A Splish, A Splash, A Snake in the Grass Done

Rose brushed the fireplace ash off of her shirt as she arrived at Eyre's house. Ducking out of the fireplace, she was quickly greeted by a beautiful brunette woman. She spoke with a French accent, and Rose assumed she was Eyre's mom.
She introduced herself as Camilla Reeves and welcomed her to Brier Hill Manor. It certainly felt like a manor, it was gigantic and seemed very formal.
"Oh, it's wonderful to be here!" Rose replied sweetly, attempting to be polite. "Your house is so beautiful."
She then saw Eyre coming in.
She smiled when she saw him. "Hi, Eyre!" she said. It must have been hot inside or something, because Eyre's face was just a little bit red.
His mom then started speaking in French to him, which caught Rose by surprise. She only knew English and a little bit of German, but she had never really been into languages and learning them. She guessed sh shouldn't have been surprised, since Mrs. Reeves had a French accent, but that wasn't really what caught her by surprise.
But she didn't know that Eyre spoke French. He seemed to stutter back, his face turning a little bit darker.
"Oh, boys, am I right? Always trying to push their mothers away..."
"Heh, yeah, um," Rose smiled at her politely. Rose knit her fingers together behind her back. Mrs. Reeves was a very kind woman, at least in front of Rose.
"Well, if you two need anything, let me know!"
"Thank you!" Rose called back as Mrs. Reeves walked away.
"Oh, no need to apologise," she replied, her voice back to its regular volume, which was a shade softer than most people. Her smile turning amused, she added, "My mom would probably have done the same thing."
Though she didn't say it, it probably didn't help that Rose was a girl. Her mom and sisters would be elbowing her the entire time, throwing her knowing smirks, receiving only eye rolls from Rose.
"Whatever," Rose replied to his suggestions. Patting her pale brown purse-bag-thing, Rose added, "I did bring my swim suit, but a tour first would be great. Your house is so beautiful, and I've only seen one room," she laughed brightly. "Plus, it has the word manor in its name. It can't be anything less than abseloutely amazing."

Reducio

So sorry this took me a little while, was busy all day~

Interacting with @Rose Moon

Eyre piped up at her compliment, his heart filling up with pride for his home. He was happy that she liked his house so far, and he was excited to show her more. "Then, I'll give you a tour ..." He said with a grin, just as bright as his mother's was. Maybe they both had more in common than he thought. He gestured towards the walls. "Uh.. well, here is the sitting room. We don't have any muggle tech here, but it's nice to sit in here and read once in awhile..."

Eyre pointed at the picture that was hanging over the fireplace.

"This is me and my family when I was around 7, I think. Those are my sisters: Rhea, Margot, Morgana, Gemma and Annalisa."

Camilla and Ivan, Eyre's parents, were sat in two chairs while their 5 children stood around them moving ever-so-slightly. Eyre was short enough that his eldest sister Rhea was able to rest her hand on his shoulder. He remembered how uncomfortable it was for the two of them, and he could see it in their forced smiling faces. They never did get along. They still didn't, really, but mostly they tried to avoid each other.

"You'll probably meet a few of them." He told her. "Some of them are kind of cold, but don't take it personally..." He commented vaguely before turning around, leading his friend to next room.



It was a beautiful light-colored room with a staircase curving up and leading into the upstairs hallway. On the tall walls were numerous photos that were tacked up. A lot of them were of his sisters, his grandparents, and decades-old photos. There were pictures of him, of course, but they were sparse compared to the amount that they had of his sisters, especially Rhea.

"Here are the stairs... Lots of photos..." Eyre said, trying to not pay them much attention. Whenever he did and decided to think about it, it would bring up those old feelings of favoritism that he knew all too well. Once they reached the top, he started to gesture towards the doors as they walked past them.

"Here's my parent's room... Rhea's room, Gemma's room, the twin's room... Anna's room..." He trailed off as he passed each door. Once they reached his room, he twisted open the pearlescent doorknob. "And, my room, of course."


(ooc: yep, i totally created his room in the sims because i couldn't find a pic that did it justice. no regerts.)

Eyre's room was warm and cozy, and exceptionally more tidy than it usually would be for someone his age. The wall by his bed hung a few posters, along with some photos of family and childhood friends. It was clear that he loved plants, from the diagrams framed on the wall, his cactus and succulents scattered around the room as well as the herbs that were hanging out to dry.

On the other side of the room was his desk. There was an ornate bookshelf full of different books on magic, mixed in with an expansive comic collection. (In fact, the bookshelf to the right of his desk was entirely dedicated to his graphic novels and such. He loved those things.) On his desk laid his wand, along with his journal where he'd write letters to his friends, along with little illustrations and stories when he got bored. Perhaps if he were born a muggle and wasn't so obsessed with herbology, he could've been an aspiring graphic novelist.

