Christmas was something Winter had never experienced; she had heard stories about it when out and about so she kind of understood what the whole deal was concerning it. Winter had slept the night away pretty peacefully; for once it wasn't filled with the same nightmare that had been plaguing her for months on end. Jiyeon had awoken her that morning, the cat loudly talking with Jisoo. Winter figured the orange cat was trying to talk him into going out with him but Jisoo remained stubborn, refusing his offer. Jihae and Jieun had left 20 minutes ago, deciding to go on a walk together. They had both offered Winter to join them but she declined, insisting that they needed to spend some time together. She had no idea what happened to Jiwoo, he was probably out on some crazy meeting or something.
"Oh… where is everyone?" Heejung had asked when entering the living room, blindly looking around and only noticing Winter sitting on the couch. The black rabbit looked towards the door, sighing before turning to face her.
"Jihae and Jieun have gone out together to the park, Jiyeon has gone out to meet with people. I don't know what happened to Jiwoo but Jisoo said he'll be back soon" Winter quietly replied and Heejung was surprised to hear her speak for the first time. She managed to recover herself, closing her gaping mouth.
"Oh I… I was hoping to have everyone together to bake a cake…" Heejung told her, her voice sad. Winter frowned at this,
"We do not have Christmas in our world, I guess the others did not know it is a special time of year for you humans" Winter explained as she watched Heejung walk over to the kitchen to make breakfast.
"Do you want anything?" Heejung called and Winter got up, leaving the couch with difficulty and awkwardly hobbled over to the kitchen.
"No thank you, I ate with Jihae and Jieun early this morning" she politely told her, her ears picking up as she watched Heejung wash her hands and start to pull ingredients out of the fridge.
"So how come you're not out?" Heejung casually asked, looking down at the black rabbit who watched her with slight interest. Winter wiggled her left hind leg with a suggestive expression.
"I can hardly walk as it is… plus I have no crutches or clothing to enjoy the day as a human" Winter told her and she forced a laugh, sitting herself down on the floor. Heejung paused as she looked away thoughtfully, rubbing her chin in the process.
"Would you say you're my size?" Heejung asked and Winter tilted her head to the side.
"Pardon?" she replied in confusion.
"If you think you're around my size you can borrow some clothing. I'm afraid I can't help you with the crutches" Heejung suggested and Winter kept quiet as she thought for a moment.
"Are you sure?" Winter softly asked and Heejung brightly smiled, nodding her head.
"Thank you Heejung, I owe you one" Winter softly said when she noticed the motion from Heejung.
"It's no big deal, take what you want from my closet. Hey if you want you can bath in peace seeing that Jiyeon is out… if you need any help you can just call me" Heejung chirped and Winter thanked her again, heading to her bedroom.
Winter had never stepped foot into Heejung's room before but she wasn't surprised by how plain it looked; everything there served a purpose whether it was books, a vanity table or the painting set on one side of her table. Carefully Winter transformed, awkwardly taking off her mask and glancing at the door she had shut behind her. She doubted Heejung would enter without knocking first in case Winter had decided against taking a bath. Winter tried to balance herself in a kneeling position as she opened the wardrobe doors, peering into it with a questioning expression. Her clothing was well organised and mostly smart dress. Winter assumed most of her clothing was average price – nothing cheap and nothing extremely expensive besides one or two smart dresses. Winter wasn't certain what she should wear but she decided on some dark trousers, a plain white top and a blue jumper. She frowned when she couldn't find any hats… she'd have to think later about how to hide her ears. For now she knew she would be safe leaving them showing around the house. With a shrug of her shoulders she pulled off her backpack, a grimace on her face as she tugged at the tough latches to open it. She ignored the small jewellery boxes and purse that sat at the bottom of it and pulled out two hard cases. As she did that her fingers rubbed against soft fabric making her pull it out. It was a deep blue thick ribbon she had used a few times on missions to hide her ears. A timid smile crossed her lips remembering it was a gift from her mother; although it pained Winter to force her ears under the ribbon when she made it into the headband and even more when she skilfully twisted it with her ears to make it into a bow she nodded her head, knowing this would have to do if she planned to go outside. A bitter expression crossed Winter's face as she pulled the daggers from her waist, carefully placing them in their boxes. She pulled off the mask on her head, putting all the items into the backpack. She didn't want Heejung seeing them when she headed to the bathroom… as for her current clothing she decided she could probably get away with wearing it. Winter frowned wondering how she would get to the bathroom in the first place. Her expression hardened, shoving the clothing she had taken from the wardrobe into the bag, half of the jumper sticking out of the top. She slung the bag back onto her back, shutting the wardrobe doors as she awkwardly crawled to the door. She opened the door, quickly transforming to hobble across the room and into the bathroom. Winter sighed in relief as she transformed once again, shutting the bathroom door and locking it shut. She slowly pulled the bag off her back again, a joint or two clicking in protest as she pulled the new clothes out. Even though Jihae had been kind in bathing her as a rabbit she was thankful to bath as a human for once, the feeling between the two much different. She turned on the tab, her body relaxing as she listened to the sound of running water. A small, timid smile crossed her lips as she prepared to take a bath.
Winter was surprised to see Jihae back without Jieun as she left the bathroom in rabbit form. She heard Jisoo and Heejung talking among themselves in the kitchen but she paid them no attention as she hobbled across to where Jihae sat on the couch with a smile. She thanked him as the man grasped her with his large hands, setting her on the couch next to her. She glanced over into the kitchen where the other two were now looking in her direction and with an indifferent hidden look Winter transformed herself, her eyes quickly landing on her own hands.
"Thank you again Heejung for the clothing, I hope I haven't chosen anything you wouldn't want me to" Winter politely said, keeping her eyes fixed on her hands.
"No no it's fine!" Heejung chirped in reply. The room was quiet for a moment and Winter felt herself tensing, slightly uncomfortable at the situation. Jisoo murmured something, Winter didn't quite make out what but Heejung and Jisoo went back to talking, the bangs of cooking items being heard. Winters eyes stayed open as Jihae placed one of his hands onto hers, trying to comfort her. She looked up into his eyes, relaxing down as he gave her a strong, supportive smile.
"I've got something for you" Jihae quietly said, his hand leaving hers as he stood up and walked forward towards the door leading out, grasping something Winter never noticed.
"Crutches… but how did-" Winter whispered in surprise and Jihae's warm smile paused her sentence as he handed them to her.
"Would you do me the honour of accompanying me out?" he asked, his voice soft. Winter sat there stunned for a moment; what was he planning? Weakly Winter nodded, awkwardly standing herself up with the help of the crutches. She was slightly shaky at first, finding it hard to find her balance.
"Rabbit do you think that's a good idea?" Jisoo asked from across the room and Winter looked across to the cat who was watching them both with questioning eyes.
"I'll be fine Jisoo, worry not" Winter quickly responded and the cat turned his nose up.
"I wasn't worried" he sharply replied, his eyes defensively looking at Winter. Winter remained quiet at his response and watched as Jihae walked across the room to the door, opening it and walking back to Winter. Carefully he loosely linked his left arm with her right arm as he helped her walk out of the door, leaving the house without another word.