Leila walked the halls of the Arena, the lights were cast low so to simulate night here in the Inbetween. There was no sun or moon, just the blank expanse of white that stretched infinitely from one side to the other. The North Wing was cold, the atmosphere now desolate after the last batch of Travelers had left. The most recent Arena Royale was a turning twist of drama and mazes, and at the end of it all, they only won one Mirror Shard from the visiters. The Traveler who remained here due to losing their Mirror Shard was being held up in the dormitory. He was another version of Coggs, a member of Paradox here in the Arena. It was jarring seeing double when he first appeared in the Mirror Shard room, but they soon got used to it. He’s asked to leave, but the Staff has tried to explain to him that there is nothing out there for him. He will not find anything that can bring him home out in the Inbetween. Leila had promised that during the next Arena Royale, Paradox would try to procure a Mirror Shard for him so that he could finally leave, and that was enough to make him settle down with his ideas of braving the unknown.
The next Arena Royale seemed like it would be a life time away, but really it would be in the next couple of weeks or so. She sighed, and Charlotte fluttered out of her breast pocket landing on her shoulder. “I don’t know how many more of these we can host, Charlotte.” She confided in the moth. Charlotte flew around her a little, twirling in the air to try and cheer her up. Leila laughed, “I’m fine, friend. I’m just more or less concerned with how the next Travelers will take the news that they have to participate in the Royale. Who knows, maybe the next losers won’t be so adament to wait?”
She heard soft footsteps behind her and turned to find Cosmos patrolling the halls. “All of the Dorm rooms are secure, Leila. Mr. Devesh^2 is not happy about having to stay here, but he seems to have settled in comfortably now.” She reported. Leila nodded.
“Thank you, Cosmos.” She touched the wall softly. “It’s about time we renovated this place. It’s been so long since we’ve been trapped here.”
Cosmos agreed, silently. “I can work on that next if you want. I have time before the Travelers arrive again.” Leila shook her head.
“Rest now. You’ve been working all day, you deserve a break.” Leila told her. “I’ll walk a little more, than head on over to bed. We have to plan for the next Royale tomorrow.”
Cosmos hesitated for a second. “Uh...my internal clock reads that right now...in the Old Reality, it is winter.” She said.
“Winter already…” Leila hummed.
“Yes...I just thought you’d like to know what time it really is.” She said. Leila smiled.
“Thank you, Cosmos. Perhaps we can throw a christmas party of sorts? I’m sure the Travelers will find that to be a warm welcome.” She suggested.
Cosmos nodded. “If that’s what you wish, then tomorrow I shall gather a committe. We can plan a christmas welcome to the Travelers next time.” Leila chuckled.
“So serious Cosmos. Very well, now that that’s settled, it’s getting late. I have a walk to take.” Leila dismissed herself, and walked onward without Cosmos.
Cosmos looked at Leila’s retreating figure, and wondered briefly what kind of walks she was taking so late in the night. If there was to be a christmas welcome, than she would need to get rest like Leila had said, so Cosmos headed for bed. The Staff rooms were near the dorms, and the Arena was big enough to hold all of them, if they partnered up anyway. When she entered her assigned dorm room, her partner Nymi was snoring soundly in the bottom bunk. She climbed up the rungs of the ladder quietly, then fell asleep almost instantly when her head hit the pillow.
……………………………….
“So you want to throw a christmas party?” Shay asked, confused. She had followed Cosmos to the common room that morning, only to find that everyone was already waiting for them. Cosmos had detailed a plan that Leila had suggested, but Shay didn’t think it was such a good idea. “I’m all for having good relations but…”
“Shay has a point. It seems a little...silly.” Coggs, the original, said. “And things are already weird enough as it is here in the Arena. Throwing a christmas party would make everything feel surreal.” Shay had to admit things were a bit weirder than normal.
“I think it’s a great idea.” Eris said sitting on the couch. Their feet were propped up against the coffee table, to which Cosmos sighed. She spent a lot of time polishing that table. “I mean, yeah things are...definitely a lot odder than normal what with Coggs #2 being housed here, but I think this is the perfect thing we need to make things go back to normal.”
“Well about as normal as we’re used to here in the Arena.” Cosmos added, gently pushing Eris’ feet off. “And besides, if we spent every single moment here seriously planning everything, we’d all go mad.”
Thomas spoke up from beside Coggs, an arm around him. “You got that right. If I have to go over maze routines with the monsters again, I don’t know what I’ll do.” He said.
Beatrice’s voice carried from the dining table. She was the only one to have gotten breakfast yet. “I’m with Tom. I’m sick of looking at my guns all day. And Shou’s about pushed to his limit, too.”
Eris chuckled. “How can you tell? The guys a blank slate most of the time.” They said. Shay huffed.
“Well if everyone’s in agreement like this, I guess we oughta just go with it. We can find supplies somewhere around here.” She said. “The Inbetween will probably just hand it to us if we think hard enough about christmas.”
And just as she said that, four cardboard boxes of old holiday decorations plopped themselves down on the table. Beatrice jumped back, her chair hitting the ground. “God I hate when it just makes shit like that. Scares the hell out of me everytime.” She muttered.
Cosmos walked up to the boxes, and inspected the tinsel inside. “There’s no time to waste everyone. Lets start decorating while the lights are still bright in the Arena.”
The entirety of Paradox began to put up decorations for christmas all over the Arena. The North wing where the Mirror Shard room was the decked out with lights and a wreath. The dormitory and the common room had green and red paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, and Eris had managed to procure a bunch of Santa Claus stickers. They even managed to find a christmas tree for the common room, and Leila suggested they save that for last.
By the time they had finished, the Arena was ready for the season. Cosmos was just finishing up with the last few wreathes in the Mirror Shard room, when Leila came in to survey the work.
“You know, this place really cleans up well.” She said. Cosmos hopped down from the ladder.
“Yes, the christmas idea was perfect. It may have taken a few days, but everything looks so much...happier now.” She sighed. “I’m sure we could do the presents, but I don’t think we’ll have time. The Royale will begin tomorrow.”
Leila looked up at the floating Mirror Shards. “Yeah. I can feel it. They’re getting ready to send some more our way.”
“We still haven’t made plans for the next Royale, though.” Cosmos said. “Do you think we could just wing it?”
Leila laughed, touching the pin on her front pocket. “We’re moths, aren’t we?” She asked.
“I suppose we are, ma’am.”
The two of them stayed in the Mirror Shard room for a little while. Cosmos felt a bit of anticipation as she contemplated what the Travelers would do when they saw the pretty decorations. Maybe they’d feel a little more at home than the last batch.
