Joanne_carper

  “It sure has gotten colder as of te”

  “Yeah, winter is just starting”

  Winter huh, well it makes sense, snow is starting to fall and the streets are looking white, I wonder why it doesn’t really feel as merry as I remember winter to be, hmm...

  Wait a minute, I haven’t seen ANY decorations in town or otherwise, do people don’t celebrate christmas or something!? Let me ask Heather about it.

  “Say, don’t people celebrate this time of the year?”

  “Winter? It’s usually the harshest season, why would people celebrate? Some people even have troubles making ends meet during this time”

  “Wait really?”

  “Yeah, crops don’t grow on winter and the weather is quite harsh”

  Now that you mention it, why did winter become a celebration time? I don’t know what Heather says makes sense but, I don’t want that boring answer, I want to have a Christmas with everyone, if it doesn’t exist, I will just make the celebration up!

  “Then let’s make it official! We need more holidays anyway!”

  “But a Winter celebration? Shouldn’t we wait for spring, since it’s a warmer and more appropriate time for that sort of thing?”

  “No it HAS to be winter, let’s have our first christmas!”

  “Krismas?”

  “Don’t mind the name! We need to find and or make ornaments, and the tree as well, maybe we could ask Rushka to help with the lights and-”

  “What is all the ruckus?”

  Celestial interrupted my ramblings as she entered the office where Heather and I were working at.

  “Celestial? I was just listening Marisa talking about made up festivities”

  “It’s not made up! Or maybe it was, I actually don’t know”

  “Festivities?”

  “Un, it’s called Christmas! And-”

  “Wow, it’s been so, so long since I st heard of that!”

  Celestial stopped my expnation before it could begin, does Celestial know what I’m talking about? this expedites things, I would ask but Heather beat me to the punch with the question asking ‘do you know of it’, with shock in her face.

  “Yeah, it’s an ancient elven festivity, it’s not celebrated anymore, but it used to be a thing way way back”

  “Wow, you learn something new everyday, and how did you know about it Marisa?”

  “I just do! It’s a family thing?”

  I can’t really just admit it exists in another world or something, actually I never told Heather about the information shoved in my brain as well right? That really doesn’t matter right now though.

  “I... see, and why is it called like that?”

  “uhh...”

  Christ? Actually, I have no fucking clue, what is the origin of christmas? Bah, does it really matter, still I looked over at Celestial, but she seems as clueless as I am on this.

  “It just does? I have no idea and you Celestial?”

  “Same, no clue, I never actually asked the why of the name”

  “Hmm, well at least I’m more at ease knowing Marisa is not making holidays up, we can celebrate it if you really want”

  Heather is giving me that warm smile whenever she misunderstands something, I bet she’s thinking I’m doing it to remember my family or something, when in reality I just want to have an excuse to not do paperwork and throw a party!

  “Yeah, it will be fun!”

  Something caught my attention though, why is it also called christmas in this world? Then again it’s probably all a dream, who cares about the details!

  “Then we need to start preparing, deck the halls with ribbons and lights!”

  For now I expined everything and Celestial helped with some details as well, which was the norm for the most part but.

  “If memory serves, they hold a ball te at night right?”

  “A ball? As in the dance?”

  “Yeah, which was at the party, weren’t you mentioning it before?”

  “Well christmas party yeah, but I don’t remember the dance part”

  “Hmm, maybe some holes in your memory? And the dinner afterwards?”

  “Oh, the christmas dinner I remember, there’s a lot of work to be done, let’s get to it already!”

  “Of course!”

  Celestial and Heather went over some parts of the decorations, and I’m going with Rushka, to talk about the lighting, this should be easy for her right, she already created dim night lights before, she looked as dumbfounded as Heather while I expined the whole festivity to her, but in the end she decided to help me with the decorations as well!

