December 17th, 1892 - Cut Your Own Christmas Tree

Arthur hadn't been able to find his wife that morning, so he'd taken Gwenog himself to go cut the Christmas tree out at Hillicker Farm. They would get a tree — he thought Gwenog would have a lot of fun helping to cut it down, she liked to get her hands dirty — and then they would surprise Dezzie with it when she got home. It would be a picture-perfect family event for once.

Gwen helped with the first few pulls of the saw, and then Art had to take over for her little hands. He gave it a few good shoves back and forth - getting about a third of the way through the trunk of the evergreen tree - before he turned, grinning, to show off for his daughter.

Except that his daughter wasn't there.

"Gwenog?" Arthur called, standing up. Even standing up, he couldn't see her, with her mass of brown curls and her bright red jacket. Louder, this time: "Gwenog?!"

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The following 1 user Likes Arthur Pettigrew's post:1 user Likes Arthur Pettigrew's post
   Marlena Scamander

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set by MJ <3

Munny had tagged along with a couple of friends who were getting a tree for the home they now shared. It was going as well as could be expected for three middle class men who were really still boys at heart. Munny supposed he might as well get a tree for his own house. He didn't think his landlord would mind too much.

He was wandering around the trees, trying to find one he liked the look of when he heard a familiar voice. "Captain? What's wrong?" He asked as he approached the older man.

  

Art was vaguely relieved that he was approached by someone he knew — MacFusty might not tell his wife, later when all this was a memory, that Art had lost their kid. (Of course — Gwenog very well might tell her.) "I — my daughter," Art said, "She's wandered off, have you seen her?"

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set by MJ <3

Munny came from a family that tended to have multiple children. He knew quite well that sometimes kids took off like a shot the moment you glanced away for even a microsecond. "No but she has to be around here somewhere. Want me to help you look?" He asked, as he looked around and tried to clock the different places that he might have absconded himself away in as a child.

  

"Yes," Arthur said, because the thought of finding Gwenog on his own was — paralyzing. "She's wearing — a dark red coat." Why was she wearing dark colors? They should have enchanted her coat to sound like a tinkling bell; in dark red, if she wasn't calling back to them, she could be anywhere.

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set by MJ <3

A dark red coat during the holiday season when almost every child was in reds, greens and such. This was going to be difficult. Even so, Munny didn't think she could have gone far. "I'll check the west side of the farm." Splitting up would let them cover more ground was his reasoning.

  

Arthur nodded. "I'll go East," he said. He couldn't really think about looking, or even which direction he was going in — the opposite of MacFusty, he guessed. "Shout if you find her."

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set by MJ <3

Munny nodded in agreement and took off to the west side of the farm. He tried asking around as well but most people had either not seen her or mixed her up with someone elses child. One person had suggested that she had headed into one of the nearby buildings for their hot chocolate and sweets offerings. He headed back to where his captain was. "Someone suggested that she went into or is hanging around the building thats offering hot chocolate and sweets to customers," he informed the other.

  

Arthur had talked to a few strangers who hopefully didn't know his wife, but hadn't made any progress in Finding Gwenog before MacFusty reappeared. The location his beater offered sounded like something Gwen would choose, so Art nodded fervently. "Let's go?" he asked — if MacFusty was wrong, Art wouldn't be in the right place to wrangle the thought on his own.

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set by MJ <3

Munny hoped that the people had spoken to were right. He didn't want to think of potentially taking away time they could have continued looking. As it was, he lead his captain towards the location in question. There seemed to be quite a few children loitering.

  

There were a lot of small children here, and Art felt a flash of hope. "Gwen!" he called, and then the toddler ran full force into his legs.

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set by MJ <3

Oh, thank Merlin. "Gave your Papa quite the scare, little lass," Munny said teasingly, relieved to see his captain reunited with his daughter. "If you don't need me for anything else, I'll be off."

  

Arthur waved MacFusty away, petting Gwen's hair with one hand. She was here, with him, and safe. It suddenly felt like that was all he ever needed.

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set by MJ <3