Life-Saving Coffee (utterly open)

[nero]

Lydia flopped wearily into the long beige leather armchair in the players’ quarters. She was tired- it had certainly been a very long day. She's started with a practise, getting ready for the up-coming match against Germany. Lunch had been skipped rather stupidly for now she was in dire need of a steaming, strong coffee and her favourite bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwhich. The reason for her skipping lunch was due to the urgent event of her broom needing it's bristles trimmed. The Firebolt lay now on Lydia's lap, fresh from being polished and shining majestically. She studied it for a moment. It was a year, two months, three weeks old to that day. It had been given to her by her father, and she’d actually named it out of sheer happiness. Breezy. A stupid, silly name, but it felt right nonetheless and Lydia couldn’t help but feel that every time she rode Breezy and urged the Firebolt on with the name, the broom responded.

Settled Breezy into a small, slim black and red case beside the armchair she was sitting in, Lydia sighed lightly and closed her eyes. She couldn’t wait until the match- she truly felt that they could win, that they were more than ready, that the cup would be theirs in the end. The Germans had no chance! She continued to tell herself this. Lydia had always been a competitive player- living with four older brothers and two older sisters and being the baby of the family, she had learnt to fight for her family rights. Thinking of her family made her sigh again. Her father, Christian, her sister Alexandra and her brother Simon were all going to the match. Mickey, Lydia’s eldest brother, was still deciding. He had two children, two little male twins, and due to their age of 4 he was unsure whether to take them. Lydia had constantly informed him it wasn’t necessary that he came- she didn’t mind. But he knew her well and could tell that she would be more confident if her brother was there. Her other brothers, Vinchenzo and Manuel, were somewhere in the French Alps and couldn’t be tracked to be informed of her sisters’ match. And Fiona, her other sister, was away on her honeymoon in Egypt.

A coffee was certainly needed. The thought came to Lydia and she almost nodded to herself as she rose from the comfort of the beige chair and headed towards the long tables which were situated beside the back wall. They carried several refreshment snacks but Lydia never liked to eat a lot in the afternoon in the days nearing matches. Picking one small cherry tomato from a bowl and taking an under-sized mug of hot coffee from the tables she retreated back to her armchair. There she stayed for five odd minutes, thinking of her family and sipping from the much-needed mug.

[adelle]

Fraternising... well, sororising with the enemy was one thought that flashed through Adelle's mind as she saw her only possible choice of company. But then she could trust herself much more implicitly than she could trust anyone else, so it shouldn't pose a problem. And the Players' Quarters were shared for a reason. The purpose of the Quidditch World Cup was to bring people and countries together... well no that wasn't what it did much of the time - after all, you weren't likely to feel amicably inclined toward someone who'd whacked several tonnes of iron towards you while you were hovering precariously in mid-air - but still, the fact remained that the Players' Quarters were shared and thus the chance for socialising was there. And it would simply be rude to ignore the only other woman in the room if she was going to stay here - which she certainly was.

Oh, what was the harm in it? It might go against the grain - Adelle tried to avoid anything and everything which might make her lose concentration in a match, and knowing a member of the opposition might be one of those - but there was much more harm in discrediting her own country by ignoring the woman. So she took a small amount of eggnog from the refreshments table and sat down opposite the other player with a smile as she sipped the drink and felt the warmth spreading through her bones within a few seconds of having done so. Canada was a bit colder than the part of Germany she was used to. But then it was much more northern; her geography wasn't sufficiently good to enlighten her as to quite the extent of its 'Northern-ness' but she did know it sat on top of the USA and wasn't one of the places you went if you wanted a guaranteed warm holiday. So, it not being one of the warmest places on the Earth, she was glad for the warmth (superficial warmth perhaps) the eggnog provided her with.

"Vich country do you come from?" she asked suddenly, making the first attempt at conversation. "Me, I am for Germany. My name ees Adelle Dannenberg." She shrugged at this, since she hadn't broken into the ranks of fame or glory yet. But she liked to think her Quidditch skills improved all the time, and perhaps someday she would be worthy of those two things, fickle as they were. "Have you played in a World Cup before?" she asked. "Thiss ees my first one." She laughed slightly, the reason unclear unless you knew her private thoughts, and leant over to rearrange the flowers in a clear vase to the side of her armchair - she loved the smell of freesia.

