#Boy grew up in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona this is the best thing ever for him

[violetfoxsketches]

It's Holiday Time!

What does Emmy do for holidays? Is it hard to celebrate since he become a vampire? Would he give some gifts to his loved ones? What would it be?

(This was incredibly fun to write, and entirely your fault :3 )

Emmy was sure his eyes must’ve grown to the size of saucers at the sight of all this snow. Sure, Flagstaff had its skiing slopes, but being in Poland in the dead of night, watching the snow fall in huge, fat flakes? This was magical. His nose —as well as Jasper’s- were both smooshed up against the one way glass of the fancy coach that was delivering them to their countryside destination. Victoria was bundled up in some fluffy fur coat and taking advantage of the fancy heated seats, while Javi looked particularly moody and out of place on the bench across from her. Jasper’s tail thwapped in rhythm against the sleeve of Javi’s leather jacket and Emmy was finding it just as hard to sit still as his canine companion. Then there was Cas, who seemed to be especially amused by it all. He’d told Emmy that he grew up here, way back in the 18… 19… somethings? Em had long since forgotten the date. He’d also listed off where they’d be staying but Emmy couldn’t even pronounce that name, much less remember it.

Sean was up front and handling the snowy drive like a champ. But every now and then, he’d turn around, see Emmy backwards in his seat, and bark at him with a ‘park you an yer mutt’s arse in that seat, cowboy’. Em ignored it for the most part; it wasn’t like a car crash could even kill him anymore anyways. Instead he kept his eyes on the passing scenery, astounded by how bright everything was, and how the trees all sported long, white icicles.

Finally the house came into view, surrounded by what must’ve been a foot or so of unspoiled snow. And after what seemed like ages, the car finally pulled under some wooden pitched roof. The first one out the door was, of course, Jasper, and Emmy was keen to be right behind him. Immediately kneeling to snatch up snow in his bare hands and yeeting it squarely into Javier’s chest as he exited. Javier looked downright offended before that scowl twisted into something truly wicked. Without warning, the man cleared the distance in a blur, snatched Emmy up in his arms and hurled him through the air in an arc. Cas and Victoria exited like proper fancy folks, but even Cas couldn’t contain the soft laugh that escaped him at the sight. Em squealed and twisted with supernatural balance to land on his feet in a knee-deep snowdrift —just before Javier plowed into him with a “you little shit,” and they both went WHUMP, ass over teakettle, into the snow. “Boys, boys!” Em heard Victoria shout and clap her hands just as Javi sat on Em's stomach and swept an armful of snow over Em’s face, “It is too cold for me to stand out here and wait for you two to finish being gross!” The extra weight left Em’s tiny frame and he was yanked upright onto his feet. Javi was doing that thing where he was scowling to hide the twitch of his lip that might dare let him smile as he reached over and brushed snow off Em’s shoulders and out of his hair. Em on the other hand, had no problem bubbling over with laughter at how much the snow seemed especially attracted to Javier’s hair and left him looking like an abominable snow-punk. In fact, it seemed the only thing the snow wasn't clinging to was his jacket.

Emmy waded his short little legs through the deep snow to reunite with the others.

“Thanks so much for bringin’ us, Cas,” he beamed up at the elder Ventrue.

“You’re most welcome,” came the airy reply, “But mayhaps in the future, we wait until after we have settled for you and your… ruffian to go frolicking in the elements. You’re both positively  soaked. I will have to insist you shed your coats and footwear in the mudroom and then change immediately. I will not have you leaving a drip trail through my old home.”

“Yeah yeah,” Javier answered for them both. He was high-stepping awkwardly through the stuff, pausing every few paces to shake snow out of the cuff of his jeans, “Not keen on dirtyin’ someone else home —even if it is yours.”

“Javiii,” Em hushed him, “You said you’d be nice.”

“What?” Javi retorted, but folded his arms and relented with a muttered, “...was raised better than that anyways…”

“Never would have guessed,” Cas replied dryly.

Em took the opportunity to hook Javier by the arm and walked him away to get their things from the trunk.

~ . . . ~

“I still can’t believe that shipping yourself in a jet from the states is just… a thing you do." Emmy mused. The den was nice and cozy. The fireplace had long since been replaced with a newer age radiator that only imitated a fireplace’s warm flickering glow —as real fire and vampires didn't get along- and a charmingly old sort of record player filled the air softly with Michael Bublé.

