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Pomni groggily opened her eyes, and sat up. Somehow, despite being in this place for so long, there was something keeping her from ever feeling used to it.
The rubbery stretching of her face as she rubbed her eyes, the cartoonish stretching of her limbs. The fact that she could never take off her jester hat...
But for as weird as these feelings were, she knew they at least meant she was still alive, and more importantly, human.
"Not that complaining will do any good..." She told herself. She climbed out of bed, and started for the door, ready to see what the circus had in store for her...
When she opened the door into the long hallway, she was greeted by a small gasp.
"Oh, Pomni!" Ragatha said. "I was just coming to get you. Uh, did you sleep well?"
"Same as always." Pomni said. "Why? Caine start the adventure earlier than usual?"
"Well, no but...Kinda?" Ragatha said with a toss of her head. "I-I'll show you."
The two walked to the main room of the circus, with Pomni noticing more and more of the featureless mannequin NPC's standing around.
"Has Caine got something big planned?" Pomni asked.
"Well...You'll see." Ragatha promised.
When they got to the main room, everyone else was already gathered around.
"Alright, just...Wait for a bit." Ragatha said with a noticeably growing excitement in her voice. "Oooh, I just... Haven't seen anyone new react to this in a while!"
Before Pomni could inquire further, there came a snide scoff.
"Really, Raggy? Over-hyping this already?" Jax chided. "Aren't you a lil, I dunno, OLD for that?"
"Hyping what up?" Pomni asked.
"Jax, don't you DARE spoil it!" Ragatha said "It's the ONE thing we all agree Caine does right, even Zooble!"
Pomni gave their mismatched member a look of inquiring surprise.
Zooble shrugged. "It's true. I don't actually mind this, and kind don't mind hyping it up a little."
Pomni smiled. "That's glowing praise coming from you."
"YAWN!" Jax said. "Trust me, it's not as good as licorice-hair made it out to be." He chuckled at Ragatha's visible disapproval at the name he gave her, but didn't spoil anything.
Suddenly, the lights in the circus dimmed. Ragatha let out a small, excited "squee" as a disembodied drumroll built up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The similarly disembodied, but unmistakable voice of their ringmaster said.
"Welcome to an event 12 days in the making! It's..."
"Get ready for disappointment." Jax mumbled.
Canoe suddenly burst into view, accompanied by a glitter of multicolored lights.
"The circus's annual Christmas decorating!"
"Eeee!" Ragatha squealed, clapping her eyes. Jax just rolled his eyes.
"Wait. Christmas?" Pomni repeated.
"That's right, my little drummer boys!" Caine said. "Christmas! The holiday that celebrates deforestation, mass-consumerism, and obese, magical elves breaking into your home's to commit reverse robberies!"
"Eh, you're not wrong." Zooble said.
"Wait, what month is-How long have I been in-" Pomni held her head trying to figure it out. "How is it Christmas?!"
"It's more of an educated guess." Ragatha explained. "It's a bit hard to gauge time here, so we've just agreed on an approximate time."
"Yeah, one time he did it twice in a week." Zooble said.
"That's right!" Caine said.
Kinger finally spoke. "Oh, are we having a party? Is that why the lights are off?....Wait, was I supposed to be surprised!?"
"Not yet!" Caine said. He snapped his fingers, and his outfit changed from his red suit to a sparkly red and green one.
"Snazzy." Pomni said, only half joking.
"Oh, I'm just getting started!" Caine said. He flicked open the top of his cane, and pushed the button inside. And the moment he did, the room began rumbling, and the rumbling got faster and and faster, almost knocking the players off their feet!
"T-Th-I-I-s I-I-s p-p-part o-f-f I-t-t?!" Pomni struggled to ask Ragatha.
All at once, the shaking stopped...
...And a MASSIVE Christmas tree burst out of the ground, right in the center of the main room!
To call it elaborate would be an understatement. This unrealistically huge pine was decked out with more baubles and ornaments than one would think ever existed!
What looked like miles of tinsel and lights ran around, topped with a star that looked almost as big as a real one.
"Woah..." Pomni said. "...Gotta give you this, Caine. You sure know how to decorate."
"Oh....Stop!" Caine said, blushing... Somehow.
"Yeah, wow." Jax said. "Now we gotta do everything under this monstrosity for a month."
