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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Dec 18, 2012 1:26:34 GMT -5
The holidays were a hectic time. Gifts to buy, family to visit, a house to decorate. Living in a mansion came with the added bonus of a lot more space... space that needed to be spruced up with the Christmas spirit around this time of year. Joshua had always had a fondness in his heart for the holiday as it had been impressed upon him in childhood as one of the most important. As a privileged child growing up in a rich household the gifts may not have been fully appreciated for what they were but he had good memories of huge dinners and parties and a happy family. They had their fights like any gathering of relatives (Patrick being responsible for most of them) but at the end of the day, they were his family. And this year he was going to be spending Christmas with a different sort of 'family'—his own. He was married now, he had a wife to come home to and to spend the holidays with. Their parents would be invited to the home for dinner but regardless of who turned up, they would be together. The thought cheered him. Their first married Christmas and he was determined to make it special.
For now, however, the focus was less on the day itself and more all of the preparations leading up to it. He had taken a day to string up lights along all the balconies so that the house would glow with thousands of tiny, rainbow-coloured spots during the night hours. He knew some people looked down their noses at anyone who put up their decorations a full month early but when you had an entire mansion to decorate he figured he deserved a pardon. They hadn't even started on much of the interior and they'd be too busy during the last few days making sure they had everything ready for the dinner itself. Besides, it was only once a year and a few of the people on their street had started even earlier. It was almost like a competition in mansion country with each and every household trying to outdo the last. Though he tried to insist to himself that he did not care about the neighbours, that hidden competitive streak of his hoped that their house was the most eye-catching of the lot. The decorations had certainly cost enough for it. His lip twitched at the thought and he went inside the house to find Nell.
She didn't see him when he strode into the room she occupied and he used this to his advantage, coming up from behind her and sliding his arms around her waist, pressing his lips to her hair with a smile she wouldn't see. "Bonjour, Mrs. Dale," he said in a tone that could be considered playful. She was one of the only people who got to see this side of him as he detached himself and moved so that he could actually see her face. He couldn't resist planting a kiss on her lips before he actually remembered what he'd came into the room for. "You busy? I think we have some more stuff stored up in the attic from last year. Besides, it could use a bit of a cleaning. I haven't really gone through all the stuff my parents left up there." No one really went into the attic much and so it didn't get cleaned out often. In fact, other than dusting there was very little maintenance done to it at all. There was simply no need for it. Until now, of course, when his organizational skills mocked him for not doing a more proper inventory of the boxes before hand. This was what happened when he let things go, wasn't it? It was too late to change things now but at least if Nell was up to it they could spend the afternoon clearing it out together. He liked spending time with his wife no matter what they were doing.
It was a large space, accessed by an actual staircase instead of a trapdoor and boasting decent-sized windows in a few places. It was as cluttered as it was spacious, however, and he moved a couple of boxes aside with his foot. "Jesus, I'd forgotten how much they actually left back here." The house they'd moved into was much smaller than the mansion, however, and so it made sense. Less space meant less stuff you were able to bring and they'd mostly saved the priceless possessions, the furniture, and anything too personal to leave behind. The rest had been left to Josh and Nell to deal with. His way of dealing with the stuff in the attic had been to leave it. It hadn't been doing him any harm and he'd never really seen it as a priority before. Oops. "Uh... shit, I have no idea where to start." He hesitated for a moment, standing in a space between stacks of boxes and frowning at them all. His parents weren't nearly as good at neatly labelling things as he was. That would have solved a lot of problems. "I guess we just pick an area and get started. It'll be good to have this place cleared up even if we find them pretty quickly." He wandered over to one of the nearest boxes and opened it up, finding a bunch of old and vaguely familiar toys inside. "Hey, these are from when I was a kid," he realised with a chuckle, shaking his head and setting the box down, pulling out one of the toys and tossing it in the air, catching it lightly and setting it back inside. "I barely even remember half this stuff... geez, this one, too. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if all of these boxes were full of old junk like that." His gaze lit up when he happened across a Rubik's Cube, setting it on a still-unopened box for later retrieval. Don't know how I let that end up here. "I can't even remember playing with most of it. Crazy, huh?" He chuckled, seeming entertained as he went through the boxes. Joshua did not even realise how truly privileged he was to have too many toys to know what to do with. He hardly ever realised such things. Such was the curse of wealth upon his mind.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Dec 22, 2012 1:46:22 GMT -5
Nell poked her tongue out in concentration as she glued the reindeer figurine onto the cap of a mason jar. It was another project on her long list of holiday crafts, from gingerbread houses to ornaments to other kitschy things that she loved the holidays for. Christmas didn't have the same meaning for Nell as it did for other people. She'd never had the family or the gifts or even the religion. It had never been important to her, because both she and her sister had known better than to ask for gifts when their parents didn't have money for them. Coming from the home she did, she couldn't fully appreciate the Christmas spirit. She enjoyed buying presents -- or rather making them, as it turned out -- and she loved seeing people so joyful during the holidays, but she couldn't share the same feelings. And she didn't necessarily want to have those feelings; she couldn't miss what she never had, after all. But she had enjoyed the Christmases she had so far, the ones spent with Josh. They'd been nice, even if one of them had been in the midst of depression. This winter had so far been better than the others she'd had, given that she didn't have many good years to look back on. She tried not to do that often.
