NaNo2014 day 6

[shamera]

New Bodhum was a sea of white, the beach itself pockmarked with footprints of children who had already run up and down the entire length of the beach in their excitement, contrasted with the brilliant white-blue of the ocean beyond, looking just as it did the last time Hope had been there. There were still thick white flakes falling from the sky, making the entire scene look quite magical.

Vanille’s outfit had been new to him as well, thick material sewn with beading covering every inch of her skin besides her face, a woolen hat pulled over her head and ears and warm fur lining her neck and gloves and now much higher boots and a new, darker fur skirt brushing her legs. There were leather knots interlacing her top as an accent, the same color as her gloves and boots.

“Do you like it?” She exclaimed, twirling in a circle for him. “Serah got me the fabric, and Fang got all the leather.”

“Did you do the beading?” Hope admired. “It looks really good.”

Sazh had offered to bring him in an airship the night prior after Bartholomew agreed to the trip. When updated with the impending wedding, his father agreed to try his best to be there on the condition that he was given three days’ advance notice. He wouldn’t be able to stay an entire day, but for the several hours needed, he might wheedle some time off work or bring his work with him.

It was the best that Bartholomew could promise, and Hope knew enough to appreciate the offer.

“I did.” She confirmed, beaming. “I could make you an outfit, too.”

“I’m good, but thanks.” He declined, raising mittened hands in defeat. “I’ve got too many clothes already.”

That was mostly thanks to an impromptu online shopping session the night before which resulted in the outfit he was wearing and the two more he brought along with him. It had always been his mother who picked out clothes for him since Hope’s only stipulations were that they were comfortable and that he wouldn't be ostracized by the other kids for them.

That meant the result of his shopping (thanks to the funds his father transferred to him for whatever he would need) consisted of mostly bland and pale colors that he would be able to coordinate with every outfit. Other than simple black boots and dark pants, Hope had decided on white and yellow jacket paired with a long pale blue scarf which he had wrapped several times around his throat and covered the bottom half of his face as well. On a whim, he had also decided on a handful of large sweaters and cardigans to grow into, seeing as the cold was starting to reach the settlement as well.

Vanille was sighing in front of him, her gloved hands raised to his cheeks. “You look so mature like this, Hope. Cheer up! We’re still young, we’re supposed to take advantage of being silly and play around. You shouldn’t frown so much.” She paused, giving him a critical eye before smiling again. “At least you’re still smaller than me.”

He made a noise of protest, but didn’t pull away as she laughed. Eventually her hands found his and she tugged him along, slinging one of his bags over her shoulder even as Sazh waved them away with a smile and a murmured protest about kids.

“Everyone’s been waiting for you.” She said as she pulled him along the track between the hanger for the airships and the housing area. Hope looked down at the snow as he stepped along, marvelling in the crunching noises under his feet and the crisp feel of everything. “I don’t think anyone’s very happy about the fact that you’re so far away. It doesn’t help that, well, Lightning’s been out a lot too lately…”

“Even though Serah said she wants to get married?”

“Well not now. She’s back here now. Everyone’s back here now just waiting for the two of them to decide on the big day! Lebreau’s been running around trying to find things for a wedding, and Serah’s been dress shopping except Lightning keeps turning down her choices… oops.” She threw a guilty grin his way. “Not sure I was supposed to say that.”

“Sounds really busy.” Hope sympathized with her, rather than bringing up her mistake. He smiled, and curled his hand around hers. “Now I feel like I’m the one who’s been slacking.”

“That’s not true!” They stepped past a frozen over garden with the beginnings of a fence and perhaps a roof being built over it. “You were busy getting better and settling into your new home, right? It must be hard.”

Hope shrugged, but didn’t respond as they were greeted by Snow, dressed up to the brim and almost resembling a marshmallow in his thick grey coat.

“You’re here!” The man greeted Hope, taking both his bag and the one Vanille was holding onto in one fell swoop despite Vanille’s squeak of protest. “Good. You can help out with the preparations.”

“Right now?” Vanille protested. “He hasn’t even gotten settled in yet! Don’t you need to show him his room and let him put everything down first?”

“Ahh…” Snow wilted under Vanille’s disapproving posture, bringing a hand to rub at the back of his head. “Alright, alright. We’ll get to that afterward. But the decorations will have to go up soon, so I’ll need the both of you to help out after that.”

“That’s fine.” Hope told him, and Vanille nodded in assent. “What’s going on, though? You guys aren’t having the wedding today, are you?”

Snow laughed, and walked along with them to the front door, which took some struggle to open as a wave of heat was blasted in their faces. They entered the housing complex quickly, and pulled the squeaky door shut tightly behind them before any of the snow could drift in. “Of course not. But a wedding takes preparation, you know? And Serah wants to do this soon, so… we’re going to have to start as soon as possible.”

“Impatient.” Vanille teased, pulling off her hat to throw over on the couch as they went along. The housing area had been transformed as well, painted in warm colors with plenty of lighting and blankets tossed all around the area. Hope glanced around as they made their way down a hallway, the walls covered with drawing by children as well as shelves and other storage areas.

