Chapter 4: Turkey Day!

This is a thing. I don't quite know if this will come out Thanksgiving Day or on Black Friday, but I just finished handwriting this today, turkey day. I wanted this story to be more than a collection of holiday chapters, but with my workload from classes I just don't have the time to make chapters as often as I'd like. Thankfully I have a long Christmas break to write as much as I like. Now, to address reviews.

Johnny: I know that would be something you'd do, that's why I wrote it.

Fang: I wouldn't say that the princess thing is a punishment. It's more like a head-canon of mine that someone that tomboyish couldn't NOT have a guilty pleasure like that. As for the armor, it's not Havel's. It's the Firelink armor set from the cover of the game itself.

With that all said and done, it's time for the show!

Another couple of weeks have passed, making it a grand total of two months or so since the girls got magicked into this reality. Since then, I've had three exams (Ugh…) and we got a new fridge, seeing as how the old one decided to kick the bucket. We had to hunt down a big ass turkey because of how many people we were going to have over for Thanksgiving. Vert, at one point, tried to cook something to prove that she could help with the mighty feast, only to be banned from cooking in the house. I witnessed firsthand that, apparently, milk can spontaneously combust when being poured from the carton to a mixing bowl. To my mother's relief, Noire AND Blanc know how to cook, so she'll be alright given that her back is all messed up right now. She herniated a disk in her back. Today was is the first full day of my break. My school week consisted of one class on Tuesday because my Monday classes got cancelled due to snow and for some reason my Tuesday lab got cancelled. My sister got home Friday afternoon. She takes being with the twin's pretty well, except when they decided to prank her. Her getting pranked may or may not have been my doing. By the end of THAT day, all three were caked in mud and my sister was fuming. Iffy had been sneaking out on a regular basis, and it wasn't until last week did I find out where to. She had been going to BHS to play steel pan. Some days she even brought the twins along. Around the time that I actually got around to writing this down, we had a chat created talking about Bryce's story "What If…?". Here is but a small section of one of the conversations we had. (Since it's over Skype, this will be written in instant messaging format.)

Bryce: Pairings have been figured out. Tehg-Blanc. Garland-Compa. Uni-Nepgear. It works.

Me: Yes. The solution to our little situation was lesbianism.

Bryce: HOW COULD IT HAVE ESCAPED MY MIND!?

Me: That still leaves poor old Lonely Heart

Bryce:…Oh yeah…Adult Nep?

Me: I don't know if that would work…

Bryce:…You're probably right…self-cest?

Me: There's still an extra Blanc kicking about

Bryce: True, and an extra Vert…and an extra Noire…SELF-CEST!

Me: No, Bryce. We're authors. We have to be more creative than that. We could pair the Extra Vert with IF. Sure would make her happy

Bryce:…Chika doh…

Me: Who cares?

Bryce:…Touché

"Steven!" My mom yelled mid conversation from downstairs. "Come put the dogs out!"

"Alright! Be down in a sec!" I made my way down the stairs quickly and opened the back door, letting the two dogs out into the backyard.

"Hey, Steven." Noire greeted while hugging me from behind. "Can we go do something today?"

"Sorry, but I can't. Today's the day I have to pay my dues to Vert for that poker game." We had a poker game the weekend the before. Instead of money or chips, we bet favors. Turns out, Vert is really good and I am very bad. I won ONCE against Rom. Can't ask much of someone her age.

"I forgot that was today. What is she going to have you do?"

"No idea. That's why I'm scared."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on making you do anything extreme, and I won't do anything that will affect your relationship." Vert said, leaning against the new fridge. She was clad in dark blue skinny jeans and a tight green t-shirt. It would be blush inducing if it wasn't for the fact that she wore something similar EVERY DAY. Noire was in her winter pajamas, which consisted of a black tank top and gray sweats.

"Thank you, Vert. I appreciate it." Noire said while nodding her head to the blonde.

"We'll start by getting to the mall at ten. According to the website, that's when everything is open. I'll tell you the rest as we go."

"Oh…this is going to be a nightmare…" I muttered.

"I won't work you too hard. I promise."

"Just stop complaining and go with her. She won't let go of it until you do. That's just how she is." Blanc said, entering the room from the dining room. She was still her pajamas as well and had dirty breakfast dishes in her hands.

"I figured that much…I'll go het real pants on…" I quickly made my way up the stairs and pulled on a pair of jeans, not bothering to change out of the shirt I had pulled on before I went downstairs in the first place. "Ready when you are. Mom, mind if we take your car?"

"Whatever. Just make sure to bring it back in one piece."

"Okay. We'll be back whenever Vert says it's okay." I grabbed the keys and the two of us headed over the mall. "So…What are we here for?"

"I wanted to get something a bit more memorable and permanent for when we have to go home. A special something for each of us. That and some other things. Can't go to the mall with shopping for some clothes."

