Icy had never been particularly fond of Christmas until Gantlos came along. For her Christmas was just another day. If anything she had come to conclude that she did in fact not like the holiday at all; too much cheer and good will. It had her shuddering every time.
The man had decided to make it his mission to convince her to actually enjoy the holidays for once in her life. That was how she ended up at the Magix Christmas market—his idea of a date. A place where children dressed in festive costumes chased each other about the town streets, where lights twinkled and flashed as far as the eye could see, and where tinkling music could be heard from miles away. Such music came from one stand in particular where a minstrel—rather a modern man posing as a minstrel—stood upon a pedestal spitting the chorus of some Christmas song Icy didn't know the name of.
"Well, what do you think?" Gantlos asked.
Icy shrugged. "I'm not completely dying yet." She offered that much.
"There's a hot chocolate stand over there." Gantlos offered, motioning to the stand. "I think they also have cinnamon bread."
"I think that I don't like hot things." Icy pointed out.
"Why do you make things so difficult?" Gantlos asked.
"Alright fine, let me just pretend that my name isn't Icy and that I am okay with drinking hot chocolate." Icy sighed and followed him to the stand. Next to it was an equally appalling stand that sold mittens and plates of steaming Christmas cookies. And on the other side was a tent with a game that one could find at a carnival. A closer look revealed that it was one of those where you tried to toss a ring around a bottle—Icy was certain that they always made the ring a size or two too small so that you'd never win.
The pair made it to the front of the line. Before them stood a woman dressed as an elf. She flashed a bright smile and handed Gantlos two mugs. In exchange, he slid over a few dollar bills.
"If I drink this, we go home and find a better way to spend the holidays." Icy declared.
Gantlos looked about the city. "There is no better way to spend the holidays. If you follow me to the center of town they set up an ice skating rink." He pointed out.
Taking the hot chocolate in her hands Icy replied, "I can make an ice rink anywhere I damn well want to."
"Fine, at least let me finish my Christmas shopping." Gantlos grumbled, knowing that he would soon be at home watching over played Christmas specials as Icy tried to steal presents from Darcy and Stormy just for the sake of stealing something.
"Deal." Icy replied. She twirled her pointer above the hot chocolate, leaving a thin film of ice at the surface. "Go on then, got get it done." She waved him off and took a seat on the nearest bench, not even bothering to brush the snow off of it. "I'll be here."
"Oh no, you're coming with me and you're going to buy Darcy and Stormy something nice…or at least mildly decent." He added under his breath.
"Well I suppose it will get done faster if I'm there to make it so." Icy stood again. "But I swear if we run into 'Santa', I'm going to kick your ass." She shuddered at the thought of Knut wearing that ridiculous costume. "Who thought it was a good idea to hire that dumb ogre anyhow?" With that thought she tagged alongside Gantlos as he came to his first stop; a stall that vended ugly sweaters. "Oh joy, just what I wanted."
"It's not for you! It's for Duman."
"I'm sure he'll love that." Icy muttered. She wandered to the stall over. Her goal was to buy Stormy tickets to a concert for the death metal band she wanted to see, she wouldn't be meeting that one here. So she settled for getting her a metal Christmas album. Taking the easy way out she brought Darcy a gothic Christmas album. After making the two purchases, she made her way back over to Gantlos. The man jumped and quickly fumbled to hide whatever he had just purchased. Apparently, the wizard had dragged her all the way to the Christmas market to get her some special present. Opting to keep it a surprise, she decided to wait until morning to see what he had gotten her.