First Sight || flashback
More than anything, Hilda was tired. She was tired from travelling, tired from the pressure that her parents put on her, and tired from meeting new people. Or rather, she was tired from being set up with new people. Not all of them were bad, most of them were quite pleasant conversation, it’s just that none of them had that spark. None of them made her feel like she was living the kind of romance she daydreamed about, the kind that existed in fairytales. So she ran away to Ireland, and though she was excited to be away from it all, now she was also tired from the trip there.
Usually she stayed in Dublin, either with friends or in a wizarding hotel. This trip, however, was different. Hilda not only wanted to escape her family, but her friends as well. Half of them were already paired with their pureblood prince charming and the other half were obsessed with talking about the matches they were in the process of meeting. If she wanted away from the pressure, she had to escape them all.
As random as if she had thrown a dart on a map, Hilda chose a small town in Ireland to visit. She knew it was going to push her comfort zone, but it was going to be worth it if it brought her the peace she was searching for. The first limit that was tested was her knowledge and tolerance for the muggle world. In a town this small, there weren’t any wizarding lodgings for her to stay at, so she had to stay at a muggle establishment. The woman behind the front desk had given her any strange stares, so Hilda was relatively confident that she hadn’t created any cause for suspicion.
After she dropped her belongings off at the inn, Hilda aimlessly walked around. Lack of expectation was exactly what she was looking for right now, so it was perfect that there was nowhere she was supposed to be and nowhere that she intended to go. She simply ambled down the streets, browsing the shops until her stomach told her to stop.
The sun had just begun to touch the horizon as Hilda made her way into the local pub. God, everything was so strange. Dirty dishes left on the tables, waiting for someone to pick them up, newspapers lying around with still pictures - it didn’t feel right. Though she brushed past her mild discomfort and made her way to the bar, every time she laid sight on a muggle item, Hilda kept expecting it to become its magical counterpart.
The bartender came over almost immediately as she sat down. “Just a water.” She had muggle money to pay, Hilda just hadn’t decided what she wanted yet. Her stomach demanded food, but she wasn’t sure if this muggle establishment would have anything that she could stomach.
@patrickfinnegans
