Room Hunting + exploring (07-10-2011) [Dominique & Axel]

Joining forces in looking for their future room after arriving at the mansion, Axel and Dominique walked up the stairs.
"Do you have any specific demands for your room?" Axel asked her, peeking into the empty rooms. So far they all seemed exactly the same, apart from the view maybe...
His stepbrother at the end of the hallway betrayed it wasn't so though when he carried his vast amount of luggage into room 8 cheerfully stating: "I claim the 2person bedroom!" and later on mumbling something about only considering to share it with a cute girl who sleeps in the nude.
"He's so subtle," Axel told Dominique in a soft voice, shaking his head at Aemilio.

Glad that Axel had agreed to go roomhunting with her she had had a fast mental discussion with herself while standing by her lugagge for a few seconds. Uncertain whether to just take them with her during the hunt or to leave them here to first find a room and then come back pick them up.
She was leaning to leaving them here but then Axel picked up his so she decided that it was indeed probably a better idea to take them along right away.
Coming to the first floor and hearing Aemilio claiming a two person bedroom all for himself, only excepting cute girls that slept in the nude she raised a brow.
"Subtle as a blunt axe," she agreed with Axel comment about his brother, spotting the second pair of stairs she asked: "Care to go up another floor to hunt and perhaps find a room there?"

"Sure," Axel replied after letting out a short chuckle about Dominique's axe-comment. He picked up his suitcases again and dragged them up another floor.
"This floor has 2 bathrooms," was the first thing he noticed out loud. He put down his luggage and looked around some more. There was one storage room and 6 other bedrooms on that floor and bedroom 22 had already been claimed by Keoki. Something other than that grabbed his attention more though; "look," he said to Dominique, pointing at the glass door at the end of the hallway.
He curiously walked up to it and tried to see if it was locked. To his pleasure it wasn't and so he found out it opened up to a roof terrace.
"Waow," he gasped stepping outside and looking amazed at the endless view.

Much like Axel Dominique was quite interested to the glass door at the end of the hall and was glad as well to see that it was unlocked, giving them acces to a beautiful view and a very nice roofterrace. Standing in the doorway being amazed by the view she said: "Okay I'm taking this room," putting her luggage in room 20 before joining Axel on the terrace, "I love stargazing and this way I won't really disturb anyone by coming out here late at night and doing so."
She walked over to one of the railings to see how high and strong they actually where, in case she would go for a walk on the terrace in her sleep. Glad to find that the railings came to her waist, making it very unlikely for her to climb over them whilst sleep walking and most likely falling off the roof shortly after that.
Then some shimmering caught her attention, looking to see what had caused it she spotted the pool in the garden.
"There's a pool!" she announced both surprised and excited looking at Axel with a smile, "How about we have a look to see if the water is warm enough to swim in once you've found a room?"

Axel smiled at Dominique's idea; it did seem nice to be able to just wander out your room and have your own little roof garden there. So he decided to stay on that floor too; "I'll take room 18," he announced before putting his stuff on the bed of said room, "that way I have both the terrace as a quick travel to the bathrooms." He then wanted to ask her if she felt like going stargazing together this night but even the thought of it collored his cheeks. Convienently there was no real silence as Dominique already spotted something else to talk about: the pool.

"Euhr, sure let's have a look," Axel replied sheepishly. As he arrived at the door that lead to the stairs first he held it open gentleman-like for her to go through. He really was better with deeds than with words.

Glad to hear that Axel was up for her idea to have a look at the pool Dominique left the roof terrace, closing the door behind her. Spotting Axel already by the stairs, holding the door open for her like a true gentlemen. She bit her lower lip, there was something she kinda wanted to do before going to the pool.
"Just a sec," she told him with a bit of an apolatical look, "I first need to get something out of my luggage."
Disappearing into her new room, closing the door behind her, she rummaged through her luggage until she found what she had been looking for.
A few minutes later she came out of the room again, smiling holding a towel in a hand and walked over to Axel, "Sorry to make you wait, but I'm ready now."