"God dammit…Is this going to take forever?"

"It depends. What's your opinion on picking out jewelry?"

"It's not nearly as bad as clothes shopping, that's for damn sure." I ate those words in the first hour. We spent a total of three getting stuff for all of them. There were a couple of fancy rings, some necklaces, and more earrings than I'd care to count. At one point she had sent me away for some soft pretzels to munch on around eleven o'clock. After that, we spent another hour looking through various stores looking for a dress, of all things. It wasn't even in her size, which was the weirdest part of all. It was a silver color with a black lace design running diagonally down from the single covered shoulder until the waist, where it then covered the entire knee length skirt. By the time THAT was done, it was 2 o'clock.

"It's late enough, now. How about lunch? Any suggestions?"

"Sure. There's a place right by here that's pretty good. You probably saw the sign as we drove by. As a hint, it was the white building with a red roof."

"That Friendly's place across the street? What does it have?"

"It's like a diner, but has other stuff too."

"Oh, if that's the case, I don't see why we shouldn't go there." With bags in tow, we hopped into the car and drove to the restaurant. Once we sat down at a booth and ordered our drinks, we opened our menus and browsed for a minute.

"See anything you like, Vert?"

"This crispy chicken salad looks good. What about you?"

"I'm trying to decide between the bacon cheeseburger and the buffalo chicken wrap."

"That has celery in it, though."

"I can just ask for no celery." I flipped back to the front and laid the menu out on the table. "How about an appetizer? I know how you can get about maintaining your figure, but…"

"Are those loaded waffle fries?" She asked with a bit of drool hanging out of the corner of her mouth. Did not see that coming, but I guess everyone has that one food. Kind of thought it would be Doritos or some other gamer junk.

"They sure are. Would you like me to put in an order for them?" Our waiter asked, just coming back with her lemonade and my coke.

"Yes, please." Vert answered with a smile, not realizing the drool still on her face.

"Okay. Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?"

"I'm good, Vert. Also, you got a bit of something on your face." I said, rubbing a wrist against the left corner of my face.

"Oh…Um…I'm ready as well." She replied while wiping away the mess. "I'll have the crispy chicken salad." Our waitress wrote down the order before turning to me.

"And for you?"

"I'll have the bacon cheeseburger with no mayo, please."

"Of course. I'll be back as soon as your appetizer is ready."

"So, what's next after this?"

"Whatever you want to do. What I wanted for our bet was for you to go shopping with me. You ARE the only one of us who can drive."

"Oh…Thanks…Um…Well, anywhere I want to go involves going back to the mall, so that's kind of pointless. How about we go…" I stopped to think, trying to come up with something we didn't do regularly.

"We could go to that spa your mother talks about."

"No…We'd need to book an appointment ahead of time."

"And we see enough movies…"

"We could just go home. I don't mind. I'm just the chauffeur."

"If you say so." Vert said, sounding a tad bit upset. About five minutes later, the fries came and a contest of sorts began. It didn't start as a contest, actually. I was just trying to get some because Vert was snatching up as many as she could. So, when I sped up to eat some of our shared appetizer, she sped up. And then there was none. There was a mother with her small child staring us down. "Oh my…"

"We, uh…did a thing…"

"Please don't tell the others. I even hid this from Blanc over all these years. I can't have her know that I eat like this."

"Must've been hard hiding such unladylike behavior from the world, huh?"

"Speaking of the others, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"When we get back to the house, there's something that I bought today that I want you to give to Noire. You have to tell her it's from you as well."

"…Why…?"

"I've come this far as your wing-woman. It wouldn't do to stop now."

"You've been reading my Skype chat with Tehg."

"Yes I have. You two have some pretty interesting conversations. And might I say, you've done a fine job with your little project with him, all things considered."

"Thank you." I said to both the green themed goddess and the waitress as she set our meals down. She picked up the empty plate and left. "So, what is it that I'm giving her?"

"That's a surprise."

"You're a troll, you know that?"

"I have been called that quite a bit over the years, yes."

"We should eat, before our food gets cold."

"That sounds like a good idea." We enjoyed our meal, making small talk in between bites and occasionally teasing her about the milk incident. Vert paid the bill and we left with an ice cream cone apiece. "We have to come here more often."

"Yeah. I'd like to come here more than I do, but I don't really get the chance."

"Now you have a date idea."

"That I do. If only I could actually pay for it." I pulled into the driveway and popped the trunk as the two of us got out. "So which box is the one you want me to give her?" Vert reached into one of the bags and pulled out a simple black ring box.

"This should make her day. She's been pretty upset since Abby died."

"Poor Devil. He never gets the chance to just sleep. Alright. Let's do this…" When we came in, almost everyone was watching a movie that Ken had put on using Netflix.

"You have fun?" Ken asked.

