Chapter 2: Guests Arrive
The next day, J and Ice Blaze were sitting on the living room floor, untangling and checking the Christmas lights that were going to be hung outside. They already unraveled three strands of lights. Ice Blaze pulled a big wad of lights out of the box.
"Uh J, I'm goin' to need your help wit' this," Ice Blaze said as showed his brother the ball of lights.
J nodded his head and crawled over to Ice Blaze so that he can help his brother with the lights. Ice Blaze started on the right side of the ball, and J started on the left side of the ball. They began to carefully pull at different strands of the lights. As they were pulling, some of the lights started to wrap around J and Ice Blaze's arms.
"Blaze, wait," J said.
"Huh?"
J pointed to the tangled mess that was forming on their arms. Ice Blaze nodded his head in understanding the situation. Ice Blaze attempted to untangle himself by removing the strands that were on his right arm. Once he did that, he moved the untangled strand behind him by placing it over his shoulder. Then he began on his left arm. As he was working on the strand on his left arm, the strand that he already untangled started to tangle itself again, but this time it was tangling around the tiger's body.
Outside the Tower, a red vehicle that is shaped like a dog approached the building from the driveway. The vehicle came to a stop in front of the building. Four doors opened, and seven figures came out of the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was a male golden retriever canosapien. He wore a green turtleneck sweater, which is covered by a thick black coat, brown pants, and black boots. Standing next to the golden retriever was a female border collie with brown and white fur. She had shoulder length hair and wore a white sweater, blue jeans, and white boots. A teenaged male German Shepherd, Doberman, and Golden Retriever mix with light brown fur with patches of dark brown throughout his body. His left ear had a chunk taken out. His tail is long and fluffy, and his hair is fluffy too. He wore a blue and red football jersey with the number one on it, which was covered by a brown coat, blue jeans, sneakers, and a red and blue head band to keep his hair out of his face. A large white sheepdog was standing next to the teenager. A male husky with blue and white stood next to the sheepdog. He wore a blue sweater, jeans, and black boots. He was also holding a dolly that held a Rottweiler in a straightjacket and muzzle. The final member was a male doberman that is wearing the same thing as the golden retriever.
"Mother Russia," the husky said in a thick Russian accent as he stared in amazement at the run down hotel. "This place is big."
"I know Exile," said the golden retriever as he craned his neck. "It looked smaller when we were in the Turbojet Rover earlier this year."
"You have to be kidding me," the doberman said in disbelief. "This place is not fit for a stud like me."
"It's only theming Blitz," said the teen.
"Nobody asked you mutt," replied the doberman.
The sheepdog mumbled something to the golden retriever.
"Don't worry Shag; it's safe. You heard Dylan. It's just theming," the golden retriever assured the large sheepdog.
"Dylan?" asked the collie as she looked at the teenaged mutt.
"Yes Colleen," Dylan replied as he headed toward Colleen's position, which was near the glass doors that lead to the inside of the Tower.
"Where's the doorbell?"
Dylan pointed to the intercom. "That's the doorbell." He rang the doorbell button on the intercom.
In the living room, J and Ice Blaze were now tangled in the lights. The sound of the doorbell resonated throughout the apartment complex.
"Melanie!" they cried to their sister who was in the kitchen. "Can you answe' it?"
Melanie walked out of the kitchen and looked at her two brothers that were tangled in Christmas lights. She shook her head and headed to the intercom. She pushed a button and spoke into the microphone.
"Hello?" she asked.
Back outside with the group, Dylan pushed the button on the intercom to reply.
"Hey Melanie, it's me Dylan."
"Oh hi Dylan, it's been a while. How're you?"
"I'm fine. How are J and Ice Blaze?"
Back in the Tower, Melanie turned her head to look at her two brothers again. She then turned her attention back to the intercom. "They're tied up at the moment."
"Oh look who's tryin' to be funny now," J called from the tangled mess.
Dylan chuckled and shook his head. Blitz walked up and pushed Dylan out of the way. He pushed the button the intercom.
