Solstice Surprise

Ugh, you know, every time I start with color pencils again, I wonder why I quit in the first place. Now I remember, it’s not that I don’t like using them (I do) or that I don’t like the outcome (I really do) but because my current scanner bleaches the color out almost completely whenever I use the damned thing, and my camera doesn’t pick up on hardly any color at all. XP

Anyway, Fang/Lightning Holiday kiss, color pencil on Bristol board. I would like to say, after my whining, that I really do love how this turned out, for years I’ve been playing with techniques for color pencil without seeing any results and it was only this summer I realized it was because I was using the wrong kind of paper.

So huzza Bristol board!!

The pic is a scene from a holiday fic I never got around to finish, but I here's a quick excerpt so you aren’t totally lost.

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Fang prowled closer to Lightning, watching with private glee as the soldier’s normally stoic face lit with gentle joy as she watched the family enjoy the little party.

She still couldn’t believe Lightning had managed to pull off such a thing by herself, and manage to keep it a secret from everyone! Fang scoffed lightly, lying about having to work the day before solstice, Sunshine had managed to hold the wool over their eyes, but, she thought as she looked over the happily gathered group, it had probably been worth the effort.

Lightning had caught sight of her, and the soft smile gracing her lips lifted ever so slightly higher.

To be the cause of the vision beauty made Fang’s pulse quicken, to be honest, it was a bit embarrassing that it happened so easily, but then Light started walking towards her and she shoved the thought away.

“That looks good on you.” Lightning said, cornflower blue eyes glancing at Fang’s sweater.

Fang glanced down quickly, then smirked as she looked back up, tugging at the sleeve of the sweater. “Yea, I’ve gotta hand it to Vanille and Serah, those two sure know how to make Solstice clothes,”

Lightning made an amused sound in the back of her throat. “I take back what I said before, after the last week’s weather, I understand perfectly why warm clothing would be a traditional Gran Pulse gift.”

The smirk on Fang’s lips grew wider, remembering, with some sinister glee, how Lightning had waved of her warning’s of an imminent snow storm, saying that the worst that had happened in the last four years since the relocation had been monsoon weather, and that she very much doubted an area that was so tropical ever saw one flake of snow.

“I did tell you that ya got lucky,” Fang couldn’t help pushing her luck a little, Lightning’s barriers seem to have lowered for the evening, and she was going to try and prompt every last emotion that she could think of from the pinkette, if just to see what it looked like on her pretty face. “If the weather had been like this the first year, you wouldn’ta had much luck living on Gran Pulse.”

Lightning hummed a response, turning momentarily to watch Snow give Dahj a wild piggy back ride around the room.

“Those two really went the extra mile though,” Lightning turned back to Fang, studying her sweater, and it took the huntress a moment to realize that Lighting was talking about Serah and Vanille, “I can’t believe all the detail they managed to put into these.”

Lighting was also wearing her handmade gift, hers was a complicated looking thing Serah had called a ‘hoodie.’ It was a brilliant color of crimson, and sat snugly on Lightning’s hourglass frame, Fang had no idea how either younger sister had managed the complicated pattern by knitting, but they had claimed it to be easy as they presented it to Lightning.

But the thing that made the cloths special wasn’t just their handmade status or their intent, but the fact that the younger woman had managed to embroider each unique piece with its owners Eidolon.

In Fang’s case, the sweater, colored the same rich blue as her sari, had a large picture of Bahamut on the front, his wings adorned with festive decorations. As an extra touch, an almost exact replica of her tattoo was neatly arranged on the left shoulder of the sweater, no doubt it had been Vanille’s idea, and while Fang found the redundancy a bit amusing, she cherished that her sister had made the complicated effort.

Lightning’s pattern was simpler, but Fang thought it’s eloquence suited the solider well. The hoodie was almost entirely blank expect for the shoulder’s which were a deep forest green, the patterns were reminiscent of the pauldron Lightning had worn as part of her uniform during her days as a L’Cie. In the center of each green swath was an image of Sleipnir’s head, with antlers just below his white ears.

Fang had no idea how the creatures called ‘Reindeer’ had become associated with the Solstice back on Cocoon, but the antlers had the desired effect of making Odin’s horse form look festive, so she let the thought slid.

“Yea, right impressive effort those two put in, just like the impressive effort you put in to this whole,” Fang waved a hand at the room at large, encompassing the decorations, food and neatly wrapped gifts. “You know you just could’a givin’ us our gifts tomorrow and we would have been satisfied, you didn’t have to make a whole party out of it.”

Lightning shrugged and looked away from her, eyes settling on Serah instead. “I know,” she started quietly. “but, I…” she dropped her eyes to the floor, then back up, her smile grin becoming a full smile. “My parents used to do something like this every year before they died, and I… I never had any want or reason to continue the tradition after they were gone,” Lightning looked back to Fang, and the unchained look of contentment, that smile on her face, touched something intangible in Fang. “Not until this year.”

The feelings stirring in her chest, and the implications in the statement, stole all words from Fang’s mind, and she just stood on the spot, staring at Lightning.

After a few silent moments in which the two stared at one another, Lightning awkwardly cleared her throat and looked back at the rest of their family, content grin back in place.

