| Details for Graceful and Goofy |
| Summary: | As a Hogsmeade weekend winds down, Colton and Kimiko relax in the Gryffindor common room for some conversation, dance, and a touch of silliness. |
| Date: | November 4, 1937 |
| Location: | Gryffindor Common Room |
| Related: | Immediately follows Gryffindors and Other Creatures |
| Characters |
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Colton passes Lois' stuff back to her to carry once they get to the archway to the Girl's Dorm. "Night." He then stretches and yawns and gives sigh as he deflates. Things could be considered a touch on the awkward side now between him and Kimiko where there's usually rather amiable ease. "So umm…aye…"
Kimiko comes in alongside Mabel, and bids her goodnight. But she wants to open her new box of pottery tools. So she bounds over to a couch and nestles in, sitting cross-legged on it, the box in her lap. She glances up at Colton's muttering, blinking innocently. "Hmm?"
Gerald bids the girls goodnight, sees Cillian and Kimiko talking and says, "I think I'm going to go see what everyone else is up to, you two keep out of trouble alright?" He winks at the two of them and starts to head out the door.
Colton itches at his cheek and sighs pulling something out of his pocket. It's a large tube. That's right, he can house a large poster tube in his pocket. He pauses and waves the tube at Gerald, "Who me?" He says innocently, Colton would never get into trouble. Naaaaw. But then he just sort of leans over and drops the tube on Kimiko's lap and clears his throat. "Happy Birthday Kimi."
Kimiko gives Gerald an emphatic wave as he heads out, managing to whack her arm on the wooden frame along the back of couch. Her jaw drops with a silent OOOOOWWWW! She frowns at the reddening spot, but it is soon forgotten, as there is a tube in her lap. Thank goodness nobody said that out loud, because it sounds dirty. She looks up at Colton with a soft smile. "Aww…thank you, Higgins!"
Colton pulls out another something from his pocket, this time an ointment jar and he offers it to her too. "For the bang. But it's nothing too big. I just know you're at every Quidditch practice and game…figure you like Quidditch…" He gestures to the tube which has a poster of the Japanese National team with autographs from them in kaji of course around the edges.
Kimiko pulls the poster free of the tube, and laughs aloud, a happy sound. "Oh this is great! The Toyohashi Tengu! Are these autographs real?!" She sets aside her box and the poster, and lifts up on her knees to give Colton a hug. "This is great! I'll hang it right by my bed."
Colton is stunned a moment by the hug but he's quick to return the hug and give her a bigger hug and even does that side to side sway. "Nope. Forged them myself. I'm getting really good at the kanji. The Quinnlands were in Japan for their championship game this summer. So what did I miss earlier? What's going on with Gryffindor pride call I missed before Sucks showed up?"
Kimiko blinks, pulling back from him. "You forged them?" She's clearly taken him at his word, and does not look pleased about it. "That's awful, Higgins!"
Colton blinks and looks at Kimiko, "Seriously? Ye pick that one time to actually take me seriously? I was jokin' Kimi! I waited in the rain for three hours to get all of their signatures put together." Shaking his head he's chuckling. Today is just not his day for impressing Kimiko.
Kimiko stares. Then he gets a solid smack to his chest. "You brat." She slumps back down into her seat, and picks up the poster. With her bright smile at the sight of it, she's clearly over being mad at him. "That is so unfair. You've been to Japan but I haven't."
Colton whistles out a relieved breath when she's instantly unmad at him. "You wanna go? I could take you if you wanna go? My uncle got married to some one while we were there…so he's still there so we could go no problem." He shrugs and truly for this Quinnland being some globe trotting guru is no big thing. They have connections all over the world and can get there easy peasy. He then realizes something and itches at his cheek again. "Uhh… Rattle the tube…?"
"We can't just take off for Japan. We have school, dummy. Besides, Japan probably isn't the best place for me right now. That's what we were talking about before you came. The other Gryffindors were saying how they'd help me if my Great-Grandfather tried to marry me off." Kimiko furrows her brow, and rattles the tube curiously.