"Hurry up and open the door. The cold is making my tooshie tighten up," he said.
"Who are you?" asked Melanie.
"My name is Blitz."
"Oh, so you're the sick egotistical puppy tha' my brothe' mentioned."
Everyone, with the exception of Blitz, laughed at the description.
"I'll be down in a moment," Melanie said. She turned around and looked at J and Ice Blaze. "I'll be right back. I'm goin' to open the door for 'em."
"Take your time sis," Ice Blaze said from the tangled mess. "We won't be goin' anywhere anytime soon."
Melanie went to her room, put on some shoes, and a coat. She left her room and went back into the living room. In the living room, J and Ice Blaze were still trying to untangle themselves from the mess they got themselves into.
"Oh wha' a mess you two weaved," she said as she pressed the down button on the elevator.
"Very cute sis. Very cute," J mumbled.
The elevator doors opened, and she entered in and pushed the first floor button. The doors closed, and it descended down to the first floor. The doors opened, and Melanie stepped out into the hallway. She walked down the hallway until she came to the glass doors. She approached the doors and unlocked them. She stepped out into the snow.
"Hi Dylan," she greeted the mutt with a hug.
Dylan returned the hug. "Hey Melanie."
"Welcome to our home. Like I said earlie', J n' Blaze are havin' some bondin' time."
"Can we please go inside now?" whined Blitz as he shivered.
"We will," said the golden retriever. "But first, we have to get our bags out of the Street Rover."
The Rovers went back to the Street Rover and gathered their belongings. Once everyone gathered their luggage, the husky closed the trunk of the Street Rover. They followed Melanie into the Tower. The group headed for the elevator at the end of the hallway. Melanie pushed the up button, and everyone entered when the elevator doors opened. Once everyone was in, she pushed the apartment button. The doors closed, and the elevator began its ascent. While the elevator was ascending, Colleen tapped on Melanie's shoulder. Melanie turned around to look at Colleen.
"I'm sorry, but we 'aven't introduced ourselves. I'm Colleen," Colleen said.
"I'm Hunter," said the golden retriever as he pointed to the Rottweiler. "That's my buddy, Muzzle."
"My name is Exile," said the Husky.
"I'm Blitz," Blitz said as he jabbed a thumb at his chest. "I'm the best Rover there is."
"You're the weirdest Rover there is," Exile said.
"You want a piece of me Frosty?" Blitz challenged the husky.
"Sorry comrade, but there is no contestski for weirdest weird boy in the world," Exile replied.
Shag then mumbled something so that the argument doesn't blow out of proportion.
"Wha' did he say?" Melanie asked with a confused look on her face.
"'e said 'is name is Shag, and that 'e is pleased to meet you," Colleen translated for the large sheepdog.
"Nice to meet you Shag," Melanie said. "N' y'all already kno' tha' my name is Melanie. I'm J n' Ice Blaze's siste'."
The doors to the elevator opened, and everyone stepped out. The Rovers placed their bags on the living room floor next to the couch. J and Ice Blaze came out of the kitchen with bottles of water and were finally out of the tangled mess.
"How was the bonding?" Dylan joked to the two brothers.
"Oh swell," J replied sarcastically. "There's nothin' like spending' quality time wit' your brothe', while bein' constricted by Christmas lights."
Everyone laughed at J's witty response. Dylan scanned the area of the apartment.
"Hey, where's everyone else?"
"They went home to spend time wit' their families," Ice Blaze replied as he walked over to the couch. "Here lemme help y'all wit' the luggage."
"Me too," J said as he followed the white tiger. "We'll show y'all to your rooms, n' y'all can let Muzzle loose if you want."
"You don't have to do that you two," Colleen said.
"You're our guests," Melanie said. "We don't mind."
J and Ice Blaze nodded their heads in agreement as they picked up some of the luggage carried them down the hallway. The Rovers followed the two teenaged anisapiens down the hallway and up the stairs to the second floor. About halfway down the hall, J and Ice Blaze stopped.
