Tasuki's eyes widened as he lowered his tessen, his gaze glued to the red and white form that was lying unconscious on the floor in front of Lashana and Telca. "Holy shit."
"Uhh.... this isn't as bad as it looks," Lashana muttered, frowning when Xellos suddenly appeared by her side.
Grinning, the Mazoku cleared his throat, then broke out into song. "Oh, Santa got knocked out by a wacko, coming over to our house on Christmas Eve. You may not put much faith in health coverage, but as for me and Santa, we believe!"
"Shut up!" Telca cried, smacking him in the face with the flat of her axe, sighing when he merely smiled and thanked her.
"Is he dead?" Tempest asked dreadfully, looking at Diane as she crept forward and knelt by the downed man's side, her fingers going to his throat. "Well?"
"He's alive," she announced to the sound of over a dozen sighs of relief.
"Okay, no one put on the suit. I saw that movie before," Telca announced as she threw her axe back into a portal and knelt next to Diane, reaching past her to lightly slap Santa's cheek. "Hey. Hey, wake up."
"You know," Rebecca said, "this doesn't really surprise me."
"You're not helping!" Lashana cried angrily, not even calming down when Blackie rushed to her side. "What are we going to do?!"
"Pull out the coal barbeque because we're all gettin' briquettes?" Wolverine suggested, ducking the various smacks that came his way. "What? S'a valid suggestion!"
"No it's not!" Tvashtar scolded him as he went to try to help Telca wake up Santa, very aware that the crowd was gathering closer to the unconscious male. "He's probably got a concussion."
"What are we gonna do?" Eve asked, sighing when she received no answer. "Well?!"
"I vote for panicking," Nightcrawler said, his voice anxious. "We knocked Santa out cold!"
"Isn't it great?" Xellos beamed.
"NO!"
He frowned at the unified cry from the group and huffed. "You people aren't fun at all."
"Not now Xellos!" Lashana yelled, shrinking back into her Bonded's hold when Zelgadis joined the group next to Santa and wove a Healing spell on him, wincing when the elder male groaned and finally opened his eyes. "I'm dead."
"Ohhh, what hit me?" Santa moaned, rising a hand to his head as Diane and Telca helped him sit up.
"If I'm not mistaken, I believe Lashana beaned you with the hilt of her sword," Xellos smiled.
"I thought you were a demon coming to try to kill me!" the elf cried hysterically, sniffling as Tempest wove a spell and blew Xellos into orbit. "Thanks."
"My pleasure."
"A demon?" Baffled, Santa lowered his hand and looked at the group surrounding him, then blinked. "Oh. Right. It's you people."
"'Us people'?" Telca echoed as she helped him to his feet and over to a couch.
"What? You think I don't know of you? The Avatars that are a little off and their Harem of near-lunatics."
"A little off?" David echoed. "Are we talking about the same two women?"
"Near-lunatics?" Xellos repeated as he teleported himself back to the group. "I'm insulted! I'm not a near-lunatic! I'm a full lunatic!"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Lashana chanted into her hands as she covered her face, mortified.
"I really should read those little footnotes the elves put onto my List," Santa murmured to himself as he accepted the mug of hot chocolate that Beast had gotten for him. "Ah, thank you, Hank. Now Lashana, don't take so hard. It's not everyday I get knocked out, mind you, but it's understandable."
"You should really start using the door," Telca told him as she and the group returned to their previous spots, Kadrith and Nightcrawler giving up their places on the couch as they sat on the floor.
"Yes, I was thinking of that myself," he agreed as he rubbed at his head. "At the very least I should do so while in this neighbourhood. One house in town had a bear trap in the fireplace!"
"Really?" Xellos beamed. "Which house?!"
"Ignore him," Eve said cheerfully as she bashed the Mazoku on the head and threw him into a portal. "He's a little psychotic."
"And dat's puttin' it lightly," Remy added with a grimace.
Chuckling, Santa set the empty mug on a side table, then picked up the sack he had dropped when he had been attacked. "I really should be going. I'm behind schedule."
"Can we help?" Nightcrawler asked, ignoring the warning glares from Lashana and Telca.
"Well, now that you mention it, yes. Well, at least Lashana and Telca can."
"Er... how?" Telca asked, seeing the wary look in Lashana's eyes. "We don't have to dress up do we?"
"That'd be a sight," Pete snickered.
"No, no. You don't have to dress up. But your portals, you're able to portal anywhere in this world, are you not?" When they nodded, he smiled in relief and opened his bag, taking out a good hundred thirty or so presents and carefully piling them near the tree before handing Telca a list. "These have to get to the right homes. Just open a portal and place the gifts into it, they'll know where to go."
"Uh. Right." Lashana frowned, picking up one package and looking at it curiously.
"Thanks a lot," Santa grinned to them as he walked back to the fireplace. "And don't worry, your gifts will be here in the morning! Merry Christmas!"
"Well," Diane murmured as Santa vanished up the chimney. "That was new."
"This, can't be that hard," Telca said as she stood and approached the pile of gifts, eyeing some of them curiously for a moment before experimentally opening a portal and chucking one through, blinking as she peeked into it and discovered that the present had portaled itself under a tree. "Wayhey! Easy stuff!"
