Lily observed as the elementally opposed girls passed them, and then gasped.
”Oh, it’s Mayra! I recognize her from Mariette’s place! She’s kind of a hothead, tee hee!"
”I also saw Mariette participate in the race, so some of her henchmen must have also followed!" Justine added. ”I think the proper term is henchwomen." Lily responded , seemingly ignorant of the incoming stretch of ice shards. Justine momentarily lifted the sled to slide on its side to avoid the hazard before slamming it down, causing Lily to yelp in surprise.
”Eyes on the road, Lily! We’re almost at the goal!"
”Whoops! Ok, got it! Time to push this into overdrive!"
Lily’s eyes began to glow as she collected energy within her body, causing her Christmas hat to turn pointy from the static. When they passed the final turn towards the final straight line, the goal within sight, she released her spell.
”SPEEDY SLED SPARK!"
As if the sled was shot from a gauss cannon, the sled was launched at high speeds, no longer touching the snow. Everyone on the sled felt the G-forces pulling them back, with Justine particularly pained, folding her wings. They managed to pass Mayra and Victoria, and even Mariette, who until then had been in the lead with her very haphazard yet swift skiing. They passed the finish line in first place...And kept going. Justine began to panic.
”Lily, stop the sled!"
Lily looked around, biting her lip. ”How? It doesn’t have brakes!"
Lily stopped the spell, but the sled’s momentum continued carrying them alarmingly fast towards a line of trees at the stretch beyond the finish line. She attempted a sharp turn on the sled, only for it to start spinning wildly.
”Aaahhh!"
However, the spinning finally ended, and the sled’s crew managed to avoid hitting the trees. Once Alex released the two, they wobbled out of the sled with shaky legs. Lily’s eyes spun comically as she she held her hands out to balance herself.
”Wheee….That was...fun..." She muttered, before falling down.
Justine meanwhile held a hand to her mouth, also looking nearly ready to collapse.
”I think I feel a bit, ugh, sick..."
Mariette was the second to reach the finish line. After the finish line, she disappeared through a portal, appearing up in the sky. She dropped down to another portal connected to sturdy ground, managing to stop in a controlled manner. She hadn’t considered that by doing so she could forfeit the race, but more than anything, she was glad to have survived the trip unscathed.
They were followed by Oros in third place, having somehow managed to ride all the way down the hill with great speed, and in clown style nonetheless. Mia and Shane, who had managed to catch up, managed to barely scrape past Finn and Betty for fourth place, leaving them in fifth. Deni and Eli casually rode down for sixth place. Then, a yeti riding a snowboard immediately followed, carrying both Dina on its back, reaching seventh place. Finally, Jelena reached the finish line at eight place, seemingly not as interested in winning as she was watching after Victoria and Mayra, who took the last places of ninth and tenth in the race, in no small thanks to stumbling over each other in their heated rivalry. However, in the heated battle between them, it was unclear which one was the last.
Dan appeared in a puff of smoke, waving a red flag in cheer.
“And that’s the Wacky Race for ya, folks! What an exciting competition that was, with so many racers! Now, before I announce the winners, I would like to first like to thank you all for showing such passion and initiative for this event, and how all-most of you had good sportsmanship about it!” By this point Lily had managed to sit up again, still feeling woozy but able to listen in as Dan spoke.
“Now, the winners of the Wacky Race are...” the sound of drumrolls could be inexplicably heard in the distance. “Finn and Betty, who had reached fifth place out of ten! Congratulations!” He teleported to the two, and gave each of them a coin. It was seemingly made of an ice-like crystal, and depicted a Snowbun on the face. “Your rewards are Snowbun coins! With these coins, you may gain the Snowbun Perk, allowing you to summon a pet Snowbun anywhere and anytime you like! Whoo! Now, I have an announcement to make.”
He summoned a red megaphone decorated with Christmas imagery, and spoke through it; his voice seemed to carry throughout the island and inside the lodge, but not due to the volume of voice but rather projecting the voice through the space.
“I would like to invite you all to dinner, soon to be held at the feast hall in the lodge. There we will also hold the White Elephant gift exchange. My lovely assistant Ruby will give you further instructions. See you there!” And with that, Dan waved to everyone and addressed Dina. He seemed a bit sweaty at seeing her distressed reaction. “Oh, hi Dina! You need not worry, there was just a little, um, incident, but it’s resolved now! Also, I gotta prepare for White Elephant, so I’ll be heading to the lodge now, Bye!” He then disappeared, as if wanting to avoid having to talk to his own magical girl.
Kimble frowned as Dina left them.
”Aww, I wanted to talk with her some more. I guess there was trouble with her Patron...again...” She mumbled, reminiscing about the beach vacation. She then perked up as Alicia mentioned taking a picture. Kimble seemed really enthused about the idea, bringing up her hands in little fists and breathing heavily. ”Yeah! We should take a picture! One of us, one of everyone, maybe a couple of selfies...”
Kimble’s words were interrupted by Dan’s voice emanating through the lodge, having announced dinner to be held over at the feast hall. She then blinked, having got an idea.
”Do you think Penny has a camera function? We should ask her!”
Dan soon appeared in the lodge, before the closed doors to the feast hall. With a simple magic spell, the massive doors opened, revealing a wondrous sight: a massive feast hall, not unlike the one seen in the Harry Potter movies, stretched out, with four long tables. The walls were decorated with tapestries of Dan-themed heraldry, and the ceiling seemed to have an illusion of snowflakes falling down, disappearing before they reached halfway down. Massive windows painted a landscape of the snowy world and the ocean beyond, showing how the sun had begun to set.
The two tables at the sides had been prepared with full-course meals of both meat and vegetables, appeasing even ravenous appetites. The two tables at the middle, however, did not have food. Instead, they held present boxes. They were of different sizes, with differently colored wrapping paper, and a unique name tag to each one. Ruby went over to the tables, ready to hand out the sealed presents to the participants of the gift exchange as agreed with Dan.
“Ack!”
However, as soon as the Lesser Force was done with the spell, he turned to see a spherical object decorated with glowing runes shot through the open doors of the lodge, curving with amazing trajectory and velocity and hitting the dolphin right in his bottlenose. Odin soon appeared, clearly not amused by his recent antics.
“Mphhhmmmphhhmm!” Dan spoke in a muffled voice with a lifted fin, and then realized his words were muffled by the ball. As he pulled it off, his face was cartoonishly caved in by the impact of the divine spear in a less lethal form.
“My apologies for the intrusion, Lord Odin,” Dan spoke politely, despite still possessing deformed qualities. He reached into his face with his fin, and like a rubber toy, pulled his nose out, restoring him to normal. “These girls face a life of battle out there, and I only wish to offer them momentary repose, not too similarly to how you offer your faithful chosen seats at Valhalla. However, you make a good point about giving them some freedom to sort out their own conflicts, and I will take that into consideration in future incidents. Thank you for your wisdom.” He then bowed. “With that said, would you like to sit on my throne over at the feast hall? There’s plenty of meat going around.” He gestured to beyond the door. “It has the best view, not to mention it’s right next to a couple of kegs of hearty ale too,” he added, zapping a little spell to make a stack of kegs appear there.
Lily visibly exclaimed upon feeling Alex’ tails wrap around her on the sled, securing her in place. While she did expect him to use his magic to improve the sled, the improvised seatbelt was not included among them. She smiled widely with a blush.
”Thank you, Alex. You're so considerate~ Now make sure Justine gets fluffy tails too." Justine nodded to Alex’ note about the sled, very hesitant in her expression. ”He’s right, I’ll just be in the way-"
”Dan, can you extend our sled a bit?"
“Sure thing!” The dolphin answered immediately, and with a bolt of magic the sled turned longer to accommodate Justine and an Alex clone. Justine looked like she was about to protest, but then sighed with an uneasy smile, and stepped in, allowing Alex’ clone to secure her as well. ”I hope I won’t regret this..."
Dan waved a red flag, signaling the start of the race. As soon as it did, all the racers were off, including Lily’s group.
”Alright, let’s see how fast we can get! Accel Gear!" Lily yelled out as she cast her spell, infusing the sled with a combination of of Time and Lightning magic, magnetizing its bottom and ridding it of traction, while accelerating the momentum of the sled to immense speed. Like a rocket, the sled practically blasted off, causing a lurching feeling Alex has gotten used to but Justine visibly irked at as they were off.
The sled easily passed the other racers, but soon got into trouble with the first turn. Lily leaned to the side, trusting in Alex’ tails to keep her on board as the sled managed to alter its momentum. However, the next turn was coming too close for her to turn in time. They were speeding right towards a rock.
”Uh oh, we’re gonna crash!"
”Rgh...Hold on!"
Justine spread her wings as she lifted the sled, and managed to hop over the rock, landing back on the course as it turned back.
”There...We’re still on track!"
Lily gave a thumbs up.
”Thanks Justine! But wow, this is so exciting! Did you see those two? They totally made the course super hard! It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, whoo!!"
She continued commandeering their hazardous vessel through the magical race, having reached second place so far. Mariette got a headstart, soon overtaken by Mayra and Victoria as the two began a battle mid-race, damaging the slope with melted puddles and jagged ice, making it difficult even for a seasoned racer and slowing them down. Jelena was behind, following Mayra and Victoria. Deni and Eli were the last ones in the race at first, but were steady as they performed synchronic skiing, easily passing any obstacles in their way and passing the squabbling girls.
Meanwhile, Dan himself had crossed his arms as he looked over to MDP, shaking his head with a heavy sigh as Penny walked off without apologizing. “Magical Dream Princess, what Oros did was bad, but it doesn’t justify the use of violence. You are magical girls, so you can talk it out without resorting to punching each other. You also need to learn to stand up for yourself. There's nothing more cool than being hugged by someone you like, but if another magical girl tries to kiss or touch you in a place or in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, that's no good! It's your body! No one has the right to touch you if you don't want them to! So, what do you do? First, you say, "No!", then, you get out of there! Most importantly, you've gotta tell someone you trust, like a magical girl friend, or your Patron!”
