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Padma Jyoti Patil ([info]tothewildforest) wrote in [info]tinworth,
@ 2009-10-25 23:53:00

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Entry tags:!complete, character: npc, character: padma patil, date: october 2003, place: m: london

Characters: Padma Patil & Parvati Patil
Locale: Trafalgar Square, London
Date: 25 October 2003
Warnings? Sisterly love!



Though Padma did not adher utterly to the faith that had followed her parents to England from India, she enjoyed the little mysteries, the rituals and the poetry, of every faith she had encountered. Still Diwali, this festival of her family, was her favorite, and influenced only in part by childhood memories.

Trafalgar Square was ablaze, candles and oil lamps burning, spilling their scent into the streets. There were people everywhere, but their songs, breath and chatter were not deafening, but a hum that warmed Padma's skin and resonated in her bones. It was the comfort of friends crowded in her dormitory at school, the bustle of the street markets in Kottayam, gathered family for the holidays.

And it was Parvati, then, sharing a bed in a sleeper car when they were very small and could not agree on who should sleep on top and who should sleep on the bottom, always wanting the same space.

Padma hugged her package for her sister tightly under the Muggle wool coat she wore, waiting for Parvati.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-26 04:35 am UTC (link)
"Ghē Diwali," Parvati exclaimed as she caught up with Padma, where she was ambling through the cheerful crowd, kissing her sister on both cheeks before embracing her. Her own were pinked from the chilly night and glass of wine she had already drunk. "Have you been here long? I should have thought to pick a lion to meet near."

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-26 05:08 pm UTC (link)
Padma grinned, holding still to her sister's arm as though she might float away.

"But then you would have to pick a favorite lion, and I am sure that you can't."

It was good to see Parvati. There was much writing done on the nature of twins like looking into mirrors, but Padma had never felt this when it came to her sister. There were lights in Parvati's face that hers never had, gestures with different weights or meanings, and a quirk about her mouth that Padma felt sure had nothing whatever to do with genetics.

"I wrote to Auntie Bindi, but I did not hear from her to see if she would join us. Hita would like the lights, I think."

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[info]npc1
2009-10-26 08:46 pm UTC (link)
For all that the sisters looked perfectly alike, it was becoming easier as they grew to tell them apart. Padma's hair fell to her waist in waves that expressed a more traditional beauty; Parvati's short cropped bob screamed of her love for sleek modernity. In the sea of Mamas and Ammammas, Padma's delicate jewelry and kohl lined eyes were more at home, but Vati was most comfortable with her glittered eyeshadow that glinted only slightly dimmer than the hundreds of lamps and candles surrounding the enormous lotus lanterns that blazed their reflections from the twin pools. All the same, the twins clasped hands, both grins broad as they surveyed the scene around them.

"She rang me after work, they should be here," Parvati announced, though with another sheepish grin, "somewhere?" It was a bit like finding the snake in the tall grass, but she had no doubts that Maasi Bindi was here somewhere, with Geoff and Hita in tow. Or more likely, Hita with her parents in tow. Parvati clicked her tongue absentmindedly; children were far in her own future, thank goodness. "Hey, Dev is here too, but don't say hello. He's been telling all our friends that I'm a witch when he drinks, I'm going to hex him a tail."

With a little scowl, Parvati worried her lip between her teeth. She didn't want to have to report to the Ministry and apply to have Dev's memory modified, it would be expensive.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-27 07:08 pm UTC (link)
"Don't you think that would exacerbate the problem?" Padma asked with a raised brow, though her mouth quirked at the corners. She knew her sister well enough that it would take far more than rumor mongering to warrant such a hex; though, if he had been a very bad boyfriend...

Pulling Parvati to a vendor selling masala cashews by the paper cone full - the sweet traditional, the presentation not so much - Padma paid for one to share.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-27 07:19 pm UTC (link)
"I do not," Parvati persisted, not fully plied away from her plans by delicious snackfoods. She chewed, swallowed, and continued explaining. "If I hex him a tail, it gives me good leverage; you stop telling people I'm a witch, I will take away your tail. He won't want to take his pants off around anyone at all until it's gone, so it shouldn't take more than a few days. It's perfect. I'm thinking something with plumage."

While not fully serious, Parvati was considering the odds of other magical persons in the teeming crowd besides her sister, Maasi Bindi, and Geoff, to make the culprit less apparent should the Ministry find out. Could a five year old give someone a tail accidentally and not be held responsible?

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-27 08:34 pm UTC (link)
Shaking her head at Parvati's reasoning, Padma munched a handful of nuts, peering about in the crowd for a familiar face. There was much to assault her eyes beyond the colors and lights, and a dhol band had begun playing somewhere behind them.

