"Hey Weiss! It's Christmas!" With equal parts excitement and dread, I got out of bed, shrunk the storage chest, picked it up, and followed Jennifer downstairs. I'd been keeping my distance from the presents, especially once I saw how many of them were for me.

"Good morning, girls," mom greeted. "Your dad's making omelettes. After breakfast, we can start opening presents."

"Alright!"

"Yay." I had trouble sharing Jennifer's energy as I sat down at the table.

"Having trouble getting excited for the presents?" dad asked as he put a warm omelette in front of me. "You'll know which ones are from me easily enough, Mason." Before mom could say anything, he said, "No, Allison, we're not having the name discussion again today. It's Christmas, after all. Live and let live."

She sighed and conceded. "We will still talk about it."

"And it'll go the same way as before." Without another word, dad went back to making omelettes.

After breakfast was done, we gathered around the tree. "So, how many of these are mine?" The presents were stacked up like bricks in a wall, blocking off the base of the tree entirely.

"All of them," mom said. "You've been through a lot recently, so we decided to make everything yours. I got you the most presents."

"I guess I'll start with yours, then." Mom happily giggled as she started dismantling the wall of presents, rebuilding it on the coffee table and revealing even more under the tree. While she did that, I got my chest, set it on the couch, and sat down. "I never thought I wouldn't look forward to presents."

"I'll take care of the trash," Jennifer said as she joined me on the couch with the paper recycling bin and her wand.

I grabbed one of the gifts from the wall in front of me and tore open the paper, revealing a decently sized plain white box. As Jennifer took the paper, I opened the box and pulled out the contents: a plain light blue and white dress. "Really?"

"Doesn't it look nice?"

Instead of answering, I found an empty drawer on the chest, opened it up, and dropped the dress inside. After that, I opened another gift, finding another brightly colored dress, which also went into the drawer. The next three gifts from mom were all different dresses, and I felt an eye twitch as the fifth one went into the drawer. "I will choose one to keep and burn the rest."

"How about a different present?" Mom picked one of the remaining boxes, the same size and shape as the ones I'd already opened, and held it out for me.

"I hope it's not another dress." I reluctantly tore the paper open and saw two small pieces of clothes inside, both white and light blue, clearly made to go together. "What am I looking at?"

"A sports bra and matching workout shorts, if you decide to do some exercise."

"You get one point for the thought." I closed the box and put it in the drawer. When I turned back to the table, there was already another present being presented, this one a bit bigger than the others. I knew I wouldn't like what was in it, but I opened it anyways. "Why would I need this many swimsuits?" There were at least three swimsuits in the box, and it looked like at least a couple of bikinis as well, which went straight to the burn list.

"I couldn't decide which one to give you, so I put them all together for you to choose from."

The box went into the chest. "Any other clothes you got me?"

"No, that's all the clothes."

"And there's still more from you. I'm so excited." I made sure my voice was so heavy with sarcasm, it could be measured with a bathroom scale.

After unwrapping some simple jewelry, makeup kits, a few clothing accessories, and a pair of heels (blegh), I came to the last two presents of the stack, both of which were noticeably heavier than the ones before them, and were from both mom and Jennifer. The first one I opened was full of books on feminine lifestyle, and the second one was even more books, but on witch lifestyle. "Informative books."

"Exactly what any good Scientia student should be armed with," Jennifer boasted as dad left the room. "I know you probably don't like the material-"

"But it would be useful to know, given my circumstances," I finished. "I get it. You've driven the point so far home, it's embedded in the wall."

"I'm just trying to help."

"Mason, catch!" Dad tossed something towards me as he came back into the room. I managed to catch the object and saw that it was a cold cream soda. "I figured you could use one."

I smiled at the drink. "Thanks, dad." I didn't hesitate to take the cap off and savor some of the sweet and fizzy drink. "Ah, that's good."

"All my useful presents, and it's a soda that makes you smile?" mom asked, clearly holding back her temper before sighing. "At least I have the long term going with mine, so there's that."

Dad simply shrugged. "I won't contest that point. How about you open Jennifer's presents next?"

"May as well."

"Wingardium Leviosa." Jennifer levitated three presents from under the tree onto the coffee table. "There you go, Weiss."

"Thanks." I set the soda down and opened a cube shaped present, revealing a boxed crystal ball, clearly magical if the moving picture on the box was any indicator. "So, I'll be able to tell fortunes?"

"There are classes on prophecy reading, and crystal balls work for a lot of people. Some wizards also do it as a hobby on the side."