He grimaced as Oros accused him. “Hey, I do care! You’re the one who needs to care more!” He then grunted, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger. “But you apologized properly, so as promised, I’ll end the spell on you.” He snapped his fingers, and the clown nose disappeared. “But next time I won’t be so forgiving. Also, you are hereby forbidden from coming within two meters of Magical Dream Princess.” Oros now saw how a blue line only she could see was now drawn to the ground around MDP. ”It will repel you if you attempt to approach her. Now, I hope you will behave from now. Goodbye.” And with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Lily blushed profusely as Alex rescued her from falling down, smiling sweetly. ”T-Thank you Alex! You’re always looking out for me, and that’s very kind of you." She gave him a little smooch, and then skated off fast, seemingly embarrassed. Justine politely held back a giggle from witnessing the wholesome exchange.
Dan floated up to Alex’ level, a bright smile on his face. “Oh, it’s simple! Once a participant has received their wrapped gift, they can choose to exchange their gift with someone else one time before unwrapping it. The term comes from the fact that in ancient Siam, kings gave their courtiers white elephants as gifts. It’s a surprise whether the gift you get is practical or not, and a white elephant is more fitting for Christmas than a gray one, right?” Having shared his strange wisdom, Dan momentarily disappeared, promising to return soon as he left a magical clone of himself.
Lily spent the rest of the skating event shooting pucks with a hockey stick, and even asked Dan’s clone to play as the goal keeper; the dolphin was humorously decked out in oversized hockey gear, complete with a net helmet that obscured his eyes. The Lesser Force scrambled back and forth, trying to block Lily’s rapid shots, but ended up intercepting only a couple of them. ”Now that was fun!"
Dan removed his helmet, and sighed in relief once Lily had her fill of the sport. “Now, let us move on to the Wacky Downhill Race!” He created a portal as usual, and Justine lifted a hand to her chin as she thought.
”Yes, you mentioned that previously. I assume we have free choice of our vehicle for the race?"
Dan nodded, smiling brightly. “That’s right! You can pick a sled, skis, or even a snowboard for the race! But that’s not all! Whoever is first place is not the winner! Instead, whoever finishes right in the middle, with the most racers both before and after them, wins! Isn’t that wacky?”
Justine was mildly surprised. ”The most average racer is the victor? Well, in that case, maybe even I have a chance-"
The former vampire was interrupted by Lily giving her a big hug from behind. ”Aww, don’t be like that, Justy! We’re gonna finish in first place, you’ll see!" She then took her hand, dragging her through the portal. ”But it’s not first place that-" Her voice muffled beyond the portal.
On the other side, they found themselves on top of the tallest hill on the island. The downward slope ahead was marked with red flags on either side, and went straight for the most part except for some sways and turns. Lily grabbed a yellow sled, and placed it at the starting line, hopping at the front, barely able to keep still. ”Hey Alex, if you boost me, I think we could go really fast on this thing! Wanna try it?" Justine was less enthusiastic about the idea. ”I think I’ll pick the ski-" She attempted leaving, but Lily caught her by the shoulder. ”Trust me, it’s going to be the best ride of your life!" ”More like the only one!"
Meanwhile, Dan had returned back to check on the snowmen and ice sculptures that have been made in his absence, and found the large group of snowmen produced by Connie, Rose and Iris. “Oh, how lovely! While simple in design, you just can’t help but love the black coal smile of a classic snowman. And he has so many cute friends too! Good job!”
Then he gasped as he went to see the colossal snow dragon Betty's group had made. "WHOAAAAHHHH! It's massive! Gigantic! Awe-inspiring! A monument to the grandness of winter, how it sweeps it's cold breath across the world! It's simply magnificent in its majesty!" He clapped his fins, and a triumphant trumpet blared out. "You have really given your all to completing this masterpiece. And through the hardships, a shining diamond of snow art has been born! I tip my hat off to you!" He ended his speech by actually tipping his top hat.
Next he went to check on their ice sculptures, and squealed in response to the snowbun sculpture. “Aww, snowbuns! It’s so adorable, I could hug it and still feel warm inside! I’m glad they were such a hit with you girls! I had to work some advanced magic with the little guys, but it really paid off.”
Kimble was slightly disheartened by FanFan's response, but still smiled once Alicia asked her about her date experience. "Hmm...I'd say 8, maybe 9 out of 10,” she answered as she took a cup of glögg. "It has been wonderful to be here, and I finally get to see you relax a bit. It's the best Christmas I could wish for." She waved to Dina when she approached the group, as did FanFan, though more politely. "Hiya! Have you enjoyed the party so far? Very cute dress by the way."
A small bunny jumped across the fields. It looked like a normal snow-bunny… but was it? It was looking very attentively around, with a focused stare, tilting its ears so they were over her eyes to shield them from the light over and allow it to see further. It skipped some more, looking behind that tree, behind that bush, under that rock, searching so intently…
‘Ronin, are you finding anything…?’ Eli asked, holding onto a tree some distance away, as the Deni-transformed-into-a-bunny jumped back to her.
‘Not yet. But when we find one, my transformation will take it entirely by surprise!’ Bunny-Deni announced confidently. ‘Now, let’s get back to it! Keep an eye out with your Third Eye, they may be magic…’
Eli nodded, and they temporarily parted ways again. Deni skipped off as a snow-bunny off into the wilderness, while Eli skipped up on some manifested platforms to scout out from on high, looking around from above while Deni searched down low…
While they wouldn't find a harebringer outright at first, Deni would suddenly get the feeling she was being watch. A cold chill passed through as a shadowy figure appeared to run by, dissapearing without a trace as soon as she turn to look.
Or so it seemed.
The figure had actually connected herself with Deni's shadow. Whether or not she shrugged them off, the scarlet eyed shade would start stacking snowbuns on the fake one, snickering.
Bunny-Deni flinched as something passed her by, the frightened rabbit spinning around to face against whatever unknown horror was stalking her, small pieces of sweat leaking over her bunnified form.
Then snowbuns started beomg stacked on top of her. That happened for a couple seconds before the Deni-bun recoiled, jumping back in alarm and fleeing back behind a tree, the tower of snowbuns somehow staying perfectly stable during the escape. If she got there she tilted her head forward from behind the tree, trying to see what had ambushed her, and the tower of snowbuns peeked right alongside her.
The "shade" cackled from Deni's reaction, dark magic fading to reveal Maura as the mischevious culprit. "Sorry- Sorry! I couldn't help myself, hahah!!" She apologized, wiping a tear out of her eye. Her group of snowbuns would hop back to her in a rhythmic line.
‘Oh,’ Bunny-Deni blinked a little in realization of who it was. As she'd both been temporarily recruited by the Crimson Cradle AND become friends with the girls under her command, Deni had naturally become acquainted with her. Still. Bunny-Deni smirked a bit. ‘What, am I cute? Am I the perfect bunny? Am I a worthy tease?’ she asked, skipping forward to push herself against Maura's legs twice and then attempt jumping up on her shoulder.
Having clearly realized someone had shown up, Eli came floating down on some manifested wings made of thin barriers, looking a bit intimidated by Maura as she landed. This was the leader of a pretty powerful organization in Penrose, after all.
‘Er. Thank you for your help saving me, once again. But, um. What are you doing out here?’ Eli asked while Deni was playing around, Eli figuring it'd be more fun to be at the party with the rest. Unless she, also, was... well, collecting bunnies, seeing how she had a bunch.
Maura snorted. "Oh come on, you're just asking for me to pinch your cheeks!" She said, reaching over to bear-hug the shape-shifted girl before letting her sit on her shoulder.
‘Teh-heh~’ Bunny-Deni laughed as she was hugged, squiggling a bit before being placed on Maura's shoulder.
She then waved at Eli, who flew down to them. "Oh, don't be thanking me dear, I only intervened at the last minute! It's the others you should be thanking!" She nervously chuckled. "And I'm out here because I wanted to try harebringer hunting. Ice skating's kinda boring alone, there was already enough contenders at the snowball fight,"
Maura paused at the sight of the dan-shaped satelite in the sky; as if Poseidon decided to send a quick "Fuck you" to Boreas with the help of his brother Zeus, raining down a deadly deluge to the Earth. She slowly looked back at the twins.
"And uh...yeah. Stuff like that Keijo thing ain't my style."
‘But, it was partially thanks to you they were there, so, thank you,’ Eli said, bowing slightly. Then, there was the matter of what Maura was doing out here...
‘Oooh! Us too!’ Bunny-Deni excitedly called. ‘Not necessarily that other activities are boring, but we wanted to try out hunting one of those things, see how well we'd fare! Wouldn't you say my disguise will flawlessly fool it? Riiight?’ Bunny-Deni asked, posing ironically seductively with glimmering eyes like she'd seduce the harebringer.
Maura patted Deni's head in thought. "Eh, depends on if these harebringers are magic or not. And then again, they're probably unique to each other in vastly different ways. Still though, it's worth a try!"
‘Yeah!’ Bunny-Deni happily called, smiling up at the patting hand.
‘Uh,’ Eli looked a little curiously. Going through her mind was "aren't you a patron, aren't you exceedingly overqualified or something?", but she decided not to ask. Besides, she could decide it sounded fun, anyway. So... ‘Do you... want help?’ she eventually settled for.
The cradle mother looked back at Eli, then smirked. "The more the merrier, yeah? I wanna try and do this without my magic, so I'll need the back up.
‘Huh. Uh. Should we also try doing it without magic? For, like, authenticity?’ Eli asked, genuinely unsure.
"I mean, it's up to you! I just wanna challenge myself, that's all." Maura shrugged.
‘Well. Um. We'll decide if we have to depending on the situation, I'd say,’ Eli said, looking over at Deni.
‘I'm doing my disguise,’ Bunny-Deni insistently declared. Eli smiled and nodded.
The three of them then went off searching for a Harebringer.
The three of them didn't take long to find tracks for a group of snowbuns that headed deep into a forest. There, in the middle of a snow-coverd clearing, they saw the Harebringer; it's coat was a deep blue in color, and it was lop-eared, its ear flaps covering it's eyes as it slept peacefully under a tall pine tree, in a cozy pile of branches. Five snowbuns have scattered around the Harebringer, also sleeping.
