#me? bitter that tumblr didn't properly post this after 3 hours of emotional typing and im just noticing 2 days after the fact?

[octohook-blog]

Sea Three X-Mas HC/Drabble

☆ Just as there has been a silent ban on love and affection on the island, the same went for the mention or practice of peaceful holidays, particularly those in the winter.

   ☆ Many of the children’s parents remember the days of joy and good cheer before being banished to the island—most with bitter memories, some with repressed longing—it makes them s i c k.

   ☆ Uma and Harry never heard of Christmas until Gil mentioned it. His dad was moodier than usual in the winter, and would spend many a night drinking until he was mumbling about his past.

  ☆ One of the things he let slip was how the town he grew up in sparkled and glistened like the inside of something called a ‘snow globe.’ He mumbled about how the villagers lined the streets with red ribbons, decorated trees with colorful ornaments, and hung evergreen wreaths and bows on their doors and candles and snowflakes in the windows. How he sat in the tavern next to fireplaces that roared and warmed the room, drank ale and rare, seasoned meat until he was stuffed, and was surrounded by people who (supposedly) admired him as well as feared him.

   ☆ The images that their imaginations painted as Gil went on recalling his father’s drunken monologue filled them with a cluster of emotions— confusion, wonder, and the strongest one of all, excitement.

☆ They were children when Gil brought this up. Before they were a pirate crew of the Lost Revenge, before they had control over territories, before the islanders had the sense to fear them (or Uma and Harry that is). So when Uma made the decision that they were going to have their own Christmas, it was only between the 3 of them.

  ☆ Uma would find a way to secretly cook something for them (“something that’s NOT fish and chips” she swore); Harry was in charge of decorating their hideout (Uma wanted to do it but Harry couldn’t boil water let alone find someway to turn bilge into something edible); and Gil, well Gil was responsible for their music– meaning he was to find out more about these holiday songs and teach them to Harry and Uma. And finally, for the presents, they would do the same old same old – steal something for one another.

  ☆ During following days, the daughter of Ursula, son of Hook and son of Gatson had to hide the skip in their steps with stomps, and wipe their grins off with sneers.

   ☆ They would never admit it, but on the night of Christmas Eve, none of them could sleep very well. This strange excitement bubbling inside them kept them up almost the entire night.

   ☆ Christmas Day arrives and they all wake up bright and early. They stuff their presents in burlap bags and head off to the hideout – Harry gets there first of course, making the final arrangements.

   ☆ When Uma and Gil are outside the hideout Harry instructs them to close their eyes before coming in (btw I have a hc of them having a hideout in a cave that’s in a secluded area of the beach)

   ☆ They humor him and shut their eyes– when they open them again, there are lanterns and candles of all shapes, sizes and colors scattered across the rocky ground and sitting on rocks; strips of cloth made of assorted materials slathered with paste are draped across the walls, and standing in the middle the small space was a coat hanger shrouded in a ridiculous amount of seaweed, sea shells and starfish hung by fishing hooks and lines. And at the foot of the makeshift “tree” were his gifts: one wrapped in ripped up newspaper (“let’s see you try wrapping paper with a hook.”) and held together by a limp, ragged strip of scarf for a ribbon, and the other, apparently, was somewhere inside a striped sock (that may or may not have been Mr. Smee’s).

   ☆ Uma found apples in the bin of leftovers and salvaged them as best she could and mixed them with some butter, flour and oats in a skillet the night before Christmas Eve to make some (odd but refreshing to their oil and salt stained palette) oatmeal bars. (“I still can’t believe my mom didn’t wake up at the smell of something else other than fish cooking.”) She also managed to ground up enough old coffee beans to fill a flask of weak coffee. (Tasted like muddy water, but it was warm and beat a blank —they needed something to wash down those bars.)

   ☆ Gil was excited to share his knowledge of the one song he’d managed to learn to sing and play on his harmonica (which was a hell of an ordeal of probing his dad into remembering the songs sung at the tavern, followed by listening to a slurred recollection of ‘Deck the Halls’ to get a feeling for the rhythm and lyrics—which Gil had a feeling wasn’t 100% correct because there was quite a bit of his father’s infamous vanity, unnecessary violence, and tons of expletives in there. Not to mention the weird implications of things Gaston would like do to pretty women that Gil didn’t quite understand yet)

   ☆ The gifts… Now, they weren’t expecting teddy bears and dolls or bags of gold and silver. But they also weren’t expecting to feel the slight awkwardness that came about as they handed over crumpled paper tied up with string, or taking such a liking to their presents. (I also have a hc that some of their accessories are gifts from one another over the years)

   ☆ Uma → Harry: Black and gold bead bracelet

       Uma → Gil: Golden skull ring

   ☆ Gil → Uma: Pearl bracelet

       Gil → Harry: Skull belt

   ☆ Harry → Gil: Bull necklace

       Harry → Uma: Blue nail polish (mkAY HEar mE OUt rEAL qUICk: this came from an idea that the kids have their color scheme thing going on, Mal and Uma are frenemies, and Mal being a privileged VK was probably like that girl who was the first to do/have nicer things before everyone else —first to wear earrings, first to wear makeup, first to wear heels, etc.— and Uma wanted to do things like that, but she was NOT going to look like a copycat… anyway Harry may have noticed how she looks at her chipped, dirty nails with disgust and stole the bottle from Lady Tremaine’s beauty salon… ya feel me?)

   ☆ Most of the things didn’t fit too well–they were children with thin wrists, slender fingers and malnourished bodies doing their best to grow under cloudy skies and cold, steely eyes—but that didn’t dampen their eagerness and their fascination with the trinkets. The words ‘thank you’ would never come to mind, but who needs words anyway when they had smiles pushing the apple of their cheeks to sparkling, crescent eyes and their giggles ringing in the cave like twinkling bells.

   ☆ They spent the rest of the day in the cave. Because they know that once they went back to outskirts of the town—back their reality, their lives as children on the Isle of the Lost, offspring of the kingdom’s most wicked souls—it was over. Brushed under the rug. And who could guarantee a villain’s kid that there would be a next year to look forward to?

   ☆ So they spent hours talking about nothing and laughing about everything, eating and drinking, singing, and dancing to their rendition of Deck the Halls (as told by a drunk, and equally conceited Gatson); drinking in every ounce of safety their hideout provided, knowing that as their laughter and—dare they say— cheer bounced off the walls of the small cave, their only witnesses were the flat grey skies and stagnant black waters.

   ☆ If they tried to ask each other why they willingly celebrated such a strange holiday, Uma might have said it was just for something to break the dull pace. Gil might’ve said he were in it for the part about presents and food. And Harry: just to break the rules and get away with it.

  ☆ But they didn’t question it.

  ☆ And as the sky darkened to the color of the sand under their boots, and the remaining lit candles flickered the last of their light off the limestone, they sat on a rock, huddled together as the temperatures dropped, gazing out the mouth of the cove at the darkness, postponing the inevitable a little while longer. Wishing for a moment that they were inside that tavern, with their bellies filled with candy, bread, meat and warm cider —while at the same time finding as much contentment as they could in their now.