Despite the white snow covering the land and the freezing air, the sky was clear of clouds and the sun lit up the early winter morning.
The commander and a doll half his size were strolling around in a patch of evergreens in the forest, leaving behind two trails of footsteps and a carved line in the snow.
"That axe is going to dull if you drag it like that, you know."
CZ75 was dragging an almost comically large felling axe as she walked, whose massive size matched her own.
"It's fine, the steel is strong. The line in the snow just looks so cool..."
The commander asked to take the axe from CZ75 a few times, but only got a dirty look in return.
"Hehehe... I can wait to swing this baby at a tree and chop it down in one hit..."
"Have you actually used any of your axes for chopping rather than throwing?"
CZ75 pondered for a moment. "No, but never too late to branch out."
The deeper they went between the evergreens, the healthier and stronger the trees became, and CZ75 got more and more excited.
"Maybe this one?"
"No."
"Then this one!"
"No, it's a bit too old."
"Okay, then this one, for sure!"
"It's covered in mushrooms, I'm not risking it just for some doll to try and eat one."
CZ75 started stomping her feet.
"Just let me cut down SOMETHING, I can't take dragging this axe around and not using it!"
"Then let me carry it."
"NO!"
CZ75 hugged her axe and stared daggers at the commander, who just sighed and kept walking along.
After a while, she managed to calm her excitedness and started helping the commander look for a fitting tree.
"Why do you even go out to get a Christmas tree?"
"It's tradition; the dolls love gathering around it, and it's the symbol of the holiday."
"No, I get that, I meant why do you personally go out to look for one? you'd think you'd be busier this time of year."
The commander chuckled. "Well, the dolls like it when I go out of my way to do something for them, and I'd lie if I said I didn't enjoy this walk."
"Oh... you enjoy my company, commander?"
"Sure I do, why wouldn't I?"
CZ75 looked away and produced a slightly uncharacteristic giggle.
Further down the path, they stopped for the commander to warm up with the hot drink in his thermos, CZ75 cuddled up to him claiming it's to 'Share the warmth'.
"Why do we need a Christmas tree anyway? I've heard SOPMOD II dresses up as one and always goes to your office on Christmas."
"Uh, how do you know what does and doesn't happen in my office?"
"Because before going to your office, she runs around the entire base lit up like a disco ball screaming 'CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAAAAAAAS' with RO635 desperately chasing after her."
The commander smiled recalling the shenanigans that happen in the base during the holidays.
"She doesn't really dress up like a Christmas tree, she just wraps herself in decorations and lights to look like one, and she runs to my office to 'show off' how shiny she is."
"And how do you respond?"
"Usually she's happy with a box of chocolates, and I give RO one too for her efforts. The one time I accidentally gave SOPMOD a box of liquor chocolates was a whole nother story..."
"What did she do?"
"Well..." A slight look of defeat appeared on the commander's face.
"...Lets just say the furniture repair cost a small fortune, I'm still finding SF eyeballs in containers that still had their factory seal, Springfield refuses to bake any eclairs and I doubt anybody from the AR team will forget the room of the levitating dinergates."
CZ75's expression looked both shocked and on the brink of breaking down into laughter.
"You can't tell me all that and not spill the beans, tell me more!"
"I can't, I forgot most of it."
"Come on! how can you forget something like THAT?"
"I ate one of those eclairs, and passed out..."
The commander went quiet and a little pale, so she decided to not press on with the topic and just looked into the distance, deeper into the forest.
After a few quiet minutes, something caught her eye.
"Woah..."
CZ75 bolted into the woods, looking for something that really sparked her interest.
Before the commander could react, she ran back to a place where he could see her, and excitedly called him over to her direction.
"COMMANDER, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! HURRY UP!"
The commander started to pick up his equipment, but CZ75 decided he was too slow and she just grabbed him by the hand and sprinted to what she wanted him to see.
After she stopped and the commander could catch his breath, he saw an absolutely massive evergreen before him.
"Jesus Christ... that has to be some sort of mutation."
"WHO CARES? LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THIS THING!"
The tree was about as wide and tall as a radio tower with visible ELID mutations on the trunk, siliconizing patches of the wood.
The commander noticed the radiation index slowly increasing, so he pulled out his map to confirm his location.