  “Great! Let’s go with Heather and Celestial, so we can coordinate this easier”

  It was a solid while when we discussed about the whole festivity, it was a lot of talking, but at the end, everyone’s task was decided, and I leave them to it, as for me, I’m going to get the tree to decorate and bring it here, as well as the food stuff for dinner, not only that but I need to invite a couple of people as well, I did told Celestial, Heather and Rushka they can invite anyone they want.

  Both Rushka and Celestial said they had no one to invite, Rushka mentioned her family and friends being in another country, plus calling them out of the blue for something no one celebrates would be awkward, Celestial straight up said she didn’t have friends, which is a bit sad.

  Heather and Ellie are gonna be there as well, obviously, but she didn’t invite anyone else, not even the people from the knights, which, ok, seems a bit weird, either way, I went to the forest, I need a magnificent, and lovely pine tree for the christmas tree!

  Fortunately there is quite a few pines around town, but I have to say, not a single one seems appropriate for a christmas tree, the imposing ones are well, weathered by nature, and that simply won’t do! And I don’t want a small one, I decided to make my own instead, picking a pinecone from one of the trees, I pnted it to the ground, and after fumbling it with magic for a bit, a majestic pine grew tall and gorgeous, brand new as well, and without signs of movement by animals or nature in general.

  It’s perfect! I sliced the base and teleported it back home!

  “A pine tree?”

  “Yeah, amazing isn’t it? I grew it myself!”

  “Isn’t redwood trees the norm?”

  Asked Celestial, a redwood tree!? Where am I gonna get one of those around here!? Plus it’s always been a pine or spruce no!?

  “I’m not so sure about the redwood tree, I remember it being a pine!”

  “Hmm, maybe, I remember the redwood trees being mentioned in a festivity, maybe I’m getting it mixed up with something else”

  “Probably, it’s a pine tree!”

  I said, plonking it in the middle of the hall, where decorations are being held!

  “Now the foodstuff! We need a turkey to begin with, I think the rest we have most stuff in the pace kitchen already, no?”

  “What’s a turkey?”

  “What!?”

  “Marisa, turkeys went extinct a long time ago”

  Oh but the norm is, or rather WAS turkey as well then. Thanks for crifying that Celestial.

  “Then what can we repce it with?”

  “Well, what is it to help us understand what we’re looking for?”

  Asked Heather once again.

  “It’s like a chicken, but bigger!”

  “Like geese? It will be difficult finding one in winter, no?”

  “Hmm, alternatives?”

  “For birds in winter? The only thing you might find are cockatrices, either that or farm hens”

  “Eating chicken for christmas seems a bit out of pce? Is the cockatrice edible?”

  “It’s considered a delicacy, they’re aggressive and hard to hunt however”

  “But they can work right! Then I have to go get one, be right back!”

  Time to get dinner, but I have no idea where to find one of said animals, and looking in the forest seems counter intuitive, wild animals seem to avoid me usually, plus it sounds like a monster, surely the guild knows where to find one, I will ask my favorite adventurer in the world!

  “Adele!~”

  “Marisa? What brings you to the guild?”

  Adele was at the guild, I know this by following her scent, either way I simply gave her a hug and then continued with idle talk.

  “Do you know where to get a cockatrice?”

  “They’re a bit expensive, but meat markets in the noble district could probably dispatch you some”

  “No, I don’t want meat cuts, I need a whole bird!”

  “Good luck finding someone to sell you an entire one, it would also probably cost a small fortune”

  “I don’t want to buy it”

  Mostly because we’re still kinda broke.

  “I want to hunt a live one!”

  “Oh! They are quite dangerous but you’ll be fine I think. I remember seeing nests in a dungeon on the road connecting us to the capital, maybe start there?”

  “Oh, thanks, and by the way Adele, I’m holding a christmas party, want to come?”

  “Christmas party? Oh! I know what those are, in some old history books from the elves mentioned the festivity, do you know more of it!?”

  Oh, I just flipped Adele’s history switch on...