Eli was peeking at the creature from a distance, and Bunny-Deni turned to Maura with a little smily on the transformed bunny's face. ‘May I?’ she asked, intending to try getting close as a bunny before the hare had raised its guard.
Maura only nodded, giving her the go ahead.
Deni gently skipped off into the snowy field, acting as snow-bunny as she could. Just being curious about the tree, curious about the snow piles, curious about the gathering of snowbuns and the Harebringer. She gently skipped forward with clear interest, like a little outsider seeking to join the pack, looking so happy and curious as she approached.
The Harebringer seemed undisturbed as it continued sleeping, unaffected by Deni's charms. However, one of the Snowbuns awakened upon her approach, and chittered at the sight of her with hearts in it's eyes; Deni had successfully seduced the snowbun. It hopped closer to Bunny Deni, making a kissy face and inadvertently blocking her path to the blue Harebringer.
Deni froze up a little, blinking in surprise at the snowbun. She hadn't actually intended on charming this particular snowbun. ... Still, being popular was kinda nice. Using perhaps a bit of her above-average agility, she skipped to give the snowbun a happy little kiss on the forehead before trying to skip over him and closer to the Harebringer, intent on trying to cozy up next to the supernatural hare.
The snowbun was stunned from the kiss it received, turning red in the cheeks, giving Deni the chance to move past it. However, now the rest of the white snowbuns woke, and surrounded Bunny-Deni while also making kissy faces, leaving her no room to jump or move.
Oh, geesh. Um, the Harebringer isn't looking, right?
Deni focused inwards, imagining what the other snowbuns were currently seeing... and then shapeshifted. As in, she left a bit of snowbun behind, and then sent a snowbun-shaped bit to kiss each of the snowbuns, making sure to make the snowbuns she sent out big enough to cover the sight of the abomination that was past it from the sight of each snowbun. This way, she'd give them all a kiss on the forehead at the same time. After which she quickly surged it all back and regrouped as a single blob of a snowbun again. If that worked, and all the snowbuns were blushing, she'd leap over them to finally get to the Harebringer...!
The snowbuns were successfully placated, as their affections were reciprocated by Deni's expert shapeshifting. However, just when Deni jumped up, having reformed herself, that was when the Harebringer's attention was finally piqued: it lifted it's lop ears, revealing the dreamiest pair of eyes Deni had ever seen in her life, blue and sparkling like an infinite ocean. In fact, they were so dreamy that Deni found herself lost in the comfort they brought to her. She fell asleep, as did the snowbuns who had recovered from their post-kiss daze and turned to see where Deni went. Even Maura, who had observed from afar, slowly collapsed down into the snow upon meeting the Harebringer's gaze. Once they fell asleep, the Harebringer lowered its lop ears again, and returned back to its peaceful slumber. Only Eli, who by chance had missed out on seeing the Harebringer from a brief lapse in attention induced by embarrassment, had avoided the hypnotic effect.
‘Oh, Ronin, what are you doing? I can't watch...’ Eli muttered to herself as she looked away from behind the tree she was hiding behind, embarrassed by her sister's promiscuous tactics. Still, that had somehow turned out for the best when it turned out that... ‘Eh?’ she made a slight surprised noise looking towards Maura, and then off towards Deni, finding that Deni was sleeping way over there, somehow still a bunny. Huh. Eli quickly skipped over to poke Maura, which would develop into shaking if it didn't wake her up.
‘Are you okay...?’
"Z..z..z...- E-Eh?" Maura flinched awake, looking over to Eli, then Deni, then the harebringer. Her eyes widened once she realized what had happened. "God damnit! The thing knocked us both to sleep!" She whisper-yelled, appalled. She shouldn't have been made vulnerable like that! What if the harebringer was hostile?! She sighed. "Looks like Deni's plan won't work. Here, I'll need your reinforcement magic for this." Maura place a hand on the side of her head, creating a quick mental shield for herself, then reached over to do the same for Eli.
‘Um, alright!’ Eli said, a bit alarmed that the Harebringer was apparently able to put a patron to sleep, but very much willing to lend a hand. She held her hands up to help use her Reinforcement magic to strengthen said mental shield, and then for herself as well.
"Okay, you go grab your sister, I'll sneak behind and grab the harebringer." Maura whispered, her form turning back to the shade that first approached them. She'd be cautious, keeping to shadow by shadow, until she was in the best proximity to their target. She traversed across the normal snowbuns' shadows, all the way to the harebringer's.
As Maura approached the Harebringer, she had an ominous feeling about it. The magical blue critter continued calmly sleeping, even after it had been approached by a magical girl in disguise. It was seemingly confident in not being able to be petted despite not having moved an inch from its nest. Maura invisibly closed in, shadow by shadow, until she had reached the hypnotizing hare's very own shade. That was when it turned, it's lop-ears lifted to reveal its enchanting blue eyes once more. How could it have known that Maura had approached it? Even the most sharp-nosed Harebringers couldn't have detected a Patron's scent. Still, Maura's mental shield protected her from succumbing to the soporific effect of the creature's pupils. She reached for the grab, only to find a white Snowbun in her grasp instead; the bunny had leaped to protect the Harebringer. Strangely, it seemed the Harebringer knew this would happen in advance as well, as it had already opened its mouth. Before Maura could escape, it quietly chittered, producing a sonorous lullaby, so soothing that it lulled her to sleep, overcoming her mental shield as her ears were not protected. Before her eyelids were too heavy to keep open and she was met with somnium, the Witch of Death saw a glimpse of Eli dragging a half-woken Deni away.
Eli had successfully started pulling Deni away from the scene, but blinked as she realized what was going on over there. Deni, who was still in the shape of a bunny, blinked tiredly awake. Eli, meanwhile, bit together as she came up with a measure of a plan.
‘Deni, shapeshift into a lasso.’
‘... Wut. Why would I...’ Deni asked, but before she could finish the question Eli was already hauling her over her head. With Martial Training, Eli was accomplished with any number of weaponry or kinda weaponry, and Deni managed to shapeshift into a bunch of rope with a noose on the end. Eli threw the lasso, and threw it to attempt to grab Maura and just yank her to a safe distance away from the Harebringer for now.
Maura managed to wake up once more as soon as she was away from the harebringer. Realizing that she fell asleep again, she quietly knocked her head against the nearest tree a few times, then took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. I don't wanna bother someone to help us, and I don't want to resort to going all out. So do we have any ideas?? What do we know so far?" She looked between the twins, then the harebringer. For some reason it hasn't done anything besides sitting there, even with their attempts.
‘I didn't consider that I could be used like that, hah!’ Deni admitted after turning back into human.
‘Just got to adapt a bit. Shapeshifting is very versatile,’ Eli replied, smirking back through her fright.
‘Just, don't do that against a real enemy. If I'm cut in half as a whip, I'm actually cut in half, so,’ Deni said, shivering a little at the less-than-glamourous way to go that would be. Eli shivered similarly, nodded, and then onto the subject of what they knew of the target.
‘It had… the most beautiful blue eyes…’ Deni said, a stupid little smile on her lips. ‘… That I fell asleep after seeing, so don't look at them!’ she then added with a smirk.
‘But it can also put you to sleep with a song, strong enough to even down a patron through a mental shield…’ Eli shuddered, frightened by the power of the Harebringer.
"...Wait a minute. This thing might be able to predict our next moves. Can't tell how though, atleast not yet." She noted, narrowing her eyes. "Lazy thing's just sleeping. Not even pretending to! He's just...there! Asleep! Strange little bugger only wakes up when we try to get near him. His cronies don't help either."
‘Hey, it's had to turn towards us each time it put us to sleep so far. If we just attack from three different directions, at least one of us should be able to reach it!’ Deni suggested.
‘Could work, unless the Harebringer has another ace up its sleeve, then it might put all of us to sleep at once…’ Eli voiced her concern.
Maura thought for a moment. "Maybe I can try and scare it awake, but we also gotta keep the other snowbuns away from it too. Not to mention I might not be effective enough, and besides, I'm not Maribel-" She paused with furrowed brows. Then groaned. "I'll have to drag her over here, one second." Maura walked off to find the Witch of Nightmares, and after a brief while, the two walked back to the Harebringer nest.
‘Hey, no plan's without risk! I say we could go for it! And we can bother it with snowballs as we home in, so it can't focus on its hypnotising!’ Deni continued, kinda enthusiastic now. Still, Maura had an idea and departed.
"...So I was hoping you could help jolt these little guys awake, or something." Maura explained to Maribel what she and the twins were up to, which earned a snort from the other woman.
"Oh come now, I'm sure the fuzzball isn't as hard as he looks!" Maribel grinned, approaching the entrance to the harebringer's den.
When she came back with Maribel, Deni happily waved to her and Eli nodded a bit hesitantly. They then got to look on as Maribel went to action.
"Oh uh..Deni, Eli, this is Maribel." Maura quickly introduced the three to each other, the latter mentioned waving to the twins. Maribel looked at the harebringer with a smirk. "Hey, what are you gonna-"
"Shhh. It may have a way to hear us~" Maribel waved her off, calmly walking inside the den, and to their target. The other three would see she was waiting on something; waiting for the harebringer to wake up, to make her move. She brought a finger up to her lips, like one would if they were shushing someone. Then before it can lull her to sleep,
Maribel grinned wickedly.
"Phantasm."
A pulse of nightmare magic would spread out across the nest, forcing both harebringer and snowbun inside out of their dreams by a sudden plague of night terrors. (Though, not bad enough to where their little hearts would stop. That'd be cruel, even for her!)