She liked to be ahead of the curve when it came to getting gifts, so anything she had to buy she'd bought back in November. While she may have been ignorant of it before, she knew now that it was a good idea to beat the Christmas shopper rush. Not much of a concern as she screwed the lid back on the jar filled with water and glitter. At least she'd managed not to create a huge mess and as she moved to pick it up and decide where to put it, she felt arms around her waist and bristled making a little 'meep' sound. But then she realized that who else would it be except her husband. And when he greeted her in French, she knew for sure. Nell sighed exaggeratedly. "Excuse you, husband dear, I am holding very breakable glass." Luckily she wasn't jumpy. Though her newest creation could be used as a weapon if she didn't appreciate him taking hold of her. Nell smiled as he kissed her and returned it before he asked if she was busy. "I was just making this. Lookit." She held up the jar and flipped it over, watching as the glitter fell. "But uh...free now! I'd love to help ya." She said it with enough enthusiasm that was as if she misheard him and thought he said he wanted to go for ice cream. There couldn't have been that bad. Unless this family had been hoarders and were hiding secrets from her. That might have been concerning, but the thought barely crossed her mind before she set down the snow...jar and followed him to the attic.
Walking up the steps, she tried to remember the last time she'd actually been there. Nothing came to mind. So when she saw all the boxes, she could only blink and turn to him as he seemed quite surprised himself. She went over to kneel in front of one of the boxes as he questioned where to start, turning it around to see if she could find any label or marker or something to tell her what she would find inside. "Do you know what should be up here? Just Christmas decorations?" Apparently some Christmas decorations, but she didn't know what else the Dales may have stuffed into the space during their residence. Before opening the one that sat in front of her, she watched as Josh pulled out one of the toys and tossed it up, and smiled at him. "I guess your parents wanted to keep them... What kind of stuff is it?" she said before opening the flaps of the unlabeled box and looking inside. "Lights over here. I guess this is some of the Christmas decorations." She wished she had brought a marker up but she hadn't predicted that so many of the boxes would have gone unlabeled. Figuring that they could just divide them by area, she pushed it a little ways off before finding another box to look into. Remembering that he mentioned cleaning stuff out, she realized that there had to be a good reason that his parents kept it around. "Do you want to keep all this stuff?" She lifted the flaps. "I mean it has sentimental value, right?" But seeing as he hadn't even been aware that all of it was up here, it might have been that he didn't mind clearing all of it out.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Dec 27, 2012 22:10:18 GMT -5
A mischievous smile played across his lips as he heard her sigh, a rush of affection rising in his chest as she spoke. Though he knew she was scolding him gently with the words 'husband dear' the word husband still caused a pleasant and warm feeling. The smile softened but did not fade from his lips as she returned the kiss. He turned his gaze to the object in her hands when she indicated it, his gray eyes holding interest. "That's neat, babe. What's it for?" It was a cool little craft but he wondered what she was going to do with it. Was it a Christmas gift or simply a craft to keep around the house? She sounded eager to help and he was glad of the company. Anything was more fun when his wife was involved, even when it was something as mundane as digging through boxes in the attic. His entire mood shifted when she was in the room with him and he found himself much more content and complacent. He walked close beside her through the wide halls, resting a hand around her waist.
He separated from her once they'd reached the top of the attic stairs and frowned at a box for a moment before turning his head to answer her question. "I'm not sure, I never actually went through them. I imagine a lot of it's just old stuff my parents didn't bother taking with them." He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and turned back to the box so that he could start going through it. He was surprised to find it full of childhood toys, some of them triggering old memories as he looked them over. He was not a man consumed by nostalgia on a regular basis but there was something about the objects of his youth that gave him a funny feeling in his stomach. It was so long ago and now he was married and living in a house of his own. He'd have kids of his own some day and they'd have toys to play with and then abandon just as he had. "All kinds of stuff. Puzzles, stuffed animals... there's a gameboy in here, too. We had all kinds of those older consoles, I wonder if they're all here..." He hadn't taken to them but his sister had definitely enjoyed the age of the gamer. "I know I gave Belle some of the stuff when she was growing up, but..." They were rich but when there was things he didn't play with that she enjoyed, he was more than happy to pass it on as opposed to hoarding it and forcing his parents to get a new one for her.
He set down the object that he'd been turning around in his hands and looked over to where she'd found the lights. "Oh, good! Looks like we won't have to spend half the day up here, after all." He chuckled and went back to what he was doing. He'd come up here for the lights but the boxes of old stuff were intriguing to him. His childhood felt like the life of another. Though he had memories both fond and unfavourable like every child, he had changed so much from those times. He flipped the lid of another box and pushed air out from his nose in an amused huff. "I definitely didn't use all this much. Sports equipment." He stepped to the side so that she would be able to see the soccer ball and all its related equipment. "Never did get all that into sports." Though he wouldn't have said this had it been anyone but Nell, he went a step further to admit, "I only really have the stuff because Dad got it for me. Thought it would be good if I joined a team." The laughter that brushed past his lips was dry but the once-bitter memories were accepted now. He had moved on, his life was better now. "It didn't work out but I guess my parents never did get rid of the stuff." He lifted the box off of its stack and set it down. "I'll put it out back for when they come around to pick up the garbage, I suppose. No use keeping it up here to collect dust." The ball was worn out and everything else was useless by now so there was no point keeping it around.
