Bonjour!, <Miles, Miya, Raoul>

[Byron Grant]

Byron can’t believe that someone could be so cruel and uncaring to take their own life and their unborn child. Granted, he didn’t know the woman at all and had no idea what would drive someone to take their own life.

“Well said, Miya. I’ve told him already to contact your brother to see if he wanted any work done, I just didn’t know why. I’ll help you convince him.” He smiles, since Miles would see their point. It sounded like Blaise needed someone to take care of him in some ways. Although the man had lost his wife, he needed to be distracted from remembering too much.

“My toys are the things that keep me all sane and stuff.” He smiles at Miles, tracing his jaw with a finger. “I was thinking a mid-sized one, babe. Although with my stuff that I can’t use at the school, we’d need at least three bedrooms. More if we have some guests over for the weekend.” Needless to say, they were going to entertain friends there and maybe offer it to some of those friends to use the place as they might need it for a weekend or a week of holiday.

“The two parties will be awesome without a doubt.” He wants to melt when Miles says he wants a Southern Christmas sometime. “We could go to Darling,” he simply says. It would be a time to finally lay his family to rest.

Byron gets up and gives Miles a quick hug and a kiss. “I’m all for swimming. It’s the reason we’re here, is it not?”

[Miles Ritter]

Miles' mouth drops open and his eyes widen with horror. "Oh, Merlin, Miya," he says softly and he reaches across to rub her arm. "That is just..." Despicable. Disgusting. Heart rending. Shocking. Sad. "I'm so sorry, mein freund."

Miles smiles at Byron's not-so-subtle hint that he should have contacted Blaise already. "For sure," he says with a nod. "You think he'll stay there?" he asks quietly. "It was such a beautiful house. I always adored Miya's library," he tells Byron with a smile.

"Sure," he says with nod. "After Saturday we can decide," he says with a nod. That was the day that their future would become more concrete one way or another.

Miles' eyes light up. "Wow...I've never been to a place like that before," he says. His travels had taken him to a wide range of wizarding settlements, always in the most out of the way places. Nowhere near beaches. Except for Sydney, of course. He nods. "I'd like that, lieb," he says to Byron. "I want to see this hotel-school, too."

Miles is very distracted as Byron stands up, but he nods slightly. "Uh-huh," he says, and his mouth is suddendly too dry, his breath too short. Those swimming trunks are...dangerous. Merlin!

[NPC]

“Well, I know Blaise was thinking of contacting you at one point, but he … well, he’s been distracted.” To put it mildly. She had almost gone to England a month or so ago when he ignored her owls and calls for so long. “So am I. If she was alive,” she repeats the thought, growling under her breath. He’s never seen the vindictive side of Miya. It’s very hard to awaken.

“I don’t know. It has been his home for the better part of ten years. I helped decorate it. But perhaps it would be best for him to leave it and start fresh. That, or I will go over the plans and help make revisions for a major renovation.” Something so drastically different that it will look like a different house. It’s amazing how well magic works for this.

“I will bring you there sometime,” Miya says firmly. She wants to. OF course, he can have his vacation with his lover as well.

Miya comes up behind Miles, wrapping her arms around his chest. “Breathe, cheri,” she says. “Though I can see why. Come now, swimming!” She ducks around him and runs towards the water. She wonders if Raoul will join them or if she’ll have to go dig him out of his work when they go back inside.

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[Byron Grant]

Byron doesn’t have the words to express his feelings towards Miya for her sister-in-law’s actions. He silently reaches out and holds her hand for a moment, pouring his feelings into the touch. Sometimes that is all that is needed.

All the talk of decorating and renovating and stuff makes him want to go looking for places to buy. He’s never had a reason to spend his parents’ money, but now that he has his own family (those of his choice) he just wants to settle down and live. He’s been existing for so long, that the time since he met Miles has been so very exciting. He was feeling alive again.

“Christmas in the Caribbean, New Year in the Cape. That works out very well.” Byron smiles. He didn’t want to be in the Cape on Christmas, it was still too close to the time his family got killed. New Year was far enough removed from it for him to cope with. He’d have to owl ahead to find out who will be at the school. It would be in the summer vacation time, and the children wouldn’t be at the school. Maybe it was a good thing.

Byron is very well aware of Miles’s reaction… he didn’t even have to look over his shoulder. Miya’s dash past him makes him start, and he speeds up to splash into the breakers with her. Turning around to call out to Miles who was still standing by their towels.