The Harebringer had predicted that someone would approach it, and opened its eyes to gaze in Maribel's direction. However, the witch knew to avert her eyes as she cast her spell, and a dark wave emanated from her palm across the clearing. A snowbun jumped to intercept the spell, but the Patron's magic was potent enough to spread through the entire area, reaching the Harebringer. The blue bunny's shimmering eyes dulled, and its prophetic dreams of the future were replaced by visions of fear and anxiety, causing it to visibly shake. It closed its eyes, attempting to fall back to peaceful slumber and sing an enchanted lullaby to end the mental assault, but the spell had hit the creature right in its weak point; it's dreams. Without them, it chittered loudly, its eyes now strained and bloodshot as if it hadn't been able to sleep for days. The other snowbuns, no longer protected by the Harebringer's dream magic, fled in terror. Finally, it plopped out of its nest and attempted to flee. However, this turned out to be a futile effort; the others could see it was quite plump even for a Snowbun, and thus very slow and jiggly as it barely managed to hop a meter or so at a time, like an overweight hamster or a sentient water balloon.
Seeing as her spell managed to do something, Maribel spun around and called out to the trio with a smile. "Better do something now, before the magic wears off~!"
"Ack! Right!!" Maura ran after the Harebringer, and reached out to pet it. If she managed, Maribel would call off her spell early.
The fat bunny was easily caught, and with a hand over its head, it had been successfully petted and thus placated. The poor thing was panting and sweating all over; it must have never had as much exercise as it did in that one panic-stricken moment. Predictably, it fell asleep, even as Maura now carried it in her arms.
‘... Huh... was that it?’ Eli asked, walking forward to them.
‘... Uh. I'm kinda unsatisfied. Can we let it go again?’ Deni asked, tilting her head looking at Maura holding it.
Maribel giggled, placing a hand over her mouth. "I did say he wasn't as hard as he looks. Sometimes it's easier than you expect~
"Uh, yeah. Thanks again, Mari." Maura nodded, gently petting the harebringer in her arms.
"You've gotta break this habit of overthinking things, dear. You'll burn yourself out otherwise. The nightmare witch genuinely smiled to her, and turned to walk away. "I should head back to the others. Let me know if you need anything!"
"....Well, I'm gonna go take a nap."
Deni sighed a little, but went up to pat the head of the Harebringer as well, just to have it official that she had, in fact, patted a Harebringer. ‘Well!’ She said, spinning around to Eli. ‘Let's go to the next event, then! There was some sort of race that was happening, right? Sounds fun! Let's go!’
‘Er, okay!’ Eli said, slightly more pensive, but as Deni walked off she also walked forward to pat the Harebringer, and smiled to Maura. ‘Thank you for helping us! We'd probably have both been asleep and missed all the events without your help, and the backup you called in. Thank you. Have a nice nap!’ she said, before turning around to run after her sister.
Justine gave a faint smile as Alex reacted to the crimson sculpture. ”I also thought that at first, but then realized I could expand the drawing into three-dimensional space. Besides, there was also the risk of somebody stepping on it while we were sculpting." She then blinked as Alex suddenly took her hand. ”Oh?" She wasn’t as taken aback as last time, and sighed in relief from the healing magic brought to her hands. ”Why thank you. I didn’t know your boyfriend was such a gentleman, Li-Oh." When she turned, Lily had already left, and she shrugged her shoulders. ”Well, we can’t leave her alone, now can we?"
Later at the frozen lake, Lily skated over to Alex and took his hand. ”I’ve got the hang of it now, so let’s skate together, Alex!" However, despite her confidence, she still managed to fumble as they took off, with Lily nearly tripping if it weren’t for the stability provided by Alex. Justine skated close to Lily, simply enjoying the relaxing pastime as she used her white wings to help steer her around. ”This is so relaxing..." Lily mused, as she lifted her arms up and mimicked a bird or plane as she curved on the ice. ”Sometimes it’s nice to just have a little moment like this..." She then skated over to Dan; he was wearing a tiny hockey uniform complete with a helmet, and held a hockey stick too big for him. He was practicing shooting pucks into a goal as Lily approached. ”You always hold the best parties, Dan. Thank you so much for inviting us here!"
The dolphin smiled, even as the enchanted goal spat the puck right at him, clanging against his helmet. “You’re welcome, Lily. Though you should really be thanking Mariette; she did all the legwork...so to speak,” he added after a pause. “Anyway, it’s going to be a little bit before our final outdoors event; the Wacky Downhill Race. Take a guess on how wacky it’s gonna be! And then, the big finale: the White Elephant gift exchange!”
”Oh, it’s happening soon? That’s exciting! I hope the lucky girl who gets my Christmas wish is going to like it!" She spoke with her palms together. ”By the way, can I also try shooting pucks? That looks like fun."
Justine looked on from a bit of distance, and looked off to the distance. ”Merry Christmas...Wherever you might be, Caroline."
Kimble and Alicia rode back to the lodge on the sleigh, having taken the long way around to avoid the snowball armageddon. However, Kimble soon screamed in excitement as she pointed up at the sky; they were rocked by a wave of water as the Dantellite array brought forth a deluge upon the winter wonderland. Fortunately the sleigh was buoyant enough to carry them right to the doorstep, though the straw goats now looked like horses made from wet noodles. “I don’t think it matters too much whether it’s practical or not,” she responded after hopping off. ”It’s the thought that counts, after all~” She winked at Alicia. “Oh, looks like there’s still people. Hi, FanFan!”
She waved to the stylish girl, who waved back in turn with little enthusiasm. “Did you go do any of the events Dan announced?”
She shook her head, looking a bit disheartened. "No. In fact, I was thinking about leaving soon.”
Kimble blinked in surprise. “Huh? Why? Isn’t this a fun party?”
FanFan reluctantly nodded. “It is, but...It’s just not the same...” She hugged herself as she looked towards the stage where Dina was singing. “...Leena is still bedridden. Something happened to her after she lost control of her magic in that cursed dimension. She’s been quiet, but I know what happened...she ruined her magic. I always knew Nullification had its risks, but still...” She shed a tear.
Kimble bit her lip. “Hey, FanFan...I don’t personally know Leena,so I can’t know how she feels. But if I were her, I would definitely want you to enjoy this party, for your sake.” She went over to grab a cup of hot cocoa, and offered it to her. “How about you go sing next after Dina? That’s sure to lift your spirits.”
FanFan graciously accepted the cup, and sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
Lily nodded, a bright smile as Alex agreed to the bat block plan. ”Alright! But, uhhh…" She poked her fingers together. ”I’m not that good with making plans like that."
Justine gave a faint smile. ”In that case, please allow me to do the design."
Justine’s eyes glowed red, as did the tip of her index finger, which she now pointed forward. She then began to swipe it in the air, and Lily quickly realized what she was doing, as blood traced over the space in the air from her swipes.
”Oh, you’re fingerpainting! That’s neat!"
When she was done, she snapped her fingers, and the blood froze in place, creating a solid crimson-red statue. The statue depicted three fruit bats huddled together and clinging under a wide palm leaf. Lily was astounded. ”Oh, using this design, we’ll make the ice sculpture look super good! Thank you, Justine!"
Justine sighed in relief. ”My magic may be based on the use of blood, but it admittedly has many applications. Anyway, this alone surely won’t be qualified, so let’s get to work on the sculpture."
Lily shot her fist up into the air. ”Let’s do it!"
And so, time passed as the three of them worked on chiseling away at their block of ice, using Justine’s construct as an easy reference.
As they were sculpting, Lily rubbed her hands together. ”Phew! This is harder than I thought. The little bat just keeps turning derpier!"
She had made a somewhat matching result; the bat Lily sculpted looked off-model, with a slightly oversized snout and eyes that seemed to be placed on its forehead, and the leaf looked a bit like a miniature bonsai tree with the rough texture of the plant stem, but overall it was a good effort.
Justine looked slightly pained as she flexed her own fingers. They looked calloused despite the physical resistance magical girls innately have. ”It’s certainly not a walk in the park. I’ve never used a tool like this before, so it certainly took its toll on my hands. But at the same time, it is honest work, which is refreshing." Lily took a moment to observe Alex’ work, leaning over him with her hands on her knees. ”Aww, no fair! Your bat looks so much better!" She exclaimed with a pout.
Dan nodded, smiling at Betty’s burning determination. “Very good, Betty. As a reward for your passion into the art of snowman building, I shall assist you with gathering snow for your project. However, how you use it is all up to you.” With that said, Dan clapped his fins, and snow began to drift, like a wave of sparkling white liquid, before it began to form up in a swirly pile made of snowballs of various sizes, from palm-sized to large ones. Time passed as Dan helped with gathering materials for Betty.
“There, that should help you get started. I’ll make sure to check it out once it’s done. Bye for now!” He then disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, and appeared at the ice sculpting area. “Now, let’s see…” He was now dressed in a tuxedo, top hat and a monocle, resembling same kind of bizarre penguin as he waddled through the gallery of arctic art. He first examined Kimble’s piece. “Hmm...Very avant-garde. The blocky roughness must symbolize one’s inner struggles. Not bad.” Then he checked Alicia’s sculpture, and his beak snapped open. “Whoah! What illumination! What color! It’s like the very essence of ice is being celebrated! Excellent work, Alicia.”
However, the Light girl would realize she would be one-upped by the next art piece, as now Dan’s eyes popped out comically upon seeing Tullia’s piece.
“Oh, and this is clearly the ideal magical girl, standing proud and poised for battle! The strength, the ferocity!” He bounced around the statue. “The flowing hair is so life-like too. You have impressed me, Tullia!”
Dan then noticed the ice statue of a girl wearing a swimsuit, and nodded. “Hmm...Interesting theme...” He muttered, as he floated up and held his fins vertically up to the sides of his snout, as if measuring size. “Resembles Oros quite a bit, only without the ponytail. The heat of summer encased in cold ice, perhaps? That’s not a bad idea.”
Next, he moved to the totem pole, and slowly rose up from looking at the bottom piece to the top one. “A classical statue motif! Simple, but appreciative of nature. I like it!” Next to it was a statue of a popular video game character from a series of bullet hell shooters. “Ah, yes, an ice fairy. It is a fitting theme for an ice sculpture, and cute too! This one gets a score of 9.” Dan examined the statue made by the witches, visibly chilling Dan. “Ooih, very spooky! The grasping hand is a strong visual, as is the large witch hat. Very different for sure.”
