Even over the howl of the crisp winter wind, Eric can clearly hear the whine he's been ignoring for the better part of an hour.
"Are we there yet?" Diantha asks for no less than the thousandth time, though Eric is aware he may be exaggerating that number a bit. "Or are we lost? Can't you stop and ask for directions before we die out here?" she shouts dramatically over the wind.
"And who would you like me to ask?" Eric asks, despite his internal promise not to speak to the demon more than absolutely necessary. "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of nowhere," he says, his words coming out clipped.
"Oh my god, we are lost, aren't we?" Diantha cries despondently, and he hears her drop the rope to the sled in the deep snow. "I can't die out here, Northman! It's all...cold and shit!"
"You are not going to die out here," Eric tells her without looking back, keeping himself several paces in front of her. "Unless there is a god," he mumbles under his breath, certain that the demon can hear him perfectly, even over the wind.
"How do you know that?" Diantha huffs, and from her voice he can tell that she has stopped walking. "We're lost and I'm going to die out here in the frozen tundra of fucking Sweden!"
"This is not a tundra," Eric supplies, well aware that he is being as unhelpful as possible. "Nothing grows in a tundra."
"Your point?" Diantha hisses, her voice growing more distant as he continues walking.
"My point is, you're standing in the middle of a fucking forest; so it can't be a tundra," he grumbles, ducking his head against the wind as it blows relentlessly through his hair.
"We're lost and I'm going to die out here in the frozen forest of fucking Sweden!" Diantha changes her cry, causing him to roll his eyes even though know one can see.
"We're not lost," he offers, trudging through the deep snow.
"But how do you know?" Diantha wails, causing him to grit his teeth before he whirls around to face her.
"Because I fucking died here," he hisses, sending a few snow birds flying into the dark sky at his eruption. The words should cause anyone to pause, spoken so surely about something that is not usually a happy time. But his outburst only causes Diantha to raise her brows before she shrugs, happily picking up the rope to drag the laden down sled, following him with more sureness in her steps now. Eric sighs before he turns back around, muttering under his breath about demons and his own hopes of an avalanche.
"Ya know," Diantha chirps up conversationally, as if she hasn't heard him praying for her slow, horrible death. "I'm surprised you didn't ask me to haul the entire fucking Christmas tree," she says, unnerving him with how quickly and quietly she reached his side, despite the heavy sleigh she pulls along behind her. There's a pause, in which he can tell she's turning her head to study the boxes he himself had piled on it, no doubt eyeing the one he told her was fragile, filled with certain Christmas decorations. In a matter of seconds, she's put it all together, and he cannot help but smirk as she sighs, "Let me guess, Baby Bjorn over there gets two Christmas trees?"
Eric grins, glancing down fondly at Pam as she sleeps in his arms, thick blankets covering her thin frame as he carries her through the beginnings of a blizzard. "Yep," he answers softly, craning his neck down to press a kiss to her forehead before tucking the blanket more securely over her chin.
"Yep," Diantha echoes despondently, trudging beside him. He's sure she's thinking fondly back to the SUV they left at the edge of the woods, before piling supplies, clothes, and decorations onto the sled. It had taken him a moment to ensure Diantha that he would not be giving her a sleigh ride through the fresh snow; but after the past two hours, she seems to have given up on that antic. "Hey...hey, Eric--"
"What?" he snarls, wishing she could be quiet for more than two seconds at a time. But his growl seems to stop her in her tracks, and he turns his head to look back at her.
"I'm cold," she whispers, almost looking ashamed at that fact. He narrows his eyes, trying to remind himself that despite her appearance otherwise, she is not a helpless little girl standing in the deep snow with wide eyes and a wool cap pulled down over her fiery, wild curls. Thankfully, she grins, her sharp teeth shattering any image he had of innocence. "Maybe I could snuggle up next to Pam--"
"We're nearly there," he cuts her off, snapping his mouth closed in hope that she'll get the point to shut up. It doesn't work, not that it ever does, but only a half hour later he can see the dark shape of a roof as they hit the edge of the forest. He glances to the side to see that Diantha is staring at the small cabin, sitting alone atop the hill, with a raised brow. He chuckles, his heart swelling with happiness at the sight, before he wipes his face clean, growling once again to the girl, "Hurry up."
