white christmas

Paloma found it weird how she had lived in the city for about four and a half years and had never bothered to go sightseeing. During the whole year, she was at Durmstrang. During break, she usually stayed at home or spent some time in Russia. And during the summer, she often visited her sister in England or went to Azorat. When was the last time she had walked around her city? And with that thought in mind, she had left her house early in the morning, a day dedicated to sightseeing.

As she stood in the middle of the Stuttgart Christmas Market with a smile on her face as the sky darkened and those Christmas lights started glowing, with people walking around and chatting and eating and buying, she really regretted not having gone there earlier. It was something simple - a Christmas market - , and yet it was so beautiful to her. Not like the Christmases at Durmstrang or Azorat, or even in the Wizarding families.

The snow was falling, there faint music coming from the stalls, people chattering; probably discussing their plans to go abroad for the holidays with friends and family and so on. Overall, a picture perfect scene.

And Adria was loving every minute of it.

Since both her jobs took up most of her time, the woman barely had any time for herself. Then again, she was trying to earn the money for her mother, and felt completely distressed by the fact that she couldn't spend Christmas with her as usual. Which as exactly why she decided that getting far away from home, would probably be the best solution for now.

So far, it was turning out to be a good choice.

"Pretty amazing, right?" Adria murmured to a girl, who was standing in the middle of the streets, admiring, much like herself.

"Definitely," Paloma replied to the voice that had spoken, nodding and watching the snow falling softly on the ground. In the Renaissance inner courtyard of the Old Palace, concerts had just started and families sang along to traditional Christmas songs.

She turned her head and smiled at the blonde woman next to her. "It's my first time here, everything just seems a thousand times more beautiful to me," the Uchitel explained.

"I've been here plenty of times, but each time seems to be made more beautiful than the previous," Adria replied with a grin. "I don't get so many chances to witness such things, the excuse for which is my schedule is very hectic," she shook her head as though she was ashamed to admit such a thing. "Then again, that's what having two jobs does to you I guess," she shrugged.

"So are you here on holiday? Or just a visit?" The woman asked conversationally.

"Work," Paloma wrinkled her nose but gave the woman a small laugh, "Must be hard, working all the time, I don't know if I'd manage." Though, a busy schedule wouldn't bother her. She'd have freedom, and that was what mattered the most to her.

She bit her lips and frowned, "Umm. . . both, I guess. I live here, actually. Well, technically. I go to a boarding school, so I don't get to spend much time around the city."

"Well, I don't know if owning a bookstore can exactly be considered as work," Adria remarked and laughed lightly. "I do love it though. Better than my old research job. As for my nightime job...I don't think you'd appreciate what it is that I do." The woman rarely told anyone she was a stripper, figuring it was one of the easiest ways to get good money to pay for her mother's many treatments. Though her cause was maybe noble, she knew it was frowned upon by most people.

She nodded her head in understanding. "So you are a German by birth? This is one of the countries where one of the labs I worked for, is located. But I'm actually part English and part French."

Adria grinned slightly and ran her fingers through her hair. "Wow, I'm rambling aren't I? I fucking do that all the time but normally, the person would have stopped me by now."

"You own a bookstore?" Paloma asked with interest, "That's nice, and it does count as work. I mean, I'm not much of a reader myself, but my older sister, she loves books. It's why she took the job of librarian at a school, but it's not work that easy. She always has something to do around there."

She shook her head, choosing to ignore the comment about the woman's other job, not wanting to intrude on her personal life. "I'm British, actually," she told her, "But I moved here when I was eleven. Part French? I've always wanted to go to France." Well, she had gone to France. For a day.

Paloma laughed and waved her hand, "It's okay, I tend to do that as well, sometimes. Keep going, I like listening to people."

"Yes, I do," Adria confirmed feeling surprised that someone as young as the girl found it interesting to be a bookshop owner. "I say it doesn't count as work, since business has been a little slow lately," she admitted with a sigh. "And that's why I had to resort to other means of getting some quick money. But yes, for the most part, bookshops are cool," she grinned lightly.

Her face lightened up as the girl mentioned she was British. "Awesome to meet another English civilian," she said. "France is pretty beautiful, but I do prefer London. Maybe because I've spent more time with my mother there, seeing as my mother spent a lot of worktime in France."

"Nothing to tell really, I'm actually pretty boring," she laughed lightly. "Life of a researcher can only have so much excitement. How about you?"