Mendez is unable to suppress the smile that re-emerges at Tara's reaction. "We're gonna be here to help you out every step of the way, little bird." he speaks up, his deep, monotone voice drowning out the Christmas music. He doesn't linger on the sentiment, however, gaze quickly returning to the present in his lap. Brows furrowing as he opens the brown box, he studies the contents within. He gains an uncharacteristically sheepish
#Leah'sHouse – December 13, 2020
look at the amount of thought that was put into the gift. Clearly not what he was expecting from Nathan. But what better way to earn points with Leah than to win over her friends. He's quick to prop that stoic, stone-faced look back up as he shoots Nathan a small, appreciative nod.
Francois snickers at Nathan's comment, offering a few nods as he studies the label for a few more moments before reaching down to set the drink amongst the rest of his gifts. Nearing the end of his gifts, he decides to hold off on Sofia's for now, instead, he stands up and moves over towards the large, unwieldy rectangular box with Tara's name on it. It has been left by the tree for now to keep from getting in anyone's way.
Leah's green eyes turn from Tara to Mendez. He's not the most expressive of people. That's never been an issue in their friendship. She knows what sort of person he is and she knows that he cares. Even if he doesn't always say it, he shows it in other ways. But Tara is different. She doesn't always pick up on social cues. Him making his intentions clear for her sake obviously means a lot to Leah and she shoots him a small, soft
smile. Her smile and good mood is only reinforced by the subtle implications she picks up on between her father's exchange with Nathan. When her attention shifts back to Tara, she confirms Mendez' words with a nod. "You won't be doing it alone." she agrees. As Tara reaches for another present, she decides she should probably do the same. Having fallen behind on presents, she reaches for the small, rectangular box from
Nathan. Shooting him a suspicious look, she brings the box up to her ear and gives it a playful little jostle, as if it might clue her in as to what's inside. Excellent detective work.
Once Nathan opens up the fairly flat box beneath the wrapping paper of Tara's gift he'd find himself looking at... a gun? Not a toy or a model, either. A very real and very uncollapsed old H-K pistol. The dark blue coating is chipped and scratched, the Alliance logo barely visible. Judging by the overall state of the gun, with grime and damage, it's likely the folding mechanism is jammed. At least the safety is on. Is it loaded? Hard to
say with the indicator lights broken. Certainly an unconventional and... potentially dangerous Christmas gift.
Tara returns Mendez' smile, briefly distracted from her gift-opening by his and Leah's words, her embarrassment growing with their assurances. She nods, offering both of them an appreciate look before returning her attention to the wooden box, opening it curiously. As the hologram flickers to life she gasps quietly, transfixed as she watches the 'dancing' figure, a big smile slowly spreading across her lips.
Leah's smile grows as Sofia reacts positively to the gift. "Well, I guess it's settled then. You're staying." she teases with a shrug. As he speaks up, her green eyes turn from Sofia to Mendez. He's not the most expressive of people. That's never been an issue in their friendship. She knows what sort of person he is and she knows that he cares. Even if he doesn't always say it, he shows it in other ways. But Tara is different. She
doesn't always pick up on social cues. Him making his intentions clear for her sake obviously means a lot to Leah and she shoots him a small, soft smile. Her smile and good mood is only reinforced by the subtle implications she picks up on between her father's exchange with Nathan. When her attention shifts back to Tara, she confirms Mendez' words with a nod. "You won't be doing it alone." she agrees. As Tara reaches for
another present, she decides she should probably do the same. Having fallen behind on presents, she reaches for the small, rectangular box from Nathan. Shooting him a suspicious look, she brings the box up to her ear and gives it a playful little jostle, as if it might clue her in as to what's inside. Excellent detective work.
Nathan allows a small chuckle to slip as he catches the tail end of Mendez's sheepish expression. He gives the giant of a man a thumbs up as he tears away the last of the wrapping paper, he flips open the box and his eyes go wide. Well, out of everything he was expecting, it certainly wasn't a gun. Wait, that's a real gun. He blinks rapidly and, while Tara is distracted by Tara's gift, quickly tilts the open box to Leah
in a silent question of 'Did you know?'. He carefully runs his fingers over the weapon and hesitantly lifts it out. The safety is on at least. He checks it over with an ingrained professionalism, carefully seeing if A) it's loaded and B) that it won't accidentally discharge at the slightest nudge. Once he has assured himself of all of this, he would wait until Tara manages to tear her gaze away from the music box
and offer her a grateful smile. "Well, gotta say, I'm a fan of the classics. Thanks, Tara." He gives Leah a sideways look and a small smile tugs at the corner of his lips.