Nell spoke of sentimental value and he hesitated, not knowing if it would be worth it to keep the attic cluttered for the sake of old memories. "I dunno. I mean, I never used half of this stuff. I've got loads of old toys lying around up here..." His parents and relatives had loaded him up with toys, games and clothing abound during the holidays and even during random days in his youth and the amount of it that must have gone to waste would have made a penny-pincher cringe. It felt normal to him. People adapted to their lifestyles growing up and that became normal no matter how much other people looked up or down at it. "Unless we wanted to give some of this old stuff to our kids I don't know if there'd be any use keeping it around." He spoke easily of the children they did not yet have, confident that it was an option for the future. He wanted kids and she'd said that she did, too. "We could always see if there's anything that could be sold instead of just chucking it. Collector's will pay for anything." He shook his head. Then again, he figured he'd do the same if he started a collection.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jan 2, 2013 23:31:59 GMT -5
At the question of what she wanted to do with the snowglobe she'd created, she pursed her lips. "Gift, maybe? I don't know, I really just wanted to make it." It wasn't about the destination, it was a journey. She made things for the sake of creation, of making something because she could and she enjoyed it. For now, her snow globe would just look pretty on one of the tables, as it should.
By now, Nell had gotten used to what she described as 'privilege shock'. It didn't bother her like it used to, because she used to think herself weird because she'd never had a Gamecube or any kind of system, just board games and cards and some little things from her parents' own childhoods. And this was Josh, which meant even less surprise when it came to things he had owned as a child. She laughed a little, said, "Whoa, never had any of that stuff as a kid." Nell moved on to another box, hoping to hit paydirt again. Maybe it wasn't quite as bad as it had appeared upon coming up. "Did have one of those My Little Ponies, but it was a Mexican knock-off called Mi Pequeño Caballo." Which literally translated as a broken way of saying 'My Little Horse'. She could barely even remember it, just like she could barely remember anything else back then.
Josh had never exactly told her wasn't into sports, she really had just assumed along the way. The only sport she knew he liked was tennis. Though apparently in childhood his parents bought him all kinds of stuff with the expectancy that he'd get into some kind of sport. Soccer, she supposed by the half-deflated ball he held up. "Books are so much cooler anyway," she said about his aversion to sports. "If there's anything related to football, I could probably use it for the season next year." It started in August, and it was late into the season now. Last she checked, it was the play-offs. In any case, she wasn't so sure about throwing this stuff away, but that was because if she could have taken things from childhood, she would have. Nell wasn't exactly sentimental, but her favorite deck of cards had forever been lost in time.
She bristled unconsciously at the mention of children, quickly moving on from that when he spoke of collectors. "There has to be a few Mr. Potatohead collectors out there," Nell said. "But a garage sale might be easier." When it came to toys like Mr. Potatohead and other sorts of things that she just didn't know about. Opening another flap of a box, she saw more toys, and as she pushed it over to Josh, she told him, "How about you empty a box and put what you'd like to keep in it?" A box or two, actually, depending on just how much he wanted to keep. He appeared to have had a lot of stuff, but she didn't know just how much he actually cared about, judging by the fact it'd been stowed away for so long and because there was just so much of it.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jan 9, 2013 6:02:13 GMT -5
Having been together for almost three years, Joshua had accepted that he and Nell had many differences. And yet, despite the fact that she was his wife and he knew more about her than anyone else, it still jarred him sometimes when he was reminded of these differences. Their childhoods had been opposites, black and white. To think that he'd grown up with too many toys than he knew what to do with while she was stuck with her psychopath of a mother and a dying sister caused a twist in his gut. It was sad. He hadn't known her during those times but he knew her now and he loved her enough that even the thought of her suffering upset him.
His lip twitched at the thought of a young Nell playing with a plastic pony but it was brief as he reflected upon the sad reality that she'd never had much of a childhood. "Did you ever want more than you had?" It was a question he would not have asked anyone else. It was a question that established the sheer amount of love and trust he placed in her. Life as a child conditioned you to become who you would be in the future. What some saw as strange, others viewed as completely normal. He wondered what Nell had thought of her own upbringing back then. Did she wish for something more or had she accepted her life for what it was?
He chuckled and smiled, touched by the comment. He'd never understood how she could accept everything about him with such ease but he appreciated it nonetheless. "I'm not sure," he frowned, brow furrowing as he racked his brain. "I never played much football but there might be something lying around..." Bryce had enjoyed sports, after all, and there was no doubt a few boxes of his old stuff sitting in the dusty corners of the attic. He bristled internally at the thought of his younger brother but did not let it show on his face.
He remembered the strange potato toy with its interchangeable eyes and noses, knowing that it hadn't been something that had occupied his time. He'd never enjoyed such things, even as a child. "I've never actually had a garage sale before." He'd seen the signs for them and he'd driven past several in his life but it wasn't something he'd ever experienced for himself. "When stuff got old we mostly just threw it away... or stashed it up here, of course. It might be a good idea, though. Maybe over the weekend?" One man's trash is another's treasure, as they say. It didn't make much sense to him, he didn't like anything that was second hand, but that was his upbringing talking. "Sure," he agreed. "It'll be a pretty empty box but, hey, maybe I'll find something, huh?" He picked up the Rubik's Cube that he'd uncovered earlier and set it down, the first lonely item in a large box he bet he wouldn't fill.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jan 9, 2013 13:49:55 GMT -5
Nell didn't envy Josh's childhood, in fact she thought it more intriguing than anything. He had so much more history than her, something made clear by all that had been hidden up in the attic. Even though he'd practically forgotten all the toys he had, she hoped to come across a box that might hold something she could ask him about. It almost felt like she were a child opening her own presents on Christmas.
