Christmas tiiiime

[amonglions]

Who: Bioshock Family House! (and friends)
What: ITS CHRISTMAS! And they're going to be civil to each other dagnabbit
When: Christmas?
Where: The Bioshocker House!
Summary: Everyone is happy! Food! Presents! Puppies? Proposals! WAIT WAHT?!
Rating: P for words starting with P.

Tree? Check. It's pathetic and almost half the pine-needles are missing from getting dragged into the house.

Ornaments? Check.

Christmas dinner? Well...there's food, at least! Robert and Booker might have raided the supermarket for all the microwaveable and appropriate foods to have for Christmas. There's microwaved chicken, microwaved mashed potatoes, microwaved green beans that are really soggy and smell funny, microwaved rolls, and microwaved ham. Because there should be variety, damnit. There's also a pie sitting in the microwave, waiting. And vanilla ice cream.

Booker wouldn't call it a feast or anything but it's not like there's absolutely nothing to be seen.

They haven't gone all out or anything for the first Christmas they're spending together, nobody here really has the Christmas spirit to do it. Either the Luteces don't remember how to do Christmas or they just don't care - the latter is more likely and Booker hasn't done Christmas in decades so it feels off to even find a tree. Booker doesn't know if Elizabeth ever got to celebrate the holiday in her tower but as far as he's concerned this should be good enough.

Comments

[voidseeing]

"They might draw the line at lights covering half the forest. Something tells me the animals might have a few things to say about that too, and I doubt they'd all be compliments."

What she says to him draws him up short for the most fleeting second - he's almost surprised she remembered it, and yet he's not, given how clever and perceptive she is - before he smiles and lifts his other hand to rest it over hers. "It was more than a decade ago... as terrible as it was, it's in the past. I'm not the same person now as I was then, and I'm not about to let it have any sway over my future. Not anymore." His voice is soft, grateful that she's thinking about him and his feelings on this day that should be about celebrations and being happy.

[tearmeanewone]

"Some things we don't forget so easily. I know that much," she said, squeezing Gai's hand again. The entirety of his country nearly being destroyed, and him being so close to the origin, wasn't something Elizabeth thought he could easily forget. Nearly a decade ago or not.

"I'm happy it didn't prevent you from coming tonight. It wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful if you hadn't been here--being cheerful for my sake." Because she knew that's what it was, obviously. "I know. We can call this 'First Christmas'," she said, grinning up at him and stepping a little closer to him. "It's my first Christmas with family and friends, and it's our first together. You can look back on this next year, and instead of the Lost Christmas you can think of First Christmas. That makes sense, doesn't it?"

[voidseeing]

Gai's smile grew a little brighter, a little more real and less strained, and for a moment he almost, almost threw his plans out the window in favor of getting down on one knee right then and there.

But no, he had a very specific image in mind, and as wonderful as this moment was, he wanted everything to be just right. Still, her words served to bolster his confidence as to the timing of all of this; with a returned squeeze, he tugged her a little closer, but didn't wrap his arms around her just yet, even though he wanted to.

"The cheerfulness isn't all fake," he said with a slight smirk. "Most of it is real this time. This is the first Christmas I've gotten to spend with people I care about, even if some of them still look at me like I'm going to commit some atrocity while they're not paying attention." Referring, of course, to Booker, whom he'd seeing eying him all afternoon. "You might want to break that 'First Christmas' idea to him gently before he thinks I'm responsible for that too." But his tone was teasing, showing he harbored no actual ill will towards the man.

[tearmeanewone]

"Well you are going to commit some atrocity while they're not looking," Elizabeth said, raising a sly eyebrow before lifting herself up on her toes and finally, finally kissing Gai properly. Eventually she had to let herself back down onto her heels, because her toes were getting cold and she couldn't stay up very long. "Merry Christmas, Gai."

She smiled seemingly satisfied and started to pull Gai around the house for more walking. "I know Booker looks like he wants to shoot at you on sight, but I like seeing you both get along, even if it's strained. I love you both, I never want to have to pick."

[voidseeing]

"Already have committed multiple atrocities," he corrected her with a quiet chuckle before her lips were on his, cutting off any further comments he might have been intending to make. Which was fine with him-- he'd take kissing over teasing her any day. In fact, he looked almost disappointed when she broke away, though he couldn't resist the urge to chase her back down for one more brief kiss before letting her pull away.

"You won't have to pick." It was a promise of sorts, though she would have no idea just what the real meaning behind it was yet. "I think we've come to a sort of truce for the moment. Chalk it up to the spirit of the season."

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth laughed, walking backwards so she could face Gai while they talked. It was a beautiful image, too--Gai surrounded by falling snow, smiling at her, the light from the house casting a beautiful glow on the snow behind him. "Somehow, I think 'Booker' and 'spirit of the season' don't exactly go together. Maybe it's a Christmas miracle. Somehow he and Robert managed to cook the dinner without strangling each other."

[voidseeing]

"The real Christmas miracle will be if it's edible. I've seen some of the things Booker considers to be a suitable meal before."

But he'd eat it anyway, because it was the thought that counted most, and he wanted to make her happy. Not that she seemed to be lacking in happiness at the moment, not with that sparkle in her eyes and the pink flush on her cheeks from the chill of the air. This entire evening had been perfect so far... with any luck, things would continue that way.

[tearmeanewone]

"Oh... oh. You don't know the half of it, Mr. Tsutsugami," Elizabeth said, raising a very skeptical eyebrow at him before bursting into another laugh, letting go of Gai's hand and going charging up a snow drift. It was a kind of small mountain, probably created from some shoveling of the main plaza, but Elizabeth wanted to stand on top of it and see how much of Luceti had their lights on still. How many other people were celebrating Christmas, even if it wasn't something that existed in their world?

