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During December, Ninjago city is bustling with life more than any other time of the year.
Children pulling on their parents clothes, pointing at windows holding new, shiny toys that were doused in colorful lights. Those same parents affectionately rolling their eyes before taking their child's hand and walking them inside, willing to see how much it costs. Just for them.
In all honesty?
Well…
…Morro, Harumi, and Lloyd kind of hate it. Just a little bit.
I mean, the time they have with the others (And each other, they suppose.) is great!
Getting to bake mountain-fulls of cookies with Zane, (Or trying to steal mountain-fulls of raw cookie dough, in Morro and Lloyd's case.) watching the hilarious debacle that is Jay panicking over what gifts to get everyone, Cole whipping out his old Santa costume to go surprise kids around the city, Kai getting so incredibly competitive and perfectionist-ict with all the decor…
And all the friends that come around are great, too! It's just…
…Just…
…There is a day- December 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve- where everyone but the so-called 'Disaster Trio' (Morro and Harumi hate that name, Lloyd loves it.) go to visit their family.
Their biological family.
Kai and Nya head towards the outskirts of Ninjago to head towards their old home, where Ray and Maya now stay. They love to spend hours catching up on lost time. (And also have gingerbread bake-offs that usually end in disaster, apparently? According to Kai, at least.)
Jay gets up bright and early (8 A.M., which is 'very early' for him.) to visit Ed and Edna, staying there for nearly 12 hours. Everytime he comes back, he has armfuls of Edna's baked goods, much to Cole's appreciation. …Although, they're always a little cold. Lloyd can't help but wonder what Jay does to get them that way. (...He takes time to visit Cliff Gordon's grave on his way home, too.)
Cole- always tentatively, almost nervously- goes to visit his dad, yet he always comes back with a content smile. Lloyd is always happy to see him happy, but with how red and puffy his eyes are, he wonders what he gets up to as well. (Both he and Lou take a good chunk of their time together to visit Lily, bringing food to her grave and just sitting there for a while, having idle conversation about anything and everything.)
And, last but definitely not least, Zane. He, of course, spends most of the 23rd lingering in the Birchwood forest, visiting his fathers grave and even occasionally going inside his old home. Just to reminisce. (And when he's not with his father, Zane goes with Pixal to Borg Tower. Dr. Borg always loves seeing him, much to everyone's happiness.)
Yes, all five have such meaningful people in their lives to spend time with! Mothers and fathers…
…So it makes sense why Lloyd, Morro, and Harumi don't care for it too much.
Lloyd's been 'dealing with it' (His words, not mine.) for quite a few years now. This is Morro's second year of being a part of this 'family', and Harumi's first.
And, suffice to say, Harumi does not stand for it.
"I understand that they all have other people they love, but have they not taken into consideration your two's feelings? I can understand them not caring much about me- Nya still can't look me in the eye- but you two? Especially Lloyd?! Do they not have the slightest clue how this could make their 'darling' little brother feel?
"...'S not that, Rumi."
First Harumi, then Lloyd spoke. Morro was there as well, listening from his spot with eyes glued to the tea in his glass.
The trio were all currently in the rebuilt Monastery, which was holding two more rooms than usual due to destiny's unplanned guests now living within its walls. The estranged cousins were lounging in the living room, a cocktail of emotions radiating throughout it due to the many different reactions being shown.
Harumi was pacing back and forth, drilling foot-shaped holes into the carpet as she contemplated with an interned brow. The boys sat on the couch; Lloyd followed Harumi with tired eyes, trying to figure how to calm her down despite all the muck-filled sleep deprivation cutting off his brain function. And Morro was as comfy as could be, knees tucked to his chest with a warm blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he watched this debacle.
Harumi abruptly stopped and turned starboard to face Lloyd as his words registered. Mouth a thin line, she crossed her arms behind her back, looking down at him with cold eyes. (The cold was just a disguise for the warmth that hid within them.)
"Then what is 'it', Lloyd? What good reason could your family possibly have to rightfully explain why they just all straight up abandon you for a day during the time of the year that's all about family?!"
"They don't abandon me, I was the one who suggested this in the first place."
Harumi's face placated at that, eyes widening as she let out a quiet,
"Oh."
Lloyd rubbed his temples, resting the weight of his head on the back of his hand as he mumbled.