The tube does in fact rattle about and the Tinker pantomimes for her to tilt it again. If she tilts a pair of Kanzashi combs (decorative japanese hair pins) slide out onto her hand. "I thought they were toys but my Uncle's new wife told me the girls wear them in their hair like real fancy hair pins." To the news about her being shipped off he frowns. "If that happens and you need to run away, I can help. Even if they get you to Japan, my uncle could help you. He can't make you marry anyone against your will." Again the usually good spirited laid back mischief maker sounds rather affronted and serious.
Kimiko gasps in surprise at the kanzashi. "Higgins! Where did you even get these?" She arches an eyebrow at him with a smirk. "Did you buy them from my family?" Saito Shipping is, after all, one of the premier importers of Japanese goods in England. "These are beautiful. I wish I'd had them at the dance. They would have been perfect with my kimono." She rises again, delivering another hug. Two for two, Higgins!
When she settles back down again, she sobers a bit. "You don't know my Great-Grandfather. Every Saito girl born in London has been sent to Japan to marry when she turned sixteen. He doesn't take no for an answer." She shrugs, smirking with a bit of mischief. "Of course, no other Saito girl was a witch."
Colton looks perplexed but then - hugs number two!! He hugs her back this one a bit less on the silly friendly side. "So you're muggle-born? Nice. That solves it though. You're under wizarding law, not Muggle Law because you're a witch. You can't be married off against your will in Wizarding law. Not even Muggle law these days. He can't do anything, not with Gryffindor backing you up. Wizards can be very persuasive. But you shouldn't be worrying about that stuff. It's your birthday!" He reaches to pull her up to get her onto her feet to try to get her to dance with him as he makes musical noises and clomps his feet and claps his hands.
Kimiko laughs, pulling away playfully. "It's not my birthday until tomorrow!" She giggles. But she cannot resist the urge to dance! Suddenly, the awkward girl is pure grace, and she twirls past him into a more open part of the common room.
Colton shrugs, "Well still, pretty thing like ye shouldn't be so troubled about somethin. Specially since there's no worry bout it happening. There's no way in 'ell Dumbledore'll let it 'appen. Nevermind the rest of us. Yer Granda's never gone against the likes of Albus Dumbledore, there he'll find himself out matched." But then it's dancing time and he stomps and claps and da-dada-dums and hums and perumps and all sort of manner of instrumental sounds.
Kimiko giggles at his ridiculous barrage of mouth-instruments, but she dances along, employing a variety of styles, from ballet to swing. After a few minutes, she stops, still laughing merrily. "We really need a wireless set. Did you hear that the Ravenclaws are building one? Maybe we can get them to loan it to us now and then."
Colton hmmms and holds up a finger to beg a moment and then he dashes mad cap up the stairs into the Boys Tower, a minute or so later he comes bumping and jostling back down, though something in his hands is held perfectly level and with great care. He brings the wooden box over and then lifts the lid and the tickling melody of the music box playing She Moved Through the Fair.
Music, her weakness. Kimi is powerless against it, and immediately takes up another dance. This time, she assumes a traditional Japanese dance, pacing it to match the rhythm of the Celtic tune. "This is such a beautiful song," she muses, eyes half-lidded, lost in the melody.
Colton leans on the arm of one of the chairs to watch her dance to 'She Moved Through the Fair'. He then starts to sing his voice a bit quakey. Singing usually isn't what he does but he wants to share the song as Kimi dances to it. Eyes hypnotized, "My young love said ta me. My mothah won' mind. An mah father won' slight ye, foh yer lack o kine. An' she laid 'er 'and on meh. And dis she did say: Twill nae be long, love, till our weddin' day." He sighs and watches her dance a few tinkling bars more. "As she stepped 'way from meh, an' she moved tru the fair. An' fondly I watched 'er. Move 'ere an' moves dere…" He sings smiling and gesturing to her pointedly.