Josh asked her about wanting things as a child, a question that would have usually made her clamp shut. However, she actually thought about it instead of glazing over it with a simple yes or no so she could move on. Pausing as she snooped through more of the boxes in the attic, she shook her head. "I got used to it, I think. It always made me feel bad if I wanted something that my parents couldn't give." She had wanted other things, of course, as time went on. Not material possessions, the kinds of toys that Josh had, but a life of her own. If anyone understood that about her, it would be him, because he was the only one who knew the full extent of her past issues. Which meant that he understood what asking that question brought up for her.
"Well, actually," she said, remembering something she'd buried away in her consciousness before even meeting Josh, "My mother used to tell me about this dollhouse she had when she was little and it sounded so cool. It had like, a little dog and a whole bunch or rooms and I think it belonged to her aunt before." It was something she remembered now, and she didn't feel too uncomfortable. She understood it was because she was with Josh and she didn't feel sick discussing her past with him. She sighed, sitting back on her haunches as she smiled over at him. "You know, when you're a kid, you don't realize when you're poor. But did you realize that you were rich?" Kids could be happy with anything, and were oblivious to the fact that someone might have more than them.
She figured if she grew up in this large of a house, she wouldn't have realized there'd been an attic all along until someone mentioned it. So it wasn't too surprising. "If anything's flat, I could get an air pump for it," she said. "Unless you got really mad that your parents got you a football and decided to pop it." There was no helping that, not even a patch could fix it. Even a pump could be tricky.
As a matter of fact, Nell never had a garage sale either though she'd been to a few. And she wasn't at all surprised that he tended to throw things away instead of selling them, because what was the point? But she smiled at him and said, "Yeah, this weekend. It could be fun! Especially because our neighbors probably never had one either." Rich people really didn't have a reason to, but Nell had found good things at garage sales before. Then again, back before she had started doing good for herself, she was thankful for anything she could buy. "I'm sure you will," she cooed. "Because -- oooh, did you have one of those slinky things? They go ploop, ploop, down the stairs..." She made a falling motion with one finger in front of the other. As she opened another box, this time full of what must have been toys and some other odds and ends, her train of thought went off course to a toy that she wouldn't even have been able to play with as a child but that would most likely occupy her time. Heck, why couldn't she still play with them?
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jan 9, 2013 14:33:54 GMT -5
He blinked, a little surprised by her answer. In his own mind, because of what had happened to her, Joshua did not see Nell's family as deserving of any guilt on his wife's part. Not even when she was a child. "I think a lot of kids want more than they have. It's natural, human nature. Nothing bad about that." She probably knew that now but he felt defensive of her either way. He did not like the thought of her blaming herself for anything. It bothered him. In his eyes, Nell was as close to perfect as one could get. Perhaps he was a little biased but he would stick stubbornly to his opinion. She was his wife.
Talk of her mother always made him vaguely uncomfortable. He was never sure what to say of the woman who had nearly cost his wife her life and later, her freedom. Mia Sinclair had nearly taken Nell away from him to a life behind bars and he could never forgive her for that. Not wanting the Earth to pick up on his discomfort, he focused instead on her reply to his question. A doll house, huh? Already an idea was forming in his mind and he fought to keep a devious smirk from invading his expression. "A doll house, eh?" He didn't have a lot of experience with them for obvious reasons and so he was going to have to play his cards carefully. Casually, as he continued to sort through boxes, he wondered, "What sorts of things do you think you'd have liked if you had one of your own? Kids are good at that whole imagination thing and all, did you ever think about it?" There was a rustling sound as he shook an old puzzle of around two thousand pieces. He vaguely remembered it. I wonder if they're still all there... He set it into the keepsakes box with the mindset that he would count them all later and decide what to do with the puzzle then.
He did not have to think long on the question before he shook his head. "Not for a long time. I grew up around other people like me. Friends of my parents, my classmates... they all had a lot of money. I think I just assumed everyone was the same until I got a little older and got a real grasp of what things were really like in the world." That was most kids, he figured. Nell hadn't known she was poor, he hadn't realised he was rich. And yet you were judged for your financial status before you even grew to understand what it was. The rich kids were spoiled bras, the poor ones vagrants. It wasn't always fair.
A laugh brushed past his lips and he shook his head. "Are you kidding? I never had the balls to do something like that, my Dad would have killed me!" His tone was light enough but it was only half joking. His father certainly didn't appreciate any sort of rebellious behaviour and Josh had learned that the hard way. Fear and respect had fought one another for dominance when it came to how he felt about the older man in his youth.
