Winter was Frey's favorite season, for various reasons: she loved sipping on hot cocoa with marshmallow fluff while gazing outside the castle windows, the ground covered in a thin layer of white snow. She loved how the frigid air would hit against her skin and make her feel revitalized.
But most of all, if it was one thing she loved most when it came to winter, it had to be presents. The 25th day of the winter season was obviously Christmas, and with that holiday came presents: lots and lots of presents. She did not care as to what types of presents she would receive, be it clothes, furniture, armor, or even weapons; anything was fine. Anything.
As Christmas day grew closer, Frey became more and more excited by the minute, even staying up past midnight to figure out what types of gifts she would receive to the point of exhaustion and passing out, only to resume her investigations when she woke up again — which is why on that fateful day, she woke up screaming with excitement.
"It's here! It's here! Christmas is finally here!"
She leapt out of bed, her heart racing, repressing the urge to scream some more. She had the whole day planned already: wake up, receive lots of presents, maybe go on a romantic date with Vishnal... or spend the rest of the night with her presents. She really wasn't sure yet.
A few Christmas carols were exuberantly stuck in her head, but they soon diminished as Frey was snapped out of her reverie by incessant knocking coming from her bedroom door.
Surprised that anybody would come knocking this early in the day, she rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, the door's unlocked, just come in!"
The door swung open, snowflakes and the chilly breeze coming into the room. Granny Blossom was right there, a smile plastered on her face and a small bag next to her.
"Oh," said Frey, "hello, Granny Blossom. And, uh, Merry Christmas. What brings you here so early in the morning?"
"Merry Christmas to you," Blossom replied sweetly, "and I'm here to give you your Christmas gift, dearie. Well, it's more like two gifts. One for you and for Vishnal. I'm sure you will love them."
Blossom reached into her bag and fished out two neatly-folded sweaters, eliciting an eyebrow-raise from Frey.
"These, dearie, are Christmas sweaters. Well, not just any Christmas sweaters. They've got quite the nice design on them, and the ones I got are the thick and wooly type to keep you and Vishnal warm during the winter season."
She gave one folded sweater to Frey, unfolding the spare one to show her what it truly looked like. The sleeves were white and red, imitating the design of a candy-cane. The front of the sweater was a reindeer superimposed on a white-wintery background, making a silly facial expression, its eyes slightly concealed by tinted sunglasses.
"Aww," the heroine muttered, "that's kind of cute."
"Yes, I know. I figured the two of you could have matching sweaters this year, so that's why I bought them!" Blossom chuckled, giving Frey the other sweater and a pat on the shoulder.
"Well, thank you, Blossom. I'd say I have something as nice as this to give you, but I don't. I'm sorry; I was planning to give the whole town some chocolate or fish or something. Nothing like that can ever compare to a gift like yours."
Blossom's smile grew even wider. "Now, don't you worry, child. It's alright. The fact that you love my present is enough of a gift already."
Frey gave the old woman a hug before waving goodbye to her, and closed her bedroom door.
In what seemed to be perfect timing, Vishnal had sauntered over, smiling as he approached his significant other.
"What was all that about, Princess?" he implored. "I heard something about a gift while I was on my way over here."
Frey nodded. "Yeah, Granny Blossom gave me... er, rather, us a most delightful Christmas present this year. They're two matching Christmas sweaters! See," she unfolded the both of them, handing one to the butler, "they've both got the exact same silly faces on them, and they wear sunglasses! Pretty neat, eh? Now, when we wear them, we can feel... I dunno. A bond, I guess."
Vishnal laughed. "Yes, Princess. Well, as nice and chilly it is outside, I don't think I'm in quite a mood to actually wear it. Maybe another day, yes?"
"Another day? Another day? Vishnal, you're... you're joking, right? Today is Christmas. A holiday, for crying out loud! Out of all days to wear the sweaters, it would be today! Come on, Vish. Just show some respect for Granny Blossom. It wouldn't kill you to wear it, now would it?"
The butler flinched for a second at his girlfriend's sudden outburst. He opened his mouth to retort something back, but after careful consideration, decided that now wouldn't be the time to try and reason his way out, promptly pulled his mouth into a taut line, and did the best he could to nod his head without feeling some kind of reluctance.
With that, Frey smiled. "Good, good. Now here. I want you to put on that sweater, and I'll do the same. And you'd better be quick about this, because after this we've got some presents to get!"
