[Sasseville Home] On puisse crier tout bas (Eliott, Elle, Maddie)

[OOC: This thread takes place in December playtime!] @Eliott Sasseville @Maddie Girard @Keichelle Sasseville @Sebastian Chatard 

It was late Christmas morning, a time for family to rejoice and be happy. Sabrina, however, couldn't quite feel such joy. The Sasseville witch was rather placid for such a festive time. The ailing ballerina had missed la réveillon, the most important family meal of the year and though she was usually patient and mellow when it came to being ill (though she obviously disliked it) she was rather frustrated that she couldn't celebrate the first moments of Christmas with the people who meant the most to her. She had been feeling a little better as the end of term in Beauxbatons had approached, but the stress of being moved back home for the holidays was clearly too much for the delicate witch to handle and so Sabbie grew worse, though she tried not to let it show. She wanted to be present for la réveillon but Antoine firmly told her that she wasn't to be moved.

She wondered what the rest of Christmas Day would be like, and she had originally envisioned it to be rather lonely as the family would open their presents by the Christmas tree and find the little gifts in their shoes by the fireplace. However, her mother visited her Christmas Eve whilst Sabs was attempting to rest, and evidently her mother believed her to actually be asleep as she whispered in her ear that the family would be opening their presents in her room. The Papillonlisse was relieved beyond belief that she would have some company but felt a twinge of guilt that she was potentially ruining Christmas for the rest of her siblings. Still, as Sabrina cracked open a bleary eye and looked around her room, it still felt like Christmas Day. La crèche had been moved and placed in her room, and Sabbie smiled upon seeing her favourite figurine facing her. Wincing as she tried to re-position herself in her bed with what little energy she had, the brunette noticed a small slice of la bûche de Noël sitting on one of her beside tables. The corner of her lips twitched upward, touched by someone saving a slice from la réveillon for her. The icky feeling in her stomach prevented her from eating it then and there but she was sure she would be hungry at some point during the day.

Perhaps it was her headache messing with her or just her desire to have an ordinary Christmas day but it felt rather jarring to not see a Christmas tree and to have had to ask her sister to place her shoes out in front of the fireplace for her. If only she wasn't ill. Again. The critical witch hated herself for this particularly annoying trait that she possessed, for it not only negatively affected her life but it seemed to control the lives of others around her. She sometimes wondered if everyone would be better off and happier if she just didn't exist. She usually only considered this point when she was in a lot of pain. Today was one of those days. Since she had been moved back home her fever, originally dying down, had grown much worse and Sabrina had no idea what temperature she was supposed to feel anymore. When she felt too hot, she felt so drained of energy that she didn't even have the strength to push her covers off her, but when that occurred she got so hot that she ended up removing what was left of her stomach. It was a never-ending nightmare. Sabbie hoped the celebration could distract her from feeling like she was dying.

A knock on the door pulled out from her negative thoughts and the brunette tried to call out to them to tell them to come in but she only succeeded in a coughing fit instead. It appeared the person entering took it as a sign to enter and Sabrina sighed contently as she looked over her bed to find some of her family and her best friend filing their way through the door. Luckily, Sabs's room was more than big enough to hold them all! Her eyes grew wide in surprise as she noticed that they were all carrying presents of some kind, some were likely for herself, others for the rest of the family. Perhaps it really can be a great day, after all? "Merry Christmas, you lot!" She raspily croaked out. Relaxing further back into her pillow, she looked around the room trying to find the presents that she had wrapped for each family member. Thankfully, she had collected all the presents way back at the beginning of September or October. "Your presents are over there on the-" another few chesty coughs interrupted her "-floor." Sabbie wheezed, trying to catch her breath as she moved her finger to point to the small bundle of presents.

It was finally Christmas! Yaaaaaay! Maddie had jumped out of bed first thing that morning, ready for a fun-filled day. She'd attempted to rein in her enthusiasm a little though, as she'd slept in Elle's room and she hadn't wanted to disrupt the older girl's sleep. Nevertheless, there was still a large part of the excitable witch that had wanted to wake up the Sasseville - and the rest of the household - that very second, so that she could celebrate with them all and continue the Christmas traditions and festivities that they'd started the night before. Maddie had managed to slip out of Keichelle's room without rousing her though, which she was quite proud of.

The blonde-haired girl had then lightly skipped all the way to the living room to, once again, admire the big, beautiful Christmas tree that was the current focal point of the room. Her family's was just as big, but she liked how the Sasseville's had decorated theirs a lot better. It was more colourful and sparkly. She'd spent a few minutes scrutinizing the presents in her shoes that Père Noël had left for her too. That had always been one of Maddie's favourite Christmas traditions. She liked getting to place a pair of her shoes by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, knowing there would be little presents in them the next morning. And it had been even more enjoyable that year, getting to do it with more people than normal. She wished her own family was bigger. It always seemed so much more fun, doing things with lots and lots of people.