Sofia giggles and shakes her head to Leah. "Don't tempt me," she says, her eyes falling to Tara. She leans forward, resting her chin on a closed fist as she simply watches the fascination for a moment. "It's a music box," she says softly. "I had one when I was younger. Could sit for hours, just listening and watching it. On and on and on. Played it when I was happy, sad... and everything in between." She tilts her head a
Francois rests his arm against the large box, not wanting to interrupt the current round of gift opening. As music spills out from the box, his attention is pulled that way, Tara's reaction drawing his smile back out. "Would you look at that..." he hums softly.
Leah gives an exaggerated, deep frown as her probing yields no results and she sets the gift in her lap. But her expression quickly shifts to curiosity, brows furrowing as Nathan tilts the box towards her. Then to confusion as she spots the contents. There's a slight hint of concern in her expression, unable to prevent her mind from doing mental gymnastics and connecting the dots as to why Tara would decide on that as a gift for
Nathan. She offers a small shake of her head and bounce of her shoulders in response to his unvoiced question.
Mendez gains a curious look at the exchange between Nathan and Leah, giving the latter a quick, subtle upnod as if to ask if there's something wrong. It's not until Nathan lifts the weapon out that he seems to understand the confusion.
Leah sucks in her lips, offering Mendez a small, dismissive shake of her head. Nathan's regained composure causes her to do the same, not wanting to make Tara feel self conscious about her choice of gift. Nathan taking the extra step to make Tara feel comfortable helps to draw a heavy smile back out. She clears her throat and shifts in place, bringing her outstretched leg back in so she can sit cross-legged. For a moment, she
merely watches Tara as the young girl studies the musical box, listening to Sofia's story in silence, her own gift all but forgotten for the moment.
Tara nods a litte as she listens to Sofia speak, the smile giving way to a more serious, but no less enraptured expression, gaze remaining fixed on the hologram until Sofia pauses. She meets her gaze, sucking in her lips a little as she tilts her head. "Thank you." she says quietly, voice weighed by the same emotions that make her blink a bit too much. She manages a tiny smile, and it's plain to see that this one was a hit with her.
Nathan's words draw her attention, and she flashes another smile, wider but a bit shaky, tilting her head again, seemingly feeling good about the response - the earlier concern goes entirely unnoticed.
Nathan remains silent during this, unable to suppress the smile that has etched onto his face. He does, however, carefully set the weapon back into its box. He'll be making a note to work on that later on.
Sofia returns the smile to Tara. "Merry Christmas, Tara," she says softly, managing to keep a check on her emotions that flare at Tara's reaction.
Francois remains where he is, not wanting to intrude quite yet. He does eye Nathan's gift with a bit of curiosity, but he, too, seems to understand the reason for not drawing attention to the unconventional gift and makes a mental note to bring it up to Leah later. As he watches the exchange between Tara and Sofia, his smile re-emerges.
Leah finds her attention drifting back towards Nathan, a soft look on her face as she studies him with an appreciative smile. More than anything, she wanted this to be a day for Tara to feel comfortable. To feel like she belongs. Like she's supposed to be here. Among friends and family that love her unconditionally. Knowing that the others are all on the same page is enough to make her feel all warm and fuzzy. She mouths a
quiet, 'Thank you' his way before tearing her attention away, focusing once more on the present in her lap as she gets to opening.
Mendez finds himself watching the music box with the others, brown eyes flicking between it and Tara, gauging her reaction. It, too, draws a smile from the grumpy curmudgeon. "Looks like I saved the best for last." he muses aloud as he pulls his final gift into his lap. Tara's gift. He offers her a quick glance as if to let her know that he's opening it before doing so.
Tara gently closes the wooden box, her smile lingering for a bit before her attention is drawn to Mendez, silently watching him open her gift.
Tara's present for Mendez is... a small, battery-powered plastic snowman that sings (slightly garbled) Christmas songs.
Nathan looks over to Leah and gives her a casual shrug, as if to say 'Don't mention it.' However, when she begins to unwrap his gift to her, he gains a bit of a nervous look of anticipation. He taps his fingers against his arm, trying his best to remain casual.
Sofia allows herself a moment to watch the others unwrap their gifts, her brother's one to her forgotten about for the time being. Mostly because she just wants to watch her brother's nervous wriggling.
The wrapping paper is torn and reveals a small, black box, rectangular in shape. A silver trim is laid into the packaging. As it is opened, it would reveal a small, red cushion inside and resting atop it is a silver adjustable chain bracelet. The ends link together into a cut, emerald coloured stone, shined to a polish.
