Work Text:
Dear Children,
I will be away on a last minute business trip until the morning after Christmas if all goes as planned. This means I will not be able to plan or set up for this year's Christmas party as anticipated. I expect you have the knowledge and ability to take over in my place as my most frequent little helpers from previous years. I had one of the other children deliver a tree and I have set it up near the fireplace. Please arrange the decorations, food, drinks, gifts, and all other aspects of the party. I already delivered the invitations to all the House of the Hearth members. I have left your allowance for this party in the envelope under this letter. I will see you when I return home.
Sincerely, Father
~~~~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~~~~
Lynette, still groggy while drinking her tea, finishes reading the letter left on the kitchen table. A slight sense of existential dread overcomes her as she can feel herself slipping into Standby Mode against her own will. This often happened at the thought of any social events, but now she also has to do so much extra work before the event. Luckily, any time Father put them in charge, Lyney took over social duties, while she and Freminet were able to do the behind the scene duties to make sure things ran smoothly. Lyney has been under the weather the last week so he's been sleeping in. Hopefully he's feeling better by now. It's winter after all. The chilly air doesn't even spare the warmest, fiery spirited pyro vision holders. She briefly wonders how exactly someone gets "under" the weather when they're ill and how you can get on top of it when her thoughts are interrupted by a small voice.
"Good morning," Freminet squeaks out in a barely audible voice sandwiched between yawns that permeate the brooding dread wafting off Lynette. "...........???" Freminet reacts to this feeling as he narrows his still sleepy eyes, wetted by his yawn, as his sister's figure comes into focus. He studies her as he takes shuffling steps forward, scooting his slippers across the smooth, marble floor. He's used to being the first to rise, but it seems Lynette is up first today. Usually if this happens, she's immediately offering him some tea so they can sit in silence together and enjoy the quiet before Lyney gets up and fills the quiet morning with his big personality. She can't function for the day without doing her morning routine and the boys know not to disturb her too much, but sometimes Freminet will join her. Today, he can feel a thick mental fog choking the air.
Lynette's hair is down, falling over her shoulders. She's wearing her favorite teal-blue robe that she's worn for years. It's seen better days. It has holes, her elbow sticks out exposed on one side, there's a few stains, and it's no longer fluffy but instead flat and stiff from years of wear and wash. Lyney and Freminet have tried for years to make her buy a new one, but she refuses. Even Father comments on it some mornings. She was never one to accept change easily. She claims it's because the tailor who made it retired and she can't find anyone who will make a copy. Freminet can understand. He feels the same way about many things. He still sleeps with the same blanket he's had since he met the twins since no other blanket feels right. Everything else feels too scratchy on his skin to sleep with. He looks at all the holes and stains and wonders what kind of war Lynette's clothing has gone through, but then remembers the washing machine incident and cringes, pushing the memory to the back of his mind once again.
Lynette has one elbow resting on the kitchen counter, teacup held in hand, while the other hand holds a letter. Her teapot is resting on the table behind her with two teacups, each in front of chairs Lyney and Freminet usually sit at. She turns her head slowly towards Freminet as he enters the kitchen with another yawn. Her ears are turned down and her eyes look puffy and exhausted from the squinted face she's making. Freminet knows the cause is what's written in the letter. Or perhaps it's because she's been taking care of their sickly brother these last few days. Maybe both?
"Fremi, go wake up Lyney, please." She snaps out of it as soon as Freminet stops beside her and raises an eyebrow in her direction. He sighs and spins around to go back the way he just came. He knows asking now will result in Lynette not saying anything. They go over their missions as a family after all. As Freminet was about to head down the hall to Lyney's room, he hears a door close, patterning of footsteps, and then sees Lyney appear around the corner. He stops mid step, noticing Freminet waiting for him.
"Good morning, my brother!" he let's out in a boisterous voice, too loud for so early in the morning. It looks and sounds like his cold has finally subsided. The sun has barely just risen over the city and Lyney is already brighter than the rays trying to filter through the sheer curtains of the hotel. As Lyney reaches Freminet, he puts an arm around the boy and leads him back to the kitchen.
Lynette is there holding out a piece of paper towards them. Lyney takes it after greeting his sister cheerfully, not at all bothered by her lack of verbal response. He automatically starts reading the letter out loud like he does with every mission letter Father leaves for them. Freminet now understands why Lynette had a dark cloud over her head when he found her. He also starts to feel the dread of hosting a party after doing all the prep work too. But Lyney? He beams even more brightly. This is exactly the kind of thing he enjoys.
"Alright, let's start this party!" Lyney winks at his two introverted siblings who are glaring at him now.
"Can we have breakfast first...?" Lynette asks in an exhausted tone. "Also, how can you be so cheerful after coughing like you were dying all week long? Did you even sleep enough?"
Freminet is already grabbing Lyney's shoulders and pushing him towards the table. He shoves him into a chair and slams a paper and pen down in front of him.
"Think about it first this time. Don't just pull it all out of your hat as soon as it starts and expect it to go well." Freminet demands as they all remember the time Lyney was in charge of throwing Freminet's birthday party when Father was out with Lynette for the day. It was when they were still very young and not very wise. Father and Lynette came home to a huge mess, several kids trying to put out a fire, and a crying Freminet that was covered head to toe in cake.
