Sam wasn’t good with words. Not like this, he could always talk himself out of most situations or rather fight his way out but the icemancer hesitated as he stood in front of Evelyn’s room. He’d been here before when he first adopted her. Not sure what to say, he never got a chance to tell her and she figured it our before he got a chance to. Unfortunately for Sam the holidays were approaching and he wanted it to be a special one so he found himself staring at her door.

Someone was walking the hallway he felt them coming and used this as an excuse to knock, to force himself into the situation so he could figure it out and do what he did best. Get himself out of situations. ”Eve, it’s Sam you in there?” he already checked the library.

Pulling out his phone he took a look for any messages. There were none which meant she wasn’t getting into trouble or hasn’t gotten caught yet. Sam was still finding droppings from the rodents she released when he borrowed the jet.

Evelyn knew Sam was outside. Or rather, the echoes knew. She didn't need superhuman hearing to hear the slight pause of footsteps, and the echoes had gotten rather good at identifying the walk of Sam. He was, after all, sort of her adopted parent now. Was he a dad? She wasn't sure yet how that part worked. She was sure every time she said the phrase 'mom' Cora was ready to run for the hills. Or, maybe all adults wanted to run for the hills when she was around. She did have a knack for making things explode.

Today she wasn't blowing anything up. She had a guinea pig in her arms and it was snuffling happily against her hand. When the voice finally called out to her, she pet the animal and answered. "I'm here. Just don't let any cats in!"

Most the guinea pigs had found homes with students who protected them from other animals in the mansion, but that didn't mean a cat didn't chase them from time to time. Although, she felt some of the pigs had gotten a bit larger recently. Mutant magic? Who knows, but the echoes were keeping track of it.

[Anxiety] Evelyn tilted her head when Sam walked in. Had she done something? No, the echoes didn't think she was in trouble. "Is everything okay?"

”I won’t tell my cat you said that.” he said with a slight chuckle to himself. Sam looked around and added, ”No cats here.” he opened the door and walked in to see Eve holding one of the culprits for the droppings and he smirked.

”Yep,” he nodded and lied still not sure how to broach the subject. He didn’t recall being so awkward with his ‘not-daughter’ maybe that was just part of the illusion. He stopped thinking about that, ”Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked raising his eyebrow ”You do something I got to cover for now?” he smirked.

”No, I’m here because I wanted to ask you what you normally did for the holidays and if you want to do anything in particular.” he scratched the back of his head, ”Normally do the Christmas thing solo, but ummm if you want we can celebrate or not.” he folded his arms and sighed why was this difficult.

With the promise that no cats would break in, Evelyn made space so Sam could enter the room. He was telling the truth about coming alone, but the fact he tried to hide everything being fine annoyed her for a moment. No, this was normal. Adults liked to say they were okay when they weren't. No, most people liked to say they were okay when they weren't. She did that too, so she accepted the discrepancy and continued to let the guinea pig.

Did she do something for him to cover for? She considered, and decided there was nothing new for the time being. "For the time being I have not done anything to need covering. However I will try to warn you before any future mischief." that was an honest enough answer.

Evelyn could not help looking surprised when he explained why he was there. The holidays. Christmas, to be precise. She lost her usual empty expression and seemed to look somewhat lost. "Oh. No, my parent went to parties and stuff but they didn't really do Christmas at home. Sometimes Jensen would get me something, but my parents were not exactly the hallmark card candidates... I...I am not really sure how we would celebrate it? Do we have to get a tree? Does it have to be in here? Evelyn regarded her room and knew there would not be space for a tree.

"Might be risky putting anything flammable in here with the Molotovs... she said under her breath.

She was pleading the fifth. Sam respected that. ”Only to keep you out of too much trouble.” she was supposed to be a kid, trouble was just part of the learning experience. Then again most kids didn’t have fun with Moltolv cocktails and most kids didn’t have Sam as an adopted parent. ”All I ask V.”

Sam shrugged equally as confused how to do everything. ”Why I’m asking. Gonna be the first year we got togther so, figured we can do something... if you want to. Trees are fine, maybe not in here though.” he said looking around trying to imagine a tree in one of the corners. ”Maybe a smaller one?” he shrugged.

He tensed up recalling all the fabricated holidays he had with his ‘not-real’ family. He found the more he talked about them the more he remembered about them. He always packed his holidays so it made it easier not to think about being alone.

”Done it a few ways before, Christmas Eve I put a beard on.” snow started to form and hold to his face covering his unshaved face. His voice got more robust as he continued to get into character, ”And drop off gifts to a few of the Orphanages maybe even read to them if there is time!” he forced a laugh but didn’t have it down just right. He’d been workshopping it for years.

”We can see what Cora’s doing or it can just be us. Sure she’d understand.” he said cleaning his face of the snow with a wave of his hand. Making note to ask about the Moltov’s later. He didn’t hear everything she said but at least picked up that word.