"As much fun as a pack mule can at the mall."

"It couldn't have been that bad." Blanc said.

"We spent three hours shopping for jewelry…"

"Oh…poor bastard…I know how mom can get with that kind of stuff." Iffy said from the dining room. She was reading my copy of Hamlet.

"Hamlet? Didn't think you were into Shakespeare."

"That would be my fault. I read it a week or so ago and thought she would like it." Vert replied for her.

"It's not even that good."

"That's what I said." Blanc said. "I told you that she wouldn't like a tragedy, but you insisted."

"Don't start a fight, mom. I'm trying to watch the movie." Rom, of all people, GROWLED. Guess she really likes this movie.

"Welp…I've had enough weird for today already." I set the bags on the table and fingered the small box that resided in my pocket. "Where's Noire?"

"She's up in your room playing a game on your Xbox." My mom answered.

"Okay, thanks." I not so calmly walked up the stairs, anxious about "my" gift to her. I turn into the room to see Noire playing [Prototype] on my 360. "Hey, Noire. [Prototype], huh?"

"Yeah…I got thinking about somethings and decided to play something mindless."

"Thinking about what?"

"Just about how the two of us will cope once we have to go home."

"Oh…Well, I think I have something that'll take your mind off it besides by playing as a man eating viral monstrosity." I fished the box out and prayed that it wasn't something freaky. This was a mysterious nineteenth box. Vert must've gotten it when she sent me to get pretzels. Noire opened the box and, if physics and biology would allow it, her jaw hit the floor.

"This is…It's beautiful…Where and how did you get this?"

"I…had a hand…"

"Vert put you up to this, didn't she?"

"Yeah…" Man, was I that obvious?

"Thank you. I love it." She put the ring on and I finally got to see what Vert's machination was. On Noire's right ring finger was a gold band with two connected hearts made of the same material. Inside of the hearts were two gems of similar shape. One was a ruby and the other a black diamond. Both were cut with a starburst design.

"Wow…She really picked out a beauty…It really suits you…"

"Of course it does. You gave it to me." She kissed me on the lips before going back to staring at it. "And I'll never take it off."

"Hehehe…" I chuckled, awkwardly rubbing the back of my head.

"Move over so I can turn this off. It would be dumb to try and cuddle with this music playing in the background." I stepped a bit to the right and she powered off the console before crawling into bed. As soon as I joined her, she had her arms around me. "Any plans for tomorrow?"

"If it snows like it's supposed to, yeah. Promised Blanc and the twins that we could go sledding at Coolidge."

"That sounds fun. Mind if I come along?"

"Of course. I actually planned on asking you, but you beat me to it." The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, so I'll wrap up this entry here.

Hey, uh…Noire here…It's November twenty fourth…Steven thought it would be a good idea if we wrote in this thing occasionally. I really don't get why, but I thought that I'd start things off. He only person I trust to write in this properly is IF. Blanc would just put down angry ranting, the twins would doodle, and even thinking about what Vert MIGHT write scares me. I got up before Steven, because if you don't he'll spend all morning in the shower. As reluctant as I am to get up at seven in the morning, it had to be done. Because his sister Megan was home, Blanc and IF had to stay in our room. The past six mornings have been difficult with all of us cramming into this one bed. I untangled myself from the mass of people. Normally, Vert and I are the last two to shower because of our hair, but I want to be awake and ready for today. We were going to go sledding as soon as everyone was up and I handle the mornings just as well as Steven does. I figured I'd take as quick a shower as possible and do everybody a favor. After a five minute shower and ten minutes of trying to completely dry my hair, I went down and started making pancakes. The smell should at least wake Rom and Ram. Once the first batch was done, two sets of footsteps made their way down the stairs.

"Good morning, you two."

"Good morning, Noire." Rom said with a smile as the two walked into the kitchen.

"When will breakfast be ready?" Ram asked impatiently.

"You can only eat once Steven and your mother wakes up."

"Fine…" She pouted, storming off into the dining room to watch Deb play a game on Facebook. I wish she was more patient like her sister.

"Rom, could you please go wake you mother and Steven? If you let him, he'll sleep until noon and the food will be cold."

"Okay." She said with a suspicious smile on her face. What have I done…? From our room I could hear a thud, some cries of pain, the bed creak, and Steven groaning.

"Why…?" I still don't know how I could hear him from all the way up there.

"Looks like I have to make more. Sorry, Deborah."

"It's okay. I have a while before I need to baste the turkey."

"Alright." Heavy, tired footsteps made their way down the stairs. Steven was holding his stomach. "What did Rom do?"

"She jumped up and knee dropped me."

"Sorry. I asked her to wake you and Blanc. I didn't think she'd do something like that. That's something only Ram would do."

"Hey!" Said child protested at my jab.

