Sorry for the delay, I went out Christmas shopping.
(Side note: if any of you artists can get out to Michael's tonight, they have a really good sale on sketchbooks- journals too for the writers! I got a ton and they are REALLY nice!)
Secret Santa is officially closed. All but one of you turned in a present, and I've contacted their secret santa about a make up gift. Again, my sincerest apologies. Next year, I will not allow this sort of thing to happen.
Congratulations to everyone though! All 38 of you did an excellent job! I'm so glad you all chose to participate, and hope that next year, you all come out too, and bring more friends!
The queue will be running till midnight tonight, so all presents should post by then. I hope you enjoy.
Happy Starry Night, everyone! Have a great holiday!
Cam shivered in in his coat as a light breeze hit him, making the freezing temperature even more unbearable than before. He shook off some snow that had already accumulated on him during his short time outside and continued to make his way toward the base of the mountain. This snowfall seemed to be heavier than the previous snow days in Bluebell this winter, and though the large snowflakes made the town look like a gorgeous winter town, the flower shop owner knew that he was going to regret venturing out today.
It was only a few steps out of town when Cam heard a sweet sound, “Hey there, Cam!”
Lillian approached him, her brown hair already dusted in snowflakes and her face red from the cold. The young farmer obviously shivering in her coat; it looked like she had been outside much longer than Cam. Still, she had a bright smile on her face, the same smile she had ever since she had come to Bluebell.
He couldn’t help but return a small, shy smile, “Hello Lillian. How is the farm work?”
“It’s fine! The animals were just a little too excited for the snow. It’s hard to brush a cow when it’s tromping around…” Lillian mumbled the last part under her breath in a tired fashion, “So where are you headed off to this morning?”
“I’m planning on walking around the mountain,” Cam responded carefully, trying not to fully reveal his intentions.
Lillian furrowed her eyebrows in concern, “Are you sure? It’s really cold out here already, but with the wind…you should be careful not to get sick in this weather.”
‘Always the concerned one,’ Cam thought to himself.
“It’s okay, Lillian. I’ll be just fine. It’s just a little snow,” the florist spoke with a small smile.
Lillian sighed, “Alright. I can’t boss you around. But just keep in mind what I said. It would really suck if you were sick for the holidays…”
“Okay, Lillian. See you later,” Cam said as he began walking again toward the mountain. To be honest, he didn’t really care if he got sick in this situation. It was his weekly routine. On his day off, he would always take some leftover fish from the café and go to the bottom of the mountain. He wouldn’t be able to abandon them during this snowfall, even if that meant a small cold during Christmas.
‘Or the Starry Night Festival,’ a quiet voice spoke on the edges of his thoughts.
‘Why am I even thinking about that?’ he thought, ‘it’s the same as Christmas. Just dinner with Howard, Eilene, and Laney…’
‘But maybe you could invite someone else…?’ Cam furrowed his eyebrows at the thought. Invite someone else? Who would he even invite? The festival was either for family or for a date, and he wasn’t quite interested in dating someone in either towns. Unless…no, that wasn’t possible. He’d rather keep to the usual routine and enjoy the holidays with his Bluebell ‘family’. The florist didn’t want to shake up anything during the holiday season anyway. He’d rather spend his time making bouquets than stirring up potential bad feelings if something went wrong.
‘Why am I even…Starry Night isn’t even for a couple of weeks. I need to stop,’ he thought, cancelling that thought process before his pessimism got the better of him. As he exited his mind, he realized that he had arrived in the lower mountain area, which had been completely coated in a thick blanket of snow. He could barely see the frozen river anymore under a thin layer, and he could only tell where the footpath was from the footprints likely made from one of the Konohana residents. Cam could vaguely see some animal tracks in the snow, but so far none from the animal he was looking for.
He sighed, digging out the leftover fish from his coat and walking to the area by the river where he usually fed them. He hoped that they hadn’t forgotten about his weekly visit from the thick snowfall. He could imagine that, them adorably curled up together in a hallowed out log trying to brave the cold air…it was a shame he couldn’t bring them back home…
Just then, a small meow was heard right beneath him. He looked down and smiled widely as he spotted a white cat looking up at him with bright blue eyes. The cat almost blended into the snow and it was a miracle that Cam even spotted the cat despite her calling.
“Hey there, I brought you some food. Didn’t think I’d forget you, did you?” Cam cooed in a happy voice as he bent down and gave her a scratch behind the ears. This cat was dubbed ‘Snow’ ever since Cam had found her on the mountain years ago, and now that it was winter she had lived up to her name fully due to her seasonal camouflage.
Snow meowed again, but instead of simply waiting to be fed she started walking away. Cam smiled and began to follow.
‘Probably to where the rest is…’ Cam thought, knowing that the stray cats always seemed to stick together on the mountain like a cute little family.
