The sky-car sets down outside their apartment block, at 10:30pm on the evening of the 22nd. There is some snowfall now and the wind has picked up a little since they were at the market. The descent – like the ride before it – is careful, and a quick check would show that the tree has stayed put through the whole route.
#VVApartment – May 15, 2020
Va'ynna lets out a relieved sigh when the car is down and the tree is still safe. "So,... here's the plan," she says, although she's told about it earlier. "I'll... take as much as I can carry and go up.... You bring the tree to below our window. I'll get it up to our apartment with... my biotics." There is some uncertainty to her voice. "It's... up to you if you'll help keep it upright before it's out of reach,
MCB gives the tree a quick look, she is glad the tree managed to stay on and did not fall. Vicky turns her attention to Va''ynna and gives a nod. "Sounds like a plan. I'll help keep it upright for as long as I can." She opens the door of the skycar. "I'll start getting the tree off the car now."
Victoria gives the tree a quick look, she is glad the tree managed to stay on and did not fall. Vicky turns her attention to Va''ynna and gives a nod. "Sounds like a plan. I'll help keep it upright for as long as I can." She opens the door of the skycar. "I'll start getting the tree off the car now."
Va'ynna gives a small, tired smile. "Thank you," she says. The trust means a lot to her, but it also burdens her by raising the stakes. She steps out of the sky-car, and grabs one of the bags and the heavy steel foot. "I'll take the foot," she says. "It... would be easier to set it down with it, but... I don't want it coming loose while the tree is underway." She doesn't wait for an affirmation or protest before
The tree is fastened with bungee cords, two of them hooked into parts of the car (one of which came undone when the door opened) while the others are held in place by strong battery-powered electromagnets that can be easily unstuck by powering them off. The tree has not been wrapped in net, but it has still not been damaged by the short trip.
Victoria gives a nod to Va'ynna and lets her go on her way. She begins to safely unhook the bungee cords, not wanting them to scratch the car's paint. She turns off one of the electromagnets and safely removes it off the tree and car, once done she repeats the process for the second magnet.
The tree stays on the car until the last cord is removed, in which it starts to slide towards Victoria as the vehicle is set down on slightly uneven ground. It's not sliding off at alarming pace, but the most painless plan would be to let it roll off and drag it over to the window by the stump.
Victoria does a quick stretch and waits for the tree to slide to a point where the tree stump is easily grabbable. She grabs the stump and begins to carry the over her shoulder, this is her first time carrying a Christmas tree, and she had no idea how to correctly carry the tree. She allows herself a second to get use to carrying the tree's weight and begins walking towards their window.
Their window is just before the corner if she goes along the right wall of the building. The alley between the buildings has been used to pile up some of the snow cleared off the road, and walking through it would be heavy even after cresting the pile. It does not damage the tree, however; it's made to handle the Aitian weather which can put quite a lot of stress on the branches. The windows lights up as the lights are
switched on inside and the curtain is pulled aside. The window has two tall hinged halves that open up wide enough to get the tree inside with minimal tilting.
Va'ynna is still wearing her jacket and shoes. She opens the windows after fumbling with the locks for half a minute. A biotic field can be seen building up around her as she waits for Victoria to get the tree into position. it would probably have been easier if they stopped on the road on the back side, but it's too late now.
Victoria makes her way along the right wall to get into the best position to lift the tree for both her and Va'ynna. She looks up to see if Va'ynna is in position to lift the tree up. Vicky moves her back to brace against the wall, she kneels down and begins to lift the tree up by the bottom of the stump. "Bloody hell... misjudge the... weight." She says between breaths.
The tree soon gets lighter as the biotic field envelops the trunk, slowly but surely. After a few seconds it might start to feel weightless.
Va'ynna is immensely focused as she starts to lift the tree. She could easily lift things in excess of 150kg if she is within arm's reach to help guide the object with her hands, but lifting something that's one floor down is not as easy. Especially since it doesn't have a clearly defined shape aside from the trunk. "I'm... ready," she says, "just... hold it still as long as you can reach it...." The tired asari's
voice is strained quite a bit, especially as she has to speak up loud enough for Victoria to hear her.
Victoria tries her best to keep the tree as high and steady as she can, not wanting to put too much strain on Va'ynna. "I'll try my best." She contines her best to try and keep the tree steady.