The young witch's next stop had been the kitchen, where she'd surveyed the remnants of la réveillon. There had still been quite a bit of food left from their feast at that point, and though she'd been tempted to eat more of it (particularly a slice or two of la bûche de Noël) before anyone else in the house had gotten up, she'd known it would have been rude of her to do so. It would have also ruined her appetite for the yummy breakfast she'd had soon after that. Maddie had still decided to sneak a piece of the pretty cake into Sabrina's room though, hoping her best friend would be able to eat it at some point during the day. She'd been too sick to partake of any of la réveillon the night before, which made the Papillonlisse quite sad to think about. She'd quietly peeked into the brunette's room, and after making sure she was fast asleep, Maddie had tiptoed over to the sickly witch's bed and set the slice of la bûche de Noël on her bedside table. She'd hoped it would cheer the ballerina up quite a bit, to see it there when she woke up. After quickly kissing Sabbie's forehead and whispering "Merry Christmas Sabs!" in her ear, she'd tiptoed out again, and waited in the living room for everyone else to wake up, feeling a weird mix of happy and sad at the same time.

The tall blonde had had a rather tough start to her fifth year at Beauxbatons, all things considered. Along with the missing house elves and mysterious tunnel under the school, Sabrina had ended up having yet another bout of her sickness, and this one had been a doozy. Her dear friend had gotten to the point where she was so sick that she'd collapsed during one of her frequent ballet practises. Luckily both Elle and Maddie were there watching her and were able to immediately take her to the Hospital Wing. She'd stayed there for the remainder of the term though, and the 15-year-old had quickly fallen back into the routine she'd always followed when Sabbie was ill and bedridden. That basically just meant she was almost always at the Sasseville's side, only leaving her to eat, sleep, and attend her classes. And now the brunette's eldest brother, Antoine, had her on bed rest during the Christmas holidays too, so Maddie had been doing her best to keep her and her family's spirits up. Christmas was supposed to be a happy time, after all!

By late morning, the anxious witch had gotten rather antsy. She was eager to open her presents, of course, but she also wanted to properly see and speak with her best friend. They'd never gotten to spend the entire holiday together before, and the blonde-haired girl wanted to experience as much as she possibly could with Sabrina. Thankfully, Sabbie's parents had decided to open presents in her room, so at least she'd be able to spend that time with the sickly witch. At the bidding of Simon and Sophie, everyone grabbed the gifts they were giving and gathered around the ballerina's door. Someone knocked, which Maddie found a bit strange, having never felt the need to do that before herself, and after Sabrina had uttered some sort of assent (though it sounded more like a muffled cough to the young witch), they all filed into her spacious bedroom.

Maddie was happy to see her dear friend awake, though she still looked quite tired and ill. Hopefully opening presents would perk her up a bit more. The Papillonlisse uttered an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas Sabbie!" in response to her best friend's greeting, restraining herself from jumping on Sabrina to give her a great, big hug, worried she'd hurt her or make her feel even worse than she already did. She instead plopped the brunette's gift in her lap, wiggling happily as she did so. "I'll open yours after you open mine. I hope you like it." Maddie smiled somewhat tentatively, perching on the edge of Sabbie's bed so she could watch her open her gift.

Poor Sabrina! Having to be ill on Christmas was like going to the Musée du Louvre with glaucoma. At least, however, Maman and Papa had arranged for them all to go into her bedroom for the big opening of presents - including Sabrina's friend, really the entire family's friend, Madeleine. This was Eliott's first Christmas as an alumnus, and although very little changed physically (he was at his parents' as he had been all of his Beauxbatons career), he did find already that some of the festiveness and carefree wonder he had as a younger child was much reduced, if not absent. It was a joy to be around all of his siblings but it caused him a little bit of melancholy that such an event required a yearly holiday.

Still, it had not been that long since he saw any of them. Thanks to fairly frequent visits to Chateoil, he usually saw at least one little sibling each month, usually more. The visits were more about finding a job than about seeing the younger Sassevilles, however. Here he was six months out of the Academie and still unemployed! Maman did not seem to mind at all but while Papa was putting a brave face on it, Eliott felt there was somehow a little bit of frustration. Antoine had been ready practically out the door of Beauxbatons with a job offer or two in his pocket, and he was well on his way to finishing his Potions apprenticeship. Eliott, on the other hand, just didn't know what he wanted to do. He had thought perhaps some sort of art career, since his professors had said he was such a prodigy and he had enjoyed it in school. But where did one go to do such things?

All of these thoughts were intruding occasionally while the family (Maddie was included in the designation) joined each other at the dining table for a late breakfast (the lateness a necessity for the adults who needed their sleep after the previous evening's réveillon). But the doubts and worries were all pushed aside forcibly by Maman telling everyone to gather up the gifts and head in to Sabrina's bedroom. For all these sudden stressful and adultlike thoughts, Eliott was still young enough and bubbly enough to thoroughly enjoy the sharing of gifts with one another.

To nobody's surprise - at least not his own - Maman knocked at Sabs' door but it was Maddie who burst in first, full of excitement. While she and the Sassevilles greeted Sabrina with wishes of a wonderful Christmas morning, Eliott took another look at his sister. There were bags under her eyes that contrasted alarmingly, but charmingly, with the pallor of her palette, and her chest seemed more sunken than usual, certainly the result of all her coughing. "Joyeux Noël, Sabs," he said quietly and gave her a gentle hug when it was his turn.

