#Leah'sHouse – January 17, 2021

Nathan reaches over to place a hand on the small of Leah's back, a hopefully comforting gesture for the woman as he gives her a curious look. "Now since when did you act all mysterious?" He teases at her coy suggestion. He can't help but look around idly, as if expecting his mystery gift to magically appear out of thin air.

Sofia quickly, and hopefully subtly, cleans herself up with some cleverly hidden tissues she keeps on hand. She perks her brow curiously at Leah, almost having stood up herself to help Francois with the cleaning.

Leah leans back against Nathan's hand before shooting him a playful roll of her eyes as he speaks up. She doesn't elaborate on the gifts, instead she just levels a big, bright, suspicious smile onto Tara. "I'll be riiight back." she announces before spryly bouncing to her feet. Spinning on her heels, she gives the pom of Nathan's Christmas hat a quick, playful slap, sending the ball of fluff swinging right back in his face yet

Thiago despite his size and injury, is a spry sonovagun. He's already on his knees and looking like he's half considering a dive for the bottle when it freezes in place, causing him to shoot an annoyed look Leah's way before settling back onto the floor.

Francois merely winces as he awaits the inevitable. When his daughter disappears down the hall, he shoots a sour look towards the spot she was standing but, soon enough, his smile slips back out and he merely shakes his head, an exasperated snicker slipping out.

Tara , much like Mendez, is quick on the draw, already reaching out, eyes wide, since she's one of the closest people. She looks briefly puzzled as the bottle freezes, before noticing Leah and catching on. There's obvious relief on her face as she sits back again - spills and the like don't exactly have good associations for her, something no doubt obvious after the glass incident.

Nathan watches Leah launch herself up, before he is once again thwacked in the face by the traitorous pom of doom. He scruntches up his face as he whaps it away once more, trying to come up with a counter when the bottle next to him begins to spin dangerously. His eyes widen and, like most of the room, he's already in motion to try and catch it. He stretches out towards it when it freezes and there's a brief moment of

Sofia is the complete opposite of the room. Slightly wine drunk, she doesn't seem to process the near miss until after it has happened. She lazily looks at everyone before giggling slightly, the only other sound in the room. "Well, that was close," she muses, a silly smile on her face as she leans back into her seat. "Nice save!"

Francois lets out a long sigh as he settles back into his seat once Leah is out of sight. He scans over the mess of wrapping paper spread out across the floor, looking as if he's still considering getting a headstart on cleanup. Ultimately he seems to decide to hold off and takes a sip of his beer before leaning over to set it down on the floor beside his chair. "So, tell me..." he begins with a glance from Nathan to Sofia,

Mendez takes a swig of his beer in turn and rests the bottle against his knee as Frank strikes up conversation with the Tennhausens. He passes a glance over Tara's stack of gifts before looking to her. "Having a good time, little bird?" he asks, his deep voice and monotone delivery making the question sound much more formal than intended.

Tara 's attention turns to Mendez when she's addressed, and she's quick to offer a series of emphatic nods. 'A good time' is a major understatement, but she's not sure how to express that the day has been an experience she'll treasure for the rest of her life. Still, the smile that follows her confirmation is wide, and, as her gaze falls on the amassed presents around her, a little embarrassed. She's still smiling to herself as her gaze

Nathan looks towards Francois as he speaks and the mention of home draws a wide smile from him. However, before he gets a chance to open his mouth, Sofia cuts him off.

Sofia nods, her face lit up in anticipation to share. "Ya, when our sisters are able to make it home from duty, the whole family gathers together," she explains, taking a quick sip of her wine to add some fuel to her tank. "Our cousins from England visit and we all head off to the Christmas markets. They have everything there! You'll never get to experience such a melting pot of smells and flavours. Wines, foods, rides,

Nathan quickly interjects as to draw attention away from Sofia in a small hope to give her a moment to recover. "So, yeah, big get togethers. Both sides of the family have... eh, quite a few branches on the family tree."

Mendez allows a small smile to peek out as Tara nods. "Me too." he offers simply.

Francois watches Sofia with a big smile, her enthusiasm infectious. As it begins to drain from her, his own smile grows a bit heavy. 'When mother was able to get around'. The statement isn't lost on him but he thinks better than to pry. As Nathan takes over, he shifts his focus towards him. "That sounds-..." he nods, shooting another quick glance Sofia's way, as if to make sure his curiosity hasn't unintentionally shaken free

Tara 's attention shifts towards Nathan and Sofia as she overhears the conversation. She pulls her legs in, wrapping her arms around them and resting her chin on her knees as she listens, a faint hint of a frown on her face.

