Fifth Link

[colorbymemory]

Characters: Namine and all visitors to the tea shop
Content: Christmas at the tea shop--Namine has decorated and made cookies.
Location: Traverse Town, Fourth District, Tea shop
Time of Day: Any time during the shop’s opening hours on Christmas Day.
Warnings: High potential for fluff and adorbs?

In the aftermath of the fight with the giant Nightmare, Namine stayed close to home. Given all that had happened, remaining quietly there for a while seemed best. It wasn’t a hardship, either, with so much to do to prepare for Christmas.

First, the shop needed to be decorated. While she wasn’t an expert in Christmas decorations or decorating in general, she managed to make plenty of paper snowflakes to hang from the ceiling, and small snow people to set on the tables. She’d used stencils to help make all the letters for “Merry Christmas” out of colored paper and tape them to the wall behind the counter so they spelled out the greeting properly. While she hadn’t made the small Christmas tree in the corner (and the one upstairs in the apartment), she had made all the ornaments. Finally, she’d taken a can of a white spray to the edges of the windows. It was supposed to give the effect of frost or snow, but she wasn’t quite convinced. Oh, well. One made do with what one had.

Then there were Christmas presents. She’d settled for making cookies for everyone instead of buying things; she wasn’t quite sure of what the others would like as gifts. So she got out the cookie cutters and made sugar cookies in the shapes of trees, Santas, angels, and stars. Once that was done, she made gingerbread men, enough for everyone to have one. Once they were packaged up, instead of writing names on the tags, she drew a picture of the recipient.

Fortunately, she had everything done by Christmas Day when she helped open the shop, presents stacked behind the counter. If some of the others didn’t stop by, she’d have to work out another delivery method.

[OOC: All characters are welcome to come get their Christmas cookies from Namine. Feel free to treat this party style--drop in on conversations/start a new one with someone who’s already arrived.]

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[go_dream]

If Tidus was going to be in Traverse Town, he figured he should make some effort to explore the place, which is how he found himself standing outside the tea shop. He never drank much tea, but curiosity had him entering the shop and pausing to look at all the decorations.

"Special occasion? Oh!" He grinned, recognizing Namine. "It's you."

[colorbymemory]

The tea shop had more than tea; if Tidus liked coffee, he'd be in luck. Whatever the case, though, visitors were always welcome. It was good to see Tidus exploring and trying to settle in. Namine returned his smile and went to get his gift.

"Yes, it's Christmas." She held out the package with his picture on the tag. "How have you been?"

[go_dream]

Namine's answer was met with a blank stare. "Is that some sort of important day?" Of course it was, or she wouldn't have been decorating. His confused expression was replaced by one of surprise, a bright smile reaching his eyes. "Thank you. I've--whoa! Did you draw this?" He marveled at the drawing and Namine's kindness. "It's really good."

He hadn't answered her question yet, had he? "I've been good. Yuna's here now. What about you?"

[colorbymemory]

Well. The idea that some worlds might not have Christmas hadn't crossed Namine's mind. Going by Tidus's confusion, though, this was a new thing to him. She had a brief moment to wonder how she would explain the holiday before he changed the subject. Maybe she could start there. "I did; it's a Christmas present."

"I've been okay." There wasn't any need to go into detail about the Hockomonkey and what had happened with that. "So you and Yuna are friends?"

[go_dream]

Tidus smiled. "It's very kind of you." There was a short pause. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything. But I will. The shop looks really nice."

"Okay is...okay, I guess." Depending on how it was used. "I'm her guardian and she's my summoner, so yeah, we're friends." He nodded, shrugging, trying to end the sentence less awkwardly than how he had it began.

[colorbymemory]

"That's okay, you didn't know." Really, the main thing had been actually being able to give gifts. Namine wasn't concerned about getting anything, and he couldn't be expected to follow a custom his world didn't have. She did smile when he complimented the decorations. "Thank you. It's the first time I've made them, so I was hoping they'd turn out well."

The subject change made possible by his answering her question was a welcome one. "Guardian and summoner?"

[shadearchivist]

Ienzo had puttered around; there was punch for adults and punch for not-adults, as well as tea and cocoa. It would be good to celebrate with everyone; he hadn't been sure that Santa Claus could even find this place, with its odd location in the realm of sleep.

He settled in next to the drinks; it would be nicer if there were snow outside, but it felt enough like Christmas indoors.

[colorbymemory]

It was the first time Namine was really getting to celebrate Christmas, so she had wanted to do something special. It was nice of Ienzo to help with her idea. Santa might have difficulty finding them, but they could make do.

