Here comes santa claus!

[callmeemily]

The holiday this year is so incredibly different than the last.

Last year? Raleigh was holed up in the boarding house, no one in 300 miles but her shitty boss knew her name, and she was so poor that she was eating rice, beans, and leftovers from the Seaside bakery.

This year, everything's changed. Orchard House is chugging along astoundingly well; Raleigh puts in long hours, but it's paying off. She's been able to hire somebody else to work the register, she's getting custom orders - the whole thing. She has friends. Honest to god friends, and she's got enough money that she's actually got presents for people. For a lot of people - it's a mix of cookies and things, but there's a little something for everybody piled on the table in the back corner, and one mass-text later she's humming through the bakery, music playing from the speakers, warm cider in a carafe, and everything's warm and cozy.

She looks at it, at this business that she's made with the help of this whole town, and she can't help but smile. Tonight? Spending tonight with friends and found-family? That's what this whole thing's about.

Gathering post! Raleigh will tag everyone who tags in, but feel free to tag one another, too. :) It's up to you if they have gotten a text, or just heard the music and seen the crowd. Everyone'll get something!

Comments

[callmeemily]

It's a good thing that they'd changed the subject, because the last thing she wants to talk about on Christmas Eve is demons; she wished, a little, that he hadn't brought it up in the first place, but when they move on she just kind of shovels all of those feels off into the deal with this later pile, and things are a little more back to normal.

She looks up when he squeezes her shoulder. "It's- It's something. I'll be honest, I can't even really believe it's real," she admits, shaking her head a little. "And it helps, I think, that you're a good vet, and a good person." It's not solely that he's the one with his own clinic; there's other places to take animals, if people really didn't like what he did, but Coop's just honestly good at his job, and he loves animals.

"We are awesome," she says with a laugh. "And now I want to give you presents. Stay right here?" It's not a far walk, and unsteady or not it only takes her a minute or two to come back with a gift bag with his name on it - there's three things in it, not just one.

She's gotten toys for his dogs; a Kong moose for Sunny, and bear for Lucy, since she chews on stuff. For him - there's two books wrapped together, and she doesn't know if he'll like them -- they're both coffee table books, and they made her think of him. One's Paris in Color, and the other's Underwater Puppies.

She sits herself back down, and takes a sip from her mug. "I'm a little excited," she confesses as she makes a face. "It's the first year I've really been able to do the whole... presents... thing in the right way."

[coopdetat]

Coop almost says that she didn't have to get him anything but holds his tongue because it'd be a little hypocritical, considering he'd gone one for her, too--a gown he'd left behind at home to replace the one that had been lost on the ship, one that she could maybe wear on a night out when they can both get dressed to the nines for no reason at all, just for the hell of it--and besides, he knows that Raleigh's doing the gift thing because she wants to, not out of some obligation for the holiday. She'd be just as likely to hand him a stack of gifts on any other day, this just happens to be the day for it.

The gift are thoughtful, between the toys for the dogs and the books that Coop is actually surprised to find he doesn't actually own yet, and he smiles over at her before leaning in for a hug. "You're the sweetest, you know that?" He presses a kiss to her cheek before settling back in his chair. "Your gift is back at my place, so we'll have to meet up soon so I can give it to you. Or you could always come over after all your guests are gone, Miss Belle of the Ball."

[callmeemily]

She scrunches her nose when he says she's the sweetest, but she's smiling. "I just thought of you when I saw them," she admitted, and then she laughed. "I mean, not the dog toys. That's not exactly what I associate with you."

She looks around the room - it's a lot of people milling about, but it's not really something she anticipated going all that late. "Well- I mean, if you're good with hanging out til nine, that's when I'm kicking everybody out - if they're not already gone by then." She takes another sip of her cider. "Or, definitely, we'll just find the time. It's up to you." Her eyes soften a little when she looks at him, and she chooses her words carefully.

"I'm really, really glad that I got to know you this year, Coop. You're-" A million things come to mind, but she just goes with her gut. "-such a good person, deep down, and- I honestly feel so lucky that we're friends." She rolls her eyes a little bit at herself, because it's clear she means every word she says and she's been trying really hard not to just... be a bucket of feelings around him, and she looks away with a small shake of her head. "God, just listen to me. Anyway. Uh. I mean it, though." She looks back, and shrugs, because she doesn't know what else to say, besides-- "I can't imagine what the last six months would have been like without you, if I'm being super honest."