"
Now... I wonder what I should get?" Tomo mumbled to himself as he trudged along the busy and festively lit streets. Of course the stereotypical thing was a gift card, maybe some socks, possibly a sweater... but that just was boring and bland! He didn't want his loved ones to think he thought they were generic; he wanted to show how much he appreciated them!
Sighing to himself while crossing his arms over his chest, Tomoyo glided accross window front to window front searching for some item that someone like Noxa or Hinawa would want. Eyes darting every which way as each lit up stand proved to snatch his attention from the other, Tomo was practically spinning in circles trying to decide where to go. Urgh, he was getting nowhere fast! Sticking out an arm while continuing to pirouette on the snowy ground, Tomo covered his eyes with his free arm before counting down from 10. "
...5. 4. 3. 2. I'm gonna piiiiick... YOU!" Planting both feet firmly into the crunching ice, Tomo opened his spinning eyes to spot the place his extended finger had landed on.
The store he was pointing at certainly didn't look shabby. In fact it looked quite festive having doors and windows adorned with green plants and lights alike, heck they even had fake snow and ice on their windows for even if the weather hadn't been right for the season! You had to admit, that was dedication to aesthetic~ Skipping off towards the glass doors that led inside, Tomo struggled a bit at first to push upon the frozen still glass before thankfully breaking whatever thin layer of ice held it in place before the panes jiggled foreward on their hinges. A bell rang from above the hybrid's head while the metal lined door clattered back into place behind the child with an audible click.
"
Oh a customer." An old man announced quite quietly, his gaze hiding partially behind heavy layered glasses and hanging over the top of a newspaper he was reading. Seated behind the counter, the man looked to be of the late 40s to 50s age by the state of his wrinkles and just the way he carried himself; this was the demeanor of a man that had seen some things in his day. "
Huh... oh, just a kid..." Partially dismissing Tomoyo's possibility of patronage, the old man with the name-tag on his uniform saying "Chuck" neatly folded his ink blotched paper before setting it softly on the counter top and leaning in to more closely look at the child in front of him. "
You lost, kiddo? If you're looking for your mom, there hasn't been anyone walking inside in the past hour or two." Clasping his knarled hand together quite gently, Chuck leered down at Tomoyo with a friendly smile.
Shaking his head 'no' in response though, Tomo stuffed his hand into his pocket before pulling out the sizable bag of change he had been saving up for the past month or so. "
Nu-uh, Mister." Patting his chest matter of fact-ly, the half Human tilted his neck up to stare the man back with his own brand of smiling. "
I need to buy stuff for gifts!"
"
...gifts huh?" Letting out a sigh, but figuring out he had nothing better to do, Chuck's stool screeched along the linoleum floor for a few seconds before he begrudgingly got onto his feet. A sickening pop issuing from the older Human's joints as he began moving again, the reluctant employee shuffled out from the counter before bending down to rest his hands on his knees and better speak to the child on his level. "
So.. Who's the gifts for? I might be able to help if you don't got an idea."
Eyes lighting up at this helpful stranger offering to help find a gift, Tomoyo hopped up and down in excited thankfulness. "
Really!? Wow, thanks!" The ecstatic child exclaimed before calming himself down enough to speak clearly. "
Um.. Let's see... I need something you'd get a really close friends and... um.. like Sisters!"
"
Huh... something for your sisters?" The old man echoed the statement, rolling the idea around on his tongue before thinking of what'd be the best gift; of course he'd also have to take into account the budget of the child, it'd probably not be big... and most of all it had to be something heartfelt too right? "
Hm..." Rolling his hand, beckoning Tomoyo to follow him, Chuck shuffled down one of the isles of the store past many Christmas themed lawn decorations before coming up on what looked to be another clearing between lanes... only this one was filled with-
"Arts and Crafts?" Tomo asked, almost confused by what was being pointed out to him. Spread out in front of the two was a rather large station and table consisting of lots of things of which a child could make arts like in a classroom; there were tubs of crayons, paper, safety scissors, macaroni, heck there was even what looked to be metal chains and jewelry making materials!
Nodding at the child, confirming his observation, Chuck folded his arms as his striped uniform ruffled revealing his thin extremities. "
Arts and Crafts. In my experience kiddo, it's not how expensive a gift is... but what it means." Reaching down a hand to ruffle Tomoyo's hair, Chuck ran the same hand through the back of his own hair before letting out a nervous laugh. "
If you make it yourself, trust me your sisters are gonna love it even more."
"
Just let me know when you're done and I'll ring up the stuff you make." With that final note to basically go wild in gift making, Chuck shuffled back down to the storefront and his station behind the main counter where the old Human would wait for new costumers and the current one making gifts.
Watching the old man go briefly before turning back to the large arts and crafts station... a curious smile began creeping across Tomoyo's face.
"Huh... I can make the gift myself? ...Then I'll make everyone GREAT GIFTS!!!" Rolling up his proverbial sleeves, Tomo stuffed his bag of zeni back into his pocket before setting to work! Pulling a bright yellow plastic chair closer to the table, Tomoyo sat down before setting to work making gifts. First off, was Noxa!
Here was a really tough one to make... What would he give Noxa that she'd really like? After many minutes though of deliberating and rolling ideas through his brain, Tomo finally settled on two things. The first of which was a good, old fashioned macaroni picture! Armed with lots of glue, lots of macaroni, and lots of patience, the dedicated child began painstakingly cutting and pasting pieces of dried macaroni shells onto a cream colored manila paper before gluing them in shape. Working up a mental image of the scarlet Amazon, it's just be safe to say that by the end there were a LOT of red shells surrounding a long work of black and white ones. Making the scene that of a stereotypical sunny day in the background, Tomo also made sure to make himself in the macaroni where he depicted rather sloppily himself standing next to the bio-android holding hands and smiling! (or at least that's how he pictured it. The finished product wasn't exactly... "to scale".)
