An Unlikely Seeker PV. Anastasia Beckett Closed

@Eyre Reeves

Anastasia wasn't even a little tired. Her parents were just sending her to her room because she had tried to bite the millionth person who thought that pinching her cheek was an appropriate way to greet her. Her governess had told her touching others without their permission was very rude, and anyway, the only proper ways to greet someone were to nod, curtsey if it was anyone important, or shake their hand. If Ana knew that pinching cheeks was improper at five years old, why couldn't great aunt whoever know that at a thousand?

She stomped up to her room, her pink frilly dress dramatically billowing out behind her. "I'm not even thleepy, you athholes," she announced as she flung open the door, even though no one on the first floor would be able to hear her. Her father had said she was tired and that she had stopped biting people ages ago and told her mother to deal with her ill-behaved child, which had meant her mother had said to Ana that she looked sleepy and it was time to go to her room.

Ana stormed in, muttering bad language words she had managed to pick up as she threw off her shoes. Why did she get sent to bed because someone pinched her cheeks? It was completely unfair. The worst part of it was she hadn't even gotten the chance to stuff herself so silly that she puked. She had done that one party and the grown-ups had totally freaked out. It had been hilarious.

As she threw shoes and muttered like a crazy person, she tugged at the stupid ribbon in her hair, trying to get it out. She had learned a long time ago that if she made herself look messy at the first chance, she wouldn't be dragged back to the party. This was utter nonsense. She had behaved for most of the party and then been put in trouble for a grown-up not knowing how to behave.

She gave up on the hair bow, which she had only succeeded in making a little crooked. As she continued muttering curse words, real and made up, she began to make her way over towards her tower of plush toys. She dug around, looking for a specific pink cat when her hand brushed something that wasn't soft. It was a face or hair. With her other hand, she shoved aside more stuffed animals, while pulling on the handful of hair she had. She saw what looked like a face and let out a shriek while yanking harder on the hair. "I'm thowwy (sorry), who the fuck are you?!?" she exclaimed, breaking out her big girl curse words.

Interacting with @Anastasia Beckett

Two hands started to dig around in the pile of animals he was in. His breath stuttered when he realized that they did not belong to his sister, but they were small like his. He tried to squirm away out of fear, afraid that the dolls that were scattered around the room might've come to life and were trying to kill him. However, he didn't get too far. The hand gripped onto his curls, tugging hard. He let out a yelp, trying to slap away the hands before they tugged him up to the surface.

He was able to barely process the girl's face before she let out an earth-shattering scream. The only thing that he could do was scream in response, batting away her arm. He rolled out of the pile, making an audible oof noise as he hit the floor. Thankfully by then, the tiny demon had let go of his hair. That'd be a shame, going completely bald before turning 6 years old.

"I'm thowwy, who the fuck are you?!?"

Eyre had picked himself up off the floor rubbing his face as he looked up at her with his scared blue eyes.

"I was j-j-just playing hide and seek!" He blubbered out to her, his accent almost too posh for a little boy. The sound of her cuss word was enough for him to put his hands over his ears, as he was told to do whenever his grandfather had far too much juice and decided to curse out his mother over the dinner table. "...Did you just do a swear?" He asked her, his voice soft and pupils large. "You're too young to swear...Also, are you French or somefing?" He had a tendency to ramble on when he was meeting a new person. Her supposed 'accent' didn't help but intimidate him, he'd never met a kid with a lisp before.

"Or, sorry.... Do.. you...speak French?" He spoke back to her in the language, having to think about his words a bit before he said them. He was fluent, as his mum was French and spoke the language a lot at home in her day to day, but he was usually full of anxiety when talking to strangers. He'd fumble over his words if he wasn't careful, and that was almost more embarrassing than being found in a pile of stuffed animals by a girl he didn't know.

@Eyre Reeves

Ana considered screaming again, but it was just a boy. He looked around her age, and Ana figured she could easily beat him if she had to fight him if he was a scary guy or something. He had rolled on to the floor, so he didn't seem too scary. A little dumb maybe, but not scary. Certainly more interesting than actually going to bed.

