A Christmas tree lot on the mainland- Tuesday

[throughaphase]

After two years as a couple, there were almost too many options for where to spend the holidays, and after some deliberation Clint and Kitty decided that they'd stay in Fandom for once. And if they were going to stay here, then Kitty figured they at least had to do it right, which meant there was going to have to be a tree.

Besides, Kitty was kind of glad to get off island, because while she'd had the foresight to bring an umbrella for the snow, there were still patches of her clothes that had been turned colors, thanks a lot, Fandom.

"I thought we'd be cutting it close, but this is still a lot of trees," Kitty said, looking around.

[For the shopping partner.]

Comments

[so_hawkward]

"I was going to tease you and ask if this counts as your first Hannukah present," Clint said. "I don't typically do a tree either, obviously. We had this fake one when I was a kid, it was okay, but getting the lights to work was always problematic."

[throughaphase]

"Oh, that'll be easy," Kitty assured him.

It was not. At some point while trying to do the lights, Kitty was guaranteed to throw a ball of them across the floor while yelling "NEXT YEAR WE'RE GETTING A PRE-LIT ONE." There was no question about this happening.

"Do we need to get all the decorations too?"

[so_hawkward]

"We should probably get some decorations, yeah. Unless you want to buy some candy canes and just hang those up," Clint said. "But real ornaments would probably look nicer."

[throughaphase]

"And more fun," Kitty added. "Though you are talking to the one that keeps sneaking superheroes and Space Battles characters onto the tree at the mansion..."

[so_hawkward]

"If you want, you can put something nerdy at the top of the tree," Clint offered. "I don't have anything specific I want."

[throughaphase]

"I'm not sure you want to give me that kind of power..." she teased.

What was the meta for Daleks...?

[so_hawkward]

Clint thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. "No, I want to give you exactly that kind of power," he said, laughing. "It's our tree, right? You should get to decide on how at least some of it looks."

[throughaphase]

Kitty rubbed her hands together. "Mwahaha. Also thanks," she smiled. "So. Tree."

[so_hawkward]

"Right, tree," Clint said, leading the way through the trees that were left. "I guess we're looking for one that's still healthy? And maybe smells good?" That seemed like a good place to start, right?

[throughaphase]

"Yep," she said, looking through the trees as she followed. "No brown spots, a good amount of branches. I wouldn't go for a meta for Charlie Brown tree."

[so_hawkward]

"We'd have fewer decorations to buy," Clint pointed out. "We also need to make sure it'll fit inside without me breaking anything."

Honestly, he was totally going to break something, but hopefully not many things.

[throughaphase]

"I can phase it through the door," she reminded him. "It's just gotta fit the ceiling."

[so_hawkward]

"...okay, how did I not think of that?" Clint asked. "You're so smart."

[throughaphase]

"I just like cheating," Kitty admitted. "...Do you sniff at the trees? How does this work?"

[so_hawkward]

"I don't see why not? As long as we're not obnoxious about it?" Clint found a medium-sized tree and leaned closed, sniffing at it. "Smells like cleaning supplies, sort of."

[throughaphase]

"Minus all the ammonia, I guess," she said, sniffing a slightly bigger one. "I'd go with 'smells like a candle.'"

[so_hawkward]

"Mmm, a manly candle. Or something you put in a car to hide funky smells," Clint said. He went over to another tree that was thinner, but a little taller. "This one smells nice too. And it doesn't look brown at all." He brushed his hands over some of the branches to see how sturdy they felt.

[throughaphase]

"It's cute," Kitty said, considering it. Yes, she called a tree cute. "Are you leaning towards taller instead of fuller?"

[so_hawkward]

"I don't know if I'm leaning towards anything. I just feel like... I don't know, it should be tall? Taller than me?" He wasn't going to point out that most of the trees fit that criteria, shhh. "I'm already thinking about how to keep Lucky and Rook from getting into it too much, so maybe less full would make it harder for them to run into."

[throughaphase]

"So like a six foot one?" See, she was even being generous. "I think as long as we don't put anything breakable on the bottom branches it'll be fine. If we had cats there'd be trouble but the dogs'll probably investigate and lose interest right away."

[so_hawkward]

Kitty really was the most generous girlfriend ever. "I hope you're right," he said. "I'd like our first try at this to not be a disaster."

[throughaphase]

"If it is, at least we can get a good story out of it to tell our friends," Kitty said, looking at a fuller tree. "I don't think we can suck too hard at this."

[so_hawkward]

"No, not with trees that look nice," Clint said. He slipped his arms around Kitty's waist as he looked at the tree with her. "This one looks healthy."

[throughaphase]

"Yep. And I don't think the dogs can do too much damage to it," she said, tilting her head to consider it.

[so_hawkward]

"It'd fit nice in the corner of my living room," Clint agreed. "And it looks sturdy enough that even if one of the dogs tried to mess with it, the tree would win."

[throughaphase]

"Is it wrong that if that happens, I'm probably going to find it hilarious?" Kitty asked, looking over at him.

[so_hawkward]

"You can laugh but you're helping me with the cleanup," Clint said. "Or at least helping me try to look stern at the dogs and not immediately forgive them the moment they look cute."

[throughaphase]

"Every adorable living being we'll ever be in charge of is gonna be so spoiled," she said, shaking her head. "I guess I can look stern while taking pictures..."

[so_hawkward]

"You know, when you say 'spoiled' like that, it sounds bad, but it never seems bad in the moment," Clint said, looking around. "I'm assuming we have to talk to someone to get the tree, and not just walk out with it? Assuming you want this one, I mean. We can keep looking..." Really, they were going to end up with whatever tree Kitty wanted.

[throughaphase]

"You know what, I think I love it," Kitty decided, smiling. "And yeah, we should probably, you know, pay for it."

She was, after all, potentially years away from stealing stuff just because she should, and in related news Axis is stupid.

[so_hawkward]

"And get someone to help put it in the car. Or on the car?" Why did he not research this before coming out here?

[throughaphase]

"On." That much she knew. From TV. "And then we're on our own when we get to- oh god, Fandom has stairs."

[so_hawkward]

"...I don't suppose we know anyone with telekinesis? That we like? And that likes us back?" Clint asked.

[throughaphase]

"Not on island," Kitty said, thinking about it. "We'll work it out. It might mean airwalking the tree to your place, but we can do this, I think."

[so_hawkward]

"I'm glad you have so much faith in us," Clint said, flagging someone down to pay for the tree. "Do you have any ornament preferences? I only know like, the shiny ball type."

[throughaphase]

"I don't know about preferences, but there are a ton of different kinds. Obviously Lucky and Rook need some kind of dog ornaments."

Obviously.

[so_hawkward]

Clint snickered, but nodded because yes, that was obvious. "And one for you too. Maybe it'll be a surprise."

[throughaphase]

"Then I should probably surprise you with one, too," she countered, already thinking of a couple things.