|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:14 am
Quote: The line for Santa is miles long and doesn’t seem to be moving. At the front, it appears there isn’t enough help to keep everything running smoothly. Suddenly you are tapped on the shoulder and turn around to find a woman dressed as an elf looking at you with panic in her eyes. “There you are! Where have you been? Why aren’t you dressed? Hurry up! We need more hands up there!” It appears she has mistaken you for one of the missing elves. Do you go along with it? Set her straight?
He had spent hours dealing with developer and exposure and everything that came with the darkroom. In the end he thought he had come out with some thoughtful results and he agonized for hours over frames to put each photo into but now he wanted small additional things to give because he was worried that his gifts weren't enough as they were.
Realistically, Tristan knew that he was being ridiculous but he couldn't shake the feeling that what he wasn't expressing how much they all meant to him properly.
The brunette felt like he would never be fully capable of expressing what the people in his life had done for him.
Dragging himself out of his mental spiral, Tristan offered a grin to his companion. "I really appreciate you coming with me to--"
"There you are." A woman sighed, hurrying over to both of them with a stern expression. "Why aren't you dressed?" She looked both of them up and down with a shake of her head. One hand grabbed Tris's wrist and the other moved to grab Mary's. "Hurry up," she huffed, trying to drag both adults towards the santa's workshop in the center of the mall.
"Ma'am I think--" Tris tried, exasperated before glancing at his friend for direction.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:44 pm
It was all Mary could do to keep herself busy. She would not fall into despair for the holidays; she had voiced her emotions to the cosmos, quite literally, and that was the amount of effort she was going to put towards her heart. Love was a stupid, stupid thing, and she was grateful for Tris' companionship and distraction. She put on a good face and kept herself cheerful, even when she wanted to give into her sorrow.
Tris' voice brought her out of her own thoughts and she made to reply when suddenly she was grabbed.
"Ah, miss, we aren't---" she said, but the woman did not seem to be listening. Mary shot Tris a confused look. "A-are you low on staff today?" Santa's workshop was not the best place for an outing, especially if they were mistakenly thought to be employees. But it might keep the pair's minds off of their individual issues...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 11:25 am
While Tris didn't know exactly what was going on to damper Mary's mood, he did notice that things were a little more off than when they had been when he had come over to help decorate her grandmother's tree. He didn't push, it wasn't in his nature, and so he tried to merely be a comforting presence she could lean on if she wanted.
Mary proved to be a great source of strength for him and he wished he was half as capable of returning the favor for her.
"What are you talking about? Come on now," the woman huffed, rolling her eyes at both of them as she all but tried to drag them towards one of the makeshift structures to change. "Come on, you're late and the line is ridiculous. Get changed! Hurry!"
Tris offered her a confused smile then shrugged at Mary.
"It won't hurt, right?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:15 pm
Mary looked at the structure with suspicion. How painful could it be? All they needed to do was keep the line in order, direct people through the process, and keep the chaos contained, right?
"Surely... not. Why would it hurt..." she asked, glancing at the structure apprehensively. Mary took a breath, straightened her shoulders and tipped up her chin. No, she would not give into the bad thoughts at the moment, there were children to bring cheer too!
"The worst that can happen is some toddler pukes on us. We can do this," she said, though it seemed more for her own benefit than Tris, specifically.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:22 am
Everything about the way Mary was holding herself left him concerned, but he kept waffling over whether or not to say something. She wasn't bringing it up, she'd always been kind enough to let him sort himself out on his own before he leaned on her and--
He shook his head, he was overthinking. He would say something later, after they helped out.
"Sure, I've got you and we've got this...right?" He nodded, his smile wavering as he tried to brace himself for dealing with something that could possibly trigger an episode. Things were better than they used to be and he derived great strength in the company of his treasured friends.
So, he allowed himself to be lead into one of the built santa houses and put into one of the elf costumes that were, frankly, too short on him. The pants barely hit his knees and it was a miracle the white tights didn't rip by the time he got them pulled up high enough.
Emerging he looked for Mary immediately. "Ready to play elf?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 5:06 pm
Trying to hide the gauze on her chest was a task in finding an outfit that wasn't either too small or too revealing. Why there were costumes that were revealing at a place with small children she had no idea. In fact, most of these costumes and props made her question the validity of this place. It took her almost five minutes to emerge from the tent.
While she had not almost torn the tights, the skirt barely came to the middle of her thighs and she pulled on it in vain to try to pull it down. The top was almost worse. She'd found a high collared top, with a bow that rested above the awkward bulge of the gauze. It was, however, too short to reach the top of the skirt, and the pale taut skin of her stomach and hipbones prickled with goosebumps in the chilly mall air.
