| Details for Swinging and Swaying |
| Summary: | Frid and Cooper head out for an evening's dancing |
| Date: | 24th November 1938 |
| Location: | The Natrix |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Even on a Sunday evening the Natrix is a hotspot of young muggle London. And while Frid and Cooper aren't the youngest, neither too enitrely muggle (maybe Frid is..) they're stepping out of a cab now, with Cooper footing the fare since she is a gentleman. "So are we meeting your friends here? And will we be able to find them?" She takes the last few drags of her cigarette, all while dodging the few young birds and their beaus pushing past the two of them to join the growing crowd in the Dance Hall. "God, I'm old," she frowns as the youths crowd around the music already blasting out of the building's doors. Cooper has ditched the dorky glasses and the sweater for the evening. Opting for an actual ironed blouse and combed hair.
"If you're old, I dread to think how you'd describe me," Frid points out, lips curving up into a crooked smile as he holds open the door first for another couple to enter, and then for Cooper. In a slightly more relaxed suit than usual, but still in a suit, the tall man removes his hat as he follows her in. "I'm reliably informed you're as old as the man you feel, anyway. Shall we show these youngsters a thing or two?"
Cooper snorts and tosses the butt temptingly close but away from a crowd of youths as she steps in through the door. "Oh Frid, you're simply a fossil," she grins and adds, "A highly efficient, well dressed - that I'm certainly ashamed - kind of fossil. They would put you in an art gallery, not a museum." And in they go, her volume louder so her can hear her over the music. "And how old do you feel then? Whoa-" No sooner had she stepped in, was she already swept up by a well-liquified young man who was going around lady to lady with his smooth moves.
Frid just laughs as she's immediately claimed away, casually clicking his fingers along with the dance band as he eases his way through the dancing couples towards the bar, chin lifted to see over the top of everyone and try to spy any of his friends.
Being the young and inebriated man he is, Cooper finds it easy to take the lead, and after a couple more swirls she spins him back into the crowd of dancers. The poor thing didn't even know any better for he's onto the next conquest. And finding Frid, she grabs his shoulder to alert him of her presence before saying, "Okay. I definitely need a shot after that. Take one with me." She gestures to the bar and then looks over the crowd to where Frid was peaking, "Find your pals yet?"
"I don't think they're here yet," Frid calls back, voice raised over the music. He leans an elbow on the bar, watching the barman for long enough to catch his eye and give a slight nod. His place in the unspoken queue thus confirmed, he grins back at Cooper. "Found a new friend already, though, I see? You drink whisky?"
Cooper uses her own eyes to scan the crowd as if she knew what Frid's friends would look like (she can make a guess). "Yes, well there's something strange about young muggle men and their idea that they can frisk a woman as they please," she says with a slight hint of disdain. But with a joking smile she offers, "Yes, I can stomach a bit of whiskey. Though as the valet of the proprietress of the Three Broomsticks I will likely trust your judgement on such things. You don't think they offer that green powdery stuff that I'm starting to see around, do you?"
Frid elbows her reasonably hard in the side, giving her a Look at the word 'muggle' before fishing out his wallet and pulling out a few coins. "I hope not," he admits, brows raised. "I can't imagine the results would go down well with this crowd. I did warn you this evening would be mostly… young people without your specific talents, Miss Cooper." He lifts his chin once more to the barman, using some sort of combination of sign language, pointing and lipreading to get served a couple of shots of something deep amber and peaty, one of which he slides along the bar to Cooper with a smile, raising it in mute toast as the band play on.
Cooper ughs at the jab and pouts initially in Frid's direction. In her defense she says, "Oh lighten up, they won't know what I'm talking about. They can barely hear me." To prove it, she turns to the girl next to her had yells, "Hello there! You've really got to do something about your weight!" And clueless, the young woman blinks a couple times before breaking into a wide, polite grin, "Oh, thank you!" And with a deadpan back to Frid, she wordlessly communicates 'See what I mean?' The shot is received with absolute gratitude, and smirking, Cooper raises her shot glass to toast with him, "To specific talents!" Down the hatch it goes. Followed by a groan. Poison.