"I love it!" Gangle said. "Especially the ribbons."
"That's not even the half of it!" Caine said. "I've-...Wait...." He looked down at Pomni and his eyes shrank.
"....Pomni..." He said in a dangerously calm voice.
Pomni looked around uncertainly, noticing the others looked just as confused.
When she turned back, she leapt from fright, seeing Caine now looming in front of her.
".....I've just remembered..." He said in the same tone. Pomni felt herself backing away.
"Caine, are you-" He held his finger to her mouth.
"....It's something very.....Important..." He said, now breathing heavily.
"C-Caine?" Ragatha said. Even Jax looked concerned.
"....Pomni..." Caine repeated.
Pomni just gulped.
".....Is there....." Canine suddenly backed away, and spoke in his normal voice, very quickly.
"ANYBELIEFSYOUHOLDRELIGIOUSOROTHERWISETHATWOULDPREVENTYOUFROMPARTAKINGINTRADITIONALSECULARCHRISTMASACTIVITIES?!?!"
Pomni blinked.
".....Uh....N-No... I'm good..."
"Great!" Caine said. "Just had to ask!"
"....Why'd you do it so creepily?!" Zooble asked.
"Because I find potentially awkward questions are easier to ask when the room is already tense." Caine explained.
"I.......f@$k, I can't find a flaw in that logic." Zooble admitted.
"Excellent!" Caine said. "So without further ado, let's do further!" He snapped his fingers, and soon, everyones outfits changed.
Gangle's ribbon became a deeper red with a notable sparkle. like she'd been remade with velvet. Her ribbons extended behind her, and made a heart shape behind her head, and to top it off, a red wrap fell onto her shoulders. Her comedy mask somehow looked even cheerier as she took it all in.
Zooble, in a surprise look of subdued anticipation, had their antenna changed to both a reindeer antler and a candy cane. Their bodies usual color changed from its more abstract color pallet to traditional holiday themes, and maybe it was Caine just being funny, but where they usually had no nose, they now had a glowing, red one.
"Eh....Not awful." They said.
"Oh, my turn!" Ragatha said, clapping. Her outfit changed from her relatively simple patchwork dress to a flowing, red winter dress with white fur trim. Her button eye changed from blue to black to match the belt and buttons of her dress, and her bow turned the same deep-red.
"Oh, I feel like Mrs. Clause!" She said with a cheery laugh. It might've just been the quick change, but her cheeks looked a little rosier.
"Alright, let's get this over with." Jax sighed. His overalls changed from their shades of pinkish-red, to green with red highlights. His yellow gloves changed to red with white cuffs, and to complete the look, a brown cruiser cap dropped onto his head.
"*sigh* I feel like a prop." He muttered.
"Jax, you look good!" Ragatha said.
"Yeah, that look kinda works for you." Pomni pointed out.
"Yeah, well, that's not saying much when I look so good in everything." Jax said.
Pomni just rolled her eyes, and looked in Kinger's direction, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, his usually purple robe with white speckled trim was now red with a snow white trim, and a black belt. Accented perfectly by a Santa hat.
"Oh... I feel a bit... Jolly." He said.
"Ooh, Pomni, it's your turn!" Ragatha said.
"Omigosh, you've never gotten an alt before!" Gangle said excitedly.
Pomni felt a change go over her, and when she looked down, she saw that her usual Jester outfit was now a mostly green outfit that ended in a skirt just above her knees, with a red, triangular pattern going around it. Her shoes still looked the same, save being red and green. Her twin-tailed Jester hat now had only one flowing tail, with a green and red striped pattern.
"Woah... I never really got this into the holiday before, but..." She pushed her hair away from her cheek and felt something that wasn't there normally.
Feeling it for a minute, she looked up at Caine with a deadpan face.
"........Caine, did you make me an elf?" She asked.
Caine just tapped his fingers together innocently.
".......Maybe." He said with a giddiness in his voice.
Pomni sighed in defeated acceptance. "Sure...Why not?"
Jax began chuckling. "Hey, suits you really well, shortstuff."
"Right! Now onto today's adventure!" Caine said, rubbing his hands together, eagerly. "You're adventure is..."
"We're not gonna have to like, save a Santa NPC, or stop a more psychotic Grinch, are we?" Pomni asked.
