Another Christmas one-shot, this time an ROTG one! I own nothing, but there are a few OCs- Cal, Aliesha, Eve, the other seasonal spirits, etc. etc. Enjoy!
"Uh, little help?"
"How on earth did you manage that?" Tooth laughed, alighting on the floor gracefully to help her son disentangle himself from the tinsel. "Honestly, Cal." She smiled.
"It wasn't me! It was that new lady."
"New lady?" Jack quizzed, examining his reflection in a bauble and pulling a face. Aliesha snickered at the distorted image, grabbing another bauble and making her own weird face. Jack grinned and they fell into a competition of the strangest face ever possible.
Tooth cleared her throat pointedly, removing the last of the tinsel. "Oh yeah. What new lady?" He batted his bauble up and it landed near the top, rolling down from branch to branch and bouncing off Aliesha's head. "Twenty points!" Aliesha didn't even try for fancy moves, her bauble smacking him in the forehead. "Hey!"
"Fifty points!"
"Will you two pay attention?" Tooth reprimanded, trying her best to look annoyed. Jack scooped up a stray bit of tinsel and pretended it was a feather boa, prancing around. Within seconds, Tooth was laughing into her hand.
"New lady!" Cal warned, pointing up at something. They all looked, only seeing a red and green blur and a high-pitched, excited giggling. Jack brightened, jumping up and tackling the blur.
"Hey!" Now she was still, they could all see the 'new lady'. "That's just rude, Jack."
"Someone had to." Jack shrugged. "Everyone, this is Nicky, the Christmas spirit." At 'Christmas', Nicky squealed and she was gone again. Tinsel was snatched up and strayed around after her, like a comet's tail. "She gets very excited, so try not to say the C-word so much, OK?" He grabbed hold of Nicky as she passed, almost effortlessly. Tooth frowned. "What?"
"Uh oh," Eve and the other seasonal spirits descended. All four of them were carrying boxes of Christmas decorations. Eve smirked, "Someone's jealous." She nudged Tooth playfully, winking. Tooth scowled. "Am I right?" Jack chewed his lip, examining his wife curiously. Nicky zipped past, dropping something and he caught it.
"Aha." He waved mistletoe at his wife, grinning cheekily.
"Oh no, you are so not getting around me that easy." Tooth turned away, folding her arms stubbornly.
"Fine, be like that." Jack held the mistletoe behind his back, turning around.
"Jack!" Tooth scolded, refusing to succumb to the others' infectious laughter. Even Nicky had stopped for a second to have a good giggle. "No, Jack! That's just crude!"
"Hey, it's here-" He put the mistletoe above his head, "or here." He moved it back down.
"You are despicable."
"You love me really." Nicky collided with Jack, shoulder-slamming him towards Tooth. April danced from foot to foot, waving her hands and fussing happily. Tooth, being the stubborn little moo that she was, turned to fly away. Jack threw his staff up and caught her around the middle, dragging her back with a maniacal, victorious laugh. Aliesha and Cal turned away simultaneously, making the other five burst into laughter.
"What is this?" Nicky demanded, breaking up the love fest. "This is not a tree!"
"That is a tree." Amber pointed out.
"Not a very good one!" Their not-even-really-decorated Christmas tree was about seven feet tall. It had half the cord of lights on so far, but Aliesha and Jack had started an ugly face contest and never finished. Nicky had that sorted in a heartbeat, snapping her fingers. The lights jumped to life and coiled neatly around the tree. "Are you decorating it or am I?"
"Uh-" Jack started. The Christmas spirit didn't wait for an answer, waving her hands. Tinsel and baubles floated up and around the tree. It ended up like one of those ones on TV, all pretty and precise.
"No, no, no." Nicky clapped and the decorations fell away. "Too impersonal! You!" She pointed at Jack. "And you, you, you, you, you, you and you!" She pointed at them all individually. "Christmas awaits! Chop to it!"
"Are you always this hyper?" Sky asked, nudging a runaway bauble with her foot.
"Do as she says!" Cal advised, a little too dramatically. "She's evil with tinsel!" Nicky smiled sweetly. Now she stood still, Tooth could see what she looked like; petite and elfish, from her facial features and ears to the attire. She even had pointy shoes with bells on the end loops and everything. She smelled like candy canes and mince pies and the air about her crackled with excitement- literally like a child at Christmas. Her hair was a shock of white, like Jack's, pulled back into two ponytails either side of her head, making her appear younger. If Tooth had to guess, she would say the Christmas spirit to be about nine or ten. She was probably about two hundred though.