Nathan smiles and gives a small nod. "It is. It's a time for family and celebration and, I tell you, a Tennhausen family party is memorable. It's also the biggest clash of opposites that you'll ever see." At this, he laughs and takes a swig of his beer. "Imagine. One side of the family are complete eggheads. Academics, that sorta thing. The other side? Military. Soldiers. Marines. Mix those together and... well, it

Sofia quickly recovers herself, as she is wanton to do, and her brother's descripton of their family causes a small snort and snigger to escape her. She, sensibly, sets down her wine and will probably leave it there for the rest of the night."

Mendez looks from Nathan to Sofia as the former speaks, brow furrowed as if in deep thought for a moment. "That makes a lot of sense." he offers in a mutter once Nathan has finished speaking, weighing the juxtaposition between the two siblings. "Guessing you didn't fall out of the 'academic tree', huh?" he asks Nathan, the slightest hint of a smirk hiding behind that grimace he wears so proudly.

Francois gives a sincere snicker as Nathan continues, one that only grows when Mendez chimes in. "Oh quiet, Thiago." he shushes the large man. It sounds quite opposite from his family's small get togethers. Sure, there was a time when the extended family- on both sides- had a more active role in their lives. But as Leah grew up that trickled to a stop and family relations slowly dissolved. A fact that he does his best not to be

Tara is still just listening, but she seems genuinely interested. It's all alien to her, experiences she never got to have and concepts she's never been exposed to. She grew up in a world where the House was everything. It's become increasingly obvious that 'family' means something altogether different. Even a large one like Sofia and Nathan's.

Nathan shoots a glare Mendez's way and has to restrain himself from flicking the bird at the man.

Sofia just giggles even louder as Mendez chimes in, causing her to look his way. "Right on the money," she says, giving her brother an evil smirk from the corner of her gaze.

Nathan really has to fight the urge to launch a double bird at the pair of them, instead taking a looooong chug from his bottle. "For your information, Mendez, I was actually chartered for a career in teaching! But... well, things change." He smiles, however, clearly not doubting his choice oh so many years ago.

Mendez shotos a glance Frank's way before resting his attention back on Nathan, the man's protests garnering only a small, dismissive, "Uh huh..." from him, clearly restraining himself from further jabs for Francois' sake as his smirk continues to hide just beneath the surface. He opts to silence himself by taking a long pull from his drink.

Francois shoots a glare Mendez' way, as if expecting him to chime in again. But when he doesn't, he instead turns his focus back on the two siblings. "Well, I hope next year finds you back with your family for Christmas. Both of you." he offers sincerely, well aware that it must be hard for them to be so far from their loved ones on the holidays. Not wanting to be a downer, he draws in a breath, posture stiffening as he tries to

Tara casts a brief glance around, no doubt searching for any sign of Leah's return, before returning to resting her head against her knees, one cheek squished as she lets her head tilt a little lazily, gaze falling to the stack of presents as her expression goes a bit distant.

Nathan scrunches his face up in protest to Mendez, but then looks back to Francois with a kindly smile. "Thank you. I had planned on spending next year at home, so it should hopefully be a sure thing." At the latter comment, his smile grows even wider but it's Sofia who answers it.

Sofia nods enthusiastically and leans forward. "It's been wonderful. Really, thank you. Meeting all of you has been a memory I'll cherish for a long time." She smiles sweetly, idly rubbing her thumb across the plastic swan in her hands.

Leah's return is announced by the creaky wood floor a moment before she reappears in the kitchen opening. Tucked beneath her right arm is a small box about the size of a book, wrapped up in a paper depicting a familiar tophatted, fancy snowman that Tara has surely seen during the past week's plethora of Christmas movies on TV. Given its size, it's likely that it's the package Leah picked up on their return trip from the market.

Francois opens his mouth to respond to Sofia when his daughter makes her return. Her announcement garners a frown and a furrowing of his brow but his attention is pulled to the rather large box hovering above her hand as it's held out to him. "What is this...?" he asks a bit sheepishly, clearly not expecting that there'd be another gift for him.

Mendez continues to bite his tongue, attention turning to Leah as she makes her return.

Tara sits up straighter as Leah returns, watching the packages curiously. The words thrown Nathan's way makes her eyes widen slightly as she casts a glance towards him - she still isn't entirely used to the whole 'playful insults' thing.

Nathan sharply turns to squint at Leah as she comes storming by, reaching over to shift the beer bottle out of her path. He looks at Francois and dryly says, "And there's the reason why I plan on going home for next Christmas." He is, however, smirking as he says so, a roll of his eyes following shortly. He peers at her curiously, the hovering box drawing his attenion first.

Sofia turns to the dynamic entry, perking her eyebrows high. "Woah." She still has moments where she is in awe at the abilities of biotics, not having seen the powers beyond TV shows and movies.