"Oh, no..." Ragatha said. "....Those were the early Christmas adventures." She shuddered. "....And there WERE termites in his smile..."
Instead, Caine didn't even bring up a title card.
"You all... Are in charge of decorating the main hall!"
"Oh...That's... Normal." Pomni said.
"More like 'boring'." Jax said. "It's like, the fifth time we've done this."
"Did you PREFER the one where we had contain a version of Rudolph who's nose was radioactive?" Zooble asked.
Jax just grumbled, but said nothing.
"But, uh....This place is pretty big." Pomni pointed out. "It's gonna take us a while for us six to do it."
"Oh, no worries!" Caine said. "That's what THEY'RE here for!"
He clapped his hands, and dozens of mannequins suddenly poured into the main hall. most of them holding boxes of decorations.
"Theses mannequins have had their heads crammed full of all the visions of dancing sugarplums and grandmothers getting run over by reindeer you could legally fit in, making them the perfect assistants for decking the halls!" Caine tipped his hat. "So have fun."
And with that, he vanished, leaving behind a flurry of snow.
"Well. Guess we better get started!" Ragatha said enthusiastically. She turned to a group of mannequins.
"You all know we're doing!" She said in a cheery, but commanding tone. "Let's get to work!" She led them to the eastern side of the room, each of them carrying a box of decorations.
Zooble sighed, but stretched their limbs. "Leave it to this circus to make manual labor look like a vacation, but whatever." They motioned to another mannequin group. "Let's move, puppets. Now, I'm not gonna have a repeat of last year's f@&k up, am I?!" They glared at one of them, who shrunk back.
"Better not." They warned. And headed off to the west end.
Gangle nervously looked at the group awaiting for her instructions.
"Um... You all know what we do, so....Let's go, I guess?"
They took off to North-West end, with her following.
Kinger stood with the last group of mannequins around him.
"Welp!" He said, with a swing of his fist. "Let's go, gang! Christmas waits for no one!" He excitedly pumped his fists in the air as the mannequin's picked him up and carried him to the south end of the room.
Pomni just pursed her lips.
"....I hate how NOT strange that has become..." She said. "So, Jax. What do you-"
She turned and saw that Had was no longer there... And then, she realized she was alone. And then another thought came to her mind.
"What do I do?"
She looked around... Before heading the same way Ragatha did...
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Where she found Ragatha was decorating the lounge area the group usually hung around before adventures. Well, more like SUPERVISING the decorating.
"No, no, hang the wreaths in sequence!" She called. "One with the candles, THEN the fake holly berries. It's a pattern!"
She stood in the center of the room, and despite seeming like she was just giving orders, she seemed to be in complete sync with everything going around her.
She seem to know exactly what would look good where, and could instantly tell when something wouldn't work.
And while she commanded the mannequins with a voice and demeanor she rarely used outside during their other adventures, she never spoke harshly.
"Bring those a little closer together." She called. "The goal is to have a at least one of each decoration that represents all 6 of us."
"Woah." Pomni finally. "You seem to have things under control."
"Oh, hey Pomni!" Ragatha said. "What do you think so far?"
"It looks great." Pomni said. "A lot better than I could handle this."
"Thank you!" Ragatha said. "And, I'm sure anyone could do this, it's just-Oh, no. Not there!" She caught a mannequin hanging a ribbon on the wall.
"Space them out more." She said. "We want this to look festive, not crowded."
Pomni smiled. "Anyone could do it, huh?"
Ragatha gave a relented smile. "Okay, I guess I DO have a knack for this. It's just... It's how my mom used to handle the decorating at our house during the holidays." She sighed and go a far-off look in her eye.
"Standing there. Know exactly how she wanted everything to look, know when anything would be out of place... It was the one time I actually admired her way of doing things. Taking charge and commanding others, all because she knew what would work best, and make everyone feel not only like they were contributing, but making people feel good..." A soft smile spread across her face.
"She wasn't even afraid to get her hands dirty when she...When me and her decorated the stables, and put bows on all the horse's tails... And then... We'd go shopping, and she'd wear her big, fur coats and-" A tear welled up in her eye.
"I-I'm sorry! I-"
"No!" Pomni said quickly. "It...Sounds like Christmas meant a lot to you..."