Lynette prepares plates of pastries, breads, butter, and jam as Lyney scribbles notes down and argues with Freminet who just wants to make sure all the details are in order. Lyney tends to go for the big and grandiose while planning, but forgets the smaller details to hold his plans together. Freminet has to meticulously try to make his brother's plans make sense. This can often lead to arguments as they don't always see eye to eye. Once Lynette sits at the table, she knows her job is to act as the glue that connects their two ideas. She's the middle ground that brings them together. She may seem to be focused on preparing breakfast, but she's actually been analyzing the situation the whole time. They have this down like a well-oiled machine, making them the best team in all the House of the Hearth. She takes a seat, slides the plates onto the table next to the teapot, and takes her turn in discussing their plans over breakfast while munching on pastries and sipping tea.
Christmas is in two days. They usually hold the party on Christmas Eve starting at noon. That means they only have today and tomorrow morning to set up before everyone starts arriving to the hotel's main lobby that also functions as their living room. There's so many orphans and HOTH members, even the ever optimistic Lyney starts to worry they may not get all the gifts bought and wrapped in time. Luckily everyone knows to stay upstairs in their rooms today so they don't get in the way of the preparations.
"I have an idea," Freminet interjects with a raised hand as the twins discuss, and argue, how to get so many gifts in such a short time. They turn towards him in sync and immediately stop their bickering. "When I was talking with Traveler last week, they mentioned a delivery service that is faster than any other. I think we can use it to get the gifts delivered here while we focus on other things. What was it called....ah, right. the Komaniya Express. I hear they take rush orders, so we should be in good hands. Looks like Father left us enough to cover the fee."
"Excellent idea, my dear brother! I'll go send for the courier now!" Lyney takes the list of names and gifts and skips out of the kitchen and to the front door.
"....He's still in his pajamas," Lynette bemuses as she watches the front door shut. Sometimes her brother was an airhead. She's pretty sure she absorbed half his brain cells in the womb somehow. If asked, Freminet would beg to differ. They're both particularly airheaded from his viewpoint and he's the sibling that holds the common sense between them.
"While he's doing that, I'll go shopping for the other things we need and meet up with Lyney. Are you okay with starting the decorating here?" Freminet would rather stay home himself where he's most comfortable, but he knows Lynette is more sensitive to the festive sounds and sights outdoors this time of year. Every shop is playing some kind of festive music, has a ton of flashing lights and decorations, and all the new smells she's not used to can make her nauseous. On top of that, she's required to speak to the shopkeepers to get the things needed for the party. She avoids talking to anyone that isn't her brothers, so sending her out to be overstimulated and forced to speak to people seems cruel and unproductive. Freminet is a little better at handling those things, and Lynette knows to give him some space when he gets home so he can rest and avoid further overstimulation if needed while she distracts Lyney from bothering him.
Lynette nods in response to his question as she writes down a few more notes. She hands the paper over which now has a shopping list scribbled meticulously integrated into Lyney's messy notes from earlier. "I circled everything we need and added a few other items," she informs. "Take Lyney a coat while you're at it. Blockhead didn't think to grab one before skipping out in his pajamas. This is why he got a cold," she scoffs, rolling her eyes, but with a small hint of an adoring smile around the edges of her lips and eyes. She can't help but love her goofy brother despite the headaches he can give her.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
Lyney sneezes suddenly and wipes his nose on his pajama sleeve. "I bet Lynette is saying I should have remembered a coat right now, haha," he says, punctuating it with an embarrassed laugh, to the children who just stopped him asking for a Christmas magic trick. "It's a bit chilly, but at least I have THIS!" he pulls his pyro vision out of nowhere, tossing it into the air, catching it behind his back, then making it glow in the dim morning light. He puffs a visible breath out into the cold and it swirls into shapes and images that tell a story above his glowing vision. The kids cheer, clapping their gloved hands together for a muted applause and beg for more! He puts on a short magic show that ends when he turns around dramatically and suddenly has seven candy canes, one for each kid, in his outstretched hand. The kids cheer and he passes them out, bowing as he hands off the last one, and the kids skip away happily, returning to their parents. The magician stays in a stage bowing position until the kids are gone. A shiver runs down his spine and he uses his vision as a hand warmer as he closes his eyes and imagines a fire burning warmly. A slight breeze blows through the buttons of his nightshirt and he thinks regrettably how great it would be to have a coat right now... As if he magically manifested it out of thin air, a coat suddenly descends onto his shoulders!
Just as he's thinking about how good he is at imagining things, a voice cuts through his warm thoughts like ice. "Lynette said to tell you you're a blockhead," Freminet's voice pierces through him coldly but then warms his heart. Or maybe that's just the warm coat now draped over him. He lets out an awkward laugh and thanks the younger boy. "Did you send for the courier, or are you too busy doing magic tricks?" Lyney has that look of guilt like he always does when he gets distracted and forgets things, before pulling another candy cane out of nowhere offering it to Freminet. The boy refuses it and calmly continues. "Let's get that done first so we can shop for everything we need and get back to helping Lynette with the decorating. I have a feeling she won't get far alone."
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
Lynette is on her 5th cup of tea and 8th pastry as she thinks about how to organize the decorations. Her mind wanders to this silly holiday in general. As small children, she and her twin brother didn't have the luxury to celebrate. Being on the streets fighting for their next meal meant they had no room for pointless celebrations. Father always makes sure the kids get to experience life's celebrations whether it's their birthdays or holidays or something in between. Despite Lynette's aversion to parties, she still appreciates that Father has allowed them to have the means to celebrate these seemingly arbitrary things that she missed out on as a small child.