"This was back before I got hit with the Tomorrow's Tea. We'd known I was the Green Ninja for a couple of months, and I was kinda sick of all the responsibility. 'Getting the ninja all out of the house and away from me was a privilege at the time, made me feel… free…"
He took a moment to sigh and chuckle tiredly, hand moving from in front of his face to completely pressing against it.
"...Never could've known it was gonna bite me and my now separation-anxiety ridden self later in life."
Not knowing what to say, Harumi stood stock-still, an air of awkwardness beginning to bloom the longer she refused to speak.
Thankfully, Morro- ever savvy in the ways of social etiquette- didn't care about butting in.
"So, in summary, you were, subconsciously, already a self-sacrificial moron back when you were a kid; and now you are, consciously, still a self-sacrificial moron who refuses to admit that you made a mistake and need help. Did I get that right?"
Lloyd pressed his fingers together, shoulders scrunching up in discomfort.
"...Doing this makes them happy, Morro-"
"-Does it make you happy, Lloyd?"
Lloyd didn't respond, the only sound coming out of him being a sharp inhale quickly followed by dead silence. Harumi still refused to move, too.
So Morro, once again, took the reins.
Letting out an overexaggerated sigh, he grabbed the back of Lloyd’s shirt collar with his right hand, then stood up to grab Harumi's wrist with his left. Ignoring their mild struggling and squawks of confused-outrage, he continued to drag them until they were at the Monastery's front door, where he unceremoniously plopped them against the wall.
Putting his finger up before they could speak, Morro spoke with words quick and precise.
"Hush. Lloyd doesn't like being here, making an educated guess that Princess (Yet again, another name that Harumi hates. Morro finds her outrage at the word amusing.) doesn't like being here, and I sure as hell don't like being here. Not today."
Morro claps his hands, keeping them together to point them at the other two.
"So-"
He unclasps his hands to point at the coat rack near the door. It holds all household residents' jackets, the array of colors on it proving it. (…What? It's not that weird. In this household, you’ll never know when you'll be called out on an emergency mission, so it's smarter to just leave your stuff by the door.)
"-Adjust your hats, grab your coats, and march, you two."
Blinking owlishly, Lloyd and Harumi turned to look at each other, brains needing a second to catch up on the infodump they just received…
…Before what just happened registered and they scrambled over one another in a blind flurry to get their coats. Morro was already halfway out the door!
~
It was winter, so the sun set quickly.
Obviously.
Although, the fact that it was pretty much midnight probably wasn't helping Lloyd and Harumi's predicament of barely being able to see where Morro was speed-walking to, either.
Stumbling, Lloyd windmilled his arms around to stop himself from falling face-first into fresh sleet as he maneuvered to Morro. Why the ex-ghost was so dedicated to taking all these unnecessary back-alleys to get to the trio's 'destination' (Only Morro knows where they're going.) neither Lloyd nor Harumi understands. They probably never will.
"Hey, Hot Topic, I get that your whole shtick is to be super mysterious and brooding, but can you at least tell us how much longer until we get there. The snow keeps getting deeper…"
That was Harumi, who was currently struggling to find snow thick enough to walk on instead of wading through. Her heels may look stylish, (They had spikes on them, of course they are!) but due to Morro's insistence on leaving, she had no time to tug on her snow boots.
Said 'Hot Topic' spoke evenly, seemingly not even phased by her jabs. He was way too comfortable- hands in his pockets, stepping in all the right places to not sink… How many times has he come here before?
"Good. The deeper the snow, the closer we are. If it's just below your waist we're pretty much there."
The crunching of Lloyd's boots stopped as he looked where the snowline was up to in the darkness. Head tilting in confusion, he assumed Morro must have made a miscalculation.
"Uh… The snow's pretty much there. 'You sure we didn't miss it or something?"
Morro, ever humble, began flawlessly walking backwards on the unstable path. Lloyd couldn't really make out his face, but he could feel Morro's signature 'annoyed-and-mildly-disappointed' stare burning into his skin.
"Excuse me? I've walked this path ever since I was two. Even if the buildings around it have changed…"
Cutting himself off by disappearing around a corner, Lloyd and Harumi (Who was finally finding her proper footing.) scrambled after him. They both let out respective "Oofs." when they were met with a bundle of tree branches to the face instead.