Ragatha nodded. "For a while it did... It was something we all looked forward to..." She quickly dried her eyes. "It... I better, uh..."
"Yeah, I'll let you get back to it." Pomni said. "I'll see what the others are doing..." She looked at the room, and how it was coming together.
"I'm sure it's gonna look great." She said, before leaving.
Ragatha gave a soft, melancholic smile.
"At least I learned something good from you." She said to someone who might never hear it...
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Pomni walked to the other end of the main room she saw Zooble had gone. It was actually a bit unusual to be looking for Zooble, since they very rarely joined them on adventures, but they seemed actually chill with this one.
"Wonder what they'd even be doing?" She asked herself. "I know they like making drinks and were a tattoo artist, but... They never struck me as a Christma-"
"Look out!" She heard Zooble call as a mannequin ran by, carrying a miniature Christmas tree, just missing her.
"You alright?" Zooble asked. "They can't see when they carry those, so watch yourself."
"Uh, thanks." Pomni said. "Uh, what are you doing?"
"The one thing I half-way enjoy doing here." Zooble answered. "Decorating the mini trees we put around the whole main room." She motioned to the small pine tree barely Pomni's height that sat on the table. However, distracting her from this was Pomni noticing that Zooble had attached two extra arms to themselves.
Before she could ask, Pomni watched them turn the tree in such a way, and began adding ornaments with each limb, turning it as needed, and even snipping excess limbs off with their crab claw...
It was more than a little dizzying to say the least.
"Yo! Here's another one!" She shouted. A mannequin quickly hurried over and took it off to wherever it's placement would be.
As they picked another tree up and placed it on the table, Zooble spoke without even looking at Pomni.
"Let me guess. Kinda surprising someone like me is into the holly-jolly-B.S?"
"Uh...Would it be rude to say 'yes'?" Pomni asked sheepishly.
"Heh. Nah, I get it." Zooble replied. "But I could never say I hate Christmas. Though, make no mistake." They turned and pointed to the red nose Caine had given them.
"This was NOT my idea."
Pomni chuckled. "Yeah, I gotta admit that I left the 'Rudolph and Frosty' parts behind when I grew up. Even though I still like Christmas."
"Yeah, Christmas sorta became another excuse to just get drunk as I got older." Zooble said. "Thing is, when I finally got behind the bar, I think I saw it in a new light." They began putting ornaments on the new tree.
"Sure, Christmas can be great when you're a kid, and nostalgia plays a big part of it, but... Well, sometimes the best thing about Christmas is when there's none of that... Working a bar, I saw a lot of people coming in who didn't have good memories of Christmas or didn't have much of a family to go home to... Hell, sometimes that bar and a few shots were all some people even had to look forward to on Christmas. But, they still talked about it."
They hung a red ornament on the tree and looked at their face reflecting in it.
"I heard people talk about years passed. About things they didn't have anymore, people that weren't around anymore. Sometimes it was the opposite, and they talk about the people and things that were still around... But the thing was, they'd always mention Christmas. Not as a holiday, but a time of year. A time to reflect on where you were after another year. And that stuck with me as I took different jobs, and moved around in life. Thinking about where I was after another year, and if it was where I expected myself to be..."
"I've certainly been there." Pomni sighed. "More than once have I found myself staring at the bottom of a shot glass, realizing it was exactly where I was the year before... But, the thing was... I was still there to think about it."
"Exactly." Zooble agreed. "That's what I'm talking about! I was still there to think about it. I made it one more year on this spinning rock, and maybe I'm not where I thought I'd be, well, definitely because I never once thought I'd be THIS." They motioned to themselves. "But I'm still here. And maybe taking this time where we all for some reason at least try to PRETEND to be a little happy for once to maybe think I should just be glad I'm here, well, I think I can force that out of myself."
They finished the tree, and had another mannequin take it away.
"I know I don't come off as someone who cares a lot, but times like this? They make me think that maybe, there IS a reason to all this, y'know?"
Pomni nodded. "That's what we're all looking for... Even in this place."
They were interrupted by a loud crash, and the sound of pottery breaking.
Zooble groaned. "I swear, if that was the same one of you from last year!..." They sighed. "Gotta deal with this. Good talking to you, Pomni."
They walked off, muttering various threats at whichever mannequin made that mess, leaving Pomni alone.