She's sitting on a blanket in front of the fireplace, getting a bit sleepy from the gentle warmth. Whoever put these decorations away last year didn't do it in a neat manner. She pulls out various ornaments and baubles and clumps of tinsel. Everything is wrapped up in strands of Christmas lights. After starting out cautious, she gives up trying to pull things out of the box individually and decides to dump it on the ground and rummages through it roughly, stands up, and tries to pull lights free from the mess. Almost the entire cluster of decorations follows. She realizes there's also a few wreaths tangled in the mess. She needs to find out who did this so she can give them a stern glare.
With feline-like strikes, she knocks things out and they scatter and roll across the floor, occasionally hearing a shattering sound which makes the hair on her tail stand. Shards of glass ornaments scatter across the ground as she tries to shake things free. Why would the boys trust her with this? They know she tends to break everything she touches. This is what they get for leaving her to do the decorating. She sighs and knows she should be more careful and try to save the rest of them, so she sits back down and begins untangling most of the baubles and ornaments and piling the loose tinsel. She at least tries to start organizing things, a little closer to the ground this time to avoid breaking more things. Several piles start to get made, with similar things being grouped together.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
The boys barely make it home with all the bags they have to carry. They shuffle everything in and drop it on the floor, removing their coats and boots. Freminet takes the food to the kitchen, while Lyney takes decorations to the living room. Lyney tries to take everything in one go, which blocks his view, but he somehow makes it through the living room, around two sofas and a table without bumping into them or losing anything along the way.
"Oh Lynette, we're home~!"
*CRUNCH*
"Ah- OW!" Lyney exclaims when he feels a pain pierce his foot. The now unbalanced boy tries not to drop everything he's holding, but falls on his butt with a loud thud, all the things landing on top of him and tumbling down anyway.
He now has a view of the living room and sees his sister curled up in front of the fireplace, tangled in lights and garland and tinsel. Her sleepy eyes tell him she was taking another cat nap instead of doing the duty they left her with. This is what they expected. The tree beside the fireplace didn't have a single decoration in its branches. Freminet rushes in to see what happened and is greeted by quite the sight. He tries to stifle a laugh, but ends up snorting from seeing the mess his siblings are in.
"It's not funny," Lyney pouts.
"I'm sorry, Brother." The younger boy turns his attention to the cat girl still curled up in a mess of decorations. "Lynette, what-"
"Shhhh," Lynette puts a finger to her lips to shush any questioning. "It's not my fault. I actually tried. Whoever put these away last didn't do it right." She looks back and forth at both the boys. Freminet is just watching but Lyney looks away, takes in a breath, and quickly changes the subject. Lynette notes how suspicious that is and issues him a rightful glare.
"Well, now that we are home, let's all do the decorations!" Before he even finishes his sentence, his swift sister is already beside him with a glaring expression that would send shivers down his spine if he wasn't already sweating out of embarrassment. "So, my dear sister, I see some of the decorations didn't survive your hands...uh I mean let me start helping you clean up." Lyney piles some of the things he dropped and stands up with a "ouch" and a painful wince as he gently puts his bleeding foot on the floor, away from the broken bulb shards.
In a swift motion he wasn't quite prepared for, he was suddenly half lying on the sofa with Lynette holding him by the ankle. She still has some tinsel and garland wrapped around her and he tries not to giggle at how silly she looks. She gently dabbed at the cut on his foot with a cloth and ran her thumb over the wound. He grimaces, but it's bearable.
"Good news is I don't feel any glass stuck in it. Bad news is that walking will feel bad for a few days. Exactly what you deserve for being a blockhead." She says this matter-of-factly in a tone most people would consider cold or unfeeling, but her brothers know this is her way of saying she cares. Lyney feels a cold sensation get slapped on his foot and feels the sting of disinfectant. Lynette always has a way of pulling bandages and other things out of nowhere as she either silently tends to her dumb brothers, or gives them a short lecture that sounds more and more like Father's as she gets older. She slaps a bandage on his foot. "Be careful," she demands as she gets up to start rummaging through the things Lyney dropped.
Freminet gets the vacuum cleaner and starts cleaning up the glass shards left in Lynette's path earlier today. Lyney stoops down to help Lynette start reorganizing things. Most of the old lights are broken, as well as half the baubles. They will have to use the lights they just got for the tree instead of decorating the door frames and railings. After everything is cleaned up and organized, they turn to the bare tree and start stringing lights into it, then all the unbroken ornaments which isn't very many. They're glad the tree is backed into the corner since the backside is still completely bare from the inadequate amount of unbroken decorations. At some point, someone turned on some music and Lyney gets them all doing a little dance together as they decorate the living room. They laugh and giggle and it takes no time at all to get most of the decorations up.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
"There's no lights left for the wreath!" Lyney pouts as he straightens the wreath out that was somehow spared from Lynette's destructive hands. They ended up using all the lights in the tree in order to try to hide the fact that there's not enough ornaments to fill all the gaps. "But I have an idea." The magician has an idea he thinks could be magical and a good idea. He takes some small candles and secures them onto the wreath. "See, these can be used instead of lights." His two siblings stand beside him observing, Lynette clapping her hands almost silently with a slightly amused expression. Freminet gets a bad feeling, but ignores it for the sake of not ruining his brother's fun. "If I just do THIS-" The pyro user pulls out his vision and aims it at the wreath in a dramatic manner. The wicks spark and little flames start to dance on each candle. "Ta-dahhh!" Lyney triumphantly exclaims with a hand gesturing towards where an audience would be during a magic show, out of habit. His siblings behind him peer around his shoulders with with oos and ahs.