But, strangely enough, they could hear Morro's voice on the other side.
"...The path to this place has not."
Glancing at one another, Lloyd shrugged at Harumi and slid forward to brush apart the branches. Harumi, looking over his shoulder, let out a gasp at the enchanting sight.
Lloyd couldn't help but match her enamored enthusiasm when he looked up.
It was beautiful- nothing but an empty field of pure white, near blinding snow. The light of the moon reflected off icicles dangling off surrounding trees.
And, in the middle of it all, stood Morro; resting with his hands in his pockets and looking like the smuggest man alive as he made eye contact with his younger cousins.
"Pretty neat, ain't it?"
Harumi was the first to pick her jaw up off the floor, pushing past Lloyd to follow Morro's footprints in the snow, spinning around to take in the beauty of it all. She only stopped to look at Morro with genuine amazement in her eyes.
"What is this place?"
Morro responded with a shrug, taking an arm out of his pocket to manipulate the wind to gently peel off a brown leaf weakly clinging to a frozen tree. He twirled it around in his fingers as he spoke.
“Just a place I found back when I was alive. Before Wu found me. It’s changed a bit- there used to be a lot of homeless people living here. Their setups got destroyed with time, I suppose, but…”
He dropped the leaf and took a step forward, looking up at the withered trees with reminiscent eyes.
“...It’s just nice to know it’s still around.”
The peaceful moment was ruined when a snowball hit the back of Morro’s head.
“ACK-”
Furiously scrubbing the cold snow out of his hair, Morro turned to look back at Lloyd and Harumi. The latter was doubled over, nearly head-first in the fresh sleet in laughter. The former held a similar snicker, but there was fresh blood (Snow, actually.) on his hands. Morro felt indignat.
"What was THAT for?!"
"'Cause you like to act all tough, but you're really a huge softie, Morro. You wouldn't have brought Rumi and I here if you weren't. "
Red in the face for multiple reasons, Morro just huffed wordlessly gestured for both Lloyd and Harumi to follow. He couldn't answer, any comeback he'd come up with would just back him into a corner.
(...Because Lloyd wasn't exactly wrong.)
Wordlessly, the three walked further into the frozen-over oasis. They didn't even notice that the ground was slowly inclining upwards until Harumi slipped again, tumbling down far enough for both boys to let out a semi-concerned cry amidst their laughter.
Brushing herself off, Harumi struggled with picking out small sticks from her hair as she berated Morro.
"Alright. Admittedly, this place is gorgeous, I will not deny that. But now that we're here, where are we going?"
Deciding to give her a small mercy, Morro shined his signature lopsided-smirk as he gestured her forwards.
"The top. This place has a steady incline, but it's hard to tell right now 'cause everything around is just snow. If you think this view is nice, you aren't ready for what's up there. Plus, if we get lucky, there'll be another surprise waiting."
Lloyd, who was now helping Harumi tug a particularly tangled twig out of her bangs, raised a curious eyebrow at that.
"That's… not at all ominous."
Harumi seconded that with a nod.
Sighing once more, Morro was already walking backwards, about to make yet another witty comeback…
…Before he himself fell, landing on his back with a deadpan "Ow."
He felt the teasing laughter coming before it even hit his ears.
Lifting just his head, Morro seriously contemplated blowing both his cousins off this hill and all the way back to the footsteps of the Monastery as he saw them guffawing at this cruel, ironic twist of fate.
In all regards, he really should've.
But, unfortunately, ever since his revival, he's been sick with this thing called 'caring for others' and 'being able to take light teasing without lashing out'.
And, even more unfortunately for him, the symptoms got stronger around these two bumbling idiots.
It sucked.
What did he even slip on anyways? He knows this place better than he knows the wind, so it has to be something that was added in recent year-
"-Aha!"
Interrupting the younger two's mockery, Morro boosted himself back up with one hand using a burst of wind and grabbed what tripped him in the first place with the other.
Lloyd and Harumi couldn't quite make out what it was from the odd angle, but it was definitely large. Intrigue took over amusement as Morro once more signaled them to follow before he somehow disappeared after taking a few steps back. Was he at the top? Was there a hidden ledge or something, imperceptible in all this snow?
Trudging upwards, Harumi reached the top first as she followed Morro's footsteps. She too disappeared, looking like the snow was swallowing her whole as she vanished over the invisible ledge.