Nell seemed excited about the prospect of a garage sale and, as with most times, her mood began to affect him and put a slight smile on his lips. Yeah, maybe it could be a little fun. Who knows? "They'll probably think we're strange," he mused, chuckling. "Not that I care." And he didn't. They were just other people like the married couple themselves. If they found it strange to sell off a bunch of old stuff for cheap, they could find their entertainment elsewhere. Because...? But Nell had broken off into another train of thought and he furrowed his brow as he tried to remember. "You know, I'm sure we have one somewhere among all this mess..." He searched but came up empty handed, giving a shrug and an apologetic half-smile. "I guess not." They had a lot of stuff up here but if there had ever been a slinky in the Dale attic, it wasn't there now.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jan 9, 2013 15:25:22 GMT -5
Nell smiled softly when she heard Josh that she shouldn't blame herself for natural wants as a child. It did make her feel a lot better than she always had about the situation she'd been born into. "You're right...but at the time, my father really tried his best. Telling him that I wanted a puppy or something would have just reminded him that even though he tried his best, it wasn't enough." She knew that Josh didn't like her father, and he understood that the man had eventually given up, but that was what she believed when she was younger. She'd always been the type not to ask for things, or even want them, being far to empathetic for her own good.
While uncomfortable with talking about things that she wanted, past or present, she decided she might as well try and remember for the sake of Josh's curiosity. "Uhm...haha, it's been so long since I thought of it!" she said honestly. She fidgeted with the corner of a flap, worrying the cardboard between her fingers. "When I imagined having one, it was always one of those wooden ones, not the plastic Fisher Price kind, with wooden furniture and three stories." It was a strange kind of nostalgia she felt, because could one have nostalgia for things that never happened? She'd only wanted it, sometimes let herself imagine having it when she knew they were far too expensive and that her mother wouldn't even have her old one anywhere. "Ugh, it would have been so cool, now that I'm thinking of it." She shook her head. She couldn't get that part of her life back, so she wouldn't spend time reminiscing over impossibilities.
She laughed a little when he described his feelings as a child, realizing that they'd never really discussed anything like this. She'd never minded that he'd been rich -- though it had surprised her a lot when she came over the first time for his birthday, considering she had no clue -- so she had never pointed it out. "Kids are lucky like that. You don't have biases yet." Nature versus nurture could argue against that, but she always believed that you're taught things like prejudice.
Nell shrugged when he chuckled, saying that their neighbors would probably be confused about the whole thing, the kind of shrug that said, rich folk, right? "If they don't come, they'll be missing out." she paused as she began crawling through to look for other things to snoop in, speaking louder so Josh could hear her, "And hey, they should already be thinking we're strange, we own a zoo." She didn't know what people spoke behind closed doors, and they may have whispered that the Dales were that eccentric couple who hoarded animals. It made her giggle to think about.
She waited with bated anticipation while her husband searched for the elusive slinky, but it came up all for not. "Ah, poop," she said when he turned out empty handed. She tipped a Rubbermaid forward to look inside, and said, "You got lots of other stuff, though. Like..." She moved some things with her hand, plastic toys knocking together and tipping over as she searched, before resurfacing with one that had caught her eye. "Ooh, Etch-a-Sketch. You never played with these?" Now entirely distracted from the reason they came up there, she tried her hand at making a tree, sitting cross-legged on the floor before she realized she didn't have a clue how to make diagonal lines.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jan 9, 2013 15:50:15 GMT -5
It was strange to think of Leon trying his best. He hadn't tried very hard in the long run, leaving Nell with a dying sister and a mentally ill mother who would eventually try to end her life. He would never side with the man. He had grown to accept his father-in-law's presence and would treat him with politeness but there was an underlying resentment for all the pain he'd caused the woman that Joshua loved. "I can understand that." He couldn't relate but he could grasp what she meant, what she must have felt. "But hey, we've got two of them now! And the rest of our zoo, of course." His tone was light, smile easy. Nell relaxed him, her very presence having the ability to make him content.
He almost cursed his luck, assuming that she would stop there and shrug it off. It's an old memory, she probably doesn't even think about those kinds of things now. The thought was an attempt to reassure himself, as a moment earlier Josh had been sure that he was onto something great. His heart lifted when she continued, a wave of relief spreading through him. All right, this is a start... A wooden house, three stories. You know, the custom made ones are always the most special. A plastic doll house bought from a store was duplicated thousands of times and owned by many others in the world. A lot of thought went into something unique that was crafted by hand. His smile gave nothing away. "Aw, I'm sorry, babe," he said, pausing in what he was doing to give her a hug. "I don't know much about doll houses myself but I bet it would have made your day, huh?" Maybe it still can... He was itching to make some phone calls but, not wanting to seem too suspicious, he decided to finish up the attic cleaning and decorations, first. Treat it like a normal day in the Dale mansion.
He'd never given much thought to how their neighbours must see them. Before he'd been given the mansion it had been the home of the successful Dale couple and their children. Joshua was the quiet one they didn't know much about, Bryce the violent one about whom the rumours flew and Annabel was the girl of the family, once cooed over by friends of the family but recently ignored as she retreated into her world of video games. Now it was a different Dale couple, that same quiet and intimidating young man with his beautiful and kind-hearted wife. At least he hoped they saw Nell the way he did. How could anyone look down upon her? She meant the world to him.
Joshua almost felt bad when he was unable to find a slinky amongst the old boxes of stuff. She'd seemed excited by the idea of one. That gives me another idea... Damn, his mind was bursting with them at this point! This year was going to be a good one if he played his cards right. He could feel it. Nell seemed to move on quickly, distracted by an Etch-A-Sketch he was sure he'd only rarely used. "I tried it a few times but I didn't have the patience." It had irritated him, trying to make pictures when you couldn't do anything but straight lines. You could back yourself into a corner where there was no way of fixing your mistakes except shaking the thing and starting all over. Had it been a puzzle he would have stubbornly kept at it until it was solved but instead he'd just tossed it aside like so many other things. At least Nell seems entertained... He smiled to himself as he went through another box.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jan 9, 2013 16:24:14 GMT -5
As this was Josh and Nell's first Christmas as a married couple, the latter thought of it as a very special occasion. It was weird, thinking of the relatives coming over to the Dale residence were her relatives, and they were also people who didn't hate her guts or outright ignore her. She liked that, the overall feeling of the holidays even though nowadays she was constantly worrying about her husband and trying not to show it except by being Velcro and shooting random texts to make sure he was all right, anywhere he was. She supposed it might have been overbearing, but she felt that she had every right to fret.