Mendez is quick to lift the small snowman, a genuine- if uncharacteristic- smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he studies it. The garbled Christmas song that spills from it once activated garners a small snort from him. "I love it, little bird." he says. And it's the truth. If his apartment is any indication, he has little interest in knick knacks and trinkets. But this little snowman will have a permanent home on his
dresser, a snapshot of their winter creation in the front yard long after the summer melts it away. He might be a walking, talking, brick wall, but it's probably obvious to most by now that he has a soft spot for Tara.
Leah only seems to grow more suspicious as the fancy box is revealed, shooting Nathan another look, eyes narrowed. She slowly and carefully opens it, green eyes widening reflexively as she spots the piece of jewelry inside. A surprised, "O-... oh!" slips out. Lifting the bracelet up, she carefully drapes it over her hand to get a better look at it. "This is-..." she shakes her head, white, puffy Christmas pom bobbling about behind
her head as she does, seeming a bit at a loss for words. "...It's beautiful." she finally says with a look back to Nathan, swallowing at the lump in her throat. Certainly more glamorous than the bundle of colorful hair ties that are always around her left wrist. She chews on her lower lip as she continues to study the bracelet. After a few moments her brow furrows and she, she once, again looks to Nathan, that suspicious look
returning to her face. "Be honest, did Sofia pick this out?" she asks as if he doesn't have the fashion sense to pull this off on his own, shooting an accusatory glance between the two siblings before settling on Sofia, big bright smile slipping back out. "Did you?!"
Francois continues to watch the exchange of presents with a smile on his face. Nathan's gift to his daughter garners a bit of a wide-eyed stare that he's quick to shuffle away. Seems he was not aware that they had reached the 'gifting jewelry' level. He quickly clears his throat and gets to work on slowly sliding the large box in Tara's direction as the others speak.
Tara gains a big, bright smile at Mendez' reaction. Her attention is briefly drawn to Leah's accusing before turning to Francois as the large box is pushed her way. Her eyes widen a little, and she carefully sets the wooden box down with the rest of her gifts before shifting to sit on her knees. She looks the box over before casting a questioning glance up at Francois, checking for confirmation that she's understood correctly before she
Sofia snorts as she looks to her brother, then back to Leah. She hums and rests her cheek in her hand, giving a large shit-eating grin to her brother. "No~. He did pick it out for you. I remember it so well."
Sofia links her hands together, pressing her cheek against the closed fist as she gazes up at the ceiling, fluttering her eyelashes. "He looked upon it with wide eyes and he said-".
Nathan starts slicing his hand across his next, hissing across at her as his face goes bright red. "Shuuuuut-"
Sofia Tennhausen finishes her sentence, putting on a comically deep tone in poor imitation of Nathan's voice. "- It's just like her eyes~.'" She snaps her brother a devilish grin, sibling malice glinting in her mismatched eyes.
Nathan makes a strangled noise before he sinks a little deeper into his spot, trying to will the ground to swallow him up. "..."
Leah looks between the two as the exchange plays out, bracelet still dangling from her hand. Her focus shifts to Nathan as Sofia begins to retell the story, studying him smugly and urging Sofia on with a hummed, "Hmmm?" But Sofia's final words cause a loud, unflattering, drawn out snort to escape, the poor imitation only worsening the laughter that threatens to slip out with it. Big, green eyes fixed to Nathan she tries her best
to remain tight-lipped, dimples only growing more prominent the harder she tries to contain her laughter. There's a hint of pink in her own cheeks from the combination of restrained laughter and second-hand embarrassment.
Mendez looks over the trinket for a few moments longer before adding it to his pile of gifts. "Way to go, Cassanova." he says to Nathan without the slightest of fluctuations in his tone which, unfortunately, seems to break the dam for Leah.
Leah erupts into laughter, head dipping forward which causes the ball from her hat to flop down in front of her face. She's quick to lay the bracelet back down in its box so she can bring her hand up to her mouth in an attempt at reigning in her laughter. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she exclaims.
Francois offers a few nods to Tara, still all smiles. His gaze turns to his daughter and Nathan, a bit of embarrassment slipping into his features on Nathan's behalf. He tries to quiet Leah down with a wave of his hand. "You two are terrible." he scoffs, shooting both his daughter and Sofia a fatherly glare.