He covered his ears when he heard her bad language words, and she blushed slightly. She had gotten scolded more than once for not keeping her bad language words to herself. "Why the fuck were you playing hide and theek in my woom though?" she demanded. Realizing she had used a bad word again, she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, noes, I did it again. And yeth, I did more than one sweaw, thoopid. And I'm not French, I'm Englith."

She crossed her arms as she leaned down and inspected him. "Of course I speak French, I'm not raised by wolves," Ana snapped back in French, her lisp more evident when she switched languages. "Wait, thith ith my houthe. I athk the quethtions. My name is Anathtathia Bwair Marwe Kafewine Alexandwa Thophia Ithabella Ann Beckett, who awe you?"

She squinted at him and began to primly circle him rather like a lion sizing up an antelope. She still hadn't decided against snitching on him to her parents or someone, but for now, he was something interesting, rather like a shiny bauble. Her posture as she circled was stiff and rigid, far too stiff for the little girl who had just used the forbidden word twice in the space of a minute. Her dark eyes peered at him as she continued to make a judgment. His hair was a trainwreck, probably a result of her pulling it and the static from her pile of stuffed animals and he looked a little rumpled. Still, his clothing seemed similar to other friends of hers that she had seen, if not as luxurious as her own. Biting her lip, she continued circling him. After a moment, she stopped suddenly, stared at him as intently as she could and asked him a very important question. "Do you wike Quidditch?"

Interacting with @Anastasia Beckett

Eyre felt a lot like prey when the girl was circling around him. She had sort of a scary look in her eye, as if she was going to gobble him up for dinner. It was weird, too, because she didn't look like she was supposed to be intimidating. The girl was a little bit shorter than he was, and was dressed like a floofy pink fairy, but somehow she scared him more than he anticipated.

She said the bad word again and he squealed out and put his hands over his ears again.

"That word is not nice!" He rebuked again, the girl slapping a hand over her mouth when she realized that she said it. His eyes were glimmering anxiously when she asked her why he was in her room, his arms wrapping around himself for comfort.

"My sisters were playing hide and seek with me... I chose your room, because it was the most hide-iest room I could find!" Eyre wasn't sure if hide-iest was a word, but it seemed a very appropriate descriptor for her massive room. She then introduced herself, and it made a lot of sense why her room was so big compared to his back at home. Eyre learned from his time going to parties with his parents that usually, the kids with the most middle names had the most money. (Which didn't make sense, because his parents were rich too, and he only had one middle name.)

"My name is Eyre Ivan Reeves. That's spelled E-Y-R-E!" He said very matter-of-factly, his crisp posh accent making him sound more obnoxious than he intended. It annoyed him when people would spell his name wrong, though, so he always made sure to introduce himself like that to avoid the problem. Dumb adults always pronounced it E-Y-E-R, like he was a sentient eyeball or something. Eyre wondered if Anesthesia Bwair Margabbada yadda yadda yadda or whatever her name had to spell out all of her names whenever she wrote it down. The idea made him a little sick just thinking about it.

Suddenly, her circling stopped and she asked him a very important question: Did he like Quidditch? Eyre wasn't very sure. He liked seeing them fly around on brooms, but whenever he went to games with his parents he was almost exclusively there for the hot chocolate and nothing else. He was worried, though. He didn't really want to offend this girl, lest she try to strangle him.

"Yeah... The brooms are nice!" He said, trying to wrack his brain for ideas. "And... the hoops are, uh... delightful!" He grinned at her toothily, his eyes silently pleading for mercy.

@Eyre Reeves

She rolled her eyes dramatically when the boy said that wasn't a nice word. It was a perfectly good word, just not one she was supposed to say in front of grown-ups. She also didn't appreciate being told what to do by some sort of crazy person who hid in other people's stuffed animals. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him, still undecided as to his value as a playmate or anything else.

"Hide-etht ithn't a word, thoopid," Ana informed him primly. "And my parent'th woom is faw better to hide in." She continued to inspect him. Her parents said hide and seek was a game for fools or people who were trying to get rid of someone. Despite the boy's reaction to her bad words, he didn't seem terrible or like a fool. Certainly not someone that anyone would want to get rid of. He seemed to be figuring something out based on the look in his eyes, but she wasn't sure what. Maybe it was how awesome her having that many middle names was.