"Good talking with you to, Zooble." Pomni said, and walked off...
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As Pomni wandered the vastness of the main hall, she found herself back at the wall of doors. She never gave this place much thought after her first mad dash through, looking for an exit. And to be honest, she wasn't even sure she wanted to know the story behind them. The painful memory of getting clocked in the face twice returning to her.
What she also remembered was that the doors DIDN'T have wreaths on them last time.
Down the row of doors, each one now had a wreath, with a symbol denoting what each door had behind it. Including one of a boxing glove.
As she walked down the line of doors, she finally found the source of the new decorations. Gangle was sitting at an artist's easel, looking at each door thoughtfully, before sketching out a wreath she thought would match the door. When she was done, she would show it to the group of mannequins who would assemble the wreath out of the various materials that lay in the boxes around them.
Some of them were a perfect match to Gangle's sketch. Others had more tweaks to them. And Gangle of course, being Gangle, only disapproved when they looked VERY different.
Still, she looked happy sketching. Even with her comedy mask on, it seemed genuine.
Pomni walked up and clicked her tongue. "Wow... Should I be surprised YOU look right at home doing this?"
"Oh, hey Pomni!" Gangle said. "And, uh, no. I guess I am in my element here. It's one of the few times Caine gives us that kind of freedom."
Pomni looked over her shoulder, and recoiled at the image of a screaming opera mask.
"Yikes... Remember that one. I mean, I guess I'd be upset if someone interrupted me in the bath but geez..."
"Oh, yeah." Gangle chuckled. "Doctor Football REALLY hates being disturbed."
Pomni blinked in surprise. "....He has a name?"
"Oh yeah, a few of the ones you'll see around do." Gangle said. "They're just basic NPC's though, no advanced AI."
"Huh...Well-" Before Pomni could ask, one of the mannequins came back, holding a wreath.
"Um, excuse me." In a voice that sounded female, but goodies and undeniably snide.
"There's already a door with a boxing glove. I thought we were being original."
"Oh..." Gangle said, meekly. "Actually, there should be..." She flinched as the wreath was rudely tossed back to her.
"I thought you artist-types were more attentive than this!" The mannequin said. "I mean, really!"
Gangle mumbled anxiously to herself, unable to find a response.
"Yo, bits for brains!" Pomni shouted, picking the wreath up and tossing it back to the mannequin.
"For your information, there's TWO doors that have boxing gloves behind them. Want me to show you EXACTLY where they are and YOU can get decked twice just so you know for sure?"
The mannequin nervously picked it up, and looked around.
"Uh...I-"
"No? Than do what you're told!" Pomni said "Slap a '2' on it and call it a sequel if it bothers you that much!" And the mouthy mannequin slunk away.
"That one's got a little TOO much personality." Pomni muttered.
"Thank you." Gangle sniffed.
"You shouldn't let those things scare you." Pomni said. "You said yourself, they're just NPC's."
"I know." Gangle groaned. "And I HATE that I can't even stand up to them myself. It's just... I hate confrontation. I think I'm just naturally a doormat."
"Well I KNOW that's not true." Pomni said. "I've seen you stand up for yourself lots of times." She then snickered. "Betcha 'Manager Gangle' would have these guys whipped into shape in no time."
Gangle finally smiled at that. "Heh...Maybe, but... That's a part of my life I'm not eager to get back to." She sighed. "Especially not around Christmas." She got back to sketching.
"Got some bad memories?" Pomni asked.
Gangle shrugged. "More like, Christmas was always an escape from all that. December was always the easiest month the push through because it didn't matter how hectic things were, I knew I could talk about the holidays with the other employees, share my art, and just feel happy and it not feel weird."
Pomni rubbed her arm. "I always found working around the Holidays to be the worst. All the number crunching, and deadlines... Not to mention you start to feel less jolly seeing it all in dollar amounts..."
"Yeah..." Gangle agreed. "...It never felt great being the one who had to hear people talk about how tight money was that year, knowing I had to sign each of their paychecks but still couldn't do anything more for them." Then a small smile returned to her face. "But, I still did what I could. Not writing up someone even though they made a mistake so their pay wouldn't get docked. Letting someone off early to go to a Christmas party... I like to think I helped a few people have a better year."
Pomni smiled. "Well, that doesn't make you a doormat. It just makes you cool."