A hat flopped on her head and she tugged at the skirt again. "I am questioning the validity of this establishment...." she said, not quite meeting Tris' eyes. It was one thing to show her collarbone covered with glowing markings. It was a whole other thing for her stomach to be showing. Mary fidgeted for a moment. Chronos this was embarrassing... At least she had the benefit of knowing the Tris was uncomfortable too, and those pants were entirely too small for him.
That brought a small smile to her face and she finally looked at him.
"Let's elf this up." Oh the pun. The puns...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:29 pm
Waiting awkwardly for Mary to surface, Tris began to fret about how this was probably a bad idea, they'd come to get some shopping done and now they were elves and--
Out came his friend and he relaxed, until he took note of the way the fabric seemed to sit poorly over a part of her chest. Once he realized what it might have looked like he was looking at his gaze lifted, a pink tint to his cheeks before he ran fingers through his curly brown locks.
He barely registered the fact that her shirt exposed her stomach. "Yeah, the sooner we start the sooner we jingle our way out of here right?" Green eyes flicked to meet purple. "Thanks for doing this with me Mary."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 5:27 pm
Mary smiled at him, a soft sort of expression that spoke of more emotion than she let herself show. She took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly, blushing a little at her own forwardness. Man, she was a mess. Either she was crying, or blushing at touching someone, or unable to form sentences or whatever. She stared off for a moment, then snapped back to the present.
Not now Mary. Hold yerself together woman!
"What are friends for? And I couldn't leave you to your fate alone; that's cruel," she said, squeezing his fingers again. She withdrew her hand and lead the way to the nearest station of humans pretending to be elves.
The chaos was deafenning with the sounds of screaming children, mothers demanding things of poor clerks and blaring Christmas music. Oh man.
'Elves reporting for duty!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:42 pm
"But not unwarranted," he tried to tease, though he felt there was a bit of truth to it. No one besides Fiona, and to an extent Danny, really knew what he'd gone through and what he was still struggling with.
But it was pretty obvious that there was something Mary was going through herself and she wasn't offering it up and he wasn't one to push.
She'd talk to him when she wanted to.
Once they'd 'reported' for duty, Mary and Tristan were separated, with Mary being left at the head of the line to assist Santa with the unruly children and Tristan had been sent to the end of the line to usher and catch new children to take their photographs with Santa.
It wasn't the best gig and not how he intended to spend the day, but it only lasted a few hours and the real elves showed up and he was able to escape and seek out his friend.
"Mary?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 5:30 pm
She was positively exhausted. Children exhausted her. She didn't know that they could be... exhausting. Screaming children. Crying children. Bratty children. Sick children. Don't get her started on the parents.
Oh good Chronos the parents.
She exited the changing tent, now in proper clothing left things to the imagination and actually fit her, picking at her fingers. One was sort of bloody and the other looked like a war zone, but none of them were actively bleeding or dripping at least. Mary walked in a daze until she found Tris.
With her forehead.
On his chest.
She blinked slowly and looked at him, not really seeing him for a moment. A wave of emotion shot through her, and suddenly the locks she had on her thoughts and feelings started to weaken. It was Tris... he was safe. He was present. He was here.
"Oh.... Oh hi, Tris," she said, her voice wobbling ever so slightly. She stared at his chest, unsure what to do now.
She had a flash of a memory and her shoulders shuddered, hands clenching into fists in her skirt.
Not now, not now, not now....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 2:01 pm
It didn't take Tris long to realize that it had been Mary that had found him and that it was Mary who was starting to unravel for reasons he didn't quite understand. Almost immediately however, he was dropping to kneel so he could be more eye level with his companion.
"What's wrong?" His voice was soft and concerned, fingers reaching for her face to gently coax her chin upwards so that she'd look at him.
The look on her face felt familiar, had that been what he looked like when he was on the verge of an attack when he'd been out with Danny?
More insistently he said, "Do you think you can change or do we need to get you somewhere more quiet?" His grip moved to her arms, which he began to rub up and down hoping that the motion would soothe whatever had come unraveled.
"If you can't walk, I'll carry you."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2018 8:29 pm
Green eyes were wide and twitching, flicking around Tris' face but not seeing him. She clawed at her chest, pulling at her scarf and her shirt, scratching at the bandages beneath. Mary trembled and her knees buckled as she ripped them off, staining her blouse.
The sudden pain brought a flash of clarity to her eyes.
"T-tris...." her voice broke, and then her control shattered. She began to cry hysterically, still clawing at her chest.
There was not going to be any walking from her right now...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:29 am
The longer it took Mary to respond to him the more worried he became.
When she seemed to tear something his concern worsened and he moved automatically. A slight bend of the knees, a shift of the arms, and he'd hoisted the woman into his arms and cradled her against his chest.
"It's okay, Mary," he cooed softly, worried about exasperating it. It took effort but he managed to get a hold of her wrists to keep her from scratching. "I'm gonna get you somewhere quiet and safe."
With that promise, he hurried to use his long legs to carry him away from the santa work station and to somewhere that he hoped he could calm her at.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