"You can choose any room from here on back," J said to the group. "On your left are rooms tha' give you an overview of the backstage area of the Tower. On your right are rooms tha' give you a nice view of Paramount Studios."
Everyone grabbed their respected luggage and chose a room. Hunter, Colleen, and Dylan chose rooms that were on the right, while Exile, Blitz, and Shag chose the rooms on the left side. Once the Rovers got situated in their rooms, they came downstairs and entered the living room. J and Ice Blaze were finishing up untangling the lights and rolling them into circles. Melanie was placing electric candles into the windows of the living room.
"Do you need any help?" asked Hunter.
"Well," J said as he stood up and bent backwards to pop his back. "We'll be puttin' these lights up outside but not right now."
"How 'bout we set up the tree?" asked Ice Blaze as he dragged one of the containers.
"Sure," said Colleen.
Exile moved the second purple container and placed it next to the one that Ice Blaze just moved. Ice Blaze opened both containers. Everyone crowded around the two containers and began pulling the tree's pieces out of the two containers. Melanie and Dylan sorted the branches from the first container, and Hunter and Colleen sorted the branches from the second container. Exile and Ice Blaze were putting the tree stand together and placed the stand close to the upper right hand corner of the living room. J found the extension cords and instructions in the first container. Blitz and Shag unfolded all the branches, while Melanie, Dylan, Exile, and J were putting the tree to together row by row. With help from Hunter and Colleen, Ice Blaze was attaching strands of lights together so that they could be put on the tree once the tree is assembled. Once the tree was assembled, Hunter and Colleen volunteered to put the lights on the tree.
"Don't get tangled like J n' Blaze did," Melanie cautioned them.
"We won't luv," said Colleen as she grabbed part of the long strand of lights.
"The extension cord is on the couch," J said as he placed the cord on the couch.
"Okay," Hunter said from underneath the tree, stringing the lights onto the branches of the tree in an over and under fashion.
J and Ice Blaze went to their rooms to get their shoes and heavy coats on. They came back into the living room a moment later to pick up a box of icicle lights and lights with garland. Dylan decided to help them, so he went upstairs and got his coat. He followed J and Ice Blaze up another flight of stairs that leads to the roof of the building. J placed the box that contained the garland with lights down and opened the door that separates the stairs and the rooftop porch. The porch was big and enclosed with numerous chairs and couches along the walls. On the left side and in front of the group were windows that show the rooftop of the Tower. There was also a door at the front of the room that leads outside.
Dylan opened the door, while J picked up the box he put down. J and Ice Blaze went through the door, and Dylan closed the door behind him. The rooftop was a big recreational area for the apartment residents. Directly in front of the porch was a patio with patio furniture and a grill. It was surrounded by a garden. Within the garden, there is a path that leads to a pond, which is surrounded by stone benches. There are lamps on either side of the path. At the other end of the area is a basketball court. Snow covered the entire recreational area.
"So, what's first?" asked Dylan as he looked at J and Ice Blaze.
"Well, we could wrap the lamps with the Christmas light wrapped garland," suggested J. "Then we could tackle the icicle lights tha' would connect from one lamp to anothe'."
"Okay."
"But we need to get the ladde'," Ice Blaze said as he went back inside the building to get the ladder.
Inside the building, Melanie and Exile were stringing the garland with lights down the hallway of the first floor. Blitz and Shag were putting the Nativity scene together on the table that was sitting between the TV and tree. Ice Blaze entered the hallway. Melanie looked in the direction of the white tiger.
"Blaze, I thought you were helpin' J n' Dylan wit' the lights outside?"
"I am," replied the white tiger. "I jus' came in to get the ladde' so tha' we could wrap the lamps wit' the garland n' string the icicle lights between 'em."
"Okay, n' tell J to be careful. We don't wanna have a repeat of last year."
"What happened last year?" Exile asked, while running the garland through the hooks that were inserted into the wall.
