(Untitled)

[hadyougoing]

Ava is roasting chestnuts on a somewhat-less-than-open fire.

She's not really sure what you do with the chestnuts once you roast them, so this seems to mostly entail tossing chestnuts into the fire and watching them blacken. But she also has eggnog, and has broken out her Santa hat for the occasion, and is currently tying the final ribbons onto

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[not_lugosi]

In a flagrant abuse of Millitime, Bela does indeed stop by. You know how holidays are - all the days run together!

"Hey, Ava."

The fang marks on Bela's neck are gone. This is because she's paid a sorcerer a lot of money to take care of the problem. Magic is gross and dangerous, for the most part, but it does come in handy.

"My God, a Santa hat now? You're going all out."

[hadyougoing]

"All the way out!" Ava agrees, beamily.

"Do you want your present?"

[not_lugosi]

"Wait, you have a present for me?"

Bela is definitely not used to getting presents from people. It just doesn't tend to happen.

[hadyougoing]

"Duh," Ava says, making a face.

She picks up a box decorated in gingerbread-people wrapping paper and shakes it invitingly.

[not_lugosi]

"Oh. Wow. Okay," she says, holding her hands out to take the box. She's really surprised.

"I had no idea."

[hadyougoing]

Bela will probably be more surprised when she opens it and realizes that Ava's tastes in gifts run to the bizarre and ironic.

(She got her a scarf! A pretty scarf! To ward off vampires!)

"Don't worry about it," Ava says blithely. "Last year I got a totally awesome present from Andrew, and I didn't have anything to give him back. I'm paying it forward."

[not_lugosi]

"Well, I have bought things for friends before, so perhaps it's karma."

Like, you know, apartments in another world's Manhattan. It's only money. She doesn't have too long left to spend it all.

"I guess a 'Merry Christmas' is in order."

She opens the present in a tentative fashion. When she sees the scarf, she laughs.

"Nice. I'd better dunk it in holy water and wrap it round my neck now."

[hadyougoing]

"Ooooh, washing it in holy water would be totally tricky," Ava says appreciatively.

"And then a demon couldn't strangle you to death, either." It's multipurpose! "Merry Christmas Bela!"

[not_lugosi]

"You know, that's actually a really good idea. Multipurpose!"

She ties the scarf around her neck. She doesn't love scarves, but this one is a nice one. She prefers them when they aren't covering up sordid vampire marks.

"You've been okay, yeah? No memory loss or pains in the neck?"

[hadyougoing]

"All clear so far," Ava says brightly.

She leans forward conspiratorially, smile turning practically incandescent.

"But I kind of hope he does try something. You know?"

[not_lugosi]

"I know what you mean."

She pats the vials of holy water in her jacket pocket. The bastard won't know what hit him if he tries anything with her again.

"Oh, wait. Maybe I know what you mean. What do you mean?"

[hadyougoing]

She blinks.

Innocently.

"Well-- I've got a great benefit package at work. Shielding, sort-of invulnerability, occasional teleportation privileges ... it's pretty awesome." She waves a hand. "So you know, if he tried anything with amnesia and biting, I could probably get the drop on him."

[not_lugosi]

"Fabulous," she grins. "I guess that's the perk of working for an organization such as yours. Much better than freelancing."

[hadyougoing]

"Right?" Ava says brightly.

"I feel pretty good about it."

[not_lugosi]

"I'm glad it's working out. If you don't like your job..."

She sighs. "Not that I don't like mine. It's been repetitive of late. If you add in the endearing hijinks here? Ides of March. Even though it's April."

[hadyougoing]

She tilts her head.

"What is your job? I feel like you told me but maybe I forgot."