But, what made Lloyd switch from a slow walk to a steady climb, was that she let out an amazed. "Oh my First Master…" when the top was in view.
Losing his footing, Lloyd let out a shocked "Woah!" when what he thought to be a solid hand-hold turned out to be the lip of the top. He accidentally sent himself tumbling over the top of it in a semi-successful somersault. (Hey, embarrassing as it was, it at least proves that his upper-body strength is doing better!)
…But, the real treat was the sight awaiting him. Harumi was right, the First Master made this indeed.
Morro and Harumi stood out like bright beacons amidst the blur of fresh sleet and ice.
The frozen trees that were once far in the distance are now right in front of their eyes, bark glistening with layers of ice painted atop them, reflecting off one another in a dazzling array of light. It must be near blinding when the sun is up.
But, the most jaw-dropping sight was the complex system of interconnected icicles spanning across and above the trees, creating a spiderweb of a crown-like structure above their heads. You'd think it'd look even better during the day, with light peeking through the open holes, but…
…The latticework appearance of the stars above was just as, if not more, stunning.
Lloyd didn't realize his jaw was on the floor until he struggled to speak. When he was able to again, it was about as eloquent as you'd expect.
"...Woah-"
Until he, too, was hit in the back of the head with a snowball.
But this one was at point-blank, so it floored him.
Face buried in the snow, Lloyd refused to give Morro the satisfaction of a reaction, instead just choosing to lay there and bite back an annoyed laugh. He got up with closed eyes and a scrunched nose, the freezing cold a rather rude awakening to his tired mind.
Morro, realizing that was the sweetest revenge he was gonna get out of the golden boy, continued his previous monologuing after branding the sight of a snow-covered Green Ninja in his memory.
"Told you the view would be worth it."
Both Lloyd and Harumi, the latter still being too starstruck by the sight before her to react to the play fighting going on behind, simply responded with an "Mhm." or a nod of the head.
Sighing, Morro sat down, allowing them to drink it all in for a couple minutes before he pulled the next card out of his sleeve. He was… mildly concerned (Read: quite worried.) that they would find this sight boring and not find the trek up here worth it.
But, seeing how both children of Garmadon were currently seeing who could successfully throw snow through the tight latticework and land it back down on the ground, Morro thinks he should trust his gut more often.
Although, his patience was all but run dry after around 30 minutes passed. While the sight of Lloyd and Harumi seeing who could hold onto the low-hanging icicles the longest before falling on their ass was amusing, it was time for the next step.
And the best part about this one is that Morro's sure they're going to like it. (And if they don't, well, he sure will!)
Clearing his throat, Morro caught both of their attentions.
"Don't you guys want to know what I tripped over earlier?"
"-Yourself?"
"-The air?"
"Oh, haha, very funny."
Reaching behind him and into the snow, Morro watched Lloyd's and Harumi's eyes grow wide as he pulled out what he tripped over;
a cherry red sleigh, minimal chips damaging its bright paint.
Right away, Lloyd and Harumi were interested. Tall hill, plus large sled, plus three people who only know recklessness around one another, times two of those people having elemental powers? Well that equals a fun, most likely deadly, time.
Wordlessly, Morro stood and sauntered over to the edge of the hill, dropping the sled on it with a loud 'clunk'.
…He'd be lying if he said a part of him wasn't excited.
Yes, this is mostly for Lloyd and Harumi's sakes, but Morro hasn't gone down this hill in literal decades. Back before Wu found him, riding down it while crammed together with other desperate, painfully innocent homeless orphans was one of the few good memories he had from back then.
And now he gets to experience them again being neither homeless nor an orphan! Ah, how quaint.
“You two coming or should I just go?”
Not even a second later, Morro’s cousins were racing towards him, surprisingly childlike grins painting their faces. They both skidded to a stop before they could crash into him or one another, shoving Morro onto the sled first so that they could all find a way to fit on it. As previously stated, it wasn't exactly small, but the 'Disaster Cousins' weren't, either.
Morro, having leaned all his weight backwards to stop them from toppling down the ledge, readied himself. He took one look back at the children of Garmadon, both of them matching his excited expression.
"Unless you guys wanna make the long trek up here again, this will be a one-way ride. Let's make it worthwhile, yeah?"