It was then that Dan noticed how Tullia continued making a bigger display around her ice sculpture, eliciting a surprised squeak at the splendor of the dancing statues. “Ohh, you’ve been hard at work making beautiful art, both magical and non-magical!” He complimented the ice girl with a pat on her head. “Most girls here settle on a single statue, but you went beyond that. That’s a good work ethic!”
Then she went over to see what Miko and ronin were working on, and he nodded. “Expressing your bond by creating your friend is an excellent theme. It simply warms my heart...But hopefully not these statues,” he said, squeaking a bit in laughter.
He then approached the bat statue, and Lily sweated profusely. ”So, do you like it?"
“Like it? Yeah, I actually do,” Dan answered with a smile. “One of the bats looks a bit different, but it brings life to the piece with the diversity. It has personality, which I like! Nicely done.”
Lily fist--pumped. ”Yesss!"
Dan clapped his fins. “Next up, ice skating! Thanks to Melissa’s fine work petting the Harebringer, the lake is now available for use!” A portal then appeared, leading to the next link in the winter event chain. And once again, Lily was the first one through the portal...And ended up tripping on the ice in her haste, sliding around in a silly circle. ”Watch your footing!" She put on a pair of ice skates that were handed out on a nearby bench, and got to the ice, sliding around.
”Whee!"
Justine however was having a harder time on the skates, wobbling as she held on to the fence with her hands, before she also slowly got the hang of it. "This is most unusual, yet surprisingly relaxing," she stated as she approached Lily. "Interesting how a Harebringer decided to make this lake its lair, though. I expected them to hole up deeper in the forest."
Kimble giggled as Alicia ruffled her hair, and afterwards put her red cap back on and listened to her diverse answer, giggling at the Rachel-pranking bit. That was when Dan arrived to look at her and Alicia’s statues. Kimble bit her thumbnail, worried for the evaluation, but then sighed in relief as Dan was less harsh than she assumed. “Yes! Thank you, Dan!” Kimble clapped her hands together after Dan complimented her badly made statue, finding even the little praise to be worth the effort put into making it. She then took Alicia’s hand upon being asked on where to go. “Let’s take a sleigh ride back to the lodge. I think that would be lovely.” The two hopped on board one of the empty sleighs, and the straw goats pulling it slowly took to a steady gait, allowing the two to marvel at the scenery passing by them. “You know, I participated in the White Elephant,” she mentioned to Alicia. “I think it’s a lot of fun. How about you?”
Sakura bowed as Tetrad passed, and then followed his gaze after her rear, only to be ran into by Oros as he was distracted, falling down and hitting his head. Fortunately, as a magical girl it hardly hurt, but he was also stomped on by accident, which was enough to knock him out. He was now down on the floor as the girls talked, seemingly ignoring him until Tetrad finally brought up his “disappearance” followed by Oros pointing out how he was down.
With Emily’s help getting back up and Eliza’s help with sitting down, he was now on a bench, still concussed. His head hung back and forth as he was shaken by the girls, having missed both Emily’s and Eliza’s questions. This should have been heaven for him, with so many pretty girls giving attention to him. However, with the way the girls argued about what to do with him and his pain, it turned out to resemble hell more. Then, he felt someone’s lips enclose over his. If he was fully conscious, he may have enjoyed Tetrad’s CPR more, but right now all he could think about was the headache pounding his skull. However, it seemed to revive him enough to cause him to open his eyes slowly again...Only to be knocked back out as Oros slung him carelessly over her shoulder and hit his jaw.
He was out there in the snow, having fun with the beautiful girls...Weekend at Bernie’s-style.
Rachel shook her head at Eliza’s assessment. “Far too interesting if you ask me. It’s a miracle this hasn’t devolved into anarchy with all the corrupted running around unchecked.” She then smiled lightly, and nodded. “Thank you for helping to bring order to this place, Eliza.” She then adjusted her glasses as Eliza asked about what she mentioned earlier. “I am of course referring to the Nativity of Jesus in Christianity, upon which the name of Christmas is based on. The worship of Jesus’ birth has a long and interesting history dating back thousands of years. Earliest records mention how-” She then began on a long tirade about the history of Christmas. It was so boring that even Violette attempted to interrupt, only to be swept up in the conversation. However, this provided Eliza an opportunity to escape while the two didn’t notice.
”That is an accurate description of her," Justine hesitantly responded as Alex compared Lily to a force of nature, finding herself slightly smiling at the silliness of it. ”But at least she’s all sunny." Lily came over with a pout. ”You’ve never built a snowman, Alex? That’s an absolute crime! We’re gonna fix that right now!" Lily was on a roll, and was so considerate of others that she gathered the material for her snowball from a bit farther away and let others gather the nearby snow first, not that it slowed her down much as she ran across the white landscape like a snowmobile.
”Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin' yeah~" She sang, passing by Hilaria who asked her about her companion, coming to a sudden comical stop. ”Oh, Blustine?" Lily asked with her head to the side, smiling at the dumb pun she made. ”She was here just a moment ago, but I didn’t notice where she went. Maybe you could ask Dan?" She looked around, and then noticed something; she looked up with her mouth open at the snowball their pets had created. ”Wow! With this as the lower body, we can make a really big snowman!" She spread her arms wide. The animals protested, but Lily patted their heads, too caught up in her plan to notice their plight. ”We’ll help you make a new castle, promise! Just gonna put this on top and-" She then grabbed her large snowball, and attempted lifting it...Only to fail. ”Nghh! No, it’s too heavy! But wait...Justy, could you come here for a sec?"
Justine was rolling a snowball as Lily waved to her. She had an alarmed expression as she also witnessed the huge snowball. ”Do you think you could help me and Alex lift this?" She asked. Justy bit her lower lip. ”Well, I am still a bit weakened, but I could give it a try." Lily nodded a couple of times with a bright smile. ”That’s the spirit! Alright, on three! One, two, three!"
The snowball successfully rose up; Justine exerted amazing physical strength as she effortlessly lifted the heavy object, putting even Alex to shame. She then took to the air with the snowball held above her head, assisted by her angelic white wings, and she carefully placed the snowball on top of the huge snowball. Lily then hopped up carrying the head of the snowman, and placed it on top of it. When she landed down, she saw that the animals seemed to be upset, having lost their snowball...Until they seemed to realize something. Just as Alex placed the last decoration, the animals scurried all over the snowman, carving holes into it like worms into an apple and molding the outer shape, When they were done, the object had turned into a snowman-shaped castle, three windows for eyes and a mouth, towers on its shoulders, and a doorway in its midsection that was miniature sized for only them to use.
Lily could not believe her eyes, and Justine looked dejected.
”Our snowman!"
”I guess we should have seen it coming when you stole that snowball.”
That was when they saw Dan floating over, and Lily bit her lower lip.
”Oh, Dan’s coming! Hurry, we gotta hide it and-"
“Oh, what’s this?” Dan looked amazed, his beak open as he watched the various animals rush inside the snowman castle.
”This is excellent! What a marvelous idea to make a snowman into a snow castle! Good work, you three!”
As Dan went on to inspect the snowman made by Oros and Emily, Lily wiped her brow with a sigh of relief.
“Well this is...Different,” Dan comments, as he looked at the meido-costume snowman wearing a mohawk “It’s certainly breaking new ground in snowman circles.” Then Dan noticed the large swarm of butterflies fluttering about. He summoned a giant fly swatter, but then realized they were helping Aria build a dragon girl made out of snow, with accessories made from foliage. “Very strong in artistic direction, yes yes,” the dolphin mused as he nodded his carrot-nosed head, followed by checking out Summer’s snow dragon. “And this dragon with a hoard of spheres is impressive as well. Perhaps it is symbolism for the very desire of rolling up a snowball?”
Next up was a massive snowbun, with snowbuns crawling over it as they slid down the tail and ears like a giant playground. “How delightful! A monument to the cuteness of snowbuns!” He commented having clapped his fins.
He approached Hilaria, nodding in approval. That was when he noticed how the blue Justine seemed to head towards something building up on top of a far hill, and addressed the participants with a smile. “The winning snowman will be announced later, but for now you can move on to ice sculpting. I'll see you there in a moment.” And then, he disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, replaced by a blue portal now titled [Ice sculpting].
Lily hopped in place from excitement. ”We weren’t disqualified, yes! Now come on, it’s ice ice baby!" She ran off with her arms spread behind her, and arrived through the portal to the ice sculpting area, where Kimble, Alicia, and Tullia had already started on their own statues, and where a magical clone of Dan was spectating the proceedings, and offering to give advice on ice sculpting as necessary. Of course, Lily first waved to Kimble who responded in kind, and ran off to get her chisel and hammer from the shed and slid an ice block over to Alex and Justine. ”Justy, do you want to do this one in a group too? Is there anything you’d like to sculpt?"
Justine puffed her cheeks, looking a bit red in the face as Lily pushed her face close to hers.
”Well we can, but, uh...It’s embarrassing.”
Lily retreated herself a bit from her personal space. ”Whoops, sorry. Anyway, what is it?"
”...A bat.” Justine averted her eyes. ”...Bats are cute.”
Lily blinked, but then nodded. ”I know just what to do. Let’s make a group of tiny fruit bats clinging to a leaf! Or wait, we can make a sculpture of Tim, he’s cute too! Alex, what do you think?”
Dan appeared on top of the hill Betty was working at, and noticed the giant snowballs she had made. “Hiya, Betty! How’s it going? I see you’re making a mighty fine snowman.”
Kimble looked on as Alicia worked on her own ice sculpture, amazed at the effect she created with her magic.
“Woooow...” She exclaimed as she stared at the kaleidoscope-like effect. “Light magic really is versatile. It suits you, tee hee~” When she was asked the question, she put a finger to her chin, and looked up at the sky. “If I was stuck like that, I’d first try to find if some Time magic girl created the loop. With spells like those, there’s always some kind of method to break it. And even if there wasn’t, I’d still try to escape from it. Because I know you’d be waiting for me the day after.” Having said that, she took Alicia’s hand. “How about you?”
