Pretty paper, pretty ribbons of blue.

[the_marshal]

WHO| Wyatt and OTA
WHAT| Christmas Shopping!
WHERE| Various Capitol shops
WHEN| After getting the Secret Santa notes
Warnings| None at the moment. Will edit if anything comes up!



Like all the others, Wyatt had discovered the note in his room directing him to come up with a gift for one of his fellow tributes for Christmas. Never mind that he'd never even met the "Iskierka" listed on the card, or even known there was any kind of gift exchange going on in the first place.

...But he couldn't say that the idea didn't appeal, the more he thought about it. There hadn't been much to celebrate, that first Christmas of his in the Capitol, but this year....

Picking up the strange card he'd been given - trying not to think of the funds they'd given him as blood money - he cornered his escort for information (the man tried at least to look sheepish for signing Wyatt up) and then headed out into the snow.

Even armed with everything his escort could tell him about Iskierka, Wyatt still had little idea where to start shopping for a dragon. While he chewed it over, he hunted down some other gifts, knowing nothing would really be able to tell Max or Howard what they meant to him, but wanting to do something, all the same.

Comments

[the_marshal]

It was maybe a good thing that he was having such a hard time settling on something to get for Max. ...He'd have hated to ruin the surprise, coming out of a store with it in hand, bumping into the man himself like this.

(Though that would have been the only sore point.)

Grinning - that instant warmth in him again - he moved out of the way of the door and reached into the breast pocket of his coat.

"I did," he replied, pulling his card free. Unfolding it, he showed it to him. "Seems most of us did."

[gluteus]

"I've never heard of this festival before," Maximus admitted, frowning down at the paper. "From what I understand I am to get her a gift." He looked back up at Wyatt and the paper in his hands.

"Did they simply assign us random tributes? Is it meant to be an anonymous festival of gifts?"

[the_marshal]

"Christmas," Wyatt supplied as they fell in together, shoulder-to-shoulder, moving down the sidewalk. "An' gift givin' is a part of it, yes."

He scanned the stores around them, mouth pulling wryly. Bright flashing lights, signs proclaiming special sales - everything at varying degrees of loud.

"That said though, I won't deny the rest of it seems to have changed since my time."

[gluteus]

"It existed, then, for you?" Maximus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What was it like in your time?" He asked as he scanned the windows full of ridiculous Capitol trinkets.

[the_marshal]

"Well," he began, brow furrowing gently. "I can't say it meant the same to everybody. Myself, I didn't ever really put much into the religious side of it."

Wyatt wasn't certain he could be called a Godly man, as he'd never put much stock in the requirements of the Church. He'd been more of the belief that if he'd needed a word with God, he could reach him just as easily from the back off his horse, or from his bedside, as he could in a pew.

Living the life, as good a man as he could be, he'd figured, was all God could really ask of anyone.

...Not that he really believed in much of anything these days. Not when it came to that sort of thing. Hard to believe in a compassionate, righteous God, when he let things like the Games happen.

"But foremost, that's what it was. A commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ."

[gluteus]

"Ah. Christians," Maximus said, nodding solemnly, though he frowned slightly. Hadn't Christ been born sometime in the summer...?

Perhaps he should not comment, where religious cults were concerned.

"They existed in my time - I fought with many in the army. The festival, I suppose, did not yet exist, though we had others around this time."

He walked along next to Wyatt, pausing as he glanced in a window before shaking his head. "How did you celebrate then, if you did not 'put much into the religious side'?"

[the_marshal]

He stopped, giving Max time to look, hands flexing lightly where they rested on his belt.

"It was about family for me, an' friends. Still is, whatever the Capitol says about it. It's a time for bein' with the people ya love an' being thankful for everythin' ya have."

He watched Max's reflection in the glass, the dark head shaking gently.

"Last year, I didn't have much 'cause for it."

[gluteus]

A small smile pulled at his lips as he turned back to Wyatt.