About twenty minutes later, the couple stood around in Town Square, regretting every single thing that happened many minutes earlier.
"Wow," sighed Frey, "I never knew putting on a sweater would be such a bad idea."
Vishnal frowned. "Likewise, Princess. Do we really have to wear these sweaters today? Or any day, really?"
"Well, of course. Just... just bear with the — urgh — itchiness, alright? At the end of the day we can take it off and... and everything'll be alright. I hope, anyways."
Much to the couple's chagrin, they found that the extreme woolliness of the sweater had just made them very itchy, and a melancholic revelation had dawned upon them: that the silly-faced, sunglasses-bearing reindeer was in fact, incredibly corny and they would either be perceived as childlike or immature by the town, and become a laughingstock.
"Okay, then," surmised Vishnal, "I'll take your word for it. I suppose the only benefit they give is... they're quite warm. Anyways, aren't we going to make our rounds and exchange gifts to the rest of town?"
Frey gave a toothy grin and blushed. "Right, right. The... the rounds. Maybe the last Christmas of our short life before we die of embarrassment."
A strong, firm hand was placed on Frey's shoulder as Vishnal frowned. "Princess. Please don't think that. Yes, these sweaters may be... terribly itchy, and the design may not be the best for us, but we'll make it. Together."
"Thanks, Vish. Well, it doesn't really matter as to who we give our presents out to first. I mean, it doesn't matter as to who, as long as they don't judge our sweaters."
Vishnal sighed. "Princess, I already told you we will make it together. You don't need to fret. Now, let's go, shall we?"
"Oh, hey, Frey, Vishnal," smiled Kiel as the duo entered his and Forte's humble abode, "Merry Christmas! I'm afraid Forte's out doing some shopping. She decided to take up cooking more often, even going as far to sign up for a class, and decided that she'd be the one to get groceries. Kind of neat, huh? But, ah — nice getup you two've got on going there. Matching sweaters and all that."
"Heheh," smiled Frey, "yeah. Anyways, I do hope you like your Christmas gift. I could've... I dunno, wrapped it up more eloquently, but whatever."
She instantly regretted taking the gift out of her bag and holding her arm out to give the boy his Christmas present, as a wave of itchiness had taken over, and tried her best to make any physical signs that she was suffering any discomfort, which failed miserably.
"Uhhh. Frey, are you okay? You don't seem to be in the best condition right now. Ya know, I don't have to take your present right now..."
"What, no, it's — fine — it's just that these things are... terribly itchy!"
Kiel blinked, and looked at Vishnal for some more clarification, who gave a curt nod. "Well, you see, Kiel, Blossom decided to embellish us with these... wonderful sweaters and the downside is that they're terribly itchy. Not to mention the design is a little puerile. I'm afraid Frey has succumbed to the itchiness."
Deciding that this little incident might turn out even worse if he pressed Frey, Kiel sighed.
"Oh. That's too bad. I mean, I'd do something about it if I could, but I really can't. Now, I don't mean to be, well, mean, but I think it's high time that you leave. Forte and I's gifts are on that counter. Merry Christmas, again!" he added quite jubilantly, after seeing the couple quite taken aback at what he said moments earlier.
"Yeah," Frey seethed, "thanks. Umm, see you tomorrow."
She grabbed Vishnal's hand with a little bit of force, took the two presents, and speed-walked out of their house, repressing the urge to curse and scream at everyone as her itches became even worse.
"Now, come on, Princess," frowned Vishnal as the couple stood in the middle of Melody Street, "we've gotten to almost everyone in Selphia. Look, there are just a few more people we have to exchange gifts to. Just a few more, and then we can leave, take these sweaters off and go to sleep. That sounds nice, doesn't it?"
Frey, whose hair was disheveled and her eyes were bloodshot at this point, nodded. "Yeah," she said monotonously, "sounds nice. ...Never knew sweaters would cause me... So. Much. Suffering."
"You know, if you're really suffering under there, wouldn't the best possible solution be taking off — "
"No," Frey interrupted curtly, her head twitching a bit and a broken smile replacing her taut facial expression, "what we are doing is an act of respect. If we do not wear these sweaters today, we may never wear these sweaters ever again, Granny Blossom will be extremely disappointed, and the world won't explode once, but twice! Murphy's law, Vishnal, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong! No taxation without representation, and whatnot!"
Her voice rising with every word, it seemed as if her blood would boil. Vishnal wasn't sure how credible her ranting was, but he was sure that he needed to stop it.
