Hating Christmas
(A surprise X'mas gift for pline)
Everyone was in a holiday mood.
Everyone.
People were hugging, embracing, greeting each other using the most affectionate terms of endearment, kissing (kissing!), laughing and in general, engaging in all forms of foolery that she disapproved of.
The girls were flirting unabashedly, or at least her friend Tana was. She was sitting with Lord Ephraim before her tent and giggling at everything that he said, or rather, giggling in a pretense to hide the fact that she was ogling his perfectly sculptured figure. All hail Tana's internal fangirl.
Prince Innes had been frowning at his sister's display of coquettishness, but that was until Vanessa had come along with a red face and a speech that she managed to stutter out in episodic bursts of words, following which he softened and accompanied her for a 'nice and quiet balmy walk in the woods'. Who knows whatever happened during that nice and quiet balmy walk in the woods.
Gerik was drinking (drinking!). It was barely eight in the morning and he was already emptying barrels after barrels after barrels of gallons of vodka and whiskey, both out of Lord Ephraim's stock of fine wines that he secretly smuggled along with him. Tethys had latched herself onto his arm, dangling like a bracelet. She accompanied his raucous laughter at nothing in particular with an occasional giggle of hers.
The rest were too, engaged in merry frivolous behaviour, inane actions with no purpose except to make themselves and their prospective lovers and husbands happy and entertained.
Look! She thought with distaste. Even Lute was flirting with a red-faced Artur, insisting that he spend some quality time with her learning the arts of monk-watching.
Technically, if Artur learnt the arts of monk-watching, he would be thankfully reduced to watching himself, for he was the only monk in the entire contingent. But of course, Lute, usually so discerning and critical, did not realize that in her bout of holiday cheer and merry passion.
She dragged her feet across the gravel, sick of all the love and passion saturated in the air. "I. Hate. Christmas." She grumbled dourly as she kicked a pebble into the running river. So much flippancy, so much time wasted! No progress made! Nothing done! No enemies killed! What an absolute wastage of good time! And here she was, wasting her time along with them, when she could have been dashing through a blood-stained battlefield, flashing her shamshir and cutting down fearsome beasts and warriors at an incredible speed and efficiency.
There were footsteps behind her. Large, light but still discernable footsteps. Her stalker was someone silent and adroit, but still not as honed in the arts of stealth as she was.
But indeed, how many were as quiet as she was?
She waited till the stalker had closed the distance between them, then unsheathed her shamshir, swung it around in an arc, twisted her body, and positioned her shamshir right above his jugular artery.
"Joshua." She said smugly, pleased that she had caught him unawares.
The red-haired gambler of a swordmaster, soon to become her king, staggered away from her blade and eyed her shamshir warily, covering his neck protectively. "How did you know it was me?" He pouted, a merry glint in his eye.
"You walk like a bear," she snorted. It was true. His footsteps on the forest floor sounded as loud as those of a huge lumbering brown furry bear.
"I don't!" He protested indignantly. "Gerik walks like a bear!" He gave a very good imitation of the way Gerik stomped through the forest during his last forage for a flower for Tethys.
She laughed at his imitation. "Gerik walks like an elephant on stilts." She walked along the bank of the river.
"On stilts? Why on stilts?" He asked, puzzled. "Hey! Wait up!" He chased after her, one hand holding his Audhulma, other hand grabbing onto his hat to make sure the wind didn't blow it away.
She ignored him and continued walking at her usual pace.
He caught up with her, panting. "Hey, it's rude to ignore someone you know!"
"Hey, it's rude to sneak up on someone you know!" She mocked his tone.
He grinned. "Is it me, or have you gradually developed a sense of humour due to my influence?"
She wagged her finger at her. "Tsk tsk. Bad influence, Joshua."
He laughed at her demeanor, and even she smiled just a little. It was true; hanging around him had made her loosen up in her everyday activities. She was not as serious and focused as she was in the past on sword fighting and swordplay only, but she had learnt to appreciate the bigger things in life, such as little bits of humour inserted into interpersonal interaction and the beauty and silence of nature.
They walked on in silence, both having introspective reflections on how their lives changed after meeting each other.
Probably he thinks that after meeting me, he just got a permanent sparring and betting partner, she thought casually, adjusting her belt and her shamshir that dangled from it.
"I think it's going to snow, want a bet?" He turned to her, grinning.
She rolled her eyes. She had just proven herself fully correct. "Who in the world bets on meteorology? Isn't that kind of predictable?"
He pouted again. "That's mean," he said, nursing his heart with a broken-hearted expression. "Why are you here alone, by the way? Isn't it like find-a-guy day or something? Every other girl has attached herself firmly to a soul companion and you're here walking by yourself in the middle of the woods kicking pebbles into the water." He waved a hand before her face. "Are you depressed?"