"You thound like you have a bwoomthtick up your athth," Ana informed him. She knew she sounded princessy and posh, but Eyre just sounded stuck up and pompous. "And my name is A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-A B-L-A-I-R M-A, I don't remember after that. I'm thleepy though. I can write it all the way out."

He seemed to be putting a lot of thought into her Quidditch question. A horrible thought struck her - what if he had never even heard of Quidditch? That would just be scandalous and she would definitely have to go get her parents if that was the case. She had no problem hanging out with a random boy who had popped out of her stuffed animals, but she was absolutely going to draw the line at someone who didn't like Quidditch.

His answer satisfied her and her face split into a grin. "The bwooms are the betht," she nodded enthusacsitally, her wide smile matching his. "Eywe, I've dethided we're fwiendth now." Her declaration sounded rather final, and in Ana's mind, it was. Eyre got no say in the matter, they were friends now and forever. She liked having a friend that she had picked. Most of the other children she hung out with her obnoxious and she only really spent time around them because their parents were friends. She definitely liked Eyre better than any of those buttheads.

Interacting with @Anastasia Beckett

Eyre was grateful that the girl had so easily befriended him. To think that just a moment ago she was bullying him for his accent and acting like she was going to gobble him up for dinner, but now she seemed to like him a whole lot. He nodded enthusiastically, standing up onto his feet and trying to pick the fluffies off of his flamboyantly colored suit.

Eyre had never been one to really have friends. He was always taught to entertain himself at home, so it wasn't too big of an issue not having other kids around, but Annabarbara seemed like a neat person. A bit scary, but also really cool...Perhaps cool enough to have cast spells already?

He began to rock back and forth on his toes nervously.

"Anesthesia... Have you ever done magic?" He asked her sheepishly, completely unaware of how badly he was butchering her name. "Cos I'm 5 and I've never ever done magic before..."

It was a new phase of his, asking everyone if they'd had their incident yet. Most of the grown-ups would laugh it off, but it came from a deep place of anxiety. Everyone his age seemed to already be able to do little bouts of magic here and there, but Eyre couldn't do a thing. He secretly hoped that Ana was in the same boat that he was in, but at the same time, maybe she'd be able to teach him. After all, he figured that someone as intimidating as her must be a powerful sorceress.

@Eyre Reeves

He started rocking back and forth and she cocked her head slightly as she watched. Her parents would have scolded her for fidgeting if she were rocking like that. Something she had missed while she was inspecting him was how stupid his suit looked. The shorts were really what bothered her. Why couldn't he commit to wearing a suit? She made a mental note to make sure to tell whoever was picking out his clothing to cut it out.

She wasn't really one for friends, despite the fact that she was surrounded by other little girls all the time. She didn't consider them to be friends though, maybe more like minions? She wasn't sure, but they mostly did what she told them to. She didn't like them though, so they weren't her friends. Was Eyeball here a friend or a minion? She didn't have boy minions, mostly because boys were annoying. She rather hoped he was a friend.

"Obviouthly, I've pwefowmed magic befowe," Ana said haughtily. She was barely old enough to remember the first time she had shown signs of magic. She had been a toddler, and all she could ever remember was being magical. It was part of the reason she was the default boss of the groups of pureblood children since only a few of the others had shown signs of magic, and none of them as young as she had. She had done more than one bit of accidental magic when she was throwing a temper tantrum and was even sometimes able to do small things on purpose. Deciding to show off a little, she focused all of her attention on a pink stuff bear by Eyre's feet and made it float up to about his shoulder level. She beamed with pride and promptly lost her focus, which lead to the bear falling back to the ground.

"I can't alwayth do it on puwpothe though," she said, biting her lips slightly in disappointment as she tried again to make the bear float. The moment seemed to have passed, and she quickly turned her attention to Eyeball. She didn't think his name was actually Eyeball, but when he had spelled it, it had sounded like Eyeball, and she didn't think she could say his real name anyway. "Have you, Eyeball?