“Where did the drawings come from?”

“Oh, those?” It was Snow who answered. “Serah’s been teaching the kids around town. Pretty popular with them, too. Heh. Who would have thought, right?”

Hope glanced from the drawings over to them just in time to catch Vanille’s smile dim just a little.

“Right. Who would have thought.” She agreed, still smiling, but it felt subdued.

He decided that they should probably change subjects, not wanting to see her upset. “And all the blankets?”

“Ha! Those?” At that, Snow glanced around and grinned, proudly jabbing a thumb at himself. “That’s all me! Took up knitting. What do you think? They look good, don’t they?”

Hope gaped, and looked back toward the entry room for a moment before staring at Snow. “No way. You? That’s… there must have been a dozen blankets there. Knit?”

“Isn’t it surprising?” Vanille elbowed him lightly. “Apparently Snow’s very good at it, and very fast. He’s been at it every time he sits down, and… well. He’s going to have to start a store soon. Or start giving them away.”

“I have my talents.” Snow preened, and raised a fist to knock on the wooden door before them with the back of his knuckles. “And here we go. Your room!”

The door opened with only the slightest creak, revealing a small room (only slightly larger than his own back home) painted in a warm brown with a simple desk and chair alongside a single bed and dresser. There were several shoves above the desk and bed, and while it was mostly empty, there were a few stuffed animals and knitted blankets and books to keep it from looking entirely barren.

“We got you your own room.” Vanille told him. “So you can come back any time at all, and you’ll have a place here.”

Hope stepped inside, his bag slipping from mittened fingers as he gazed at the simple desk, the dark green blankets and pillows, and felt a warmth knotting itself into his chest.

“Officially,” Snow insisted, “it’s a guest room. Unofficially, it’s your room any time you want it. And if you do ever end up back here, then it would officially be your room.”

“Oh, alright, officially. But that just doesn’t sound as nice, does it?”

Hope stepped in a circle before dropping down heavily onto the bed, feeling himself bounce slightly on it. He took off his mittens and unwrapped his scarf, breathing easier now that he wasn’t overly warm, and leaned back just slightly to run his fingers down the soft blankets. There was a desk light and even a string of smaller lights running its way around the circumference of the ceiling, giving the room a cozy glow.

He had to swallow once, twice, in order to find his voice again. “...Thanks.”

Snow’s grin softened into a smile to match Vanille’s. “No problem, kid. But! Don’t forget, you’re helping me with the decorations after you put everything away!”

—

Most of the supposed decorations were really just directing people around and trying to find what flowers grew in the cold weather as well as what flowers could be imported to New Bodhum at this time of year. Snow snuck away several times on ‘business’ but tended to come back fairly quickly with pockets filled with snacks with he would empty into Hope’s pockets whenever Lebreau started shouting about someone stealing her food.

He ran into Fang just once and only briefly as the woman swooped down upon him to tousle his hair, laughing as he dropped the box he was carrying in surprise, before Vanille called her away.

“Well, don’t you look the little grown up?” Fang laughed, standing behind him with her hands on his shoulders. “Don’t try too hard now, or Vanille might just put ribbons in your hair!”

Hope patted down his hair as she went on her way, now feeling a little self-conscious about his clothes. What was wrong with them?

“Don’t worry about it.” Snow told him as the carted more boxes into different areas. At the point, Hope had stopped wondering just what was inside the boxes and just went onto the next task with the impression that he might find out what he was actually doing after he was done. “You just look a lot more mature. It’s not a bad thing.”

“Okay, now I know it’s an issue if you’re going to talk about it, too.” Hope said flatly, and glared openly at the next mirror they passed. He was fairly dressed down with his dark pants and white buttoned down shirt covered with a pale yellow cardigan. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing! You just — well, like I said, you look more mature. Not that the shorts and sneakers weren’t cute before. I guess we were expecting something more like that.”

“It’s winter. It’s snowing outside.”

“Overall, it may have been a dumb assumption.” Snow admitted.

Hope rolled his eyes, and decided that he should just ignore the topic. It was far too easy to point out that his mother picked his clothes and fashion before, and that he couldn’t bring himself up to care enough about what he looked like anymore. It wasn’t as if kids, or anyone at all, were going to look at what he was wearing and decide whether he was cool or not. Now all they would see when they looked at him would probably be l’Cie rather than kid. It didn’t feel right to concentrate on fashion now. Clothing was useful for warmth and to convey meaning, but Hope didn’t have the energy to expend to fashion.

“Where’s Lightning, anyway?” He asked instead, looking around as they walked. “Or Serah?”

Snow gave an exaggerated sigh as they reached the storage room, and he set the box he was carrying down with a heavy clatter, rolling his shoulders afterward. Hope had a nagging suspicion he had been given the much lighter box, especially as he managed to drop his on the desk as well and it barely made the lightest of thumping noises.

“Wouldn’t know.” The blond admitted. “Sis has been all hush-hush lately. I’m surprised she hasn’t shown herself yet. Your room was her idea, you know. Not that she’d ever admit it. Serah, though, she’s probably in her room working on her sewing. I’m not allowed in ‘cause I can’t see the dress or something.”