[nero]

As expected, there would be a lot of mothers at the Quidditch Cup finals. Obviously! Lydia's own mother had been killed. First tortured with Crucio and then murdered with Kedavra. The thought sent a shiver down Lydia's spine and she felt her eyes prickling with tears. That made her frown, blinking furiously to get rid of the moisture. To cry! At the beginning of her new, fabulous career, she shouldn't be crying- she should be celebrating. Her mother would be proud of her, she decided on, although she knew that her mother hadn't ever had a fondness for Quidditch although all of her children enjoyed it.

Celebration champagne was what what Lydia would have had if it wasn't a short while till the first match. She never drank or ate much near the matches although she knew she needed the energy. An image of a drunk Lydia flying out onto the pitch at the cry of 'Morandos!' made her grin, as she wondered if that had ever happened- a drunk, professional player in the World Cup. There was no champagne though, just a large crate half-full with ice-cold beers. Lydia ignored the crate having always despised the taste of beer.
A noise alerted her and she glanced up. Another person was in the room now. A slim, dark-haired young lady who must most likely on the German team- Lydia of course knew all of the Spanish, and the Bulgarians weren't yet allowed in the quaters she'd thought. Oh no... she's coming over. The thought came to Lydia and she butted it from her head. She didn't really think that- she needed some company, German or not. The only reason she'd been thinking such thoughts was that she wondered if the girl would speak a word of English- the language used in the World Cup.

Fortunatley the words which came from the young female's mouth were clearly in the English dictionary, though with a thick accent coating it Lydia listened slightly more carefully. She herself spoke in a rich, Spanish accent even when she spoke English. Her English wasn't great she guessed.
"Hola, Adelle. I am playing for Spain, a Chaser. Nice to speak with you, thank you for coming here over. I apologize if my English is slightly rusty," She smiled a little. "I am the same- this is my first match in the World Cup League. I am looking forward to playing against your team." She laughed lightly, the sound seeming louder and richer at the same time in the large room. Tucking a long, sleek strand of dark her behind her ear she sipped from her drink again.

[adelle]

Adelle gave a little frown of puzzlement as she tried to work out what the other woman was saying, and another frown of consternation as she realised nowhere in their sentences had they introduced themself. She didn't think they were lacking in normal courtesy in Spain, but perhaps they did things somewhat differently. Just took it for granted that everyone would talk to you and never bothered introducing themselves unless asked as a direct question. Still, she couldn't help looking at the still-nameless woman somewhat oddly before she composed herself and set to work trying to understand what she hadn't yet managed to comprehend, smiling in embarrassment at her silence as she did her very best, repeating the sounds over and over in her head until she thought she knew what the other woman had been trying to say. Her confidence had gone after the first words she'd said - because now she had to say things she hadn't planned for about five minutes previously. That was what her language skills lacked - spontaneity. But once she got talking again, her flow would be quite good. She just had to pause while she tried to find enough of the words she needed to say what she wanted to say.

"I am - sorry." she said eventually. "My Eenglish is not that good, you see? So we have to try to understand each other well, yess? Eet ees neiss to... neiss to... what do you say?" She laughed slightly. "You say your English not good, but eet probably a lot better than mine! I can only understand easy what is said when people talk with no..." she struggled for the word, "... no... what I have, when you talk like the rest of the people from the bit of the country you come from but not like eet ees taught in schools? Even Eenglish people, eef they do not speak like eet would be taught, I cannot understand them easy." She smiled apologetically, deciding that since she was at an International Quidditch level now, she would have to make some endeavours to improve her language skills. Maybe take some classes. "But you say this is your first time too?" she asked. "Have you been playing in qualifying matches and the quarter-finals too or ees this your very first one? I have been playing since the very first match; I still... hurt? from that last quarter-final! It was quite... what do they say? closse? And you said you are looking forward to the semi-finals? I too am looking forward to the next match. I never have been in such an important match for my country before." Adelle laughed as she added, "I expect you will be looking forward to having a challenge? Your progress up to now has been relatively unruffled."