Snow would have been nice, but that wasn't all there was to Christmas. She smiled as she set Ienzo's package of cookies next to him. "Merry Christmas."

[shadearchivist]

"Merry Christmas, Namine. I'm sorry that I haven't had much time to think about presents." It wasn't something he was used to thinking about; certainly the Organization hadn't been interested in celebrating Christmas.

Santa Claus probably had them permanently inked onto the naughty list anyway.

[colorbymemory]

Santa might make changes to his list, though, if things changed.

"That's okay. Thanks for the help in setting up." Presents weren't supposed to be given with the expectation of anything in return, right? Because the important thing was giving, not getting. While Namine had an idea she might like presents as much as anyone else, she wasn't going to be too disappointed.

[shadearchivist]

"Perhaps I could make an illusion for everyone." He would have to give warning, however. Still, an illusion of snow even in the local area would be nice for the season.

[paopucharm]

Of course Kairi would show, at some point during the day. She'd only been in the world for a short time, but she's carrying a present with her as she opened the door to the shop, cheerful.

"Naminé? Are you here?"

[colorbymemory]

Kairi's visit was definitely expected, but still very welcome. Seeing the gift she carried, Namine was doubly happy to have already had her own present for Kairi ready.

"I'm over here. Merry Christmas!"

That was what you were supposed to say, right?

[paopucharm]

"Merry Christmas!" Kairi said back to her, grinning. "It's your first Christmas, isn't it?" At least, she was fairly sure it was, but... it couldn't hurt to ask eitherway. "You've done a good job in here; I'm impressed."

[colorbymemory]

Namine's expression brightened when Kairi remembered that this was her first Christmas. "It is...well, the first one I've celebrated. I tried to get the decorations right."

She really hadn't had much to go on.

[paopucharm]

"They're as good as the ones I used to see... better, even, because you did it yourself. It's better than buying them from elsewhere."

Sure, she might have made things when she was little, but as she got older, that started to become less of a habit. Decorating was about as much as what happened, and whilst that was fine, and they were nice to look at, it wasn't the same as making things yourself.

[dork_of_keys]

Sora had been hovering around the refreshments when Kairi came in, though that wasn't to say he was totally inattentive. He was watching for her actually. And for Riku, but as far as he knew, Riku hadn't come anywhere near the tea shop yet. That was awkward because Sora was thinking of asking Ienzo about the spare rooms upstairs from the shop. Staying at the hotel was getting a bit expensive. That was also beside the point and an issue for another time.

"Kairi!" He made a beeline for Kairi as soon as she came in, searching his pocket for her gift as he did so. He'd kind of scrambled on getting her a gift and almost settled on a nice card and an apology when he remembered something he'd been thinking of getting for a while now. Of course, once he remembered the item, he had to hope the Moogles or another shop had it. By some miracle, he did find it. And actually, it was three items: a trio of little silver charms in the shape of paopu fruits with a bite taken out. He had one clipped to the chain of his crown necklace already, hanging partially hidden behind the crown. The second was in a little red gift box with a white trimmed green ribbon tied around it. The third charm was going to Riku, though it was also going with a small gag gift.

Now if he could find Kairi's gift, he'd be set to give it. He was still digging around in his pocket as he drew near. Perhaps there were better ways to carry a lot of gifts than in magically enlarged pockets...

[paopucharm]

"Sora!" Kairi's beamed back at him, her smile growing wider as she walked over. She hadn't seen him around that morning, so had made a mental note to find him on her way back; him being here was helpful in that endevour, really.

"Merry Christmas," she said cheerfully, pulling out a small box from her belt bag that was unwrapped, but had a silver ribbon around it. She hadn't had much time to get anything elaborate, and being Sora, it had required a bit of agonising over to get something that was just right. In the end, she decided on a simple looking black ring. On one side, she'd had 'one sky, one destiny' engraved in small letters. It had helped him before... perhaps it would help him again, too. "It might be a little weird," she said nervously, offering the present to him. "But I hope it'll do."

[dork_of_keys]

Sora had finally located Kairi's gift just as he heard her saying his name. If it had to be known, he hadn't been in town all morning because he'd been hanging around the tea shop.

"Merry Christmas," he replied, equally cheerful as he gave her the little red gift box. The silver charm came with a matching chain.

He wasn't surprised at all that she'd gotten him a gift. Aside from the first Christmas they'd known each other and the one he'd spent sleeping, he couldn't recall her not getting or making him something. He was surprised by it being a ring, though.