"Somedays I wonder why I had kids…" Blanc muttered, meandering towards the coffee machine we bought a couple weeks ago. "Getting flipped off my bed isn't how I planned on waking up today."

"You weren't the one to get punched in the face." IF said, reaching down into the freezer for an ice pack.

"Sorry Iffy…" Steven apologized.

"It's alright. I know you didn't mean to."

"Wait a moment, Noire. Didn't you promise to help with dinner tonight?"

"Yes I did, Vert, but I was told that everything I'll be helping with isn't until later on."

"Oh, okay. Pancakes, huh?"

"Yeah. It was something quick that would feed all of us."

"You're tagging along?" Blanc asked.

"Yes, I am. I asked Steven last night and he said it was okay. His mom also asked me to take pictures."

"Fine…Just…this is for the twins, so try not to hog him."

"I'm right here. Can you please not talk like I'm not?" I turned away from him and back to the other girls in the room.

"Why does my boyfriend have to be so melodramatic?"

"I'm a Leo. It's how I do." He quipped without missing a beat.

"Whatever you say. Now come on and eat. I've made enough for you four. IF, Vert and I's breakfast will be ready here in a minute." He grabbed the plates I had already made and carried them to the table. I had to have his mom watch over the syrup because I saw Ram trying to drink it.

"So, you're taking pictures, huh? Make sure to get some awesome actions shots of me!" Ram said as I sat down.

"I'll try. No promises."

"Hurry up and eat, you two. The sooner we're done and dressed, the sooner we can leave." Blanc said to the twins. They proceeded to scarf down the food in front of them in a way I haven't seen from them before. As seen as they were done, they were bolting up to get changed.

"I've never seen them move so quickly…" Steven muttered.

"You'd be surprised by what they can do when given the proper motivation." Vert commented. "Some of the pranks they've pulled on people who insulted them were quite elaborate."

"…Good to know…Well, while they're getting changed, let's getting ready to go. I'll go grab the sled." He got up and went down to the basement, presumably where the sled was normally kept. Blanc and I want to get our winter clothes on. For me, I had a red plaid scarf, a black coat that went down to my knees, boots that came up to the middle of my shin of the same color, and a dark blue hat that was the same color of my jeans. Blanc had managed to find a hat similar to her old one, but with white instead of red, a white puffy jacket lined with brown fur, and matching boots. The sled Steven came back with was made of black plastic and made for three people.

"That's a big sled." IF said as we all stared at it.

"Yup. With just one person you can catch a bit of air if you've got a good enough mound at the bottom of the hill."

"Sweet!" Ram cheered as she leapt down the stairs.

"Sounds fun!" Rom said quietly, yet still as excited as her sister. The two had on outfits almost exactly like what they normally wore on a quest back home. How they did that, I don't know. "Can we go now?"

"Sure. We'll be back, mom!" Steven ran out the door with the children in tow.

"Blanc, please make sure to keep those three from getting hit by a car. I need to get the camera and Steven forgot his coat."

"Sure. Hey! Wait up!" She yelled, running out the door after them. I put the camera around my neck and picked up the heavy leather coat before making my way to the school. Once I got there, he was standing there, shivering.

"I forgot my coat…"

"I've got it right here. Man, this thing is heavy." I handed him the coat and he put it on as quickly as he could. We spent an hour or so sledding. Most of the time, it was either him or Blanc going down with the twins, but occasionally we mixed it up. I went down with them a few times, but mainly with Blanc of all people. We learned that Ram takes really good pictures when the three of us adults went down together. Nothing noteworthy happened after that. We had a big dinner at four. The turkey was twenty nine pounds. With it we had a large amount of mashed potatoes, corn, peas, a bit of squash, and baking powder biscuits. For desert we had apple, cherry and pumpkin pie.

"Ugh…I'm full…" Rom moaned.

"Same…I had too much pie." Steven said, agreeing with her while leaning against my shoulder.

"Well that's what you get. You even said you were full." I said while rubbing his back with my right hand.

"In his defense, the pie was excellent." Vert said from the other side of the bed. By the time everyone was done and had gone home it was seven, and we were tired from the turkey.

"That it was. That. It. Was." Blanc said, patting her stomach.

"Hey, Blanc? Wanna play Dark Souls?" Steven asked.

"Fuck off!"

"You're still sore about that? Relax, it's just a game." IF stated.

"Yes I am, actually!"

"It's okay." Vert said, wrapping her arms around the smallest of us CPUs. "It's just a game. It's not for everyone." The small girl visibly calmed down.

"…Okay…" She said after taking a deep breath. "I'll let it go…for now…" We all just kind of lazed about for the night, so I'll just end this here.

So, I decided that I wanted to try something new. The thought went through my head one night that the others would probably want to write in the journal too, so that's what I tried as an experiment. If it isn't as good as I think it is, let me know and I won't do it again. That's all, folks!