He was correct, and it wasn’t too long until Snow had led Cam to a large, hallowed out tree trunk that laid on the ground. Snow wandered in, and the florist looked in to see five more stray cats lying down with some snow on their fur, all curled up together for warmth.
‘So cute…oh! Looks like they found another brother,’ Cam smiled as he noticed one more cat in the stray family. He was a tabby lying right in the center of the pile, accepted by the rest of the family in the short week that had passed since Cam had last visited. He quickly thought of something to name him. Besides Snow, there were two black cats named Jack and Luna, one brown haired cat with long, wild hair named June, and another tabby named Kyo. Now what to name this new tabby…
“Hey guys,” Cam spoke with a smile as he bent down to their level, “how are you guys holding up? Must be cold out here.” The other cats began to get up and meow at him happily while the new tabby seemed rather timid at the human’s sudden appearance. Snow walked over to the new family member, purred, then walked toward Cam as some sign of introduction.
“Hey there little guy, I’m Cam,” he greeted with an outstretched hand. The new tabby sniffed his finger timidly and then rubbed his head against his hand. Before he forgot, he took out the fish with his other hand and placed it down for the cats to eat. The new tabby quickly abandoned Cam’s hand to feast and the other cats did the same. Cam smiled brightly as he watched them eat. To him, cats were cute no matter what they did.
It wasn’t long until Snow was finished with her portion. She walked over to Cam and curled up next to his leg. Soon, the rest of the cats followed, even the new tabby. The florist smiled brightly, and despite the cold snow and wind nipping at his back he felt warm inside with all of these cats all curled up against him. He knew if he ever got his own place in Bluebell, he would have to take these cats in. It was a shame he couldn’t do that now, but he wasn’t in the position to complain.
He didn’t know how long he sat there with the cats all curled up beside him for warmth. He tried to ignore the cooling weather and the grumbling of his belly since these days off with the cats were one of the favorite times of the week aside from tending to his flowers. They were certainly content with his presence, and he was sure half of the cats had fallen asleep on his lap. The entire time he had a small smile on his face as he gently pet each and every one of the stray cat family.
“So this is where you’ve been.”
Cam jumped a little as he heard a familiar voice behind him. He felt his face turn redder than it had been from the cold as he turned his head to see Lillian kneeling a little ways behind him with a cute smile on her face.
“U-um…Lillian, I…”
“You’ve been feeding the cats here? That’s sweet of you. I was wondering why they’ve been so friendly to people…the stray cats back where I’m from didn’t like people that much,” Lillian spoke gently, “Is this what you do every week?”
Cam recovered from his embarrassment and figured that he might as well explain now that he had been caught, “Y-yea, I take some leftovers from the café every week to feed them. I just can’t leave them without anything to eat…” Cam avoided her gaze. Nobody had known what he did on his days off. Howard thought he just went to Konohana and took the leftovers for lunch and everyone else probably thought the same. He didn’t really know why, but it just made him uncomfortable to think that people knew…
“You’ve done a good job. They certainly love you a lot. Have you named them?” Lillian asked curiously.
Cam nodded, “Yea. The white one is Snow, those two are Jack and Luna, the wild one is June, this little guy is Kyo, and…”
“And?”
“This guy just showed up this past week. I haven’t given him a name yet. We just met a little bit ago,” Cam admitted as he pet the unnamed tabby.
“Hmm…” Lillian sat back and thought for a few seconds, “how about Timothy?”
“…Timothy?” Cam asked in a deadpan voice.
Lillian’s face heated up, “W-well he seemed kind of timid…so I just thought of Timothy! I know it’s silly and you should be the one to name your cats since you’re the one who-”
“It’s a fine name. Nice to meet you, Timothy,” Cam responded as he pet the tabby again.
“R-really? Are you sure?”
“It’s fine…” Cam spoke quietly as he gently led the cats off of his lap so that he could go.
Lillian smiled at him warmly and held out her own hand to the cats, “It was nice meeting you guys! I’ll be sure to visit you guys!”
Cam looked at her with a confused look, “What?”
“How can I leave these guys alone after meeting them? I usually end up with some extra fish whenever I go fishing, so I can help out as well,” Lillian spoke as she stood up and wiped off some snow from her legs, “Plus, they’re really important to you…”
Despite the cold weather and his numbing body, the florist felt his face heat up at the farmer’s shy comment at the end of her explanation, “Thank you, Lillian. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the extra food.”
“It’s no trouble, Cam,” the florist swore he saw a hint of red on the farmer’s face before she turned around toward the town, “Now let’s go warm up! How long have you been out here? I bet you’re freezing! I hope you don’t get sick from this!”
Cam smiled and followed the farmer as she began to charge off in the direction of Bluebell. In reality, he felt as warm as he could be after his day. With the cats curled up with him and Lillian…well, he didn’t know about her for now. For now, he just remembered the cats and how they would be cared for by one more person…
