Little Gifts PV Closed

Adamina dragged her feet as she walked, eyes cast down into the beat-up leather journal in her hands. Her tired eyes scanned the inked words in it, the smooth cursive of the writing blending together into uncomprehensible nonsense. Shouldn't have stayed up last night... she thought, almost lazily, her eyelids drifting closed even as she walked.

She awoke quickly from her doze when her shoulder rammed into... something. She turned around quickly to glare, and, her vision not yet returned, began cursing at the metal holster of a torch. She blinked quickly at what seemed to be a blinding light, her eyes falling on the flame and then giving a near-psychotic laugh at her own stupidity.

She kept walking, more awake than before, and threw a glance over her shoulder at the torch-holder. Then, she did a double-take.

Was that a red holiday ribbon wrapped around the metal? She walked back to it to investigate, and yes, there it was, red silk wrapped in a perfect little bow. Was it possible that the holiday season had already come? And since when did wizards and witches celebrate anything of the Muggle variety?

Adamina, still in her own world of sleep and now extremely confused, simply stared at the red ribbon, before suddenly remembering the old, beaten journal in her hands. She set it down to quickly dig through her bag for a quill and some ink, if only to record her new discovery of the castle.

She managed to grab a bottle of ink, which she held in her off-hand while digging for one of her eagle-feather quills.

However, in her haste, the bottle of ink she was holding had begun tipping, soon spilling most of its contents onto her shoes and the floor. She paused at feeling the liquid seeping into her shoes and socks, before groaning loudly, zipping up her bag.

She leaned against the wall, head in her hands as a tired sigh escaped her. God, she really shouldn't have stayed up so late last night.

@Adamina Scasson

Teiki watched the half-awake person as she walked through the corridor. She winced when the other girl walked in the torch, starting to walk towards the girl. She quickly slipped the gift back into her pocket, trying to not make too much noise. She was interested in why the girl was taking notes on a torch. It was simply a torch after all. But perhaps it was because the girl seemed tired? She took a few more careful steps, watching the girl fumble with her bag and notebook. Teiki only rushed forward when the ink started to spill, lightly tipping the ink bottle the other way so that it wouldn't all fall out. She wasn't quick enough to stop the entire spillage, but she managed to save some of the ink, at least. She watched the girl continue, now standing directly in front of her.

"Hey, do you need some help?" A soft voice called, her eyes questioning. Her excitement was still evident, although some had been replaced with curiosity and interest in the odd scenario she had just watched. The pin felt heavy in her pocket, so she placed her hand in, ready to give the present. Maybe she had found the right person for it.

Adamina, unaware of someone watching, was quickly startled out of her own little pity party by hearing the voice in front of her, her mind taking a few moments to process what was being asked and said. Something about help... asking if I need any?

She quickly shuffled up from her position on the wall, pulling herself up straight to face the person speaking. Her mind flurried with interest, eyes quickly darting over the new girl to get as much information as possible. Yellow tie, Hufflepuff, something small and weighted in pocket... black hair, ha, house colors... interested in the scenario. My scenario.

"Oh, um... hi," Adamina began, words flurrying in her head to try and form a related sentence without coming off as creepy. First year...

She quickly glanced at the ribbon again, remembering exactly why she had been pausing to write in the first place, and exactly why her shoes and now socks were ruined. She dropped the ink into one of the side pockets of her back, one of her fingers delicately twisting the cap on tightly as she did so. She wasn't in the mood to have to deal with scrubbing the ink out of her quite expensive school bag.

"Hey, um, do you have any ink that I can borrow?"

@Adamina Scasson

The girl seemed quite confused, or perhaps flustered. Or perhaps the girl was going to faint. She didn't really know, but it didn't seem like it was going to be anything good. Teiki watched curiously, a little ashamed that she might have brought this flustering onto the girl.

"Hello." She responded, letting it sit. She wasn't one to realize that the conversation might be awkward, as she wasn't very good at understanding people. But the other girl had something else on her mind, it seemed. She kept glancing at the bow, which Teiki had seen. Last she had checked, it was like some of the others arranged around the Hogwarts castle. She glanced at it again, deciding that it looked similar to the others. She liked it, but she couldn't understand the fascination in it. After all, it was a ribbon. During winter, which was the season for ribbons, gifts, and bows.

"Oh! Sure." She let her bag fall to the ground, quickly twisting around to check inside. She grabbed the ink, before hefting the bag back onto her shoulders. Then, she extended her hand towards the girl, the ink resting on her palm. Alongside it was a small gift, seeming to disobey gravity as it looked liked it was about to fall out of her palm. She smiled softly.

Adamina shifted foot to foot slightly, feeling a touch of heat rising to her cheeks. She was quite embarrassed at presenting herself like this to someone new, and she had a feeling she came off as quite odd.

Damn... I need to study wizarding traditions more... she thought, already thinking of a time slot she could clear to do more research into the matter. She highly disliked not knowing things, and the fact that she had been unaware of the quite obvious decorations embarrassed her.