In an almost comedic fashion, the wreath bursts into flames! Lyney doesn't move for a few seconds and the other two react first, in panicked horror. Lynette kicks the wreath out of his hands to the floor. Lyney finally reacts and balls his fists up beside his face, letting out a horrified yell. Freminet starts pacing and mumbling to himself trying to figure out what to do. Lynette scrunches her nose at her brothers being useless and springs into action herself. She starts beating the wreath with a pillow until the flames go out. By this time, Freminet has gone to the kitchen and retrieved a glass of water. He runs back in and throws the water out of the glass, right into Lynette's face as she stops beating the smoking wreath. They all stop, freezing, taking in the situation that just occurred and the anticlimactic aftermath. Lyney starts laughing heartily while he rolls on the floor, realizing how ridiculous they all look right now. Lynette dries her face with her sleeve, then flips the wreath over carefully. With an indifferent shrug, she announces that the other side looks fine. She picks up and uses the step stool to mount it above the fireplace mantle, shrugging again when she steps back down. Freminet picks up a bow, climbs up, and attaches it. He and Lynette shrug at each other while Lyney is drying tears from his laughing fit.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
"What if we make it snow," Freminet asks while they're cleaning up the living room. The cryo user is used to ice, but it hasn't actually snowed in Fontaine in their lifetime. It rains often, but it's never gotten cold enough for snow. Even today, the coldest it's been in a while, isn't snow-level cold. He's read a lot about snow in his penguin books, as well as heard about it from Father. He's had a cryo vision for a while, but he's never experienced ice and snow out in the wild, in its natural habitat. He still thinks he can make it happen somehow to add to their Christmas celebration.
"Ohhh, is it Fremi's turn to do a magic show?" Lyney pokes playfully. Lynette, sitting beside him on one of the sofas, cocks her head to the side skeptically. After the show Lyney just put on, she's slightly afraid of what could possibly happen next.
"Well, it shouldn't be that hard, I think. Here goes nothing," Freminet says hesitantly as he grips his cryo vision to his chest in one hand and extends the other hand out. A rush of cold swirls through the room, giving them all goosebumps. The twins scoot closer together with a shiver. Ice crystals start forming on the high ceiling and snowflakes start forming in the air. The lights from the Christmas tree glint off the ice in a spectacular display of glitter. They all stare, eyes wide and sparkly. Lynette stands up and holds out her vision now. Anemo starts swirling the snowflakes around the room. They feel as if they're in a snow globe.
Lyney stands up and rushes to the middle of the room, spinning around excitedly. "It's snowing, it's snowing!" Snowflakes cling onto their faces, clothing, and hair. They forget the cold and struggles they dealt with today. This is a winter Christmas miracle! "As expected of our magician in training. I expect you'll be pulling this trick out for the party?"
"Mhm," Freminet responds simply as he drops his vision and the glow fades, as does Lynette. The indoor mini blizzard stops and the room quickly starts to warm again with the bright fire burning behind them.
Without warning, the boys are knocked back onto the sofa. They look up in time to see an icicle come crashing down to the floor. Lynette is half on top of them as she looks back and up at the ceiling at the other crystals barely hanging on.
"Do you not hear them cracking? They're all going to fall," Lynette informs the boys she just barely saved from being impaled. Her ears twitch at the slight crackling sound that she forgets only her ears can probably hear. Almost on cue, the rest of the ice shards begin to crash to the ground. "....so maybe this isn't such a good idea when we have everyone here..." Lynette's voice is small but stern. The boys, with wide eyes still looking over Lynette's shoulders in shock as they imagine being impaled, simply nod in agreement. They're so glad their sister is as observant and nimble as she is.
Just then, the doorbell rings, breaking them from their frozen terror. Lyney flings himself up and sprints to answer it. At the door is a springy and cheerful cat-like girl, very different from his feline sister. She has TWO tails, he notes.
"Komaniya Express, always here to deliver on time!" the girl chimes, punctuating her sentence with a cute pose. "Please sign here, and here, oh and here as well." Lyney signs all the forms that get shoved into his face while looking around to see no packages. "Where would you like me to place the delivery, sir?"
Lyney leads her to the living room, still unsure of where she has the packages hidden. "Right here will be fine," he points to the empty space behind the sofa. He watches as the cat courier pulls a box that looks like a cat out of thin air and starts dumping package after package out. "Whoa, this box is just like our magic pockets! Are you also a magician?"
"Magi-what? I'm a Youkai; Nekomata to be exact. This is just part of my Youkai powers! Very handy for this job, I must say," she says proudly, clearly just as passionate about her job as Lyney is about his magic. She finishes dumping all the packages into a neat stack and Lyney leads her back outside. He thanks her and they bid farewell. "Remember to leave me a good review if you were satisfied with your delivery, merow~" and she's gone as fast as she came.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
It's gift wrapping time. The day is already almost over with the sun creeping towards the horizon, and there's still so much to prepare. Lyney calls the siblings together as he drops gift wrapping supplies onto the floor in front of the mountain of packages. The boys take a seat on the floor while Lynette volunteers to make them some tea. She needs it after the day they've had so far, ignoring how much she had already had. Freminet asks if he can have hot cocoa instead and Lyney agrees. Tea is better, but their sister reluctantly makes the boys their chocolaty drink.
