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 Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:01 pm
"No, I love him," she said sternly, giving Jack a face for even thinking of destroying something so beautiful. "I want him in the front yard fer everyone t'see."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:04 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:12 pm
"I wanna put the gnome in the front yard! Where the ******** else you put gnomes?"
This was an important conversation.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:15 pm
"In the trash, obviously," Jack retorted. "It's tacky."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:26 pm
Chel smacked the gnome out of his hands and held it close, like a treasured child. "Just 'cause yer a scrooge don't mean the rest of us have t'be."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:36 pm
"It has nothing to do with being a Scrooge, I just have taste." But he knew Chel wasn't going to have it, so with a small noise, he waved the gnome off and then grabbed the decorative candycane to hang...somewhere...What the hell. Jack stuffed it in one of the stockings.
"While we're in such a Christmassy spirit, are there any traditions I should know about?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 8:49 pm
Chel would take victories where she could. In the same way that Jack was picky about where the tin Jack Skellington cutout hung during Halloween, so too did Chel roll her eyes at him putting the candycane in the stocking. She took it out along with a tack and paced until she found a good spot on the wall. Sorry Victorian walls, you were getting tacks in you.
"Traditions?" She cracked a grin. "Chris and I used t'sled down the stairs into the door, but then one year he broke his arm. So that was out."
Clearly this was a stable household. "Mm, we usually have a beer on Christmas Eve, but I don't think that's really a tradition. We'd always go t'see the lights on Christmas Lane after- Christmas lights when yer drunk are fun. Can't do that this year 'cause of leave- 'sides I have stuff t'do then anyways."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:05 pm
He winced on behalf of the Victorian walls. RIP.
"Least you won't shove the classic Christmas s**t down my throat," Jack said. "I knew someone who did that every damn year."
As Chel went to fix the wall up, he moved the chair back to its original spot. "Only real 'tradition', I guess you could say, was watching Nightmare Before Christmas if we weren't too busy." Well that and the usual help Mom cook things, but he didn't want to give Chel more ammunition on that front.
"Could just get drunk, watch the movie, and then stare into the gnome's soulless eyes before the lights go up," he suggested casually.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:10 pm
"So like every other day of the year?" she said with a snort. Seriously, just how many times had he seen that movie?
Now came the awkward part. "We could watch the movie but ..." She went back to the box to shuffle things around as a distraction. "I visit Nevada Christmas Eve." Two cups of cocoa, each with a peppermint candycane in it. She remembered Nevada had liked that. "Someone ought to, y'know."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:19 pm
Jack rolled his eyes. "I told you before: Corpse Bride for Halloween, Nightmare Before Christmas for Shitmas. Holiday specials, not weekday reruns."
The topic of Nevada gave him pause. "Mm." He waited a moment before moving over to the box as well, crouching to collect several loose bells near the bottom. "I understand." He really did. Jack didn't hold the sentimentality of those memories anymore, but he had spent his share of time around what had supposedly been Lina's grave, and while he hadn't had any remote connection to Nevada aside from several encounters, he wasn't someone who would interfere with something like that.
"Just remember to tell me explicit instructions about dinner before you go," he reminded her with a small nudge. (It's okay.) "Or else you'll come back to a gourmet meal of crackers and cheese."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:35 pm
It was perhaps a bit sad that Chel couldn't let it go. Maybe it was a little valiant. Most people had moved on and forgotten; Nevada was hardly a concept and many of the new recruits would never know her. It seemed only fair that Chel would dedicate at least one day to her. Maybe it was neither of those things, and spurned from a deep seed of guilt.
So she was grateful Jack understood. She gave his hand a small squeeze thank you before returning to rummaging, pulling out some hideous tree-shaped candle stands. She was grateful he understood, but even more grateful that he didn't offer his assistance or pry. There were some things Chel just needed to do on her own.
"Wouldn't mind something shitty Christmas Eve honestly. Wouldn't want to wear y'out before the big cook-a-thon on Christmas, yeah?" she said with a sideways grin. "Get real drunk after, watch your movie then. Put the mistletoe t'good use-"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 9:56 pm
"Jingle balls, jingle balls, jingle all the way~" he chimed in with a few rings of the bells and a little lecherous grin of his own. "I'll let you take the lead for the holiday, then." It was only fair given that he often took the reigns for Halloween (and, to be honest, most of October in general).
Jack suddenly barked a laugh. "Reminds me--Back at college, the walls were thin as hell. Around December, my suitemate must have put bells on the bedpost or something, because when he and his girlfriend went at it, I swear they were ******** in the goddamn sleigh."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:02 pm
The song was trying a bit hard, but the story had her throwing her head back in laughter.
"F'you could hear the bells it means he wasn't doin' it right," she said with a wink of her own. She shooed him then, saying, "Hey go get babs. We need some music."
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:10 pm
"It was ******** obnoxious. I made sure he couldn't sleep during finals in retaliation."
"Babs," he echoed with half-hearted exasperation, giving the room a cursory glance for the guitar case he knew wouldn't be there before finally forcing himself to go look for it in their bedroom. "Babs, what the Christ. Treat her with some respect, plebe."
But he rarely said no to an excuse to play, and so he returned with the trusty mistress in tow, loafed across the couch, and began to tune it. "What's the request?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:11 pm
Chel spent the time wondering why the ******** she was marrying someone who used the word "plebe." In the meantime she finished the rest of the decorations, save for the mistletoe which was destined for their bedroom and a few other spots (the front door, the kitchen ...).
"Somethin' Christmas and pretty," she told him, hefting herself to the floor near the couch and sitting her back against the cloth near where he was sitting. "Surprise me scrooge."
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