“Well, Emerald, when one cannot travel in daylight, one makes do. I hope you did not find it too jarring an experience to have to daysleep during travel.” Casimir replies from his seat on the couch. “Only really the bits where I was awake when the rest of you were conked out. I think Jazzy here was the one who hated it the most.”

Javi snorts a bit, “Oh he made it abundantly clear how much he hated it.” The canine in question was too busy circling and sniffing the tree, and Em turned just in time to see him clamp his chompers on an apple that had been decorating one of the lower hanging branches. Apple in mouth, Jasper hauled ass down the hall to wolf down his stolen treat in private. That one got Victoria laughing.

“I guess no one round here would’ve been snacking on those besides you anyways, Em.” She teased.

“At least he stopped trying to eat the presents.” Javier adds with his own amusement, “Speakin’ of…”

The man sits up from his reclined position and pulls a small box —wrapped in kraft paper and tied with twine- out of one of the countless pockets on that jacket. ‘Cielo’ was neatly scripted in ballpoint pen on the outside and the dot on the ‘i’ was a star. Emmy gasped quietly and gingerly took the gift before scooting over under the tree to snag his own haphazardly wrapped presents. Diligently passing something out to each of the three other vampires in his company.

“Well, go on” Em insisted.

Victoria picks delicately at her own disaster-wrapped package with her long nails. It was definitely wrapped almost in more tape and ribbon than paper. Javier simply pulled a blade from his belt that he usually kept stowed in his boot to make short work of the mess and free his gift. Casimir had a bit of a harder time with his and is the last to get it open. Emmy watched as each of them held out their respective gifts to inspect. He’d selected a scarf for each of them. Javier’s was long and soft black fleece, dotted with sprinklings of white constellations. He gives a quiet chuff and wraps the garment loosely around his neck. A rare moment of softness passes between the two as Javier leans over to give Emmy a peck on the cheek.

“Thanks, I’ve been needing one of these.” Javier mumbles softly. Emmy, however, takes a moment to grab one end of the scarf and squeezes a hidden switch. A bright blue string of LEDs hidden inside suddenly flashes to life, illuminating the various constellations and turning Javier’s scarf into a true night sky. The soft look melts into first confusion, then an exasperated bit of laughter and a “Of course there’s fairy lights in it.”

Next was Victoria as she pulled a pastel pink infinity loop of delicate scarf from the wrapping. The edges were lacy and tasseled and the knots had been fashioned into little yellow roses and pale green leaves. She fussed with which way to gather the fabric before throwing it around her neck.

“Aw~” Victoria clicked her tongue and threw Emmy a teasing glance, “Does this mean the end of any more yellow roses hidden behind your back or stuffed under that chewed up hat or up your sleeves or wherever you keep managing to pull them from?” “Not in a million years,” Em giggled, “It’s just now you have some that won’t get all shriveled and lose their petals.”

Finally, Casimir managed to finish fighting tape to reveal his own scarf: A length of soft indigo cashmere with paisley and filigree, but upon closer inspection, the paisley shapes were actually little rabbits and the filigree were strings of purple orchids. He thumbed over the pattern before following the other two’s example and folding it tidily around his neck. “What a thoughtful surprise, Emerald,” Cas said with the ghost of a smile, “...And I’ll have you know there’s a gift under that tree for you as well. Ah! And before I forget…”

Casimir stood with the assistance of his cane and left the room. He was quick to return with a wrapped box and curtly handed it to Javier with a “Aaron asked me to make sure this found its way into your hands tonight.”

The Toreador looked up with blatant surprise, then took equally as short of time using the knife to open this present as well. It was… a smartphone? An envelope ostentatiously sealed with a wax “M” was also present and Javier passed the phone into Em’s hands to free his own to pop the seal and read the contents. “Kid,” Javier dictated, “Word on the web is that your blackberry is about to become a fancy obsolete paperweight in the new year, so I got my claws on a new one for you. Don’t worry; I installed Linux on it; no sneaky apps can track you or harvest your data. Yes, I disconnected the camera. You’re welcome. Aaron Malemir.” Emmy heard Javier chuckle but he was too busy pulling the new device out of its casing and sliding it back and forth to reveal and subsequently hide the full keyboard underneath the absolute unit of a screen —at least, a unit in his teeny hands. It’d probably fit Javi’s just fine. He relinquished the new gadget back to Javi, who immediately put it aside to thumb through and squint at the fine print in the user manual.