[Miles Ritter]

Miles smiles slightly. "Well, that is understandable," he says. He can't imagine what Blaise must be going through. If he lost Byron, he would be devastated, he knows. In so short a time, the man has intertwined with his soul, inexorably becoming a part of his life in ways he'd never imagined.

"You can just have him owl me when we are back," Miles says. "I can probably do okay with such a job, even if I don't have your flair for details." He grins at her.

Miles gives her a baleful look. He doesn't think Miya's ever seen him quite so affected by anybody before. And of course there is the physical attraction, but it's so much more than that.

He runs a hand through his salt-hardened hair. Ugh. Sticky. And then he ambles down to the sea. He wonders if they'll have time to do a little diving, perhaps, and makes a note to ask Miya if she has any Gillyweed. It's so much easier that way.

The water is cool on his sun-warmed skin for a moment, and he dives into an incoming wave cleanly, feeling the strong rush of water whipping his hair backwards.

And then he surfaces, hair plastered to his head as he lands on his feet. "You said you've been learning to surf?" he asks Miya as he reaches then, casually sliding a hand around Byron's wet waist while he hooks a foot around Byron's ankle, attempting to set him off balance into the sea.

[NPC]

She squeezes Byron’s hand, grateful for the good will of both of her friend’s for her brother’s plight. “I will tell him to owl you, and if he does not, well, I will let you in myself. Because something must be done, and I am determined to help it happen.” Her brother might scowl at her and complain, even argue, but he would do it, ultimately.

She just wishes he could find someone else and trust them. Trust has always been an issue with him (their mother is mostly to blame, she thinks, as well as the war). A woman or a man, she just wishes for him to love again. “I will give you the details to attend to, no worries,” she tells him.

Miya loves to see Miles so very happy. It lightens her soul and brings her joy. He found someone, like she has. It is so wonderful.

She dives into a wave, the salt water not phasing her at all. She’s very used to it after all these years. She surfaces with a lazy stroke or two. “Oui. It is going, hm, so so. I ‘ave all the grace I can ask for on land, but put me on water …” She shakes her head ruefully. “But I love it when Raoul tries to teach me.” She winks at Miles.

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[Byron Grant]

Byron smiles at Miya’s determination. “I like the way you think. If they don’t want to do it themselves, then make it happen for them.” He could understand her wanting to change Blaise’s environment if it kept on reminding him of his late wife. He smiles at Miles. “I’ll consult you on the details, babe.” He would need to brush up on his Charms, but he wasn’t a complete slouch in that department. It would be good to be better than his students at least.

The water is wonderful against his skin, and he surfaces after a dive, blowing water from his nose. Not very glamorous though. His hair plasters against his skull and hangs in his eyes. He gives his head a shake, then running his hand through his hair, makes it a little shorter so he can enjoy the water without his eyes being covered the whole time.

“You’re learning to surf?” he asks Miya and nodding at her answer. Although he grew up in a country with a strong surfing culture, he never really got the hang of the sport. It could be fun to try it out though. He leans into Miles as his lover’s hand snakes around his waist and he does the same, but ready for duplicity (he used to have older siblings after all), he smiles sweetly at Miles and holds on tight, simply falling backwards, dragging the blonde under the water with him.

[Miles Ritter]

Miles snickers softly at Miya, and he turns to Byron. "A dancer by soul," he explains. "I can't wait to see your dance studio," he says, smiling.

Her grace spills over into the way she moved, and even into the way that Miya duels. It's a different sort of grace from that which Aeris displays.

Miles laughs. "I didn't know that he surfs," he says. "I've never tried it myself...and I'd probably be very tempted to cheat," he admits.

"So easy to put a stabilising Charm on it..." He's off musing about that sort of thing again. There's a Charms application in every facet of life. It's what he loves about his work.

He's giggling and spluttering in turns as they surface, and he stays in the water, floating in a half sitting position on the swells again. "I could sit out here all day..." He sighs happily.

[NPC]

“I’ll show you later,” Miya promises her German friend. Perhaps she can even tempt him and Raoul into dancing with her—she has no idea if Byron can dance traditionally or not. After all, it’s not only ballet that Miya does, but all sorts of ballroom dances. Miles is pretty good, and she and Raoul are getting good together as well, at least with certain dances.

“Oui, he does. And he’s trying to teach me… alas, it’s been on his agenda since our honeymoon.” She grins, obviously not minding in the least. “Of course, it means I get him all wet in the water,” she says, deliberately trailing off before winking at the two men.

