Happy (cutesy) silly season!

"Daddy!"

Shu'karr smiled even as the excited shrill pierced his ears when he stepped through the portal of his family apartment, dropping his gear to be able to snatch up his exuberant daughter as she barrelled into his arms in a whirl of fluff, and casually kicking the door shut behind him as he stabilised.  Coming home while Mya'le was awake was by far the highlight of his days, which were currently short given that it was winter and training was a bit more gruelling than usual due to festive season.

"You're up late," he commented, switching her into a carrying position as he scooped up his bag with his tail, transferring it to his free hand.

"We have to hang our baubles tonight Daddy," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh, that's right!" He hadn't forgotten of course, she had only been excitedly banging on about it since the school had started all their Christmas shenanigans.  "You and Mama got the baubles ready?"

"All ready and waiting."  Amar'ha breezed into view, pausing to kiss Shu'karr on the lips as she passed.  Shu'karr exhaled softly.  It had been so many years and she still managed to make him feel like the silly lovestruck teenager he had been when he first clapped eyes on her.  "Just waiting on you, my love."  She smiled and continued to the kitchen where the box containing the family's baubles rested on the counter top, along with a short string of fairy lights.  He put down Mya'le as she wriggled to be released.

"Do I have time to get changed?"

"Nope," Mya'le sang out cheerfully, grabbing the fairy lights from the counter and running back to him.  "Just put these on!"

"Do I have to?" Shu'karr smirked.

"They're important Daddy."  Spoken with the dead seriousness that could only achieved by being an eight year old child.  Of course they were.  Shu'karr sighed in resignation, kneeling so Mya'le could adorn his horns with the fairy lights.  They twinkled in a soft rainbow when she turned them on.  That was going to annoy him for about as long as he had to wear them for.  Still he smiled at the pride she displayed in her handiwork.

The grandparents were informed of Shu'karr's return and the group dropped from the balcony towards the central tower.  The area was reasonably active, though probably not nearly as busy as it would have been earlier in the evening.  Shu'karr and some of the nearby Warriors on duty exchanged brief nods as they entered the large courtyard, the Warriors displaying some amusement at his brightly coloured sparkly headgear and the fact he was being towed by an excited child.

"Where we hanging the baubles this year, baby?" Shu'karr asked Mya'le.

Without hesitation, his daughter replied, "I wanna hang 'em near Uncle Rune's ones."

Shu'karr hadn't seen where Tsa'run and his family had put their baubles this year, but he knew how to find them.  He scanned the area he could see, decided to go left for no real reason and led that way.  There, six coloured candles, one for each colour of the visible spectrum, excepting violet.  Around them, the baubles they were looking for.  Just to annoy his triad leader, Shu'karr casually shifted some branches slightly to make Tsa'run's partially hidden bauble more visible, before gesturing towards them with a flourish, being rewarded with a happy giggle.

The boxes were opened, Amar'ha handed Mya'le her bauble to hang.  As he had done every year for the last six years, Shu'karr swung her up onto his shoulders so she could hang it on one of the higher garlands not too far away from Tsa'run's, and briefly wondered how many more years he would have of being able to do this, before deciding to just enjoy the moments while they lasted.

-=[o]=-

Happy silly season everyone :D

Ages ago I asked whether I should do another cutesy silly season sketchy or a racy one, and I had two people helpfully making a decision (thanks :D), the only problem was that @vincentnijman voted cutesy and @jedau voted racy x_x Cutesy won if I were to count @randomli's proxy vote (via Jed) so I did it first.  I did decide it was a draw so I will be doing the racy one too.  If I'm super lucky I'll finish it tomorrow before the festivities begin but not really liking my chances.  Will just have to see how I go!

Hope everyone is having awesome fun times doing whatever it is you do :D