Fresh from the presses, a secret santa fic for my friend over at the forums, Roaring Blaze! Merry Christmas, buddy, I hope you enjoy it!
"Open it, open it, open it!" to say that Mia was giddy would have been a terrible crime to the manner of her excitement.
"What're you twelve?" said Shinon, who's own excitement could have been described as much more reserved. Mia, however, paid the marksman no mind and prattled on about gifts and snow.
"We should sing a song? Does anyone else just feel like singing a song?" asked Mia a few moments later when sitting still became even more of an annoyance than usual.
Her answer was loud and unanimous as the rest of the Greil Mercenaries replied, all at once, "No!"
"Okay, okay, Ashera you guys don't have to be such poopers." huffed the purple haired swordswoman as she sat down defeated, but only for the moment.
"I still don't understand what the point of all this is." grumbled their illustrious and overly pragmatic leader, Ike.
"Don't be so silly, boss!" answered Mia, already rebounding from her momentary stint of depression, "We're celebrating the birth of Ashunera! When Yune and Ashera became one again and the world resumed peace."
"I know, Mia, I was there." Ike said with a glare at the girl.
"Alright, alright, Mia sit still or you'll get no cake." said Mist with a smile, "And Ike, stop being such a killjoy and open your present already!"
Ike considered responding, but quickly thought better of it when he realized his dear sister would probably not take kindly to his continued cynical-ness. And so Ike carefully removed the wrapping from the small box in his hand and dug through a seemingly endless sea of weird felt-stuff, to draw out a small pink cloth.
For a moment, Ike went to ask what the gift he was holding was, but again, thought better of it when he decided that questioning such a gift would on prolong this revelry. So, instead he turn to Mia and said with a forced smile, "Oh, perfect. Thanks Mia."
"Oh do you really like it?!" replied his friend, her eyes glistening with a youthful exuberance, "I thought you could use a new headband, I mean your other one has just gotten so ratty."
Ah, Ike thought to himself, so it's a headband. Why pink though? Well whatever, maybe I could give it to Rhys or something to dress wounds.
"Ike?" said Mist, bringing Ike back to the painful confines of his current reality.
"Oh, sorry, what?" he said dumbly.
"I said, did you hear the other name people are calling today?" Mist said again with a coy and inviting smile.
"Mist, don't." Ike said firmly, for he knew all too well what many of the common people of Tellius were calling today.
However, Mia knew as well, and she was not one to let a moment such as this to pass by, and so with a smile even more devious than his dear sister, Mia threw her arms into the air and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Merry Ikemass everyone!" And the Greil Mercenaries shared a hardy laugh at their commander's expense.
"I don't get why they have to put 'mass' at the end." complained Ike.
"Oh don't be such a spoil-sport, they named a holiday after you, that's pretty sweet. I would be thrilled if we were celebrating Boydmass." said Boyd in between chews of a giant chicken wing, "Besides, the 'mass' gives it character. Saying 'happy Ike' just doesn't have the same effect."
Ike couldn't quite argue with that, so he only grumbled more to himself than anyone else, "Would rather they didn't celebrate at all."
"Okay, okay, okay, now that that we got grumpy pants out of the way, lets see what else everyone got." cried Mist, ignoring her brother's comment.
And so the rest of the Mercenaries went about tearing joyously at wrapping paper and pulling out elaborate and expense gifts. Mist almost died laughing when Rhys handed her a long staff that he claimed could force any man or woman into thinking they were an animal - she wasted no time in verifying his claim when she turned her new gift on Boyd and had him howling at the moon, filling everyone in the room with their second fit of laughter. Mia got just what she asked for, new swords, twelve of them to be exact, and somehow her happiness grew with every new piece of iron or silver. Soren (though he vowed to light anyone on fire who tried to give him some kind of gift) quietly thanked Oscer for the new book he had received.
Shinon, however, showed no considerable emotion when he tore his package open and took out an all white cloak that was big enough to cover his hole body.
"Uh, Mia," he said confused, "what in Yune is this?"
The look on Mia's face when she realized how displeased her friend was with her gift made it hard to believe she was the same girl who could cut through a dozen bandits without breaking a sweat.
"Well, I just thought, because," she stammered, trying to redeemer herself, "you said before that it was harder to hunt in the snow because all the animals could see you!" she sniffled twice, and somewhere deep inside even Shinon felt a little bad. "I thought you could cover yourself with the cloak and hide yourself."
Not wanting to ruin his reputation of being the most nihilist uncaring jerk in the company, Shinon said, with noticeable sarcasm, "Yeah great Mia, I'm sure the deer will never see the giant snow mound coming towards them."
The group shared their third laugh of the day, save for Mia who sat sullenly in the corner, her Ikemass joy completely killed. And with that, the group decided that they had celebrated enough and soon began to part ways and head to their rooms. Mia was the first to leave, still in a fit of sorrow that everyone was sure would clear by tomorrow.
Shinon was the last to leave though, claiming to still be a touch hungry before he called it a night. Yet, the master archer ate no food and instead, when he was certain everyone was gone, slipped outside. Suspiciously, he looked left, right, behind him, and then left again (just to be sure), before he unfolded the cloak Mia had gotten for him and whispered silently to himself in the night, "Its perfect." and he threw the fabric around his shoulders and was delighted to find it was as warm as it was useful, "That girl is a genius." And finally with that, he slipped off to his room satisfied.
However, just around the corner, hidden completely from sight, Mia smiled to herself and whispered with a small smile, "Merry Ikemass, Shinon." Then she too slipped off to her room, just as satisfied.
And as its denizens fell quietly to sleep, a calm silence slipped over Greil's Retreat with not a creature stirring, not even a mouse.
Couldn't resist that last line at the end, but I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and enjoyed my story. Farewell to all!