[holiday au] Snowfall at the Toymaker’s Door

REXANNA i am your friend, a soul for your soul. home. sun or water, here or away — He blinks at her and her cheeks – already rosy from the cold outside – darkens a shade in terms of embarrassment, like she’d crossed a line when she’d come to talk to him about it. She keeps that naïve hope placed on her face, though, the smile of opportunity in her smile that he might be able to help her even if she was asking for what was essentially the world from a stranger. “Yeah.” She says a little softer, like she knows it’s a lot to ask for. Her gaze follows his to the shelves of wooden toys, the kind that felt more homey than the true test of capitalism. The ones that would stay for years rather than be tossed out next Christmas when the plastic warped or bent or molded – not a childhood heirloom one could hold onto despite it’s dents and scuffs in the surface of a well loved toy. He steps around the counter and she straightens, looking up at him - god he’s tall – and her smile grows a touch brighter as he asks her more specifics, like he’s actually considering helping her. Her posture straightens and she fumbles around for her phone in her pocket, tugging off a leather glove with pale teeth so she can unlock the phone to look at the specific email. “We need at least thirty.. Which is a lot, I know.” She reaches up with that pale hand, a perfect manicure on her fingernails of dark red with white stripes to make it look like a candy cane that rakes through her curled and slightly damp hair. “I’m not a toymaker, but…” She looks up at him then with a deep determination in her sapphire gaze. “I’m happy to help however you need it.” She murmurs, eyes widening a little in her quiet plea. —we are a lighthouse, we leave and we stay.