The tree is raised slowly off the ground, and she manages to get it near her preferred range when Victoria has to let go. It still trembles a bit and drops slightly when she lets go, but she regains control when it gets near the window.
Va'ynna frowns thoughtfully as she takes a careful step back to let it inside. It is a lot easier now that there isn't a floor's height between her and the object she's carrying and she manages to put it into the foot. She did have to touch the tree and ignore the pain from the branches she brushed past to reach the trunk. With a sigh of relief she tightens the clamps on the foot slightly before getting back to
the window. "It's in," she says. "Get... the last few things from the car and I'll... send it on its way back home."
Victoria nods "Alright, I'll be up in a moment." She yells back, she begins to make her way back to the car. On the way back to the car she does a quick stretch, the tree was heavier than she expected. She arrives at the car and grabs everything that was left in the car and begins to make her way inside.
The bag Victoria was carrying and the small bag they got from the Christmas tree vendor remains, as well as all the bungie cords strewn around the vehicle. The sky-car locks shortly after Victoria closes the doors again, but it doesn't take off yet.
Victoria quickly makes sure she did not leave anything behind, once she is confident that she did not leave a bag behind, she moves inside. She quickly makes her way up to the apartment, wanting to make sure Va'ynna did not put too much strain on herself.
Va'ynna has gotten out of her jacket and shoes now and is wiping the floors where she tracked around snow and dirt earlier. She is visibly tired and exhausted from the whole evening, and that reflects in the sluggishness of her cleaning. There's also some relief from getting so much preparation and gift shopping off her shoulders.
The tree is standing firm in its foot, and it has only shed some needles from the move. The bag she was carrying is lying on the couch.
Victoria closes the door behind her, takes her shoes off and moves to the couch, placing the bags she was carrying on the couch. "Excellent work, sweetheart." She says with a smile and compliments, Va'ynna's work She takes her jacket off and goes to hang it on the coat rake. "A warm shower would be great right about now."
Va'ynna nods. "Yeah," she sighs as she stands back up and walking over to the sink to hang the cloth over the faucet before turning around to face Victoria. "I'd... like that too." While the jacket was keeping her warm, her hands and face are still quite cold from standing outside in the last part of their trip. Va'ynna is wearing simple black pants and a green shirt.
Victoria smiles at Va'ynna and moves closer to the asari. "I think we did some good work today. I think we had a deal about a back massage." Her smile turns into a grin and she leans forward to kiss Va'ynna on the cheek. However, upon touching cold skin she jerks back. "Alright, to the shower. Too cold to kiss." Vicky's face was also cold due to standing outside.
Va'ynna frowns as Victoria pulls back without planting a kiss. "Good idea," she murmurs. "A... massage wouldn't be... good either with cold, stiff hands." She steps around Victoria and begins making her way over to the bathroom.
Victoria follows behind Va'ynna. "Rather not be frozen by cold hands." Vicky could only tolerate the cold, she prefered a warmer climate than the current weather. She moves beside Va'ynna and wraps an arm around her waist. "Trust me, once we are warmer I shall not pull away from kissing."
Va'ynna is not cold at all in the areas covered by the heated jacket, which makes her tense up a bit as a cold hand is placed on her waist. "I... will hold you to that," she says. When inside the bathroom, she doesn't waste any time before starting to take off her slightly damp, cold socks and her pants. The sooner she can get in the shower, the sooner she can be in bed.
Victoria walks into bathroom after Va'ynna. "I know you will, and I would not want it any other way." A smile on her face, knowing that Va'ynna will hold her to that. She begins by taking off her shirt and bra first. "Do we have a deal, no touching until warm hands?" She moves over to the shower and turns the water on to allow the water to warm up.
Va'ynna places a cold hand on the side of her waist as she walks past to turn the shower on. "Deal," she then says with a giggle before taking off her own shirt and throwing it into the laundry basket.
Victoria upon feeling the cold hand on her waist, she instantly stiffens. She turns to face Va'ynna with a murderous intent in her eyes. "This means war. There is no peace deals now." She quickly gets rid of her pants, underwear and socks in one move. She moves into the shower and allows the hot water to hit her body, however she keeps her hands away from the hot running water, with full