The other girl reached a palm towards her, and, absent-mindedly, Adamina reached to grab the ink before the flash of wrapping paper blindsided her. This girl who she had just met and embarrassed herself in front of... was giving her a present? Adamina gently plucked the two objects out of her hand, gently cupping the gift in her hand. She glanced up at the girl in front of her, her own marble gray eyes making eye contact with the other girls.

Carefully, placing the ink bottle on the floor, Adamina unwrapped the gift to reveal the small pin inside, and a soft smile graced her lips and she held it up to the torchlight, watching it reflect.

She carefully, oh so carefully, tucked the pin into the pocket of her robe, before stooping down slightly to grab her notebook and the ink. Brushing back a tendril of hair that had dropped in front of her face, she looked at the other girl, and, smiling, said, "Adamina. A pleasure to meet you."

@Adamina Scasson

She took it! It was a mini-accomplishment for Teiki. Some had glanced at her oddly, others examining the present as if the girl was trying to poison a stranger. There were some who simply took it, and she was glad the girl did so. She relaxed slightly, smiling softly. She watched the girl open the present, looking at the pin. It was a simple one, having a more of a soft spiral that seemed to be held within a water drop. Teiki personally liked it, although she could understand why others wouldn't.

She put it into her pocket, before grabbing her notebook and the ink again. When introducing herself, Teiki nodded, her own little bow of acknowledgement. Glancing back up, she gave the girl a curious glance.

"So, uh, why were you so interested in the torch?" She asked simply, glancing back at it once more. Again, her blue eyes found nothing unusual, and it didn't seem to have fingerprints on it that suggested it was some sort of secret lever. It also wasn't unnaturally clean. Then, a quick realization quickly brought words to her mouth.

"Oh, and my name's Teiki. Nice to meet you." It seemed more of an after thought, as her interest was mainly in the torch.

So Teiki was the girl's name. It suited her, and Adamina wondered briefly if a person is influenced by their name before dismissing it for later thought and consideration.

Adamina could feel heat searing sharply to her face when Teiki asked about her interest in the torch, silently cursing at herself for being so oblivious and so unsubtle in her examining of the bow. What was the saying about being too tired to rationalize? Something along the lines of that.

"Oh, I just... hadn't really noticed any decorations around the castle. I didn't really think that wizards would celebrate any Muggle holidays, to be honest," she said, stuttering a bit around her answer. She still was aghast that the fact that Hogwarts celebrated holidays had slipped her mind.

"So, why the gift?" Adamina asked, still quite curious as to why Teiki had given her such a thing just upon meeting her. As far as Adamina had seen - which wasn't quite far beyond her books, she reasoned - people at this school were either indifferent to her or liked to tease her based off of her serious behavior. "Do I owe you something back for it?" Adamina disliked owing people favors or things. She preferred to be free of any weights to people, because people often tired her out.

@Adamina Scasson

Teiki watched Adamina as her cheeks blushed. Was she ashamed of looking at torches? She did it all the time as well, although not with nearly as much interest, she assumed. She giggled softly, a little apologetic that she did so.

"Sorry. Of course we do! We don't really have any holidays of our own, but the events that shape the muggle world also shape the wizarding world. Wars affected both. And holidays are holidays. They're fun!" She giggled again. Admittedly, her parents were a no-maj and a wizard, so she was sort of able to see both sides. She paused, relaxing a bit, and letting the excitement slow down.

"But I can see why you'd think that. They seem so different! I don't really think they are, but.." She shrugged, deciding to stop talking. She listened, her nervous energy back. She wasn't sure why she was never, but she giggled again, hopping in place a bit.

"No, it's a gift! You don't owe me anything. Because it's the season of giving?" She smiled, easily taking the little saying. She brought out some more simply to show the girl her assortment of little wrapped gifts.

"I just like giving to people. It's nice. Plus, I get to meet others!" She smiled again, placing the little metallic packages back into her pocket.

"You enjoy meeting others, so you give them gifts? Are you trying to convince people to like you?" Adamina asked curiously, no malice in her voice. She enjoyed knowing the way one's mind worked - it allowed her to more easily predict their next actions, and, as follows, her own responses.

In between the pause of talking, and Teiki answering, Adamina opened her bag, dug through it for a quill, balanced the ink and opened the notebook and began taking notes. Muggle events shape the wizarding world- look into. She scribbled quickly with the quill, only pausing to dip the tip in the pot of ink lent to her.

She nodded absentmindedly as she wrote, not able to truly hear anything in her focus on the beaten journal. Suddenly, making eye contact with Teiki, she flipped the cover of the journal closed, wrapped its small leather cord around it, and tied it off. She slipped the quill back in her bag, rushedly thrust the borrowed pot of ink into Teiki's hands, and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Look, it was a pleasure meeting you, a real pleasure, but I have to go." Adamina knew she probably sounded crazy - scratch that, looked crazy as well - she could feel her eye twitching - but an overwhelming sense of desperation had hit her. She was tired enough as it was - interacting with people was hard enough. But being tired whilst interacting with someone who knew more than her? It drove her nearly insane.

Adamina rushed down the hall, not expecting Teiki to follow her.