"What if he should decide that he prefers a tail to taillessness?" She asked in a flippant moment, careful to keep her voice pitched enough so that only Parvati could reasonably hear. "What shall you do when he becomes some sort of Muggle entertainer? He will have excellent balance, you know."

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[info]npc1
2009-10-27 08:50 pm UTC (link)
"What bird wants to shag a birdman?" Vati replied, equally saucy with a bold grin as she stole another pinch of cashews. "I certainly wouldn't, and at least half of his mind is devoted to that alone."

It hadn't been a bad thing, nearer the beginning, but the longer Parvati had spent in Dev's company the longer she grew weary of talking about if Playstation or Xbox was the superior gaming system, which Batman villain was the best, or how fit this Amy Winehouse bint was. No amount of physicality could overcome knowing that her weekends were going to be spent watching football on the telly, with a flat full of Indian blokes, forever.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-27 09:25 pm UTC (link)
Padma pressed through the crowd to one of the fountains, where small children balanced precariously on the edge, their mothers and fathers trying in vain to keep them from the sprays of water, couples sat reveling with hands locked together, and friends were busy with mouths laughing, drinking, and talking.

"I do not presume to know the sexual appetites of others," Padma answered with a smile to match her twins, claiming a space for the both of them on the fountain's edge.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-27 09:38 pm UTC (link)
"I don't even want to know," Parvati said firmly, holding up her hands and trying to banish the imaginary image of her sister - who, now that she was living with Nott was surely engaged in some sort of behaviour which Parvati would rather never hear the gritty details of. He was a pale, skinny beanpole; Nott simply couldn't look good naked.

She reached into her purse instead, pulling out the brightly wrapped bundle, containing an equally bright gift. The pillowcases had been purchased in Southall, something Parvati thought Padma would treasure for their color and detail, and that Nott might find a touch garish.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-27 09:54 pm UTC (link)
Interest absorbed momentarily by the gift, Padma gave the bright ribbon a tug, her happiness evident in the hand that stroked down the length of the bead work.

"These are beautiful, Vati. Thank you."

Padma rarely accepted gifts with the grace she managed in other things, though she leaned over to hug her sister tightly, crushing both their gifts between them. It was so good to see her, and when Padma relinquished her hold to offer her own gift, her eyes shone. This, too, she had lost in her travels.

"I found it in a Muggle boutique in Berlin," she prefaced quickly. "If you do not like it, well. Give it to Lavender. You're far more discerning than she is."

Her recommendation was not unkind, only truthful.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-27 10:18 pm UTC (link)
Parvati unwrapped the little shrug, ruffled with sunny yellow polka dots, and grinned. "No," she said honestly, turning it around to see all sides. "I like it, it's cheerful and will remind me of summer in the middle of all the English grey! And, it would clash with Lavender's skin," she pointed out. "Thank you!" Vati said, leaning over again to pull her sister into a sideways embrace and kiss her cheek.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-27 10:24 pm UTC (link)
Padma waved her hand, smiling, ignorant of what would or would not clash with anyone and everything. She wore what pleased her eye, and assumed everyone else did the same.

Over Parvati's shoulder, Padma saw Bindiya, her own head craning about, no doubt looking for the twins.

"Bindiya, hello!" She shouted, though careful not to do so directly into Parvati's ear, waving with a free arm. Her Aunt turned at the sound of her voice, face splitting in a grin. Geoffrey was at her side, little Hita hitched up on his hip and waving like mad at everyone. Padma and Parvati were only lucky to be included in this blanket enthusiasm.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-27 10:44 pm UTC (link)
"Maasi-ji!" exclaimed Parvati, jumping up with Padma as their undoubtedly coolest - in Parvati's opinion - aunt came to pull them both into a tight hug. "Happy Diwali," she said, both to Bindi and to Geoff and Hita over her shoulder.

For all that he was out of place in such a gathering, with his pale red hair and even paler face, Geoffrey was comfortable enough to be obviously enjoying himself, and to wish both of the girls a Happy Diwali with a grin and a wave, letting a squirming Hita down from the confines of his arms to sack their calves with all the force of joy a five year old could muster. "Ghē Diwali!" she shouted, "Ghē Diwali, Aunty Vati, Aunty Padma!"

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-27 11:18 pm UTC (link)
Grinning, Padma bent to kiss Hita on both cheeks, or try to, as the girl could not stop moving long enough even to distribute the love she wanted to, let alone receive any.

With a hand lingering where Hita's head had been just a moment ago, as though to touch her hair, Padma rose, smiling brightly at Bindi and Geoff.

"She is a grown girl! I have been away so long," she mourned a moment, but could not do so very long, not with Diwali, not with Parvati and now yet more well loved and long missed family to cheer her.