"This is probably my favorite place in the whole manor, other than the greenhouse." He said, leaning against his desk. "I had to get some of my lil' baby plants in here, of course. I think they're fairing well in the hot weather..." As soon as he uttered this, he remembered what he was going to give her.

"Oh! Hang on..." He muttered, going over to his trunk. He opened it, gently throwing some of his school robes aside before pulling out the burn cream that'd brought them both together in the first place.

"Here's your burn cream." He said, handing it out to her. "... I don't think I'm going to ever let myself turn into a lobster again." He chuckled awkwardly, thinking back to that mess of a day. It was pretty horrible, but at least he had Rose to thank for not letting him perish in the brutal London sun.

"You have five older sisters?" Rose's eyebrows shot up on her forehead. "No wonder you're such a sweetheart, you grew up with a plethora of girls." Rose gazed up at the picture of Eyre's family. Five older sisters. Way older sisters. Eyre looked young in the picture- seven, Eyre had said- his smile looked almost forced, as well as the sister with her hand on his shoulder. They looked pretty happy in that picture, if you didn't look too close.
Rose followed Eyre to the staircase. There were a lot of pictures. A lot. And though there were pictures of Eyre, there were a lot of what seemed like his eldest sister, the one with her hand on his shoulder back in the sitting room. The pictures of Eyre were rare, and that made her wonder. You could clearly make out that all the other photos were of Eyre's family, as well, as they all had the same angles in their faces, and most of them were either blonde or dark-haired.
Being the youngest and the only boy, Rose could only imagine he would not be the favorite of his mother. Rose's mother had never once hinted at favoritism, but Rose's best guess would be that it would be her older sister, Faith. Faith and her mom looked almost exactly alike, and Faith had always been the pride of her mother, receiving the most compliments out of the siblings from other family members.
Maybe it was the same with Eyre's oldest sister.
Rose followed Eyre up the stairs, her hand gliding just above the rail as she walked. That had always been a quirk of hers.
Rose silently followed Eyre past the rooms.
Rose found that someone's room told you a lot about them.
In the instance of Eyre's room, she was very right.
Eyre's room was very different than what Rose had seen from the rest of the house. Though the rest of the house felt more like a castle than a house, very elegant and spotless, Eyre's room felt like someone actually loved there. It was significantly less messy than Rose's room was usually. Maybe his mom made him clean up before Rose came, or maybe he was always this tidy.
He apparently had an interest in plants, herbology, as they were scattered about the room.
He owned quite a lot of graphic novels in the bookcase by his desk, all of them stacked up together. On his desk laid his wand. It was a beautiful wand, really.
"This is probably my favorite place in the whole manor, other than the greenhouse."
Still taking in his room, Rose replied, "Mine too, so far."
Eyre started talking about his plants. Rose really wasn't interested in plants and stuff, but she did listen intently to him as he talked.
"Mm. I've never been able to grow anything. I tried to grow some small flowers once, but they just died."
Eyre offered her the burn cream back. Rose was about to be stubborn and insist that he keep it when he explained he didn't intend to become a lobster again.
Rose smiled fondly at his words and took the burn cream back, adding, "Thank you."
Plus, if he ever did get sunburnt again, it would give Rose an excuse to see him.
Slipping the cream into her bag, she added, "I'm glad your burn healed well. It seemed really painful."
To be honest, Eyre was a complete mess that day.
"How do you know French? Is your mom from France or something? She seemed really nice... I say seemed because sometimes people put on a good show when they have guests in their house," Rose said. She would know.
"Herbology... French... Five older sisters... Comic books... What else do I not know about you?"

Interacting with @Rose Moon

"Yeah, my mum is from France. She went to Beauxbatons. She actually came from nothing, really. I mean, she had a wealthy family but there was lot of bad blood between her and her cousins because she was the heir." He explained, crawling onto his bed and sitting there with his legs crossed. "Then, she met my dad and they fell in love and got married against my grandparent's wishes. They were really, really angry about it. Like, furious for years..."

Whenever he recounted the story, it painted a different picture of his parents in his head. His parents had expectations for him for what they wanted him to do with his magic, but at the same time they didn't listen to their parents when they were younger, either. This made Eyre believe that there was more wiggle room than he thought. Maybe he'd be able to get through to them, too, someday.

"We speak French once in awhile, out of convenience. All of us are fluent, except for my dad. He's really bad at it." He said, thinking about how his dad would always speak broken French to his grandmother whenever she'd visit. Any normal person would think that his mother and grandmother would find it annoying, but they always ate it up. His mom's side of the family was more good humored in that regard. "...And yeah. My mum is alright. She tries her best to be a good parent, but she can be pretty neglectful, honestly. Rhea is the golden child, if you can't tell from all of the bloody pictures of her everywhere."

