10573/A First Christmas Eve

A First Christmas Eve
Date of Scene:	29 December 2019
Location:	Riana's Apartment, Rockman's Apartment Building, Bushwick
Synopsis:	Remy and Riana spend their first Christmas together, and welcome the one-eyed holiday pup, Jack!
Cast of Characters:	Wild Rose, Gambit

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Wild Rose has posed:
     One would normally expect to hear carols on the radio during Christmas eve. And while 'Silent Night' could be heard, the night was unfortunately anything but silent. Instead, there was the screeching of a smoke alarm, the sound of cursing in Gaelic, windows opening, and a pan clattering into the sink. This did not bode at all well. The one small mercy is the lack of thick smoke pouring out from under the front door to Riana's apartment that might otherwise indicate real trouble.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau meanwhile is looking throughly amused at the whole thing. He is holding a quite large package in one hand with a few smaller packages on top of it. He's even dressed up for the evening, in silk Armani and with his hair pulled back into a pony tail. He looks even more dashing then usual, particularly since their plans were supposed to be a quiet dinner in, gifts, and maybe catch up on the Mandolorian. He knocks casually on the door smirking, "Everyt'ing alright in dare chere?"

Wild Rose has posed:
     With a few more choice words flung in the general direction of the lone oven in the kitchen--hey, double ovens were a luxury, or in her case, double the hazard!--Riana manages to get the smoke alarm to cease its shrill cries, by dint of opening the kitchen window to let the smoke escape. When she answers the door, she's in a pair of black slacks, a cropped off-the-shoulders blouse with short sleeves and ruffles in all the right places, and caramel-hued sandals. She has a cheesy hair tie holding her titian tresses back in a ponytail, with a giant piece of holly stuck to it for effect. Questions are silenced with a kiss, and she grins at him.

     "Joyeux Noel, cher! You look fantastic!" She wrinkles her nose and glances at the kitchen. "I put the turkey in the oven a little too early and well... got distracted...." Her face goes as red as a beet, and she coughs.

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau smirks just a little bit. "Ah 'appen ta know dis lil Jewish Deli who open all night tonight and all day tomorrow makin' Christmas dinners ta save disasters. Lemme give dem a call." He says taking the presents and setting them by the tree. Most are small but the one box is easily 2'x2'x3' though apparently fairly light. "Why yah not take de batteries out of dat t'ing?"

Wild Rose has posed:
     Riana bursts out laughing, answering that smirk with a cheeky little grin of her own. "'Disaster' would be putting it nicely. I think that bird's ancestors and descendants are all very well-done by now." A very dirty look is given to the thing in question, which had alerted Remy to her kitchen inexpertise; she drags one of the kitchen chairs over to the offending item, climbs up on it, and proceeds to remove said batteries. "At least till I can get this thing checked out. It's way too touchy. Steam from boiling water for spaghetti will set it off."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau smirks just a little bit. "Ah can' stand de damn t'ings bein' wit'in t'ree rooms of mah kitchen. Ah got one in mah bedroom and dat's it." He says calling someone on his phone. He gives Riana's address and orders "Dinner foh four. All de trimings." He pauses and thens says "Non, give us a whole pie. It's our first Christmas toget'er we may need de sugar rush." And hangs up.

Wild Rose has posed:
     Riana can't help but smile at that, a true, genuine smile that just lights up her whole face as she climbs down off the kitchen chair. Never mind if the whole pie had been meant as a surprise. When she heard 'first Christmas together', the rest just seemed to fade into the obscure corners of her awareness. Wrapping her arms around him, she draws him in for a close embrace, and a sweet, tender kiss. "It really is, isn't it? You really are the King of Hearts. Or at least, of -my- heart."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau smirks a little bit and turns in her embrace, tilting her chin up to kiss her soft and tender. "Now chere... flattery will get yah everywhere." he says playfully, giving her another soft kiss and giving her lip a little nibble. "Well den, since it's gonna be at leas' Ninty minute foh dinner gets here... Wanna skip straight to de presents?" he asks with amusement...

Wild Rose has posed:
Riana Mackenzie laughs softly and nods, nibbling his lip playfully. "Sounds like a plan." As the pair turns towards the tree, however, she seems to pause. This was a wonderfully tender, sweet, romantic moment. Is it possible he could already have guessed the very thing she kept hidden from her own kin? If she could trust him with her heart, she reasoned, perhaps it was time to take the step to trust him with this as well.

"Cher?" she murmurs, brushing her fingertips along his right shoulder, almost tentatively, to halt his progress. "There's one gift I can give, that isn't under the tree...."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau raises a single eyebrow and grins a bit playfully. "Chere if it's de gift Ah'm t'inking of, it c'n be under de tree, in de bedroom, in de shower... but like Ah said we /only/ got ninty minutes....

Wild Rose has posed:
Riana Mackenzie laughs, her ears graced with a rosy hue as she realized just where the Cajun's mind was headed with this one. But she shakes her head, peering into those hellfire eyes she had come to love the sight of in the time they'd known each other. "Well, there's that too. But it's not the gift I was about to tell you." Biting her lower lip, she pauses, trying to think of the most delicate way to say this. Was there really one?

