A Holiday by Decree
~~ Day 5 ~~
Tyrion had shown an aptitude for designing things from a young age - a benefit of an early understanding that many items were simply not made to accommodate him.
In the flickering lamplight, he sipped some wine and reviewed his design of the new piece of furniture for his quarters in the capital. He had meant to design it for a while: a double-wide dry sink with built-in cabinetry for storage but also enough room to stow a foldable step stool. It also had added support legs at the middle of the bottom frame to ensure the piece's stability when the stool unfolded.
He had designed it, as despite his regular need for stools around his quarters, including at the dry sink each morning, even he tired of their constant presence. They were also naturally never located where he needed them, and he had to drag them from place to place occasionally.
To get rid of the stool, it would have been simple to design a dry sink that was proportioned for his use. However, it was not as if he was a child with no use for storage, which surely would be extremely limited if he was to have anything that short built; there was also the problem that it would look ridiculous and be virtually unusable to anyone but him.
Of course, when Tyrion had first conceived of the design, there had been nothing particular to make him think anyone but he would really be making their daily ablutions in his room.
Which Tyrion now realized, as he shaded parts of his sketch, had become a reason he had avoided designing the sink for so long. Sad as it was, his constant state of private loneliness had become a key facet of his life, meaning that there had been progressively things he had begun giving up on.
Now when he looked at his design he couldn't help it: he felt hope. Feeling the lightness in his chest again, he reached for and reopened the parchment letter from Sansa. It was totally sappy, but he had put it on the bedside table, so he could look at it when he wanted.
Tyrion knew that compared to others, he was naturally an optimist. Yet, years of negative experiences told him it was too early for optimism where he and Sansa were concerned.
But that was just it - Tyrion wasn't only an optimist: he was also a Lannister, proud, willful, at times overly-confident, and everything else that came with that.
And gods, he simply did not want to fight this chance with Sansa any longer, no matter how short-lived it could be - though he really hoped it wouldn't be.
Because he wanted to make her happy, and he knew he would do all in his power to do so, as long as she would let him.
So with an idea in his head and finally really ready to take the plunge, he penned two messages and rose to ring the service bell.