  “A bit, my memory is vague as is Celestial’s, but we’re making do”

  “I will gdly go to the party! Do you need help with anything?”

  “You can go to the pace and help everyone with decorations, or maybe come with me to hunt the cockatrice?”

  “Hmm, tidying is not really my forte...”

  I know, I’ve seen your dusty apartment, I’m not gonna say that.

  “Then let us go! It would help me more since you know the location!”

  “Ok, let’s go then”

  Cool, I gave Adele a princess carry and then bolted it towards the capital.

  “M-MARISAAA!!”

  “Just tell me when to stop or where to look”

  “S-STOOOP!”

  I did and after pcing Adele down, she just looked around, we are in the middle of nowhere though, how is she gonna recognize where we are?

  “It’s hard to tell when the world is a speeding blur! Can we go slower!?”

  “Ok, do you want me to take you back to town to start again”

  “There’s no need, it was closer to the capital than town”

  “Then let’s continue”

  “T-there’s no need to carry me, I can make do somehow!”

  Is Adele embarrassed? She’s rather cute even when she’s not trying, either way she pulls her staff out her clothes, and then glided across the floor while I run at a moderate pace.

  “There!”

  “That’s the dungeon?”

  “No, but that’s a cockatrice in the forest to our right!”

  I looked and indeed, a half chicken half abomination was walking around, it was easier than I expected to find it, I approached it but it spat fire at me.

  “Careful Marisa!”

  Said Adele, preparing a spell!

  “Wait! Don’t maim it, I need it as intact as possible for dinner”

  “T-then what’s your pn!?”

  “How do chickens get killed when they’re prepared for food?”

  “They break their necks but...”

  “Break the neck? Got it!”

  “Wait Marisa! They are quite strong!”

  I simply put my hands on his neck, or try to at least, he’s taller than what I can reach, it tried to kick me away, but I’m pretty immovable, either way I jumped and put my hands around its neck, he’s thick so both my hands don’t go around it, I have it on my grasp though, it’s binding his neck downwards unable to free from my gasp, still at point bnk with its face, he managed to burn my clothes a little, I simply jumped again, using it’s neck as a vaulting pole, and after a loud crack, I manage to bend him backwards, the bird colpsed to the ground and after a couple of spasms, it stopped moving.

  “As monstrous as always Marisa...”

  “Hey, at least we have our bird! Let’s go home!”

  I picked the bird with one hand and touched adele with the other, teleporting back to the pace, the pace chefs were livid with the bird but it seems they will make do somehow, they gave me a list of ingredients thought, and asked my permission to buy them but I told them I would buy them myself, they gave me a list and I headed outside once again, this time to invite Lassie to the party as well, the shopping was just an excuse!

  “And so on and so forth, do you want to come with us?”

  Lassie nodded excitedly, I asked about her kids but she told me to not worry about them, since it’s not even a celebration that they know exists, I did say they’re all welcome as well, but Adele assured me writing in her notebook that, a party would be a bit much for them, more so given it’s meant to be etiquette or something.

  I won’t pry any further, for now I took Lassie with me, to a quick shop across the markets, buying the ingredients missing, good thing I did since I realize how bad I am at picking ripe produce, I could’ve maybe interrogated the seller to know which ones are the best, but Lassie could tell them apart with ease, I guess experience from having to feed her kids probably.

  ...

  ...

  ...

  Night fell and when I came back after leaving Lassie at the pace, everything was so gorgeous and so well decorated, I was literally awestruck!

  “Tadah~”

  Said Heather, showing the christmas tree, the ornaments were amazing, made of gss that gave them a somewhat transparent look, which the lights that Rushka made were reflecting on them and creating an assortment of pretty colors and wisps across the tree, I was so, so impressed, I didn’t know what to say!

  The few areas of the pace that were decorated also looked amazing, ribbons and lights everywhere as well, they focused on the three first and foremost, but it’s still an incredible job for the little time they had!

  “Amazing...”