The tea lover carries a tray with the drinks back out to the living room, breathing in the aroma of her tea as she trots over. When she lowers the tray from her nose, she stops dead in her tracks, eyes being met by a very interesting sight. Freminet is wrapped up like a burrito in the Christmas gift wrap, Lyney securing it with a piece of tape. Lynette stifles a laugh as her face scrunches up uncomfortably. She doesn't want to spill the drinks everywhere, so she has to quickly but carefully take a seat besides these two goofballs. By this time, she has already quelled the laughter inside her and looks amusedly with a head tilt.
"Oh, Lynette. I had an idea for the magic show we are doing for the party! I'm pretty sure it will work. Freminet offered to be the one who escapes this time!" Lyney tries to explain the plan, but Lynette cuts him off.
"Brother, we have way too many gifts to wrap. Please don't waste the paper, or our time." She hands him a mug of hot cocoa and tries to release Freminet from his gift wrap burrito.
"PFTTT, OUCH!" Lyney's voice rings out, making Lynette jump a little, and Freminet jump a lot, practically leaping out of the wrapping paper. With the other two glaring at him, Lyney says in a small voice, with his tongue sticking out, "ith thill hot." The younger boy slaps his hand to his forehead and the girl widens her eyes slightly at her twin's pain.
"It's called HOT cocoa for a reason, you idiot brother," Freminet scolds as if it's extremely obvious.
Lynette's hands dart out and snatch the mug from Lyney's hands. "How dare you hurt my brother," she says almost under her breath. She starts blowing on the scalding liquid to cool it down when her pocket starts glowing. The hot drink somehow fired her up and activated her vision. What was once a gentle breath turns into a monsoon gust of wind, spattering the liquid everywhere, including in Lynette's face. This immediately stops her windy rage. Luckily, the winds cooled the molten chocolate down enough and didn't burn her too. With a dripping mess all over her face and hair for the second time today, and more stains to add to her old robe, she stands straight up with the mug in hand. "I'll get you some more," she mumbles in an empty manner and shuffles off to the kitchen.
The boys cover their mouths and laugh as quietly as they can, as if her sensitive ears can't pick up on it, but make sure to stop when she comes back cleaned up with the mug filled once more. She sits between them, forming a triangle, acting as the top corner, and they begin dividing the gifts and supplies, making three separate stacks between them. They let their drinks cool as they begin wrapping the intimidating mountain of packages, carefully labeling each one with the name of the recipient.
Things go fairly smoothly, but halfway through, they start to get a bit weary, hands sore from the meticulous job. The gifts start to get sloppy and they start wondering how Father wraps each one with perfection. Perhaps she hires someone to do it for her. They didn't think of that....
They continue on, mostly in silence, with the odd short conversation always initiated by Lyney. They started out with the gifts divided equally, splitting the work by three times. Despite Lynette going slower than the boys, she somehow seems to be finishing faster, her pile getting smaller while the boys' seems to stay the same. The whole time, the most visibly annoyed is Lynette. Her tail flicking back and forth behind her. She never particularly liked doing chores, and this feels like a chore. With squinted, mischievous eyes, Lynette observes her brothers engrossed in their wrapping and slyly shifts a package over to each of their piles. She's been doing this for the last couple hours. No one noticed. Her plan was flawless. She would finish first and could go laze in front of the fireplace, soaking in the gentle warmth. She closes her eyes and envisions this, taking in a deep breath, and her mouth corners twitch up slightly at the thought. But first, she needs to finish her magic trick of making her pile disappear.
As she's thinking this, Lyney starts talking to her again, keeping his eyes on her. He has shifted his position and is now sitting facing her rather than Freminet like he had been all this time. This will ruin her plan, he will surely notice her sneaky package exchange now! She stretches her limbs and turns her body in a way that at least blocks the view of her slipping packages behind her back into Freminet's pile. She's now facing Lyney more directly, with back towards the other boy, who is also still facing Lyney. Her tail is still swishing around in annoyance, and eventually ends up encroaching into Freminet's working space. She flicks it just a little too far once and feels it get stuck in place. She tries to pull it free, but feels the hairs pulling uncomfortably.
The feline girl turns her head back towards the youngest and sees that her tail has been taped to the gift currently being wrapped by him. She glares with empty, soulless eyes that still have the ability to pierce even the boy's toughest icy exterior. Freminet raises his eyebrows and looks up through his eyelashes with an awkward toothy smile, letting out an even more awkward laugh. He feels a mix of embarrassment, fear, and pleading. They stare at each other like this for a few seconds until the panicked boy finally breaks the silence.
"I'm sorry, Sister," he says apologetically, but before Lynette can react, she feels a burning sting across the end of her tail. She yelps and grasps her tail into her hands, rubbing the now bare spot gently, tears welling up in her eyes a bit. Freminet is holding the fur-covered piece of tape and glances between the twins. Lyney looks concerned with mouth hanging open like he wants to say something. The youngest suddenly bows down and squeaks out another apology to his sister. "I'll accept the punishment for paying such little attention."
The cat girl lets go of her still stinging tail as an idea pops into her head and pushes her younger brother back up with a finger on his forehead. "Your punishment is to finish wrapping my gifts as well." The frowning boy just nods and lets his sister leave without protest. Finally, she can curl up in front of the fire and rest!
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
Time passes both fast and slowly and suddenly it's past midnight. The boys had split the last of the packages and finished wrapping and are now preparing the food in the kitchen when they decide to wake Lynette from her cat nap for some extra help. She groggily joins them in the kitchen where they have set out ingredients and supplies needed to make their yearly family foods that can't be bought. They already placed orders for the food to be delivered in the morning, but they wanted to keep the tradition going and make a few of the things they helped Father make in previous years. They never did it on their own, though, but what could go wrong? They helped plenty of times and should be able to do this! They also want to add in their own dishes this year as well.
