[ the week after christmas and before new year's is always a strange one, like the bermuda triangle of time where everything sort of feels stuck or in limbo. back home, for marta, it's the days where the christmas decorations still stay up, but maybe the lights aren't always turned on like they were every night before the 25th, where christmas music still played on the radio, but they were much fewer and farther between. here on the station, it feels a little like the long slog home from a night of partying — the festivities and cheers have died, so have the excuses to be merry. slowly the people here slide back into their "normal" lives... whatever that new normal might look like.
honestly it makes her feel a little restless.
it's the first holidays she hadn't spent with her family, the thought enough to pull her into a surely depressive spiral that would certainly not be aided by an idle mind, so she decides if she cannot be home right now, she'll bring as much of home here with her. (it's a much more sentimental thought than she'd normally have but... well what else are the holidays for!)
but that's why rosinante will find her the way that he does that day: straining up on a stack of books, trying her hardest to snag a long-since wilted sprig of mistletoe handing from the ceiling. ]
[Despite all that Christmas stuff being over, many of the decorations still linger around the station. Setting up is something people enjoy, but unsurprisingly, cleaning up afterward is less popular. Or maybe it's tradition to leave them up until well after the holiday itself, who knows. Rosinante isn't a neat freak or anything, but he's had enough run-ins with the decor (literally) and it's really starting to wear thin.
It's about the time he considers asking if he can just start taking things down for his own safety that he spots Marta on top of her stack of books, maybe trying to do some of that tear-down he's been hoping for. He clears his throat to make sure his approach has been noticed, as if the giant shadow looming down the hallway wasn't enough.]
Time to take it all down, huh? Want a hand?
[Since... he can get these a lot more easily than she can, surely. He already even has experience doing it by mistake.]
[ she probably makes a pretty sad sight. while she isn't the shortest on the station, she's certainly nowhere near the tallest, so her meager stack of books only give her about a foot and a half's worth of a boost. if at all. hard to keep balance and stretch out without risking a fall, so her attempts thus far have been a lot of wobbling and waving a futile hand around.
needless to say, rosinante's presence and offer is met with equal parts relief and hope. ]
You sure you don't mind?
[ still, reflex has her making sure she isn't being an inconvenience. even if it is just a matter of him reaching up high enough to scratch his ear. ]
[Not only does he not mind, he's happy to get rid of the things. He replies not with his words, not at first, but instead by taking the last few steps over and yanking that chunk of mistletoe down from where it's been hung, ribbon and all, and putting it in her reaching hand.]
Was gonna ask someone if I could, but I didn't know how long they're usually supposed to stay up for. I've had enough plants in my face to last a lifetime.
[ marta settles back for a more sturdy position over her books, looking both relieved and impressed at how easily he accomplishes a task she'd just been struggling over. she laughs a little breathlessly, turning the dried up plant over in her hand. ]
Some say right after Christmas, some leave them up till well into summer. I was thinking I'd repurpose these, though.
[ she takes his hand without hesitation, hopping off with no wear to the leather she'd been perched over. once grounded, she turns back to rosinante, showing him the plant in her hand. she's already begun to break off the dried up leaves, baring just the little branches. ]
Back home, my family and I had a little tradition at the end of every year. Take a bunch of twigs, make a little doll out of them, then burn it all down as a way to leave behind all the bad that's happened to you in the past year.
I thought these old plants would make for some good twigs.
Wow. Yeah, real twigs are hard to come by here, aren't they? Instead of simulation room ones. That's a cool tradition. Must feel pretty good.
[A nice tangible way to mentally rid yourself of bad shit? Yeah, he could've used that over the years. Sometimes he feels a little like his cigarettes can accomplish something like it when he's especially contemplative, but considering he gets through a pack a day or more, not all of them can have that much meaning.]
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action | december 31st
honestly it makes her feel a little restless.
it's the first holidays she hadn't spent with her family, the thought enough to pull her into a surely depressive spiral that would certainly not be aided by an idle mind, so she decides if she cannot be home right now, she'll bring as much of home here with her. (it's a much more sentimental thought than she'd normally have but... well what else are the holidays for!)
but that's why rosinante will find her the way that he does that day: straining up on a stack of books, trying her hardest to snag a long-since wilted sprig of mistletoe handing from the ceiling. ]
no subject
It's about the time he considers asking if he can just start taking things down for his own safety that he spots Marta on top of her stack of books, maybe trying to do some of that tear-down he's been hoping for. He clears his throat to make sure his approach has been noticed, as if the giant shadow looming down the hallway wasn't enough.]
Time to take it all down, huh? Want a hand?
[Since... he can get these a lot more easily than she can, surely. He already even has experience doing it by mistake.]
no subject
needless to say, rosinante's presence and offer is met with equal parts relief and hope. ]
You sure you don't mind?
[ still, reflex has her making sure she isn't being an inconvenience. even if it is just a matter of him reaching up high enough to scratch his ear. ]
no subject
Was gonna ask someone if I could, but I didn't know how long they're usually supposed to stay up for. I've had enough plants in my face to last a lifetime.
no subject
Some say right after Christmas, some leave them up till well into summer. I was thinking I'd repurpose these, though.
no subject
[He smiles at her obvious relief, and offers her a hand to help her step down from the book pile.]
no subject
Back home, my family and I had a little tradition at the end of every year. Take a bunch of twigs, make a little doll out of them, then burn it all down as a way to leave behind all the bad that's happened to you in the past year.
I thought these old plants would make for some good twigs.
no subject
[A nice tangible way to mentally rid yourself of bad shit? Yeah, he could've used that over the years. Sometimes he feels a little like his cigarettes can accomplish something like it when he's especially contemplative, but considering he gets through a pack a day or more, not all of them can have that much meaning.]