What is Sinbad Thankful for?

"...to get her. I know she likes flowers, but that seems so cliche y'know?"

Sinbad sighed, trying his best to continue his work while his coworkers brattled on and on about something next to him. He's been inundated with paperwork the past few weeks and wanted it done before the new year. A feat easily achievable if he wasn't being distracted every five bloody minutes. "So Sinbad, who are you getting a gift for?" And there it was.

He kept his head down as he tried to keep his focus. "What gift?" 

"You know, for the festival!" 

"There's a festival?"

The other bunn responded, "The festival of thanks, silly! Have you completely forgotten?" 

He froze, completely forgetting about the papers. He *had* forgotten. Things have been so hectic he completely lost track of time. "When's that?" 

"Uh, next thursday? You seriously didn't forget, did you?" 

 

He carefully put down his pen, and rose from his desk. "Get back to work before I make you count bank drops." He left before the others could protest, leaving his unfinished work behind. A new year's deadline is looking more and more distant. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The air seemed colder than normal as Sinbad made his way down the promenade. Seems the cold weather snuck up on him while his head was buried in bank books. Groups and couples walked passed as he thought about the festival. He never really thought about it much before. Having no family, few friends and even more enemies, gift giving wasn't really a top priority for him. 

But now? Well, you could say he had less enemies. At least none that would call themselves such. And yeah, maybe he could call some of the other bank workers "acquaintances", in a broad sense of the word. But no one close enough to consider wasting money on a gift for. But he wasn't thinking about any of them. He had someone much more important in mind. 

He stopped in front of a store window. A menagerie of items littered the window, the bell on the door constantly ringing with customers. Everything looked nice, and with those price tags they should be good quality. But...?

With a grumble and a frown he walked into the store, instantly regretting it. The two story shop was filled to the brim with other bunns, laughing and chatting away amongst themselves. So much joy and bliss in the air, it almost made him sick. He made his way through the crowd to an emptier area of the store. The tables in front of him were filled with fabrics of all sorts of colors and patterns. He picked one up and examined it, pretending he knew what he was looking at. It was a nice color, whatever it was, but he didn't think it would make a good gift, not for what he was looking for. 

"Hello there!" A voice speaks up behind him. A store employee stepped through the crowd and stood next to him, a wide smile on her face. "Welcome to Makers! Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" 

He turned away from her and mumbled a response, "Mn, not really. I'm not all that good at this gift giving thing..." 

Her smile grew wider, a gap in her front teeth accenting her childish looks, "Well that's perfectly okay! Not everyone knows what to get, so that's what we're here for!" She gestured to the table in front of them. "These scarves are a good gift for those fashionable bunns in your life, and the unfashionable ones as well! These cashmiri ones are divine, so soft and lightweight, perfect for when you want to make a statement but don't want to scream it out loud, you know?" She glanced at the scarf in his hand and commented, "Those wool ones are good as well, but they're more heavy than the chashmiri, so usually only those who go to Winter get 'em. Still very cute though!" 

Sinbad looked back to the scarf in his hand, before sighing and putting it back down. "I don't think this'll work."

"That's okay! Not everyone's a scarf person. I'm sure we got something here perfect for that special someone. Let's look around the store for something else then, follow me!" Before he could say no, she was pulling at his arm and dragging him deeper into the store. "So so, who is it your shopping for? A parent? A friend? Someone *more* than a friend?" 

"M-my father..." 

"Oh nice!! What do you normally get him? Are you looking for something different or sticking to the same ol' same ol'?"

"Uh, I've never actually...gotten him anything before..." 

"Well that's okay! There's always a first for everything! Oooh, how about we start with some cologne? That's always a popular gift for our male clientele." She jerked him to the left and pointed at a shelf lined with bottles. 

"He's uh, not really one for scents, I don't think."

"Okay!" Another jerk to the right, "How about some nice wallets? Can never go wrong with a good leather wallet for the older bunns out there." Sinbad stammered, but decided to just let this loon lead the way for now. He can't afford to start a fight. Not now, at least. 

"Here we are~" she stopped with a hop. "All our wallets are right here! We got the standard brown leather, some black leather, here's some weird white leather one. Wonder how they did that?" She continued rambling while going through the pile of wallets in front of them. Sinbad wasn't really listening, he knew a wallet wasn't what he was looking for. But she seemed excited talking about the products, so he let her continue while his eyes wandered elsewhere, where they landed on the table behind them. 

He stepped back from the wallets and turned around, glancing down. This table was different, filled with precious jewelry and other objects of the same. His eyes glanced over the different bracelets, necklaces and such, looking at nothing in particular. "Oh! Are you interested in our festival collection?" Seemed the store clerk finally noticed her audience had wandered. She stood next to him and glanced around the table. "We have a special collection that came out just for the festival. It's a bit pricier than normal, but I think it's totally worth it. Just look at the shine on those sapphires!" 

"Those are lapis." 

"Uh, yes! Yeah totally. Still pretty though!" 

He tunned her out again as his eyes fixed on something towards the back of the case. "Can I get a closer look at that one?" 

"Uh, sure! Lemme get that for you! Which one was it you were looking at?" 

"This one here, the silver with amber in it." 

"Oh, yeah sure! Not sure what this is though..." She mumbled to herself as she pulled it out of the case and handed it to Sinbad. "It's pretty looking, that's for sure." 

He held it in his hand and examined it. It was a silver pocket watch. A simple design etched into the front, opening up into a fanciful face plate, the numbers three, six, nine and twelve marked by small ambers. He turned the small knob on top a few times, bringing it back to life as it ticked away in his hand. "I'll take this." 

"Uh, are you sure? It's not one of our more popular styles by any means-" 

"I said I'll take it." 

"O-okay! Would you like that gift wrapped or in a bag?" 

~~~~~~

Sinbad made his way down the crowded street again, a small bag in hand. The crowds were lightening, but the noise was starting to get to him. Every few steps he would glance down at the bag in his hand, making sure the contents were still there. Some habits take time to get rid of. Three more days till the Festival of Thanks, he thought. Just enough to time try and learn how to wrap a gift. Do you need to wrap gifts if it's already in a bag? What a waste of paper. 

His mind filled with thoughts of gift wrapping and giving. For the first time in a while, he wasn't thinking about his past, but about what the future may hold. A future of warm drinks and fire side stories. Maybe some sweet treats and wooly sweaters? But most importantly, he was thinking of spending time with the one person who seemed to give a damn about him, and for once, he was content. 

And maybe once all the gifts have been given, they can spare, for old times sake.