Thursday, December 1rst
The whole world glittered as the early morning light danced over the snow covered streets. The muffled hush that lay over the town was broken as a door opened and the family inside spilled out into the frozen lane. The trio stood chatting for a moment as one shut the door securely, all three bundled up so thoroughly that only someone already familiar with them could tell you who was whom. The smallest person looked up excitedly as a door in the building across the lane from them opened and a similarly bundled up family came merrily out. A grin spread across the boy's face as he waved excitedly at the other family, bringing his other hand to his mouth as he hollered "Haru!" across the street.
The girl being called whipped her head towards the boy's voice, a smile spreading across her face. She waved and hollered "Humbert!" back to the boy. Still grinning, Humbert ran across the narrow street and grabbed Haru's hand, tugging her along as the pair ran giggling down the lane and out into town. Their parents could only smile and shake their heads as their children ran off.
Haru waved at their friends and their families as Humbert kept pulling her. All around them families were gathering on their doorsteps in thick winter wear before heading out into town, everyone headed in the same direction. Humbert just managed to pull Haru into a little nook between buildings before hunching over while puffing and panting.
"Are you alright?" Haru asked with concern.
"I'm fine," Humbert panted as he tried to regain his breath. "Really. I just..." Humbert thrust a mittened hand into his coat pocket and began to dig around, "Wanted to... give... you..." he struggled with whatever was in his pocket, finally pulling it out and holding it out to Haru. "... this!" He finished triumphantly, a neatly wrapped box tied with a festive ribbon in his open palm.
"Oh! Thank you, Humbert." Haru took the offered box, slipping her own hand out of her own pocket and offering her friend a packed tied up in colorful paper. "I got you something too, here."
"Thank you," said Humbert as he took the package.
"Happy advent!" The pair said in unison before ripping into their gifts.
"Handkerchiefs!" Humbert cried when he got his gift open.
"I embroidered them too."
Humbert pulled the gift close so he could peer down at the stitches. "You've really improved."
"Thank you." Haru beamed at Humbert for a moment before turning her attention back to her own gift. She had to pull off a mitten, but once her hand was free she easily got the little box open and looked inside. "Oh, tea!"
"It's my own special blend," he stated proudly. "So I can't guarantee the flavor."
"You always say that, but I always like your blends. You have a real knack for it."
"Thank you," Humbert started to say, but was interrupted boy a voice calling out loudly.
"I found you!"
Haru and Humbert turned to see a little child staring up at them from the sidewalk. "Ponyo!" Haru quickly slipped the tea into a pocket and crouched down to Ponyo's eye level. "What are you doing here?"
"I found you! I found you! I found you!" Ponyo continued to yell while hopping around in place.
"You sure did," said Humbert as he crouched down next to Haru. "Now, can you find Sosuke?"
"How silly! I don't need to find Sosuke, I know where Sosuke is!" Ponyo huffed at Humbert and stomped a tiny foot before turning around and running off.
Haru and Humbert looked at each other before bursting into giggles. To be honest, whenever those two are around each other there always seems to be a lot of giggling. The two linked hands again and left their little nook, they quickly spotted a group of their friends all clustered around each other and went to join them.
"Tombo, Umi, Sora, Chihiro, Shun, Anna!" Haru and Humbert waved as they walked up.
"Happy Advent!" "Aren't you excited?" "You bet!" "I'm gonna gather so much mistletoe, just you wait!" "Oh, here comes Satsuki!"
Indeed, another girl their age came running up, tugging a smaller girl along behind her. "Hi guys! Mei took too long getting ready this morning."
"I want to look nice for Advent!" Mei insisted.
"We're going to the woods to gather decorations, it doesn't matter how nice you look," Satsuki scolded.
"You do look very nice," Chihiro said to Mei, who positively beamed at the praise.
"We'd better get going before everyone else gets all the best stuff," Tombo cut in before they could get completely off track. The others agreed and started walking in the same direction as the rest of the town while chatting together. Tombo himself was dragging a sled behind him with a cardboard box tied to it. Haru thought that was a bit odd, other boys were also dragging sleds but Tombo was the only one with a box tied to his. Haru peeked inside.
"Natoru! What are you doing here?" At Haru's incredulous cry everyone stopped and stared. She picked the rather dopey looking cat up by his armpits, then looked over at Tombo. "Did you mean to bring him along?"
"No!" Tombo yelled. "Ugh," he added more quietly as he ran a hand down his face. "Trust a cat to sneak into a box."
"What do we do with him?" Asked Anna. "He can't go back in the box, the poor thing will freeze."
"Perhaps one of us should run him back to your house?" Humbert offered.
"No," Tombo shook his head. "Dad's locked up the house, he'll just have to come along."
"Don't worry, Tombo, I'll hold him for you." Haru pulled the cat into her arms, cradling him like a baby. "He won't freeze if someone holds him, and Natoru's not the kind to just run off."
Everyone else shrugged, this seemed like their best option. With that settled they continued their journey out of town and into the nearby woods.
AN: Welcome everyone to Haru's Grand Adventure that just Happens to Happen Right at Christmas Time! To explain a little: as per Catsafari's yearly Christmas Specials, this fic will be a chapter a day until December 25th, and each chapter is a day. I was suddenly inspired and decided since we didn't have a Christmas special last year that we needed one this year for sure! I'll leave what fairytale this is based on a mystery for now, though I'm sure it'll be obvious by the end of tomorrow. However, to fill out the world and the important roles in the story I've grabbed a few characters from other Ghibli films, so whenever a character is introduced I want to have a little character glossary at the end of the chapter for all non-TCR characters. Those you should already be familiar with. Anyway, I hope to see you all tomorrow! Things pick up then.
Character glossary:
Ponyo and Sosuke are from Ponyo.
Tombo is from Kiki's Delivery Service.
Umi, Sora, and Shun are from From up on Poppy Hill.
Chihiro is from Spirited Away.
Anna is from When Marnie was There.
Satsuki and Mei are from My Neighbor Totoro.
Disclaimer: This fanwork is in no way affiliated with Ghibli or Disney and is not for profit.