“Doesn’t work so well, mon ami, when theh water, it is moving too. You cannot stabilize the ocean as well,” she says. “Trust me, I have tried many things to let me be successful. Raoul just has a gift for it.” And it is really nice watching him, truly. She envies his grace on the water, but watching it is balm enough.

She snorts as the two wrestle around in the water. “Boys,” she says, and splashes them both full in the face before diving under and quickly swimming some distance away.

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[Byron Grant]

“Ooh, dancing!” Byron is all excited. For all his grace and agility with the swords, his dancing skills are not something to write home about. The moving that he and Miles had done at Red Dawn was everything but dancing, short of having sex on the dance floor.

He grins at Miles’s solution for the moving board and water, but Miya quickly dispels that theory. He had to agree with her. “Alex used to surf,” he says, the memory jumping into his mind. “Alex is…” he stops for a moment, then continues, “was my brother.” He smiles fondly. “He tried to teach me, but I never could get the hang and he gave up after one summer.” It hurt less and less the more he shared little memories of his family.

Byron chuckles as they surface, and then gets a face full of water from Miya, who scuttles away in the waves. “I don’t think she should get away with that, babe.” He ponders diving after her, but revenge is a patient mistress and can wait a bit. Besides, payback doesn’t have to be swift.

[Miles Ritter]

"It should be more exciting than the orchestra, to watch," Miles says, and his lips curve with idle amusement. He'd enjoyed the evening out, but enjoyed a little colour and movement even more. "Can you do that stand on your toes thing?" he asks Miya.

Miles grins. "Wet Raoul is good?" he asks.

Miles pouts for a singular moment as he realises that his mouth has run far ahead of his mind. "Ja, ja, okay...you're right," he concedes with a little sigh. "My brain is on holiday also, it seems." And then he grins again. Perhaps he'll try it anyway. It can't hurt, and they have all week.

He gives Byron a smile, and warmth darkens his blue eyes...that Byron is sharing about his family is a good way to heal...to remember the good times and put the pain and grief to rest. Perhaps there is a way to go, but this is good. "No coordination passed on in your genes?" he teases.

Miles wipes his face and narrows his eyes in mock contemplation of revenge. "Hmm, ja...I think you are perfectly correct." He waits for Miya to surface and to notice that they haven't pursued.

[NPC]

She smirks at Miles. “Can I? But of course, mon ami! I ‘ave not been a ballerina for so many years that I can not do the ‘stand on my toes’ thing,” she says teasingly, laughing. The sound is joyful bright, like bells on a spring morning.

“Mmm, wet Raoul is very good,” she says, glancing back up at the house. He probably got all caught up in his work, she thinks fondly. It happened sometimes, and she doesn’t mind most of the time. Perhaps one of his clients called—he got them at odd hours, since he could work for anyone anywhere.

Miya doesn’t know Byron’s history, though she can glean that he lost his brother. How long ago, she cannot say—grief cannot be judged only by time, for it passes differently for all. She can look to her brother for that. For instance, though he never speaks of it, she knows he lost a man he had called father when very young; it is the very action of not speaking on it at all, even when asked, that tells her the emotions of her brother.

“Surfing is not easy,” she agrees. “But it is fun to try, especially with my Raoul.”

She surfaces and grins at them cheekily. She knows they might wait a bit, so she’ll have to remain on guard. However, the fun simply could not be passed up in her mind. She winks and taunts them from a short distance away.

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[Byron Grant]

Byron can’t help but be amused with Miles’s assessment of the orchestral performance. It was more exciting to see people moving around and dancing than just a bunch of musicians sitting in one spot and playing on instruments that most people recognize but have no idea how to work. He snorts at Miles’s question and Miya’s teasingly lofty answer. Stand on your toes thing indeed.

He sees Miles reacting to him sharing something, and smiles back a little sadly. Maybe sometime he would tell Miya it all, but not today and not on a sunny beach. Instead he gives Miles a mock glare. “You wouldn’t say that if I were chasing you around the dojo with a sword.” The fact that they HAD chased each other around the dojo, laughing like demented kids on a sugar high just made the threat very harmless. “I am the very model of coordination and grace,” he pouts.

He can tell Miya knows they will wait for their revenge, and he has this image of her running shrieking along the water’s edge, the two of them chasing her. The thought brings a chuckle to his lips. He pulls Miles closer and plants a kiss on his cheek, whispering an indecent proposal in his ear involving the beach, moonlight and a picnic and lots of sex before dawn.