"Ah." I set the boxed ball aside and moved on to a bigger present. Inside that one was a rectangular chest, similar to the one Jennifer brought along for the Thanksgiving trip, though it was labelled 'Spell Teaching Books' and had a cartoonish picture of a witch on the front, waving at me. "Spell books?"

"These are a new thing," Jennifer explained as she opened the chest and pulled out a book. "All these books come with a practice wand and can teach you how to cast spells."

"And they probably talk too."

"They wouldn't be as helpful without being able to talk," the witch on the box said.

"Hush, you." I took the book from Jennifer, put it back in the chest, and set it aside. It was a useful thing. Finally, I opened the third present, taller than the first and smaller than the chest. It was a plain metal thermos. "Sooo, is there something magical about this?"

"I put a few enchantments on it," Jennifer said. "You can put a whole pot of soup in there, it will stay good for a very long time, come out at the perfect temperature, and will stay lightweight."

I pointed towards the kitchen. "You mean like mom's big soup pot?"

"Yep. Oh, and it's self cleaning."

"That's pretty cool." I set the thermos aside.

"Thanks. Dad suggested it. Speaking of whom. . ."

"Mason, catch!" I looked in dad's direction and got my arms out of the way just in time for a big, heavy box to land on my lap.

I looked at the red wrapped box. "What is-"

"Catch again!" A smaller, but still pretty heavy green wrapped box landed on top of the first one, pinning me to the couch. I saw that both had tags with the name Weiss on them, but crossed out and replaced with Mason.

"Anything else?"

"Nope." Dad drank some of his cream soda with a smug look on his face.

I sighed and started opening the smaller present. "What could be so. . . Oh this is awesome." The box was a simple black and gray one, showing a pair of what looked to be about elbow length fingerless gloves with weights attached. According to the box, each glove was fifteen pounds. Without any hesitation, I opened the box and saw the gloves there under a care manual. "Eh, I have magic. Who needs this?" After putting the manual in with the rest of the wrapping paper to be recycled, I set to work putting the gloves on.

"I've heard that wizards and witches can be tough, but not that good without a wand or up close, so I figured something to help build up those muscles would be a good idea."

"I like them." The gloves weren't so bad once they were on, but they still made moving my arms a bit more difficult. "Do you think I could wear these at Henway, Jennifer?"

Jennifer shrugged. "Maybe? You could send your owl to Principal Mercia with a letter and find out ahead of time."

"I'll do that later." With one heavy gift out of the way, I went on to the other one. After tearing off the paper and opening the box, I realized that I never knew I wanted what was inside the box. "Is that. . ."

"It's a little something your sister and I made for you," dad said as he sat down next to me. "High traction heavy duty treads, eighth inch thick solid steel plates, shaped and applied for style and protection, enchanted for extra durability, comfort and ease of wearing. Yes, we got you armored boots."

"For once, I don't care that there's a wedge in them." I picked up one of the boots, and it was heavy. "How much do they weigh?"

"Twenty pounds each. The steel is very dense, and they have steel toes."

"I love them!" I dropped the boots onto the floor and slid them on very easily. They came up to my knees and felt great. Then I took a step and realized I would need to practice walking with them. "It's like walking through mud."

"Is that weakness I hear?" dad taunted.

"No, it's a challenge I'm going to face. Hey, Jennifer?"

"They meet the Henway dress code," she answered. "You're going to wear them from now on, aren't you?"

"Oh yes."

"So, who gave you the best gifts?" mom asked, sounding like she knew the results.

"Well, you gave the most, Jennifer's are very useful, and dad gave the best by far."

"Of course you'd think that." After a sigh and a glance outside at the gently falling snow, she turned back to me. "How about we go for a walk, Weiss? Just you and me. Let's talk."

I looked to dad and Jennifer, getting a nod and shrug from them. "Let me get dressed." After I put some winter clothes on, along with my new boots, I met mom outside and started the walk. The weighted gloves, unfortunately, could not fit under or on the jacket, and had to stay behind.

"Jennifer?"

"Yes, dad?"

"Do you think it's too late to tell Mason that the boots can be switched between wedges and flat soles?"

"No. Let's see how she's feeling after she comes back."

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked mom.

"I want to know why it is you like your dad so much more than I do," she bluntly said after a few seconds. "I'm trying to prepare you for the future, and he's just having fun with you."

"There's your answer."

"Weiss, you've been through a lot, and I'm trying to help."

