The Giving Tree

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah wanted to do something good for Christmas this year. It always bummed her how she could not go back home. Technically, she could. The school did not consider her power a threat, she had a good enough control of it. The problem was more on how much it cost to get back home. Buses, trains, planes... all good possibilities but all expensive ones also and no matter how much she missed her mother, she didn’t want the woman to spend that much money on tickets just so they could be together. She knew her mother could try and save all year long for that, but Tallulah didn’t want her to do that. She was as much, if not even more conscious of how little they owned and didn’t want to spend it like that. She already sent a long letter with pictures and a little something as a gift. Letters cost a lot less to ship away than people.

But Tallulah didn’t want to be depressed for the holidays just because she couldn’t see her mom. She wanted to bring some of the holiday cheer to the school. That was why, when the staff recruited some students to help with the decorations, she volunteered. She ended up tasked with another student to decorate the tree they placed by the information desk of the dorms. Anyone walking down from their room to get to the Academy would see it. She wanted it to be very beautiful. They had boxes, four in total, filled with garlands, baubles and other ornaments to put on the tree. Before they could even move any of them however, an emergency forced the girl to dash out, promising to clear this real fast and come back to help. Tallulah was left alone, something that didn’t really bother. Until, as she brought the third box by the tree, a staff member placed a stepladder near it so she could reach the top. Now that gave her pause. She didn't want to climb on that but she also didn’t want to give up on this like the other girl did. She thought she could begin decoration the bottom half of the tree and hope she’d get back before it was over.

As she returned with the last box however, another idea came to her mind as she saw a familiar face. “Sam!” She called out. It was a bit loud and she was embarrassed to do that but she didn't know how else to get his attention. She walked towards him, readjusting the box in her hands. “Are you busy? I was supposed to help decorating the tree with someone but she had to leave and... well, there’s this ladder and I could really use some help with it.” She didn't want to explain why, she let him guess. “If you don’t have anything else to do, of course.”

TAG: Samson Abioye

[Samson Abioye]

Sometimes Sam did volunteer to help with the decorations and other tidbits around the academy. Helping others sort of fit all too well into his life philosophy, and he did appreciate the season, even if he did take it a bit more seriously than some other people. Not that this was all too evident at the moment:

Sam was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater.

He actually had a grandmother who made it her goal in life to knit sweaters for her spawn. Apparently she'd figured out that ugly sweaters were a thing and had proceeded to torment her children with it every year. Sam naturally wore his at least twice: once in front of students (so he could get a general reaction to carry back) and once on Christmas day proper, when he'd be visiting his family for the actual holiday. Now, he happened to be sporting one now. Complete with puff-balls that stuck out and a blue and silver color scheme. There were apparently snowflakes, or at least they wanted to be snow-flakes (someone's grandmother took the "no two look alike" thing too seriously).

"No," was what the grim-faced, ridiculous sweater wearing young man said. He looked up at the tree. "Did you want me to climb up there and do something?" He said, moving into position. Sam was used to this, after all: his height sort of made him perfect for it, after all.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah did stop when she saw Sam’s sweater. It was very... festive. She had no idea if it was hand-made but she hoped so, otherwise that meant someone thought it was a good idea to commercialise this. At the same time, she didn’t want to sound rude. If he put it on, he might like it, or it was made by someone he liked and Tallulah didn’t want to insult anyone there. She’d just have to try and not look at the puffs attached to it. Then again, Sam himself didn’t look all too pleased, so maybe he didn’t quite enjoyed the sweater either. Still, just in case, Tallulah chose to ignore this matter.

He was up to help and that was all she asked for. She nodded. “If you don’t mind. They brought a ladder. Well, a step-ladder,” she said, pointing at the thing standing not too far from the tree. “I’m... not very comfortable on those.” Tallulah preferred to sound like she was afraid of heights or something than admit it was one of the things she needed to get used to with her state. One day, she might be able to climb without problem at all but considering she could fall down stairs while walking them down, she didn’t want to take the risk to be in the latest viral video for landing in the Christmas tree.

She put the box down and looked through it, pulling out the star meant to go on top. “It’s just to put the ornaments and garlands that are too high for me. After that, I’ll be fine.” She doubted helping make a Christmas tree was really his idea of helping out but it mattered to her. Many students couldn’t go back home and it was important they too could feel a bit of the Christmas spirit in the air despite that. She didn’t ask for much, just that it brought them a smile and feel a little less alone for the holidays. “Are you staying here for the holidays?”

[Samson Abioye]

Sam nodded as Tallulah sort of explained the situation. He moved to look at the step ladder, his gaze shifting between it and the tree, clearly making some judgment calls. yes, he'd noticed that bit about Tallulah not being comfortable, but that could be for all sorts of reasons. It did make Sam snort a little: he wasn't about to let something like a ladder stop him from doing what needed doing. He steadied it, adjusting and looking.

"I can help," he reiterated, nodding. "With everything," he waved. "You'll just have to tell me where it goes. I'm not great at the whole," he waved at the tree again. Sam did know he had some experience with Christmas decorations and all. But he was used to essentially doing what his other relatives wanted.