“I’m Sakura,” the androgynous-looking magical boy answered, glad that Tetrad had accepted his offer of drinks. He glanced over at the snowball fight through the window, and nodded. “Sure, let’s go check it out.” As they approached the door, he opened it for them like a gentleman...And was back to staring in an ungentleman-like manner. “Ladies first~”
The purple-haired girl glanced over at the glasses-wearing girl, and the latter stood up to address Eliza. “Thank you for your concern. We have not had any problems since arriving here,” she answered. When Eliza approached for a handshake, she reciprocated the gesture as if she wanted to command respect from Eliza rather than give it to her. “I am Rachel, and this is Violette,” she introduced the both of them. Violette also shook hands with her, though with less emphasis. Rachel then turned to look down at the first floor. “It seems that this Dan, if I’m not mistaken about his name, has ignored the religious importance of Christmas in favor of a Roman Saturnalia-esque bastardization. Rather, he is holding this party to gather magical girls of Penrose to a single location, possibly to feed on them. I suppose the reports of him being an emotion-consuming Lesser Force have some merit to them...” She glanced back at Eliza. “In any case, I am glad to see that the party has proceeded peacefully despite the arrival of a horror avatar.”
Justine respectfully listened to Alex’ own views, and only glanced aside a single time as she noticed Maura was now near the stage, seemingly preparing for something, before she resumed her attention on him and the barrier he had created for himself as a platform. ”That may be the case, but I still appreciated hearing your take on these things," she answered. She then blinked at his sudden swearing.
”Is something wrong? H-Hey!"
Alex suddenly took her hand, causing her to inadvertently blush as she was brought to Lily.
Lily helped with Maura’s play by arranging the seats for the audience, and was sitting at the front row when Alex called out to her. “Hm? Alex, who’s this girl you-OH MY GOOOOOOSHHH!!!” She screamed with her hands on her cheeks squishing them together, her eyes sparkling like tiny stars as she rushed over to the former vampire, performing her signature intercontinental ballistic glomp. Justine’s face had turned a deep shade of red from the very public display of affection. ”P-Please stop..." She pleaded with a low voice, and Lily released her. “I can’t believe you’re here too, Justy! And you look super adorable! How did you-No, wait, let me guess!” She hummed rapidly as the gears in her head spun in all kinds of directions. “After the battle, you were found by someone who helped you get purified! I’m right, right, right right!?”
Justine opened her mouth to answer, but Lily suddenly moved her palm to block, causing her to make a cute muffled sound. “Wait, the play’s gonna start,” she whispered excitedly, just as Maura began her dance. The performance was mesmerizing, with even Dan silent as he couldn’t remove his gaze from the black swan’s graceful movements. Lily also tried to be quiet, but couldn’t help exclaiming low ooh’s and aah’s as the play developed. She nudged Alex’ shoulder at one point with a smile. “I remember wanting to become a famous ballerina when I was a little girl.” She looked over to Justine, who, for the first time that evening, had a serene look to her, and inaudibly whispered something to herself.
Once the play ended, Lily clapped her hands the hardest, having sprung up from her seat. “BRAVO! BRAVO!” Justine did not share in the standing ovation, but she politely clapped her hands. Dan then spoke up, addressing the crowds. “Beautiful, simply wonderful performance from Maura. I could feel the emotion in her every step. But now, it is time for the events, starting off with snowman building and ice sculpting!” He clapped his hands, and new portals appeared lining the back wall, each with golden letters to title the respective activity. “Then we will have ice skating, and hill activities like sledding, skiing and snowboarding. To those joining all the events, please check your timetables so you won’t miss out on any!."
Lily looked ecstatic, and took Alex’ hand. “Alright, let’s go!” But before she took the first step, she noticed how Justine was hesitating. “You ok, Justy? You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”
”It’s just..." Justine fidgeted with her fingers. ”I haven’t apologized to you yet about what I-" Lily interrupted her with a hand to her shoulder. ”Justine, I can already tell how you’ve changed, and how you want to make amends. I’m an expert on magical girls, so I know how these things go, tee hee~"
Justine was baffled by Lily’s logic, but before she could comment on it the energetic girl had already taken her hand. ”So let’s skip all the boring stuff about you being sad and let’s go have fun already! Yaa-hoo!"
And so, forcibly entertained against her will, Justine had decided to let Lily lead, and so the trio departed for some snowman building.
The activity was held at a regular field, only with large mounds of snow piled up everywhere. Dan shortly appeared at the snowman building spot to help guide any attendees, distinguished by his long nose having turned into a carrot. Before he even made any opening words Lily was already sprinting full speed with a rolled snowball. ”I’ll make the body, so you make the head, Justy! Oh, and you can decorate it, Alex!"
Justine looked a bit out of her element, but she sighed, lifting up clenched fists. ”A-Alrighty then. Let’s make a snowman to end all snowmen!"
“Only if you want me to miss,” Sakura answered confidently, as he lifted his eyes up to her face. “Just a moment, please.” He momentarily left, and soon returned with fine glasses in his hands, offering them to both Tetrad and Emily. “Here you go; two ales. I hear it’s making the rounds,” he added with a wink.
“Let’s make one each!” Kimble answered, and ran into the shed. She then stepped out wearing a hockey mask on her face, and a chainsaw in her hands. “I look just like a professional ice sculptor, right?” She asked, and then revved up the chainsaw, and began to work on sculpting her block. At some point Dan had shown up, an artist’s hat on his head. He was alarmed by Kimble’s choice of tool for the sculpting, but couldn’t deter the girl from continuing with her art piece. Eventually she was finished, though the result was rough; the statue only had basic flat facial features, and overall resembled a blocky polygon model from an early 3D game rather than an actual person.
“Aww. Bill Murray made this look really easy in Groundhog Day. Well, I guess the character had a lot of practice.”
As the play was making a spectacle in the lower floor, Eliza stepped up the stairs found in a corridor that led from the side of the lodge, and found herself on the second floor. It had less space than the first floor, but enough for people to have a relaxed, quiet space as they surveyed the action down below. And there, in a corner of the floor, she saw two girls sitting by a table as they observed the play.
The shorter girl was dressed in a blue santa costume, complete with an ushanka that snugly fit over her purple locks of hair. She was the one to notice Eliza as she approached them, and alerted the other girl in a more traditional red santa dress, who turned to look with a lowkey curious expression. Her posture as she sat was perfect as she examined Eliza.
“Can I help you?” She asked with a polite if firm tone.
“Glad you like it, Sparky-chan,” Sakura said as she grinned, amused by Lily’s reaction to him, and accepted the hug without further fuss. He then gave a thumbs up to Alex. “Eh, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world,” he said, forcing a smile. He then shook her head in response to Lily’s question. “Not a coin. I happened to meet a wish-granting genie, and, well...You can figure out the rest.”
Lily’s lips curled into a circle. “Ooh! You met the twins!” Lily took Sakura’s hands, causing him to lift an eyebrow. “They also granted wishes me and Alex made!”
“Yeah, about that...” Sakura was about to interrupt as she pulled off Lily’s hands off of hers. “They’ve combined. Now she’s one lady, and not a bad looking one either. I think I saw them over there.” She casually pointed her thumb behind her, to which Lily gasped.
“Oh! I didn’t realize! Thanks, Sakura! I’ll go talk to them now, so see ya later!”
And with that, she was off, and Sakura sighed in relief. “Man, Sparky-chan is genki as always...” She glanced to the center of the hall, where Alex had went off to talk with Justine.
“Not going to bother with Juice Time. Hmm…” She spotted one of the new arrivals, and he had a warm smile on his face. ”Now that’s more like it.” She went over to Tetrad, who was currently hugged by Emily, and flashed a winning smile. “Well hello there, ladies. A fun party we’re having here, right? Can I get you two drinks?” He asked, having shifted his gaze to Tetrad’s prominent physique.
Lily was happy that her little joke went well with Mariette, and she waved goodbye as she quickly left the party. With that, Lily started bouncing around the party like a caffeine-infused squirrel; she went once again over to Ruby, and shook her hand. “I heard from Sakura that you’ve changed! You look so beautiful now! Congratulations!” She then put a finger to her cheek. “But, uh, what should I call you?”
Dina finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief and take a seat as Ruby momentarily took over in the party handling. She poured herself a red cup of the nearest drink she could get her hands on, and sipped on it in a regal manner, pinky held extended. The arrival of Patrons was not something she had accounted for, especially a Lord of Change, and she needed a break from it all. That was when she realized what she had drunk. “Wait, is this...glögg? It’s...Not bad, actually. I have to remember to collect any leftover stock.”
Sann was not pleased by Dan’s intrusion, and was very close to outright eviscerating the aggravating animal. However, she knew she would only be further humiliated by Odin. She resolved herself to think this was a test, a trial of endurance for her. If she passed it, she would prove herself worthy of being included among the ranks of the choosers of the slain. That was when she noticed something brewing outside the lodge, and she gave a wicked smile. “Yes! A battle!” She then headed off to join the snowball fight, causing Dan to fall off and bounce on the floor. “Hm...I guess I’ll go check how everyone’s doing now.”
Kimble and Alicia stepped outside after Dan’s parting words; just as the view through the windows suggested, a whimsical world of snow awaited them...And the sight of dozens of snowballs rapidly flying through the air, in all kinds of directions, making for a chaotic scene. Kimble looked mildly surprised. “Oh wow...Things have gotten intense here. Well, it’s expected with us magical girls, hah.” She nodded at Alicia’s suggestion with a big nod. “Yep, let’s go!”
Thus the two began to traverse the island. As they expected, it was a breath-taking vista of plains covered in glittering snow, and pine trees with green leaves visible underneath the layers of frost. The island’s center was dominated by three tall hills, each of them seemingly devoted to one of three sports; downhill skiing and snowboarding, ski jumping, and sledding. All three of the paths seemed to end up converging at the lodge. It was then when they noticed that there was a ropeway that led to the three hills, as well as a ropecar colored blue and painted to look like Dan with snow goggles on his head. They also passed by a familiar domed building, causing Kimble to reminisce. “I still remember the thrilling final match you had with Amaryllis and Tetrad. I could barely hold on to the edge of my seat. I wonder if anyone’s going to try that silliness again.”
