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In the midst of the mildly untolerable cold of the Fontainian winter, the warm and cozy hue of the fireplace enveloped the main dining hall of Hotel Bouffes d’ete. Providing its inhabitants with an incandescent blanket and allowing them peaceful repose. Although as it happened, its actual inhabitants were already in their respective rooms, asleep due to the time of the night. Only two people fully awake near the fireplace.
And although Collei couldn't exactly be considered an official member, none of the kids had any quarrel with treating her as such, never hesitating to invite her to their game. Her presence was always welcomed by all of them and most especially the three highest steps of this pyramid called the House of the Heart (besides Father, of course). With all of this in mind, how could she not repay such hospitality?
Knowing words were often lacking to express her gratitude. She figured actions would do! Fast forward to two hours after dinner had ended. She had now found herself sitting near the chimney, sewing and sewing and sewing with seemingly no end, a pile of plushies already settled beside her.
As the night progressed, she found her focus wavering as she heard the soft rustling of the carpet behind her. A smile forming on her face as she could instantly tell who it was. Those steps were too quiet to be Lyney or any of the other kids of the hearth, but couldn't still match Lynette’s level of stealth. So there was only one possible answer…
“Freminet?” She whispered, tilting her back.
The steps ceased momentarily. Having his small cover blown, the diver stepped into the light.
“S-Sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you.” Freminet whispered back timidly, earning a giggle from the girl.
“Don't worry about it! I could use some company” Collei patted the space next to her as a request for him to come closer, to which Freminet complied. As he sat beside her, Collei held up the cat-shaped plush she was in the process of making, her smile turning a bit proud. “What do you think? This one's for Lynette!”
Freminet unconsciously found her expression to be contagious. A faint smile forming on his face too.
“I think she'll like it…” Freminet whispered with honesty, reaching out to feel the texture of the plushie. It also had a curious shape and it was well made. He was sure it would at least get a smile out of his sister. He then gave it back to Collei and decided to inquire a little. “Are you making one for everyone?”
Collei noded and let out an enthusiastic “Mhm!”, beckoning to the pile of stuffed animals beside her. The sheer amount startled Freminet.
“Y-You didn’t have to…” He scratched his arm a bit nervously. He had an immense appreciation for the effort Collei put on looking beyond the fact that this was an entire conglomerate of future Fatui soldiers. And how she seemed to want to go above and beyond with gestures like this.
“Well… I know maybe I didn’t have to, but I just wanted to… well, do something for you guys for a change! You’ve all been very nice to me, hehe…” Now it was Collei’s turn to feel shy about it all.
“Please, we’re just trying to be nice. I… I think it’s the least you deserve…” Freminet averted his gaze slightly. And this earned another giggle from the forest ranger, though this one came with shyness behind it.
“Well… Thank you! I appreciate it, Freminet…”
A moment of awkward silence then ensued, what were they supposed to say after that wouldn't leave them in a state of complete embarrassment?
“Do you want-”
“Do you think-”
Both of those sentences were started and interrupted at the same time.
“I-I was saying that-”
“I’m sorry, i didn’t mean-”
Both of them laughed and their cheeks went a bit red. This loop they entered whenever they wanted to come to an agreement on something was a common occurrence whenever they tried to argue about it. Constantly trapped by their mutual politeness.
“You first-”
“You first-”
Both stared at each other, the unison in that sentence had been ridiculous. And it made them both giggle after a few seconds.
“Are we ever gonna grow out of that?” Collei asked in between her laughter.
“I-I hope we do someday…” Freminet rubbed the back of his head, a smile that was a bit bigger than his usual faint ones on his face. Feeling just the slightest bit emboldened by his current mirth, he decided to take the initiative for a change. “I wanted to ask you if you… well, if you needed help with that. Those are a lot of plushies…”
Collei felt a bit surprised about this, but happy all the same. She would never say no to spending more time with Freminet.
“I’d like that very much.” She said, sitting back on the carpet and taking some pieces of cloth and rolls of thread. “Do you know how to sew?”
It was at that moment when Freminet realized he didn’t think things through before offering her his help, this realization made him freeze.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Collei immediately caught on to his fear and gave him a grin she knew would reassure him. “I’ll help you out, we all start somewhere after all!”