Leah does her best to muffle her laughter as her father scolds her but it takes another few moments before she really has it under control. She rocks gently to her side and leans slightly against Nathan as little bouts of laughter continue to slip out, looping her arm around his closest to her. "Thank you!" she exclaims, pressing a quick kiss against his shoulder in an attempt at alleviating some of his embarrassment which is
probably undermined by the interspersed snickering. "It's-..." she manages to get the laughter under control, but the big ear-to-ear smile still remains as she looks up at him, "...it's beautiful." she repeats earnestly. After a moment, she gives a little flutter of her eyelashes in a silent attempt at further teasing him.
The rather large box has plenty of paper to get through, and it's not immediately obvious what's inside. The side that Tara begins to peel at merely reveals a pale white box. Seems she's going to have to rip away more to see what's inside.
Tara takes her time getting rid of the paper despite her curiosity, seemingly wary of tearing it. Leah's sudden laughter causes her to look over towards her briefly in confusion, attention shifting between her, Nathan and Sofia, blinking. She soon decides to just focus on her own present, continuing to carefully unfold all the wrapping between her and her gift.
Nathan sits there with the least amused face he can muster, the laughter and snickering by both Sofia and Leah causing him to pull up his Christmas jumper and hide his face beneath it, folding his arms across his chest. Mendez's addition seems to just hammer more nails into the coffin by this point and a muffled groan escapes from beneath the wool. However, the sudden appearance of Leah by his side causes him to tug the
jumper from his face and peer at her with squinted eyes. The little peck on his shoulder draws a smile from him. "Merry Christmas," he says. Then he adds, "You jackass," as she begins to flutter her eyelashes at him.
Sofia is just content with laughing at her brother's misfortune from her spot in the living room. She does manage to give Francois a somewhat apologetic look at his fatherly scolding, but she continues to snigger and chortle regardless. "Worth it," she says, fanning herself down from her laughing fit.
Leah snickers to herself at Nathan's comment but seems content to just remain as she is, leaned against his shoulder. Big, goofy smile plastered across her face, her attention shifts over to Tara and her father and she offers the pair an apologetic lift of her free hand, palm outwards towards them as if to signify she's good. The hand of the arm intertwined with Nathan's slips further down his forearm, silently seeking out his
Francois gives both his daughter and Sofia sceptical looks, as if worried if he takes his eyes off of them they might burst into laughter again. After a few moments, he merely sighs, smile reluctantly returning to his face, and turns his focus back to the large gift. As Tara continues to peel at the paper, he clears his throat, gesturing idly towards the box. "When we first had the house built, we thought that perhaps we might one
day have need for a guest room." he offers, passing a glance his daughter's way before his gaze turns back to Tara. "It seems that we were right." he snickers. "But-... it's your room now, Tara." he explains, expression turning a bit more serious as he meets Tara's eyes, "Not just a guest room. And... I think, perhaps, it is time that we try to make it a little more... yours."
The paper gives way to a nice, good-sized television screen. Something Tara's room is currently lacking.
Francois waits until it's apparent what is beneath the paper before offering a small shrug. "Just... thought it might be nice to be able to watch TV at night when you're in your room." he offers.
Mendez seems to gain a bit of amusement at Nathan's mounting embarrassment, but he doesn't further add to it. He just silently watches the gift exchange.
Tara blinks in surprise, running a hand across the TV imagery on the packaging as she listens to Francois. Her face twitches a little and she sucks in her lips, eyes locked on the box rather than looking up. More blinks follow before she draws in a deep breath through her nose, which is expelled in a shaky, awkward laugh and a series of nods. It's not the TV that has her overwhelmed yet again, of course. It's the sentiment behind it, and
the ceaseless generosity and kindness that she's been faced with all evening. Her gaze darts up to Francois briefly before she inclines her head. "Thank you."
Nathan leans a little more against Leah, allowing their fingers to intertwine as he settles into his spot on the ground. He watches the gift exchange quietly, small, happy smile on his face.
Sofia allows herself to calm down, leaning back to relax as she follows suit as the rest of the household. Tara's joy causes her smile to grow tenfold and she very sneakily snaps a photo of the moment. She'll share that one later.
Leah leans a bit heavier against Nathan as her fingers interlock with his, smile ever-present as she watches Tara unwrap her gift. She, of course, knew about the present. "You just decide where you want it and we can mount it on your wall." she says.
Francois gives a few shallow nods to Tara's thanks, that kind smile crossing his features once more. "Oh!" he hums as something seems to occur to him, glancing towards the collection of remaining gifts for Tara. He leans over, plucking the other gift from the pile that's from him and extends it towards her. "To piggyback off of that sentiment." he explains through his smile as he extends the gift towards her. "You, too." he adds
Leah furrows her brows beneath the brim of her fluffy hat, green eyes briefly shooting towards the box in question. Having already gotten comfy, she reluctantly sits up a bit straighter and gives Nathan's hand a quick squeeze before letting go of it and seeking out the gift from her father. As she pulls it onto her lap, she shoots Nathan a quick glance, smile growing as she nods towards the remainder of his gifts.