They start with their own specialty dishes, each with their own working space. Lyney is at the end counter beside the sink making cubic stacks of fruit gummies with the fruit puree he bought earlier. Freminet is at the oven using the stove top to boil his specialty seafood soup with the ingredients he caught himself in a deep sea dive. Lynette is at the table kneading some dough and mixing batter to make her favorite biscuits and cakes, shaping them into little cats. She also prepares the gingerbread cookies while she's at it, using a cookie cutter to make the cookie people. It's been a tradition for them to decorate the gingerbread cookies Father bakes each year. She lets the kids decorate them however they want. They've gotten better at it over the years, but sometimes they wonder if they're too old for this now and only do it to appease Father. They're certainly running out of ideas but still want to make each one unique.
The boys are finishing their dishes and preparing to store them safely for the morning when Lynette approaches the oven and starts pushing buttons and turning knobs, then inserts the cooking sheets with the desserts she's been working on. The boys instantly stop what they're doing, turning simultaneously to rush over and try to stop her, but they're too late. The oven starts making a beeping sound and rumbles a bit, smoke billowing out. What the heck did she even do?! The boys are panicked and dumbfounded and Lynette just stares at the oven blankly like she's completely innocent and has entered Standby Mode. They tell her time and time again to let them set the oven, because no machine is ever spared from her destructive hands. She's banned from all technology in the house. She's not even allowed to use the electric hand mixer and is forced to hand mix everything. She did find a way to use anemo to swirl it around, but that is still a technique she hasn't perfected yet. It more often than not leads to a face full of batter and she already got a face full of water and hot cocoa today, so she didn't risk it.
The boys rush to try turning off the oven, but nothing is working. The knobs and buttons seem broken and the oven whirls to life with fire burning in its belly. They open the oven door, flames threatening to reach sparking tendrils out to them and the rest of the kitchen. Freminet flings his hand out and throws some cryo at the wild flames. It acts as an effective fire extinguisher and the flames die off. The boys breathe a sigh of relief. Their sister breaks from her Standby Mode and takes big steps over to the over, stoops down, and peers inside. She pulls out the half frosted cooking sheets and sighs her own relief.
"They're okay!" She's more happy about the fact that she doesn't need to remake them than the fact that her incompetence with technology didn't burn the entire hotel down.
Freminet checks the oven and notes that he will need to repair it before father comes home, but says they can still use it manually like a traditional oven. They place more wood in it and Lyney snaps his fingers, vision glowing, and the fire lights. Lynette puts her cooking sheets back in and they keep an eye on everything while they start preparing Father's signature dish. Lynette cleans up while the boys work on it because it requires onions, and she's extra sensitive to their pungent smell. The dish doesn't come out as well as Father makes it, but they try their best to cook it the way they remember seeing Father do it. It's not Christmas without Father's signature steak dish.
By the time they finish and clean up the kitchen, the sun is already rising. They're all groggy and exhausted from being up nearly 24 hours at this point (except Lynette who had two naps, but she still acts like she's just as sleepy as the rest of them). They try to focus on decorating the gingerbread cookies with icing and candies at the table, each one getting sillier looking as time goes on. The absurd decorations are oddly reminiscent of the first time they decorated cookies together with Father as children. They all start giggling at everything and the decorating becomes sleep deprived, delirious fun. But they need to finish!
The party starts at noon and the sun is up now. At one point, every time the boys look back at the cookie pile, there's another one missing a head or limb.... At first they think they're either imagining it, or assume it happened during the oven incident. Then they both look up at each other right as Lynette places a headless cookie down on the plate between them all. The boys both look up at her and she freezes, hand still on the cookie. They scrutinize her briefly and notice crumbs around her mouth and something obviously being hidden in her cheeks. Instead of scolding her like they should, they start giggling again.
When the decorating is finished and everything is as clean as they can get, they take turns showering and getting dressed in their Christmas themed outfits. They take naps between each other showering so they can try to make it through the day. Lynette has her hair tied up onto a low bun with braids leading into it from both sides. She wears a sparkly blue dress with snowflake charms hanging around the hem, with an open, fluffy white sweater draped over her shoulders. Her socks are green and red striped. Lyney is wearing a matching pair of socks. His sweater is knitted with a Christmas design and a Santa hat replaces his usual one. Freminet wears the same blue penguin printed shirt he's worn the last few Christmases. Father got it for him one year and he's worn it every Christmas since. His brother puts a reindeer antler headband on his head and tells him he looks cute. They're almost ready for the party, but Lynette looks sadly at her tail grasped in her hands. The bald spot from the tape incident is very obvious. Lyney can feel the sadness wafting off her.
"AH! I got it!" Lyney abruptly snaps and rushes to the box of leftover decorations. He retrieves a bow that matches the one on the half-burnt wreath hanging above the fireplace. He gently takes Lynette's tail and fastens it, completely covering the bald spot. Lynette flicks her tail and looks back at it. It's cute. She thanks her brother for his thoughtfulness and he beams happily.
