Out of her Depth

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Nastasia Caliburn

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OOC First Name
Lin
Wand
SQUIB - Not Allowed A Wand!
Nastasia had finally met up with Merlina and Vincenzo, booked herself into a hotel and decided to head back to Obsidian for a while. She was neither comfortable in the muggle world or the wizarding world, feeling decidedly stuck between the two realms. It would be easier she knew on her family if she simply went and lived amongs the muggles but she wasn't one, though she were a squib it did not mean she was a muggle and coming from a pureblood family meant they wanted nothing more than to cover up her shortcomings whenever possible. But then there was her grandmother, who simply doted on Nastasia and didn't care in the slightest who or what she was. It was because of her that Nastasia had been tolerated around the family home for so long, heaven help her when the old woman finally died.

There was nothing much for her to do, other than walk and look longingly at the passersby. Dreaming of what her life would have been like if she had been born with the gifts that she should have had.
 
Brunhilde was rather exhausted after a day of work in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. She had finally finished shopping for groceries in Obsidian. As the heels she was wearing were murdering her feet, she was ready to head home. Her pace was quick as she tread the way back to her apartment, as it was really only a short distance. The tall blonde was wishing that she had opted for a pair of more practical shoes and not really paying attention to where she was going or who was in her pathway.

The woman let out an oof as she careened into someone, the paper bag that had once been fat with groceries now spilling its innards all over the stones of Obsidian Harbor. To add insult to injury, one of her heels twisted and broke off.

Although she was not really a woman to apologize, Brunhilde felt that it was prudent in this situation. "I am very sorry," she started, out of breath, "I did not realize where I was going." Her ice blue eyes fell on the woman that she had so gracelessly stumbled over for a moment, and then fell to the mess she had before her- someone she didn't recognize. She picked up the broken shoe with a grimace- she hadn't been anticipating having to walk home barefoot.
 
Nastasia actually squeaked when someone careened into her. She was afraid at once that the woman who looked like a professional career woman would begin lashing out at her but instead she apologised. Nastasia watched as the womans groceries scattered all over the ground, as well as her heel breaking off.
"Oh, pardon me I am so sorry" her Italian accent was thick and punctuated with her broken english, she stooped down immediately and began picking things up.
"I was in a world of my own. Let me help" She figured the woman could fix her shoe magically but did not suggest it in case it led to more awkward questions like her own lack of ability.
 
A light smile broke out on Brunhilde's thin lips, although it was rather awkward. The woman had never smiled a lot as a child and it was her adult years were no different. Up until about a year ago she had been an entirely unhappy person. She believed that her newly found independence had helped in that area.

"Grazi," Brunhilde stated, her own voice lilted with accent. Unfortunately she did not know much Italian. "Do not worry at all- the fault was mine. I really should have been watching where I was going." She got down on her knees, repairing her broken heel with her wand and slipping her shoe on before cramming her groceries into her arms. "These shoes are worthless- and I knew better than to wear them." Being incredibly gracious for the woman's kind gesture, she stood with her arms full of groceries, her smile widening. Brunhilde was not accustomed to greetings with strangers, especially under circumstances like this.
 
Nastasia smiled graciously at the woman as she handed her the last of the fallen items and stood up gracefully. It was appreciated the effort of speaking some Italian. Nastasia inclined her head.
"il suo benvenuto, sorry. You are welcome" she had not meant to return to her native language but it was difficult when someone spoke first to her in it. She looked at the shoes and smiled.
"They are.. eh, not It-alian shoes. Good vones come ..eh, from It-aly" she felt as if she were completely stupid now. Here was an obvious intelligent minded woman and Nassie was speaking about shoes. She sighed a little, she herself was merely a seamstress and a damn fine one at that but because of what she was, she never had much confidence in herself.
 
Brunhilde knew that she was going to have trouble cramming everything under her arms while balancing on stilettos, but she would have to manage. She listened to the woman, noticing that she was taking time to speak English. However, she was doing pretty well- Brunhilde at least could understand her.

Smiling, the tall blonde woman said, "Maybe I'll have to look into some shoes from Italy- the ones I'm wearing are absolute rubbish." Shaking her head to get a wisp of pale blonde hair out of her face, "Where are you from in Italy? My name's Brunhilde, by the way." She would have extended a hand, but she was a little ill equipped to do so at the moment.
 
Nastasia watched the woman attempt to juggle the packages and immediately offered to help her.
"Please to give me some of those..I will help, no?" she extended her hands to the woman who introduced herself as Brunhilde, "I am Nastasia and I am from Tuscany. It is North It-aly. Beautiful province,molto bello... eh, very beautiful. You are not from here no?"
she hoped she was not detaining Brunhilde, goodness knew the packages seemed extremely awkward to carry.
 