Interacting with @Anastasia Beckett

Eyre watched in awe as Ana used her powers to raise the bear. Even though he'd been born into magic, it thrilled him when he saw how naturally it came to other people. "Wow...." He mouthed breathlessly, his tiny dimpled hand coming out to wave underneath it as if it were being tugged on by strings. Soon enough, it dropped to the ground. He was still very much impressed.

"No... I've never done magic before. Never ever!" Eyre shook his head, a pout forming on his face. He became so caught up in the throes of disappointment that he didn't even mind the nickname she came up with. At least it was better than the names his sister Rhea called him on the daily.

"My mummy and daddy aren't pleased at me for it. My five big sisters did magic when they were babies, 'cept me. See..." Eyre looked at the bear that was lying face down on the ground, his eyes narrowing into little slits as he tried to focus. "I'm trying my hardest... to do it..." He grunted out, puffing out his cheeks. He even tried holding his breath while he did it as if it would increase his chances. His small chubby face was almost turning purple at how hard he was trying to levitate the bear, the veins pulsing out of his neck as if he were going to explode.

He eventually couldn't keep going and stopped before he could actually pop a vessel, gasping for air and sputtering wildly from his sustained effort. Maybe holding his breath wasn't a good idea.

"...Ana-Nana..Anassss..." He tried to say her name again, but it proved futile. "How about I call you Ana?" Eyre offered with a polite smile. It was short, and not as long as that Amadeus Bachadoodledoo nonsense. He liked it, and it seemed to fit her well. Without missing a beat, he restructured what he was trying to say to her.

"Ana... can you teach me magic?" He asked her sweetly, twisting around his arms nervously as he stood there. "I know that you don't know me at all, but if you teach me magic, I can be your sidekick! We could be uh... Beargirl and Eyeball!" He grinned at her, taking up a superhero stance and throwing a few fists in the air. Eyre had never asked anyone to be the chocolate to his frog before, let alone his friend, but if anyone was worthy enough it was clearly her.

@Eyre Reeves

Her mouth pulled itself into a self satisfied smirk. Whether or not the girl would admit it, she thrived off of approval and attention from others. Her mother had made a rather snide comment that Ana was like Tinker Bell from some muggle book. Her mother hadn't said it very nicely, but Ana thought Tinker Bell wasn't the worst thing to be called. Eyeball's reaction solidified her decision that they were friends now. People who thought she was cool were her very favorite kind of friends.

"It'th okay, I gueth," she said when he said he hadn't done magic. Most of the people her age hadn't and while it was special to her as it seemed to be the only thing that had ever made her parents even a little bit proud of her, she knew it was something of a sore subject with other people. The possibility of being a Squib was something she had heard adults whispering about and while she didn't know exactly why it was a bad thing to be one, she knew it was bad.

"I bet your big thisters are thoopid and ugly," she declared. "I read thomewhere that the latetht flowews are the motht lovely blothoms. And that's true, becauthe I read it." She didn't like that his parents made him feel poorly for not having used magic yet. He seemed pleasant enough, and she wasn't about to let him continue to feel bad over something that he couldn't really do anything to fix.

He didn't seem to take much stock in her sage advice, based on the fact that he began to hold his breath. She cocked her head and stared at him with a furrowed brow. What was he trying to do? Make his head pop? That didn't seem like a very good idea. Whatever he was trying to do, it didn't work and he began to gasp for air. "Now, why the fuck did you do that?" she said curiously.

She nodded when he asked if he could call her Ana. She hadn't paid much attention to his name and considering she could hardly say it herself, she wasn't about to demand that some stranger called her that.

She considered his offer for a moment. She liked the idea of a sidekick. However, there was a small issue that she didn't actually know how to teach him magic. Still, she could come up with something, couldn't she? She continued to regard him skeptically for another few seconds even after she had decided to help him. Her father had once said something about making people wait to assert power, and while she didn't actually know what any of that meant, she was sure this was close enough.

"You, thir, have youwthelf a deal," she said seriously, extending her hand to shake his.