A collection of voices interrupt them and they see their "family" start pouring into the hotel lobby, down the staircase that leads up to all the other rooms of the hotel. Oh no, they didn't set everything up properly yet! They greet everyone and start apologizing for the messes they didn't clean and for not having anything set up yet. No one is upset and they even offer to help. The siblings try to refuse, saying Father entrusted everything to them, but everyone cuts them off saying they're a family and family helps each other! They reluctantly accept the help and the party starts off happily and warmly.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
Everyone is having a great time chatting, listening to music, dancing, eating, and drinking. It's not much different from when Father organizes the parties. Everyone compliments the siblings on a job well done. Freminet tries to keep things running smoothly behind the scenes as Lyney is the life of the party, entertaining the guests as usual. Lynette keeps going to the kitchen with the excuse of making tea and hot cocoa for everyone and tries to shoo people out of there so she can get a little peace and quiet, not that it helps much since the party is happening right through the doorway. This time when Lynette escapes to the kitchen, she finds a little girl she doesn't recognize hiding under the table. She doesn't acknowledge her at first as she prepares more drinks.
"Want a cookie?" The little girl jumps at the sudden close sound of Lynette's voice beside her and hits her head on the table.
"Ouch!" When did Lynette get under there with her, she wondered. She doesn't know. Holding the bump forming on her head with one hand, she takes the gingerbread cookie from the cat girl with the other. "Thanks," she mumbles almost inaudibly and takes a small bite of its head. She waits for Lynette to ask why she's under here. Lynette remains silent after getting comfortable next to her. This leaves her feeling half intimidated, but also half comforted, still waiting for the question. Lynette starts to speak and there it is, she needs to start defending herself now!
"I don't think we met-"
"I don't like parties!" The little girl blurts out with eyes squeezed shut before Lynette finishes her sentence, but then stops once she processes what Lynette said and looks up at her embarrassed. "Huh? Oh....I'm Eloise. I just came to the orphanage a week ago. It's nice to meet you," the small girl says in a small, but polite voice. She knows who Lynette is. Everyone at the orphanage knows the magician twins. They perform for the kids almost every week, and her first day at the orphanage happened to be a performance day.
"I used to hide under here during the parties too," Lynette reassured her, making the child relax a little. "I'm a bit too big for this now," the older girl crooks her neck a bit more as the table is keeping her from straightening it. "I would rather be where it's quiet and away from people, so I find ways to escape from the chaos, like brewing tea for people."
"Oh, that sounds nice," Eloise responds while deep in her own thoughts. "I didn't want to come, but I don't want to disappoint Father. I only met her the day I came to the orphanage, but she felt so intimidating, I don't want to upset her and get in trouble. Who knows what she will do to punish me!"
"You don't have to come. You're allowed to say no. Father isn't that cruel. She lets us make our own choices."
"Wait, really? Are you sure? Then why are you here if you don't like parties either? Did Father not make you?"
Lynette gently patted the little girl's head. "That would be the fault of my two obnoxious brothers." She rolled her eyes at the thought of the two. " 'We are a family! We need to do this together! We can't do it without you, Sister!' They always make me part of everything." She sighs tiredly but then smiles. "But I'm lucky to have them, they're my everything, so I do it for them."
Eloise looks down like she's deep in thought for a moment. "I just got here, but I kind of have 'siblings' like that too..." She trails off for a moment, peering towards the doorway. Lynette follows her gaze to see two other kids around her age standing there and motions them to join them. "Brother, Sister! Sorry I ran away and hid from you. I didn't mean to. It got too loud and crowded for me! I panicked and ended up here."
"That's okay," the kids said at the same time.
"These are my 'siblings,' Belle and Jules. I wandered the streets with Belle until we were taken in together. Jules was the first one to play with us. He decided he's the big brother even though he's younger than me, but I said okay." Jules has a proud smile on his face.
"It's nice to have a big brother to rely on," Lynette nods. "Just like Lyney is our big brother, even though we are the same age, technically. He was born a few minutes before and is proud of that fact, but he takes on the big brother role better than I could the big sister role." She glances at all the children now crammed under the table with her, chatting happily with each other, and sees herself and her two brothers in them. Her heart fills with warmth as she slips out from under the table unnoticed, leaving the new set of siblings to play together, while remembering the first time her brothers found her hiding under the table alone during their first party together.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
The party drags on all night until the clock strikes midnight. It is now time for the grand finale, the gift opening accompanied by a magic act by Lyney and Freminet! This is Freminet's first act as Lyney's sole assistant. He's both excited and nervous to try a magic act alone with his brother, without his sister's help. Lynette passes out the gifts to everyone and the show begins once she takes a seat. The wrapping paper starts flying as everyone digs in as soon as Lyney starts his performance speech at the hearth, warm fire crackling behind him, Christmas tree lights lighting his impromptu stage.
The show goes mostly okay, with a few minor mistakes from Freminet, but Lyney professionally distracts the audience from them. Freminet did his snow magic, but on a much smaller scale, with less sharp, dangerous, falling icicles this time. Lynette is sitting in the back doing little claps.
"The final act is here. I want to thank everyone again for joining this year's family Christmas! I also want to thank Freminet for joining me on stage for his first performance as my assistant! Please give him applause!" Freminet's face and ears get warm as he bows for the crowd. He's still not used to this attention. "We hope you had a fantastic and magical night! But we did save one last trick for you all! To end this show, I'm going to make Freminet turn into a Christmas present and then make him disappear! Come over here please, my brother."
The crowd oos and ahs. Freminet sits in a box and closes it up. Lyney unrolls two arms length of wrapping paper in front of his legs, accidentally bumping his right hand into the tree and almost knocks something off of it. He's getting tired. This final act could injure someone if he's not careful enough, but this is almost done. He can do it! The magician wraps the box up in the festive paper and taps on it asking his assistant if he's ready. He doesn't wait for a response before he starts speaking to the audience again, trying to get the crowd hyped up. Everyone is ready and watching, trying to see if they can finally see through one of their tricks.