  “We’re gd you like it, but where were you Marisa?”

  “Ah, I went out to get a little something, sorry, I should’ve helped with the decorations”

  “Oh don’t worry, we had fun doing it!”

  “I’m gd”

  And so the time for the party was finally here, or so were our pns but also, how to dance a ball? I have no clue, and we have no music either, nor anyone knows how to dance that well, which I just find funny.

  “It’s fine! The dance was never in my pns anyways! What I did bring is this!”

  I said, pulling out bottles of alcohol, you had no idea how many arguments I got with the seller because he thought I was a minor, apparently you can’t sell alcohol to minors in this pce, anyways, I will save the details of my st minute shopping for ter.

  “Oh! You went out to buy that? How did they even sell it to you!?”

  Asked Rushka, surprised, has she tried to buy liquor before? Or why does she know that I had troubles?

  “But we had alcohol in the celr at the basement”

  Responded Heather, which would make sense.

  “Probably, but I looked at the basement and found none”

  “That’s weird, there should be some, or maybe in the kitchen?”

  “Ahaha...”

  Rushka is ughing wryly, which immediately told me where all the alcohol in the pace went, I mean she is a dwarf, hardwired into their genetics perhaps? I’ve never seen her drunk around the pace but then again, she drank entire barrels at the wedding so her tolerance is pretty high.

  “It doesn’t matter! I bought the fanciest ones I could get, and I know it because I threatened the seller, there should be enough for everyone right?”

  It is a solid few bottles, I know Rushka drinks a lot, but I can’t exactly buy high quality wine in such rge bulk, she will have to contain herself a bit. As I was thinking that, the chef went to where we all were, and proudly told us that dinner was ready, it seems they had fun preparing an entire cockatrice.

  “Then let us go!”

  The dinner table was gorgeous, with different side dishes all around the gigantic aberrant chicken in the middle. It really gave me Christmas dinner vibes, as the lights gently illuminated the room and the table candles gave a warm and cozy feeling all around.

  We’re all here, Heather, Rushka, Celestial, Ellie, Adele and Lassie, all gathered in this little and small party of ours, it’s closer to a dinner but it felt right for some reason.

  “And then we went all to the park and pyed ball together, but Fred tripped and scraped his knee so I-”

  Little Ellie is the most excited out of all of us in the party, her eyes are literally shining as she’s telling us how her day went, she made friends with all the kids in the different orphanages, Heather is just looking at her speech with a warm smile on her face.

  The ctter of people eating and having a fun time echoed all around, Ellie got grape juice, as did Heather, she did not want to drink in front of her little sister, unlike Rushka who’s clearly using the opportunity, Adele can’t eat or drink, so she’s just gently sitting, pitching into the conversation and telling tales of her past as adventurer as well, much to Ellie’s excitement.

  Celestial has a poker face, she’s eating and drinking as well, but not a lot, probably because she doesn’t need food, much as I don’t need it either, I mean I am eating as well to join in, and my drink is not wine, the kitchen staff were nice enough to get the cockatrice drained blood into a bottle, which is what I’m having.

  It’s stale and tastes funny, but it’s not bad per se.

  In between ughter and tales, we carried our dinner, Rushka turning into a drunkard which is amusing, I can even see Celestial smiling, a very rare sight given I never see her with much more than her neutral expression.

  But everything comes to an end, the meal was delightful and we’re all full to the brim, Ellie and Rushka fell asleep while Heather finally decided to take a gss of wine, we carried the two passed out girls to their room, and we continued the ‘party’, Celestial, Lassie, Heather, Adele and I.

  Lassie is just there, she blends quite easily and can’t exactly talk, but her companionship is always appreciated, we’re just having a less hectic talk in the living room while finishing the bottles of alcohol.

  “You can’t get drunk huh?”

  “Nope, that means you and Lassie are pying a downhill battle”

  Since they’re the only ones left that could get drunk, it certainly is te at night, and both of their faces got slightly red, indicating the alcohol is taking its toll on them.