"Alright, alright... Princess, please, listen. We can get through this, I told you this already. The end of the day isn't too far away, we will survive. As terribly itchy as this sweater is, it will go away soon enough and all of this will just be a memory of the past."
A sigh. "Well, if you say so. Anyways, who's left?"
"The only two left are... Doug and Granny Blossom."
Frey's sour mood instantly perked up at the mention of the latter. "Really? That's... that's wonderful, honestly, I can't wait to see Granny Blossom's expression when she finds out we're wearing the sweaters she gave us! The sweaters she essentially hand picked for us — two matching sweaters out of the... the dozens there are! Yes, they're... itchy and really silly, but I don't care! Let's go! Now!"
"Yo, I don't mean to interrupt, but go where?" a brash voice said, drawing the attention of Frey and Vishnal.
The two turned around to find Doug smiling sheepishly at them, not noticing his eyes widening at the sight of their sweaters.
"Yes, hello, Doug, we were actually going to give out our Christmas gifts — err, are you okay? You're kind of... you look overwhelmed..?" Frey trailed off with uncertainty.
"Oh, man. I didn't know — I didn't know she'd actually give those to you!" The dwarf replied, snickering and stifling laughter.
"...What?" she asked, hoping that she was having an auditory hallucination.
"Aw, jeez," Doug took a moment to catch his breath, "you see, just a few days ago we were clothes shopping, right? So anyways, Granny saw those two sweaters out all by themselves, and the clerk guy said it was at such a bargain price too: since they're terribly, terribly ugly. She bought it and realized afterwards that those are way too itchy and way too, well, ugly. She didn't know what to do with them, so I jokingly suggested to send 'em off to you two, since you're a couple an' all. But I didn't know she'd really take my advice!"
"No way," Frey moaned, "this sounds like some crazy story someone would write up in their spare time. Did you hear that, Vishnal?"
"Yes, I did, Princess. All of it," the butler begrudgingly stated.
"You're kidding, Doug! Vishnal and I wore these terribly itchy sweaters for nothing! I thought wearing these things would be respectful, but... these are just hand-me downs that nobody likes and I think they'd be better off being incinerated or something! What a way to ruin Christmas!"
Doug let out a low whistle at another one of Frey's outbursts of the day. "Yeah. Okay, just — God, calm down, won't you? You can still enjoy Christmas. Take off those sweaters and... I dunno, put them in the castle's shipping bin. Sell it, if you have to. Just dispose of the sweaters and make hot cocoa or open your presents. Or, if you want, keep them. Have yourself a merry little Christmas, yeah?"
"Okay," she sighed, feeling a little bit better, but nonetheless still itchy, "I will. I certainly will. Here — here are your Christmas presents. One for you and one for Granny Blossom."
"Thanks, Frey. By the way, I put our presents in the weird request box. I'm way too lazy to be lugging around presents. Merry Christmas."
The three parted ways after that, leaving Frey and Vishnal the only ones outside on Melody Street. The sky was painted a delectable shade of dark blue, with stars scattered everywhere. Nighttime signaled that the Christmas dates were about to begin — every year it was customary for the two to spend the night somewhere romantic, like the Observatory, but they had decided against going out anywhere; after all, they had spend most of the day outside in terribly itchy and ugly sweaters.
Now all they wanted for Christmas night was a bit of peace and quiet.
Frey let out a sigh of delight as she put her cup of hot cocoa down on her nightstand next to her diary. Vishnal had just left moments ago, after promptly bringing her the steaming cup of hot chocolate and giving her a quick peck on the lips. She sat cross-legged on her bed, looking across her room at the ensemble of presents everyone in Selphia gave her — ranging from new armor, weapons, accessories, food, even some spells... and the sweaters. They were given to a random couple wandering the outskirts of Selphia as a random act of kindness, who genuinely loved them. They thanked Vishnal and Frey for such a wonderful gift, and didn't even mind the woolliness and silly design at all.
She tucked herself in and closed her eyes, not bothering to drink the rest of the hot cocoa. Christmas was the season of giving, and she felt happy she was able to touch a young couple's lives — and unlike her and Vishnal, they truly appreciated their gift.
Frey let out another sigh. At least those sweaters are being worn with pride and joy... not terrible embarrassment and humiliation.
Hugging her pillow, she smiled, Christmas carols filling her head once again, lulling her to a sound sleep.
Author's Note: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!