Jane had easily made her way off of the guest list when it came to her side of the family, so the only one who came was her father, and he made it a point to show up fifteen minutes past the time she had told him. "You're late," she had said when he'd come to the door. His response had been, "And you're wearing antlers. What's more concerning in this situation?" Thus she let him off the hook. The dessert her brought sure helped in her decision to lay off him for the evening.
He didn't like social situations, this she understood about him, but she wanted him to come over because this was her first Christmas with Josh as her husband and that meant León was his family now, though the Thunder elemental hadn't made his thoughts known on that matter. He couldn't have been all that against it, he behaved himself very well throughout dinner, and she wondered if all that wine had to do with it. She understood if he felt awkward and out of place -- in a way, she supposed she did, too. But the fact that she was celebrating with her husband and their family in their home reassured her that she had a place in all this. It warmed her to think that this was something that could happen again and again, that she had a family and her husband and the holidays weren't just a time of the month to skip over.
"Gift time," she called out after everyone had finished eating and the table had been cleared, clapping her hands together like the pied piper beckoning the family to the living room. She was excited to see other people receive gifts, and also delighted to know that she wouldn't getting many. Her father knew better, though sometimes he decided to make the decision to get her something small. Gifts made her uncomfortable to receive, really, and she took more pleasure in watching others exchange as she sat on the couch and thought about when she should make coffee and serve the dessert.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jan 9, 2013 17:06:43 GMT -5
Christmas dinner took a lot of preparation. A lot of things had to be started on hours beforehand and sometimes even the night before so that it would all be ready for when the family arrived and they all sat down around the dining table. Always liking to feel as if he and Nell were a team around the house, he'd helped her clean up (all the staff were home for the holidays, of course) and then he'd assisted with dinner, asking his wife for tips and following her guidance. He was normally too proud to ask for help but he loved her and acknowledged without shame that she was the better cook of the two. He was fairly decent in the kitchen but lacked the flair that Nell had. He respected that about her. He wanted her to teach him her ways.
Both of his parents had accepted an invitation to spend Christmas in their old mansion but Patrick had been firmly denied admittance into the home. Donovan casually mentioned his own father in passing when they came to the door and Josh had made it clear that some wounds would never be closed. He'd thought at first that the man would argue but he'd merely been quiet for a moment and then nodded. "You have a point," he'd said firmly. "And your... wife... wouldn't appreciate his presence either, I'm sure." Josh blinked. There was something about his tone that bothered the younger Fire. Not wanting to argue during the holidays, his tone was light as he insisted, "My wife has a name, you know! It's Nell, did I never tell you?" Donovan laughed but it was an uncomfortable, strained sound. Josh knew the signs but chose to ignore them, hoping that he was imagining things.
Josh was polite enough to Leon when the man arrived later than expected, choosing not to make a comment on this even though he was itching to. It might only start a fight and he was trying to avoid such things. Instead he greeted the man, exchanged pleasantries and then sat down to dinner at last. He'd been ready to eat fifteen minutes ago when his parents had arrived on time but he hadn't wanted to seem too rude by starting without Nell's father.
Soon the moment that his little sister had been waiting for since the sun rose arrived—gifts. He was much more patient than she but he too was quite thrilled at the prospect of seeing the reactions to the things he'd purchased. He did not mind receiving gifts but as a wealthy man who had most things he wanted, he found it much more rewarding to give them. Of them all, those he had gotten for Nell were the ones he was most looking forward to presenting. He'd prepared for this night. "All right, Belle, you can go first," he permitted, knowing that she had been on the edge of her seat. While she was cooing over the various assortment of clothes and video games she'd received, Joshua turned to his wife. "Would you like to see what I got you?" He looked delighted, like a kid on Christmas himself. "It's in a box because it would have been a little hard to wrap thanks to the shape, but, well... I hope you like it." He gestured to the large box (easily the largest, enough that it did not even fit under the tree) and smiled. "It's that one there." He had another gift, too, but that one was upstairs and meant as a surprise for later.
When Nell opened the box she would find an elegantly crafted wooden doll house inside. It was three stories high, complete with furniture carved from wood and painted in places to give it more colour and life. It had the look of something home made but not fragile. He'd enlisted the help of some of his Earth elemental friends to grow the house instead of nailing together pieces of wood, knowing that it would keep it sturdy and strong for years to come. A doll house would no doubt make little sense to the others in the room but he had his fingers crossed that Nell would understand the sentiment behind it and appreciate it for what it was. "I love you," he told her, kissing her affectionately on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Dale." Because she was his wife now, his family, and that meant more to him than anything else.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jan 9, 2013 18:05:52 GMT -5
Nell didn't really think she'd ever enjoy Christmas like she did now, but feeling so close to Josh, especially after what happened, made her grin half the time that he helped out in the kitchen. Which was very nice, considering this would be a big dinner and she needed to impress with her food. A lot of it was because of the in-laws, like she needed to show them that she could be a very good wife, even though Donovan and Trish had known her for a long time now. They used to be just her friend's parents, now they were her father and mother-in-law. Just another reason why this Christmas was so special.
