Mmmhhm, as another apology for posting late, I've decided to post a nice extra Christmas chapter thing! Yay.
Eru, Ibara, and Satoshi wandered down the corridors of the ship, exploring rooms that even Hotarou hadn't seen. Eru paused in front of a room which appeared to be full of boxes and ducked inside. As her eyes adjusted she found what appeared to be a string of lights. She pulled them out as Satoshi and Ibara caught up with her.
"Lights?" Ibara asked, taking up one end of the strand.
"Christmas lights!" Satoshi corrected with a gleeful tone. "I haven't hung some of these up in years!"
"Then why do we not hang them up now?" Eru replied with a smile.
"Do you really think that stick-in-the-mud would want these strung around his ship?" Ibara countered.
"Why not? Everyone loves to get in the holiday spirit!" Satoshi beamed as he handed a roll of lights to Ibara. Ibara sighed then followed the others back out into the hallway. The path already had hooks in the walls, seemingly made for having such lights hung up. The wandered into the common's room and strung some of the lights around the couches and the walls. Then, satisfied with their temporary work, went out to bring Hotarou and Irisu to see the lights.
Hotarou's originally indifferent look turned to a frown. "What's this?"
"Christmas lights!" Satoshi announced, resting an arm on Hotarou's shoulder. "Aren't they nice? I think it gives the ship a little personality!" He panned his hand enthusiastically across like a director picturing a scene.
Hotarou grumbled then Eru entered the room in a red dress that seemed a little large on her. "I found this too!" She held up an old space heater then set it on the table. "Now it can really feel like Christmas!"
"That's right, it is Chirstmas, isn't it?" Hotarou noted to himself.
"Yep!" Satoshi and Eru chimed.
"I wonder why you decided to leave Dione at this time of year, though," Ibara said sarcastically. "You're making us miss all the festivities."
"I never said you had to come," Hotarou replied curtly.
"Never mind that!" Satoshi said quickly interrupting the tense conversation. "Eru's gone to make some tea, so why don't we sit and chat!"
The others slowly agree and sat among the couches, warming their hands and feet by the heater. Eru quickly returned, the fragrance of the tea filling the room as she entered. "I did not add anything so add what you like," she said offering sugar, honey, and cream. Each took a cup and fixed the drink to their liking the reclined back into the old furniture.
"This reminds me of when I was a little younger," Eru said quietly, half to herself. She rested her cup on the saucer then placed it on the table among the couches.
"When I was younger, my father was away traveling. He told us that he would probably miss Christmas and the whole week of festivals because of his traveling. I was very sad that he could not be here. This would be the first Christmas he had ever missed. When my mom told me he would not be home, I cried and cried. She told me my other family would be here, but I simply wanted my father. So I stayed up very late that Christmas eve, sitting on the couch with Mayaka, praying that my father would come home. Do you remember, Mayaka? You fell asleep holding half a cookie…"
"I-I don't remember that!" Ibara stuttered quickly then blushed a deep shade of red.
Eru smiled permissively. "Well the next morning, Mayaka and I were asleep on the couch, but I woke up because I heard a noise. I slipped off the couch and ran to the entrance to find that my father had come home! He scooped me up in his arms and kissed my head and I started crying, I was so happy to see him! So in the end we all celebrated Christmas together as a family. My uncle was there and so were my cousins and we opened many presents and ate so much good food! It was the best Christmas I had ever had!"
"That's very nice, Chitanda, but I have a better story," Satoshi smirked mischievously. "A couple of years ago, my family had one of the strangest Christmases I've ever heard. It goes like this:
"On Christmas eve, my uncle decided to play the role of Santa Claus for some of the younger kids. He wasn't fat, and he wasn't really skinny either, but he decides that he's going to go down the chimney the authentic way!"
"Ugh," Ibara sighed clapping her hand to her face as if she knew this story.