Fang swallowed, cursing her inability to form coherent speak, and glanced around the room, looking for something, anything, to talk about. On impulse, she glanced upwards, then froze, emerald eyes glued to the decoration hovering above them.

She glanced to Lightning, who looked completely unaware, it didn’t seem her style anyway, probably something Vanille stuck up on a whim, but that didn’t mean Fang couldn’t take full advantage of it.

She tapped Light on the shoulder, “Oi, Sunshine?”

Lightning blinked, and turned her head to look at her, not good enough.

Gently, Fang reach forward to grab at the smaller woman’s shoulders and turned her so that they faced each other fully. Due to the raised eyebrow, Fang had no doubt that, had she attempted this on any other day, she’d likely have received a backhand to the face.

“Yes, Fang?” Lightning sounded very slightly amused, that was good, Fang would need that humor to hold out if she wanted to survive the evening bruise free.

Fang’s trademark smirk was back in place. “Didja notice what we’re standing under?”

Lightning’s eyes immediately went to the ceiling, and Fang quickly took notice of her puzzled look.

She chuckled, “So, I take it that the mistletoe wasn’t part of your decorating scheme?”

Watching Lightning’s face carefully, she found herself disappointed when emotion vanished from the pale face, replaced with a more familiar mask of stoicism.

Fang tried to keep her tone light. “Are you going to keep surprising us and stay true to tradition? Or am I gonna have to pull some of my vast Yun charm out to get a quick kiss?”

The blue eyes slid back to her emerald ones, and the expression on Light’s face didn’t
change.

She shrugged as if it didn’t really matter, though her rapidly beating heart betrayed her true feelings. “I’ve also got bribery and blackmail on my side, I’m sure Serah would be happy to provide some juicy secret, if it’s for the ‘Lighten up Light’ cause.”

The way those eyes traveled her face made her think Light was thinking very hard about what she was saying, and Fang opened her mouth to continue, hoping she might say something that would-

With a speed that put her namesake to shame, Lightning took a single step forward and lunged her lips into Fang’s own, blue eyes closing the second they made contact.

Fang’s brain ceased to function in the split second those rose petal lips pressed against hers, she could only stare, dumbly, stiffly, at Lighting, feeling those lips gently, slowly, caress her own.

Quickly deciding not to waste time on thought, Fang closed her own eyes and slowly with great caution, began to kiss back.

It was over far too quickly in Fang’s opinion, even though they both where out of breath when they parted.

For a second, the two of them just looked at one another, panting very slightly, Fang enjoying the light blush staining Lightning’s cheeks, feeling her own burning under her tan skin, not really caring about anything in the world but the promise in those blue eyes.

Her brain still ticking far away in the background, it took Fang a while to realize that the room was dead silent, a fact that Lightning seem to come upon in the same moment, for the two of them swiveled to look at their family in near perfect unison.

The whole gathering was staring at them, bodies still and activates forgotten.

Serah and Vanille stood close together, Serah had her hands to her mouth, half covering the huge smile that split her face, and Vanille had an all knowing grin plastered across her lips, one that just bordered on being called a smirk. The way the younger sisters glanced between the two of them, and the way they stood together, told Fang that something of this nature had been planned.

She was going to have to give Vanille and earful later, if just to try and get that high and mighty grin off her face.

Snow had a forgotten cup of eggnog in one hand and balanced Dahj on his shoulder with the other, his mouth hung utterly slack and eyes as wide as dinner plates. He was mostly staring at Lightning, though once he was caught looking, his gaze shifted to Fang and his expression became more of a statement.
One that said something like ‘I-knew-you-were-crazy-but-I-never-thought-you-were-suicidal’, she just winked in reply, and he shook his blonde head.

Hope had kept his mouth shut, but his eyebrows had disappeared into his hairline, his eyes flicked between the two of them, and Fang could see the uncertainly in them. He was probably wondering if he should stay seated, or run for the door to avoid a war.

Sazh was the first to recover, and he quickly took a swig from his own glass, shaking his afro head and muttering something that sounded like “’Bout time.”

From his perch, Dajh tugged at Snow’s sleeve, frowning at everyone. “I thought they were supposed to kiss? Why’s everybody so freaked? Wasn’t everybody talking about,” and his small face screwed up in concentration, looking like he was trying to remember something. “How Aunt Light and Aunt Fang should just ‘jump’ each other and stop dragging it out?”

“And that’s enough of that.” Sazh proclaimed a little louder than was necessary, standing up to pluck his son from Snow’s grip.

“but I’m just saying what Aunt Vanille said!” Dajh protested, “then Aunt Serah said-“
He was quickly shushed by the woman in question, and the group regained it’s volume and commotion level with little effort.

Chuckling low in her throat, Fang turned back to Lightning. “Well, I…. uh.” There was a smile on Lightning’s face and she scrambled for words. “that was-“

She was quickly cut off when Lightning leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek, the kind she had expected to get if she had bugged the solider enough that
evening.

“Happy solstice, Fang.” Lightning said, and reached down to twine their fingers together, tugging the both of them toward their family.

Fang smiled back. “Happy solstice, Sunshine.”

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@_@ That started off short and ended up tall, why do I always do that? Anyway, this is un-bete-ed, so please point out any errors.
I wish you and your kith and kin a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic new year!