Snow grinned to himself. “Not that the dress matters. Serah’s beautiful no matter what she wears. Doesn’t matter if she wants to wear a paper bag over her head.”

“I think it matters to her,” Hope pointed out. He stretched his arms above his head for a few seconds. While his boxes hadn’t been heavy, the size of them tended to cramp up his arms after some time because it was a strain just to get his arms around those things. “Dad said he’d try to attend if you tell him three days in advance.”

“Then you might want to just call him down now.” Snow told him, but then paused. “Or not. I don’t know when Serah’s going to be finished. Sewing takes a while, right?”

“If it takes too long, maybe you can knit her a dress.” Hope suggested.

“Yeah, ha ha. Getting a straight pattern out is a lot different than making a dress, kid!”

The left the room just as Vanille called out, “Hope! I need your help here!”

“Better go see what’s up, kid.” Snow suggested, tilting his head in the direction of the call. “I’ll get the rest of those boxes.”

Snow gave a wave and tousled Hope’s hair for a moment before he left, and Hope worked his way over to where he had heard Vanille calling out. It was a different side of the house, so he made sure to step extra carefully and knock at the closed door, which was opened promptly.

“Oh good,” Vanille chirped at him, pulling him inside. “Maybe you can talk some sense into her, then.”

“Wait, what—”

“Serah wants to get married while there’s still snow out, but now she wants to wait and everyone’s already half prepared already!” Vanille huffed, hands on her hips as she stared accusingly at the pink-haired woman sitting at the desk, wincing at her words. “No one’s going to mind if you wait, but you need to at least give us a reason! It doesn’t even have to be a good one. Anything I could tell the others.”

“I’m not actually canceling,” Serah protested from where she was sitting at her desk, a heavy sewing machine laid out along with bolts of fabric across the room. There were little pieces of cut cloth all around her, beautifully white. “It was just — I thought maybe waiting a little longer would be the best idea.”

Vanille didn’t even dignify that with a response, instead whirling to face Hope. “See what I mean?”

Serah seemed to wilt a bit in her seat, although her expression remained as determined. “I’m just nervous, Vanille. That’s all. I’m — I’m sure I’ll feel better when Lightning comes back.”

“Um…” Hope shifted from foot to foot where he stood, and cringed back slightly both of them shifted their attention to him. This wasn’t exactly an argument he could take a side on. “What exactly did you need me to do, then?”

“Oh!” Vanille thumped one fist into her other hand in remembrance. “I just needed you to cut out some fabric for me while I go fetch more materials from Lebreau. We’re on a tight schedule here, so every little bit helps!”

She gestured to where the bed in the center of the room had been covered with a thick wooden board with measurements, and a large piece of shining white material was sitting at the center, outlined in dark chalk. “You need to cut a little outside the line, but don’t worry if you actually hit the line.The measurement’s meant to be a little big so we can fix anything we do wrong. Here.”

“Uhh.” Hope accepted the scissors gingerly, surprised by just how large and heavy the object was. It felt a little more like a hand-held garden sheer than scissors. “Okay?”

Vanille beamed at him and made an aborted action to pull him into an embrace before remembering that he was still holding onto a dangerous object. “Thanks so much. I’ll be back in a jiffy, then! And see if you can talk to Serah about those insecurities of hers. Can’t have it build up to explode on the big day, after all.”

She bounded out in a hurry, closing the door softly behind herself, and Hope felt a moment of awkwardness as he turned back toward the material on the bed. Serah seemed suspiciously silent, probably from embarrassment considering the topic he had walked in on.

“I, uh,” he flailed mentally for something to diffuse the heavy atmosphere. “I hope you’ve got more fabric just in case I mess up here. I’ve never actually used scissors like this before.”

Serah turned in her chair to look at him, almost staring through him for a moment before she focused. “Oh. Oh, Hope, you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. Fabric scissors can really hurt someone.”

“No, I can do it.” He reassured her. “I’m just warning you in case I mess up.” And he leant down to pose the scissors at the edge of the fabric, hesitating only slightly before sliding it up, the fabric giving way like butter under a hot knife.

Serah stayed silent for another few moments, her hands wringing the white material she was holding. “...I’m sorry you had to hear that. I want to get married, I do. I love Snow and he’s my hero and there’s nothing more I want to marry him.”

Hope merely nodded, paying close attention to his task at hand and not daring to look up in case it someone discouraged Serah from continuing.

“It’s just…” And here she huffed, exasperated with herself. “It’s just silly, I suppose. Me. I guess I’m just waiting.”

“Waiting?”

She paused, and then shook her head. “Nothing. See? Just me being silly. I’m not cancelling.”

They returned to their work after that, and Hope snipped carefully outside the chalked lines on the fabric, the scissors sliding through with a slick sounding snip each time.

“Are you waiting for someone to show up?” He asked quietly.

“Well, there’s your dad.” Serah tried to joke. “And Lightning seems gone more often than not.”

“Are you…” Hope made one last snip and set down the scissors carefully as the fabric gave way. “Are you waiting for Noel to show up?”