Freminet cleared his throat, appreciating the fact Collei didn’t make fun of him…
“Thank you…”
Fast-forward to a few minutes. Collei took spent a good deal of her time, patience and kindness in explaining the intricate and rocket science-like basics of making a plushie: the precision with which they had to be stitched and just the right amount of cotton so it wouldn’t explode and how it could be finely decorated with the thread to make it have a face… At least that’s the way and the importance with which it was registered in Freminet’s mind.
“There, there. You have to keep a good distance between each hole, a little too close and they’ll just… uh, merge into each other and create a pretty bad gap… A little too far and it’ll squeeze the plushie when I try to tie it.” Collei explained as she indicated to Freminet how to weave the two halves of the plushie once it was filled.
“Got it.” Freminet nodded almost dutifully. In truth, this wasn’t that much different than when he worked on his clockwork meka, the soft and malleable material of the cloth was a contrast that got awkward at times, yes. But the millimetric precision he had developed over the years was absolutely coming in handy.
“Nice, you’re doing well. Now just tie the end into a nod
“...and… there.” Freminet announced once he tied the thread in a neat nod. Signifying his round shaped plushie was complete. Subconsciously, a big smile formed on his face, and he didn’t hesitate to display it for Collei to see.
“It’s the Clockwork Guardsman.”
Freminet’s expression warmed Collei’s heart in a way she couldn’t explain. She knew that he was constantly dreaming of bringing the characters in his fairy tales to life. And it was just dawning upon her that she had just helped him take a step forward in his intent.
“You did an awesome job, Freminet.” Collei congratulated with full honesty. Placing her hand on his shoulder.” The diver turned to look at her, his lips quivering and his eyes glistening. At the sight of such an expression, Collei couldn’t help but to mirror it.
She then leaned in and hugged him.
“A-Ah! Are you sure-” Freminet tensed, startled by this. As much as it was coming from her, he wasn’t so sure if Collei would be okay with this sort of display of physical affection, but was quickly soothed by her shaking her head.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Collei whispered, burying her head in her shoulder. “I don’t mind as long as it’s you…”
Freminet gulped. If she didn’t mind… guess he might as well wouldn’t too. Melting into the hug and wrapping her arms around her again.
They remained like that for a few more minutes until Collei finally pulled back. She looked flustered, but in a different way than she usually was flustered. She looked happy.
“Want me to help you make Mr. Fox too?” She then offered out of nowhere, much to Freminet’s surprise.
“Kuuuu…”
“Yeah, I know. I know. I’ll make you something to eat…” Lyney groggily replied to his sister’s plea. Rubbing his eyes as he walked down to the main hall of the hotel.
“Kuuuu…” Lynette followed right behind him. Eyes half-open and hair unkempt.
Once Lyney opened the door. The sight before him quickly made the sleepiness fade away completely from the faces of both of the twins
“What the…”
“Woah…”
Piles upon piles of plushies lay all around the now extinct fireplace, Lyney recognized a big portion of them as the characters from Freminet’s fairy tales books. Even crouching to grab one and examine it carefully. Had this been his doing? But Freminet didn’t know how to sew. Had it been their current guest? But she couldn’t have done all of this on her own in one night, could she?
The answer came to him once he glanced at the sofa, and it produced a smirk on him.
“Of course.”
“...Soft, I like it.” Lynette whispered to herself. Feeling the texture of another one of the plushies and smiling. They had done a good job…
*Click!*
The silent popping of a kamera Lyney took out of archons-know-where made her look in his direction and narrow her eyes.
“Give me that thing, you…” Lynette said, snatching the device from his brother’s hand.
“Hey!” Lyney complained, trying to reach it back before she made it vanish into thin air.
“Come on, walk along. Did you forget I'm hungry?” Lynette urged, giving her brother little pushes to get him to the kitchen.
“Fine, fine! I’ll retrieve that anyways somehow.” Lyney pouted, leaving the room along with his sister.
“Sure you will.” Lynette rolled her eyes “But let’s let them be for now.” Right as Lyney entered the doors of the kitchen, she took a glance back at the sofa.
“Good for you, Freminet…” She thought before leaving the room.
Back there, Freminet and Collei had both fallen asleep, the former leaning against her shoulder and with one of the most peaceful smiles the magician had ever seen in her brother’s face.