Thiago having exhausted all of his gifts, seems content to just watch as the others open their gifts for now.
Tara is using the cuff of her sweater to rub her eyes when another present is extended her way. She hurries to accept it, a bit of telltale wetness left behind under her eyes as she eyes the box curiously after placing it in her lap. She waits for Leah to have hers in hand before starting to unwrap it.
Nathan gives a return squeeze and reaches over for the last of his presents, a curious look on his face as he hefts up the second one from Leah. He gives her a bit of a sheepish look, muttering under his breath as he begins to open it. "I only got you one..." he says, a little guilt settling into his tone.
Sofia reaches down for her final present from her brother, tilting her head curiously. She unwraps it carefully, peering at the content within. A small, colourful book written in german on the cover with a picture of a woman playing a violin on the front. She smiles brightly and gives Nathan a thankful little smile as she flicks it open, giving a quick scan over the pages.
Leah gives Nathan a playful roll of her eyes, as if his concern is entirely unfounded. "It's nothing big." she both assures and warns Nathan as she begins to unwrap her own gift.
Francois watches in silence as the others open their gifts. As he spots Sofia's, he gains a slight furrow of the brow, nodding towards it curiously. "What is it?" he asks.
Inside each of the identical boxes is a wood carving. It likely came from the market. There's plenty of things of the sort on offer there. Small kiosks for people passing through crop up all the time, offering their goods and skills while they're in town to make a few creds. Each carving is of the respective recipient's name and has small anchors on the back in case one desires to hang it on the wall or on their door. Despite Leah getting
one, too, the gift was obviously purchased with Tara in mind first. Just a fun little addition to further hammer home the point that she's not a guest in this house anymore. It's her home, too. And now she can officially lay claim to her bedroom.
Nathan's gift is a copy of a collection of Jacqueline Petit's live performances. The artist she was listening to on their return trip on the Jack. The cover is all in French. Like his previous gift, this one has a note with it, too. This time, it's a small piece of paper taped to the vid's cover. 'Movie night was fun. I thought maybe we could do it again sometime.' it says in her crisp, loopy handwriting.
Leah passes a glance Nathan's way as he opens the gift, a small, sheepish smile crossing her lips. Rather than acknowledge the potential implication in her note, she just quickly diverts her attention back to her own gift, the slightest hint of red creeping into her cheeks. "Oh! Cute." she comments idly as she lifts the carving from the box, now pointedly avoiding Nathan's gaze as she looks the carving over for a moment before
Mendez rises to his feet with a grunt. He takes it slow to avoid further aggitating his injury. The snowball fight has caused more than enough pain and soreness for one night. "Beer?" he asks with glances around the room.
Tara takes the carving out of the box, eyebrows furrowed as her fingers trace the letters. As she recognizes the combination of the letters that otherwise hold no meaning to her she smiles, blue eyes locked on the gift. The name she was given by Leah means a lot to her. It's inexorably tied to all the amazing changes that have life has gone through since then. It's spoken with love by the people around her. It makes her feel like a
person. The reinforcement of seeing it like this, just like on all the boxes, hits hard. When she spots Leah showing off her own carving she mirrors her gesture, smile widening a little, eyes already gleaming with fresh tears. It's turning out to be an emotional evening for her. How can it not? She's never experienced something like this before. She's too caught up in her own feelings to register Mendez' question to the group, which
Nathan lifts the case to inspect it, the name bringing a familiar smile to his lips. Unfortunately, more memories of the Jack come unbidden into his mind, but he is fast to quash them. Not the time, not the place. He lifts the little note up a smidgen, mouthing the words as he reads them. His eyebrow perks and he turns towards Leah, mouth opening to say something when he manages to catch her already turning her attention
elsewhere. So, instead, he sniggers and gifts her a subtle little prod in her side with his elbow to acknowledge the gift and note. He looks towards Mendez at the offer and raises a hand. "I'll take one. Want some help?"
Sofia looks up towards Francois, offering a better view of the book to him. "It's a collection of songs by Rosalie Wildner, one of the most prominent violinists in Germany. It contains all of her sheet music so that I can play it." She looks content with the gift, proudly displaying it for him. "It's just a shame I left my violin at home, I could've played something from it."