Those Meddling Bastards (Open RP, Great Hall)

[serrulata]

((OOC: Backdated to the 22nd. Happy Birthday, Bad Fox! :D ))For all his efforts to the contrary, the school's congregation of House Elves had, once again, managed to trap him in the Great Hall with cake, party favors, and a stupid little party hat that one Elf kept trying to hang festively on one of his ears. He was amazed at his own restraint thus

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[kingbandit]

Curiosity was natural to a thief, part and parcel to their trade. Curiosity brought Jing in, avoiding the house elves, giving him a chance to take in the ambiance. "Do you use a horn to blow out the candles?" he asked, amusement very obvious in his voice.

[serrulata]

"I bribe Karasu to bomb the damn thing," he muttered, avoiding Jing's eyes. "Go ahead and laugh."

[kingbandit]

Jing looked at the cake and then back at Kurama. "It would make a mess and I don't think the candles would go out," he mused. He moved to sit near Kurama. "I also didn't think you liked him," he added, looking at his shoes. He turned his head to look at Kurama. "You should play with friends," he said, grinning. "That makes a good birthday."

[serrulata]

Kurama's ears twitched. He grabbed on to the subject change, glancing sideways at Jing, his expression still set in an irritated snarl, but his eyes full of laughter. "It seems my friends are having enough fun playing with each other," he said, one eyebrow raising.

[kingbandit]

Jing's eyebrows went up and then down as he frowned in thought. He hadn't missed the amusement in Kurama's expression, it just puzzled him. "That was playing?" he asked "It's a strange way to play," he said, his eyes going back to the toes of his boots.

[serrulata]

"It can be, if you enjoy it," he pointed out. He didn't have a doubt that his accidental voyeurism had been on something consensual, but still: he had to ask. Sometime's Kuronue's dick got in the way of his morals, and while Kurama was all right with letting him have his way sometimes, there were others that he felt inclined to step in, if needed.

That, and being suspicious of Kuro distracted him from being pissed off about aging another year.

[kingbandit]

Jing brought a knee up. "It was strange," he said softly. "He said it didn't mean anything, yet his actions said it did. I," he frowned, pausing a moment, seeking the right words and not finding them. "I don't understand it. It was strange, the way it made me feel, but I didn't want to stop."

[serrulata]

Kurama grimaced slightly at that, chewing on his thumbnail. One thing he'd learned over the years was that telling a virgin their first time didn't mean anything was a really extremely stupid thing to do.

But convincing said deflowered virgin that it really DID mean something was just as dangerous territory.

"Kuro..." he groped for words. "He expresses with his body. He's never really honest with his words, in the time that I've known him." Like, most of the bat's life. "But his definition of things, what actions mean in relation to words, are skewed as well."

He fumbled again for words. "Do you think it meant something?"

[kingbandit]

Jing rested his chin on his knee. "It had to have, or it wouldn't have been so important," he said, though it sounded more like he was still trying to understand what was in his own head than answering Kurama's question. "Everything else I've stolen, I've understood it's value, but that...I still don't understand it."

[serrulata]

He couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't drag them in a deepening spiral of existential hell, so he let it hang, giving Jing time to think. Meanwhile, the ends of the table holding the cake burst into flame. The elves, as if they'd been waiting for this opportunity their whole lives, sprang to action in a bucket-and-ladder clown routine that was more tragedy than comedy.

Such was Life at Hogwarts.

[kingbandit]

Jing turned his attention to the house elves a moment. "Tell me," he said, his voice distant at first as he turned back to Kurama, "what do you think of the Vintage Smile?" he asked.

[serrulata]

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. "I think you can have it back."

[kingbandit]

Jing frowned. "Have it back?" he asked. Was this place messing with his everything he knew so badly that nothing had meaning, nothing had value anymore?

[serrulata]

"I know why you gave it to me; I don't need it any more." He nudged Jing a little with an elbow. "Unless you want to make a game of taking it from me."

[kingbandit]

Jing deflated a little. "If it doesn't mean anything," he muttered.

[serrulata]

"Hey, no,' he picked himself up from his slump, putting his arm around Jing's shoulder. "It means something. It's just that the meaning has changed. Plus," he leaned forward to look Jing in the eye. "I'll be that you can't steal it from me for how well I hide it."