Nicky danced around them, singing Christmas carols and throwing out Christmas-tree shaped confetti. At one point, she had an absolute fascination with Cal's iridescent hair, jumping on his back and clinging on, running her fingers through his hair. When he tried to get her off, she pinned him to the floor and kept him still with garlands of tinsel, playing with his hair until she got bored. She took a liking to Aliesha's feathers after that, wanting one to put in her hat.
"No. No. I draw the line at pulling feathers out." Aliesha's wings fluttered and she was up and away in seconds.
"Help?" Cal croaked, struggling against his festive bonds. His mother was the first to relent, but not after having a good old laugh at his expense. "So, Christmas spirit?" He asked. "Is there a story behind that or… just there?"
"Oh, I've always been such a child when it comes to Christmas. I'd have quite happily done Christmas every day, but Moony doesn't think so."
"I thought North was the Christmas spirit?"
"No. Well, kind of. He does the more present and joy side of things. I'm more, like, the family and decorations and- oh my stars, blinking lights!" She dived down and spiralled around the tree, watching the lights flicker and change colour. "Oooh, I love Christmas." She sighed dreamily. "Such a great time." She flicked a bauble and disappeared into dreamland. Cal glanced at his parents questioningly. Tooth shrugged. Jack looked amused.
"Better to roll with it."
"How'd you know her anyway?"
"Christmas is mostly a winter thing, right?"
"Oh. OK."
"Don't worry, she's just a friend." Jack promised, kissing Tooth's cheek. "No need to be jealous."
"I am not jealous."
"You so are."
"Nooo! Get her away!" Nicky suddenly remembered she liked Cal's hair, dive-bombing him.
"Why and how are you so hyper?" Sky asked, her and her cousins pulling the enthusiastic spirit away with much difficulty.
"CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!" Nicky exclaimed, clinging to Cal, her arms firm around his neck. He gasped something about not being able to breathe, but they were trying! "Lots of energy, lots of Chriiissstttmmaaaaaasss!" She sang.
"Oh, I forgot to mention… she gets very, very hyped up the closer to Christmas. And very, very low on the twenty-sixth."
"Why… are you… saying… that… now?" Cal choked, turning red.
"Jack! She's going to kill him for his hair!"
"No I won't! I am forever on the nice list!" Nicky jumped to her feet, holding one hand on her heart and the other up, scout's honour. "I will never go on the naughty list!"
"What's wrong with that?"
"Oh, you! You hold the record!" Nicky wagged her finger at Jack in mock disapprovingly.
"I know right?" Jack grinned cheekily.
Aliesha returned, hesitant at first. When Nicky said nothing more about her feathers, she joined them entirely.
"Can we just do Christmas like we usually do then?" She asked, standing warily near her mother, watching Nicky carefully.
"Without me, there would be no Christmas!" Nicky declared. "No! That'd be bad! Bad idea! Go away!" She shook her head and clamped her hands over her ears. "Bad!"
"Is she OK?"
"It's Christmas. Is it ever OK?"
"Fair point."
"Now what?"
"Well, bed time now! Six more sleeps until North brings you your presents!" Jack smiled.
"I'll only be getting coal!" Cal complained.
"You should take more after your mother!" Nicky suggested. "She's always been on the good list!"
"Woo!" Tooth cheered.
"But that's just hard work." Cal mocked fainting against Sky, who pushed him to the floor. "Hey, that wasn't nice! I'm telling Santa!"
"Go ahead." Sky dared. "Christmas is too crazy for me." Nicky gasped thickly, clutching at her heart. Sky rolled her eyes and Jack face-palmed. "Don't look at me like that; it's too wintery for me. If you need me, I'm going to be in Australia, relaxing on a white sand beach somewhere with a cool, tropical drink in my hand. Ciao." She waggled her fingers at them and shrunk into a ball of fire. Nicky squealed again and dived after it. Sky bobbed about and then shot up, vanishing.
"Well, this is fun." Aliesha commented. Jack laughed.
"Christmas usually is. Just you wait until North gets here."
This was better in my head and I've forgotten a few ideas, but I felt like doing a ROTG Christmas one-shot, so here it is. Apologies if it's pants.