I won't be home for Christmas [Blair]

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025
@blair

Emma had never not gone home for the holidays. Home to Spain. While she'd been working in France for many years, it had never been "home". Nothing beat the warm days, her family's manor when decorated for the holidays. The only thing she didn't miss was the parties. Her parents always had many of their business associates and other wealthy horse owners. 

This would be the first time. The first year of not going home. The first year on her own. In a foreign country, surrounded by strangers, surrounded by unfamiliar sights and sounds. While she used English often in her line of work it was strange to hear it so frequently used. It had made her realize just how rusty her English really was, and made her feel very self conscious. 

It was the evening, and Emma sat alone at a table in the Leaky Cauldron. She was currently staying in one of the rooms until the beginning of the January, when her flat would be ready to move it. She'd just finished eating dinner a bit ago (which had been particularly difficult to obtain  due to her allergies.), and was was enjoying a glass of wine (a druid brand that used natural sugar instead of artificial, so she could actually drink it). She was debating heading back up to her room, or getting another glass of wine, when she realized someone had approached her table.

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025

Having work as an excuse not to go home for the holidays had actually worked out in Blair's favor. She didn't really want to entertain the idea of going home to her parents, especially not when their being divorced meant the awkwardness of trying to arrange for plans with each of her parents, pretending to enjoy herself, and then gathering her belongings and returning home. It was weird to think of London as "home", but she supposed that that was what it was to her anymore. Her life was more there than it was in Texas. She might have had a number of her belongings left there, but most of it was stuff that she hadn't really missed, if she were going to be honest with herself about it. She'd made it through over a year without whatever she hadn't brought to Hogwarts with her or bought at some point along the way.

It was two nights before Christmas, and Diagon and Horizont Alleys had been busy with shoppers. Blair was glad that things in Britain supposedly stayed pretty quiet until well after the holidays were over, because no longer getting a school break of any sort meant that the time that she got to herself was when she wasn't working… and that was it. She probably should have made some sort of dinner or checked with her roommates about what their plans were, but she had ended up stopping inside the Leaky Cauldron instead.

The food there wasn't fantastic or anything to write to her parents about (not that she would have, mind), but it was reasonable and relatively inexpensive for the portion sizes. She hadn't been inside for very long before she noticed a young woman around her age, maybe a bit older, sitting alone at a table. After she had placed her order at the bar—along with a firewhisky because Horizont Alley really wasn't that far—she turned her head to see that the same young woman was still alone there.

Not wanting to be presumptuous but not having seen her looking around like she had been waiting for anyone, Blair took her firewhisky in hand and walked over. "Hi," she said simply as she approached the table. "Uh, are you waiting for anyone?"

@emma

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025
@blair

Emma swirled the maroon liquid in her wine glass, absentmindedly watching it. This was one of the simple joys she'd learned very quickly when she came to England. Because it was closer to Hy-Brasil then France, the druid wines that used natural sugar instead of artificial was much cheaper. Though on the negative she didn't known any of the restaurants, shops, etc that offered foods lacking artificial sugar. She'd spent a lot of time finding the places in France that could cater to her allergy but not she had to start all over. She let out a soft sigh and raised the wine glass and tipped the remaining wine into her mouth and swallowed. She shouldn't have more wine, but now that she was thinking about it, she really did want another glass or two...

Then, a voice. She didn't recognize the accent immediately, but she knew the voice was aimed towards her. She turned her head as she set the glass down. There she found a young woman, glass in hand, approaching her table. Emma blinked. It took a moment for her mind to process what was happened but when she did she smiled softly. "Ah, no," she started. It still felt so strange to use English this much. "Do you... want to join me?"

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025

"Ah, no," the other young woman replied to her in response to her question about if she were waiting for anyone. "Do you… want to join me?" She had an accent that clearly wasn't British, either, and Blair was tempted to guess that she was Hispanic but couldn't confirm that without seeming weird—especially if her guess were off the mark.

"If you don't mind?" Blair didn't want to impose if it turned out that she didn't want the company; she could just go and find somewhere else to sit, and there would be no harm done. Also knowing what an odd time of year it was for some people, she didn't want to seem like one of those kids she'd encountered at her No-Maj elementary school who saw someone sitting alone at lunch and just left them to sit there because they weren't "cool" enough. It wasn't that she thought that this girl had that problem; she seemed relatively normal, from what Blair could tell, but her accent also marked her as being different.

Blair's best guess, given the timing, was that the young woman at the table had traveled there for the holidays for some reason, though she assumed that she would have been somewhere other than the Leaky Cauldron if she were there to stay with friends or family. (At least, she hoped that was the case. It would really suck otherwise, Blair thought.)