"Well, then I will endeavour to celebrate it with you." He looked down at the note. "Is it traditional for the gifts to be morbid? I can't imagine that it used to be about one's death, since I doubt many before us could die more than once."

[the_marshal]

His mouth twisted as he snorted, amused, though he tried not to be.

It was hardly Max's fault after all.

"No," he clarified. "No it is not. I imagine that's the Capitol tryin' to find another way to remind us of what we're good for. Traditionally ya give someone somethin' ya think they'd like."

And while, granted, he didn't know all of Joan's preferences, he'd still have a hard time pegging her as the type to enjoy the sort of gift the Capitol had suggested.

[gluteus]

"Ah," Maximus said, nodding in understanding as he put the note away.

"Does that mean I should be finding a gift for you as well?" He asked, the smile still pulling his lips wider.

[the_marshal]

That stopped him short for a moment, his mouth pulling into a grin he tried to hide. (And failed.)

Clearing his throat, his head dipped.

"Well, now, Max that's entirely up to you."

[gluteus]

Maximus held back the chuckle, somehow, and managed to give an innocent expression as he turned his attention back to the street.

He'd never heard such a coy 'yes' in a long time.

"Mm, I'll take it under advisement," He murmured happily, willing to be just as coy. "Though I won't hear a rebuke if I somehow miss the meaning of the festival."

[the_marshal]

"Not from me ya won't," he promised, nodding as he wrestled with his mouth.

But he did shift, leaning a fraction closer - enough for their shoulders to bump. Close enough for him to drop his voice and still be heard.

"Though I it would be remiss'a me if I didn't tell ya that ya'd already given me everythin' I could want."

[gluteus]

He did chuckle then, only the slightest bit of colour running under his skin and he ducked his head to smother both.

"Mmhmm," He said as he fought the grin down. "How sentimental," He teased, looking up and obviously way too pleased. "Perhaps I should get you something incredibly practical to balance it out."

[the_marshal]

It was nothing but the truth. For the first time in so long, despite the weight of the Capitol and everything they'd done, he was happy.

Because of Max. Just by having him in his life.

There was nothing else he wanted for. ...Nothing that Max could give him anyway. (Nothing they wouldn't earn together.)

"What about you, huh?" Grinning, he bumped Max's shoulder again, playfully this time. "What's a guy get for the victor who's got everythin'?"

[gluteus]

"How about some semblance of peace?" Maximus asked, grinning, because he knew he'd already found it but he could still be a grumbling old man if he wanted.

"A quiet afternoon?"

He paused as they came across a small jeweller's shop, looking in the window. The work wasn't so ostentatious, and--

"Ah - I think I may have found something for Joan, at least."

[the_marshal]

Wyatt chewed over that, taking it to heart even if Max only meant it as a joke... and stopped a step after Max did, turning back to join him at the window.

"Hmm," he hummed softly, eyes roving over the gleaming pieces on the soft velvet bed beyond the glass. "'Spose women haven't changed so much as to not appreciate somethin' that sparkles."

[gluteus]

"Gold tends to be a safe bet, man or woman," Maximus said with a slightly cynical smirk before he motioned for Wyatt to follow him into the store.

It only took a moment - he outlined to the clerk what it was that he wanted and since they already had one nearly to specifications it only took a moment for them to bring it out. A gold bracelet, simply fashioned in the shape of a snake.

"Yes, that should do," He murmured with a smile.

[the_marshal]

"How 'bout for a dragon?" Wyatt asked from behind him, amused, as the little bell above the door chimed happily.

The stories said they did... but then the old tales also said they enjoyed virgin snacks, tied out to stakes. The Capitol might have been alright with that, given their stance on murder, but he hardly was.

He drifted the length of the gleaming counter, watching Max's transaction with one eye and taking in the baubles with the other.

"Congratulations, Max," he chuckled, wandering back as the bracelet was being boxed. "Yer first Christmas present."