Gangle smiled at Pomni, and just for a moment, maybe it was just the light, but it looked Gangle's comedy mask became transparent, and she saw her truly smiling underneath.
When she looked back at the doors, her mask turned pink...Somehow.
"Uh, Pomni..." She stammered. "Not to be rude, but... Could you maybe NOT watch me do these next few, I just... I feel awkward drawing certain things with people watching me."
"Oh, sure." Pomni said. "I'll, uh, I'll just see what Kinger's up to."
And she left, pretending she didn't hear Gangle mutter something about making sure the pecs looked right.
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Seeing as Kinger was the last one she saw leave, tracking him down was easy...
What she didn't expect was the mannequin squad she saw carry him away to be waiting outside door...
"Uh, where's Kinger?" She asked.
"Oh, he's inside." One of them answered in a goofy voice. "Said something about only needing us when he was done."
"He, uh, also said something about you or any member of a traveling salesman association can go on in." Said another.
Pomni smiled and rolled her eyes as she pushed the door open.
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Inside, Pomni wasn't the least bit surprised to find it darkly lit by candles. Giving the whole room a soft, cozy glow...
What she WAS surprised about was the smell of freshly baked Gingerbread that filled the room.
When her eyes adjusted, she saw she was in a kitchen and there were trays of Gingerbread cookies sitting on the counters.
"Holy-" She began.
"Oh! Pomni, is that you?" Kinger called. "Come on back!"
Pomni followed his voice, and found the talking chess piece pulling a fresh batch of cookies from the oven.
"You're just in time!" He said. "Check these out!" He lowered the tray, and she saw that each one was shaped like the heads of her and the others.
"Because it's not Christmas if you can't bite off something's head, right?" He laughed and set them down. He'd ditched his hat, and wore an apron over his coat that read "King of the Kitchen."
"How's your day been?" He asked.
"Oh, it's uh...It's been fine." She said. "Um... Did you make all these?"
"Yup!" Kinger said happily. "Just a thing I like to do."
Pomni smiled. "Should've known you'd wanna be somewhere dark... Wasn't expecting a kitchen, though."
"Oh yeah." Kinger said. "I'd always bake around Christmas. Especially cookies shaped like our friends which, heh, is a little easier to do here." He grabbed another glob of dough and began kneading it.
"Everyone loved the Gingerbread ones. It was something of a family recipe. Not to toot my own horn, but they WERE always what we ran out of first at parties."
"I'll bet." Pomni said. She sat down across the counter from him, and rest her cheek on her hand.
"Gosh... Good with computers. Educated. Hell of a shot. A really, REALLY great listener, AND you can cook? Queenie scored the jackpot with you, didn't she?"
Kinger gave a soft laugh. "...Thank you." He said.
As he rolled the dough into a sheet, his voice became calm and wistful.
"She's actually part of the reason I do this. It was something we did together and... Doing it now, it's holding on to a part of her... Even if I don't remember it most of the time." He began pressing the shapes out of the dough.
"That's what makes this time of year so important. The traditions we keep are a way of keeping those who aren't with us anymore alive. Because, really, what is Christmas if not a promise to not forget that there's good in this world? And to take those memories, and keep sharing them. Make sure they do good even years after the people who we made them with might be gone... That's something you can't fake. Even if it's just a cookie."
Pomni sighed, and realized how teary-eyed she'd gotten.
"Well..." She said. "I hope you never forget that, you're doing a great job of that... And I believe that whoever might not be here anymore would be very proud of you..."
And though he had no mouth...
She was certain he was smiling.
He cleared his throat and picked up the tray.
"This is my last batch. Why don't you go back to the tree, I'm sure that's where everyone else will gather when they're done." He opened the oven. "I at least know they never miss these."
Pomni nodded, and started to leave, but before she did, she gave Kinger a final look.
"Hey, Kinger?" She called.
"Hm?" He called.
"...I, uh... One day, you gotta teach me how to make those cookies... I'd love to help you keep that alive."
"....You got it." Kinger said softly.
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Pomni made her way back to the tree. A warm feeling in her heart... Or, where her heart was supposed to be...
She wasn't sure if it was Christmas she saw in a different light now, or the people that shared their stories with her. Maybe it was both.