Letting out small snickers, Harumi- who was squished in the middle- made the smart decision to grip onto the back of Morro's coat and scarf. Her tone was still giddy, but an underlying seriousness stood within it as well.
"I, bewilderingly, do actually trust you two enough to do what you want- just keep me from falling off. Because if you don't, there will be hell to pay."
Lloyd simply tsked and threw a hand around Harumi's waist, no doubt getting ready to pull off some stomach-churning trick with the small ball of energy he was forming in the other.
"Aw, Rumi, you don't trust us?"
"Absolutely not."
"GASP! I can't believe this! This… this treachery!"
"...Lloyd, did you seriously just say the word 'gasp' outlOUDDD!"
Harumi's condescending question was cut short as Morro opted to surprise them both. Smirking at their screams, he jolted forward, sending them on their sudden descent with the added spice of a burst of wind aimed behind from his hands.
Lloyd’s and Harumi's shrieks swiftly turned into laughter as they flew down, down, down. It was made even better when Lloyd finally lifted his free hand high and let that energy-ball go, everyone taking a glance back to see it exploding just high and far enough for it to beautifully light the rapidly fading undersides of the spider web of icicles.
It's impossible to put the magic of the moment into words, but one could try. Maybe instead of words, just… feelings? Sensations?
Joy. Ecstasy. Adrenaline. Excitement. Fear- the good kind, though. Dopamine. Happiness. Glee. Giddiness.
The feeling of snow rushing past your folded legs. Cold air stinging your exposed skin as it blurred past. Hair whipping about as the speed you were going at seemingly threatened to scalp it off. The sled itself biting into your skin as you held on for dear life. And, arguably, the best part;
The laughter you heard as you went down, down, down. Plus, it was never alone.
It was an experience that you'd never want to end.
…
Sadly, as all good things must be, the ride was over far too quickly.
Morro’s supplied wind-speed made the experience go from three to five stars, yes, but if Lloyd and Harumi knew what their reward was gonna be for climbing such a tall hill before they got to it, maybe they wouldn't have been so reluctant to scale it, after all. In fact, they might have been willing to climb an even taller one.
Oh, also, to say they had a 'less than pleasant' landing was being polite.
As they reached the bottom, Lloyd released Harumi's waist to throw his hands up with a loud cheer. This action caused him to fall off the still-teetering sled and hard on his back, making Morro and Harumi cry out as they put their legs out to stop the out of control sled.
Lloyd, after taking a moment to let the world stop spinning, then let out boisterous laughter as he began happily kicking his arms and legs in the snow. Goosebumps ran across his skin at the feeling, but the knowledge that he just had such a pleasant once-in-a-lifetime experience kept him surprisingly warm.
His mindless kicking turned into measured movements as Lloyd realized something. Hey! This snow is really fresh! Softly shifting his arms and legs back and forth, his laughter turned into small giggles as he began creating a snow angel beneath him.
Harumi, who jumped off the sled as soon as it was safe, saw this and let out an amused sigh of her own. She put up a thumb to Morro behind her, letting him know that Lloyd was a-okay.
After a moment of realization followed by little contemplation, Harumi then decided to join in Lloyd's little game, (Morro did, too; and by that I mean Harumi stepped back to drag him off the sled and face first into the snow before he could even know what he was signing up for. What? He's fine, he could right himself.) she stepped off the sled and fell back a few feet away from Lloyd's snow angel, smiling at the biting cold as the semi-fresh sleet around her tried to cling to her coat.
Morro, now shifted to lying fully on his back, let out a begrudgingly-amused sigh. These two… are acting so much more carefree than usual. So is he, actually.
It's… nice. Really nice.
Deciding to momentarily submit to the festive mood, Morro, too, began creating his own angel. There was no real conversation between the three as they worked, just idle chittering and laughing as they felt the most relaxed they've been in years.
Even though he was the last to start, Morro stood up first, making sure to not damage his angel by boosting himself off the ground and to the side with the air around him.
Unable to manipulate the wind, Lloyd and Harumi followed suit by utilizing their flexibility. Lloyd boosted his entire body to the side with just a hand, and Harumi did an odd twist-flip off of hers. Was rather impressive, really.
Snow angels completely unharmed, all three cousins moved to where they could easily look at all of their creations. Laughing yet again, they all admired what they'd done by just… rolling in snow. The snow angels were so similar, yet, at the same time, still had their own speck of the creators individuality.