Encouraged by Telca's attitude, Lashana opened her own portal and started chucking presents through it, finding it a bit of a challenge to keep one portal open for so long. She and Telca had never really kept a portal open longer than a few seconds, and now hers had been open a minute and counting. She had never really realised how much energy it took to keep a portal open before.
Wiping her brow, Telca threw in another present, then placed both hands at the small of her back and groaned. "What the hell was in that last one? Woof, that was heavy."
Lashana looked up and frowned as Telca tossed in another gift. "Telca! I'm pretty sure that kid didn't ask for a copy of 'Out loud : the city kid's guide to being gay'!"
Telca pulled the list from the back pocket of her pants and handed it to Lashana. "Well, no. But look at what he did ask for."
There was a pause, then. "Better sent the parents companion to his folks. Put it somewhere where they'll see it."
"I'm on it."
"You know," Diane mused as she and the others watched the two sorceresses work. "Out of everything that happened, this was a rather calm Christmas."
"You call knocking Santa unconscious 'calm'?" Rryslan asked in shock.
"Well, for these two it is."
"Point."
"Since Lashana's busy, I'll take resentment to that for her," Tvashtar muttered, glaring at his father irritably.
"Thanks hun!" Lashana called. "Smack him one for me!"
Kadrith grinned evilly. "Yeah, Tvashtar. Smack him one for her."
"Um, no."
"Well, we know he's smarter than her," Tasuki smirked, ducking the thrown tree ornament that the elf whipped at his head.
"There!" Telca grinned as she threw the last present into the portal. "Done! That's our good deed for two-thousand-four."
"Yay," Lashana muttered as she returned to her Bonded and dropped down into his arms, resting her head on his chest. "Gods I think I nearly had a heart attack when the dust cleared."
~The look on your face was priceless,~ Mewtwo agreed, shrugging when she shot a glare at him. ~Well it was.~
"I have to say, Lashana, this has been one of the most memorable Christmas's we've had," Tempest chuckled. "Santa included. Though if you do that to him again next year I think he may hold a grudge."
"I hadn't actually been planning to do that to him this year, nevermind next year."
"It was entertaining just the same," Kang snickered.
The elf rolled her eyes but let it go, turning instead to look at the Christmas tree, easily spotting the three small curled up dragons that had alighted amongst the ornaments and nested there, their eyes closed as they slept off the huge meal they had eaten. "You know, they have a good idea."
"I hate to say it, but she's got a point," Rebecca said, looking over at Eve as her daughter rubbed at her eyes. "Time to go home, Tempest."
"Yeah, I suppose." Standing, he stretched, then looked at the sorceresses and their Harem. "It was good to see you guys again. We'll have to do this again. Without the concussed Santa, of course."
Lashana groaned and hid her face in her hands. "I'm never going to live that down," she muttered before she got to her feet and gave first Tempest, then Becca and Eve big hugs. "Don't be strangers, kay?"
"Yeah," Telca smiled as she followed Lashana's example. "You're always welcome here."
"Thanks," Rebecca smiled, linking her arm through Tempest's as he opened a portal and led her through it. "Merry Christmas!"
"Adios! Feliz Navidad mi amigos!" Malcho called, waving a purple wing at the trio as the portal snapped shut. Yawning greatly, he rubbed a wing over his eyes, then regarded the others. "I think a nice siesta is called for, mi amigos. I'm heading to bed."
"You can stay here overnight," Lashana said to her parents, David, Rryslan and Tasuki. "It's late, and Telca and I don't mind." She paused and looked towards the doors. "I wonder if I should tell that to Angel too."
"Naw, he's long gone, darlin'," Wolverine said as he checked outside, then closed and locked the doors. "I'm staying up ta watch a bit more hockey, anyone wit me?"
"Yeah!" Tasuki grinned. "I'll get the beers!"
"You have fun," Diane told Pete as she kissed him. "I'll see you in the morning."
"I'll show you lot to the extra rooms," Telca said, gesturing to Diane, Rryslan and David to follow her as she headed upstairs. "There's actually rooms free on our floor, so you won't have to head up to the rarely used fifth floor."
"Then why do you have a fifth floor?" David asked curiously.
"Because two weeks every summer we're a hotel," Telca said simply, drawing a shocked look from him. "You didn't know? Hell, even Diane knew about that."
"I've been out of the loop! That's all!" he protested, sighing when Diane gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.
"Well, this has been a great night, hasn't it?" Lashana mused as she walked over to the fireplace and warmed her hands, smiling when Tvashtar joined her and stood by her side. "How was your first Christmas get-together?"
"Good. Great. Thank you, kelestra." Smiling, he leaned over and hugged her to him, nuzzling her cheek tenderly before pulling away.
"Glad you enjoyed it," she grinned, tilting her head back to look up at Blackwargreymon when he slid his arms around her from behind. "You gonna stay up and watch the game?"
"Nah," he murmured. "The Sens aren't playing."
Tvashtar chuckled. "I'll leave you two alone. G'night."
"G'night, hun." Smling, she looked up at her Bonded, then smirked. "Hey, love?"
"Yeah?"
A slow grin spread over her lips as
she beckoned him closer. "Under the mistletoe."