"Last Christmas, J was on the ladde' puttin' the icicle lights on the lamps. The ladde' was close to the pond that was frozen, n' it was sittin' on a patch of ice. He was leanin' too far on the ladde' while stringin' the last set to the last lamp when the ladde' slipped. He fell off the ladde' n' fell into the pond…"
"Becomin' a fudgesicle," Ice Blaze interjected while holding his gut as he started to laugh. "Lemme go n' get this ladde'." He went on down the hallway to get the ladder, while still busting a gut. He got the ladder and returned back to the recreational area with a smile still plastered on his face. He met up with J and Dylan, who were starting to put the garland on the first lamp on the left side of the path. He took one look at J and started to snicker, causing J and Dylan to look at him funny.
"Wha's so funny?" J asked which caused the tiger to bust into hysterics, fall down and rolling in the snow.
Dylan and J looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces while the tiger continued his fit of laughter. Tears streamed down the tiger's face as his body convulsed with laughter. After a few minutes, Ice Blaze started to calm down. He got up from the snow and wiped the tears from his eyes. His breathing slowed down, and he let out sigh.
"Man, my sides hurt now," Ice Blaze said as he wiped the snow off his jeans and picked up the ladder. Another smile formed when he handed the ladder to J.
"Will you please tell us wha' was so funny?" J asked as he took the ladder from his brother.
"You don't remembe' the fudgesicle incident?" Ice Blaze asked as his smile grew wider and his body started to go into small convulsions as he tried to contain his laughter.
It took a moment for it to register into J's mind what Ice Blaze said. J just rolled his eyes as he set up the ladder next to the first lamp so that he could wrap the upper half of the lamp.
"Shut up n' hold the ladde' tiger boy so tha' I won't fall into the frozen pond like last year," J said as Ice Blaze moved toward the ladder. "On second thought, Dylan would you mind holdin' the ladde' 'cause I can't trust my brothe'."
"Sure," Dylan said as he and Ice Blaze switched positions.
Back in the living room, Hunter and Colleen were progressing on putting the lights on the tree. In the hallway, Melanie and Exile were stringing the garland with lights on the other side of the hallway. Shag and Blitz dug through the boxes and found numerous wreathes. Shag took some wreathes and went to where Melanie and Exile were at. Shag tapped Melanie's shoulder. She turned around to look at the large sheepdog who held up a wreath.
"Oh, those wreathes go onto the doors to the bedrooms," Melanie said, pointing to the bedroom doors.
Shag nodded his head and went back to where Blitz was at and mumbled something to the doberman. The two gathered as many wreathes as possible and began to hang wreathes on each of the bedroom doors on both floors.
Back outside, J wrapped all the lamps on each side of the path. Ice Blaze volunteered to connect each lamp with a set of icicle lights, while J supported the ladder. After about forty five minutes, the trio finished with the outside lights and went back inside to warm up. Once inside, they went to their rooms to remove their coats and shoes.
Ice Blaze left his room and headed toward the kitchen so that he could fix some hot chocolate for everyone. The kitchen was large so that it can handle large groups of people at once. Sitting in the middle of the kitchen was a large table with chairs surrounding it. A chandelier hung from the ceiling. A counter was placed against two of the walls. Sitting in the counter was a microwave. The refrigerator sat against the left wall. Next to the fridge was the kitchen sink. Across from the sink was the stove. Ice Blaze went to the cupboard pulled out a box of hot chocolate mix and nine glasses. He walked over to the sink and poured water into each of the nine glasses. He moved over to the microwave and carefully placed all nine glasses in the microwave. After he heated the water, he placed the glasses on the table and poured hot chocolate mix into each of the glasses. After stirring each glass with a spoon, he placed the glasses on tray and went into the living room. He placed the tray full of hot chocolate on the coffee table that was sitting in front of the couch.
"Something smells good," Colleen commented as she sniffed the hot chocolate scented air.
"Sure does Colleen," Hunter said as he sniffed the air as well.
"Well, I hope you like hot chocolate," Ice Blaze said as he handed the two a steamy glass of hot chocolate.