"That's... Odd. The radiation index here is so low we didn't even notice we're in a red zone. We need to go back."
"No way! I want to chop this tree down!"
"This is a red zone, we need to leave right now."
"But we can use this as our Christmas tree!"
"There is not a single spot in our base that can house a tree this large."
"LET ME CUT IT! I HAVE TO CHOP IT DOWN!"
Without waiting for permission, CZ75 started hacking into the trunk with her axe, which even with its impressive size didn't manage to do much to the wood.
"HAHAHA! JUST WATCH HOW QUICKLY I'LL CHOP IT DOWN! EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY WITH A TREE THIS HUGE!"
She kept smacking the wood over and over again and the commander felt like nothing he could say will change the situation, so he just found the least irradiated spot nearby, sat down and watched her work.
Five minutes passed, ten minutes passed, almost half an hour passed and the tree stood as before, just with most of the snow in its leaves knocked down.
CZ75 still tirelessly chopped at the trunk, each hit more desperate than the last.
After one uneven hit, the axe got stuck in the trunk, and the commander walked over to her.
"Come on CZ, let's keep looking, this one is too large for us."
Still trying to pull the axe out, CZ75 snapped at him.
"NO! YOU SIT DOWN, AND LET ME WORK!"
She kept pulling and pulling, until she managed to pry it out, but after overexerting herself she wasn't able to hold onto it afterwards; A whooshing sound was heard from the axe flying through the air, and the commander's beret quietly fell on the snow.
It takes a moment for both of them to realize what just happened, and the commander felt his heart-rate sharply increasing.
"Wait, wait no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... Commander!"
The sudden shock gave the commander a small panic attack, and he started to feel lightheaded; CZ75 ran up to him to hold him in place, and slowly helped him to sit down.
It didn't take too long for the commander to regain his composure, but his heart was still racing.
"Huh... to think that out of all possibilities, I could have died here..."
"No! No! you didn't die! you won't die! I'm so sorry, commander..."
CZ75 held back tears as she hugged the commander tightly, racked with guilt.
"I told you we should have gone looking for another tree."
"I know. I know. I'm too stupid and stubborn. I'm sorry, I..."
The commander released one of his hands from her grasp and patted her head.
Being this close to dying from a doll's mishaps wasn't too common, but it was still his job to watch over the dolls, and deal with their unique personalities as well.
"Well, let's go look for that axe, then?"
CZ75 nodded, and released the commander after helping him stand up.
She wasn't too talkative after what happened, and the pair walked towards the rough direction of where the axe flew, which was luckily getting them out of the red zone.
They came upon a beautiful evergreen; healthy, strong branches and the leaves had not a trace of snow on them.
Looking down, they noticed the axe was now stuck in that tree's trunk; The commander walked over and pulled it out, handing the axe to CZ75, but she refused to take it.
"I think... maybe you should cut this one..."
"Are you sure?"
"Y-yeah..."
CZ75 crossed her arms and looked away from the commander, still embarrassed.
The commander started chopping the tree, which wasn't nearly as big as the previous one and perfect for their needs.
The tree fell with a mighty thump, and CZ75 walked over as the commander was tying it up.
"Oh, you cut below where the axe got stuck. Is it okay for it to have such a nasty axe wound?"
"Well, you do need a lot of space under it for all the doll's presents. Plus, it's a conversation piece."
"What do you mean?"
The commander chuckled as he grabbed the rope in a comfortable position to drag the tree.
"You got a pretty interesting story to tell about it, don't you?"
CZ75 got visibly flustered, and playfully punched the commander's arm.
She grabbed the other end of the rope, and they dragged the tree back to the base.
When they got back, the excited dolls in the base quickly grabbed the tree and headed off to set it up, while the commander and CZ75 parted ways and went to their respective rooms.
CZ75 turned the lights on in her dorm, and a red box of chocolates waited on her table with a small note on top of it.
While reading it, she couldn't help but cringe from what otherwise would have been a warm message.
"For: CZ75.
Thank you for always helping us with getting the Christmas tree;
It's nice to have a doll with a good head on her shoulders, and a steady hand with an axe.
Sent from: the commander's office"
Author's note:
-Originally posted on Christmas, obviously. Reuploaded for personal archiving purposes.