There it came, the teenage angst. He tried his best to swallow it down, but it was particularly heavy nowadays. Especially after the neglect that he dealt with all year long, and the Doxy incident that he hadn't told anyone about. Rose asking him to tell him more about himself made him feel hopeful, though. At least she was interested in him. He shook off the bad feelings, and gave her a little smile.

"Well... I love creatures.... Uhm... My favorite color is maroon... I've had my first kiss...and I'm afraid of doxies." He counted off on his fingers. He actually didn't quite know why he looped the first kiss thing in, but now his face was really getting red.

"W-what about you? Are you afraid of doxies, too?" Eyre let out a nervous laugh, hoping to steamroll over his out of place confession in fear of weirding her out.

Nodding at Eyre's story about his parents, specifically his mom, Rose laughed when Eyre mentioned that his dad was really bad at speaking French. He didn't even sugarcoat it, he said it how it was.
Neglectful. That was a strong word. One that Rose did not want to use to describe her mom, but sometimes it was true. Her mom worked her butt off to keep her five children and herself afloat, and whenever she was home, she was usually working. The very few times she could spend time with her children, it was usually with all of them, and if with just one or two, it was extremely rare for it to be Rose.
But she never used the word neglected, because she believed it wasn't her mom's fault. As for Eyre, maybe it was her fault. "Oof," Rose offered her empathy.
She could only imagine how that felt.
Or could she?
Rhea. So that was the eldest's name. Eyre heavily implied that she was the favorite of the family, mentioning all the "bloody pictures everywhere."
"No kidding..."
Rose leaned against the wall of his room, watching him count off random facts about himself.
He loved creatures. "Oh, me too!" she said, a little spark of excitement inside her showing in her voice and eyes.
Maroon... Rose actually liked maroon, but she didn't make a comment on that.
He had had his first kiss...
Fear of-
Wait- FIRST KISS?!
Rose turned visibly pink at the realization- Eyre could be dating someone. How would they feel if he invited another girl over to his house? Eyre could just be teasing her by letting her over. He could maybe see eight through her to see that she had a crush on him.
Heh.
No.
'I thought we went through this already, Rose! Eyre is your friend.
Period.' Rose told herself.
While alllll of this was running through her mind, she missed the last thing Eyre said.
She was about to ask him about it when He added-
"W-what about you? Are you afraid of doxies, too?"
"The little blue demon-fairies with the venomous teeth?" she said, trying to remember. Yes, those were doxies. "I don't know if I've ever really thought about it," she admitted, rocking on her feet. Shuddering, she continued, "I've never really met one, and I would never want to meet one. There are a lot of people who are afraid of doxies, I'm sure."

Interacting with @Rose Moon

"Y-Yeah, they're uh... really n-nasty." He stuttered, hopping off of his bed. His heart was still pounding in his chest, and he noticed that she had gone a little pink at his confession. There, he began to spiral a little bit in his head, his filter failing him when he blurted out the next sentence.

"Oh, and uh, about the kiss thing! Ha! It was.. just like.. spin the bottle. I uh. yeah. With my f-friend, Ana. Anyways..."

He wanted to slap himself. Really hard. Why did he feel like explaining himself? For someone who claimed to have gotten over his social anxiety, he was failing big time. Also, why did it matter who he kissed, and when he did it? It was true, he thought that Rose was cute. But that was it! He wasn't catching feelings!

"Let's go swim..." He said, trying to keep his composure and also simultaneously trying to not throw himself down the staircase out of embarrassment as they both went down the stairs together.

They left the manor and went out to the garden. It was a beautiful walk, with manicured bushes and flower beds. His greenhouse was in the distance, but he'd show her it later. The air felt nice against his skin, the weather balmy and not-too-hot at all.

The lake was expansive, with little lilypads across the way. Eyre kicked off his sandals and sat on the edge of the lake, dipping his legs into the water. He could feel the gentle drag and pull of the water as he sat there. He looked back at Rose, the sun shining down onto her red hair. She almost looked ethereal, and it made his heart flutter a little bit. Maybe he did have some feelings... damn it.

"...Hey.. uh, if you want, the Lakeside bathroom is over there if you want to change." He said with a helpful smile, pointing to a little door that was attached to the house. "I have my swimsuit on, so I can just.. hop in.." He explained. Once she started to walk over, he closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep inhale through his nose and out through his mouth.

Once he had sufficiently chilled out, he pulled his shirt over his head, dropping it on the ground next to his sandals before diving in. The water was cool and refreshing. He knew that he made the right call. Eyre floated back to the top, splashing back to the edge of the lake as he waited for Rose to come back.

