Oct 11, 2008 12:27
james bond,
sunflora,
sanada yukimura,
george weasley,
rp,
gustav margueriff,
soichiro yagami,
chairman kaga,
tyrion lannister,
beowulf,
daisy buchanan,
sock,
chocolate,
vesper lynd,
zelgadiss graywords,
naomi misora,
brienne of tarth,
maddie magellan,
olympia binewski,
rika furude
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Bond had pretty much failed College 101 in Montenegro, when he'd accepted a drink he hadn't made himself or seen made. The result had almost killed him, and in retrospect he should have been much more careful. This time, it was his temper that was going to do him in, because he didn't even think about what could be in the food when he ate some of the birthday cake.
After taking a bite, he set the fork on the plate and dropped the fork. When he bent down to get it, he bumped the table and knocked over the plate, getting cake frosting in his hair. Bond muttered under his breath, but the muttering turned into full-blown yelling when he stood up and slammed his head on the underside of the table. He was shouting curses when he took a wrong step, slammed his shin into a chair, and tripped over it, bringing the tablecloth down with him.
He wiped the frosting out of his eyes and realized that something horrible had happened.
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That it immediately set her running full-tilt in its direction was pure reflex. Really.
She found her way into the Great Hall just in time to see Bond hit the ground.
"...James?"
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He was getting beaten to a pulp by an inanimate object. "This is not happening," he said under his breath before kicking the tablecloth off. His hair was pink and blue, and frosting was smeared on his face and shirt. It was not the sharp look he usually went for.
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"James, what's happened? Have you been poisoned again? Should I find a doctor, or, or -" She broke off and fought down a panicked sob.
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James got enough frosting out of his eyelashes so that his eyes weren't weren't half glued shut, and when he saw Vesper's pale face half of his anger drained away. "It's not poison," he lied. She could look at him like she wanted him to die on the spot, or not look at him at all, but he couldn't take that. He couldn't let her look at him with fear and concern.
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"Then what - James." She reached out a finger and scraped a bit of blue frosting off his cheek. "Did you eat some of this?" she asked, and put her fingertip in her mouth to suck the sugary substance off. Immediately the front pieces of her hair turned bright neon blue.
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For a few minutes, though, he wanted to touch her, and feel her, and breathe her in. If some cake frosting was letting them do that, he would take it as a blessing in disguise.
"Blue's your color. It matches your eyes."
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"A joke. James, it's a joke. There was a boy I met at the Sorting, he sells charmed candies for pranks - I wonder if it's his handiwork?" She stood to look over the table, but the crowd had too thoroughly decimated the cake for any message iced into it to be readable. "And I wonder who the intended victim was."
Once she stood up straight, she realized the area around the table was turning into bedlam. "I don't think we're the only ones who've been hit. Possibly it's time for a strategic retreat. Can you stand?"
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The door was only 20 feet away. The hallway beyond that was going to be a challenge.
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"Hold on to me. I'll guide you to the door. Just try to follow my lead, all right?"
She walked him slowly and carefully to the door, slowing down even more to guide him around the corners of tables and benches. In far more time than 20 feet should have taken, they reached the door and Vesper pushed it open.
"Now then. Onward. Where to?"
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The result was like somebody throwing a kitchen's worth of pots and pans down the stairs.
The suit tilted, the toppled into the next one, setting off a chair reaction down the hall. One poor house elf was at the far end of the row, and he ran off screaming as the suits came tumbling toward him. Luckily, the last suit just missed clipping his heels.
James had his hands clapped around his ears to protect them from the noise. He lowered them gingerly. "Sorry," he said, followed by a wince as a helmet came loose and bounced down the hall, clobbering the elf who had paused to catch his breath.
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"You'll have to talk me through the halls to Gryffindor. Your room, I take it?"
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His room was a potential problem, but only if she went poking through his belongings. The PPK and the smaller gun were safely tucked out of sight, but the other one...
Oh God, he'd forgotten all about it.
"Vesper," Bond said urgently. "I need you to reach under my sweater at the back."
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"James. This is hardly the time!"
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This wasn't a position he wanted to be in. Giving Vesper a loaded gun was the last thing he wanted to do, but they'd both be safer if it was off his person.
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Once it was clear, she looked it over. "Is the safety on?"
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