Satisfied with the work he'd done on the picture, Tomo slid it off to the side before pulling towards him another tub; this time, this one was filled instead with different kinds of ornate metal chains and ornaments. Pulling out one link that was made up of 3 twisting bands, Tomo felt this one would work best as it reminded him of Noxa's hair! It was even a reddish silver to boot (though that may just have been the metal aging and rusting over). Sliding a bead or two onto each side of the link, Tomo topped it all off with a final piece of metal he had found after ruffling through the surrounding tubs of materials. Sliding the ornate chain through its small hole, Tomoyo laid to rest hanging off of the very center of the necklace a metal plate bearing nothing special; it was simply a heart shaped coin about as thick as 2 pennies stacked on each other, a stunning silver with its letter engraved in red, the plate bore a large capitol
"N" on the front. On the very back of it, trying to add that extra oomph, Tomoyo began slowly scratching his nail into the metal; it's shape partially giving way at the small points, a small message began tracing along his nail's trails until it spelled out a small but simple message. "
Love, Tomo!"
Feeling like the necklace concept was pretty good, Tomo decided to apply similar things to his other friends! He made Tekuma one with a T, and a similar message, but her's he made out of curly white strings wrapped through the chain links that reminded the child of his Sister's tail and horns. Outlined in blue beads to compliment a blue bracelet Tomo also created, those items too went into a plastic bag for gifting later!
For Tulip, Tomo made her quite a nice broach, originally just a metal with a pin, but the child had managed to bend in the shape of wings before placing a sword sticker across the back of it. Smiling at the fond memory of reforming his attachment with the sister figure, the child smiled to himself before beginning to hum holiday tunes. Wrapping the pin's tip in paper, that too went into the bag in wait of completion.
For Levlidian and Hinawa, Tomoyo made matching red and orange bracelets that spelled out "Tomo's Friends." Although he was a little hesitant at first when making an item for Lev... eventually the boy gave in, no longer inhibited in thinking by his rage or the beast's jerkish attitude. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, the guy was TECHNICALLY his friend too... plus it was Christmas, and Tomo wasn't going to be accused of being a scrooge! Placing lots of fire decals and music stickers across Hinawa's bracelet, Tomo also made sure to include other stickers resembling fists around the outer rim of Lev's symbolizing what he thought fit their personality. By the time he was finished, Tomo was feeling really satisfied with the amount of presents he had put together for his friends! Heck he had even surprised himself by the amount the child had gotten done in just an hour's time.
As for the only other person Tomo hadn't made a gift for, his "master" Ayumu... well, Tomo had something already pretty special set aside for him; so there was no need~
Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead before stretching his arms above his head, the child extended his nearly cramped limbs simultaneously with a hint of satisfaction while letting out a drawn out sigh. "
Aaaaaah~" Scooting his plastic chair back a foot or so from the table, Tomo stood up to his full height before shrugging the now full plastic bag he carried onto his shoulders. "
Hey Mister. I finished!" The hybrid Saiyan called out to the still awaiting old man, skipping towards the counter with a spring in his step; with each small hop Tomo's bag let out a small, metallic jingle signalling the items it held. Heck, he felt almost like Santa now!
"
Oh, you're already done?" Chuck rhetorically questioned, motioning for Tomo to hand him the bag to scan the items. Chuckling a little under the surprisingly heavy weight of the bag, the old man lugged it onto the counter before beginning to type the items as he saw them under the plastic. "
Hmm... Let's see. 2 necklaces, 1 macaroni painting, 3 bracelets, and 1 broach. Subtract twenty due to task, include holiday discount and-HOLY HELL!" Eyes practically bulging out of his head, Chuck stared down at the items Tomo looked, his gaze shifting guiltily between the objects and the excited kid's innocent gaze. Sweating slightly the old man rubbed the back of his head nervously. ".
..How did the kid manage to grab all of the expensive items? They weren't even from that isle!" Complaining in his head about the situation he was in, Chuck took a deep breath to regain his calm. It was too bad, but he'd have to ask the kid to go put these back since he obviously didn't have 74k zeni to spend on gifts...
"
But... How do I say no to those eyes~?" Tugging at his collar, Chuck began seeing confusion in Tomoyo's eyes as he began wondering what was taking so long. "
Urgh..." Pressing a button on the computer's screen, Chuck detracted 60k of the price... from his own pay. "
I can't let a kid down for Christmas." Mumbling to himself at how crazy he was to be doing this, the old man let off a loose, tired smile before turning his gaze back at Tomoyo. "
That'll be fourteen thousand zeni please." Smiling at the child to hide how panic'ed he had felt moments ago, Chuck gently rolled the bag back over the counter to Tomoyo while said child pulled back from his pocket his money.
"
Woah, that's a lot!" Tomo exclaimed, surprised it had cost him that much just for a few art stuff! "
That must be expensive macaroni."
"
You have no idea, kiddo." Groaning slightly, but still relatively satisfied with how happy the kid had stayed, Chuck took the money handed to him from the child. In reality, it totaled up to only 9,500 zeni... eh, but he'd let it slide. "
I've already taken off sixty, what's 500 zeni gonna kill?"
Handing the child a roll of gift wrap and a few ribbons for his troubles, Tomo was soon skipping out of the store completely oblivious to what had occurred... But hey, at least he still had presents now to give to everyone! "
Oooh, I can't wait to see all of their faces~" Smirking to himself as the child's feet crunched into the shallow snow, the half Human let off a jolly laugh into the cold winter air before soon disappearing in the festive, snowy night.
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
(OOC: I'll be taking Zeni + Human Hybrid Bonus Please)