A bit of venom leaked into my voice. "By doing what? Trying to drag me through Kohl's? Putting me in dresses? Ignoring my past? Arguing with dad over my name? Not asking me anything?"

"He took you to the gun store, and that's the last place a young girl should be at."

"Oh, that? The first time I was actually happy like this? Yeah, news flash: I went on a field trip to a gun store, and I had fun shooting there too."

"Is nothing I've done for you worth your time?"

"I'm sure there's some good you've done, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it could be."

"Weiss-"

"You know that's not my real name! In fact, weren't you the one that chose my name in the first place?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"You've embraced my new name more than Jennifer has, and this was her idea to start with."

"It's to help you get used to the name."

"And you don't think I get enough of that at school?" Her silence told me she hadn't considered it. "You said I've been through a lot recently, and if you want the truth, I put some of the blame for that on you."

"Why?"

"Because you and Jennifer got so excited at the idea of me going to Henway that neither of you heard dad's objections? Because you didn't think about an ominous, vaguely worded description? Because you're forcing all these girly things onto me? I've come to tolerate skirts and wedges only because I've been given zero choice in the matter."

"And yet you like those boots with wedges in them."

"Because they're awesome and I'm used to wedges, as I said, not by choice." We paused our argument to look at a house that was always extravagantly decorated during the holidays. "I haven't told dad or Jennifer this, but since I got that sword, I've felt weaker, not as strong, you know? The heavy gear will help with that."

"I see."

The conversation came to an end, and our walk turned into a tour of the neighborhood decorations, pointing out things we liked, things that were different, and things that just didn't make sense, like a nativity scene in a cave at a bullet train platform under a Christmas UFO.

By the time we made it back home, I was tired from walking with the heavy boots on. Before we went in, something caught our interest: an envelope sticking out of the mailbox. Upon closer inspection, it had my name on it, and no return address. "I'll take a look at it inside," I said.

"There shouldn't be any mail today," mom said.

"Well, there is. Probably something something magic."

"That makes sense."

Jennifer was about to tell me something when we went inside, but I dismissed her as I put the magical presents in my chest, shrunk it, and went upstairs. After taking the boots off and laying down on my bed, I opened the letter. "Dear Weiss Schnee, formerly Mason Snowford: ever since you picked up Myrtenaster, you've had the benefit of a modified aura of disinterest, preventing anyone outside your immediate family from piecing together that you look just like the character, even when you give your name. That benefit ends in 3. . . 2. . . 1." As soon as I finished reading the countdown, I felt a twitch in my aura, which was very weird. As quickly as it happened, it ended, and I felt no different than before, so I continued reading. "Now it's up to you to handle your sudden recognizability. Go out there, do your best, or whatever it is you want to do. Sincerely, the Merchant."

"Huh. Well, that's tha-" A memory flashed across my mind and I quickly grabbed my phone to do a quick search. "Jennifer!" I ran out of my room and quickly went downstairs, finding Jennifer alone on the couch. "Jennifer, I need to tell you something!"

She put a hand on my shoulder and guided me to the couch. "Calm down, Weiss. Take some deep breaths." I did as she said, and after a minute of the exercise, I'd calmed down a bit. "Now, what's got you in a panic?"

"These." I handed her the letter first, and as soon as she was done reading it, I showed her an image search of Salem from RWBY. "Do you remember her?"

"That's just Salem. What are you getting at?"

"Remember that witch we met in the bookstore before Thanksgiving? She was reading about dark lords."

"Hmm, ah, her." I saw the recognition race across her face. "How did I not notice that?"

I pointed to the letter. "I think that's how. And how are you not worried?"

"Weiss, just because you look and sound like the fictional character, and even use Myrtenaster as a wand, you don't have an obligation to act like the fictional character. You're already proving that with how excited you got over dad's presents. Just because this witch looks like Salem doesn't mean she's going to be evil." Under her breath, Jennifer added, "even though she egged me and my romantic novel."

"So. . . You're not worried?"

"No, not really. I'm sure that, if she's really evil, she'll do something evil, and then the aurors can go after her. Besides, she said she was trying to prevent a dark lord or lady from happening, and you can't really do that if you are one."

"Oh. Right. I. . . I'm going back upstairs." After I collected my phone, I went back up to my room and went to bed.

"Allison."

"Robert, let's talk. Weiss has given me some things to think about."

"Let's do that." The couple started walking and talking around their cold, snow filled backyard, discussing matters calmly and never raising their voices.