To often did she see herself and the others as prisoners of this digital place instead of people with stories to share... Maybe that's the best thing Christmas could do for her...
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She got closer to the tree... And realized she wasn't the first to return.
A familiar, lanky figure leaned against the tree, half-heartedly nibbling on a candy cane.
He didn't say anything, or even look at her as she walked up. Only giving her a side-eye as she stood next to him.
They both wordlessly leaned against the tree.
She then shuffled from one foot to the other, and clicked her tongue.
He just rolled the candy cane in his mouth... Before taking it out and smacking his lips.
"So... How was your day?" He asked.
Pomni looked surprised at him asking first, but smiled.
"It was... Pretty great, actually."
"You weren't bored to tears with everyone's sob stories about Christmas?" He asked.
"No." Pomni said. "In fact, they reminded me how much I love it."
Jax rolled his eyes and flicked his candy cane away.
"Yawn... I can't stand how sappy this stupid day gets people." He was clearly trying to be his usually snide self, but his words came off as half-hearted.
Pomni raised an eyebrow at him. "So why didn't I see you today? Figured you would be causing everyone trouble. Like sneaking Centipedes into Ragatha's decorations, or breaking Gangle's mask with a chestnut from a slingshot, or something."
Jax scoffed. "Please. Waste my talent on coming off as a stereotypical Christmas trouble-maker? Risk the vomit-inducing chance of you all coming together despite might antics to have 'the best Christmas ever'? Call me what you want, elf-with-no-shelf, but don't call me predictable."
Pomni gave a mischievous smirk.
"So you're admitting that there's nothing even YOU can do to dampen people's Christmas spirit? Tch. Seems like a perfect Christmas special ending to me."
Jax glared down at her.
"...I hope Caine makes a Krampus to take your short, non-existent a@& to hell."
"...Well I hope you get a visit by 3 spirits and wake up changed for the better." Pomni shot back.
"I hope you get run over by a reindeer."
"I hope YOUR heart grows 3 sizes."
"Well I hope if I knock your hat off, YOU become lifeless."
"Well I'VE just realized that you know an awful lot about Christmas specials for someone who supposedly doesn't like Christmas."
Jax's face suddenly went flush as Pomni grinned at him.
"....Sh-Shut the f@&k up! I only know about it from the pop-culture osmosis!"
"Sure..." Pomni said.
"Whatever. I'm not talking to someone dressed like an elf."
"Why? Afraid I'll tell the big guy to put you on the naughty list?"
Jax groaned. "I'm done talking to you."
Pomni snickered, and leaned back...
There was a small pause between the two.
"......Hey...." Pomni began. "Maybe next time, we can talk Caine into letting you Home-Alone the circus before we decorate it. Just to make it interesting."
Jax tried to hide it, but his ears perked a bit.
"...........................I HAVE wanted to see Ragatha scream like the guy when the tarantula crawls on his face, but with a centipede." He admitted.
Pomni shook her head. "Maybe if there's only one..."
"Only one of what?" Ragatha asked. She walked up them, along with a crowd of tired-looking mannequins.
"Oh, uh... Nothing." Pomni said. "So, you finished?"
"Well, I did. But then I wanted to try another way, so I had them take everything down, but felt it looked better the first way, so we put it all back, but eventually, we got it!" She grinned as the mannequins sighed. "All in a day's work!"
"Hmph. Miss happy-home-maker." Jax mumbled.
"What are you upset about?" Zooble asked as them and Gangle joined them. "Besides everyone else enjoying themselves?"
"How'd everything go with you guys?" Ragatha asked.
"Well, things went great until the end." Zooble said, taking off their extra arms. "I think Caine wanted to get a laugh on me, so right as I did the last tree, turns out the mannequin I had pick it up was Disappearing Guy... Guess what happened next..." They sighed. "But, we still got it done."
Gangle rubbed where her wrists would be. "One thing I'm always reminded of... I can still get artist cramps."
Jax grinned. "Betcha got it in BOTH hands, right? One for drawin, the other for 'appreciating' those special pieces?"
"Grow up, Jax!" Ragatha scolded.
"Whatever. Where's Kinger? There's too many girls here." Jax said.
As if on cue, the same group of mannequins the carried him away, now carried Kinger back to everyone, and dropped him under the tree.