While Maddie gave Sabrina the first exchanged gift, Eliott surreptitiously placed his gift to Sabrina, a custom painting already in a frame and stand, on the dresser next to her bed. Whenever she was ready she could remove the "wrapping," which was nothing more than a black embroidered handkerchief covering the front of the frame until the artwork was revealed.

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[span style="font-size:35px;line-height:35px;"]Joyeux Noël, Sabs!
une peinture du Château Biron proche de Monpazier
à partir de votre frère El[/span]

((OOC: Kita (and possibly some of you) have already seen this when I designed it up several months ago - glad to finally "deliver it in person"))

The weak witch smiled in amusement, not at all surprised that her best friend, Maddie, was bounding her way through before anyone else. At least her spirits were raised, as usual. Perhaps the blonde would rub off on the Sassevilles? As a present was hastily plopped onto her lap, Sabrina was, again, not very surprised that Maddie seemed to want to exchange gifts first... the fact that there were two, very blurry, versions of Maddie and two, equally blurry, versions of her gift did surprise the chronically ill girl. She hadn't believed that her headache was that bad when she first woke up for blurred vision to occur, but now that she thought of it, it seemed very hot in the room and she was so exhausted already, even though she hadn't been awake for any longer than 15 minutes.

Sabbie's frail hand reached out shakily for the present, clearly aiming for the wrong version of the present as she missed entirely, and she let her hand fall back down onto the comfy mattress as she heard Eliott's soft, gentle voice. The brunette tried to turn her head to face him but she found she couldn't move at all as El bent forward to hug her. Sabrina was positive that it was a gentle hug, but the Sasseville's weak and almost skeletal frame found it was having trouble supporting the added weight and it felt like he was crushing her. Sabs wanted to return the hug but she had no strength left to even lift her arm, and the crushing only succeeded in rousing more wheezy and chesty coughs from the ballerina.

Her glassy eyes slipped close in an effort to conserve the extraordinarily low energy she seemed to have that day and the sick witch could hardly hear Madeleine as the thump, thump, thump of the headache, the spinning of the room that she couldn't even see, the insane heat in the room and her struggle to breathe normally as her throat kept scratching and sharp, loud and painful coughs causing tears to well up under her closed lids was distracting from what should have been a joyful celebration. "I'm sure," Sabrina croaked hoarsely, being interrupted by a couple of coughs, "I will," two more coughs, "love it." Sabs' head lolled to the side of the pillow as she blearily re-opened her eyes, trying to ground herself in her surroundings once more and trying to search for the present. Trying with all her might to lift her hand to begin opening the present which Maddie seemed excited about giving, the Papillonlisse clumisly picked at the outermost edge of the packaging, not really accomplishing anything. Literally not having the strength to be stubborn, her hand fell by her side as her eyes slipped closed again as she whispered, "someone open it for me..."

Though not usually one to question fate, Elle couldn't help but gripe about how unfair life was. Why did her family have to have such terrible luck? Why did her family have to deal with such an awful sickness? And why was Sabbie stuck with it? Sabrina was so innocent, she didn't deserve to have to deal with something so awful. Elle wished that she was the sick one instead of Sabbie, and if it were possible, she would do anything to transfer the illness from Sabbie to herself. The truth was, Elle worried about her sister. She worried about all of her siblings of course, she even worried about Maddie, but poor Sabs was the one she worried most about, and today she was especially worried about the younger Sasseville girl.

Keichelle had slept in a little later than usual, and probably would have been late to breakfast if she hadn't rolled off of her bed. The resounding thud had been enough to wake her from her restless slumber, but because she hadn't been able to fall asleep until nearly three in the morning, the Sasseville was quite groggy and still tired, though she'd figured that once she had some coffee she would be fine. And if she wasn't, she'd do what she always did and fake it. It would be a piece of cake. Luckily, breakfast and coffee did the trick, and the eldest Sasseville daughter was even a little excited for the family to all open their presents, though of course they couldn't do it without Sabrina.

Along with Maddie and the rest of the family, Elle made her way into her younger sister's room. "Joyeux Noël, Sabrina!" She said with a bright smile. Unlike Eliott, Elle didn't dare to give her sister a hug, but she didn't think her Sabbie would mind too much anyway. Maddie was the first one to give Sabbie a present, and Elle was very glad that she hadn't had to go first.

Any lighthearted feelings she'd had were soon wiped away as Sabrina spoke. She didn't sound good, not at all. Elle frowned with concern as she internally debated saying anything about it, though in the end she decided not to. Antoine knew about health better than she did, and if he didn't mention anything, she wouldn't either. Still when Sabbie asked for someone else to open her present for her, the older Sasseville solemnly surveyed her sister's sickly frame for a split second before reaching for the present. If Sabbie didn't have the strength for it, Elle didn't want her to strain herself.

"Here Sabs, I'll get it for you." she said as she started to unwrap the gift, and made sure to face the opened part towards Sabbie so she would get to see it first.