They two met Snowbuns on their way, and Kimble crouched down to pet a couple, giggling as the balls of white fur wiggled their tiny noses. They saw how dozens of Snowbuns were hopping in a large group towards the petting zoo. “Looks like people have already started collecting Snowbuns.” Kimble then giggled at the sight of Melisa, who they spotted leaving the lodge; as she was riding the turtle, she was accompanied by a group of Snowbuns who hopped after her.
Dan then appeared there, and clapped his fins; he was struck by inspiration. “Ooh, I know what this needs!” He cast a spell, and the Snowbuns transformed; they now wore old-fashioned red soldier hats similar to that worn by Melisa, only with less decorations. They waddled in unison, seemingly mimicking a marching army as a platoon’s worth of them moved in unusually organized rows. Some now blew on tiny little trumpets, and others were equipped with a tiny harness that held instruments like drums played by a pair of doll hands or one that held tiny toy muskets, turning Melisa into the commander of a Snowbun military. “Now go forth, Colonel Melisa. May you bring Christmas cheer to us all,” Dan spoke, saluting her as she went forth on her quest. Kimble could only smile at the wholesome exchange. “How cute!”
After some time, Alicia and Kimble arrived at a field where many blocks of ice had been gathered from the nearby shore, as well as a small shack. She looked at Alicia while holding her hand. “This must be an ice sculpting place. I’d like to try making a sculpture!”
As the party had begun in earnest, a portal had appeared on the upper balcony, accompanied by a person stepping out of it. Dan had immediately arrived there. “Welcome to the Christmas party! Um, I hope you’ll enjoy your stay,” he said, only to be met with silence. Dan seemed to sweat a bit. “Well, if there’s no questions, then I’ll be attending to the other guests. But please let me know if you’d like some nice cocoa or eggnog.”
The person looked down at the party on the first floor.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Then, they walked away, causing Dan to make a worried sigh.
After a brief chat with the Norse god, Kayli took her leave. She would see that several others would go and speak with the former horror girl. Judging by the reaction of Justine they were not pleasant words. Others left to join in various activities and as the cabin emptied out and many others moved on the Keeper stepped up and laid a hand on the other’s shoulder.
”Hanging in there?” She would ask with a calming tone.
Justine fidgeted from Kayli’s touch, not having expected her to come so close to her.
”...Was that a bat joke?” She asked, looking at her with a morose expression while holding her bat plushie.
”The people here hate me, and for good reason. Even Mistress Maura left me...” She looked down at the table. ”...I saw Mariette too. I don't know what to do.
With a light frown the white haired girl shook her head. ”Apologies. Poor choice of words on my part.” She offered a smile and took a seat. Looking around the room she would stay silent for a minute or so as she collected her thoughts. ”Maura has a lot to deal with. Give her time to work things out with her agents.” She would reassure the girl.
Turning her attention directly to Justine she would continue. ”Everyone else does not understand what has happened to you. Who you were died in that dimension much like how Janet has given way in order to fulfil a greater purpose. You will have the chance to prove yourself. Of anyone you could exemplify that the blackest of hearts can change to become a light in the darkness. That was her wish. The question then is, shall you embrace it?”
Justine nodded weakly, and looked at her plushie. ”...How did you do it, Janet?" She asked as she looked at her. ”How did you free me from my curse? Father had bound me deeply to his bloodthirsty darkness, yet you managed to overcome that. It's...well, amazing."
Rather than continue speaking out loud, she changed over to telepathy. Being completely open about what she knew wasn’t wise just yet. ”After Janet returned she was still a monster girl. She was given a gift that inspired her to seek out the knowledge to give others the same opportunity. Finding that knowledge she worked with Beacon in order to produce purifying items. Those were met with mixed results in the community. Yours was particularly potent in order to free you from Father’s grasp just as Janet had been.”
Looking down she held up a hand and it glowed with light magic. ”Perhaps overreached in order to find further purification, Janet became a vessel for the magic she sought and was ultimately transformed and replaced by myself. I do not consider myself to be Janet in the same way, though I possess her knowledge as well as the knowledge of an acquaintance of yours, Cindy Ford. You may call me Kayli, the Keeper of the Keys.” Dispelling the magic she would offer a hand to Justine to shake, letting her take the initiative if she chose to take it.
”Incredible..." Justine mused. She hesitated at first with her hand as she peered upon the glowing hand. Then, she took a deep breath, and took the hand in a handshake. ”Nice to meet you, Kayli."
With a smile she patted Justine’s shoulder. ”You as well. As I said, I believe you have the chance to prove you aren’t the same person. It will be difficult, and I will do my best to assist where I can.”
”Yeah..." She glanced over at the other party guests; some had left outside to engage in snow activities, while others stayed to converse and enjoy the refreshments. She frowned. ”Now I just have to figure out how."
She would change back to telepathy. ”Perhaps you could provide some information to help those from the past. Those that have been taken deserve to be returned. Perhaps even information on those that Mariette took in the past. They as well are yet still being held” She would inquire.
Justine had a pained expression upon hearing Kayli's suggestion. ”Oh...Them. I let Sonia handle the list for them. It must have been destroyed alongside the castle..." She hung her head. "I'm sorry, but I honestly can't remember their names. I was irresponsible in my conceit."
Suppose that made sense. ”As far as I know, Sonia is still out there somewhere. Do you think contacting her would be helpful?” She wasn’t really sure how their relationship was. From what she remembered it was one of subservience.
Justine shook her head. "She would try to bring me back to Father, knowing him. He had bent both of our minds to his will. But while I was freed, she is still under that influence. I need to free her, before she does something horrible..."
That was when Justine noticed someone approach the table she and Kayli were sitting at. She put a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide in shock, as she recognized the magical boy. ”A-Alexander?"
Memories flashed before her eyes, of the time when she was confronted by him at the top of the castle, his anger like a blazing flame. She remembered mocking him for his beliefs, ridiculing him in her bouts of madness. He was the one who rescued Lily, and in turn paved the way for her defeat on that night of the blood moon. Justine turned her head away, averting her eyes; she prepared herself for being yelled at...But instead he greeted her, without so much as a word of discontent. She blinked as she glanced back at him, and found herself taken aback by his genuine surprise.
”W-Well...It’s a long story," she admitted. ”But the short version is that I’m finally myself again. Not...The crazy girl who kidnapped Lily." She then glanced at Kayli, wondering if she was going to say anything, and then noticed the results for the avatar’s game had arrived. Justine did not participate in it, not taking any kind of risk to participate in something held by an aspect of any kind of Horror. ”Anyway, how are you doing, Alexander? Have things gone well with, um, Lily?" She asked, trying to start some small talk as a step towards her new life.
“I think it’s because of Dan’s magic! Even our pets get to attend the party~” Lily answered Alex as she crouched down to pet Tim, before she stood up and looked Alex over. “No, you look very handsome, Alex!” Her head leaned to the side as she had a goofy grin on her face, and she playfully tugged on the red scarf. “This scarf especially looks good on you! You look like Kamen Rider with that on!”
"Hey Sparky-chan, been a while."
Lily turned, and blinked upon seeing the pink-streaked person speak to her. She blinked, as she did not immediately realize who they were...Until she remembered who used that as their nickname for her, followed by him confirming it.
"Bet you don't recognize me. I'm Sakura."
“No way! Sakura! AAAHHH!” She hugged Sakura, and afterwards released the hug, seemingly a bit surprised. “You’ve changed a lot since we last met! Did you use one of those Red Coins? Nice choice on the hair styling, it’s really vibrant and electrifying!”
As they conversed, she took a mug of hot cocoa that was served on a nearby table, sipping on it as Sakura spoke.
"Anyway, this is shaping up to be something nice, bud and Sparky-chan?"
Lily nodded rapidly, causing the cocoa in her mug to slosh. “Yeah, it’s wonderful! I get to see all my old friends, and meet new ones too! Dan really went above and beyond!”
Sakura then noticed someone in the crowd and departed; Lily waved back to him, not minding it at all as she moved on. She was glad that Dina didn’t reject her show of affection knowing how fussy the cat girl could be about such things. At least she’s really embraced the Christmas joy, she thought as she noted her daring dress. She also noticed how she seemed to keep herself busy, pacing back and forth frantically as she looked over the party. “You were working with Dan on this party, right?” She asked.
Before she could follow up, she heard Sakura yell out at the back of the lodge. “Vicky? Must be one of Sakura’s friends,” she verbally thought, smiling in a ditzy way. Umukamui arrived, and Lily curtsied in response to her greeting, wanting to show respect to what she thought to be a kind Puchuu. She nodded to her musings as she took another sip. “I guess so. But wow! You look super pretty, mister Umu!”
Lily observed as Dina first spoke up, followed by a shocking arrival as a large man dropped in, exuding a divine aura about himself. Lily reeled back by surprise. “Woah! Is that a God?” She had heard about them from Alex as he occasionally spoke about Sol Invictus, but she had never seen one in person before. The sheer difference in presence from a Lesser Force like Dan was something else entirely. Seeing from his red coat and a sack full of gifts, it was clear he did not intend to crash the party, but rather join in it, which calmed her down.
She audibly gasped as Odin then spoke, mentioning how Sakura was a man (something she suspected but wasn’t sure of until now), and how he mentioned the Yule truce. “He mentioned Yule! And the eyepatch-!” Umukamui then mentioned who the God was, and Lily nodded rapidly, leaning over to Alex. “It’s Odin! I remember reading about him in coll-high school!”
Once Odin had calmed down the initial tension, Lily was approached by Mariette, who handed over an adorable cow plushie. Lily’s mouth was wide open in surprise as she held the gift, followed by biting her lower lip.
“Mariette...” She knew things were awkward between them, but she could tell from the dark magical girl’s expression that she really wanted this party to happen, no matter how difficult it might be. “...Thank you. Also...” She picked up one of the cow plushie’s arms, and waved it at Mariette while speaking in a silly deep voice: “Moo-rry Christmas, Moo-riette!” She hoped that she could catch the stoic girl giggling from her antics. It would be the tiniest step in mending their relationship, but a step nonetheless.