Axel waited for her Dominique to come but then as she came closer wondered why she was biting her lip... Was he doing something wrong? Didn't she like it when guys held open a door for her? Or maybe she just didn't want him to do it?
Unfortunatly for him she granted him pleanty time to worry about those things as she announced she needed to get something and left him there for a couple of minutes. When she finally came out she had a towel with her. Had she put on her bathing suit under her clothes just now or something? If she had she might've told him that - he would've changed as well in case the water was warm enough for swimming.
"Going for a swim?" he asked.

Dominique grinned as Axel's first guess was spot on, not that she was going to tell him that right away, being in a bit of a teasing mood.
"Maybe," she answered, though her bodylanguage, mainly her grin, made it quite obvious he was right, "do you want me to wait for you?"
Seeing as he had guessed why she had needed a private moment it was only fair to over him the same.

"If you don't mind," Axel said, already on his way to his room - after the long travel on this rather warm day a dip in the pool seemed like a great idea. Unlike Dominique it only took him a minute to get changed; not wanting to let het wait her simply threw everything out of his clothing suitcase until he came across his swiming trunks, quickly put them on (falling against the wall in the process, making quite some strange noises) and added his clothes again and a towel too.
"Ready," he said when he came out again, not noticing his shirt was bottoned unevenly and his hair was a mess.
When they entered the garden a moment later he couldn't help but stare for a moment; this garden was even bigger than their house in Spain! He kept looking around amazed as he slowly walked towards the pool.

Waiting patiently by the stairs Dominique bit her lower lip again to not fully succeed in stopping her grin at the sight of Axel's messy hair and unevenly buttoned shirt. Not that she was going to comment on it of course, they probably both be taking their clothes off as soon as they reached the pool so it really didn't matter all that much.
Much like Axel she was very impressed by the size of the garden surrounding them, trying to capture as much of it as she possibly could while they slowly made their way around the house and then followed the sun's glints on the water towards the pool. Once they had reached the pool Dominique simply kicked out one of her shoes and put her foot in the water to see how warm it was.
"The water feels great," she informed Axel with a smile.
She layed out her towel a little away from the edge of the pool and out of the reach of any shadows from trees and clouds that where currently in the sky. Taking off her shirt and jeans without a moments of hessitation, assuming Axel had seen a girl in a bikini more often, she revealed her simple light blue bikini, her belly piercing and her tattoo on the small of her back. Not capable of resisting the temptation of the cool water any longer Dominique just walked over to the edge of the pool and dived in.

Axel smiles when Dominique told him the water was good for swimming and layd his towel on the ground next to hers, then sat down on it to untie his shoes.
Unfortunatly Dominique had made an incorrect assumption about something along the way; as she undressed without any shame or compunction, thereby reveiling every shape and curve she had, Axel's eyes grew wide and he quickly looked away in an attempt to hide his crimaon cheeks. It wasn't until he heard a splash telling him the young woman had entered the water did he dare look again.
'Come on Axel,' he said to himself in mind, 'you're going to be a doctor for God sake!'
He undressed a bit slower than he would've done otherwise, buying himself some extra time for a mental peptalk. How stupid would he look to Dominique if he couldn't even see her in a bathing suit without blushing from head to toes? She probably think he was a baby... or worse, a pervert!?

Fortunately for Axel Dominique was completely oblivious to his discomfort, to caught up with the coolness of the water that was surrounding her. It wasn't until she noticed that there wasn't another splash following hers for some time that she turned around and swam over to the edge where Axel was still busy undressing.
"You where faster when you where changing in your room," she said in a small teasing voice, "is something wrong? Or am I making you uncomfortable?"
She was still teasing him, not realising how spot on she actually was, but then again how common was it for a 20 year old guy to get uncomfortable just because a girl was wearing a bikini around him.

"I uhr sorry, I'll be right there. My shoelace had a nasty knot in it," Axel lied with an apologetic smile. But then he finally got to his last piece of clothing, his jeans. Now that they were off and everything was folded up nicely at the side of his towel,the time finally came to get into the pool.
He walked to the edge of the swimming pool next to where Dominique was floating and carefully put his toe in the water. "It is nice," he agreed with a smile before he jumped in, making sure he caused a big plash in Dominique's direction.