  “Seems a bit unfair, this will be the st one then~”

  Said Heather, gently sipping the wine gss, maybe it should be time to wrap things up? I say that because they’re both tipsy, and I’m sure they all have work tomorrow as well.

  “I will take Lassie home, thank you for the party Marisa, it was fun”

  “Un, we should do this every year!”

  Lassie wrote in her notebook, in rather uneven doodling since her handwriting took a nosedive, she essentially told me she had fun as well, at least that’s what I understood from the note.

  “It really was!”

  And so they both left, and Heather went to bed as well, not before insinuating to me for lewd thoughts that crossed her mind, I want to but, it would be best for her to sleep as well.

  And so everyone except Celestial went to sleep, actually I don’t think Adele sleeps either, but she’s back home, which means the time is finally here!

  Time for me to don the red outfit and give Christmas joy to all my friends and newfound family! What did you expect I was losing time all afternoon? No, I was buying everyone’s gifts, which is the secret reason why I couldn’t help with decorations.

  Heather comes first, she was rather difficult to get something for her that she would like, as she never buys anything for herself, still she always smells so nice so I know she uses some cosmetic products, so I got her a bottle of perfume that I hope she likes, I pced it in her night desk while she slept, it has a little note that says ‘merry christmas’ as does every gift I made, they will probably know it was from me since it has my handwriting but whatever.

  For little Ellie I got her a plush toy, she keeps the one Heather bought her in high steems, so I got her a Rabbit to make the pair with the bear, I hope she treasures it as much.

  Next up is gonna be Rushka, I pnned on getting her alcohol but she drank enough already, plus it would be kinda irresponsible for me to give her more liver damage, I know she enjoys building things and while the idea of giving her tools was tempting, I ended up going with replica high detailed house models, it seems like a good challenge a distraction.

  Now to the outside, Lassie is next, and I realize I barely know them to begin with, she’s just really busy with her kids so I thought of getting gifts for them instead, but I want Lassie to be the one to receive something, I’ve seen her doodling on her free time since she’s always carrying a notebook for obvious reasons, so I got her a set of fancy colored pens, I want to see her drawings but she’s coy about them, I hope this gives her confidence, that and pens are expensive in this world.

  Now for the harder 2 gifts left, both Adele and Celestial doesn’t sleep, so being sneaky is gonna be even harder, I’m already out so Adele first, I sneaked into her apartment complex, she’s too busy to notice me with all her research, why did I even worried about not being seen by her?

  Anyways, I got her more books since she seems to love them having piles upon piles, I have no clue what research papers she has and which ones she doesn’t, so to not risk it and getting her away from work for a minute, I bought her novels instead, I don’t know if she will like them, but I hope she does.

  Now let’s just go to the pace and give Celestial her gift, she does have a room in the pace even if she never uses it, or so I thought entering nonchantly but she was actually in it for a change.

  “Hi Marisa, did you finish your gift-giving spree?”

  “W-What are you talking about?”

  “You’re trying to give everyone a surprise, I remember that part of the tradition at least”

  “Haha, well, I guess you’re the only one that knows, keep it a surprise from everyone else please”

  “Uhh... They will know you gave them away, no?”

  “Perhaps, or perhaps not, but you know already, merry christmas Celestial!”

  I handed her the small box to the all knowing dragon, it was a neckce since she’s only shown interest in jewelry from what I can remember. I’m sure it’s not the reason but it’s the best I could think of.

  “I hope you like it”

  “Aww, thanks dear, I will treasure it”

  Now my mission is done on this festive night, and the time to hit the bed was here, I went to my room, surprisingly mentally exhausted from the busy day, only to find 6 gifts neatly arranged on my bed, all of them signed by names I more than recognized, an ear to ear smile crept on my face, did Celestial told them about it? I wonder what’s inside, never have I felt so excited for the prospect of a gift!

  Joanne_carper