Emmy wriggled across the lacquered wooden floor to retrieve the next round of presents. All immaculately wrapped with perfect, coordinated ribbons and bows and paper and neat precise folds. Emmy was surprised to see a gift from Victoria addressed to Javi, in what looked like a similarly sized box to his own from her. Emmy could tell immediately from the weight and shape that it was a clothing box and tried to suss out just what exactly Victoria of all people could have bought for Javi to wear? Perhaps she’d pumped Lib for both of their measurements?

“No, no, you two need to open yours together,” Victoria insisted as she saw Em start picking at the glittery cluster of bows. “Huh?” Javier finally looked up from the user manual just as Em pushed Victoria’s gift into the man’s lap, “Oh, uh. I didn’t… Well, this is awkward…” he mumbled with a hint of guilt.

Victoria waved off the concern with a “Oh, don’t worry about that~”

She rested a chin expectantly on laced fingers as she waited with only the most pleasant, well-meaning smile on her face. Em beamed at them both; it was nice to see them getting along for once. Or, at least, being civil. He got to work removing each bow without damaging it and even took a moment to playfully stick a red one to the side of Javi’s head. Javi, however, simply sliced through ribbon, bow, and paper alike with his knife. As instructed, the two lifted the lids of their respective boxes in tandem and their reactions couldn’t have been more different. Emmy snorted and giggled. Javi cringed and curled a lip. In the boxes were two matching, incredibly garish clearly hand knitted Christmas sweaters: Emmy's mostly green with the word ‘NICE’ knitted across the front in silver, and Javi’s mostly red with the word ‘NAUGHTY’ instead in black.

Victoria grinned. “Now you two can match. You should go try them on; I’ll go get the Polaroid.” Em finally managed to suppress his giggles and even had to wipe the beginnings of red from the corners of his eyes with a “It’s like the sweater you got for Jasper, Javi~! Oh he hated it so much!” he turned to Victoria as she got up to make good on her promise, “Thanks so much, Vee; these are amazing! C’mon, Javi, yours matches your bow!”

Cas had a hand over his mouth but otherwise remained engrossed in inspecting his own, much more respectable-looking hand knitted sweater. Javier simply rolled his eyes, then snatched one of the multitude of bows to plop atop Emmy’s head in response.

“Fiiine,” he relented and stood up to hook Emmy by the arm and sent a look at Victoria’s way that said this wasn’t the end. He then escorted Em down the same hall Jasper had taken earlier. Upon their return, Em could not contain his giggles. It would seem if Victoria had somehow gotten measurements from Lib, she hadn’t quite learned how to implement them yet. They had discovered Emmy’s to be so wide in the collar that it almost hung off one shoulder. Javier had struggled to get his head through the collar of his, but otherwise the looser stitches worked to his benefit. He was still wearing that leather jacket over the bright red sweater. What Emmy had been losing his shit over was the fact that the only visible part of the lettering was now simply ‘UGH’. Javi had left the bow in his hair too, at Emmy’s request. Victoria was poised and ready with Emmy’s Polaroid, and Em instinctively snuggled himself cutely against Javier and smiled just in time for the flash. Javier smiled as well, but in a chagrined way that only used about half of his mouth and refused to reach his eyes. Victoria caught them in a second flash and handed the photos over to Emmy with amusement.

“Have to admit,” Javier finally said once the camera had been safely tucked away, “These are really soft. Comfy, even. Always thought these things were scratchy as hell.”

“Gross; you’re not supposed to be nice about it; You’re supposed to be,” Victoria paused to point at Javier’s chest with a facetious grin, “…‘ugh’ about it. But thanks.”

Emmy giggled at that, too, before burying his face even further against Javi’s chest. He was right; it was super soft.

“Alright, knock it off before I get Jasper’s spray bottle next.” Victoria made a shooting gesture with one hand.

“It would seem your insidious plan has backfired, My Dear.” Cas added from the couch. He’d found the time to don his sweater too, a dark navy and pastel blue cardigan in one of those fancy diamond patterns Em could never remember the name of.