Leah gives a sly little shrug of her shoulders and a tilt of her head as she hands the box off.

Francois brings the rather large box onto his lap, the sudden droop of his shoulders implying it's far heavier than it seemed when Leah was transporting it. Feather-light as it looked hovering in the air, Francois is quick to shuffle it onto the floor in front of him with a snicker. He sits up a bit straighter, looking as if he's waiting for her to hand out the other one before digging into it.

Leah keeps the other gift tucked under her arm and, when her father sits back up, furrows her brow at him. "Open it!" she's quick to chirp.

Francois lets a huff of air out, not particularly wanting to draw attention away from the others' festivities. He casts a quick little glance around before nodding to himself and leaning forward. "You really shouldn't have..." he offers softly as he begins to peel away the paper.

Leah takes a step back, lips sucked in. Those deep dimples show themselves, hinting at the big smile hidden beneath. It's not until he's gotten a bit of the paper off that she chimes in once more, pointing at the box with her free hand. "Jasper helped me pick it out months ago, so if it's not what you need, you can yell at him about it." she's quick to point out.

Francois studies the box and, as it becomes clear what it is, his expression shifts. Regardless of what it was, he was prepared to put on his best 'This is lovely, sweetheart' look, but the expression that crosses his face is one of genuine surprise. A big grin slips out and he chuckles to himself, hoisting the large box back onto his lap so he can better read it. But, soon enough, a bit of guilt settles in over his daughter doing

Leah gives a small shrug of her shoulders, her free arm reaching across herself to grasp her other arm. "I wanted to." she offers softly. "Annnnnd~ now you and Jasper can-... share your gross beer concotions with each other and that means you can stay away from my beer!" she continues, as if to imply there was some self-serving motivation behind what was sure to be an expensive purchase to alleviate some of her father's

Tara watches the gift-opening silently, the back-and-forth making her smile a little as she eyes the large box curiously.

Nathan leans on his spot on the floor to peer around Leah so that he can see what the mystery gift is. As it is slowly revealed, he tilts his head as he processes what it is. When he puts two and two together, he stifles a snicker and leans away. He's tried some of that stuff before and he's in no rush to ever do so again. He's pretty sure part of his stomach melted away when he tried it.

Sofia has no clue what it is, but she merely watches in comfortable silence.

Francois reigns in his smile, glancing from the box back to his daughter before offering a quiet, sincere, "Thank you."

Leah merely shrugs it off, offering her father a small smile before turning on her heels to face Nathan. "Annnd for you~" she hums in singsongy tone as she steps over towards him, gift still tucked beneath her arm as she approaches with a grin on her face.

Mendez studies the box from his spot on the floor, brow furrowed. "Careful with that, Frank." he offers. His failure to elaborate while he takes another sip from his beer garners a curious look from Francois. "You fuck it up and that's it." he explains with a shake of his head as he sets his bottle back down. "Shits for a week." Despite his monotone delivery, there's a sense of experience beneath it. The words of a man haunted.

Tara 's eyebrows furrow as she fails to stop herself from shooting a quick glance Mendez' way.

Nathan seems completely caught off guard as she pivots around to him. He leans back in suprise and quickly checks over his shoulder to see if she was talking to someone else. Once he confirms that there isn't another person she was talking to, he looks back to her and points to himself. "Me?"

Sofia perks an eyebrow as she glances across to Mendez, then to the box and finally back to Mendez. She shudders at the thought of whatever is in that box and then decides to instead watch her brother get cornered by Leah.

Leah nods her head, sending the pom of her Christmas hat waggling about behind her. "Mmhmm." she hums through a big smile, cheeks only slightly rosy from the booze she's put down tonight. With him on the ground, she finally has the height advantage. As she stands over him, she bends at the waist, leaning down. Her free hand moves to his chin, perking his head upwards and she plants a quick, soft kiss against his lips. As she pulls

Francois merely blinks at Mendez. His face slowly contorts into a look of sheer confusion. His attention slowly and deliberately shifts back to the box in his lap.

Mendez looks from Francois, to Tara, to Sofia. He gives a small shake of his head, the memories too painful to recall, and buries them in another heavy swig of his beer.

Tara leaves Mendez to relive his trauma in silence as her attention turns back to Leah and Nathan just in time to catch her bamboozle. Her head jerks back slightly in surprise, looking between the two of them.

Nathan keeps his attention firmly on Leah as she leans down to him, the surprise in his eyes reaching its peak as she takes his chin and plants the kiss on his lips. His brain takes about half-a-second to catch up, a little dopey smile on his face. "Hmm wha- bah!" The pom swings around at mach 5 and strikes him square on the end of his nose. He sputters indignantly, a look of shock and betrayal evident on his features.

