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Stan and Ford are walking through a large green valley. Both can be seen with large hiking packs on their backs and are approaching a collection of springs with bamboo poles sticking out of them. Ford looks excited about the springs while Stan looks angry and shouts. “You’re saying that you made me hike across China and miss seeing the kids during their break for some damn springs.”
“Well, Stanly, not an ordinary spring gives the energy it gives off.”
“What does it do then?”
“Who knows but we’ll find out.”
“Better be the youth fountain to make up for all of this.” Stan watches as Ford starts dropping various devices in one of the nearby springs. As Ford is about to lower a purple crystal tied to some string the ground around the spring gives way and drops Ford into the water. Stan does not move to help his brother and just stands there figuring he can just pull himself up. While waiting for his brother to resurface he spots an old rotund Chinese man running toward them. When the man reaches Stan he is a bit out of breath and then says. “Oh, no valued customer fell into the spring of drowned glowing deer. Truly a tragic tale.”
“What are ya-” Stan’s question is interrupted when a reindeer with a glowing red nose drags itself out of the spring his brother fell into. Stan then asks. “Is that my brother?”
“Yes, as I said, a tragic tale.”
Stan turns to the deer and says. “Well, Rudolph if you can fly we should be able to see the kids before they go back to school.”
I can’t believe that that damn demon lord is making me work during the holidays. Even Japan gave off on the holidays despite not being a Christian country. But she made me decorate the entire castle. That would be so bad if I could make my subordinates do it but no that damn demon lord said that if I got any help she would take away all my snacks. Ugh! So now I am wrapping Christmas lights around one of the towers of the castle while also looking all around the planet for a good-looking tree.
At this point, you might be asking how the demon lord even knows about Christmas when she lives in a world where the only church was run by that old man and worshiped her mom. Well on our last trip she saw some Christmas decorations and asked vampy and oni all about them when we got back. They told her all about Christmas, she liked the idea, and now she’s making all of us celebrate the holiday. At least I’ll get a gift from her and it better be a good one given all the work she’s making me do and that she has an entire country at her fingertips. I’m brought out of my train of thought and almost spill my hot chocolate when somebody approaches from behind and says. “I thought I told you to decorate the castle, not laze around on the couch.”
I regain my composure, turn around to face Ariel, take another sip from my cup, and point out a nearby window where outside you can see one of my clones finishing up wrapping the lights around the tower. Did you think I actually did the work myself? No, I made my mini-mes do all the work while I actually get to enjoy my holiday while all the work is still technically done by me. Work smarter, not harder they say.
Ariel apparently disagreed with that saying as she gets a bit mad and says. “Ugh, I knew you would pull something like this.” She grabs my mug out of my hands and chugs the rest of my hot chocolate. Then continues with. “Since you're apparently free, let's decorate that tree you brought in together. Just you and me, no clones.” I follow her knowing there is no way to get out of it now and spending time with her isn’t the worst thing anyways.
Decorating the tree was fun. Ariel did not expect me to speak and instead spoke enough for the both of us and the tree did look nice after it was all done. Though it did have bones on it than a normal Christmas tree given that most of the ornaments she made were made from dead monsters. It was a fun time until I tried to leave the room with the Christmas tree in it but was blocked by Ariel. I tried teleporting away but something was stopping me from doing that. When I try forcing past her she stops me and says. “No leaving yet White.” and then she points up. I look up and see a leaf hanging from the door frame. I give a confused look at her. “It’s a mistletoe. We can’t leave until we kiss. Learned about it after Vampy tried to get Mera with one.”
She couldn’t be serious. She’s stopping from lazing around because of a stupid kissing leaf. She’s my boss, she shouldn’t be doing this. It's an abuse of power. I’ll report her to HR. She’ll be taken t-. AHHH She actually did it. She pulled my face in and put a kiss right on my lips. “Well, that was nice White. We should do it again though if we do I might have to change your name to red.” says Ariel as she vacates the doorway and walks away.
I stand there stunned. I feel a phone fall on my head and my ability to teleport returning. I take a look at the phone that could have only come from one person. On it is a single message from an unknown number saying ‘Hope you liked my gift :)’. I threw the phone and made myself a blanket nest. The phone went through a few walls apparently.