Hunter and Colleen accepted the glass and took a sip of it. The warm liquid raced down their throats and started to warm up their bodies. Everyone came into the living room and took a glass off chocolate. Ice Blaze went back into the kitchen and fixed a bowl of hot chocolate for Muzzle. He returned and placed the bowl on the floor for Muzzle to drink. Muzzle came over to the bowl and started to lap the hot drink into his mouth. Ice Blaze kneeled and scratched behind Muzzle's head. Ice Blaze got back up and sat on the left arm of the couch. Everyone found a spot in the living room and enjoyed the warm drink.
After everyone was finished with their drink, Ice Blaze gathered the glasses and took them back into the kitchen, so he could clean them. Shag offered a hand in cleaning the glasses. Everyone else was still in the living room, getting ready to put the ornaments on the Christmas tree. They got all of the boxes of ornaments set on the coffee table and couch. Everyone grabbed a box of multicolored glass balls and started to hang them onto the tree. Colleen and Melanie grabbed a box of bows and tied them onto the numerous branches. Hunter and Dylan started to string the gold garland throughout the branches of the tree. Ice Blaze grabbed a box that contained a big white bow. He handed the bow to Blitz who placed it on top of the tree. Everyone stood back to admire tree.
"Hold up, the tree ain't plugged in," Ice Blaze said as he crawled underneath the tree and plugged the extension cord into the outlet.
The tree lit up in a magnificent splendor. The white lights shined on the multicolored balls, bringing out vibrant colors on the tree. The garland created a golden angelic glow around the Christmas tree. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
Exile moved the tree over into the corner, and Melanie placed a white tree skirt underneath the tree.
"There's one thing left to do," J said.
"Take these boxes back upstairs?" asked Ice Blaze.
"Well tha', but I was talkin' 'bout the Christmas village."
"Oh."
"Did you bring down the boxes for the village?" Melanie asked as she looked through the pile boxes for the village.
"I thought I did, but I'll go get 'em," J said as he turned around and left the living room to get the boxes for Christmas village.
Melanie moved over to a large table that was sitting between the windows and the elevators and started to move things off of it. Dylan and Hunter helped her remove the rest of the stuff from the table. J returned, dragging a big cardboard box into the living room. He dragged the box over to the table. Ice Blaze used his claws to cut the tape that sealed the box shut. Hunter, Dylan, and Exile began taking smaller boxes that contained delicate porcelain buildings for the Christmas village. J and Melanie lifted a large styrofoam box that was at the bottom of the big cardboard box. She lifted the top off the large box to reveal old fashioned buildings, figurines, light posts, and trees. Everyone grabbed a building and began to put the village together. After it was put together, Exile strung the lights into each of the buildings. Hunter handed the husky a power strip for all the sets of lights. Exile plugged each set of lights into the strip and plugged the strip into the outlet.
The lights brought the village to life. Some of the buildings had windows, and when the village is lit up, one could look inside the building and view the interior. On the far right side of the village was a lighthouse with a light that actually rotates. On the other end of the village is a barn. In the center of the village is a pond where some of the figurines are skating.
"This is abso-bloomin-lutely beautiful," Colleen commented on the extravagant village.
"It sure is," Hunter said in agreement.
Later that night, everyone was in their rooms. In J's room, J was on his computer listening to Christmas music, and his tail wagged to the beat. He was wearing a red t-shirt and red plaid pajama pants. In Ice Blaze's room, he was lying on his bed, watching a Christmas special; he was only wearing blue pajama pants, which left him shirtless, showing his muscular figure. Melanie was in her room, making out Christmas cards; she wore a white sleeveless shirt and pink pajama pants. Upstairs in Dylan's room, Dylan was sitting at the desk that was in the room, writing in his journal. Shag was already in bed, sleeping and dreaming about red wood trees. Blitz was admiring himself in the mirror. Exile was sitting in a chair and reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Hunter was lying in his bed, tossing a tennis ball in the air, and Muzzle was sleeping on a blanket on the floor next to Hunter's bed. Colleen was sitting in front of a vanity in a silk nightgown, brushing her hair. A few hours later, all the lights within the apartment were off, and everyone was finally sleeping.