"Hey guys!" He excitedly said. "Your not gonna believe this! I stepped out, and these guys were waiting for me with trays of cookies! How cool of them is that?!"
Almost everyone smiled sympathetically.
"That's great, Kinger." Zooble said.
"Wish I knew what it was for." Kinger continued.
Pomni sighed. "I think... I think they're something someone made to remind us there's still good in this world... Even if it is just a cookie."
"Oh... That's good..." Kinger said. "I've always thought Christmas should be a time to remember good things..."
It was practically a miracle Caine reappeared, as Ragatha was audibly tearing up.
"CON-GRAD-U-LATIONS!" Caine exclaimed. "You all completed your adventure!"
Pomni sighed. "I didn't really do much."
"No...But you still had fun." Canine said. "And I must say, this circus looks PERFECT!!!" He rose up and got a good view of the main room.
"Why, I'd let my 8 maids do their milking here!"
"Why'd he HAVE to say that?" Zooble groaned.
"Yes sir-ree, I'd say this looks the best it's ever looked!" Caine said. "In fact. It's so good, I'm cancelling the twist I was going to throw in of a random Yeti attack!"
.......
"What?"
"Don't worry, it's fine." Caine told her. "I just have to remember where I left it."
Everyone traded nervous glances.
"In the meantime, your reward for such a job-well-done is...A 100% uneventful break!"
"Wait...Really?" Gangle asked.
"Yeah, really!" Caine said. He snapped his fingers and a sitting room appeared under the tree. "Just hang out, eat cookies, do whatever humans do on these holidays."
"That sounds... Perfect." Ragatha said. "Uh, what about them?" She motioned to the mannequins. "They really pulled through for us today."
"Oh, yeah." Kinger said. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, they were all wearing vacation gear.
"They've all earned a special vacation to see the world's largest body of stagnant water!" He snapped his fingers again, and they all vanished.
"Well! If that's all, I'll leave you all to it." He was about to float away, when Kinger spoke up.
"Caine, wait!"
"Eeeeeeeyeeeeeesssss?" Caine answered.
Kinger shifted through the trays of Gingerbread, until he found what he was looking for.
"Here." Kinger said. "I saw this and thought it must be for you."
Caines eyes grew. "For....For ME?"
"Yeah, it's shaped like you. Someone must've wanted you to have one too."
Caine took the cookie from Kinger and stared it. Sure enough, it was shaped liked his mouth, wearing his top hat.
"This is...This is..."
"It's nice, isn't it?" Kinger asked. "You got one, just like everyone else."
Caine looked up at him....And a waterfall poured from his eyes.
".......I-It's r-r-r-eally s-s-swell, Kinger." He blubbered. "Th-Thank you." And with that, he snapped his fingers, and disappeared, dimming the lights as he left, leaving behind a puddle of tears.
Kinger blinked... And slowly turned to the others.
"You think he liked it?"
Zooble, of all people, took a shaky breath.
"....Oh, he loved it, Kinger."
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That night, 6 figures sat in a circle under the massive tree. sipping cocoa, and eating the nearly endless supply of Gingerbread they had.
Ragatha finished one and chuckled as she patted her stomach.
"Kinger, you can't keep doing this to me!" She laughed. "Next year, I might have Mrs. Claus's body, too!"
"I don't even know if we can gain weight here." Zooble said. "But it sure feels like it."
Pomni swirled her drink in her mug...
"I feel... I feel we should toast something." She said.
"Like what?" Gangle asked.
"If you just say 'to Christmas' I'm leaving." Jax said.
"Well, no... But yes." Pomni said. "Something like..." She thought for a minute.
"Something like.... To what Christmas means to everyone else, no matter what?" She held up her mug.
Ragatha put hers up next. "To memories of better times."
Zooble tossed their head. "To making it another year."
Gangle clinked hers to Zooble's "To the good this time of year brings out in us."
Pongo watched Kinger look at his drink, then back to them, then at his drink...
And finally, he held his up.
"To keeping loved ones alive in our hearts."
"Oh, Kinger..." Ragatha sighed.
Everyone turned and looked at Jax, who just glared at them boredly.
".....I'm not even gonna argue, because I know you won't leave me alone." He raised his cup.
"To stupid things that make us lift cups in the air.;
Pomni sighed. "Good enough."
"Merry Christmas, everyone." Kinger said.