Afterwards, as Mariette went on to give plushies to others, Lily went over to Alicia, greeting Summer on her way. “Merry Christmas, Summer and Alicia!” Lily greeted after the hug, happy that her affection was reciprocated. She quickly bounced over to Connie’s group, her eyes sparkling as she saw Melisa and Magical Dream Princess. “AAH, I can’t handle it! Connie’s red dress! Gaia’s hair! You’re all so sweet I’m gonna get diabetes! But I’m a magical girl, so fortunately that won’t be a problem!” She winked as she giggled, enjoying herself fully in this party.
That was when Lily noticed a new entity had arrived; it was unsettling, as if an abstract art piece had been given life. Fortunately it changed into a recognizably human shape, seemingly having arrived with a benevolent purpose. Lily was curious about the game the Lord of Change offered, even if she couldn’t fully follow what it was saying. “By cities or death? So could you meet with-” Then she heard her phone alert, and checked the new message, only to scream in surprise. “AMBY?! Oh my gosh, this can’t be real!” She stared at the message, not sure if she could believe it. “She...I can talk with her? I could apologize to her, and...Thank her, too...”
Lily then heard how Ruby addressed the crowd, stars lighting up in her eyes. “Events? EVENTS! Gimme all the events!” She screamed as she rushed down to the tanned girl and wrote up her name in the application, signing herself to every single one. She was running in place from how excited she was as she made her White Elephant wish in secret.
“This is going to be the best Christmas!”
”This is going to be the worst Christmas.”
Regret. That was the emotion ruling over Justine as Sakura was the first to explicitly acknowledge her presence in the party, or rather the impossibility of it. Indeed, it was nothing short of a miracle that she was still living...Or a curse, as some might view it as.
”Well, I...”
She attempted speaking up for herself, but the words would not come out from her soft voice. Fortunately, a God soon interfered, allowing her to hide back behind Maura. Her Patron had assured to be there for her, and Justine nodded, finding herself slightly clutching at the hem of Maura’s dress, as if a child clinging to a mother. But she wasn’t feeling nervous as much as ashamed.
Her new Patron deemed it vital to attend this party, for reasons she had kept to herself. And as she had promised to keep her eyes on her newest magical girl, she had dragged her with her to the party. As much as she had wanted to stay away from the social gathering, fearing to meet the people she had hurt, she couldn't; if she didn’t obey, her contract would be broken ,and she would be sent to an infernal punishment. But it wasn’t as if she was afraid of such a fate, deeming herself deserving of perdition. Rather, she felt she owed it to her victims to save others from becoming new ones, and to prevent the kind of tragedies like she had inflicted in such glee, once.
For centuries, she had let Father dictate her will, twisting it towards malice and cruelty, and she had enjoyed it, as sickening as it now was to reminisce. She bathed in the blood of her enemies, and deemed herself worthy of worship by all mankind so she could crush them all under her foot. All that evil was towards the goal of destroying love itself, like she had promised on that fateful day she forged the unholy pact. After she was defeated and spared, she thought she could have an easy life being worshipped as the best delivery service in the Overcity. But even so, that malignant will was there, a screeching bloodstain in her mind. A foolish misunderstanding led her back on the warpath, but eventually she would have been driven to commit more atrocities, an inevitability in her cursed life.
Now that nauseous play had ended, and it’s curtains drawn away, revealing the true Justine that lay underneath the Horror’s domination. What remained was a meek girl who now wished she could take it all back; her weakness as she fled from the villagers so long ago, her hate as she cursed the world in the black rain while holding her dying sister, and her desperation as she accepted Father’s dark gift.
At first, she had resolved herself to a hopeless fate once she was freed from her endless nightmare, only to be exhumed from the proverbial grave. She could not tell whether Maura truly believed she could be redeemed, or if she was simply to be used and discarded away, like she had done herself countless times. Justine couldn’t deny slightly feeling the latter soon after the party had started, as Maura and her were confronted by what she recognized to be her former adversaries and victims; Silhouette, whom Justine had fought on the floor of a cathedral plummeting from the sky and later in the lost dimension, and Betty, who was the bargaining chip she had used to enact revenge on Mariette.
”M-Mis-”
Maura gestured for Justine to leave, causing her to visibly pout before she nodded; it would make sense for Maura to abandon her, as she was the root of all the problems she was having. Justine then yelped softly, as she realized who had approached her; Mariette. The bat plushie was nearly shoved into her hands, causing Justine to step back and balance herself. Her face turned red as she saw the reminder of her shameful past in a cute, huggable form.
”M-Mariette...I...”
She tried to speak up, but she couldn't find it in her to look at her in the eye, and so the moment passed, with Mariette going to give plushies to others. Justine could tell something was different about Mariette now, but she couldn't say what, as she was already struggling to find her own identity. Knowing it was only a matter of time before someone would again come and yell at her, she resolved herself to imminent scorn and took a seat at one of the tables near the Christmas tree, holding the bat plushie close to her chest while waiting for the first one to cast the stone.
Sally giggled with a hand over her mouth as a punkish-looking party guest saluted her. “Looks like we’re already making an impression,” she commented, only to be startled to a giggling fit by Aurelio. “Oh you~” She playfully mused when she was kissed on the cheek. “There’s not even a mistletoe. But you’re lucky you look dashing in red, Aurelio~” She gave him a kiss on the cheek as well. “Merry Christmas~”, she greeted, and afterwards pouted with a finger to her lips as the various games and events were revealed. “Hmm, it’s hard to decide what to do...Maybe I’ll leave it to Lady Luck.” As she did, she closed her eyes and reached for Mariette's plushie bag, finding a bunny plushie for herself. "Yay!"
Kimble smiled widely, and wrapped her arms around Alicia’s arm, holding it close. “Great to see you here too, Aurelio!” She then nodded as Alicia suggested going outside. “Yep, let’s go! I would love to take a tour of the island. I heard Lily say it’s beautiful! Would you like to build a snowman~?” Kimble asked in a singing voice. “There’s snowman building and other events from what I heard over there,” she said, pointing in Ruby's direction. She also expressed her gratitude when she received a cat plushie from Mariette. “I bet Beacon would crush it in a snow fort battle!”
But before Alicia and Kimble reached the door, the star atop the christmas tree began to shine brightly. Like snowflakes, blue particles slowly drifted down from the ceiling until they spun around in a vortex and in a blue flash Dan had appeared.
“Merry Christmas, everyone!” The Lesser Force greeted in a booming voice that reached to every corner of the lodge. “First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming to this Christmas party! It means so much to me to see so many familiar faces, and even a few new ones, together at such a happy time of the year. I'm glad that even great lords have graced us with their presence! I am truly honoured!” He bowed to Odin and the Lord of Change.
He then floated down, drooping from tree branch to tree branch like a waterdrop, until he hit the floor like a cube of jelly. “But all of this wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for my good friend Mariette for giving out invitations!” Suddenly, a spotlight appeared over Mariette, followed by the sound of hands clapping everywhere in the room including Dan before the spotlight closed. “Thank you, Mariette! Now, as you may have heard from my lovely assistants, there will be many events that people can participate in if you’re feeling bored, including a sleigh ride for two pulled by genuine yule goats. Of course, any outdoor activities will be rewarded with a Bronze coin for participation, and stage events a Silver! The Arena also makes a return, for those wishing to further practice their skills in Keijo.”
He then summoned a Snowbun on his fin, showcasing it to all. “And last but not least, there is a petting zoo, where you can pet fluffy Snowbuns. But oh no, the snowbuns have escaped and scattered across the island!” He added, sounding theatrically dramatic. “But don’t worry, any snowbuns you find and pet will be touched by the joy of Christmas magic, and will hop on back to the petting zoo. Whoever catches the most snowbuns gets a little reward. But be warned; only the very best can catch the Harebringers of the Bunnypocalypse; they are tricky little bunnies! Whoever can catch even one of them earns a Gold Coin! Good luck!” Lily grinned, rubbing her hands.
”You just wait, Harebringers! I’m coming for you! But wait, isn't it cold outside? I'll be fine, but there's, um, others...” She glanced at Umukamui and Aria.
"Oh, no worries! Your clothes are enchanted to provide warmth and protection from the elements, so you'll only feel the slightest bit chilly when outside. Even if you were buried in snow you'll be as snug like a bug in a rug."
Lily nodded, glad to hear that hypothermia was not a danger.
“Later today, we will be holding dinner over at the feast hall, just beyond this door,” he said, gesturing to a massive door that was placed to the back of the lodge. Lily’s mouth watered.
”Oh, I wonder what kind of delicious food we’ll be hav-”
“We will have carrot casserole, cabbage casserole, and liver casserole,” Dan announced with a bright smile. “Traditional Finnish Christmas foods. Isn’t that great?” Lily’s eye twitched.
”I get that you want to appreciate Christmas culture, Dan, but liver casserole? Really?”
“It’s traditional!” He protested. “But oh well, if that’s not up to your appetite, we will also have more regular food like porridge and chicken. Anyway, we will also hold the White Elephant gift exchange at the feast hall, as well as a special gift I have for Mariette," he added with a wink. "For more information on the White Elephant, please consult Ruby,” he said, opening a spotlight on her in turn before it closed. “For refreshments, we have hot cocoa, eggnog, ale, and glögg!” As he said that, he summoned a big red cup. Lily now looked befuddled.
”What even is glögg in the first place?”
“A traditional spiced drink from Sweden made from berry juice. It’s delicious, I assure you! And if you find an almond in your cup of glögg, it’s a sign of good luck!” Lily sighed, and took a sip of her cocoa. ”Well, I guess I could try it.”
“Now, without further ado, please enjoy the party!” Dan announced.
Dan then floated down to Sann, a smug smile on him. "Anything I want? There is something I definitely want~". He dove towards Sann and...gently landed on top of her head. "Aahh, nothing beats the cushiony feel of a girl's hair..." He squeaked.
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