Dominique raised a brow at the neat stack of Axel's clothing, her own clothes forming a small pile at the end of her towel, nothing was folded. Just before Axel went into the water she couldn't help but let her eyes wander of his body, seeing that he wasn't really muscular or something but still not bad.
When he jumped into the pool she covered her eyes with her arm to keep the splash from washing out her contacts.
"Hey be carefull I'm wearing contacts!" she said with a laugh, not really worried she let herself float on her back enjoying both the sun and the cool water.
"Hey you wanted to know from which part of London I was from right?" not waiting for his reaction she just gave the answer right away, "From the Thames nearby the London Eye, what about you?"

"I'm sorry," Axel said as soon as he was above water again. He then went head-under again and came back up with his face upwards so his wavy blond hair would stay backwards and out of his face.
When Dominique started about her origins he was pleasantly surprised she remembered. "London Eye?" he repeated, "I'm actually not all too far from there! I'm from Lambert - Silwood street 18, nearby Southwark Park and the South Bermondsey Rail station. Ever been there?" he asked as he started swiming up and down the pool in an easy phase.

Dominique floated herself out of Axel's way while he was starting to swim up and down the pool, having to lift her head a little to really hear what he was saying.
"Silwood Street?" she thought for a while, "It does sound familiar, I do believe I've been in Southwark Park for a schoolproject once. It's a bit out of the way so I haven't really been there since. Is it nice there?"
A ringtone sounded then, causing Dominique to swim to the edge and climb out and dig through the pockets of her jeans pulling out a cell phone.
"My parents send me a text," she explained to Axel, sitting down on her towel sending a text back.

"Myeah, it was ok th-" Axel started before he was interrupted by a ringtone that wasn't his. He finished his swim to the other end of the pool where he grabbed on to the edge and climbed out at well. He sat there dripping on the side, his legs dangling in the water, looking at Dominique.
"Your parents miss you already?" he asked. Then he suddenly remembered he promised to call home as soon as he'd arrived; "come to think of it..." So he joined Dominique by the towels, retrieved his own cellphone from his pocket and started texting his mother.

Dominique was just about to answer Axel's comment about her parents missing her when he started texting his mother. Now she really couldn't resist to teasingly say: "Looks like you are the one who is missing someone" she winked at him before continuing in a serious tone again, "My parents just want to make sure that I've arrived and everything is fine."
Once she had send her text she put her cell phone back in her jeanspocket and then lay down on her back on towel enjoying the warm sun on her skin. There was a small breeze but nothing that would make you want to put your clothes back on.
"So how did you and Aemilio ended up to be stepbrothers?"

"I'm just texting my mom," Axel said in a chuckle,"I totally forgot I promised to let her and dad know when we arrived safe and sound so they won't worry." When he was done texting he put away his cellphone as well and leaned back to enjoy the sun as well. Withhe sun shining down at him keeping him warm and a soft breeze through his wet hair he sat there completely content and at peace for a moment.
Dominique's question ended that; it wasn't her fault, she couldn't have known the anwser to this ordinary question wasn't a particulary happy one...
"Well," he said with his smile fading, "his father owns a huge international company and a couple of years ago he visited the office branch of his company in London for a meeting with a couple of very important shareholders. Well, my mom worked there as a secretary and that's how they met... They both said it was love at first sight."
He smiled at that part; he and his mother had always been really close and thinking about her happiness always made him smile.
"So a couple of years later they got married and me and my mom moved to Spain, where dad and Aemilio lived at the time."

Dominique listened curious to Axel's story of how he got his stepbrother, picking up that he wasn't to happy with him. But she also picked up that he was happy for his mother to which she could only smile. She looked impressed when he told her that they moved to Spain.
"Wow from the cold and rain of Britain to the blistering heat and sun of Spain," her voice made it clear she was a little envious of that, "that must have been quite a switch. So you speak Spanish as well?"