"It's not weird." Why would she think it was weird? To be honest, he liked it.

[paopucharm]

"That's good," she said, grinning, feeling a little relief, taking the box from him and idly playing with the ribbon. "I wasn't sure what to get for you... and I was kinda worried about it..." she admitted. Because, well, it was important that him and Riku (though especially him) got something that they liked. As the years passed, even more so. She knew their tastes quite well by now, sure, but that didn't stop her worrying about it until it was confirmed as a good thing.

[dork_of_keys]

Sora had stopped by the tea shop expressly because he was running visiting everyone for Christmas and it occurred to him that a few people might be hanging around the tea shop or show up there at some point. He had gifts for anyone whose likes and dislikes he knew and little pouches of munny with cards for everyone else (yay for magically deep pockets). Of course, he'd scrambled a little on last minute gifts for new arrivals, especially when Kairi had showed up. Most of these had also ended up being a nice little card and munny.

He could also agree to the need to just spend some time recovering after that battle not just for the battle itself, which would have been exhausting normally, but also for the magical explosion that ended it. Thankfully, everyone had gotten through it in one piece, if a little battered.

As much as he kind of wanted to ask Riku what he knew, if anything, about the odd form the Nightmare had taken, Sora figured now wasn't a good time. It was Christmas and no one really wanted to think of that battle at the moment. Personally, Sora just wanted to give everyone the gifts he'd gotten them and hang out for a while.

He wasn't sure if he should be surprised or not that the place was decked out for the holiday. Maybe it didn't matter though. It was nice that it was. Now where was...

"Namine?"

[colorbymemory]

Visiting everyone for Christmas and making sure he had some kind of gift was very like Sora. He never seemed to want anybody to feel left out, or unwelcome. It looked like in this case he and Namine had similar ideas regarding the likelihood of running into most everyone at the tea shop. Having some company while she waited for people to stop by would be welcome.

Considering Namine was normally a noncombatant, it had been draining in more ways than one. Though listening to the lectures she'd received for giving into a moment of reckless worry had been uncomfortable, everyone had a point and she did need to be more careful. She was just glad that everyone had made it out of there in one piece.

They could discuss that later, though. Today was Christmas, and it was supposed to be a happy occasion. Just enjoying everyone's company and giving gifts was a good goal to have.

When Sora arrived, Namine waved to him from the counter. "I'm here, Sora. Merry Christmas!"

[dork_of_keys]

Considering that the tea shop could count just about everyone among its patrons, it just seemed to make sense. It was certainly the easiest way to go about it and Sora really didn't feel like over complicating things at the moment.

He hadn't lectured her yet and he wasn't sure if he was going to or not. He assumed she realized by now how crazy it had been to run into that situation like that. While she probably had the potential to be a powerful magic user, she had to, you know, learn some spells first. And even with a magic specialty, weapon skills were still helpful since sometimes spell casting just wasn't good for the situation.

But, lecturing only went so far. The best thing would be to help her learn the useful skills and today was not the day for that. Today was a day for enjoying the company of friends and gift giving and general goodwill.

"Merry Christmas!" He went right over to the counter once he knew Namine was there, digging her gift out of his magically deep pockets as he did. He'd been a bit uncertain for a while on what exactly to get her. He couldn't go too expensive on anyone's gifts unless he wanted to leave someone out, but he didn't want to be cheap either if he could help it. After a stretch, he settled on a book of origami patterns and some paper to start with.

[colorbymemory]

Namine didn't like making situations more complicated than they had to be, either. Most everyone did tend to drop by the shop, so handing out presents should be easy.

She appreciated Sora refraining from the lecture for now. There had been enough to last for a while. With Ienzo teaching her some of the spells that she'd need to protect herself, she was working on becoming a good magic user. Weapons skills were still lacking, but that could come later.

Today was Christmas, though, and time for talking of other things. She smiled as she accepted the package from Sora and handed him his package of cookies. When she saw what was inside, her smile widened. "Thank you. This looks like it'll be fun to try."

[dork_of_keys]

He was kind of relieved that she liked the gift. Hopefully the gifts he'd gotten everyone else would be well received. Well, most of them. He did have a couple of gag gifts to hand out. With any luck, he'd be safely away before those gifts got opened.

"I'm glad you like it." He wasn't sure what else there was to chat about at the moment, but he wasn't really concerned either. If enough people showed up, it might turn into a party anyway, so who knew? Maybe there would be other fun to be had.