Kimiko smiles brightly at his singing, giggling softly when he points to her. When the song finally comes to a close, she ends up in a demure, kneeling posture, hands pressed together as if in prayer, her head tilted deferentially. But she rises with a bounce, and with the dance over, all of that grace seems to vanish as she nearly tumbles over a side table, banging her knee. She catches herself, but it sends her into a fit of embarrassed giggles. "Owwwwhehehehe!"
Colton gahs and is immediately going to her to help her stay up right and not topple over…any further. "You alright there? You really are a bang up job you know?"
Kimiko leans on Colton, still laughing, and now blushing furiously. She nods, eyes shut, "I know!" She stands upright, finally regaining a little self-control, but still red in the cheeks.
Colton smiles and takes the moment her eyes are closed to mouth "You are too cute!" He helps her to a chair and then playfully begins to collect up every pillow and pad in the common room and start to gather them around where she's sitting.
This only makes Kimi laugh more. "I do not need padding!" She kicks away one of the pillows, but manages to accidentally hook it on her toe and send it hurtling directly toward Colton's face.
*Pwuoff!* Score for Kimi! The pillow even clings to the lad's face. His laughter and chuckled muffled by it until he finally peels it away from his face. "Nice shot! We need to get you on the pitch an' kickin' quaffles into hoops! Wouldn't that be a tactic to throw off the Slytherins!?"
Kimiko's hands go to her mouth in a gasp, until the pillow sticks in place. Then she is hopelessly lost in giggles again. It takes another half a minute or so for her to regain her composure, or some semblance of it. "I tried," she says, trying to catch her breath, "I tried out for the team in Third Year. I think I'm better off just cheering you all on."
Colton swipes a hand over his face to get rid of that bit of tingly whapped in the face with a pillow feeling. "Aye, true. Probably would get the quaffle kicked in my face with all the luck I've been having with ye tonight."
"Awwww," Kimi tilts her head in a mock pout. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kick it in your face." She sets about tossing the pillows back to their rightful places, and gratefully manages not to fling any of them at Colton.
Colton reaches out like he's going to take her bottom lip between his fingers and nibble on it! "No? Where did you mean to kick it? My belly?" He teases her in mock accusatory tones as he tidies up as well. "Hey… a sickle!" He holds the thing up and brandishes it from where he found it under a cushion and then puts it in his deep pockets.
Kimiko bats his hand away, smirking. "I wasn't aiming at anything. I was just getting rid of your fortress of pillows." She stifles a yawn, and her eyes drift to the stairs to the girls' dorms. "You wore me out. I think it's time for bed."
Colton gets this little adoring smirk as he watches her get all yawny. "Notta sorry." His brogue tends to thicken when he gets… yawn…sleepy himself. He nods and then after he's done with the stretch that struck him along with the yawn that he contracted from her he offers his hands to help hoist her up he then gives one more joke. "Shall I get some cushions for you to carry? Like them tug boats bumpers."
That earns another smack to the shoulder. "Ugh! You can be a real…you-know-what sometimes." Kimiko rolls her eyes, and skips off to the stairs, which she takes two at a time (and nearly slips on one).
Colton moves to put a couch cushion on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. "Aye but ye adore me anyways." He calls up after her as he teasingly waits at the bottom of the stairs like a catcher. "Hold on, yer presents!" He moves to fetch them after putting them back in the tube and then stretches up as much as he can to offer them high up on the steps without actually stepping on the first step cause that's a no-no.
Kimiko pauses at the realization that she forgot her presents. She comes down just enough to reach for the gifts, not about to let him get close enough for any more antics! She takes the tube and her box of pottery tools, and gives him a brief smile before disappearing upstairs.
Colton prat feints when he hears the click of her door onto the cushion he left on the floor and then just gets an extremely dopey expression as he rolls off the cushion to tuck it back in. "Ooo a knut! Maybe it is meh lucky night…" Is muttered as he drops the coin in his pocket and starts up the stairs after he collects up the music box. A whistle of 'She Walked Through The Fair' passing his pursed lips as he climbs the stairs to his own room.