December 25, Winter, year 20
Want a complicated and busy day, look no farther than the Gift Exchange.
Oh. My. GODS. I swear, I never want to have to do that much running around again! I swear, all I want to do is lie here on my couch and go to sleep! But I still have to get Skye's gift to him…
Claire's plan had been simple. Take care of the animals, and then head out into the white wonderland to deliver her wrapped gifts.
The weather had conspired against her, piling the snow against her door so high the she eventually grabbed a snow shovel and clambered out the window. Two hours to get the snow out of the way so that she could get in and out in the house, check.
Followed by several more hours of shoveling to get into the horse barn and poultry barns. She'd intended to buy cows and sheep over the winter, but was quickly re-evaluating that thought. Maybe early spring would be a better idea…
Regardless, this put her several hours behind her anticipated gift giving schedule. Not to mention she had some presents that still needed baking… And boxing, and wrapping.
Cue two pm and a very frazzled Claire. Who now needed to go and pass gifts out to all of her friends, which meant the long task of tracking everyone down.
The first place she checked was the mansion. Ramona and Lumina usually threw a party on Christmas. Unfortunately, such was not the case this year, as Ramona had been feeling poorly, and hadn't wanted to put up with the noise of the festivities.
Still, Claire was able to drop off Lumina's present, a new folder of piano sheet music. Which meant there was only ten more presents to hand out. It should have been easy.
Naturally, it wasn't. The doors to the Blue Bar had been locked tight, and no amount of knocking on them garnered any attention from within. And with the weather, Claire didn't dare risk leaving them out of doors. The packages would likely be covered with snow until spring!
So she went around, testing ground floor windows. She managed to lever one up enough to slip Muffy's new scarf and mittens in, and the manila envelope of money followed soon after.
The bar had been hurting ever since Skye's theft… if was the least she could do to make amends.
Rock's present was easiest. She left the books with his mother, Ruby. Nami's she left at the wanderer's door, a knitted sweater in a dark blue.
Back out into the cold, she trudged down to Gustafa's yurt, and passed him a pair of newly knitted gloves. He insisted she stay and warm up a while, even making her a cup of spiced warm milk. She wasn't about to turn it down, it was getting close to six and the sun had been gone since four.
They chatted for a bit, about inconsequential stuff. Claire turned the topic briefly to Nami, and was rewarded with a clearly embarrassed cough, and a blushing friend, but he turned the tables on her when he asked about 'her silver-haired friend.'
She exited the yurt, laughing, and headed up into the night, towards the dig.
Claire tucked her head down into her jacket, shoving her hands in her pockets as the cold weather intruded again. Her hat and gloves never managed to stay with her, no matter how hard she tried. Even ones she'd knit herself had ended up lost on the path, oddly impossible to find.
It had been something her mother bemoaned, and her father had given up on in laughter.
For the most part, is wasn't a problem as long as she kept her head down and her hands tucked firmly into her pockets. But it made wintertime chores, well… a chore. Courting frostbite had never been her idea of a good time.
Flora and Carter were drinking when she poked her head into their tent, celebrating an archeological find. Normally, Claire would have stuck around to hear more, but the tent was just as cold as the outside was, and she didn't want to linger any longer than she had to.
I guess I should have waited for Skye before coming back home. But my hands still feel like blocks of ice, and I've been home for about an hour now!
In all honesty, maybe I should hope that he doesn't come. It's so cold and all… Ehh? Door?
Closing the journal Claire fell more than slid off the couch, wincing as she hit the floor with a more painful landing than intended. Her hands still stung from the cold and that didn't appear to be fading any time soon.
However, the door opened on a most welcome guest, and she couldn't keep from smiling brightly as she ushered Skye inside.
The thief gravitated almost instantly towards the fireplace and the couch, for which Claire couldn't blame him, though he was careful to hang up his outdoor clothes on the pegs by the door, and place his boots with them.
He wanted to woo the girl, not annoy her. And he wasn't going to lie and pretend he hadn't noticed that she was wearing his necklace. It made the thief smile, even though he knew that his final thieving job within the next couple of days was going to annoy her to no end.
But he needed to warm up first.
Instead of sitting next to him on the couch, she leaned over the back, wincing as she held out her hand to the flames. Seeing their color he frowned and shook his head slightly.
Claire smiled wryly.
"I can't keep hold of gloves, hats or scarves to save my life," she chuckled. "Mom used to get so mad at me for losing them. We'd go out on long rambling walks trying to find them, but apparently lost mittens and hats go to the same place as the lost socks in the dryer."
Skye shook his head with a rueful smile, and moved over so that her hands were on either side of his face, then leaned back. His nose bopped the moonstone pendant, and Claire began to giggle at the expression on his face. The thief huffed a little in annoyance, and reached back to a spot on Claire that he knew was ticklish. She yelped and jumped away from the couch, eyes glittering with mirth.
Skye grinned roguishly, and Claire felt a very different type of heat rush through her. She forced it away, knowing full well that she didn't want to enter that territory just yet.
She turned away almost abruptly to retain her control. Skye blinked, then shook his head lightly with a fainter, gentler smile, and got up.
"My apologies," he murmured, standing less than a handspan from her back. "I will behave."
"It's not… I mean…" Claire sighed, and ran a hand through her hair, turning to face him. "Where are you staying tonight? I don't want you walking back to Mineral Town in this weather."
"The Inner Inn actually," which was part of his last caper. Inside study would do well. "But I wanted you to have your Christmas present on Christmas. A little cold won't hurt me…"
And now it was her turn to smirk.
"Oh really?" her voice was dripping with enough sweetness to send a diabetic into a coma. "I seem to recall you being laid out by colds several times in our acquaintance."
Back on familiar turf, Skye just laughed.
"Who gave them to me?" he retorted, lightly prodding her in the shoulder.
Her grin was unremorseful, blue eyes dancing with laughter. There was a short, impromptu scuffle that ended with Claire—surprisingly enough—having Skye in a headlock. The thief escaped by jabbing a spot in her side that made her yelp and squirm away, and then pursued, tickling the farmer until she could barely breath for laughter. Laughingly pleading, she held up her hands in a mute beg for a respite.
He dumped her over the side of the couch and grinned down at her as she struggled to catch her breath. The thief could see them doing this in the future, together for as long as he as allowed to be with her…
As Claire caught her breath, she noticed a startled look cross Skye's face. Her brows drew together in worry, but almost as soon as she'd noticed it, the look was gone.
"You okay?" she asked.
He chuckled and reached out to poke her nose, sea-green eyes glittering.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he teased gently.
"Oh you," she mocked scowled and threw a pillow at him.
Inevitably it was almost two in the morning before they exchanged gifts. Claire had given Skye a diamond pendant, similar to the moonstone one he'd given her, and Skye's gift to her was a set of the most adorable winter wear ever, Everything was catlike!
The gloves had paw-pads on them, the scarf had continuous running kitties, and the hat itself actually had pointed ears. She pulled them on immediately, squealing her delight with the gift, and Skye wasted no time in looping his pendant around his neck.
But all good things had to end, and Skye took note of the way Claire's eyes were drooping. Smiling, he leaned over and dropped a light kiss on her forehead, and took his leave.
There's no denying it… He's up to something, and I don't really care. If he needs me to, I'll cover for him.
Hehe… these are so cute!