Illumination Resort, Astor Islet, Lancashire, UK

The tide was slowly approaching. It was three in the afternoon, and the Astor children (featuring the Rosensteel girl) were setting up for a small get-together on their personal stretch of shoreline. The sun was just leaving the mid-western quarter of the sky -- thankfully, behind their activities. Melenie was going on about something in Frenglish to her brother, who was powerdrilling some wooden structure together beneath the tent. "N'est-il pas dans une de vos classes l'année prochaine? J'ai su qu'il a pris Arithmancy l'an dernier, n'est-il pas continuer avec ça?" Her vaguely Scottish accent slipped through on most of the vowels. Angel answered without accent, "Je me fiche."

Coated in at least 5 layers of sunscreen lotion, Amanda was practically glowing in the sunlight. Agreeing to what felt like 5 pounds of the lotion was the only way her mother agreed to apparating a good quarter mile away from the beach.

After a quick peck on the cheek, Amanda readjusted her navy and white knit sweater. It was long enough to be used as a cover up. If one made the attempt to squint they could make out her developing shape and swim suit- but her game plan of the day was currently to read under the umbrella. No need to take off the comfy sweater! With one last empty promise to apply more lotion, Amanda trotted off to find her friends.

"Aah, Melenie, there you are! I seriously need your help, people are going to be here soon, and I simply can't decide." Serenity went into the tent, holding a large beach bag in front of her. It wasn't enchanted like her suitcase, as it was positively bulging.
"I need help, Mel.." She wasn't dressed yet- in fact, she looked quite strange, in a pink jean jacket, a white tanktop, and a pink miniskirt. Definitely not beach ready. Her hair was quite water ready, though, as she had tied it down into two long braids with white tied ribbons at the end.
"I can't decide on a swimsuit!" Serenity whined over the noise of the power drill, unzipping the bag and beginning to pull them out.
"I have the light green plaid, the black and white heart polka dot, or the yellow check?" Each of the three bikinis were adorned with ruffles, or bows.

"You could've called me in! Angel's being a right plonker," said Mel, her second native language flowing like magma through a vein -- viscous and rugged. "I need to change too, anyway." She rose from kneeling and trudged off through the dry sand in the direction of their manor's kitchen door. (assuming amanda has a 1/4 kilometer walk. poor bab.)

"I-I'm sure he's not being that bad!" Serenity stammered. She was a bit behind Mel, as she had to pack her swimsuits back again.
"Thanks for all you're doing for the party, Angel. Maybe we can play beach volleyball or something later. You should go swimming with me--" She cut herself off, as Melenie was nearing the house, and clumsily ran through the sand as quickly as possible to catch up.
"Wait, you didn't even tell me which one to wear, Mel!"

"Oh, s'though I care," she mumbled. "Just lay them out when we get upstairs then list pros and cons or somat! They're all equally cute, I can't decide!" She hustled up to her bedroom, nearly kicking down the door. She then began to fumble about through her closet in search of her own swimsuit. It was much simpler -- a one piece in a worn pale pink and somewhat see-through around her middle. It was getting a bit tight. "I haven't shopped for one in ages. Ironic, yeh?"

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Of course it matters!" Serenity's tone was horribly exasperated.
"How is this situation ironic? How is any of this-- Oh, it's no use. I'll go with the gingham. It's in style.." She murmured, almost to herself, before quickly changing into her swimsuit.
"Ah, does this ruffle make my chest look bigger? If Rachel is coming, I mean, it's rather important.." The gingham check swimsuit did have a nice ruffler right on the chest, and around the hips, making Serenity's otherwise stick-thin frame look slightly curvaceous. She was vainly examining herself in Melenie's mirror.

Melenie shrugged. She'd pulled on a rather shimmery black one-piece with a diamond-shaped hole cut into the back. She stood beside Serenity in the mirror, dark and figureless, a glaring woodcut contrast to Serenity's white-gold enamel. "It's cute enough. It's not like anyone's going to really care, right?"

"Hm? Well, I care.. And won't Angel care?" She asked sweetly. Serenity began to braid her hair tightly, taming the curls down into thick tendrils whipping over each other. She was rather good at it, her fingers expertly manipulating each strand.
"Well, I'm pretty ready, would you like to go down to the beach? Oh, I'm so excited. Do you think we could play beach volleyball? You know that's my favorite!"

"If the others are up to it." Mel shook out her fro. There wasn't much to be done there. "And Angel doesn't really notice girls, I don't think. I mean Charlie kept teasing him about someone named Sarah last year, but he always just kind of... punched him or somat," she chuckled. "It's a pretty common name anyway."

The Astor’s kitchen betrayed their pureblood ancestry. It was probably the most simple room in the manor – a standard refrigerator, dishwasher, oven and coil stovetop. Not lacking in counter space but no more than what was needed. And while their wealth still reflected in the chrome exterior of the appliances and in the subtle grey marble countertops, the coffee maker could have easily been an artifact Jacques snagged in a moment of weakness at the local thrift shop. Solely function and severely lacking in form: browning-white plastic, duct-tape holding the boiler together, an agonizingly slow drip. But they’d all be damned if it didn’t brew up the best mug of coffee this far east of the mainland.

Eloise, who didn’t drink coffee, refused to look at the thing and often stashed it in the dry closet as a form of silent protest. Trash, she called it. Low-calibre muggle trash.