"I mean, it's totally cool if you say no," Blair added with a relaxed shrug, trying to give the girl an easier way out if she wanted or needed it. Not everyone was comfortable with strangers, and she understood that. At the same time, she knew that it didn't hurt to have other people in one's corner.

@emma

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025
@blair

Emma wasn't a stranger to social customs and how these sort of situations played out. She'd been to plenty of her parents' parties where strangers would walk up to her and ask to her join her. It was simply... she hadn't quite expected it to happen here. Not that she minded! Or had anything against it, it was just strange to have a stranger want to join her without any clear incentives in mind. At least at her parents' parties she knew the people that approached her were doing so to cozy up to her parents.

Emma had opened her mouth to answer, to say she didn't mind, when the girl spoke again and shrugged. As if she really wouldn't be bothered if Emma rejected the offer. Emma closed her mouth and blinked, before smiling just a little. "No... No, it is no trouble." she started, and then motioned to the seat in question. "Please," she added. She truly didn't mind. She knew she was more on the introverted side, but she didn't mind company. Especially now. Considering it was her first winter holiday apart from her family. Some company would be nice. "I am Emma. You are?" She asked. She didn't give her last name, as it often confused people. Her clearly very English surname did not match her accent. Nor was mentioning she had her dead biological father's surname upon meeting people courteous.

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025

The young woman whom she had approached seemed somewhat hesitant, though, to put herself in her shoes, Blair understood why it might have come across as a bit strange. She was just a stranger in a pub in another country, not to mention that it also happened to be a country that had had multiple security concerns significant enough to end up becoming issues at an international level. Hopefully, Blair thought, the girl didn't think that she was some sort of escaped convict because of her slightly "edgy" appearance, though she guessed that she would have reacted more strongly to her presence if that were the case.

She said, however, that it was no problem for Blair to join her and gestured to the available seat. "Please," she encouraged her.

Blair sat down as the other girl introduced herself as "Emma". That, unfortunately, didn't really give Blair much of an indication as to where she was from. It wasn't that it mattered too much; Blair was mostly just curious about her. Emma also asked for her name. "Cool. I'm Blair," Blair told her with a nod, figuring that Emma had probably already worked out on her own that she was American. "So, Emma, are you here for the holidays?" she asked, taking a sip of her firewhisky and looking at Emma curiously.

@emma

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025
@blair

This stranger took a moment but finally seemed to accept Emma's offer, sitting in the empty chair and joining her. Emma was still trying to figure out the accent though. English wasn't her native language, so it made it quite hard to try to pinpoint what was so different about the accent from the British... After a moment the stranger introduced themselves and Emma's eyes widened just a touch. She'd never heard that name before, Blair. It was quote unique. "It is nice to meet you," she answered politely. Though she couldn't help but wonder if the foreignness of the name was linked to the accent.

Emma smiled a little as Blair asked about the holiday. "Oh, I moved here. It is easier to stay for holiday then go home." THough Spain wasn't actually far, it was mostly just the parties her parents held that she was avoiding. It wasn't that she hated them, just that they could be quite exhausting. Not only that but she wanted to get used to life in the UK. "Forgive me but where are you from?" She couldn't help but finally ask, as she still couldn't place the accent.

[Deleted]

December 23, 2025

Emma said that it was nice to meet her, but Blair felt that the conversation was still too much on the "weird and uncomfortable small talk" side for her liking. She didn't expect for Emma to answer that she wasn't just there because she was visiting somebody for the holidays, though. No, Emma explained, she had moved there, so it was easier for her to stay for the holidays than it was for her to go home.

It made sense to Blair, who theoretically could have gone home, she supposed, but she didn't want to deal with the stress of all that. She knew that she would have a better time in London, even if she was technically on her own—with the exception of her flatmates, perhaps, depending on how many of them had other plans.

"Forgive me," Emma started then, "but where are you from?"

"I'm from Texas," Blair replied. "In the United States." She assumed, though, that most people had probably heard of Texas before for some reason or another. Blair wasn't extraordinarily attached to her home state, but it was notable enough that most people knew of its existence. It wasn't one of those states out in the middle of nowhere. Take Nebraska, for instance. There wasn't much of anything that immediately sprung to mind at the mention of Nebraska. Maybe there were cornfields or something, but it wasn't too exciting.

"I live here in London, though," she clarified for Emma. She wasn't just a traveler passing through. Although she wasn't an expert on the city, either, Blair had lived there for long enough that she felt that she knew a thing or two. "Where are you from?" she asked Emma in return, still trying to place her accent.

@emma