Axel let out a chuckle; "yeah it was a big change, definetly! I kept forgetting my sunblock for the first couple of weeks too, just because I didn't realise I needed them for a normal schoolday." He stopped playing with the grass for a moment there and thought out loud: "I should've brought sunblock now..." but he was too comfertable there in the grass to go all the way back to his room on the 2nd floor to go and get it.
"Anyway, no I don't really speak Spanish unfortunatly," he continued, "I tried to learn it but I went to an international school when we moved to Spain, so the lessons were in English. I did follow a course Spanish but I'm a disaster at learning new languages so after all these years I only barely speak Spanish - I do understand it though."

He didn't feel like going into his family history any deeper so hoped to move the topic in another direction by asking: "so... what about your family?"

At the mentioning of sunblock Dominique looked at the window of her new room considering whether or not to get hers. The sun wasn't that present in the sky, and is was so nice outside so she just decided to where she was and take the risk of possibly getting a sunburn.
She listened interested as Axel told her a little about his live in Spain, when he asked her about her family she was silent for a moment.
Rolling onto her stomach and pulling her hair over a shoulder she started of: "Well I'm half Egyptian, from my fathers side of the family, I've been born and raised in London. I've got a good relationship with both my parents, which seems to be very rare now a days...
My dad found it important that I knew about my heritage so I can understand, speak and read Arabic, I still have some problems with writing it though. We used to go on family visits to Egypt at least once a year, but that stopped because it's pretty expensive. I do miss seeing my tetta though.
We are really alike and she's the one who first thought me how to belly dance. I should write her a letter again soon..." That last comment was more to herself then to Axel, "I don't really know my mothers side of the family, they didn't really like the idea of my mom marrying my dad so contact shorta stopped."
Once she was done talking she was lost in thought, not yet realising that she had probably told more then Axel had been expecting when he had asked her about her family.

Indeed, Dominique's reply was far langer than Axel had expected but he didn't mind; on the contrary, he listened with great interest. He was glad to hear her family life was nice and a lot less problematic than his. When he learned she was Egyptian it wasn't a big shock, he could definetly tell she had Arabian roots just by looking at her anyway.
"Hmm, it's impressive you know so much about your background," he said nodding aprovingly, "not a lot of young people spend serious time on that nowadays. I never really did either though I'm really interested in history and cultures."
Then he came across something he couldn't quite follow; "your tetta?" Axel repeated confused, wondering if he was suppose to know what that meant as Dominique didn't explain it in the rest of her story.

Dominique chuckled when Axel complimented her on knowing so much about her heritage.
"You make it sound like I ever really consiously made the desicion," she answered, "my dad has been telling me about the Egyptian culture and teaching me Arabic for as long as I can remember."
She got a little curious when he said that he was interested in history and cultures and was just about to ask something about that when he asked her about her tetta. It took her a while to understand his question.
"Oh, right, sorry!" she gave him an apolatical smile, "tetta is Arabic for grandma. My mom and dad always know who I'm talking about when I say tetta so... yeah. So which cultures are you most interested?"

"You're grandma learned you how to belly dance?!" Axel exclaimed surprised, unable to shake off the mental image of an old, grey lady with a walker dressed in some kind of 7-veils 1001 nights suit, shaking her wrinkled blubber belly left and right. "H-how old is your tetta, if I may ask?"

Back to the cultures thing; "ok so maybe you didn't start learning about it on your own but even so... you do seem to like it and be interested in your roots now, aren't you?"
Unfortunatly he didn't really know how to anwser Dominique's question; "uhr well, I honestly don't know all that many cultures," he admitted feeling pretty silly, "I mean... I always like learning about other people and other ways of thinking, looking at things and doing things... but I had a béta-profile in school so I didn't learn a lot about languages or cultures or history. Just a lot of math and biology and science."
He felt his cheeks coloring again so the wheels in his head started spinning like hell, trying to find a better reply and he finally came up with: "well, I know it might sounds strange but I'm not all that fascinated by Ancient Rome... Maybe that's just because it's a topic that's been done to death every year in school but... I was always bummed out we learned so much about them and practically nothing about for example the Gauls or other people they concured."