"Yes I am, and I am walking in the woods so that I can sacrifice myself to the brown furry grizzly mountain bear club just because I don't have a guy to attach myself like flies to a pot of honey," she replied.
The sarcasm in her voice was enough to make him laugh. "You really have been learning a lot from me."
"Not just you," she waved his remark aside dismissively. "Rennac and Colm as well."
He stiffened, stopping abruptly in the midst of his laughter. "Colm is with Neimi right?" he asked. "But Rennac…how did you know him?"
She shot him a glance. "I don't recall that was under your area of affairs."
He shrugged, palms facing upward. "It's good to know."
She rolled her eyes again. "He saved me from a paladin in the middle of battle and I was injured, so he carried me bridal-style all the way back to camp and tended to me. It was love at first sight and now we are so in love that we can hardly stand to be five minutes away from each other." She paused. "In fact, I'm going to meet him for our rendezvous in five minutes at the waterfall. He's probably already waiting for me with a bunch of roses in his hand and a ring in the other."
Joshua's crimson eyes grew wide. "He's proposing to you?"
He completely missed the sarcasm. "Yes, we fell in love at first glance and encountered each other two times and thus we decided to get married and raise eleven kids before my thirtieth birthday. He even stole the money from L'Arachel so that he could buy a ring with 1.0 carat diamond."
"Ha! I don't believe you!" He said smoothly, but his words belied his anxious and worried tone.
They walked on in further silence.
"Aren't you going to meet Rennac?" He asked, breaking the silence.
Is that…jealousy and envy I hear? "Oh no, I completely ditched him to spend every minute of my life with you," she drawled, sitting down abruptly on the bank of the river. "Tired."
He finally caught the sarcasm, and broke into a wide relieved grin. "Heh, I always knew my wit was infectious."
"No wonder you have scarcely any wit left," she bantered. "You gave them all away."
"Ohhhh…that hurt so deep. My heart is awfully lacerated…" He grabbed her hand and placed it to his chest. "Can't you feel that sorrowful heavy pounding of my heart, Marisa? Can you feel the tickles of blood that drip from it because of all the cutting remarks that have wounded me so?"
She removed her hand from his grasp. It was delightfully warm. "I bet you are lying," she said, trying to hide the blush on her face.
"You sure you want a bet?" Joshua smirked. "You'll lose this one in one second."
She flushed, her hand twitching nervously. When her hand was over his chest, she could feel every fibre of that green robe he wore. She relished the tickling sensation of the smooth fibres…and…She blushed as she even thought of it.
She could feel his firm taut muscles beneath the thin cotton. She had always considered him small next to Gerik's well-built frame, but today he gave her quite the surprise. Beneath his robes, he did, in fact, conceal a well-built body that was thin but sinewy.
"You're blushing to the roots of your hair, Marisa," he smirked, tilting her face towards him with a finger under her chin. "You resemble an overgrown ripe tomato fruit."
"I don't!" She protested indignantly, but her voice came out as a squeak. Mollified, she covered her mouth. That did not come out of my mouth. No no no no no no.
He placed his hands on her cheeks and pinched them. She nearly sighed at the feeling of his warm calloused hands against her face, but fortunately restrained herself in time to save her from further embarrassment.
"Your cheeks are warm," he observed, eyes twinkling. "You ARE blushing." He looked greatly amused and leant in closer, till their noses were almost touching. "I bet that you are blushing because of me."
She stared deeply into his crimson eyes, absorbed by his hypnotic gaze. Rather reluctantly, she tore herself away from his gaze and stared at her hands. "I don't know what you are talking about."
Her treacherous voice came out as a squeak again.
He leant back and laughed. "Oh, you are hopeless, Marisa."
"I'm not!" All hail the heavenly divine beings playing chess on the clouds above our heads, her voice was still a mousy squeak.
"Oh, I bet you are hopeless Marisa. I bet my entire fortune that you will be hopeless," he laughed and drew out his coin pouch. "Thirteen thousand gold." He winked at her. "Forever hopeless."
She glared at his laughing face, then at the patched coin pouch bulging with his recent winnings from the arena. Fury rose from the depth of her heart. Who was HE to tell her that she was hopeless, huh? It was not like he was all that popular with the ladies like Lord Ephraim! How dare he say that she was hopeless!
"Joshua of Jehanna, you listen!" She shouted furiously, hands on her hips. He stopped laughing instantly and stared at her in shock, startled by her outburst. "Don't you think that just because you are my king you can say anything you like about me! I am not hopeless, but even if I am that is none of your freaking business! So what if Natasha and L'Arachel are both heads over heels in love with you? It doesn't mean that you have the right to tell me that I am hopeless, you idiot!"