He beckoned Em over and pointed to two more presents under the tree. It was then he realized Victoria must've already gotten to hers from Cas because it was conveniently missing and an unfamiliar pair of warm, but very pink boots sat at the foot of the couch. Em tugged Javier along and passed out the remaining bags and tissue paper. Javier was once again first to get his open and pulled out a bundle of sensibly dark socks. He looked… surprised by the gift. “I understand the holes in your trousers are intentional, but I imagine the ones I’ve seen in your socks likely are not one of your… statement pieces.” Cas offered.

“Wow, I haven't gotten socks for Christmas since my Mo—” he started to mention, but quickly clammed up with a “So, Em, what did the old fart get you, huh?”

…Em had been admittedly distracted by Javier’s sincerity.

“O-oh, lemme just…” Em started as he undid yet another ribbon keeping the bag shut and pulled out… an old key? He looked up at Cas for context. “There is an envelope in there as well, Emerald.” Cas gestures back to the bag.

Sure enough, there was a letter sealed with wax, same as the one on the letter Emmy had delivered to the man when they first met. He pulled out his own knife and gingerly worked at the wax seal so as to not crack it or tear the paper. It took him a bit to work his way through the cursive handwriting. Mercifully, the letter was short:

My Dear Boy Emerald,

This key belongs to the closet in the entryway. I implore you to return it to me before the vacation’s end, but you may keep what I have stored inside. May it help you experience the best Poland has to offer in this new chapter of your life …

Merry Christmas,

— Casimir Breza

Emmy’s eyes grew wide and he hurried to his feet to the specified closet. Once unlocked he squeaked excitedly and pulled out a well-loved wooden… sort of tabog… tabboo… sled-thing. A silky green ribbon had been tied around it and fashioned into a fancy bow that looked more like a flower.

“Oh now you’ve done it, old man…” Javier snorts knowingly and preemptively scoots out of the way just in time for Em to practically blur his way over to Cas and latch onto him in a hug.

“ThankyouthankyouthankyouTHANK YOU!” Em’s gratitude flew from him like a fast-forwarded cassette.

Victoria’s own snort of laughter joins Javier’s as Casimir grunts awkwardly and tenses in Emmy’s death grip as he sways them both back and forth. “As —urk- happy as I am that you appreciate your gift, do you not —hng- still have one left?” Casimir managed.

“Oh! That’s right!” Em gasped, “I left it in the room!”

Another excitable blur there and back and Em was now parked right next to Javi. Nestled right up next to the man as he finally undid the twine on the simply wrapped box. He caught Javi’s ghost of a smile out of the corner of his eye as he removed the brown paper and gently undid the box. It was… “Well,” Javier commented, “You kept talking about wanting to start up a music act…”

Emmy pulled out what looked to be a gently rolled piece of fabric and unfurled it. Before he could even register what it was, a small bit of plastic fell out from where it had been tucked away. Em caught it practically on reflex before it could hit the ground and gasped once he realized what he was holding was a guitar pick with a freehand star in green sharpie. The fabric, now that he’d gotten a better look at it, was a hand-embroidered patch that read “Emerald Starlight” in decorative lettering and framed by matching scattered green star-shaped studs.

“That’s the name you talked about using, right?” Javier’s arm curled around Em’s shoulders, “When we get back, I can sew that on the back of your jacket for you. Or we could hit a thrift store, pick up a new one for it.” By now, Em had let his hand drift over his mouth as he stared down, wide eyed at all the little stitches and studs.

“Oh, and I couldn’t exactly smuggle a guitar all the way out here, so we should swing by the shop and pick one out. I picked up an odd job or two, so we can get a nice one to get you learning on.” “Javi…” was all Emmy was able to manage through a choked voice.

He twisted and threw his arms around the man’s neck, peppering affection all the way up one side of Javi’s face before kissing him fully. Javi was momentarily stunned, but Em felt Javi’s other arm slide across the middle of Em’s back and hold him close.

They stayed like that until Em heard the all-too familiar interruption of a cleared throat and pulled away sheepishly.

“I, uhm… sorry, kinda got carried away.” Emmy admitted, “Did, uh… you wanna to bunk up with me to try out this ‘boggin-sled, Cas? I bet if Jasper pulled us, we could really get some speed goin'.”

— End —

Happy Holidays!