Rose really wanted Eyre to drop the kiss. If she had wanted to know, she would have asked.
And she didn't ask.
She wet her lips with her tongue.
"Oh, okay, that's cool, Ana..." Rose nodded.
Eyre suggested they go swim. "Okay, sure."
Rose followed him outside. "Your house really is beautiful," she commented, walking through his manor to the door. As she walked out, her breath caught, her chest filling up with air. "Oh, Eyre, it's so... it's gorgeous."
It really was. As she walked behind him, she fiddled with her nails, her hands hovering about an inch away from her stomach. The flower hedges were manicured to perfection.
Walking after him, she caught sight of the lake. As Eyre started to get in, he told her she could change in the lakeside bathroom.
Rose quickly changed in the bathroom, stuffing her clothes in her bag. Her mom had enchanted it for her to be bigger than it really was, so her towel fit in there as well.
Rose hung her bag on her elbow and started to Dutch braid her amber hair. If she didn't braid it, it would get tangled and would feel like straw. Curly hair was like that. Opening the door with one hand, she finished braiding her hair as she walked toward the lake. Putting down her bag while zipping it closed, she started slowly walking into the lake. As the cold crept up her legs, she shivered. It felt good, on this really warm day. "You have a lake in your yard," she shrugged. "Why not?"
Rose was the kind of person who eased herself into the water, not jumped in. She loved the water, it made her feel graceful. She had to focus to be graceful out of water, but in the water it kind of felt like... she could relax.
Glancing at Eyre out of the corner of her emerald eyes, she crouched down and kicked out towards the middle, treading water and watching to see what Eyre was going to do.

Interacting with @Rose Moon

Eyre watched as Rose got into the water, before disappearing underneath the surface for a bit to get his hair wet again. His curls, of course, were refusing to cooperate with him. Even though they were short now, they still had the habit of dropping down into his face when they were drenched. He kicked towards the center where Rose was diving. He could see that she had a braid in her hair, now, which he was envious of.

"I wish that my hair was still long enough to braid... Maybe it would keep my hair from blinding me when it flops into my eyes." He laughed playfully, bobbing up and down in the water as he kept himself afloat. It was his responsibility to make the conversation less awkward after his flub, and he was willing to cast it all aside in order to make his friend comfy.

"Here, race me... From that side of the lake to where the lilypads are." Eyre said, gesturing over with his arm to the Manor and then back towards the part of the lake that was infested with plants. He treaded over to the part that had all of the plants, hating the sensation of the plants tickling his legs. That was by far his least favorite part of swimming in the lake. He waited for Rose to get over to him, before looking at her with a playful glint in his eye.

"You ready?" He asked her. Eyre was all for friendly competition. It was one of his favorite things, in and out of magic, and he wondered if she would be able to beat him. He didn't doubt her capability, but... it wouldn't hurt to see who was the rightful victor, right?

OOC: Hey! Sorry for the late reply. I've been out and about these past couple days, but my schedule should be back to normal now!

Rose laughed lightheartedly at Eyre's joking remark that he wished he could braid his hair back. His hair was kinda in his face, that was true. Rose had a couple extra hairbands on her wrist, she could probably pull it up in a weird-looking ponytail if he really wanted her to, but he would look absolutely ridiculous. Still, it would solve his problem. The thought and picture of Eyre with a little tuft pulled up on top of his head made Rose laugh a little bit more, in spite of herself. She ducked under the water for a second, finding it difficult to tread water while she was laughing. He really was funny...
Eyre suggested they race. Rose's mouth quirked up in a smile. On the land, Eyre would almost definitely win. But in the water... the water was different for Rose. Well, Eyre did have a lake in his backyard, so there was no guarantee she'd win. They were pretty evenly matched, actually.
"Sure," Rose said, keeping pace with Eyre as he swam toward the planty area. The plants tickled her legs and feet and made it feel like something was climbing up her legs in the water. Chills ran down her back.
"Yup," Rose replied, tensing her muscles for Eyre's countdown or ready-set-go.
When he finally said go, Rose took off in the water, kicking both her legs at the same time. This was simply muscle memory for her. When she was little, her and her sisters or her friends would always, always play mermaids in the water. And to be a mermaid, you had to kick with your legs together. Over the years- this feels like a documentary- Rose had perfected her form and mermaid kick, being graceful Rose swam at the top of the water, sending up splashes. Rose was not the kind of person who would let someone win unless they needed it. And Eyre... she didn't think he'd have any shame by being beaten by a girl. She could be wrong, of course. Rose wouldn't feel any shame if Eyre beat her.
Rose drew in a deep breath and let her mermaid swimming muscles rest, doing breathstroke under the water for the home stretch of the race.

No problem!!! You can choose who wins, it doesn't have to be Rose.