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.]

Comments

[go_dream]

"So how about you?" Tidus looked at Namine curiously. "Are any of your friends here?" He knew she had mentioned Sora and some other Riku before, but he wasn't sure if they were friends.

[colorbymemory]

That was actually kind of a loaded question. If he'd asked that a few weeks ago, Namine would have been at a loss for how to answer. Because while she had people she cared about and trusted, she would have used the term "allies" rather than friends. Now, though, things were beginning to change. "Yes, a few of them are, like Sora and Riku." She tilted her head in thought. "Then there are some who are getting to be more like family."

It was difficult to pin down exactly how you felt about someone when your impressions of what most relationships were like came from someone else's memories.

[go_dream]

Tidus was glad that Namine had friends in this place, and even family. It made being in a different place--or in this case, world--a little easier. "Sora seems pretty cool. I haven't met your Riku yet." From her comment on those who were more like family, he had to ask. "You mean after being here?"

[colorbymemory]

It definitely made it easier. Namine would have had a lot more trouble if she hadn't been able to find anyone familiar to her. Though new friends like Agent Washington were good, having someone who you knew made adjusting easier.

"I'm sure you'll meet Riku soon enough; maybe I can meet yours one day." In response to his question, she nods. "Yes. Since being here, we've become closer."

[go_dream]

"Maybe. I wouldn't mind if she was here. She's really nice, besides the part where she knocked me out, but she's nice." He rocked on his heels a little as he spoke. "Any of them from other worlds?" It was good to have people like family when everything else didn't make sense, but wouldn't that make waking up or whatever harder? He didn't dwell on that for long. There probably was no stopping in getting attached to new people.

[colorbymemory]

"She sounds like an interesting person." Namine did wonder what circumstance had led to Tidus's Riku knocking him out. It would be rude to ask, though, so she moved on to answering his question. "Some of them are, yes."

To Namine's way of thinking, she was from a different world than even those she was familiar with before arriving here. Her new friends and almost-family were just as important, though, and while it would make things more difficult when it came time to leave...Hearts would do what they did, as she was finding out.