Padma looked at Parvati, impulsively taking her sister's hand, as they had always moved in crowds when they were very young. She wrinkled her eyes as she spoke, cutting a glance to Bindiya and to Geoff.

"Let's show Hita the drummers, and let her revel enough in the company of sisters that she wants for one of her own."

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[info]npc1
2009-10-30 01:38 am UTC (link)
"Hey, you try babysitting and you will see that this one is trouble enough on her own," Parvati teased, shrugging her purse onto her shoulder and taking Hita's hand securely in her other. "Aren't you, Messmaker?"

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[info]npc1
2009-10-30 01:59 am UTC (link)
Hita clapped a hand to her cheek, as though in surprise, and it slid down her face to poke her belly when she answered.

"Nana says I am a good little pudding. See?"

And she stood very still, lips puckered, eyes pinched shut, though not so tight that she would miss anything, should something very exciting happen.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-30 02:15 am UTC (link)
Nana doesn't spend quite as much time with you at your house, Parvati thought, but nodded all the same. Hita wasn't naughty, or miserable to look after, but she certainly was a messmaker, and was likely on her very best behaviour while at her Nana Cadwallader's in Coventry, not to mention the pleasantly plump grandmother was inclined to think the very best of most people, especially a granddaughter of her own.

She passed a wink to Padma, and a squeeze to Hita's hand to spur her onward towards the drummers.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-30 02:27 am UTC (link)
Padma had inherited their mother's uncertainty when it came to children, never able to discern how old they were, or what behaviors were appropriate at what age. She watched Parvati with Hita and smiled, though, following after.

She glanced to her aunt and uncle, who ambled along beside her, their eyes traveling in turn from their daughter to Padma.

"Mohan says you are here to stay now?"

Bindiya's question was accompanied by a smile that seemed to know better, but Padma shook her head.

"No, I'm not planning on leaving again."

Not soon, or not ever?

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[info]npc1
2009-10-30 02:33 am UTC (link)
"And," Geoff said, not at all above teasing where Bindi was too kind, "he says you've taken up in Cornwall with an Englishman. What's that about?" He grinned at her unabashedly, for all that his wife shot him a covert dirty look. "In the family genes to love us gorahs, is it?"

Unseen on the other side of her sister, as the contrast between lamplight and shadow grew greater, Parvati rolled her eyes.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-30 02:39 am UTC (link)
Padma blushed deeply, though her uncle's frank attitude had to be welcome in contrast to Parvati's open scorn and her own parents denial.

"I have always insisted that our parents should have raised us in India if they did not want for us to grow up English," she admitted, something of a light heart in her own words, as well. Though Padma certainly felt herself to be a child of the continent, as well, she was not wholly what her mother and father had no doubt imagined she might be, nor Parvati, either.

"Lucky for you, I think," she finished, smiling at Geoffrey and Bindiya both.

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[info]npc1
2009-10-30 02:50 am UTC (link)
"For him, at least," Bindi chuckled, giving Geoff a soft elbow in the ribs as his arm wound around her shoulder. "And maybe too, I would think, for Mr. Nott." She smiled softly at her niece.

"See, there!" Parvati cried, letting go of Padma's hand to point for Hita to where a circle of men had gathered with drums of various sizes and shapes, intricately dyed skins stretched taut over all. A man and a woman were singing with them, traditional storytelling songs, and Vati swung her little cousin up to her hip for a view less obstructed by saris and trouserlegs.

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[info]tothewildforest
2009-10-30 04:27 pm UTC (link)
Years from now, Padma imagined - and no doubt more years than she would like, with her family and his - perhaps Theodore would be welcome at celebrations such as these, perhaps he could make jokes as Geoff did, their affection unrestrained and comfortable no matter the company.

Or, Padma considered with a glance to her sister and a sharp sorrow at the sight of Hita bounding happily forward ahead of the group, perhaps not.

"Isn't that Dev?" She asked suddenly, dryly, her eyes turned carefully away from Parvati.

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[info]npc1
2009-11-22 12:23 am UTC (link)
Parvati's eyes narrowed as she sought out the familiar face in the crowd. "Chi, don't let him see me," she sulked, folding her arms over her chest with a scowl.

For all her swagger and bragging, Parvati would, when push came to shove, not be able to pull off giving Dev a tail. She would have to talk to him if he caught sight of her, but for now her preference was to stand herself so that Geoff and Bindi stood between her and her disgruntled ex boyfriend. "Come on," she urged, steering the whole of the family away from the drummers and into the glorious crowd, "I see a jalebi wallah!"

This Diwali was for her and her family, and Parvati would not let anyone spoil their merriment.

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