though it's been said many times, many ways

[more_magic]

It’s strange to think of where he was a year ago, exactly. Waking up in Alex’s bed, hung over from the shame of the night before and the lingering effects of whatever Manuscript had given him, preparing for his first full day in a city outside of the world he knew and realizing in the process that he’d lost nearly two months in the space of a breath. There were more shocks to come, more alterations in what he thought to be true, but very little had managed to surpass the disorientation of that initial beginning to his tenure in Darrow.

Back then, Darlington had wondered what they might have done at home, if Alex would’ve been on a plane to California at the start of break--or if he might have managed to convince her to stay, to spend Christmas at Black Elm with him. What they got instead was better, that makeshift celebration with hastily-bought gifts and the smell of a half-remembered recipe wafting from Alex’s kitchen; the start of something new, even if neither of them had known the depths of that newness at the time. And now, a year on, through hard work and some kind of miracle, he gets what he’d wondered about after all.

Christmas Day will be just for them, presents and breakfast and relaxing by the fire, but tonight is a chance to celebrate. They decorate the main floor of Black Elm, filling the rooms they’ve already managed to furnish with light and warmth, the tree they’d bought earlier in the month standing by one of the large picture windows in the great room. Alex cooks all of Estrea Stern’s recipes she can think of, adds a few of Bernadette’s that Darlington remembers from his childhood. There’s music low on the stereo, a fire lit in the vast fireplace, the new table and chairs they’d bought for the formal dining room arranged just so beneath the chandelier at the center of the room. Even Kirby gets into the spirit in a new, festive collar, bright red against his black fur.

Above all, they’ve invited the people that matter, the few who have come to mean something--to one or both of them--in the year that’s just passed. It’s the first real party Black Elm has seen in many years, not since Darlington’s grandfather was alive. It feels, once again, like starting something new.

[[tag in, tag around, enjoy the party!]]

Comments

[takecourage]

"I'm not really drinking at the moment," she says, gesturing towards the can of Coke that's open on the side beside the stove. "But there's a corkscrew on the table, and glasses, so help yourself." She grins. "How comfortable are you with throwing a salad together?"

[formicine]

Blue knows enough not to fall all over herself apologizing, or making it weird, but she can feel herself flush all the same. "I'm good," she says, setting it down, "I should probably wait until I'm eating." Having had a drink already, there's only so much she and her 4'11, fairly slim self can expect of her liver.

"Oh, that I can do," she says, grinning back and looking around to start gathering vegetables to rinse and chop. It's nice to have a kitchen big enough for two to move in without bumping hips or having to half-hop up on the counter, she has to admit. "You don't work in a mom and pop pizza joint from the time you're legal and never make a salad."

"Have your holidays been good?"

[takecourage]

"Yeah, actually. Yesterday was Danny's Darrow anniversary, and being out here? Decorating a house like this?" She grins. "I didn't exactly have this back home. And Danny was on his own for a long time, even with this house." She shrugs. "It's nice to have people around us."

[formicine]

"Oh, wow," Blue says, and tries to remember when she'd met him. She thinks it was at last New Year's. She knew he'd been new, enough so that he wasn't familiar with weird Darrow traditions, but she hadn't realized it had been so soon.

"Yeah, this place looks fantastic," she smiles. "I can tell you guys enjoyed decking the halls." She talks as she rinses and starts chopping lettuce, tomatoes, onion - the basics - and glances around for toppings. "I definitely didn't have anything like this either." It makes her a little homesick for what she did have, talking about it. "I mean -- people to celebrate with," she adds, to be fair. "I had it better than a lot of people in that way. But nothing so grand to decorate."

"Hmm, do you have walnuts or almonds or something? Nuts and dried fruit might be good in this, with those flavors."

[takecourage]

"There's walnuts and, like, dried cranberries and apricots and things in the cupboard," says Alex, pointing Blue in the general direction. "Anything in there is fair game, so help yourself."

[formicine]

"Ooh, free reign on other people's cabinets," Blue says, grinning, and closes her eyes for a minute, just soaking in the smells. It reminds her a little of some of the things that got cooked in the 300 Fox Way kitchen, not exactly anything, but familiar in a certain way. Allspice and cinnamon with savory dishes, orange and honey in something baking, garlic and chicken. It's not the exact cuisine so much as familar in spirit.

She lets it inspire her, grabbing walnuts and cranberries. A poke around the fridge reveals goat cheese and clementines, and she gives it a satisfied nod, setting about chopping walnuts.

"Is this the kind of stuff you'd have had when you were a kid, for the holidays?" she asks, nodding at the stove. She knows enough -- even if she doesn't know the details -- not to assume about teenage and college years for Alex, or anyone really. But Alex seems handy enough in the kitchen to assume some of these dishes were passed on.