| Details for Happy Birthday to Us |
| Summary: | The Sykes twins meet at midnight to ring in their birthday. |
| Date: | November 30, 1937 |
| Location: | Kitchen Passage |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
  |
---—===================(\|/)==================---—
Kitchen Passage Hogwarts Castle
Brightly lit with torches along the walls, this wide stone corridor is much too cheery to lead to anyplace scary. Most of the pictures along the walls depict some sort of food, giving one the idea that the kitchens must be around here somewhere. Or, it could just mean that the cheerful, sugary abode of the Hufflepuff lurks somewhere here as well. But where oh where could they be? The corridor doesn't have a single doorway in it. Just a long corridor with stairs at the northeast end that lead back up to the Entry Hall. The hall seems to also be used for storage, it seems, as there is a stack of vinegar barrels piled in a triangle like arrangement against the western most wall
---—===================(\|/)==================---—
This morning when Kaiden woke up there was a small box containing a cupcake at the foot of his bed, attached was an envelope with a card inside. When opened, the card obnoxiously shoots confetti into his face (not hard enough to cause real damage, but just so his head, though sleepy and groggy, could look festive first thing in the morning). Meet me outside the kitchens just before midnight. I've organized with your prefects you won't get into trouble. She doesn't even sign it, but judging by how neat everything is it's clearly Ria.
Kaiden steps out of the giant cask and straightens out his sweater, humming softly to himself. He's had a talk with Briar and given her a smooch before departing just to make sure everything is A-okay. He looks around as he gets out and says, "Ria?"
Hiding in alcove (because duh its past curfew), Ria suddenly steps into view holding a small cake in her hands with two mini-human figures on top. One is a boy, who holds up a 1, the other is a girl, who holds up a 7. Each number has a flame on top. And floating slowly over to him, she wears a bright grin while she sings quietly, "Happy birthday to us…Happy birthday to us. Happy birthday to uuuuuhhhhhhhsssss! Happy birthday to us!" The candles illuminate her face light as she ambushes him with the cake and she finished with, "You can blow out the 1 and I'll blow out the 7."
Kaiden smiles warmly at her as he's ambushes and notices the cake. Kaiden's eyes light up and he says, "That's awesome." He shout it, but y'know…Pringle. *shudder*. He nods to her and says, "Okay…" He leans down, and shall follow the complex instructions of blowing the candle out like a champ.
"Custom ordered from Harkiss' in Hogsmeade," Ria beams proudly and blows out her own candle. And now that their light has gone, she replaces instead with a lumos from her wand. Pringle is something on her mind as well, and she keeps another eye in every direction for him. "Okay, sooo I suppose we'll have to make this brief since it is night time after all, but I got you a couple of things." And by a couple she means two. If there's one thing Ria loves to do, it's spoil her family. The first comes in a rectangular box about the length of a forearm and half an inch tall. When Kaiden pulls back the yellow wrapping paper, he'll find its a set of top of the line quality pastel sticks, obviously imported from France due to the French words on the lid. The second gift she'll wait a moment before giving it to him.
Kaiden smiles at the pastels and looks up to her, saying, "Aww, Ria. I love them." He leans in and gives her a kiss on the cheek, saying, "I got you a little something, too. I talked Jocunda into getting one of those fancy restaurants on Diagon into making you a little something. It was pricey, but y'know…" He pulls out a small desert box and opens it, revealing a collection of different confections, most notably the hand-made chocolates that move about like snakes."
After beaming proudly and accepting the thank you kiss, Ria cranes her neck forward to see just what was in the box of sweet. And suddenly she lets out a loud EEP! But almost immediately after she covers her mouth in panic, realizing how noisy she was. "Sorry," she mouths but then takes a gander back into the box with a mixed expression of curiosity, repulsion but most of all ravenous desire after she realized the 'creatures' are made of her favorite thing in the world - chocolate. "Oh Merlin, Kaid….can I….can I have one now?" she looks wide-eyed and half creeped out by the gift but good god does she want to try it so badly.
Kaiden smiles at her and gives her a nod, saying, "Yeah, of course. It's our birthday. We can do whatever we want." He chuckles softly and reaches down to pick up one of the milk chocolate snakes, which immediately stops wiggling around as he touches it and holds it out to her.