As Nell was expecting to escape this evening relatively unscathed, she simply enjoyed watching Annabel unwrap the presents she had gotten. So when Josh asked if she would like to see what she'd gotten, she realized she wasn't going to get out of it that easy. "You got me a present?" she said, raising her eyebrows, though she really shouldn't have been surprised. This was Josh, of all people. Though her relative unease when it came to receiving presents, she loved anything she'd gotten, because that meant someone had thought of her. And she supposed that her husband thinking of her during the holidays was really to be expected. "Oh, okay," she said with a smile when he pointed it out, not sounding hesitant at all. It's really big. She played guessing games about it, waited until everyone else had the presents unwrapped before she went ahead with her own, especially shy.
Even though one couldn't go wrong with a present for Nell, she was still hesitant as she knelt down in front of it, peeling off the wrapping paper, and opening the box before peering inside. Her breath caught and it took a moment to let it sink what she was actually looking at. Carefully, she lifted the little home out of the box and set it down, her eyes scanning the wooden house that had taken words away from her. Looking at it brought back so many things, indescribable and profound. She hadn't realized how much she wanted it until it was under her fingertips as she opened it and saw everything -- the wooden furniture, three stories tall, just as she'd described it that day in the attic when she thought about how much she'd wanted it in childhood and how much she wanted it now.
She couldn't react until she went back over to Josh and he kissed her on the cheek and told her Merry Christmas. She smiled with a glossy look in her eyes before leaning up to wrap her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much," she said, and fearing the worst, she buried her face into his shoulder for a while because she wasn't going to cry about this. Especially not with their family around, family who wouldn't understand it, not even her own father. It was a secret thought that she'd only shared with Josh because she figured, why not? It was a yearning of her five-year-old self, and she wasn't supposed to want things like that. But it seemed as if he just knew, like he understood that she wanted the things she couldn't have when she was a child and that it went deeper than what she made it seem.
"Wait," she said as she wiped at her eye with the back of her hand, just in case. Her smile was more whimsical now. "How did you know I'd still want it?" She'd just mentioned it off-hand, like she really could survive without it, but now she knew that she'd always really wanted it. Nell looked over with eagerness in her shining eyes, feeling like a kid, just as she should have been when first receiving the doll house. But she'd gotten it now, from the man who meant everything to her and that made it even better.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jan 9, 2013 18:28:13 GMT -5
Joshua knew Nell's rule regarding gifts. As her husband, he liked to think that he knew more than anyone else about her. And as her husband he also stubbornly refused to avoid buying presents. He loved her and while he knew she was well aware of this, he felt the desire to prove himself by noticing the little things. If she mentioned having a craving for a certain type of food she would come home to a fully cooked dinner. If she mentioned wanting to see a certain event, he'd buy tickets. He listened.
So when Nell raised her eyebrows at him, Joshua only smiled. "Of course I did." He had been equally as stubborn when it had come to paying for their dates and he had gotten his way in the end. He had refused to lay off on the compliments even when Nell had insisted that she wasn't that interesting. He had told her that she was beautiful until she'd accepted it as fact. He would continue to buy her gifts on special occasions for that same reason. If he wanted something, he did not easily relent. He wanted this. You want it, too. Just wait until you see what it is, Nell. He felt a fluttering of anxiety in his stomach, a nervous excitement. Would she like it? Maybe he'd been wrong about how much she would appreciate something like this in her adult life. He didn't want her to think that he looked down upon her as childish. No, he wanted her to have something she'd missed in her childhood.
She was awfully quiet after opening the gift and he twisted his wedding ring around his finger and tried not to fidget any more than this as he waited with bated breath for her reaction. Does she like it? Is she all right? She got up and approached him and he knew with one look at her expression that it had been a hit. He was glad that he could read her so well, glad that he could tell how she felt without words. "Any time, babe," he said softly, wrapping his arms around her and smiling in contentment. Score one for Joshua. Of course, while he and Nell were thrilled for their own reasons, his parents merely looked confused. Annabel knew about the gift because he'd consulted with her about the idea but Trish and Donovan exchanged a blank stare. You wouldn't understand. He would not try to explain. Nell was the only one he was trying to impress.
The soft smile morphed into a more devious smirk at the question, a twinkle of mischief in his gray eyes. He had an answer for that one. "Because I know you." He truly felt like he did. And in return, Nell knew more about him than his parents, his sister, the friends he'd known for years. She was the most important person in his life. "I'm glad you like it." He was still smiling, goofy and elated. He would not admit how worried he was that she'd take it the wrong way and get offended instead of flattered that he had taken the time to consider the thought put into the gift. "Oh and, uh," Joshua paused to pick up a much smaller and more inconspicuous present containing a sturdy metal slinky inside, "there's this, too. It's not as flashy but... well, I figured you might appreciate it." There were a lot of things she'd never experienced. That's what I'm here for.
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Jan 9, 2013 19:32:53 GMT -5
Josh really had no way to predict how she would react to the present, she knew that and it made it even better. As if it could at this point, but the fact that he understood it without any other hint than her actually talking about it, how she had wanted it back in a time when she wanted nothing for the simple fact that she couldn't have those things. And now she had one of the desires she had buried because she figured that it was an unattainable thing, something that she could think about sometimes and smile about before continuing her adult life in an adult world where she wasn't supposed to want those things.
