Making Lemonade out of Lemons [Dahlia]

[Deleted]

July 1, 2025
dahlia jade leloup

Sapphire-Rose had a love/hate relationship with summer. France was much hotter then her home, especially this city, Marseilles. It was torture, just how hot it was. But she absolutely loved the little amount of clothing people wore when the weather was like this. She also loved going to the beaches and resorts. But if she could give up the heat? She'd do it in a heart beat. 

She was spending the day at a famous magical beach resort. A place that catered only to magical clientele. Not that she hated non-magical people. She didn't. She just liked how magical could regular the temperatures much better. So she could enjoy the sun AND beach without becoming a horribly sweaty mess. While it was still too warm for her taste it was much nicer at the resort then a public section of the beach would have been. 

Sapphire-Rose reclined on the beach, a large umbrella shielding her face from the sun as she stretched out in a maroon bikini. While on the paler side, she thankfully wasn't blindingly white and all the skin she was showing was clear and blemish free. Something that hadn't been the case for a long time. It was... Nice. To not see those bruises. No physical reminders of... him. 

She reached for her glass on the side table next to her lounger. It was filled with a very fancy and expensive champagne. She took a small sip. Though as she raised the glass to her lips her gaze found something interesting. A young woman. Age was always hard to tell, but she'd guess close to her own age. The young woman was lovely. Sapphire-Rose had always appreciated beauty in others. A trait she shared with her brother. They both had a thing for beautiful things (and people). She took another slow sip, unable to help watching this beautiful stranger for a few more moments.

[dahlia jade leloup]

@sapphirerose

Time really didn’t matter anymore for Dahlia. She had been stuck in Marseille for a few months now, which wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but also not optimal for her current life. Having just escaped Marseille and France a year to the date, being back so soon felt odd. She anticipated she would return at some point during her training period. But being stuck here? Never. The worst part though had to be the constant slew of owls being sent by Gringotts. They ranged from warnings about her career prospects to outright accusing her of absconding with the bag of gold she had claimed for them during her final job in Egypt. Dahlia even went as far as to get her responses certified by the hotel she was staying at, indicating that she was exactly where she needed to be, and the loot was under extreme lock, key, and charm. The goblins, for the intellect they possessed when it came to treasure, were outright fucking idiots sometimes, and were constantly trying to treat her like one too. She wasn’t stupid enough to break a contract with a goblin, so of course she was returning with ever gold piece accounted for.

But that was for whenever the lockdown lifted in the UK. In the meantime, there was nothing else she could other than visit her old haunts in the city, catch up with old friends and neighbors of her mother to show that she was still alive, and lounge on the beaches. The non-magique spots were always crowded and stressful during the summer, so she was thankful that the hotel that Gringotts put her up in had access to one of the magic-only beaches. Charmed to prevent non-magique and be more relaxing than the normal public beaches, she had become a frequent flyer there. There were very few magical families traveling, which she assumed had something to do with the lockdown. Sometimes it felt like she had the beach all to herself. Other guests at the hotel were around, at times, but not when she was in the middle of the day on a Tuesday.

Drifting parallel to the beach in the water, Dahlia finally decided she had enough for the time being. Most days were like this now, and while she loved being on the beach and in the ocean, there was still a limit to it. Months was seemingly that tipping point. Walking out of the water, she had a bit of a trek back to the reclining chair that her towel was on, though it was probably pointless since the heat was already siphoning off the water on her. Along the way, she passed by a young woman sitting in a chair, and Dahlia practically stopped where she was and turned to look at her. It was hard not to stare, even though she was aware that she was gawking. The blonde was stunningly gorgeous, and Dahlia felt like she had to at least say something now that she was looking in her direction. “S-Salut,” she stuttered, surprising herself at the weird bumbling with her greeting. “Comment ça va?”

Translations: "Hi." and "How are you?" - these are both pretty informal in meaning

[Deleted]

July 1, 2025
dahlia jade leloup

The young woman had been out on the water, something Sapphire-Rose hadn't ventured to. No, she much preferred reclining on the beach. Getting wet would ruin her hair, after all! Though she might go swimming in the resort pool later. She ha the whole day to kill, after all. Still, while getting soaking wet wasn't always the best look for her, it was a good one for this young woman. She had the figure and hair for it.

Sapphire-Rose took a third sip of her champagne, before setting it back down on the side table and leaning back in her recliner once more. She brush her hair all to one shoulder. She still kept glancing at this young woman every once in a while, but with her approaching it would be rude to stare like she had been a few moments before. At least, until the woman stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her. Sapphire-Rose was, by this point in her life, very used to how people reacted to the Veela charm. She and her brother had taken after their Veela father.

After a moment, the beauty stumbled out a greeting in French. Immediately Sapphire-Rose started to smile. "I'm sorry, I speak horrible French," While she'd recognized the words (since she was in France and heard them pretty frequently), she didn't really speak the language herself. A few things to get around, but that was about it. But her accent wasn't standard English speaker either. Her accent had a more Scandinavian twist to it (her features were very stereotypically Scandinavian as well). Most wouldn't guess Iceland though, as it wasn't a largely populated country. It wasn't the most common nationality to come across. Especially on a French beach. "Lovely weather, isn't it?"

[dahlia jade leloup]

▲

She shouldn’t have assumed the girl knew French, despite being in the country. This was a resort after all, and Marseille had always been full of people from all over. She knew most of the magical locals by now too, from either her time living in the city, or over the last few months of being stranded here. The frequency of other guests had been slow as well, so it sort of made sense that the blonde wasn’t French. Dahlia probably would have known who she was by now, especially considering her alluring draw.

“Désolée…Sorry.” She wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for, but Dahlia forgot to add any more context than her apology. Before she could add anything else to her already flubbing mess of words, the woman asked her about the weather, and Dahlia nodded her head. “It’s beautiful. Normal for this time of year, but still beautiful…” And normally she would have been more indifferent about the weather, since this was about as average of a Marseille summer as it could get. Not too hot out, definitely dry, and barely any rain. She was built for this sort of aridness, as opposed to the cold dreariness of London. Getting shipped off all over the world had presented her with plenty of clients, but she preferred the ones like Marseille and Egypt the most. Also because she knew how to effectively communicate in both places and considered them home.

“Are you here for work, or vacation?” Dahlia asked as she walked closer to where the blonde was lounging. It really didn’t matter what she was here for, because simply being here felt good enough for the French girl. Plus, a large portion of the people here for work this time of year took advantage of the beaches, so there really was no such thing as a true work trip in Marseille during the summer months.

@sapphirerose ● 317 ● artist by artist

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