"I've never been to Tuscany," Brunhilde replied, her thin lips spreading into even more of a smile. Something alien had taken hold of her lately- but she was glad not to be the frigid woman that she used to, and wasn't going to fight it. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Nastasia. I've heard that it's a beautiful place. Italy has always been one of my hopeful travel destinations." The tall woman decided not to argue with the woman and let her take some of the groceries.

Shaking her head of blonde hair, Brunhilde replied, "No, I am not a native New Zealander. I grew up in Norway- though I went to school in England." With a smile she said, "We can carry these to my apartment if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you..." she started. Brunhilde wouldn't mind having some company, and Nastasia seemed nice enough.
 
Nastasia smiled again, she was glad her own shoes were simple peach satin flat pumps that were hidden now under the matching peach robe and gown she wore. It was always difficult to go from travelling between the muggle and the magical world, Nastasia was sometimes so scatter brained that she would go into a muggle town wearing her travelling robes or show up at her parents home with jeans and a tight fitted muggle top. Of course they had gotten used to this over the years, what they hadn't gotten used to was all her tattoos. She simply wanted to make herself feel different in her own way and not as a result of what she had been born as.

"I vill help you, I vas not .. eh, doing anyzing now. Norvay. I have never been. Is it nice?" if the country were anything like Brunhilde then Nastasia was of the mind that it was full of friendly beautiful people.
 
"I really appreciate your help," Brunhilde replied, her voice smooth. She didn't expect Nastasia to help her out, but it was nice all the same. Starting to make her way towards her apartment, she replied simply, "It's a pretty country." Her brow furrowed a bit as she thought about where she had grown up. She had never been happy there. "It gets way too cold in my opinion- I really like New Zealand. It's comfortable here, and I never have to worry about the winter." Of course, the heat got to her sometimes, but she preferred it to freezing. Her ice blue eyes glinting in interest, she asked, "So, Nastasia, are you in New Zealand just to visit or did you move here too?" The tall woman was never good at starting conversations, let alone maintaining them.
 
Nastasia walked along with Brunhilde.
"I vud not do vell in zee cold. I like... this.. ehm heat" she felt as if she was struggling with her english and sometimes wished she could cast some spell on herself to improve it. Sometimes she wished she could simply cast spells.
"I came to see my niece before she... ehm begins at the school. Her fathder, my broth-der is also here. So I see them both" she smiled, Nastasia adored her niece utterly. Having no children of her own or any plans to the to in the future, Nastasia had developed a special bond with Merlina.
"Hogvarts school. She is all excited to be going der. I sorry for my english, I know to speak it more I will be better".
 
With a light grin, Brunhilde replied, "It's no problem at all- I remember when I first had to learn English. It's an absolutely horrendous language to learn." After years of using English, Brunhilde was quite fluent, but she remembered the horrible time she had had during her first few years of school all too well.

"Oh, that's nice that you're here with the family," the blonde added, "I went to Hogwarts as well- but the one in Scotland. Where did you go to school?" Brunhilde had never seen this woman before, and if she had gone to Hogwarts she didn't recall her face. Her face was lit with curiosity as she strolled down the sidewalk.
 
"It is much better vhen I don't zink too hard about vhat I vant to zay" she smiled walking along, Nastasia was enjoying this freedom and this womans company until she asked one of the dreaded questions. Nastasia had not gone to any magical school, none would have her. None would want a squib for crying out loud. Could she say as much to this woman? She didn't know but Nastasia didn't lie, couldn't - it was most likely her biggest failing yet.

"I did not attend any magic school" she blushed, moving her arms to cover the packages she was carrying with more ease. The tattoo on her arm became visible as she did so. Nastasia had lots of tattoos, on her back, her ankles, her arm, her neck, around her belly button. She wanted simply something that made her different in her own way, not in any one elses. Sure squibs were rare but she didn't like being that kind of special.
"I vas not born vith magical abilities much to my families dismay" there she had said it, now let the chips fall where they may, "I am vhat they call a ..." the sheer saying of that awful word was like a nail in her coffin, "... a squib".
 
"I know exactly what you mean," Brunhilde chuckled. "At my job I have to know more than just English- it gets difficult sometimes." Normally she wouldn't admit such a thing, but then again she didn't know what normal was anymore. Her shoes clicked on the pathway as she walked, stepping in front of an apartment complex.

Her blue eyes widened as Nastasia admitted at first that she hadn't gone to a magical school, and then to top it off, that she was a squib. Brunhilde had to keep her mouth from hanging open. She had never really gotten a good impression of squibs, especially since that filthy caretaker back at Hogwarts Scotland had been her only person to go off of. But Nastasia didn't seem like that at all.

Brunhilde knew that there was a time when old prejudices had to be cast aside. Here she was, a former Slytherin and a pureblood, conversing with a squib as if it were a normal, everyday occurrence. What would her father have to say about that? She could only smirk at the thought.