Sofia makes the sensible decision and decides not to persue that topic as Mendez drowns his trauma in beer and silence. Instead, she merely snickers at the bamboozle played upon her brother, eyes drifting down to TAra and her look of surprise. "Gross, aren't they?" She says, a teasing smirk accompanying.

Leah continues to snicker as she backs away, green eyes resting firmly on Nathan. "Me! Me!" she teases him as he stammers. She remains where she is, safely outside of his reach, with a big ear-to-ear smile that she quickly tries to get a grasp on by sucking in her lips. Meandering back another step, she watches him, the fondness in her big green eyes perhaps betraying her incessant teasing.

Francois seems to decide better than to get invested in his gift right now and leans over to set it down on the ground for now. Plenty of time for that later when their guests have left.

Tara blinks as Sofia addresses her, looking unsure how to reply as her attention shifts to her.

Nathan takes one last draw of his beer before setting it down. He stands up, brushes his legs down and turns to address the rest of the room. "Would you excuse me for a few moments? Just gotta..." He gestures at Leah rather non-chalantly, as if the simple motion would convey everything quite nicely. Before anyone even answers him, he takes a not so subtle step towards her, then another, then another.

Sofia rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath, "Oh for Heaven's sake." She instead stands up and quickly dismisses the pair from her mind as he begins to gather some of the wrapping paper up. Only from the gifts she's opened, mind, she doesn't want to start moving too much around the danger zone yet. Especially given how she's fully expecting some sort of chaos to erupt in the next few moments.

Mendez glances up at Nathan, attention shifting from him to Leah and then back as his beer dangles from his fingers by the neck. He makes no attempt to get involved.

Francois is unable to stifle a snicker as he looks from his daughter to Nathan. He gives a dip of his head, a silent notion of 'By all means'.

Leah remains a few steps away as Nathan stands up, gift still tucked under her right arm as her left comes to her hip. She tilts her head as she studies him, her posture gaining a bit of sass as if unafraid and taunting him to try something. Her father's gesture garners a quick, betrayed glare. But as Nathan takes a step towards her a loud snort slips out that devolves into a long string of snickering and she shuffles backwards a

Tara doesn't share Sofia's nonchalant reaction, gaze just darting back and forth between Leah and Nathan, looking confounded by their theatrics.

Nathan gives Francois a crisp salute of gratitude, before sharply spinning on the spot and cracking his knuckles. A devilish grin stretches on his face as he looks towards the biotic. "Give it your best shot," he taunts back before making his play. He quickly darts towards her, nimbly avoiding the wrapping paper minefield that litters the floor as he goes to try and wrap his arms around her midsection and lift her in the

Sofia casually scrunches up the wrapping paper into a ball and looks across to the confounded Tara. She can't help but snicker at her confusion, leaning over to give her a gentle tap on the shoulder to draw her attention. "They're just flirting," she assures her in a soft voice before pausing and reassessing her choice of words. "Playing," she corrects, a small smirk on her face. "Nothing to worry about."

Leah hops back a step, unable to contain her case of the giggles. "Get away!" she manages. By all accounts she could, of course, merely toss him onto his ass with a flick of her middle finger should she so desire. But where's the fun in that? She shifts to turnaway from Nathan as he darts in, playfully leaning away with a loud squeal as he wraps her up and lifts her off the ground. She's careful to tuck the gift in close to her

Francois shuffles uncomfortably in his seat. Leah bringing around boyfriends isn't exactly the sort of thing he's had a chance to get comfortable with. Still, it's undeniably nice to hear her laugh. The past few Christmases it didn't particularly feel like there was a whole lot to be joyful about...

Mendez actually has to stifle a laugh as Nathan grabs ahold of Leah.

Tara nods a couple of times as Sofia speaks, despite still looking just as baffled as before as Nathan scoops Leah up.

Nathan makes a noise of triumph as he manages to snag Leah in his grip, doing one rotation with her as he laughs too. A rosy tint colours his cheeks as he prods his fingers into her sides. "All talk!" He retorts, keeping her hoisted with one arm as his other releases her, only for him to reach up to her hat and flick the pom so it swats her in the face. Part of his master plan, all along! "Thought I'd let you get away

Sofia can't help but smile, even if it is done alongside a heavy sigh and roll of her eyes. She's happy to see her brother... well, happy. The mood is infectious, after all, she can clearly see that in the reactions of everyone else. Well, everyone accept Tara, but that's understandable. It's mostly confusion for the poor girl. She sits down on the floor next to Tara and merely snickers, idly batting a ball of scrunched