Frid just stares as she calls the girl out on her weight, breaking into a delighted laugh, head thrown back. He shakes his head, grinning broadly as he knocks back his own whisky, licking his lips before setting the shot back down on the bar. "You are too much, Miss Cooper. Can I tempt you to a dance, before we get kicked out of here?"
Laughter is contagious. But laughter from the usually proper Frid should be considered an epidemic, since Cooper can't help, but bury her face in her own laughter. His offer, though, is met with an unceremonious grip of his hand in her own while she gives his arm a tug, "Frid, if you weren't going to tempt me, I was going to make you!" Which is what she was doing now as she challenges him by referencing their earlier conversation, "Come now, its your turn to prove that you can be just as magnetic too!"
"I did warn you, I'm a swayer!" Frid insists as he's pulled forward to dance, grasping both her hands in his and grinning hugely as the music starts up a lively swing. "I leave the magnetism to you ladies!"
Somewhere along the way, Cooper chucks her oversized jacket carelessly on a chair somewhere and drags the larger man to the dance floor. "Too bad I never heed warnings!" she grins excitedly before they're in the middle of the floor surrounded by youngsters who are quite frankly doing the craziest moves. But Cooper starts off easy with Frid, sliding forward toward him in proper swing form before starting the energetic footwork that goes with the music. "I'll be kind for only a bit."
Frid dips to meet her, chest to chest, one eyebrow raised in challenge as she announces her intentions. Snapping his fingers out wide, he swings away from her, giving it a few fancy moves of his own before holding his hand back out to her expectantly. "I'll get a few more whiskies in me and you'll be lucky to keep up."
And my Cooper is impressed, grinning in almost a bright, childlike manner as her feet hop and skip around Frid and his own personal flare. He twirls her, spins her pulls her two and fro, and she meets him with an unusual grace of her own. For it's not often that gentleman Cooper allows herself to move this way! Recovering from a particularly fast spin, she reach out to grab the hand he holds out, until he speaks and then her head tilts slightly, a wicked grin spreading on her face. "Is that … a promise?"
Frid laughs, lifting the hand and stepping in close again as the music takes him. "A promise I probably can't keep," he admits cheerfully, shoulders going up and down as the clarinet begins to squeal its solo. "I'm old, remember? A fossil!"
"Oh then why make it!" Cooper half whines, half-snickers. But then that glorious solo comes and she too reacts by putting her arms akimbo and swinging her hips back and forth to Frid's shoulder bobbing. "Funny, a man once told me he's only as old as he feels. It doesn't seem like you're feeling a fossil, Frid," she says, eyeing a waiter cautiously walking around dancers and carrying a tray of drinks to seeing if any would be parched enough for another.
"Try me later on," Frid notes goodnaturedly, spotting the direction of her glance and plucking two unspecified cocktails from the tray as the waiter passes. "I'll be stiff as a board after this."
Cooper was about to reach them for herself, but when he kindly does to for them she smiles and says, "Alright alright, fair enough." Her hand is held open for a cocktail to be offered to him. "Although I highly suspect that you feel you have to, don't worry about dazzling me. I'm already impressed with everything thus far." Dancing, whiskey, cocktails! Far beyond her expectations for sure. "It's a shame that you feel you should keep this side separate from your work."
Frid grins slightly at that, pausing for a sip from his glass. "I don't think I'd do a very good job if I danced my way through my work. And drinking too much, as I fully intend to do this evening, would definitely affect my accounting." He holds out his hand again to her, stepping along to the beat and bouncing on his toes. It's nothing fancy, nothing to make anyone stare and gawp at his style, just a music lover bobbing along to a good tune.
Cooper snorts and shakes her head, "Drinking I hope not. Dancing, I believe is something you could likely get away with much easier." She shrugs her suggestion and partakes of her drink. One hand holding the cup out gracefully, while the other one takes Frid's hand again she too begins her complimentary foot work to go along with his. "I'm merely saying that had I not randomly stumbled upon you at the Cauldron, I would have never guessed you even drank a sip. You're all duty when I usually see you. Hiding this side seems like a cruel trick on the world."