For now, he got the ladder in place, looking to Tallulah for that last confirmation and direction before heading up. That didn't stop him from answering her question, of course: "Not really," he looked up. "I'll spend Christmas with my family, but I'll probably be around for the other parts," he looked to Tallulah again, blinking a few times. Should he be asking something else here? Maybe? she'd probably volunteer it anyway, so Sam didn't see why he needed to bother.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah didn’t want to sound like she was afraid of heights but she also preferred to let Sam think that than tell the truth about her handicap. Maybe he didn’t know about it, didn’t pay attention in the past years. When you get a shot at being normal, you don’t want to risk blowing it up. She had a grateful smile when he agreed to help, not only with the higher part of the tree but with everything. “Thank you,” she said again. As she said, she could easily do it on her own but it would go faster and be more pleasant with someone. Well, maybe not with Sam, he didn’t look like the kind who enjoyed small talk, but she was not complaining here. She had a light chuckle as he admitted not being great at decorating. “Let’s start with the star at the top, then we can put the garlands and you’ll get back up in there for the ornaments. That should be fine.” She nodded at her plan. The tree she had at home was about four feet tall but a tree was a tree and she only needed to apply the same method she used back home. She then realised that the tree at home had lights already in it unlike this one but, as she dug through the boxes, she couldn’t see any garland of lights. She shrugged it off, figuring it was not all that necessary with the amount of baubles there were.

She let him get on top of the ladder before handing him the star. “You’re lucky. Do they live far from here?” How many were going home exactly? Some must stay for the same reason as she did and not only because they didn’t have a good enough control of their power, right? America was vast and with people coming from all over, sometimes even from other countries, not all of them could get back home, right? Still, she was happy for Sam that he got to see his family.

Sam was not asking her in return and she assumed he just didn’t want to ask. After all, he probably didn’t care. A part of her wanted to talk but she also didn’t want to be a bother if he didn’t want to listen to her babble. So she decided to leave it at that and pull a garland to give to him, ready to turn around the tree to hold it as they placed it on the tree.

[Samson Abioye]

Sam nodded as Tallulah passed along the instructions. He shifted, stretching up to adjust the star. it took a bit of reaching, but he did have some practice with this one (he also needed to use the step-ladder for a bit, but as he had no problem with heights, this didn't bother him; he merely stepped onto it and stretched up). soon enough the star was up there, and he was looking around to try and figure out if there were garlands about or some sort of order. It only occurred to him after the fact that he should probably have asked if the star was properly positioned and all.

The question distracted Sam from both search and check, at least for the moment. "Sort of," he offered, meeting Tallulah's gaze. "They live in Oklahoma, so closer than some, further than others," he shrugged. He knew that a lot of families moved to Kalispell when their children became mutants. His was not quite that fortunate. He didn't dwell on it: it just meant he had an extra long bus ride.

Sam looked back up at the tree, studying the top. "Does the star look balanced to you?" he asked, glancing back to Tallulah. He should've asked when he was up there, but he didn't want to bring that up now.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah stood there, next to Sam, and watch him get on the step-ladder and put the star on. It was no difficult task, and she trusted him not to just fall in the tree while trying to do it, but she still had a look at it first while talking of home and the holidays. He claimed it was not close but not too far either, arguing many others lived even further away. “It’s still not a simple car ride home,” she argued. But she understood what he meant. She was sort of like that too, always thinking there had to be people going through worse. She was not crying over not going home for the holidays because she knew she had a home she could go to, unlike some. She missed her mother, of course, but that too she wouldn’t complain too loudly, for the same reason.

Now that it was said, she realised they had both been standing there, doing nothing. She went through the boxes to find the garlands and was pulling one out when he asked about the star. She took a step back to have a better view. “Maybe just a little bit more to the left,” she suggested, gesturing with her hand in the proper direction. She then walked back to him. “Here,” she said as she handed over the garland. “Will you need help circling around the tree?” At first, probably not, but she already position herself on the other side. It was a pretty long garland but she quickly judged they would need two if not three of those for the whole tree.

“By the way, what happened with the girl? You know, the one who couldn’t come up to you in person.” Somehow, she figured nothing happened or that he told her, without the help of anybody, that he was not interested. It was not like she bothered filling Tallulah on the details.

[Samson Abioye]

Just a drive; yes, there were definitely people doing worse, and that was all Sam really wanted to think about it and all. He'd get to see his family during the holidays, and that was at least enough for the time being. Really, he'd rather focus on the task at hand, and he was glad when Tallulah handed off a garland. He went into a practiced motion, looping it around the tree and adjusting it. When Sam noticed Tallulah moving, he made sure to pause, figuring that she'd want to catch it and get everything into perfect position. There was probably some sort of special order or something that she had in mind, and Sam didn't want to mess that up.

Girl? "Right, her," Sam said, he looped the garland around again, shrugging. "Nothing, really," he paused again, clearly debating something before adding: "Went out with someone else though," he said, casually. He wasn't entirely sure this was something that he should be sharing with Tallulah; it was fairly personal and he just wasn't entirely sure where they stood. Still, it was casual enough, he supposed. Wasn't like it was pillowtalk or anything like that.