"And now," Lyney snaps his fingers. The box bursts into flames, shocking the crowd. Some are frightened, thinking Freminet is in danger, but that only lasts a few seconds because the box burns up almost instantly. It's obvious that no one was actually in the box, so the trick was a success. But where did he go? No one could unravel the magic. Freminet really did disappear from the box! The crowd cheers and Lyney bows once more. He stays in that position as the crowd starts gathering their things and Lynette ushers them to the staircase, bowing in a similar way as her brother, not wasting energy to say a word. Everyone thanks her for her hard work as they pass by and Lyney follows the crowd out and thanks everyone for the great night again and again.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
Once the last person makes their way up the stairs, the twins sigh in relief and head back to the hearth, ignoring the mess left behind. They will worry about that tomorrow. Lyney plops down on a sofa and stretches with an exaggerated yawn. Lynette shrugs out of her sweater and steps out of her dress. Lyney is slightly flabbergasted that she had her pajamas on under it this whole time, but he doesn't question it. That's his sister after all. She just does things like this, and he's used to it. She pulls her favorite robe out from under a sofa cushion, and Lyney shakes his head at this. When did she put that there? She puts it on, and heads over to the fireplace to curl up to the warmth of the fire, using her sweater to lay on. They relax for a bit hearing nothing but the crackling fire and ticking clock, until the quiet is interrupted.
Freminet's voice whispers out suddenly. "Can I come out now?" causing the twins to get a slight jolt of shivers.
Oh, right. Lyney completely forgot! The boy's head pops out from behind the Christmas tree and the twins look at him guiltily. Lyney told him to stay hidden for the finale until he says he can come out, except Lyney forgot. Lynette was the next line of action and was supposed to remind her twin, but she also forgot. Poor Freminet almost fell asleep sitting in the corner behind the Christmas tree ever since he crawled out from the back of the box and behind the wrapping paper Lyney held out before wrapping up the box. The magician twins apologized for not telling him sooner and he stepped out, carefully, stepped over Lynette, and sat on the floor beside her.
They sat in silence for a moment and Lyney broke it as he got up to join them on the floor. "I'm sorry dear my brother and sister. I didn't get you a gift this year with how hectic this has all been!"
"That's okay. I also wasn't able to get you two anything," Lynette replied. Freminet nodded in agreement. They usually try to at least get or make something small for each other every year, even if it's just macaroni art. However, they knew in their hearts and without need to say it that just getting to spend the time they did together is enough for all of them.
After more sleepy silence, Lyney once again breaks it. "I wonder why we weren't on the gift list this year...." he wonders out loud to himself.
"Father doesn't get gifts when she hosts the party. We hosted so it makes sense we don't get any," Freminet suggests.
"She doesn't get gifts because she doesn't attend the events. She just plans and sets the parties up for us." To Lynette it makes perfect sense. Father always plans parties for the HOTH kids, but never attends so her intimidating aura doesn't ruin the fun. "Besides, wouldn't it be a little weird if she made us buy and wrap our own gifts?" That one seemed most obvious, but her brothers are idiots sometimes.
"Didn't you get her something though?" Lyney asks. The kids used to try to get at least a small gift for Father on her birthday and Christmas every year. It had been a tradition since they were small kids, until the lizard incident, which made them start to rethink it. But this year they decided to try again. Instead of failing to figure out what she likes once more, they decided to gift her things they like or made, as a way to share a piece of them with her. They each left the gifts on her desk in her office at some point during their party preparation.
"I got her some really strong tea from Liyue. I asked a friend to pick some up for me when she traveled there."
"I made her a little mechanical spider that can walk up walls and spy on people," Freminet replied next.
The two looked at Lyney expectantly. "I got her a custom set of playing cards. They can be used for card games, magic, or even as throwing knives. They're the thinnest, strongest steel, with real gold plating." He looks proud of his gift choice, but the other two aren't impressed. It sounds too flashy for Father.
Exhaustion takes over and soon the three siblings are falling asleep curled up close together in front of the glowing fire.
☆~♤~♡~◇~♧~☆
The front door to the hotel opens and a careful figure steps inside. It's still dark out since the sun hasn't yet risen. The siblings are still passed out on the floor in front of a now dying fire, lights of the Christmas tree still shining bright. The floor is covered in filth from the previous night's party, but this dark figure doesn't pay it any mind. The kids will surely clean it up when they wake. The figure hangs up a long cloak and heads over to the snuggled up kids on the floor, pointed heels clicking with every step. Upon reaching the hearth, the light catches her face.
Father stares down at the sleeping kids among the mess and the corner of her mouth pulls up in a half smile. "My business was cut short. Looks like I'm home to give you your gifts in time for Christmas after all," the stern woman whispers softly to the sleeping forms before her. She fetches a blanket from a closet and pulls out the hidden bag of presents with it. She heads back over to drape the blanket over them, just big enough to fit them all while they're cuddled up together, with Lynette in the middle. Father places their gifts neatly near them and heads into her office, immediately spotting the gifts on the desk the children left for her. She turns back, looking towards where they lie asleep and smiles warmly, whispering once more, "Merry Christmas, my children."
~~~~☆~☆~☆~END~☆~☆~☆~~~~
(note: the art at the top is when they wake up in the morning and find the gifts, opening them together after cleaning up a little!)