Their tracks are nearly covered from the thick falling snow by the time they reach the door. Eric juggles Pam into one of his arms, freeing his hand so that it can delve into his pocket to find the keys that Diantha had secured in secret just the other day. "Why would it be locked?" she speaks up, taking pity on him and pulling the single key the rest of the way out of his pocket.
"Why wouldn't it be?" he asks, pausing as he studies her, his brows furrowed at the strange question.
"Who locks a bathroom?" she asks seriously, her brow arching as she attempts to peer around the porch they stand on. "Where is it?"
"What are you talking about?" he asks incredulously. "Where's what?"
"The house," Diantha answers, looking at him as if he's gone mad. "Is it over that hill? Seems a little far for the outhouse to be all the way down here, to be honest---"
"This is the cabin," Eric hisses, wishing he hadn't indulged her questions. He manages to twist the key in the lock, and the heavy wooden door creaks open, revealing the small interior. Diantha follows him inside, both of them standing side by side in the dark confines.
"Let me get this straight," Diantha whispers, slowly turning around in a circle. "Y'all have mansions, estates, fucking castles; and she wants to spend Christmas here?" Eric says nothing, merely narrows his eyes, causing the demon child to shake her head in awe. "Fucking nutcases, the both you."
Eric growls, shoving past her to carry Pam into the small bedroom. He grins at the sight of fresh fur blankets on the bed, just as he requested. He tugs the cold, slightly damp ones from Pam's sleeping body, hurling them at Diantha as she follows him into the room. She grumbles, but disappears with them, allowing him to settle Pam on the bed. He gently pulls off her thick outer layers, until she looks peaceful in her white robe and matching nightgown. "Make everything...happy," he orders Diantha when he senses her in the room again.
"Happy?" Diantha repeats, waiting for him to explain.
"Happy, warm; you know what I fucking mean," he grumbles, causing her to laugh as she leaves the room once more. He pulls himself away from Pam long enough to haul their luggage and boxes into the cabin, tucking the sled close to the porch as he shuts the door on the blizzard outside. While he sets about to put away the clothes Diantha had packed, the demon manages to get a fire going, filling the small cabin with a warm light before she sets in on the decorations. By the time Eric is done, he takes pity on her and takes the mistletoe she was attempting to hang on one of the rafters, hanging it easily himself.
"So," Diantha says, drawing out the word as she rocks back and forth on her heels. "Where's my room?" she asks, glancing around as if she expects one to pop up.
"Do you know how to get back to town?" Eric asks, drawing his brows together.
"Yeah. Why, did we forget something?" Diantha asks, already reaching for her scarf once more.
"No," Eric says, turning away from her. "I just wanted to make sure you knew how to find the guest room," he reiterates, desperate not to give her the satisfaction of calling it her room.
"But--" Diantha begins, clearly about to argue. But at the same time, both of their heads snap to the bedroom, able to hear the slight rustling as Pam's hands must clench in the sheets as she awakens. Diantha manages to evade him, beating him to the bed as she throws herself upon it, barely making a dent in the blankets and pillows that surround Pam. "Hey, baby," she whispers sweetly when Pam's eyes slowly open, though her brows furrow in confusion at the face before her.
Eric soon corrects that, shoving Diantha bodily from the bed and onto the floor as he takes her place. He grins down at Pam as her brows stay furrowed, no doubt realizing she is not waking up in her own bed. Though he doesn't mean to, he repeats Diantha's greeting, his realization causing the words to come out a bit grumpier that usual. "Hey...baby."