Completely unfazed by the tattoo marking the woman's arm, she decided to break the silence. Her smirk morphed into a warm smile as she spoke. "Well, I wouldn't have guessed that!" she replied, hoping that she had not just offended Nastasia. For a squib she had melted into the Wizarding World quite well. "Would you like to come inside? I think I've got some butterbeer." Brunhilde herself wasn't a fan of the sweet drink, but since you never knew what sort of company would come around, she had a small supply of it anyway.
 
Nastasia smiled at Brunhildes politeness. For that was surely what it was, not many people in the magical community tolerated squibs once upon a time. Preferring to shunt them to the muggle world as if getting rid of dirty laundry. Not in her family though, her family would not hear of sending one of their own away, no matter what defect she or he had. The craziness that had marked one of her great-grandmothers was testiment to that. An incident involving her using her magic on some unsuspecting muggle children, meant the ministry had to get involved and she had been sent to St. Gabriella's hospital for brain maladies as they so quaintly put it.

"Thank you Brunhilde, I do not vant to impose on you furth-der" she smiled, "I will carry these up for you and then I ... leave."
She pondered a moment before continuing.
"I zink I fit in because I never really left. I go between both... vorlds alot. My vork lets me do dis and my family vould not send me avay no matter vhat."
 
Brunhilde's smile widened. She wasn't sure if she didn't want her company or if it she didn't want to see her new self slipping away, but in any case she was determined. "No, I insist," she said, trying to be encouraging. "You may stay as long as you like. I'm not busy at all."

Cursing her pathetic social skills, she nodded. Trying to bridge the gap that had seemingly been wedged between them, she asked, "What do you do for a job?" True curiosity was plain on her face- she didn't really know much about squibs. Filch the caretaker, she knew, had not been a good model.
 
Nastasia began to relax and almost immediately the difference was evident in how her broken english was pronounced.
"I vill stay some bit then" she smiled, "I am a seamstress but I also do another job. De seamstress I have been for many years now. I began when I vas small, stitching little dresses for my dolls and then began to make dresses for myself. Vhen my moth-der saw how good I vas getting, she had me taught embroidery and tapestry and lace making. I am not so good at everyding I do but I am an excellent seamstress. I thought perhaps I vould open my own tailoring shop here but I do not zink it is needed somehow."

She blushed a little knowing many magical people could do charm spells on their clothes to make them last a bit longer, though actual repairing of the clothes was by ministry law and the grinding wheels of commerce forbidden, she knew many also attempted it.
 
"A tailoring shop would be neat," Brunhilde replied, stepping into the apartment complex. She was simply happy that the woman had decided to stay, if only for a while. "I don't even try to mess around with sewing- everytime I've tried it I end up bleeding somehow." With an amused smirk she made her way up the stairs, and with a wave of her wand she managed to open the door.

"Well, here we are," she started, and with some effort dumped all of her groceries on the kitchen counter. Now she would have to get to putting them away. "Would you like anything to drink?" she asked, dusting off her robes absentmindedly.
 
Nastasia followed Brunhilde into the apartment and placed her portion of the groceries on the kitchen table. Looking about her she thought the place wad beautiful.
"A soda water or coffee is fine please" she smiled as she was offered a drink, "Your home is very beautiful."

She was glad that Brunhilde had not scoffed at the thought of her being a seamstress and was delighted that at least one person thought the idea of a tailors shop a good one. Would she shock her now by telling her what else she did.
"It is not so hard to sew once you pay attention to the needle point" she smiled, "It is not ...em, how you say... disimiliar ..no, em.. it is not different, to creating tattoos. Embroidery on human flesh is how I zink of it, this I do too".
 
Brunhilde gave Nastasia a warm smile. "Why, thank you. I do love it myself- but I think more for the independence than anything. I've found that I prefer to live on my own, though I don't mind company." Her ice blue eyes shone with real warmth as she looked back to the woman- something that was genuine and not forced, as she always had to at work.

Turning on the coffee maker, she listened with interest. "You do tattoos?" she asked, a bit surprised. Brunhilde would never consider maiming her body in such a way- but then again, she had always been closed minded. Being in the world without the proverbial leash attached had given her a wake up call. There were many people in the world, all of them individual. And it definitely made things more interesting, even though she didn't always seem engaged with them.
 
Nastasia sat on one of the chairs in the kitchen as Brunhilde put the coffee pot on. It was comfortable and easy going in her company and Nastasia continued to let herself relax.
"Yes" she said looking around her, "I have done this now for six years. I learn when I was 18. It is wonderful work really. Though not as fulfilling as my sewing but sometimes it pays better."

She shrugged very matter of factly, something had to pay the bills after all.
"And you Brunhilde, you vork vhat?"
 
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