Chapter 4 Koopsmas Shopping
Chills ran up and down Morton's arms and across his chest. He rubbed his hands together, hoping that his ectothermic blood wouldn't freeze in its tracks. Bowser, Junior, and the other Koopalings barely noticed, as they all had smiles on their faces while making their way through Stonebrim.
Morton cast glances around the village. Strings of lights and wreaths covered the houses. The off-key voices of carolers echoed across the town, causing him to cringe. This was certainly different from how Sparksville usually presented itself, as the town was gloomier than the depths of Tartarus most of the time. Morton knew that the town would resort back to its usual gloomy self the day after Koopsmas ended, which made his mood ever more pessimistic.
"We're here!" Bowser announced at the front of the group. They were standing in front of JC Coin. Its flashy sign, as well as the expensive items in the window, indicated to Morton the pain he was about to experience.
Lemmy jumped up and down and clapped his hands. "You guys are gonna love the gifts I buy for you! They're gonna rock your socks off!"
Roy raised an eyebrow. "But...we don't wear any socks."
Lemmy giggled. "Well, maybe we should start." He gasped. "Ooh! I know! I'm gonna buy us all some comfy cozy Koopsmas socks! That'd be the perfect gift!"
Morton looked down at his freezing feet. Seeing how the tips of his toenails were turning blue, perhaps a pair of socks from Lemmy wouldn't be the worst gift of all time.
"Lemmy!" Junior said with a glare. "You aren't supposed to tell us what our gifts are! Now you just ruined the magic!"
Bowser laughed. "Don't worry, son. The magic of Koopsmas isn't something that can be easily destroyed." He opened the door and held it open for his children. "Now, go knock yourselves out kids!"
The Koopalings rushed into the store, their chattering and laughing reminding Morton of jingle bells. He lingered outside the door, which garnered a raised eyebrow from Bowser.
"Morton, are you alright?"
Morton groaned. "Sure." He then muttered under his breath "I'm not allowed to not be."
With that, he entered the store. He looked around at the items on display, at the colorful toys in one section and the bodacious dresses in another. Every once in a while, he spotted one of the customers either browsing the items on display, whooping and laughing up a storm, or both. Morton shook his head when he saw Junior and Larry chasing each other with a pair of toy airplanes clutched in their hands.
"I'm gonna shoot you down, red baron!" Junior squealed.
Larry giggled. "Not if I shoot you down first!"
Junior laughed and made a finger gun. "Pew pew pew!"
Larry grinned and, without warning, sent a wad of spit directly onto Junior's face. The young Koopa prince's mouth gawked open.
"Ah, gross!" he exclaimed as he brushed it off. "That's seriously disgusting, dude!"
Larry chuckled. "I told you; you can't shoot me down if I shoot you down first." With that, he resumed running down the aisle with Junior bolting after him.
Morton sniffed and went to another section. He saw Lemmy looking through the collection of Koopsmas socks. He talked to himself as he placed the pairs in his hammerspace.
"Ludwig would love these; he loves fried chicken. Ooh, maybe I should give these to Iggy; he really likes the color green! But then, who should I give the pine tree socks to? Hmmm… "
Morton quietly made his way past his brother. He found Iggy and Ludwig in the clothing section, looking at a blue dress.
"Do you theorize that a garment like this would garner appreciation from our sister?" Iggy asked.
"I'd like to believe so," Ludwig said. He put his hand to his chin. "Although, doesn't she already have this dress?"
Iggy shook his head. "I do not know. All of her dresses look similar to me."
"Yeah, me too. It doesn't help that she barely wears them." He stayed silent for a minute. "Why don't we get her a pet instead?"
"Oh, yes. She would very much gain appreciation from an animal companion. I hypothesize that a Felinus domesticus would be of extra special value to her."
With that, the two of them went off to a different section. Morton stared at the dress that they had been examining just as Wendy walked by, dragging her mile long list behind her. Her eyes grew wide once she saw the dress.
"Oh, that's gorgeous!" She scrolled through her wish list. "I'll put that down as wish list item number one hundred and thirty eight."
Morton rolled his eyes. He walked over to the food aisle, where he found Roy whistling a Koopsmas tune. He examined a bag of cookies.
"These look pretty good." He turned it over to look at the nutrition facts. "Only 140 calories? How will anybody feel full with that?" He shook his head. "If I'm gonna shop unhealthy, I'm gonna shop really unhealthy!"
He put the cookie bag back on the shelf and rummaged through the other selection. Morton sighed and walked away. He had no idea what he wanted to get for any of his siblings. Koopsmas was a time where you were supposed to put your all into your gift selection, and get something that the receiver wasn't bound to forget any time soon. Your gift was meant to show that you really cared about the person. Now, it wasn't that Morton didn't care about his siblings; quite the contrary. But how could he get them something that would blow them away; rock their socks off, as Lemmy had said? How did he know any of them wouldn't hate what he had to offer?
Perhaps he should just go the safe route, and get them all mugs. After all, that's what he did for the past five years, and everyone of them seemed to appreciate it. Besides, Koopsmas was all about traditions, so why didn't he continue the tradition he had established?
With this thought in mind, Morton made his way to the front of the store. He picked up some mugs near the checkout counter, as well as packets of each of their favorite candies. Once he paid for them, he went outside to find Bowser standing near the door.
Bowser blinked. "Back so soon?" Morton nodded and showed him the mugs and the candy, causing him to chuckle. "I see your tastes haven't changed a bit."
Morton nodded again, slower this time, and directed his attention down toward the ground. He wanted to stay as silent as possible. No conversation, no awkward small talk, nothing to distract him from his thoughts. He tried to reach out to his happy place, and managed to smile in the process.
That is, until the ground shook. He glanced around in confusion. It likely wasn't an earthquake, as it was very brief. Just as he tried to push it out of his mind, the ground shook a second time. He directed his attention up toward Bowser.
"Did you feel that?"
"Yeah, I did. I wonder what it….AHHH!"
Bowser pointed behind Morton. The dark skinned Koopaling turned around, only to scream in terror.