Lloyd, moving so fast that the others didn't have time to comprehend, suddenly ducked down to grab twin handfuls of snow and smack them against the back of Morro and Harumi's heads.
"Ow-!"
"Hey-!"
"-Bet I can make 20 more of 'em before you guys can even make five!"
Lloyd blurred that out before falling backwards right where he stood, Morro and Harumi gasping in amused outrage as they followed suit, immediately jogging off to get their foot in this game.
~
Unfortunately, in the end, there was no winner. Believe it or not, the individuality snow angels hold quickly dissipates when there are 50+ all around you. So, unless you were keeping track of which one's belonged to you from the start, (Which none of them did, the geniuses.) knowing whose was whose was impossible.
There was a small spat where Lloyd and Morro argued over being the victor. Harumi, who was never really that interested in winning in the first place, simply watched in amusement. She only broke them apart when she realized something.
"Hey, both of you, stop. We should get going."
Lloyd, who had one hand pulling on Morro's hair and a leg kicking against his chest, looked over.
"Whhy? What'fyou mean?"
Oh, he spoke like that because Morro hans were pulling on his face, by the way. Said ex-ghost dutifully removed his hands and righted himself, (By pushing Lloyd off him.) brushing off snow as he spoke next.
"Yes, is something wrong?
Harumi wordlessly shook her head, instead pointing up. Towards the sky. The sky. The cloud-filled, sun-shining, definitely-not-nighttime sky.
"Oh."
"When did the sun come out?"
Morro, then Lloyd. Harumi just shrugged and moved towards the long abandoned sled, picking it up by the lip and beginning to slowly walk towards the exit.
"That's the million dollar question, isn't it? We don't have our phones on us, so we should be going now. If we stay out much longer, the ninja will start looking."
Lloyd just tilted his head, confused.
"Why's that a problem? They won't freak out or anything, Zane, Nya, and Pix probably knew the second I left the house."
At this, Harumi loosened her grip on the sled and turned to Lloyd, frowning. Lloyd felt unrighteously scrutinized, in all honesty
"What? Did I do something wrong?"
Harumi sighed, bringing a hand to her face as she directed her next question to Morro.
"Hm. I don't know. Did he, Hot Topic? Would you be okay with the ninja finding this place that you obviously have a very personal connection to? Which most likely took a lot of trust and careful consideration in Lloyd and I for us to see?"
Oh. Lloyd gets it now.
Said golden boy turned to Morro, hands prematurely raised in an apologetic gesture.
But, surprisingly enough, Morro was not beside him. Or at least, not standing. He was a few feet away, squatting down in the snow, seemingly… making something..? Or starting to.
Upon feeling the dual pairs of eyes on him, Morro made eye-contact with Lloyd and couldn't help but sigh at the unnecessary over-apologetic look on his face.
"Princess is right."
"-Oh, F.S.M., Morro, sorry-"
"-She's right that we need to leave soon. So both of you get your asses over here and help me make this so that we can go."
Lloyd, who made the smart decision of clamping his mouth shut when he was interrupted, untensed as Morro's statement was made. He tentatively walked over, Harumi following close behind.
This close, Lloyd could more clearly see what Morro was starting to make: a large ball of snow. Before anyone could ask any questions, Morro began to roll it, making the ball grow bigger and bigger until he circled all the way around Lloyd and Harumi. He let the ball go and pressed it into the snow a bit, securing its place.
"There, I did the hardest one. You two make the other pieces."
"Uh…"
"What are you talking about?"
Morro sighed and visibly deflated, looking at his cousins like they were the dumbest people in all of Ninjago.
"You idiots don't know what a snowman is?"
Harumi, not exactly joyous about being called an idiot, retaliated before Lloyd could get a word in.
"Of course we know what a snowman is- it's your fault for not telling us that's what we're doing."
"Oh, so you don't get 'context clues' either?"
Lloyd, holding Harumi's shoulder so she would not quite literally jump on Morro, instead turned to him with a confused, contemplative expression.
"Why are we making a snowman?"
Both Lloyd and Harumi looked shocked as Morro's face fell. He looked… not sad, no, just… reminiscent?
"It's tradition. That's all."
Realizing they weren't going to get any more information than that without opening up some wounds that were quite obviously not healed enough, Lloyd and Harumi turned to one another and shrugged. They might as well, right?