"I haven't even told my own kin this," she begins, her tone soft, and hesitant. "And I hope they don't find out for a long time to come. I also don't know how much you might have guessed already." Taking a deep breath, Riana reaches for his hand, and squeezes it, very gently. "I'm a mutant."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau tilts his head, looking at her slightly like a puppy who has just heard a interesting but not exactlly unpleasent sound and is trying to decide what, if anything, he needs to do about it. After a bit of time that is probibly just a shade too long he says, "Chere... Dats... not really a big deal ta me. Ah mean not only am Ah a mutant, Ah work wit' dem all day. /Everyday/. Ah mean Ah know mutants are rare out 'ere... but Ah could literally spend mah 'ole day and nevah interact wit' someone who /not/ a mutant..."

Wild Rose has posed:
     Letting out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding, Riana can't help but smile all over again. She nods slowly and slides her arm around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she nudges him towards the Christmas tree. "I wanted to give you the gift of honesty, as well as my heart." Her eyes twinkle, her sage green eyes shifting to look at the tree, the twinkling lights reflected like stars in her eyes. "And, of course, the small gifts I was able to put there for you as well."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau grins a little bit, "Dare dis girl at de school Ah work at." He says after the embrace releases though he still holds her for a moment longer. "She give me dis T-Shirt dat read 'Last Christmas, Ah give yah mah 'eart...and de very next day yah burried it under de floorboards wit' de rest of my body till de sound of it's beating drove you into madness." he says amused. Finall he pulls away, "Okay yah first..." he says amused.

Wild Rose has posed:
Riana Mackenzie grins right back at him, tapping lightly over his heart while clicking softly with the rhythm of a heart beating. "Nice Poe reference. 'The Tell-Tale Heart', I think. Don't know, it's been a long time."

Her eyes twinkle as she steps back, bending over just a little too slowly to pick out a present from under the tree. "Let's see. This one? No... this one, maybe?" Naturally, she goes right for the large box, and for him, she comes up with a package about a foot or so in height, and enough width and depth to make one wonder at the contents. "Merry Christmas, cher."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau grins and opens his gift, grinning slightly as he sees the figurine of Mando, smirking slightly, and setting it on a end table as she opens the present... It's a large plastic crate of some kind... like a Dog crate... and inside... The puppy raises it's head from it's paws and licks it's own nose eyeing Riana curiously. He's... well he's not ugly per say, though he lacks some of the features one might normally go for in a dog. His fur is short and white with brown splashes in an irregular pattern. One of his eyes seems to be permanently closed, while one ear is flopped over and the other stands straight up. His tail, which is half again as long as he is starts thumping the moment he gets a good look at Riana. "Dey were gonna put 'im down if someone not adopt 'im. Ah've been calling 'im Jack." One-Eyed Jack... the man just /can't/ not make card references.

Wild Rose has posed:
Riana Mackenzie falls to her knees right then and there when she sees that adorably ugly little face, offering her hand to the pup to sniff. For all her reserve and restraint on other occasions, this little doggo has hit her right in the feels, and she goes completely mushy over the little guy. The minute her face is close enough, she is gifted with many a happy puppy kiss all over her cheeks, Jack's tail seeming fit to wag the dog instead of the other way around! "Well, nobody's putting him down or kicking him to the curb here! Thank you so much, cher!"

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau grins a bit and gives a mild sigh of relief that the girl didn't reject the pup outright. "Well Ah'm glad ta 'ear dat chere, since allot of dose gifts are sorta foh 'im too." He says with a grin leaning back and smirking as she lets the small animal out. "Yah gotta admit 'e's got allot of personality non?" he asks as the dogs powerfully wagging tail over balances him and he flops on his side... Then proceeds to chase his tail for doing such a thing...

Wild Rose has posed:
Riana Mackenzie grins, unable and unwilling to reject the adorably ugly little furball, and equally as incapable of holding back peals of laughter at his antics. "He does! A lot like you do. And he's a little thief like you are. See, you've both stolen my heart, and I don't want it back."

Before Jack can knock one of the presents nearest to him down, Riana darts in to rescue it, a tell-tale gold lamé bag of just the right height and weight to perhaps be something potable. She winks at Remy, grinning impishly. "Figured we could use that a little later."

Gambit has posed:
Remy LeBeau whistles apprecitavely as he examines the wine. "Well we could 'ave dis now, or maybe we save it foh New Years Eve, hmm" he says with a grin as he looks over the presents he brought her. He selects another box, this one one of the smallest, and offers it over to her. Inside is a necklace, the chains gold and silver. The small stones Diamonds and emeralds and rubies and saphires. "Dis reminded me of yah. A whole bunch of t'ings. All of dem beautiful. All of dem ore beautiful when put toget'er..."

Wild Rose has posed:
Riana Mackenzie grins, lifting her chin a notch towards the bottle of wine in his hand. "New Year's it is. A toast, and a kiss as the ball drops." But it is her jaw dropping as she opens the box, gasping at the sight of the glittering treasure contained within. She lifts it from the box, letting the delicate chains play over her fingers, admiring the sparkle of the precious metals and gems in the lights from the Christmas tree. "Cher... this is gorgeous! Thank you so much!" Pushing herself to her feet, she wraps her arms around him to give him a fierce hug, and a tender kiss.

A kiss which is only broken when she reaches down to one of the smallest boxes remaining, pressing it into his hand. Flashing him a cheeky grin, she leans in to whisper something, and winks at him. Inside the box is a brass belt buckle, that has been etched and cut out to look like nothing more than the King of Hearts. Would the card references never end?