"Whatever we want, hmm?" Ria smirks with an impish look in her eye, indicating that perhaps they should try and do 'whatever' the heck they wanted on this day. But cautiously she looks at the chocolate in his hands, takes the wiggly thing between her own fingers and plops it into her mouth. "Mmmmmm," she half giggles and half panics with a tinge of distress when the sweet snakes around in her mouth. After growing a bit more freaked out with the passing seconds, she chews and 'kills' the snake creature, her brows raising when the taste is actually…delightful. "Oh god that's heavenly….," she murmurs, clearly pleased, "Thank you so much Kaid." Grinning she snakes an arm about him to give him a warm hug. "Are you read for your next present?"
Kaiden chuckles and beams at her, saying, "You like it, then? I thought you might." He picks one of the snakes up and munches on it, saying, "This is definitely the first one I've had." Shifty-eyes. He's definitely not going to point out the fact that it looked like that scene from Indiana Jones when he got it. He furrows his brows and says, "I got a second present?"
"I do like it, even if it freaks me out a little. But I'd say it's worth it," Ria grins and looks down to shuffle something out of her pocket. Something small. A square box, no bigger than inch wide, tall and long. "Yes, you do get a second one this year. But this isn't entirely a birthday present I'd say…," her voice lingers. Then suddenly, Ria gets down on one knee as if she were getting ready to propose to her own twin and presenting the box to him while theatrically saying, "Kaiden Sykes. I am honored to be your sister."
When Kaiden opens the box he'll see it's a polished and shiny sports ring. Not too big or obnoxious, a yellow jewel sits in the center and around it is his name 'Kaiden Michael Sykes'. On the left side of the ring itself is an embossed broom and the words 'Hufflepuff Captain.' The other side has the image of a beater's bat and the year '37 to '38. Pure, solid gold. She's given this one some thought.
Kaiden gazes in amazement at the ring and his eyes once again sparkle to life. He takes the box from her and leans down to scoop her up in a hug, an easy task these days as he's bulking up from the weight training and she's a generally tiny girl. He spins her around and smooches her on the cheek, saying, "Oh, Ria, I love it."
Ria is definitely feeling that bulk as soon as she's swooped off her feet. Her brother practically squeezes the wind out of her and as she's being spun she lets out a hoarse and airy sort of snicker. Because you know….with a hug that tight there's no air going in or out. With all this movement she's also trying very hard not to let their mini cake in her hands fall over. "I'm glad," she managed to get out with a grin on her face. "Only like I said, it's not a real present because you earned this one. It's more a reward."
Kaiden sets her down and smiles, saying, "Oh, Ria, you've outdone yourself, I tell you that. It's absolutely lovely. Makes me feel about bad about only getting you chocolate." He chuckles and pulls the ring out of the box to put on his finger, examining it closely in the lumos that's created by Ria's wand, "It's rather fetching, isn't it?"
Ria takes a gasp of air as soon as she's put down. Sweet sweet air. She never thought she'd get some ever again. But she is rather happy to see her brother love the present so much. "Don't feel bad at all! When you accomplish something wonderful, you should feel proud," she smiles warmly at her twin, admiring the glow of the ring in her wand light, "I think it looks only natural on you. Take good care of it." And suddenly there are foot steps and a dim hint of lantern light coming from way down the hall. A familiar Pringley voice grumbles some words that sound like 'Bloody kids they can be wandering about in all times of the night. Squeaking and eeping like mice thinking they won't be heard.' Ria turns to Kaiden with a look of panic and shoves him in the direction of the fruit portrait. "Go, go, go," she mouths and gives sheepish grin.
Kaiden smiles and says, "Kaiden Sykes, Quidditch Captain. It feels good to say that." Though, he gasps softly as the Demon that is Pringle can be heard and nods to her, slinking up against the wall, smirking softly to her. Yay! The two of them are finally doing sneaky brother and sister things again. Kaiden would be lying if he said he didn't miss this.
Ria grins at his title and grins at the moment. She hasn't let herself have this much fun in a very long time, which is highly evident in the birthday glow she carries. "Happy Birthday, Kaiden. I love you," she gives him a affectionate sisterly peck after that whisper and sneaks her way back to hide in the alcove to wait for Pringle to pass before skittering back off to her common room.