And she was worried that she couldn't properly express just how it made her feel, the warmth in her stomach and the emotion rising throughout her body. No, it hadn't made her feel childish or silly, because this was the girl who had put antler ears on her pig and she didn't have anything keeping her from believing that this was the best present she had ever gotten. And then he explained, and she felt her heart melt.
"Because I know you."
The words meant a lot, and she never thought she'd like hearing them. She always preferred being enigmatic, that way people couldn't figure her out. It made her feel secure, but she liked Josh knowing her and understand what she did and didn't like. By now he'd gotten every little thing about her, the little quirks she had and the things that made her happy or upset her, and she had learned the same of him. Of course, he confused her more often than not. Like now, how he had gone ahead and done something so perfect for her that no one else would have been able to get. She could have, if she realized that she'd wanted it, but that was the problem -- she hadn't. "You know me best, cariño," she responded affectionately, and that was obvious as the moon in the sky.
Her smile was small when he said that he was glad she liked it, flickering into a frown simply because she didn't want to go overboard, but she couldn't do anything about the happiness in her face. "You're real sneaky, you know that?" she said, thinking about he had so nonchalantly asked about it, meaning he'd had it planned even back then, when the season had just been starting up. "But I appreciate it." And she appreciated his smiling and how good everything felt right then. No, she wasn't a present person, but the doll house was really special. He always knew what to get her, and she had sacrificed a lot in terms of her pride when it came to him, so she understood how good that could turn out.
And when he spoke of another present and produced a box, she sighed. "Oh, Josh." But she contentedly curled up on his lap as she opened the box, pulling the slinky from it. She laughed as she held it in her hands. "You really went all out, huh," she told him, pecking him on the lips before saying, "Thank you. Anything else you'd like to warn me about?" It was like she was getting all the things from her childhood that she could never have, and thinking of this she looked over to her father who looked unreadable as ever, but she noticed the little smirk on his face. He was the one who had disapproved of Josh from the beginning, and she hoped that this was another thing in a long line of examples that proved how great a person that Josh was, even if he didn't want to admit it. Her father had too much pride. But he was too prideful to announce that he was ever wrong.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Jan 10, 2013 6:09:32 GMT -5
The moment felt intimate as they exchanged words that could belong to no others in their lives. He was conscious of the fact that their family were watching but it did not matter to him. This moment was special, a moment that only he and his wife would ever truly understand. The pet name brought a smile to his lips like it always did and he brushed a hand across her cheek with affection. I know I do.
The frown did not concern him in the least. It was easy to read the joy that was written across her entire expression and so he merely looked pleased with himself as she pointed out how secretive he'd been about it all. He felt clever in that moment, proud of himself. He had managed to avoid alerting her to his plan and that was an accomplishment in his eyes. "That's what I do best." He always strove to notice the little things. He did the same for friends and family but with Nell he truly made an effort to make every little gift special. They had to come from the heart instead of a lazy, materialistic purchase. That was the way to impress her, he figured. She wasn't big on receiving gifts and so he felt rather smug about the fact that she appreciated his.
He chuckled under his breath. "I'm not sorry!" His tone was light and teasing. It was nothing big and so he figured there was no way he'd get into trouble for it. There was the mini-fridge upstairs that she had yet to find out about but he was keeping that as a surprise. She loves food, there's no way she'll resent that. That was Josh logic for you. "I tried," he admitted, grinning after she pecked him on the lips and resisting the urge to deepen the kiss. Their family might appreciate the lack of intense PDAs. He was enjoying the way she was curled up against him, anyway. "That's all I've got wrapped up for this Christmas, don't worry." He chose his words carefully. The fridge was not wrapped and so he wasn't lying at all. He was sneaky indeed. He imagined her reaction as a mixture of gratitude and exasperation, which amused him.
After the gifts had been open and thoughts on them all had been shared, the happily married couple were interrupted by the presence of Joshua's father approaching. Josh blinked and glanced at his wife for a moment before looking back at his father with a penetrating and suspicious gaze. What does he want? I don't like that look... It was not Joshua the man spoke to, but Nell. "I..." He cleared his throat and began again, gruff and firm, "I wanted you to know that I don't hold any blame against you for what happened." At first Josh had no idea what the man was talking about but then Donovan side-eyed the cast for a moment and clarified, "To my son." Yeah, I'm standing right here, thanks. But Josh stayed quiet, wondering where this was going.
"You make him happy, Nell," Donovan went on, a tinge of awkwardness present in his voice. Like his son, the older Dale was not adept at discussing these sorts of things. "I'd need to be blind not to notice it." Yes, she does... "So I..." Another awkward clearing of the throat. It was clear he felt uncomfortable. "I would be a fool to assume you wanted any harm to come to him. I'm glad that you're a part of this family." He looked at his son then, gaze almost expectant. Joshua felt oddly touched. His father seemed to be looking for his approval on the awkward but heart-warming speech. His lip twitched slightly and he dipped his head once. I'm glad you're on our side. The assurance might have seemed a little random to Nell but Josh knew his father well enough to figure out what was going on. He had always been quick to place blame and Joshua didn't think tonight would have been an exception if not for the change of heart.
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