"...I'll make the head?"
"Sure."
Lloyd, then Harumi.
Wordlessly, they worked. Morro mostly stood back and watched, but he helped both of them lift their pieces onto his, making sure they all stayed tight and secured.
After all three pieces were secured tightly atop one another, Morro stepped forward and picked up small twigs and stones he found on the ground. None of the sticks were large enough to count as arms, but he used to make a mismatched smile.
He stepped away not even a minute later. The largest two rocks for eyes, and an odd, crooked smile. Yeah, seems like something Morro would make.
"Since I don't think either of you two have a cob pipe, button, or magic hat I think we're done here. Let's go."
And, with no further explanation, Morro began to walk away.
Lloyd and Harumi seemed to share the same thought process because, instead of following suit, they stayed right where they were.
"...Wait, Hot To- Morro, stop."
Adhering to Harumi's wishes, Morro stopped the start to their long trek home and turned to face her. The look on her face had shifted- a certain glint was in her eyes now. It was like she just figured out a simple answer to a complex question.
Looking wistfully back at the snowman, Harumi minutely gestured to it with her head.
"I get what's wrong now. We may not have the most common materials for making a snowman, but we should still add some finishing touches instead of leaving it like this. So barren."
"Yeah, I agree, Rumi. Would be rude to leave the poor guy like this."
Confusion quickly blooming, Morro watched as Lloyd and Harumi snatched a handful of small twigs off the ground. Once an ample amount had been collected, Lloyd graciously handed all his over to Harumi, the latter seemingly wanting him to do so.
As she approached the snowman, Morro watched, intrigued, as she began meticulously placing the small twigs atop the snowman's head. What was she doing?
And suddenly, Lloyd was beside him- when did he get so fast?- gently pushing Morro back towards the snowman until he was right in front of it. Morro, confused on what to do, just stood there for a moment.
Harumi was still placing twigs on the snowman's head, and now Lloyd was crouched down, packing extra ice in the foundation.
"Well?"
It was Harumi.
"Golden boy and I made a dual effort for its hair. What are you going to give it? And don't say you already gave it a face- that's not an accessory or add-on, that's a necessary function for life."
It was only then it clicked for Morro what Harumi was asking.
Stepping forward, he smiled, gripping the scarf on his neck and taking it off to let it drape around the snowman’s ‘shoulders.’ He knelt down to tie it more properly, making sure it was tight enough to look comfortable, yet still be undamaging to the original structure.
The moment was so… ethereal. So fragile yet stagnant; like this moment of time would last forever, even though in actuality it would last for just a few more minutes.
The situation was exactly opposite of the crazed sled-ride they had prior, yet still elicited the same emotion. Who knows? Maybe it’s just this place.
Harumi backed away first. Then Lloyd, and Morro last.
The snowman was not perfect. Or traditional, in the slightest sense.
But, considering the people who made it matched that description to a T, it felt fitting, really.
Harumi, hands on her hips, decided to take the fall of breaking the peaceful silent bubble that had formed.
“Alright, I think we’re done now. Right, Lloyd?”
“Mhm.”
“Morro?”
She was answered by silence.
“...Morro?”
Still nothing. Lloyd started to get concerned by the loud silence as well.
“Hot Topic?”
“You want to know why I made us make this.”
Lloyd and Harumi went stiff and turned to make conscious eye contact with one another. They both nodded after a moment, tentatively. They hope Morro isn’t pushing himself to speaking about topics he’d not yet ready to fac-
“Homeless families used to make these together, back in my time. When they were around. ‘Was tradition.”
And, before Lloyd or Harumi could even begin to process what that meant, Morro turned and started walking away. He picked up the sled as he walked.
The (Confused.) joy hit soon after, making Lloyd and Harumi trip over themselves and struggling not to fall in the snow. They still did, making another chill run through them as they struggled to catch up with their rapidly disappearing cousin. Could they get home that fast without him to guide them? Well, they hoped not to find out.
Christmas was colder for them this year.
And by that, I mean instead of feeling a certain cold blooming within their chests the day before Christmas eve, they felt the cold bite of snow against their exposed skin. Cold winds rushing past them as they ran. Cold ice being a sight to behold against the night sky.
They hoped it would be just as cold next year.