Anne’s plane back to California landed late the previous night. So she barely actually saw her parents who she missed dearly and instead went right to sleep like anyone would after a cross-country plane ride. In the morning she was woken up by the smell of her dad’s cooking drifting up from the kitchen. Anne got dressed and quickly ran down to the kitchen. When she got there she saw her dad working at the stove. Hearing Anne’s entrance into the room he turns around lets out a chuckle and says. “My cooking always woke you up but I don’t think it ever got you moving that fast.”
“Well, I’ve never had to eat a year's worth of college food before. That's stuff worse than bugs.”
“Thought you liked bugs. You put them in those cookies you made.”
“You know what I mean Dad. Anyways, is mom up yet?”
“Nope but the smell will reach her soon and she’ll start rushing down like you.”
Just like her dad predicted, Anne's mom came rushing down the stairs for his cooking. They all ate breakfast together and were happy to be with each other. For the rest of the day they did not do much. They just marathoned bad Christmas movies together and snuggled together on the couch. Anne tried to get up to make cookies for everyone but her mom put a stop to that, her family did not like the way she made cookies, and made her watch ‘Christmas in Connecticut’ with her dad. It was almost all Anne could ask for after spending college cross country and away from her family. When she falls asleep she dreams of a very similar day but with three frogs, Sasha, and Marcy joining her family on the couch. The next day her two friends did appear but the frogs never showed up.
The Noceda had already finished opening all their gifts on Christmas morning. Camila was called away for an emergency at the hospital so Luz and Vee were left alone together on Christmas day. The two were chilling in the living room with some music softly in the background. Luz was brought out of the book she was reading when Vee says. “I really enjoyed having Christmas with you.”
“Aww me too. But are you sure you wouldn’t rather be spending it with Masha?”
“Wouldn’t you rather be spending it with Amity?”
“Naw I see them every weekend.” Luz moves to spread herself across Vee’s lap and continues with. “Today I'm spending it with my wonderful sister.”
“So if I saw you every week you would ditch me.”
“Nope cause family always comes first. So until I eventually marry Amity it will always be you.”
Vee starts crying and snuffles out. “You called me family. I know you’ve done it before but it never stops getting to me.”
Luz wraps Vee in a hug and starts comforting her. She eventually calms down but the two do not decouple from each other. When Camila comes back late at night she sees the two asleep on the couch with the bodies knotted together. She lays a blanket across the pair, takes a picture, and makes herself a late-night snack before going to bed herself. That picture of her two daughters ended up being her phone background for a long time.
It's September 1st and Alice gets ready for the day. She does this despite knowing she will not leave her apartment at all today. She hasn’t really left her apartment since school got off. Alice spent all of Christmas alone in her living room letting action movies turn her brain into mush. The only thing that signaled that it even was a holiday was the numerous unread texts from the group wishing her happy holidays and a few unheard voice messages from Dorothy who only had a landline (A big upgrade from the telegraph she first brought with her). Alice was also alone the previous night and stayed up and drunk all night. Though it was mostly an excuse to avoid going to sleep than actually participating in the holiday. Alice couldn’t wait until school started back up cause then she had a distraction from her life.
Midway through the day, a knock was heard from her front door. Alice has no idea who it could possibly be but she might as answer. Worst case it’s a very polite murderer. Alice puts on her grandmotherly mask and opens the door. She opens it to Dorothy and Ozma on the other side carrying quite a few plastic bags with them. “Why hello, I did not expect to see you. How are you two doing?” Greets Alice.
“We are doing great. May me and Ozma come in. These bags are quite heavy.”
Alice looks back into her apartment. It’s a mess but she can probably just pass it off as the aftermath of a party last night so moves aside to let the pair inside and says. “What are the bags for?”
“Dorothy thought it would be nice to have a party together since we are the only ones staying on campus. But I talked her out of doing it on Christmas or new years eve because you would probably be busy. So we are coming over today to celebrate together.”
The two then bring out a bunch of party supplies from the bags and plenty of food. Some of which Alice can identify some of which she can’t. All day the three ‘party’ together. It's relatively tame given that all three are over 100 despite what it looks like. The three mostly just talk and play various card and board games. Dorothy tries to discreetly clean the apartment. She is successful at the cleaning part but Alice catches her doing it but doesn’t say anything thinking that the apartment probably needs it. For the first time, all holiday Alice is not alone and she is loving it. She even manages to make a smile. Not one of her Cheshire smiles but a real genuine human smile. She fall asleep that night not dreading the next day for the first time in a while.