She took a deep breath and continued.
"I don't have time now to find a soul companion but once I do I never ever want to see your ratty face around anywhere! And just because I don't put on makeup and dress myself like a cheap girl from the streets it doesn't mean I am hopeless! Who are you to tell me that I am hopeless? If you think I'm so hopeless why don't you go find someone like Natasha and L'Arachel to hang around instead of-"
He kissed her.
She stood rooted for a moment, letting him kiss her. It was too sudden, too soon, too surprising, and despite all her fantastic speed and record-breaking reaction time she was stunned and stood without knowing what to do next.
He pulled away and looked at her with a smile. "Did anyone tell you that you are beautiful when you are angry?"
She could feel her face heating up again. She was going to turn into a tomato in five seconds. She shuffled her feet and twiddled her thumbs awkwardly under his intense gaze.
There was a long silence, interjected with the sounds of birds and insects.
"Am I…really hopeless?" She asked finally in a small voice, afraid to look at him.
He chuckled, then placed a finger under her chin to tilt her head up to face him. "I was joking, Marisa, really just joking," he smiled. "If you were hopeless, I'll probably go down in history as the bachelor king who couldn't find a wife because he was too ugly."
That made her smile. "You're not ugly, Joshua," she said. "You're…"
"Handsome? Dashing? Charming? Exquisite?" He prompted, supplying a wide range of adjectives hopefully.
"Normal," she decided finally with a laugh, giggling at his expression.
"Only normal?" He looked aghast and feigned sorrow. "You wound me, Marisa. I demand compensation for that insult!"
"What do you want?" she asked, looking at him slyly.
"Hmm…a kiss should do for now…" He leant in and kissed her again on her lips. "There, I feel so much better now."
Another silence descended.
"So…" she started, uncertain of where to proceed next. This is such an embarrassing thing to ask! How could he leave it to me, a girl, to open my mouth and state that request? Isn't there a decree that all of this should be done by guys?
"So?" He raised an eyebrow, before he understood from her blush. "Do you want it, Marisa? I would hardly force you to do anything you don't want."
She nodded shyly. This was so much harder than cleaving a full-grown Cyclops! At least for those she had practise, whereas for this…was completely bewilderment and uncharted territory for her. Relationships…the word had been taboo before this.
"Well then," he said cheerfully, taking her hand firmly. "Let's go tell the others the good news before Tethys dies of anticipation and Gerik chokes on his meatballs in anxiety, shall we?"
She stifled a laugh. He was the hopeless one, not her.
"Oh yeah," she quipped. There was a light spring in her step. Things felt so different yet so comforting and warm when she had a…a…Oh gosh I can't bring myself to say the word…boyfriend…
All of a sudden, the holiday cheer seemed to have infected her as well. She felt like sticking closely beside him, never to let go of his arm.
"Yeah?" Joshua waited good-humouredly. "Are you going to call me darling or honey munchkins from now on?"
She smacked him lightly on his arm. "Shut up, darling." The word felt foreign, yet it slipped off her tongue so well and smoothly, as though she had been saying it since birth.
"Anything you wish, dearest," he retorted, smirking. "Aren't you going to finish your sentence?"
"Oh right," she said. "I just wanted…to say…Merry Christmas."
Finally, after 20 years, that was the first Christmas greeting she had ever uttered. And he, her first ever…boyfriend…was the recipient.
He turned and gave her a dazzling smile. "Merry Christmas to you too, love." His smile disappeared, replaced by a frown. "You know, it's customary to exchange presents with your loved ones on Christmas day. If I am correct, you have nothing at all at present, so you have...exactly four days to get me a nice lovely gigantic present for being your first lover who saved you from a serious case of hopelessness." He dodged the acorn she threw at his head. "Remember, the shops at closed on Christmas day itself so buy it earlier!" He dodged the second acorn.
Damn him and his swordmaster reflexes.
"Oh, and I want it to be nice and big! If it isn't nice enough I'll ask for a refund!" He dodged the shower of acorns, laughing, before taking off at top speed with her hot on his heels.
Oh…life was great with someone to love.
Maybe she would start to love Christmases after all.
Author's Note:
This is a nice short sweet little drabble as a Christmas gift for my fellow ardent JoshuaMarisa fangirl pline! XD
I hope everyone likes this. It's a little short, haha, but that's what fluff is about XDDDD
I'm taking a break from my Shackles cos I lost my story plotline, like the sheet of paper on which I wrote the story outlines so that I can spend less time thinking and more time typing when I get to use the computer.
Haha, think I'm going to do anyone of these fluffy stories soon. Ciao and merry Christmas everyone!
Love ~ snowylavendermist