Sam adjusted the garland again, pausing to look at it, making a few of his own adjustments while waiting for more commentary from Tallulah.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah sometimes wished her mother would stop giving to her daughter at her own expense. She was well taken care of here. She should find a job somewhere, then she’d have enough money to go home. Her mother would argue she could pay her that trip home, but Tallulah didn’t want her to end up getting her a plane ticket because she was worried what could happened to her daughter during the long bus ride home. At the same time, she didn’t want her mother to change, so it was up to her to prevent that from happening.

She put that aside and focused on making as beautiful a tree as possible. It was for all of those who, like her, couldn’t go home after all, it had to bring in some nice memories and make them feel good despite the situation. Sam was rather quiet but at least he got the job done. He was not slacking around. The complete silence between them was a little awkward to Tallulah however, so she tried to start a conversation with him, only to be reminded that he was not a big talker. Short sentences, with the bare minimum for her to understand what he was talking about. She nodded though, expecting nothing to happen between them. He showed her no sign of interest the last time either. In fact, he seemed not interested at all. “Oh?” she could help but let out as he added he went with someone else. “Guess she couldn’t compete if you already had someone. Must be why she said nothing to me.” Or she just chose to ignore her completely because they had never been friends to begin with. Tallulah didn’t really mind. She had found it rather childish to send someone else to declare your interest for someone. If you wanted to find out if that person was already with someone, it made sense, but there was a limit how much a third party should ask for. At some point, you had to make the first step. It wasn’t like a girl making the first step was badly seen around today.

“Sorry,” she apologized as she didn't catch the garland he handed back to her so she could do her side of the tree. She was quick to pick it back and adjust it. “I don’t think you lost anything. I don’t mean to be rude to her, but you two didn’t look like you had much in common. I’m sure you had more fun with your... friend,” she said, hesitating at first on what to call that other person. Was she his girlfriend? She didn't even know if that person was a she. Friend was safer.

[Samson Abioye]

Sam shrugged. He didn't really know if said girl had really been competing with Lara Jean at the time. the two dates sort of overlapped? But he'd attempted the whole exchange with the cowardly girl earlier, and, as he'd pretty well expected, it didn't work out. probably didn't help that he hadn't exactly been too enthusiastic; part of him almost wondered if she hadn't asked Tallulah to ask him solely to turn him down.

The sorry had him shrugging. "Don't worry about it," he reassured her, before moving to try and get more of the tree in order and all. Again he found himself nodding as Tallulah more or less came to the same conclusions he had regarding the failed attempt at romance and all. The young man kept working for a bit, and realized that the last bit probably meant he should respond again.

"Her name is Lara Jean," he supplied. "We met in the park, I liked her, so I asked her out." he paused, holding some decorations as he did. "Sort of surprised me too," he admitted, before shrugging and moving back to work. Sam had looped a little more garland before pausing again, looking to Tallulah. Was the conversation making her uncomfortable? Should he try something else? He should ask her about something, right?

Sometimes he so preferred working alone.

"How's your social life been?" he asked, managing to sound at least a little like he wasn't forcing the words out.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah never liked to meddle in other people’s love life. That is, she wouldn’t have liked it as anyone asked, which they didn’t until that girl. She didn’t even know how to work over her love life, she could hardly give any advice in the circumstances. She truly didn’t mind if Sam gave the girl a chance or not, just like it was not her business if he had a girlfriend or not. With the little socialisation she had with him, she couldn’t consider herself close enough to justify poking her nose in his business. At most was she happy for him. Just because he seemed to be on the reserved side didn’t mean he shouldn’t have a date. Well, reserved might not be the word. Antisocial probably fit more, unless socially awkward sounded more appropriate. One thing for sure, they didn't look well matched. There was a limit to how much opposites could attract. Tallulah, in fact, believed more than it was what you had in common that attracted people together, not opposites. But, again, her knowledge in that area was limited to dramas, so she shouldn’t speak.

For a moment, she almost felt like teasing Sam for saying so much. It was still not a lot but this was Sam and that had to be the most he ever said to her. Not only she got the girl’s name, but how they met. She nodded as the simplicity of it. “That’s the way to do it. Why make it complicated uh?” In movies and shows, it could be nice, but Tallulah knew that, should love ever come her way, she’d rather have it plain and simple. She’d be content with it. She didn’t need all the drama to go along with it.

Tallulah tried to focus on the garlands. Next came the baubles and different little decorations to hang and she wanted to do the whole tree. They were nearly done with the garlands anyway as Tallulah didn’t stop while talking with Sam. She looked up at him as he asked her something. He didn’t seem a whole lot interested about it, really. Should she commend him for the effort? She shrugged as an answer. “It’s doing fine. Nothing special, but that’s good like that,” she said with a smile. She considered absolutely unspecial. It was not an insult or a way to underestimate herself. And she didn’t feel alone. She had friends and she did activities. Nothing to complain, really. She had an amused smile as she looked at him again. “No boyfriend to talk about and suggest double dates, sorry.”