Who: Omen, Torrent; The Redshaws When: Saturday, December 23rd, 2006 (Evening) Where: (Redshaws' Home) Anadarko, Oklahoma What: Christmas Time Is Near Status: in progress Rating:PG
The sectional was littered with Redshaws and a few to spare. All bellies were full of pizza and the lights were dimmed. When the credits began rolling on Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, everyone began to shift and stretch and sit up. Troy had shifted several times during the film and was now sitting with Will in his armpit. As his nephew ran for the light switch, he felt compelled to shift a bit and remove his arm from behind Will's head. He raised his arms straight up and gave a massive and loud yawn before looking toward his mother and giving her a sly grin. "What's for desert?"
"You had me order those cinnamon sticks, Troy, and you and Tocho finished them off." Sophie Redshaw gave her son a 'don't push your luck' glare, but it was followed by a reluctant smirk. "We should play some games." It wasn't too late, after all. And Santa didn't come until tomorrow night. The little ones could stay up a bit later this evening.
From the opposite end of the couch, Earl (Troy's older brother) was still stretching his legs out half way into the middle of the living room. He reeled them back in before asking, "You play poker, Will? Troy loses his Christmas money and then some every December 26th." It was the Redshaw mens' poker night. "You bein' around might help him hold on to some. You can kick him under the table when he starts goin' broke." Earl grinned and rested his arms behind his head as he leaned back into the cushion.
"I wanna play poker!" Chayton complained, to which his mother Waneta said, "No no no, maybe next year, huh Dad?" her eyes shifted to her husband Jacob and a grin spread over her lips.
"Maybe," Troy's brother-in-law offered his eldest son. "But it's up to Dad this year to beat Grandpa."
Baron laughed - hard. "All right, Jake. We'll see about that," his mind went right back to his own eldest son and what he had been saying to their guest. "But if you're up for it, Will, you're welcome to join in. And for the record, Earl's still paying Troy back from our game at Thanksgiving." A pillow launched his way and he ducked, folding his legs (and the recliner section of the couch) back down so he was sitting upright.
Being in the midst of so many Redshaws at once seemed like a pretty daunting task. Especially to the people back at the mansion who only had Troy as an example of the typical Redshaw. Well, thankfully, Troy was not the barometer of his family's tone. Troy's parents were both incredibly welcoming and warm. His older sister was friendly, his younger sister was a riot, plus the nephews and niece were typically well-adjusted rugrats. Like Will, Jake (the father of said brats), stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of natives, which seemed to give them something to bond over. In fact, the only troublemaker of the group (besides Troy) was Earl and he directed most of his fire at his younger brother. Will did find that Earl seemed to have a Dudley Dursley quality to him. Jealous of their (Troy, Lahoma and Will) mutant abilities - but also a bit frightened of them. Threaten a little 'magic' and he'd normally back off.
As everyone started to come back to life after the movie, Will wondered if this is what it was always like for Troy growing up. Always having a big family around to spend the holidays with. Will had a very different upbringing; rarely getting more than three of four members of his family together at a time. After stretching, Will perked up when he was spoken too. "Sure, I'll play. Cards, boardgames, whatever." Except Scrabble and Pictionary, he thought to himself. Those were the only two games he hated, now if someone said Monopoly... he'd be on that.
Troy had moved his arm away from Will's neck when the lights came back on. Will was pretty sure it was because Troy was still uncomfortable with how to act around his family. This wasn't the first time Will had spent time with the Redshaws, just the first time since being 'with' Troy. Will wasn't going to push it, he'd let Troy figure it out his own way.
"Good," Baron gave the lighter boy a firm nod then moved to stand, "I'm going to go have a smoke," he moved past the pillow-padded grandchildren on the floor, first pretending to accidentally kneel on Kirima's back, then headed for the porch to finish the cigar he'd started earlier in the evening. Sophie, as matron, had bigger fish to fry. "I need someone to come clear off the table while I dig through that city dump of a closet in the den." The games were in there... somewhere.
"I'll clean the table off, Mami," Lahoma offered, feeling she needed to be as useful and caring as she could when she was home, since her visits were few and far between. Performing seven nights a week put a dent in one's schedule. The Cirque Du Soleil waited for no trapezist.
"Butt-kiss," Troy accused his younger sister with a grin.
"You could learn something from 'Homa," Sophie snapped, then gestured at William. "And him too. Will, you're a good boy. What're you doing mixed up with Troy?" There was a wink at the end of her question and she took her leave - headed for the den and certain doom.
Now that the room was clearing, Troy took the opportunity to find Will's hand with his own and give it a squeeze. "She likes you. So does Papi." It hadn't been up for debate, but he wanted to reassure Omen.
"Hey, you have it easy, Will. I had to break them in. They weren't enormously accepting," Jacob chimed in, fairly quietly. The kids had begun to entertain themselves with an argument over which DVD to put in next.
"Oh stop," his wife rolled her eyes. Waneta hadn't seen or heard her parents do or say one negative thing against Jacob - especially not because he wasn't Navajo. "Don't let him fool you, sweetheart," she told Omen now. "Jake was golfing with Papi after the second weekend I brought him home from school." She was beaming. Jacob laughed, guilty.
"I remember, I think Earl gave him the most grief," Troy shot his brother a look and hoped everyone else would join in. Alas, he was never so lucky.
"Yes," Waneta agreed, "But we're all past that, hm?" She moved to stand now, herself. "I'm going to go have some pudding, I think." 'Pudding' was said a little more loudly than the rest of the words in her sentence, and Kirima's ears nearly twitched as they picked up the signal. "Mami, may I have some pudding, too? The vanilla kind?" She instantly stood and broke away from her younger brother, Tocho. "Yes, baby, c'mon." She grinned and held out her hand.
"Some of us are past that..." Troy mumbled, but smirked to no one in particular. Left fighting over the DVD case of Hercules were Tocho and Chayton, and Jacob looked like he had no intention of telling them to quit it. Oh well. It was the men left, now. "Earl, shouldn't you be washing your hair or something?" Well, he was vapid. It wasn't Troy's fault. It's the treatment you received when you lived your life as a male model. At least from your family, anyway.
"Shouldn't you be washing your nipple clamps, Troy?" Earl replied quietly.
"Ass."
"Queer."
"Earl, for Christ's sake." Jacob gestured at the boys.
"Sorry," this was directed at both his brother-in-law and Will (or "Omen", whatever). "It's not you, it's Troy."
Troy's fingers shifted away from Will's and he adjusted so he was facing away from Earl. "What're the chances 'Neta will make me pudding, too?"