"So he goes down the chimney, and he's a good way down, but at the bottom he gets stuck. He gets stuck just above the pit to make the fire is then me and some of the older kids, came back inside from the snow and decided to start a fire to warm up." Eru gasped in fear, Hotarou sighed in a bored manner. "But as we lit the fire we hear someone screaming and we look up to see my uncle stuck. We had to call a neighbor to tear down the chimney and rebuild it to get him out. It was hilarious!" Satoshi laughed. "We called him Uncle Hotbuns for the rest of the week!" Satoshi fell into a fit of laughter so intense that the others couldn't help but laugh at his laughing.
"That reminds me of a time when we went to you house, Satoshi, for a Christmas dinner," Ibara added.
"Yes! It was that same year!"
"Was it? Well, your mom decided to try to make a pie, but she hadn't baked in years. My mom tried to help, but you mom was so stubborn that she said she'd do it herself. So she started making it and she put it in the oven."
"Yeah, and we had gotten a new oven and had a pre-set quick bake, which she never used," Satoshi agreed.
"She set the timer for an hour and a half then we all gathered and started eating. But with the quick-bake oven you only needed to set it for 20 or 30 minutes so it started to cook and burn and by the time we smelled the burning the pie had exploded inside the oven and had filled the kitchen with smoke. I couldn't believe that happened! I had always thought that adults were smarter than that!"
"Well that's my mom; she's the best cook around! She could burn water if you let her!" Satoshi drawled sarcastically.
Eru leaned over to Hotarou. "Is it really possible to burn water?" she whispered.
"No, you can't," he retorted. "There's nothing to burn about it."
"Oh, I see…"
She doesn't get it at all. "It's an expression. It means she's a bad cook," Hotarou informed her.
"OH! I see!" a light of realization lit up in her eyes. "By the way, Oreki, do you have any Christmas memories?"
Hotarou laughed sarcastically. "My memories?"
"Oh? And what would those be?" Ibara mocked as she heard the side converstaion.
"The last Christmas I remember was before I was a little before I turned five. My sister was gone and I woke up on Christmas morning and went downstairs to find that my parents had disappeared. I searched the house and realized they weren't there and my servants had the day off. So I spent the day by myself, alone. I never saw my parents again.
"I never received any presents, they had all been destroyed by the people who kidnapped my parents because they thought that I would be able to trace their whereabouts or become an abolitionist when I became old enough to remember."
The mirth in the room fizzed out like water dumped suddenly on a fire and everything became silent. "So that's why you hate Christmas?" Eru asked slowly.
"I don't hate Christmas, I'd just rather not remember what happened. Everyone always gets so filled with cheer and good will, but I don't like to get wrapped up in that kind of stuff. I'll take care of myself and likewise people should take care of themselves."
The mood had died and been buried with Hotarou's last statement and everyone sat, partially sulking, save Irisu who maintained a rather indifferent air during the Christmas spiels.
"What about you, Fuyumi?" Eru asked quietly, striving to lighten the mood.
"A happy Christmas occasion? Or a sad one like Hotarou's pitiful story?" I have plenty of those, she sighed unhappily.
"Perhaps a happier one?" Eru asked softly.
Irisu thought for a moment. "I suppose when I was about fourteen there was a year that we had a very pleasant Christmas. Nothing too heartwarming, my family is not one to have such jolly occasions.
"My family tends to gather when it can for holiday meals, though many times people left early due to something that happened among the adults. But that Christmas everyone came and we ate and were happy together. No one fought and after dinner we sat around and exchanged gifts. My grandparents and aunts and uncles exchanged chocolate and the kids got a few small toys. It was the most peaceful gathering we had had in years. I enjoyed it, though. It was a good time."
"What did you get?" Eru asked with a soft smile.
"Hmm, I believe I got a doll from my parents. I still—never mind," Irisu interrupted herself then fell silent.
"You still what?" Eru persisted.
"Nothing. Do not mind me, it is nothing important," she sighed and smiled to herself. I still have her…she's something I will miss on Dione.
Eru stood and poured more tea for everyone and they talked late into the night and enjoyed a silent night out in space.
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