[voidseeing]

"Leaving me in the dark? Now that's just cruel," he teased, but he clearly didn't mind. Honestly, he could do without the details of Booker's strange eating habits; what he'd already seen was more than enough for him.

When Elizabeth ran up that snow drift, he only hesitated for a moment before climbing up after her, curious as to what she wanted to do up there. It wasn't hard to see when he got to the top, however: they had a nice view of the plaza and the surrounding houses, many of which had been decorated for the holiday with lights or assorted other decorations.

A quaint scene, if Gai did say so himself. Very fitting for Christmas. And though Christmas lights still brought back unpleasant memories, even he had to admit that they provided a beautiful contrast to the white blanket of snow.

[tearmeanewone]

It was a beautiful scene, and Elizabeth's eyes flicked over the small pond of lights that made up Luceti's plaza before steadying herself on Gai's shoulder so she could turn around and look southward.

"It's a nice view. The snow and the extra lights makes it better than it usually is."

[voidseeing]

"Do you want to go into town?"

He turned to look down at her and slipped one arm around her waist to help balance her as she leaned on him. The view was nice, yes, but this wasn't exactly the most stable place for them to be standing. The last thing he wanted was for them both to end up in a heap at the base of the snow drift because one or both of them lost their footing.

[tearmeanewone]

"Do you?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. "You aren't freezing yet?"

Living in Columbia, above the cloudlevel, Elizabeth had realized that she didn't get cold as quickly as most people, but the heat nearly killed her. Not that she wasn't getting cold out in the snow, but she figured Gai would be cold soon and they would want to go back inside to the fire.

[voidseeing]

He met that skeptical look with a grin and a gentle poke to her side. "I think I can survive a little while longer as long as I've got you to keep me warm."

True, Japan wasn't known for being extremely cold, but he was bundled up enough that he didn't really feel the chill too much even despite the falling snow. Besides, he had no intentions of going back in until he'd accomplished what he'd asked her out here to do in the first place. All he had to do was get her to the bridge nearest town...

[tearmeanewone]

"I didn't even feel that through my coat," Elizabeth laughed, squeezing Gai's hand tighter as she started down the snow drift. "I suppose we can see if the fountain's frozen over yet!"

[voidseeing]

"Dare me to try standing on it if it is?" was his retort, again letting her lead him back down to the path. He would do it, too, just to see if he could.

[tearmeanewone]

"Dare you," Elizabeth grinned mischievously. If it wasn't completely frozen over, well, it wasn't as though he would fall into a deep lake. The walk back to the house would just be very cold and very unpleasant.

[voidseeing]

Gai laughed, giving her another light poke in the side. "You're on."

It would be worth it if it got her to laugh, as it no doubt would. Still, he was going to save it for after the very important question, because nothing would kill the mood faster than being soaking wet and freezing cold.

[tearmeanewone]

"Don't pout if you slip and I laugh at you~" Elizabeth led Gai in the direction of the plaza, clearly unaware of what was going through his head. As far as she was concerned, she was just trying to get Gai to have a good Christmas for once. If he wanted to show off and have his ego stroked a little, she was glad to do it.

[voidseeing]

But they wouldn't get to the plaza, not if Gai had anything to say about it-- no sooner did they reach the fork in the path that led to the plaza in one direction than Gai was tugging on her arm to pull her the other way, towards the bridge and the path leading out to the western side of the village.

If the smile on his face was any indication, he clearly had something in mind by this.

[tearmeanewone]

"Gai?" Elizabeth blinked, confused as she followed Gai's lead. She could tell he had something planned, and suddenly she had her suspicions that she had been called out to this walk under false pretenses. But what kind of Christmas present was this?

"We can't go back to your place, you know. Booker will have something to say about it, and I wouldn't be able to take your side."

[voidseeing]

"We're not going to my apartment. What makes you think I would've waited till we got there to initiate something if that was what I wanted?"

He was risking a playful punch and he knew it, yet it was the truth-- Gai was an opportunist and hardly the shy sort. Besides, despite what it might have seemed like sometimes, he wasn't ALWAYS thinking about sex, especially not when there were more important matters at hand.

"This has nothing to do with that-- I promise."

[tearmeanewone]

"I'd thought that I'd trained you well enough to keep your hands off of me in front of Booker--are you telling me that I haven't done anything to improve your behavior?" She sighed dramatically as they approached the bridge.

"Well if it doesn't have anything to do with you making advances on me, what else could it possibly be about?" she said teasingly.

[voidseeing]

"Are you telling me that you'd want me to improve my behavior?" he countered. Then, because he could, he tugged on her hand to pull her in for a kiss that wasn't entirely chaste... though to his credit, he kept it mostly on the PG-rated side of things.

She did ask for it, after all.

[tearmeanewone]

When Gai finally let Elizabeth breathe, she came away a little wobbly and thoroughly happy. It had been a while--nearly three weeks for Gai supposedly and a while for Elizabeth too. But now that things were calming down with her return to Luceti, she was starting to remember things like how long it had been since she and Gai had been alone.

"It's why I haven't been making much of a concentrated effort..."

[voidseeing]

"That's what I thought."

Had he not been planning what he was, he wouldn't have objected at all if Elizabeth had wanted to continue things in that vein. The pleased look on her face doesn't escape his notice, that much is for certain. But he brought her out here with a purpose in mind; anything else is secondary to that.

It's with no small bit of reluctance that he takes her hand once more to lead her out onto the bridge, where he stops in the middle, just admiring the falling snow and the silence of the evening.