"Do you dance at your work, Miss Cooper?" Frid challenges easily, kicking a foot out to one side and twirling her around until she's back facing him, the band working through the solos until all the instruments join back in for a final rendition, horn section blaring out over the top as they spin past.
"Yes," Cooper answers easily, holding her drink close so it doesn't slosh around as he spins her. But when she does manage to face him again, she takes the brief opportunity to lean her face in closer, sip her drink in from of Frid and add with a smirk, "All the time." Is she lying? It's certainly plausible that she does.
Frid just flicks an amiable half grin, lifting his drink up and applauding the band as they reach the end of the song. "Next time you're in the Three Broomsticks, then, I shall put a record on and insist you join me. Just to prove a point."
And with that the song is over, taking the last bit of her drink (because really, hardly fills these things up at all) Cooper too cheers for the band with a sharp two-finger whistle, joining in on the applaud of others around her. Peering over her shoulder at Mr. Salt and Pepper haired man, she again tilts her head curiously as before and asks, "Is that a promise you actually can keep."
Frid considers, amending his promise. "Next time you're in the Three Broomsticks and it's not three in the morning, or full of students, or a fight's kicking off, or I'm busy running Mrs. Fairfax's bath or seeing to her supper, or… well, the next time I'm available and you're in the Three Broomsticks. Fair?" He takes her empty glass with his in one hand, leading her back towards the bar with the other. "Same again? Whatever the hell that was."
Cooper's brows raise as Frid adds clauses and conditions to his promise, although not binding she is not likely to forget. "Oh such slim pickings!" she comments, perhaps less whiney as the last time. But there's a subtle sparkle of delight in those big blue eyes of hers, "But so long as you're sure, then I consider it an honor." A lady-like curtsy is given to emphasize her gratefulness and with a nod she too heads back to the bar, "Yes, the same. Whatever gets the job done, right?"
"Whatever gets the job done," Frid agrees, holding up a finger to get the barman's attention. "As long as it doesn't taste too awful. I'm far too old and far too spoiled to drink swill just to get myself completely inebriated. Two more of the Jura, please," he orders, voice actually carrying in the brief lull between songs before the band strike up again. "I'm not risking the cocktails. Who knows what we'll get."
Cooper takes care of this round, pulling some currency out of her pocket, panicking and stuffing it back in when she realizes its wizarding money. Clearing her throat, she pulls out the right currency this time and placing it on the bartop. "Refusing swill should be a life lesson," she agrees with a nod and then with hardly a beat in between she asks, "How old are you anyway, Frid?" He's not a woman, so she doesn't consider the question rude.
"Old enough to be thrilled to be able to take a pretty young woman like you dancing," Frid deflects, frowning a little as she pays. "And old enough to feel like a monster when said pretty young woman pays for the drinks. I'm just the wrong side of forty," he admits as he lifts his glass for a sip.
Cooper lets out a hearty laugh, somewhat resembling Kris Kringle's signature bellow and a tricky cackle. Whatever it is, it's strange and perhaps a bit unattractive, which is why the youths around them are staring. "A pretty young woman who has the soul of a fifty-year old man. So I would say, between us, we're actually equal colleagues," she nods, unapologetic on footing the round before raising her glass in a toast. "Perhaps its because you're so used to being a gentleman, but don't you worry about being polite here."
It's Sunday night, the Natrix is absolutely packed with young folks. A dance band is playing and stuffing up the floor. Kids are doing their crazy young people dances, bordering on the line of energetic and inappropriate. But still all together a fun time. Frid and Cooper are getting their drank on at the bar.
As she steps out of the office and makes her way through the nightclub-cum-restaurant, Oriana stops to survey the room. The slender fingers of one hand come to rest on her hip. A dark haired man, an obvious bit of muscle, comes up to the tall blonde. Oriana tilts her head to better be able to hear Tony over the din. The man earns himself a pat on the arm from her before she resumes her path around the edge of the room and towards the bar.
