for Durmstrang and Maja moved to London to start law school. Their parents had gone out to run a few errands, but then proposed they meet up for lunch in Arnstein in the early afternoon for a change of pace. Lea had been upstairs at the time, but Maja promised to relay the message – however, she’d been working on finalizing the last of the paperwork she needed to secure her new apartment, and had completely lost track of time. They were by no means late, but Lea often took ages to get ready so Maja figured she’d best get her moving sooner.

She found herself pleasantly surprised, however, when only twenty minutes had elapsed before Lea appeared downstairs.

The fireplace was large enough for them to stand side-by-side (an intentional design on their parents’ part, as they utilized the Floo system to get to and from the German Ministry every day) and Lea had already grabbed a pinch of powder, so Maja followed her sister onto the hearth and let her direct them.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Only once her surroundings stopped revolving at breakneck speed around her did Maja step out of the hearth, brushing the soot from her long skirt. She glanced up sharply when she heard her name spoken tentatively, to find Lea already at the single tiny window and wearing a worried expression. Maja followed her sister’s gaze – and blinked. What was that?

“This… does not look like Arnstein.”
Indeed, the Arnstein that Maja had in mind was a quaint little town to the south of their home in Hanover; she’d been once before, only a few years ago, and this looked nothing like where they’d Flooed in that time. This – from what she could see – seemed to be a small city, at least. They had to be in the wrong place. No matter: they could simply Floo back home and try again.

Already deciding their next move, Maja began looking for the customarily-supplied container of the green powder. But upon searching the mantelpiece thoroughly, Maja made a noise of discontent: she’d located the container quickly enough, but it was completely empty. What sort of place had a public Floo-connected fireplace but no powder? As annoyed as it made her, it also made her a bit uneasy.
“No more Floo powder,” she grumbled to relay her findings to her sister, glancing around the small room – which was empty except for the pair of them and the fireplace. “And… no one around. Excellent.”

Maja had no idea how deep into wizarding (or Muggle) territory they were (and furthermore no idea where they even were geographically), so Apparition was out for the moment as well.

She moved back to the window again, peering out at the enormous glass-and-metal building across the street – feeling a prickle of curiosity, despite her misgivings.
“What do you think that is?” she asked her sister.

“No. It does not.” Lea agreed, panicking a little bit as she continued to stare out the window. “Is there… Is there more than one Arnstein?” She asked, wondering if maybe this situation was her fault, since she didn’t specify which Arnstein she wanted.

She kept her gaze on some weird building outside on the other side of the street, completely lost on what to do, and beginning to conjure up all sorts of crazy scenarios in head, making absolutely no attempt to remain level headed or calm. The fashion designer barely turned her head as Maja made a noise, turning back to the window even as her sister said there was no more powder. She hadn’t even thought about that. The added news that there was no one else around, despite already knowing this information, felt like she was receiving the worst news ever. “So we’re doomed.” Lea whined, tilting her head back to look at the ceiling. “We’ll have to live as muggles forever.” She added genuinely, living up to her role as the family’s drama queen.

Lea glanced for a second at her younger sister as she came to her side again, who was now also looking at the building that had caught her own eye. “I don’t know, but it looks fancy.” Lea said, wondering if perhaps it would be a good idea to see what was inside. “It is clearly an important building, look how big it is! And… maybe we can get help there. Let’s go!” She moved off without even a second thought, stepping outside and waiting for the cars (she was used to those muggle things by now) to pass so that she didn’t get run over and die, before half-walking and half-running across to the other side, assuming Maja was beside her the entire time.

Pushing open the door, Lea immediately gasped, horrified at what she saw in the centre as if the muggles treated it like it were some crowning glory. “Maja!” Lea shrieked, almost about to rummage for her wand before remembering where they were. “Look what they’re doing to that muggle! They’re torturing him!” She cried out, pointing at the boy with his hand on a big metal ball with his hair all spiked up in all directions. That must have been excruciatingly painful! “What if they decide to torture us too?! We should leave before they grab us!”