The door to the Natrix opens and Nathan's tall muscled frame blocks the door for a moment as he makes his way in. Pausing briefly to grin at the youth filled dance floor he then makes quick strides for the bar his height making it easy to see over the crowd. He is dressed in a long-sleeved shirt of deep red tonight and wears his normal black slacks and leather boots with it. His gloves are absent but his silver serpent ring is on its normal finger. He comes up to the bar and takes a spot near the center and ordering a glass of whiskey for himself from the bartender. While he waist he looks down the length of the bar spotting Frid and another woman he doesn't know. Both get a warm smile and a nod. Then he spots the blonde woman walking alongside the bar. She too get a fainter but no less warm smile just as his whiskey arrives and he turns to raise the glass and take a slow sip of it.
"If I'd known you had the soul of a fifty year old man, I would never have invited you in case you threw your soul's back out," Frid quips, lifting his glass in recognition towards Nathan. He's not a man you miss easily, after all. It's a reminder to him that he's supposed to be meeting people here, and he lifts his chin once more, looking this way and that over the various patrons to see if he can spot any of his usual group of friends.
"Aw that's no fun. I would like to say that 50-year-old man Cooper is highly resilient, and just as pretty and just as good of a dancer," Cooper pouts and partakes of her well paid drink, grimacing a little at the taste. They said no swill after all. Her eyes follow Frid's over to Nathan, eyes nodding to the latter. "You know him?" she asks Frid, then observes the man's color choice, "Do you know why he's dressed like Satan?" Speaking of people she recognizes (or more like doesn't recognize!) Her eyes spot Oriana step out from the office, stunning beauty she is, it's hard to miss her. But Cooper's head tilts with interest as she looks around for perhaps a potential Miss Audrey Taylor and why she wasn't the one stepping out of that office.
Oriana rests a hand on the bar as she waits for her drink, it arrives with out her having to give an order. The pale yellow limoncello is raised in a salute to the bartender. After a small sip she speaks to him in Italian. Turning around she rests her back against the bar and spies Cooper in the act of searching for someone or something. Her painted mouth quirks up into a grin at some internal amusement that still has her lips curved when her gaze lands on Nathan. "Good evening," she says in her accented English.
"If you're expecting to lead the next dance, ma'am, you'll be sorely disappointed," Frid decides, glancing once more over to Nathan. "Met him at the Three Broomsticks the other day. He's opening a pub of his own, apparently. Maybe he's calling it the Mark of the Beast, 666 Knockturn Alley?"
Nathan sips his drink in a thoughtful manner. His deep blue eyes fall upon Oriana as she speaks to him and he smiles quite warmly at her and inclines his head to her. "Good evening to you as well ma'am. At least I hope it is a good evening….it is for me at least." He studies her a moment and takes another sip of his drink looking to the dance floor breifly and then back to the lovely lady nearby.
"Why would it not be good?" Oriana gestures to the busy nightclub full of the potent mix of warm bodies, lively music and strong alochol as she speaks to Nathan, "There is much to see. To have. To experience." Her nose wrinkles a little, "Scuzi, I sometimes sound like an old nonna offering advice." Her hand briefly comes to touch her chest, "For me, it is good because I love music and dancing. And drinking. When I am here sometimes I forget how cold England is and if I drink enough I no longer care that my feet might be hurting."
Cooper peers over her shoulder, observing Nathan and now the joining Oriana. A snort goes to Frid's comment, "Those aren't terrible names. I'd say it almost sounds like you sort of work at a pub, Frid." This is dripping with sarcasm. Yawning, she pats her tummy and then turns to the tall man. "How's about I let you make it up to me for those drinks, and you can buy me some quick grub? I'm famished," she says finishing the last of her own drink.
Frid gives Cooper a faint smile, dipping his head once more towards Nathan and resting a hand on Cooper's shoulder to help guide her through the throngs of dancing youngsters towards the exit.